Alan Brennert

Late in 19th century Hawaii, young Rachel Kalama is discovered to have a rose-colored mark on her skin and is soon taken from her family and moved to the island of Moloka'i, to the isolated and quarantined leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa. Though in many ways this seems like a death sentence and Rachel dearly misses her family, esp. her father, she eventually becomes part of a new family on Moloka'i.

I've had this book on my shelf for a long time. I'm not sure why I didn't get to it sooner, despite knowing it had a lot of great reviews. It's a very well-written novel of historical fiction, detailing a piece of history I really had virtually no knowledge of prior to reading. There is not a lot of what I'd call action in this novel, but it's hard not to get swept up in Rachel's world and in the lives of all the people around her. It's a coming-of-age novel, beginning with Rachel at 7 years old and continuing until the end of her life, with lots of bittersweet moments. Despite all that, I feel kind of bad not rating this higher, as many have. I think I went in with really high expectations, and though it was good, it didn't completely sweep me up like I'd hoped. But still an excellent story of an important time in Hawaii's history. It gives the reader a new and different perspective on the term "leprosy".… (mais)

ELSEWORLDS was a great concept--take the core of a character but then play around with that character in a new setting or conceit.

Holy Terror's mildly confusing for its alternate history with a religious spin, but this is one of the stronger "Alternate-Batman" stories ever done (the best, in my opinion, being Gotham By Gaslight).

The cameos and world-changes to many other DC heroes makes this a story that thinks about all the ramifications of altering history, not just hyper-focusing on one character, as so often is the case.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes Batman or alternate histories.… (mais)