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Book Reviews

The Island (M.A. Bennett) Review

Christy.E.S1 Comment

3 stars.

Contains spoilers for the book.

A sort of retelling of Lord of The Flies by William Goldman. Seven students survive a plane crash on a desert island, but all is not as it seems.

“I was just sorry I didn’t have a swishy cloak.”
I was going to give this book two stars until I got to the last third. Though the writing style is similar to how a modern teenager would speak and is written well. There didn’t seem much point to the story and I after a few incidents on the island I found it hard to sympathise with the narrator, as he does act incredibly selfish while on the island.

“”You know there actually is a middle of nowhere? It’s the Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility, and it’s called Point Nemo.”
The last third of the book gained that extra star as the character does start to become less selfish as time on the island goes on. And after the characters find out that the plane crash did not happen by accident but was in fact staged and their time on the island is being documented, then they do all work together to get off the island.

“”They cancelled the show. So you never saw the characters getting off the island. In the world of the show, they’re still there, stranded, frozen in TV limbo.””
The book is quite a quick read and easy to follow. It’s just a shame that the last third of the book is the only part where I enjoyed the story and characters.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Electrical Venus (Julie Mayhew)

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“Some of us start humble and choose to climb. Then comes the fall, a momentary loss of balance, but we get up, we brush ourselves down, we bathe in dust and we ready our feathers. For soon, I believe, we will sing, bird. In ways quite fantastic, we shall sing.”

This is a book that got better near to the end. Not that it wasn’t good at the beginning, but having seen the characters grow and learn from their mistakes throughout the book it does make the ending more enjoyable.

“‘Will it feel as sure as a punch to the jaw? Like the sting of alcohol upon a wound? Will it be as certain as the teeth of a goose? Or as sound as a beating with a wooden spoon?'”
The book has three perspectives, one a narrator, and the other two the characters Mim and Alex – these two characters perspectives are written as if they are diary entries, but on account of them both being circus performers instead of writing their diary entries down, they speak to the animals in the circus in monologues that would do well to be read aloud – at the back of the book it is stated that the book started life as a radio show which explains the monologues.
“MISS MIM, a Student of Natural Philosophy, Human Nature and Magical Electrickery, and her Partner, MASTER ALEX, a lofty Tumbler, Rope Dancer and Acrobat of some Distinction will demonstrate the accurate Disposition of the Heart via the most extraordinary Means.”

The characters are well written and I found myself truly invested in their stories and characterisation by the end of the book.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Pharmacist’s Wife (Vanessa Tait)

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3/5 stars.

“‘But we find a bee’s sting in nature, why should we not find this? Only instead of poison there is pleasure…'”

Set in 1869, the book follows Rebecca Palmer as she is given a new medicine created by her husband named heroin. The book follows her descent into addiction and although the drug takes her away from her unhappy marriage with Mr Palmer, her life starts to unravel.

“The very last shoe any woman could run away in.”
The book has possibly slightly too many things in it. Rebecca’s descent into addiction and the world she now finds herself in would have been plot enough, instead we are shown Victorian bawdy houses, as well as Mr Palmer’s belief that heroin will prove to be a wonder drug for women to keep them in their place and to stop them from wanting to encroach on the world of men.
While these scenes are well written and do to an extent have an impact on the plot, you can’t help but feel that the story would remain exactly the same if they were taken out.

“‘For women are strong and bear much punishment.”
The last third of the book is the only time where I found the book to be a page turner – without revealing too much – Rebecca finds an ingenious way to take revenge on her husband for making her addicted to heroin.
The book is a good read, especially for all the knowledge of Victorian pharmacy that is inside it, but it was not the same book I was expecting to read.

Book Reviews

Book Review: Sunflowers in February by Phyllida Shrimpton

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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

 

Book Reviews

Book Rating System

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So, one of my goals for this year is to write more book reviews, both on here and on Goodreads. That includes rating the books as well. In the past, I have usually just finished reading books and not rated them, but this neither helps the authors of the books or the algorithm on Goodreads to know what sort of books I want to read next, but as someone who doesn’t regularly rate books they’ve read, what exactly is my rating system? What makes one book one star and another five stars? Well I think I’ve come up with a rating system that makes sense for me so here goes:

1 star – I rarely give books one star. Usually if there is a book that I am going to give one star it’s going to be a book that I DNF, although for me this is rare. If I don’t finish a book then I tend not to rate it based on the idea that while the book was not enjoyable for me that isn’t true for everybody in the world.

2 stars: Any book that had enough plot/character development for me to finish the book but is not a book I will ever read again, nor read any other books in the series as they come out will probably get two stars.

3 stars: Any book that I did enjoy but feel could have been better. If the book is part of a series, I will not actively search for the future books but if I see one while browsing in a bookshop or someone wants to buy me the book as a present then I will gladly read the next ones in the series.

4 stars: Any book I give four stars to, is a book I did enjoy and will want to buy any future books in that series and will actively try to read other work by that author. I will not buy other books by the author or in that series immediately but will whenever I can afford to.

5 stars: Any book I give 5 stars to, I will read everything else by that author and will buy all other books in that series as they come out, wanting to have the first edition of any future books in the series. I will tell everyone I know to also read the book and will generally believe that the author can do no wrong writing wise, adding them to my favourite authors list.

Book Reviews

Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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“In Faerie, there are no fish sticks, no ketchup, no television.”

The Cruel Prince is the first book in a new fantasy series by Holly Black and it certainly sets up the future books in the series well. The first chapter is a prologue where we learn how the main character of Jude came to be a mortal living in Faerie, and the book shows the darker side of Faerie lore from the beginning.

“I can no more guess the assumptions that go along with glittering sneakers than a child in a dragon costume knows what real dragons would make of the cooler of her scales.”

At the beginning of the book I thought I understood where it was going to go and how the story was going to play out, but reading further you start to have suspicions that all is not as Jude thinks in the world of Faerie. There is more than one plot twist in the book and while I guessed one of the main ones, I did not guess the one at the end, which is always refreshing for me as I have a habit of guessing endings.

“‘Nice things don’t  happen in storybooks,” Taryn says. ‘Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.'”

A lot of this book is set up for the next one in the series and while the set up does need to happen, the first half of the book does drag a little, but the second half more than makes up for that as Jude learns to use the weaknesses of Faerie to her advantage and the book ends when Jude’s plan is just starting to be borne out.

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The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde) Review

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I was given this book as a birthday present by a friend, some of their book presents over the years have led to me finding my new favourite series – The Fairyland series by Catherynne M. Valente – and a few that I am glad were a present so someone else was spending the money on them.

With this book though, I’m not sure which category to place the book in. The book is thoroughly entertaining and the premise alone should be enough to keep anyone reading, but I’m still not sure I like the writing style and am unsure whether I would find the premise as entertaining in future series (there are currently 8 overall).

“Take no heed of her,” explained Jones apologetically. “She reads a lot of books.”

Narrated by Thursday Next – a police officer in the literary division – the book is set in the 1980’s in a world where the Crimean War is still happening and someone is kidnapping fictional characters from their books and holding them to ransom in the real world.

“I shouldn’t believe anything I say, if I were you-and that includes what I just told you.”

The writing style is not as bad as I think it is, I’m just overly picky about these sorts of things. The alternate universe seems as if it has enough going on without adding the fictional characters that we have in our world and if the book had less of the adventure and action, then the differences between our world and the world of Thursday Next could be better explained and explored without losing out on any of the story.

“The industrial age had only just begun; the planet had reached its Best Before date.”

The book is thoroughly entertaining to read, it’s a book that is worth reading for the premise alone and I am seriously contemplating asking my friend for the next book in the series for Christmas so I don’t have to spend money on it myself.