***

In the moment between my mother’s death and her Return, I stop believing in God.

***
In the moment I read that line, I was ready to give up on this book. Fifteen pages in and I was having a “Joanna-Trollope-The-Choir” moment of extreme irritation (which come when a supposedly intelligent character randomly and dramatically throws out the ( Read more... )

B.R. Collins: The Traitor Game
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The Traitor Game is gathering speed as a word-of-blog “good thing” in YA circles: a book that is of delightfully middling length, without a threat of a sequel looming, with an intelligent story arc that deals with the emotional deathtraps and pitfalls that are the day-to-day ( Read more... )

As the second volume of Mr Philip Reeve’s outstanding steam-punk novels ("decorated throughout by Mr David Wyatt") was gifted to my second son this Christmas, I betook me to read it before he did, and accordingly write a report, advantageous in the extreme, as to its great worth and as to the hearty amusement found therein ( Read more... )

A political leader needing a spin-doctor to help his career, to boost his image as the saviour of the nation; the stab of brutal fact glossed by the glitter of the decorations on the knife blade as it goes in; a man willing to out-tyrant the tyrants and subjugate all territories to his lazy rule: this is the ostensibly the figurehead of myth and ( Read more... )

There are few spoilers needed for a book called Before I Die, few warnings either that you’re going to slowly become immured by the text until with the inevitable ending, you are choked by tears. Inevitable because the narrator is certainly on the last stages of her life’s journey and is meticulously planning what can and can’t be managed within ( Read more... )

There are some very good reasons why Melvin Burgess’ books ought to come with Parental Advisory stickers: they’re a stand-out in the YA landscape for touching on 18 certificate material and blowing the more discreet or edgy teen fare out of the water. Junk told the story of kids bunking from home to live in a squat, and getting hooked on heroin, ( Read more... )

To start off with, I can at least jot down the YA reads I've done this year so far ( Read more... )

After a long attempt to get a YA forum off the ground, the Athenaeum has finally met a natural demise. A shame, seeing as what an absolutely fabulous parent site it had: Palimpsest Anyone looking for a warm and friendly book-reviewing community need look no further. Any YA book reviews I do will be posted there, as usual, along with all the other ( Read more... )