Inside Out and Back Again - Mini Review

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"White hair on a pink boy.
Honey hair with orange ribbons on see-through skin.
Hair with barrettes in all colors on bronze bread.

I’m the only
Straight Black Hair
On Olive Skin.”

(from Rainbow)

A semi-autobiographical novel in verse, Lai introduces Ha, a young Vietnamese girl forced to leave her home after the fall of South Vietnam. We begin with Ha living in Vietnam and the increasing struggles as the North advances. We journey with Ha as she travels to the United States aboard a ship and settles in Alabama. We witness her struggles to learn English as well as the racism she faces as her family tries to settle into American life. From humorous (Ha’s comparison of English to that of snakes hissing) to devastating (is her father alive or no), Lai presents a beautiful story of a girl coming to terms with her new life in an unfamiliar land and an unfamiliar language. The loneliness that threatens to overwhelm her and her attempts to find her place are felt throughout Lai’s wonderful verses. A great read for middle grade and adults wanting to learn more about the immigrant experience.


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City of Wolves

City of Wolves by Willow Palecek
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

***I received an ARC from Netgalley in return for a fair and honest review***

Alexander Drake is a down on his luck private detective. Drunk and in need of a job, he is hired/forced into accepting a nobleman’s proposition to find the murderer of his father. Although Drake has sworn off working for the nobility (too much trouble despite the money), he’s accepts an offer he really couldn’t refuse anyway. And so we begin on a fast paced journey through the fictional city of Lupenwald--complete with werewolves, shady detectives, and mafia like religious figures.

City of Wolves ticks off all of the typical mystery boxes--private detective down on his luck, wealthy client with family secrets, police angry over amateur interference, and even a Poirot like scene in which everyone gathers in the drawing room and the mystery is solved. However, despite having the pieces to a good mystery romp (I mean who doesn’t like a good gaslamp noir werewolf mystery), the puzzle never quite came together for me. I found the story confusing and shallow.

I understand with only 100 or so pages to play with, there is not enough time to write an epic. The pacing was too quick, too overcrowded. Okay, we’re at a manor house. Oh wait, now we’re doing an autopsy with some detective who seems like he has some connection to Drake in the past, but not really sure. There’s some sort of allusion to a war in the past. Oh and now we’re off again to the city to see a war veteran. Oh wait, some vicar, who is apparently a mob boss shows up. Is Drake working for him now? Is he some sort of future character. Huh? I think the author was trying to show a need for urgency on Drake’s part, but all of his movement back and forth seemed forced and not as dramatic as I believe the author intended. The solution to the mystery was anti-climatic. The big reveal didn’t really feel all that important or big by the end.

City of Wolves has good bones. There are the bones of an interesting world and interesting characters if they are given the chance and page space to come through and truly join the narrative. Drake seems like he will be snarky, hardboiled investigator perfect for gaslamp noir. At the moment, I don’t see myself actively seeking out a second installment, but perhaps that will change with time. ⅖ stars.



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Cinder

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been holding out on reading this for a while. I wasn't sure if I could stomach another cheesy, overly dramatic YA romance. However, I finally decided to give it a go, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed this clever, well written retelling of the Cinderella story. Cinder as a cyborg, evil mirror-fearing queens living on the moon. Um, yes please. Minimum romance, or at least not bogged down in whine and romance, made this story even more enjoyable. Lihn Cinder is feisty and intelligent, but not in that sarcastic, snarky, I'm going to kick everyone's butt, over the top way that also plagues YA. Speaking of plagues, there's one of those too. The plot twist was fairly predictable and the prince was rather annoying in his I'm going to be serious now, and then switching to immature little boy in the next paragraph. However, I'll give him a pass due to evil queens and all. A 4 out of 5 stars and already on to Scarlet.

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