Gio Tobar Tobar itibaren Khlong Khachen, Mueang Phichit District, Phichit, Tayland itibaren Khlong Khachen, Mueang Phichit District, Phichit, Tayland

I got this as an ARC from the publisher. Both Natalie and I read it and both loved it. YA, in that it is mostly about a 16 year old girl, but better writing than most YA. Interesting story about a future where chocolate is illegal and caffeine the most sought-after street drug.

Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones is the fifth Chrestomanci book. Like the Chronicles of Narnia series, publishing order is different than the chronology of the series. Chronologically this book is second (I think). The book opens with Conrad's uncle telling him that he has bad karma. He's probably under a curse and the only way to break it is to apprentice himself to the lord on the hill to find out who there has made the curse. Conrad's new life gives a glimpse of the British class system but in an alternate Earth where the Alps extend to England and there isn't an English channel. The house he's working in is a Bluebeard's Castle. There are lots of forbidden areas and serious consequences for going where he's not allowed. That doesn't stop Conrad, though. Does it ever with that sort of set up? Conrad meets up with another boy there for something other than apprenticing. Together they discover the many secrets of the house. The house is what makes Conrad's Fate something special. It's an ever changing structure and it appears to be haunted. It's a building that belongs in a Doctor Who episode. It's both the setting and the biggest clue to what's really going on. Conrad's Fate is commentary on class systems. It's also a mystery in a fantasy setting.

Urban Fantasy. Trolls have long been a part of Finnish folklore, but it wasn't until 1907 that they were officially discovered and classified as a mammal. A cross between a primate and a cat, they are secretive and impossible to catch, but lately they've been leaving the woods and venturing closer and closer to the cities. On his way home from a date, Angel comes across a group of kids tormenting something in the shadows. It's a troll cub, weak and injured, and Angel takes it to his apartment and tries to nurse it back to health. Things progress quickly from there, the book skipping along over the narrative with a strangely light touch for such a bizarre story. Because Angel does fall in love with his troll, Pessi, and Pessi is obviously intelligent, able to unlock doors, recognize himself in a mirror, and build things with blocks, but the book seems reluctant to tell us much more. It felt very much like a fairytale in that it lacked certain kinds of details, as if we were already so familiar with the story that we could bring those parts with us. The chapters are all very short, only a few pages each. We hear from Angel, his boss, his ex-boyfriend, the man he's sleeping with now, the mail-order bride that lives downstairs, and in between all that there are excerpts from academic journals, news reports, folktales, all on the subject of trolls. It builds a greater picture of the history between man and troll, while also hinting at their future, but it left me wanting more of the now, more of the specific relationship between Pessi and Angel, rather than the broader strokes of troll and man. Four stars. Dark and urgent and kind of kinky, like an old fairytale.