Rating: 
Summary: Very original tale of magic-users
Review: "Fistful of Sky" is different than almost any other contemporary magic novel I've read. Many of them present characters who fit into "good" and "evil" buckets, and who do magic accordingly. "Fistful of Sky" avoids this. After Gypsum "transitions" she is told by her uncle that she has a dark power - the power of curses. When I read this I thought that the book was going to start introducing the "good" and "evil" dichotomy. But it didn't! Nobody tells Gypsum to stop using her power of curses. Instead, they spend the rest of the book helping her learn to control her power. At one point, Gypsum tries to use her power to punish a rapist - similar to a comic-book superhero. But this type of moral judgment makes her very uncomfortable and she retreats from this method of using her power. I found this book to be both refreshing and original. I wanted to keep reading about the characters after the book was finished.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read in ages.
Review: "A Fistful of Sky" is wonderful on so many different levels. The first, most immediate, one is the "good story" level. This book is a great read, fun, compelling, magical, and dark by turns. The plot is just irresistable -- the magicless "ugly duckling" of a family of magicians suddenly develops the power of curses -- and the main character is very likable and personable. The various twists and turns of the plot will keep you engaged with the story, compulsivly turning pages. It's both a fun read and a good, thought-provoking read.
Another level I can appreciate this book on is the "good writing" level. Hoffman writes beautiful, pellucid prose that is simultaneously simple, easy-to-read, and relatively transparent, and also gorgeous, poetical, and resonant with meaning. This is good stuff, here.
And then there's Gypsum's coming-of-age story. Any woman out there who has ever struggled with a weight problem will be able to identify with Gypsum. There's a scene that takes place in Gypsum's adolescence where her mother casts a well-intentioned but horribly inappropriate spell on her to make her lose weight that will have all of us fat girl readers wincing in recognition and sympathetic pain. More than that, the idea of Gypsum, a full-figured woman, being afraid to use her own power just resonated strongly with me.
Ultimately, this book is about coming to terms with yourself and accepting yourself, learning to love the dark parts of your soul as well as the light parts -- embracing yourself in all your good, bad, light, dark, and contradictory human glory. I know I, for one, really needed to read it. I'm very glad I did.
Rating:
Summary: this is the best book i have ever read
Review: A fistful of sky is the best book i have ever read and i am somewhat insulted because the amazon.com review is wrong in a certain facture. Gypsum is not a guy, she is a girl. please change your review to show the right information
Rating: 
Summary: How should I put this...
Review: at first, when i read the beginning i thought it was intriguing and very well written. it kept me on the edge until the middle when i realized i was still waiting for the REAL story to start. the plot was a little undecisive and the main character irritated me. i was waiting for her self esteem to go up but it never came. the end of the book was a great let down and it scared me away from ever reading it again. hardly any of Gypsum's character changed and she remained (in my opinion)as clueless as ever. her family annoyed me and her new found spiritual "friend" really scared me. i don't want to give it away to those who still might want to read it, but i want to warn that this book's ending is WEIRD and it grossed me out. i shudder to think of reading this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Simple story about a woman's coming of age
Review: Gypsum LaZelle is the middle child in a family of very talented people. The Lazelle family have magic powers. Gyp watches her two older siblings go through the transition (a serious illness where you either die, or gain your powers) and is expecting it to be her turn any time now, but when her younger brother becomes sick, it is obvious the transition has passed her by. Gyp is devastated not to go through transition. It changes everything. She quickly finds herself resenting her family for their good fortune and eventually leaves for boarding school. Years pass, and Gyp learns to live with being normal until one day in her twentieth year, she falls terribly sick... :¬) This book was a simple story about Gyp's relationships with her family and friends and how they change when she finally receives her powers. Transitioning so late, means that she didn't complete her magical studies and now needs to learn everything quickly. Also, a late transition means she is very powerful indeed... VERY. Worst of all, her power turns out to be a Dark Power--the power of curses. Magic must be used or Gyp risks death, but that means she has to curse someone or something three or four times per day EVERY day forever. Talk about a fun premise. Who or what would you curse? Mark E. Cooper
Warrior Within (ISBN:0954512200)
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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: 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: 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.
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