Head to Head "Marked" vs. "Wicked Lovely"

I just finished Marked by Kristen Cast/PC Cast and happened to pick up Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr right after. Being able to compare them really crystallized my opinions on both young adult books.

Marked is fun for its exploration of goddess mythology/ritual and vampirism, the messages are positive and empowering, and the main character's struggles will no doubt ring true for many readers. But in the end the book was predictable. The characters had very little that was ambivalent about them and while the book was enjoyable the plot read like a Hollywood movie where you know how it will end by the end of the first trailer.

Wicked Lovely also has a strong female center, the faeries held a bit less appeal for me and their world was less drawn out for the reader (I think this was a strength, but I can see some readers being slightly put off by this), and the male characters are slightly flat. But really they appear flat because they are juxtaposed against wonderfully searching/complicated women (except for the EVIL mother figure of course.) This book was anything but predictable. The main character's almost constant state of anxiety was much more evocative for me of a young person under extreme stress. The messages inherent in the book were also positive and empowering but conveyed much more subtly through the story. This was a terrific book.

Both of these books touched on drugs, sexual desire, and had some limited sexual descriptions, so I'm not passing them on to my nine year old. :) Marked portrays tattoos positively and Wicked Lovely portrays piercing positively, if that matters to you.

Marked YA Vampire Series 2007: 3 out of 5 earthly elements.
Wicked Lovely YA Paranormal Series 2007: 5 out of 5 wood sprites.

P.C. Cast 'Warrior Rising'

Fun, lighthearted, lots of snarky girlfriend scenes. It's not going to win any pulitzer's, and if Kat said "I'm not your typical ancient world woman, I am WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR...." (cue Helen Reddy) one more time I really would have had to complain. Actually, I am complaining. She keeps explaining her actions as those of a independent, take care of herself kind of woman, but really some of them are just stupid and risky (of herself and the poor slobs helping her across an active battlefield.)

What I liked? Achilles: intelligent, emotionally wounded, muscle bound hero. The depiction of the goddesses: Hera, Athena and Venus, fun but also capricious enough to be true to my memory of them in my highschool Myths & Legends class. Kat's best friend Jacky who is very funny. The sex scenes, and P.C. Cast's focus on woman power. And the cover art; I'm okay with a little man titty when it's done this tastefully (other than the placement of the word Rising, of course!).

Plot synopsis, Achilles is fated to die in the last year of the Trojan War. Venus, Hera and Athena decide the war has been going on too long and if they could just get Achilles off the battlefield, the Trojan's could win and end it. They decide they need a modern woman for the job, Venus finds Kat in the modern world just before she and her best friend are killed in a traffic accident, grabs their souls and transports them into bodies in ancient Greece.

The writing in this book is very informal, it's not a deal breaker for me but I know it is for some people. It almost feels like the writer paints herself into a corner, then has a little plot epiphany and fudges her way out again. Overall, if you aren't expecting too much, it's a fun ride.

Historical Mythology Romance 2008: 4 of 5 bersecker rages.