Book Reviews

Book Review: To Kill a Kingdom (Alexandra Christo)

“Technically I’m a murderer, but I like to think that’s one of my better qualities.”

This book is loosely based on The Little Mermaid, but is a darker retelling of the story as instead of a mermaid the main character is a siren turned human for punishment. In order to redeem herself she must take the heart of a prince in her human form.

“Love is a word we scarcely hear in the ocean.”

The book is a joy to read, as both the story and the writing style compliment each other well and it seems that the surface of the world created in the book has barely been scratched, as there are a hundred kingdoms and we only visit a handful.

“Is that what it means to be human? Pushing someone else out of danger and throwing yourself in?”

The book is a standalone so the ending ties everything together well but could have been done over more than a few pages and any other books set in this world, but following different characters, would be interesting to read to find out more about the hundred kingdoms.

“I died once and I haven’t been able to do it again since.”

For a debut novel or for any novel, the story is compelling and the writing style unique, and I will definitely read whatever story Alexandra Christo tells next.

5/5.

 

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How To Get More Books

“When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.” – Erasmus.

Lovely though this sentiment is, I don’t think I have ever met anyone for whom this quote is true. Even the most dedicated bibliophile would, if the choice came down to it, choose food first; because you can’t read books if you’ve starved.

Yet book reviewers online sometimes seem to be following this quote through, or at least have vast disposable incomes that allow them to buy six new books a month and hardly get around to reading a single one of them.

The answer of course is that they don’t buy all of the books they read. Some are presents, some are offered by publishers and some are bought (after food), but if you are new to book reviewing how do you start being given books before you are able to justify buying them in vast quantities?

Well as I am new to this as well, I have found a few places. The website readersfirst offers a preview of various books on a Monday, if you write a review of the preview then you are entered into a draw to win a copy of the book – the book will arrive before it’s released and all you have to do is read it and give a review of the finished product by the publication day. They say it’s a draw to win the book but so far I have won all three of the books I have previewed, so it’s not rare to win.

Other places include bookbub which can send you emails for daily deals on ebooks. Want to start reading that new series? Well for one day only it’s 99p instead of £7.99! Though the books offered here are e-books rather than physical versions, the writers will all still value reviews.

Author websites also regularly offer books in exchange for honest reviews. And though I am yet to try this so am not sure how it works, some publishers can be contacted directly to ask for copies of books to review. In all the cases the only thing you need to do is review the book once you have finished and if that allows me to gain a new book every month then I am all for it. I don’t even need to make the decision between food or books. Unlike poor Erasmus.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

I was interested to read this book as it seemed to be a YA story about death that took new paths about the subject, it is and it isn’t.

“It is almost as if snow has come in the night, just for my pleasure,”
The main character Lily manages to get a few extra days on earth courtesy of her brother and she uses this time to help her friends start to accept her death. There are a few missed opportunities for storylines in the book and while we have a first person p.o.v. for Lily, every so often there are a few pages in the third person for another character such as her mother or a friend which I feel wasn’t necessary to see things from the other characters p.o.v. as well as Lily’s.

“A bright moon casts a blue light across the room,”
I did enjoy the writing style, feeling that it was close to actual teenage speech and I have read many books where this was not the case. The writing style does make the more obvious themes of the story entertaining to read meaning I wasn’t tempted to skip parts of the book at any point.

“I picture their golden heads waving under the orange African sunshine in a few months’ time,”
The book explores themes of grief, regret and acceptance in a way I have not read before and as this is a debut novel I would be interested in reading more by the author.

3/5