Review: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #3)

In the final book of the Chaos Walking trilogy: oh my God, argh no, seriously?  Just when you thought the end of The Ask and the Answer meant things couldn't possibly get any worse, they do.  Spectacularly.  And then you get repeatedly punched in the gut.

Title & Author: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Published: 2010
Series: Chaos Walking #3
Pages: 603 (Walker Books, 2010)
Challenge: Series Catch-Up
Status: Owned book

Note: As with The Ask and the Answer, please don't read this review if you haven't read the previous books in the series (The Knife of Never Letting Go is #1).  While I don't spoil Monsters of Men I do discuss plot details from the earlier books.

Synopsis: As a world-ending war surges around them, Todd and Viola face monstrous decisions. The indigenous Spackle, thinking and acting as one, have mobilized to avenge their murdered people. Ruthless human leaders prepare to defend their factions at all costs, even as a convoy of new settlers approaches. And as the ceaseless Noise lays all thoughts bare, the projected will of the few threatens to overwhelm the desperate desire of the many. The consequences of each action, each word, are unspeakably vast: To follow a tyrant or a terrorist? To save the life of the one you love most, or thousands of strangers? To believe in redemption, or assume it is lost? Becoming adults amid the turmoil, Todd and Viola question all they have known, racing through horror and outrage toward a shocking finale. (from Goodreads)

First Line: "'War,' says Mayor Prentiss, his eyes glinting. 'At last.'"

Review: As the end of The Ask and the Answer and the first words of this book suggest, Monsters of Men is all about war.  There is a lot of fighting.  I didn't find this off putting (I am a huge fan of battle and action scenes, they are often my favourite thing in books and movies) but I know some other readers do - so, just to be warned, lots of fighting and battle and blood and death.  It never feels gratuitous, but it is constant for the first 1/3 or so of the book and this can be grinding.  It's completely realistic, but there isn't much breathing space.

Not that this book is all about the action.  It is, ultimately, a book about peace.  Peace is what most people are striving for, and what characters like Mayor bloody Prentiss (I really think I'm just going to take to calling him that) are constantly trying to prevent.  There is the added issue of thousands of settlers being on their way, potentially to land in either a war zone or to be wiped out by the Spackle, which makes a drive for a decent peace treaty - not like the one reached after the first war, which lead to a Spackle slave population - even more important.

This is all making it sound like a very simplistic plot.  And, to an extent, it is.  It is a relentless plot, just as the first two books are, and there are just as many twists and turns with as many surprises as you'd expect.  A lot of the focus is on the Spackle - there is now a third voice added to Todd and Viola's and it is absolutely awesome and adds a new layer to the debate about peace and war, justice and revenge.  The genius of this book, as with The Ask and the Answer, is that there are no simple solutions and pretty much every side is justified in their actions in some way (except Mayor bloody Prentiss).  Like the best science fiction it makes you think about the real world, about issues we have to deal with, and does so with an amazing story that left me crying and shuddering and wanting to recommend it to as many people as possible.

Does it work as the last book in a trilogy?  Hell, yes.  It is a fantastic finale, which brings together all the themes and works perfectly.  I did not feel remotely let down by any part of it.  I really don't think I can recommend this trilogy to people enough - it is painful and intense and there are times when you care so much that it hurts, but it is so worth the read.  I just wish I'd read all three last year when I first read The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Rating: 10/10

Review: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #1)

In The Knife of Never Letting Go, subjects such as war, love, feminism, misogyny and death are dealt with in a way that is a) beautiful and b) so intense oh my God I couldn't stop reading even though it hurt.  And that's just the start of a series that will wreck you.

Title & Author: The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Published: 2008
Series: Chaos Walking #1
Pages: 479 (Walker Books, 2008)
Challenge: Series Catch-Up
Status: Owned book

Synopsis: Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too.  (edited from Goodreads because hello spoilers much?)

First Line: "The first thing you find out when yer dog starts to talk is that dogs don't got nothing much to say.  About anything."

Review: This is a difficult review to write because a) I love this book so damn much, I've read it twice now and know I'll reread it repeatedly; and b) I want to say a lot but don't want to spoil.  A lot of what makes this book so good is the constant surprise and mystery and wondering just what Patrick Ness is going to drop his characters into next.  And then you find out and it hurts and you want it to stop but you also can't stop reading and then you get to the end and let out all the swears because I warn you now, cliffhanger o'clock.  Have the rest of the trilogy ready to go because it really needs to be read together or you'll go mad with anticipation.

So, without wanting to spoil anything: Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown, which is the last settlement on New World.  When Todd was a baby the Noise germ (released by the Spackle, the native aliens, during a war that eventually wiped them out) killed all the women of the town and made it so the thoughts of everyone and everything else can be heard.  All the time.  Forever.  This is shown in the book as a mass of words and fonts that are hard to differentiate and give you a sense of just how nightmarish this world is.  Todd has learned to hide his Noise a little, but he's still only twelve and stuff leaks out - and when he finds something strange in the swamp, he knows he has to keep it a secret.  Only he fails and has to run and then it's a manic chase across New World in which he learns that everything he thought was true isn't.

And there's death and violence and war and grief and seriously, this book is so good.  There's one bit (and people who've read it before know what it is) that I still can't believe Patrick Ness did because you do not do that sort of thing.  That is crossing a line.  I had forgotten it happened on my reread and I actually tried to convince myself it wasn't going to occur.  That it did and it hurt as much this time as before is testament to how this book sucks you in and makes you care about the characters.

I'm really not sure this review conveys how much I love and admire this book (although maybe the sheer incoherence gets that across).  I just think everyone should read it, and then continue with the rest of the trilogy.  It made me cry and think and swear, all of which are good things when I'm reading.  Read it.

Rating: 10/10

Review: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

In this beautiful book, subjects such as grief and intolerance are dealt with in a wonderful, non-preachy way and it is marvellous.

Published: 2011
Pages: 221 (Indigo, 2011)
Read: 7/11/12
Status: Borrowed from the library

Synopsis: Ten-year-old Jamie hasn't cried since his big sister, Rose, was killed five years earlier.  His family has fallen apart as a result of her death: his mum left, his dad drinks, and Jasmine, Rose's twin, isn't eating.  When his parents divorce, Jamie moves with his dad and Jasmine to the Lake District in an attempt to rebuild their lives.

First Line: "My sister Rose lives on the mantelpiece."

Review: This review is tricky to write because I loved this book so much.  I read it at the start of what was meant to be a Day of Reading and then found that I couldn't pick up another book afterwards, I was that caught up in My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece and my reaction to it.  I cried, I cringed, I laughed, and I was taken back to my own time as a ten-year-old.  All in one slim volume of elegant prose and fully realised characters. 

I'm tempted just to stop here and say: read it!  Read it now!

But I won't, though I may just list reasons for reading it:

1) Jamie himself.  He is a wonderful narrator, and it really feels like a ten-year-old view of the world.  Not just in the language, which is beautiful yet still, somehow, childlike, but in how he treats the universe: if he wears a Spider-Man t-shirt then it will be ready for when his mum visits, and wearing it will make her visit. There are constant imaginings of how life should be and will be and I really wanted to be able to Thursday Next my way into the book and give him a hug.

2) Sunya, Jamie's friend at school.  Sunya forever, she is badass and incredible and I kind of wish she'd been my friend when I was that age although I would have been terrified that one of her fantastic vengeance plots would get us in trouble.  Not that it would have done, she is too badass for that. 

3) Tough issues are dealt with in a fantastic way.  My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece deals with grief, intolerance, abandonment, alcoholism, anorexia, bullying and exclusion in a way that never feels heavy-handed or as if Annabel Pitcher is forcing a moral on the reader.  Jamie puzzles things out for himself and has constant moments of trying to put together a right way to act from the hypocrisies of the adults around him.

4) It perfectly captured what being at primary school is like.  The school in this book is a local village one, very heavily C of E and though this is clearly set in the 21st century, but it reminded me a lot of being at primary school in the late 80s/early 90s, although none of my teachers were as hideous as Mrs Farmer.  The way in which teachers often make favourites of the most hideous children was very accurate though.

5) There is a total Britain's Got Talent parody/piss-take which I loved.  I don't even watch the damn show and I appreciated it.

6) It made me cry. 

Oh, just read it!  I don't want to spoil anything - I haven't even said how Rose died, because I went in not knowing and I quite liked it having a bit of mystery as to what happened to her, although I know some book blurbs do include it - I just want to recommend it to people and buy a copy so I can lend it to my friends with instructions that they read it.  And you should, too.

Rating: 10/10

Other Reviews:
Wondrous Reads
Forever Young Adult
Beth Fish Reads

Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

In the third Harry Potter book, all the awesome is brought.  Or, to be clearer, everything I love about the series crystalises in one book, including an "oh, J.K. Rowling you did not just do that" moment.  And, on top of all that, one of my favourite characters makes their first appearance.  As nearly perfect as the series gets.

Published: 1999
Pages: 317 (Bloomsbury, 1999)
Series: Harry Potter #3
First Read: Summer 1999
Times Read: At least 10
Part of: The Harry Potter Readalong

Synopsis: The notorious murderer Sirius Black has escaped from the wizard prison, Azkaban.  As a supporter of Voldemort, he is out for revenge on Harry Potter for defeating the Dark Lord.  Harry, however, is more worried about the Azkaban guards swarming around the school - until he learns that there is a greater connection between himself and Sirius Black than he knew...

Review: As with Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, I'm splitting this into two sections for those who haven't read the books and those who have.

For those who haven't read the book(s) before
This is my favourite Harry Potter book, and I think it will remain so even after I've finished this readalong.  To me, it encapsulates everything that makes the books fantastic: the magic, the mystery, the characters, the plot, the sense of a fully formed world, the humour and the depth of feeling.  Everything locks together and the clicks into place perfectly.  More than any other book in the series, it makes you aware of just how well J.K. Rowling plotted the individual novels.

I am tempted to say that if you read only one Harry Potter book it should be this one.  Not only because it is the perfect example of the series, but because there isn't a lot of back story and all of it is mentioned (it's missing from later books) so the basic catch up is easy.

And I really have to stop now because anything I say, however oblique, has the potential to ruin the plot.  Go forth and read!

For those who have read the book(s) before
Before I get truly, ridiculously fangirly, I'm just going to bring up the one thing that has always bugged me about this book.  I hate doing it, because I do love Azkaban, but I notice it every time I read the bok so here goes: there is an error with Lupin's lycanthropy (at least, I've always thought so).  He says that without the Wolfsbane Potion he would become "a fully fledged monster once a month" (258) but he only transforms when his by direct moonlight  it happens as they all return to Hogwarts (278) and he doesn't change on the way to the Whomping Willow because "[c]louds were obscuring the moon completely" (296).  So, why not just stay in a windowless room every full moon?  It may cut back on your social engagements but at least you wouldn't change. 

Sorry, that has just bugged me for ages.  On with my thoughts on the book...

SIRIUS!  Oh my God, Sirius!  And Lupin!  But I like Sirius more (sorry, Lupin)!  And timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly stuff!  And That Plot Twist!  Fangirl flail!

And an invocation of depression through the Dementors, who are terrifying.  I don't think the concept of anything else in Harry Potter is as scary (not even the Inferi).  They make you remember your worst moments and there's no relief from it; that to me is horrible to contemplate.  And Harry has to hear his parents dying over and over - this book, more so then Chamber, builds on what it means for Harry to have grown up without a family, and the thread runs right from his wanting his dad to have cast the Patronus to The Forest Again. 

I was going to say that, much as I love Azkaban, it seems more standalone than some of the others - despite Pettirgrew escaping - but there are themes that are constants of the series.  It's also the first time we see Snape's side of things, and get the first real hints that James Potter was a pillock.  I am on Snape's side in how he viewed the Marauders (though less so on how he chose to deal with his teen angst - maybe don't join a group of evil doers, Severus, at least not till you've given it a good long think).  And as much as I love Sirius there are hints in his entire portrayal that he wasn't as badass a teenager as he is an adult.

This is getting a little muddly, mostly because I can't think of how best to convey my love of this book.  You've all (hopefully) read it, you know how awesome it is.  I really think it is the best book in the series as well as my favourite - though Deathly Hallows runs it a very close second.  I think reading Azkaban is what cemented me as a full on Harry Potter fan; there was no going back after this.

Rating: 10/10

Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Orphaned as a baby, Harry Potter is brought up by his neglectful aunt and uncle and thinks he is an ordinary boy.  Then he discovers he's a wizard, goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and fights the Dark Lord who murdered his parents.  And it is awesome.

Published: 1997
Pages: 223 (Bloomsbury, 1997)
Series: Harry Potter #1
First Read: Spring 1999
Times Read: At least 10
Part of: The Harry Potter Readalong

First Line: "Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."

Review: This book is very difficult to review, because it's Harry Potter and I just want to bounce around going "it's awesome, if you haven't read it before go and read it, if you have read it before then read it again.  Either way, get thee to the book!" but that probably isn't very helpful.  Also, I want to speak of spoilery things, but that's hardly fair to new readers, so I have divided this into two sections: one for those who haven't read the books, and one for those who have.

For those who haven't read the book(s) before
Part of me wants to say, simply, "remedy that" but that's not exactly a compelling argument.  So I will say: the word 'magical' is constantly thrown around about Harry Potter - especially given its immense popularity and J.K. Rowling's rags to riches story - and it is an epithet that fits.  These books are magical, especially this first one when everything is sparkly and new and the series hasn't yet taken the dark turn it does in later books (oh, the pain those later books can cause).  Yes, the language is simplistic and geared at a young audience, and some of the characters are painted with broad strokes, but it is a fun, fast-paced read that perfectly sets up a series full of mysteries, laughs and drama. 

Read it, and know that people are envying you for being new to the world and to not knowing all the answers (because the films don't include everything).  As a piece of pop culture, it's worth reading; as a children's book, it's fantastic.  Get thee to the book.

For those who have read the book(s) before
This is more difficult, because I feel like I ought to be talking about themes like love, death and loyalty, and basically writing an essay that encompasses the entire series and interviews from Rowling, complete with me fangirling all over the place and going "this is why I love her and her books, because of these moments, and because she'll talk about the coalition and how much they're screwing the country over!  Stuff like this!".  But I'm really not sure if that isn't something better saved till the end of the series as I'm constantly reassessing on this reread - for example, I've realised just how much Chapters 17 and 18 of Chamber of Secrets foreshadow Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows.  There is so much there it's ridiculous in hindsight.

And because, on rereading, this book doesn't contain as much information as some of the later books.  That seems self-evident, but in terms of moments where I was going "oh my God, that's setting up this!" it doesn't have half as many as in CoS.  There's the mention of Sirius, and I really wonder if Harry's dream at the end of Chapter 6 (when Malfoy turns into Snape and there's a flash of green light) is a reference to Half-Blood Prince, but the actual information that Jo gives is minimal.  It's really the introduction to the world and the big mysteries: why did Voldemort want to kill Harry?  How did Harry survive?  Why does Harry's scar hurt?  And how much, exactly, does Dumbledore know? 

I have to admit that, with hindsight, I am watching Dumbledore more closely.  Not in a judgemental way, as you know he doesn't want to use Harry in the way he does (even if it's an action which even Severus 'I want that boy expelled' Snape is quick to condemn) but because you're aware of what his true actions are.  When he tells Harry he isn't old enough to know the truth, you know that he has his reasons for not saying, all of which are explained in Order of the Phoenix - he loves Harry too much to cause him the pain of knowing the truth.  Of course, another part of me was thinking "yeah, plus Jo needs to spin this out for several books" but, at the same time, I don't know that the books would be improved by Philosopher's Stone ending with "hey, Harry, there's this prophecy and you're in it!".

I think the thing that most staggers me, repeatedly, with Harry Potter is: how did J.K. Rowling* pull this off?  The more I read the series, and the more I attempt to write my own books, the more I have to marvel at her achievement.  Yes, there is the occasional plot hole that makes me want to tear my hair out** and yes there are times when I think "wouldn't this have been a bit simpler for the bad guys?" (particularly in Goblet of Fire) but ultimately: how did she do this?  How did she plan it, hold it all in her head, and then get it down on paper over the course of ten years (seventeen including planning)?  Even without the immense pressure she was under as the series went on it would be difficult, but with that media spotlight and the fans' expectations, I really don't know how she did it.  The amount of care and attention and planning that went into these books is phenomenal and one of the things that I take away most from them.

So, I think my reaction to Philosopher's Stone is 1) I'm back at Hogwarts, yay!; 2) how on Earth did J.K. Rowling do this?; and 3) there is so much more to come and I cannot wait.  Onwards!

Rating: 10/10

* I know the correct, academic usage would be 'Rowling' but I feel weird writing that, just as I feel weird writing just 'Austen'.  Though writing Jo also feels a bit too personal as I've never met her, however much I may be 'but that is my name too!'.
** There's one in Prisoner of Azkaban that I will discuss when I get there.

Review: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Published: 2011

Pages: 352 (Bloomsbury, 2012)

Read: 27/6/12 - 29/6/12

Synopsis: Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing. As they grow into young men their bond blossoms into something far deeper — despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned. (from Goodreads)   

First Line: "My father was a king and the son of kings."

Review: I'm trying to keep this review from being too effusive, as I've just finished the book and am still in the afterglow of a fantastic read.  Suffice to say: I love this book.

I'm something of a Classics nerd, to the extent that I can be a bit precious about the Greek myths in general and Homer in particular.  I was wary about reading Percy Jackson (though I really like those books; another series I need to finish*) and I refuse to watch Troy because I'm sorry you cut the gods and made Achilles and Patroclus cousins I do not want this, so I was a little worried about The Song of Achilles.  I needn't have been: even though I knew what was going to happen to everyone, I was still gripped and cared about the characters - to the extent that I cried at the end, even though I knew exactly what that end would be.

I think part of the reason I loved the book so much is that it fitted almost exactly with my own view of the Trojan War.  Not only because of the Achilles/Patroclus relationship, but the portrayal of the other heroes, especially Odysseus.  I started reading the book on my lunch break at work, and I had to smother laughs at the sheer snark of Odysseus at Tyndareus's palace.  And then the epic snarkfest between him and Diomedes - so much joy.  If there is one tiny complaint it's that we don't get Diomedes kicking the arses of Ares and Aphrodite because that would be awesome (but I see why we don't).  And a quick note on the gods: they appear and are involved in the fate of the heroes, and they have all the power that features in the myths, as well as the ability to guide men without the men quite realising, which works perfectly.

But it's in the portrayal of Achilles that the book works best.  In The Iliad he's either stubbornly proud or psychotically vengeful, so to get more depth to his character and story is wonderful.  I've never particularly liked him as a hero, but this made him more human and his story even more tragic, and I wanted to reach into the pages and stop everything from happening.  And this is me trying not to spoil for people who don't know Homer, but the end of the book is a steady rush to a finale I knew but dreaded.  That is the strength of the book for me: that it made me care even though there was no suspense for me.

I think even if you go into this book with no knowledge of the Trojan War, it's still a fantastic read.  If anything that might add to it as a story, because I was foreshadowing everything that was going to happen by myself.  But I wouldn't give up the sheer joy of discovering that someone else views these characters as I do for the chance to read this book as if it was a new story.  As a book it is beautifully written, the battle scenes are fantastic, the research is clear but never shown off, and it is a marvellous read.  At its heart - taking away the epic story and the foreknowledge of the character's fates - it is a love story between two young men caught up in a war neither of them want, and it is wonderfully told.

50 Words Or Less: A marvellous read, even without a foreknowledge of the Trojan War.  While my Classics geekery added an enormous amount to my enjoyment, it is a wonderful book regardless, working as both a romance and a historical novel.  My fantastic read afterglow will last.

Rating: 10/10

* Although I did work myself up into a somewhat ridiculous fury over the whole Percy calling himself Nobody to Polyphemus won't make sense to anyone reading the book thing. 

Review: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

Published: 2009
Pages: 337
Series: N/A
Read: 12th-13th September 2011
Challenge: N/A
Status: Borrowed but buying
Reason I Read It: I have The Glass Demon by Helen Grant on my TBR shelf, and because of the first line of this book.

Synopsis: On the day Katharina Linden disappears, Pia is the last person to see her alive.  Terror is spreading through the town.  How could a ten-year-old girl vanish in a place where everybody knows everybody else?

Pia is determined to find out what happened to Katharina.  But then the next girl disappears...(back copy)

First Line: "My life might have been so different had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded."

Review: How could I resist an opening line like that?  Although there aren't any exploding grandmothers in the book - it's more a freak accident involving hairspray and an open flame - the novel more than lives up to that first sentence.  The fact that Pia is in her late teens narrating events from her childhood allows the language and the commentary to be grown up without being ridiculous precocious.  The prose alone is a reason to read, and the plot and characterization make this an exceptionally good book.

While I enjoyed the book as a whole, possibly my favourite thing is the German folklore that pervades the story.  The tales Pia is told eventually colour not only her notions of what is happening to the vanishing girls but also her perceptions of the book's climax.  There's nothing supernatural about the girl's disappearances - there's all too human an explanation - but the ending contrives to makes events take on a folkloric quality.  Often the book feels like an extended folk tale, with the perils lurking not with the Fiery Man of the Hirnberg or in a haunted mill but in the house of someone seen every day.

Overall, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is the perfect mix of prose, plot and folklore all seen through a child's perspective of the adult world.  There are some moments of genuine horror and an ending that isn't perfectly happy, which makes the book as a whole like a true folk tale: even if the hero wins, there isn't a guaranteed happily ever after. 

Rating: 10/10

Review: Autumn Term by Antonia Forest

Published: 1948
Series: The Marlows #1
First Read: Sometime before 2004
Times Read: 3
Status: Owned book (my edition: Faber, 2000)
Reason I Read It: I'd been told Antonia Forest is the Jane Austen of school stories - I was not disappointed.

Synopsis: Twins Nicola and Lawrie are the youngest of six sisters to start at Kingscote School.  They are determined to do as well as their elder sisters, but things do not go to plan.

First Line: "Train journeys, Nicola decided, were awfully dull."

Review: Rereading this book I was surprised by how many elements of the later books are present here, not just the brilliance of the writing and dialogue, but also in the characters and plotlines that are emerging.  There's Lois Sanger and her feud with Rowan and later Nicola; there's Marie Dobson and her general air of desperation; and there's even Miss Cromwell and her hatred of prefects.  All sorts of events are here which are going to affect later plots, but the book itself is self-contained.

The plot itself is fairly simple, as shown in the above synopsis.  Everything Nicola and Lawrie try to succeed in - entrance exams, sports, Guides - fails, either because of their own lack of education (they're behind because they've been ill a lot as children) or because of other people's actions.  Nothing happens that is beyond the bounds of reality, except that it's a fairly eventful term, and there are no sudden miraculous changes of fortune at the end.  The success that is achieved at the end is the result of the twins' own hard work and abilities, when they decide to do something they want to do instead of trying to emulate their sisters. 

If there is a fault with the novel, it's that Ginty and Karen Marlow aren't as fleshed out as they later will be.  They're still believable and differentiated from the rest of the family, but they aren't given the same attention as Rowan and Ann.  I think this may be because Forest planned to do a series in which each member of the family was focused on in turn, so she purposefully left them 'blanker' in order to utilise the others more.  It isn't a weakness of the novel for a first time reader, but as I've read the whole series I'm looking for things - especially from Ginty (bah, The Attic Term, bah!) - which aren't yet apparent.

For a first novel, this is a fantastic book.  I'd recommend it to someone even if they don't read school stories, albeit with the knowledge that the series is only going to get better as it progresses.

Five Reasons I Love It:
1) It takes school story cliches and plays with them.  Everything the twins try to do that is inkeeping with a recognised school story trope fails miserably.  There's even a point at which Lawrie imagines saving Lois from drowning, and then "a feverish and conscience-stricken Lois would...confess everything" (143), only Lawrie isn't really going to follow the traditional storyline, she's going to "jolly well let her drown.  And I'd let her see I was letting her drown, what's more" (143).  There aren't many school stories in which a heroine would have such thoughts, or in which she would be allowed to go unpunished for even thinking such a terrible thing.

2) Rowan Marlow and her snarky glory.  It continues to grow - my favourite future line is "my grief would be consolable" - but is already on display here, such as when she concedes a point to Ginty: "[a]ll right...[y]ou didn't cry.  It was an extraordinary coincidence that just that week you had such a very bad cold" (20).

3) The 'villains' are believable.  They're not hideous pantomime types, doing things because they're evil and devious and have no morals whatsoever.  A lot of the time, they're causing problems and dropping other people in it because they're trying to save their own skins - Marie Dobson is a particular example of this.  They're villains because they're weak, and it's this weakness (as well as Forest's strength as a writer) that prevents them from having redemptive moments in which they're 'fixed'.

4) All of the prose, especially the dialogue.  It's so finely crafted yet doesn't feel forced.  As I said above, Antonia Forest is often compared to Jane Austen and I think this, along with her ironic view of everything, is part of the reason.

5) The occasional flashes of insight: "[she]...was affected by the...uncertain feeling of guilt which arises from seeing one's secret ill-wishing regarding other people come true" (159) or "one couldn't...suddenly like people just because everyone else did, or forget that they had been fairly swinish, even if they were doing their best now" (241).  It ties in with how great the characters are, but everyone gets some deeper moments of characterisation, even if its only for a moment.  All of it adds depth.

Next: The Marlows and the Traitor (scheduled for Saturday 24th September)