Although I usually do 'Tour Searching Tips' on the third and last day of a book tour, I won't be able to do that today... writing all that out takes so much more time than I have today. Why the lack of time, you ask? I've spent the day moving into my college dorm, and getting my computer registered... but that's another story for another post... right now, I have some ups and downs I found in the book, as well as some quotes and my thoughts on some of them.
I'm a bad/sad/negative news first kinda person, so we'll start with some things I didn't like:
There are really only a couple things I had a problem with in Andrew Peterson's novel 'North! or Be Eaten' , and one is a preference in formatting. This is fiction, so I didn't understand the author's need for footnotes... I figure, if its important enough, put it in the text. There are about 25 sets of footnotes throughout, and many of them redirect to a page from the first book... again, its pure preference. For all I know, you love footnotes and wish to see more of them in fiction. :)
Another is that there were a lot of names and second names to keep track of at the beginning, but that just might be because I did not read the first book before the second :)
One more thing that was just preference (again :D ), was that at one point in the story a letter is written to a character, and to show that it is a letter it is written in a fancy font that I found hard to read. Again, no biggie.
Now for the good. (yup, that was all for 'da bad')
'North! or Be Eaten' was full of morals. They weren't stuffed to the point of overflowing, but good messages slipped out from between the pages.
The novel was very well written, very suspenseful, and very satisfying. I also wrote this after reading the book:
' my sister kept telling me to be quiet... but when I get into a book I squeal, squirm, sigh, take quick breaths, and laugh... sometime I just can't help it! :) '
Have I mentioned that the plot is suspenseful? At one point I even wrote 'iiiiihhhh!" in the margins because I couldn't read fast enough to find out what would happen!
Another random thing I liked about this novel was the schooling the children's mother kept having them do. It would be a stressful point, where they couldn't do much else, so she would have the children work on their T.H.A.G.S. (three Honorable and great subjects). These subjects were writing, drawing, and singing, and each child had their specific subject that they worked on.
Quote time!!!
"... he dreamed of wide sweeps of snow under stars so sharp and bright they would draw blood at a touch."
-I don't know what to say to express my thoughts about this quote... its just amazingly written, very visual, and only a glimpse of Peterson's writing gift.
"I'm too angry at you to let you die."
-hahahaha, I just couldn't help posting this quote. The texts have funny lines in it every once in a while, and this was an example I couldn't help sharing.
" He wondered what book he might be reading when he finally breathed his last, and determined to grab a good one as soon as he sensed the end coming so that whoever discovered him would know he had a good taste in literature."
- I love this quote simply because I adore the character it is talking about, Oskar. He's the book shop owner, and reads a lot, and quotes a lot of things he has read... It is also a rather funny quote. :D
"...in a fit of recklessness, he [Oskar] even allowed them to tattoo his arm with the somewhat unimpressive inscription 'I Like Books.'
-another reason Oskar is so loved by myself :0
and if I ever had a 'fit of recklessness' where I got a tattoo, it would probably say something along those lines :)
"Don't just follow your heart. Your heart will betray you."
-Spoken true by the children's grandfather. I can tell you my jaw practically dropped when I read this... it was so unexpected. Society tells us to listen to our hearts, that they are innocent, they will lead us perfectly well, and that if we trust our hearts anything we want can happen... but Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is evil and beyond cure.
"...and looked up at the sky. White clouds slid across the deep blue dome, peaceful as a sight."
- Perfectly. Just splendidly written.
"Janner's last thought was a prayer for safety for his uncle. But Peet was not safe."
-what a cliff hanger!!!
"He didn't want to be small and alone for one second longer than he had to be."
- Janner is creeping along trying to save his brother, and is thankful that he is alone because he can control what he's doing, and stay small and quiet, with no surprises from anyone who happens to be with him. But he realizes he is vulnerable, and he is frightened, too, and his final thought on the matter is that he wants to be back with his family.
"...when we have grown too old ... we fail to see that the Maker's world is swollen with magic-- it hides in plain sight in music and water and even bumblebees."
- so true, even in our world. We just need little reminders like this one every once in a while...
"... the darkness is seldom complete, and even when it is, the pinprick of light is not long in coming..."
- another reminder we need quite frequently, that there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, that we WILL get through this okay...
Hope you enjoyed this book tour, and I encourage you to search through the other blogs to find more information about this new novel! I also encourage you to leave a comment about which quote I put up that you like the best, or one that you found in the book (if you've already read it, of course) that you thought was 'Worthy Of Recognition.'
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