JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

Ash is used to taking hits on the field for his high school football team – until he takes one that doesn’t just impact his body, but his whole reality. It starts with one small shift, but with every game, every hit, Ash finds himself pushed through a succession of universes almost-but-not-really like his own, until the small shifts in reality become significant shifts in Ash’s own identity.

As Ash experiences life from other perspectives, he starts to question the world he thought he knew, as well as the ones he finds himself catapulted into. For better or worse, the one thing Ash knows is that he’s got to find a way to put things back. A searing exploration of race, gender, sexuality and the nature of privilege.

Science fiction for young readers, Neal Shusterman’s latest novel Game Changer tackles plenty of social criticism and follows a teenage American footballer who unknowingly becomes the centre of the universe and is forced to live through parallel lives. In each alternate life, he’s faced with a flawed universe.

Initially, Ash is a privileged white boy who doesn’t think too hard about the struggles of those around him. But when a football tackle starts shifting his reality, he soon gains an insight into the world that he hadn’t grasped before.

“You rarely stop to think about how life hinges on the smallest events. Things so small you can’t even really call them events. Looking right instead of left, and missing the person who could have been the love of your life.”

Featuring elements of science fiction and the paranormal, Neal’s writing is always strong. The premise and entire concept of this book is quite fascinating, and Neal does offer a satisfying explanation of Ash’s prediction. Additionally, Ash offers insightful, observant and mature narration, and the first person voice is emotive and evocative. We get a strong sense of who Ash is as a person, even if that personality is a forgettable and narrow-minded (at first).

Each chapter and scene does feel neat and compact, driving the reader to continue with the story. Characters are diverse and marginalisation is explored, and Neal is skilled at capturing realistic, engaging dialogue.

“Either something was very wrong with me, or something was very wrong with the world. Believe it or not, I could deal with something being wrong with me far better than the alternative — and if there was an explanation for this…I would have gleefully jumped on it.”

Unfortunately, Game Changer doesn’t quite live up to its potential. There’s a white saviour complex to it and the book tries a little too hard at its attempt at being earnest. The marginalised characters in the book are there at the expense of Ash’s character development, which just feels a little too icky for the reader. And to be honest, Ash doesn’t really fight for what’s right. He witnesses marginalisation, and is horrified by it, but he just kind of keeps going? Hoping the next parallel universe will be different? I would’ve liked Ash’s character to possess more agency and drive.

Outside of this, the book just isn’t as pacy as Neal’s other works. The changing realities start to feel incredibly repetitive after the first couple, and the pacing slows right down. I got a little bored about three quarters of the way through, and if this book were any longer than it is, I would’ve given up on it.

“We are so limited. As a species. As individuals. Not only can’t we see the future, we can’t even see the present for what it is. We’re too clouded by the things we want and the things we fear. But worse than any other blindness is that we can’t see the consequences of our actions.

Game Changer is a well-intentioned novel that isn’t quite what it promises.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Game Changer
Neal Shusterman
February 2021
Walker Books Australia

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

A genre-smashing story of survival, hope and love amid a ravaged earth.

A deadly flu has swept the globe, leaving a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, who are on a journey devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, who knows almost nothing of the world outside the old abandoned cinema he was raised in; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together.

David Arnold’s post-apocalyptic YA novel The Electric Kingdom is an ambitious saga, a unique twist on the frequently-tackled scenario that is the near eradication of humanity. After a swarm of flies, as yet unbeatable, descend on Earth and wipe out most of the population, few remain alive. We meet a cast of characters determined to survive in a barren wasteland, a ravaged world full of danger.

Not your stereotypical fantasy novel about the end-of-the-world, although perhaps a little familiar during current times, The Electric Kingdom is written in third person and switches between three characters — eighteen-year-old Nico, twelve-year-old Kit and the mysterious and unnamed Deliverer, whose role in this story doesn’t become clear until the end.

Readers will find themselves enthralled in the journey until the final pages.

“The room was quiet, the brush of a hand in his hair. Kit debated whether to tell her what he really thought: that when he stood at the open window of his art classroom, held a breeze in his face, he had long ago resigned himself to the reality that he would never know where that breeze came from, or where it was going.”

David’s writing style is quite stripped and minimalistic, which is ironic considering this book is over 400 pages. Dialogue is taut and clipped, and it works. Prose is seamless, with short sentences. David only reveals information that is absolutely necessary, and readers will appreciate it.

There’s a strange sort of atmosphere to this book, like there’s something larger at play and you know you won’t understand it until the end. Characters mention deja vu, like they’ve been through these events before. There are moments of fear and tension, but there are also some really tender, sweet moments between characters. Moments where you get an insight into how their lives might’ve been if the flu never happened.

Above all else, The Electric Kingdom is about taking chances, pursuing risks, the endurance humanity and survival — it’s about how determined some people are to outlast any threats to their safety. The Electric Kingdom is not about how the world ended, it’s about the people left behind as they navigate through this new world.

“When the entirety of one’s universe is an old boarded-up farmhouse, there is no greater treasure than a dusty shoebox full of photographs. All smiles and kisses and travels and meticulously positioned foods on butcher blocks. Nico’s favourites were the ones from her parents’ honeymoon in Italy.”

Admittedly, the secondary cast of characters do blend together in the book. When Kit and Nico’s journeys become embroiled with others, and we meet multiple other characters of a similar age, it was hard to tell them apart. Their voices didn’t feel overly unique, and their experiences were quite similar. When some of them died, I didn’t feel much of an emotional response.

And some of the most heightened moments in the book – particularly the father and son with violent intentions – come incredibly late in the novel. I would’ve preferred if David brought forward some of the bigger moments in the novel so they didn’t all hit right at the end.

“Dead towns galore. Kit was amazed at just how many, small and tucked away. These days, he felt more breeze than human, floating in and through all these little towns, on the lookout for dreamers, Knowers of Things in open windows, observing their little worlds, wondering What (if anything) Lay Beyond.”

Recommended for teenage readers and young adults.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Electric Kingdom
David Arnold
February 2021
Text Publishing

A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion

Rage. That’s the feeling engulfing the car as Ellen’s mother swerves over to the hard-shoulder and orders her daughter out onto the roadside. Ignoring the protests of her other children, she accelerates away, leaving Ellen standing on the gravel verge in her school pinafore and knee socks as the light fades.

What would you do as you watch your little sister getting smaller in the rear view window? How far would you be willing to go to help her? The Gallagher children are going to find out. This moment is the beginning of a summer that will change everything.

Set in the early 1980s over one long hot summer in Pennsylvania, Una Mannion’s A Crooked Tree explores the unintended consequences of an ill-fated, split second decision.

With elements of coming-of-age bleeding throughout the story, but far from a typical YA novel, A Crooked Tree is told from the first-person perspective of Ellen’s fifteen-year-old sister Libby. She’s observant and mature — a little timid, introverted and withdrawn at times — and when Ellen’s sister returns home after being cast aside on the road, Libby helps pick up the pieces. What results is a sequence of events that change their lives forever. None of them will be the same again.

“Why hadn’t I told her? I put my hand on the door to open it and call her back, to say we needed help. But I hated asking people for things. Maybe she would pass Ellen on her way down the mountain. I began to think of all the people that might pass Ellen on their way home.”

A Crooked Tree is about how fast events can spiral out of control, and how powerless you can feel to stop them. After Ellen returns, she reveals she hitchhiked from the road and was molested by a creepy, blonde-haired man. She jumped out of his car and scrambled home before he could find her. When their sister Marie gets local boy Wilson McVay involved, things escalate.

Una balances dark scenes and themes with moments of humour and teenage angst. The secluded woods that surround their home give Libby and her siblings some comfort amidst a tumultuous summer. Their mother, Faye, is quite absent in the story, but we witness enough of her to understand she’s exhausted and stressed. Libby’s father died years earlier and the family were still struggling to comprehend the absence in their dysfunctional family unit.

“Everyone was running to the fence by the woods; some were already halfway up. I panicked, looking for the ladder, trying to orient myself. Then I realised that the surface of the pool was shimmering with red and blue light. The police had pulled the car up across the lawn to the gate. They had another amplified light angled at the pool.”

At times, the plot feels as if it’s on slow motion. Events slow, tension builds, and readers feel a sense of dread as each chapter passes. What did Wilson do to Ellen’s abuser? And what will this man do in retaliation? Una is an incredibly talented writer.

Exceptionally well-written and complex, I adored this book. It was just a nice surprise and an utter delight to experience. Una crafts vivid and three-dimensional characters, drawing us into their plight and ensnaring us in their journeys. A Crooked Tree captures the era of the 1980s incredibly well, and explores the complexities of youth within a compact package.

“The night we left Ellen on the road we were driving north up 252 near where it meets 202 and then crosses the Pennsylvania Turnpike. To the west were open fields, stretches of golden prairie grass and butterfly weed, the final line of sun splintering light through them.”

Tense, evocative and ominous, A Crooked Tree is recommended for readers of literary fiction. Mature young readers may also delight in this tale.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Crooked Tree
Una Mannion
February 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

City of Vengeance by D.V Bishop

Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth.

Cesare Aldo, a former soldier and now an officer of the Renaissance city’s most feared criminal court, is given four days to solve the murder: catch the killer before the feast of Epiphany – or suffer the consequences.

During his investigations Aldo uncovers a plot to overthrow the volatile ruler of Florence, Alessandro de’ Medici. If the Duke falls, it will endanger the whole city. But a rival officer of the court is determined to expose details about Aldo’s private life that could lead to his ruin. Can Aldo stop the conspiracy before anyone else dies, or will his own secrets destroy him first?

Debut historical thriller City of Vengeance by D.V Bishop takes us to Renaissance Florence, 1536. Cesare Aldo is tasked with solving two murders — moneylender Levi, who was stabbed to death in his home, and cross-dresser Corsini, who was bashed to death after dark. The novel also explores the unrest in Florence, and the traitorous plan to overthrow Alessandro de’ Medici by his own cousin. Whilst fiction, this book is inspired by true events, which are detailed in the Author’s Note at the end.

Readers needn’t love historical fiction to enjoy City of Vengeance — you must merely enjoy crime and thriller stories. At its core, this is a book about two murders, and a lead detective trying to uncover the truth. Whilst the setting may feel vastly different, this novel follows a similar format to most police procedural tales.

“It took Strocchi hours to find a true address for Corsini. The Otto’s records revealed several arrests of him in recent months: petty theft, pickpocketing and indecent acts. But the accused gave a different address each time, forcing Strocchi to eliminate them all.”

D.V Bishop does well to paint the setting. I’m somewhat familiar with the Medici reign and felt like the author captured the atmosphere of the time — societal behaviour and attitudes— rather well. It’s clear that years of research went into writing this book, a lot of source material and perhaps reference books as well.

City of Vengeance explores political intrigue, betrayal, familial obligation and keeping secrets. Each major character has been crafted uniquely, their personalities differing significantly. We have more than one villain, and plenty of red herrings along the way to throw us off the scent of the murderer/s. Aldo in particular is a well-developed character. He is in charge of uncovering secrets, but at the same time, he’s hiding some secrets of his own.

“Aldo went to the door. It stood ajar but there was no splintering to the wood, and no damage to the bolt. That suggested Levi had let his attacker in — a debtor, maybe, or a rival? Or had it been someone closer to home? Killings in Florence were not infrequent and were usually personal, fuelled by family, love, hate or greed.”

Despite the book only taking place over a few days, the pacing slows in the middle and suddenly the novel feels very long. Four hundred pages wasn’t necessary for the scope of this story, and I’ll admit I groaned a little when I found out this was the first book in a planned series. Please, make the sequel more succinct!

Admittedly, the other gripe I had with the story were the similarity in names. Perhaps unavoidable when writing a story based on true events, but we had Cesare, Corsini, Cosimo and Cerchi. It took me about one hundred pages to tell them apart whenever they appeared in a scene together — some names starting with another letter would’ve been welcome.

“Levi had been anxious on the road back from Bologna, but not defeated. If what Dante said was true, something must have happened after Levi’s return to Florence.”

Energetic and intense, with enough intrigue to keep you reading. Recommended for readers of fantasy and medieval history.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

City of Vengeance
D.V Bishop
February 2021
Pan Macmillan Book Publishers

The Imitator by Rebecca Starford

Out of place at boarding school, scholarship girl Evelyn Varley realises that the only way for her to fit in is to be like everyone else. She hides her true self and what she really thinks behind the manners and attitudes of those around her. By the time she graduates from Oxford University in 1939, ambitious and brilliant Evelyn has perfected her performance.

War is looming. Evelyn soon finds herself recruited to MI5, and the elite counterintelligence department of Bennett White, the enigmatic spy-runner. Recognising Evelyn’s mercurial potential, White schools her in observation and subterfuge and assigns her the dangerous task of infiltrating an underground group of Nazi sympathisers working to form an alliance with Germany.

But befriending people to betray them isn’t easy, no matter how dark their intent. Evelyn is drawn deeper into a duplicity of her own making, where truth and lies intertwine, and her increasing distrust of everyone, including herself, begins to test her better judgement. When a close friend becomes dangerously ensnared in her mission, Evelyn’s loyalty is pushed to breaking point, forcing her to make an impossible decision.

An intriguing spy novel set during World War II, Rebecca Starford’s The Imitator is an ambitious blend of literary fiction, historical fiction, and espionage thriller. Whilst there were certain aspects of the novel that I enjoyed, the story did fall a little flat for me and certainly wasn’t what I was hoping for.

Rebecca captures the era seamlessly, thrusting readers into the depths of the Second World War — the paranoia, the fear, but also the unearned cockiness from some people who think they’re invincible at a time like that. Meeting all the different characters in the novel — main or secondary — allows for an enjoyable read.

Tension and pacing is managed incredibly well, allowing for a build-up of tension and a natural desire from the reader to keep turning the pages to find out how events during the war transpired. I personally found Julia to be quite the enigma, and I felt drawn to her as a character.

I also really enjoyed the structure of the novel. Rebecca switches back and forth between 1948 — a time when Evelyn is incredibly secretive about her role during the War, especially when she runs into an old colleague Julia — and 1930/1939/1940. The time shift structure is common in historical fiction, and by moving between these dates we get a glimpse of how a character’s personality has altered over time, and how events of the past have affected them years later.

“We trade in secrets here, Evelyn. There’s no shame in having a few of your own. Our only concern is for who might discover them.”

Truthfully, I never really felt like we got any glimpse into Evelyn other than her actions. She comes across as stiff, and her character impenetrable. A little cardboard cut-out. And because I never really felt like I understood the character, I couldn’t warm to her or develop any empathy towards her. So her struggles and plights — the complications she faces — didn’t really evoke much emotion in me. I sometimes wondered if writing this book in first person would’ve allowed for a more intimate portrayal of Evelyn, that might help readers connect with her better.

Additionally, I would’ve liked more of an insight into her role as a spy. I was expecting more instances of betrayal — more moments where Evelyn had to choose between friends and her job. In reality, we witness only a couple of moments. And the subplot with her parents felt a little rushed and underdeveloped, I would’ve liked to see that become a bigger part of the story.

“She felt a throb of tenderness for him. What courage it must take to sit down each day and work on the decryption, to unpick those messages typed up in the language of his childhood, all the while knowing what those people — his people — had done to his own parents. She felt sick at her ignorance.”

The Imitator is suitable for readers of historical fiction.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Imitator
Rebecca Starford
February 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers