Tag: review

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Review: The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander

The Door of No Return
Kwame Alexander
Andersen Press, Ebook 2022/Hardback March 2023
Ebook/Hardback, £14.99
ISBN 9781839133244

 

The Door of No Return is set in the fictional village of Upper Kwanta, a community that Kwame Alexander has imagined from his visits to real-life villages in Ghana and inspired by the histories of the Asante people.

Alexander does not immediately place this story in a specific time in history. Instead, the story is rooted around the protagonist, the eleven-year-old Kofi. The beginning of this novel is a coming-of-age story as Kofi falls in love, deals with his bully cousin, navigates his identity within his family, and desperately seeks to be treated like the man he will soon become. When an unexpected tragedy occurs, Kofi’s life is changed forever and this story takes a much darker turn, becoming a tale of capture, violence and fear.

Alexander tells this story through verse. His masterful use of rhythm, pacing and language creates fluidity and lyricism that draws the reader into the world of Upper Kwanta. While this novel deals with difficult themes and dark parts of our world’s history, Alexander also beautifully illustrates moments of hope, the strength of family and the power of storytelling.

Recommended for readers of historical fiction, coming-of-age, and poetry. An important addition to the genre of historical fiction, The Door of No Return is a stunning portrait of African culture and history.

Órla Carr

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Review: Nubia: The Awakening by Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes

Nubia: The Awakening
Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes
Delacorte Press, 2022
Hardback, US $19.99
ISBN 9780593428641

Nubia: The Awakening is a story that hurtled into my life! Epps and Haynes tell the tale that mirrors the past and present: greed, suffering but always hope.

 Set in the late 21st Century, the main characters are from Nubia, off the coast of West Africa. Brought to New York as refugees during a climate crisis, they are forced to live in lower Manhattan which now often experiences flooding. It was interesting that the main characters, Zuberi, Uzochi and Lencho, had little to no contact with one another before the story began – despite living in a neighborhood that prizes community. Their connection to one another slowly intertwines as the plot thickens which only makes for a more intriguing read! 

The book sets up discussions around change, especially in relation to the climate crisis, the role of authority/government and class division. Epps and Haynes explore a New York that is divided between air and land – those who ascend to the sky city known as Up High are those that make it. The world has become clinical and factual with little room for free thinking, as seen through Uzochi’s determination to ascend.

  One element of the book that I was most fascinated by was the history of Nubia, but mostly the fact that the young characters did not know the depths of this history nor the importance of the Nubian gifts. The characters had to discover firsthand what it means to hold their gifts. The gifts were not given to a ‘chosen one’ but to all true Nubian young, further creating a wonderful union that I hope Epps and Clarence will take further in books to come. 

Pierina Campbell

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A Treason of Thorns

Laura Weymouth

A Treason of Thorns

Chicken House, March 2020

Paperback, pp. 376, £9.99

ISBN 9781912626694

A Treason of Thorns is a beautiful, lyrical and suspenseful “Big House” novel with a difference. Burleigh House, like all the great houses of Victorian novels, is as much of a lead character as the people who live within its walls, but in this novel the house itself is alive with a special magic that looks after the countryside around it and the people who live on and tend to the land. However, when the caretaker of the house is put under house arrest for treason, his daughter, Violet, is banished and only allowed to return after her father has died. When she comes back to Burleigh she finds the house has fallen into disrepair and has begun to tear itself apart and poison the landscape it once made flourish.

I was really drawn to the single-minded, ruthless and fiercely loyal Violet, and I felt that the secondary characters and relationships pale in comparison to the relationship between Violet and Burleigh. They share a magical bond where one can’t seem to thrive without the other. The plot of the novel is familiar, in that there is one brave person who is determined to save something she loves, in this case her home. However, the reader’s preconceptions of this common plot is changed by how Violet interacts with the house as a living thing, and Laura Weymouth’s careful world building, rooted in Victorian ideals of the home and duty of care of the ruling classes, makes this a unique and enchanting novel worth staying up too late for.

Laura King

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Pretty Funny

Rebecca Elliott

Pretty Funny

Penguin Random House, March 2020

Paperback, Ebook, pp. 336, £7.99

ISBN 9780241374627

Haylah Swinton lives with her mother and her brother, a small dictator. At school she is called Pig, a nickname she adopts to prevent further teasing about her weight. Refreshingly though, this is not a book solely about Haylah’s weight and her size is simply a nice fun fact about her rather than the novel’s driving narrative. Her mother starts dating a man totally wrong for her – he wears shoes with no socks – and she develops crush on Leo Jackson after watching him do comedy at her school’s talent show. When she overhears Leo saying he has no inspiration for new material to perform, Haylah decides to help him out because she is pretty funny too and has her own nascent aspiration to be a comedian.

This is Rebecca Elliott’s first YA novel and the first of an upcoming series. If you enjoy feminism combined with comedy then this is the book for you. Haylah is a witty and realistic character who gets into embarrassing situations and makes mistakes. She may be overweight, but Haylah embraces her body and shows that there is so much more to a person than what they look like. Elliott’s writing is sharp and observant, with a healthy serving of jokes throughout. I particularly appreciated the novel’s ending as it affirms that standing up for and loving yourself is more important than standing on the side-lines and loving a boy. This book will have you giggling under the covers, cheering for girl power and applauding female comedians.

Evangeline Henry

Pretty Funny book cover
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Music from Another World

Robin Talley

Music from Another World

HQ Young Adult, May 2020
Paperback, pp. 384, £7.99
ISBN 9781848457218

Patti Smith says: ‘Personally [I] am not interested in people trying to pigeonhole me’. Tammy does not feel understood. The seventeen-year-old belongs to a strict, 1970s conservative Christian community who attempt to force her to be someone she is not. Solace is found in writing unposted letters to her hero, Harvey Milk, in whom she confides her biggest secret; Tammy is gay. The teen enrols in a pen-pal project and is matched with punk-loving San Franciscan, Sharon. Neither of them can believe their luck. Finally, someone understands.

Best-selling author Robin Talley treats her characters with more kindness than their repressive communities do. Talley does not pigeonhole the story’s protagonists but grants Tammy and Sharon the space, of which they have been starved, to breathe. The story is told exclusively through diary entries and letters. For the social media generation, this intimacy is reminiscent of direct messaging (or DMing). This narrative device brings an immediacy to the book, making it difficult to put down. We feel the characters’ unease as we await the next communication. Music from Another World is a book with a cinematic quality. The soundtrack is Patti Smith, Blondie and Bowie. Scenes are set in feminist bookshops, punk shows, and protest marches. It’s an empowering read with a powerful message; if you don’t fit in, why not stand out!

Brigid O’Dea, teen reviewer

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Tuesdays Are Just As Bad

Cethan Leahy
Tuesdays Are Just As Bad
Mercier Press, 2018
Paperback, pp. 255, €12.99
ISBN 9781781175644

For Adam Murphy, transitioning back to “normal” after a suicide attempt is made even more difficult by the fact that he’s being haunted by a ghostly version of himself. Adam has to reintegrate back into the life of a teenager and all it entails – school, making friends, budding romance – with this ghost that nobody else can see or hear at his shoulder. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell if its presence is good or bad, but it certainly makes life more complicated for Adam.

Told through the perspective of the ghost, Leahy tells an increasingly important story about mental health with a voice that is humorous but which never trivialises. He fleshes out his tale with a colourful cast of characters – particular joys are the irreverent Douglas and quirky goth, Aoife – who are delightful even if they tend to outshine his protagonist. Bursting with empathy, Adam (and the reader) learn that everyone has their own struggles, but this doesn’t diminish your own. The ghost’s narrative voice is a wonderful addition; it distances readers with familiar topics, allowing for a new perspective, be that on mental health or the ridiculousness teenagers can get up to.

Leahy’s light touch successfully brings this coming-of-age story together. The familiar threads of school struggles and first loves are freshened with his depiction of mental health and the rocky road of recovery – not to mention his strong dash of comedy and the paranormal. An incredibly clever book which I very much enjoyed.

Aoife Sheehan

cover of Tuesdays Are Just As Bad
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All The Bad Apples

All The Bad Apples

Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Penguin Random House, 2019

Paperback, pp. 337, £7.99

ISBN 9780241333969

On the morning of her seventeenth birthday Deena Rys comes out to her unconventional family. Branded as a bad apple by her distant father and bullied in school for her sexual orientation, she seeks her eldest sister Mandy’s comfort. However, the next evening Mandy is missing and presumed dead. Deena begins an adventure into her family’s past in the hope of breaking a family curse which affects Rys women who contradict societal norms. The curse provides a magical backdrop and additional excitement in an already fast-paced narrative.

Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s All The Bad Apples at times feels overwhelming, but it succeeds in creating a commentary on the historical perception of women coinciding with the contemporary situation of women. Perhaps Fowley-Doyle has taken on too much, nevertheless, the supernatural element allows for the novel to take on a surreal undertone providing a different platform for tackling big contemporary issues. Deena is far from a stereotypically flawed teenage protagonist, she is a modern, refreshing and appealing character who invites the reader into her world.

I was excited by the confrontational attitude of the narrative as Fowley- Doyle does not shy away from the biggest topics of today. While there were times when it felt the novel was overreaching, it is clear the characters are serving a greater purpose by shedding a stimulating light on issues which many young people today face. This novel is for curious, intuitive and opinionated young people who wish to explore a magical female-centred text.

Lorna O’Dea

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The Secret Commonwealth

Philip Pullman 

The Secret Commonwealth

Penguin Random House, 2019

Paperback, pp. 687, £8.99

ISBN 9780241373347

The release of the second in the Book of Dust series, The Secret Commonwealth, in October 2019 was a fitting way to close the decade. The events of this book take place ten years or so after the conclusion of the Northern Lights trilogy. Lyra is grown up and halfway through a university degree, with Oxford and Jordan College as recognisable as ever. However, the Magisterium is gaining power, global trade is in uproar and sinister hints abound of an underground market for daemons. To top it all off Lyra and Pantalaimon are engaged in a coldness that threatens to undo their unity forever. They must each set out on a quest that tests their beliefs and loyalty to all they have known.

This book is heavy with political nods to our world. On her journey to the Blue Hotel, Lyra meets refugees whose conditions bear a striking resemblance to our daily news stories. Right-wing policies are clearly on the rise. Through the shortage of elite rose oil, we see the increasing power of corporations. The book is also aimed at a slightly older reader due to some references to sexual violence. While this jump in maturity could be the result of the vulnerable, adult Lyra being more in tune to the dangers of the world, at times I thought this came at the expense of some of the series’ iconic subtlety.

However, over the course of nearly 700 pages, Lyra’s world is developed with mature complexity. Don’t let the length put you off; the story carries the reader at such a pace that it ends far too soon, on a juncture that has left me eagerly anticipating the final instalment.

Deirbhile Brennan

The Secret Commonwealth cover
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Connor’s Brain

Malcolm Rose

Connor’s Brain

Ransom, 2016

Paperback, pp. 233, £7.99

ISBN 9781785911354

Connor Markham is a fifteen-year-old boy who, following a virus that leads to the removal of his temporal lobe, is left having to learn how to do everything all over again. Although he has no memory of his past life, other people do, and their intentions aren’t so pure. This is a book imbued with gentle humour throughout, with vivacious characters such as Connor himself, depraved nightclub owner GG, and Connor’s distraught girlfriend, Hattie. However, it does not shy from more sinister themes, such as child sex trafficking, robbery, and manipulation. Connor himself is a deeply likeable character who has invented new words for things he cannot remember, such as eel for finger and volcano for flower. His interactions with other characters make for hilarious and at times moving reading.

Connor’s Brain is hard to pin down to one genre. It is both a-coming-of-age story, a thriller, and a crime novel. It makes for compulsive reading and is a perfect book for slightly older teenagers. Readers will find themselves rolling around with tears of laughter, and at times sobbing with tears of empathy for Connor, who is determined not to let a brain defect get in the way of a rich life. Overall, this was a highly entertaining read that keeps one guessing. Rather than making Connor a victim, writer Malcolm Rose has created an effervescent character still totally in charge of his own destiny. The only downside was that the book wasn’t longer.

Caitríona O’Malley

Connor's Brain cover
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Always Here For You

Miriam Halahmy

Always Here For You

ZunTold, February 2020

Paperback, pp. 288, £7.99

ISBN 9781916204218

Fourteen-year-old Holly Bennett’s best friend Amy has just moved away. Her parents are constantly busy dealing with ‘Gran’s Crisis’ after Holly’s grandad has passed away. She’s lonely, she’s bored, she’s scared Amy has forgotten about her, and she wants a boyfriend. When a girl from school introduces her to Jay, a boy her age online, Holly falls in love fast. He seems perfect, until some of his messages start to sound a little controlling, some of the photos he sends her make her uncomfortable, and the pressure to keep his existence a secret has dangerous consequences.

Always Here For You gently tackles the issues of online grooming in a way that will appeal most to younger teens, despite it being marketed as a YA novel. Because the novel is heavily influenced by topical issues, I feel those who are used to reading YA will perhaps find Holly to be quite young and the message of the novel to be more heavy-handed than they are used to. Halahmy shows how circumstances can create the perfect conditions to put a young teenager at risk of grooming and exposure to paedophilia. Holly is cautious and generally aware of online dangers, but grief over her best friend moving away and loneliness at home created the perfect storm of vulnerability. This is the first time I have read a teen novel about online grooming and it was great to see an example of how personal introductions from peers can legitimise a profile claiming to be someone they’re not. Holly’s new friendships that developed throughout the novel were endearingly supportive and were a positive anchor within a story that dealt with such a heavy issue.

Courtney Smyth