Hellloooo! (General update - plus dog pic)

I've been pretty absent online lately. Sorry about that. It's mostly due to starting a new job (yay!) and being pretty busy with writing projects (also yay!), leaving me little time for blogging (and tweeting, as it happens).

I just wanted to check in and say I am here, I'm ok and regular service will soon be resumed :)

Thanks for your patience. Here's a cheery picture of our dogs to make it all better.

Reviews coming up include:
Witchfall by Victoria Lamb (loved it - read Witchstruck first; both are ace)
Emily and Patch by Jessie Williams (a truly lovely read - definitely recommended)
Bones of the Lost by Kathy Reichs (great for Tempe Brennan fans)

Review: Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

Breath-taking second instalment in YA fantasy series

With plenty of action as well as angsty emotional turmoil, this is a great read and is sure to be loved by all fans of the first novel, Throne of Glass. Sarah J Maas has ratcheted it all up a notch and introduced plenty of complications and nasty shocks. She must want to punish Celaena for something - just when I thought one thing in her life was stable and sorted, bam! No such luck for her. But I suppose ‘happy ever after’ doesn't really work before the end…

I loved Throne of Glass, and the prequel novellas, and this second novel continues in fine form, far surpassing my expectations (which were high enough that I was nervous to start reading in case book one was spoilt). If you've been thinking the same, hesitate no more!

The characters remain rich and textured, and it’s easy to ache for Celaena, while simultaneously wanting to shake her for her haughty arrogance and occasional immaturity (but then, she isn't yet an adult!). As a teen protagonist, she is complex and perfectly layered, and is surrounded by a cast of characters who are almost as textured. This world admits no caricatures or stock characters.

This is a fantasy world that I'm happy to spend plenty of time in. As I noticed in the first novel, the world is brilliantly realised and in this instalment we see further aspects of it, while the various dangers circle and hover, making it clear that Celaena will not find it easy to succeed in the mission that seems to have been chosen for her.

Ultimately, this is a classic sweeping fantasy, with themes of morality and power, greed and duty. I’d absolutely recommend the series for anyone who has ever enjoyed a ‘good versus evil’ fantasy story, be it Narnia, Harry Potter or Game or Thrones.

Goodreads summary:

An assassin’s loyalties are always in doubt.
But her heart never wavers.

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

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Out now from Bloomsbury

Find out more at the series facebook page

My thanks to the publisher for allowing me a review copy via Netgalley

Review: Siege by Sarah Mussi

Shocking, raw and powerful - a fab YA thriller 

Reposting as this fab novel came out last week in paperback.

I know that some people have found this to be too violent. It is certainly not suitable for the younger end of the YA spectrum. However, the violence is not gratuitous and the novel is thought-provoking and challenging enough to justify its shock value (think Clockwork Orange, perhaps).

Written in a strong first person, present tense voice, and set in 2020, Siege introduces us to Leah Jackson at the precise moment a group of boys open fire in assembly. But since she was late to school and is in detention, she doesn't immediately realise what is happening. The novel then follows her as she works to avoid being shot, to escape and raise the alarm, travelling through air vents and crawling across ceiling tiles. Twists and turns abound as Leah runs into difficulty after difficulty in this tightly-plotted thriller that will have you holding your breath. Die Hard in a school is an appropriate description of this book, with the themes of containment and against-the-odds battle to protect the innocent and stop the guilty.

hardback cover

Her escape is hampered by the nature of her school. In this version of the near future, society has fractured even further and the schools are more obviously streamed by social class. Leah's school is built to contain and restrain, founded on the assumption that lower-class kids are Trouble. This means that once the school goes into Lock Down, escape is not a simple matter.

I loved the character of Leah. Loved her speech patterns ("That don't sound right."), her bravery and her resourcefulness. She's been used to looking after the family, and I found it easy to sympathise with her and her nagging worry that her brother, Connor, may be one of the boys at the centre of all this. Could she have prevented it? Should she have done more to help him? This additional personal layer of sickening guilt is just enough to rack up the tension even higher.

I found this to be an excellent read, right on the money for our times. Sarah Mussi has something to say about social deprivation, violence and responsibility and she conveys it in terms that are both accessible and enjoyable to read. Yes, there is violence and some scenes are graphic, but many kids are seeing worse on games consoles and tv screens every day - and in a purely 'entertaining' way without the subtle social analysis that is present here.

From the Publisher's Website:

Leah escapes the siege in her school, but she can't avoid wrestling with impossible choices in this topical, terrifying new novel that's essential reading for teens everywhere.

Leah Jackson - in detention. Then armed Year 9s burst in, shooting. She escapes, just. But the new Lock Down system for keeping intruders out is now locking everyone in. She takes to the ceilings and air vents with another student, Anton, and manages to use her mobile to call out to the world.

First: survive the gang - the so-called 'Eternal Knights'.
Second: rescue other kids taken hostage, and one urgently needing medical help.

Outside, parents gather, the army want intelligence, television cameras roll, psychologists give opinions, sociologists rationalise, doctors advise - and they all want a piece of Leah. Soon her phone battery is running out; the SAS want her to reconnoitre the hostage area ... 

But she is guarding a terrifying conviction. Her brother, Connor, is at the centre of this horror. Is he with the Eternal Knights or just a pawn? 

She remembers. All those times Connor reached out for help ... If she'd listened, voiced her fears about him earlier, would things be different now? Should she give up her brother?

With only Anton for company, surviving by wits alone, Leah wrestles with the terrible choices ...

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Published in paperback 5 September 2013 from Hodder

Find more info at the publisher's website

My grateful thanks go to the publisher for sending a proof to review