Book Review: A Place of Stone and Darkness, by Chris Mousdale

Available in bookshops nationwide.

Long ago, meteors crashed into Earth and caused a climatic disaster, with great swathes of land scoured by fire and flood. But somehow, deep underground, a few pockets of Striggs managed to survive…

In Chris Mousdale’s first full-length novel, A Place of Stone and Darkness is a dystopian story which follows two young Striggs: adventurous Ellee and her inventor brother Sidfred. Striggs are bird-like creatures with plumes of downy feathers, but they became flightless when they were forced to seek a new home. On every brow, each Strigg has a diamond-bright lapyriss headlight called a ‘spangle’ which help to guide the Strigg through their labyrinth maze of tunnels. The Striggs live by the harmonious mantra: ‘be one, be all, be everything’. Community is everything in their world.

The Strigg leaders insist upon only one rule: They must never be seen by a Toppa.

The novel opens with Ellee Meddo preparing for her Spangletime, a formal ceremony that ushers a young Strigg into adulthood. But Ellee would much rather go exploring than receive her spangle. On a journey into the unexplored regions, she discovers a young Toppa boy trapped in a well. Enlisting eccentric Sidfred’s help to hide the boy, the pair try to avoid ‘Blue’s’ discovery at all costs. Blue is the first human to have seen a Strigg in centuries.

When Blue’s existence is uncovered by the Strigg leaders, it is decided that he should be returned Uptop in order to protect the community.

While the first half of the novel progresses slowly, the pace picks up with the adventure to the Uptop. The discovery of what lies Uptop is just as much a shock to the reader as it is to Ellee, Sidfred and Strigg leader Kass. Set far in the future, Toppas are almost extinct and the world is vastly different to the one we know today. Mousdale’s artistic eye shows in his descriptions of landscapes: ‘There were broken columns and wide ribbons of concrete, pancaked flat where they had fallen. Once roads had soared up and over, in elaborate suspended superstructures. Now it was all ruins … It was a terrible vision’.

When the mission to return Blue goes terribly wrong, Ellee, Sidfred and Kass find themselves in mortal danger. Their entire community is at risk unless they can pull off a dangerous move that could have disastrous consequences.

A Place of Stone and Darkness is beautifully produced. An award-winning illustrator, Mousdale has crafted several stunning illustrations to accompany the hardbacked novel. The illustrated maps and diagrams of the Striggs’ underground land add an extra layer of realism to the world. Every character has a portrait, and readers will enjoy spotting their favourite characters in the coloured plates dispersed throughout the 400-page book. A helpful glossary of Strigg terms show how much work has gone into building the impressive land of the Striggs.

A Place of Stone and Darkness is an engaging story, has brilliant characters, and shares messages about the environment, human kindness and trusting your friends. With similarities to The Hobbit, this novel is perfect for young readers (10+) who enjoy fantasy and steampunk adventures. The surprise ending takes the tale in an unexpected and exciting direction, and while the formal vocabulary of the Striggs does take some time to get used to, the world-building is incredible. I can guarantee that once you are wrapped up in Ellee and Sidfred’s adventure, you won’t be able to put this book down.

Reviewed by Rosalie Elliffe

A Place of Stone and Darkness
By Chris Mousdale
Published by Penguin Random House New Zealand
ISBN 9780143773122

 

Book Review: Reflections, by Kelvin Cruickshank

Available in bookshops nationwide.

Kelvin Cruickshank is better known to most of us from the television series Sensing Murder in which he features, along with others as a physic medium. This programme recreates events leading up to death through misadventure or suspicious circumstances.

Reflections is a collection of 365 inspirational and positive thoughts – one for each day of the year. Life has its challenges and with a positive outlook anything is possible.

There have been a number of similar books published over the years. One in my bookcase is Somebody Loves You by Helen Steiner Rice. They certainly have their place in life. I know I have referred to my copy of Helen’s book a number of times over the years.

Reflections is a lovely book to refer to in times of difficulty and for daily inspiration and would make a great gift for those difficult to buy for people.

Reviewed by Christine Frayling

Reflections
by Kelvin Cruickshank
Published by Penguin
9780143772309

 

 

Book Review: Showtym Adventures: Dandy, the Mountain Pony, by Kelly Wilson

Available in bookshops nationwide.

The Wilson Sisters, Vicki, Kelly and Amanda are well known in equestrian circles having also appeared on a television programme about capturing and training the wild Kaimanawas horses.

Dandy, The Mountain Pony is Vicki Wilson’s story. Vicki was nine years old when the owner of her lease pony Cardiff, decided to sell him. She was broken hearted but was realistic that her parents didn’t have the money to buy him.

A month after Cardiff had been sold Vicki was still without a pony. All the pony’s advertised for sale were far too expensive – her parents had managed to scrape together a couple of hundred dollars which was just not enough. Her parents surprised her one day with a visit to some wild ponies. There had been an advertisement in the local paper for a herd that runs wild on a mountain just fifteen minutes from where the Wilsons live. Vicki had always dreamed of taming wild horses. It appeared that perhaps her dream was about to come true.

The Welsh ponies had been bred on the mountain for generations but of recent years the lady and her family had been unable to keep up with training them so the herd was running wild with some of them never having been touched.

The Wilsons ended up buying three of the ponies. They had budgeted for $200 so at $50 each they could afford to buy all three, but with proviso that one be trained and then sold to offset the costs of feed and training.

Vicki starts training her pony Dandy. Gaining Dandy’s trust is the first hurdle she has to overcome. This proved to be a difficult and challenging project. After many months she is able to enter into competitions with him but not without a lot of challenges along the way.

I came to the conclusion after reading this book aloud to 6-year-old Abby that you don’t necessarily have to be a horsy person to enjoy it. Abby loved it asking lots of questions as I read it to her. There are lots of training tips at the back of this book for the serious owner.

The Wilson sisters also run Showtym Camps for young riders, which is hugely popular, helping them get the most from their ponies while having a lot of fun and adventures along the way.

Reviewed by Christine Frayling

Showtym Adventures: Dandy, the Mountain Pony
by Kelly Wilson
Published by Puffin
ISBN 9780143771494

Book Review: One of us is Lying, by Karen M. McManus

Available now in bookshops nationwide.

As a teenager I was an avid reader of anything I could get my hands on. It may have been a few years since I picked up any young adult fiction, but if One of us is Lying is an example of what’s available today, I’m tempted to read more.

Set in Bayview High, the book centres on five – soon to be four – students who all end up in detention after cellphones they didn’t own were found in their bags. Bronwyn, the top student who never puts a foot wrong and is headed for Yale; Cooper, the baseball star being looked at for the major league; prom queen and everyone’s favourite, Addy; Nate, the bad boy drug dealer on probation; and Simon, the creator of hated gossip app About That.

Suddenly there is a commotion outside the classroom and the students see the aftermath of a minor car accident in the car park. While their teacher goes to investigate, Simon has a drink of water, collapsing soon after. Nate is aware Simon is suffering a severe allergic reaction but his EpiPen can’t be found. Cooper is sent to the nurse’s office to get one but finds the box is empty. Simon is rushed to hospital in a bad way, and everyone is stunned when they hear later that he has died.

The four remaining students are in the frame for Simon’s death when police discover his cup of water contained peanut oil. All four are shown to have a motive when an unpublished About That post shows Simon was about to reveal damning secrets about each of them. The kinds of secrets that can ruin lives…

The book is split into short sections narrated by the four main characters, and this took a bit of getting used to, but it’s an effective way for each to tell their story.

I won’t spoil the ending by revealing who was responsible for Simon’s death, but every one of them had a good reason for wanting him dead. However, so did a number of other students he had crossed swords with. And who is behind the Tumblr posts written by someone who says they are the killer? The posts that keep revealing more secrets the four want to keep quiet?

Did one of them kill Simon, or are they all in on it? Was it someone else? The last part of the book reads like a good murder mystery, with lots of red herrings, dead ends and a sudden realisation people are not always what they seem. The questions are all answered and tied up neatly, and there is even a happy ending or two thrown in for good measure.

This book deals with some sensitive issues, so maybe a little parental guidance and support would be a good idea.

Reviewed by Faye Lougher

One of us is Lying
by Karen M. McManus
Published by Penguin
ISBN 9780141375632

 

Book Review: Gwendolyn!, by Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton

Available now in bookshops nationwide.

How many penguins do you think there are in the jungle? You’d probably say none, because we all know penguins live in cold climates, but you haven’t met Gwendolyn! She is the only penguin in the jungle and she’s there because she loves the heat, the gorgeous flowers and the other jungle animals.

We get to meet a jaguar, monkeys and a parrot, and she points out all the good things about the jungle. Gwendolyn is always upbeat and she makes all her jungle friends realise how lucky they are to live in such a beautiful place.

But then her friend Parrot asks a simple question – has Gwendolyn ever been to Antarctica, where all the other penguins live?

A tear rolls down Gwendolyn’s cheek and she admits she hasn’t, and that starts to make her pine for the place she really belongs, where she can be a real penguin. Nothing her friends say can cheer her up, and she sets off on a really long journey to Antarctica.
She meets other penguins there and has the time of her life, but after a while she starts to notice the cold, and the fact she’s very hungry… and decides there is no reason why a penguin can’t live in Antarctica AND the jungle!

This book made me smile, as the illustrations are simply beautiful. There is so much to look at on every page that younger children will enjoy this book even if they can’t read the words. I think it will delight children and adults alike and become a treasured favourite. It’s a great tale about friendship and how we don’t have to be the same to get along.

Reviewed by Faye Lougher

Gwendolyn
by Juliette MacIver, illustrated by Terri Rose Baynton
Published by ABC Books (HarperCollins NZ)
ISBN 9780733335174

 

Book Review: The Pale North, by Hamish Clayton

Available in bookstores nationwide.

What an amazing piece of writing this book is. At times I found myself wondering if it was autobiography, memoir, history or pure invention. Which author is writing which part? Are they all Hamish Clayton or is he inventing everything, including his own persona?

Certainly this is a brilliant, complex and cleverly interwoven work. Ghosts and imagined events – or are they real people and real events? – abound. Each section of the novel makes reference to the other parts. Characters appear and reappear – or is this a clever conceit of the author to make us think we know what’s happening when truthfully, it’s all quite mysterious?

The first part of the book is a work of fiction, ‘The City of Lost Things’, set in a post-earthquake-devasted Wellington. The central character, Gabriel North, explores what is left, and weaves his memories into it.

The second part, ‘In Dark Arches’, begins thus:

“Something happens in a forgotten corner of the world and then, years later in another corner, something else which seems random and unconnected. And yet a chain is made between them by chance; a pattern emerges and meaning is inferred.”

This, to me, is the essence of the book’s creativity. The connections made in the various aspects of the story, apparently by chance, but really by the author’s design, make you stop to think, to re-read, to check that what you have just read really is what appeared earlier in the text. It’s simply fascinating.

I don’t like repeating myself, but this is a wonderful creation; inventive, twisted, mysterious but ultimately all linked together.

I am off to find Wulf and see if the first book by Hamish Clayton is as good as this one.

Reviewed by Sue Esterman

The Pale North
by Hamish Clayton
Published by Penguin NZ
ISBN 9780143569268

Book Review: Woman of the Dead, by Bernard Aichner

Available in bookstores nationwide.

If you, at age six, had to begin work in preparing bodies for funeral directors–your parents– what effect would that have on you?

For Brum, it taught her to shut down her emotions, right up to the day she allowed her parents to drown. She took over the family business, reinvented and remarketed it, built it up as a successful business, but always dedicating herself to giving dignity to the deceased.

Her life is gently comfortable, until she sees her husband–police officer and father to their two daughters killed by a black car slamming into him on his motor bike. Her life is upturned, as she grieves, listens to her late husband’s phone calls on his cell phone, and discovers he was spending time interviewing and calming an aggrieved young woman.

Emotionally bereft, Brum finds comfort in the companionship of her husband’s best friend, police officer Massimo. She is driven to find the woman her husband had been consoling, and when she does, is horrified to learn of her tormented life as a captive. Gradually she draws more and more information about the woman’s torturous life, whom she invites to stay with the family. One morning, the girl goes shopping for the family, and never comes home.

Massimo tells her of the discovery of a drowned homeless woman, whose body is in the police morgue. Brum is driven to track and remove each of the young woman’s tormentors, aided by her mortuary assistant, Reza – a man with his own criminal past. He is detached from emotion after years of creating trauma and serving time, but warms to the welcome Brum’s family have given him.

Her tracking of each of the sadists and what she does when she succeeds makes gut-churning reading, which in turn makes it impossible to put down the book – in case what you imagine is worse than what is written next.

The resolution is a reveal of a shuddering discovery, and handled in the same way as with the first three sadists. I’d have read this in one session, but starting in the late evening made it impossible. Guess what I was reading over breakfast next morning. I hope to be reading more from Aichner, and soon.

Reviewed by Lynne McAnulty

Woman of the Dead 
by Bernard Aichner
Published by Weidenfield & Nicholson
Paperback ISBN: 9780297608486
Case bound ISBN: 9780297608479

Also published on Lynne’s own blog, Red Penn Reviews

Book Review: The Boy in the Book, by Nathan Penlington

Available now in bookstores nationwide.

Do you remember those fabulously fun Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 1980’s? Writer and performer, Nathan Penlington does. And he adored them. So when, as an adult, he stumbles across a bulk lot of the books on eBay, he can’t resist buying them. What he discovers however is a glimpse into the life of the books’ former teenage owner, through a small diary extract left inside one of the covers. Thus begins Nathan’s obsession to find out more about that seemingly troubled teen, the meaning behind the cryptic diary entries, and the ultimate fate of Terry Prendergast.

Nathan is more than a little bit obsessive-compulsive by nature, and his completely all-consuming quest to find out more about Terry Prendergast is both entertaining and alarming. You can’t help but feel for his patient saint of girlfriend who has to live with his fanatical obsession about Terry: “It’s now 7.45am on Saturday morning [on the morning Nathan has arranged to meet with Terry] and I’ve already spent an hour trying on different outfits and following Sarah around the flat to ask what she thinks. She gave up on having a lie-in at 6.46am … While she is humouring me, I can tell that I’m close to overstepping the line. … Sarah looks up from her laptop, ‘Nathan, you look nice, smart yet casual. Clean. Exactly like the last outfit…’.”

Nathan sees something of his teenage self in the depressed, bullied previous owner of the books. In unravelling Terry’s childhood, Nathan retraces his own adolescence and revisits people and places from his past. Being much the same age as Nathan and Terry, I found this reflection on their teenage years quite poignant – and amusing; it’s not often these days that you come across a reference to Charlene from Neighbours and Sam Fox’s ‘Touch Me, I want Your Body’ on the same page. Nathan’s examination of his own awkward youth is honest and touching, and at times quite sad. He spent much of his childhood in and out of hospitals with mysterious ailments, missing school and the usual social milestones.

True to the nature of Choose Your Own Adventure books, Nathan dwells a lot on the concept of choices and the consequences of our decisions. He has long conversations with the creator of the genre, American Edward Packard, with psychologists, a graphologist, a curator of a huge diary repository project, and his extremely patient friends, and eventually concludes that:

“The person I am today is the product of all the choices I’ve made in the past. They have lead me to this exact point, all the wrong decisions and the ones that turned out to be right. … No path in life is the right path. And if you don’t like the one you’re on, choose another one.”

A wise sentiment for all of us.

Reviewed by Tiffany Matsis

The Boy in the Book
by Nathan Penlington
Published by Headline Publishing Group
ISBN 9780755365692

Two great women at the Auckland Writer’s Festival on Sunday – Keri Hulme and Patricia Grace

A follow-on from the Auckland Writer’s Festival on Sunday 18 May, by Gillian Whalley Torckler

Next on the agenda was an event described as the largest book club discussion
ever. It was a celebration of “The Great Kiwi Classic” − The Bone People by Keri Hulme. There was some discussion at the start about the definition of a classic. What defines a classic? Does everyone have to like it? Can it be a classic if some people are offended by it?

Peter Biggs chaired the session, which included a reading by Keri Hulme and commentary from Eimear McBride (a novelist from Ireland) and Reina Whaitiri (a NZ academic). The hour started with a ten-minute reading by Hulme herself. She read from a copy she had presented to her uncle who upon hearing she was writing a book, advised her to write in the style of Wilbur Smith. Thankfully she ignored him. The Bone People is a very kiwi book, set on the rugged west coast of New Zealand. It is interesting to note that both of our Booker prize-winning books were set in this wild landscape, that some might even describe as a savage landscape.

But this book had an inauspicious start – Hulme says that every publisher in Australia and New Zealand turned it down. That’s music to every author’s ears. From the envelopes of rejection come the … well, let’s be realistic, it won’t be the Booker every time.

The audience participation in this session was a more significant component than many. There were accolades – some glowing, some not so. There were tears from the audience when more than once victims of abuse thanked Keri for writing the book, for lifting the lid. Despite it being a violent, savage book, it was deemed positive because it has reached so many people. One person admitted it took him three reads to finally “get” this book – the first time he hated it but now it’s his favourite book.

In writing the book, Hulme loved the characters but made them do some heinous things in order to show how much damage we do to each other and how much damage we do to the earth.

Keri Hulme, about to read from The Bone People

And if you were wondering, there will never be a film made of The Bone People because Keri doesn’t want one. And after all these years, one is left feeling very much like Keri is still calling the shots. And it seems, from the sign on her gate, which reads “Unknown cats and dogs will be shot on sight. Unless I know you or you have contacted me first, do not come in,” she always will.

The end of the day was here. The last session – Patricia Grace in conversation with her long-time publisher Geoff Walker (formerly of Penguin Books). Patricia Grace (right) grew up reading books about other places, other places that were not New Zealand, well not her New Zealand anyway. She wanted to write about the people she knew, and the communities she grew up in, and in so doing she pioneered Maori writing.

Katherine Mansfield and Frank Sargeson were early role models, but although she appreciated Mansfield’s way with words, the settings and stories were far removed from her own world. She didn’t recognise Mansfield’s voice, whereas she did hear an authentic kiwi voice in Sargeson’s writing. She realised this was important and started to seek out kiwi voices. Soon realising she had her own voice, she began to write. At first, on the kitchen table, after she had got her seven children into bed at 8 o’clock each night.

Although many of Grace’s books have political undertones (and maybe even overtones) she says the characters always come first. Once they are invented, then their behaviour comes from who they are. Grace showed in a quiet and confident way that she more than deserved to be the 2014 Honored New Zealand Writer.

A waiata for Patricia Grace

The final curtain has been closed and the Festival was declared over for another year. But it was the biggest yet – over 50,000 tickets and a whopping 45% increase from 2013. The Aotea Centre was buzzing all day. And from what I saw, Sarah-Kate Lynch would have been happy to see lots and lots of readers buying books.

Events attended and reviewed by Gillian Whalley Torckler, on behalf of Booksellers NZ. 

Book Review: Eeny Meeny, by M. J. Arlidge

Available now in bookstores nationwide. 

An established television writer in the UK with a number of successful crime and thriller scripts under his belt, I’m surprised it’s taken Arlidge this long to be snapped up by a publisher.

For a first novel, Eeny Meeny is a remarkably assured and easy read, very much in the vein of Mo Hayder or earlier James Patterson (the good ones!) with an intriguing plot and well-rounded characters not usually found in books so easily read.

Central character DI Helen Grace kicks against the usual female detective stereotype in that she’s as complex as her case in a believable, logical way. No Hollywood hair or CSI wardrobe here. Its obvious Arlidge has spent time researching police procedure as well as the British legal system along with forensics and pathology, and it pays off with a disturbingly plausible story.

Taking the familiar concepts of innocence and guilt, right and wrong and twisting them in ways you just don’t see coming, Arlidge managed to keep me guessing almost right to the end, something that hardly EVER happens!

I read this in one sitting and have consequently been raving about it to fellow crime and thriller fans. With a gritty edge and undertone that suggests more than just a passing dalliance with the dark side, I hope to read more from this author soon. Definitely a talent to watch.

Reviewed by Sarah McMullan @sarahmcmullannz

Eeny Meeny
by M.J Arlidge
Published by Penguin,  RRP $37
ISBN 9781405914888