Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: Richard Gardner – Righteous Release

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Richard Gardner
Righteous Release

David Chambers is part of a religious sect – one that is so closed minded that eating with non-followers is anathema, and planning your own life is secondary to helping the others of your church. When he finds himself engaged to a woman he can never love, he decides to head into the wild world and try his luck there.

25042667I confess: I read this novel, and didn’t know how I felt about it. So I just kept putting off my review, and putting it off, and then, damn. I seem to have forgotten most of the points I had thought of about why I liked it, and yet couldn’t give it any less than about 3 stars.

The ending, the ending! Arg! Perhaps the ending is what left me feeling so confused about this novel. I didn’t understand how his loyalties could shift so rapidly. As shallow as it may sound, it was only a woman!

And his friend Rachael? I couldn’t understand how she could settle for it. Perhaps for her (despite seeming to have a questioning mind which to me meant that she would never be happy in such an enclosed environment), having children and a secure life was the most important thing. Which to me, would never be good enough. I need something more in life (but we all know that I think differently to other folks).

The balancing act between the characters and the intertwined plots could have been used to more effect. I found some of the writing clunky and difficult to read, and it did interfere with my enjoyment of the novel (and my ability to read it in a single sitting – I read it over a couple of weeks, interspersed with other novels). For a debut novel though, taking in such a broad and contentious topic, it was fantastic.

I think I’d recommend this novel to read, but only if you can suspend your disbelief that some people can be so damn stupid!

 

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Review: N.R. Bates – The Fall of Icarus

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The Fall of Icarus
N.R. Bates

I got this very thin paperback as part of ‘The Sharp Edge of Lightning‘ blog tour. I’m sorry to say that I delved into this one first, thinking that it would be painless and give me a good insight into the author’s style. Instead, I got concerned about the other novel I was supposed to be reviewing.

25357738Each of the short stories (there are three) has an interesting premise, although I enjoyed the the explanation about the original story of Icarus the best. The elevator was quite inspired. But like many other short stories, it left me wanting for what it really meant, or the enjoyment of it. I didn’t start reading them in order to have an active role in interpreting how it reflects a conversation on society, I did it because I thought they were light fiction!

This is a very short review, which is usually what happens when I leave a review hanging around to write for a couple of months, and also when it is a set of short stories. There are other things out there to read if you like thought-provoking short stories, I’d even suggest Peter Carey. Perhaps I should just stop volunteering to read short stories in general…

2star

Review: Josef – Fifty Shades of Truth

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Fifty Shades of Truth
Josef

Josef is drawn to the more unusual sides of sex work. He likes to be dominated and dominating, he experiments with all things. This novel is 18+. Continue reading →

Review: Juliet Marillier – Tower of Thorns

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Tower of Thorns
Juliet Marillier

Blackthorn and Grim live together in peace and quiet, waiting out the 7 years of Blackthorn’s contract with the Fey folk. While things seem to be travelling as smoothly as they can, there are always bumps. When Blackthorn is faced with a new challenge, the two will need to keep the lines of communication open – but fail in interesting ways.

22567177I saw this book being opened by its author on Facebook, and thought it was too late to request a review copy! Never fear though, I sent an email to my trusty representative, who sent me a proof copy within 2 days. It may not have looked fabulous, but the story was a strong one.

I had forgotten about how the perspectives change between the characters – and how effortless Marillier makes it seem. The character voices are so distinct that you can’t possibly get confused. This holds true both when the character is the point-of-view, or when they are just appearing in the text. Additionally there is a storytelling section running through this novel that was just as distinct.

The world is as lush and vivid as in other works. I could literally see the tower rising from the tower, and see the storytelling playing out (it’ll make more sense once you read it). Drool. I could see the monastery being built, and also the one in Grim’s memories.

There are some twists in this that I truly didn’t expect. I mean, I read the blurb, noted that things might not be as they seem, and then got on with reading it! In fact, I found myself half-way through and just wondering what was going on. Why aren’t they communicating? How can they been so selfish?

There’s nothing like a little creeping hint of malice to string through a novel when the main points are developing. Just like in the first novel of this series, Blackthorn’s past is constantly chasing her. And in this one, Grim’s catches up to him.

Something that I really appreciate about this novel is the unflinching reality of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how that might manifest in a fantasy world. I’m not certain I have ever read another novel that deals with it in the same way. It’s certainly compassionate, but also realistic.

5 stars from me (did you really expect anything else??). Get out there and buy it. I’m hoping that an audio copy will eventually come my way, and I can share this novel with my non-paperback reading partner.

5star

Thanks to the lovely folks at Pan Macmillan for sending me this copy for review.

Review: Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti – Zeroes

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Zeroes
Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan & Deborah Biancotti

Scam’s voice can say whatever he needs it to – whether to pick up a hot girl or to get himself a lift home. He never really knows what the voice says though, and it tends to get him into trouble if he isn’t specific enough about what he wants. When he ends up running from druggies and ends up with the police, he needs some of his old Zero friends to get him out. What he’s started is more messy than he imagined.

24756394The blurb on this novel simply doesn’t do it justice! Don’t read the blurb, just do what I tell you and go buy it to read right now. It’s action packed, and yet still manages to get some character development going, and swaps perspectives all the time, but I still loved it!

I hated Glorious Leader. Hate, hate, hated. He was drunk on power from the beginning! I can understand why he wants to be the leader, it’s his job, and I can understand why his power is so tempting, but ugh. As a person, I’m really disappointed in his -rich- parents and the way they must have brought him up. Or perhaps he has always been this way. You don’t get enough backstory about him to come to any conclusions for yourself.

The passing references to school, mainly from Kelsie’s perspective, made me wonder how long they had been a group of Zeroes. We know that Scam’s voice has made a mess of things, but only because someone else goaded him into it.  Scam’s power seems the more personally dangerous, and other powers more passive, but everyone knows it takes a mix of powers for things to work.

I can’t believe that the timeline of this is one week. Most novels couldn’t imagine packing in so much action into a month and still have the characters surprisingly well alive at the end of it! This novel doesn’t let you put it down, and it made me read it until I was sunburnt.

 

I couldn’t believe it when this novel finished! I needed more! I want more from this series right, right, right now. I found myself thinking that a book this good with a premise this interesting must just be a standalone, but no! It’s in a ‘thrilling new series’. I don’t think I can wait another whole year for the next one. 5 stars from me.

Of these three authors, I’ve only ever read Scott Westerfeld, and that last novel was ages ago – read my Afterworlds review here. I wish I had more reading time to devote to those other greats, because a book this good isn’t just created by one genius write with two tag-alongs. I fully expect their individuals works to be fantastic.

 

5starThis book was sadly late to me because my mailing address with Allen and Unwin was wrong. But thanks so much to the rep that resent it to me anyway!

Review: Rosanne Hawke – The Truth About Peacock Blue

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The Truth about Peacock Blue
Rosanne Hawke

Aster’s brother dies from asthma, and suddenly she is to become the scholar in the family. As a Christian family in a Muslim-majority Pakistan, going to school holds more perils than she expects. Cast into prison for a crime she didn’t commit, this is a novel told through her perspective and the blog of her Australian cousin.

26510513This novel is an expose of what can go wrong in a country mad about laws, and belittling women. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, you just need to be a woman. Women might be the majority, but they certainly have the quietest voices.

Something I liked about this novel was the way that it didn’t cringe from the realities in prison life. Just because people are thrown into jail together doesn’t mean that they are all equal or able to care for themselves. I don’t know about the legitimacy of this part of the novel, but I can hope it was well-researched.

I was not satisfied by the end of the story. I know this is based on a true story, but for something to make an impact as a novel for me, then I want a bit more of an ending. I found myself wondering after I’d finished reading it, whether I had actually finished it.

I found the letter/blog parts and the comments to be relatively boring, and the least attractive part of the novel. Blogging is certainly a good way of getting messages across, but as its noted in the novel, it doesn’t mean that you are going to be listened to, or safe from idiots.

I think this book covers a good range of topics that would be important in middle-eastern society, regardless of whether the players are Muslim, Christian or Hindi. It shows the mindlessness of the masses, and the ingrained way of doing things for years and years. For that reason, I think this novel could overtake The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif as a potent VCE teaching tool.

3star

Thanks to the folks at Allen and Unwin for providing me with this review copy.

Review: John A. Flanagan – The Tournament at Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice Early Year)

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The Tournament at Gorlan (Ranger’s Apprentice Early Year)
John A. Flanagan

After being dismissed as a Ranger of the King, Crowley travels with Halt to try to stop the influence of Morgarath spreading. As they discover that the rot is deeper than they thought, they must gather all the Rangers they can to confront the man facing them. As being a Ranger becomes more dangerous and the plots more costly, it’s not obvious if there will be a clear winner.

26701713I’m not sure how I felt about this novel. It had been long enough that I no longer really remembered the original Ranger’s Apprentice story, so I would say that I read this novel as a stand alone. I’m not sure I want to read the sequel to this one – I simply didn’t get vested enough in the characters.

I think something that spoke false to me, but would have been good for other younger readers, was the terminology used. There was too much stating of what the leadership role was, what fishing skills were important, and less on the actual characters’ voices.

It was too simple. I knew what was going to happen, and I never felt a sense of urgency. Everything would turn out fine, regardless of what the characters did! I felt like I didn’t really get to ‘know’ any of the characters. I certainly loved Halt. Which I suppose I was supposed to, but it helped that most of the novel was from his perspective.

For a novel that didn’t seem to have much magic in mind, the epilogue left me feeling somewhat unbalanced. There were barely any hints about it beforehand (just something that seemed like filler to expand the character).

So with that in mind, I’m giving it 3-4 stars. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing particularly outstanding either. I’ve lent this to my partner’s brother to find out what he thinks of it as a younger reader and having read all of the other books in the series. I’ll keep my twitter updated with the results!

3star

I received a complimentary copy from the wonder folks at Penguin Random House Australia.

Review: Seth Dickinson – The Traitor

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The Traitor
Seth Dickinson

The Empire of Masks has come to conquer Baru’s home. Baru is collected into the Empire’s new school while her old life crumbles – same sex relationships are now cause for torture and death. Baru wants to save her homeland and is driven to do anything to save it – even when it looks like it will be too late.

26055193Baru, Baru, Baru. I don’t understand you. I found it really difficult to connect to any of the characters, and at one point I asked my partner why on earth I kept reading! But there must have been something there, because I lost the two afternoons to reading it after it arrived in my inbox as an ebook (and I don’t even like reading ebooks, because they dry out my eyes!).

Baru’s bird counting was supposed to tip me off that she was a savant, but I didn’t get it. Only after reading the novel and the last couple of notes did I really understand what that really meant for her. Perhaps they should have said autistic savant. According to my good friend the online dictionary a savant is: ‘a person who knows a lot about a particular subject’ or ‘a person who does not have normal intelligence but who has very unusual mental abilities that other people do not have’.

 

The beginning caught me. I didn’t understand why the first couple of ‘chapters’ were written differently from the others, and in fact, I don’t think they were necessary. I guessed that they were supposed to tell me how important Baru’s family was to her, but this isn’t repeated throughout the novel. Instead, it turns to the drama and suspense of winning over a war-torn country using the financial system.

What I missed was the subtext that should have warned me about the ending. How will she save her own people? How does she know who is still alive? How do I know that she cares about them? I had left the novel with 9 pages remaining overnight, and I wanted to know how it ended. Yet I don’t know how I really feel about the ending.

My question is whether there is going to be as second novel. Or perhaps Dickinson feels like he has done enough to expose how empires can be made to crumble or how a single person can mean the difference between a ‘democracy’ or a ‘sovereignty’. Or whether he has sufficiently taught us how monsters are created.

I simply can’t give this 5 stars like some other reviewers. Yes, it’s good, yes, you’ll feel things, but I’m not sure I can accept it as a reread for me. In the end, my emotions had been so wrung out that I couldn’t care about any of them. I remain confused about it, which is perhaps a good sign. Go and read it for yourself, but be prepared for the unexpected.

4star

 

Review: Ellen Wittlinger – Razzle

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Ellen Wittlinger
Razzle

 

Ken has been forced to move to a random place in Cape Cod – a holiday place that his parents have imagined doing up in their retirement. Summer promises to be boring and distasteful – except that a girl he meets at the junk yard promises to be interesting and photogenic. As summer progresses, Ken falls for the more deadly Harley and makes a complete mess of things.

22073268

I confess again, that I listened to this novel, then debriefed with my partner, then took 2 months to write a review! So my ideas are quite old by this point. She’s apparently going to start recording me when I rage about novels.

Photography is the linking theme in this novel. But if you want a good novel that has photography in it for teenagers I’d personally suggest

This novel really highlights how teenage boys think. As nice as Ken is, when he’s faced with a sexy girl vs a nutter, he goes for the sexy one, much to the disgust of the reader. I can’t blame him actually.

Razzle is very odd. Yet the eventual revelation by her mother, while it shakes her, doesn’t surprise the reader. In fact, it left me feeling somewhat cheated. As a climax for the novel, it was weak and insignificant.

While the blurb suggests that Razzle might forgive Ken, I think she’d be better off not doing it! The ending pages of the book are flakey and uncertain – I’m sure this is supposed to be a metaphor for something important, or perhaps just an open discussion on friendship and love.

I gave this 3 stars straight after I had read it. I’m not going to be retracting that score, although I’d consider revising it down. It was saved only by its reader, who did a bloody good job of trying to make something of nothing.

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Review: Robin Benway – Emmy & Oliver

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Emmy & Oliver
Robin Benway

Emmy has lived in the same house for all her life. Born on the same day as her best friend Oliver, it seems like nothing will ever change. But when he is taken away from her for 10 years – spirited away by his father during a visit, Emmy and her family just have to keep coping. When Oliver returns, it seems like things haven’t changed – and yet they have in such ways that the players in the game don’t know what to do next.

24733940I honestly don’t know why I kept reading this novel. It wasn’t anything particularly special. I guess this was just a nice, easy, sort of comforting read that I knew everything would turn out ok in the end. No big revelations to shake the boat, no real climax towards the end. Everything just turned out just fine. And I’m sorry if that’s a spoiler to you, but honestly, the minute you read the first chapter, you’ll twig on it.

It’s an interesting examination of what happens after someone is abducted, and the far-reaching consequences of that. But the thing is, most people aren’t lucky enough to get to come home. Oliver’s mother has moved on without him, but Emmy obviously hasn’t. Although we only get Emmy’s side of the story, it feels as if we also get a good look into Oliver’s psyche as well.

The romance in this is clean, the characters aren’t into anything particularly bad, and it’s a nice enough novel. There’s some love interest in non-straight couples, some family love, love love love for all of the characters. If anything, Caro gets the short shift! It’s no wonder she goes completely nuts at Emmy at one point in the novel…

There isn’t anything wrong with this novel, there’s just nothing particularly spectacular about it. I’ll be giving it 3 stars, and suggesting that it’s a great novel for reluctant teenage readers.

3star