Team Sweet Grass

Tune it Out vs    The Gilded Ones

 

Vanessa: I'm gonna keep this short-ish.  These books have very different audiences.  If I was picking the best book for my kids, my library - then it’s Tune it Out.  But if I am just picking the best book, regardless of audience, just based on writing and story..it Gilded Ones all the way.

Tune it Out was a Costco hot dog: digestible, easy to carry around, good with just a little ketchup and mustard, reliable.  The Gilded Ones is a full course meal with two kinds of forks and a rich demi-glaze sauce.  As much as I love a good hot dog, I’ll pick the other meal 90% of the time.  My vote is for Gilded Ones.

Norma:  I loved both these books and the dilemma is how to choose.  I weighed them based on the criteria Vanessa mentioned, elementary audience or best book.  I spoke to Steph and had my mind set on Tune it Out; then I spoke to Vanessa and thought maybe Gilded Ones.  As I loved them both and agreed with both of them, I thought about which I would read again in a heartbeat, which one I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next as I was reading and which one I would read a sequel to today as I want to know more about the characters…so I flip flopped Steph and will move Gilded Ones forward.  Steph, it took a lot of effort and a hot chocolate.  It wasn't  so easy to sway me!

Mel: My vote isn’t even fair since I completely abandoned one of these books (which is unlike me)!  My vote is for “Tune it Out” since I couldn’t get past Chapter 5 in “The Gilded Ones”.  They lost me at trying to kill the demon over and over. Mel out.  “Tune it Out” was the winner for me while I tuned out it’s rival.

Stephanie: I also loved both of these books and truly wish we could just say that it’s a tie and let them both go through. After firstly reading Gilded Ones, I recommended it to numerous of my friends. I have never been one to enjoy fantasy, but honestly found myself completely engrossed in the story and the characters. As Vanessa mentioned in her comments, it is definitely rich and a four course meal. I was planning on voting for it, but  despite how wonderful it is, I still choose Tune It Out , as I am not so easily swayed Norma:) True Tune it Out is shorter, easier to digest, and a novel targeted to younger audiences; however, this does not take away from the fact that it’s a great story with many clever parts. I really loved how the protagonist was labeled as having one type of condition, but then it was later revealed that it was something different. She was involved in some complex relationships and was processing so many things at once. I loved being witness to this process. I also loved that she made friends with the drama nerds and was able to find herself and set some boundaries in her life:) I’m a sucker for a happy ending!! I vote for Tune it Out but won’t be sad if Gilded Ones goes through…

Rushmi: 

For me, there was no swaying needed. I am Gilded Ones all the way! I loved the diversity of the characters, the movement of the plot, and it would have been nice if some of the story lines were more developed, but I was not sure how it would end, so I just had to keep reading! I found Tune it Out to pale in comparison because the plot is fairly simplistic and the pace didn’t hold me. I felt for the character but she seemed to wax and wane in her complexity which I found inconsistent. It would make a good addition to the library due to addressing her emotional and societal issues, but I would rather wait to pick up Namina Forna’s next book, or hope to cheer on the powerful female character Deka in a sequel. 

Emily:

I was immediately sucked in by Tune It Out, and after our last round, I was just happy to have a book with a cohesive narrative that I was interested in. I loved the story of friendship, and how Louise came to understand more about herself and how to set healthy boundaries. The story resolved a bit too quickly for me, but this is absolutely a book that I could put in my classroom library. 

I really enjoy fantasy stories so I was predisposed to liking The Gilded Ones from the start. While it was a bit of a slow burn at the beginning, I loved how you got a sense of the world the author was creating. I ended up reading the last half of the book in one sitting - I could not put it down. I loved that Deka was a strong female character that I could root for, and I’m incredibly curious to see how her story continues to unfold in the sequel. 

My vote is for The Gilded Ones.

Jon:

Transitioning from teaching High School in the United States to Middle School/Junior High abroad, and now to Elementary School in Canada, one of the major differences has been the books that I read.  I had never given the time of day to YA novels, but since teaching grade 5/6 I would like to think I have read my fair share. 

One common theme has been a constant throughout, and this is important because this is what sets one book apart from the other.  

Nearly every YA novels premise is the same.

“I’m dull and boring, there is nothing exciting about who I am…BUT WAIT, I am a wizard/witch/mermaid/third in line to the throne but fell off of the carriage one day and was raised by commoners?!”

“I’m not special, there is nothing unique about me… BUT WAIT, I am literally the fabric holding the entire universe together?!”

“I am as normal as can be :(, BUT WAIT, I am the spawn of some ancient deity and have magical powers that somehow don’t activate until I am about 13 years old?!”

And now in The Gilded Ones, “I am just going about my own day wearing my mask as usual, BUT WAIT, I can’t ever die and my blood is gold, and I can get beheaded a million times. And I’m sad about it :( but I will join this army?”

I’m over it.  I am all for empowering children, I am all for helping them realize their own potential, but there has to be a better way than the barrage of novels with this same common theme.  

The Gilded Ones is just another book.  It did very little to distinguish itself from its peers.  I think the author even knew there was little separating itself, too.  So much lore was given in the book that deep down in my heart of hearts I believe the author wasn’t expecting to be given a chance at a sequel that she scrambled to get as much of it into the first one as possible. (Not to mention the book is clearly a critique on something… but the reach of things it could be satirizing is so big that after a while I stopped looking that far into the message).  

Tune It Out is my vote. 

Too bad, Jon.....the votes decide and Gilded Ones is moving on...