She Lies Close by Sharon Doering - Book Review

                             

'Five-year-old Ava Boone has been missing for six months. There have been no leads, no arrests, no witnesses. The only suspect was quiet, middle-aged Leland Ernest. And Grace Wright has just bought the house next door. Recently divorced, Grace uprooted her two small children to start again and hopes the move will reset her crippling insomnia. But now she understands bargain-price for her beautiful new house.

'With whispered neighbourhood gossip and increasingly sleepless nights, Grace develops a fierce obsession with Leland and the safety of her children. Could she really be living next door to a child-kidnapper? A murderer? With reality and dream blurring more each day, Grace desperately pursues the truth - following Ava's family, demanding answers from the police - and then a body is discovered... '

Whenever a book is written from the point of view of one of the characters their narrative becomes incredibly important, they're the person that we're experiencing the world through after all. We only have their word that the events we're reading are true, that they're not twisting things to make a narrative more palatable, or to shape themselves into a hero or victim. When a narrator becomes unreliable, when you're not sure what you can trust, a book takes on a very different feel, and you're left constantly on your toes. This is something that Sharon Doering does with flair in She Lies Close.

She Lies Close follows Grace Wright, a recently divorced mother of two who's living with her children in a new home that she purchased to give them a fresh start. Having left her husband following a string of infidelities, she's struck out on her own to make a life she can be proud of, and one that her kids will love. Unfortunately, this plan doesn't get to come into being when Grace learns that her neighbour, Leland Ernest, was recently questioned by police about the disappearance of five-year-old Ava Boone.

Despite having no charges placed against them, and apparently only having been questioned the once, Grace begins to obsess over her neighbour. She begins to feel that her new home, her fresh start, is unsafe. That her own young daughter might be in the sights of a child killer. There's no proof that Leland is involved, or that Ava is even dead, but with her having been missing for months Grace becomes convinced that her murder at Leland's hands is the only explanation.

What follows is a narrative that slowly descends into madness, as Grace's psyche begins to fall to pieces. It begins with trouble sleeping, and obsessing over articles online about child kidnappings, and ends up with a woman barely keeping things together, trying desperately to maintain her job, her children's safety, and her own sanity.

This is what makes She Lies Close instantly jump out at me from other similar books like this. This isn't so much about the mystery of Ava Boone's disappearance, though that does play a major role, but the affect that this has on someone completely unconnected to the case.

Grace isn't involved in this case, she doesn't know the Boone's or have any information that could help, yet it begins to consume her life. It's something that I'm sure we can all recognise, whether within ourselves or others. There's always that one news story, that one event that causes panic or makes a stir within people. I remember a few from my childhood that caused differing degrees of panic in adults, that changed the ways that they acted or treated their children's safety. This is the main narrative thread of this book, a woman who's fear for her children causes an obsession that could cause more harm than good.

The changes that it causes in Grace a pretty dramatic, but because you're along for the ride, seeing her sanity slowly unravel you almost don't realise how bad things have gotten for her until she interacts with another adult, someone on the outside of her obsession. It's in these brief moments that you realise just how off the rails Grace has gone, how extreme her actions have been; actions that even the reader might have found justified just pages before.

The fact that Grace's grip on her life becomes so tenuous makes the mystery so much juicer too, because you begin to question the things that she's experiencing. Did these events actually happen, has she blown things out of proportion, or is she bang on the money? There were times during the book where I genuinely couldn't tell you what would happen next, because I found myself second guessing everything; and in some cases third and fourth guessing. I could have seen the book ending with everything Grace had seen and experienced being one hundred percent true, it could have all been part of her delusion, or perhaps a mixture of reality and her unravelling mental condition.

Sharon Doering has managed to take a fairly simple and relatable story, a woman worrying about her children's safety, and managed to craft it into a tale with more twists and turns that a maze, where you can never be sure of what you're reading, and you'll be unable to figure out what's coming next. A brilliant debut that shows that this is definitely a writer that you'll want to keep your eye on.

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The Head of Mimir by Richard Lee Byers - Book Review

 

'Before Heimdall became guardian of the Bifrost he was just another warrior, until he turned rogue to save all of Asgard… in this heroic fantasy novel set in Marvel’s incredible Legends of Asgard

'It is a dark time for Asgard. The Allfather is trapped in a bewitched Odinsleep, inspiring an all-out assault from the Frost Giants. They evade the gods’ defences with uncommon ease, as if guided by augury. Heimdall, a quick-witted young warrior still finding his place, believes it no coincidence that Odin lies enchanted and that the Giants are so well-informed. Breaking into Odin’s chambers, he discovers that the severed head of Mimir – a great source of wisdom – is missing. Accompanied by his sister, Sif, Heimdall must quest across the Nine Worlds to retrieve it, and defeat those besieging his home.'

The world of Marvel's Thor is an interesting one, one that manages to mix together super heroics, Norse mythology, and in later years, science fiction. The recent big screen adaptations have very much pushed the sci-fi angle, which I've enjoyed, but the downside of this is that viewers got very little fantasy with their Thor. The Head of Mimir, in contrast, has very much embraced the mythology behind the original comics, and has provided readers with a high fantasy adventure that's sure to thrill.

The story is bookended with Volstagg, one of the Warriors Three, telling his son a story about Heimdall in order to teach him that a warrior is more than a strong sword arm, and that being smart enough to take a step back and think things through is perhaps even more important than martial skill. His story takes readers back through time, to a place long before the events of the Thor comics, where Heimdall and his sister Sif were just regular soldiers in the Asgard army during a war with the Frost Giants of Jotunheim.

The war is not going well for the people of Asgard. Odin has been in the Odin-Sleep for weeks, longer than ever before; and without his wisdom and power the forces of Jotunheim have been encroaching further and further into the kingdom of the gods. The Frost Giants have been using more and more cunning tactics than ever before, and are simply overwhelming Asgards forces. Looking at what's happening, Heimdall is convinced that something more must be at work here, that Odin being away for so long must be a sign of something awful going on behind the scenes.

Approaching Queen Frigga, he implores her to enter Odin's chambers and make sure that something awful hasn't been done to the king. Under the advice of court enchantress Amora, the queen dismisses Heimdall's concerns; which prompts the young soldier to take matters into his own hands. Sneaking into the Odin-Sleep chambers, he and his sister must overcome the magical defences and illusions within before coming face to face with their king. Unable to see anything wrong with him, they do notice that someone must have entered before them, as the magical Head of Mimir has been stolen.

Knowing that this magical artefact is able to dispense amazing advice and knowledge Heimdall concludes that a traitor must have sent the head to the Frost Giants, explaining their change of tactics. Unfortunately, entering Odin's chambers is high treason, and when he and Sif are seen leaving they must go on the run from their own people, setting off on a mission to retrieve the head whilst being hunted by Asgard too.

The Head of Mimir is a hell of a story, more in line with the epics of legend than anything I've read in the Thor comics, but it fits so well with the universe and characters that Marvel have adapted over the decades. Richard Lee Byers clearly know not just the world of the comics, but the original myths too, and manages to weave them together in great ways. And one of the things I liked the most, there was never a sense that he was trying to make it feel like science was at work here. Unlike the films, which tried to explain magic away as advanced science, this book embraces its fantasy roots and says 'no, this is magic'. People cast spells, monsters from myth wield powers, and the world tree exists. 

I adored this decision. I never like it when writers try to make magic feel less special, when they try to make it feel practical and real. Give me Frost Giants with ice staffs casting spells on battlefields, giant dragons scaling the sides of a magical tree that holds different worlds in its branches, and teleporting Pegasuses over that. Let me feel awed and in wonder, rather than waiting for a scientific explanation for things. It's so nice to have a book that embraces the fantastic and presents them without feeling like it has to give reason or make it understandable. It makes the journey that the two heroes go on feel so much bigger and more amazing.

Heimdall and Sif make for some excellent protagonists too, and their relationship is explored well throughout the book. I have to admit, before reading this I never knew that the two of them were siblings, and to have that relationship not just included, but made central to their story, is great. We see two soldiers who keep fighting for each other, who refuse to give in or leave the other behind because they're not just brother in arms, but family. There are a few occasions in the book where lesser relationships would have really been put to the test, where lesser characters would have broken apart, but the two of them never give up on each other.

The focus on their relationship also gives some stakes to the book. These are characters that we know from the comics, we know that they don't die here, that they go on to bigger positions in Asgardian society. So instead of having to worry if they'll die or not the concern shifts to their relationship. Will the two of them end up falling out? Will events push them to the point of hating each other, even if only temporarily?

The Head of Mimir wasn't what I was expecting going into the book, but it was such a pleasant surprise. In a time where comic heroes revolve around science and realism it's so good to get a story that embraces the fantastical, that doesn't feel the need to be gritty and true to life, but is content to be wondrous and over the top. Comic book fans will love seeing more about the kingdom of Asgard and learning more about some of it's inhabitants, and fantasy fans will feel right at home here too, even if it's their first time trying out the Marvel universe. 

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Domino: Strays by Tristan Palmgren - Book Review

 

'Sharp-witted, luck-wrangling mercenary Domino takes on both a dangerous cult and her own dark past, in this explosive introduction to the new series of Marvel prose novels

'The job: infiltrate a Chicago conman’s cult to liberate some brainwashed twins. For former X-Force operative Domino, that’s a “hell no”. Fanatics are bad news. She still has nightmares about Project Armageddon, the super-soldier program that wrecked her life and destroyed her family. If only she’d had someone to help her back then, someone… like her. It’s a total pain in the ass, but maybe it is time to finally face those demons. With her probability manipulating superpowers she can turn even the worst of situations to her advantage.'

Comics are a great medium, they're designed to be easy to read and to be accessible to readers of all ages, and they've evolved over the years to become a storytelling medium that's hard to translate to other formats. You only need to look at how many comic book films have been less than good to see that. Whilst comic book movies have become big business, one of the mediums where comics rarely make the leap is in prose novels. I've seen some people argue that comic characters and their stories just wouldn't work as prose, and I've always disagreed with that; and now I'll be able to point to Domino: Strays as a perfect example of how these characters and their stories not only work in this format, but excel at it.

Domino: Strays follows the mutant mercenary Domino as she's hired to rescue a pair of twins from the clutches of a cult leader by their desperate mother. Initially unwilling to take on a mission that's not her normal kind of thing, Domino eventually agrees, and sets out to infiltrate the cult's facility in order to rescue them. Whilst this story alone is interesting enough, and it's very entertaining to see Domino and her team infiltrating this compound in the middle of Chicago, where the book really shines is the other stories that play into this.

The book is written from Domino's point of view, and she makes it clear to the reader early on that her writing style is a bit hectic, and will jump around the place a little. As such, we get two other narratives weaving into the story of her infiltrating the cult's compound. One is Domino's childhood being raised as a subject in part of some shady experiment, and her eventual escape to a Chicago orphanage; and the other is her travelling to the Florida Everglades to track down a woman who might be her mother.

Now, on the surface these three narratives don't really have very much in common, but as these stories unravel we learn that not only is Domino's mission to Florida deeply connected with her own traumatic past, and her time in the orphanage, but is also one of the reasons why she chooses to take on her current assignment in the first place. Over the course of the book we get to see her past, the way her mind works, and how she has a great deal of empathy for people trapped in a prison by authorities out to control them.

I have to admit, I've not read massive amounts of comics with Domino in them, so only have a basic understanding of the character (and also understand that this isn't the same continuity as the Marvel 616 universe) but I felt like this book taught me so much more about her than any comic could. This isn't just because it went deep into her history and showed the reader parts of Domino's past that most comics don't, but because the whole thing is narrated by her, and as such we get to understand these events through her eyes, and understand the impact it has upon her.

Tristan Palmgren seems to really know the character well, and they've put a lot of effort into humanising her in new and interesting ways. Domino isn't just a mercenary out to make money, spending her time between missions partying and living life to the extreme because she's a wild person, but because her actions are influenced by the trauma that she's lived through.

Palmgren also makes a point to make Domino's powers interesting in some new ways. Much like was made a joke of in Deadpool 2, luck isn't very cinematic, and Tristan seems to want to make this a point. They have Domino explain more than once that she doesn't control how her luck works, and whilst it can ultimately help her out of some sticky situations, it isn't perfect. She describes times where her luck powers have had her leap from a vehicle to safety, but crash into a wall and nearly knock herself out; how does that help her? Well, the person chasing her doesn't see her laying on the floor and runs past her. It got the job done, but it doesn't make her untouchable. There's lots of little moments like this peppered throughout the narrative, where Domino is able to use her luck to her advantage, but still comes out of her adventures battered and bruised.

Domino: Strays is a really inventive and engaging dive into the character, one that puts her personal journey and growth at the forefront of the narrative, and manages to weave three connected stories together in ways where the jumps in time not only feel natural, but play into each other well. I really hope that this won't be the only time that Tristan gets to write the character, as I'd love to see more of her explored in this way. If this is the last time Tristan writes a Domino book, I at least hope that they get to write more adventures set in the Marvel Universe.

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The Nobody People by Bob Proehl - Book Review

'When a group of outcasts with extraordinary abilities comes out of hiding, their clash with a violent society will spark a revolution—or an apocalypse..

'Avi Hirsch has always known his daughter was different. But when others with incredible, otherworldly gifts reveal themselves to the world, Avi realizes that her oddness is something more—that she is something more. With this, he has a terrifying revelation: Emmeline is now entering a society where her unique abilities unfairly mark her as a potential threat. And even though he is her father, Avi cannot keep her safe forever.

'Emmeline soon meets others just like her: Carrie Norris, a teenage girl who can turn invisible . . . but just wants to be seen. Fahima Deeb, a woman with an uncanny knack for machinery . . . but it’s her Muslim faith that makes the U.S. government suspicious of her.

'They are the nobody people—ordinary individuals with extraordinary gifts who want one only thing: to live as equals in an America that is gripped by fear and hatred. But the government is passing discriminatory laws. Violent mobs are taking to the streets. And one of their own—an angry young man seething with self-loathing—has used his power in an act of mass violence that has put a new target on the community. The nobody people must now stand together and fight for their future, or risk falling apart.

'The first book of a timely two-part series, The Nobody People is a powerful novel of love and hope in the face of bigotry that uses a world touched by the fantastic to explore our current reality. It is a story of family and community. It is a story of continuing to fight for one another, no matter the odds. It is the story of us.'

One of the things I see people talk about in book reviews is how cinematic a novel can be, how it feels like reading a grand movie; and sometimes people will say it's like reading a season of a television series. The Nobody People isn't like either of those. Instead, it's like reading several seasons of a grand, sweeping television series; one that expectations and goes to places you'd never expect.

The Nobody People begins following Avi, a reporter who used to cover warzones around the world until he was caught in a bomb explosion and lost his leg. Now he's trying to get back into writing whilst supporting his wife and daughter, still trying to get used to the changes in his life, and pining for the days of his past. When Avi gets a tip from a friend working in Homeland Security he begins to discover that two recent bombings might be connected, and soon discovers that these bizarre attacks, where matter itself seems to have been simply vanished from existence, were both performed by the same man; who was at the centre of both attacks. His investigation soon leads him to a group of people with amazing powers, called Resonants, and learns that his own daughter is one of them.

On the surface The Nobody People jumped out at me as being quite like the X-Men comics, it is after-all about people with amazing powers and abilities hiding in plain sight across the world, and a school where these people can go to learn to control their abilities. I have to admit that I was making these kinds of comparisons in my head when I first started reading the book, but it quickly became clear that whilst the two books shared some surface level similarities they take very different approaches to the same topics. This isn't about super heroes, costumed adventurers that go out into the wider world to battle villains. No, this is a story about real people and the prejudices that minorities face.

The book opens with the brutal lynching of an entire family, a  family who helped to save the lives of dozens of people, all because they were different from 'normal' people. This is a theme that flows through the entire narrative, whether it's a family discovering their daughter has abilities, or radio personalities calling for internment camps and registration, or radicalised young people deciding to take matters into their own hands and shooting innocent people in the street. No matter how fantastical the narrative got I kept coming back to the same idea that this book is about being 'other' more than it is about fantastical powers and grand narratives that cover years.

This is explored in the larger narrative, where we get to see the public reaction to Resonants and the calls for action to be taken against them, but we get some very personal insight into how it is to be one of these people through one of the main characters, Fahima Deeb, a queer Muslim American. Through spending time with Fahima we see what she's already had to live with, not because of being a Resonant, but through being Muslim in the US. She talks about seeing people turn against her family after 9/11, former friends shunning her and her family. She tells readers how government officials broke into her home and dragged family members away, simply for the suspicion that they could have been doing something wrong. This gives a very real grounding to the events that happen in the book, and remind readers that whilst this might be fantastical, many of the things that happen to Resonants happen to people in real life. Families turn their back on their children because they reveal a part of themselves that was previously hidden, police treat you with mistrust and refuse to help you, pundits call for your rights to be taken away in the press, the notion of putting people like you in camps is discussed. All of this sounds awful and too impossible to be true, but it's all real. You simply have to replace Resonants with another group and you'll finds so many documented cases of it happening in real life.

I think this was a large part of why this book spoke to me. In a time where people are taking to the streets to fight for their rights, their very lives, even during a dangerous global pandemic you can't escape the very real facts of oppression and othering that's happening across the globe. People are denouncing the fight for racial equality, trans rights are being opposed at every turn, people claim all members of religious groups are going to kill you, queer people are branded as deviants. It's all happening now, and it gives The Nobody People an added weight. It doesn't necessarily mean it's an easy read, but it makes it so much more relevant.

If you're a part of a minority you'll see a lot of yourself and the struggles that minority face in this book, and it might not be an easy read for you, but the book does manage to contain some hope, that there are some people out there that are fighting for the right thing, to make a better world. The book doesn't give us a happy ending, as it's the first part of a duology, but leaves readers waiting to see how society might resolve its issues of hate. Like in real life, I'm hopeful for a happy ending, but much like real life I'm not sure that's possible for this narrative; either way, I'm eagerly waiting to see how it all ends.

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World Burn Down by Steve Cole - Book Review

                         

'Carlos’s mother is a soldier, helping to protect the Amazon from the farmers, loggers and miners who are illegally destroying the precious rain-forest. It’s a dangerous job – and when she makes powerful enemies, Carlos is kidnapped to teach her a lesson. Taken deep into the Amazon, Carlos manages to escape his captors only to find himself trapped by fast-moving forest fires. Can he outrun the flames as the world burns down around him …?'

World Burn Down is the latest release from Barrington Stoke Books, an independent publisher with books designed to be accessible to younger readers who might have difficulty picking up a book. With larger print, pictures, tinted pages, and a font designed to help people with dyslexia, World Burn Down is instantly accessible to readers, and is a great way to encourage younger people into picking up a book.

The story follows Carlos, a young teen who's living with his mother in Manaus in Brasil. His mother works for IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, an organisation that sup[ports the anti-deforestation of the Amazon. As one of it's soldiers, she's responsible for keeping the forests free of illegal loggers, farmers, and any other activity that would threaten the environment. 

Because of her work, this means that both she and Carlos can become the targets of criminals who want to exploit the Amazon's resources, which is what happens one night when Carlos is alone in their apartment. With his mother working away he's by himself when a masked assailant breaks into their home and kidnaps him. Waking up some time later in the back of a jeep, Carlos discovers that he's been taken deep into the Amazon in order to coerce his mother into stopping her work.

However, due to the forest fires that are raging through the area, Carlos becomes separated from his kidnapper, and manages to make his way off into the jungle alone. With his hands bound and no idea where he is, he's left in a dangerous situation, one that's further complicated when a strange boy called Davi appears in the forest.

World Burns Down mixes together a story of desperate survival with some very real world facts about the Amazon, and the dangers it faces. Thanks to how Cole tells the story, moving Carlos from one extreme event to the other, he's able to slowly bring younger readers into a world that they might not be familiar with, and teach them a little about the plight that's threatening the Amazon right now.

The sad truth of the matter is that the world is on the brink, that we're getting closer and closer to the point where it'll be too late to stop the damage that humanity is causing. When that point comes it'll only be a matter of time before we've damaged our planet to the point where we wont be able to live on it anymore, and people will start to die out. This is a huge concept, and one that's absolutely terrifying; even for adults. But we're not at that point yet, we can still do something to change this. This is the message that this book is trying to make.

In the back of the book Steve Cole says that Carlos runs from danger to danger before he reaches the point where he realises running away won't work, and that action must be taken. This narrative mirrors us, it mirrors how this danger can seem so big and so scary that all you'll want to do is run away and hide, but that will only lead you further into danger. It's only through action that things can get better. This is a lesson that Carlos has to learn, and that this book can help to teach children.

Children are leading the fight to save our world. They're the ones who're making adults listen to them, who are going on strike and raising awareness. The most well known environmental activist in the world right now is Greta Thunberg, a teenage girl. These are the people who are going to be most affected by the damage being caused, who are going to grow up in a damaged world. By the time they're old enough to affect policy it will be too late, so they're having to step up and fight even earlier. 

World Burn Down isn't packed with science, or plans on how to make a change, but it could help a child realise that this is a very real problem. It could make them aware that our world is on the brink, and usher them to take action. It's a children's story first and foremost, but it's also meant to raise awareness and inspire; and I think that's something that it will certainly do.

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Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters by Jordan Kopy - Book Review

 

'Theodora was just a baby when Georgie rescued her from a hobgoblin-infested graveyard and delivered her to the Monstrous League of Monsters. The kind-hearted monsters vote to keep Theodora, risking Headquarters’ wrath if they’re ever discovered. They get away with it, too – until a series of anonymous letters coated in earwax threaten to expose them to Headquarters.

'As the monsters race to identify the letter-writer Theodora takes matters into her own hands, hatching a simple – no, clever – no, brilliant – plan. If she fails, her beloved monsters will rot in the dank prisons of Transylvania. Forever. But if she succeeds, Theodora will lose her own freedom. Forever. '

Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters is a book that will definitely appeal to readers who liked books like Amelia Fang, as it embraces the silly side of monsters and 'spooky' things, presenting them as fun instead of scary.

The book begins by introducing readers to Georgie, a zombie just risen from his grave, and vampire cat Bandit. Together, the two of them discover a baby girl left alone in a haunted graveyard at night. Searching around for her parents, they find nothing. Knowing that leaving her would result in some kind of monster coming along and eating her, the two of them take her to the Monstrous League of Monsters looking for advice.

The League live together in a huge mansion, a mummy, vampire, werewolf, witch, skeleton butler, singing ghost, and more. The League are dedicated to keeping the existence of monsters a secret from the human world, and to helping evil monsters to changing their ways and becoming good. They're unsure what to do with the child, but decide to take care of her, but only until they can think of a better idea. Well, after putting off those 'better' ideas time and time again, the monsters raise the baby, named Theodora, and fall in love with her.

Now Theodora is a lively ten year old, living with her monster family and going to the local primary school. Despite being surrounded by the monsters who love her she doesn't have any human friends, most of the other children being too afraid to come anywhere near her haunted home. However, when a new kid joins her school the two of them strike up a friendship, leading to Theodora trying to have a normal friendship whilst keeping the reality of her home life secret.

Whilst all this is happening the Monstrous League of Monsters begin to receive mysterious letters that indicate that they know about Theodora, and know that they're breaking the rules by raising her. Threatenign to out them to the rest of the MLM, they and Theodora try to find out who's sending the letters, the person who wants to break their family apart.

Despite being full of monsters and creatures the book tells a very human story, and focuses on family. Theodora might not be related to any of the MLM members, not even the same species in a lot of cases, but it's the love they all have for each other that makes them a family, and is the reason they'd all do whatever it takes to stay together. 

The book is full of these kinds of messages and morals, and will teach children that friendships and family can take any form, that you can care for someone and mean something to others even if you're not related. It's a nice moral, and one that will leave child readers feeling good.

There's also a lot of silly humour in the book, without it being too ridiculous. It's not full of silly fart jokes or gross-out gags, but relies on the monsters to get a laugh or two; such as when the werewolf has been glamoured to look human in front of Theodora's friend, but starts chewing on a bone, or when Bandit spits up three live mice whilst the kids are playing Monopoly. They're slightly farcical moments, but they'll make your kid laugh out loud, and can even elicit a chuckle or two from any parent reading along with them.

Theodora Hendrix and the Monstrous League of Monsters is a fun little book, full of nice messages and great illustrations that will keep any kid interested. It's got a story that's complex enough to keep children engaged and guessing, but isn't too grown up that they'll begin to lose interest. If you've got a child who likes monsters and spooky things this is an ideal read, especially with Halloween coming up.

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Witch by Finbar Hawkins - Books Review

 

'Set in the 17th century, a breathtaking debut, and a potential prize-winner, about the power of women, witchcraft, fury, revenge and the ties that bind us.

'After witnessing the brutal murder of her mother by witch-hunters, Evey vows to avenge her and track down the killers. Fury burns in her bright and strong. But she has promised her mother that she will keep Dill, her little sister, safe. As the lust for blood and retribution rises to fever pitch, will Evey keep true to the bonds of sisterhood and to the magick that is her destiny?'

Witch follows Evey, a young woman used to living in the woods with her mother and little sister Dill. The three of them enjoy a quiet existence, occasionally coming to town to use their skills as witches to help those suffering sickness, or to help delivery babies. The three of them a good people, and haven't been hurtful to anyone, yet can't escape the brutal prejudices of their time.

When their mother is dragged from her home, beaten and killed by a group of witch hunters Evey and Dill are forced to flee the only home they've ever known. Setting out to find their aunt, Evey is consumed by only one thought, the thirst for revenge.

I was initially intrigued by the description for Witch, and have enjoyed similar books to this in the past. I was hoping for a book that would put Evey through a journey that would help her to learn about herself and her life as a witch, and whilst the book does give us this I never really connected with her as a character the way I wanted to.

The book is told from Evey's point of view, and as such we spend a lot of time getting to hear her thoughts and how she feels about everything that's happening. However, one of the downsides to this is that the majority of the book is written in some strange ways, using slang and language that's not quite familiar. Whilst this does help to make the book feel like it's happening in a different era, it sometimes made it hard to connect with Evey as a character as I wasn't completely sure what she was trying to say.

This happened a lot whilst Evey was talking with her sister Dill, mainly due to the two of them having this strange kind of shorthand, but did ease a little as the book went on and Evey was able to set out on her own as her mission for revenge begins for real.

Once Evey sets out to make her mothers killers pay the story actually moves quite quickly, and has a good pace as events unfold over what is only a day or two in the narrative. The benefit of this is that you never get a moment to really slow down and get bored. New characters are introduced pretty quickly, and weave in and out of the narrative at a pace that sometimes feels a little convenient at times though.

Despite the pace of the story, and the relatively short length of the book, it took me longer than I thought to actually get through the book. This was in part because once I put it down I was a little reluctant to go back to it. It took me a while to realise that this was despite how appealing the story sounded I never really felt gripped by it, and didn't really care how Evey's story went. Her quest for revenge never grabbed me because I never felt invested in her as a person. Yes, it was awful what happened to her family, but Evey just came across as jealous and self-centred, putting herself before anyone else, even her sister. 

She's also incredibly reckless, and instead of plotting or planning how she can kill the man who murdered her mother she simply announces herself to them when she comes across them, which results in her having to run away, or be rescued by others. Once would have been bad enough, but the fact that she does it again really boggles the mind. Evey is a reckless and self centred protagonist that I found hard to like, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, and speaks well to someone who might be going through trauma and still trying to find themselves in the world.

Witch was a book that I found difficult to get my head round at times, but was glad that I took the time to read. It was never what I was expecting, and managed to do some new and interesting things that definitely make it stand out. I can't guarantee that you'll enjoy reading this one, but it's one that will definitely stick in your mind for a good while.

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Mary: The Adventures of Mary Shelley's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Granddaughter by Brea Grant - Book Review

'Angsty teenager Mary Shelley is not interested in carrying on her family’s celebrated legacy of being a great writer, but she soon discovers that she has the not-so-celebrated (and super-secret) Shelley power to heal monsters, just like her famous ancestor, and those monsters are not going to let her ignore her true calling anytime soon.

'The Shelley family history is filled with great writers: the original Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, the acclaimed mystery writer Tawny Shelley, cookbook maven Phyllis Shelley…the list goes on and on. But this Mary Shelley, named after her great-great-great-great-great grandmother, doesn’t want anything to do with that legacy. Then a strangely pale (and really cute) boy named Adam shows up and asks her to heal a wound he got under mysterious circumstances, and Mary learns something new about her family: the first Mary Shelley had the power to heal monsters, and Mary has it, too. Now the monsters won’t stop showing up, Mary can’t get her mother Tawny to leave her alone about writing something (anything!), she can’t tell her best friend Rhonda any of this, and all Mary wants is to pass biology.'

For ease of convenience I'm going to refer to this book as simply Mary. Mary follows Mary Shelley, the sixteen year old descendent of the famous author, and her family. Ever since their ancestor became famous for writing the first science fiction story, the women in the Shelley family have all been famous in their own rights, usually for writing too. Mary's grandmother wrote a best selling cookery book, her aunt is one of the world's most respected biographers, and her mother has a series of best selling mystery books that's been adapted into a hit television series. Faced with the success of her family, and the Shelley's who came before, Mary doesn't know what she's supposed to do with her life.

It's during this period of self reflection that something strange begins to happen to Mary. At first a frog she's dissecting in class seems to move on its own, then she begins seeing a strange pale young man, a man holding a foot. This young man finally corners her, and reveals that he needs her help to reattach his missing foot. Mary's reluctant, but agrees to help, and discovers that she somehow has the ability to reattach the foot, without any sign that it had ever been missing.

Whilst Mary just wants to forget the whole experience more and more strange creatures begin to appear in her life, asking for her medical assistance. This includes a harpy with tooth ache, and a ghost stuck in the body of a plushy bunny rabbit. It turns out that Mary has inherited a very strange ability from her ancestor, the power to magically heal monsters.

The plot itself is pretty interesting, and I love the idea of there being this secret history to Mary Shelley, that the monster she wrote about was actually a living person. It's something that takes the Shelley legacy in a new direction, and gives a lot of scope to have a bit of fun. And it's clear that Brea Grant is having a great deal of fun with the concept, introducing so very silly yet charming characters and monsters. The possessed bunny teddy quickly became a favourite of mine.

The art, by Yishan Li is really good, and all of the characters and monsters all look distinct and bold. Mary in particular looks great, and whilst she goes through a number of costume and hair changes she always stands out and looks distinct. Li's art seems to be a great fit for this book, and she draws people who look really good, but also bold and dynamic creatures. 

However, there is something about the book that I'm not sure about, and that's whether this is just a first entry in a series or if it's intended to stand alone. Much of the book feels like it's just setting up a world and introducing characters, and we only ever really get a broad sense of who these people are, and the rules of the world they're living in. Come the end of the book it hardly feels like we've scratched the surface of things, and I found myself wanting more. I wanted to spend more time with these characters, to discover more of this world. Sadly, I can't seem to find any indication of if there's going to be more coming. If this is a first of many volumes it's a great start to a series, but if it's a stand alone it leaves the reader a bit disappointing. 

I don't know if Mary's going to stick on this path, if Adam is the creature from Mary Shelley's original story, and how the demons who hate the Shelley family will be defeated. I really hope that there'll be more to come from this world as I'd love to see these questions answered.

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Dracula's Child by J. S. Barnes - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Dracula returns...

'It has been some years since Jonathan and Mina Harker survived their ordeal in Transylvania and, vanquishing Count Dracula, returned to England to try and live ordinary lives. But shadows linger long in this world of blood feud and superstition - and, the older their son Quincy gets, the deeper the shadows that lengthen at the heart of the Harkers' marriage. Jonathan has turned back to drink; Mina finds herself isolated inside the confines of her own family; Quincy himself struggles to live up to a family of such high renown. And when a gathering of old friends leads to unexpected tragedy, the very particular wounds in the heart of the Harkers' marriage are about to be exposed...

'There is darkness both within the marriage and without - for, while Jonathan and Mina wrestle with the right way to raise a child while still recovering from the trauma of their past lives, new evil is arising on the Continent. A naturalist is bringing a new species of bat back to London; two English gentlemen, on their separate tours of the continent, find a strange quixotic love for each other, and stumble into a calamity far worse than either has imagined; and the vestiges of something thought long-ago forgotten is, finally, beginning to stir...'

I read Dracula for the very first time last year, after trying to read it and never succeeding whilst in my teens. I found that now I'm an older and more experienced reader the book came a lot easier to me, and I was able to enjoy the classic story. Whilst I liked the book it never really wowed me or kept me excited. Dracula's Child, on the other hand, proved to be much more what I was hoping the original would be.

Much like the classic book Dracula's Child is written as a collection of diary entries, letters, and newspaper articles, collecting together a narrative that takes place over the better part of a year. The story takes place a dozen years after the conclusion of the original, and features the heroes of that novel, the Crew of Light, as they discover that they may not have managed to completely destroy the foul vampire.

In this new age, literally as it is now the 20th Century, these brave souls have moved on with their life. Doctor Seward has moved on to a new practice, Arthur Holmwood has settled down into his political career and marriage, Jonathan and Mina Harker are now parents to their son Quincey, and Van Helsing is enjoying his elderly years. They're all enjoying their lives since battling the monstrous count, and whilst things aren't perfect, they're all mostly happy. However, things begin to go wrong when during a gathering to celebrate Quincey's birthday Van Helsing suffers some awful kind of stroke, muttering a vague prophecy about Quincey, before collapsing and falling unconscious. This event is only the beginning, as from here things begin to go wrong not only for the Crew of Light, but the whole of England. 

At first the book seems to go on a few tangents, introducing new characters and situations that don't at first seem completely related, other than two new characters travelling together through Europe, who discover the remains of Dracula's Castle. However, after a while it becomes clear that there are many more connections than you first think, and that there is a huge web of plots and schemes just beneath the surface. Eventually it becomes apparent that there is a grand plan at work here, and that Dracula's claim that he would have revenge wasn't just a throw away comment, but a very real promise.

This is where the book really worked for me. The original novel felt very slow, and I found myself wondering what Dracula was doing during the long periods between events, and why he was taking weeks or months to do small things like turning Lucy Westenra into a vampire. Here, however, the long time frame makes so much more sense. There's always something happening somewhere, always a part of the plan unfolding or setting up something else that it never feels slow. Dracula never felt particularly calculating to me in the original, but here he and his minions are always a dozen or more steps ahead of the heroes.

Eventually Dracula's schemes lead to him returning to physical form and being handed power over London. He's not just a vampire hunting in the dark anymore, but the lordly Count he was in his homeland, reshaping England into a dark vision of his own making. Vampires have started to spread through the streets, and regular humans are living under a dark shadow, barely more than cattle. It's in this environment that a new Crew of Light are formed, with some of the original members and some new characters, people who hunt down nests of vampires and plan to destroy Dracula once again. 

J.S. Barnes has crafted a story that feels true to the original, but is so much more exciting. It starts slow, yes, but once you start to see all the pieces that are in play you understand the scope of the story he's been crafting, and then things go to hell and it becomes a desperate battle to survive. He's managed to take the original book and created a sequel full of energy and excitement, one that's bigger in scale and horror. There have been a lot of re-imaginings or sequels to the original book, but this is certainly one of the best that I've read, and if you like the original novel this one will make you feel right at home.

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Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp #1 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp is the start of a new Goosebumps adventure from writer Marieke Nijkamp and artist Yasim Florez Montanez, and is easily one of the best Goosebumps comics I’ve read yet.

In this first issue readers are introduced to Blake, a young teen who’s been sent to stay with her aunt Camila in the town of Fever Swamp for the summer. Blake is a fairly average teen, wanting to spend her time inside playing video games rather than having to go out and try to make new friends in this strange town. Despite this, her aunt insists on getting her to meet Lily, one of the local teens who’s into the same video game as Camila.

Camila seems to like Lily, but there’s some definite feelings of rivalry between the two of them, especially as Lily is one of the best players in the world. When Lily gets Camila to agree to accompany her into Fever Swamp later that night, Camila discovers that maybe monsters exist outside of her video game.

This issue is very much set-up, and spends the majority of the book establishing the characters, which is great. By the time the issue is over readers have a very clear idea who Camila is, what makes her tick, and why she makes the choices she does during the book. Whilst we don’t get as long a time with Lily, she’s given enough of a personality that we can understand her motivations, and why she and Camila could have a competitive friendship.

One of the things that I really loved about Camila, however, is the fact that she’s a female lead who’s also Black and disabled. I’m sure there will be some people who’ll cynically say that this would be someone ticking boxes for inclusion, but this is actually some really nice representation.

Even though Camila is visibly disabled, having a prosthetic on her left arm, it doesn’t even come up until towards the end of the book, and even then when asked how she’s able to play video games because of it she simply replies ‘very well actually’ and shuts down any invasive questions; which is awesome. I’m not completely surprised that the book has some good representation, with both the writer and artist being women, but it is still really pleasant to find in what was a very male-centric franchise when I was a kid.

The book has a really nice art style too, and artist Yasmin Florez Montanez and colourist Rebecca Nalty work really well together, creating a look that’s clean and simple, that doesn’t overload the reader, yet manages to look really good at the same time.

This issue proves to be a great start to this new volume of Goosebumps, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes next.

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