Review: ‘Coraline’ by Neil Gaiman
Posted: May 4, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: middle grade, reviews 5 Comments
The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring….
In Coraline’s family’s new flat are twenty-one windows and fourteen doors. Thirteen of the doors open and close.
The fourteenth is locked, and on the other side is only a brick wall, until the day Coraline unlocks the door to find a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only it’s different.
At first, things seem marvelous in the other flat. The food is better. The toy box is filled with wind-up angels that flutter around the bedroom, books whose pictures writhe and crawl and shimmer, little dinosaur skulls that chatter their teeth. But there’s another mother, and another father, and they want Coraline to stay with them and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.
Other children are trapped there as well, lost souls behind the mirrors. Coraline is their only hope of rescue. She will have to fight with all her wits and all the tools she can find if she is to save the lost children, her ordinary life, and herself.
Neil Gaiman is a strange author to me in some ways. I love his scripts, and his Sandman graphic novels, and those of his other books that I’ve read. But I haven’t read that many of them. I don’t exactly know why. So when I saw Coraline at my local second-hand bookstore, I snapped it up. (The cover above is the cover of the version I own. There are prettier covers, but it does capture the weirdness pretty well.)
And no, I haven’t seen the movie either. Although now I kind of want to.
I don’t read a lot of middle grade fiction yet. (My son and I are onto chapter books. If I put all the Geronimo Stilton books I’ve read into my Goodreads account I’d be 50% done on my 2014 challenge already.) But this has got to be one of the best, surely.
I love Neil Gaiman’s wry humour. It’s—dare I say it—terribly British. I love how calm and clever Coraline is, and how even when she’s scared she manages to be brave. As she said, “When you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.” Wise little girl.
Apparently Gaiman wrote this book for his five-year-old daughter. So either his daughter is also very brave or he’s trying to give her lots of opportunities to learn, because this is a scary-ass book. At the point where Coraline’s other mother offered to sew button eyes onto her as a mark of her acceptance into their creepy family, my own eyes bugged out a little.
There weren’t any plot twists I didn’t see coming. But this is middle grade fiction, which means the twists tend to be a little more clearly telegraphed than they would be in a book for adults. Nothing wrong with that.
There was one thing lacking from the book. Gaiman didn’t often touch on how Coraline was feeling. When she first discovered her parents were missing, it took her a full 24 hours to cry about it. This is partly because her parents are a little remote and she’s used to fending for herself, but I think it was partly a stylistic choice Gaiman made—not to wallow, or let Coraline wallow, in her emotions. Maybe he did it because the content of the story is nightmare-inducing, and if he’d described the taste of fear in the back of her throat, the shaking of her hands, it suddenly wouldn’t have been middle grade anymore?
Or maybe that’s just his style. Like I said, I haven’t read that many of his books, and those I have read were ages ago.
Either way, although I noticed the lack of emotion, the extra distance that imposed wasn’t enough that I couldn’t follow or enjoy the story.
This is a 4.5 star read for me.
Review: ‘Haze’ (The Rephaim #2) by Paula Weston
Posted: April 27, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: AWW, reviews, urban fantasy 7 Comments
Gaby Winters’ nightmares have stopped but she still can’t remember her old life. Still can’t quite believe she is one of the Rephaim—the wingless half-angels who can shift from place to place, country to country, in the blink of an eye. That she was once the Rephaim’s best fighter. That demons exist. That Rafa has stayed.
But most of all, she can’t quite believe that her twin brother, Jude, might be alive.
And Gaby can’t explain the hesitancy that sidetracks the search for him, infuriates Rafa, and sends them, again, into the darkest danger
I’m struggling with how to review this book, given it’s the second in the series and a lot of people reading this probably won’t have read the first (which is Shadows). I could just write IT’S AWESOME GO BUY IT RIGHT NOW in all caps and then put in some animated gifs of people squeeing all over the place, but that’s not particularly coherent.
At the start of Shadows, Gaby is miserable. She lost her twin brother, Jude, in a car accident a year before. Her sleep is tormented by nightmares of his death and of a strange vision of demons rampaging through a nightclub—and when she has good dreams of their time backpacking together they tear her up just as much, because he’s no longer with her.
Then Rafa shows up, defiant, sexy and disbelieving Gaby’s claim that she doesn’t remember who he is.
Rafa tells Gaby she and Jude are the half-angel offspring of Fallen angels who broke out of hell. A year ago, the pair disappeared together. Gaby woke up in hospital believing she was human. Now, both Rephaim and demons are very interested in finding out what she and Jude did, and will go to all kinds of lengths to get hold of her.
I love Gaby as a main character. She’s sassy and confident. Although Jude’s loss—because regardless of who they really are, he’s still gone—has left her broken, she lifts her chin and soldiers on as best she can.
The chemistry between her and Rafa is volatile. He can be an asshole, but it’s a blustery front to hide his own pain: pain over events from Gaby’s past that she no longer remembers. And when he lets his guard down, showing his compassion and tenderness…woo. *fans self* Haze has the exact right blend of romance and plot that I love in a good urban fantasy. The romance is present, and the slow burn is sexy as anything, but it’s not the main focus of the story.
The two books are set over about a two-week period. That’s how fast the pace is. There were times reading Haze that Weston would throw in a reference to something that happened “this morning”, for example, and I’d be like, WHAT THOSE CHAPTERS WERE ALL ONE DAY? So much was packed into them it seemed impossible—but it really gives you a sense for how exhausted the characters must be, the urgency of the storyline. When they had a chance to pause for food or a sleep I was relieved on their behalf!
I gather there’s at least one more book in the series, maybe two. Like Shadows, Haze has an ending that has equal parts closure and setup for the next book. I MUST HAVE IT NOW!
Paula Weston is an Aussie writer, so that’s another plus—although I gather a deal has been signed for them to come out in the UK and US so you guys don’t have to miss out on this particular slice of awesome. Yay you!
This is a five star read.
Review: ‘Cinder’ by Marissa Meyer
Posted: April 20, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, sci-fi, young adult 3 Comments
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future
I know I’m coming a little late to the whole Cinder thing and many of you will have already read it, but IF YOU HAVEN’T THIS IS REALLY GOOD YA.
Take Cinderella, stick her in a future Earth and make her a second-class cyborg. Stir in some political intrigue, a terrible plague and a handsome prince, and I’m so there!
One of the things I really enjoyed about Cinder is the richness of the characters. The wicked stepmother is suitably loathsome (but also kind of tragic). The stepsisters are interesting; Pearl is as shallow and cruel as you’d expect — the fairytale required that someone do it, I suppose — but the younger girl, Peony, is lovely and cares for Cinder despite what the rest of the family think of her.
Likewise, Kai isn’t just a two dimensional Prince Charming looking to marry a hot girl with glass shoes. He’s charming, sure, but also funny, kind and terribly conflicted about some of the diplomatic and personal sacrifices he’s asked to make to save his people. I’m not usally one to crush on the typical main character (I was Team Simon, not Team Jace, for example) — but in this case, it’s all about Kai.
Of course, there aren’t really any other alternatives, unless you count the doctor researching the plague cure, and he’s more of a crazy grandfather type. 😉
Cinder‘s plot moves along at a good pace, the story (and Cinder herself) taking the reader from one event to the next without leaving you time to get bored. There is a plot twist but I saw it coming from the first hint in the first two or three chapters — I don’t really think Meyer intended it to be an OMGWTF moment at the end of the book, though, and I never grew frustrated with the characters not figuring it out like I do in some books.
The only thing that was a little unsatisfying is that the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. My advice would be to buy the second book and have it to hand so you don’t have to wait to dive into it when you finish this one.
Five stars! 🙂
Review: ‘Immagica’ by K. A. Last
Posted: April 10, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: AWW, reviews, self-publishing, young adult 6 Comments
Immagica surprised me. I read a lot of young adult speculative fiction, but it tends more toward the upper YA to new adult end of the spectrum. With this book’s main character, Rosaline, being fifteen, I thought maybe I’d be a little old for the story.
I should have remembered I loved Harry Potter back when he was a scruffy twelve-year-old. 🙂
I really enjoyed Immagica. It’s a little bit Alice in Wonderland, a little bit The Wizard of Oz, and a little bit The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Rosa and her brother are sucked through a magical book they discover in their Nana’s attic into a magical world. There they are separated, and Rosa must choose between rushing off to search for her brother and, well, saving the world.
The catch is that if she fails to save the world her brother will die too.
Immagica is populated with all sorts of fairytale creatures: gryphons, unicorns, dragons, wild girls, fairies… it could have very easily been cheesy or saccharine, but the creatures felt real. Especially the dragon, who was magnificently evil.
My favourite part of the story, though, is the Eye of Immagica, the centre of the magical world (it’s on the top right corner of the map, below). It’s a little bit Steampunk, with its cogs and hi-tech surveillance. I just loved it.
It probably helps that it had a massive library and a cute boy.
One last thing. This is a very good example of self-publishing done right. It has a professionally designed cover (feast your eyes on that baby!) and professional editing. I’ve read very few self-published novels this well presented.
Immagica is high fantasy adventure with a sense of humour and some poignant moments. I give it four and a half stars.
Review: ‘Twelve Steps’ by Veronica Bartles
Posted: April 4, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, reviews, small presses 2 Comments
Twelve Steps
by Veronica Bartles
Release Date: 25 March 2014
Sixteen-year-old Andi is tired of being a second-class sibling to perfect sister Laina. The only thing Andi’s sure she has going for her is her awesome hair. And even that is eclipsed by Laina’s perfect everything else.
When Andi’s crush asks her to fix him up with Laina, Andi decides enough is enough, and devises a twelve-step program to wrangle the spotlight away from Laina and get the guy.
Step 1: Admit she’s powerless to change her perfect sister, and accept that her life really, really sucks.
Step 4: Make a list of her good qualities. She MUST have more than just great hair, right?
Step 7: Demand attention for more than just the way she screws things up.
When a stolen kiss from her crush ends in disaster, Andi realizes that her twelve-step program isn’t working. Her prince isn’t as charming as she’d hoped, and the spotlight she’s been trying to steal isn’t the one she wants.
As Laina’s flawless façade begins to crumble, the sisters work together to find a spotlight big enough for both to shine.
Last year, Aussie Owned and Read hosted a pitching contest called Pitcharama. Each of us shortlisted our three favourite pitches, and these were then requested by various press editors. Twelve Steps was one of our entries. I originally had it as one of my three, but Sharon guilted me into giving it to her because it was contemp and that’s not my usual genre. (When Lauren said “there were tears, tantrums, stealing, and a little name calling“, this was the book she was referring to.)
Next time I will be hardened to Sharon’s big-eyed Puss in Boots routine. :p
Anyway, needless to say, I’m thrilled beyond measure that Twelve Steps was picked up, and — even though it’s not my usual genre — I leapt at the opportunity to receive a review copy as part of this blog tour.
Twelve Steps tells the story of Andi and Laina, sisters who attend the same high school. Laina’s best friend, Jarod, has had a crush on Laina for about as long as Andi has had a crush on Jarod. And so the sibling rivalry ensues.
This is the sort of story that, if it hadn’t been handled deftly and with humour, could have gone horribly wrong. Both girls are gorgeous and popular, but neither of them fully appreciates how lucky they are. Both, it becomes apparent fairly quickly, view the other sister as the more popular one. And Andi, our leading lady, can be quite sly and manipulative to get what she wants. Only one person sees through her act, and that’s Dave.
Fortunately, Andi has a good heart and instead of turning into the wicked sister she could have become, she (mostly) uses her powers for good rather than evil — especially once she realises there’s more going on than the usual teenage drama. She genuinely wants what’s best for Laina, which completely redeems her and the story.
Also, she has a great sense of humour (once of her defence mechanisms when she’s upset), which I appreciated. 🙂
Twelve Steps is a great story of sibling rivalry, unrequited love and growing to be comfortable with who you are. I give it five stars.
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About Veronica
As the second of eight children and the mother of four, Veronica Bartles is no stranger to the ups and downs of sibling relationships. (She was sandwiched between the gorgeous-and-insanely-popular older sister and the too-adorable-for-words younger sister.) She uses this insight to write stories about siblings who mostly love each other, even while they’re driving one another crazy. When she isn’t writing or getting lost in the pages of her newest favorite book, Veronica enjoys knitting fabulous bags and jewelry out of recycled plastic bags and old VHS tapes, sky diving (though she hasn’t actually tried that yet), and inventing the world’s most delectable cookie recipes. TWELVE STEPS is Veronica Bartles’s first novel.
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Review: ‘The Problem With Crazy’ by Lauren K. McKellar
Posted: March 17, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW, reviews, self-publishing 5 Comments
The problem with crazy is that crazy, by itself, has no context. It can be good crazy, bad crazy . . . or crazy crazy—like it was when my ex-boyfriend sung about me on the radio.
Eighteen-year-old Kate couldn’t be more excited about finishing high school and spending the summer on tour with her boyfriend’s band. Her dad showing up drunk at graduation, however, is not exactly kicking things off on the right foot—and that’s before she finds out about his mystery illness, certain to end in death.
A mystery illness she is likely to inherit.
When your whole life goes from adventure and ecstasy to sad and suicidal, what’s the point? Not knowing who to love, and who to trust . . . where does it end?
The Problem With Crazy is a story about love and life; about overcoming obstacles, choosing to trust, and learning how to make the choices that will change your life forever.
Regular readers of my blog will know I don’t usually read contemporary fiction. For me to pick up a contemp, it has to be special. In this case, I’d read and loved Lauren K. McKellar’s previous book, Finding Home. (I reviewed it here if you want to catch up.) Lauren is one of the co-founders at Aussie Owned and Read, and as well as being brilliant she’s simply adorable.
All of that being said, The Problem With Crazy blew me away. I stayed up till after midnight — on a work night, no less — thinking “just one more chapter”. It’s such an emotional rollercoaster of a book. Right from the first chapter, Kate, our main character, is left reeling with the sudden changes to her life. Graduation. Her drunk, absentee father turning up and embarrassing her. Discovering that he has Huntington’s Disease, and that she might have it too.
Her boyfriend’s, ah, less-than-stellar reaction to the news.
Dave. Ah, Dave. I don’t think I’ve ever hated a character as much as I hate Kate’s boyfriend, a wannabe rockstar and lead singer of Dave & the Glories. Even before Dave finds out about Kate’s potential illness it’s clear he’s a jerk, dismissing Kate’s organising of the band’s tour as “making a couple of phone calls”, when clearly she’d worked her butt off. I thought after the way he broke up with her he couldn’t sink any lower.
But he did.
I won’t say how due to spoilers, but I was reading this on my Kindle and had to physically restrain myself from throwing it across the room. (That scene was one of the THREE TIMES times I cried reading this book.)
On the other hand, there are some truly wonderful characters, including Lachlan — probably the sweetest book boyfriend ever — Stacey, and even Kate’s dad, as ill as he is. His neurodegenerative disease actually gives him a much more cheerful outlook on life, something that Kate and her mother slowly come to appreciate. Between Lachlan and her dad, Kate learns to live in the moment and appreciate what’s happening now rather than being terrified of the future.
The Problem With Crazy is in turns heartwrenching and beautiful, and Lauren is the sort of crazy-ass talented that will keep writers awake at night. Or maybe that’s just me?
Read it. Love it.
Review: ‘Twinkle’ by Nick Bland
Posted: March 8, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews 1 CommentRegular readers of my blog (or those who cyberstalk me via other means) will know I have a four-year-old son. He doesn’t own as many books as I do, but he does have a bookshelf in his room, and when we moved late last year he had two full boxes of his own books. They’re almost all picture books, although we have started acquiring some chapter books since then as well.
The removalists didn’t like lifting those boxes very much.
The upshot is that I read a lot of picture books. There are a few brilliant ones among the rest and, even though I’m straying a little far from my usual blogging fare, there’s one I want to mention: Twinkle by Australian author illustrator Nick Bland.
Little Star lands in Penny Pasketti’s backyard, and in a twinkle the night is filled with fun. Eventually, though, it is time for Little Star to go home. But how do you make a star fall up?
I found Twinkle on a sale table and snapped it up for my son. We have Bland’s The Very Cranky Bear, which was (until now) my favourite children’s book—if only for its hilarious picture of a brown bear, hands on his hips, scowling at the reader in his new, unwanted finery.
But Twinkle has ousted it. Bland’s artwork is breathtaking. My son and I have happily spent several minutes just looking at a single page, picking out different aspects of the illustration. And the story is sweet too—a little girl finds a fallen star in her yard and helps him to go home. What the words don’t capture but the pictures do is that there must have been a shower of falling stars, because there are a dozen other children in the background trying to do the same thing.
My favourite page reads, “Together they chased the quietness away and filled the night with giggle and bounce.” HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT?!
Anyway, if you have small children and can find a copy of this book, you won’t regret buying it. Five (falling) stars!
What’s your favourite picture book?
(PS I’ve previously reviewed another picture book, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. You know, if you’re interested.)
Review: ‘Forget Me Not’ by Stacey Nash
Posted: February 17, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW, reviews, small presses 5 Comments
Since her mother vanished nine years ago, Anamae and her father have shared a quiet life. But when Anamae discovers a brooch identical to her mother’s favorite pendant, she unknowingly invites a slew of trouble into their world. When the brooch and the pendant are worn together they’re no longer pretty pieces of jewelry — they’re part of a highly developed technology capable of cloaking the human form. Triggering the jewelry’s power attracts the attention of a secret society determined to confiscate the device — and silence everyone who is aware of its existence. Anamae knows too much, and now she’s Enemy Number One.
She’s forced to leave her father behind when she’s taken in by a group determined to keep her safe. Here Anamae searches for answers about this hidden world. With her father kidnapped and her own life on the line, Anamae must decide if saving her dad is worth risking her new friends’ lives. No matter what she does, somebody is going to get hurt.
I was given an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. In the interests of full disclosure, though, I confess I requested the ARC because I’ve read one of Stacey’s other, unpublished manuscripts and really love her writing. Also, as I’m sure you’ve figured out from my participation in the blog tour, I’m a bit of a fan. 😉
But trust me when I say “Forget Me Not” didn’t disappoint. I intend to buy a paperback copy once it becomes available, which is a sign of how much I loved it.
Most of the young adult fiction I read is urban fantasy, so the science-fiction angle was somewhat new to me – but, like all good sci-fi (and fiction in general), this book was character-driven. I didn’t feel like I needed a physics degree to know what was going on, which is the main thing that puts me off sci-fi reads.
“Forget Me Not” is set somewhere in Big City America — it’s never stated conclusively (or if it is I missed it), but it’s somewhere with a president. At first I assumed because Stacey is an Aussie author that it might be set here but, given the scale of events in the story, it makes sense that it be set in the global powerhouse that is the US. (Sorry, Australia, but it’s true. I still love you, though.)
The romance between Mae and Jax is well-developed and, even though I’m firmly Team Will (Mae’s best friend), by the end I thought Mae and Jax were a cute and above all realistic couple. Unfortunately for Team Will, the poor guy never had a hope — he’s so firmly in the friendzone that Mae can’t see his attraction to her, not even when it’s spelled out in so many words by a third party.
Despite the romance subplot, the story is action- and character-driven, whisking you along. I did see the plot twist coming, but only by about a chapter, so I didn’t get frustrated that Mae and the others didn’t see it coming. (It always annoys me when I as a reader figure something out ages before the characters do. I’m all, COME ON! IT’S RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF YOU!)
The only tiny niggle I had with “Forget Me Not” was that, after Mae and Will flee the baddies and take refuge with the resistance, she spends a lot of time worrying about her dad, but almost no attention is given to Will’s family — seemingly including by him. It may just be that, because the story is from her perspective and Will is determined to be stoic, he never talks to her much about his worries — but I felt like his parents and sister were kinda forgotten. But this is only a minor observation and didn’t impact my enjoyment of the book.
I highly recommend “Forget Me Not” for people who love story-driven YA. Five stars!
Review: ‘Sleeper’ by S. M. Johnston
Posted: February 4, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: aussie-owned, AWW, reviews, small presses, young adult 5 Comments
“Sleeper” by S. M. Johnston
A new heart should mean new life, not a living nightmare.
Mishca Richardson’s life is at an all-time high after her heart transplant. With new boyfriend, Ryder, the two of them have the perfect summer romance. Even the nightmares that have been plaguing her sleep since her operation can’t dull the high she’s on.
Things start to unravel as Mishca develops superhuman abilities. She does her best to hide them so as not to end up a science experiment in a lab. But she can’t ignore the instant attraction she experiences when she meets her university professor, Colin Reed.
Torn between the blossoming love and the obsession, Mishca must decide if she wants Ryder or Colin. But the organization responsible for her changes and her connection to Colin, is moving to secure Mishca so that she can be the weapon she was always intended to be. If Mishca can’t resist her programming she’ll have a lot more to worry about than romance
I don’t know why I never used to read independent fiction by small presses. Actually, I do—because I was mostly hearing about books by seeing them on the shelves at my local chain bookstore. But I was missing out on a lot of good Australian fiction.
Sleeper is one of those books. By Queensland author S. M. Johnston, it sits somewhere between YA and NA; the main character, Mischa, is eighteen and about to start university, but the themes sit closer to the more-typical YA fare of self-discovery. And while there’s a lot of kissing there’s no graphic detail in here that might make some teens (or parents of teens) uncomfortable.
After her heart transplant, Mischa finds that she’s traded being a “freak” with an illness that means she can’t do the things her peers can to being a freak in the truer sense. Although the doctors warned her she’d feel different, she’s pretty sure superhuman speed and strength weren’t want they meant. (Watch out for the scene on the beach where Mischa explores the full extent of her powers—it made me giggle. Poor girl!) She’s determined to fit in, though, and just wants to enjoy her new lease of life and being able to do things without worrying her heart may give out.
Mischa is easy to relate to and the romance between her and Ryder develops in a natural and realistic way that I enjoyed. He’s a likeable character, and when Mischa starts having eyes for another man, Colin, I got a bit grumpy with her—because Ryder. But it was obvious from the start that there was something weird going on in Mischa’s attraction to Colin, so her love at first sight didn’t irritate me the way it usually does in fiction. In fact, the attraction kept me guessing and made the plot more interesting. (For the record, I didn’t guess correctly either. The plot twist is a good one.)
Another thing I liked about Sleeper that you often don’t see in YA fiction is that her parents are not only present in her life but are responsible adults who actually take an active interest in their daughter’s behaviour and activities. I think it’s easier for Johnston in this case because, at eighteen, Mischa is an adult with her own drivers license—if she was fifteen it would be harder for her to get away with the things she does, which is often why YA writers have their characters’ parents either dead or chronically negligent.
My absolute favourite part of the book was the epilogue. Beautiful stuff.
The only thing I found a bit jarring about the story was that the book is set over the course of a full year. I found a couple of the time jumps a little surprising. But this was only a tiny niggle, especially as it would’ve been unrealistic if the story had played out over a shorter timeframe.
I’m giving Sleeper four and a half stars.
Review: ‘In Stone’ by Louise D. Gornall
Posted: January 12, 2014 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, small presses, young adult 3 Comments
Beau Bailey is suffering from a post-break-up meltdown when she happens across a knife in her local park and takes it home. Less than a week later, the new boy in school has her trapped in an alley; he’s sprouted horns and is going to kill Beau unless she hands over the knife.
Until Eighteenth-century gargoyle, Jack, shows up to save her.
Jack has woken from a century-long slumber to tell Beau that she’s unwittingly been drafted into a power struggle between two immortal races: Demons and Gargoyles. The knife is the only one in existence capable of killing immortals and they’ll tear the world apart to get it back. To draw the warring immortals away from her home, Beau goes with Jack in search of the mind-bending realm known as the Underworld, a place where they’ll hopefully be able to destroy the knife and prevent all hell from breaking loose. That is, provided they can outrun the demons chasing them.
From the opening paragraphs, I loved In Stone. Beau’s voice shines from the beginning. Even crying over her broken heart in the park, her sass came through. I wanted to take her home, make her a hot chocolate and watch chick flicks with her. Which is saying a lot, because I NEVER watch chick flicks.
But then, I suspect neither does Beau. She’s a little bit goth, without pigeonholing herself as a goth. Her best friend is a little bit punk. They are the teenage girls I wish I’d had the courage to be.
I devoured In Stone in a few days. The pacing of the story is very well handled, pulling you along with the action, but with enough moments for self-reflection that it doesn’t feel rushed. You may see one of the plot twists in the last few chapters coming (although I didn’t), but probably not the rest.
Another plus for me: the book is an urban fantasy rather than a paranormal romance—there is a romantic element there, but it’s not an insta-love plot. Beau’s life doesn’t suddenly revolve around Jack; there is tension there, but it’s a slowly blossoming flower. Her independence is one of the things I loved about her.
The knife Beau and Jack set out to destroy is a bit like the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. Whoever wields it gains the power of life and death over previously immortal creatures. Both the demons and the gargoyles (who are ostensibly the good guys) would love to get hold of it, to tip the war in their favour. But even previously sane gargoyles who pick up the knife go all nutty bananas, turning into power-hungry maniacs. Beau, as a human, seems unaffected—which is why Jack needs her to come with him on his quest to destroy the knife.
All of that said, while I noticed the comparison, the book didn’t feel derivative. It stands as its own story.
One last thing: In Stone was released by Entranced Publishing. It’s a good example of a high-quality work by a small press. I’m the world’s biggest grammar nitpicker, and I didn’t notice any editing errors in the book.
I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel. Five stars!
Cassandra Page 