Arcadia Awakens

Review by Sliced Open Reviews

So, I really love it when I am surfing through GoodReads and come across a book that a couple of my friends have read and loved so I decide, with haste, to go purchase the book. Upon doing so I rapidly ignore my schedule because, hey “So-n-so said it was great” so therefore I need to ignore any part of the rational part of my brain and start reading. Yes, I do love it when this happens because it is usually when I find books like Arcadia Awakens. Because, if I had done any of my normal research once I found this title here is what would have happened. I would have fallen head over heels for the synopsis, oh wait, I did and that has yet to change. Ok, so after that I would have begun my digging into the show more author, his/her previous works and SHIT. I would have then stumbled upon the tid-bit of info that would have me dropping this like a bad habit. Kai Meyer is a German author, meaning his works are translated (into 27 other languages to be correct). No, I’m not against foreign work, in fact my feelings for this book should prove quite the opposite, but I have read some true epic failures in translating. But boys and girls, I am happy to let you know that this piece of literary heaven does not fall into that category! Nothing for me was lost in translation. Quite the contrary, I think that the vision of Meyer’s heritage brought some of what drew me so close to this read. He describes portions of this book with such intent knowledge that you get drawn in to these amazing aerial views of lush Sicily, that frankly; I was lost until I finished. HECK who am I kidding; I’m still lost since book two isn’t quite here yet!

I also have to give mention to the characters in this book. I was so confused with the first couple chapters of the book because I just could not figure out how I was supposed to like our MC Rosa. No, she’s not what I’m used to when it comes to female MCs cause she lies, cheats and steals within the first 100 pages of the book. Yea, I know, I totally didn’t get it. But as you start to learn more about her things start to piece together and you understand the how’s and why’s and things just clicked. She is far more “angst” than what I’ve read recently and I actually quite enjoyed that. Rosa isn’t the only complex character built within the story; I actually feel that each character was built with a sense of precision, giving each character a kaleidoscope of color and diversity that left me breathless at times. The dexterity in the writing of each character still floors me.

Another reason I loved this book comes in one word…Mafia. I have an inordinate fascination with mafia stories and Arcadia Awakens played into that like a Royal Flush in the middle of a losing streak. This mixed with a version of Mythology that is much lesser mainstream totally blended together to place excellence on the pages.

Ok, I’m shitting flowers and sunshine right now but I just cannot help it. This may wipe the floor with any series I’ve started this year…needless to say I will stalk GoodReads and B&N waiting for Arcadia Burns, Book Two in the Arkadien Series! show less

You know, you’d never think that, when putting together a story using the Italian Mafia and mythology would mix. Kai Meyer’s “Arcadia Awakens” not only makes it totally work, but literally casts a spell over his readers. This book is gorgeously written, with no stone left unturned, and makes for a very good first book in a trilogy. If you like your heroines awesome with a side of gumption, you definitely need to read “Arcadia Awakens”, ASAP.

For a first book, this part of the Arkadien trilogy is surprisingly full-bodied. Had I not already known that this had been published as a trilogy in Germany, I would have thought it a standalone. It reads like a standalone, and yet leaves lots of room for more expansion into this world show more of snakes, tigers, myths, and the mob. Meyer covers all of his bases so thoroughly that I was quite impressed and just a taste speechless by the end of the book. The characters feel fully-rounded and totally 3D (hell, I kind of wish I were in the Alacantara household – even if dangerous, it never seems dull!), the sensory language positively electric. All of the arcs and the sub-arcs were executed more or less flawlessly, without leaving me scratching my head in confusion or worse, throwing the book across the room in rage at lack of that sense of completion we as the reading audience look for when reading.

More impressive, Meyer has conquered cross-gender narration. This book is mainly written in 3rd close, so we get to be in Rosa’s head without her actually telling the story herself. 3rd close, if used correctly, can be completely gender-neutral, or shapeshift to fit the gender of the character it follows. Meyer does that here so well that I was completely convinced that this had been written by a woman. It’s very difficult to write characters that are not of the same gender as the writer, I’ve figured out, especially when there might be romance involved, and still manage to make it realistic. But Meyer is one of the few male writers I’ve seen in YA that’s managed to create a completely believable YA heroine and not what just might be a male mental facsimile of one. (Hey, ladies, we tend to do the mental male facsimile thing, too – especially when it comes to creating convincing/realistic guys in romantic situations – so don’t think it’s just a problem that the guys have when creating female protagonists. I bring this up because it’s a simple problem that comes up a lot when you try to write a differently-gendered protagonist, regardless of the author’s gender. Redundant? Maybe. But it needed to be said.) That being said, I think that this will be one of the few YA books with a female protagonist that will be easily relatable to both genders as an audience. It has something for everyone, whether you’re a boy, girl, or somewhere in between, and that’s hard to do, especially in YA.

But what really knocked my socks off was the part about a more obscure bit of Greek mythology: King Lycaon and Arcadia. I won’t spoil the story, but I’ll just say this – the way that Meyer rebuilt this mythology to fit his own was incredibly awesome, and I want to know more, now. Hell, I want the last two books now (since, unfortunately, I can’t speak, read, nor write in German). He gives us just enough to fill in the blanks, and doesn’t quite leave us on a cliffhanger, but doesn’t get anywhere close to answering the rest of our questions (how this Greek version of utopia migrated to the Italian Mafia, for instance), either. But as I said before, this reads as a standalone, and the way that all of these questions and answers were plugged into the main arc and sub-arcs, I’m totally cool with how the information was dealt out, both in amount and in method.

Also, my hat’s off to the translator – you did a fantastic job. This reads smoothly with no “translatese” issues that translated works so often have.

I think that this book is going to be a hit when it gets published on Valentine’s Day (the most appropriate release date for this story, to be perfectly honest) here in the States, and I sincerely hope it gets the attention and adoration it deserves. This definitely is within my top ten of 2012 so far, so you guys really have to give it a read. “Arcadia Awakens” will definitely make you want to fly off to rural Italy, stalk the mob, and hunt for tigers and snakes in the night. Highly recommended!

(posted to goodreads, librarything, shelfari, and witchoftheatregoing.wordpress.com) show less

Published in English as Arkadia Awakens.

I don't much like YA as a literary genre, neither am I a fan of fantasy, nor do I care for mafia-related crime stories... yet this book has been on my reading list for at least half a year. So the only logical conclusion must be that I am a masochist.

Actually, a second, or rather I just wanted to do some very light reading in German, following my horrifying experience with the first page of The Magic Mountain. So I figured this book would be a good alternative.

What I liked:
- the wonderfully flawed main character, Rosa: a total kleptomaniac.
- Rosa's sister: supposedly to be a complete bimbo, but a real lovable older sister
- Iole
- Sarcasmo - an excellent name for a dog

I didn't like:
- that (some of) show more the elite mafia members can turn into animals
- the two secret statues found
- Rosa's tendency to jump to the worst possible conclusion at any given opportunity.

Guilty pleasure:
- Alessandro - he doesn't have much of a character development, but he's cool. I'm actually quite torn about whether to applaud or scream at him for always withholding the most "interesting" part of the story from Rosa.

Score: 3/5 stars

I'm going to read the second book as well sometime... this century... I guess. show less

I really liked a lot of things about this book. The main character, Rosa, is strong, rebellious, and doesn’t take crap from anyone. I immediately liked her because she isn't weak. She's not the "poor me, I need a boy to help me discover who I am" type of heroine. The setting (Sicily) is one that I haven’t seen over and over, and there isn’t an “insta-love” attraction between Rosa and Alessandro, which was refreshing. In fact, the romantic relationship didn't seem to be the main focus. I also loved the mafia element and the feuding families all mixed in with a refreshing paranormal twist.

Kai Meyer writes with exquisite detail, fully immersing the reader in the novel. While the plot seemed to have many threads, sometimes show more confusing me, I was able to get back on track easily. I guess my only complaint is that I wish there had been a little more focus. Since this is the first in a trilogy, I'm sure a lot of the threads will be revisited in future novels. I can say that the mafia storyline is very engaging and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat.

Even though the book does start slow, it picks up about 1/4 of the way in. The story is told in third-person perspective and the voice effortlessly switches between focus. Sometimes in third-person novels the voice doesn't seem to change when perspectives shift, and that bugs me. That isn't the issue here. The writing is fluid, the overall story engaging and the characters all very rich. The action really picks up at the end as the tensions rise between the families. I stayed up late finishing this one because I couldn't bear to put it down. Anyone interested in a different type of paranormal should check this one out.

(Review based on an Advanced Reader's Copy courtesy of the publisher) show less

This book managed to tick all of the boxes for the first few chapters (actually quite a few chapters because they're only short) and I was pleasantly surprised to find a young adult author that: a) doesn't think it's okay to be condescending when the audience is younger, and b) creates an atypical heroine who isn't all about drooling after her inevitable one true love. As a matter of fact, the author attempts to write quite prettily and sets the scene in the Sicilian countryside very well, you can practically hear the waves of the Mediterranean sloshing against the shore.

The protagonist - Rosa - immediately stands out against countless other young adult urban fantasy heroines. She's introduced as something of a kleptomaniac, she's show more snarky and upon meeting the novel's obvious love interest, rather than seeing cupids flying and hearing someone playing a violin, she turns away with a good dose of sarcasm as a goodbye present. It's no secret that they will clearly meet again and gradually Rosa's attitude towards him will change, but I was thankful for the lack of insta-love and sappy heroines.

So, I had the protagonist I've always longed for, the setting out of my wildest dreams... what was the problem? The lack of story. Or, at least, the lack of an engaging story. I kept reading and waiting for the moment when the author would use her heroine and her setting to create a novel that would blow my mind but it just never delivered. The big mystery of the book was easy to guess, even the author realised this and revealed it all pretty early on... but after that the story consisted of a lot of info-dumping about Greek mythology and the Italian mafia and the legendary island of Arcadia. I felt that the author set the kind of scene that had me anticipating something awesome but it was highly anticlimatic in the end.

I do wonder if this was done intentionally, because this book is the start of a trilogy and perhaps the author wanted to place emphasis on the setting and characters in book one so that you would actually care about them when the real story gets going in book two. It's possible but it isn't enough, if you're writing the first book in a series it's so important to make sure the readers are going to want to continue. I finished this book feeling like I had nothing to look forward to in the sequels.

Many thanks to the publisher for kindly providing an arc of this for review show less

Arcadia Awakens gives us a detailed look at modern day mafia families. There aren’t many huge gunfights or kidnappings—in fact, Rosa’s family makes their money in windpower. Boring! The mundaneness of the Alcantara clan is kind of humorous; it’s really not what you’d expect! Things heat up in the latter half of the book, however, with some shape shifting and (finally!) gunfights. Arcadia Awakens is definitely not a fast-paced book. Kai Meyer gives the reader a big change to familiarize themselves with the setting and the mafia business. This is nice, but at times it seems like the story is slugging forward without much direction. But, like I said, the second half of the book is well worth the wait.

I immediately liked Rosa as a show more protagonist. The first few pages tell you what kind of person she is—someone who you don’t want to mess with. Rosa’s badassery is awesome enough to get readers hooked from page two. She’s smart-mouthed and completely independent—so she’s basically the girl we all wanted (or want) to be at age seventeen. Rosa never really loses her edge, which is fantastic. Alessandro, on the other hand, was a little less difficult to like. Despite being a huge part of the story, for the most part we’re closed off from him. We never feel like we fully understand him because of constant changes in his character (and they’re not always for the better).

If you’re looking for something different from typical YA fare, Arcadia Awakens is a good choice. The writing is more sophisticated than average, which I absolutely loved, and the story is complex and intriguing. I now know for sure that I’d never want to get involved in the mafia! show less

Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Takes a while to get going, but it does have a creative story involving the mafia, mythology, and a gorgeous Sicilian setting.

Opening Sentence: “One day,” she said, “I’ll catch dreams like butterflies.”

The Review:

This book starts out slow. I found this really weird, because the chapters are short and the heroine, Rosa, was someone I wanted to get into. But while the writing of this novel was beautiful and poetic, it did hinder my ability to get into this book right off the bat. In the first few pages you’re introduced to Rosa as a klepto with an attitude. Her kleptomania is one of her many small acts of rebellion, one of the many ways she differentiates herself from show more other YA heroines. She’s snarky and more than a little rude. She’s strong, determined, and independent. From the very beginning, I knew she was going to be a character I liked, even if I wasn’t invested initially.

Since she employs this sarcasm on the obvious love interest, there’s not head-over-heels insta-love that I loathe in YAs these days. If nothing else this sarcasm shows Rosa as smart, if only street smart. She’s an entertaining and layered character and so is Alessandro Carnevare, but somehow I wasn’t always invested in their romance. Their spark, unfortunately, was not always tended into a flame and a lot of scenes in the story lacked the romantic tension they needed.

That being said, mafia and mythology are two of my favorite reads, mix them together and you’ve created a novel that’s everything I want. Maybe I set my expectations a little high because I’ve read Meyer’s other books. Unfortunately the mystery in this first installment has an obvious resolution. It’s revealed pretty early on and then the rest of the novel is left to info-dumping, a tactic I despise. While the mixture of mafia facts and mythology isn’t as seamless throughout as it maybe should be, it’s clearly very well researched and creative. I can say I’ve definitely never read a series like this one, which is hard to say for a young adult novel. I love the shapeshifting aspect of this book and the way it’s mixed in with the rest of the supernatural. The Carnevares are shifters who change into big cats, like lions; the Alcantara morph into snakes. So in addition to the mafia rivalry, you have to very different kinds of predators fighting.

It was fascinating to see the way Meyer wove Arcadia, a part of Greek myth, into the two rival mafia families. He’s constructed an incredibly complex world, and the mixing of all these aspects will, I think, carry the series somewhere the reader isn’t expecting. I say this because even though the mystery in the beginning was obvious, the rest of the novel is incredibly creative.

I’m trying to keep this review a little vague, because the way Meyer mixes the mafia, mythology and romantic elements together are really the only thing that carried me through the beginning of the book. While it definitely picks up speed later on, initially it’s not a very fast read. I’ll definitely be reading the other two books, because I can’t wait to see where Meyer takes his readers in Arcadia Burns.

Notable Scene:

Rosa whispered, “ ‘The after-dream of the reveller upon opium–the bitter lapse into everyday life…’ Maybe I should go take a closer look at the facade of this place, make sure there are no cracks in it.”

“What?”

“Edgar Allan Poe. the Fall of the House of Usher. The narrator compares his feelings when he first sees the Ushers’ house to the way an opium addict feels waking up. In the end the whole place falls apart….I read it in school. Don’t you know it, Zoe?”

Her sister’s brow wrinkled. “Well, there are no ghosts here, anyway.”

“Madeline Usher wasn’t a ghost. she seemed to be dead, so her brother buried her alive. Then she crawled out of her coffin again. Where’s the family vault?”

Zoe looked critically at Rosa’s black nail polish. “Still crazy about all that horror crap, I see.”

Rosa gently touched her hand. “Will you show me Dad’s grave?”

The Arkadien Trilogy:

1. Arcadia Awakens

2. Arcadia Burns

3. Arcadia Falls

FTC Advisory: Harper Teen provided me with a copy of Arcadia Awakens. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less