Review: GIRLS WITH SHARP STICKS by Suzanne Young

Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow. Girls With Sharp Sticks is incredible. By far the best book I’ve read this year, and that’s saying something as I’ve had some incredible reads.

Okay, so this review is going to contain spoilers. I almost want to write this as a review purely for me, to remind myself later on just how amazing this book is. Suzanne Young is incredible and I’ll definitely be getting her other books.

So, Girls With Sharp Sticks is a blend of things. It’s a contemporary boarding school story that swiftly becomes a terrifying dystopian, futuristic but so close to us. The story is set in a school where girls are trained to become the perfect women for men. We meet Mena, an obedient girl who doesn’t want to upset the men who look after her. But meeting Jackson changes everything. She’s accidentally defiant to her Guardian, and it’s this that sparks the events that lead her to “wake up” and discover the truth of what’s going on at Innovations Academy: (huge spoiler alert!) These girls weren’t born. They were created.

This story is a blend of Frankenstein (Mary Shelley) and Vox (Christina Dalcher) and The Walls Around Us (Nova Ren Suma). It’s got a touch of Teri Terry’s Mind Games. There’s so much packed into this story and it works beautifully.

This is a feminist message about girls fighting back. It exposes the sexist ideology of modern day society by exaggerating it. But it also offers a message of hope.

And not all the men are bad. Jackson and Winston and Quentin fight the girls. Jackson tells Mena that she is real though she was created, and that she does have rights—just when she’s heard from the other men how she is just a product made to satisfy.

This book really is incredible. I also truly loved how it explores the power of words and writing. The girls spread their plans for rebellion and “wake” each other up by sharing a book of poems—one of which is called “Girls With Sharp Sticks”. This book almost becomes their voice, their way of discovering the truth, and finding the strength to fight and the way in which they can. And the book was given to them by the wife of the owner of the academy—a lady, it is revealed, was once an Innovations girl. The wife, Leandra, is just like them. And it’s she who manages to get five of the girls out at the end of the story, choosing to sacrifice her own chance of freedoms so she can stay behind with the intention of saving the other girls.

All the girls are so distinguishable. That was something that really wowed me. It’s predominantly an all-girl cast, but they’re all so individual and easy to tell apart. I loved them all. Mena, Syndney, Brynn, Annalise, Lennon Rose, Marcella, Valentine, Rebecca...

And it was great that this is a YA book with no romance. Sure, Jackson is obviously the love interest for Mena, and it’s clear there will be a second book as the ending leads to the set-up for taking the academy down, but in this book, Jackson’s priority is clearly to rescue all the girls at the end, not just Mena.

So, at about the 20% mark I did wonder whether Mena and the other girls at the academy were robots. There was something that felt off about them, but I dismissed this theory because Mena just felt so real. She’s our narrator and we feel her emotions, her soul. So when it was revealed at the end that all the girls there are robotic, I was stunned—even though I had previously questioned it.

There’s some uncomfortable scenes in this book. Violence against women. Sexual abuse. Emotional and physical abuse. But the messages are so important. I’m going to be recommending this book for years, I can tell already.

View all my reviews

Review: BOOK OF FIRE by Michelle Kenney

My rating: 5 stars

About Book Of Fire: 


Life outside the domes is not possible. At least that’s what Insiders are told.
Twins Eli and Talia shouldn’t exist. They’re Outsiders.

Their home is a secret. Their lives are a secret. Arafel is a secret.

An unexpected forest raid forces Talia into a desperate mission to rescue her family while protecting the sacred Book of Arafel from those who would use it as a weapon. As Talia and her life long friend Max enter the dome, she makes some unexpected discoveries, and allies, in the form of rugged Insider August, that will change the course of her life forever.

She’ll stop at nothing to save her family but will she sacrifice her heart in the process?

The Fire Sermon meets Gladiator in this brilliant YA debut.

--

Firstly, huge thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley, for providing me with a review copy of this book. 

So, I went into this book not really knowing what to expect, and the first thing that struck me was the language. It's so lyrical and beautiful, and there's something almost haunting about the imagery and tone. The language itself reminded me a lot of the style employed in both The Clan of the Cave Bear and The Walls Around Us. They both have the immersive, lyrical quality that Book of Fire has. Yet Michelle Kenney's novel also has the high stakes of The Hunger Games (I'm always doubtful when I see that one used as a comp title due to how huge it is, but here it really works). 

I'll confess, it did take me a little while to get used to this writing style that is lyrical and beauitful but that covers a lot of action. It felt a little slower at first than other YA novels I'm used to, but once I was used to Michelle Kenney's voice, I could not read fast enough. I just had to know what happens. 

Both Eli and Talia are fully fleshed characters and very well written. I must admit, I love stories with twins--that was one of the reasons I requested a review copy of this book in particular--and the bond these two share is really well written. I also really liked that Eli is Deaf, and yet he's still treated as a valuable member of society for his way with animal and wild creatures. So often, disabled characters are often treated as a burden in fiction, but I really appreciated this representation. 

The other characters are well-written too, and I especially loved the grandfather. Each character has strengths and flaws. 

I really liked the worldbuilding. It's refreshing and new, and gives a lovely twist on your standard fantasy and sci-fi stories. There's also a touch of dystopian in there too, which I adored. The world itself is hugely imaginative and everything is layered nicely, and I loved how we're given the history of this world too, yet there's not really any sections that are heavy in backstory. Instead, everything is woven in pretty seamlessly. And normally, when I've read Dome stories, the MC has been one who lives on the inside--Talia lives on the outside, and it's the insiders who are the threat, and that just felt so new.  A couple of times, I'd forgotten what the 'terminology' in this book referred to, but this wasn't a problem, as Kenney defly weaves clues in to remind you who's who--it was mainly the Sweepers who I kept getting confused about. 

(Also, Exeter is mentioned, and as a local, I loved that!)

I really liked the contrast of the insiders and the outsiders. It was well-thought out and incredibly well executed, the old 'natural' ways vs technology. 

Overall, Book Of Fire is a tightly plotted fantasy story of deception vs truth, and loyalty vs betrayal, with incredibly well written characters and a plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Review: PEOPLE LIKE US by Dana Mele

People Like Us by Dana Mele
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet, but the past is past, and she's reinvented herself entirely. Now she's a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl's body is found in the lake, Kay's carefully constructed life begins to topple. The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. But if Kay's finally backed into a corner, she'll do what it takes to survive. Because at Bates Academy, the truth is something you make... not something that happened.

--

People Like Us is Dana Mele’s debut, a tightly plotted thriller oozing with characters who all have such great depth.

The novel begins with the discovery of Jessica Lane’s body, found by our protagonist Kay and her friends. Jessica, a fellow student, has been murdered, her body dumped in the lake on grounds of Bates Academy, the private boarding school that the female characters (apart from Justine) attend.

Immediately, we know that the main character Kay has a dark past and lots of secrets. Something that really helps build the tension as we read when it becomes apparent that Kay is a suspect for Jessica’s murder.

But when Jessica begins to “talk” to Kay from beyond the grave, instructing her to carry out a scavenger hunt that will reveal the dark secrets of her past and those of her friends, things get really interesting.

At the start of the book, I could not turn the pages fast enough. It was SO compelling and Kay’s character really drove my desire to read. She’s dark and overwhelmed with guilt. She’s already witnessed two deaths before Jessica’s and her narrative voice is intriguing. She’s also bi, having relationships with both her boyfriend and her best friend, Brie (among others). But she cheats a lot, as do many other characters in this book, which shocked me quite a bit.

A lot of the characters are morally ambiguous or outright evil. Everyone has dark secrets and things they’ve done that they’re ashamed of or regret (and a few of the characters think nothing of their mean actions). This book had A LOT of drama—it’s relentless and due to the continuous stream of it, at times I felt breathless reading. I felt I needed a break to digest what I’d read, yet I also wanted to keep reading. This resulted in me continuing, but the non-stop action ended up actually slowing the pace for me, from the 40-80% marks.

There are a lot of characters in this book, and at times I did forget who was who—but this only concerned more minor background characters, so it wasn’t a problem at all. All the main characters were fully fleshed and felt so real.

I did guess who the villain was early on, but there were a lot of red herrings that nearly made me change my mind. Ultimately, though, I was pleased to learn that I had been right as to the identity of Jessica’s murderer.

The Scavenger Hunt aspect of this book reminded me a lot of Thirteen Reasons Why, yet the clues within the game were very well written and of a completely different style (and often it was a good job the characters explained them as a few I didn’t understand).

The craft is really good in this book. There are some beautiful lines and images, really meaningful messages.

All in all, this is a recommended read for fans of YA thrillers who love a good murder mystery.


View all my reviews

Review: SADIE by Courtney Summers

Sadie by Courtney Summers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial - like podcast following the clues she's left behind. Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him. When West McCray - a radio personality working on a segment about small, forgotten towns in America - overhears Sadie's story at a local gas station, he becomes obsessed with finding the missing girl. He starts his own podcast as he tracks Sadie's journey, trying to figure out what happened, hoping to find her before it's too late. Courtney Summers has written the breakout book of her career. Sadie is propulsive and harrowing and will keep you riveted until the last page.

--

I was a little nervous to start reading SADIE as I’d heard so many positive things about this book and it had been recommended to me countless times. It’s one of those books that felt huge, and seeing recently that it had won a prestigious award finally motivated me to open it on my kindle. And immediately, I was hooked.

I love books that use unusual writing devices as part of their narrative style, and just over half of this story is told via a podcast. I’ll confess, I’ve never listened to a podcast, so this format was new to me—and I was reading it rather than listening. The podcast revolves around a journalist called West who’s been employed by May Beth to look for her missing granddaughter (or rather surrogate granddaughter) and the episodes follow West as he travels around meeting people who Sadie, the missing girl, has talked to in her hunt for the man who killed her younger sister.

The other half of the story is told by Sadie in a first person narrative and the alternating order of the writing and podcast episodes means that we witness something with Sadie and are left on a cliffhanger, only to discover what then happened a chapter or so later via West’s investigation as he interviews the shady people Sadie’s come into contact with.

Sadie is a great character. She’s real, flawed, overwhelmed with grief over her sister’s murder and how she feels like she let her down. Sadie is thin and small, but as she tells the reader at several points, she is dangerous. She’s ruthless in her hunt for the murderer, and she saves a lot of other young girls on the way.

Claire, Sadie’s mother, is also an interesting character. We see an almost transformation from rubbish mother to caring mother as the book progresses as West interviews her for the podcast, looking for any leads as to where Sadie is now. Claire’s characterisation is strong and well written.

And the ending! Small spoilers here. It’s an ambiguous ending and we’re left only knowing the “ending” via the final episode of the podcast—which isn’t really an ending to Sadie’s story as the trail has gone cold. We don’t know what happened to her as her narrative is cut short during her meeting with her sister’s murderer. I was turning the pages eagerly as I read the podcast, hoping to be brought back to Sadie’s narration. But we’re not. This leaves an intentional and well crafted sense of unease in readers as we finish the book and it’s almost haunting. I can’t stop thinking about it.

The writing is also equally beautiful and well-crafted and in Sadie’s narrative, there are many powerful and poignant statements and messages. I found myself really thinking about her thoughts, and her voice is so strong.

Warning: This book does go to some very dark places: child abuse, rape, pedophilia, and murder are all bound up within the plot.

Overall, this is a powerful read. Highly recommended.

View all my reviews

Review: THE LOST AND THE FOUND by Cat Clarke

The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

SHE WAS LOST...

When six-year-old Laurel Logan was abducted, the only witness was her younger sister, Faith. Faith's childhood was dominated by Laurel's disappearance - from her parents' broken marriage and the constant media attention to dealing with so-called friends who only ever wanted to talk about her sister.

NOW SHE IS FOUND...

Thirteen years later, a young woman is found in the garden of the Logans' old house, disorientated and clutching the teddy bear Laurel was last seen with. Laurel is home at last, safe and sound. Faith always dreamed of getting her sister back, without ever truly believing it would happen. But a disturbing series of events leaves Faith increasingly isolated and paranoid, and before long she begins to wonder if everything that's lost can be found again...

---

The Lost and The Found by Cat Clarke is an emotionally-charged, poignant and harrowing tale of one girl’s disappearance and her return.

After 13 years, Faith’s missing sister has come home. Laurel’s endured physical and emotional abuse and this story follows her journey back into “normal” life, but told through the eyes of her younger sister, Faith. Faith’s grown up in the shadow of her missing sister, and now Laurel’s back she’s once again the focus of everyone’s attention.

I’m a massive fan of Clarke’s books and I eagerly picked up The Lost and The Found with high expectations. For most of the book I was thinking this was a 3 or 4 star book. For me it lacked the “heartbeat” of Clarke’s other books—that is until the 80% mark. Then I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough as my suspicions were confirmed about the major twist. This was such a relief to know I was right, and this is definitely one of those books where I believe that working out what the twist is going to be is a good thing. It doesn’t mean the author failed, rather we as readers are rewarded for our close reading skills.

Faith is a great character. She’s real, relatable, and she acted just how I think I would’ve acted had I been in the same situation. Her narrative voice was markedly different to Clarke’s other narrators. We’re less “in the moment” with Faith, and instead there’s a lot of telling and glossing over days or weeks at a time until we’re at the next important event—but, crucially, it never seems like bad telling. It’s just carefully managed.

There’s less action in this book too compared to Clarke’s other titles, and this was something that I found a little slow at times—but it suits the plot. Faith is adjusting to her life now that her missing sister has returned, and this book is very much focussed inwardly on Faith’s feelings and emotions on this (as well as her relationship with her boyfriend and her best friend, and how she’ll manage them now her sister is back).

Because the ending of this book is truly superb—I’d worked out the main twist, but the final page hits you with another twist which I hadn’t seen coming—I want to keep this review as spoiler free as possible as part of the magic of reading this book was in my wondering whether I would be right. I purposefully didn’t read any other reviews of this book in case I stumbled across a spoiler. And I do just want to talk about that final final twist—it is poignant and gut-wrenching and now I’m looking back at much of the rest of the book in a different light. For me, this is the sign of a really good author, and it’s this that makes the book a solid 4 stars.

One of the things I really loved about The Lost and The Found is the relationship between Faith and her boyfriend Thomas. Clarke doesn’t shy away from showing a more realistic relationship that’s rarely found in teen fiction—Faith isn’t always wildly in love with Thomas, as times she believes she doesn’t care much about him at all, and she doubts their future a lot. This really resonated with me, especially the line where Faith wonders whether this is what a loving, true relationship is like and people just don’t publicise the uncertainty, the doubt, or the negative parts.

Spoiler: Faith and Thomas do break up, after multiple betrayals of trust (one of which is revealed later to not actually be a betrayal), and they remain broken up. This is my only sore point about the book as I was hoping for a reconciliation between them to show that yes, relationships are difficult and require work and communication. To me, leaving them broken up risks the idea being portrayed that their relationship was never “true” and that the doubt Faith felt was real. For the anxiety-prone among us, I’d have liked a better ending here. Yet I can see that then remaining broken up also is realistic—rarely do teen couples/first loves stay together.

I also love the family dynamics in this book. Michel, Faith’s father’s new partner, following his divorce to Olivia, was a great character and seeing how Olivia gradually came to accept him as part of the family was great.

The Lost and The Found, in summary, is a great read. A little slow at times but the ending is well worth the wait.

View all my reviews

Review: BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Malorie raises the children the only way she can: indoors, with the doors locked, the curtains closed, and mattresses nailed over the windows.

The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall, but soon she will have to wake them and blindfold them.

Today they will risk everything. Today they will leave the house.

Josh Malerman’s New York Times bestselling Bird Box is a terrifying psychological thriller that will haunt you long after reading.

--

Bird Box is an intense, gripping, and fast-paced apocalyptic thriller by Josh Malerman. I only became aware of the existence of this book after watching the film starring Sandra Bullock. I absolutely loved that film—it had heart, action, and horror packed in—and so when I saw the ebook was on sale for £0.99 o just had to give it a try.

Because I’d loved the film so much, I was a little sceptical—but the book is even better. Malorie, our main character, is strongly written and the narrative really delves deeper into her psyche, allowing us to see new layers that the film didn’t have. We see her weaknesses and her faults as she battles to keep her two young children alive in a world where opening your eyes can get you killed.

The other main characters are well written and believable, and we see how stress brings out the worst and best things about humanity.

Remarkably, the plot of the film is strikingly close to the book. Of course, there are some differences (such as some events happen much closer together in the film and it also has a main character doe much later than in the book), but all the other essential elements are there—the book just develops many more, such as the survivors’ use of animals in keeping them safe from the creatures that will drive them mad if they see them.

I was delighted to see the book kept the back-and-forth non-linear narrative that the film had. I just loved that structure.

There is a lot of darkness in this book and a few scenes that made me feel queasy. Warning for suicide, murder, and graphic violent content.

This is a must-read for apocalypse and dystopian fans.

View all my reviews