Wondrous Strange -- Lesley Livingston

17-year-old Kelley Winslow is living the dream (or trying to) -- she recently moved to New York City, where she's attempting to break into the world of theater.  Due to a broken ankle on the part of the leading lady, she's just been moved up from gopher/understudy to the star of the show:  she'll be playing Titania in an off-off-off-off-off-off-off Broadway production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

18-year-old-(ish)* Sonny is a Janus guard.  He and twelve others, at the Winter King Auberon's command, guard the Samhain Gate in NYC's Central Park, the only place where everyday, run-of-the-mill fae can cross over to our world.  Eight years out of nine, it only opens for one night a year.  The last year of the cycle, the Gate is open for nine nights -- and the Janus guard is kept extremely busy trying to keep the fae in their own realm and out of ours.

This year, of course, is a nine-night year.  When Sonny meets Kelley, he knows that there's something different about her -- and it isn't only his immediate instinct to protect a lovely girl.  Though she's not yet ready to admit it to herself, Kelley knows that there's something about Sonny, too -- she shouldn't trust someone who's basically acting like, well, a stalker, but she does.  She knows, deep down, that there's something odd going on in general -- something bigger than the horse who's suddenly decided to take up residence in her bathtub -- and that it's going to be life-changing.

Theater, faeries, the inimitable Robin Goodfellow, Shakespeare, sparring royalty, action, romance, magic and mystery in NYC:  Wondrous Strange.

I'm a sucker for stories about mostly unseen magic in familiar places, as well as stories about the stage**, and obviously I like the action and romance and mystery.  So this one was a no-brainer of a pick for me.  I especially enjoyed the scenes at the theater, as well as the interactions between Sonny and the fae living in our world.  I enjoyed discovering the mostly unknown version of NYC with Kelley.  And while I saw most of the big twists coming***, there were still a lot of minor surprises that made me happy.

I did think that some of the dialogue didn't work -- occasionally it pulled me right out of the story because I just couldn't bring myself believe that someone would actually say those things aloud****.  The prose was occasionally a bit flowery for my personal taste*****, but as I said, that's very much a personal issue.  And in a book that deals with Shakespeare, I think it's quite understandable that the author'd be feeling a little flowery.

So, overall, fun.  I enjoyed it.  I think it'll certainly be popular with the urban fantasy/romance/subset:theaterlover crowd.  (That's a crowd, right?)  And I always approve of YA novels that bring attention to the classics.  Unless it's providing a positive portrayal of Wuthering Heights.  Yecch.

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*SEMI-SPOILER:  I never quite got a handle on how aging works in this book.  Maybe it was explained and I just missed it.  Does it have to do with the realm or the genetics?  I assume that the Faerie royals can majick people to retard the aging process, but I did wonder if Kelley took longer to grow up or what.  Because I thought Sonny'd been around much longer than her, but if they were about the same age when they were kids... I DON'T KNOW!  It didn't bother me while I was reading, but now it's making me a bit crazy.  END SEMI-SPOILER

**I actually wished there'd been more of that -- got any good theatre/theater book recommendations?

***BIG SPOILER:  For someone raised among the fairies, Sonny's mistake was a pretty bone-headed one.  I mean, jebus.  If it makes me say, "NO, YOU ASS!  NOOOOO!" OUT LOUD, I know that it's especially bad.  END BIG SPOILER

****SPOILER:  Like:  "To loose that insatiable, death-mad Faerie war band on an unsuspecting mortal populace here--the carnage would be unspeakable, the death toll catastrophic!"  I just... the characters in the conversation are well aware of the Wild Hunt and what it is, so it wasn't a necessary line in the scene -- it felt like the line was the author's way of imparting information to the reader.  Which pulled me right out.  Not a major issue, but stuff like that gets to me.  END SPOILER

*****The line on the back of the book is a good example of this:  "She felt his arms tighten around her as they spiraled up, borne aloft on wings that were dark as the night, bright as a new star."  Not my thing.  But, then, the Roys are known for their tendency to get all squicked out by flowery romance-y stuff.  We're all kind of like 9-year-old boys in that respect.

Comments

[LauraJane]

I believe Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev is about faeries and the theater. Out in July, I think.

Thanks for the review. I bought this book a long time ago solely because I read in a few places Sonny is a dream. But many reviews I've read of the book as a whole have been mediocre, so I haven't made time to read it.

[Kelly Fineman]

I liked this book a lot, too. M (14) only hung in about 3/4 through - although she's an avid reader, she didn't know her Arthurian legends and Shakespeare well enough to follow what was going on, or so she said.

And Lisa Mantchev's EYES LIKE STARS definitely has a Shakespeare/faerie thing going.

There was THE JULIET CLUB, which had Shakespeare and some staging going on (but not enough). The world needs more theatre books, though.

[tanita]

Oooh, it sounds fab, despite the Victorian novel language barrier. And the cover is really pretty. I love theater - I sometimes wish I had taken my ability to clown around in high school with it a bit more seriously, but alas -- all that drama and 'tude is hard to maintain.

[Genevieve]

I enjoyed this book, and would read the sequel, though I was a little bothered by some of the flaws you mentioned. But it was a lot of fun.
For theater books, you've read Dramarama by E. Lockhart, yes? And I like the theater parts of Suite Scarlett (Maureen Johnson). Would definitely like to read more theater books, though. Do you only want YA, or are adult nonfiction books acceptable? Because Betty Comden's autobiography was great fun to read, as are Kristen Chenoweth's and Moss Hart's (there's a variety for you).

[Genevieve]

Oh, and for YA novels that give a good impression of the classics, Marilyn Sachs's First Impressions is fun (not great, but fun) and is largely about Pride and Prejudice.

[Maureen E]

King of Shadows by Susan Cooper! It's a little younger but one of my very favorite comfort books.

[giantladysquirrels]

Good Moon Rising (Nancy Garden) is a great YA theater book.

If you want to get a little retro, the sequels to The Keeping Days, by Norma Johnston, also have nice theater subplots to them. I am blanking on the precise names, but I think one is Glory in the Flower and the other is A Mustard Seed of Magic.

[Brooke]

I second the motion on King of Shadows, but I also highly recommend taking a gander at Susan L. Thomson's The Secret of the Rose. It features the familiar idea of a girl-disguised-as-a-boy in Elizabethan England -- BUT -- she spends her time hanging out with Christopher Marlowe in the Rose Theater instead of Shakespeare in the Globe. Oh, and she has to hide the fact that she's a Catholic, as well. And is Kit Marlowe a SPY? Good stuff.

Oh oh oh -- and if you haven't picked up Julia Golding's The Diamond of Drury Lane, do so right now. Now. Can't stress the awesomeness of that book enough. Any book set in the late 1700s with a character named "Captain Sparkle" is bound to be good reading.

[bree]

I agree with whoever metioned Dramarama by E. Lockhart and Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson!

[Str4y]

I was a little disappointed by this book, honestly...I felt that there were a few too many parts of the world glossed over and poorly explained, the pacing kind of off, and I REALLY was thrown by some of the dialogue--one moment the Janus guards are speaking in over-flowery Olde English-ish style language, and the next they are throwing around modern slang (and I get that they are from various points in time but have interacted with the modern world and all, but it still just didn't ring true for me)...but the thing that really kind of killed if for me was ***Semi-Spoiler*** the "Darth Vader" moment...and the fact that the author didn't give a pop-culture nod. I mean, what 21st century girl can hear those words and not have a Star Wars flashback? I understand that Kelly was rather stressed at the time, but I think, in her position, I would have broken into tense, slightly hysterical giggles.

[Naomi]

I can't remember the author's name, but I remember it was the same for both--Enter Three Witches and Jason and the Bard.

[Leila]

Naomi: Cooney wrote those, I think. I've been meaning to read Witches, and I'll look up Jason as well.

Str4y: In regards to the dialogue, OH MY GOD, YES. There just didn't seem to be any consistacy to the individual characters' speech patterns. And they're called speech patterns for a reason. The pacing didn't bother me so much, or the world-building. I loved the scene where Sonny met Kelley's roomate -- that made me laugh. There were moments, though, like the one I mentioned above, where Sonny makes his WOW I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DID THAT EVEN THOUGH HE WAS RAISED BY FAIRIES AND TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER elementary mistake, where I felt that characters did things that just didn't make sense, and the only reason I could find for their actions was that it furthered the storyline. And I never fell in love with either of the main characters (or really believed in/cared about their lurrrve, for that matter), though I do hope that Kelley's roomie reappears in Book Two. I dunno. I certainly didn't hate the book, and I think there'll be lots of people who like it, but I had hoped for something stronger.

Thanks, guys, for all of the recommendations! I've read Suite Scarlett and Dramarama and loved 'em both, especially the latter -- I've been wanting to read Eyes Like Stars for ages, if only because I love the cover art -- I read The Juliet Club, which was fun -- and LOVED King of Shadows -- I'll def. look for the Nancy Garden and the Norma Johnston, and The Secret of the Rose sounds AWESOME -- and I've been meaning to read Diamond of Drury Lane for a long time, so I'll get on that.

Is Captain Sparkle the offspring of Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle? Because, YAY!

[Kay @ InfiniteShelf]

Good review!

I saw the book in a bookstore and I was wondering about it. It seems interesting; I love YA books about "unseen magic in familiar places", like you said. Plus, the cover is stunning!