JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free. Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do. But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

An Ember in the Ashes is one of those books that reaches social media stardom almost out of nowhere. I read about this book a few months ago, but no one else seemed to know what it was or what it was about. And now, it’s #2 on the NYT bestseller list and it’s all over my Twitter news feed.

Both the US and UK covers of this book are amazing. The US cover almost looks like a Roman, gladiator setting (which is on point with the Trials fought in the book), and the UK cover makes it look more dystopian and young-adult-friendly. Both of these covers work for the audience and for the storyline.

What I loved most about this book is that the main character is treated exactly how she should be in that time period. When you have a fantasy novel set in a time period where woman are treated terribly, the main female character always seems to somehow avoid trouble. But not in this book. Laia is tortured both physically and mentally, and is treated like the other female slaves that surround her. And Sabaa manages to capture her fear through subtle actions and through Laia’s motivations.

The attraction in this story between Laia and Elias isn’t overwhelming. There is actually two boys in the story who Laia finds herself attracted to. But in saying that, it doesn’t feel like a love triangle. To be honest, nothing really happens, because in this kind of world, she doesn’t really have time to be chasing boys. And I love that. It’s much more realistic.

This book evokes anger in the reader. The world is unrelenting and the Commandant (a female ruler in control of Laia) is ruthless and a psychopath. There’s the imminent threat of rape throughout the entire novel, and you get the feeling that Sabaa wouldn’t save her characters just because they’re the main characters. She’d do what’s right by the book and by the Roman-like world she’s created.

It hasn’t been confirmed that there is a sequel to this book, but enough of it is left open-ended that the reader can secretly hope for the story to continue. All of the attention that this book has received (not just in Australia but internationally) will mean that the publishers will probably want to publish a sequel.

My Score: 9/10
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All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Jake Whyte is living on her own in an old farmhouse on a craggy British island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. Her disobedient collie, Dog, and a flock of sheep are her sole companions, which is how she wanted it to be. But every few nights something—or someone—picks off one of the sheep and sets off a new deep pulse of terror. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumors of an obscure, formidable beast. But there is also Jake’s past—hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, held in the silences about her family and the scars that stripe her back—a past that threatens to break into the present.

This story weaves between past and present quite abruptly, so, my number one tip for reading this book is, READ THE BLURB FIRST. It sounds silly, but for some reason I glazed over the blurb and didn’t really take it in. And God was I confused when I started it, because I wasn’t really sure what was happening in the present, or even which story was the present. At first I thought the main character was presently working on a sheep farm (which she is), but when we delve into her past, there is more description and dialogue and social interaction, and I thought perhaps the sheep farm plotline was actually the past. I remember flicking back and forth through the pages trying to work out how all the stories fit together.

Take note that the main character, Jake, is a female. When the reader is thrust into her past and characters refer to her as Jake, I thought this was a different character. But Jake is the main character of the entire novel, and in the present, Jake lives on a sheep farm with her Collie and her sheep. That is, until someone – or something – starts killing off her sheep.

Almost half of the book is about Jake’s past, and those chapters detail parts of her life that she desperately wants to run away from. This writing technique confuses the reader, but I think that’s the effect. I think the reader needs to be confused and hazy, because the character is trying to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of what happened and what went wrong.

The author is also a lyrical genius, and the language she uses is rife with imagery and disjointed (but satisfying) sentences. Just marvel at the opening sentence:

Another sheep, mangled and bled out, her innards not yet crusting and the vapours rising from her like a steamed pudding

You can’t not picture that sentence. It’s a little gross, and it might make you feel a little uncomfortable, but it sets the tone of the entire novel. It’s eerie and inviting and just screams LITERARY FICTION.

I recommend this novel to readers of literary fiction – readers who will appreciate the character development and the writing style, and who will understand Jake’s abrupt and at times, misguided, actions.

My Score: 7/10
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Girl Online by Zoe Sugg & Siobhan Curham

I had no idea GirlOnline would take off the way it has – I can’t believe I now have 5432 followers, thanks so much! – and the thought of opening up to you all about this is terrifying, but here goes…

Penny has a secret. Under the alias GirlOnline, she blogs about school dramas, boys, her mad, whirlwind family – and the panic attacks she’s suffered from lately. When things go from bad to worse, her family whisks her away to New York, where she meets the gorgeous, guitar-strumming Noah. Suddenly Penny is falling in love – and capturing every moment of it on her blog.

But Noah has a secret too. One that threatens to ruin Penny’s cover – and her closest friendship – forever.

Girl Online sold the most number of books in its first week, meaning it beat Harry Potter. Seriously? What? Huh? I don’t understand! Be prepared for a scathing review…

Girl Online would probably be fantastic for readers under the age of 14 – it’s fun, fast-paced, and the love story is cute. But for anyone old enough to realise that the entire plot is completely unrealistic, they’re disappointed by the book.

The friendship between Penny and her gay best friend is wonderful. The dialogue is funny and witty and I love the social dynamic between the two, and how they have their secret knocking code and how her parents invited him on the New York trip.

However, the relationship between Penny and Noah is not realistic. They only know each for one day before they’re practically declaring their love for each other, and even though this is common for young teenagers, it still seemed a little exaggerated.

Penny starts a blog about her life and suddenly, after one year, she has thousands of followers. Huh? I doubt that. Usually, this only happens if the blogger is funny or particularly insightful. And Penny is neither. It’s completely unrealistic.

Penny is extremely naïve. Almost embarrassingly naïve. But her parents just let her go travelling around New York with a strange 18 year old boy, so I guess that’s where she got it from. Also, there’s a ‘twist’ at the end of the book about Noah, but it’s not really a twist because Zoe Sugg makes it way too obvious with hints along the way. Perhaps younger readers won’t see it coming, but those younger readers would have to be just as naïve as Penny to not see that twist coming.

This novel might be okay for younger readers – it is hopeful. And Zoe does capture the naivety and at times, immaturity, of the main character well (which you usually see in the targeted age group). But for older readers, there are too many flaws for them to overlook. And it’s oh-so-obvious that the writer is an adult who is trying to write like a child: For example, “Black-and-white photos are my favorite – they’re like little moments of history captured forever”.Ugh. Yucky, unrealistic dialogue.

My Score: 3/10
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The Rosie Project (Don Tillman #1) by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

I feel like this is one of those books that would’ve been a risk at acquisitions time – you don’t know if it’s going to sell well or not sell at all. And then, of course, the book actually becomes a phenomenon and receives rave reviews.

This novel is funny, but not necessarily a laugh-out-loud funny. It’s more a quiet chuckle or an amused smile. This isn’t a bad thing – Graeme has written the main character Don Tillman so believably that you’re not actually chuckling at him, but at the absurd things that he does. Like creating a survey for women to fill out, and they have to answer every question correct for Don to consider them a candidate for the Wife Project. Don has Asperger’s syndrome, but he doesn’t know it. But the reader is aware of it from the very first page – Graeme has captured his schedule and his personality and his subjective perspective perfectly.

Don is an unusual protagonist, but I really like him. I like that he evolves over the course of the novel – he seems to forget about his routine, and in his own way, goes after Rosie. The love story between Don and Rosie is behind-the-scenes, and doesn’t actually feel like a love story. Don is not the typical brooding lead male in the story, and doesn’t attempt to whisk Rosie off her feet. In fact, he’d probably argue that whisking someone of their feet is impossible, a cliché, and too vague to actually achieve.

Despite Don being extremely intelligent, he also possess a certain level of naivety. And although this probably comes from him having Asperger’s Syndrome, it is also a writing achievement.

My Score: 8/10
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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?

This book is a lot like Gone Girl, in the sense that you get to the end of the story, and everything you thought you knew about the main character was wrong. You’re completely blindsided. And then you’re left sitting there wondering how you missed it.

At first, you’re a bit confused, because you’re trying to work out how Rachel, Amy, Megan, Jess etc all fit in together. And then you work it out and you run with it, because you want to know what happened to Megan. For a while there, you question Rachel. But you know that since she’s the main character and you’re supposed to sympathise for her, that she didn’t do anything to Megan. And Paula is able to achieve this through the realistic representation of multiple point of views. Oh, and an extremely flawed character.

Rachel is an alcoholic and is weak. She can’t give up alcohol, no matter how many times she tries. Does she even want to give it up? The reader keeps thinking it’s going to happen – we’re inclined to read a flawed character and hope that their flaws disappear over the course of the novel. But Rachel’s flaws don’t. Kudos to Paula for maintaining Rachel’s faults throughout the entire novel. This makes us question Rachel at times, and it makes us not want to like her. It makes us doubt her actions, and as a result, we grip the novel in frustration. And that’s extremely rare. It’s rare to have a main character who is more unlikeable than likeable. To be honest, I really couldn’t stand Rachel, but that’s actually because Paula is a really good writer.

The mystery surrounding Megan had me interested, but there were so many other aspects of the story that kept me reading. Rachel’s relationship with her ex-husband, and his relationship with Amy. Megan’s relationship with her boyfriend, and his friendship with Rachel. These characters all connected, and there were times when I was reading this where I’d grit my teeth and think ‘What the hell are you doing? I don’t understand!’

If you love thrillers or crime novels, you’ll love this. And if you’re one of those people who don’t usually like to read, but you sucked it up and read Gone Girl, then you’ll love this book too. My brother said to me a few weeks ago: I want to read clever books. Books that have me guessing. And so I gave him this book.

My Score: 9/10
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