Smoke by Dan Vyleta

I haven't read any Alternate History books before, but this was extremely interesting. The general concept of this story, is that, in this alternative Victorian England, when a person sins, they smoke. Smoke comes out of their mouths, ears, nose, even their very pores. Different kinds of sin, and different kinds of sinners, create different kinds of smoke.

In a world such as this, naturally, the smokeless are in charge. Now, in theory, this sounds like the ideal society, right? The righteous rule the world, the evil die in squalor. Utopia.

However, what is Utopia without medical horrors, government corruption, and tampered religions?

It turns out, that the rich stay rich by selling smoke-absorbing candy to other rich people. This effectively keeps the corrupt politicians in power. Of course, the goal is to eventually not need the candies anymore, so the rich put their children in boarding schools where the smoke is beaten out of them. Their clothes and bedsheets are examined at the end of every week.

The main characters of this story are Thomas Argyle, Livia Naylor, and Charlie Cooper. Thomas and Charlie are as close as friends can get; nearly brothers. Charlie is a saint- barely smokes, heart of gold, manners of a prince- a perfect gentleman. Thomas is the opposite. His teachers have practically told him he would murder someone someday. Together, they make a formidable team. Judge and Jury. Livia is a nun, never uses candies, never smokes, never shows any emotion whatsoever.

Visual wise, this book was gorgeous: dark, alluring, nearly a horror. All the terrible things you've heard about Victorian medical and scientific practices are present in this book. The traditional struggle between good and evil is blurred, no longer strictly black and white. The heroes themselves discover that not all smoke is evil, and not all smokeless are devout.

Sadly, as seems to always be the case in books with two heroes and one heroine, there is a love triangle. Livia is immediately drawn to Charlie, the saint, but when he has to go solo for a while, leaving Thomas and Livia alone, she suddenly falls for Thomas as well. Personally, I don't think either relationship was basis for love. Livia's attraction to Thomas is purely lustful, and her crush on Charlie is really more about feeling obligated to like him because he's such a nice person. I was very disappointed how Vyleta concluded this triangle.

I'm really not sure who the villain of this story was supposed to be, which is just the way I like it. But right now, I'd like to talk about one of antagonists, Julius Spencer, who, in this book, fills the roll of devil-incarnate. You hate him from the second page of the book, but at this point, he is nothing but a holier-than-thou rich kid, ruling over his own little empire of schoolboys, issuing righteous punishments with an unforgiving hand. But he goes mad halfway through the book. By the end, he is a dead man walking. A broken corpse running on nothing but smoke. It's terrifying and gorgeous; really well done.

I was extremely unsatisfied with the ending, however, I'm not sure what could've been done differently. The overall character development of the three heroes left a lot to be desired. Livia's development seemed to be solely based around her realization that Thomas liked checking her out. Charlie didn't change noticeably at all, and Thomas's character really only got a longer, more tragic of backstory than he already had. Very disappointing.

Many reviews have compared this book to the Harry Potter books, but I can't see where they're getting that. The only similarities is the ratio of girls to boys, and that there's a boarding school in England. Other's compared it to Dickens, but it's been so long since I've read any to comment on this.
If you're into horrors, mysteries, or just generally darker books, you'll probably like this book. If not, you'll hate it. I thought it was pretty good, but I will not be recommending it to anyone.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

I was as excited as most Harry Potter fans when the play was announced, and was thrilled when I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of the script-turned-book. It was wonderful being able to revisit the amazing world J.K. Rowling had created for all of us, and to be able to read about Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Draco in their new rolls as adults in the wizarding community, as well as the dynamics between their children, namely Albus and Scorpius, sons of Harry and Draco respectively.

The story opens on a well beloved scene, the farewell at Platform 9 3/4, which was oozing nostalgia, with Harry quoting Mrs. Weasley's exact words to him before his first year. Then Albus Potter and Rose Granger-Weasley, daughter of Hermione and Ron, board the train. Rose is immediately concerned with making the most of her fame, and is annoyed when her cousin deigns to sit with Scorpius Malfoy. Not only does Scorpius have the weight of the Malfoy name on his shoulders, but it is widely speculated that he is not the son of Draco after all, but rather, that his mother had been impregnated by Voldemort himself, by means of a Time-Turner. Rose refuses to associate with Scorpius at all, but Albus becomes immediate friends with him.

Both boys are sorted into Slytherin upon their arrival at Hogwarts, and Rose into Gryffindor, a fact that I find ridiculous, as she is the most ambitious of the three of them. Scorpius would have fit well in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, as throughout the book he is shown to be selfless, brave, loyal, and an absolute nerd. In fact, cunning and ambition seem to be the only qualities he does not possess. As far as I've noticed, Albus doesn't seem to have an abundance of any one of the defining qualities of any house, but he's reckless and clever and spontaneous.

The first half of the book goes quickly, focusing on one event per year, until Fourth Year. At this point, neither of the boys seem to have a very good home-life. To follow the popular theme of HP fanfiction of this second-generation, the sins of the fathers haunt the sons. Albus and Scorpius end up thrown in with Delphi, an intriguing witch in her twenties (who seems to be a poor imitation of Tonks at first glance), and together they do all sorts of illegal, exciting, idiotic things.

This results in the boys creating an alternate timeline in which Ron and Hermione never married, and Albus is in Gryffindor. Albus realizes that his problems with his father are deeper than he thought, and they go back to change the past again. This time, they find a timeline where Cedric Diggory became a Death Eater, causing Voldermort to win, Harry to die, and Umbridge to become headmaster. *Shudders in horror*

Of course, since Harry never survived his teen years, Albus no longer exists. Scorpius is on his own now, in this terrifying other world. But, he receives help from a well beloved character, who fans will be devastated to watch die (again). 

Eventually, time gets straightened out, and there is a Happy Ever After (obviously).

Although I loved it, this book fell short in many areas for me. I understand that it's due to the fact that it is a play, and they can't fit every thing in, but there were some obvious presences missing. Teddy Lupin seems to be nonexistent, along with all of the Weasley cousins. James Sirius and Lily Luna, as well as Hugo Granger-Weasley only make momentary appearances. Other beloved characters who were altogether excluded from this story include Luna Scamander (Lovegood), Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville's wife (who is mentioned only once and it was so random, that I had to go back and make sure she hadn't been mentioned before). I also would've liked to see what else has changed at Hogwarts since the war. Are Muggleborns more or less common? Are there fewer stipulations on muggle technology? Who are the heads of the houses now? No one knows... except J.K. I suppose.

The writing it's self was pretty good. Since it's basically a script, its really only dialogue. I don't have much to say about how it was written. You can tell it was J.K.R., but you can see the influences of Tiffany and Thorne. I really appreciated the acknowledgement of Dumbledore's flaws. I've always felt he was unfairly hailed as a saint. I also liked how similar Scorpius was to his father in the first few books. If you've only watched the movies, you wont recognize this, but if you've read the books, you'll probably be able to see what similar personalities Draco and Scorpius have.

In my opinion, the highlights are definitely being able to see our favorite characters in their adult lives. We get to read about teacher!Hermione, rebel!Hermione, and minister of magic!Hermione, each equally glorious. We're told about Draco's relationship with his wife Astoria, and how much they truly loved each other (thank Godric!). We get teased with the notion of Ron's mysterious son Panju. We get to watch the brilliant dynamics that Hermione and Ginny have with Draco. And, of course, we have to endure Harry's difficulty with fatherhood.

I don't want to rant too much about that last one, but let me just say I do not agree. And don't get me started on the 'villain'.

My absolute favorite things about this story were, however:

1. McGonagall is put in possession of The Marauders Map
2. Albus is a Slytherin
3. Scorpius Malfoy. (really, he alone is enough reason to read this book)

Altogether, The Cursed Child is very good. I was disappointed in some areas, but others far exceeded my expectations. I cried hideously through six scenes, which is a quality I always look for in books. I would highly recommend all HP lovers to read it.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

All together, this was a pretty good book. The characters were realistic, believable, and beautifully detailed. The way things were described in this book was gorgeous. However, when I put it down, I was unsatisfied. It ended rather abruptly, and while the epilogue answered the hanging questions, it still didn't quite work for me. I'd give it three out of five stars.

The girl of vinegar in question is Twenty-nine year old Kate, a preschool teaching assistant, looking after her scatterbrained scientist of a father, and her sixteen year old, flirtatious, presumably airhead sister, Bunny. Kate is a bitter, closed off creature of habit. She's rude to her family, she's a bad role model for the children she looks after, and is inconsiderate of people in general.

When her father's lab assistant, Pyoter, needs to convince Immigration not to ship him home (as he and Kate's father are evidently at the edge of a scientific breakthrough), the obvious solution is reminiscent of The Proposal (Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds) with the exclusion of Alaska and Betty White.

The first half of the book is Kate being appalled at her father's request, and reluctantly tolerant of Pyoter's sparse knowledge of English. The second half is full of poor quality selfies, meatless meat-mash, halfhearted wedding arrangements, dreamcatchers, and stolen mice.

Like I said before, it was a good book. I enjoyed the wide range of detailed characters. But, no matter how great the people where, there wasn't much development. Kate never got nicer, and it didn't seem like she ever really started liking Pyoter, she just suddenly accepted the marriage. Her father never focused more on his daughters and less on his work. Bunny had a few moments where she dropped her ditzy act and showed some nerve, but it didn't last long. Pyoter seemed rather out of character for a last few chapters, which I know was deliberate, but it didn't seem like it was explained well enough. I, being a sucker for good redemption arch's and character development, was rather disappointed.

Family friendly-wise, there was some slight cursing, but it was otherwise very clean. Probably a 13+ kind of book. It was apparently a re-telling of The Taming of The Shrew by Shakespeare; it's been too long since I read that for me to tell you if it was a good retelling, but I can tell you that it was good book.