The Introduction of this Blog and a Review of The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol

This first review gets the honour of being the very first post on this blog, and I think that's appropriate, as it's one of the most detailed reviews I've written in quite some time. Joining Goodreads and seeing the time and effort that the people there put into their reviews not only motivated me to start thinking more deeply about my opinions of the books I read and putting them into words, but encouraged me to start this blog so that I could share my thoughts. Really, Goodreads reviews are quite good most of the time, and I strongly recommend checking them out if you're unsure about picking up a new book (no, Goodreads isn't endorsing that statement in any way; I just really like them). Hopefully, others will find my thoughts valuable, and I hope that I'll get some comments and feedback from fellow book lovers.

So, with that little introductory bit out of the way, let's move on to the review! All of my reviews (from The Shamer's Daughter on) are also found on Goodreads, though I can't promise that they'll be word-for-word on both sites, seeing as I'm no HTML wiz and I have no idea how to hide spoilers the way Goodreads does. In the interest of not ruining stories for people, I won't be including spoilers here, but they are available in my Goodreads reviews if you want to read those parts.




The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbøl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

--Just a caution: this review has a couple of less-than-polite words in it. If you don't want to see them, you probably shouldn't read this... and you probably shouldn't read The Shamer's Daughter, either.--

I wasn't sure about The Shamer's Daughter when I decided to purchase it (something I hardly ever do without reading the book first), but it sounded interesting and GR seemed to think I would like it, so I took a chance, and I'm glad I did.

The things I liked:

1) The concept of "Shamer's Eyes." This wasn't something that I'd seen before, and I thought it was a really neat idea, to be able to look into someone's eyes and force him or her to think about the things of which he or she is ashamed.

2) The fact that Dina already knows about her gift at the beginning of the story. As an HP fan, I'm not opposed to the "young person finds out he/she has supernatural powers" plot line, but it's nice to bypass the "big reveal" and get straight into the story from time to time.

3) The description, especially of places--I found that I could easily picture Dina's surroundings in my mind.

4) Kaaberbol doesn't shy away from "icky" things like blood, pus, urine, and vomit. I find that children's authors tend to gloss over or completely ignore these aspects of human life, and it often makes no sense, considering that many children's fantasy stories are set in Middle Ages-esque villages and castles, which (gasp) didn't have indoor plumbing, and in which people (gasp) slaughtered animals and (gasp) didn't necessarily have nice manners. Kaaberbol's characters bleed, pee, and puke, and it makes them seem more human.

5) This entire point is a spoiler. Check out my review on Goodreads itself if you want to read it!

6) Strong female characters who are treated the same as their male counterparts are always a plus, and The Shamer's Daughter has its share. What I really liked is that this story manages to have a strong female lead but not stray into "Rah-rah girl power" territory. Females have weapons; females are expected to do difficult and dirty work; females don't gasp and shriek at the sight of blood; females are intelligent, but you don't get the sense that this is supposed to be an extraordinary thing. Dina doesn't go through any type of "transformation" from ignorant, innocent farm girl to brave, my-gender-be-damned warrior--you just get the sense that she was, is, and will always be Dina, and that it's never occurred to her to do or not do certain things because she's a girl. That's the best kind of "girl power," in my opinion--not giving girls the sense that being brave, smart, and capable requires some kind of extraordinary effort to be "different" from other girls, but the sense that girls just are all of those things and more.

The things I liked less:

1) The uncomfortable insertion of the word "slut" into a children's book. I feel like this was probably just the result of translation, but I was kind of taken aback during the scene in which one of the characters says it. I mean, the scene isn't a nice one, and yes, one would imagine that that kind of language would be used, but here we are, in a book that doesn't even use words like "crap," which I believe most people find less offensive than "slut," and suddenly one of the characters busts out with "slut." I'm not prudish about language, and I don't advocate withholding books from children because they use "bad words," but I can see how unwary parents might skim through this book, find the overall language acceptable for their children, and then be shocked when one of their children comes up to them and asks what a slut is, or, worse, suddenly yells it on the playground. So, overall, this book is a nice one for kids, but be prepared to have a discussion about why we don't use that word in polite company if you're intending to give the book to a child.

2) Dina's somewhat unrealistic tendency to trust people. Yes, she's a little girl, but after some of the things that have happened to her, you would think she would need a little bit more to go on than, "I just felt like I could trust so-and-so." [Here there be a spoiler--check it out on Goodreads!] It just seems like Dina, who really ought to know from the beginning that people who seem nice can do some really evil things, takes some pretty hard knocks and yet goes on trusting people, and not all of that can be readily ascribed to the fact that she's just a child.

3) The pacing of the story is pretty fast and the dialogue is pretty simple, which is to be expected in a children's book. This isn't exactly a criticism, then, but more of a caution for adult readers just coming to the series. Things are going to move right along, the dialogue is going to be straightforward, and the important parts of the story are going to be a touch predictable. Your heart probably isn't going to pound with the suspense of it all, because you have a sense of what will and won't happen in a children's book. That said, it's still interesting, and, like I mentioned earlier, it doesn't gloss over the "icky" parts, so it's a bit more PG than your average children's story.

Overall, I would recommend this story to kids and adults alike, and I intend to either find or purchase the rest of the series (which seems to be a bit hard to find... what a--ha, ha--shame).