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#Countdownto5thJune
After the excitement of #UKYADay yesterday, today is the day for another bookish announcement.
I am very excited to be involved in the upcoming Countdown to the 5th June blog tour organised by Jim Dean – @YAyeahyeah. There are tons and tons of brilliant books due to be published on 5th June and this project plans to tell you all about them.
On Sunday 11th May I will be posting my interview with author Matt Whyman about his involvement with War Girls – a collection of short stories from the views of women.
To find out more about this project, and the authors and bloggers involved, you can follow the twitter account @countdownya or checkout the blog here.
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Tape by Steven Camden – Book Review
Tape by Steven Camden – Book Review
3.5 stars (teetering on 4 while writing this review)
Tape is the first novel by Steven Camden – aka the spoken-word artist Polarbear – For a description of the story please see Goodreads. Tape is released on the 30th January 2014.
My copy of Tape arrived in fabulously clever packaging with strips of black paper cut up like spooled cassette tape.
Tape is one of those books that you need to read completely to appreciate fully. As a story told from the joint perspective of two connected characters their relationship is only fully realised in the final pages. I was surprised to read that someone considered the main connection between Ryan and Ameliah as a twist because I felt this was fairly obvious and for me this provided a good hook to keep reading. Just in case it is meant to be a twist I won’t mention it here though.
Different fonts are used to indicate when we are following Ryan and Ameliah, and a third for Ameliah’s tape entries. Dialogue tags aren’t used, instead lines of dialogue start with a dash. Whilst this takes a little getting used to and occasionally it is a bit tricky to work out who is talking on the whole it works fine. I’d be interested to know the reasons behind that decision though.
Ameliah, who is living with her maternal grandmother, is coming to terms with the loss of both her parents. For her, listening to the tapes she discovers in the spare room help her to process this. She is outspoken and sometimes immature, but that’s as much her age as anything else. She is also determined to work out connections, especially between her Dad and the mysterious Joe.
Ryan lives with his Dad and step-mother and step-brother Nathan. Nathan, a child of divorce is sullen and moody and clearly unhappy with his situation. Ryan, however, having lost his mother, appears to be more sympathetic to the needs of his father. There were some touching scenes as the two stepbrothers learned to live with each other a little better. Later in the book we also find out more about their challenging relationship. As well as a fondness for making mixtapes, Ryan uses one as a diary, speaking to his mum.
I wasn’t so keen on the detailed descriptions of everything and I did feel this slowed the pace at times. However, about halfway through as the connections built the pace did too.
I did wonder if the tape could have been used even more to support the story, especially the sections where they’re talking to each other, but then again that might have become too gimmicky.
As a child who grew up in the same era as Ryan I loved lots of the pop culture references and it made me remember making tapes with my sister. There are a few references to Back to the Future throughout and one big nod with a taped conversation near the end. The universe has it’s way of bringing the right people together!
All in all, a cleverly constructed story with likeable protagonists. I may have even been close to shedding a tear or two.
Thanks to Mary Byrne at HarperCollins for my copy. My opinion, as ever, is my own and liable to change like the weather, especially on a re-read that I think this needs. I think there I might pick up lots of little hints along the way. In fact writing this review is already making me appreciate aspects of the book more.
Looking forward to the get together with Steven Camden, Holly Smale and Sarah Lean on Wednesday.
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Shards and Ashes (Various Authors) – Book Review
Overall rating 4/5 stars
A mixed collection of dystopian stories that started and ended really well. A couple were too confusing or didn’t give me a real sense of motivation or purpose but others were beautifully nuanced, scary or intriguing. One or two I’d love to see developed into longer pieces, a number would be great as episodes of a Shards and Ashes TV series.
I commented on each story as I finished it but here are my mini reviews.
Hearken by Veronica Roth’s – 5/5 stars
This was a beautiful tale of Darya who learns she has the potential to be a Hearkener, someone who can hear people’s life or death songs. This has potential to be a much longer story but shares a message in itself for us to listen to each other. To look beyond the surface. Highly recommended
Branded by Kelley Armstrong – 3.5/5 stars
I liked the voice of the protagonist Rayne and the story/world building of the fortress community. The second part of the story almost felt rushed and I just didn’t completely feel that it was satisfactorily explained. The conclusion would have been good had I felt able to understand motivation a little clearer.
A Necklace of Raindrops by Margaret Stohl 4/5 stars
This was a clever tale that kept me guessing about this world of necklaces and drops. I loved the title. I struggled to care immediately for the first character we met but cared about his sister. The idea of living without living was one people can connect with.
I wanted a slightly clearer explanation of the world though. It was there but I still didn’t quite grasp it.
The repetition at the end was both frustrating and poetic. It didn’t quite end in the right place and the final point of view distanced me. I wanted a little bit more from Jai’s perspective.
Dogsbody by Rachel Caine – 5/5 stars
Excellent story, great pace, a protagonist you are rooting for from the off. Revenge planned meticulously over years. Of course nothing ever goes to plan.
Pale Rider by Nancy Holder – 1.5/5 stars
Unfortunately I just didn’t connect with this one. The beginning was interesting, a character called Dana being very excited about finding some batteries. Had the story stuck to a dystopia and explored this more I think I would have preferred it. Instead it went into fantasy right that the end with a lot of telling not showing. I was left very confused.
Realised I have read Nancy before, she wrote some of the Buffy TV tie-ins.
Corpse Eaters by Melissa Marr – 3/5 stars
I’d have liked a little more meat on the bones of this one (pun intended). Liked the two main characters. Interesting story of a god/monster coming to earth and humans ending up as corpse stew. Harm and Chris are fighting back. Wasn’t that keen on the ending. As a longer piece I think this could be much better.
Burn 3 by Kami Garcia – 5/5 stars
Phoenix and her sister Sky live in Burn 3, that used to be New York before the holes in the ozone sent the sun out of control. Children are vanishing and, when Sky is taken, Phoenix heads into the Abyss and finds an unlikely ally in a one eyed crazy man who thinks the Skinners have Sky. This was an excellent short, just the right amount of world-building and tension.
Love is a Choice by Beth Revis – 5/5 stars
Set on a spaceship, a young man hides from Eldest, the ruler who drugs everyone on board to prevent a mutiny. With help from Mag, a girl who had taken her grandfather’s place as the Recorder (librarian of sorts) they plot how to overthrow Eldest. I believe this is set in an existing world and you could tell, although this story did stand alone. The ending wasn’t what I was expecting but certainly explained the title. Going to hunt out this author’s work now.
Miasma by Carrie Ryan – 5/5 stars
Love the word Miasma and I also loved this story. Almost a mythical Fairytale nightmare rather than dystopian. Beaked doctors and ferret like plague eaters with forked tongues. Reminded me a little of the Buffy episode Hush. A girl struggles to keep her sister’s illness hidden by stealing Rose petals from the gardens of the rich.
kirstyes 