Category Archives: Book Reviews
The Boy Who Made Monsters by Jenny Pearson – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
There are a lot of different types of monster. Some live at the bottom of lochs, some are found far out at sea and some swim about in the depths of your mind and these can be the scariest monsters of all – if you let them.
Benji McLaughlin is a visionary. He believes in things that other people think are impossible, like that he and his brother Stanley will be happy in their new home in Scotland, and that the Loch Lochy monster exists, and that his parents will come home safely one day, even though they’ve been missing for months.
When he finds out that his Uncle Hamish’s Loch Lochy tourist business is struggling, and it looks like Benji and Stanley might lose another home, Benji’s not worried. He has a plan. If he can show everyone that the Loch Lochy monster exists, people will flock to come and see it, and the business will flourish again.
Together with his new friend Murdy and Mr Dog, the best dog in the world, Benji sets off to capture evidence of the monster, even if he has to get a little creative. But Benji might end up confronting more monsters than he expects.
About the Author
Jenny Pearson has been awarded six mugs, one fridge magnet, one wall plaque and numerous cards for her role as Best Teacher in the World. When she is not busy being inspirational in the classroom, she would like nothing more than to relax with her two young boys, but she can’t as they view her as a human climbing frame. Her debut novel, The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates, was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and selected as a Waterstones Book of the Month.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/J_C_Pearson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/J_C_Pearson/
What I Thought
The Boy Who Made Monsters follows Benji and his brother Stanley up to a Scottish Loch to live with their uncle after their parents go missing. The story is told from eleven year old Benji’s perspective and as such I would say this is on the younger end of middle grade.
Benji is an entertaining narrator who despite all the upheaval in his life is willing to go all in to help his uncle’s ailing business and he takes us along for the ride with a lot of humour. I can’t help thinking that this is also a note to us all to look out for the people we think as coping well when something difficult happens. Under the surface all may not be well and their flippers may be paddling wildly.
The topic of grief is approached with sensitivity and we get to see a few different ways that individuals cope with it. The relationship between Benji and his brother Stanley was well developed, from standard sibling fights to fighting for your sibling.
Benji’s new friend Murdy McGurdy was a delight although I have to admit that I think Mr Dog was my favourite character, there is one illustration included in the book that made me want to give him the biggest boop.
There is a good mix of adventure and emotion in this story and I think it’s one that you would get even more from reading for a second time.
This is the third book by Jenny that I have read and enjoyed and she really is a master at mixing humour with the more serious experiences children may have to face.
See also my review of Freddie Yates here.
Thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publisher Usborne for the gifted copy. Opinions are all mine. Follow the tour by using the hashtag #TheBoyWhoMadeMonsters
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The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson – Blog Tour (If you like these you should try this edition)
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About the Book
Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals.
Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odets, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like the circus she’s built and the magical misfits and outcasts – known as Sparks – who’ve made it their home. Every night, Rik and the Fantasticals enchant a Big Top packed full with audiences who need to see the impossible.
But while the present is bright, threats come at Rin from the past and the future. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling towards their Big Top and everyone in it. And Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow Rin can’t fully escape. It takes the form of another Spark circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he or stop until it’s his.
If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today.
About the Author
J.R. Dawson (she/they) is a writer and educator who has published shorter works in places such as F&SF, The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Lightspeed. She lives in Omaha with a loving spouse and three dogs. Having earned a BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Stonecoast, Dawson works as a teaching artist. Her clients include assorted Midwestern Jon-profits that teach kids the power of performance and storytelling.
What it has been compared to – aka if you like these you should try The First Bright Thing
A spellbinding debut for fans of The Night Circus
Caraval
The Greatest Showman
and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.
I personally also feel like it sounds like it shares vibes with Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston.
“Like if The Night Circus smashed into the X-Men and formed a found family that welcomed every reader with open arms. A beautiful novel.” John Wiswell, Nebula Award-winning author of Open House on Haunted Hill.
“The First Bright Thing will break your heart and stitch it back together, again and again. A nearly perfect amalgam of Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and The X-Men” Rita Woods, author of Remembrance and The Last Dreamwalker.
I will leave the last word for now to Travis Baldree, New York Times bestselling author of Legends & Lattes:
“A celebration of artistry and wonder as essential talismans we wield against despair – and with which we triumph against it….I for one am here for the show.”
My review will follow…
Do check out the rest of the tour stops to see what everyone else thought. Thanks to Black Crow and the Publisher for the ARC. I will share my review as soon as I can. Unfortunately I’ve crashed with my Long Covid and am struggling to read other than audiobooks right now.
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The Thief of Farrowfell by Ravena Guron – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
Welcome to Farrowfell where edible magic is the hottest commodity, traded between those who can pay or – in the case of Jude Ripon, the youngest thief in Farrowfell – those who can steal it!
Twelve-year old Jude Ripon has never been taken seriously by her family of magic-stealing masterminds. To them, she’s just the youngest, only good for keeping watch while they carry out daring heists. Desperate to prove her worth, Jude decides to steal valuable magic from the fanciest house in town…
But Jude’s stolen prize was protected by a curse. While attempting to untangle the mess she’s made, Jude discovers just how far her family will go to stay at the top of the criminal world.
Suddenly, her quest to become a true Ripon isn’t straightforward any more…
An epic debut middle-grade series from FAB Prize winner Ravena Guron, author of UKYA, This Book Kills.
About the Author
Ravena Guron is a British Indian biochemist turned lawyer turned YA author turned MG author, a superb new voice who brings her own captivating brand of energy, wild adventure and joy to the genre. The Thief of Farrowfell is the first in an intended series following Jude Ripon, and was shortlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme, as well as being highly commended in the Faber FAB Prize. Ravena is a Londoner through and through: born, raised and educated in London, she lives there still.
About the Illustrator
Alessia Trunfio is an illustrator who lives in Rome. After graduating with an Animation Degree from the International School of Comics in Rome, Alessia has worked as a background artist for some of the most important animation studios in Italy.
What I Thought
The book arrived to me with its own bag of edible magic which tasted very yummy, hopefully I have got away without turning into a Lilthrum.
I’ve only managed to read the start so far – it only arrived at the weekend and then I had a health blip – so I will add my full review and reshare this post when I do. Here are my initial impressions.
The reader really gets drawn into this new world with a bang and I love that we start with a heist and immediately see the edible magic in action. What a fun magic system – although it appears not all magic is tasty. We get an immediate sense of the pressure that Jude is putting on herself to really belong to the Ripon family and we just as quickly see why she doesn’t already have that. With a sense of competition and not collaboration amongst this family of thieves. I want to do an Encanto shout out with the magic house chucking open doors and windows, I wonder how big a character it will play.
Poor Jude doesn’t manage to get the big reveal about her daring heist and captured magic, and it’s probably a good thing no one noticed if the curse turns out to be true.
Things soon start going wrong for the Ripons – is it just bad luck or cursed bad luck? Will Jude get the blame or will she manage to prove herself and find her place in her family. I like the rival relationship between her and her older sister but I can sense there is much more to that story. There’s some clever hints that things aren’t so rosy in the Ripon spotlight.
I can already tell this is going to be such an expansive world with plenty of opportunity for more adventures once this one is wrapped up. I probably won’t get to finish this until the weekend but I’m looking forward to finding out more about what Jude’s magic yo-yo can do.
Huge thanks to Bee at Kaleidoscopic Tours and the publisher Faber for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review. Do follow along with the tour using #ThiefOfFallowfell for more reviews and content.
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