Review - Jackaby by William Ritter

Jackaby by William Ritter

Series: Standalone

Published by Algonquin Young Readers on September 16 2014

Genres: paranormal, historical fiction, young adult

Pages: 304

Rating: 3 stars

Newly arrived in New Fiddleham, New England, 1892, and in need of a job, Abigail Rook meets R. F. Jackaby, an investigator of the unexplained with a keen eye for the extraordinary--including the ability to see supernatural beings. Abigail has a gift for noticing ordinary but important details, which makes her perfect for the position of Jackaby’s assistant. On her first day, Abigail finds herself in the midst of a thrilling case: A serial killer is on the loose. The police are convinced it’s an ordinary villain, but Jackaby is certain it’s a nonhuman creature, whose existence the police--with the exception of a handsome young detective named Charlie Cane--deny. 

Doctor Who meets Sherlock in William Ritter’s debut novel, which features a detective of the paranormal as seen through the eyes of his adventurous and intelligent assistant in a tale brimming with cheeky humor and a dose of the macabre. 

As you probably know, Jackaby has been described as a cross between Sherlock and Doctor Who. Unlike most people, I was somewhat wary of this comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I like Doctor Who and I’ve seen the first two seasons of BBC’s Sherlock (though Elementary is superior in every possible way). The problem that these two shows share is that they are both led by the same misogynistic pig of a showrunner: Steven Moffat. This guy is an absolute tool. He’s responsible for running Doctor Who right into the ground, and he’s a self-congratulating, arrogant, pompous jerk-off. Clearly this is something I feel strongly about.

So! Coming back to Jackaby – I was interested to see how Ritter would put his own spin on the commonalities between Sherlock and Doctor Who and whether he would manage to allay some of the more offensive aspects of the two shows he is clearly pulling inspiration from. And yes I know that both Sherlock (the original stories and the franchise) and Doctor Who existed long before Moffat came around, but upon reading this book it is obvious that BBC Sherlock and Moffat’s era of DW are Ritter’s primary inspirations.

Thankfully, Jackaby is a pretty woman-friendly novel. It didn’t strike me as particularly offensive in any way, which I am grateful for. However, I did find it lacking in a few other ways. Though the main character, Abigail, has her interesting points, I felt that she lacked in depth. She is very trusting of the people around her – she is a young woman all alone on an unfamiliar continent in the late Victorian period and she struck me as incredibly naïve and accepting. Rather than doing any planning, Abigail whirled from event to event without any real agency. The only times she showed any backbone were when she ineffectually threw books at the villain and when she argued with Jackaby at the end of the book. For the most part, she just went with whatever was going on around her without much question. I found her almost instant acceptance and trust in Jackaby very unrealistic. I find it hard to believe that a woman in her position would be so unguarded.

I also found Jackaby trying as a character. He was incredibly inconsistent. It was as though Ritter was attempting to combine Sherlock Holmes and the Doctor into the same character, but it failed completely. His eccentric nature was irritating rather than endearing, and he constantly bounded between the positivity of the Doctor and the misanthropy of Sherlock. It was exhausted and simply didn’t make sense.

The three other principle characters – Charlie Cane, Jenny, and Detective Marlowe – are very hollow. We know very little about any of them beyond their surface characteristics. The semi-romance between Charlie and Abigail is very stilted and hard to support. I have no idea what exactly Abigail liked about Charlie, and vice versa.

Finally, the supernatural elements lacked finesse. The mystery was incredibly obvious (I figured out who the villain was the first time he was introduced) and the mythology just wasn’t that interesting. I did like how magical creatures were everywhere, but I wish there was an explanation for why Jackaby happened to be able to see what no one else could. It struck me as all too convenient that only one person in the entire world had the ability to witness the paranormal creatures of the world.

Though I enjoyed reading this book and didn’t find it grossly appalling, I find that a closer examination is poking holes all over the text and exposing more and more things that just didn’t add up for me. I wouldn’t tell anyone not to read this, but I don’t think I’d purchase it either. It just wasn’t as good as it could have been, and I found it rather disappointing as a whole.

ARC Review - Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

Series: Standalone

To Be Published by Algonquin Young Readers on Oct 7 2014

Genres: LGBT, Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 304

Rating: 4/5 stars

High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia's confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own.

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is one of the most enjoyable F/F romances I’ve read this year (and I’ve read quite a few). To tell you exactly how enjoyable it is, I shall paint you a little word-picture. Me, sitting on a rather uncomfortably stiff forest green couch in my mother’s living room. It is growing late, but I’m not in any hurry to go to bed. Instead, my eyes scan across the pages of the PDF document over and over again, for hours on end. The muted television does not even catch my gaze, I’m so enthralled by this adorable little book on my laptop screen. My laptop is hot on my legs, but I need to reach the end of the book. I can’t go to sleep until it’s done. Just a little bit longer…

I read this entire book in one rather lengthy sitting. I couldn’t open the document on my e-reader, which forced me to read it on my computer screen. Let me tell you, most of the time that is reason enough for me not to read a book, but once I got started with Farizan’s sophomore novel, I just couldn’t stop.

I’ll admit that it’s not a particularly original story – girl meets girl, girl has giant crush on girl, girl gets heart broken by other girl, etc. But I really liked the way that Farizan took a somewhat cliché story and put her own spin on it – partially through Leila’s Persian heritage and her somewhat difficult family, and through one of the cutest love interests ever.

It’s pretty obvious from the beginning that Saskia, as glamorous and incredible as Leila thinks she is, is bad news. She’s not a nice girl, and I wish that there had been more character development and background for what made Saskia the way she was. I was curious as to why she treated those around her like pawns, like she was the only real person and everyone else was collateral damage in the game of Saskia’s life. Part of the explanation for this limited look into Saskia’s life can be put on Laila’s narration, as she is without question a very self-involved teenager with a limited ability to put herself in others’ shoes. I really can’t blame her for it – she’s a sixteen year old girl. It’s normal for her to be self-involved. Aren’t most people at that age?

I think that Farizan’s writing style may not be for everyone, as her narrator came off as a bit young and immature and the writing was sometimes a bit simplistic, but I loved the jokes Laila told herself in her head. On page three is this gem: “Why would I ever care about frictionless acceleration anyway? How is that ever going to get me a girlfriend?” I make those kinds of jokes on a pretty much daily basis. I really related to Laila, though I’m much older and less insecure (now, at least. I was SO insecure as a teenager!).

I think what I liked most about this book was the fact that it was so fluffy. So often books about queer teenagers are so depressing, and it was nice to find a book with such an unequivocally happy ending. As Gwendoline Nelson (@writing_kills) said on Twitter, “Lots of good LGBT YA out there, but it’s pretty dark. If I want to read something light and fun, I have to read about straight people.” Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel was a lovely, much appreciated change of pace, and I’m very grateful for it. I was smiling so hard through the last three or four chapters that my cheeks started to hurt. It was a cute, sweet book and I’m definitely ready to read Farizan’s first book, If You Could Be Mine (which has been on my TBR since long before it was released over a year ago).