The Island of Excess Love

Block F. L. (2014). The Island of Excess Love. New York, NY: Henry Holt Company.

Summary

Pen lives in a pink house with Hex, Ash, Venice, and Ez. The world around them has been destroyed but they have been spared.  The ship appears one day and they board it and end up traveling to a land that is different than the world they came from. It is ruled by a king. And soon it is discovered he sent the ship because he wants to marry Pen. There is plenty of magic in this book. The characters fall under a spell on the ship and on the island. While under a spell, Pen has sex with Dylan the king even though she is dating Hex.  They two characters must come to terms with this and also with Hex being transgender. They must decide if their relationship will last as they sail back to their homeland. 

Commentary

I was  confused while reading this book.  I discovered that it is a sequel to another book and that maybe I should have read that book first or instead. The author relies heavily on the element of magic and altered states as part of the story.  If you are not into magicians and spells, you may find the book enjoyable. It couldn't really give it the time it needs to be fully appreciated. The fact that Pen was actually raped by Dylan seems to be blown over as well. She was in a altered stated so that he could have sex with her to impregnate her. This is rape because she was not lucid enough to consent. I also didn't catch on initially that Hex was transgender. They may have been explained in the first book and since I didn't read it I didn't know.

Connections 

Other books by Francesca Lia Block

Love in the Time of Global Warming

The Elementals

Weetzie Bat

Connections to Text

This is a dystopian novel under the subgenre of science fiction. The setting is continuation from the prequel. It does require the reader to suspend belief and believe that magic ships appear and potions can put spells on people like what happened on the ship. There are some real current topics present as well. Hex's gender identification and how it affects Pen is addressed. That brings a sense of realism to the novel. 

Skulduggery Pleasant

Landy. D (2007). Skulduggery Pleasant. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

It starts with a writer's death. Then the familiar reading of the will with the greedy brother and his wife, a friend of the deceased who is a stranger to all in the family, and a surprised, sweet, favored niece who gets the bulk of the estate. When Stephanie the a fore mentioned niece ends up having to stay the night in her new home alone, an intruder attacks her. In comes the stranger from the will reading, he is fighting with the intruder. Here is where the story turns. When throwing the man around doesn't stop him the stranger throws fire, yes fire at him. Even that doesn't work. So he shoots at him to scare him off. After the attacker leaves, Stephanie sees that her savior is a skeleton! Just like that the reader is introduced to the hero of this tale and what starts out as a realistic fiction centered around a family turns into high action fantasy fiction. Skulduggery Pleasant is the name of the hero. Stephanie finds out her uncle was murdered. She and Skulduggery go off in search of the murdered and the Sceptre of the Ancients. The form a team with others: Ghastly Bespoke and China Sorrows.They fight sorcerers, team up with other magical or elemental beings. They are double crossed but never deter. They must keep Serpine the evil sorcerer, and Uncle Gordon's murderer, from controlling the world with the Book of Names. Eventually they destroy him and decide to become a powerful duo fighting evil magic. Stephanie then changes her name to Valkyrie Cain.

There is a niche for boys' fiction. This book and the ones that are part of the Skulduggery Pleasant series would fall into that niche. Boys of middle school age would read and probably enjoy this even if they do not love to read.  Girls can find this enjoyable too. The protagonist is a tough 12 year old female who doesn't just let all the males do the heavy action. I was surprised that I liked this book.  I may not continue the series but would recommend it to students who need to graduate from Big Nate and the like.