The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Synopsis

In the highlands of Malaya, a woman sets out to build a memorial to her sister, killed at the hands of the Japanese during the brutal Occupation of their country. Yun Ling’s quest leads her to The Garden of Evening Mists, and to Aritomo, a man of extraordinary skill and reputation, once the gardener of the Emperor of Japan. When she accepts his offer to become his apprentice, she begins a journey into her past, inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country’s history.

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My thoughts

 

This book was both beautiful and harrowing at the same time as Yun Ling tells us the story of what happened during the war and afterwards, when she was apprenticed to the former gardener of the emperor of Japan and their complicated relationship.

The text is beautifully written and extremely descriptive and although I desperately wanted to know the entire story as quickly as possible I felt that rushing through this book would be a disservice to the author’s gorgeous style.

It is no wonder that this was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker and won the Man Asian prize, I will admit that this is the first Man Booker nominee that I have read as I have always been intimidated by the books on the list, but this was so well written and the characters so real that I will be reading more Man Booker nominees in future and I hope to pick up Tan Twan Eng’s first book, The Gift of Rain sometime soon.

This book will make you think about world history and a part of World War 2 that we don’t often hear about, the suffering of the people in this book seems to be neglected while the holocaust is regularly (and quite rightly) written about.

 

4/5

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Cinder by Merissa Meyer

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Synopsis

A forbidden romance.
A deadly plague.
Earth’s fate hinges on one girl . . .

CINDER, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing, is also a cyborg. She’s reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen – and a dangerous temptation.

Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect Earth’s future.

This is not the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.

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My Thoughts

 

In the future we will be united, united against the Lunars, the Lunars are always threatening us with war and then there is the plague, decimating the planet, can anyone stop a war and cure a plague?

Cinder is a dystopian retelling of Cinderella with a bad Stepmother, handsome prince, but in this case Cinderella is a Cyborg named Cinder.

I enjoyed this book, it is very well written and I found myself really sympathising with Cinder, not just because of her mean stepmother but because although she is a cyborg, she is more human than most of the other characters (except she isn’t obviously).

Cinder is a clever girl, she knows she is a second class citizen but she knows what she wants and fights for it. , all the characters in Meyer’s retelling are well defined and there are laughs, loves and tragedy and above all there is hope, to me that is the most important part of a story like this, there must be hope, otherwise what else is there.

This is a really enjoyable retelling, bringing the story of Cinderella in to the future with a twist and I for one am looking forward to reading the rest of the Lunar Chronicles.

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The Colour of Red by Nima Lee

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by Matador on 20th December 2016

Synopsis

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This extraordinary, yet relatively unknown period, is vibrantly captured in a sequence of short stories, full of tragedy, humour and satire in beautifully crafted vignettes of life at the time, both ordinary and otherwise. The Colour of Red is a gripping debut collection of short stories, set in China, and is based on true events that took place between 1966 and 1976. Nima Lee paints the moving human dramas behind this turbulent period in a powerful amalgam of betrayal, love, hate, ridicule and brutality. With the revival of an autocratic personality cult in China today, it is a stark reminder of potential catastrophic consequences. Stories include The Helmsman, which is a unique portrayal of Mao as an ordinary man in an ordinary day, elevated to an extraordinary position. In contrast to many books, Lee encourages the reader to form their own views and judgements on this prominent historic figure who dominated Chinese politics for a century. In stark contrast, The Autumns Tale will touch your heart at the fate of two young lovers, while Mango recounts perhaps one of the most bizarre episodes in recent history. In this remarkable collection Nima Lee reveals both the tribulations inflicted upon and the resilience of ordinary Chinese people through her variety of characters including a ten-year-old girl, a journalist, red guards, university students and soldiers. Written in chronological order, The Colour of Red is a highly informative and thoroughly entertaining collection that uses historical facts to bring fictional characters to life. In every sense, Lee has made the Cultural Revolution unforgettable, skilfully navigating the subject and exploring the politics of the time without being judgemental, maintaining a high level of writing that moves one to tears.

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My thoughts

The colour of red is a collection of short stories focusing on a period of China’s history that few know of, the great proletarian cultural revolution that began in 1966 under the leadership of Chairman Mao, (the most people know these days is that Mao was mentioned in a Beatles lyric), Lee’s evocative writing style brings back into sharp focus the chaos that reigned during that period.

Each story focuses on one segment of that history, from the students who are almost maniacal in their worship of Mao, to the teachers, imprisoned, beaten and sometimes even murdered because they teach things other than what Mao has proclaimed.

I will admit I know very little about China’s history and the last time I read anything about Chinese history was when I was in school and we studied Communism in China as part of my history class.

Lee’s characters are beautifully written and true to life, probably because they have been based on real events and real people, you can sympathise, empathise them and even dislike them for their actions, Lee has created a beautiful narrative that will encourage you to learn more about China and look at the Country in a completely different way.

I gave this 4 out of 5 *

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The White Hare by Michael Fishwick – Blog Tour

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by Zephyr

9th March 2017

Synopsis

The one who doesn’t go straight home, the traitor,

The friendless one, the cat of the wood…’

A lost boy. A dead girl, and one who is left behind.

Robbie doesn’t want anything more to do with death, but life in a village full of whispers and secrets can’t make things the way they were.

When the white hare appears, magical and fleet in the silvery moonlight, she leads them all into a legend, a chase, a hunt. But who is the hunter and who the hunted?

In The White Hare, Michael Fishwick deftly mingles a coming-of-age story with mystery, myth and summer haunting

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My thoughts

 

This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is first book in Head of Zeus’ new children’s imprint Zephyr.

Although I found the first chapter of this book a little bit difficult and confusing to read, the book soon picked up as Fishwick got into his stride and began revealing the characters secrets, Robbie is a typical boy, who having lost his mother to cancer, has gone off the rails a little, especially as his Dad quickly remarried, although his stepmother comes across as a little cold towards him, it becomes apparent that she is trying her best in a difficult situation.

Mags, Robbie’s friend is mysterious and only reveals her story a bit at a time.

The story is gripping as we learn about Fran, Mag’s best friend, who killed herself  after her relationship ended with the town bad boy. The mystery and local legend of the White Hare, is wonderfully constructed and woven into the story and the connection to Mags and Fran is clever. Robbie’s character is slowly revealed over the course of the book as we learn how frustration with his mother’s illness causes his behaviour problems and how he comes to terms with her death and his father’s remarriage.

This is a modern day fairy tale and any one who says it is to dark to be one has never read any of the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

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The White Hare by Michael Fishwick

Posted on March 13, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

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Check back on Wednesday for my review on this book from Zepher

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What the Raven Brings by John Owen Theobald

Posted on March 10, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by Head of Zeus

1st December 2016

Synopsis

London, 1942: the Blitz is over but the war rages on. With the country still fighting for its existence, a young girl takes to the skies…

After her mother was killed in an air raid, Anna Cooper was sent to live with her uncle, the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London. Now, he too is dead. His dying wish was for Anna to be the next Ravenmaster, keeper of the birds who, according to legend, guard the fate of the kingdom. But the Tower authorities won’t stand for a female Ravenmaster, let alone one who is not yet sixteen years old.

Denied her destiny, Anna is desperate to escape the Tower and join the war effort. She bluffs her way into the glamorous – and dangerous – world of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

But no matter how high she flies, Anna can’t escape her past… nor the secret that it conceals. A secret that could change the course of the war.

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My thoughts

In this sequel to These Dark Wings, Anna is now 15, her Uncle Henry has passed on and she is not allowed to become Ravenmaster as her Uncle wished. So she leaves the tower and her Guardian Yeoman Oakes and becomes a female pilot in the ATA.

The mystery of Anna’s father, who she believed drowned when she was 5, and the death of her Mother are resolved, and she struggles to come to terms with it. She also struggles as a female pilot in a male dominated world, a world in which men believed that women were only capable of housework and looking after children..

Theobald’s existing characters really grow in this instalment and we meet fresh new characters as Anna journeys into adulthood.

Anna herself grows into a complex young woman, brave and determined but also scared of the future at a time when the outcome of the war was still in the balance. The description of her first flight in control of a plane is brilliant, I believed in Anna, I wanted her to succeed, rare is the author that can instil in me the care and concern I felt, not just for Anna but for her friend, Timothy and guardian, Yeoman Oakes. I also sympathised with Anna with regards to her best friend Flo, who seemed callous and shallow when she returned from Canada, in truth, I think she was just sheltered from the true horror of what was happening in the war.

I wish that there had been a book like this when I was growing up, a book with a strong female character, who is brave, feminine, uncertain, scared, confused and mostly human.

It is also wonderful to read about the work of the ATA. These women, who flew planes from airbase to airbase, so they were where they were needed by the pilots who would carry out bombing missions and raids, seem to be the forgotten heroes of World War 2 and Theobald highlights the dangers that these women faced as they flew the plane without using radios or instruments, they literally navigated by using landmarks.

This is a great sequel, and this book was even better than the first. I cannot wait for the third and finally part of this trilogy to come out so I can find out what happened to Anna after the war, I cannot believe that she of all people would be happy becoming a housewife and mother.

4.5 out of 5 Stars

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These Dark Wings by John Owen Theobald

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by  Head of Zeus

Synopsis

After her mother is killed in the Blitz and her father in the North Sea, 12-year-old Anna Cooper is sent to live with an uncle she has never met – the Ravenmaster at the Tower of London.

Amid the Tower’s old secrets and hidden ghosts, the ravens begin to disappear and Anna must brave the war-torn city to find them.

With Nazi forces massing on the other side of the Channel, the fate of Britain might be at stake, for an ancient legend foretells that Britain will fall if the ravens ever leave the Tower.

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My thoughts

Set during the London Blitz of World War 2, this story follows Anna cooper, a thirteen year old who has been orphaned and sent to live with her Uncle Henry, who is Ravenmaster at the Tower of London. Anna helps her Uncle look after the legendary Ravens.

It is a beautifully crafted story and Anna is a true to life character, scared of the war, lonely, abandoned, brave, naïve, honest and forthright. She doesn’t want to live at the tower which is cold, and look after the ravens, she wants to be a normal girl and have a normal life.

Her uncle is a more peripheral character, but clearly cares for her and the ravens. All the characters are seen from Anna’s point of view and her perception of each person changes as she changes and ages.

Theobald brilliantly describes the uncertainty and fear of 13 year old Anna as she deals with air raids, incendiaries, boys, school and the ravens.

A beautiful book that I really recommend to anyone that likes historical fiction and is interested to know how it felt to be a child in the blitz, and it is wonderful to have this from a girl’s point of view.

I gave this 4 out of 5*

Please check back on Friday for my review of Book 2 in The Ravenmaster Trilogy.

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What the Raven Brings by John Owen Theobald – Blog Tour

Posted on March 7, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

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And check back tomorrow for a review of the first book in the Ravenmaster Trilogy These Dark Wings

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Find Me by J. S. Monroe

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by Head of Zeus on 9th Feb 2017

Buy the book by using my Book Depository link by clicking HERE

Synopsis

Five years ago, Rosa walked to the end of the pier in the dead of night. She looked into the swirling water, and jumped. She was a brilliant young Cambridge student who had just lost her father. Her death was tragic, but not unexpected.

Was that what really happened?

The coroner says it was. But Rosa’s boyfriend Jar can’t let go. He sees Rosa everywhere – a face on the train; a figure on the cliff. He is obsessed with proving that she is still alive. And then he gets an email.

Find me, Jar. Find me, before they do…

Is Rosa really dead? And, if she is, who is playing games with the ones she left behind?

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My thoughts

This is a nicely paced thriller, the story is split into two parts, in part one we meet Jar, he is unable to accept that his girlfriend Rosa killed herself and is trying to investigate what actually happened to her. We also meet his girlfriend, Rosa, her story is being told in the form of a diary and leads up to her alleged death.

The character of Jar is brilliantly written, he is convinced that Rosa is alive and that he has seen her, and we are led to believe that he is suffering from hallucinations. The plot is intricately constructed and clever, with misleading information, a seemingly vile policeman and some apparently under cover agents for the government.

In part two, Monroe brings in the point of view of another character and the true story of what happened to Rosa begins to unfold. The plot twist is not a sudden shocker, but gradually revealed, which to me worked very well and was actually far more horifying than the quick reveal that many other writers use, in this book a quick revela would have ruined the tension that Monroe brilliant builds up.

The ending is also brilliand as Monroe does not gloss over everything that has happened to our main characters, he does not provide a twee happy ever after ending, but gives a true life ending that is extremely poignant as he advises that although Rosa and Jar’s ordeal is over physically, pyschologically it is going to take a lot longer for them to recover.

One of the must read books of the year

If you want to see a video review please click HERE

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All our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Andrea Pryke

Published by Michael Joseph on 2nd March 2017

Synopsis

When Tom loses the love of his life, time travel seems like the only answer. . . what could possibly go wrong?

Elan Mastai’s breakthrough novel brings a whole new dimension to a classic love story

So, the thing is, I come from the world we were supposed to have.

That means nothing to you, obviously, because you live here, in the crappy world we do have.

But it never should’ve turned out like this. And it’s all my fault – well, me and to a lesser extent my father.

And, yeah, I guess a little bit Penelope.

In both worlds, she’s the love of my life. But only a single version of her can exist.

I have one impossible chance to fix history’s greatest mistake and save this broken world.

Except it means saving one Penelope and losing the other forever – and I have absolutely no idea which to choose . . .

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My thoughts

I had heard good things about this book, so when I had the opportunity to get a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review, I jumped at it.

Tom is from 2016, but not our 2016, his 2016 is a utopia, flying cars, perfect food, moving sidewalks and so on, life is perfect, but Tom doesn’t fit in, he is average, he is not a genius like his father and he struggles to hold down a job. His father gives him a job in the lab he runs and he is perfecting time travel and wants a team to go back to the moment that made the utopia they live in possible, the day in 1965 that the Goettleider engine was switched on. Tom meanwhile has fallen in love with another employee of his father, Penelope, she is the lead on the time travel experiment, but when something happens to stop her from becoming the first time traveller and results in her dismissal from the company, she kills herself. Distraught Tom uses the machine himself but doesn’t complete the protocols required before he travel back, this causes the timeline to change and when he returns to 2016 it is to our 2016, which to him seems a dystopian nightmare, but thin this timeline he is a successful architect named John. Should he try and restore the 2016 he knows, which could possible cause the timeline to change again but for the worse, or does he stay in a world in which he feels he belongs?

 

Firstly the formatting in the Netgalley edition was not brilliant, with words, spaced incorrectly and the books title and author name appearing in the middle of the text on the majority of pages, although this was annoying and distracted me at first one I got used to it I was able to enjoy the story.

The story itself is brilliant and Mastai explains why time travel in other stories simply won’t work because the earth moves so this needs to be taken into consideration when travelling in time.

Tom is a simple character to start with, not completely likable at this point, but he grows as we learn he is a product of this utopia, but he does not belong there. We also meet the other versions of him, John from our 2016 and Victor a version from yet another possible 2016,  a truly dystopian 2016 and he is a solider, a survivor of the 3rd world war. Naturally these three different personas want to take control of the one body, they have all existed and they all want to exist, but although when absorbed together they make one complete human being, separately they are a nightmare.

The other characters are also well crafted, but complicated as there are multiple versions of some of them and in each timeline they are completely different.

The story twists and turns with each page and leads Tom to his ultimate decision, which is the best 2016 that they can hope for.

Well written and powerful this is a must read for all fans of time travel and dystopian fiction, there are some lovely and funny moments, and there are also some shocks as well, a real rollercoatser ride.

 

I only dropped this 1 star because the reasons for the suicide of Tom’s girl wasn’t believable to me and if you read the book you will understand why I found this bit hard to accept.

 

4/5

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