Victoria HanleyBesprekingen

Totally flat - a potentially interesting story rendered dull by the author's failure to show rather than tell.

Engaging story and characters.

Victoria Hanley is one of my favorite authors, but the end of this book is torturous. I'm not fond of cliffhangers, and the fact that Victoria Hanley has said before that writing a first draft is like 'clawing my way through solid rock using only my fingernails' makes me worry about how long the next book is going to take to come out.

I really wish that I could go back to the first time I read this book and write a review, but that was before I wrote reviews. Now I've read it so many times I don't even know where to begin or what to write. This book is the only one that rivals Harry Potter with the number of times that I've read it, so I highly suggest that you read it.

Princess Torina's father conquers the peaceful kingdom of Bellandra and takes with him two presents for her: a seer crystal and the Bellandran prince to be her slave. Torina immediately frees the prince, Landen, who becomes her friend and archery-tutor. When the chief adviser murders the king and tries to marry Torina, Torina's skill with the seer crystal and Landen's loyalty keep her relatively safe. Torina and Landen flee the kingdom on opposite trajectories: Landen becomes the leader of a sort of state-sponsored band of Merry Men, while Torina makes a quiet life for herself in the country. Eventually, prompted by their consciences, both Torina and Landen independently seek to help the High King against treachery and invasion. In so doing they not only save many kingdoms, but they also find each other once more.

A sweet tale, but I was frustrated by how resistant Landen and Torina were to revealing their true identities. Long after they should have told the High King who they were, each of them remained obstinately silent; a good portion of the Vesputo's plots would have been prevented if either (or both!) of them had revealed themselves. The book is plagued with annoyances like that, and by a distressing choice to repeatedly skip over very interesting sections of Torina and Landen's lives with just a quick summary. Landen leads an entire band of former thieves that once tried to kill him in gladiatorial games! That should get us at least a paragraph or two, instead of a quick mention of it! Anyway, it's overall a fine adventure with a nice anti-war message, and it was a good enough yarn that I read it in a single evening rather than put it down.

Different than Seer and the Sword. More spiritual and magical. Good story with lots going on. The end drags on a bit, but is good.

Has what I like about Young Adult fiction; good story and adventure with lot of things happening.

Great book. Seems like most dislikes have rated it derivative. Could be, I didn't think so, and more importantly. It had story that kept moving. A lot happens in this short book. I found it very rewarding.

Worth a try.

Excellent introduction to writing for teens. Loved the section toward the end where published writers explain how they got published.

Ever wonder what it takes to become a YA author? How about learning about the publishing process? Maybe you just want to know more about what it takes to be a better writer. Well, if any of those apply to you-- Wild Ink is for you.

This is not my normal type of book for review, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read this one. Yes, I was interested into learning more about the publishing process for books. I mean, who doesn't have that dream, right? But what I really wanted was insight into the writing process.

I admit it. I was 100% selfish with my decision to review this book. I am a teacher. In fact, I'm a Language Arts/writing teacher. Naturally, I would want to learn more about the writing process so I could share that information with my kids. Duh.

What I didn't expect though, was for a book to fully cover all the skills that I teach when I teach literature. Not only does Wild Ink spend the first 3 chapters hitting all the elements of great fiction, but it also provides exercises for practice. I love that. I'll even admit that I used some of the practice activities with my students. Great teaching tool.

As a blogger, I even found some of the information applicable to my blogging. Awesome, right? For instance, there is an entire chapter on how to interview authors. Yes, it's something you could figure out on your own, but it's nice to have a guide for the newbies.

Overall, I was impressed with the layout and presentation of the material in Wild Ink. I would certainly be interested in picking up other books by this author to add to my teacher tool kit.

I have no intention of ever writing a book. And Wild Ink: Success Secrets to Writing and Publishing in the Young Adult Market hasn't changed my mind. But, for someone who is interested in exploring the possibility of writing, Wild Ink has a lot of helpful and inspirational information.

Victoria Hanley spends time on all the parts of the novel (and also a chapter on non-fiction writing.) Each discussion contains example quotes from popular, current YA fiction. Hunger Games and Pride and Prejudice are used often and many times in comparison. I think these are good choices, since surely every YA author is familiar with these works. But, in addition, many other popular authors' works are quoted.

After discussing the writing, Hanley goes on to talk about editing, publishing, and marketing. Pretty much every aspect of writing and publishing a book is explored. She includes interviews with several editors and publishers. She never makes this sound easy. I believe writing is really hard work (hence the reason I will never attempt it), and Hanley reinforces this belief. The last 85 pages consists of interviews with popular YA authors. I found this part to be inspirational (but must admit I didn't read EVERY word of this section.)

Wild Ink isn't a textbook for writers. It's an informational text that's easy to read, gives a lot of information, but not really deep information on writing. There are some exercises to perform, but I wouldn't call this a syllabus for "how to write."

I would recommend Wild Ink to authors who are just getting started and perhaps need some direction. Or, for those who maybe have come to a dead end and don't know where to turn. A useful book. Also, a bibliography is included for additional information.

Anyone who is writing for or even considering writing YA, this is the book for you. Informative, easy to comprehend, Wild Ink: Success Secrets to Writing and Publishing for the Young Adult Market is a writer's dream.½

This is a really great book! She talks pretty early on about how this book isn't a comprehensive "how to write a novel" book, but rather focuses in on all of the pieces that make YA books engaging, but I really found it to be so helpful, I don't know that I'd really need another book to supplement it. The only issue I'd warn people on is that she mainly uses two novels to make large points throughout the whole book, and if you have not read those - Pride & Prejudice, and The Hunger Games - then you might feel a bit lost. She also makes references to some other books throughout, but those two are consistently referenced, and I'd say practically required reading in order to understand all of the points she is making. But if you have read those books, I really would say this is a great reference for anyone wanting to try their hand at writing some YA fiction, and she even touches on nonfiction as well. Very comprehensive and instructive. Thanks!½

This is probably the most comprehensive writing book I have ever picked up to read. Not only is it informative, but it's easy to read. I don't believe this should be limited to writing YA novels, but could also be used to help those who need some inspiration OR assistance in strengthening their stories. Fantastic book!

I admit; I did not really know what to expect upon winning a copy of Wild Ink. I was pleasantly surprised as I turned the pages investigating this text. My first instinct was to view this book from my teaching persepctive. I found some interesting ways of adjusting my teaching habits. I also enjoyed the author interviews; many were humorous and made me smile. Maybe one day I'll have enough nerve to begin a novel. I'll definitely use this book as a reference when I do.

What an excellent, excellent book! I love reading YA and have always been a interested in writing my own book one day. I'm taking a creative writing course this fall, and I am so excited to have this book on hand. Wild Ink is full of great advice with examples that help it all make sense. The interviews at the end are also super interesting and fun. I just love this book. Usually I pass books on when I'm finished. This one will stay on my bookshelf.

I had expected more from this book, that's why I was kind of disappointed by the outcome of the novel.The romance between our two main characters is pretty much nonexistent. Is it possible for one to fall in love 200 pages later? In fact, I would think the book would be better off without the romance element since it made the whole story unnatural. Characterization, to be honest, is sorely lacking in the seer and the sword. Vesputo (what a name!) for instance, is portrayed in such an evil way that he almost seemed comical. I also did not like Torina at first, being the spoiled, ungrateful brat that she is; and I still didn't like her towards the end- even if she had changed into a better person. The only slightly likable person in the novel was Landen, no matter how unlikely his feelings for Torina was.I felt the book could have done better. The setting was good and the idea was there. It only lacked proper execution and three dimensional characters.Sad to say, this is one of those book that I do not plan on reading again.

It took me a long time to get over my expectations for this story. You see, I am a firm Victoria Hanley fan. I discovered Seer and the Sword when I was a teenager, caught by Trina Schart Hyman's stunning cover. I loved Hanley's rich and romantic world. I'm not talking about love-romantic, but romantic in the sense of visionary, idealistic, and to quote the dictionary, "marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious or idealized." I love the way she can blend relationships and a little love-romance into her stories without it dominating the whole plot, as so many YA novels seem to do. (No, I'm not talking about Twilight. I'm talking about how the majority of YA fiction is focused on romantic relationships. It irritated me when I was a teenager and it irritates me now). Anyways.

I was soooo excited when I heard she had a new story coming out! One for tweens! But it's taking me some time to sort out how I feel about it. First, the story seemed completely different than anything she'd written or what I'd expected. It's non-stop action with minimal character development. A young fairy, Zaria, is shocked to discover there is something very unique about her. Suddenly, everything completely changes and she's battling spells she doesn't understand, enemies she can't find, and even her own friends. Her unique powers help her free the world of TirFeyne from an evil villain and she learns a startling secret at the very end. I know that's not a very good plot summary, but I don't want to spoil it.

At first, I didn't like it. It's divided into very short chapters, each one prefaced by a lengthy excerpt from a history of TirFeyne. Some of the excerpts are as long as the chapters! All the fairies have names derived from jewels and every time I thought I had figured out how their world worked, another part of it showed up. Their system of magic was based on complicated mathematical calculations (well, complicated to me!) and involved an odd and seemingly cliched trope of magical-education fantasies, those with more magic despise those without. The nasty human Zaria encounters is unbelievably horrible.

But then I thought about it a little more. And you know what? It works. It really, really does. The action grabs the reader, pulling you along until suddenly you realize "I know these characters!" Every new facet of the world is a like a marvelous surprise. The drama, the confusion, the exaggeration, it all perfectly fits the characters of the twelve-year-old fairies, suddenly encountering completely new circumstances and power they have no idea how to handle. Even the jewel names, which seem to have bugged quite a few readers, fit into Hanley's strangely beautiful world, a world both barren and vibrant. I want to know what happens next!

This book is not going to please fans of YA faerie novels. It's probably not going to work for those who want only the quasi-high fantasy adventure of Hanley's previous stories. But this book is perfect, absolutely perfect, for that in-between stage. Tweens who love romantic and thrilling fantasy but aren't ready for the more edgy YA titles will fall in love with Hanley's elaborately imagined and tensely plotted story.

Verdict: This is the absolutely flawless recommendation for the vast squadrons of little girls (and boys!) who are huge fans of Rainbow Magic but want to move on to something more challenging. Victoria Hanley has a massive and ready-made audience waiting for her newest creation; all we need to do is put it in their hands!

ISBN: 978-1606840115; Published August 2009 by Egmont; ARC received from the publisher at ALA; Purchased for the library (purchased again after it was stolen); Added to my personal wishlist

Disappointing. I so wanted to love this book because it’s exactly my kind of story, but the execution is a major fail. The whole story is extremely predictable, and I have to say that I disliked every single character in it, especially the hero and heroine. Such a boring pair!

*PT* http://cuidadocomodalmata.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/the-seer-and-the-sword/½

It is very si-fi It is entertaining in all ways and it keeps you reading even when you have other things to do. Q3P4 AHS/ Rachel P

I thought the world and how it worked was creative. While much was explained in those snippets at the beginning of chapters, important things were discussed in the chapters as well. Knowing how the world was divided (ie. who lived where), knowing how they determined a fairy or genies power and what it meant, and how a fairy godmother or genie godfather were all shown to the reader, and it made the world more real.
I found the plot interesting and engaging. Zaria's journey to earth, her dealings with the evil fairy, and the realization that more may be going on in her world than they knew all kept me interested and wanting more.
Most importantly though, I kept wondering, how the story was going to end. It seemed like a lot of major plots were introduced that couldn't be solved in one book, and for awhile I was afraid that was exactly what was going to happen. I was very happy when I got to the end of the book and realized that it was the start of a series (at least I hope more books are on there way, because this was left very open ended).
For the rest of my review, please visit: http://readingisdreamy.blogspot.com/2011/04/underrated-review-violet-wings.html

This is a good book, but I wouldn't say it's a great book. It gets from okay to better if you keep on reading it, and then there's the ending. The ending is a cliffhanger, and it's good, but there's room for improvement. Then again, there are some ups to the book, like all the mystery, like what happened to Zaria Tourmaline's (that's the main character) parents and brother. There's also a "fairy explanation-thingy" at the beginning of each chapter by "Orville Gold" and that has a little weird explanation.

The story starts out when Zaria is telling about her life story about what happened when she was 9. Her parents and brother disappeared mysteriously disappeared in the "human world". Leona (Leona is Zaria's friend) and Zaria's "rank" which is both Purple, the highest rank of the fairies. They then get caught up in an adventure, where the Forcier (the highest fairy tax collecter and rank) was actually hoarding radia (a fairy's power and the taxes). The Forcier's name is Lily Morganite, and she is responsible for Zaria's parents "incident".

Reviewed by Andrea for TeensReadToo.com

In the Fey world, turning twelve is a big deal. This is when you find out what level of magic you have and what color amount of radia you have. This determines how powerful you are and how much magic you have to use.

When Zaria turns twelve, she learns that she is more important than she thought she was. And after she takes a trip to Earth, she realizes how much she loves it, even though her family was supposedly killed by a human after going through a portal.

She soon learns that people in Feyland want her power. Even Lily, who is her mentor and the Forcier who collects the radia tax every year. When Zaria realizes that Lily isn't as good as she seems, Lily puts spells on her and her friends. Zaria has to learn to use her power to help quickly!

This was a cute fairy story. I think the younger YA audience will enjoy it, and it's a different take on the Fey world. Here, fairies are human-sized, have levels of magic (but they only have a certain amount they can use), and they have wands.

I enjoyed reading about Zaria. She was a cute character who had some pretty good morals. But she had a backbone, too. Her friends were much the same way.

This was a light, quick read. I feel like a lot was left unanswered at the end, though. I want to know more about what happened to Zaria's family, and where Lily went. I'm not sure if there is going to be a sequel or not, but I hope there is.

Zaria has finally turned fourteen, the age when all young fairies learn about their magic and receive their wands. Zaria is an extremely rare violet fairy, meaning she has a massive amount of magic reserves and power. To help Zaria learn to use her vast power responsibly, she is assigned a mentor. There is something creepy about Lily Morganite and as soon as Zaria starts working with her life starts getting complicated.

This was a really fun read. I’ve finished several really well written fairy stories lately, but each one has had a really different take on fairy society. Having a set amount of magic to use in a lifetime was an interesting concept. All the fairy names were either gemstones or flowers, which was creative detail I loved.

I liked Zaria right away, but all the other characters felt realistic, in fact, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like Leona. I really enjoyed the message about strong friendships that came through. It would have been easy to have friendships fall apart especially with the emphasis on who has more power. Friendship gone wrong is a common theme for teen girl stories and I was happy it didn’t go that way.

The plot was a little slow to take off, but ended up being solid and somewhat unpredictable. I wasn’t sure how it would all play out. There were lots of little twists I wasn’t expecting which is always a bonus for me.

There are lots of interesting details that are left open for another story so I’m really hoping VH writes it soon.

I decided to read this book in between revisions of my current young adult novel as I gave myself my typical "rest" between drafts or writing projects. It ended up being a good decision -- now that I'm finished with the book, I'm energized and excited to dive into the next draft.

Victoria Hanley's voice and expertise make this an accessible, encouraging, and enlightening read. It's down-to-earth and honest about the challenges of publishing without coming across as defeatist. And unlike some writing books, it feels like a two-way conversation, and not just a way for the writer to gloat about her own writing process. It also includes interviews with many young adult authors, ranging from the renowned to the more "undiscovered." While I felt that the book relied too much on "other voices" at times, overall the result is affirmation that there really are as many ways to write fiction as there are writers. While filled with sound advice, this guide leaves plenty of room for individual styles.

It covers the process of writing a young adult novel from idea generation to publication, and even gives a balanced perspective on self publishing. I vowed to do every single writing exercise in this book--even the ones I REALLY didn't want to do--and I'm glad I did. They gave me a fresh perspective on my writing style, why I like to write YA stuff, and ideas for future stories. A lot of the exercises were even therapeutic, such as a long list of questions that asked things such as, "When was the first time you learned you were being lied to?" Although not all the answers fell within my adolescent/teenage experience, it still evoked many of the complicated emotions during that time of life.

Since the book covers so much, some of it is related in rather broad strokes, but Victoria consistently provides resources for deeper exploration of the included topics. Overall, it was awesome to have a up-to-date, smart how-to book about writing for teens, even if a lot of writing advice is sound across all genres.

This is another young adult fairy book that I have had on my list to read for some time. While I found the characters to be a bit weak, Hanley did a great job creating a complex fairy world that was believable and full of action.

Zaria was orphaned when her parents were lost on Earth. Back on fairy she is finally being given her watch that will tell her what level of magic she can do. When her magic levels astound, she is pulled into a plot that is destroying all of Fairy, little does she know how deeply it is entangled with her past.

There were a lot of things I liked about this novel. Hanley begins each chapter with a quote from "Orville Gold, genie historian of Feyland". These small sections do a great job of explaining the somewhat complicated magic system of radia and color levels that show how strong a fairy is. They also do a good job in giving a history of races and how they interact. Without these sections Zaria's world would be confusing. They also foreshadow what the following chapter will be about.

The world that Hanley has created is more complex and more realized than most fairy worlds in young adult fairy themed literature books out there. That gives this book major kudos in my mind. Hanley also keeps the pace of the plot pretty fast and writes good action scenes.

Despite the well thought out magic system and fairy society, Feyland was a bit limited in scope. Zaria's world seems contained to the major city that all fairy's live in; I kept thinking that there has to be more to it than that. I also didn't really like any of the characters; so characterization is not the strongest point of this novel. Zaria as a character is okay, but her relationships with all of her friends felt forced...there didn't seem any reason behind their loyalty to her or any past that would contribute to that loyalty. Leona, the other main character in the book, was all over the place in personality. Leona would come off as irresponsible, then thoughtful, then irresponsible again; she just didn't have very consistent characterization.

The ending is left somewhat open, so I assume there will be a sequel to this book. I haven't heard anything about a sequel, but there is room for one. In fact it was a bit odd that some specifics about the disappearance of Zaria's family are brought up, but never really dealt with

Overall I enjoyed the world but I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, and only found the writing style to be so-so. I liked the story, but didn't love it. Mostly it was the world that was created and the interaction with humans that intrigued me. Will I read the next book in this series if there is one? I am not sure.½