Book Review: Lorali

Title: Lorali
Author: Laura Dockrill
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Year of Publication: 2015
Summary: Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn't exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from.

Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.

But along with Lorali's arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory's bemused Sussex town. With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway?


Review:  **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Lorali, Lorali, Lorali. Whimsical? Definitely. Unique? I've never read anything like it. Touching? You bet tears were shed. Weird? Oh gosh this book was weird.

But you know what? I loved it. I want three hundred copies of this book, in paperback, in hardback, in audiobook, in e-book form. I want this weird little book on my shelves where it belongs.

This book follows Rory, an English boy who is definitely not the charmer that is generally in YA books. He doesn't have a sexy accent, and he uses words like fam and proper. Decidely not so average male love interest. This book also follows Lorali, a mermaid who pretty much acts like one would generally assume a mermaid who has never set foot on land to act. She doesn't know how to use a toilet. She accidentally pees on the floor. Grimy? Yeah. Realistic though.

But the book also had a third narrator. The ocean.

Yeah, that's right, the book had multiple chapters all narrated by the ocean. How cool is that? It's also as weird as you'd expect. Astoundingly, the author made it work, which speaks volumes for her talent.

Another aspect I appreciated about this novel was the lack of heteronormativity. Gay people exist. There is a line somewhere in the beginning about how our main character, Rory, can't grow a beard and when it does it looks like the neighbour's front yard after she pours bleach on it because her wife cheated on her. It's also blatantly said that Mer of the same-sex tesselate, which is to say they bang, and it's fine.

The Mer also could not care less about taboo. They dye their hair, pierce themselves, and generally seem not to care about nudity. Some of them, namely the queen occasionally take part in recreational medicinal use, which was skirted about in the novel until this gem of a line came about;

"The council of the Whirl make some eye contact, as Keppel furiously tokes from her bong."

That right there folks is probably the best line in the book. Do yourselves a favour and pick up this book. You won't regret it.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: Dark Child

Title: Dark Child (the Omnibus Edition)
Author: Adina West
Publisher: Momentum
Year of Publication: 2013
Summary: Lately things have been getting weird for pathology technician Kat Chanter. She's been craving raw meat, and having dreams so realistic they're scary. When she accepts a job offer from the prestigious Hema Castus Research Institute, she hopes she'll have the chance to discover what's wrong with her, but instead, her move to New York thrusts her headlong into a treacherous hidden world, where the wrong move could be fatal . . .


Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Whilst Dark Child did deliver a unique concept as promised, the rest of the novel fell flat on it's face.

For the most part, the story flowed pretty well, however there were certain points, either where it all positively crawled, or the jarring transition from some chapters to another. It was such a struggle to get through this book that I have been stopping and starting for months. This novel would have worked better in it's original serial form, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if that were the case.

Most characters in this novel were bland or two dimensional, especially Kat and her love interests. There was absolutely no chemistry between any of the characters, and the book most likely would have worked better if the romance was eliminated.

Kat, though a pathologist, was pretty unintelligent most of the time. At the beginning of the book when she faints at work, someone advises her to go to a doctor. Perfectly reasonable, one would think. Instead of this, Kat's inner monologue proclaims that she isn't the type of person to go see a doctor when she is perfectly healthy.

Shall I remind you that she has just fainted? Not to mention, soon after she mentions her nausea. These things put together sure would seem like a valid reason to go see a doctor. Instead, however, she chooses to test her own blood and finds that everything is pretty wonky.

Is she worried? Doesn't seem like it. I'm pretty sure the word cancer was tossed in there somewhere... and Kat still chose not to see a doctor.

I could go on and on about this book, but I'd like to leave you with this little gem, about the scent of her own blood:

"Hers was a contradictory medley, a mixture of different notes forming an intoxicating whole like a fine perfume; moonlit midnight and sun-baked drowsy summer, dew speckled unfurling petals and mossy stones and night scented jasmine."

If you think your blood smells like this, you should probably see your primary care physician.

Rating: 2/5 stars
★★✰✰✰

Book Review: A History of Glitter and Blood

Title: A History of Glitter and Blood
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Expected Publication Date: August 4th, 2015
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Beckan and her friends are the only fairies brave enough to stay in Ferrum when war breaks out. Now there is tension between the immortal fairies, the subterranean gnomes, and the mysterious tightropers who arrived to liberate the fairies.

But when Beckan's clan is forced to venture into the gnome underworld to survive, they find themselves tentatively forming unlikely friendships and making sacrifices they couldn't have imagined. As danger mounts, Beckan finds herself caught between her loyalty to her friends, her desire for peace, and a love she never expected.

Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

A History of Glitter and Blood was at it's finest  - intricate and moving, and at it's lowest - slow and confusing. I read it in one sitting, and I'm still not sure if it's one of the best books I've ever read, or the worst, and it can be compared with possibly no other Young Adult book... which I'm not sure this even is?

The thing I liked best about this book was probably the characters and their relationships with one another. There is a lot of intimacy between characters who were not necessarily in a romantic relationship and jealousy is rarely a thing that comes into play and it was all so deliciously real, you know? At least for a bunch of fairies and gnomes and tightropers. I also really enjoyed how there was no sense of characters being either/or in terms of sexuality everybody just -was- and it worked brilliantly.

The book did drag on a little, especially towards the end. On one hand a lot of it was integral to the story, but on the other parts were so slow that I was debating on just going to bed instead of finishing the book.

I did love all the pictures in the book. They added a significant element to the book and also helped the reader understand a little bit more about Ferrum's history - which ultimately I would have liked more of but as it stands the book did okay without it.

I could understand how this book could make someone uncomfortable - there were quite a few scenes in which the main characters are prostitutes, a fact which is not disclosed in the blurb. This is not something that would turn me off the book, but a little warning would have been appreciated. Then again, how do you casually slip the fact that Beckan, Scrap and Cricket are sex workers to the gnomes who occasionally eat fairies?

I'm still not entirely sure whether I really liked this book enough, but I'd have to give it 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4 for good measure, and I look forward to reading Moskowitz other works.

Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰

Book Review: The Accident Season

Title: The Accident Season
Author: Moira Fowley-Doyle
Publisher: Corgi Childrens
Expected Publication Date: August 18th, 2015
Summary: The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara's life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara's family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items - but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?

Review: **Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Accident Season is one of those books that I can't quite decide whether I loved or hated. On one hand, I loved the queer aspects to this book and the eerie feeling that surrounded the story. On the other, sometimes the writing was quite pretentious, and as well as that vague. I had only the faintest clue what was happening for most of the book.

I feel like the writing style didn't allow me to connect with the characters at all, especially with the switching between points of view that happened randomly throughout the story between Cara and then that weird third person that sometimes happened. I couldn't really get a proper grip on this book because of that.

Other aspects of the book felt quite contrived, especially the parts with the masquerade ball. I found myself eye-rolling through quite a lot of the dance planning scenes, and then in the actual dance itself. Also, the whole thing was pretty idiotic - the house was most likely private property and it was in ramshackles. Something really bad could have happened which the main characters did not seem to care about in the slightest despite the fact that it was the accident season.

The metal statue man was another source of frustration later in the book. Was he or was he not Christopher? This was never resolved. Neither was the case of the disappearing shop that Cara and Sam went to. A lot of things happened in this book that seemed significant at the time but were barely mentioned again.

Overall, I'd have to give this book a solid three stars. It could have been better, but it also could have been worse.

Rating: 3/5 stars

★★★✰✰

Book Review: Witch Hunter

Title: Witch Hunter
Author: Virginia Boecker
Year of Publication: 2015
Summary: Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Grey doesn't look dangerous. A tiny, blonde, wisp of a girl shouldn't know how to poison a wizard and make it look like an accident. Or take out ten necromancers with a single sword and a bag of salt. Or kill a man using only her thumb. But things are not always as they appear. Elizabeth is one of the best witch hunters in Anglia and a member of the king's elite guard, devoted to rooting out witchcraft and bringing those who practice it to justice. And in Anglia, the price of justice is high: death by burning.

When Elizabeth is accused of being a witch herself, she's arrested and thrown in prison. The king declares her a traitor and her life is all but forfeit. With just hours before she's to die at the stake, Elizabeth gets a visitor - Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful wizard in Anglia. He offers her a deal: he will free her from prison and save her from execution if she will track down the wizard who laid a deadly curse on him.

As Elizabeth uncovers the horrifying facts about Nicholas's curse and the unwitting role she played in its creation, she is forced to redefine the differences between right and wrong, friends and enemies, love and hate... and life and death.


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

The Witch Hunter was another one of those books that I wanted to love and was super excited to read. When I was approved to read it via Netgalley I was super stoked and dove into it right away. I love, love, love strong heroines, and adventure, and magic.

Sadly the amazing premise of this book was ruined by the poor execution and illogical characters. Our main character, Elizabeth, is supposed to be one of the best witch hunters in the country of Anglia. I expected bravery and stubbornness, and instead got a wimpy, useless heroine.

Her supporting cast of merry men had promise - but ultimately did not become more than caricatures. The writing was vague - half the time I had no idea which characters were present or what was happening - and the villain was so obvious from the get-go.

Ultimately I expected more from this book. The tone was way too light for the plot and the execution was sloppy. You could practically hear the wind whistling through the main character's ears. Also, I have no doubt that Caleb is still alive. Rule 1: If there is no body, then the character is not dead. Prove me wrong, Virginia Boecker, I dare you.

Rating: 1/5 stars
★✰✰✰✰

Book Review: Angelfall

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Year of Publication: 2011
Summary:  It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Review:  Angelfall had me hooked me from the very beginning. Even when I wanted so desperately to put the book down and walk away from it as far as I could, it held me in an iron vice. As much as that sounds like a bad thing, it is the same thing that makes this book so real in my memory a couple of days after the fact.

Simply put, this book was disconcerting as all heck. And it was intended to be this way. Gone are the days of simply being scared of angels because of Doctor Who - nope, now I have a new reason to be absolutely terrified. Ee’s angels are not fluffy do-gooders (though they are hot), they are monsters.

The character of Penryn and her family are blessings of the YA genre. They are not damsels in distress - her mother is schizophrenic, her sister is disabled, and Penryn herself manages to keep her wits about her even in the face of a swoony shirtless potential love interest.

It has been a while since I was desperately in need of a sequel, but now I am desperate to get my hands on a copy of World After (Penryn & The End of Days book #2). It’s actually astounding that even though this book was published in 2011 I had not heard of it until this year. It is a book that I think must be read by everyone. It is a wonder that it has not been made into a film or a mini-series yet - I could see this series becoming as big as say, The Hunger Games.

This book is fully deserving of the five stars I am giving it. Definitely a must-read for everybody, especially those who enjoyed titles such as The Hunger Games, the Maze Runner, Cinder, and The Mortal Instruments.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: Cinder

Title: Cinder
Author: Marissa Meyer
Year of publication: 2012
Summary: 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.

Review: Oh my gosh, this book was a doozy. Completely mind boggling and action packed, and absolutely a blast to read. I almost feel like I have not slept in days even though I read the book in one setting. Wow.

Retellings have been done before, many, many times. What makes this one unique is that it is set in the future, hundreds of years in the future, and our Cinderella is a cyborg. Our heroine is resourceful, independent - and doesn't wait for her prince or her fairy godmother to save her. She takes care of herself, and she gets things done armed with the tools of her trade - she's a mechanic after all.

One thing I absolutely loved about Cinder was the characters - the death of Peony was absolutely heartbreaking, but it had an upside... even though Cinder's other step sister and her stepmother were total monsters they grieved for Peony. In their own ways.

Perhaps Adri had not always been such a horrid person. Perhaps before Cinder's stepfather died, she had been good. Grief does things to people, and it can change them forever. I still don't forgive her for taking Cinder's foot or her android, Iko, though.

A character I found surprisingly pleasant was Kai. I am so used to stupid love interests that it was a breath of fresh air to get one who wasn't so dumb, even if he was a little vanilla.

Though the big reveal in the story was a little obvious, I still had no idea what would happen in the end of the story - and oh man, I was floored. You guys will just have to read it for yourselves to see what I mean.

I only wish there was more information about the Lunar colonies. Okay, yes, there was a lot in there but I want more. Luckily there are two more books in the series so that I may satisfy my cravings in due time.

In the meantime, I will be recovering from this whirlwind book with a cup of hot tea and a nap in the hopes that I can start reading Scarlet, the second book in the series, very soon.

Rating: 5/5 stars
★★★★★

Book Review: Strings

Title: Strings
Author: G. Miki Hayden
Year of publication: 2014
Summary: In Strings, Robert, an ordinary boy, finds himself in a newly chaotic world. Buildings move when and where they please, and time jumps around according to no known laws of physics. For Robert, getting to his regular school in the morning is impossible, and as for getting home... But Holden, a boy he and his friend Nila meet in a cave, offers them a string. No, not twine—a string of the kind that forms the universe. Teeny and tiny, and invisible to the naked eye, this string will take Robert and Mila to their homes and way beyond, to other dimensions.

Robert doesn’t intend to save the world or to do anything except get by as best he can. Yet despite his hope to remain uninvolved, those he meets and where he goes draw him to participate. Robert’s companions on the journey through the multiverses include: the boy genius, Holden, who will defeat the alien Flatlanders at all costs; Nila, the girl next door, who doesn’t live next door just yet; Mr. Marvin, the clueless physics teacher, who considers the discrepancies they encounter to have a logical explanation; and Alfred Einstein (no, not Albert), more a nemesis than a companion, who still spends a lot of time traveling with the others. Hop on board an elusive string and see what the higher dimensions have to offer


Review: **Copy kindly provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review** Strings tells the whimsical tale of Robert, who lives in a chaotic world where the buildings move around as they please. It wasn’t always like this, six months ago everything was as it should be, but now…

Beautifully crafted and wonderfully strange, this book reminded me a lot of Coraline, by Neil Gaiman in the way that it was written. Sometimes it was a little confusing in the way that it was written, but I think it added to the unusual genius of the story. Although it was a fantasy, it was written with such confidence, as if the author had been there herself and firmly believed in the existence of the worlds visited.

In my opinion, this was definitely more a middle grade novel than a YA one, but readers of any age will be wonderfully entertained either way as this story has enough detail and depth to draw any dreamer in. The characters are fantastic, each with a distinct flavor of their own to get used to.

Highly recommended, fans of Lemony Snicket, Dianna Wynne Jones, and Madeleine L'Engle will be delighted with G. Miki Hayden’s debut novel. A great addition to anybody’s bookshelf, and well worth a read.

Rating: 4/5 stars
★★★★✰