Review of Beyond the Deepwoods

         Review of Beyond the Deepwoods

         by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

Beyond the Deepwoods is the first in a series of books called The Edge Chronicles. It follows the journey of a boy called Twig as he ventures through dangerous and unfamiliar lands on a quest to discover his true identity.                                                                                                                                  Twig was raised by a family of woodtrolls, but after learning that he is not a woodtroll himself and that he must leave the village for his own good, he sets off through the Deepwoods. But not long after his departure, he does something no woodtroll would do- he strays from the path.                   And thus begins his perilous journey, during which he meets countless strange, wonderful, and terrifying creatures. Amongst these are the Hoverworm, a huge, floating, venomous worm whose victims swell up and float away into the sky once bitten, and Wig-Wigs, small, furry creatures that hunt in packs and devour their prey, leaving not even a scrap of evidence.                                               Despite the numerous obstacles, Twig manages to make new friends in the Deepwoods and gradually draws closer to finding his true calling.                                                                                                        I am a huge fan of the Edge Chronicle series and this book got me absolutely hooked. The descriptive, evocative writing of Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell and the stunningly detailed illustrations by Chris Riddell draw the reader in. I would definitely recommend this book and the books that follow the series - I've lost count of the amount of times I've reread them!

Review of Women and Power by Mary Beard

 Review of Women and Power by Mary Beard

                                   

                                           

Women and Power gives a drily humorous, witty portrayal of how the powerful women of history have been treated and how their voices have been muffled by men and misogyny. From Penelope being told to be silent by her own son in Homer's Odyssey to an account of a woman 'barking' or 'yapping' in a Roman forum in the first century A.D, to examples of modern female politicians being suppressed by male ones, Mary Beard shows how women have been  thought of by men as unimportant and incapable of thinking for themselves for thousands of years.  

I enjoy Mary Beard's documentaries, so I was very interested to read this book - and I was drawn to the title. I was expecting a witty, comprehensive, powerful portrayal of the history of women, and this book did not disappoint me! My emotions varied from page to page, going from amusement, to shock, to indignation, to anger and then back again.  I would recommend this book to anyone aged above 13 who is interested in the history of powerful women and feminism. A brilliant read that I will definitely come back to.

Review of Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

   Review of Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

One day, a girl called Triss wakes up after falling into The Grimmer, a pond near her home in the imaginary English town of Ellchester. But something seems strange– she can’t remember anything about what happened, and her own home feels alien to her. As time goes on, the situation becomes yet more abnormal. Triss develops an insatiable appetite, and wakes up with twigs and leaves in her hair. Eventually, her appetite becomes so great that it cannot be satisfied with normal food... As she attempts to discover the truth about what happened on that fateful day, Triss is pulled into a web of mystery, lies, and betrayal, and she realises that nothing it what it appears to be. In order to restore peace, Triss must head into the hidden world below her town to confront a scheming architect and stop him from destroying her family.This book really captured my imagination- there is an ominous magic about it that draws the reader in. I felt that Frances Hardinge built the tension in a brilliant, gradual, way.

   The characters were layered and 3-dimensional. Every character added to the book and helped build the story.  The mysterious twists to the plot kept me hooked and got me to keep reading.I recommend this book to anyone from age eight upwards who enjoys a haunting, fascinating, mystery.

Review of The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius

                Review of The Murderer’s Ape

Sally Jones is an engineer aboard the ship The Hudson Queen. She is intelligent, thoughtful, caring, and excellent at her job. She also happens to be a gorilla.      

  Sally Jones’s adventure begins in Lisbon, where her closest and only friend, Henry Koskela, is wrongly arrested on suspicion of murdering a man named Alphonse Morro. At first she despairs, but when she discovers that Morro may actually be alive, she sets off on a life-changing quest to India to find him and prove her friend’s innocence.     

 Despite her inability to speak, Sally Jones makes a wonderful protagonist. You feel sorry for her when her best friend gets taken away from her, you feel joy when she finds new companions and a place to stay, and you root for her as she begins her quest to find Alphonse Morro. As we follow her from Lisbon to Cochin, she befriends a young woman, learns how to make accordions, and plays a maharajah in a game of chess.    

  From a spoilt and wealthy maharajah to a humble accordion maker in Lisbon, this book is full of multi-layered, complex characters that pull you deeper into the story. Even the characters that only appear for a few pages are believable and interesting.     The Murderer’s Ape is a tale of adventure, loss, loyalty, and determination. I was gripped from the very start. The characters are believable and multi- dimensional, the plotline is gripping, and the description is detailed and evocative.  The Murderer’s Ape can be enjoyed by anyone of any age.