Book Review: Larklight by Philip Reeve

Larklight is a science fiction novel written for a younger audience, a darling chapter book that would be great for kids in 5-7th grades.

Philip Reeve is a British author, and he has set this novel in an "alternate" reality in Victorian England: however, these plucky Englishmen have discovered how to travel the cosmos based on principles learned (or given) to Sir Isaac Newton.

The young man, Art Mumby and his sister Myrtle are hurtled into an adventure that eventually circles back to their home, Larklight, which is a space ship that is orbiting the moon.

It's a very British book; All the spelling, punctuation, and issues are distinctively British. There's a sense of social class, racial intolerance, and yet, Reeve has people from all planets co-mingling and enjoying what they can from others.

This is a fast moving adventure, and I enjoyed it very much!

Ironside by Holly Black

Ironside, a Modern Fairy's Tale is book 3 in a very older, young adult book series. While the books are interesting reading, I would definitely not recommend these books to the same readership as the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Ironside is definitely written for a teen girl audience. It pushes the boundaries having a homosexual male "side-kick" to our tough-as-nails pixie main character. It has an honorable knight unwillingly crowned as king of the underworld (very Persephone/Hades, and indeed makes the connection so the reader doesn't have to.)

While I enjoyed it, Ironside is not for everyone. If you are a teen aged girl, into fantasy, and not bothered by what may be in the "dark" side of faerie, then this is the book for you. It's much in the style of the current sensations of The Luxe, Libba Bray's series A Great & Terrible Beauty and Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz. They are modern tales, presumably for a more "modern" girl, in the sense that modern means "shocking."

I guess this is the new trend: Darker, edgier, bloodier, and more fantastical than ever before. With Twilight's opening weekend raking in 70+  million dollars, I guess this is the answer to Stephanie Meyer's almost clinically "clean" vampire novel.