Zenn Scarlett and Schools in Fantasy Novels

   Both of the books I'm reading this week have as a major theme one which I've been planning to write about for a while now - that of learning. I really love it when a science fiction or fantasy novel that I am reading features some of the main characters being students to some extent. I think you'd be surprised at the number of amazing titles which fit into this category! I'll briefly mention some of those titles at the end of this post. In the meantime, this week's books were 'Zenn Scarlett' by Christian Schoon and 'Etiquette & Espionage' by Gail Carriger, both Young Adult titles.

Strange Chemistry, £7.99

   'Zenn Scarlett' is released today (May 2nd), the debut novel from Minnesota author Christian Schoon, and Strange Chemistry have picked up the UK rights to a two-book series. It's aimed at roughly a 12-plus age-group.
   This first novel introduces us to Zenn, a 17 year-old studying to be an exoveterinarian in a Ciscan cloister on Mars. She's learning how to treat all sorts of exotic alien species, from the rikkaset - a small marsupial which can alter the colour of its fur to camouflage itself - to the Kiran sunkiller - a huge flying creature so called because its presence blocks out the light of the sun. But all is not well on Mars. The initial colonisation by humans created an artificial environment in some valleys, and alien Sandhogs have made the land fertile, but civilisation on Mars is now at risk after the Rift with Earth. Replacement parts for machinery and essential products are no longer available, and it remains to be seen how long the colonists can last on their own. In addition, the lease on the cloister where Zenn is training is in danger, and she wants to help her uncle to save the school. 
   There were lots of elements to this story that I really enjoyed. Schoon's creativity with his menagerie of alien species is astounding - I particularly loved the description of the Bloodcarn, a gigantic arthropod which has 'a huge, fluorescent-orange centipede back section with what looked like a tarantula growing out of its front end.' These 'alpha predators' reminded me somewhat of the Slake-Moths from China Miéville's 'Perdido Street Station' in the primal terror they cause. I also loved the detail involved in the description of the various veterinary procedures Zenn is learning to perform. In one particularly memorable sequence, she uses a high-tech bone and tissue generator to heal a friend's pet cat which has been hit by a car. The amazing thing about this procedure is that the software which should direct the machine in what to create is broken, so Zenn must perform this task herself - a dizzying accomplishment in anatomy, visualising perfect capillaries, splicing arteries, calibrating synapses, and recreating organs and bone. Zenn as a main character was far from perfect (and quite annoying at times), but there was enough going on with the plot that this was a forgivable fault. The main theme of tolerance, as Zenn and her colleagues struggle to get the human colonists on Mars to accept their alien friends and charges, is an important one, especially for the young age group this novel is aimed at. I thought that the device of dropping the reader right into the deep end of life among aliens on Mars was perfect for this exciting and enlightening story. 
   'Etiquette & Espionage' by Gail Carriger was released earlier this year by Atom Books. Once

Atom, £6.99

again, it's aimed at an approximately 12-plus age-group. It's the first novel in a proposed four-book series - The Finishing School. It's set in the same world as her popular Parasol Protectorate series, which I have heard good things about but have unfortunately not read. 
   'Etiquette & Espionage' tells the story of fourteen year-old Sophronia, sent away by her despairing mother to finishing school. Unfortunately, her mother is unaware that Sophronia has been recommended to this school due to her adventurous and inquisitive nature, and as well as the curtseying, handkerchief-waving, and dancing her mother desires her to learn, she is also taught hand-to-hand combat, the art of dispensing poisons, bribery, and blackmail. Just for good luck, the school also boasts both a werewolf and a vampire teacher. It's a tremendously fun adventure, and an inventive introduction to a bit of steampunk for young people. 
   I've been noticing that a common thread in a lot of my favourite science fiction and fantasy is the concept of a main character attending a place of learning. 'Ender's Game' features a battle training school, where Ender learns the art of war through a succession of difficult games played in a zero-gravity Battle Room. In 'The Name of the Wind', Kvothe wins a scholarship to attend University of Imre, studying Naming among other things. Brandon Sanderson's sensational new Stormlight Archive series begins with 'The Way of Kings' in which one of the storylines features Shallan Davar becoming the apprentice and student of the scholar Jasnah Kholin. Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time series features the White Tower in the city of Tar Valon, where girls may train to become Aes Sedai if they possess the talent. Of course, one of the most famous modern fantasy series - Harry Potter - is all about a school of magic. The classic Earthsea trilogy features the school of wizardry on Roke Island, where Ged, a poor farmboy from the island of Gont, eventually rises to the position of Archmage. In Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy, a slum-born girl named Sonea discovers her talent for magic, and attends the Magician's Guild to learn to control that talent. 
   These have barely scratched the surface of science fiction and fantasy titles featuring schools, universities, or broader interpretations of learning the craft of magic. Please comment below with any of your own favourites. I'll have to keep adding to my list! 

The Holders

  '17-year-old Becca has spent her whole life protecting her brother – from their father leaving and from the people who say the voices in his head are unnatural. When two strangers appear with apparent answers to Ryland’s “problem” and details about a school in Ireland where Ryland will not only fit in, but prosper, Becca is up in arms.

   She reluctantly agrees to join Ryland on his journey and what they find at St. Brigid’s is a world beyond their imagination. Little by little they piece together information about their family’s heritage and the legend of the Holder race that decrees Ryland is the one they’ve been waiting for—but, they are all, especially Becca, in for a surprise that will change what they thought they knew about themselves and their kind.'

Strange Chemistry, £7.99

  Julianna Scott's Young Adult debut, 'The Holders', will be released on the 7th of March from Strange Chemistry, Angry Robot's Young Adult imprint. Amanda in Strange Chemistry very nicely sent me an ARC a few weeks ago when I expressed interest in the Irish setting!
   Ryland Ingle is a boy who hears voices in his head, which turn out to be the thoughts of people around him. His sister Becca has spent her life protecting him, so is understandably annoyed when she arrives home from work one evening to find that their mother is entertaining two guests who claim to have the solution to Ryland's problem. They tell the family that Ryland is not mad, that he has a special ability, and that they would like to bring him to their specialist school to train him in using his ability. Sound slightly familiar? The bad guy in all of this is a former associate of the school, a man also possessed of amazing abilities, whose aim is to subjugate the portion of humanity who do not have these powers. Not familiar yet? The masters of the school suspect that this bad guy needs Ryland's power in order to fulfill his mission of domination, and believe that he is in immediate danger of being kidnapped. It seems a pity that such an obviously talented writer hasn't noticed how similar the plot of this novel is to a certain hugely-successful movie franchise.  
   The Holders, of whom Ryland is one, are an ancient group of Irish people with amazing abilities, which is why their school is in Ireland and why Ryland and Becca move there. The whole novel is infused with elements of the Irish language, Irish mythology, and the Irish countryside. Since it's such a huge element of the novel, I was disappointed that a little more time had not been put into ensuring that these were correct. The location of St. Brigid's Academy is given as 'Clare County, Ireland', which should have been 'County Clare, Ireland' - a tiny difference which perhaps betrays the decisions made to be appealing to American or Australian audiences rather than to be accurate. Most of the words and phrases translated into Irish are incorrect to some extent, which is unfortunate as I don't think it would have taken too much time to have an Irish speaker proof-read the dozen or so words and phrases.
   'Dubh Inteachán' (dubh = black, inteachán = iris) is given as the Irish for the Black Iris, a powerful artefact at the school. This breaks one of the first rules of Irish syntax - that an adjective is placed after the noun it describes (Inteachán Dhubh would have been correct).
   The baffling sentences 'Is breá liom tú ró, mo lómhara. Tá tú gach rud a dom.' appear three quarters of the way through the book, and they're a bit of a mess. Let's break them down:

Is breá liom = I love (but is used to describe strong feelings for a movie or foodstuff, definitely not correct for telling someone you love them!). The correct word for describing romantic love is grá, so the phrase should be 'Is grá liom'.
tú = you
ró = too (but means 'in excess' rather than 'also': ró-tabhachtach means too important). The correct way to say 'also' would be 'chomh maith' (directly translates as 'as well').
mo lómhara = my precious (hilarious, but not incorrect)
Tá tú = You are (not incorrect, but 'Is tusa' would be nicer)
gach rud = everything
a dom = this is intended to mean 'to me', but 'dom' is a prepositional pronoun which by itself means 'to me'.

   The corrected version would look more like this: 'Is grá liom thú chomh maith, mo lómhara. Is tusa gach rud domsa.'

   *Rant over*

   Plot aside, or if you happen not to have seen the movie 'X-Men', this is a well-written Young Adult novel. Scott introduces a believable new teen voice in the main character, Becca, and a host of interesting peripheral characters, ideas, and settings. I loved Min, a rare female Holder who teaches at St. Brigid's Academy, and Becca's love interest, Alex, manages to be sexy while avoiding any 'bad boy' clichés with his squeaky-cleanness. It's a fresh new voice and, at the end of the day, that's always a good thing.

   

Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99

   I've half-read a lot of good books this week. I've still got 'The Shadow Rising' by Robert Jordan, part of my on-hiatus epic re-read of the Wheel of Time, on my To Be Read pile. I've added to my half-read burden now with Catherynne M. Valente's 'Deathless' and Justin Cronin's 'The Twelve', and I last night started what is possible the most perfect book in the world for me at the moment - 'The Wisdom of the Shire' by Noble Smith. It's a hobbit-style self-help book, featuring chapters with titles like 'How Snug is Your Hobbit-hole?', 'Sleep Like a Hobbit', 'Eat Like a Brandybuck, Drink Like a Took', and 'The Lore of the Ents'. It's funny as well as touching - in an early footnote, the author notes that 'after losing the One Ring, Sauron could only appear as a lidless eye ringed in fire. The disembodied Dark Lord of Mordor was incapable, therefore, of enjoying strawberries and cream.'
   On that note, farewell!