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The Queen of the Tearling : Erika Johansen

… brilliant page turner …

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I have come rather late to the Tearling party!  I loved this book.  It’s a brilliant page turner with an incredibly strong narrative and well drawn, likeable (or dastardly) characters.  On her 19th birthday the soldiers come for Kelsea to take her to be crowned as Queen of the Tearling … if she survives that long.   There’s a wicked Uncle, an evil witch, bandits, slavery and a loyal pack of personal guards.  As the book blurb quote from HEAT magazine says helpfully : “Did you like The Hunger Games?  Partial to an episode of Game of Thrones?  Then you’re going to want to dive straight into this.”  I particularly enjoyed that fact that Kelsea is not the perfect heroine.  She is not superfit, has trouble handling a sword and has a puppy crush on someone.   Yet, her heart is in the right place and she’s trying to make up for her appalling mother’s legacy.  I also was greatly entertained by the growing relationship between Kelsea and her bodyguard, Lazarus.  Highly recommended.

btw The book does have some sex and hints at rather horrid and gruesome slavery so it’s for older teens.

Erika Johansen grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and became an attorney. Now she lives in England … which means – HURRAH – she can be counted as the sixth review in my British Books Challenge 2017.  Come and join us at over at Chelley Toy’s site.

Cover design moment:  The UK cover for this book of a bear trap on a red cushion is cute and to the point, if slightly cloying for such a strong protagonist and very little romance .  The design continues through the series and are by Sarah Whittaker, a Senior Designer, at Transworld Publishers.

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen was published by Bantam Books on 16 July 2015.   It is the first in the Tearling Trilogy which includes The Invasion of Tearling and The Fate of the Tearling (Dec 16).

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Jackself : Jacob Polley

… like citrus in winter …

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I had to keep putting the book down. Is that a weird thing to say? Does anyone else do that? Again and again, I would come across a phrase or an image, that was so arresting and intense that, like sharp grapefruit, I was compelled to stop and savour before reading on.  Jacob himself talks of “a glimpse of something” in The Guardian‘s series My Writing Day; and it is these glimpses that the judges of the TS Eliot Prize hint at when they describe the collection as “a firework of a book”.  

The images are embedded in a playful, shadowy autobiography of Jack, and his many selves, set in a mythic Cumbrian border country called Lamanby.  Jack and his mate, Jeremy Wren, banter and fool about through 34 poems.  Their casual brutality and grimy surroundings, mixed with nursery rhymes and folklore, put me in mind of the wonderful Rooster in Jez Butterworth‘s play, Jerusalem.

If you buy only one book of poetry this year, it really should be this one.  Highly recommended.

Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle, Cumbria. He is the author of four books of poems and a novel, Talk of the Town. He teaches at the University of Newcastle where lives.

Cover design moment:  The very arresting puppet cut-out design was inspired by a Franz-Josef Holler design called “Jockey” and presumably comes out of the PanMacmillan Art Department.  I am still trying to find out.  Update : I have traced the designer.  If you are interested, click for later post.

This book is the fifth review in my British Books Challenge 2017.  Come and join us at over at Chelley Toy’s site.

Jackself by Jacob Polley was published by Picador Poetry on 3 November 2016.  It won the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry 2016 announced on 16 January 2017.   I bought it from Emily’s Bookshop.  Hiya Em!

 

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The Burning Page : Genevieve Cogman

… spirited helter skelter adventure …

Irene Winters is back!  Attacked by venomous spiders and snakes and chased by archenemy Alberich, the Librarian is in a desperate chase to save her beloved Library51yi8uyo78l from attack whilst protecting her Victorian detective friend, Vale, and dragon assistant, Kai, from further chaos.  Another spirited helter skelter adventure through the many alternative worlds linked by the great Library.  I particularly liked Irene’s entanglements with Alberich, a truly dastardly villain, and her continuing balancing act between the chaotic Fae and rigid dragon characters.  Both of these add depth to the frenetic pace of events which point to Genevieve’s past work as a roleplaying game writer.

This is the third in Genevieve’s Invisible Library series.  My review of the first, The Invisible Library, is here and it is panning out to be an enjoyable sequence.

Cover design moment:  Neil Lang from the Pan Macmillan art department continues to produce the excellent covers for this series.  With their distinctive foil spines and Victorian silhouettes, they are both instantly recognisable and compliment Genevieve’s style.   A link to further work by him is here.

This book is the fourth review in my British Books Challenge 2017.  Come and join us at over at Chelley Toy’s site.

The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman was published by Pan on 15 December 2016.  I bought it from Emily’s Bookshop.  Hiya Em!

 

 

 

 

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A Symphony of Echoes : Jodi Taylor

… great fun alt. history …

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I’ve been wanting to read this series for a while and the second book in the Chronicles of St Mary‘s arrived before the first.   Undeterred, I went right ahead and read A Symphony of Echoes.  It didn’t matter; the writing doesn’t take itself seriously and I just went along for the ride.  And what a ride!  Jodi sets her protagonist, Max, off at a tremendous lick, ricocheting from Victorian slums to c12th Canterbury to Ancient Nineveh taking in dodos and arch villainy at the same time.

The background to the series is the St Mary’s Institute of Historical Research: an academic establishment full of historians who travel in pods to investigate major past events.  This allows Jodi to take her pick of any historical episode and drop her characters straight into the heart of it; her vivid imagining of the past adds to the fun and the story can lift itself up and put whenever it wants.     All this frenetic activity teeters on the brink of excess, but I can forgive Jodi as she has created a splendid character, Madeleine Maxwell.  It’s told in the first person and the speed of the narrative is heightened by this smart, sassy, possibly damaged young woman’s stream of observations and one-liners.

Recommended.

Cover design moment: The old UK covers of this series all feature a rather cool clock spiral, looking rather like a trilobite, and a book-specific mock historical painting.  It’s fine but … the fuzziness wouldn’t grab me if I was browsing in a bookshop.  I prefer the new design even though there are quite a few cod Victorian covers around at the moment.  They are altogether brighter and echo the breeziness of the storytelling – which, I think, is a great selling point.

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Jodi Taylor ‘s biog states (amongst other things) … born in Bristol and educated in Gloucester (facts both cities vigorously deny), she spent many years with her head somewhere else, much to the dismay of family, teachers and employers, before finally deciding to put all that daydreaming to good use and pick up a pen …

She started out self publishing her novels, very successfully, before being approached by independent publishers, Accent Press.  A quick and interesting account of her journey can be found here at the Writers’ Workshop website.  Jodi, herself, writes some very entertaining blog posts on her own website, here.

This book is the third review in my British Books Challenge 2017.

A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Peters is published by Accent Press.  Emily at Emily’s Bookshop recommended it to me.  Thanks, Em!

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From Darkest Skies : Sam Peters

… absorbing SF/crime thriller …
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An absorbing SF/crime thriller with strong characterisation surfing above some inventive and intricate world building.

Government Agent Rouse returns to the distant planet of Magenta to continue his duties whilst secretly investigating the murder of fellow agent and wife, Alysha.  He has brought with him an illegal AI shell of her, built from her data footprint.  Can Rouse find out what really happened on that train whilst tackling corporate crime and the drugs trade on Magenta?

I enjoyed Sam‘s characterisation, Rangesh in particular, and his sure way with dialogue.   He uses the contrast between Rouse’s grief and the team banter to great effect; and the novel also explores a human’s personal and intense relationship with AI.   It reads as though it was great fun to write and there’s clearly room for a sequel.

Recommended.

Cover design moment: Unfortunately, as this is an ARC, there’s no trace of a designer credit on the copy but – huzzah! – it has a WHITE background and strong, clear image.  UPDATE: Thanks to a heads up from Carole Heidi the design company is the brilliant Black Sheep.  Their website is here.

Sam’s biog reads: … a mathematician, part-time gentle-person adventurer and occasional screenwriter who has seen faces glaze over at the words ‘science fiction’ once too often. … Has more hopes than regrets, more cats than children, watches a lot of violent contact sport and is an unrepentant closet goth.

This book is the second review in my British Books Challenge 2017.

From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters will be published by Orion on 20 April 2017.  Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy.  Thanks, Em!

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Traitor to the Throne : Alwyn Hamilton

… brilliant, pacey sequel to Rebel of the Sands …

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Amani is back, fighting against the odds amongst the deadly politics of the Sultan’s Harem.  Now a respected leader in the Rebel Forces, she is betrayed and ends up a prisoner in the Palace with her powers disabled.  This is where Alwyn really hits her stride and the story picks up pace with an intriguing thread about the three brothers: the Sultan, the Rebel Prince and Amani’s lover, Jin; and the overarching question: who exactly is the traitor?

Recommended.

ps. I would like to request a cast list at the front of the next book to navigate my way around all the characters and do recommend new readers start with the first in the series, Rebel of the Sands.

Cover design moment: Unfortunately there isn’t any trace of the designer on the review copy but the strong, vibrant design is as good as Rebel of the Sands.  The lettering and patterning are very distinctive and its unusual colour will help the book to stand out on a crowded bookshop table … which is the point, right?  (The US cover design on the other hand … hmm …)

As Alwyn lives in London, this book is the first in my British Books Challenge 2017. Huzzah.

Traitor to the Throne will be published 2 February 2017 by Faber and Faber.  Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her review copy.  Thanks, Em!

 

 

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Best of 2016 : 3 books & an exhibition

Looking back over the 32 book reviews I have posted in 2016, I’ve had a brilliant reading year : so much imagination; so much wit and adventure; scenes and characters that linger long after the books close.  If you follow my blog, you will know that I only publish reviews for books I would recommend and so my “Best of 2016” is really ALL my reviews.  Obviously.

However, if someone forced me to narrow it down, I would chose (in no particular order):

The Australian Urban Fantasy,  Vigil by Angela Slatter, for its dazzlingly inventiveness of plot and character combined with smart as a whip one liners.  My original post is here.

The intense, thrilling Nevernight by Fantasy virtuoso, Jay Kristoff, for delving so gloriously into the dark side of the genre.  The full review is here.

The fast paced and scary The Call by Peadar O’Guilin for its kiss-ass heroine and seat of the pants race to the end.  Here’s a link to my review post.

Although I didn’t plan it this way, they all have strong female leads and dark Fantasy backgrounds.  Whether it’s my preference or some 2016 zeitgeist, who knows?

And my very favourite visit of 2016 was to the extraordinarily inspiring Lost Library of John Dee at the Royal College of Physicians, a fascinating exhibition, crammed full of gorgeous exhibits and helpful explanatory notes.  I could have camped out there.  My full review is here.

I started this blog just over a year ago to share my love of books and to create an aide memoire for myself.  It’s great fun to write and I find the quality of my reading (and visiting) has improved with the focus of this blog.   I particularly want to say a big THANKS to Emily at Emily’s Bookshop in Campden for giving me so many ARCs and book suggestions.

Wishing you all a productive and creatively filled 2017.

 

 

 

 

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A Snow Garden & Other Stories : Rachel Joyce

… intricate scenes in luminous detail …

For anyone who finds this format hard work and frustrating (like me), I urge you to try this collection of interlinked stories based very loosely around the theme of Christmas.  They remind me of still life paintings:  intricate scenes in vivid colour, with luminous details of bittersweet comedy and truth.

 

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Rachel paints seven turning points in domestic lives with characters and circumstances that linger long after the reading: a couple assembling a bike on Christmas Eve; the unlikely airport Nativity; a Boxing Day dance; a celebrity homecoming; the divorced father with his sons; a search for meaning amongst cleaning products; and tree planting on New Year’s Eve.  They are beautifully crafted with a wonderful humanity and very easy to sink into … Highly recommended.

Rachel Joyce is the author of (amongst others) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.  She is the writer of over 30 afternoon plays and classic adaptations for BBC Radio 4.

The collection was reviewed in the Observer yesterday  so click through if you wish to read more and the paperback version was published on 3rd November 2016 by Black Swan, an imprint of Penguin Books.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find any details on the cover designer; I thought the snowflake motif works extremely well, better than the hardback design.

I was given this book as part of my Facebook Book Chain whereby I gave a book to a stranger and friends of friends of mine are giving books to me.  A brilliant idea.  I would never have picked up this book myself.

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A Curious Beginning : Deanna Raybourn

… enthusiastic and charming storytelling …

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Deanna is the creator of the best selling Lady Julia Grey Mysteries series and my local bookseller suggested I give this tongue in cheek Victoria romp a go.

I really enjoyed the set up: Veronica Speedwell, intrepid lady Lepidopterist (cue scientific passages) defying Victorian mores (kiss-ass heroine) with attractive male companion whilst solving murder.  It’s a fun proposition.    However, after the first third, I felt that  Deanna had fallen too far over to the cartoon side of her creation.  There was little complexity to Veronica and much repetition of her convention-breaking,  no-nonsense approach to the opposite sex.   This, and the very broad brush strokes of plot building,  broke the illusion that I was reading more than a collection of fictitious characters being moved around a Victorian toy theatre.   And yet, I did read to the end because Deanna is an enthusiastic and charming story teller.  I hope the sequel, A Perilous Undertaking, due January next year, brings more depth to an enjoyable construct.

Cover design moment: A bold and attractive pastiche of silhouettes and Victoriana by Julia Lloyd makes for a bright and very attractive cover.  She also designs the UK covers for VE Schwab‘s A Darker Shade of Magic series, though I can’t find a website for her studio.

A Curious Beginning was published in October 2015 by Titan Books.  Emily at Emily’s Bookshop lent me her copy.  Thanks, Em!

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