Review: You Will Grow Into Them

Publisher: Unsung Stories

 

I don't often read collections of short stories but when I do I really enjoy them and this collection is no different. The collection as a whole has the feel of modern fairy tales and that they are in their own creepy, exceedingly creepy way in some cases, trying to teach you a moral lesson. But they never quite get there with fully explaining what moral is trying to be put forward and you are left feeling unsettled. But, you feel these things in a good way if that can at all make sense.

 

Also, I thoroughly enjoyed the fine line that's tread by stories between the normal and the fantasy, the normal and the supernatural.

 

I'm going to just chat about a few of the stories now if I may:

 

Passion Play



This is the first story in the book and it was far more mystical and supernatural than I was expecting after reading the blurb. But it was good, and it kept me turning pages, but man is Dark the word for this one.

Two brothers
This is pretty heart-breaking and set in the days of history. It is however so mundane and normal in comparison to the others in the collection. It's stark in comparison and does indeed show off MD's abilities to mix it up with style, voice and vision.

Dogsbody
Really got on board with this one and could see it being a rather decent film type thing.

So, if you want an edgy and unnerving but splendid collection of eclectic and starkly contrasted short stories....THIS IS YOUR BOOK

Happy Reading

BG

Review: Southern Cross the Dog

Publisher: Picador

 

We are following some people round, who the blurb tells you are linked, but nothing else points to that....they are in the deep south, the wild west, the end of the world as you know it.

 

I was gripped from the start but I had absolutely no idea why. Why was I gripped by mundane misfortune? Why did I care about these not particularly interesting people and their fates? Why because the language was brilliant. The words in this book are bare but they are bold and they get you truly thinking about what you want to get out of reading this book and why. As I said, the story wasn't particularly gripping but the language absorbed me.

 

 

What came at the end of the book however, well the conclusions saddened me as I was so encapsulated in the mundane life with beautiful language that I didn't see the sort of social history comment coming. The end occurrences were touching and sad to an extent, but the moral lesson of it all, the comment on a time and a people being made so blatantly obvious was a tad irritating in the end and even dare I say it, a bit self-righteous.  

 

So, read this book for it's skill and it's language and it's making something great out of nothing....but kinda brace yourself for the end so it doesn't annoy you.

 

Cheers

 

BG

Review: Strange the Dreamer

Publisher: Little Brown/Chapter 5 Books

 

Meet Lazlo, he's an abandoned boy who is now working in the best library in the world. He's strange and loves dreaming, lost worlds and thinking about what's next. This book is his adventure and his discovery.

 

Lazlo is a lovely character, he's lonely, but he's brave and interesting and kind and warm. But by far the best characters are the Godspawn for all their faults, foibles, problems, fears, situations and relationships. They are a fantastic bunch and really did grab my interest and attention.

 

Now come the problem....I had really high hopes that this book would not take the predictable turns and lead to inevitable. Unfortunately it did just that. And a book that was full of such hope and promise in the beginning just turned, in the end, to something predictable and even possibly generic. :-(

 

This novel embraced the cliché in everything. I wonder if it's because that such a young author wrote it, or maybe I'm slightly too old for the target audience to find it exhilarating and unpredictable. Whatever the reason, the predictability, and me being/getting fed up with this stopped me from getting involved with the book and becoming as absorbed in it as I'd hoped.

 

Definitely had potential - but for whatever the reason, didn't do it for me!

 

Cheers

 

BG

Revew: Relics

Publisher: Titan Books

 

So, I read The Silence a while ago and it really got to me. I also bloody loved reading it. So when this book landed on me I was pretty thrilled.

This book is far more obvious in its story, its content, its plot, what it's trying to make you feel. Yes it's definitely compelling, it's definitely a page turner. But, it seems to lack the subtlety of The Silence. This is by no means a bad thing, but I was surprised at the contrast between the two books.

Relics is the story of Angela and her finding out some things about Vince along with a whole new realm of normal.

The plot is great, the POV of Angle is pretty good and you forget a chap wrote it. But, I do admit, I found Angela pretty annoying at times. She was a bit of a pain in the arse. But, Vince and Fredrick in particular were stonking characters and I really liked them a lot.

The plot was good, it was more complex maybe than The Silence as it had a few more layers, more characters and some sub-type plots going through. Relics was also far more amusing and fun in points. Watch out for the violence if you can't hack it. The book does indeed warrant violence as you'll see when you read it, but it's pretty bloody brutal in places.

Once again a good book in a world that balances the norm/mundane with a whole new world of fantasy that will suck you in.

Happy Reading

BG
:-)