Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: A.F. Harrold & Levi Pinfold – The Song From Somewhere Else

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The Song From Somewhere Else
A.F. Harrold & Levi Pinfold

Frank is bullied by Noble, who is anything but noble. When Nick, stinky, ostracised Nick, comes to her rescue, it seems unkind (despite being unwise) to not at least spend some time in his company. At his house, Frank hears music that she can’t ignore… but it comes from a most unexpected place.

29785301A fantasy twist on a bullying story, Frank is a character that you will love and want to protect in the beginning. By the end, you might wonder a bit where her spunk has come from, but I personally think it rubbed off from Nick. An innocuous missing cat can start off a range of interworld connections that lead to a better end than could have been imagined.

Oh, did I mention that it’s a beautiful hard cover that has an equally attractive dust jacket, and includes illustrations? I admit, I mainly looked at the illustrations before I got too caught up in the story to pay attention. I think I’d like to go back and look at them now though.

This is what I wanted Little Bits of Sky to be. It’s a whimsical but compelling novel that is suitable for younger readers, but has a splash of creepy just for good measure! I’m giving it 4 stars – I think it could be a great Christmas gift for someone who enjoys both fantasy and teenage fiction.

4star

Bloomsbury | 1st December 2016 | AU $24.99 | Hardback

Review: Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus – Trollhunters

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Trollhunters
Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus

Having a memorial to your dead old uncle in your livingroom is a bit odd. Even worse so when your dad, Jim Sturges Sn. keeps 10 locks on the front door and steel shutters on the windows. Jim Sturges Jr. has enough to worry about without trolls actually coming out from the drains in the gym lockers…

31846469Plenty of ooze, vomit, snot and gore in this novel, but with epic illustrative depictions that make you feel like you are right there on the scene. Yes, some parts of it were completely overboard, but I just rolled with it. It had the immediacy of action that I missed from Artie and the Grime Wave, and theoretically the same amount of gross.

Read this as episodic awesomeness that you won’t necessarily see coming. Please, please, please don’t read anything else online about it or I think you will ruin the storyline for yourself. For me, I didn’t see a lot of what there was to happen and that made it all the more exciting to experience things with the unlikliest of heros.

This is coming to Netflix (or is already there?), and you can bet I’m going to have at least a try of watching it with my partner. I think that this could make a powerful, enjoyable storyline and I look forward to sharing it with a non-reader. It’s made by Dreamworks and I generally love everything Dreamworks (Kung Fu Panda! How to Train Your Dragon!), so I’ve got high hopes.

Ah ha! That ending was perfect and satisfying. And yet… this is the first novel in the series! Am I going to pick the second novel? Maybe… it depends on what other options are there. I’m giving this novel 4 stars because I couldn’t put it down despite being tired and overdue for my nap.

4star

Allen & Unwin | 23rd November 2016 | AU $16.99 | Paperback

Review: Lisa Unger – Ink and Bone

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Ink and Bone
Lisa Unger

Finley Montgomery hears things that noone else can, and they block out her perception of reality. A squeak-clink is the newest sound to interfer with her studies – could it have something to do with the abduction of Abbey?

30073778This didn’t quite have me on the edge of my seat, but close enough! I felt like all the girls were already dead, and that Finley might bring the perpetrator of crime to justice, but it was too late for the children. Finley didn’t seem to catch on that she usually sees dead people… So the ones she is seeing and hearing can’t possibly be alive!

Ok, so I admit I was a bit slow to get the title of this novel. Having read another novel titled Ink and Bone, I kept being a bit confused when I saw the title on my shelf. I’m not sure about the ‘bone’ in the title of Unger’s novel, but the ink certainly makes sense.

To me, this felt complete, but incomplete at the same time. I barely got attached to Finley’s grandmother and the blurb suggests that this is the beginning of Finley’s training – yet she seems to have been there a while. A quick google tells me that this novel is a stand-alone but there are other novels set in The Hollows. I don’t know whether those novels also have something to do with Finley’s grandmother, but I’d perhaps suggest to the reader to try reading those first, even if this is a standalone novel.

A psychological thriller, but not too thrilling that I felt haunted afterwards (or tried to avoid picking it up!). I’ll give it 4 stars.

4star

Simon & Schuster | July 2016 | AU $19.99 | Paperback

Review: Natasha Carthew – The Light that Gets Lost

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The Light that Gets Lost
Natasha Carthew

Trey’s family was shot by a religious figure while he hid in the cupboard. Years in and out of foster homes has seen Trey finally end up in a compound run by priests – where perhaps he will be able to find his parents’ killer and enact his revenge.

20617991Despite starting out like a corrective detention redemption and revenge novel, this rapidly degenerates to a Lord of the Flies drama. Trey is infected with a Demon that burns to burn things. The girl he likes has interesting looking scars on her back. Then all the adults go to hell, and the kids wreak havoc on everything. Power corrupts. What is new?

The imagery drove me nuts. Anyone for seeping red, sticky red, blood? Anyone want Trey to set fire to his own head, so that the ashes can match his heart, the landscape, everything else in sight?

I didn’t love a single one of the characters. Their language and consistent shortening of all words and the repetitive and obvious thoughts and actions that each ‘performed’ felt strange and strained. Trey, you’re an idiot. I don’t know how old you are really, but pull yourself together man!

This could be called future fiction, because the novel hints the whole time about the world outside the compound possibly being even worse for children than what they face with the Preacher in charge. Something to go along with that was the ending of the novel. If life out there is so good, why hadn’t they just done that earlier? Escape.

This is not a gripping novel. I drove myself to finish reading it, but it was a struggle. I had picked it up once, put it back down after trying to slog through the painful internal dialogue of Trey, then picked it up again because after all, I requested it! 1 star. Don’t bother wasting your time.

1star

Bloomsbury | 1st December 2016 | AU $19.99 | Paperback

Review: Jessica Watson & Dougal Macpherson – Introducing Teddy

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Introducing Teddy
Jessica Watson & Dougal Macpherson

Teddy is keeping a big secret from Thomas, and Teddy is worried that Thomas won’t understand and might not like him anymore. Will Teddy be accepted as Tilly?

27158837There’s not very much I can write about a children’s novel so small. Oh, but how will I convey how impressed I am with this?

In a world where transgender individuals are gradually getting the rights they deserve, this novel is how to introduce children from a young age that some people aren’t born into the right bodies for their brains.

It’s sensitive, simple and something that younger readers (maybe grade 1 or 2) will be able to read by themselves (with adult guidance for the contents). The language is straight-forward, and the message of acceptance is clear.

With any children’s book, I’m not sure whether to recommend you buy it, or borrow it from the library as it may only get one read, depending on the age of your child. I received a paperback and a hard copy version, and I donated the hard copy one to my library. Well worth having in a collection of children’s books.

5star

Bloomsbury | June 2016 | $24.99 | Hardback

Review: e. lockhart – fly on the wall

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fly on the wall
e. lockhart

Everyone is different, or pretends to be different at Gretchen’s high school. Gretchen herself feels ordinary, and doesn’t know how to talk to boys. A misguided wish to be a fly on the wall of the boys’ lockerroom means that she’s going to learn more about boys than ever before.

30323804I hated Gretchen’s inner monologue. I hated it when she was human and it interfered with me actually being able to grasp the situation around her. Things were slightly better when she was a fly, because she tended to have fully coherent thoughts, but it was still painful.

Boys have gherkins, girls have biscuits? Seriously. She’s going to spend a week checking out ‘gherkins’, she might as well call them penises. If you’re an artist, you should be ok with that! Maybe it was some sort of cute high school quirk, but I wouldn’t pick gherkins any day of the week.

So maybe this is entirely a huge teenage romance, and it’s cool that nothing else goes on, but I wanted more substance. Who cares about her grades? Who cares about her parents? Who cares about any of this? It’s all about those cute boys she’s giving ratings to their asses.

GoodReads is split on the verdict about this novel. I’m weighing in with 2 stars. It’s readable, but seriously don’t waste your time on it.

2star

Bonnier | 23rd November 2016 | AU $16.99 | Paperback

Review: Dane Cobain – No Rest for the Wicked

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No Rest for the Wicked
Dane Cobain

Naked and androgynous Angels have begun to exact vengeance on all those who have sinned. But who says they are from the Lord? As more and more people are killed, and more Angels appear, it is up to a priest and his illegitimate son to sort out the mystery and save mankind.

22088645After loving former.ly by Cobain, I was hoping for another fantastic first person forey into a world where physics might have created Angels that are anything but! Sadly, this novel did not meet my expectations.

Despite the blurb promising me a secretive elderly priest that is the only one who can stop the invasion, I was faced with a range of other experiences of others facing the Angels. Despite Jones and Father Montgomery’s perspectives popping up more often than the others, I wasn’t satisfied with the flow of the novel or the character development.

The author also sent me a book of poems (Eyes like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home) but I’m not sure I am going to touch those. Poetry doesn’t float my boat, but this author has so much to offer I might try one or two of them.

For me, this novel didn’t work because all the conflicting perspectives drove me up the wall. For someone else, this might be a nifty novel to get you thinking about science and faith, and how the two might interact. 3 stars from me.

3star

Review: Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey – Belles on their Toes

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Belles on their Toes
Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

After the patriarch’s death, the dozen surviving members of the Gilbreth clan must learn how to get along with Mother away, and a budget of $600 for several months. Then there is a bout of chickenpox which can be cured by only one The blurb is quite misleading, suggesting that the Gilbreth children set up an egg farm to sell eggs. If this does occur, it’s not discussed in the novel. They do collect manure from the streets though!

1129940This sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen simply didn’t hold as many good ‘tips’ on motion study as did the first one. It’s a bit more entertaining perhaps and catalogues what older society times thought of a woman teaching motion study to engineering men.

I think I’d like a motion study kitchen! Imagine the inefficiencies that have crept into smaller businesses from the loss of people like the Gilbreths from the world. My partner notices these inefficiencies every day in her workplace. Ah, for simpler times.

Do I give this stars? For GoodReads, I have to, and so there I’ll give it 5 stars. But here, it’s non-fiction, so I’m just going to recommend it as a good, oldfashioned non-fiction that illustrates what can happen in a big family after a father dies.

Review: Alexander Weinstein – Children of the New World

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Children of the New World
Alexander Weinstein

In the near future, social media implants are normal, and memories can be virtually implanted. Sex, souls and ass are currency and children can be deleted from life or have their insides fail. This collection of short stories is an eye-opening horror that will leave you thinking about the implications of technology long into the night.

29243630The short stories lapped in with each other, the world felt complete and despite the short stories being, well, short, I felt satisfied after reading each one. I’m not sure that I would be able to comfortably read a whole novel of this, nor what storyline could go with it. There is just so many disparate things happening that it seems impossible to get

I want to suggest this novel for others to read, and perhaps lend it to a friend or two, but I’m also hesitant because I’m not sure most people are going to be accepting of most of the ideas. It’s out there alright, and I think it should be read. It’s another level of “1984” (with the same sort of Big Brother ideas).

Oh, I wasn’t sure whether to give this 4 stars or 5 stars. Normally I wouldn’t go in for a book of short stories, but it really was fantastic.

4star

Text Publishing | 1st December 2016 | AU $22.99 | Paperback

Review: Kendare Blake – Three Dark Crowns

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Three Dark Crowns
Kendare Blake

Katherine the Poisoner, Arsinoe the Naturalist and Mirabella the Elementalist have been doomed to murder each other for the sake of the crown since they were children. The Poisoners have held the island council for many years, but now it could be time for a change with Priestesses wanting their favourite candidate for the throne to win at any cost.

30240773Personally, I think the blurb on GoodReads gives far too much away. You start to get inklings of something being wrong with this generation of Queens as you are reading, and to have them all knocked away before you even start reading would be a serious detriment to your enjoyment of the novel.

I couldn’t decide which Queen I liked the best! I of course felt sorry for Katherine, because she was being poisoned all time and was sickly. But was that just because she was the first Queen introduced in the novel? I’d be interested to hear about the author’s reasoning for which perspectives to display in each order.

The first third of this novel wasn’t riveting enough for me. I couldn’t work out when the dying would occur. Hint, it doesn’t occur in this novel, it might occur in the second (or third, I’m not clear on how many novels will be in this series). I was left with more questions than answers and some intriguing theories about why each of the Queens had odd behaving powers.

I’m not sure there is quite enough depth in there for a re-read, but it certainly has potential if the next novel is as good. 4 stars from me.

4starPan Macmillan | 1st October 2016 | AU $16.99 | Paperback