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The Real War’s At Home – a review of The Gunner Girl by Clare Harvey

by with No Comment Historical Fiction

World War II fiction lads! Been a hot minute since we’ve had one of these, and I’m so excited to tell you guys about this one! It’s a great one!

The ATS served as the women’s branch of the British Army during the Second World War, and this story follows three of them; Joan, who doesn’t remember her own past, Edie, looking to be like her idol Mary Churchill, and Bea, providing for her impoverished and growing family. The three find sisterhood bunking together and doing their bit for the war, some of them also finding and holding onto love in the process. But soon they discover their own battles in their personal lives in spite of their success with the ATS…

We need to get some trigger warnings out of the way first. This novel depicts sexual assault, abortions and side effects of PTSD.

The characters in The Gunner Girl were the indefinite highlight. Characters blur and blend into each other at times during historical fiction, but that was never the case with this book. Each character was very distinct, engaging and favourite of mine – not even the pivotal characters. Every side character was just as engaging and distinct.

I additionally found the writing style to be very engaging. Good writing style right from the start can instantly hook me in, and this was definitely the case. It was a style that put forth the character’s thoughts and motivations, and you could really see them propel the story forward. The style didn’t bother to look fancy and it got down to the story. But while I’m normally a hater for stories without clear plots, but the way this story flowed and its style made up for it immensely.

What I really enjoyed about the plot was the war not so much being the focus on it – it was very much about the people. These are the World War II books I’ve really enjoyed, where the war serves as a backdrop and propels some but not all of the actions. It really allowed for insights into psychological impacts of war on the average person. A lot of the problems that the main three characters faced were both posed by the war and more regular things in contrast, and to see the psychological effects of both was very insightful.

But what really brought this story together was the homey vibes and the sisterhood – what the story is at its roots.

The Gunner Girl gets a score of 4.5/5. Sisterhood during wartime to make you feel heartwarming.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Give ME Mercy – a review of I Am Mercy by Mandi Lynn

by with No Comment Fantasy

My plight to read more books by indie authors AND AuthorTubers continues. Historical fantasy is a genre I wanted to read more of, and this one was promising.

But do you know what’s worse than a promise being broken? When that promise comes from a book.

The Black Plague is ripping through Aida’s village. Death and hatred surround her as her near-white eyes brand her as a witch. To save her people, even when she is shunned, an actual witch promises her the power to do so – a trick. Aida is instead granted immortality and a slumber that leads has her wake up hundreds of years in the future in an unfamiliar town. Without the sense of touch to ground her to reality, she wanders the world in a pessimistic eternity.

Here’s the biggest problem with the book, and it isn’t even what’s written in it. It’s the blurb and the way it was marketed. I was promised a story about a girl becoming a witch and curing the Black Plague and I didn’t get that. I got a story about a girl becoming more or less a ghost and then coming to terms with it over the course of hundreds of years in hermitage. This is not the first time that a book blurb has fooled me, and I HATE when authors do this now. A blurb is meant to promise the readers that something will be happening, and the plague became completely irrelevant about 80 pages in. I was robbed of the story that hooked me in and that I wanted to read! That affects my opinion of it a lot in a negative way.

Now let’s move on to the actual content of the book.

The actual writing of the book was very nice, however. The writing style was very compelling and reflective, especially when considering the interesting lack of the sense of touch. That put a lot more attention on other senses that were absolutely beautiful when written out and described. It created a very visual experience. One filled with very beautiful language that draws you in and makes you keep reading.

But that thing to read was sketchy. Lynn clearly had no clue what the plot of this novel was going to be about. The main conflict felt like it changed every chapter and the book left more questions than answers – a literary sin! The premise of the black plague never being mentioned again is very obvious – but then there were characters that were never interacted with again, plot points left lose in the wind, and trajectories that were never once foreshadowed. While I recognise now that this was a prequel I didn’t read the original of prior, this is NOT how you write one.

One thing I’m always checking is how distinct characters are from each other. This was done very well. You could see it from characters who were there for a long time or just a chapter. They were each characterised very well, showed their purposes and flaunted them. Or… most of them. There wound up being a very large cast of characters towards the end that I wonder why they were given a name or introduced except to set up the original story this was a prequel of… I guess?

In summary, it once the betrayal of the focus on the Black Plague happened it was very difficult to discern was was worth remembering or not. I’m probably gonna forget about this book anyway, with pleasure.

Don’t break promises.

I Am Mercy gets a score of 2.5/5. If your novel is not about the Black Plague, then DO NOT say it is about the Black Plague. Simple.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Major Style Points – a review of The Liminal Space by Jacquie McRae

by with No Comment Contemporary

This author studied at the same university as me. Not the same degree – I studied digital communications, not creative writing – but that’s still cool. A small world to find a New Zealand author publishing a fiction novel.

With the church of a small British village called Radley losing money, their library may be shutting down as a result. And in the middle of this village crisis are four people. First is William, a retired doctor and kind soul without history. He helps out Emily, who is in love with an abusive husband and retreats to her workplace at the library to find peace. Next door to William is Arlo and his son Marco, who is struggling to play London rent after not making enough sales as a real estate agent. And fourth is James, depressed and anxious as his father makes his life choices for him. To save the Radley library, together these four will first save themselves.

This book has got some triggering topics that are worth mentioning now: depression, anxiety, suicide, and sexual abuse, all described and playing parts in the narrative. If any of these trigger or upset you, this book isn’t for you. You’re okay to not read this review.

I loved all these characters and the perspectives they provided. Each one felt so real and so genuinely cared for that I cannot discern favourites, because each of them focussed on such real subjects, some of which I could relate to. And the ones that I couldn’t relate to were laced with such an incredible writing style that I would claim it as similar as Markus Zusak’s. How poetic the mundane and the normal was.

With contemporary novels being a big hit-or-miss for me, sometimes the conflicts or the plotlines don’t feel real enough. But each of these conflicts faced by the main characters were very much real and connected with each other very well. It didn’t feel Avengers-y where they all team up to solve a big issue, but the little impacts they make on each other when they meet it the beauty of this novel. It showcases them as individuals even when their POV voices are so unique and similar at the same time. As if I haven’t gushed enough about the writing style already. This is what really captures you when you read this novel.

My only complaint would be how abruptly the character arcs had finished. They did make sense, but in some cases it felt like they happened too soon. James’s plot, which focuses on mental health, is a strong example. It is framed that his mental health problems are “solved” by the end of the book, which in reality would not be. And then another character doesn’t have a POV chapter to solve their problems and finish their character arc, it is just in the background? I didn’t vibe with that.

I didn’t think I would vibe with this book when I saw a almost brand new copy of it in a second-hand book shop and bought it because it was cheap. But as soon as I read it, I knew I was glad to pick it up. And you should pick it up too.

The Liminal Space gets a score of 4/5. A strong writing style foundation with fantastic characters building it up.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Homewreckers, am I right? – a review of Queendom of Chaos by Megan Aldridge

by with No Comment Fantasy

It is genuinely interesting that my own novel – though it takes place over a hundred years in the future of this one, shares similarities with my own. I rarely see any other books with the same combination of tropes, mechanics and world building methods as my own, until I picked this book up.

And not only does this author have good taste, but she can tug your heartstrings like crazy.

I was given an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much to the author for giving me this!

This story centres around interracial couple Sam and Annabelle as they leave their hometown, whom wish to keep them apart, and they head further North in early 20th century America to start their life anew. Then after a visit to a lake, Sam finds a mark of three roses on his arm and a nauseating pain in his body. Annabelle, desperate to save him, seeks out the bizarre thread of a nearby Oracle to help him. Little do they know what threatens to keep them apart and what world is falling deeper into the clutches of a tyrant.

This novel was very refreshing with its use of tropes. But the one I find most refreshing (minor spoiler I guess) is that the homewrecker is the villain. Typically at the start of a series when there is a couple in a relationship involving one or more main characters, you can predict that it won’t last. But Aldridge comes in with a very loyal and very sweet couple who fights to stay together – and thus far succeeds! The loyalty this couple held laced this story together and tied it off with a cute little bow.

The narrative structure was also new and refreshing. It’s a setup that makes much sense for the story and the introduction of the worlds involved, and one that didn’t feel too campy or stereotypical. Unorthodox narrative structures are hard to pull off, but Aldridge does it very well. I will however say that the third act didn’t feel completely third-act-y and it relieved tension I would have rather had (a phrase I thought I never would’ve said). I wasn’t quite on the edge of my seat and was waiting for a darkest moment that never came.

Speaking of dark, let’s talk about the world. While it featured largely a glimpse of a small section of Taegaia, that glimpse was very well established. A magic system well introduced and explained to plot relevancy combined with stunning visual descriptions of the world with strong vibe checks. The mood was extremely well set in this novel. Especially in Taegaia, the use of mood within environments and settings was incredible and added so much more to each scene.

These characters were fantastic, but I have to give special credit to the villain. For some reason, in many books I have read the villain is the weakest written character that falls into selfish stereotypes that fail to make an impact. Queendom of Chaos’s villain is anything but. They were introduced as a threat and retained that air constantly to the point where I was in awe of their power and sway. Most prominent was their charm – or anti-charm. They weren’t likeable from an interpersonal perspective, but they could intimidate just by walking. That’s a great villain.

But what definitely made me rate it so high is how this novel isn’t even out yet and I want the sequel. WHEN’S IT COMING OUT, MEGAN?

Queendom of Chaos gets a score of 4.5/5. Screw all those homewreckers.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Toasters Have Feelings Too – a review of Engines of Empathy by Paul Mannering

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

We got another book by a New Zealand Author! And a sci fi one at that, really hard to find. New Zealand publishing industries aren’t fond of publishing anything like this. So I was lucky to find this one on an online list to read.

Sadly, though, this one’s not a keeper.

In a near future where human empathy is used as the best clean fuel source out there, Charlotte Pudding gets intercepted by a radical called Drakeforth. He claims that the Godden Corporation is hiding secrets from the public, which can only be found in the folds of Charlotte’s antique desk, a family heirloom she doesn’t want to part with. Things get more out of hand when a Godden Repossession company wants hold of her desk too, and she buys into the story set by Drakeforth. Together they head to one of the few religious sects left in the world to find the resources and insights hidden in the wood of the desk before anyone else can get their hands on it.

The strongest part of this novel was definitely the plot. Everything was connected very well, with Mannering’s foreshadowing, causes and effects. This made the story very easy to follow along with and yet it still featured unexpected moments. And a very satisfying ending. One so strong, that it bumped up its mediocre rating by a fair bit.

But what made it mediocre in the first place?

It was gimmicky. And not to the point where it made it charming, at least not for me. Maybe for some. But it left a bitter taste in my mouth, aside from the banter between the two leading characters. Minor characters with surnames like Burrito, alternative swear words and slang that felt written by a twelve year old, and a power system that gives feelings to inanimate objects. I genuinely couldn’t tell if this novel wanted me to take it seriously.

And oh dear, we got a Mary Sue for a main character! Charlotte’s personality was not distinguishable. Neither were her flaws. And her strengths just happened to be perfect for this novel. She wasn’t painful to read, but it was clear she wasn’t an everyman trope. Everything fell into place too much for her and she was cliched in quite a few ways. She literally deus-ex-machina’d the bad guys!

The worldbuilding in this novel was just plain confusing, especially the pivotal part of the novel in which electronic are powered by social relations. It was explained as it being just the way things were without any explanation as to how the process unfolded. Furthermore, there were references to British things but I didn’t know if it took place on Earth or another planet. The religion felt too scientific to be classed as one. And why was the weakness of the antagonists the fact that their whole process to get the desk off Charlotte was that it had to be consensual?

In conclusion, this many wrongs won’t match the right. It has the potential to be good to somebody, but that ain’t me.

Engines of Empathy gets a score of 3/5. Plot doesn’t make the story, after all.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Strong Vibe Check – a review of Blood of the Lily by S.D. Huston

by with One Comment Fantasy

When I was a child, I was subscribed to a kids magazine that fortnightly discussed different fairytales from various cultures through the lens of ballet icon Angelina Ballerina.

Among these tales was the one that this novel was based off of – Snow White and Rose Red. So I may have had a bias when reading this novel, along with this one:

I received a free copy of this novel in e-book format in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to S.D. Huston for providing me with one.

Sisters Lily and Rose encounter a leprechaun, only to have Rose get kidnapped by him upon their third encounter. This takes things even further out of proportion for quiet Lily, having watched her sister drown a year later only to responsible for Rose’s abduction and being unable to find a Greek tourist that visited their village. Lily uses her hunting prowess and her druidic ability to talk to land animals as her tool in the Otherworld to find where Rose has been taken. But she remains haunted by her sister’s death and fears to make that mistake again.

A fair amount of this novel was predictable, but that was a lot to do with me being familiar with the tale of Snow White and Rose Red. It wasn’t an exact replica of it, and that made it very interesting. The Irish and Greek cultures represented through a German fairytale retelling was a fantastic amalgamation of cultures which wound up pivotal to the narrative of not just this book, but the rest of the series. That left room for plot twists and elements never seen before in the interpretations of this tale. It didn’t make me mind the predictions much at all. Predictability isn’t always a hindrance for me as long as there’s still some captivating stuff and there was!

The characterisation in this novel was stellar! Both hero and villain felt severely human (even the gods) and the struggles and developments they each went through felt so unique. Lily was especially a favourite of mine. Few books I read have a lead character who is more soft spoken with agency still. Huston wrote her very well. She was by far the most relatable and the most well rounded – a clear favourite.

The way the novel was paced out worked very well too. It almost felt like another fairy tale solely from said pacing and the narrative beats. In fact, the whole vibe was very strong. The worldbuilding, the language, the characters all contributed to make a novel which very much felt like the essence of mythology. I don’t think any other novel I have read has captured this vibe, let along any, in such a great way.

However, where it falls short is the same with many YA fantasy novels that I read. Unearned romance. Rushed romance. Where two characters do in fact make a connection but not quite a strong enough once to where I would call it severe romantic and/or sexual attraction. In fact, the only relationships – even the platonic ones – I actually bought into were the ones already established, such as between Lily and Rose. The others, for the short amount of time they took place in, didn’t earn the results they got.

Even so, I can’t wait to get the paperback of this novel. And it’s sequel that came out last month. and I hear the final book in the trilogy is getting published soon too.

Blood of the Lily gets a score of 4/5. The same old story with a different kind of fairytale spin.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Forgettable, and I Have Proof! – a review of the Magician of Hoad by Margaret Mahy

by with No Comment Fantasy

I had a moment while reading this book. I read a line early on in the novel that I recognised, had me flashing back to a time where I read this book in high school for one period we had in the library. I didn’t realise I had read this book before when I picked it up prior. And it makes sense, because when I read it the second time I imagined it to be completely different to when I read it the first time.

When I read that line it should’ve been a sign to put the book down.

Heriot was known to have fits which his farming family concealed from all visitors, until the King’s Lord arrives after some mysterious events and rumours that conspired. He has the magical potential to be the Magician of Hoad, a fate that Heriot doesn’t want to take up. Yet he is forced into it, forced to become a shell and a toll for the king’s disposal, for entertainment and political affairs. As he grows he becomes further disconnected from himself, only finding connect with the King’s mad son Dysart through supernatural means.

And somehow he feels the magical essence of the kingdom of Hoad in trouble or something? I don’t know, it was written so bad I couldn’t connect anything together.

None of the characters had either a complete personality or a unique personality. The characters were either very distinguishable in terms of personality from the rest, but you couldn’t tell what their flaws were or if they even made any character development by the time the novel finished. Or they were carbon copies of lords and ladies. I was mostly the latter. My god, how can a cast of characters be so boring? I confused which of the royal men were talking so much that they almost melted together into an amorphous blob. Half the time I couldn’t even tell what motives all these characters had. There had never been such a band palette of characters set before me in my life.

Even a world so small was not built out. This is the number one thing you need to do in fantasy as you tell the story – build out the world. And for all that I described, this whole thing could’ve taken place in my backyard with all the characters shrunken down. There are authors who spend too much time on worldbuilding, but Mahy didn’t spend enough time on that. The canvas was barely painted. It was all aesthetics and no depth, if an aesthetic was even there to begin with. Nothing about this story’s world felt real except the confusing as to how everything worked.

One such aspect was Heriot’s magic, which was barely explored or explained. With the magic being the primary things that makes this story a fantasy story, it was next to never a part of it. It was heavily involved at the start, and then forgotten about until the end with no exploration as to how the powers worked, no explanations as to where this magic came from, and no limits or struggles shown as Heriot used it. Why even make him magical in the first place if it barely impacted the story?

The plot was the main way the story was told, but I could not tell what happened for what reasons. Whatever did try to connect this story was so boring and un-fantasy that, just like the first time I read a fraction of this novel, I’m going to forget it. Half the novel Heriot was moping around in an orchard hutt, then this chick called Linnet was doing nothing but observing random politics going on around her until she discovered she had feelings for the prince, and apparently three years went by after each section or something? But I couldn’t tell you much more.

Actually wait, I can. This book was a massive disappointment. Such a shame from a beloved New Zealand author.

The Magician of Hoad gets a score of 1/5. I forget this book once, I’m bound to forget it again.

Yours in writing

Amy

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The Future Is Now – a review of The Toll by Neal Shusterman

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

It is baffling how often a final book in a series can either close the narrative perfectly or go against everything that the series stood for. So how does the Arc of a Scythe series end? We got a lot to talk about with this book.

The world has fallen into disarray since Scythe Goddard has taken over the Scythedom without the artificial intelligence Thunderhead to interfere or guide the rest of the world. Citra and Rowan need to be found and resurrected to ensure the scythedom doesn’t fall under Goddard’s rule, Greyson Tolliver needs to guide the world as the sole confidant in the Thunderhead, and Scythe Faraday with his newfound assistant Munira need to find the land of Nod as the one failsafe to stop Goddard. Because in the middle of masses of people being killed, opposing forces grow more violent, the likes never seen since the Thunderhead was created.

This book worked very well at showcasing every point of view and closing their character arcs. In the previous novel I was uncertain of what the many perspectives in the novel were for, but this novel those and the new POVs all made perfect sense and offered perfect closure. From Rowan’s redemption arc to the Thunderhead’s understanding of the world, all pieced together near perfectly. I could understand where everyone was coming from, even the villains! God, the villain’s perspectives worked so well. They weren’t sympathetic unless they naturally needed to be, you didn’t need to know their entire backstory, and Shusterman knows how to paint them as their own heroes. Brilliant!

I also found it fascinating how the ending brought humanity full circle, almost to a point where we are at today. I won’t spoil it, but it does follow the trope in Dystopia of fixing the future becoming a little bit more similar to our society today. And it does it so well. The fate of humanity in its ‘current state’ has a very well established background and the way to fix it is equally fascinating. I will say the ending doesn’t wind up being completely happy, but it still finishes very well to see the new state of this version of humanity.

The almost non linear fashion worked really well with this novel too. The singular narratives and plot points were chronological within their own timelines, but it was a very good decision to have each develop when they needed to – to pause and rewind time to when it most makes sense in terms of getting the story told properly. Shusterman did this expertly for a novel that takes place over close to three years. Much better than other novels who tell things non linearly.

I can only hope the movie series will do it justice.

The Toll gets a score of 5/5. It’s the circle of life guys, just without the lions.

Series rating time!

Scythe – 5/5, this book instantly made me fall in the series.

Thunderhead – 4.5/5, I was lovingly scared for humanity

The Toll – 5/5, everything came full circle.

I will always recommend this series as a gateway to dystopian fiction. It accomplishes so much more than the genre stereotypes set out for – an exploration of the human state through a society deprived of something core to us in our current world. That core was mortality. Such a huge core explored expertly through portrayals of morality, beliefs, purpose and of course death. So many characters show all these aspects beautifully, and yet I hope this not what our future will actually be. All things said, this is the highest rated series on my blog to date.

The Arc of a Scythe series gets a score of 5/5. It’s staying proudly on on my bookshelf.

Yours in writing

Amy

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This Isn’t The Start Of The Series – a review of A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

by with No Comment Fantasy

This book had been on my TBR for over a year – I remember buying it in late 2020 during my lunch break at a Christmas job. And somehow it kept getting pushed back, further and further on my TBR shelf as more intriguing reads tempted me and more series yet to be finished were completed. What was probably an exact year after buying it, I finally decided to read it.

I think the fact it kept getting pushed back in my TBR was a sign.

Galadriel seeks to make an alliance in the Scholomance – the brutal wizarding school meant to protect all those with an arcane affinity but wounds up feeling just as deadly. Only with her being prophesied to become a dark sorceress, she is most weary about those she can trust, the biggest cynic in her junior year. So when the hero of the school, Orion, has continuously saved her from the monsters invading the school, she knows something is odd. Especially with the influx of them. Such a huge influx that could threaten the lives of thousands of students who dwell there.

I really liked El as a character, both conceptually and personality wise. She is a sassy cynic with her defences up who still wishes for deep human connection after depriving herself of it for the past two years. Her personality carries the whole novel very well, one that isn’t seen executed well in many novels from a main character. El is written expertly, without being annoying or contradictory.

That being said, her half-Indian ethnicity was treated very orientally. Before reading this book I heard there was some racist things towards Indian culture in this book, and I can see where it came from. I’m not sure if I would call it racism myself while having studied it for a semester in high school, but I can more strongly identify it as orientalism – the act of taking things from non-western cultures for face value. El’s Indian side took on stereotypes most often found in fiction but all without the spirituality and experiences of actually being Indian. It literally felt like El had a half Indian side so she wasn’t just another white protagonist. I’m not Indian myself, but I have many close friends who are. I understand second hand the experiences and expectations of being Indian, and what El went through wasn’t it. It was superficial.

It felt like there was a infodump every five pages. This was, unfortunately, framed by El’s masterful voice adding anecdotes and miniature history lessons in where the didn’t need to be. Literally in the middle of the final battle she spent a whole paragraph describing how some other student – not the one she had seen – died to a certain kind of monster. The whole worldbuilding relied on these things being told at inappropriate times. There were too many rules introduced too quick. Frankly, this would have been avoided if the story started sooner – there were enough flashbacks to make up at least one additional novel.

That also accounts for how this novel lacked a clear narrative. Said flashbacks created the main narrative in the first half in the middle of mundane magic academy activities, which disrupted the pacing and made me confused as to what the whole point of the story was. It literally wasn’t until the climax that I figured it out by filling in so many blanks that Novik created. It simply started in the wrong place and went downhill from there.

So I do admit that if this was book three or four in the Scholomance series, I may have rated it higher. But maybe Novik should’ve listened to the Sound of Music and started at the very beginning, “a very good place to start”.

A Deadly Education gets a score of 2/5. You simply don’t start a novel in the middle of an entire series.

Yours in writing

Amy

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An Expert Balancing Act – a review of All The King’s Traitors by Keylin Rivers

by with No Comment Fantasy

Being an indie author myself, it shocked me to realise that I hadn’t read a lot of books by other indie authors. I can count the number on one hand. Yikes. And so I set to read my fifth book by an indie author – one who I recently discovered is a fellow Authortuber!

And it’s a banger, you guys! What a book to review as my last one of 2021! (Happy New Years Eve, by the way).

Azanthea is ruled by a God-king, and in this novel we follow six people deemed his traitors. A young teen in recent possession of a Godstone, and a brother protecting him. An orphan fugitive seeking somewhere to be safe, and a soldier fighting between the safety of his wife and his daughter. An heir seeking to overthrow the God-King, and one forced to prove her loyalty to him to survive. These six seek not only the powers they hold, but that of the God-King. His political sway, his array of powers and what may ultimately defeat him. Each of these six may hold a key to defeat him.

Instantly, the magic system and worldbuilding hooked me in. Godstones are wielded by the first person to touch them, manipulating the elements around them. And they came about at the end of the first version of humanity. Firstly, this is one of my favourite kinds of fantasy, where magic is the primary function within the world. And Rivers creates such a unique take on the typical elemental-style casting. The rules surrounding the magic system and the world as a whole are perfectly written, without the need to reference any appendixes or look back and forth between pages. All of it is understandable and totally memorable.

Rivers is further an expert of her novel’s balancing act when it comes to her characters. Six characters with POVs are in this novel and each are explored expertly. In their arcs, in their relevances and in their depth she excels. Writing a large cast of POV characters, and in fact reading, intimidates me. There is too much to keep track of and too little time to understand these characters well. In contrast, this book was an ease to read, keep track of everyone and explore their minds. Each of their charms and motives were very easy to explore and there wasn’t a single character I wasn’t invested in.

Narrative was another aspect used very well. Tension and exploration was very well balanced, and in spite of the many characters everything was revealed with poise and at just the right time for the story to appear cohesive. Tense scenes bunched up together expertly. When characters’ paths converged, the perspectives were used so appropriately that it was uncanny. This book indeed feels perfectly written and I have no complaints whatsoever.

Actually I do have one; I wish book two was out already!

All the King’s Traitors gets a score of 5/5. Expect big things from this series.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Only Humans – a review of The Messenger by Markus Zusak

by with One Comment Contemporary

Markus Zusak has written my favourite book of all time, The Book Thief. I have read one of his other works prior, Bridge of Clay, and wasn’t amazed admittedly. This made me wonder if the Book Thief was the sole place where Zusak peaked.

After reading The Messenger, I decided he is just that good of an author.

Ed Kennedy wants to be more than an underage taxi driver, but he has never found the chance to do so. However, after he stops a bank robbery – albeit a pathetic one – everything changes. His week of fame ends with a single envelope address to him appearing in his letterbox; the ace of clubs with three addresses written on it. With nothing better to do, Ed decides to visit these addresses. And so he spirals into an obsession with these cards and unhealthy selflessness.

Zusak always masters narrative voice in his works, and Ed is no exception. What is most noticeable in The Messenger, however, is the evolution of the voice with the character. As the story went on, so did the depth of Ed’s thoughts and the sheer poetry of what was going on around him. It is very natural for narrative voice to evolve as a story goes on, as an author’s style is very literally improving with each paragraph. But Zusak goes a step further with distinguishable ways that Ed changes in the novel. It makes the words really feel like his thoughts. Zusak flourishes his perfection of writing in first person.

His mastery of characters expands even further to the wide cast in this book. It is very literally showing the characters changing and opening up as Ed takes each of them on different character arcs. It is quite a mission to connect so many short stories so expertly as Ed changes the lives of twelve different people and their families. They were all raw. They were all real. They were all relatable. I felt like I collected their hearts and tenderly loved them all.

But what I especially loved was how it was all laced together. The card game. Well, as it is on the surface. Contemporary stories can be unusual for me, because they focus on very regular things in life and either oversell or undersell what goes on. This was a story about people making do in a small Australian town and not reaching their goals or dreams. And all it took was one person to connect them to their needs. It is a story that truly showed the human condition and how that small thing connects us and is how we evolve. Just by needing that small push, that agent to guide you on the right path. To make yourself.

If you don’t read it, you won’t understand what I’m on about. Pick up a copy right now. You’ll regret it if you don’t. This book was a lucky find in a second hand shop that is worth gold.

The Messenger gets a score of 5/5. Markus Zusak again makes a favourite of mine.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Easy A made me do it- a review of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

by with No Comment Classics

My first inclination that this novel existed was back in Year 10 of high school in which our class watched the acclaimed teen comedy Easy A. It was an enjoyable movie, and when I found this piece of classic literature again on my Nintendo DS game I suddenly became interested in the material this film was inspired off of.

In the Puritan New England, Hester Prynne has been marked with the letter “A” for adultery after giving birth to a daughter of unknown parentage, facing public humiliation in her town for what she has done. She can only be freed from this humiliation is she reveals the child’s father, but her husband refuses to let her speak of it for he will also be punished. What follows is a life of ostracization for Hester and her daughter Pearl, as they both embrace and resent the reputation the Scarlet Letter brings to them. However, they may not be the only ones facing such burden…

I liked this novel for how it told of the roles played by man, women and child – just to name a handful – in such a society. Each was subject to alienation – by self, by society and by birth respectively. Just to see how each of these characters reacted to such things was intriguing. Father Dimmesdale going mad, Hester taking her’s in stride, and young Pearl oblivious to it.

The narrative was viewed through one valuable and terrifying lens – manipulation. Blackmail. Something so universally terrifying from even so long ago. The balance between righteousness and security. Though I experience it from a very modern perspective, I related to this theme a fair amount. I feel guilty for doing things that offer me security but ultimately feel wrong. And the symbolism of the novel really showcased this, powerful imagery that left me spooked.

However, there were times where I was unsure what was happening. This may have largely been to the writing style and how Hawthorne would add detail to certain routines, occasional backstory and heavy internal monologue. This can be a big turn off for me at times, often what makes me finish a book or rate it under average. Luckily I was able to work out the plot of the novel towards its end and connect the various dots. The fact that I could still understand the story as a result proved to be a very valuable part of finishing this novel in the end, especially during a year where there were novels that didn’t make sense at any time. I very much merit the Scarlet Letter for that.

I look forward to connecting the dots and seeing the greater value of the story when I reread it. Maybe then I may rate the novel higher, but we shall see.

The Scarlet Letter gets a score of 3/5. I’m willing to give this book a second try in a couple of years time, but for now I am satisfied.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Gretel is the Greatest – a review of Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis

by with No Comment FantasyHistorical Fiction

Finish this book left me with an odd feeling – a disturbance and a satisfaction.

And I loved it.

Raybould Marsh has travelled back in time to save the world from the all-powerful Eidolons, save his daughter from death, and save his marriage that went far too downhill in the future. He must go back to the days of Milkweed in 1939 and stop the secret service’s warlocks from making the one mistake that sent humanity to its doom. Teaming up with his worst enemy, the clairvoyant Gretel, he uses his knowledge from the future to orchestrate his plans from the inside, without revealing his identity to his present self, and to still ensure Great Britain wins the Second World War.

First we need to address the elephant in the room – the sudden inclusion of first person perspective in an entire series that used to be third person. I found it jarring the first time I read it, but I rolled with it. It made sense as to why it was needed – the past and the future version of Marsh had POVs in this novel. There was no way to distinguish the two better than to have the perspectives in such a way. And this wound up making me enjoy the novel a great deal more. I had a bias towards reading his POVs because of how smoothly they read and how deep we got into his mind. I would have loved to have seen this with more characters, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the other third person perspectives for what it’s worth.

Another part I loved was the occasional peak into Gretel’s mind – something I craved when I read the previous novel! We got a taste of it right from page one, her odd charm previously shown in the perspectives of Klaus, Marsh and Will now being seen from her own perspective. Her calculation comes with an ego, and the way her story ended was awfully poetic. In spite of being an exceedingly horrid person, her character is by far my favourite, one I was very thankful to see glances of in this novel. I really want to see more villains like her in future reads.

Having a novel so centred on orchestrated plots can otherwise be difficult to make, but this novel danced around it with such prowess. Granted, it has been years since I read the first book in the series so I have no idea how truly accurate it is, but the butterfly effect was in full swing and I was flying on it. To see the calculations, causes and effects through future Marsh’s perspective was particularly enlightening, while also seeing the results playing out like it did in history. The previous timeline was an alternate history, and it felt enlightening to see the true events play out in this book including the strategic things around Dunkirk.

I think what this book really did the best was the closing of character arcs. I’ve already hinted that Gretel’s character arc was masterfully done, but even both versions of Marsh, Will and Stephenson were done incredibly well. This was expertly done through exploring the themes of morality. No better way to end the series.

Necessary Evil gets a score of 5/5. There had never been a more satisfying ending.

And now it’s series ranking time! The last series I would have finished for 2021.

Bitter Seeds – 4/5, a promising start to a series unlike anything I had ever seen.

Coldest War – 4/5, so dark and yet so compelling.

Necessary Evil – 5/5, the perfect character arcs to end the series.

You will never read a series like the Milkweed Trip. World War Two war strategy, plus supernatural abilities, plus warlocks! The dark magic combining with the exploration of morality fits perfectly into the settings of World War II and the great depression. And the morally grey Gretel will be among the greats. Although this series is very strong and totally deserves a place on my bookshelf, I’m not sure if I ever want to read it again. It was quite dark and one that I wouldn’t recommend to many light hearted people.

The Milkweed Trilogy gets a score of 4.5/5. It’s staying proudly on my bookshelf.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Some Obvious Bias – a review of Dark Destiny by MJ Putney

by with No Comment FantasyHistorical Fiction

I dug myself into a hole when I decided to read the third book in the Dark Mirror series. Since my review of the previous book and it being average as all nine hells, I opened this final installment wincing.

A book that should’ve taken me five days to read took me eight instead, PLUS an additional four days to get the guts to read these.

Back in the early 1940s Tori, Cynthia and her fellow mages have saved members of the Rainford family from death and has saved Dr Weiss and his family from Nazi imprisonment. But now these mages have to return to 1804 as the threat of Napoleon invading looms and they must now protect their own land and time. Meanwhile, Rebecca Weiss remains in the 1940s as a French Jew going to a British school, discovering her own magical potential. Such magic may be crucial in defeating Napoleon…

For this being the big battle and the way to conclude the series, it wound up fairly tame. The leads claimed to have found the situation stressful, with the only struggle faced being a broken ankle and them having many feasts and hospitable situations keep their head in the game. It didn’t feel right – more so how the magic system is soft to the point of it being malleable to solve any problem the mages may have. It barely felt like a struggle. Book one featured a greater struggle than in book three – that goes against all narrative logic! Too much was handed to them on a silver platter instead of in a rubbish bag.

As a sucker for World War II fiction, I enjoyed the perspectives from Rebecca and her being welcomed as a Jew in a British community. This part felt the most real and insightful out of anything. I would read the hell out of a novel that was just of Rebecca trying to find a new normal life with the British and the people around her recognising and celebrating her Jewish culture. If there is a story like this, can someone please tell me!

On the flip side, the 1804 society was in comparison completely glossed over. Most of the insights here were fictional due to the inclusion of magic in this world and how pivotal it was in nobility. To me that just screams a bias – at least while researching – towards World War Two. The writing itself showed that especially in this novel, with the world being far more developed in those scenes.

Furthermore, the main character Tori felt nearly useless in this novel. Her power was framed as something so huge, but she was next to never responsible for the story progressing. She was just there for every important moment to boost powers that knowing how bad this magic system is could have been achieved without her help. This is further emphasised by the one thing I hate the most in novels – when the main character doesn’t solve their own problems or achieve their goals. Other people do it for Tori. And that makes me furious at how happy an ending she got.

So in conclusion, I’m glad to finally finish the series, but not that it wasted my time.

Dark Passage gets a score of 2/5. The only parts I loved to death were short lived, like sunshowers in between thunderstorms.

I don’t think I need to do this whole series reviewing thing because you already know my thoughts, but I’ll go through it anyway as per tradition.

Dark Mirror – 3.5/5, the plot twist blew the whole story out of proportion, but it wound up being a very fun read nonetheless.

Dark Passage – 2.5/5, never mind, it’s not fun anymore. It’s a drag. So much talking and planning when there needs to be more actin and exploration.

Dark Destiny – 2/5, I just want a book about Rebecca Weiss now. I want that to be the only thing I remember from this series.

The one way to describe this series is never delivering on its promises. I thought this was going to be a series about a secret mage society protecting England to prove their magic to not make them worthless, and instead I got time travel with a warped magic system. This series had such a promising start in spite of the shock over it not being the story written on the blurb. I should’ve seen this as a sign that it was only going to go downhill. This is to the point where I would guess that somebody else may like it more than me – I’m not going to shit on the series any more than I already have. Undoubtedly, this is the most average book series in existence. It is definitely not for me. I hope I haven’t discouraged any potential readers too much.

The Dark Mirror Trilogy gets a score of 2.5/5 It’s going off the bookshelf.

Yours in writing

Amy

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This is it, the Apocalypse – a review of Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

I’m scared of the future of humanity after reading this book. That’s how you know I’m hooked.

I don’t think I ever read a dystopian that felt so real before. Quite often dystopia is based around a futuristic society with a rule or law that we consider baffling, that is until we learn how the society got to be in such a state. And my god, does the future in the Arc of a Scythe series feel so real! The hype was definitely met from when I finished the first book in the trilogy. Spoilers for that book are ahead.

Corruption is evident within the Scythedom, the body of trained killers who are the only people possible of being able to kill humans in the near future of earth. Two people are seeking to rid it out – Citra, more commonly known as Scythe Anastasia, and Rowan, her ally who fell short of receiving the title of a Scythe. While Rowan seeks to kill the most corrupt in the Scythedom with the skills learnt in his apprenticeship, Citra is using her popularity and political sway to convince people to remain moral in their gleanings.

In the first book, Scythe, we learnt of the trials of those going into the Scythedom and what it means to hold such a responsibility. From there, the world was expanded greatly in Thunderhead. We learn about the politics and activities amongst Scythes, and much more outside of that society and how the world is connected through various relationships with the A.I. entity, the Thunderhead. What I appreciated about this world building was how is was shown through how it was orchestrated just as much as what consequences this society made. I went very deep into so many individual aspects of this society and I relished in how easy it was to digest. It was a perfect expansion from learning of the Scythedom to the rest of society.

The plot was incredibly strong here. Everything connected very well and left me on the edge of my seat constantly. I can say that this plot was definitely unpredictable – a rare occurrence if I am to be honest. I’m certain after every five or so chapters my reaction was “Wait, what?” in a good sense. That’s how you know you got a good book, when the “Wait, what?”s are positive and leave you excited. I never felt confused following this story along. It had a perfect balance of flow, predictability and shock – a balance that is hard to leverage to the degree that Shusterman did.

Again, we have strong characters leading us through the story – with extra characters to follow along with. You could understand the mindset for each of them so quickly, even those we looked into the minds of for just one chapter. However, this also becomes a weakness. There were characters that I wanted to learn more about – namely Citra and Rowan – but not enough chapters highlighted or developed them enough. In hindsight I can see why we read those particular perspectives, but the sheer number of them while reading it was at times off putting. With this being a series about Citra and Rowan, there wasn’t enough chapters or scenes from their perspective to satisfy me completely.

I’m not entirely mad though, not with how emphasised the conclusion of the novel was pivotal to them. Soon, I shall be finishing what is undoubtedly a fantastic series. I know Shusterman isn’t going to let me down.

Thunderhead gets a score of 4.5/5.

Yours in writing

Amy