A Fistful of Sky

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: Tangible Magic
Review: There's a lovely theme running through all of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's work of making the intangible more real than the material things regular folks deem important. And because magic is tangible in Hoffman's work, you get the fun of manipulating it, whether as the golden gooey stuff envisioned in her Matt Black stories, or the glowing strands and nets Tom Renfield spins in "The Thread that Binds the Bones".
The book is propeled by Gypsum's process of learning to control and manipulate her power, and along the way, resolve relationships within her family. Gypsum learns to control her magical powers in a rational way -- observing, taking notes, finding patterns, making mistakes, experimenting. This is appropriate, because in many ways her power is a physical phenomenon -- initially it is a wraith that stalks her; her lingering curses emit a warm glow; unspent power is a tight tension in her shoulders. There are rules and time limits that govern her curse magic that she must learn. Yet what her curse magic creates is a feast for the senses -- mountains of fragrant bread and gooey brownies, a ballooning grapefruit filling the kitchen until it dents the walls, a way-too-helpful computer growing limbs to cling to its user.
Fantasy readers who demand plot and danger and clashes with evil might be disappointed, but for the rest of us, we'll enjoy it like baking Christmas cookies -- rich ingredients, wonderful smells, and a tasty result you can't wait to share.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down!
Review: This is one of the most imaginative books I have come across in a long time, and I had trouble putting it down! It's one of those gems that engross you, and you will think of it long after you've finished it.

Gypsum LaZelle, the middle child in a family of talented witches, has resigned herself to being normal. Having not undergone transition, she never acquired the powers that her siblings and mother have. So she was surprised, to say the least, when at twenty years old, she underwent her own transition and gained her own power. Her surprise was greater still when, instead of having a positive power like the rest of her family, she had a negative power-the power of curses.

Waking up each morning with power literally spilling out of her, Gypsum HAD to utilize her curses, but more often than not, things went awry. With a perfectionist mother, every failure was blown out of proportion and criticized. Luckily, with the love and support of the rest of her family, Gyp starts to learn how she can use her power for good rather than evil.

Sometimes dangerous, sometimes funny, and always entertaining, Gyp's magical attempts will fascinate the reader. What's great about the main character is that she's not perfect: overweight, naive and a bit squeamish, she is a wholly lovable, believable character. Hoffman did a marvelous job crafting Gyp's emotions, and the characters are extremely endearing. If this is any indication of the writer's talents, I'm going to go out and buy all her works.