JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Kelsea Glynn is the sole heir to the throne of Tearling but has been raised in secret by foster parents after her mother – Queen Elyssa, as vain as she was stupid – was murdered for ruining her kingdom. For 18 years, the Tearling has been ruled by Kelsea’s uncle in the role of Regent however he is but the debauched puppet of the Red Queen, the sorceress-tyrant of neighbouring realm of Mortmesme. On Kelsea’s 19th birthday, the tattered remnants of her mother’s guard – each pledged to defend the queen to the death – arrive to bring this most un-regal young woman out of hiding…

And so begins her journey back to her kingdom’s heart, to claim the throne, earn the loyalty of her people, overturn her mother’s legacy and redeem the Tearling from the forces of corruption and dark magic that are threatening to destroy it. But Kelsea’s story is not just about her learning the true nature of her inheritance – it’s about a heroine who must learn to acknowledge and live with the realities of coming of age in all its insecurities and attractions, alongside the ethical dilemmas of ruling justly and fairly while simply trying to stay alive…

I picked this up because the book has been in the media a lot lately; Emma Watson couldn’t put it down and now it’s being turned into a movie with Emma as producer and actress. I did enjoy it, to the point where I read it in a couple of days and was anxious to see what happened next. However, the novel is setting up a lot for the sequel and I felt that at times, the story moved a little too slowly. Kelsea didn’t actually reach her keep until about 1/3 of the way through the novel, and the Red Queen (the antagonist of the trilogy) isn’t featured in the novel much.

It’s quite clear that some of the author’s thoughts are coming into the story. I’m guessing that Erika is an avid reader of fantasy. Kelsea is the new Queen of the Tearling, and yet she spends a lot of time trying to build a library in her keep? It seems a little unrealistic that one of her first concerns would be this. Also, the setting is a little strange and conflicting. It’s set in the future (you won’t think this when reading it), but has a medieval feel to it. And then Kelsea talks about how much she loves Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I always try to avoid naming popular books/movies/people etc in novels because it time stamps your book and people reading it in ten years might not relate to it. Kelsea’s love of Lord of the Rings felt strange to me – it jolts the piece and disturbs the setting. It no longer felt like a fantasy tale.

I think the second and third book in the series will be better than the first now that the world and societal relations have been set up. If it weren’t for Emma Watson, I doubt this book would be as popular as it has become.

My Score: 7/10

The Heist by Daniel Silva

Gabriel Allon, art restorer and occasional spy, searches for a stolen masterpiece by Caravaggio in #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva’s latest action-packed tale of high stakes international intrigue.

Sometimes the best way to find a stolen masterpiece is to steal another one…

I think this is actually the first ‘spy fiction’ novel I’ve ever read. It’s fast-paced and a globe trotter. This story is not just about stolen artwork. Gabriel Allon, whose wife is pregnant with twins, is asked to help when Jack Bradshaw is found murdered. Bradshaw was known for ‘dodgy dealings’ and stealing and selling expensive artwork. As you can probably guess, Bradshaw is not the only body that’s discovered in this story.

Sometimes I found the novel to be quite confusing, and I think ‘spy stories’ work best as movies because they’re much easier to follow. The plot was fast-paced and the characters seemed to be able to figure out things and come up with these elaborate plans in two pages, and then the reader is left with questions that they feel don’t get answered. A few times I had to backtrack and reread certain pages because their conversations were ripe with lingo I didn’t understand and were almost short-hand.

Although I think the middle section of the novel was unnecessarily complex, I was intrigued by the conclusion of the story. Unexpected events occurred, and the ending was surprising.

This was the first Daniel Silva novel, and I recommend it only to people who have read his work before or people who have read a fair bit of spy fiction previously. Otherwise, it’s a little hard to get used to the pace and you feel like you’re reading the second book in a trilogy without having read the first.

My Score: 7/10

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

In case you’re wondering, this is not a love story.

My name is Tori Spring. I like to sleep and I like to blog. Last year – before all that stuff with Charlie and before I had to face the harsh realities of A-Levels and university applications and the fact that one day I really will have to start talking to people – I had friends. Things were very different, I guess, but that’s all over now.

Now there’s Solitaire. And Michael Holden.

I don’t know what Solitaire are trying to do, and I don’t care about Michael Holden.

I really don’t.

Finally. A YA novel about something other than sex, drugs and alcohol – a novel that I could recommend to a 12 year old without their mother needing to read it first to check it’s appropriate. My respect goes to Alice Oseman, who is only 19 years old and managed to write this clever, insightful, and completely-relevant-to-today’s-society story.

The main character is refreshingly pessimistic and enjoys spending time by herself and avoiding social interaction with others. Tori is believable, three dimensional, and realistic to teenagers today. Her ‘too cool for school’ classmates remind me of my high school experience and had me laughing that teenagers still act like that. Do high school girls still talk about which celebrity they find hotter? Is that still a thing?

‘Solitaire’ was a very unique plotline, but the blurb didn’t give any information about that. In case you’re wondering, Solitaire is an online blog that orchestrates pranks on people at Tori’s high school, and then publishes evidence of it on the blog. At first it’s harmless, but then it goes too far and people are hurt.

I read this in only a few hours, because Tori’s voice is conversational and real and I couldn’t quite put the book down. This novel incorporates technology and social media and highlights how dominant it is in a teenager’s life. I recommend this book not just to teens or tweens, but to anyone who has ever attended high school.
My Score: 9/10

The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard by Robert Bryndza

Coco Pinchard was never a single thirty-something. She married young, had a son, and put her dream to be a writer on hold. Now her first novel is published. Husband Daniel has greyed nicely into a silver fox, and son Rosencrantz is grown up. It should be time to enjoy life. That is, until the annual family Christmas when her hideous mother-in-law Ethel comes to stay, and Coco opens her gift from Daniel. It’s not the jewellery she chose, but an iPhone. This marks the start of Daniel’s mid-life crisis and she catches him in bed with a younger woman.

The iPhone becomes a confessional of sorts, through emails to her friends Chris, an ageing trustafarian and Marika a slightly alcoholic schoolteacher. Coco documents her seemingly endless (and often entertaining!) run of bad luck. Then she meets the hunky Adam and she’s back in the world of dating as a single forty-something…

This book is well-written and engaging, and the book maintains the reader’s interest (which is hard to do when the book is made up entirely of emails). It does take a bit to familiarise yourself with the characters in the story – they don’t have common names (*cough* Rosencrantz *cough*) and it takes a bit to warm up to them.

I do think the ‘trigger’ – Coco finding Daniel in bed with someone else – needs to happen sooner in the story. It takes a little too long to get there, and the reader is left wondering, ‘so what is going to happen in this story?’ for the first 25 pages. The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever been given is ‘start on the day that’s different’. This story needs to start a little closer to the day when Coco finds out Daniel is cheating, so that the reader is engaged from the start.

The dialogue is well written and Coco’s life is a strong reminder of Bridget Jones’ Diary. Although sometimes things happen to Coco that seem a little farfetched and even if it happened to Bridget Jones, it’d be a little unbelievable. Robert has written this novel well, and Coco’s voice is spot on for a woman her age. The plot is well-paced (although at times a little slow moving) and events seem to unfold in a natural, believable manner.

My Score: 7/10

Darkness on the Edge of Town by Jessie Cole

When a stranger crashes her car outside Vincent and Gemma’s bush home, their lives take a dramatic turn. In an effort to help the stranded woman, father and daughter are drawn into a world of unexpected and life-changing consequences. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is a haunting tale that beguiles the reader with its deceptively simple prose, its gripping and unrelenting tensions, and its disturbing yet tender observations.

I’ve had ‘Deeper Water’ (Jessie Cole’s latest novel) on my reading list for a while now, but thought it was best to read Jessie Cole’s earlier work first. The cover drew me in. I’ve been reading fantasy lately, and the ominous and melancholic atmosphere evoked from the cover really seemed like it would be a nice change.

This book is genius. It’s more character driven than plot driven, and reminds me a lot of Margaret Atwood’s earlier work. Vincent and Rachel are three dimensional and realistic characters, and dialogue is definitely the strongest part of this story. Gemma seemed a little stereotypical, especially as the book progressed, and I think Jessie could have dialled back Gemma’s point of view and featured more of Vincent’s perspective.

This story is dark and frightening and I couldn’t put the book down – I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys literary books. Some readers may think that nothing much actually happens in this book, but the exploration and development of character is more than enough to produce a good story. The point of view shift between Vincent and Gemma helps propel the story forward and is a refreshing change. Now that I’m familiar with Jessie Cole’s writing, I’m going to pick up a copy of ‘Deeper Water’.

My Score: 9/10