Category Archives: Fiction

Review: Hisashi Kashiwai – The Kamogawa Food Detectives

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The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Hisashi Kashiwai

“Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner treats its customers to wonderfully extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason to stop by… The father-daughter duo have started advertising their services as ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are capable of recreating a dish from their customers’ pasts – dishes that may well hold the keys to forgotten memories and future happiness.”

The concept is quite novel, yet something that we all should know the basics of. It’s not just about the taste of a meal that evokes the memory, it’s also the scent and sight – the anticipation of it. This is a great bite-sized (haha) read for those who enjoy Japanese cuisine and love to hear about each of the dishes in turn. It made me crave some sushi or sashimi (which is sort of odd, since that wasn’t really the food the Kamogawa’s specialised in).

I found the set up of the Detective’s Agency quite weird. Why was it Koishi who did the interviews? It seemed like Nagare was the one with the expertise who might know the right questions to ask. Koishi also let a lot of her own feelings and perceptions out when doing the interviews – something that I felt would hinder it rather than adding to the memories brought out in people. The concept would never work if Nagare didn’t seem to have a geographical and food memory running the spread of Japan.

I didn’t understand why, if their food was so popular, Nagare complained about sushi being too expensive! Why not make a little more money by advertising to just a couple more people. I get not wanting to be run off their feet like a popular resturant, but also, making enough money to cover Nagare’s trips around Japan might be useful?

Pan Macmillan looks for books with great translators, or take the effort to choose novels that read well in their non-original language. I felt that this translation could have been a little more nauanced in tone, but I can only think that the original text was a little stilted.

This is more like short stories rather than a novel – so go into it expecting that. I don’t care much for short stories so it was never going to get more than three stars from me. If I had any say in what comes next in the series, I’d recommend having at least 10 stories in the book to make it a decent read (rather than the 1 hour or so I spent reading it). If there is a plot outside each of the eaters, I didn’t see it.

Pan Macmillan | 10 October 2023 | AU$19.99 | paperback

Review: Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead – The Lost Library

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The Lost Library
Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

Evan’s dad rescues mice rather than killing them. Evan eats apples that look a bit odd. One day, a little free library appears, triggering a mystery hunt for Evan and the truth about the lost library of Martinville.

This is such a cute, quick read. I’m not its intended audience (middle-grade fiction) but I really enjoyed it anyway. Who wouldn’t love a cat, a lost library and a ghost? The writing is lovely and light, and it was easy to get lost in Martinville. Although I could eventually guess the ending, I was happy just to float along.

Initially I was really worried that it was going to skip between perspectives to many times for me to follow. Nope! It did it just enough that the reader feels confused and then reassured. The concept of a Little Free Library is awesome, even if I did worry about the books left in the potential rain!

If you enjoyed The Cat Who Saved Books, then you’ll also love this one. I’d highly recommend this for any of the young readers in your life. It touches on trickier topics such as not fitting in, and the transistion to higher levels of school (in a USA context), but ultimately it’s a feel-good mystery solved satisfactorially. 4-5 stars from me.

Text Publishing | 3 October 2023 | AU$16.99 | paperback

Review: Patrick Ness & Tea Bendix – Different for Boys

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Different for Boys
Patrick Ness & Tea Bendix

“Anthony “Ant” Stevenson isn’t sure when he stopped being a virgin. Or even if he has. The rules aren’t always very clear when it comes to boys who like boys. In fact, relationships of all kinds feel complicated, even with Ant’s oldest friends. There’s Charlie, who’s both virulently homophobic and in a secret physical relationship with Ant. Then there’s drama kid Jack, who may be gay and has become the target of Charlie’s rage. And, of course, there’s big, beautiful Freddie, who wants Ant to ditch soccer, Charlie’s sport, and try out for the rugby team instead.”

Built on the idea that being a virgin is about having had sex between a boy and a girl, this short story attempts to prove that it’s different for boys who have sex with boys. Unforunately, that’s not what I took away from it. All I saw was a boy refusing to admit he was gay, one poor kid who is clearly gay, one (potential) Ally and one homophobic but horny boy.

Storyline? Boy possibly has sex, but it doesn’t count as sex if it’s ‘just physical’. Kissing could be sex. This uses outdated language and outdated ideas. At least in Australia, I’d think the topic of being a virgin is uninteresting at this point. As a Queer person, I can’t say that losing my virginity was something even worth talking about – I certainly didn’t think about it! Is Ness trying to comment on the statement ‘boys will be boys’?

I don’t get it. This is like a picturebook for teenagers. All the interesting language (read: foul swearing) has been blackboxed out, and it took me maybe 10 minutes tops to read it. Would I want to be caught in public reading it? Probably not. Can I think of someone to gift it to? No. I finished reading it, but only because it was so short. 1 star from me.

Walker Books Australia | 1 March 2023 | AU$24.99 | hardback

Review: Brandon Sanderson – Secret Project #2

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The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Brandon Sanderson

“A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?”

This is fun in some ways, but pretty stupid in others. I’m ok with carp diem! Ie. Fish the day. It’s not seize the fish, which is what John thinks/pretends it. One of the best things about these Secret Projects is that this one and Tress are filled with plenty of odd metaphors and random puns. My favourite!

What else positive can I say about this book? Well, Sanderson definitely seemed to have fun writing it. It still has his lyrical prose and multi-faceted characters. I mostly just feel sorry for John since he isn’t the brightest, but he does try to be likeable at times. I’d certainly lose my temper a bit if I ended up in his original home situation (which is gradually pulled out of the text slowly). He’s just too ‘meh’, and I couldn’t care enough in it or the premise of travelling down different dimensions to ‘time travel’.

Go on and bite me, but I didn’t like this novel. That’s not to say that I love everything in The Cosmere equally and was influenced by the fact that this is NOT a Cosmere novel. I just didn’t care for the topic or the narrator. Yes, I’ve read it twice now, but even just trying to explain the plot to my wife made me think ‘Woah, why am I reading this again?’ I don’t think I’m going to revisit it, unless I’m looking for a happily-ever-after that can be knocked over quickly.

Review: Brandon Sanderson – Secret Project #1

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Tress of the Emerald Sea
Brandon Sanderson

Tress lives on a rock, and feels satisfaction in drinking her salty tea, and catching up with Charlie. When Charlie is sent away, Tress takes it upon herself to search him out. The seas are full of deadly spores, not water, so Tress needs to change herself to find Charlie, and perhaps bring him home.

This is the first Secret Project that has been released as part of the ‘Year of Sanderson’. I had almost forgotten that it would be coming on the first of Janurary 2023, despite being delieriously happy to buy in on the hype when I saw the KickStarter. What a way to start the year! At first I wasn’t very keen on the storyteller’s voice (Hoid, for those of you who are wondering), but I dropped into the story and loved it.

“As the weeks passed, Tress fell into a lethargy. She felt less like a mere human being, and more like a human who was merely being.” I think this 100% decribes the burnout that I’m currently warding off. Trust Sanderson to put in words so gracefully what so many people are feeling about their work! I’m always fond of a good pun, and this novel is packed with them – I found myself grinning wryly at so many parts.

Tress tames her hair with a brush, despite it being curly! So many people have commented that Sanderson had gotten it wrong – that noone with curly hair would brush it… I disagree. I have vibrantly curly hair that I brush! And then the wind separates it into curls when I ride. So I argue that Sanderson has gotten this right, particularly as exposure to all the salt would make beach-waves out of Tress’ hair.

I’ve now read this novel twice, and would consider it to be a bit of a comfort read. Not as amazing as Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, but still an easy read to slip into when I want something familar. 5 stars from me.

 

Review: Brandon Sanderson – Secret Project #3

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Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
Brandon Sanderson

Painter is a lone warrior, isolated from his past friends by a mistake that we don’t know exists. He protects the borders with his bamboo art, and survives from day to day. Yumi is a spirit whisperer, ritually required to do nothing for herself except make art to please the spirits. One exists in darkness, while the other exists on a hot planet. When a Connection is formed between the two, it seems like the spirits want something. But what is it?

I’ve already read this twice, and I don’t even have the physical copy yet. Something about the storyline, the art, and the awkward main characters appeals to me. This is another of Sanderson’s efforts at writing an unconventional romance/love story. Everytime someone complains about the lack of sex in his writing, I wonder to myself why that would be required for a good story. So many TV series seem to rely on people cheating on each other to make the story happen / fill in time!

Who do I like more? Yumi or Painter? I don’t know! I love Painter and the fact that he simply knows nothing about how the world works, but in a different way to Yumi not knowing it either. It’s also good to see Sanderson writing younger characters. Is it a comment on society that Painter seems to have no purpose? Personally, I wouldn’t want to survive as he does.

I’m still a little unclear on how the shroud works, and how/why there are individual sections. Why has it not covered everything? Also, how does Yumi go from the same day to multiple days and not be remade every day at the same town (I can’t give more detail here or I’ll spoil a major plot point)?

It’s no wonder also why I enjoy it when Sanderson says the inspiration was partially Final Fantasy X. That’s the first FF I ever played, and the only one I could kind-of win (but never finished). Why not have a crazy job to a real-world human, but a job that is typical in its story-world? I can see myself revisiting this novel as a comfort read quite often – a much easier read that The Way of Kings or the Mistborn novels.

I pre-bought this novel as part of Year of the Sanderson kickstarter. I’m still loving it, and am dreading 2024 – no more bonus books!

Quick Reviews of Fiction eBooks #3

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It being Pride month caused my local library to showcase a range of Queer novels in their online BorrowBox (similar to Libby / Overdrive) and I thought I’d better get in on the reading! I’ve been consuming these pretty quickly as eBooks so they aren’t really worthy of their own big review. Here are my quick thoughts on some.

The Unstoppable Bridget Bloom
Allison L Bitz

Bridget’s voice is going to take her places – the first stop being Richard James Academy on her way to Broadway. Her Achilles heel is music theory… and it’s stopped her from getting into the right program. Challenged to not use her voice for the semester, Bridget falls in love with the wrong people, discovers just how selfish she is, and is just her whole huge self. This a quick, cute read about a protagonist who isn’t fat-shamed, just musical-theatre-shamed! Similar novel: Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell

On the Subject of Unmentionable Things
Julia Walton

Phoebe is a straight-A student who loves writing. It’s just that a lot of her writing is a secret because she writes an informational site about sex education. When it seems like her identity will be revealed, Phoebe isn’t sure what to do – does anyone else spend as much time thinking about sexual health as she does?

I loved this book! It’s a female version of Jack of Hearts (and other parts). It’s good to see that ~5 years on, sex ed in schools is still useless, but that teens are getting a bit more comfortable about talking about their problems / knowing how to google the answers. A resource such as Phoebe’s blog is something that is still so important, particularly as our understanding of sex, sexualities, genders and diversity continues to evolve.

Freya Hart is not a Puzzle
Meabh Collins

Freya’s diagnosis of autism is something she doesn’t want to share with anyone. Her parents think that she’s starving herself, or just being odd some of the time – they don’t get why she’s odd. Surely being diagnosed with a problem means that it will go away? Freya doesn’t have (m)any friends and she struggles despite making a list of things not to do wrong. I really empathised with this book and appreciated its next nuanced take on autism in women. The more I read, the more I recognise traits in people I know (and myself). Trying to fit in, yet never fitting in, is hard, and autistic teens will probably love reading this novel.

Boy Queen
George Lester

Robin knows exactly what he’s going to do next – go to drama college and become a dancer. When his plans don’t pan out, Robin sees a year of misery waiting for him as he waits to audition for his dream. But then Robin goes to a drag show, and it turns out his drama might need a different stage!

Aw, this was another cute novel. There were plenty of stereotypes including the asshat homophobic fling, the cute new gay guy crush and a standard straight best friend (and less standard second best friend). The idea of painting on a face was fascinating to me, because I’ve never had much time for makeup. But Drag is really an art – and this novel does a great job of showing it as a profession that takes talent, not just bitching (cue RuPaul Drag Race).

Review: AF Steadman – Skandar and the Unicorn Thief

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Skandar and the Unicorn Thief
AF Steadman

So it turns out that unicorns are real! And, they’re limited to just a single island, everyone wants one, and they eat meat and small fluffy animals. Oh yes, and spirit unicorns are deadly unicorns that mean that if you are meant to be a spirit rider, you will fail your entrance exam to unicorn school no matter how hard you study. Skandar’s sister didn’t get a unicorn and it almost broke her – it’s up to Skandar to carry on their father’s unicorn wishes.

Seriously, if the whole island is covered with wild unicorns, how can there be any furry creatures left? There are so many plot holes. So many. Oh look, a book that will teach you everything! Oops, lost it. Wooh, got past one enemy and now assume that I’m invincible! I was very disappointed in the end of both books, particularly the second one. Has Skandar just conveniently forgotten about the other unicorn that he keeps running into?

Other reviewers have commented that it’s so unlikely that the whole world would want to believe in unicorns and watch a race once a year that determines the ruler of the magical island. I’m telling you, those people can’t be Australians! In Victoria, Australia we have The Melbourne Cup, which is horses racing around a track – ‘the race that stops the Nation’. We even get a public holiday to celebrate it! So to me, the notion that a race stopped everyone from doing anything was pretty straightforward.

I was given the first book for review, and bought the second book as a 14th birthday gift. The teenager hasn’t been raised on a diet of Harry Potter (thank goodness), she prefers Tamora Pierce, Garth Nix and other EXCELLENT books. She said that Skandar was better than Percy Jackson, the books looked attractive and there was a gift solved (the age-old gifting problem). If you grew up with Harry Potter or Percy Jackson as a child then Skandar is a weak shadow and not worth it if you are now an adult reader. It’s fine for middle-grade and teens, but I wouldn’t rate it that highly. 3-stars from me, for the right audience.

Simon & Schuster | 28 April 2022 | AU$19.99 | paperback

Quick Reviews of Fiction eBooks #1

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Big Boned
Jo Watson

Lori has been the fat girl, with an odd brother, for a long while. But she used to fit in with her artistic talents – then her mom went and uprooted their lives to find the best place for her brother. Can Lori swim? I liked this novel. Go fat girls who end up being ok with being fat. The evolution from fat girl to fat girl with a better attitude towards herself was nice! I love the claimback by Lori of being fat and being healthy not being mutually exclusive. The novel reminded me to some extent of The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge. The ending was pretty much as I expected but it was cute anyway.

Please Don’t Hug Me
Kay Kerr

I received this as an ARC eBook copy a long time ago but never got into it. I read the first chaper or so, and then got distracted by other physical books. In transperancy though, I did finally read it as an ebook from my local library! I didn’t find it particularly riviting again the second time either. I struggled with Erin just having a single goal of Schoolies and her writing letters to her brother who could be in jail? We don’t even know? Until we do know, and then, oh, I hate Erin’s psychologist. I much preferred Social Queue and the non-fiction Love and Autism (I read them in very quick succession).

Social Queue
Kay Kerr

Zoe’s made it out of highschool with only a few quirks in behaviour that are the direct result of bullying – most is ‘just’ her autism. Or actually, she’s still trying to get used to being a teenager with autism, but she knows that she wants to be a writer. I enjoyed this novel much more than Please Don’t Hug Me because autism is less of a disability and more of a character trait that makes Zoe really good at some things, and not others (just like non-disabled people). Zoe reasonated with me as a character who wasn’t sure of her attraction to other people, but was willing to try going on five new dates! Even if the results weren’t what we/she expected. I think this is a great novel to add to any teenager’s shelf who struggles with being their authentic self, and learning how to love as a neurodivergent human.

Quick Reviews of Fiction eBooks #2

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The In Between
Marc Klein

Tessa’s grown up in foster homes and knows to trust no one. But then Skylar enters her life, and Tessa sees some hope for the future. But what if there’s no future for them together? I’ve started sorting through teenage fiction that includes foster children in the hopes that I’ll identify some good ones worth buying and keeping for the foster teenagers that we have in our home. This one though is not it. I’m pretty sick of the foster-teen-finds surprising-love while also being-a-photographer with weird afterlife vibes. I’ve seen this same thing done slightly differently in Watch Over Me with slightly more sinister tones, and a younger version in Everything We Keep.

That Bonesetter Woman
Frances Quinn

Bonesetting was a craft before doctors became actually able to cure people! Durie has only ever wanted to be a bonesetter like her father – putting dislocated joints back into place and easing people’s strains (really, a cross between a physiotherapist and a chiropractor). Being unattractive is so hard, particularly back in the day when women were just commodities to be sold to the highest-husband bidder. I have to say though that sometimes Durie was a bit dumb, despite being smart enough to remember things! Like really? What? But I hung on and got the ending that I wanted, even if it wasn’t quite the one I needed. I’d highly recommend reading this one if you like your historical fiction with a decent working-class protagonist who isn’t beautiful.

The Passing Playbook
Isaac Fitzsimons

Hehe, the title is sort of a pun! Spencer is both trans and passing, and a soccer player and passing! Anyway, this book gave off vibes of Felix Ever After but was more solid and enjoyable to me. I appreciated the nuances the author had to deal with when creating Spencer, and I think despite part of the local problems of Spencer being marked as F on his birth certificate, this book will continue to remain relevant. This book made me think of a Queer event that I went to and someone trans asked when they could stop representing all other trans people. That’s the question, isn’t it? When will being trans not make someone a different ‘category’ of human? I don’t have the answer, and neither does this novel, but it’s a good one to add to your Queer bookshelf anyway.