Tag: books

Cosmogony (A romantic drama)

Published by Frances Denny on November 18, 2021

CHRIS WHEAT

Cosmogony follows an interracial newly-engaged couple as they uncover the secrets of their new home, the conservative small town, Goldwater, California.

The novel is a quick, easy and engaging read. The writing is solid, although at times it can overuse the word, “and.”

The characters feel authentic and the relationship between Isaac and Ruth is romantic and satisfying. Perfect for the romance genre.

This book packs a lot into 117 pages. There’s drama, shoot-outs, bank-robberies, government secrets, social justice, and romance. In other words, everything exciting is jammed into this short novel. However, the storyline never feels too busy, which can be a potential problem when reading complex plotlines.

What I love most about this book is the empathy. Although it’s easy to preach on sensitive topics, such as racism and sexism, this book still manages to maintain a non-judgemental tone and trusts the story to open the discussion with the reader.

Overall, Cosmogony is definitely worth the read.

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The Enchanted

Published by Frances Denny on October 13, 2021

J.C BRENNAN

As a fan of fairytales, I was excited to pick up J.C Brennan’s The Enchanted, which tells the story of Rebecca Gentry who, not only discovers her late Grandmother’s bedtime stories are real, but also that she is of royal ancestry and comes from a long line of witches.

At first, I found the book difficult to read as some of the descriptions, particularly regarding the grandmother, dragged on. There were also moments where the writing shifted tenses. However, as the book progressed, the prose improved, and the pace quickened.

The protagonist Rebecca is very fitting for the fairytale genre, particularly regarding how she is “the chosen one.” While some reviewers weren’t fond of the cliché characterisation, I thought it worked in this book because of the presence of other classic fairytale tropes, such as the difficult stepmother, the evil witch, Rebecca gaining special powers on her 16^th birthday, and the inclusion of other fantastical creatures such as vampires and fairies.

Overall, this book is perfect for traditional fairytale lovers.

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The Dark Chorus

Published by Frances Denny on July 15, 2021

ASHLEY MEGGITT

Before I begin this review of the horror novel, The Dark Chorus by Ashley Meggitt, I would like to give some trigger warnings for this book. There are graphic scenes of psychosis, and psychiatric patients being mistreated in a mental health facility. For readers who are sensitive to these kinds of topics, I wouldn’t recommend this book.

The Dark Chorus follows a boy without a name who can see and collect lost souls from the Dark Chorus, which is where the dead who are unable to move on to the afterlife remain – a limbo if you like. His mother is one of these lost souls and he attempts to save her from limbo by trapping her inside another woman, only unintentionally to drive that woman mad. He then kills the woman to get his mother’s soul back, but the murder lands him in an asylum for the criminally insane. The boy must find another way to save his mum’s soul, but that means escaping the asylum.

What I liked about this book was the writing. The story was scary in the right places, and you could feel the weather vividly, which is key for a good horror book. I also appreciated the themes regarding the mistreatment of and lack of empathy shown to some of the most vulnerable people, the mentally ill, even though I question the execution, which leads me to my next point.

I struggled to connect with the characters.

It is possibly because I am not the right audience. I have suffered with mental illness and feel the representation of conditions I am familiar with was not always accurate. So, I would ask you to keep that in mind before you read on.

The Psychiatrist, Dr Eve Rhodes, who is assigned the unnamed boy and assists the police with the murder investigation, is supposed to be a sympathetic character. However, several of her assessments of psychotic patients can be uncomfortable to read. For example, she explains how she must protect herself from violent patients, and there are no patients that we meet that aren’t violent. However, mentally ill patients, particularly psychotic ones, are more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. I would let this trope slide if the main character, who isn’t violent and is very well-behaved, was also mentally ill, but he isn’t. He’s psychic (rather than psychotic) and his experiences and beliefs are real.

What also makes this read disturbing is that Makka, the boy’s friend and another patient of Dr Eve Rhodes, is an extremely violent psychotic, further perpetrating the idea that the mentally ill are violent. I’m not saying that there can’t be violent mentally ill characters in books, but to be an accurate representation they need to be mixed with some mellow mentally ill characters too, especially in a time where people still believe all psychotics are violent.

It is worth noting, though, that Makka is sympathetically drawn.

The uniform representation of the psychiatric patients is a shame because otherwise this is a fascinating horror story addressing deep philosophical questions and with a tight plot. I feel down the road as we begin to build a repertoire of positive representation of the mentally ill, I might be able to enjoy this book more. But as it stands, it was a difficult read.

I still recommend it to fans of the horror genre. The Dark Chorus is a beautifully written book. But I would shy away from this if you know someone who has or if you have experienced a psychiatric illness.

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SHADOW OF THE RAVEN

Published by Frances Denny on June 14, 2021

BY MILLIE THOM

When I finished reading Shadow of the Raven, I put the book aside for a week before writing a review. Not because I had nothing to say, but because it made me think. Most period novels I’ve read make me want to travel to the past and experience what it’s like to live in that time. This book, however, made me very happy to be living in the 21^st century.

Shadow of The Raven is the story of Eadwulf, a Mercian Royal who is betrayed by his brother and enslaved by Vikings. What the author, Millie Thom, manages to capture is the horror and uncertainty of everyday life in 7^th century Europe. One day you could be a free aristocrat, and the next you could find yourself a thrall to the Danes with no rights and dependent on the master who buys you.

There’s no judgement of any of the characters in the book. Thom puts the reader into the mind of each of the characters and through them we experience the customs and beliefs of that period. I’ve read a few period novels that have traces of 21^st century values, and so it’s refreshing to read a book that pays no homage to the current day’s sentimentalities. The characters, therefore, feel authentic.

What I appreciated most about this book was the way the female characters were handled. Several of the protagonists were women in situations where they had no autonomy. Several were to be wed to men they had never met, and one was concubine to an abusive master. When you have characters whose life choices are not theirs to make, it can be difficult not judge their situation, and, more importantly not to identify more with their male counterparts who have autonomy and partake in swashbuckling adventures. However, Thom is careful to ensure her female characters are equally interesting, for she delves into the psychology of these women and their inner dilemmas as they try to justify their life to themselves. In fact, some achieve happy marriages, while others struggle to communicate with their husbands. These women also have rich social lives and long-lasting friendships.

Overall, Shadow of the Raven is a fascinating read for anyone who is interested in an authentic spin on one of the darkest and complex periods of European history.

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Shadow and Friends’ Costume Party

Published by Frances Denny on April 11, 2021

Mary L. Schmidt, S. Jackson and A. Raymond

I was gifted Shadow and Friends’ Costume Party by the author, Mary L. Schmidt in exchange for an honest review. Although I’m an adult and this is a children’s book, I ended up buying it because I loved the illustrations so much. They’re quirky and the scrapbook style reminds me of the Spot What books.

The story is about a squirrel named Digger who invites everyone to a costume party. I do wonder why the title is Called Shadow and Friends’ Costume Party and not Digger and Friends’ Costume Party. However, the writing is so tight and flows effortlessly, I find the issue with the title not a deal breaker.

One of the highlights is when the narrator asks the reader if they know what the word “perplexed” means, and proceeds to give the definition. Making the reader an active character is a good way to keep children’s focus. Plus it teaches the child a new and complex word that they can boast about at school, and possibly earn extra points with their teachers.

Another thing I appreciate in this book is the inclusion of characters that are typically considered evil. For instance, Troll and Fox, who the other characters are at first wary of, turn out to be friendly. This teaches children acceptance and encourages them to take the time to understand others regardless of what they look like or how they seem to be.

To conclude, this is a delightful read and a perfect Storytime book. I would definitely recommend it to parents and family members with children who are avid readers and/or like being read to.

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Evolution of Eve

Published by Frances Denny on March 25, 2021

BY THADDEUS ARJUNA

I’ve received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Evolution of Eve is about a human colony on Mars. Raphael and her husband Tom discover that their daughter, Eve, a clone – an experiment to battle the human sterility pandemic – is a Martian. This complicates the husband-wife relationship because Raphael wants a human colony, but Tom believes that Martians are the next stage of human evolution.

There’s a lot happening in this book from rogue cyborgs to shady military and if you’re someone like me who enjoys epic tales with complicated plots and several povs, this narrative structure would likely work for you. However, if you’re not a Game of Thrones fan, you will probably find this book a challenge.

I am going to begin with what I found compelling. The premise is strong and believable. I can imagine that we will at some point in the future have to face the ethical and economical question of whether we should colonise Mars and what would happen if we did? We will also reach a point where Earth is potentially uninhabitable. And I am sure there will be a debate about whether to save Earth or start again on another planet. In fact, the book’s premise was so convincing, it gave me chills.

Another aspect I found convincing to the point of disturbing, is Raphael’s reaction to Eve’s transformation into a Martian. There’s a line that particularly resonated with me where Eve says to her terrified mother, “before they come to me, they will always blame you.” It’s a common occurrence for mothers of disabled children, particularly those on the autism spectrum, to get blamed for their child’s peculiarities. I have to admit, when reading it, I was taken back to a similar conversation with my own mother. There are also other lines, such as, “Mars cheated my family.” This is very similar to what we hear today with parents of autistic children, “autism stole my baby.”

What I wish could have been stronger is the dialogue. The characters sometimes sound as if they’re reading from a script and often a character’s dialogue starts with the name of the person they’re speaking to. It’s something I’m hyper aware of, because I make this same mistake in my own writing.

However, my biggest issue is with the characterisation of Raphael and the author’s approach to her bipolar disorder. This is a condition I also suffer from and I felt the author was unsympathetic to the character. For example, whenever Rafael gets emotional, her husband, Tom, insists that she take her meds. She’s constantly paranoid, skips her medication and thinks her child is a monster. Her husband refers to her as a “danger” to the family and his friend calls her “manipulative.” She even at one point takes out some “clipping shears” and runs down the corridor of their house, screaming “I am going to take care of this right now!”. I am not saying every person with bipolar is a saint, but when the only narrative in literature is this unstable demon narrative, it starts to become a stereotype. And unfortunately, Raphael is another such stereotype.

As someone who lives with bipolar, I can swear hand on heart that I have never run down any corridor holding a sharp implement and threatening another human being. In fact, I’ve never run down a corridor screaming with or without a sharp implement.

In fact, this portrayal ruined the book for me, and I am disappointed because it’s a good story, marred only by the characterisation of Raphael. On that basis, I cannot recommend this book.

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