Your persistence will be greatly rewarded

Blood Red Road

By Moira Young

Let’s hear it for even more dystopia!

Eighteen year-old Saba has spent her whole life in the static, uneventful wasteland of Silverlake. Far away from anyone, she has grown up with only her father, twin brother Lugh (pronounced Lu), and later her younger sister Emmi for company. Everything changes, however, when the relative calm of Silverlake is broken and mysterious riders kidnap Lugh. Saba, who had, up until then, lived her life in her brother’s shadow, must take control and track down Lugh, with 9 year-old Emmi in tow. Saba travels across the land and despite discovering her skill as an unbeatable fighter, she must fall in with the rebel gang The Free Hawks, and a mysterious stranger named Jack, to reach her brother by midsummer.

When I originally found Blood Red Road, my thoughts were something along the lines of Heck yes, ruthless fighters, rebel gangs, dystopia, this is going to be AWESOME! Then I started reading. I’m always wary when language is changed in books (been becomes bin, cant becomes caint, your, yer…) even if it does create a better sense of place or character, nevertheless, I stuck with it. I started to have doubts when Saba’s relationship with Emmi becomes apparent - Saba blames her for their mother’s death – I put Blood Red Road down when Saba started being nasty to Emmi. I picked it back up and decided to stick with because I really wanted to like it. As I got further into the book, Saba’s character arc became more apparent, her relationship with her sister began to change, and it became an amazing book.

The whole book is narrated from Saba’s perspective, and she can be a harsh judge, of everyone, including herself. She doesn’t sugar-coat anything, and while she can come across as quite unforgiving, her softer side gets revealed. Sometimes, you do want you grab her by the shoulders, shake her and yell “EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS!” but you get past that. Also, her blunt opinions make a nice change from the standard “look at me skipping as I go off on an adventure!" attitudes of some heroines. Saba is a strong, feisty take-no-prisoners heroine, and she doesn’t need to be rescued. Even when she’s locked in a cage.

So if you read Blood Red Road, stick with it, and let the true awesomeness be revealed…

Feisty chick-o-metre: 10/10
Age Rating: 14+
Rating: 8/10
Book or audiobook: Audiobook
Stand alone or series: Series(!) in 5 days... not that I'm counting...
Last word:  do.
Length: 466 pages

The Feisty Chick-O-Meter and the Bechdel Test

"Dear Teya, why do you have the Feisty Chick-O-Meter on your blog?" Asked no one ever.

Well, Fictitious Reader, I'm glad you asked. The Feisty Chick-O-Meter is actually based off of The Bechdel Test. What is The Bechdel Test you ask?

The Bechdel Test originally came from Allison Bechdel’s comic Dykes to Look Out For, from the strip, The Rule. The Test assesses a movie or book to determine if women are accurately and realistically portrayed, and to establish how large a presence they have in that film or book. To pass The Test, a book or movie has to meet three simple criteria:

1. The book or movie has to have at least two female characters with names,
2. These women have to have a conversation with each other, and
3. They have to talk to each other about something other than men.

For such simple requirements, you’d be amazed at how many books and movies fail miserably. Maze Runner, fails spectacularly on every front, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy fails disappointingly because while there are four female characters, over the course of the entire series, none of them ever speak to each other. I will cut LotR some slack because Eowyn is so awesome and I love the series, but seriously nine make up the Fellowship of the ring, and not a single one is a woman? Surprisingly, Furious Six passes with flying colours.

Now, just because a movie or book doesn't pass the Bechdel test, that doesn't mean you should write it off immediately. There are a lot of good films out there with one or no female characters, and strong female characters (sometimes leads) whose movies fail The Test. Also, unlike in the comic above, don't consider The Test to be a rule that you're not allowed to see anything that fails The Test; just keep it in the back of your mind each time you go to the movies or open a book and decide whether women are fairly and equally represented. (SMURFS I'M LOOKIN' AT YOU).

But back to the Feisty Chick-O-Meter. I wanted to come up with my own test to see how strong the female characters are in the books and movies I review. My criteria aren't as structured, but it takes into account:

• How many female characters there are
• How much time said female characters spend crying, or unconscious
• Whether they are capable of and do rescue themselves
• If they have their own back-story and heroes journey, or if they are there purely to advance the male protagonist's story arc

(Bonus points if they are armed with weapons and/or witty comebacks.)

While The Feisty Chick-O-Meter is not an imitation or replica of the Bechdel test, it's pretty safe to say that if a book of movie fails the Bechdel test, it's not going to get a particularly high score on the Feisty Chick-O-Meter

This is a really good video on The Bechdel Test by one of my favourite YouTube channels, Feminist Frequency.

Because dragons. That's why.

Seraphina

By Rachel Hartman


If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I love dragons. And feisty heroines.  And maths. And unicorns that impale people, but that’s beside the point. Seraphina is an awesome combination of all those things - except for the homicidal Unicorn.

In the kingdom of Goredd, there has been peace between humans and dragons for nearly forty years, grudging or otherwise, with dragons being able to transform themselves into human forms, or saarantras, but with the anniversary of the peace treaty drawing closer, tensions are high. The musically gifted Seraphina Dombegh, joins the royal court at the time of a murder, and is drawn into the investigation. But when a plot to destroy the peace is uncovered, Seraphina must struggle to thwart the plan, all the while trying to keep her own secret hidden, that, if exposed, risks imprisonment, disgust, and possibly even death.

I was introduced to Seraphina with the following words: “It’s about mathematical dragons.” And despite the fact that I love both of those things, it didn’t sound that amazing. Seraphina? I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Actually, the maths isn’t as big of a plot element as I thought it would be.

Seraphina is well written, witty and funny, and frankly, I want to be Seraphina’s friend (the person, not the book.) Even though I love a heroine who can beat her enemies in any form of combat, it’s really cool to have a character who defeats anyone who stands in her way with her intellect, and strategy alone. I think the story moves a little slowly, but the time that it takes is not wasted; it serves to build up the imagery and sense of place even more.

Rachel Hartman, I’m counting on you to write a sequel.

Feisty chick-o-meter:10/10
Age Rating: 13+
Rating: 9/10
Book or audiobook: Book
Stand alone or series: Stand alone... For now (I hope)
Last word: Stand
Length: 482 pages