Top Ten Tuesday: Books With A School Setting

This is my twenty-fifth Top Ten Tuesday. As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by its creators at The Broke and the Bookish.

When I was choosing a setting for this week's topic, I looked back at my Top Ten Settings I'd Like To See More Of (Or At All) list for inspiration. The one word that pops up over and over again in that list is school. Most YA protagonists go to school, but many books are set outside the school year, during the holidays. As much as I enjoy reading about teenage roadtrips and summertime adventures, I really love books where school plays an important role.

I really did not like school. I'm pretty sure that at least 75% of the time I spent in school could have been better used had I been left to my own devices, preferably in a well-stocked library. However, schools are fantastic plot devices. Even if the school itself is just your standard suburbian comprehensive, the mere fact that the characters are forced to go there five or more days per week and spend time with each other can lead to all sorts of fictional trouble. And if it's a secret training ground for spies? Well...

Top Ten Books With A School Setting

1. The Boyfriend List, by E. Lockhart - Ruby Oliver is a scholarship student at Tate Prep, the odd one out who can't afford to spend all afternoon eating cake in the trendy cafe or choose the most glamourous school trip option. Although the teachers are fantastic, the Tate Universe is small and gossip is rife, and it's all too easy for Ruby to become a 'social leper'.

2. Girl Meets Cake, by Susie Day - Heidi is another outsider, the only day girl at a boarding school. Again, it's quirky and funny, and the intense school setting provides a lot of the drama.

3. Night School, by C. J. Daugherty - A thrilling mystery set in a luxurious boarding school - definitely the kind of school that I'd have loved to attend, if it wasn't for all the murder.

4. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart - Another E. Lockhart book, I hear you cry. Keep reading, this is only number two of the three on this list, and E. Lockhart is brilliant at school settings, so there. Alabaster is an exclusive boarding school, and the home of the Basset Hounds, an all-boy secret society that Frankie plots to infiltrate.

5. A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray - This is another boarding-school book, this time set in the Victorian era, with plenty of atmosphere. The school is really, really, creepy during the night-time scenes!

6. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin - School is the place where Naomi, the teenage amnesiac of the title, figures out who she is and who she wants to be.

7. Fly on the Wall, by E Lockhart - This time, E Lockhart sets the story in an arts school, but again the protagonist is an outsider, Gretchen Yee, who can't get on with her teachers and is struggling to find a place amongst her peers. Then she gets turned into a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room.

8. Spellbound, by Cara Lynn Shultz - The school itself is just another private day school, but it makes a great setting for the action scenes, and it is where all of Emma's new relationships are forged.

9. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You, by Ally Carter - The Gallagher Academy is a training school for the spies of the future, and is full of secret passageways and gadgetry.

10. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J. K. Rowling - How could I not include one of the most famous boarding school books of all time? Hogwarts is a character in its own right.

Do you like books in which school plays a major role? Are you a fan of any of the books on my list?

Book Review: I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You, by Ally Carter

 

The students and teachers at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women pretend that the school is an exclusive private school in order to hide the fact that it's a government-funded institution, intended to train future spies. Cammie Morgan, the headmistress' daughter, enjoys every part of this charade until one night, on a practice mission, she meets a boy from the town who assumes that she is just as normal as he is. Cammie thinks he's cute. Her friends think he's a enemy agent. And her mother can't possibly be allowed to find out about their burgeoning relationship.

Looooooong title. Short book. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You is a quick, fun story set in a fabulously unusual school. I loved all the little details - from the lesson topics, to the mechanisms that disguise the building's real purpose when outsiders arrive. The mission scenes are exciting and funny and I really looked forward to the dramatic final operation. I also loved Cammie's friends - the mix of characters in the group is a bit of a YA cliche, but it works in whimsical stories like this, and they're all intelligent, hard-working, determined young women. I think Liz, the clumsy genius, is my favourite, but I suspect that my opinion is subject to change!

Cammie has a lot to juggle: secrets, feelings, and spy-schoolwork, and at times I felt like that the book jumped potentially interesting scenes. An example from the start of the book - Cammie skips over telling us about the homecoming of her school 'sisters' and why they stayed up all night, and I thought that could have been such a good scene. I also wanted more scenes featuring Cammie and her mum together, but I expect that their relationship is explored in more detail in the rest of the series. I didn't find Cammie's voice completely engaging, and as a result, I felt slightly distanced from her, but hopefully that will also improve.

I would recommend I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You to fans of boarding school stories, with a caveat to bear in mind - it's intended for the younger end of the teen market. There are a few serious moments, but for the most part, it's a gentle and light-hearted read.

Book Review: Rebel Angels, by Libba Bray

This book is the second in a trilogy and therefore this review will inevitably contain spoilers for the first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty.

Photo by Benjamin Vander Steen

Rebel Angels picks up shortly after where A Great and Terrible Beauty left off. Christmas is approaching and Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are mourning Pippa's death. Gemma is particularly shaken because she blames herself for failing to save Pippa, and has begun having nightmares about it. She has refused to go into the realms ever since, while Felicity and Ann are desperate to return to the beautiful world where almost everything they wish can become true.

Eventually Gemma decides to try visiting the realms once again, where the magic is now loose and can be wielded by the strange, terrifying, and distrustful creatures that live there. The trio find many things waiting for them: a friend thought lost, would-be allies, and mythological enemies. Kartik returns, to set Gemma on a quest to find the Order's ancient temple and bind the magic. But what he doesn't tell her is that the words he has given her will bind the magic to the Rakshana's control. Meanwhile Gemma has been having visions of three girls dressed in white, warning her about a woman who led them to their deaths. Circe is still after them, so the arrival of a new teacher at school makes Gemma increasingly suspicious. She doesn't know who to trust - if there is anyone she can trust.

I found Rebel Angels more convincing than A Great and Terrible Beauty. The lengthy, overly poetic descriptions were toned down a lot and Gemma seemed much wiser  than she was in the first book. The plot was gripping, and although I had strong suspicions about what was going to happen (and was right), the atmosphere of mistrust made me doubt almost everyone and wonder who would turn out to be on Gemma's side in the end. Each of the girls grows stronger in this novel and that was really exciting too - I'm looking forward to finding out where their destinies lie in The Sweet Far Thing, the final book in the trilogy.

Like before, much of the action takes place in the realms, but Libba Bray doesn't neglect the world outside. We get to see the girls' families, which introduces further emotional conflict into the story. Gemma meets a new suitor and there were some interesting revelations about both major and minor characters that kept me reading on at high speed. I loved the historical detail - the girls take a ride on an Underground train for the first time, attend balls and a private members' club, and go Christmas shopping.

My favourite thing about A Great and Terrible Beauty was the undertones of Victorian-girls-vs-the-patriarchy, and we get to see more of that in Rebel Angels. The girls are all getting older and having to deal with their impending futures, which are all potentially pretty horrible. Gemma and Felicity are expected to become good, respectable wives, and whilst Felicity acts out, embarrassing her parents and jeopardising her reputation with low-cut gowns and outrageous behaviour, the more thoughtful and cautious Gemma struggles with the knowledge that she will probably have to keep her powers secret from any future husband. Ann is only at Spence in order to learn enough to be able to work as a governess for her cousin's children, and she is beginning to resent the expectation that she will spend her life in servitude. Rebel Angels provides us with all the typical historical novel frivolities: beautiful gowns, balls, elegant gentlemen - but doesn't shy away from the truth about the limited choices available to young middle-class women at this time.

I loved the quest through the realms. The journey had the right mix of magic and horror, and was a great counterpoint to the events taking place in London. On the one hand, everything is much simpler in the realms, where the girls are free from the restrictions of social convention. But on the other, there are rules and creatures that they don't understand. Beings from mythology and the spirits of the dead cause trouble and threaten their lives, but they still keep going back because the adventure in the realms is much more exciting than their expected futures outside.

If you enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty, you should definitely read Rebel Angels, as it is even better. I can't wait to read The Sweet Far Thing - it's on my Christmas list for sure!

Book Review: A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray

Photo by Lin Pernille Photography

Gemma Doyle is bored of living in India with her parents, wanting desperately to go to London, to school and to parties. It's after yet another argument with her mother that she runs off, only to collapse, pulled into a vision of her mother, killing herself to escape a monster from the shadows. A vision that it turns out, showed her the truth. Her father is devastated, drowning his sorrows in laudanum, and they move back to England, where Gemma is sent to boarding school, to be trained, like most of the other girls there, as a proper society wife.

At Spence, the school, she has to share a room with scholarship student Ann, who is endlessly teased by Admiral's daughter Felicity, and her best friend Pippa. They turn against Gemma too, until she discovers a secret Felicity has been keeping. But can she keep her visions secret from her new friends? Does she want to? And should she be paying attention to the dire warnings from Kartik, a young man she met in India, who has followed her to tell her that she should ignore the visions, and certainly never try to bring one on?

I really liked the atmosphere in A Great and Terrible Beauty - it's a mixture of so many things. There's gossip, bullying, vying to be in the in-crowd, and all that typical teenage stuff. But there's also magic, concern for one's reputation, prudery, lust, and rebellion. I found some of the descriptions a bit annoying, verging on purple prose in places. This didn't detract too much from my enjoyment of the book though, as I liked the characters and the Victorian-girls-vs-the-patriarchy plot line so much, and I can appreciate that it's a hard thing to try to recreate the narrative voice of a girl from 1895, whilst trying to make her and her friends relevant to modern teenagers. The whole book is written in present tense, and I just have to say, props to Libba Bray for pulling that off, as I usually drop into past tense after a couple of paragraphs of writing and have to convert the earlier sections to fit.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about girls with magical powers who want to use them and take charge of their own lives, boarding-school stories, and or the Victorian era.



PS. I'm afraid my reviews are getting shorter and not going through so many drafts because I'm running out of time to fit them all in before the end of the year. Apologies to all.