The Graces
Laure Eve
River is obsessed with the Graces. The Graces are supposed to be witches, mainly because they are rich and exclusive. After someone was injured at an earlier birthday party of theirs, no one in the township is allowed to even glimpse their house. River might be the first – if she plays her cards right.
This book had me hooked, right up until the last three chapters. I couldn’t fathom what might happen next, but it wasn’t what eventually came out as the truth! For me, the truth didn’t hold through what had happened in the rest of the book, despite the hints that would have supported this outcome.
This was a decidedly well thought out novel that could have easily descended into a typical modern witch-hunt novel, but instead created compelling characters that I enjoyed reading about, even just from River’s perspective. The Graces were quite predictable, but the supporting characters wanted me to hate them anyway.
The most noticeable 2-dimensional character you spot here is River’s mother. Very little is known about her, apart from the fact that she drinks and gambles and appears to have no control over River at all. She’s most notable in her absence. I know that this has to have been a deliberate move by the author, but I wonder what else could have been on offer if I had known more about her. This probably would have helped out with the obscure hints to how River’s dad left as well.
Hmm, interesting. GoodReads tells me that this is a duology. Maybe that would help me sort out the problems I had with the ending. Because this novel was deserving of 4 stars from me, right up until that ending, I’d be willing to give the sequel a try. In fact, I think I’d really like to get my hands on a copy!
Allen & Unwin | 26th October 2016 | AU $19.99 | Paperback
I spent a lot of the novel being confused by who was who and which sides people were on. I seriously needed a character list to keep things straight, and I kept flicking back to the Prologue in the hopes I would be able to work out who the ‘bad guys’ were.
Austin thinks that smoking weed is a good idea. He smokes cigarettes, which basically makes him drop out as any sort of good character for a teenager to read. And he never turns up to things on time. And he is making out with every girl he can get his hands on. And yet, he’s not the cool kid or the jock. He’s just an idiot that I was irritated by the whole novel. Even his ‘true-ness’ to Josey is a fake.
I really liked the nifty symbols and I think the author had a lot of fun coming up with them. It likely took a bit of research on his behalf, and it shows nicely. I’m loving the Signmaker and I think lots of teenage readers are going to be able to get into this novel.
I’m not exactly certain what to say about this book. It looks quite unflinchingly at the conditions at some chicken and pig primary production farms, but also shows the positive side of eating meat! I felt like I was wandering around the English countryside with Louise the whole way, which was fascinating just in itself.
I found myself confused by the swaps in perspective between chapters, because I was most interested in Gwin’s story. As I continued reading, I realised why it was done this way, and it eventually all settled into place. If I hazard a guess, this seems to have been a plot driven story, but it was over too quickly even almost for me to form an opinion.
This is a nifty concept that takes advantage of social media’s continual encroachment into our lives. Why not take it one more step so it hangs around after your death? After all, you’ll be gone and not able to see the inevitable fallout! But how do you sustain money into the business when all your users die?
This is told in the style of a fairy tale, which I appreciated. The novel is bookended by short sections that tell us what happened when we aren’t looking from Feo’s perspective. There is a hint of Russian culture, although there could have been more of this. I honestly can say I’m interested in Russia and it has a unique environment that I like (maybe it’s the snow?).
I liked Henry’s self-awareness and his relationships with his friends. His friends are always willing to pick him up (unless they are also lying down) and there is a happy dynamic that makes the plot feel more real. Sure, the ‘Australian’ bloke is bloody caricaturish, but that’s pretty typical.
This is a more gritty version of