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Mature Children – a review of Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

by with No Comment Contemporary

I would call this a RE-view, but I didn’t even remember what happened in this book. So it was basically like reading this for the first time. I read this book in my final year of Intermediate school, got my best friend into it and we were obsessed with this book for a while.

11-year-old Aubrey is home alone. Her dad and sister died in an accident and her grieving mother abandoned her. She didn’t mind this lifestyle until Grandma arrived and took her to her home in Vermont to stay with her. Not only must Aubrey come to terms with a new life, but she must come to turns with the past at the same time and how things will never be the same.

This was the first book that made me cry, but I couldn’t remember what about it made me cry. It was ten years ago since I read that book and I had read tonnes more since then. Even so, this held such a place in my heart and I reminisced on the feelings I felt while reading it. There were bits and pieces I remembered of it but nothing stronger than the emotion – the crying and the joy mixed into the pages.

This was a stellar character driven story, perfect for a contemporary novel. You could clearly see interactions and opinions impact characters in such a real way. Each revelation hit hard or brought joy. Each character and their relationships felt real, developed, thoughtful. Contemporary novels in my perspective have some of the richest and most well rounded characters I’ve ever read, and LaFleur’s work is not exception.

Aubrey’s character and her arc were stellar. She had so much dimension, maturity and at the same time youth for her age. That and it felt so relatable and universal. Love, Aubrey revolves around children’s grief and PTSD through her perspective, and even though it relates to her dealing with it that doesn’t consume her or the plot. Her developments are very mature and signify a coming of age.

One thing that brought it down for me were a bunch of cliches in the language of this novel. You can expect language cliches in middle grade novels, the same metaphors and similes you see all the time. And seeing cliches of ways to describe things doesn’t usually get me mad. But when they come in this huge quantity it does made me think less of the novel. You couldn’t think of any new ways to describe that river? Or that feeling in your gut? I know how wild a child’s imagination can get, and this wasn’t it.

But don’t let that take the rating of this fantastic book down too far. This is still an incredible story for anyone to read, so make you cry and warm your heart all at once.

Love, Aubrey gets a score of 4.5/5. Enough emotion and purity to last me the rest of the year.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Big Shocker – a review of False Idols by Jon Hollins

by with No Comment Fantasy

I was hyped to get to this sequel. Fool’s Gold was already a huge hit, falling in love with the series mere chapters into it.

The hype live up! The hype lived up!

Dragons may no longer rule over Kondorra, but they’re still a threat as the rest of the continent accepts them. Corrupted human governments are taken over by manipulative dragons who claim to be the new gods. The only people not subjected to this vision of a new world are the five heroes who slayed the dragons – Quirk, Will, Lette, Balur and Firkin. It’s up to them to make the remaining governments and empires step up, and to save the people already swayed the wrong way.

It was fantastic to see the world built out from the previous books. The first book focussed on a single empire on the continent and the corruption there, and to see the rest of the world, especially with characters directly linked to it, was so enlightening. Universities, churches and governments galore! And of course how the dragons attempt to get to them. So cool! It really brings out the ingenuity of Hollins and how he comments on problems we too face in a campy presentation.

This plot hit me hard in so many ways. Between character arcs, relationship tensions and the fate of the world itself, there was so much to guess about and be blind to for bigger reveals. Literally – when you think you know what’s going on and how it would all end the carpet animated and traps you in a little corpse burrito. And what a fantastic predictability and unpredictability it became! Not too much or little of either.

The characters were great as usual, but I have to give credit to Quirk and her character arc in this novel. She became my favourite this time around. Her devotion to her sense of duty and morality and the internal conflicts surrounding that were very engaging – a perfect look into her mind.

One thing I want to highlight is the ensemble characters, the ones without perspective chapters and were there for their own purposes. It is not often that the non main characters are so crucial to building up the world, conflicts and stakes, and to have so many. These were all done very well where it feels so real and with each crowd group being unique.

And now book three awaits. So much exciting content awaits.

False Idols gets a score of 5/5. When the going gets tough, the rating goes up.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Hindus in Space – a review of Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers

by with 2 Comments Sci-Fi

My start to sci fi was dismal, and I started to think that this genre wasn’t for me. That was until I picked up this novel.

I bought the rest of the series as soon as I finished this book.

Hailimi ran away from the Indranan Empire to avenge the death of her father, but now the rest of the royal family is at risk or already dead. The princess-turned-gunrunner now must return home and team up with her bodyguards in the midst of her planet’s celebrations to stop the assassination of her mother, reclaim her rights to the throne and mend family ties that were broken when she abandoned them.

Worldbuilding was executed well in this novel. I like how it mainstreamed colonization from Earth and turned international affairs to interplanetary affairs, with cultural distinctions flavouring each empire. An Indian inspired world was featured in the spotlight, which I appreciated having seen Hindu culture frequently in my hometown. It still made the Indranan culture distinct from what we know of India today, making it truly feel like an evolution.

The subtleties of technology within the story was fantastic too. I liked how it wasn’t always pivotal to the story and wound up being used on multiple occasions, including accessing the internet from your mind, permanent body modifications and tracking systems. It made the world feel both futuristic and not very far from our own, in a cultural sense mind you. There was no need to flaunt the technology and how revolutionary it was when it was constantly shown, used and exercised in plot relevant ways that kept me interested and excited me.

Every character was very enjoyable and distinct. None were campy, but many had their comedic moments to shine. I was particularly a fan of Hailimi’s Trackers, Emmory and Zin, and the respective quips each of them had with each other and with Hailimi. And, of course, Hailimi herself deserves some credit. She was written incredibly real.

I’m usually not a fan of courts and strategies within them, but it was written very well in this novel. It was mostly easy to follow along with, interlaced with family drama that left me wincing. With the additions of assassination attempts and gunfire, this became a very fun read. I was always wonder what would be revealed next. I also appreciate the novel for not hinging on a big reveal of the conspirators, for being as smart as the reader. There was more to focus on than that so it became very nice to see that unfold in a more natural way.

See what unfold? You’ll have to read to find out. I deeply encourage you.

Behind the Throne gets a score of 5/5. Perfect novel for a fantasy reader dipping toes into science fiction.

Yours in writing

Amy

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This Ain’t Classism – a review of Evalene’s Number by Bethany Atazadeh

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

Somebody please help me. I have read five books in a row and have not liked them enough to keep them. Why is my luck this bad? Will this streak end?

I guess while I debate that, let’s talk book five in that streak. A dystopian disappointment.

In the country of Eden, people are labeled with numbers to dictate their place in society and their associative rolls. Needless to say, when Evalene expects a low number like her parents and gets labelled with #29, one of the lowest numbers in society, her life crumbles. Eight years later she seeks an escape after hearing rumors of a land where numbers don’t matter, where newborn children don’t have that expectation and everyone is treated as an equal. But what happens when she seeks freedom at a time where revolution is on the horizon?

I had very mixed feelings about the main character. She bordered between Mary Sue and Everyman as each page was turned. This made her as a character never stand out because while she was universally relatable it was never enough for me to root for her or make a large enough impact.

But I can say that there were exactly two characters in the entire novel that actually had a personality. They were in very generic ways too. One was an optimist, one was abusive and the rest were a generic mishmash. Yay! But seriously, did this never cross Atazadeh’s mind as to how generic her cast was? How nobody had dimension? It was even worse when it was so desperately trying to be a character driven story with these guys. In that respect it fell flat.

The world was interesting but never explored enough. The various positions people held with their number was explained but never shown aside from high and low society. Why bother explaining this without showing it? I would have really liked to see the lives of priests, law and merchants but it was never shown. Pity is an understatement. This is a novel all about classism and prejudice justified by religion and that was rarely touched. It felt like barely any research went into the implications of such.

Pair that with a mediocre rebellion plot, and this is what you get. I say mediocre because there wasn’t a great enough struggle, not enough losses for what was won. It felt too uplifting too quick. I think something went critically wrong once and it was solved by coincidence. I’m sick of coincidences solving everything!

So can I coincidentally have a read that will blow my mind next week please?

Evalene’s number gets a score of 2.5/5. This novel went about as deep as a fish bowl.

Yours in writing

Amy

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It’s Evolving! – a review of The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

by with No Comment Fantasy

This novel was described as gritty little sibling of Avatar The Last Airbender. I see the comparison, but this novel was so much more it it. I had heard so many good things about this trilogy!

But it left me with an opinion of a novel that I never had on this blog before.

Rin manages to escape an arranged marriage by being the only person in her town to make it into Sinegard Military Academy, but in no ways does her hard work stop there. Her prejudices and rivalries at the academy force her to struggle even further, until one of her kookier professors teaches her the forgotten art of Shamans – the ability to channel the powers of the gods. As war between Nikara and Mugen lingers, this power may be what the empire needs to win it. But what at what cost for Rin?

I really liked the characters in this novel, for the most part. Towards the end there were some contradictory things that the characters did, and at times too many in one scene. It still made them enjoyable, each with little quirks and dimensions that made even the most similar characters still unique enough.

The world and the magic was very fascinating, rich and entertaining. We managed to get a look at a fair amount of the world in this first book, and the unique influences from our own world combined into a fantasy world unlike any I had ever seen. At times it was too rich I’ll admit. There was a lot of information to process about the way the world was run, and they weren’t presented in ways easy for me to pick up. It may be for others, though.

There was a lot of military jargon – especially in the middle – that slowed it down for me. A bunch of strategy and meetings – they were good and interesting when they first came in, but then there wound up being too much of it as it went on. Like I get it, it’s a military centric story, but this made me long for different things to happen.

I think a lot of it was the book hooking me at the start with things that were unique and that I liked, but by the end it evolved into not the story I expected or one that appealed to me. It was very well written and very engaging until then. I’m not faulting the book for this at all. There are people out there who would eat this up, but I am not one of them. This is a very good book, don’t get me wrong. But after reading this I realise it wasn’t for me.

So while I say I didn’t like this book, I can still see myself recommending it to people who like this kind of story. I hope someone can love this more than I do.

The Poppy War gets a score of 3.5/5. This is good shit for somebody else.

Yours in writing

Amy

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This Isn’t Rush Hour – a REview of Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

by with No Comment Contemporary

We’ve been doing a lot of re-views lately, haven’t we? HOWEVER something new did come out of this.

A book I loved and thought I was devoted to wound up disappointing me.

When her aunt’s diner shuts down, Hope Yancey moves with her to a diner needing a pick-me-up in Wisconsin. A few days after the two of them start working there they discover that the owner, G.T., decided to run for mayor once he discovered he had cancer. Hope then gets swept up in a whirlwind with the other teens of the town to campaign against the corrupt mayor and help the town out financially in as many ways as possible. But when your mayor is a corrupt moneybags giant, you bet they have ways to stiffen morale.

Back when I read this I was 14, got intrigued by the title and bought this at the book fair. I think I was reading this during an election period myself? Regardless, this was a very touching and heartwarming book that nearly made me cry towards the end, seeing Hope find a family instead of wishing for her own to find her again.

Clearly back then I didn’t know what good storytelling was.

The plot itself was great, very compelling and hit me in the right places again on the second read. It was very interesting to see the twists, turns and processes mentioned in the election campaign and you the corrupt mayor fought back. That side of things made for a very interesting plot in spite of its simplicity.

But then we get to problems I didn’t see back when I was 14. First off, it was rushed. Crazy rushed. That made a lot of those moments last not nearly as long as I wanted them to. How dare. And this was more rushed than in other novels, which is surprising. I should’ve known based on how thin the book was, but I’ve read novels with same page number and yet bigger font sizes that had more cohesively paced stories than this.

Second, I don’t get why it was told from Hope’s point of view. Not only is she a Mary Sue in this novel, but she has no agency relating directly to the plot. I think only one problem in this novel relating to the main plot was solved by her. And when she said she found her family and people to care for her at the end of the novel, I was struggling to find the moments that claimed so.

The other characters weren’t greater either. Not only did this include love-interest-exists-only-to-make-the-lead-feel-horny syndrome, but none of the other characters aside from the villain had any personal and clear goals except for maybe one of the other waitresses at the diner. Even the main character, as mentioned before. The entire town was full of plot vessels. Terrible storytelling.

So I think I had my head in the clouds. And this book which I have kept for eight years will find a new home at a charity thrift shop.

Hope Was Here gets a score of 2/5. I’ve never read a story that took place in such a boring town before.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Do You Want To Save The Planet? – a review of The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

I never had a desire to read sci fi. Proper sci fi, more than just the dystopian novels I’ve read that border on the genre. But this book seemed simple and intriguing enough for my little brain, so I gave it a go.

With Earth’s ecosystem on the brink of collapse, Jo and her family have trained for years to settle onto another habitable planet. But after an accident that killed Jo’s brother and gave her high blood pressure, Jo is no longer fit to live her dream on this new world and pilot ships of colonists. Without a purpose in her life, Jo soon finds one as she discovers the company that runs the colonisation lied. On what was thought to be a planet with no known alien civilizations, Jo discovers two at war. This blows things out of proportions that could threaten the new planet they boarded to ecologically collapse just as Earth is about to.

Mediocre characters were brought down even further by tedious dialogue. Every character was defined by a single trait, maybe two if they were lucky – including the love interest just there to make sure a romance exists even though the chemistry was clunky. This was especially sickening in the prologue when the dialogue was full of whacky quips that are exposition in the world’s worst disguise. This continued to an awkward level throughout the rest of the novel – the aliens talking in very formal English, the smart one using long words and sentences, the love interest making a “quirky” nickname for the girl he has a crush on. This made out like tween movie dialogue.

While the world was beautiful, the worldbuilding was ugly. This was in spite of things being very well explained and easy to read. A lot of stuff didn’t make sense – like why the alien cultures on the planet were written so oriental, the intentions of certain characters and why they were blind to certain things, why certain people were trusted and not others. This made the stunning and unique world that the story was placed on feels like rhinestones instead of diamonds.

However, the plot was one that kept you on your toes. Information found in unexpected yet sensible places, plot developments I didn’t quite see coming and a linear form that made sense. It was very easy to read and follow along with as a result and definitely the strongest part of this novel. That was because it didn’t rely on fancy sci fi jargon or features to tell a decent story, and this novel being my first dive into science fiction I am thankful for that.

But it’s ultimate falling point is the number of cliches featured. Alien cultures being framed orientally was the big one, but every personality in this novel felt like a cliche. The colonization tropes were cliches, including the whole thing about Earth’s ecosystem being destroyed. It’s a truth I’m sick of, apparently. But the biggest cliche of all was how infatuated everyone was with NASA. So many people with NASA shirts that it felt like an ad. Thank god NASA wasn’t on the cover.

In conclusion, this wasn’t what I hoped my first proper dive into sci fi novels was going to be. I’ll see you in a few reviews time to see if it gets better.

The Pioneer gets a score of 2.5/5. No wonder Earth died – all of its former inhabitants have no personality for the planet to care for it back.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Hits Hard Twice – a REview of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

by with 2 Comments Historical Fiction

I was disappointed when my teacher in my final year of high school said we might study this book for English and then pulled out Shakespeare two weeks later. We ready the prologue in class and everything! And I was hooked.

But more on that later, and more on what hooked me reading this novel a second time this year.

Also, Markus Zusak commented on my photo of The Messenger the other day. I was starstruck all day.

On the brink of the Second World War in a small town in Germany, Liesel was meant to be sent to a foster home with her brother. He died on the train there. Overcome with grief and with a stolen book in hand, Liesel is welcomed into this new family found in Hans and Rosa Hubermann. In the years to come Liesel draws upon a connection to books as her family becomes silent protestors during the rise of Nazi Germany.

This was the novel that got me into historical fiction. While not the first, it was the one that got me hooked those four years ago with unique writing styles, insights and incredible characters. How anyone was able to write something so phenomenal was beyond me. It was revolutionary to my tiny brain. I someday want to write a book that hits like The Book Thief does but I don’t even know if it’s possible.

And when I read it the second time it still hit just as hard. I still got so emotional and close to tears reading the end, and even little bits in between that I had forgotten. So many surprises, so many lines that hit hard, and so many insights into the human condition. You already know I’m a fan of human condition themes, and this one smacks me in the face with desires to be welcomed, to find purpose, fulfill desires and do good in the world. So universal.

The main reason I wanted to read this novel back when I was seventeen was when I found out that this novel was narrated by Death. Arguably, this is what makes The Book Thief and defines Zusak’s style is narration like this. His portrayal of Death as a concept and a being is refreshing compared to the usual cynical and sinister portrayals. The narrator provides the killer lines and insights that hit the hardest, with a garden of flowery language that makes us see the world through his eyes in an at times dark beauty.

Usually with plots like this, day in the life stories with no clear goals and objectives of the main character, they can get tedious. But Zusak masters this and kept me engaged the whole way through. This is the way you make the seemingly mundane hit hard! He pulls out so much beauty from the simplest things – even dominos! I will never get over his writing style and how well he writes things.

If you haven’t guessed, this is book I recommend to everyone no matter their preferences.

The Book Thief gets a score of 5/5. Find a better book, I dare you.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Not Quite My Boo – a review of The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

by with One Comment Fantasy

This is the first book that BookTok has convinced me to buy.

In an alternate near future, the Scion government rules over London in attempt to prosecute the illegal acts of clairvoyance and the communion of spirits. The most powerful clairvoyants are found in underground gangs amongst the many districts, including Irish immigrant Paige Mahoney. However, when she gets arrested she isn’t killed or brainwashed like she expects to be. She is taken to the off-grid city of Oxford where her kind is enslaved by otherworldly Rephaim to keep the world from destruction. Paige soon discovers that her particular branch of clairvoyance is very sought after, and she must both utilise it and hide it if she wishes to escape.

Fantasy Dystopia is a genre less talked about than other fantasies, and the worldbuilding of this book just goes to prove how good it is. In retrospect I realise it was a lot of information, but it was present and explained in ways that made perfect sense. I’m a huge fan of magic centric worldbuilding and seeing the implications of it. The abstract ways the aether and spirits worked to the will of clairvoyants was especially entertaining for me, especially from the perspective of Paige who was blind to them but could still sense them. Better still was the contrast of the urban and typical dystopia of London put against the archaic and rustic Oxford, very well captured introductions to these key locations which I hope to see more of in the future.

Flashbacks were used a lot in this novel, but for once it didn’t annoy me how often it was used. That’s because they added to the story, the main character and supporting characters who appear later in the plot. It also became a unique way to build out the world, with the flashbacks being in different locations to the present. I’ve read and reviewed other books where flashbacks have been pivotal yet ruined the experience, but this novel done it in a way that made so much sense and became very entertaining to get through. I was happy to come across another flashback as a result.

However, like many other novels this one suffers from the same issue – the lead romance feeling unearned! There were moments where I looked at it and saw it coming, but even when the kiss came to fruition I couldn’t help but wonder how things escalated so quickly. I’m not denying that they care for each other, but to a romantic kind of degree? I didn’t see any thoughts of it that way until the final chapters. It felt like the kiss was shoved in there at the end instead of later in the series to do service to some kind of audience – what kind? I’m not sure.

Moving onto characters and relationships, which was a mixed bag altogether. Few of the characters stood out in spite of clearly unique personalities, and while relationships were there and solid I felt like they could’ve been expanded upon more. This made the stronger characters, such as Jaxon and Nick, cast the rest of the cast in shadow and have the emotional stakes involving them get dampened.

Luckily there will be more books in the series to get to know the characters that are still sticking around. I am still very much looking forward to what the rest of the series holds.

The Bone Season gets a score of 3.5/5. What a wonderful world, but the characters constructively need more work.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Who Needs A Thesaurus?- a RE-view of The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

by with One Comment Contemporary

This was the first series I read in its entirety. Granted it was out of order, so I thought it was time to give it another try from the start. And in order – the way it was meant to be read.

After the death of their parents in a house fire, siblings Violet, Klaus and Sunny are put into the care of Count Olaf who immediately mistreats them behind closed doors. The three of them seek escape, but when adults don’t listen to them or care enough about them they need to take matters into their own hands to work out what the Count has planned for them in order to get their fortune, locked away.

This novel was introduced to me at age 8 by my teacher, who was a huge fan of the series. This was a particularly impactful series for me because it signified a coming of age for me, much like each character experiences gradually at some point in the series. For me, it was the abandoning of 50-page “chapter” books on fairies and unicorns.

This novel’s biggest strength is definitely its mood. It had a way with putting pessimism on things in simple ways. I feel like it could’ve been described more, but with it being middle grade it worked out fairly well in how the mood was set. This novel would scream dark academia if it was released in the past five years. Well, it still could, but that would be a huge marketing point for this novel if it was newer to shelves.

With it being a middle grade novel, it definitely embraced that side of things. At times it was charming and others it was annoying. Snicket definitely had his clever moments in his writing, but at times they were foreshadowed by how often he explained the meaning of a new word. This wasn’t that much of a deal to me when I read it at the appropriate age, but reading it as an adult I found it passively condescending. Ironically, so did Klaus when adults tried explaining things to him.

The interesting take this novel took was explaining tragedy, trauma and other mature topics to a younger audience. A lot of it is glossed over, but the parts that stayed were very impactful altogether. The parts that explained emotions and behaviours the children experienced, the shock factor of the abuse the Count put them through, how they care for each other. That’s what particularly drew me in – how it was never floury or joking over that aspect of the novel. It had the space to be quirky and eccentric, but knew when not to be.

I’m definitely not as into it as I was initially, but I think this series is one I’ll keep going through and rereading. Just to see what the whole story looks like.

The Bad Beginning gets a score of 3.5/5. Not a bad start for a bad start.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Natural 20! – a review of Fool’s Gold by Jon Hollins

by with One Comment Fantasy

Have you ever read a book that gave off huge D&D vibes? I’m not sure how many of you have played it, but this book combines the greatest parts of D&D into a fantastic read.

We’re talking dragons, found family and the perfect plot I have ever read.

Dragons rule the land, as does their greed. The people are poor due to ever increasing taxes, one person among them being Will, who lost his family’s far due to their greed. He’d want anything to give the dragons a piece of their own medicine. But as Will meets some newfound allies, they suggest the impossible – stealing from a dragon. And Will may be the only one of the group with the knowledge to do something downright ridiculous to gain riches.

This novel was unafraid to be loud. I love novels of this caliber – where the characters are uncensored, both serious and comedic, and while they plot may be tense it is not afraid to be ridiculous. It takes those absurd moments in stride just as much as it did the dark ones, balancing and distributing the two with precision.

The characters were made excellently, especially the four pivotal characters; Will, Quirk, Balor and Lette. And even the occasional perspective from the antagonistic dragons! They shone as individuals with their own personal backstories, fears and things that made them tick. It was so hard to pick a favourite, but that didn’t matter. As the found family trope normally goes, they were at their best when working together as a team.

I had never read a novel structured to the degree of perfection that Fool’s Gold was. I need to read more novels with heist plotlines because this one was so good! Hollins masters the way he reveals plans, mishaps and characters doing their own things in a way that constantly keeps you on your toes. Even when I had these expectations in place for whether the heist would succeed or not – or what parts of it – I loved finding out how things went wrong and predicting how such things would be fixed. Altogether, very entertaining.

I will admit I’m not usually a fan of dragons. However, the way they were built into this world was so refreshing and pivotal to the way people lived. Dragons are pivotal to the culture of this series, unlike other fantasy stories I have read that feature dragons, and the power that they hold is very well explained and implemented. They rule the world to the point where even though they are powerful, they are lazy about certain things. This gave the dragons so much flavour and I loved them so much in this novel.

It’s easy to say that this novel is among my favourites now. I bought the rest of the series as soon as I finished this first book, and I can’t wait to read it all. I desperately need more people to fall in love with this novel too – so pick it up, damnit!

Fool’s Gold gets a score of 5/5. Perfect for fans of D&D and not fans of D&D – basically it’s amazing.

Yours in writing

Amy

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The Epitome of Cottagecore- a RE-view of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

by with One Comment Classics

When I was around twelve, this was one of the few books that actually got me hooked and reading for hours at a time. I distinctly remember reading a digital version of this book in our lounge and rolling around on the floor as I read it, feeling as wholesome as a cinnamon roll.

So how did it compare ten years later from a matured perspective?

Bratty Mary returns to England, after being brought up in India, to live with her uncle after her parents’ death. Her maid, Martha, sets to get the attitude out of her by letting her explore the gardens outside the estate in which she lives. Mary soon becomes involved in an investigation when she hears that one of the gardens has been locked away for ten years. She wants to take a look inside.

This was one of the few classical literature books that had me hooked. I read this novel for hours at a time (granted I was a much slower reader as a kid). This novel was filled with so much whimsy and magic – even though it wasn’t a fantasy. This book captured a near identical essence to what magic is in real life. That being discovery, the wonders of nature and the beautiful defiance of expectations.

It still held up very strong today as I aged. At times middle grade or children’s books become very obviously childlike to the point of it being annoying, but I barely felt like that while reading The Secret Garden. It’s a book that feels both youthful and mature, as it is about children maturing in ways that adults could still resonate with. I found it particularly retable over the knowledge of how bratty I could be as a kid, much like the main character Mary, and seeing how she became kind and assertive. Not quite in similar ways that I did, but it was still great to see and relate to a character like Mary in spite of being twelve years her senior at the minimum.

The part where this novel really shines is in the mood and the aesthetic. Yes, it was a novel about restoring an abandoned garden, but that’s not what you remember it for. You remember the cottagecore! It’s a novel about wonder and finding purities in life, learning to appreciate what’s around you, to become nurturing. And nothing better symbolises that than the garden itself – something to be taken care of. Even in its abandoned state it was full of so much beauty, whimsy and was never treated as ugly. Nothing was. Hodgson Burnett really knows how to bring out beauty in everything. And of course I couldn’t forget the character arcs. While simple, they are the most effective I have read in a long time. This is because of an equally simple plot that became very character driven.

If you’re stuck on finding a classic lit book to get into, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a purely perfect gateway that I can’t imagine anyone hating or getting angry at.

The Secret Garden gets a score of 5/5. Everybody loves cottagecore, this is the book that embodies those vibes.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Inspired My Own Novels – a RE-view of Troubletwisters by Garth Nix and Sean Williams

by with 3 Comments Fantasy

Welcome to our first RE-view! Where I take books I have read – but not reviewed – and return to them with a critical eye to see if they were really as good as I thought they were as a kid.

First off we’ve got a novel which, upon re-read, features the seeds to inspire my debut novel, Aster’s Coda: Exposure.

A bizarre incident that exploded their home forces twins Jack and Jaide Shield to meet and move in with their eccentric grandmother. Though the small town and even the house they live in provides many curiosities, none are greater for Jack and Jaide than Grandma X’s suspicious activity in the house – how the scent of hot chocolate affects their short term memory, her cat sometimes talks to Jack, and Jaide getting caught in the wind. And when they start to get attacked by animals with pure white eyes, they suspect she could be behind it.

Let’s start off with describing my attachment to this book and this series when I first read it. This was the first book series I read when I left primary school and it somewhat marked another step in me moving away from books about fairies. I loved it within the first chapter, with the dark fantasy twists on a middle grade book that even disturbed me now – ten years since this book came out. In retrospect, this novel features many tropes that wound up being favourites of mine. The way is uses magic, mind control villains, and contemporary fantasies. The magic is really what sucks you in the most.

Upon reading it again, however, I noticed the behaviour of the characters and the way they were described were a little bit shallow. The difference in the twins’ personalities were fairly minute at the start, their mum and dad had fairly typical parent behaviour, and the side characters were introduced with little impact. I would say that the only characters that didn’t seem flawed in that way were Grandma X and her cats. They were all very entertaining.

The magic system and the plot were still very strong. Simple, yes, but very strong. Simple plotlines or premises can end up making stronger stories in my eyes, and this is no exception. This made for moments to be described in engaging and disturbing ways. Nothing was taken away from this novel upon a reread in terms of a great experience and story.

So while my opinion of this novel may have gone down, it is still very good and very treasured to me.

Troubletwisters gets a score of 4/5. This novel walked so my own novel could run.

Yours in writing

Amy

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The Title Is Too Accurate- a review of self/less by AViVA

by with No Comment Sci-Fi

I was skeptical picking up this book. You’re right to be whenever someone not typically in the writing industry is. For the record, AViVA is one of my favourite songwriters. I didn’t leap at her book to buy it when it came out, but after seeing reviews come out praising it I listened to the audiobook teaser then decided to buy a copy for myself.

Now I’m betting that the five star reviews for this novel came from the AViVA fandom just to support her.

The city of Metropolis is forever haunted by their slogan “We watch because we care.” If you don’t behave accordingly even in the slightest, you will be reported and sanitised. Teddy’s been able to hide her differences for all her life, and as she learns darker secrets about the way Metropolis is run she soon learns about an entirely new city beneath her feet, one that stands for all her government does not. And when it comes at risk, she is the one forced to solve problems that could kill millions of people.

This had a very strong and engaging first act. The world of Metropolis was introduced splendidly, with high steaks surrounding the concept of surveillance. I thought this was a great direction for the novel to be going and a great theme to explore, because the theme of surveillance itself literally makes your hairs stand on end. You could see it building in the world and affecting the psyche of many characters, in both the main world and the culture of the rebellion. And by the midpoint where everything when downhill, I was certain I would be keeping this book and really enjoying it.

Then we go into the second and third acts. This novel reeked of sagging middle syndrome and it went downhill from there. You know your narrative structure is wrong when there was more tension at the start of the novel than the end. It ended up being more pleasant exploration and introduction. And then when the tension builds up again it is literally in the final chapter and ending on a cliffhanger. Now I have more questions than answers. I’m not even sure if any of my questions got answered.

Few of these characters were written or introduced well. It makes sense why this novel was called self/lees – these characters had zero personality. For reference, the leading male’s main and only personality trait and purpose was to be horny for the main character. He was so hollow that it felt like Teddy was kissing a sex doll! And then the characters that did have personality didn’t have consistent personalities.

After reading that novel, I think I’ll just stick to listening to her songs.

self/less gets a score of 2.5/5. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a more accurate name.

Yours in writing

Amy

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Just Here For The Ride I Guess… – a review of The Iron Wyrm Affair by Lilith Saintcrow

by with No Comment Fantasy

I’ve spent a long time looking for a vintage fantasy story to appeal to me. This one appealed to me in concept and I spent a while looking forward to reading it.

Sadly, this ain’t it.

In a steampunk version of Victorian London, sorcerers possess magic and mentaths possess inhuman minds. However, mentaths are being killed for a plot that Prime Sorceress Emma Bannon suspects will put the crown at risk. She seeks out to protect mentath Archibald Clare while investigating this plot, one which Clare has natural interest in himself. And it appears this plot goes far deeper than either had hope, potentially involving the ancient dragons that grant Londonium’s power.

The plot did exist, but it was very difficult to follow. I’d blame the writing style personally. It was written like an investigation from Sherlock Holmes (which I haven’t read, so I don’t know if this was a copy of the same style), but things were very difficult to follow along with. It felt like a large amount of coincidences that the characters either knew or had connections to the next pieces of the puzzle. For it being a murder mystery, I never felt like I had the chance to solve anything. Even when things got explained – that’s a red flag.

I may have liked the magic system if it was ever explained. It had potential to be for sure – dark and light magic that had connections to dragons and was in an inner pool that reset every sunrise. But this system wasn’t clear until about half way and none of the technicalities were even explained. When people want to enter a fantasy world, they would typically want to be immersed in it. This system and world felt elite, like it was reserve for people with an IQ over 300. On the bright side, where spellcasting scenes or fights were involved the quality of the scenes increased a fair bit.

While the characters were distinguishable, the way they were was… controversial. It was by gender, race and accents. This was literally how I could describe the cast of protagonists in the climax: British Male, British Female, Queen of England, Insane British Male, Indian Male, Italian Male, German Male. I couldn’t for the life of me tell you anything about the personality of any of them except for Insane British Male. There’s indefinitely more to characters than that.

The Iron Wyrm Affair gets a score of 2/5. The book itself proclaims it is too good for me, and I don’t have the class for it.

Yours in writing

Amy