*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of KINDLE Ebook The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman

I read and thoroughly enjoyed His Dark Materials, particularly the first book which blew me away, so when I spotted this offering on Netgalley it was a no-brainer that I’d request it. I’m so glad I did…

The Broken Bridge is the tale of Ginny, a sixteen-year-old half-Haitian girl living with her father in a small seaside village in Wales. She’s becoming a brilliant artist, just like her mother, who died when Ginny was a baby. Despite the isolation she sometimes feels, her life is turning out OK. Then her social worker cracks open her files and her world falls apart. Ginny’s father has kept a devastating secret from her all her life. In fact, everything she thought she knew about her family and her identity is a lie. And now, to find out who she really is, Ginny must relive the dark tragedies in her past.

This story is told through Ginny’s viewpoint as the summer holidays stretch ahead of her after her exams. It is a beautifully told tale with passages of lyric beauty as Ginny explores this seaside setting with an artist’s eye – and no, that isn’t reviewer-speak to warn you of a literary offering where the pace crawls along at the speed of a dozing snail. This tale cracks along at a fair clip as Ginny’s world is upended after a social worker suddenly appears up asking a lot of questions that has Ginny questioning former so-called facts, as well as shaking loose some uncomfortable memories…

This coming-of-age book has plenty of tension and effectively raises questions that all teenagers are confronted with – questions that we as adults shouldn’t let slip through the cracks of our oh-so-busy lives, because they go on mattering throughout our existence. This book deserves to be far better known than it is for it’s a gem. The story raises all sorts of gnarly questions about our society without any tub-thumping or syrupy sentiment – what happens to children when families can no longer cope? What is normal and who gets to decide? How do you decide what really matters to you – and what do you do when following that dream hurts the people around you? Pullman doesn’t necessarily offer the answers, but he certainly explores the issues around these questions in a wonderfully non-judgemental manner.

Though I found myself weeping when Ginny’s father was describing his childhood, I wouldn’t want you to go away with the idea that this is some worthily dreary read – there is also plenty of humour, with a couple of laugh aloud moments around the antics of Ginny’s friend Andy. In short, this one blew me away and is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

While I obtained the arc of The Broken Bridge from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
10/10

*NEW RELEASE SPECIAL* Review of KINDLE Ebook A Tyranny of Queens Book 2 of the Manifold Worlds series by Foz Meadows

I loved An Accident of Stars – read my review here – to the extent that it was one of my favourite reads of last year, so was thrilled when I spotted this offering on Netgalley.

Saffron Coulter has returned from the fantasy kingdom of Kena. Threatened with a stay in psychiatric care, Saffron has to make a choice: to forget about Kena and fit back into the life she’s outgrown, or pit herself against everything she’s ever known and everyone she loves. Meanwhile in Kena, Gwen is increasingly troubled by the absence of Leoden, cruel ruler of the kingdom, and his plans for the captive worldwalkers, while Yena, still in Veksh, must confront the deposed Kadeja. What is their endgame? Who can they trust? And what will happen when Leoden returns?

It was a joy to catch up on Saffron and what happens to her after her unexpected return home. For me, she was always the standout character in this enthralling portal fantasy and I really appreciate the opportunity to rebond with her. But my firm advice is to read the first book before picking up this one. Politics in Kena is a complicated, nuanced business and as I plunged once more into this intricate world, it took me a while to pick up the threads and I’m not sure the pacing is quite as sharp as it might be. Granted everyone is thrown into turmoil after the shocking events at the end of An Accident of Stars but it seemed to take a while for the momentum of the story to get going.

However, that isn’t a dealbreaker – the world and the interplay of characters in this sophisticated, clever story makes is a standout read, anyhow. There are some pleasing plot twists I didn’t see coming which worked really well. It is also a joy to read a book where women are fully represented throughout the society – with not a cliché among them. Having grown up in the ‘golden age’ of fantasy and science fiction when women were either in the story to be seduced, saved or as a wrinkled fount of wisdom it still gives me a buzz to see a female cast of characters with agency representing a range of ideas and views from the nicest to the nastiest.

The climax and finale worked brilliantly with all the main characters taken care of – a feat in an epic fantasy where there are a fair spread of folks whose story arcs have cris-crossed through this duology. If you enjoy well written, engrossing epic fantasy, but feel that Life is too short to take on a doorstopper-sized epistle, then do consider this classy, engrossing duology – Meadows is a class act.

While I obtained the arc of A Tyranny of Queens from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
9/10