The Final Empire By Brandon Sanderson - Audiobook

Mistborn: The Final Empire Brandon Sanderson 5 out of 5	Published 2006 First Sentence "Ash fell from the sky..."
Publisher's Description: In a world where ash falls from the sky, and mist dominates the night, an evil cloaks the land and stifles all life. The future of the empire rests on the shoulders of a troublemaker and his young apprentice. Together, can they fill the world with color once more? In Brandon Sanderson's intriguing tale of love, loss, despair and hope, a new kind of magic enters the stage — Allomancy, a magic of the metals.
Dear Reader, I am very glad one of my friends turned me onto this series. The fantasy realm that Brandon Sanderson has crafted is tight. I would describe it as similar to feudalistic, pre-industrial earth. There are two classes; the Skaa and the nobleborn. The skaa are under the harsh enslavement of the nobleclass. There is a demi-god ruler referred to as the Lord Ruler. 1,000 years ago an event occured that gave the Lord Ruler his divine powers and the structure of the world was reformed. Now ash falls from the sky, every thing is gray or black, even plants and the sky. At night mists cover the world and have mystical properties. Also at the time his transformation the Lord Ruler gifted all of his supporters a magical condition of allomancy. Allomancy is the magical power of being able to burn specific metals to access certain superhuman abilities. The original supporters have long since passed away but their descendants make up the nobleclass. The heredity of allomancy is passed from generation, because of this the Canton of Inquisition forbids a noble person from procreating with skaa. If they do choose to rape a skaa woman they have to kill her soon after to avoid any halfbreed people.  The two main characters, Vin and Kelsier were both born as skaa but due to the fact that the nobleborn have illegally fathered children, they are mistborn.  They ingest small bits of metals and acquire special powers. For example Pewter gives inhuman strength, tin enhances all of the 6 senses Steel allows you to push metal objects, iron allows you to pull on metal objects, This makes them be able to fly and jump by balancing the pushes and pulls of the metals around them in the city.  Bronze allows the allomancer to soothe people or groups of people depending on how skilled they are.  Copper burning masks their usage of allomancy from other allomancers. Some people only have one of the 11 metals and so they are known by their various names such as a thug, a Smoker or tin-eye. If you're born with more than one ability to burn metals then you can burn them all and are mistborn. The mistborn are the highest echelon of powerful warriors. Atium is a metal that allows the mistborn the ability to see the shadow images of all possible moves their opponent is and could make. This allows them to intercept or dodge blows seconds before the person moves. Atium is so precious and powerful it is also used as a currency  Vin is a young girl who has lived a rough skaa life as a bandit/ thief. Her brother Ream raised her and also beat and degrading her. As the story starts he has recently abandoned her. Kelsier is the charasmatic leader of a group of skaa who plan to over throw the Lord Ruler. Kelsier has a particularly strong agenda again the noble class and the lord ruler since they beat his wife to death in front of him and sent him to the Atium mines to be worked to death. The idea of overthrowing the Lord Ruler is crazy since he has godlike powers and seems immortal. Rebellions of the past attempt many times to kill him but they had never succeeded. All the odds seem again them but little by little they work on a strategy to weaken the noblemen, deplete the army in the capital city of Luthadel, and to rally the skaa masses.  Vin is discovered by Kelsier and his crew, he essentially gives her a new family and a new chance at happiness.  Her character has a lot of growing to do from being a battered street urchin to a badass mistborn.  Sanderson builds up a lot of awful so that the reader can grow more and more angry and the ugly world of, "The Final Empire." The reader definitely will be rooting for the underdog to find a way to take out all the bad guys and like a video game defeat the final master bad guy. There are some really great unexpected plot twists that I can't tell you about but I can say that the story is very enthralling. I also love how detailed he gets when he describes a battle between allomancers, the coins that they drop and the breastplates that they push off on when they are deflecting and flying around each other. He's set up a great starting point for many other adventures and mysteries of the metals to unfold.  The theme of religion and it's use in society is addressed in a noteable way. The lord ruler is both their supreme leader and their god. The skaa are supposed to believe this and their for submit willingly to their enslaved lives.  In the tradition of Firefly and Battle Star Gallactica the author gives the people a unique curse. In this world they don't say, " My God!" they say, " Lord ruler!" The Final Empire has a clear caste system, the rich and powerful and the weak masses. There are some parallels to the way people viewed African Americans in the south before the civil war and these fictional people. Ellend, a nobleman, and his friends wonder out loud if skaa are as intelligent as the people of the nobleclass are.  There's a little My-Fair-Lady-action going on when they teach Vin to play the part of a rural noblelady named, Lady Villette. She has to grow her hair out, wear ball gowns, high heels and learn all the house names and alliances. ( Sort of Game-of-Throney) They have her attend balls as a spy and she ends up meeting her love interest there. Her teacher, Sazed, is a cool character, kind of like the Giles role from Buffy. He knows all the stuff and has the patience to teach her despite her desire to go play in the mists.  The plan of the 'crew' ( Kelsier's crew of allomancers and Vin) seems gallant and a little hopeless. How the plot resolves was unexpected and that is a rare statement for someone who likes to read. I should says likes to listen since I almost always do the audiobook version of books. On that note I did like the voice of the narrator, Michael Kramer.  Yours, Marsha

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Uprooted

Uprooted Naomi Novik 4 / 5	Published 2015 First Sentence "Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley."
Publisher's Description: “Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.” Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood. The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her. But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.
Dear Reader, I didn't see this one coming at all. Uprooted left me constantly surprised by its twists and turns. It began like a traditional fairy tale, and so the reader is lured into thinking it is going to follow a certain prescribed path, but it kept turning away from the expected into more and more adventure. While it did read somewhat slowly at times - even in the midst of nonstop action! - overall, it was a book I just kept looking forward to returning to. I really wanted to know what happened to Agnieszka and the Wood. Again, the beginning felt tired: a young girl who doesn't realize she is anything special is selected, despite all odds, as the Chosen One. This is something every girl her age has been preparing for their entire lives. Agnieszka is whisked away to a remote tower where she is tested...in some quite unusual ways. The reader could join in with the girl's own frustration as she worked to puzzle out exactly what was expected of her. When she does figure things out, though, in many ways it's "all wrong" - this is the first of many times that the book diverges from the reader's comfortable idea of a fairy tale. But it's a great branching off, and creates a much more enjoyable story. It's difficult to discuss this book's specifics without giving too much away, so I'll refrain from writing too much more. I will, however, add that I did think this was a YA book until I had it in my hands. There is some rather adult content in the book, which actually bothers me because otherwise it is so PG! I suppose a creative parent could read this book to an older child (I'm imagining the audience for The Princess Bride or Stardust, say) and simply gloss over the two rather unnecessarily graphic scenes (I didn't feel as if they added anything to the story, honestly). Otherwise, it's a really magical adventure story, full of sorcery and villains (some unexpected!) and monsters and castles and nature and the strong bonds of friendship. I also loved that it was steeped in a lot of Polish fairy tale history. Definitely worth the read. Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:

Kindle:

The Night Circus

The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 4 / 5	Published 2011 First Sentence "The circus arrives without warning."
Publisher's Description: The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called "Le Cirque des Reves," and it is only open at night. But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway--a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per-formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
Dear Reader, I was so incredibly (and surprisingly!) enchanted by this book. I have to laugh at myself, because I would never have actually picked the book up - I wasn't originally interested in the content, and too many of my friends (and trusted book sources) gave it terrible reviews! But I ended up reading it anyway because I made a silly mistake. I decided that I wanted a little more structure to my reading, and so I decided to tackle a list that looked manageable: the Book Riot Readers’ Top 50 Novels on Goodreads! Now...I should have looked more closely. I didn’t realize that some of the books on the list only had ONE or TWO votes!! Whoops! I guess I should have known better when a lot of more excellent books than those on the list didn’t make the cut, but I think I was so encouraged by my being very close to finishing the book list - I felt like it was such an attainable goal! As it is, I only have 6 left on that list to finish, so I still may work towards it. Besides, I am so glad that I did pick this one up. I was so thoroughly charmed by it! I understand why there are entire wikis devoted to the novel, and a huge fanbase out there.  Morgenstern truly draws you into the world of Le Cirque des Reves: you can see and smell and taste and feel everything that she describes, and you feel as if you are a visitor, yourself! I wanted to be there alongside the characters, experiencing the same magic. While I wasn’t as drawn in by the personalities or even the plotline, I did love the circus itself - perhaps as a character unto itself. Which was the entire reason the book won me over. As it did for many others, the main love story feel kind of flat for me, but no matter.  The competition that the entire plot hinged upon? Not really all that interesting or intriguing to me. So I am not certain what it was that kept me coming back. Or what made me love the book so. Perhaps I was simply, literally enchanted by it! I think my favorite people were the Reveurs, those who like me were drawn by the siren call of the circus. The black, white, and red magic of it all.  Like I said, though, don’t read it for the story. There really isn’t much of one! I think the period was written really well, and I think I loved all of the scenes which were described in such rich detail: dinner parties, individual circus tents, tearooms, workshops. Victorian England and turn-of-the-century New England. Swirls of color and whiffs of scent are what my mind truly recall of the book. Perhaps with a strong story, this would have been a 5-star book for me. As it was, I am still glad I mistakenly “coerced myself” into reading it! Best, Arianna P.S. I almost forgot to mention that it was read by Jim Dale, who also read a favorite audiobook of mine, The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Heart. Perhaps that was originally what kept me reading! I adore his reading voice.

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Paperback:

Kindle:

The Magician's Lie

The Magician's Lie Greer Macallister 3.5/5	Published 2015 First Sentence "Tonight, I will do the impossible."
Publisher's Description: Water for Elephants meets The Night Circus in The Magician’s Lie, a debut novel in which the country’s most notorious female illusionist stands accused of her husband's murder --and she has only one night to convince a small-town policeman of her innocence. The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden’s husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear. But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless—and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding. Over the course of one eerie night, Virgil must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free… and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors.
Dear Reader, The Magician's Lie has a little bit of mystery, a little bit of historical fiction and lots of character plot. I liked this book, it held my interest but didn't completely overwhelm me enough to consider it four stars. The story goes back and forth in time, present day consisting of officer interrogating the alleged killer (the magician), past consisting of the magician telling her "story" in order to clear her name. The plot is slightly more complex since the officer is doing this in order to gain back his reputation after an accident in the field caused turmoil, as well as the magician having some kind of "magical" healing powers. This is all told to you in the first chapter or so (not considered a spoiler in my book). The greater mystery lies with, who killed the magician's husband? She claims it wasn't her, but she also fled the scene with a suitcase only to be caught by the officer. The officer wants her to be guilty and get her confession in order to redeem himself. I was definitely more interested in the past (story-telling) aspect of this book over the present interrogation, thankfully those parts are smaller in scale to the other part. I found the story surrounding the officer and the incident in the field to be blasé and without flare. I honestly can't remember that side story and I enjoyed the story without putting much focus on it. I think the Author could have taken it out completely and the book wouldn't have suffered at all. Who cares about him when the main characters story is so fascinating!? Talk about living a life on the road, creating new illusions for shows, having a crazy special ability to heal oneself, and on and on... Yes, her story is fireworks compared to his. I'd love to see what others thought of this book, the timing for me was a little off since I was reading this around the same time as reading "The Barefoot Queen", which I adored. I know I shouldn't compare the two (different time periods and histories BUT they both deal with strong female characters undergoing hardship). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good historical fiction crime novel, it definitely hits all those notes. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:  Kindle - Right

The Accidental Highwayman

The Accidental Highwayman Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, A Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides Ben Tripp 4 / 5	Published October 14, 2014 First Sentences "Gentle Reader, This story contains nearly as many dark deeds, treacherous villains, and acts of violence as one might expect to find in a typical morning newspaper. In addition, there is a significant emphasis on heathen magic and demoniacal doings. I cannot recommend that anyone read it."
Publisher's Description: The Accidental Highwayman is the first swashbuckling adventure for young adults by talented author and illustrator, Ben Tripp. This thrilling tale of dark magic and true love is the perfect story for fans of William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. In eighteenth-century England, young Christopher “Kit” Bristol is the unwitting servant of notorious highwayman Whistling Jack. One dark night, Kit finds his master bleeding from a mortal wound, dons the man’s riding cloak to seek help, and changes the course of his life forever. Mistaken for Whistling Jack and on the run from redcoats, Kit is catapulted into a world of magic and wonders he thought the stuff of fairy tales. Bound by magical law, Kit takes up his master’s quest to rescue a rebellious fairy princess from an arranged marriage to King George III of England. But his task is not an easy one, for Kit must contend with the feisty Princess Morgana, gobling attacks, and a magical map that portends his destiny: as a hanged man upon the gallows…. Fans of classic fairy-tale fantasies such as Stardust by Neil Gaiman and The Princess Bride will find much to love in this irresistible YA debut by Ben Tripp, the son of one of America’s most beloved illustrators, Wallace Tripp (Amelia Bedelia). Following in his father’s footsteps, Ben has woven illustrations throughout the story.
Dear Reader, Too often, I have been enticed into reading a book because of its kind comparisons to other books or authors I've loved. Too often, I've been disappointed by these same books that I went into with such high hopes. I am pleased to say that was NOT the case with this lovely little gem of a book. It rightly deserves its place in between The Princess Bride and Stardust on your bookshelf - the jacket copy couldn't have been more spot-on with this one.  Charming and guileless Kit Bristol begins his tumultuous journey unexpectedly, when he finds his master senseless, sprawled across the kitchen table. On the brink of death, Kit's master reveals his secret identity, and innocent Kit, thinking only to help his beloved employer, takes up the dangerous mantle. From there, his life is forever changed, as he encounters no end of magical folk and bright characters. I loved the sweetness and innocence of this book; there wasn't an evil bone in Kit's body, which meant that he was selfless and wanted only good things for all of his friends. It felt like a true fairy tale. This story wasn't made for complexity; evil is evil and good is good, simple as that. But don't misunderstand me: it's also a very complex, involved, and creatively spun yarn. You won't want to put it down. I think one of my favorite parts was the footnotes in the book, both when they were silly and (very cool) when they were explaining an archaic word to the reader. The author - who, by the way, earns even more esteem in my eyes because he is the son of the illustrator of the Amelia Bedelia books! - does a wonderful job of keeping the story "period" while not losing his reader. He explains without being overbearing; he acts as the "translator" for the reader, as he claims to have discovered the manuscript in an old, long-locked chest in a family attic. Tripp certainly has his father's illustration chops: the book is peppered throughout with everything from small sidebar illustrations to full-page graphics which depict some of the more enthralling parts of the story. I would love to see this book in its fully finished form; I look forward to its release so I can check it out! I'd recommend this as bedtime story reading for anyone with a big imagination, who loves to laugh and yearns for adventure. Does Kit get the princess in the end? You'll have to see for yourself! (And I guarantee you'll be pleased with the unlikely ending.) Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

Kindle

Hardcover

The Ocean at the End of the Lane (review by Arianna)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 3 / 5	Published 2013 First Sentences "It was only a duck pond, out at the back of the farm. It wasn't very big."
Publisher's Description: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
Dear Reader, I dunno. I think Neil Gaiman is brilliant and I always enjoy his work, but there is something about his magical realism that just isn't for ME, exactly. He writes these great fairy tales of stories, and they charm me and enthrall me, but I come away from them a bit uncertain of what it was I was supposed to "get" from them, outside of a brief respite from the real world. Perhaps that's all I'm SUPPOSED to get, and if that's the case, then Gaiman certainly does what he set out to accomplish! I really enjoyed the narrative of this book (despite some disgusting parts that had me cringing!), and the story itself was quaint, original, and perfectly magical. But even the narrator himself agrees that he didn't really grow or change at all during the course of this part of his life, despite all that happens to him. And having been told that explicitly, I came away from the story unsure of what I was supposed to have gotten from it, myself. Even fairy tales tend to have messages. This, rather, was a fantastical little book about a childhood encounter with the supernatural. I enjoyed the characters - especially the narrator as a young boy - and the descriptions were incredible, even those that were very surreal. However, of all the Neil Gaiman I've read thus far, this probably won't be recommended to anyone who isn't already a serious Gaiman fan. Cute, enjoyable, but...just not enough there for me, I guess. Yours, Arianna

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of this book here:

The Enchanted

The Enchanted Rene Denfeld 5/5	Published 2014 First Sentence "This is an enchanted place."
Publisher's Description: The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries magical visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs, with the devastating violence of prison life. Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest, and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honor and corruption-ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own. Beautiful and transcendent, The Enchanted reminds us of how our humanity connects us all, and how beauty and love exist even amidst the most nightmarish reality.
Dear Reader, This has to be one of my favorite books I've read this year. What a great year for books, I've had more 5 stars this year than I would have ever thought. I wonder if this has to do with the blog and getting more involved in the literary world. My "to-read" list has grown so fast in recent years and the recommendations keep rolling in. I've noticed that I hardly ever read a book I hate and if I do, more than likely... it's left unfinished. You'll notice that our reviews for 1-2 star ratings are VERY few (a handful at most). I mean, think about it... if you read the premise, the book has a recommendation from someone, and you have some inkling to read it... you would suppose that you'd like the book at least a little, right? Ugh, this has to be one of my biggest digressions yet (on this blog), and I apologize. I think the bottom line is this, I pick the books I read and I think I'm getting better at picking them! This book, alas, I did not pick. RJ Julia Bookstore can take credit for that. This bookstore has a first edition, signed copy, club that you can join and get the book shipped to your door every month. Great selection, really! Check it out. Enough about that, can we finally talk about the book? Okay, sorry... entirely my fault. The Enchanted is all about the secrets people hold, and this is all set in a prison. The term "magical realism" definitely applies here. Even though this is set in modern time, whenever we're transported into the prison via the characters, you almost feel transported back through time. The prison itself is ancient, the tone always seems very old fashioned. This is really hard to describe to you, I think you'd better just read it yourself, hehe. The story goes back and forth between the perspective of an inmate, a "lady" investigator and the warden (plus a few minor characters here and there). We get to know these characters very intimately, as we're told their backstory (and a few others). We start to feel the pressure of the jail cell walls and that impending doom of death knocking on those jail bars. The tone of all of this is very dark and mysterious. You can't read this without feeling the magic it holds. Think of it like this, you're in a dark and wet cellar that has row after row of damaged books... and when you open one of them, you find the pages come to life and they reach out and grab hold tight to drag you inside. At first you feel unsettled by the story but then you start to empathize and yearn for closure. Each prison inmate has that story to tell, and we get to see a glimpse of that from two of them among others who come and work within the prison. The stories are tragic, honest, powerful, beautiful, and terrible all at the same time. The Author uses fantasy mixed with the bitter and disgusting reality of the prison system, telling a tale of magical horror. Don't be scared, don't turn away, read everything because there is a very serious lesson to be learned here. I've never read anything like this and I think everyone should experience it. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of The Enchanted here:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 5/5	Published 2013 First Sentence "It was only a duck pond, out at the back of the farm."
Publisher's Description: Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy. Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what. A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
Dear Reader, Magic! Pure magic! I LOVED this book. The magic in this book was wonderful, it took me right back to those childhood memories that I miss. Do you remember those moments when you were that young reader, that impressionable one? Remember the feeling you got when you read something so magical that gave you shivers? THIS does that, or at least for me it did. It's so adult, but yet has all the charm of a children's fairy tale. Maybe that impression comes from the main character being a child who happens upon a family with magical powers. This boy has a normal family, not too happy or too sad, and has a love of reading that is extremely relatable to any reader. It brings you back to when you read a book under the covers with a flashlight, reading while walking around and even while climbing the stairs, bringing your book with you everywhere... THAT kind of love for reading. I want you to close your eyes, think back to that time in your childhood that had you captivated by a magical story. Close the eyes, remember that time and breath slowly... so slowly that you don't wake. If you wake... the magic will disappear in a cloud, like a dream. THAT is how this book feels. I won't deny that I've been a fan of Gaiman before this book came out and I'm happy to see him slide into a more public view after this book became a bestseller. He is definitely an Author with a niche and one that most people who might not be into supernatural or fantasy would rather pass up but I find The Ocean at the End of the Lane very accessible to anyone. I like that he created an approachable book, maybe even to sway non-fantasy readers over to the magical side a bit more. I think Coraline was another of his more approachable and acclaimed works, and this story has a lot of similarity. Apparently, Gaiman has a way of reaching everyone while writing about children in a magical world. Maybe everyone can relate to that feeling of wonder and magic? Whatever the reason, I can easily give this recommendation to just about anyone (although I will warn this isn't a children's book, parents be warned). Pick this up and read it today. Happy Reading, AmberBug

Support Shelf Notes! Purchase your copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane here: