Jane, Carl's challenge, and animal encounters

  I have to thank Stefanie over at So Many Books blog for this:  she linked to the Jane Austen action figure, in her post on March 13.   I have to say, I did not know that there was a Jane Austen action figure in existence.  And now I want it.  She even has a quill pen in her hand!  And a book!  Tell me you don't think that this would look perfect on your bookshelf......did I say that out loud?   *sh-h*

I will be doing my post tomorrow (ok, today, but I haven't gone to bed yet so it's still Saturday in my mind), for Carl's Once Upon a Time VIII challenge.  It's finally here!  I have to make my pile of books first, and decide which part of the challenge I want.  I love the poster: 

It is so beautiful. I'd love a copy to hang on my wall.  It captures the idea of fantasy perfectly.  And there's NO SNOW in the painting!  I will be back tomorrow (later today!) with my sign-up post and possible books. 

Happy (not) spring in Ottawa:
In the meantime:  it is still winter here.  Today we had 10 cm of snow fall, and now the temperature is plunging.  It will plunge further tomorrow night.  I have a dentist appointment Monday morning.  I'm not sure in what universe I thought booking a dental appointment on a Monday morning was a good idea, but it wasn't this one.  Plus, now we might set a record low temperature (for that day) of -20c.  Plus I have had a sinus infection for weeks now, and why oh why did I not think to cancel the appointment?  My upper teeth are sensitive without the addition of the infection.....I put it down to be chronically tired this winter, from being sick through it all.  I apologize, I don't mean to be whiny,  I wanted to explain exactly why I dread the dentist on Monday, and why my blogging has been spotty this month.  Winter just won't let up, so I've been burying myself in books (very good) and not getting out to walk (very bad).  The winter grumpies are hitting everyone here in Ottawa this month.  Blogging takes too much energy when it's all I can do to drag myself to work and home again.  I know that if Spring comes, I will feel better!  and I can get outside to hear the birds singing and watch the green come in and feel the sun on my face.....

I hope you are feeling spring-like temperatures and watching green spring up wherever you are.  Some day it has to get warm enough that I can stop wearing my winter coat and boots. 

Animals and myths and fantasy
One last thing:  over at Terri Windling's blog, she has a lovely post up about animal encounters, and what they can mean, in fairy tale, fantasy and myth.  This is a good way to segue into Carl's fantasy reading challenge.  The mysterious, the fantasy, the fairies, are all around us.  What animal encounters have you had lately?   Do you like to wander over fields or by water, do you cross streams, or walk through parks, wildish places?  All these are places for encounters with the unworldly, with the spirits, and also with the creatures that share this planet with us.  The woman in the painting for Carl's challenge has a crane with her. Do you have a special animal that you are connecting with this spring?  For me, it's been rabbits; for the past year or two I have been seeing them almost everywhere I walk.  I love bunnies, and I'm always surprised and delighted when I see them.  Because I often walk at dusk, or dawn on summer mornings when it's too hot to walk anywhere else, I am out and about when the rabbits are eating.  They also come out when I'm on benches at the park in midday, too, and are often on the edges of the park when I cross the Alexandra Bridge (one of four bridges connecting Ottawa to Gatineau across the Ottawa River) to Ottawa, in the early evening (around 6 pm).  I have started to pay attention to them, as I've been seeing so many over the 8 months of the year that we don't have snow.  They symbolize creativity, fertility, and fear.  All of which I have been wrestling with for the past couple of years.    This is how fantasy and myth intersect with real life, how we take in the world around us, by noticing that which is around us, and how we create stories and create or find meaning  in it. Terri and her horses, I and my rabbits, and herons, and cardinals, and even the occasional snake crossing my path.  This is also where fantasy begins......

Some of the more famous books with rabbits or hares in them are Alice in Wonderland, which  has the most famous rabbit of all, the Mad Hatter. There is also Peter Rabbit, and Flopsy bunny (and all the other bunnies) of the Beatrix Potter books.  Watership Down, of course, which I read many years ago, and loved.  What else, though? Like with Terri Windling and her ponies she sees around her valley, what animals come to you?  Do you have a favourite fantasy tale in which they appear?

Kristen Britain - Green Rider and First Rider's Call

    First Rider's Call by Kristen Britain is the second book in the Green Rider fantasy series.  I read the first book, Green Rider, in July 2011, but did not review it.  I'm not sure why, I think it is because I was not in a writing mood at the time.  I wish I had, as ever since, I've been recommending Green Rider to everyone I know who reads fantasy and hasn't read this series yet. I am really enjoying this series. So, to make up for this oversight, here is my review of Green Rider, and following, First Rider's Call.
                                 

The world of Green Rider is developed well, set in the land of Sacoridia. Karigan G'ladheon is the heroine, a merchant's daughter, who is expelled from her school, and on her way home, discovers a man dying on the road.  He has been shot with two black arrows, and begs her to deliver the message he carries in his messenger back, to the king, for him.  She agrees, and he dies, and off she goes.  That is not the end of him, however, as the black arrows are poisoning his spirit, and drawing him to the evil that lurks over the wall dividing the land from where ancient evil resides.

   Karigan is young, and some readers might be put off by this, but this is not a young adult fantasy.  There are adult themes in this series, and Karigan has to grow up in a hurry.  Karigan hears the call of the Horn, that calls people from all over Sacoridia to answer, to come be a Green Rider and carry messages for the King to the provinces and their leaders, all over the land. She has a horse, Condor, and discovers that she has her own talents as well. It's a thrilling ride, with ghosts, evil spirits, and a background of war from a thousand years ago, and Karigan discovers that the legacy of that war lives on in the world around her, in a continuing fight of good vs evil.  The other Riders are all different ages and from different nationalities, there are different provinces under the king, that have very different origins.

Unfortunately, I have lent my copy of Green Rider to a friend so she could try the series, so I can't refer to the book for my review. I remember how much I enjoyed it, and wondered why it had taken me so long to read it.   Here is a link to the Amazon.ca book reviews.   I know that after I read it, I went out and bought the second one shortly after.
                                                       
 This past weekend, I picked up my copy of  First Rider's Call,  and I read it in 2 days.  I just could not put it down.  I stayed up late, and read until my eyes were blurry the next day and I had to take a break.  There is something about her writing and the pacing of this series that makes it hard to put down. There is a breathless quality that is wonderful and refreshing.  I enjoyed the adventures, the different storylines, and the exploration of the magical gift or talent that each rider gets when they accept to be a rider.   We get to know more about some of the characters around Karigan as well. First Rider's Call opens a year after the events in Green Rider.  Karigan has gone home, rejecting her role of Green Rider, but the Riders aren't finished with her yet. When she returns to court at long last, she finds that the riders are feeling weakened and diminished, as is her own magical talent - something is changing how the magic works for the Green Riders. And at the wall that divides Sacoridia from the Black Forest, something is stirring when the wall breaks at one point.  An old evil, from back in Sacoridia's history.  One that threatens the land if it breaks free.

The title also refers to the legendary creator of the Green Riders, Lil Ambriodhe, the First Rider, who plays a fairly large role as a ghost  in this book, still trying to round up her Riders for the fight to come.  Karigan has a link with her through the brooch she wears,which turns out to have been Lil's brooch when she was a Rider. Each brooch is handed down, choosing the rider each time, and then when the rider dies or leaves the Green Riders, the brooch goes back into a chest until the next rider for it comes along.  There are a few hundred brooches, so it's not like Karigan only had a few to choose from.  The magic of the brooches is one of the fantasy elements I enjoy in this series.

     It's a delightful series, and I am really enjoying it.  It's solid high fantasy, with a well-developed world and history, with all kinds of fun stuff in it.  And deadly danger.  In both books I ended up crying because someone died.  Being a Green Rider is a serious business, and dangerous as well.  I highly recommend this for anyone who is looking for pure escapist fun fantasy to read.  It has an engaging style and a fast pace, and I do like Karigan very much.  She is an interesting heroine.

So fun that when I received my mother's Day gift card for books, I promptly went out and bought book three, The High King's Tomb, with it.   I am now happily reading it tonight.  Book 4, The Black Veil,  is also  in my birthday box I am busy filling for my birthday next week.

I read First Rider's Call for Once Upon A Time 7.  And The High King's Tomb will be, too.

New Books in the house update:  

Yes, the spending spree continues!  I am making up for the read your own books challenge, most certainly.   I have been buying books for my birthday, though I will save those for next week when I can officially open the box.  In the meantime, I received a lovely Mother's Day book giftcard from my family, and I have spent it already:
High King's Tomb - Kristen Britain (reading already!)
The Last Policeman - Ben Winters (amazon linked)  - I am really excited to find The Last Policeman.  I had heard about it last year.   It's an end of the world dystopian fiction. If the world was going to end in 6 months, what would you do?  What's the point of solving murders if we are all going to die?  Hank Palace is the only cop who cares......


and just because I've been wanting to re-read it for some time now, I bought tonight:
Salem's Lot - Stephen King  - I can hardly wait to re-read this one.  Certain scenes in here are powerful and haunting for me, and lots of vampire deaths.

Other reviews of Green Rider:
Read-Warbler
Errant Dreams

First Rider's Call:
Errant Dreams
SF Site

and here is an interview with Kristen Britain from 2007, just before Book 3, The High King's Tomb was released, over at Fantasy Book Critic.

If you have reviewed either novel, let me know and I'll link to it.

Book Reviews......

I have so many books from my reading this year to review.  I have read some wonderful fantasy books for Once Upon a Time, and some excellent mysteries through the year so far.  I will be doing these as I can, as I do want to get back into at least putting my thoughts on what I've been reading, down here.