A gripping twisty little thriller set in a evocative - if underused - location and populated by a range of deeply unpleasant characters, one of whom doesn't survive much beyond the opening scene!
Book Review: Murder on Lake Garda, Tom Hindle
Category: Genre
Book Review: The Blue, Beautiful World, Karen Lord
A beautiful and optimistic image of the future of mankind where, despite our differences and the ravages we have inflicted on the planet, we emerge as ready to take the first steps on a galactic scale.
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Book Review: Maurice and Maralyn, Sophie Elmhirst
An eminently readable and accessible account of an extraordinary experience, rendered with clarity and precision; for me, however, it seemed to sacrifice the drama and horror of the events.
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Book Review: The Mars House, Natasha Pulley
A tender and sweet story that is in part a political thriller, in part a romance, set on Mars in the near future in which the kindest characters have the most objectionable politics. As a political commentary it was, for me, not unproblematic; as a character-driven romance, it was tender.
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Book Review: Prophet Song, Paul Lynch
"Prophet Song" is a chilling and propulsive novel set in an Ireland turning towards tyranny. When Eilish's husband, a trade unionist, disappears, she is faced with terrifying choices in a society unraveling into oppression and civil war. As she fights to save her family, the novel offers a devastating and deeply human portrait of a country at the brink of war.
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Book Review: Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell
A technically fascinating account as Burnet adopts the different voices of his two protagonists as they invent and reinvent and lose their own identities; the reading experience was rather let down but how unlikeable those characters were.
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Book Review: Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
An incredibly engaging science fiction romp and buddy narrative, so replete in energy, enthusiasm and charm that we can forgive the occasional absurd plot premise and the meagre characterisation.
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Book Review, Mr Loverman, Bernardine Evaristo
I had such high hopes for this novel, after loving Girl, Woman, Other and was hoping for something joyful and sparkling; unfortunately, I found the main characters - however well crafted - unpleasant.
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Defied My Expectations
The new school year has now begun and summer is over: my daughter has had her first day at her new school, a slew of paperwork has been thrown at me at work, another heatwave has (somewhat gently) gripped the UK. And the backlog of reviews on my blog is continuing to grow: finishing two books last night was both satisfying and a little overwhelming! This week's theme is also one that deserves a little thought: books that defied my expectations, Submitted by Sia @ everybookadoorway.com, which is glossed as books you thought you would didn’t like that you loved, books you thought you’d love but didn’t, books that were not the genres they seemed to be, or in any other way subverted your expectations! Sometimes, it's great to get a book that does exactly what you expect: a favourite author, a favourite genre, a title like The Kaiju Preservation Society or The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires which really do give you a heads up about the content. But this post celebrates those that unsettled and defied my expectations.
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Book Review: Lords of Uncreation, Adrian Tchaikovsky
A rewarding conclusion to a great series that plumbs the depths of unspace whilst remaining tethered in the real as well: each of our main Vulture God crew had their specific role to play and came into their powers in a deeply satisfying way.
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Book Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty
A fantastically enjoyable romp through the medieval Middle East with swashbuckling pirate queens, demons and djinni, giant squid and rapacious magically enhanced Europeans. A great, thrilling yarn!
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Book Review: The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss [Re-Read]
Whilst this is still, certainly, a masterclass in world building and an intriguing narrative and a great read. However, am I still convinced that this is, as Amazon declares a "lyrical fantasy masterpiece" on a re-read?
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Book Review: Trespasses, Louise Kennedy
An incredible depiction of the sectarian violence and divisions in Belfast during the heights of the Troubles in the 1970s, and the ways in which people found the chance to connect despite that context...
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Book Review: The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell
A dazzling recreation of Renaissance Italy, described in O'Farrell's gorgeous prose, this novel again takes a lesser known character from history - Lucrezia di Cosimo di Medici - and breathes life and vibrancy and urgency into their tragic story: just like Hamnet, we know from the opening pages that Lucrezia is destined to die.
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Book Review: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver
Whilst this is a shoe-in for all the literary prizes of the year - there is no doubting its profundity and energy, its anger and its literary mastery - I found it an incredibly challenging read, piling unrelenting misery upon misery on young Demon's shoulders, robbing him of every joy or success or moment of peace, with only the incredible power of the narrative voice to stave off the bleakness.
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Book Review: The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells
A genuinely fun set of science fiction reads, featuring convincing world building and very capable plotting is elevated by a unique and compelling narrative voice in our favourite SecUnit: dangerous, compassionate, distant, a little obsessive and more than a touch neurodivergent.
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Book Review: Children of Paradise, Camilla Grudova
This is an extraordinary and very strange and elegiacal novel, a nightmarish phantasm of a read: it celebrates classic cinema and its creativity and originality; it lambasts the homogenised sanitised experience of modern cinema; it is cruelly loving of its characters and almost lyrical in its palpable sense of decay. This was unlike anything that I have read in a while...
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Book Review: The Eternal Return of Clara Hart, Louise Finch
A startling time loop novel: beneath the horror of Spence reliving the same day over and over, a day clouded in layers of pain and tragedy, is a surprisingly powerful message about toxic masculinity and banter. A fantastic inclusion for the YOTO Carnegie Medal.
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Book Review: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
A thoroughly entertaining and engaging tale of friendship which, whilst I enjoyed the reading experience, does not quite justify the social media hype that it has received.
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Book Review: Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton
Another wonderful gripping novel from Eleanor Catton. Populated with intriguing characters, powerful ideas and incredibly long sentences, this novel is a little like a tapestry: it draws threads from Shakespeare, thrillers, climate change, politics and weaves them together to make something new and unsettling.
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Top Ten Tuesday: Books for People Who Liked Tana French
This week's theme poses its own challenge. I love the idea of recommending books similar to a favourite author, but which author to focus on? Do I pick an author I find comforting and warm, or an author I find challenging? Do I find an adult author or young adult? Do I focus on classics or on modern writers? I want to pick my favourite author and rave about them... but again I have so many favourites...
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Book Review: The Twist of a Knife, Anthony Horowitz
Another thoroughly enjoyable criminal romp for Anthony Horowitz and the enigmatic Daniel Hawthorne, uncovering the murderer of a vicious theatre critic before Horowitz is re-arrested for the crime.
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Book Review: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix
A fun vampire novel whose setting was one of its strongest features, divided between middle class white suburbs and poor black communities; it built tension well in the first half but revelled a little too much in visceral body horror to the point where it became inadvertently funny.
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Book Review: Stone Blind, Natalie Haynes
A highly entertaining and enjoyable read retelling Medusa's story, told with Haynes' trademark wit, erudition and caustic humour - although I wonder whether I come away from the book having learned anything new...
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Book Review: Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen
My first Austen for an age - and I'm not sure I ever read this one - has revealed itself to be delightful: genuinely funny and literate with a well fleshed out protagonist and a surprisingly knowing and assured narrative voice - for a novel written when the author was but 28.
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