After several days of interrupted reading, I finally finished Pagan in Exile by Catherine Jinks (Book #45 for 2009).

The Pagan books have been in my wishlist for some time now, and I was surprised to come across Pagan’s Crusade (book 1) at Book Sale last year. Cecille got me Pagan in Exile for Christmas.

After two books in the series, I still pretty much don’t get it. The past few days have been busy for me, but if Pagan in Exile was interesting enough, I’d have finished it the first day.

I was really interested in the series as I have never read any Templar knight novels before, but I had several problems with this series.

First, I really hate it when books do not provide enough context into the central ideas that form the backbone of the story. This series, for instance, is set some time during the Crusades, but assumes the reader knows all about the Crusades.

I blanch at books like this, which plunge you right into a foreign concept, because it’s difficult to get into the story and even more difficult to imagine it. Style-wise, it’s okay if concepts are explained along the way, e.g. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, which takes some getting used to but makes it all worth it in the end. But if the author simply expects you to make conjectures out of the meager information provided, it’s just plain annoying.

Second, Pagan, the protagonist sticks out like a sore thumb in this series. He is supposed to be a wisecracking teener who serves as a squire for a Templar knight. Annoying wisecracks notwithstanding, he doesn’t sound like someone from the period in which the book is set. However vague the time period is, I’m sure they weren’t quipping Wham! or hups-a-daisy! or God, how I hate monasteries in the Crusades.

Pagan’s thought process and sarcasm are disjointed against the historical setting. I understand that the character is wisecracking, but I’m sure that with the proper research, the author could have prevented Pagan from being an anachronism in his own title series. It just takes away the credibility of his character.

Speaking of speech, the series contains a lot of cuss words (not to mention sexual content) that makes it inappropriate for young readers.

Finally, the storyline is frustrating. After two books, I felt as if I’d been led around in circles. There is no clear plot developmen, no goals for the protagonists to achieve, no rising action or climax, and the books just make you plod on and on and on.

It hits another of my pet peeves — I get really annoyed when I don’t know what the author is driving at. I have hundreds of books waiting to be read and I devote time to your book, the least you can do is to let me know that there is a point to reading it.

I tried to like this series, but come on, throw me a bone here…

I don’t think I’ll read the rest of the series.

***
My copies: Pagan’s Crusade, trade paperback, from Book Sale (~P80); Pagan in Exile, trade paperback, from Cecille — both mooched already.

My rating: Pagan’s Crusade 2/5 stars; Pagan in Exile 2/5 stars; Pagan series 2/5 stars

You’d probably like these:

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Book #15 for 2009
Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
Book #16 for 2009

Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief was one of my best reads for 2008 (read in October). I waited it a bit to read it because it was really hyped about for a while, and I’m glad that the hype turned out to be well worth it. It was such a charming novel and I loved every bit of it, and I was crying buckets (rivaling the amount of tears I cried while reading Deathly Hallows) throughout the last third of the book.

The characters were so alive, and so lovable — Liesl, Rudy, Papa, Mama, Max — that you can’t help but feel for them. The most compelling thing I found about it was that it was told from the point of view of Death, which was so amazing — an abstract thing, personified! I never thought I’d feel sorry for Death, but in this book I did, especially in the parts when Death was saying he didn’t necessarily like taking lives, that it was just something he had to do… I’m getting sniffy just thinking about it.

I used to avoid Holocaust-themed books because I knew they’d i nevitably be sad, but The Book Thief got me into a Holocaust phase and I ended up getting other books with similar themes.

While not as lengthy or as deep-seated in emotion as The Book Thief, the three books in this selection are also well-written young adult novels, and offer additional insight into the Holocaust.

The Boy in Striped Pyjamas (read last December) is actually subtitled “A Fable,” and it reads like one too, with a matter-of-fact tone. It is the story of nine-year old Bruno, son of a Nazi commandant, who is bewildered at having to move to a new neighborhood because of his dad’s new assignment. They move to a strange place, where their house is the only house for miles. But when Bruno looks out his window, beyond the chain-link fence, he sees thousands of people in blue striped pyjamas. Unbeknownst to his family, Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy from the other side of the fence, and life is never the same again for Bruno.

I liked this book because of the truly ironic and ohno-ohno-ohno-inducing twist (I swear!), and the innocent naivete of Bruno is heartrending amidst the terrible events happening around him.

Now they’re making it into a movie — David Thewlis as Father, egads! — I’ve got to stock up on the tissues!

Number the Stars is a Newbery-award winning book by one of my favorite authors, and it does not disappoint either. Annemarie and Ellen are best friends in WW2 Denmark, which was trying in vain to resist the Nazi invasion. Ellen’s family is Jewish, and when the hunt for Jews begin, Annemarie and her family must do what they can to help their friends escape.

The book was not as sad as I thought, and it was in fact quite positive and hopeful — unexpected for a Holocaust novel. It seemed different from Lois Lowry’s Anastasia series, and I appreciate that Lowry could write books outside of the series, and win a Newbery while she was at it.

Finally, the biggest surprise came from Milkweed. I’ve never read any books by Jerry Spinelli, although I knew his work is highly acclaimed. I used to think his works were too street, but this one seemed different so I decided to give it a try (not to mention it was P10, hardbound, at Book Sale).

Like The Book Thief, it’s hard to explain Milkweed in a few sentences. Insert deep breath here. I would say it’s a hard-hitting story of friendship, hope and survival about an orphan with no clear identity, who grows up in Nazi-occupied Poland. I can’t explain much more than that, because it gets complicated, but it was like a precursor to The Book Thief (Milkweed was published 2001)– a blend of whimsy, poignancy, and stark reality — and I couldn’t put it down once I started it. I ended up reading most of it in the car on my way to a meeting in QC and then back again to the office (sometimes traffic has its benefits).

The Holocaust is one of the most popular topics for both fiction and non-fiction, but I’m glad there are more books about it in the young adult genre, as its target readers do not usually see history beyond textbooks and classroom lessons. This way, they see history from another person’s point of view, and share the reality that the victims and survivors of that time experienced.

***
My copies: The Book Thief, paperback mooched from the UK, upgraded into hardcover bought for P160 at the NBS booth at the MIBF; The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, bought for P40 at Book Sale, upgraded to hardcover with dust jacket from NBS Booksak Presyo sale bought for P100, paperback on its way to the US (mooched from me); Number the Stars, paperback, received as a bonus mooch; Milkweed, hardcover, bought for P10 at Book Salei

My ratings: The Book Thief 5/5 stars; The Boy in Striped Pyjamas 4/5 stars; Number the Stars 3.5/5 stars; Milkweed 5/5 stars

***
Phew, four books in one review!