Category: Book Review
Puppet Parade by Zeinab Alayan
(Cover picture courtesy of Zeinab Alayan’s website.)
The life of a puppet master is never ordinary. Oliver Deere knew this when he ran away from home to take up the trade of puppetry, but he had no idea just how much his life would change.
After his puppets come to life and flee town, Oliver meets up with a masked girl who hides a mysterious past. As they travel together in search for Oliver’s lost puppets, they find that the line between puppet and master is becoming much less clear – and much more deadly.
As Oliver and his companion enter the strange world of The Parade, they begin to realise that their journey will lead them to discover the truth behind a dangerous villain’s path, and in the end, discover more about each other.
[Full disclosure: Zeinab Alayan sent me a free ebook in return for an honest review of her novel.]
When I saw the title Puppet Parade I must admit I was skeptical. Why? For no logical reason, really. I just thought it sounded stupid.
Yes, I judged a book by its title. I’m a terrible person, I know.
However, once I actually started reading Puppet Parade I was pleasantly surprised. Zeinab Alayan has a very nice, easy to read writing style and although she slips from past to present tense once or twice (especially near the end), I didn’t find nearly as many mistakes as I would have expected in a self-published novel. The only error that really threw me off was in the beginning where there was ‘nut’ instead of ‘but’ on page 8.
Sophie and Oliver really are great characters. In normal novels a man and a woman travelling together would pretty much fall in Insta-Love, but that’s really not the case with this odd pair. Zeinab Alayan took time to fully develop their personalities as they journeyed together through the mysterious Parade and discovered that despite its outward appearances, it had a much more sinister purpose. Sophie’s backstory is pretty incredible, but Puppet Parade does seem to be based in a fairytale-like setting so it does make sense in the context of the story. Oliver can be pretty eccentric but really is an interesting character who is very determined to protect Sophie, even before he admits to himself he has feelings for her.
The world of Puppet Parade is a refreshing break from all of the high fantasy I’ve read lately. Yes, it is fantasy, but it really doesn’t stick to any of the traditional fantasy tropes and clichés. It seemed to be pretty cliché at first, but Zeinab Alayan put an incredible twist on the mysterious world of the Parade that made sense, but was surprising at the same time.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
The gold thread shimmers in the fading light.
It promises Charlotte Miller a way out of debt, a chance to save her family’s beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, livelihood for her townsfolk, security against her sinuous and grasping uncle. It might even promise what she didn’t know she needed: lasting hope and true love.
But at what cost?
To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past—secrets and bonds ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte’s mill, her family, her friends, her love…What do those matter to a powerful stranger who can spin straw into gold?
In her brilliant debut, Elizabeth Bunce weaves a spellbinding fairy tale, spun with mystery and shot through with romance.
A Curse Dark as Gold completely exceeded my expectations, something that is incredibly rare in a fairytale retelling. Elizabeth Bunce gave the heroine of the story, called Charlotte in this version (usually she has no name) a lot more depth than the traditional Rumpelstiltskin legend does. And Rumpelstiltskin himself, although he’s never called that, is surprisingly sympathetic. He is a villain in the traditional sense of the word, but in this version there are no set roles; it is very ambiguous, especially at the end.
Elizabeth Bunce also added enough plot twists to give the plot depth while keeping readers in suspense. Throughout the story, you really get the feeling that this is Rumpelstiltskin but it’s different enough that you are in doubt about the traditional happy ending during the climax. What impressed me the most about A Curse Dark as Gold was how Elizabeth Bunce chose to set it in a fantasy world similar to Britain as the Industrial Revolution was kicking off. Of course, that would explain why the mill was so important and was threatened with closure because of the new, more efficient machines in the city.
I thought Charlotte fell in love with Randall a little too quickly, but that’s probably because I’m not a romantic. Other than that, I really had no complaints about the characters, which is incredibly rare in a fairytale retelling. If you had to read just one fairytale retelling, I would recommend this one. Try it; you won’t regret it.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Now You See Them, Now You Don’t by Gordon Korman
(Cover picture courtesy of ACK children and young adults.)
One man holds the key to freeing Aiden and Meg Falconer’s parents from prison: a mysterious figure named Frank Lindenauer. Aiden and Meg must cross the country to try to catch them…even as the FBI tries to catch them first.
In California, Aiden and Meg fall in with a crowd that already has its share of trouble. They want to believe they’ve found friends who will help them out. But if they’re not careful, these “friends” will sell them out instead.
More impossible escapes, more danger and more excitement. One would not think Gordon Korman’s On the Run series would be all that different, but unlike a lot of action/thriller series, it’s not just the numbers on the spines that distinguish one book from another. Each book moves the plot forward while providing all the action and humour you can expect from Gordon Korman.
What distinguishes Now You See Them, Now You Don’t from the first two books is that we discover more about the mysterious Frank Lindenauer and we see the darker side of the inner city. Meg and Aiden finally make mistakes and it’s only luck that saves them at times, not their own ingenuity. This would be annoying except for the fact it shows they have flaws; they’re not the perfect fugitives. They are still clever enough to hold readers’ attention, but their flaws give them a lot more depth than they had before.
The premise of On the Run certainly isn’t unique (going on the run to prove someone’s innocence), but for the target age group it certainly will be. Even if you’ve read something like this before, Gordon Korman’s humour and action-packed writing will win you over. They’re quite short books, only around 100 pages, but I still re-read them once a year.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Queste by Angie Sage
(Cover picture courtesy of Queste Wiki.)
There’s trouble at the Castle, and it’s all because Merrin Meredith has returned with Darke plans for Septimus. More trouble awaits Septimus and Jenna in the form of Tertius Fume, the ghost of the very first Chief Hermetic Scribe, who is determined to send Septimus on a deadly Queste. But Septimus and Jenna have other plans—they are headed for the mysterious House of Foryx, a place where all Time meets and the place where they fervently hope they will be able to find Nicko and Snorri, who were trapped back in time in Physik. But how will Septimus escape the Queste?
Queste, like all the books in the Septimus Heap series, is filled with nonstop action, humor, and fantastical adventure as Septimus continues his journey of Magykal self-discovery.
As you may remember, I wasn’t overly fond of Magyk, the first book in the Septimus Heap series. Still, I kept on with the series because it showed potential and now that I’ve read the fourth book, I’m certainly glad I did. With each book, Angie Sage’s writing got better, the characters became three dimensional and the world-building improved greatly.
Queste follows Septimus and Jenna as they try to bring Nicko and Snorri back to the present. The only problem is that Septimus has drawn the Questing Stone and must go on a Queste. Questing had been abolished because too many Apprentices died while on their Questes, but a loophole exploited by a villainous ghost revives them. In Queste, Angie Sage created a lot more suspense than she did in her previous three books. It suits the maturing writing style throughout the series, which allows fans to grow up along with the books.
Angie Sage rotates between different points of view, which can be confusing in the wrong hands, but she handled it well. Queste is a bit more dark than the other three books, although it still has some of that humour Angie Sage is known for. I would highly recommend this book for kids ages 8-12 who love fantasy.
And yes, I would even recommend it to adults and teens who love a bit of light reading once in a while.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
(Cover picture courtesy of Bookyurt.)
Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus lived from 10 B. C. to 54 A. D. Despise as a weakling and dismissed as an idiot because of his physical infirmities, Claudius survived the intrigues and poisonings that marked the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, and the mad Caligula to become Emperor of Rome in 41 A. D. I, Claudius, the first part of Robert Graves’s two-part account of the life of Tiberius Claudius, is written in the form of Claudius’s autobiography and stands as one of the modern classics of historical fiction.
I love both Roman history and historical fiction, so when I got the classic I, Claudius for my birthday, I was incredibly excited. But did it live up to all of the hype?
Actually, yes.
I, Claudius is written from Claudius’ point of view and really did a lot to repair the reputation of one of the most unlikely emperors in the history of Rome. Claudius was often portrayed as an inept fool who survived only because he was the butt of the Imperial family’s jokes, but Robert Graves’ classic really did make people start to examine the real Claudius. Due to my interest in Roman history, I was lucky enough to be introduced to this Claudius through Mike Duncan’s History of Rome podcast. Both Mike Duncan’s incredible podcast and I, Claudius do Claudius justice and shed a lot of light on the complicated politics of Imperial Rome.
One thing I didn’t like, and this is more of a personal matter, is the fact that Robert Graves seemed to subscribe to the Livia-poisoned-everyone theory. Did the Augusta poison people? Almost certainly. But did she really have Augstus, Agrippa, Lucius, Marcellus, Gaius and Claudius’ grandfather poisoned (and many, many others)? Almost certainly not. However, this particular theory makes for excellent fiction and some of the incidents related by Claudius are probably embellishments, but that’s why it’s called historical fiction. These things could have happened, but they likely did not.
Claudius himself is a great character. Because of the autobiography format of the novel, we get to see him as he grows up through his eyes. The writing style is as if Claudius is writing many years later, so there is quite a bit of foreshadowing of certain events and we do get insight into some incidents we never would have gotten otherwise. My only real complaint was that the book ended just when things were going to get good: his ascent to the purple, so to speak. That’s also why I’m eager to read the much overshadowed sequel to this classic novel, Claudius the God.
I give this book 5/5 stars.