Category: Young Adult Fiction

Reviewing Beauty’s Daughter

Title: Beauty’s Daughter: The Story of Hermione and Helen of Troy
Author: Carolyn Meyer
Published by ‎ HMH Books for Young Readers
Year: 2013
Format Read: Kindle
Pages: 353
Language: English
ASIN: B00AUZS6K6
Dates Read: 2024, March 27 to April 14

In the past, I have read In Mozart’s Shadow and Patience, Princess Catherine by Carolyn Meyer. I loved them both. I appreciated her vivid use of first person, how she incorporated many historical figures into the story, and her deep emotional characters. I wanted to read another one of her novels, but I wanted to read a story with an ancient setting. I liked Troy by Adẻle Geras when I read it in middle school, so I decided to try Beauty’s Daughter. 

Hermione is an evocative, inquisitive, and assertive protagonist. This story focuses on Hermione’s perspective before, during, and after the Trojan war. Throughout the novel, her thoughts and feelings of her mother, as well as others, change over time. The characters are used to convey plots of the war and other Ancient Greek stories (in case the reader is unfamiliar with these). Basically, many pages of the story’s first part is a summary of the Iliad and other ancient lore paraphrased from Hermione’s perspective with an emphasis on her relationships to others. I have not read all of these legends or myths, but I am familiar with the basic plot of many. Despite all of the details and references to Ancient Greek stories and characters, this book was still  an easy read, and it is just the right length.

Due to the winding plot filled with many disappointments for the characters, I thought that the novel’s ending would be bittersweet, and I was prepared for the death or disappearance of Hermione or her lover. Also, I had gotten names and prior Greek stories confused. Orestes and Pylades are characters in this book, so I thought they were going to turn into stars or constellations by the end of the story. Fortunately, they do not, but I assumed this because I confused their names with Orion and Pleiades, persons from another myth I’ve either read or heard about. Anyway, the ending was alright, a little bittersweet, but the leads got a good ending. 

There is an author’s note where Meyer explains how she uses myths combined with much of her own imagination and creativity to create this novel. I do think that this book is an easy read for 12 and up, but there is suggestive content in keeping with the spirit of the values and myths. I would recommend it if you like ancient world literature and retellings. I think that I like the other novels that I’ve read by this author better because they seem to have a better structure and more likable extra characters. 

A Review of Illusionarium

Title: Illusionarium
Author: Heather Dixon
Published by Greenwillow Books
Year: 2015
Format Read: Kindle
Pages: 368
Language: English
ASIN: B00M70YWS2
Dates Read March 29 to April 8 2022

This is probably my first steampunk novel. The book was mentioned on a few blogs so I decided to read it. The author has some other novels that seem exciting, so I may read those later. After reading this fantastic story, I was surprised that there were less than 100 reviews on Amazon. It was a deep and fascinating story with wonderful worldbuilding. Reading this book was almost like watching a movie- not all novels can make me feel this way. Also, I never knew what to expect next, and it was a quick read. The world is based on 19th century England with detailed steampunk elements such as airships and unique technology. I appreciated Dixon’s innovative words and concepts such as orthogonagen, polarage, fantillium, the Venen, Illusionarium. The book is in first-person, and the protagonist Jonathan Gouden narrates the story. The narrative voice is realistic; you can tell he is a teenager, very intelligent, a bit awkward, and still trying to figure out some sentiments. I enjoyed his footnotes, an extra creative touch. To me, all of the other main characters have vibrant and unique personalities as well. Some of the characters are based on real people from 19th century England. Not only does the writer build the steampunk world that I just described, but also she builds an alternative world as well which is a derelict and dysfunctional version of Jonathan’s world. This is the world that the villain who brings the Fantillum comes from, along with the Venen. That world serves as a warning, and the characters have to make moral choices. There is a lot of meaning packed into the plot of this original young adult novel. There are a few twists and not all are happy, but eventually the main heroes find the right way, and it is a good ending.