My Letter to Sarah Rees Brennan

It is no secret that Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon trilogy is one of my obsessions. I've forced everyone I know into reading it, I spend hours debating different couples and scenes, and when The Demon's Surrender finally shows up at my door, I may just burst into song and run around my house screaming "SURRENDER!". But, it's not just her books - I think SRB herself is pretty darn awesome. And she recently tweeted that there is apparently a website dedicated to "calling [her] a b*tch". So, what to do? Tell her how much I adore her, of course!

WARNING: Lots and lots of excessive gushing and fangirling below!

Dear Sarah,

You know that question about the ten people you'd most like to have dinner with, living or dead? You would be on my list (and I'm sure dinner would be a very interesting event). Because, Sarah, I love you. Not in the romantic sense, but in the sense that if I ever met you, I might spontaneously combust with joy. I don't love you just because you wrote The Demon's Lexicon trilogy, although those are some amazing books. But aside from your mad writing skills, you seem to be a genuinely nice person. You reply to your fans on Twitter and have discussions with us. You are witty and absolutely hilarious. Your comments on TV shows and movies are better than watching them myself. You fight passionately for feminism, equality, and YA. In fact, this awesome blog post you wrote is something that I go and read when I'm feeling kind of unmotivated and tired of all the sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. in the world. Your essays are well thought-out and interesting. You bring up important issues and defend reading, diversity, girl power, and lots more. You inspire me to be a better writer, and frankly, a better and more accepting person. Plus, we share a love of evil guys (Barron!), kick-a** girls, and families in YA.

So, thank you for writing such wonderful books and for being an all-around awesome person. I hope I didn't creep you out too much, and that I get to meet you one day and tell you all this in person! ;-)

Sincerely,

A Marmalade Fish

Best Female Characters

Whoops, sorry, seems I forgot to post this yesterday! Ah well, today you get best female and male characters. So, for this category we have Mae Crawford from Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon trilogy and Rose Hathaway from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. Mae and Rose are both totally kick-a**. Seriously. Mae leads an army to save her brother and her friends, manages a demon and a demon's brother, and is the most amazing sister ever. Rose beats people up, fights for the ones she loves, and delivers witty, sardonic one-liners to boot. Both of these are such amazing characters, stubbornly strong and hesitantly vulnerable and truly real.

Who are your favorite female characters in books?

Best LGBT Characters

Again, two series winners for this category: Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments  & The Infernal Devices and Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon (I would choose Dumbledore, but I've been reading about him for years). In TMI and TID, we have Magnus Bane, who is a glittery, wise, powerful, snarky, shimmery, powerful, bisexual warlock. I can't even describe the amazingness of Magnus - and then there's Alec, Magnus's shy, protective, gay, boyfriend, who is so adorable that I have a huge fictional-best-friend crush on him. Both of these characters are fantastic. And then there's Jamie from TDL trilogy - witty, nervous, hilarious, sweet, and gay. Jamie is just so much fun; I'd love to spend a day with him, just laughing anf joking and not engaging in any knife-throwing activity. All three of these characters represent diversity in the world, and I hope more LGBT characters will continue to make their appearance in books, especially YA lit.

Who are your favorite LGBT characters?

JAMIE :D

I would like to point out that, for any fans of Sarah Rees Brennan (The Demon's Lexicon & The Demon's Covenant), a new short story featuring the narration of the absolutely lovely and slightly insane Jamie Crawford is up! It is a section of The Demon's Covenant told from Jamie's point of view and is completely hilarious. Definitely go check it out at Sarah's blog - the first part is here and the second is here. bewarned - major spoilers for The Demon's Lexicon and The Demon's Covenant, but a fantastic story. Always great to peek into the mind of Jamie!

Lovely Demons

The Demon's Lexicon and The Demon's Covenant

Sarah Rees Brennan

5 Stars

Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick's mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again. Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon's mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is desperate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long. Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all. (quoted from goodreads)

First sentence of The Demon's Lexicon:

"The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink."



I read these books, the first two in Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon trilogy, having heard much about her beautiful style of writing and lifelike characters. I really wasn't expecting it would be as good as everyone said it was - things rarely live up to their hype. However, I was absolutely blown away by these novels! From the very beginning, I fell in love with each of the characters, not to mention the way the plot always had me on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. Just when I thought I knew what was coming, a new twist was thrown in and I was left completely shocked, quite literally gaping in surprise. The first book definitely ends with a huge bombshell, and I thought Sarah Rees Brennan did an amazing job building up the suspense and mystery. Also, the mythology that she created is so very enticing, because it's so different from what we usually read about. Magicians bartering innocent lives for power from the demons? Totally unique, which makes learning more about this magical world an absolute delight. And the characters - oh, the characters! I know it's so cliche to say that I loved each and every one of them, but I did. Mae, Jamie, Nick, and Alan all feel like my old friends now, the kind you constantly squabble with and make fun of and cry with. Jamie - I cannot count the number of times I wanted to give him a hug, or the number of times he made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. Mae is just so strong and quirky, and I adore her for it. Nick - well, Nick is so tough and sarcastic on the outside, but he has some very dark secrets, some of which even he doesn't know. And Alan...Alan is sweet and frustrated and loyal and just a little bit twisted. (And readers will no doubt swoon for both Nick and Alan!) I really appreciated that Jamie was a gay character, since those are so rare in most genres. It's great that Jamie's main conflict is definitely not that he's gay - it's not even a conflict, actually, just a part of who he is. I also love that The Demon's Lexicon is told from Nick's point of view, but The Demon's Covenant is told from Mae's. I thought they were the perfect characters to tell that particular section of the story. I love how each of the characters seems so real, so that it hurts you to watch them get hurt, and you feel joy for all their triumphs and pain for their losses. After finishing the second book, I am anxiously awaiting the third book, The Demon's Surrender, which comes out around May or June in 2011 (cover here). This series is definitely one you should not miss! ;)