I haven’t read Tamora Pierce books in a while but I stumbled across this book when, a few months ago, I ‘Googled’ Pierce. I had just finished re-reading the two Circle Quartets and was intrigued as to whether anything more had been done with the characters. Unfortunately, Pierce has fallen out of favour in the UK over the past ten years and finding a copy of Will of the Empress proved difficult. It took me moving to a new borough before I managed to locate one in my, now local, library system. It seems a shame that so many libraries are facing closures and budget cuts when, sometimes, the only way to really enjoy reading is in your local library. I probably could have bought the book online if I’d wanted to but not everyone has the luxury of being able to buy something just to sample it. We have an amazing system that lets us take books, CDs, DVDs, and much more home on the basis of pure trust that we’ll bring it back. Why would we want to wreck and destroy that? Take away the libraries and you take away many peoples only access to literature and that is always a bad thing.
Many of my weekends as a child were spent roaming around my local library, picking up and discarding titles, before heading, usually with more than my allocated 14 books, to the checkout desk. My mum would often end up with half of her allowance used on my books. As soon as we stepped in the car, I was ploughing into the first title and would usually have finished at least two books by the first evening. The Diary of Anne Frank, Junk, C.S. Lewis, Little Women, Jacqueline Wilson and so many other great writers and novels were books that I first picked up off of library shelves. I would really hate to think that other children and teenagers are being deprived of the wonderful freedom that comes from reading, taking you out of your life and inhabiting somewhere more fantastical.
I’m sorry, I’ve rabbit-ed on. I would just be angry if Library funding problems caused them to begin closures. But enough of that for now.
So I read the Pierce. In a day. And then the next day I started on Lies by Michael Grant. FINALLY! I have been desperately waiting for this paperback to come out but I got bored waiting so I just reserved the hardback from the library (back to that wonderful library) and guess what? Finished that in a day too.
I am constantly in awe of teen fiction writers. I genuinely believe they have a much tougher job than writers of adult fiction since the teen is an infinitely harsher critic. A teenager (this is all generalisation, obviously) will pick up a book based on the blurb, or presentation or possibly that a friend has recommended it. They do not care what prizes it has won, or been nominated for. Once chosen, the teen will begin to read. If it doesn’t grab them in the first page, that’s it. The book is done for. There is no recapturing that first impression. An adult reader, however, will struggle through, spurred on by the Booker Win or the Everybody’s Talking About stand at their local bookstore. Writing for teens not only takes a killer idea, but it takes a killer pace. You can’t lose focus, because if you do, so will the teenager. They can bear a few pages of boring, even a few chapters, but a couple hundred pages are not going to cut it. I remember reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles at sixteen; I skipped 100 pages and still understood the story – obviously everything I’d missed had been filler.
With all that pressure, it’s understandable that teenage fiction is often more violent and sexualised than adult fiction; it has to be to draw and keep the attention. Most teenagers are well versed in the playground gossip version of sex, violence and drugs so giving them an informed adult perspective, through the medium of teenage narrators and characters is possibly a good strategy.
Any-who, I’m heading off topic and running on a bit so I think I’ll wrap it up here; Lies was an amazing book and now I’m just desperately waiting for Plague, the fourth book in the series. Not out till April - damn my impatience!
Farewell folks!
