Blog tour calendar: Lord of the Hunt, by David Craig
TBR Pile Review: The Deep, by Rivers Solomon
Published January 30th 2020 by Hodder Paperbacks (first published November 5th 2019)
ISBN:1529331730 (ISBN13: 9781529331738)
The water-breathing descendants of African slave women tossed overboard have built their own underwater society—and must reclaim the memories of their past to shape their future in this brilliantly imaginative novella inspired by the Hugo Award nominated song “The Deep” from Daveed Diggs’ rap group Clipping.
Yetu holds the memories for her people—water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners—who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one—the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu.
Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities—and discovers a world her people left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past—and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identity—and own who they really are.
Inspired by a song produced by the rap group Clipping for the This American Life episode “We Are In The Future,” The Deep is vividly original and uniquely affecting.
My Review
I learnt about this novella from the Narrative of Neurodiversity Network, and have one of Rivers Solomon’s other novella’s, An Unkindness of Ghosts, on my TBR pile. The Deep draws on the terrible history of the Middle Passage, during which sick and pregnant people were thrown overboard as too much hassle. The ‘what if’ question of what if the babies born to their dead parent were able to breath underwater and survived.
The Historian holds the memories of the people, but for Yetu it is a painful position to hold every touch, every movement of the water, every memory is real. Getting lost in the pain at the wrong time almost kills her. In her pain and anger she shares the memories with all of her people and runs away.
Oh, it’s so beautiful! I found Yetu so relatable. The sensory perception of everything, of feeling overwhelmed by life, is familiar. Also, the way water feels and the pressure of the sea is familiar, I feel like that in the pool, and in the sea when I get a chance to swim in the sea. I love the love story between Oori and Yetu, it was so gentle and powerful. I totally understand the hesitancy and shyness. It’s a powerful story of history, memory and love for family and friends.
Totally in love with this novella, highly recommended.
Review: The Devil’s Shadow, by BJ Edwards
The Devil’s Shadow
In a vault beneath the Mediterranean Sea, a creature from myth and folklore sleeps. Government agents David Coswell and Hannah Martin join forces to find and study the creature with the hopes of harnessing its power for their country’s good. Accidentally, they release the creature and London is plunged into chaos. Lawlessness and hedonism spread as Lord of the Flies regains his strength and uses violence and fear to build his new kingdom.
David Coswell, along with his ‘handler’ Sentinel Nutbeam, retired soldier Nigel Carter, and Spanish matriarch Maria Perez help the Prime Minister confront the beast and take back control of a fractured country.
The Devil’s Shadow is a fast-paced supernatural thriller. Sometimes scary, sometimes sexy and always exciting, it is an absorbing tale of friendship, loyalty, faith and belief.
Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1528985540
US – https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Shadow-BJ-Edwards-ebook/dp/B08Z8KDK2X
Continue reading “Review: The Devil’s Shadow, by BJ Edwards”Blog tour calendar: The Devil’s Shadow, by B.J. Edwards
Review: Ruabon (Tales of Lost Solace #4), by Karl Drinkwater
Ruabon
Welcome to Tecant.
Nothing ever happens here.
Until today.
Ruabon Nadarl is just another low-ranking member of the scan crew, slaving away for the UFS which “liberated” his homeworld. To help pass the time during long shifts he builds secret personalities into the robots he controls. Despite his ingenuity, the UFS offers few opportunities for a better life.
Then Ruabon detects an intruder on the surface of a vital communications tower.
He could just report it and let the deadly UFS commandos take over, while Ruabon returns to obscurity.
Or he could break UFS laws and try to capture the intruder himself. For the UFS, only the outcome matters, not the method. If his custom-programmed drones can save the day, he’ll be a hero.
And if he fails, he’ll be dead.
Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/b/Ruabon
Continue reading “Review: Ruabon (Tales of Lost Solace #4), by Karl Drinkwater”Blog Tour Calendar: Ruabon, by Karl Drinkwater
Review: Girls Who Lie, by Eva Bjorg AEgisdottir
At once a startling, tense psychological thriller, and a sophisticated and twisty police procedural from a rising star in Icelandic literature.
When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, it is assumed that she’s taken her own life – until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?
Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to tragedy.
Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the list of suspects grows ever longer and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others…
Continue reading “Review: Girls Who Lie, by Eva Bjorg AEgisdottir”Guest Post: Jonathan Hanson, author of Trail of the Jaguar
Today we have a post from Jonathan Hanson on characterisation:
Effective characterization has always been very high on my list of what makes a book readable. If I can’t connect with the characters, can’t find empathy for them, it’s difficult for their plights to draw me in and make me care. The book gets set aside, slowly subsumed under others in the reading pile until I find it again, bookmark on page 40 or so, and give it away. So I try very hard to make my characters interesting—even the bad guys. The easiest way to do this is to base a character on someone I already know and like, in which case half my work is done for me. Several such characters appear in Trail of the Jaguar. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officer, for example, is based on a friend who’s worked for the USFWS and other game and conservation organizations.
Other characters, however, are cut from whole cloth—such as Jedediah Carson. It’s fair to say he might be an imaginary version of the father I never had, and thus, in his own way, comes from a certain powerful, if wishful, familiarity.
Trail of the Jaguar
Biologist and wildlife photographer Clayton Porter witnesses what appears to be a routine drug-smuggling flight across the Arizona-Mexico border. Instead, he uncovers a sophisticated operation involving a secret lodge high in the Sierra Madre, canned hunts for endangered jaguars, a ring of opioid-dealing doctors in the U.S., and a string of cartel victims partially consumed by a large predator. After he unwittingly throws a wrench into the works, Porter becomes a target of revenge, and resorts to skills from his military service to save himself and those close to him.
Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/u/bWrEPx?store=amazon
Author Bio –
Jonathan Hanson grew up northeast of Tucson, Arizona, with Sabino and Bear Canyons as his backyard, providing him with years of desert expeditions, hunting like the Apaches and building wickiups (which failed spectacularly).
He has since written for a score of outdoor and adventure magazines including Outside, National Geographic Adventure, Nature Conservancy, and Global Adventure, and has authored a dozen books on subjects including natural history, sea kayaking, wildlife tracking, and expedition travel.
Jonathan’s exploration experience encompasses land- and sea-scapes on six continents, from the Atacama Desert to the Beaufort Sea, from the Rift Valley to the Australian Outback, and modes of transportation from sea kayaks to sailboats to bicycles to Land Cruisers.
He has traveled among and worked with cultures as diverse as the Seri Indians and the Himba, the Inuit and the Maasai. Jonathan has taught tracking, natural history writing, four-wheel-driving techniques, and other subjects for many conservation and government organizations.
He is an elected fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society, and a charter member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and lives in Southern Arizona with his wife of 37 years, Roseann Beggy Hanson.
You can follow Jonathan’s Overland Tech and Travel blog and order signed books at ExploringOverland.com.
Social Media Links –
www.facebook.com/authorjonathanhanson
Children’s Picture Book Review: Bertie at the Worldwide Games, by Wendy H. Jones, Illustrated by Barry Diaper
Blurb
Bertie the Buffalo is having fun on the farm where he lives in Scotland. Then a mysterious letter arrives inviting him to represent Scotland in the Worldwide Games. Bertie and his friends fly to Tokyo where they meet new and exotic animals and try to win first prize in all the different events. Bertie is sad when he isn’t winning any medals but finds out if he works together with his friends, he will be a winner in the end.
My Review
Thanks to the author and publisher for a copy of this book. I read a Bertie book last year and was so pleased to see another, Bertie is an adorable little buffalo.
Aww, this is so cute! Bertie and friends represent Scotland in running races in Tokyo, and learn the importance of team work.
I think the writing and illustration have improved since the first book. There’s something more vibrant about the illustrations. The story has a strong rhyme and I’m sure it’s ever so slightly more complex than in the first book. Maybe Bertie is getting a bit older so the prose is getting more complex?
I like it! The colours of the pictures are eye-catching the writing is fun and bouncy, and the message is good.
Author Bio
Wendy H. Jones is the award-winning author of the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries and Cass Claymore Investigates. She lives in Scotland and is also an international public speaker and the president of the Scottish Association of Writers.
Illustrator: Barry Diaper
Barry Diaper is best known for his cartoons and caricatures for The Beano. He was once short-listed for the Daily Mail’s ‘Not the Turner Prize’. He lives in Salisbury, England.
Blog Tour Review: Clarissa (Lost Tales #3), by Karl Drinkwater
Clarissa
If you’re reading this: HELP! I’ve been kidnapped.
Me and my big sister stayed together after our parents died. We weren’t bothering anybody. But some mean government agents came anyway, and split us up.
Now I’m a prisoner on this space ship. The agents won’t even say where we’re going.
I hate them.
And things have started to get a bit weird. Nullspace is supposed to be empty, but when I look out of the skywindows I can see … something. Out there. And I think it wants to get in here. With us.
My name is Clarissa. I am ten years old.
And they will all be sorry when my big sister comes to rescue me.
Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/b/Clarissa
Continue reading “Blog Tour Review: Clarissa (Lost Tales #3), by Karl Drinkwater”
Everything Is Better With Dragons 