Subscribe to get a little Fury in your inbox!

Join 3,005 other subscribers.

Paper Fury

Walker Books

Gleanings (Arc of a Scythe #3.5) by Neal Shusterman – Short Story Collection

by Leave a Comment

We’re back in Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe world for a short story compilation!

Time for a fresh addition to the Scythe series with short stories that range from exciting, emotional, cute and eye-opening. There are 13 tales here, and each follows a different POV, some from characters we know and love from the original trilogy and others from new perspectives of people just existing in the world. Some origin stories come to life (especially for Goddard and Scythe Marie Curie) and it pulls other characters from the shadows to tell us what happened with them (like Citra’s little brother, Ben). None of the stories are about Citra/Rowan but they do make cameos and are referenced.

Admittedly, it’s been a while since I read the trilogy so I didn’t remember a lot, and maybe didn’t recognised some reoccurring names. But I think anyone who’s a big fan of the series will definitely enjoy the references and cameos. Some of the stories are also co-authored, so that was pretty cool to see the collaborations.

Highlights from some of the stories:

A Martian Minute — This one was chilling and interesting in turn, giving us the backstory of Scythe Goddard. Also it’s set on Mars as well, which was super interesting. Definitely a complex story with dark turns and highlights more of the scythes’ corruptions.

Meet Cute And Die — This one was fun fluff, but it probably my favourite! It’s just about two random people who get into an accident together that renders them both mostly deadish. They get put back together and sort of shyly agree to go out for lunch. It was a fun meet cute. šŸ˜‚ And I loved where it went. Also brought up the interesting (aka kind of terrifying) result of this style world that “killing” people (since they come back to life) doesn’t have as much weight. How it becomes an…option…when someone pisses you off. šŸ’€šŸ˜‚

Anastasia’s Shadow — This one was sad/happy…?! I don’t even know. Many emotions. It’s about Ben, Citra’s little brother, who of course grows up and then is manipulated into training to be a Scythe against his wishes. Just the emotional abuse and isolation he goes through and the fear to even fall in love. He is also queer! And the ending did bring a spark of hope, I felt.

Never Work With Animals — Also a notable one, about a corrupt scythe and the dog who ends up getting one over him. I was Team The Dog the whole way tbh and that scythe so got what he deserved.

There are many more stories to discover and enjoy! Check Gleanings out if you’ve been following along Arc of a Scythe and want to see more of the world and the interesting, complex characters.

Thanks to Walker Books AUS for the review copy!

Title: Gleanings (Arc of a Scythe #3.5)
Author: Neal Shusterman
Date Published: November 16th, 2022
Genre: YA Sci Fi, Dystopian
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
TheĀ New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!
There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.
Neal Shustermanā€”along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, SofĆ­a Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shustermanā€”returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters youā€™ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.
GleaningsĀ shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honorā€“winningĀ ScytheĀ truly is.

The Secret Wild by Alex Evelyn – Magical Botanical MG Adventure

by Leave a Comment

The Secret Wild is a green explosion of botanical whimsy and it was such a lovely read!

I have such a soft spot for books about wild, sentient plants and vines taking over the world and this just fulfilled every need. šŸƒ Fern is a curious, smart, and fearless main character and so loveable. Plus she befriends a hybrid plant that gave me total Groot vibes and together they discover a plot from an eco-terrorist who is trying to make jungles take over London and destroy everything. The book had really themes about nature vs people and how we don’t need violently extreme measures to make a difference to the planet. And the whole story is just infused with love for plants and exploring and nature that it will bring smiles to old and young readers alike.

Fern is around ten-years-old so this is also the perfect read for the younger end of middle-grade. It’s not too action packed and while the stakes are high, it’s not a super stressful read. It’s also packed full of relatable themes: like how hard it is to make friends (especially if you’re out of practise) and how to be true to yourself but also make compromises.

The book kicks off with Fern living with her botanist parents who travel the world hunting for plants to study. But while Fern is a thoughtful and clever little girl, her curiosity is utterlyĀ wild, and she can’t control her impulses to explore — which gets her in dangerous situations. Her dad is dismissive of her not knowing enough Latin and her mother pretty much says nothing (lol) so Fern is sent to live with her uncle in London. Uncle Ned was lovely and quite funny, always preoccupied by his writing and chatting about his characters as if they’re real (relatable šŸ˜‚) but he is also kind of neglectful of Fern. She ends up basically exploring London on her own. Though on the plane trip over she steals a little super-hybrid plant from a travelling botanist: and it turns out she can speak to the plant and it understands her. She names the plant Special. It’s definitely a stand-in for all the neglectful adults in Fern’s life. My heart ached for her. (Though I have to be honest…it’s my least favourite trope when parents are super absent/neglectful by choice and yet never apologise. I would’ve liked some consequences for the parents at the end.)

Fern meets Woody while in London, and I loved how they were such opposites. Fern hates wearing shoes and is obsessed with plants and wants to explore and climb things. Woody likes only puzzles, hates the outdoors, and pretty much is horrified by Fern’s messiness. (Woody did seem coded as autistic but the label isn’t mentioned.) Their friendship is slow to build but lovely.

There’s a bit of mystery solving, as Fern tries to keep Special fed and well, plus find out who the Guerrilla Gardener is. And there’s plenty of empowerment for STEM girls and curious girls and wild girls.

A tale of lonely kids finding solace in friendship and nature; and a total love letter to botany. It’s just this little girl and her little groot-like buddy against an overgrown London and some possibly man-eating plants.

Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy!

Title: The Secret Wild
Author: Alex Evelyn
Date Published: 1st December 2022
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
A fantastical, botanical adventure about friendship, bravery – and finding home in a new place.
Fern has spent her whole life in the rainforest, and loves nothing more than climbing, exploring and talking to the trees. When she suddenly has to leave all that behind and move to London, with only an eccentric uncle for company, Fern feels entirely uprooted.
But when she meets a little plant that can understand her every word, it seems that things are looking up! That is until strange things start happening in the city: giant lily pads on the Thames, monkey vines on the London Eye, and now her new friend is starting to wilt…
Can they solve this growing mystery together – before it’s too late?

Nowhere Girl by Magali Le Huche – Beautiful Graphic Novel Memoir

by Leave a Comment

This is a lovely memoir graphic novel about growing up and fear and escapism.

I really enjoyed reading this one! It has beautiful art and was easily relatable and beautifully told. It’s set in Paris (translated to English now!) and follows the life of 12-year-old Magali as she has a nervous breakdown over school and tests when she’s twelve years old. Things are just very hard for her; the perfectionism, the irate teachers, the crushing test score demands. When Magali realises she absolutely cannot cope, she quits going to school and begins working from home. Though this also ushers in a really lonely and isolated time of her life. Her anxiety twists higher and higher and I really appreciated how it showed what life was like for her. Also knowing this is autobiographical was especially šŸ’”. I’m sure so many kids face this: the cracking under extreme school pressure and the subsequent fall out.

Magali’s refuge is obsessing over music and she discovers the Beatles and absolutely falls in love. I loved these pages in the book so much because they were just livid explosions of colour — such a perfect peek into Magali’s rich inner world.

It’s a quick read and very personable and lovely. Perfect for middle-grade readers to teens.

I only struggled with the choice of text for the speech bubbles as it was super light/cursive and my eyes are too tired these days šŸ¤£ Just wish they went for a more accessible font.

If you’re a fan of graphic novels, mental health representation, Parisian books, and music — this one is for you! I’d definitely like to read more from this author.

Thanks to Walker Books for the review copy!

Title: Nowhere Girl
Author: Magali Le Huche
Date Published: 1st December 2022
Genre: MG Graphic Novel / Memoir
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
The story of a young Parisian girl lost in the gulf between childhood and adulthood, navigating depression… and discovering the Beatles.
This is the story of a girl growing up in the 1990s – a middle-schooler who finds herself lost in the gulf between childhood and adolescence, developing paralyzing fears of failure, school, other people, and her own changing body. Along the way, she becomes obsessed with the Beatles… which might be just what she needs to find her way back to being okay. Yeah yeah yeah!

All Our Hidden Gifts & The Gifts That Bind Us by Caroline O’Donoghue – Witchy Twisty YA Paranormal!

by Leave a Comment

I finally started the Hidden Gifts series this year!

I’d seen this highly recommend on bookstagram and the hype always leaves me very curious. šŸ˜Œ It reminded me a little of The Graces meets MoĆÆra Fowley-Doyle’s books (all excellent vibes pls do check them out) where we get introduced to a (seemingly) inconsequential girl living in a (seemingly) inconsequential town. It tackles some hard topics and is full of flawed characters with big arcs. And at the heart? Magic and witches and tarot and empowerment.

All Our Hidden Gifts is book one, and we start off meeting Maeve Chambers who isn’t anyone’s favourite person. She isn’t clever at school, dumped her long-term BFF to get with the “popular girls”, and manages to make poor jokes that get her detention. While serving detention, cleaning out a cupboard, she finds a pack of tarot cards. And thus finds she has an affinity for reading them. I did enjoy learning more about the cards and their meanings, and Maeve takes us on a bit of a journey learning too with watching youtube tutorials (she is relatable in that) and explaining the cards as she gives readings. This is sort of the tip of the iceberg to the much bigger plot of: Maeve’s reading for her ex-BFF, Lily, goes awry and later that night Lily vanishes. Permanently. Maeve is pretty much strangled with guilt for her part in it.

But the whole thing spirals. Their town is full of twisted magic and there’s an extremist cult group entering the area, attacks on the lgbtqia+ community, and creepy things happening. It’s all very connected. The book definitely takes on a lot. It has the: “teens get left to handle the world going to hell in a handbasket” vibe. Unsuspecting chosen ones. Empowerment for teen girls. All the classic tropes.

Maeve is not a very likeable character, pulling a lot of selfish moves that harmed her friends, but it was good to see her mature as the book went on. She becomes friends with Filipina-Irish actress, Fiona, at school, and then begins to accidentally fall in love with Roe, Lily’s sibling. Roe was definitely my favourite. šŸ„ŗ He’s queer and gender-nonconforming and questioning, and it was nice seeing that rep. We don’t get to know Lily deeply because she’s missing, but she is Deaf and wears a hearing aid.

A big part of the book is trying to figure out what this extremist religious cult group is doing and what their goals are, and Maeve’s friends often end up in harms way. I do wish a book that heavily featured marginalised pain had been from the lens of a marginalised person, though. Maeve is straight, white, and middle-class and has to be called out on her privilege a lot.

The Gifts That Bind Us is book two and is set a few months after the ending of book 1! I won’t go into deep detail for this book because of potential āœØspoilersāœØ so don’t read on if you don’t want to know anything about the sequel too early. šŸ˜‚

The trio has become a quartet now that Lily is back, and they’re spending the summer trying to master their gifts. Maeve is a telepath, Roe can convince objects to bend to his will, Fiona can heal, and Lily commands electricity. Lily still hates Maeve for her cruelty and betrayal in book one, so it was interesting seeing their dynamics play out. Roe features less in this book as he is hard at work with his band and starting college, and I missed him!! It was nice to see Maeve has grown as a person though. I also appreciate when books take the time to talk about the trauma characters carry after life-threatening, death-defying events of their adventures. That stuff changes you.

I would’ve liked more answers about the cult’s intentions, other than “amassing power” (to do what with?). But the ending ups the stakes even higher with big action scenes and new character betrayals and vicious twists. It also has a bit of a twist for book 1’s villain which lends some moral questions to the readers about redemption arcs. I could see this making a good TV series with some Shadowhunter vibes too.

Witchy, twisty and full of high stakes and dark magic spilling all over an Irish town, this seriesĀ is definitely a whirlwind to read.

Thanks to Walker Books for the ARCs of book 1 and 2!

Title: All Our Hidden Gifts #1
Author: Caroline O’Donoghue
Date Published: 3/2/2021
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: WalkerBooks
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks, Amazon AUS
Add it on Goodreads
Maeve Chambers doesn’t have much going for her. Not only does she feel like the sole idiot in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she’s found her gift at last. Things are looking up ā€“ until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn’t be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears.
Can Maeve, her new friend Fiona and Lily’s brother Roe find her? And will their special talents be enough to bring Lily back, before she’s gone for good?Ā 

Queer Up by Alexis Caught — An Uplifting Self Help Book for Teens

by Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a queer self-help book that’s both heart-warming and full of love…this is for you!

This was a quick and lovely read, the kind of book that presents itself as both a hug and an encouragement. The author introduces themselves as not a mentor or a teacher, but as a friend. Your older queer sibling. They’re also a therapist so the book was filled with a lot of self-love reminders and grounding techniques and reminders to breathe and remember you are loved. When you read this book, you get such a strong sense of community. It’s full of snippets and perspectives and stories from other queer people from all walks of life, so it just felt like a group of your queer elders coming together to tell you everything’s going to be okay.

The book covers…

  • basic education on lgbtqia+ labels and identities (it’s an overview, probably designed to give you a starting point to go do more research now that you have accessible language and understanding of labels, rather than going into super deep detail about each label)
  • brief notes on queer history and rights
  • some sex-education and discussions on things like boundaries and being safe (emotionally and physically)
  • questioning and understanding yourself
  • tips for allies
  • finding a queer community
  • help lines and resources
  • the trans community and trans+ identities

I think it was great that it included sections, comments and thoughts for allies to read. And while it DID say that the “A” stands for asexual, it didn’t mention aromantic at all in the book, and it said A also stands for “ally”. I have to disagree there. And I don’t understand why people think ally should be part of the queer spectrum letters because, as the book literally said, you don’t get an award for showing up to be a decent person!? Anyway šŸ˜‚šŸ‘ŒšŸ» A tangent.

The design is also really nice! There are speech bubbles and little cute illustrations, and it just all felt so friendly and easy to read. Truly a book designed to make readers feel welcome.

While it didn’t get very deep into anything, and did read like an overview, I think it did exactly what it set out to do: be an uplifting guide. It’s definitely great for younger teens and honestly anyone new to information about queer identities.

A kind and caring book aimed at young people exploring or wanting to learn more about the lgbtqia+ spectrum! Definitely worth picking up.

Thanks to Walker Books AUS for the review copy!

Title: Queer Up: An Uplifting Guide to LGBTQ+ Love Life and Mental Health
Author: Alexis Caught
Date Published: May 4th, 2022
Genre: YA NonFiction, Self Help
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks, Amazon US
Add it on Goodreads
A positive and uplifting book for young people who are queer or curious – and their allies looking to support them.
In this empowering and uplifting book, award-winning podcaster Alexis Caught sets out to help queer and curious teenagers explore their LGBTQ+ identity and understanding. Alongside the author’s personal experiences are first-hand stories from notable LGBTQ+ figures, providing a inclusive account of what it means to grow up queer. With chapters on questioning, coming out, friends and family, love, sex, shame, pride and allyship, this is insightful, thoughtful and reassuring book is essential reading for any questioning teen and their allies looking to support them.

Middle Grade Mini Reviews! Loki, The Astronaughties & The Great Fox Illusion

by 1 Comment

Helloooo it is time for some middle grade mini reviews!

I received these three books with thanks from Walker Books and thought I’d do a little review for each here. They’re all quite short and pretty fun reads šŸ¤— So if you’re a middle-grade lover or have a small human in your life who needs books, hopefully these recommendations will help you!

 

Title: The Astronaughties by Andrew Cranna
Date Published: May, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade SFF
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks, Walker Books
About the book: It’s 101 years in the future and the Moon has been transformed into the ultimate super-cool intergalactic amusement park. The Astronaughties, the children of some of the parkā€™s designers, get a chance to visit the Lunar Park before it officially opens. But when they arrive, they discover their parents are missing. Now their mission is to find them, defeat the baddies and free a trapped alien. Hold on tight, this is going to be one wild rocket ride!

This is a silly and fun story about three naughty little kids who end up on the moon. It definitely leans into the nonsense aspect and as the story goes, the adventure just gets more wild and random. It’s definitely perfect for younger readers with big, fun font, and it’s entirely illustrated as a graphic novel. At the beginning the book is told by the kids’ robot nanny who is overheating his little batteries trying to keep the kids out of trouble. The villains are all very nefarious and foolish, and the kids end up doing the right thing on…accident.Ā Also add in aliens and roller coasters on the moons and slimy eggs and buying milk in the milky way.

Title:Ā Loki: A Bad God’s Guide to Being Good by Louie Stowell
Date Published: May 18th, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade SFF
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks, Walker Books
Add on Goodreads
About the book: After one prank too many, trickster god Loki has been banished to live as a kid on Earth. If he can show moral improvement within one month, he can return to Asgard. If he canā€™t? Eternity in a pit of angry snakes. Rude! To keep track of Lokiā€™s progress, King Odin (a bossy poo-poo head) gives him this magical diary in which Loki is forced to confess the truth, even when that truth is as ugly as a naked mole rat. To make matters worse, Loki has to put up with an eleven-year-old Thor tagging along and making him look bad. Loki is not even allowed to use his awesome godly powers! As Loki suffers the misery of school lunch, discovers the magic of internet videos, and keeps watch for frost giant spies, will he finally learn to tell good from bad, trust from tricks, and friends from enemies?

I liked the premise of this one! Reminded me of Rick Riordan’s retelling of the god Apollo being turned into a teen boy as punishment. Except this time it’s Loki, god of mischief, being made into an 11-year-old disaster child who has to earn points to prove he’s Good to be allowed back into this god form. It eludes to a lot of Norse mythology too, but in a lowkey way. It also has lots of illustrations and fun font changes, to keep young readers engaged.

But some of the underlying messages didn’t sit right with me. Telling kids you need to “earn points” to be good isn’t great. And while Loki was deliberately obtuse, I feel like the few times he tried to be good and ended up making things worse were reminiscent of telling the “bad kids” that they’re always going to be bad. Especially when Loki took a lot things literally (which made him feel coded as neurodiverse). I’m sure the book is meant to be silly, light-hearted fun, but I wouldn’t recommend it for neurodiverse or black-and-white thinking children.

Title: The Great Fox Illusion by Justyn Edwards
Date Published: April, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks, Walker Books
Add on Goodreads
About the book: Thirteen-year-old Flick Lions has won a place on a new television show, in which young people compete to win the legacy of the Great Fox, one of the world’s most famous magicians. But Flick isn’t interested in uncovering the Great Fox’s tired old magic tricks ā€“ she’s after something much more important. The magician destroyed her family, and this is Flick’s only chance to put things right. Inside the Fox’s house is a secret that will change the world of magic for ever, and Flick will go to any lengths to find it.

This was a really fun and cute story of friendship and magicians, and I really enjoyed it! It features the unstoppable and determined Flick, who has entered a TV reality show contest to uncover the secrets of a great magician. The winner gets to inherit his WHOLE estate. Tricks. House. Fortune. The works. Flick is a talented little magician herself, but also wants answers why her father disappeared — and the Great Fox stole her father’s greatest magic trick. Flick wants it back.

Flick is impossible not to love. Tenacious and very self-sufficient, she’s easy to root for. She also is an amputee and wears a prosthetic leg, and I felt the book was so respectful yet mindful of her abilities and limitations. It took time to talk about pains from prosthetics and gave Flick logical accommodations. Too often I feel like kids’ books have the message of “you can do it DESPITE your disability!” But there wasn’t that tone here. Flick is disabled, needs help, and can still do all the things. Loved this.

There’s also lots of disclosing on how magic tricks are done, which is so fun. And Flick makes a talkative friend named Charlie with secrets of his own as to why he wants to win. (I suspect Charlie is coded as autistic?) They’re up against two other kid aspiring magicians who nicely balance between being lowkey bullies vs just kids desperate to win for their own parents’ approval. There’s lots of puzzles to unravel, secret rooms, mysteries, and nods to famous magicians. Lots of fun, fast-paced and easy to read. Recommended for ages 10+!

The Bravest Word by Kate Foster — Tender Story About Depression & Rescuing Dogs

by Leave a Comment

The Bravest Word is really something special.

This is such a gentle and powerful story about an 11-year-old kid who is suffering from depression, and look, let’s be real here, I teared up. šŸ˜­ Not because the book was hopeless — rather because it was so infused with hope and love that it just wrecks you in a really lovely way. I genuinely recommend this to everyone. It doesn’t just explain things like panic attacks and depressive episodes to kids in an accessible way, but it also says how you can help. From giving Matt a father who listens to him, to friends who stick around. It’s just šŸ„ŗšŸ’› Plus add in some adorable dog content and you have just an amazing little book that should be on all shelves.

Matt is a pretty regular kid with two loving parents and a nice school and friends and a place on the football team. He doesn’t understand his sudden tiredness, his loss of motivation and hunger, the way he just keeps crying and doesn’t want to be around people. The panic attacks. The dread over football. Why he just wants to sleep. He knows something is wrong, but he doesn’t have the language to articulate it. And of course so many adults’ mentality is “kids can’t get depressed” so his mother dismisses the problems. Only his dad gently notices and tries to be supportive. Matt overhears the word “depression” from his dad talking to his mum and that leads Matt to research it a little. But still — talking about it? Facing it? He doesn’t know how.

I love Dad, and Mum, but talk to them? About all this, my weird crying and chest tightening, how I feel scared all the time? I don’t know. I don’t think I could ever tell them about all this stuff happening. How do you tell the people who love you most, the ones who give you everything and want you to be happy, that actually you aren’t happy but you don’t know why?

The only thing keeping him going is the desperate hope to adopt this little abandon dog that Matt and his dad rescued while on a hike. I loved the rescue scenes. It will punch your heart, because little Cliff is so hurt and scared (and look, animal abuse makes me furious). The little dog just up and STEALS Matt’s heart and he becomes such a loving, tender carer for Cliff.

And I adored the way Matt realises Cliff is saving him as much as he is saving Cliff.

The whole book is just so tender. There’s heartache and mistakes (especially on the mother’s part), but there’s also growth and communication. I remember being 14 and having my first panic attack with no words to know what I was going through — so just knowing that kids can have access to books like these is so important.

Sad and bittersweet, but also infused with soft hope,Ā The Bravest Word is a book about boy and dog rescuing each other and the reminder that no one should suffer alone. It takes bravery to ask for help.

Thanks to Walker Books AUS for the review copy!

Title: The Bravest Word
Author: Kate Foster
Date Published: May, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
A rescue story of love and trust between a boy and a dog from the talented author of PAWS.
“Do you hear that? Youā€™re Cliff now, and your life is going to get better, I promise.”
When eleven-year-old Matt finds Cliff, a hurt, neglected dog abandoned in the bush, he knows the brave little pup needs saving. He wants to help. But can he?
Lately, Matt has had way more bad days than good days. The pieces of his life just donā€™t seem to fit together any more and he doesnā€™t understand why. He’s finding it impossible to concentrate at school and has lost interest in the activities he used to love. Plus, heā€™s tired all the time.
Matt’s too afraid to share what’s really going on in his own head with anyone. His friends and family will never understand . . . maybe it’s not only Cliff who needs saving.

[Double Reviews] The Tower At The End of Time & The Revelry – Magical Fantasy Stories

by 1 Comment

I have two reviews to share with you today, for a double little treat šŸ‘€šŸ‘ŒšŸ» These are both sent from Walker Books (thank you so much!) and one is YA and the other is MG. So let’s dive right in šŸ˜Œ Hope you enjoy!

The Tower At The End Of Time #2 by Amy Sparkes

Date Published: January 6th, 2022
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
Add it on Goodreads
Adventurous, magical and brilliantly funny sequel toĀ The House at the Edge of Magic.
Nine and her friends have broken the curse on their marvellous, magical House, and are free to travel the worlds once more! Their first stop: The Wizarding Hopscotch Championships. There’s only one problem: the House is nervous about travelling ā€“ and gets the hiccups! Bouncing from world to world with every “HIC!”, they finally land at the championships, only for Flabberghast to have an unfortunate run-in with square number nine, and find himself faced with the terrible Tower at the End of Time. But maybe here they can find out how to cure the House’s hiccups, and Nine might finally discover who left her the beloved music box, and who she really is…Ā A young middle grade novel full of humour, magic and mischief ā€“ and the second in a three book series.

This was a delightful Middle Grade book with so, so much whimsy and chaotic magic! It felt like Alice in Wonderland colliding with Howl’s Moving Castle — but instead this time it’s a very opinionated flying house. And the house is not having a great time considering it has been stationery for 3 years, and now taking off again has left it with a damaging case of the hiccups (it might even explode if this keeps up). Add in an electric array of characters including a bizarre wizard, a talking spoon, a troll, and Nine herself (an orphan who just wants a family!!) and you have a book that is very charming and light-hearted to read.

A small confession here is that, I didn’t know it was a sequel! I was graciously gifted a copy as a surprise, so I just cheerfully dived and was there like, “Hmm, this feels like a sequel? But maybe not.” Well, it was. šŸ˜‚ That said, I think it was enjoyable on it’s own, but I definitely recommend starting with book one. I’m curious about the origin of Nine and how she came to be tangled up in this moody house. I did feel like Nine didn’t have much agency for most of the book, so I wonder if book 1 set up her character more.

The style is also great for young kids too, with lots of nursery rhyme references and silly magic (hopscotch competitions! magical tea cupboards! enchanted houses with the hiccups!) so it was definitely geared at the littlies. There is a tower of doom to traverse and answers to be found to difficult questions, but at the heart of the book is found-family and lots of inventive problem solving.

A cute read for sure!

The Revelry by Katherine Webber

Date Published: January 6th, 2022
Genre: YA Contemporary Fantasy
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
A story of best friends, bad luck and the consequences of breaking the rules in a town built on secrets and superstitions.
I am girl of Ember Grove, and these are my woodsā€¦Ā Growing up in Ember Grove, Bitsy Clark knows better than to mess with the long-held traditions of her hometown. Until her best friend, Amy, persuades her to sneak into the Revelry ā€“ the end of school party in the woods, to which only those leaving are invited. When she wakes the next day, Bitsy canā€™t remember anything from the night before. Weirder still, whenever she tries to speak about the Revelry, Bitsy chokes on the words. But this is just the beginning, and what starts out as a run of bad luck starts to feel like a curse. As Bitsyā€™s life goes from bad to worse, things only get better and better for her best friend. It’s as if thereā€™s only so much luck to go round and Amyā€™s getting all of it…

This is a YA contemporary with just a pinch of fantasy, to keep you guessing if everything Bitsy goes through is real…or not. It’s set in a small odd little town, where every year there’s a secret and magical Revelry. Only accessed by invitation to those graduating high school. It’s the Once In A Life Time experience and NO one talks about it afterwards, though it’s definitely said to change your life. The story is told by Bitsy Clark who is dying to get into the Revelry early. She sneaks in with her bestie, Amy, but when they wake up the next morning…they have no idea what happened. The only thing Bitsy knows is that she’s cursed. When something good happens to Amy, something terrible happens to Bitsy. Their friendship starts fracturing big time as the little things grow. Jobs are lost. Embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions happen at school. Bitsy feels like she’s failing at every turn and, worse, Amy doesn’t even seem to care.

So the interesting thing about this is that it’s VERY easy to wonder: is the curse real? Or is Bitsy just being extremely catty to her best friend? There are a lot of coincidences, and a lot of moments where Bitsy’s bad decisions just come back to bite her. I think the book was taking a look at teen girl friendships. How bitterness and cutting behaviour can come out of nowhere, and it can ruin everything if you let it.

Bitsy got more and more focused on herself and her perceived woes that she really treated Amy badly the whole way through. Downside to this — Bitsy was pretty unlikeable. Her selfishness towards Amy was hard to forgive.

I did love the concept of the Revelry, and the snippets of magic in the woods (the strange girl! the history of their little town slowly coming out and dark secrets revealed). It’s also a super fast read, bite sized and concise. If you enjoy books like Moira Fowley-Doyle and The Hazel Wood, this is one to check out.

We Were Wolves by Jason Cockcroft, An Illustrated Story of Survival & Heartache

by Leave a Comment

We Were Wolves is a cold and dark tale of a boy and his father, and how everything implodes between them.

It has such a literary style of writing, introspective and thoughtful. It felt like the boy as an adult talking about this experience that shaped his life forever. At its bones, its a story of trauma and trying to save a parental figure when they should be taking care of their child. It’s about PTSD and retreating into imagination to escape, and it’s about grief and loss and neglect.

The boy (I’m racking my brain but now realising I don’t think he ever had a name?!) lived in a caravan in the woods with his father, John, who has PTSD after the Afghanistan war and he came home and couldn’t reconnect with his family. He’s fallen in with bad people and does robberies, but the boy persistently chooses his father, chooses to love and forgive him and see passed his wounds to be there for him. It’s unconditional love, and it is beautiful on the boy’s part — except for the fact he’s neglected and endangered by his father continually. Their bond is toxic but understandable. But the parental neglect hurt double because the boy HAS A MOTHER. But she just up and let her teen (pre-teen?) son go!?! She loves him, but I honestly found her behaviour unacceptable. This was an at-risk child the entire time. And not one adult cared.

The boy also has a dog šŸ„ŗ whom arrives at the right time to give him comfort.

There’s a layer of magic to the story too, with the boy seeing woods and ancient bison — basically him coping with his father’s erratic behaviour. When things are going wrong, he feels wolves. I always love this sort of element to a book, raw and dark and aching.

The illustrations are also beautiful! The style so perfectly complimented the tale, wintery with melting edges and dark colours. Totally maintain my belief that all books should be illustrated!!!

The only thing that didn’t click with me (personal preference) is that it was very slow and I felt like the narrator was worried the audience would drift so kept spoiling the book himself?! The boy would start off giving you a HUGE piece of information that took the weight out of any revelations. It’s the style though. But you really know the ending by, um, reading page 1…

A gritty and rugged story of survival and neglect, of yearning to save a parent and trying to find language to process what’s happening. Amazingly illustrated and told with a layer of yearning.

Thank you to Walker Books Australia for the review-copy! Out June, 2021.

Boy lives in a caravan on his own in the woods. His dad, John, is in prison and promises to get out soon. All the boy needs to do is survive alone for a little while longer. But dark forces are circling ā€“ like the dangerous man in the Range Rover, who is looking for his stolen money. And then there are the ancient forces that have lain asleep in the woods for an age…
A darkly intense illustrated novel about survival, the natural world and the complex bond between father and son.

Goodreads | Book DepositoryĀ | BooktopiaĀ | Walker Books

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas — The THUG Prequel Is Here!

by 5 Comments

Concrete Rose is the highly anticipated prequel novel to the super-famous The Hate U Give!

I have to say, I am always so so curious when authors get to do sequels or prequels…flesh out their world and show us other sides to minor characters. This one is set in the ’90s and is about Starr’s dad as a 17-year-old. And — OH WOW — he was a disaster. But also I ached for Mav and all he went through and just the sheer weight of the burden left on his shoulders. He is still a kid through all of this, and he made so many thoughtless decisions, but the way he unpacks what it is to be a man makes for a story that will hit your heart hard.

I always really love Angie Thomas books. They are thoroughly worth their places of honour as permanent bestsellers. I think THUG and On the Come Up are my favourites, but Concrete Rose takes us on quite a different journey. It hits a lot of the themes Angie Thomas often writes about: life for Black teens, poverty, being in or around gangs, facing a world that is systematically built to crush them, everything from microagressions to vicious racism — and, so importantly, the joy of what life CAN and WILL be. There’s hope in these pages, as well as love and fierce pride over making a life for yourself no matter what the world throws at you.

Also it’s nice reading about a teen dad! I don’t think I’ve read a YA featuring a teen dad before. Mav ends up with near sole custody of his 3-month-old baby, Seven (omggg Seven šŸ˜­) and it’s so sad how it all happened, but like Mav is the BEST dad. He gets overwhelmed and has no idea what he’s doing. But he never, never does anything but love his son and want to be the best father. Of course there’s all the drama we know from THUG —Ā  Seven isn’t Mav’s girlfriend’s baby. And Mav’s expected to work, go to school, raise his kid, keep his head up in the gang he had to join for protection, and win back Lisa. It’s a lot. His overwhelm and heartbreak is really palpable on page. You LIVE this with him. And he’s just so proud of his kid, no matter what. He’s ashamed of himself at times, but never his baby. It’s really lovely.

The plot mostly is Mav learning to bloom in hard places. (Concrete !! Rose!!) It’s not super fast-paced, but there’s drama and angst and heartbreak and baby-shaped-poop-catastrophes. I whipped through it all in one day and that was nice šŸ˜ŖšŸ’›I will admit, Mav is quite sexist and I felt all the girls (Iesha and Lisa included) were barely developed. And NO ONE cut Mav slack?! Like the girls were so so harsh on him but…um šŸ‘€ they were not blameless. So that was frustrating.

It’s a story about Black boys learning what it is to be men — and the strength of vulnerability and love and being gentle. Another incredible read from an incredible author.

ā€œSon, one of the biggest lies ever told is that black men don’t feel emotions. Guess it’s easier not to see us as human when you think we’re heartless. Fact of the matter is, we feel things. Hurt, pain, sadness, all of it. We got a right to show them feelings as much as anybody else.”

If thereā€™s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, itā€™s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dadā€™s in prison.
Lifeā€™s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mavā€™s got everything under control.
Until, that is, Maverick finds out heā€™s a father.
Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But itā€™s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when heā€™s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where heā€™s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove heā€™s different.
When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. Heā€™ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Walker Books | Booktopia

Thanks to Walker Books AUS for the ARC!