The dark organ music filled the Department of Post-Mortem Communications. Moist assumed it was all part of the ambience, although the mood would have been more precisely obtained if the tune it was playing did not appear to be Cantata and Fugue for someone Who Has Trouble with the Pedals.
Today on “rules of English language I didn’t realise were a thing until someone pointed it out”
There’s a new fantasy book out starring Muslim kids! Click here to read an interview with the author (the source of the pic above, btw) in which she reveals some interesting tidbits about her experience getting published, including the fact that if you wind up getting a book deal while you’re in college, they might count it as your thesis!
On to my review: In The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi, a Bangladeshi-American tween named Farah, And Her Two Friends, have to battle a sadistic, hidden game-master in order to rescue her brother from a board game. They have to play by his rules – showing up on time for each game, not making it too obvious they’re trying to bust out, and only looking for poor Ahmad during their few moments of free time. The games include, for example, life-size Mancala with holes big enough to fall into that are also full of bones, so the whole thing is very cinematic veering on kiddie-appropriate horror.
My favorite characters were the other prisoners of the game, who populate what’s basically a timeless Bangladeshi city complete with souk and palaces. The tween MC’s meet a mysterious woman who keeps feeding them decadent lunches and then forgetting them entirely, a cute guy in a hot air balloon who’s been trapped in this world since he was their age (I don’t think he was described as cute in-text but he appealed to me and I liked the resolution of his storyline), and best of all–a Resistance composed entirely of lizards, led by Henrietta Peel. Yes, a female resistance captain who is also a lizard. I sure hope there’s fan art!
The comparisons between the elevator pitches for The Gauntlet and that movie Jumanji are obvious, and possibly also to Labyrinth, but like JKR (who also built on the shoulders of MANY giants), Riazi shines most in all the bits that are completely new – the cultural setting, for example, and the surprise resolution. Warning for readers who are the type to get hungry for what they read – you are going to need snacks. There’s even a game about snacks–that was one of my favorite parts.
Props to Riazi for a poignant bit of imagery in which we find out, when Farah gets the chance to drink moonlight, that it “tastes lonely.” I love concepts like that. Also, Farah’s from New York City and has just moved to a less diverse school where she’s the only hijabi, so when she sees others who look like her in the game-world’s marketplace, her reaction is “the feeling spread through her, a gulp of seltzer, bright and bubbly…”
There are bits where I felt like the references to real life got too detailed–for example, at one point they have to do something reminiscent of riding a skateboard, and it’s not just “like riding a skateboard”, there’s an extra note thrown in there that it was her cousin who taught her to ride–but maybe these are there to give the audience a greater picture of Farah’s “regular” life since we only meet her the morning of her getting sucked into the game.
I would highly recommend The Gauntlet as a book to hand the young person in your life who’s into the “kids getting into fantastical adventures” genre. I did have a good time reading it, but I guess I haven’t read very much Middle Grade lit in the past twenty years because it did feel a bit young for me (but it should! I am not the target audience; I’ll be thirty-six this fall.)
TW for random blood and bones that don’t…. belong to any of the MC’s? Just used as horror elements.
Review by the WWC Jewish mod.
I’m the birb that gets embarrassed by her man
how fastidiously she puts up her little foot to block him like FOR GOD’S SAKE KEVIN LEAVE ME OUT OF THIS
i know i have reblogged this several times but i love it so much
“You mean that if you do overtime you have to do more overtime to pay for it?” said Moist, still pondering how illogical logical thinking can be if a big enough committee is doing it.
“That’s right, sir,” said Shady. “And down that road madness lies.”
“It’s a very short road,” said Moist, nodding.”
Your body is an incredibly bizarre machine.
“What you see is a myosin protein dragging an endorphin along a filament to the inner part of the brain’s parietal cortex which creates happiness. Happiness. You’re looking at happiness.”
Look at her STRUT!!! She is dragging that endorphin for filth and using that filament as her runway, bitch.
6 inch heels…..she walked in the club like nobody’s business…..godam…..she murdered everybody and i was her witness
I laughed, then laughed harder when it dawned on me that looking at this had triggered the effect I was looking at.
1. What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?
2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them?
3. Did they have a good childhood? What are fond memories they have of it? What’s a bad memory?
4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?
5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?
6. What were they like at school? Did they enjoy it? Did they finish? What level of higher education did they reach? What subjects did they enjoy? Which did they hate?
7. Did they have lots of friends as a child? Did they keep any of their childhood friends into adulthood?
8. Did they have pets as a child? Do they have pets as an adult? Do they like animals?
9. Do animals like them? Do they get on well with animals?
10. Do they like children? Do children like them? Do they have or want any children? What would they be like as a parent? Or as a godparent/babysitter/ect?
11. Do they have any special diet requirements? Are they a vegetarian? Vegan? Have any allergies?
12. What is their favourite food?
13. What is their least favourite food?
14. Do they have any specific memories of food/a restaurant/meal?
15. Are they good at cooking? Do they enjoy it? What do others think of their cooking?
16. Do they collect anything? What do they do with it? Where do they keep it?
17. Do they like to take photos? What do they like to take photos of? Selfies? What do they do with their photos?
18. What’s their favourite genre of: books, music, tv shows, films, video games and anything else
19. What’s their least favourite genres?
20. Do they like musicals? Music in general? What do they do when they’re favourite song comes?
21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?
22. What are their favourite insults to use? What do they insult people for? Or do they prefer to bitch behind someone’s back?
23. Do they have a good memory? Short term or long term? Are they good with names? Or faces?
24. What is their sleeping pattern like? Do they snore? What do they like to sleep on? A soft or hard mattress?
25. What do they find funny? Do they have a good sense of humour? Are they funny themselves?
26. How do they act when they’re happy? Do they sing? Dance? Hum? Or do they hide their emotions?
27. What makes them sad? Do they cry regularly? Do they cry openly or hide it? What are they like they are sad?
28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared?
29. What do they do when they find out someone else’s fear? Do they tease them? Or get very over protective?
30. Do they exercise? Regularly? Or only when forced? What do they act like pre-work out and post-work out?
31. Do they drink? What are they like drunk? What are they like hungover? How do they act when other people are drunk or hungover? Kind or teasing?
32. What do they dress like? What sorta shops do they buy clothes from? Do they wear the fashion that they like? What do they wear to sleep? Do they wear makeup? What’s their hair like?
33. What underwear do they wear? Boxers or briefs? Lacey? Comfy granny panties?
34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body?
35. What’s their guilty pleasure? What is their totally unguilty pleasure?
36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?
37. Do they like to read? Are they a fast or slow reader? Do they like poetry? Fictional or non fiction?
38. What do they admire in others? What talents do they wish they had?
39. Do they like letters? Or prefer emails/messaging?
40. Do they like energy drinks? Coffee? Sugary food? Or can they naturally stay awake and alert?
41. What’s their sexuality? What do they find attractive? Physically and mentally? What do they like/need in a relationship?
42. What are their goals? What would they sacrifice anything for? What is their secret ambition?
43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non religious people?
44. What is their favourite season? Type of weather? Are they good in the cold or the heat? What weather do they complain in the most?
45. How do other people see them? Is it similar to how they see themselves?
46. Do they make a good first impression? Does their first impression reflect them accurately? How do they introduce themselves?
47. How do they act in a formal occasion? What do they think of black tie wear? Do they enjoy fancy parties and love to chit chat or loathe the whole event?
48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend?
49. What is their most valued object? Are they sentimental? Is there something they have to take everywhere with them?
50. If they could only take one bag of stuff somewhere with them: what would they pack? What do they consider their essentials?
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