Always Buy The Book

Valentine Grey Sandi Toksvig Rating: 4/5 The short version: If you stick around to the end, this book makes every second worth it. This review will contain spoilers. I picked up Valentine Grey because of its author. Historical fiction isn’t something I read much of, and I especially didn’t have much of an opinion about the Boer War before I read it. But I know and admire Sandi Toksvig for her honesty, humour and openness, and the book deals with the issues of gender and sexuality- not something I’ve seen a lot of fiction dealing with. I wanted to see what Toksvig’s style was like. It was good- not perfect, because there were issues with pacing at times, but with enough power and skill to make up for its little flaws. The critique of society is built up slowly throughout the book, and no side in the war is presented as morally superior- not even the heroine. As a queer British woman, I recognised so much of our society today in the flawed society of the book, ...

A Wizard of Earthsea Ursula LeGuin Rating: 4.5/5 The short version: This isn’t a story for someone looking for escapist fiction, but it is perfect for people who like fantasy which acts as a metaphor. This review will contain spoilers. A Wizard of Earthsea is very different from the fantasy I’m used to reading. There are wizards and dragons and it’s about the journey the protagonist takes, but the way the story is told wasn’t what I was expecting. LeGuin doesn’t go into detail about all the events of Ged’s life, but only focusses on the most important parts. That simplicity puts the focus on Ged’s character and how he develops, and that makes the themes the book explores more compelling. As a young boy, Duny uses simple magic taught to him by his aunt to repel invaders from his home town. This impressive feat draws the attention of Ogion, a magician, who takes him in as his apprentice- and gives him his true name, Ged. He becomes impatient with Ogion’s teachin...

Cold Magic Kate Elliott Rating: 3.5/5 The short version: The depth of the characters makes up for a very complicated setting. This review will contain spoilers. Before I read Cold Magic, I’d dragged my way through another fantasy book which didn’t really make sense to me. So I picked this up hoping for something I would enjoy a bit more. It took a while for me to get into it, but by the end I wasn’t disappointed. It wasn’t a masterpiece of fantasy, but it was a good way to spend a few hours. Cold Magic is set in Victorian Europe, on the edge of an industrial revolution, but with the addition of magic and all the complications this brings. Catherine Hassi Barahal, known as Cat, thinks her biggest problems are keeping her and her cousin Bee out of trouble. Then a member of a powerful political family comes and claims an old deal, and Cat is forced to leave her home for a dramatic adventure. The book starts off seeming to go in one direction, Cat trying to fi...

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs Rating: 3.5/5 The short version: The use of pictures to supplement the text is inventive, and the mythology created around them is very imaginative. However, certain parts of the plot are neglected or superfluous. This review will contain spoilers. I wasn’t spooked by Miss Peregrine. The consensus amongst reviewers seems to be that this book gives off a moderate horror vibe, partially thanks to the eerie photo on the front cover and others scattered throughout the book. That wasn’t a let-down for me, though. I don’t enjoy scary books, and this worked well as YA fantasy. Miss Peregrine is about a boy named Jacob, who sets out to explore the island where his grandfather grew up after he brutally killed in mysterious circumstances. He begins to realise that contrary to what he’s been taught, the wild stories his grandfather told might have been true. He follows a girl to a strange, old-fashioned house and me...

The Adamantine Palace- review Stephen Deas Rating: 3/5 The short version: Not a bad read, but not one to go back to either. This review will contain spoilers. There’s nothing wrong with The Adamantine Palace, but unfortunately there was very little that struck me as particularly good, either. Some of the characters and premises were intriguing, but they were let down by a plot which went backwards a little too often and characters who didn’t leave an impact on me. More than anything else, there was little to distinguish this book from other fantasies. The book begins with the assassination of a queen, setting up the tangle of political intrigue which is the spine of the plot. From here, there are two halves to the plot. Several different monarchs are aiming for power, whilst away from the palaces the dragons they have enslaved are beginning to wreak their revenge. There are a lot of different POV characters in this book, which means that the reader has to k...

The Book Thief- review Markus Zusak Rating: 4/5 The short version: A book which completely deserves its reputation. This review will contain spoilers. I appreciate that if you haven’t read this book already, you’ll probably have heard a lot about it anyway. I also know that there are a lot of books about WWII, and it is easy to get fed up of them. So I am going to   try and explain why you should read this book anyway. If you have somehow never heard of The Book Thief, it’s about Liesel, a young girl growing up in Nazi Germany, and the humanity she experiences along the way. Her books take on an emotional significance to her life, and she also becomes friends with a fugitive Jew. It’s also narrated by Death. That should tell you quite a lot about the book; it’s creative, but in no way cheerful. For me, one of the most refreshing things about this book was its focus on the ordinary people of Germany who suffered because of the war. Liesel is blonde-hair...

The Next Together- review Lauren James Rating: 4/5 The short version: This book juggled a lot of plot and characters, but it broke my heart anyway. This review will contain spoilers. Most authors I read try to stick to one genre per novel. Sci-fi, or romance, or mystery, or historical. It’s easy to see why- it could be very difficult to make the different conventions of each genre fit together into one cohesive story. Of course, the best books defy all the conventions and make their stories work anyway. That is what The Next Together does . There are several different storylines in The Next Together. The main one is the story of Matt and Kate, who discover that several identical versions of themselves have played major roles in different parts of history, and then have to stop a government conspiracy themselves. Three of their other lifetimes are also explored, and each lifetime ends with acts of heroic sacrifice. What really made me admire this book was ...