Difference between revisions of "Book Reviews From The Bookbag"

The Victorian era in London – a time of expansion and exploration, but also of poverty, dark alleyways, youthful pickpockets and moustache-twirling villains. Well, so writers like Charles Dickens would have us believe, and readers can be pretty sure that a detective mystery set in the glittering world of the nineteenth century music hall will have colour, excitement and danger in profusion. Full review...

The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan

Dylan walks away from this family's small London indie cinema in 2020 to live on a Scottish caravan site. His new neighbours Constance and her transgender 12 year old Stella have troubles of their own, but the odd British winter isn't helping. As the country faces true Arctic temperatures life goes on… or at least it tries to. Full review...

The Leopards of Normandy: Duke: Leopards of Normandy 2 by David Churchill

Historical Fiction

Normandy 1037: Duke William at 9 years old is surrounded by guardians and advisors but not all of them have his interests at heart. In fact whether he lives or dies will have more to do with William's resilience than the custodial duty of those around him. Meanwhile the fight for the English throne across the channel seems remote and none of his business as the sons of Queen Emma jostle for Canute's old crown. It's getting closer though; one day William Duke of Normandy will be William the Conqueror. Full review...

Fault/lines (Hadron Damnation Book 0) by Mark Lingane

Fantasy

What starts off as a day that should be remembered for a medical appointment soon becomes anything but for DCI Tracey Hanson. When planes start falling from the sky she and DI Reggie Chambers are thrown together in the thick of it. In the midst of the carnage, a teenager is orphaned. Definitely a tragic event but is there more to it than that? Full review...

The Hunt by Paul Bird

Teens

This is Britain after the Very Big Crash. Life is very different, especially if you live in one of the lower suburbs under the Local Government's authority. Cush lives in one such suburb. He works as a detective in the floating Krawczyk building and, though he thinks it himself, is pretty good at his job. His wife Samir doesn't work, even though she'd like to, and spends her days at home reading those most antiquated of things: books. Their son Nim is sixteen and is obsessed with a video game called The Hunt. Cush and Samir fall out constantly over their differing approaches to Nim's obsession. Full review...

Bossy Jonathan Fossy (The Ever So Series) by Julie Fulton and Elina Ellis

Jonathan Fossy was ever so bossy, demanding that his Mum bring him chocolate and gum and then paint his bedroom bright blue. He made demands of everyone, including the neighbours (a ten feet wide boat with a cabin for him) and you might wonder why anyone put up with it. (I had in mind a sharp slap across the back of a couple of bare legs, but that's probably illegal, albeit effective, these days.) Finally PC Moran hatched a dastardly plan: I'm not going to tell you what it was, but suffice it to say that he got his comeuppance in a most effective way and was a decidedly more pleasant young man thereafter. Full review...

Big Nate Blasts Off by Lincoln Peirce

First things first, no – that title is not the puerile British schoolboy's meaning of blasting off. I'm not entirely sure why the book is called that, to be honest. But I do know that said British schoolboy – and many from many other countries too – will take to these pages, even if they have never seen any of the other books in this series. The humble hero with the spiky hair and quick wit is in trouble with (a) his comics of the teachers, (b) his finding the time to practise Ultimate Frisbee for an interschool cup, and (c) his emotions, as he falls big-time for the delightful Ruby Dinsmore. Yes, the very Ruby Dinsmore the main school bully also wants to hang out with… Full review...

The Body on the Doorstep by A J MacKenzie

Crime (Historical)

On the marshes of Kent in the late eighteenth century, Reverend Hardcastle discovers a dying man on his doorstep. Narrowly escaping a bullet himself, he is entrusted with the dying man's last words which leave him questioning the mystery behind this anonymous man's death. With smugglers rife along the Kent coast, it seems as though it was a simple falling out amongst thieves, but the Reverend believes the answer to this crime lies deeper. Assisted by the brilliant Mrs Chaytor they set off to solve the mystery – but with smugglers lurking all through the county and the French threatening to invade, there are unsuspected dangers around every corner. Full review...

Lucinda Belinda Melinda McCool by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross

Lucinda Belinda is extremely beautiful and she feels it's her duty to bring beauty to the world. And if this means telling others to sort out their eyebrows, lose their big behinds, file their nails or just up their grooming generally then so be it. Full review...

Love from Paddington by Michael Bond

Consider some of the more pertinent questions of literature. Would things have been better if Rhett Butler did give a damn? What would Jane Eyre have done if the men with the truth hadn't made the church in time? And, of course, how does a little bear with a fondness for marmalade actually turn up in Paddington Station, so very, very far from home? Well, while the actual short stories may never have answered any of those questions, this work does – in amongst suggesting why bears don't play cricket, and a host more. As a result it may have a very different structure to the original books of linked short stories, but it's just as wonderful and characterful. Full review...

Goodnight Spaceman by Michelle Robinson

'Goodnight Spaceman' is a warm and tender look at space exploration told through the eyes of two young boys who have an astronaut for a Dad. On the upside, this seems to mean that you get to keep moon rock in your bedroom. On the downside, space is too far to reach out for a hug. So, the boys blast off to see Dad's workplace before bed time. Not only is this topical when the International Space Station currently orbits with a British astronaut on board, there is an introductory letter from the great man himself, Tim Peake. Sounds like a winning formula when for so many tots space is the favourite frontier. I was eager to read this with my three year old. Full review...

The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh

Thrillers

Selena Cole has an unusual job, working in the field of Kidnap and Ransom, but this time she's the one in trouble. While playing in the park with her children she vanishes, and returns 24 hours later with no recollection of where she's been. Oh and in the meantime, a man has been murdered. It's probably completely unconnected, but this is a reasonably small town and for the local police it's unusual to have two such infrequent events in quick succession. Full review...

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

Teens

I'm hardly the first person to comment on the saturation of the young-adult fiction market in recent years. I've several friends who love YA so much they seem to exclusively read this genre, and here's the thing – I really want to like it, too. I know there's good stuff out there, but it seems like the more I look the less I find. I've slogged my way through dozens – maybe even hundreds, who knows – of formulaic, samey and often downright repetitive books which didn't inspire any of that passion in me. Full review...

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas, Torbjorn Stoverud and Michael Barnes (translators)

We're somewhere in rural Scandinavia, on the shores of a large lake, but in a community relying on the farmland that is scattered in amongst the woods. Our chief concerns are brother and sister – Mattis and Hege. He, Mattis, is what the other villagers call 'simple' – sure, he knows a few things about life, and what makes a clever person and what makes a well-turned phrase, and how to talk to girls and when to not stare at them, but he is definitely not quite as the others would wish. Those others include his sister, who is seeing her life waste away in listening to his chatter, knitting jumpers to make ends meet, and regretting in her own small way what has got her to middle-age in this situation. But from this galling introduction, you should take away the bigger picture – even if there is no way out, the life in this countryside is brilliantly conveyed, full of sun as well as shade, of labour and of idleness, and wit and charm as much as hardship. I defy you to read this and think this corner of Scandinavia bleak. Full review...

The Disappearance by Annabel Kantaria

Thrillers

Audrey, widowed mother of grown up twins, is setting off for one last hurrah, taking her children on a Greek island cruise. It's quite a nice gesture for the pair, to whom she's starting to feel something of a burden, but she has the time and the means to treat them, so why shouldn't she? There may be more to it than that, though. Full review...

Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie

Fantasy

I often feel that short stories are an indulgence on the part of the author, they get to write down a lot of their ideas that don't really fit into a larger story. The stop/start nature of them never sits well with me, just as I am starting to get to know a character they are gone. One way of solving this would be to use characters that a fan will already know; perhaps explore the past, or the future. That sounds great for a fan, but how do you do this whilst also catering for a new reader? Full review...

The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe

Thirteen year old Lisa escapes from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport and arrives in England in August 1939. She can't speak a word of English and her only belongings are crammed into a small suitcase. Among them is one precious photograph of the family she has left behind in Germany. Lonely and homesick, not knowing if she will ever see her family again, Lisa is adopted by a childless couple, and then bullied at school for being German. But worse is to come when the Blitz blows her new home apart, and she wakes up in hospital with no memory of who she is, or where she came from. The authorities give her a new name and despatch her to a children's home. With the war in full swing, what will become of Lisa now? Full review...

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

On the first anniversary of his wife Miriam's death, Arthur Pepper feels he might finally be up to the task of clearing out her wardrobe. He hasn't got far when he stumbles across a gold charm bracelet he doesn't recognise. If he hadn't been feeling so out of sorts because of the anniversary he would never have rung the phone number he found engraved on the golden elephant. That would have been a shame, because then he would never have set out on his peculiar quest to find out who his wife used to be before she met him. From York to London, Paris and beyond, Arthur pursues Miriam's past and learns things about his wife, his children and himself that he never imagined. Full review...

Doctor Who: Vengeance on Varos by Philip Martin

If only those critiquing Doctor Who had access to a time machine, they would be able to temper all their responses. When Mary Whitehouse found the likes of Genesis of the Daleks to be too violent, she and her coterie had no idea the series would soon turn to a prison world, where soon-to-be victims of snuff movies are trapped in a reality-show styled existence, and a hard-done-by populous are sat at home doing nothing other than watching the feeds from the executions, the morgues and worse. If those watching Doctor Who had the benefit of foresight they might have responded to Vengeance on Varos differently. They were quite vocal in complaining about a horrific character being a trade delegate who is half-man, half-slug and wholly stupid evil laugh, and such an artificial premise. Little did they know the series would soon lumber people with Bonnie Langford, and aliens looking like liquorice bleeding allsorts… Full review...

Doctor Who and the Genesis of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks

If you were to randomly travel in time and space, where would you end up? Well, if our own battle-torn history was anything to go by, you'd like as not end up in a time and place of war. The thing is, however, the Doctor is not, for once, travelling randomly – he's been charged with carrying out errands for the Time Lords. And the most tricky of those is to go the planet Skaro, deeply enmeshed in a thousand year war, and put paid to one of the most heinous plans that could risk the universe – that of Davros to create his Dalek race. Full review...

Henry V: The Life of the Warrior King & the Battle of Agincourt by Teresa Cole

Biography

Henry V is remembered as one of England's greatest warrior kings, not least as a result of his immortalisation in the play by Shakespeare (as well as by two film versions of the drama). Ironically he was one of several great-grandchildren of Edward III, and as he was considered relatively unimportant at the time of his birth, exactly when he arrived in the world was not recorded and two different dates have been given. It was the deposition of his father's childless cousin Richard II in 1399 which placed him directly in the line of succession. Full review...

Doctor Who and the Dinosaur Invasion by Malcolm Hulke

What effect do you think you'd have if you were to time travel? I dare say it depends who or what you were to begin with, and when you went and what you did. The creatures in this story only seem to stay in the same place, and do just what comes natural – but as they're giant rampaging dinosaurs and they suddenly appear in the middle of modern-day Central London they do kind of get noticed. As a result the entire place has been evacuated, all ten million people shipped out, and the Government resettled in that hotbed of politics, Harrogate. As a result, when the Doctor and Sarah Jane turn up they immediately get accused of being looters – and UNIT are just a touch too much out of contact. What is causing time to leave the dinosaurs moving around London, and what is a mediaeval man, complaining of witchcraft under King John, doing there too? Full review...

Peace Maker by Malorie Blackman

Dyslexia Friendly

Michela Corbin is something of a rebel, but even she understands that everyone must wear a Peace Maker Device all the time and that it must never be tampered with, as non-aggression is their society's founding principle. The Peace Maker is the means by which this is enforced, but Michela wants to experience the full range of human emotions and the Peace Maker stops that. When her mother captains their ship into enemy airspace and they come under attack it seems that Michela's freedom from the constraints of the Peace Maker might be the only thing that can save them. Full review...

Doctor Who and the Web of Fear by Terrance Dicks

What do you look like if you time travel? Perhaps like a lunk-headed Austrian, naked and with fizzy blue stuff all over you. Or perhaps, to the confusion of Professor Travers, you look exactly as you did when he met you in Tibet forty years ago. That escapade has had a legacy, as he has brought back a deactivated robot Yeti – and has mistakenly managed to reactivate it. Or perhaps, you look very much like yourself if you're a time traveller, for just by reading this book you won't change your appearance, but you'll be sent back to 1968, by way of 1975, when this book-of-the-series was first published. Full review...

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

Serafina lives in the basement of the grand house on the Biltmore Estate with her Pa, an engineer. No one knows that they live in the basement. No one, in fact, knows that Serafina exists, since she has been told by her Pa that she must keep herself hidden away. She isn’t sure why, but she happily creeps around the beautiful house, mostly by night but sometimes secretly during the day, watching and observing and undertaking her self-appointed job of Chief Rat Catcher. Serafina knows there is something a little unusual about her, but she isn’t quite sure just why and how she is different from everyone else. It’s only when she stumbles across a fearsome man in a black cloak stealing away a child from the house that she finds she can no longer remain in the shadows, but must now do everything she can to help find the missing children. Full review...

Doctor Who and the Zarbi by Bill Strutton

Consider the time machine. You probably know of it as looking like either some fancy Edwardian sit-upon machine that the Morlocks nick, or perhaps a battered old English police call box. I would suggest it can also look like a small paperback book – pretty much like the subject at hand. This reprint of a Doctor Who novel, first presented in 1973 from the series shown in 1965, certainly has the ability to take you back. I grew up with the series on TV and the books in a Target imprint, but this predates that – it was, apparently, the second ever Who book-of-the-series. In it, the good Doctor and his three companions arrive on a certain quarry-like planet. One stays in the TARDIS, only to find it and her nicked by aliens; another needs rescuing from alien mind control by a different species of aliens; and the third with our irascible hero work out what actually took control of their ship and stranded them there in the first place… Full review...

There's a Tiger in the Garden by Lizzy Stewart