Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read!
Review: I absolutely loved this book. The writing is superb, the characters are interesting and well drawn. I only wish she were a more prolific writer.
Rating: 
Summary: another appealing title from Hoffman
Review: I find Nina Kiriki Hoffman's books very engaging, although it is sometimes difficult to articulate why. Hoffman is strong on character development and sets up interesting problems for her characters, but almost always avoids the big dramatic resolution. Characters set up as antagonists are far more likely to work out their problems and end up as friends than to fight it out. This niceness tends to undermine suspense a bit. Gypsum (the protagonist of Fistful of Sky) is frequently in dangerous situations, but one tends to trust that Hoffman's affection for her own characters is too great for her to allow anything really bad to happen to Gypsum or her family. Characters can suffer great traumas in Hoffman's books, but it is almost always in the past. On the other hand, her characters are so engaging that it would be really disturbing if things were to turn out badly.Fistful of Sky revolves around the coming of age of Gypsum, the ugly duckling in a family of witches. Magic is hereditary in this family and usually manifests in childhood. The relationship problems within a family in which everybody, even children, can cast major spells are dealt with in a thoughtful and whimsical manner. But this isn't Harry Potter. Hoffman's work manages to be both more serious and lighter in tone. If this book has a weakness, it is that it seems a bit incomplete. There are a lot of characters to know, probably more than the plot strictly requires, and there is a feeling that Hoffman is trying to set up a cast and ideas that she has plans for down the line. While the major plot problems are resolved, there are enough loose ends that the book seems to demand a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Facinated and enchanted me
Review: I found myself not wanting to put the book down. Though I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that I enjoyed so much. I can say I was sad when I reached the last page; I didn't want to leave the world within behind and I wanted to explore more of Gypsum's power and potential. I hope there is a follow-up so I can emerge myself in once more.
It's almost a very simple book, but this is a compliment rather then a fault. It's smooth; it flows and at points, it sings. I found myself entangled within it and just enchanted by the reality of it all.
Readers who enjoy this style of book may also find interest in Charles De Lint's books, especially those in his on-going, Newford series. Though her novel is more airy, his has similar resonance of a place just outside your everyday life. They both call to you and you don't want to let them go.
Rating:
Summary: Hidden Depths
Review: I knew it was going to be good going in. It was good, and it got better and better throughout. A solid story that on the surface seems frothy contemporary fantasy, but in it's heart has subtle depths that explore the use and misuse of great powers with very human realism. Contemporary Fantasy. The world is the "normal" world where magic isn't commonly known to most people. However Gypsum is a middle child in a family that usually gains strong magical abilities when they are in their teen years. Not everyone of her family does however, because in some rare cases they can die during the transition, or because of marrying outside the family to "ordinary" humans, a very few have no power to come into. After her older sibs come into her power, and then her younger ones, Gypsum resigns herself to the fate of being "ordinary". Then, when she's 20 beyond the age to expect her power to come, it hits her, and it hits her hard. Hers is a dark power, the ability to curse people and things. Not using one's power eats and twists a person so Gypsum MUST cast her curses or be destroyed from her unused power. Gypsum's family is very loving, but it's not all sunshine and light. Power is a tool to achieve dominence and control over each other, and Gypsum has been at the knife edged and sometimes careless mercy of her mother and siblings all her life. Now she is a power to be reckoned with, and she must struggle with controlling herself and facing the darkness that lurks in her own heart. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I picked up this book based on the reviews I'd read here on Amazon.com and the wonderfully engaging first page. Unfortunately, those first couple of pages were the only engaging part of the book. Character development for nearly all the supporting characters is severly lacking, and I had as many questions as I had answers regarding the Gypsum's characterization as well. The relationships need more depth; I simply don't see the close bonds that Gypsum keeps claiming she has with her family. Not only that, I don't see what her father sees in her nasty, superficial mother, nor do I understand why Gypsum doesn't just get out of that house as soon as she can. The great familial love she keeps talking about doesn't come across in Hoffman's text. The writing style is simplistic at best, but there is no beauty in it. All dialog sounds forced, not natural. There is a quote on the cover claiming that Hoffman is in fact "This generation's Ray Bradbury," which I consider nothing short of sacrilege. I certainly don't believe that this generation is so lacking in good writers that Hoffman is the closest thing we can get to another Bradbury. I'd prefer to see that honor go to someone like Neil Gaiman, whose writing is imbued with what I can only describe as a wonderful sparse beauty. Hoffman, on the other hand, has a style similar to many not-very-adept college students I've run across in the various creative writing classes I've taken. The few times this book actually seems to have the potential to really get interesting, Hoffman takes the easy route and largely maintains the status quo. I gave the book two stars because it is not the worst book I've ever read (that honor goes to Dragons of Autumn Twilight), but it is just not very good.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best but still good.
Review: I really enjoyed the whimsical pace of this book. I have read several of her other books.
This book had everything the last books had except a really good ending. It seemed to
just end. No giant wrap up or possibility of a sequel--just over. I could not put it down which is always the mark of an excellent book. I especially enjoyed the characters. Every member of
her family added to the flavor of this book. If you like her previous books, you will like this one as
well. If this is your first Hoffman book, my recommendation is to keep reading.
Rating:
Summary: A magical tale
Review: In the LaZelle family, the transition into magic is more difficult the older you are. Twenty-year-old Gypsum LaZelle has already resigned herself to living a normal, ungifted life, unlike her four siblings, who transitioned as teenagers. But when Gypsum falls ill one weekend and finally transitions, her power turns out to be a dark power, the power to curse people and things. This book explores the creative ways Gypsum chooses to use her power among her close-knit family, with help from a mysterious girl named Altria. At times moving or funny, A Fistful of Sky is a coming-of-age story about the bonds of human relationships with complex characters, pain, joy, and, of course, magic.
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but not the best....
Review: In this quirky coming of age tale, late bloomer Gypsum LaZelle is the last of her brothers and sisters to gain her magical powers. Unfortunately, the power she gains is an 'unkind power' in the family parlance. She is 'gifted' with the power to curse and apparently is quite strong in this gift.
It's instructional to see how Gypsum learns to take a negative and turn it into a positive. She develops teamwork skills by filtering her powers through another sib Flint, who seems to get his magic wrong more often than not and ends up giving them both a self-confidence boost. In a Jungian twist, she also reconciles herself with her Shadow by working with 'curse child' Altria to find a way to deal with the power she has in a controlled manner. By trusting the Shadow, she is also trusting herself and the two can form a mutualiztic bond.
The book is very well done, but it loses its mark as an adult novel and in my opinion may be too high level for a young adult. Still, I would seek out Hoffman's other work and give it a try.
Rating:
Summary: "Power"-full novel!
Review: My new favorite book! This one is about Gypsum, who comes from a family of witches. Everyone in the family came into their own, unique power in their teens, but Gyp doesn't. In fact, her brother - who has the power of clairvoyance - predicts that Gyp won't go through Transition like the rest of them. Still, Gyp manages to have a decent life and is happy the way she is - until, at age 21, she goes through Transition and ends up with the power of curses - a dark power. In order to stay alive, Gyp must use her power no matter what the cost, and what ensues is a funny, dysfunctional novel about the creative ways Gyp finds to use her curses... the ways in which she grows as she and her power become balanced. Excellent Pagan-y book *smile*. The characters were so likable I hated to see them go!
Rating:
Summary: Her best yet!
Review: Nina Kiriki Hoffman has written her best novel yet. A Fistful of Sky is the most powerful and mature book she has written. She maintains the sense of wonder from her earlier work while improving her characterizations significantly. Hoffman revisits themes from her excellent first novel, The Thread That Binds the Bones. As in Bones, the young protagonist is a late-blooming daughter of a big and powerful family with supernatural powers. The heroine again manifests surprising power of her own. The leading lady again falls in love with an outsider. A Fistful of Sky is a slightly dark fantasy set in contemporary America. If you like the contemporary fantasies of Charles De Lint, Emma Bull, Tanya Huff, Megan Lindholm, and Mercedes Lackey, you will love A Fistful of Sky. A Fistful of Sky is an outstanding novel and is well worth buying in hardcover. Hoffman's recent novels received nominations for several fantasy awards; A Fistful of Sky is a sure winner!
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