Tag: fiction

Diane Setterfield’s ONCE UPON A RIVER
Book Review

Diane Setterfield’s ONCE UPON A RIVER

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A review of Diane Setterfield’s Once Upon a River, published December 4, 2018 by Atria Books.

Once Upon a River is a story somewhere between historical fiction and magical realism. On the bank of the Thames at Radcot, there was an inn where the locals liked to tell stories. One dreary evening, a stranger brings in a girl who appears to be dead, yet hours later returns to life, miraculously. Word spreads, and soon the mute girl has three families keen to take her in as their own lost daughter, granddaughter, or sister.

Madhuri Vijay’s THE FAR FIELD
Book Review

Madhuri Vijay’s THE FAR FIELD

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A review of Madhuri Vijay’s The Far Field, published by Grove Atlantic on January 15, 2019.

After the death of her mother, Shalini, a privileged young woman from Bangalore, sets out on a journey to Kashmir in northern India to find Bashir Ahmed, a Kashmiri salesman who was a frequent visitor to her home when she was young and who she thinks might have something to do with the loss of her mother. Once there, she finds that the region of Kashmir is on edge, with turmoil and violence threatening to erupt at any moment. She stays with a family in a remote village and quickly becomes entangled in their lives; but, she soon finds the closer she grows to them, the more she threatens both their safety and their way of life.

John Boyne’s A LADDER TO THE SKY
Book Review

John Boyne’s A LADDER TO THE SKY

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A review of John Boyne’s A Ladder to the Sky, published on November 13, 2018 by Crown Publishing.

A Ladder to the Sky followed the story of Maurice Swift, an ambitious young writer who launches his literary career at the expense of another. There is only one problem: because he doesn’t really have the talent, he will do whatever he has to in order to feed his literary ambition…

Stuart Turton’s THE 7 1/2 DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE
Book Review

Stuart Turton’s THE 7 1/2 DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE

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A review of Stuart Turton’s The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, published on September 18, 2018 by SOURCEBOOKS Landmark.

Thrust into the story from page one, we follow the (at first) unnamed narrator who wakes up as Sebastian Bell, alone and wandering the forest after thinking he witnesses a murder. He soon finds himself a guest at Blackheath, invited by the Hardcastles to attend a party in honor of their daughter freshly returned from Paris after years abroad. But everything is not as it seems because Evelyn will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. The narrator, Aiden Bishop, has eight days to solve her murder, but with a twist: every morning he wakes up as a different guest to relive the same day over again. If he doesn’t solve the murder by 11:00 p.m. on the eighth day, he will have all of his memories removed to relive the cycle over again…

Sandie Jones’ THE OTHER WOMAN
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Sandie Jones’ THE OTHER WOMAN

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A review of Sandie Jones’ The Other Woman, published on August 21, 2018 by St. Martin’s Press.

Pammie is Adam’s mother. Though Adam loves Emily, his mother does not. Since day one, Pammie sets herself against Emily: belittling her at every turn, making snide comments that only Emily can hear, and pitting her beloved son against his soon-to-be wife. While Pammie plots, so does Emily, especially as she struggles to make Adam see his mother’s vindictive behavior whilst simultaneously wondering if she’s imagining the whole thing. It puts a strain on their relationship, to say the least, but every time Pammie makes a move, so does Emily – and it’s a constant battle to see who will win in the end.

Susan Elia MacNeal’s THE PRISONER IN THE CASTLE
Book Review

Susan Elia MacNeal’s THE PRISONER IN THE CASTLE

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A review of Susan Elia MacNeal’s The Prisoner in the Castle (Maggie Hope Mystery, #8), published on August 7, 2018 by Bantam (Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine).

The Prisoner in the Castle was a fictional mystery which told the story of Maggie Hope, who was described in the blurb as an “American-born spy and code-breaker extraordinaire.” Maggie Hope was being held on an island with other SOE prisoners that know too much then start mysteriously dying one-by-one…

Kim Wilkins’ DAUGHTERS OF THE STORM (BLOOD AND GOLD, #1)
Book Review

Kim Wilkins’ DAUGHTERS OF THE STORM (BLOOD AND GOLD, #1)

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A review of Kim Wilkins’ first book in a new trilogy, Daughters of the Storm, which was published on March 6, 2018 by Del Rey Books (Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine).

Daughters of the Storm is the first book of Kim Wilkins’s Blood and Gold trilogy. Here, she tells the story of five vastly different sisters that must come together to search for a powerful witch to help their ailing father. Bluebell, the oldest, is a strong warrior who wants to father in her father’s footsteps to be king (not queen) of the kingdom; Rose is married to the king of a neighboring kingdom but who has a terrible secret; Ash, the middle daughter, is discovering her aptitude for magic; the twins, Ivy and Willow, are the youngest: Ivy is vain and selfish while Willow is devout.

Charlie N. Holmberg’s THE PLASTIC MAGICIAN
Book Review

Charlie N. Holmberg’s THE PLASTIC MAGICIAN

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A review of Charlie N. Holmberg’s The Plastic Magician (The Paper Magician, #4 [spin-off]), which was published on May 15, 2018 by 47North.

The Plastic Magician follows Alvie Brechenmacher, an American (from Columbus, Ohio) who is doing her Polymaking apprenticeship in England under the tutelage of the well-known inventor (and nephew of the founder of the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined), Marion Praff. Polymaking – the study of plastic-based magic – is a relatively new field which, while filled with exciting new discoveries, also leads to fierce competition between the magicians within the discipline…

Clarissa Goenawan’s RAINBIRDS
Book Review

Clarissa Goenawan’s RAINBIRDS

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A review of Clarissa Goenawan’s Rainbirds, originally published on March 16, 2018 by Soho Press (audiobook published by HighBridge Audio).

Rainbirds tells the story of Ren Ishida, who gets the news that his older sister, Keiko, was murdered one night on her way home. He travels to Akakawa to gather his sister’s things and try to understand why she left Tokyo for this small town. Soon, he finds himself essentially living her life – working as a teacher at her school (since he majored in British Literature), living in the room she rented, and making friends with the same people she was friends with – as he struggles to understand her death.