JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart

Thelia isn’t in line to inherit the crown, but she’s been raised to take power however she can. She’s been friends with Princess Corene her whole life, and she’s scheming to marry Bayled, the heir to the throne. But her plans must change when an army of elves invades the kingdom.

Thelia, her cousin Parsival. and Corene become trapped in the castle. An elf warrior, Sapphire, may be Thelia’s only hope of escape, but Sapphire has plans of their own. Meanwhile, an ancient magic is awakening within the castle, with the power to destroy the whole kingdom. Can Thelia find a way to protect her future – and her life?

Castle of Lies by Kiersi Burkhart is a YA fantasy novel that explores magic, loyalty and secrets, amidst a terrifying elvish invade.

The Holy Kingdom is bankrupt, ruled by an alcoholic King who isn’t concerned with much except himself. His daughter, Corene, is secretly engaged to the King’s ward Bayled, who has been promised the throne. Corene’s cousin Thelia is scheming to take the crown, despite having no right to it. And then, the King announces that he’s promised his daughter Corene to a Southern Lord to help secure an alliance ahead of an oncoming Elvish invade.

This book really disappointed me. The plot is not engaging, and there isn’t much depth to the story. There are too many characters in the book, and it switches POV between four different ones — Thelia, Bayled, Parsifal and Sapphire. Half the time, I forgot whose POV I was in, because a lot of the voices read the same and I found myself very disinterested in all of them.

The characterisation is very surface level and the characters themselves felt very flat. For example, Thelia is supposed to be savvy, secretive and sneaky, but that’s not how I felt when I read her. She doesn’t feel threatening or intelligent. She’s bold and brash but she’s not frightening.

The writing in the book is a little too simplistic. Descriptions are basic, and the vocabulary doesn’t quite connect with the atmosphere and setting. The war and politics in the book doesn’t read authentic, and a lot of it seems skimmed over, thus losing its credibility.

“Washing and brushing and putting up my hair takes all my willpower. Sitting at my vanity, I stare into my own brown eyes as I draw dark lines like a barrier around them, holding me in. I reach for my lip stain, but like a gust of wind has swept through my room, it falls off the edge of the vanity and rolls away.”

Many of the characters read very immature, even for their age. The stakes are high, the tension is mounting, and there’s a very real threat coming their way, and yet the main characters seem to be involved in such petty arguments and unnecessary altercations.

The world-building in the book is one of its strengths — the castle and the kingdom, and the lands surrounding Four Halls are fully fleshed out and I could easily imagine how this setting physically looked.

There’s plenty of romance in this book, if that’s of interest to you. There are multiple pairings, or love triangles, and most of the tension in the book is between characters who are either together, or want to be together.

“Every conversation with Thelia I’ve ever had since I came here as a little boy has been like this one — with her reflexively condescending to me. I’m wrong, I’m ignorant, I’m a foreigner. I tried over and over to befriend her because she was so close to Corene, but it wasn’t many cycles before I gave up.”

Castle of Lies has potential, but I wouldn’t recommend this book to adult readers. It’s a shame because I feel like the premise of the book, and the writing style, would be interesting to a young reader — 12 or 13. But, there are sex scenes in this book and that means I can’t confidently recommend this book to a young audience. I don’t know that the storyline will be enough to hold their attention.

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

Castle of Lies
Kiersi Burkhart
July 2019
Walker Books

The Chain by Adrian McKinty

VICTIM. KIDNAPPER. CRIMINAL. You will become each one. You are now part of the chain. Don’t break the chain.

The morning starts like any other. Rachel Klein drops her daughter, Kylie, at the bus stop and heads into her day. But then a phone call changes everything. A woman has Kylie bound and gagged in her back seat, and the only way Rachel will ever see her again is if she pays a ransom – and kidnaps another child. The caller is a mother herself, whose son has also been abducted, and if Rachel doesn’t do exactly as she’s told, both children will die. Rachel is now part of a terrifying scheme – The Chain.

The rules are simple: find the money, find your victim, and then commit a horrible act you’d have thought yourself incapable of just 24 hours ago. Rachel is an ordinary woman, but over the coming days she will be pushed beyond ordinary limits to save her daughter. What the anonymous masterminds behind The Chain know is that parents will do anything for their children. But what they don’t know is that they may have met their match.

Can Rachel be the one person to finally break The Chain?

The Chain by Adrian McKinty is a thrilling crime novel about a large-scale kidnapping scheme involving children.

The premise is pretty simple to grasp. Kidnap another child to save your own child. But don’t tell anyone. You tell anyone, you try to call the police, and you’ll be found out and your child will be murdered.

The premise of the novel is, of course, absurd. Someone has to kidnap a child in order to save their own child, and this ‘chain’ has been going on for years and everyone has kept their mouth shut? Obviously wacky and crazy premise, and I totally loved it — a fun read, an engrossing read, and it’s really easy to finish this novel in the one day.

“She thinks about her mom. Her mom will be worried sick. She’ll go to pieces. She isn’t as strong as she pretends to be. It hasn’t even been a year since she finished her chemo. And her dad — her dad’s awesome but maybe not the most dependable guy in the world.”

The Chain explores the lengths that a parent will go to in order to save their child — what they’ll sacrifice, who they’ll sacrifice, and what they’ll pay in ransom.

Adrian McKinty is skilled at crafting characters who we grow to like and sympathise for. Rachel has overcome cancer once before but it looks like her breast cancer has returned. She’s divorced from her husband, she’s not wealthy, and now her only child — Kylie — has been kidnapped. Rachel must transfer a large sum of money as a ransom, but she must also kidnap someone else’s child to keep ‘The Chain’ going. She must now assume the role of kidnapper.

Rachel doesn’t think she’s capable of doing that — can she really commit that kind of crime? But as we learn in the book, parents are capable of almost anything to save their child, and Rachel is not the only one. The Chain has been going on for years.

This novel is not just about Rachel and Kylie. Through flashbacks, we come to understand the people behind The Chain, and how their childhood and their adult lives led them to create a dangerous and risky kidnapping ring. The POV shift is a fascinating method of building tension.

“Kylie waits until she thinks it’s very late, but naturally she has no way of telling the time. No iPhone, no iPad, no Mac. No watch, of course, but who wears a watch these days?”

Two weaknesses in the book are dialogue and inner dialogue. I don’t think Adrian has captured an accurate female voice — younger or older — in Rachel and Kylie. Rachel comes across a little over the top, too flowery and cringe-y, and Kylie comes off as older and beyond her teenage years. Kylie’s voice often doesn’t match the voice of teenager, and many times throughout the novel, she’s just a little too self-aware for someone her age.

Additionally, some of the interactions don’t quite add up. Rachel is divorced from her ex-husband, but they still talk like they’re emotionally close, and despite his relationships with younger women, he seems to still care about her a little too much for an ex-husband. It comes across as loving and doting, which doesn’t quite add up to the rest of his characterisation as an unreliable, flaky Dad who is always dating a newer, younger girlfriend.

“The Hampton Mall is the perfect place to buy burner phones. She slides the car into a spot in the parking lot, opens up the trunk, and rummages around looking for Kylie’s Red Sox cap…she finds the cap, puts it on, and pulls it low over her face.”

The ending of the book is unrealistic, jolty and a little clunky, but by then you’re so hooked by the story that you don’t really care. Fans of psychological thrillers and crime novels will love this book.

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

The Chain
Adrian McKinty
July 2019
Hachette Publishers

More than Enough by Elaine Welteroth

A memoir from the revolutionary editor credited with bringing social consciousness to the pages of Teen Vogue and an inspiring exploration of what it means to be enough.

In this part-manifesto, part-memoir, the revolutionary editor explores what it means to come into your own – on your own terms.

Elaine Welteroth has climbed the ranks of media and fashion, shattering ceilings along the way. In this riveting and timely memoir, the groundbreaking editor unpacks lessons on race, identity, and success through her own journey, from navigating her way as the unstoppable child of a unlikely interracial marriage in small-town California to finding herself on the frontlines of a modern movement for the next generation of change makers.

Welteroth moves beyond the headlines and highlight reels to share the profound lessons and struggles of being a barrier-breaker across so many intersections. As a young boss and the only black woman in the room, she’s had enough of the world telling her – and all women – they’re not enough. As she learns to rely on herself by looking both inward and upward, we’re ultimately reminded that we’re more than enough.

Elaine Welteroth is a dynamic groundbreaker in media and fashion. In her memoir, More than Enough, she talks about her journey towards being a journalist and rising above the ranks in the world of fashion magazines. At 29, Elaine became the youngest Editor-In-Chief at Teen Vogue, and the second black editor-in-chief of a Conde Nast publication.

At first, I wondered if Elaine had enough of a story for a memoir. The book moves quite slow to begin with and I worried that it was going to be another one of those memoirs where the person has written it quite young and perhaps too early — I often question the need for a memoir from someone under the age of 35. Wouldn’t it be better if they waited another ten years and had more to tell readers? But I soon squashed that thought, because this book has so much to offer and so much insight for all types of readers.

“When I look back, I see a little girl running, pushing, working creatively to compensate for things that were beyond her control. For years, I felt like an imposter with a hidden flaw waiting to be found out. I worried that I might be stained, too, just like that cheque in my dad’s pocket.”

Elaine grew up in California, the child of a black mother and a white father. From childhood, she was ambitious, devoted and determined to succeed. Elaine talks a lot about how different she felt from other kids — because of her hair, her skin colour, her upbringing or her heritage. As a biracial girl, she didn’t always feel like she belonged with the black kids, but she knew she didn’t belong with the white girls either.

But, in college, Elaine met like-minded people who shared the same drive and passion for a successful career as she did, and she prospered. She thrived with internships and work and by trusting her instincts and always pursuing what she felt was right, she climbed to the top of the fashion world incredibly quick. She worked for fashion powerhouses such as Ebony, Glamour, and then Teen Vogue.

Young girls will read this memoir and be inspired — particularly if those young girls are interested in working in the fashion industry. But, more importantly, young black girls will read this memoir and be reassured that they have a place at the table. They’ll realise how important it is for their voices to be heard and acknowledged, and they’ll realise that they have the power to make real change in the world.

“When I returned to college after my New York internship, I felt overwhelmed and intimidated. Not just by East Coast White People and the extremely ill-fitting advertising world. But by the entire world. And the daunting notion of figuring out where I belonged in it.”

More than Enough highlights Elaine’s devotion to celebrating diversity in the fashion industry — an industry that is predominantly full of white and privileged people. Elaine uses her own experiences to transform Teen Vogue into a more socially conscious publication, with girls of all colours on the covers and feature stories within its pages that reflect our multicultural society.

An empowering memoir from an incredibly inspiring trailblazer.

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

More than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)
Elaine Welteroth
July 2019
Penguin Random House Publishers

I Am Change by Suzy Zail

They told her that her body belonged to men and her mind didn’t matter. They were wrong.

“What if I don’t want to marry?” Lillian held her breath. She had never said the words out loud. “Not want to marry?” Her aunt frowned. “What else would you do?” Set in an Ugandan village, Lilian has learned to shrink herself to fit other people’s ideas of what a girl is. In her village a girl is not meant to be smarter than her brother. A girl is not meant to go to school or enjoy her body or decide who to marry. Especially if she is poor. Inspired by and written in consultation with young Ugandan women, I Am Change is the tragic but empowering story of how a young girl finds her voice and the strength to fight for change.

I Am Change is an extraordinary novel from Suzy Zail, about dreams, destiny, expectations, and one young girl’s determination to follow her passion and reject the future that is expected of her.

Suzy Zail’s book is fictional, but it is based on countless research and interviews with young Ugandan women. Lilian’s story in the book was inspired by 30 different Ugandan women, and all of the experiences that Lilian had in the book, are based on real life events that happened to at least one Ugandan woman.

At times, it was incredibly distressing because Ugandan women are often subjected to horrible customs and treatment from others. I Am Change explores traumatic topics such as genital mutilation, rape, forced child marriage, infant death, and poverty.

In developing countries around the world, over 200,000 million girls don’t have the opportunity to go to school or develop an education. In I Am Change, Lilian is determined to finish her schooling and go to university. She doesn’t want to be forced into a marriage, and she doesn’t want to follow the path that her mother expects of her purely because she’s a girl.

“The final bell rang and the class spilled from the room. Masani had followed one of the older boys to the back of the sports shed. Lilian snuck after them to watch. She wanted to look away, wanted to feel angry with Masani, but she couldn’t muster disgust, or even disappointment, just guilt that the watching warmed her body.”

Lilian wants to be a teacher, but no one believes it’s possible, or that she’s able to achieve that. She must get married and have babies — that is her role. That is the role of every woman in Uganda. Lilian’s father and aunt are the only two people who believe in her, and combined, they help her throughout the novel. But I imagine in the real world, many girls do not have support from their parents or extended family.

I Am Change is essential reading for adults and young readers — most readers in Australia probably have no idea what it’s like to live the kind of disadvantaged life that Lilian and her friends go through. And it’s horrifying to think that there are hundreds of thousands of women who have lived or are living these kinds of experiences around the world.

Not only is the story beautiful and the characters inviting, but the writing is fantastic. Suzy Zail crafts sentences that flow incredibly well, the dialogue is realistic to the age of the characters, and the story itself is engaging.

“Dimple didn’t return to school at the end of the wet season and with Trinah gone and Nasreen about to be married, Lilian’s only female company was Masani, who spent her lunchtimes emptying boys’ pockets of coins. Thomas still tried to buy Lilian with pencil sharpeners and cold drinks but his greasy smirk made her skin crawl.”

I Am Change is about awareness and education, and the importance of women receiving the same opportunities as men in developing countries. I anticipate many people will read this book and be moved by the characters, the circumstances, and Lilian’s courageous actions to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage in her family. Highly recommended.

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

I Am Change
Suzy Zail
August 2019
Walker Books Australia

Recursion by Blake Crouch

What if someone could rewrite your entire life?
‘My son has been erased.’

Those are the last words the woman tells Barry Sutton, before she leaps from the Manhattan rooftop. Deeply unnerved, Barry begins to investigate her death, only to learn that this wasn’t an isolated case. All across the country, people are waking up to lives different than the ones they fell asleep to. Are they suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious, new disease that afflicts people with vivid memories of a life they never lived? Or is something far more sinister behind the fracturing of reality all around him?

Miles away, neuroscientist Helena Smith is developing a technology that allows us to preserve our most intense memories, and relive them. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

Barry’s search for the truth leads him on an impossible, astonishing journey, as he discovers that Helena’s work has yielded a terrifying gift – the ability not just to preserve memories, but to remake them . . . at the risk of destroying what it means to be human.

Recursion by Blake Crouch is a mind-bending, thrilling novel about memory readjustment, and a technological advancement that allows people to go back in time and rewrite their history and avoid terrible things happening — deaths, divorces, terrorist attacks. But, naturally, something with this much power has its consequences.

There are two main characters in the book. First, in 2018, there’s Barry, an NYPD detective whose marriage crumbled when his daughter was killed in a hit-and-run accident over a decade earlier.

Secondly, in 2007, Helena is a neuroscientist in Palo Alto who is studying memory. Her mother suffers from severe memory loss and Helena wants to invent and develop a chair that will help her. When a stranger appears in her office, he offers her the funding she requires to finish the chair that could help her mum.

“Barry has the tracking software activated on his phone. He has no idea how long he’s been unconscious, but assuming it’s still early Tuesday morning, his absence from work won’t be noticed until late afternoon. In theory, hours from now.”

Part of the intrigue of the book, is waiting to find out how Helena’s inventions in 2007 lead to the plagued False Memory Syndrome in Barry’s 2018. We first meet Barry when he fails to convince a woman not to jump off the top of the building in suicide — she’s a victim of False Memory Syndrome and a few weeks earlier, she woke up to discover all her past memories weren’t real and she was now living an alternate life. She was confused and angry, and lost. She felt so depressed, she committed suicide. Barry investigates this ‘syndrome’ and uncovers a dangerous secret behind the syndrome, and we start to understand how Barry and Helena’s lives will intersect.

This book took me completely by surprise — it hooked me from the first chapter, and kept me absolutely addicted until the last paragraphs. What a wild ride; what a magnificent read.

The technology and the premise drew me in immediately. Memory is the dominant theme in this book and it’s used so well, drawing on the human experience of hindsight and regret and asking readers to imagine a world where you could go back and change something terrible that happened in your life. Regret your marriage? You can erase it!

Recursion is apparently a sequel, although I sensed no evidence of that. I’ve never read Dark Matter, and I adored this book. I’ve been recommending it to just about everyone since I finished it last week.

“Over the last year, this apartment has felt more and more like a prison, but never more so than now. And it occurs to her as hot, angry tears run down her face that it was her own self-destructive ambition that carried her to this moment, and probably the one in 2018.”

Despite a less than impressive cover design, this book is the kind of story I’m interested in. It’s complex, but heartfelt. The characters are fleshed out and original, and the premise is incredibly fascinating, unique and a real page turner.

This book won’t be for everyone, I’ll admit that. It’s about time travel, memory alterations, and at times the back-and-forth between timelines and the complex mathematical nature of it all can get a little overwhelming. You have to have an interest in the fantastical — the imaginary — to love this book. But if that sounds like you, definitely pick this up. Well worth a read.

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

Recursion
Blake Crouch
June 2019
Pan Macmillan Publishers

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