Poetry Friday: The Ballad of Mulan

So, the Ballad of Mulan is just that, a ballad:

Tsiek tsiek and again tsiek tsiek,
Mu-lan weaves, facing the door.
You don't hear the shuttle's sound,
You only hear Daughter's sighs.
They ask Daughter who's in her heart,
They ask Daughter who's on her mind.
"No one is on Daughter's heart,
No one is on Daughter's mind.
Last night I saw the draft posters,
The Khan is calling many troops,
The army list is in twelve scrolls,
On every scroll there's Father's name.
Father has no grown-up son,
Mu-lan has no elder brother.
I want to buy a saddle and horse,
And serve in the army in Father's place."

Read the rest of the poem, in Chinese and English here: The Ballad of Mulan

In the latest installment of the Once Upon a Time series, Cameron Dokey tackles this traditional Chinese ballad.

Wild Orchid Cameron Dokey

I am not familiar with too many versions of the Mulan story, just the original Ballad of Mulan, and the Disney movie.

There are some spoilers in this review if you've never seen the movie.

In this version, Mulan's mother dies during childbirth while her father is at war. Due to the grief of losing a wife he truly loved, and the fact the child was a daughter, the father does not return. Mulan grows up being cared for by the servants. She's a tomboy and learns to read and write, ride and shoot, from her best friend, the neighbor boy Li Po. After her father returns, he remarries and he and Mulan grow closer. The emperor then demands a man from every household to once again fight. Mulan's father has never fully recovered from previous injuries and his new wife is pregnant. Mulan can't let him leave a pregnant wife again and she knows if he goes to war, he will never return.

So, Mulan goes instead. Her riding and shooting skills let her pass for a man, even though Li Po and the General, her father's friend, know her true identity. Like the movie version, there is great love interest with the prince.

Also, like the movie, but unlike the ballad, Mulan's gender is discovered while recovering from injury. Unlike the movie, there's only one battle.

I loved the relationship between Mulan and Li Po. How often do you get boy/girl friendships without no sexual tension? Never! They do discuss marriage, even though they know Li Po's mother would never allow it. They do not discuss it because they like-like each other, but because in their world of arranged marriages, they know that they could do much worse. They aren't in love, but they know they could be happy together, and be themselves.

Dokey obviously did her research (even though during Mulan's writing lessons, the stroke order is incorrect for one of the characters!) but I'm really surprised there is no author's note at the end. The Once Upon a Time series almost ALWAYS has an author note, and many of the volumes by Dokey do. Out of all the books to deserve one, surely this retelling, of a tale very unknown in the West except for Disney, should have gotten one? I so expected it to be there that I actually skipped to the end to read it first.

All in all though, another very strong addition to the series. Dokey's titles tend to be my favorites and this one really didn't disappoint.

Poetry Friday roundup is at allegro!

Beauty and the Beast

So far, Beauty and the Beast is the only story that the Once Upon a Time series has covered twice. And with good reason--it's first effort was definitely not up to snuff.

Their first attempt was

Spirited Nancy Holder

Holder's other title in the series, The Rose Bride, was my least favorite so far. Until I read this one.

The basic premise in this one is that Isabella Stevens is captured and held hostage by Native Americans during the French and Indian Wars. She's the beauty, her captor, the tribe's shaman, is the beast. Do I even have to discuss how problematic it is to set up Native Americans as Beasts? I get the whole over-coming-prejudice-and-falling-in-love thing, but... there are several stories like that where the guy isn't actually an animal, and given the way we have treated Native Americans like animals, maybe this wasn't the best way to go.

Jennifer Mo has a most excellent review of this book and I kinda just want to be all "yeah, what she said" because she words it better than I can. I won't quote the entire review (I urge you to go read it yourselves) but I will quote this passage that I agree with whole-heartedly:

Holder has clearly done some research into Native American names and traditions, and Isabella's initial prejudice towards the natives as savages is understandable. However, the fairy-tale parallel that makes Wusamequin (the quintessential noble savage) the beast is a disheartening echo of colonial ideology. Holder's portrayal, while sympathetic, is not sensitive.

I have other problems beyond just that. Isabella is so helpless. I don't understand why anyone thinks she has spirit and is a fighter. All she really does is scream and faint. Actually, she reminds me a lot of another Isabella in the worst way possible--Bella Swan from Twilight. She's weak and whiny and always hurting herself for some reason people really like her and always come to her rescue. But look! She has such spirit and energy!

Excuse me while I go puke.

The fantasy elements were weird and unnecessary and felt like a complete perversion of Native American beliefs, even though I do not know enough about the tribes of upstate New York to say one way or another. At best, they seemed like an over-simplification of something more complex. Holder does admit in her author note that "I have put my own twist on the beliefs of the Algonquins in the afterlife." Ugh. Why?!

She does get credit for pointing out that despite her inspiration from the book and movie The Last of the Mohicans (which I haven't read or seen, so can't comment on parallels there) that the Mohican nation has NOT died out.

Luckily, to clean this taste from my mouth, the series released another version of the tale,

Belle Cameron Dokey

This is a more traditional telling of the tale. It sticks rather close to source material, and as such is sure to draw comparisons to the classic (and frankly, stronger title) Beauty by Robin McKinley. (I have heard some say that Belle is a rip-off of Beauty, but having gone back and read the early versions of Beauty and the Beast, they're just both really close to the source material.)

I do like how Belle's sisters in the this version weren't mean at all, especially once everyone adjusted to country life. They were the most complex characters in the book. I also liked Dokey's addition of the wood-carving and the Heartwood tree.

While it doesn't add anything really new to the story, it is a perfectly enjoyable retelling that fairy-tale fans will like.

The next 3 titles in the series are by the strongest writers, Cameron Dokey and Suzanne Weyn:

Wild Orchid: A Retelling of "The Ballad of Mulan" is out now, it's just still "in processing" at the library, so I don't have it yet

The Diamond Secret comes out in June--any guesses on why story this is? Based on the cover, I'm guessing Swan Maiden?

Winter's Child comes out in September. Again, any guesses? I'm thinking Snow Queen? Because really, that's the only one I can think of with winter. Unless it's Snow White? But they have done Snow White already. (I'll get to it eventually, I promise!)

A few types of Princesses

So, I'm about half way through reading Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess. Mia is STILL with JP? I mean, WTF? He's even ickier than I remember him. Also, why is Mia so spineless? I love this series, but girl needs to grow a pair. I'll talk more after I actually finish the book.

Today, we'll talk about some other princesses and fairy tales with two more books in the Once Upon a Time series...

Sunlight and Shadow Cameron Dokey

Mmmm. So this installment of the Once Upon a Time series gives a new face The Magic Flute. There are differences, of course, which is what gives this version new life and vitality. I cannot express how much I loved this book--I could not put it down.

Mina, the daughter of the King of the Day and Queen of the Night has been kidnapped by her father. Prophecy at her birth says that Mina's marriage would bring great changes to the powers of her parents, and so Sarastro has been grooming her husband for years.

Mina has no wish to be a pawn in her father's games, and so she runs from his house, to try and return to her mother.

Lots of great stuff here. I also really enjoyed the shifting points of view throughout the story to get so many different reactions to the events taking place. Dokey gives each character a unique voice and vision. This might just be my favorite in this series!

The Rose Bride by Nancy Holder

Rose's tale starts as a Cinderella tale, with an enchanted garden tied to her mother and an evil stepmother and stepsister. About half-way though shifts to "The White Bride and the Black Bride" as it becomes apparent that the evil steps are sorceresses. Plus, there's a war.

This one just didn't work for me. There is all sorts of random weird ties with Greek Mythology (who is a devotee of Zeus vs. Artemis plays a not insignificant role) even though it takes place in medieval France? That was never really explained and was just... weird. Also, in the author's note, Holder says she was inspired by the movie Ever After. It shows. A lot.

Also, the end was really rushed. Overall, like I said, it just didn't do it for me.

More Fairy Tales...

Last night, I met up with a very good friend of mine from college. Such a good friend, that after working the closing shift at the library I was willing to go to a neighborhood that is too trendy for its own good to have a late dinner and drink.

It was AWESOME. Not the neighborhood where you can't find parking even at 10pm on a Monday, but just hanging out with John for a few hours.

This week looks fun. Today's the my only day shift at work and tonight we're going to a favorite bar that's closing down. On Friday I'm a first-time host of Poetry Friday. While waiting for your poems to roll in, I'll be getting my hair cut. I think I'm going to loose some length, but not too much length? I don't know. My stylist and I will consult. Then on Saturday-Sunday is the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon! Yay! I've been happily surprised at the generosity of people in sponsoring me to help raise money for Reading is Fundamental. I have to work until 5 that day, but I'll start reading on my lunch hour! And in my break! And then all night and all morning. READING IS FUN.

And here are some more entries from the Once Upon a Time... series published by Simon Pulse.

The Storyteller's Daughter Cameron Dokey

My favorite of this batch of three (though I will say Night Dance was a very close second).

Once upon a time, there was a king who was betrayed by his queen, and determined not to love, or trust again.

Once upon a time, there were five brothers who used to be princes of a vanquished kingdom. They have vowed revenge on their king for the death of their sister, the traitorous queen.

Once upon a time, there was a blind girl, the daughter of the vizier and storyteller, a girl destined to be the greatest storyteller in history.

Once upon a time, our stories met and wove themselves into one story of love, betrayal, court intrigue, and of telling stories to make a point.

Dokey's retelling of The Arabian Nights focuses less on the many stories of Shahrazad, and more on how she came about her storytelling ability,why the king decided to behead his brides, and how their love grew. (But we do get some of her tales) Overall, a gripping story.

Also, too often in the Once Upon a Time... series, it's love at first sight, and attraction without basis. Reading too much of that in a row (like I did) gets old quickly, so I really appreciated that Shahrazad and Shahrayar's love grew in the normal fashion, when neither of them was paying attention.

The only con? The main character's name is Shahrazad, so her name appears multiple times on a page and every time I read it, my brain started singing "Friend Like Me" from the Aladdin Soundtrack

Well Ali Baba had them 40 thieves, Scheherazade had a thousand tales. Master you're in luck 'cuz up your sleeve, you've got a brand of magic that never fails! You've got some power in your corner now, some ammunition in your can, you've got oomph, pizazz something something something, all you gotta do is rub that lamp and I'll say "Mr. Aladdin sir, what will your pleasure be? Let me take your order, jot it down! You ain't never had a friend like me... WHY DO I KNOW THAT?

Anyway... moving on.

The Night Dance Suzanne Weyn

In this volume, Weyn blends the "Twelve Dancing Princesses" with Arthurian Legend. In this case, the princesses in question are the daughters of Vivienne, Lady of the Lake and a mortal man. 12 years ago, Vivienne was trapped by Morgan Le Fey, and her husband, Sir Ethan, has trapped his daughters in their home ever since.

The youngest, Rowena has found a way out through the fence which sets in motion a quest to save their mother, a quest that Morgan Le Fey will do anything to stop. So across the enchanted lake where their mother is held, Morgan sends boats and ball gowns on Satyrs as dates for the girls to go dancing.

Meanwhile, Sir Bedivere is searching for an enchanted lake, having promised a dying King Arthur he would return Excalibur...

It all comes to a head when Sir Ethan demands to know how his daughters silk slippers get so worn every night and offers a contest-- the first man to figure out where his daughters are going will have his choice in marriage...

A wonderful blending of the two stories, and a great re-imagining of the tale. I liked it just as much as Wildwood Dancing.

Scarlet Moon Debbie Viguie

Ruth had no choice but to help her father in his blacksmith shop after her brother went off to the crusades. The villagers don't like Ruth's trousers, ropey arms, or men's work, but William, the Earl of Lauton doesn't mind. He likes her quick wit. He likes that she can take of herself.

At every chance she can, Ruth takes supplies to her grandmother's house in the woods--where she's been banished for suspected witchcraft. Still, Ruth knows the woods well enough to fear them.

For it's no ordinary wolf that stalks through the trees, and William has a secret that makes him want to push Ruth far, far way...

I really liked the whole werewolf concept and I loved Ruth's grandmother, but the ending was really rushed and was a let down after such a great start.


I've been reading a lot of spy novels this week, so stay tuned for that!

Fairy Tales revisited

The 12th Bookworms Carnival is online! The theme is fairy tales...

Originally, I was going to submit 2 posts, the one I did submit, and this one that you're reading now. So, here are some more fairy tales, all of which are from the Once Upon a Time series.

Water Song Suzanne Weyn

Emma is British aristocracy, trapped at her mother's Belgium estate in the middle of WWI.

Jack is an American, fighting with the British. When he becomes a chlorine gas victim, all he can think of is that water will stop the burning, which is how he ended up in the bottom of Emma's well.

Taken prisoner by the Germans, some quick thinking by Emma will save them, but only for so long.

I was wondering how they were going to redo the Frog Prince. There isn't a lot of magic in this book, with the exception of Jack, who can commune through dreams with his dead mother, who was a medicine woman in the Louisiana swamps. What she taught him, and what she teaches him save not only Jack and Emma, but their friends as well.

Overall, it was really well done. I liked how it was more realistic/historical fiction than fantasy, but was still very much a fairy tale. Also, you don't see enough Frog Prince retellings.

Before Midnight Cameron Dokey

Once upon a time, there was a couple who were very much in love. But, when the woman died during childbirth, the new father spurned his infant, leaving her in the care of servants, while he tried to forget.

Then, one day sixteen days later, a woman and two daughters arrive at the large stone house, the new bride of the long-absent lord of the manor. Pawns in court intrigue, they never realize the servant girl is actually their step-daughter/sister. Victims to a feuding king and queen, they feel banished and are too wrapped up feeling sorry for themselves to actually be nice...

What I really like about this is how the evil stepmother and sisters had believable motivations for the cruelty, and how there was a thaw in relations. They are much more rounded characters than you usually see with Cinderella stories.

Golden

This Rapunzel starts the same as the others-- a pregnant woman craves the next-door neighbor's Rapunzel. Her husband steals if for her, invoking the wrath of the sorceress (or witch) who owns the burgled garden.

But, in this version, there is one difference. The sorceress says she will take the child if there is no room in her mother's heart. There isn't, for the baby is bald. She will never grow hair.

But bald Rapunzel and the sorceress live a happy life in a cottage, far from the fearful village--they fear the magic and Rapunzel's deformity. But then the fear becomes too great and they must flee...

And you're asking, what about the girl in the tower with all the hair? And yes, it's there, but I can't say anything more or it will give too much away.

I liked how the sorceress wasn't evil, but Dokey likes to talk about the "face of love" as it appeared in both of her books I reviewed today. It was good, but not my favorite of this batch. (My favorite, I think, being Water Song.)

Fairy Tales

Y'all know how much I love a good fairy tale retelling, so here's a slew of them that I can't believe I haven't blogged about yet. Plus, I'm just getting in the blogging groove for this weekend. That, and I've fallen behind on my New Year's Resolution to review 5 books a week or enough to keep up with current reading, whichever is less. After this post, I'll only be 9 books behind! Woo-hoo!

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Wonderland has just survived a bloody civil war and an uneasy peace reigns, but on Alyss Heart's seventh birthday, her Aunt Redd storms the palace with a rebel army. Alyss's parents are killed before her eyes and the young princess flees through a lake to Victorian London where her stories of Wonderland brand her as odd. Eventually, Alice (her new family forces her to change the spelling of her name) thinks she finds a friend who believes her stories. But when Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the details are all wrong. Alice knows she has been betrayed. Will she give up on Wonderland altogether? And what about the ragtag band of rebels, who call themselves Alyssians, who are fighting Redd's horror-filled regime?

Bador's action-packed adventure takes readers from Wonderland to England and back again, and shows us a different side of well-loved characters and places. An interesting (and bloody) twist on a classic story, this is the first in a trilogy-- I'm looking forward to the next ones.

This was also interesting because in Germany (where it was originally published) it was an adult book. My library has it in juvenile! It's also a great "boy book." Who would have thought to turn Alice into a bloody book about war and revenge?

Also, I won a Looking Glass Wars t-shirt that says "Wonderland Exists" on the back. It's awesome and really soft. I sleep in it all the time.

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine

Did you like Ella Enchanted? Good. You'll like this one. Like Ella, this is a very loose retelling of a classic fairy tale; in this case it's Snow White.

Aza is not pretty. All of her life, people at her inn have made fun of her because her cheeks are too chubby, she is too wide, her hair is dull black, and her lips are too red. Although she is not pretty, Aza has a beautiful voice and in a country of singers, it sets her apart. Not only does she have one of the best voices in the country, but she can illusing--make her voice sound like it's coming from other objects and people. But when the new queen wants Aza to sing for her and deceive the entire kingdom, can Aza refuse? What will happen whens he gets caught?

Not only is this a creative and wonderful re-imagining of Snow White, but it is also an inspiring tale of self-confidence and inner beauty. I especially liked how Levine works in the dwarves.

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

This is a fantastic treatment of Cinderella that has drawn a lot of comparisons to the work of Gail Carson Levine. Bella's mother dies during her birth and the infant is sent away to be raised by peasants. Her best friend is a prince, a lowly 4th son. The class differences lead to an awful snub, and then Prince Julian is sent away as a hostage for peace. Bella is called back by her father and, for the first time, learns her peasant family is not her family. And here we get some evil steps.

The great thing about this story is that Bella has some real agency and there isn't any magic. I'll tell you know that the fairy godmother does not make an appearance in this book-- Bella does what has to be done for herself. It's lovely, really.

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

I first got this book on book order in late elementary school. (Man, I miss book orders. Do they still have those? Am I going to totally embarrass my kid by ordering all the $2 books for myself?) I never read the book. I eventually weeded it or gave it away or something.

Two summers ago, my friend Elizabeth and I were talking in the post Half-Blood Prince funk. I was filling it by rereading the The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. She was rereading Beauty.

I still didn't get to it until September. Because I'm a freak (plus, dude, I read it in September and am blogging about it NOW?!)

Anyway, it's great and you should read it and I wish I had read it the first time around because I would be rereading it all the time now.

Beauty is not as pretty as her older sisters-- the name is ironic. She is gangly and awkward, but smart and quick-witted. Her father becomes financially ruined and the family must relocate to a small cottage in the northern countryside. There, in the forest abutting their lands is the Beast's castle. Beauty trades herself for her father because really, she doesn't have that much else to do. You know the story. McKinley writes beautifully and adds several layers of complexity and makes it much more real.

Beauty Sleep: A Retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" by Cameron Dokey

I had to read this for work. While not as good as Beauty, this is still a great one. Dokey has written several retellings, and they're all my to-read list.

We know the set up-- Aurora's parents invite fairies to her christening. The bad fairy isn't invited but shows up anyway and curses Aurora out of spite. Her parents coddle her and keep her away from sharp things but she pricks her finger anyway...

But in this story she doesn't prick her finger. She doesn't fall asleep and weird things start happening. Aurora knows she has to cut herself to save her kingdom, but how? Enter the magical forest...

I'm most looking forward to Dokey's The Storyteller's Daughter which retells Scherezade's story from Arabian Nights.

The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber

I didn't like this one as much. I didn't like any of the characters. In the end, I think Gruber just tried to work too much in, which just didn't work, because they felt crammed in, like when I put a tiny sliver of a Kraft single into the lasagna just so I can claim it has one more cheese in it... Also, the ending felt really rushed.

What it does have going to for it is the fact that it's a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, and how often do you see that? And, it's more of a "boy book" than most fairy tales re-tellings are. If he had stuck just to Rumpelstiltskin and didn't try to work in every other fairy tale in the Western cannon, I think the book would have been a lot tighter and then the ending wouldn't have to rush so much. Gruber adds a lot of very interesting detail to Rumpelstiltskin's story-- to the point where I didn't realize it was actually a fairy tale retelling and that's where it was going until really deep into the book.

Also, the fact that I didn't like the characters is not the fault of faulty writing-- I wasn't supposed to. On the other hand, if you have a cast of unlikeable people, there has to be something else going on to make me want to finish your book. Lolita has great prose that kept me going, this one... I don't know. The cover's pretty cool though.

I was also going to talk about Jack of Fables: The (Nearly) Great Escape, but the new Fables, Sons of Empire, should be on my doorstep on Wednesday, so I think I'll review the two together then...