Immerse yourself in the beauty of tropical forests, the scent of spices, ‘kingfishers of a violet & orange hue’ , ‘blue, pink, lemon robes in the marketplace’, the melody of the gamelan, the bougainvillea and butterflies. This is Indonesia, land of clove and the black gold nutmeg, prize of the spice trade. But also the land of massacres, palm oil plantations and oceans of plastic; beauty and horror together. Jennifer Mackenzie’s poem The Wallace Line encompasses it all, the lush exoticness, and the despoiled history.
This slim volume with its gorgeous decorative cover is named for the Wallace Line, an imaginary divider that marks the difference between species found in Australia and South East Asia. West of the Wallace Line, according to the guide, are found the tiger, the rhinoceros, the wild bull, the peacock and jungle fowl. Australasian fauna are found to the east.
Most powerful is Mackenzie’s poem ‘When Du Fu visited he was unfazed’, the Chinese poet recognising the screaming children of Syria on the television screen and remembering the valleys full of abandoned corpses of the An Lushan Rebellion many years ago. The violence of history repeats itself, even as the sunset glows spectacularly orange. The eyes of the two poets, past and present, hold tears.
Each reader will find something that resonates for them. There is so much to explore in Jennifer Mackenzie’s deceptively slim book; it is something to pick up, read a little and reflect on, a treasure of history, mythology and art, to savour and enjoy.
Themes Indonesia, Spice trade, Wallace Line, Environment, Tropics, Poetry.
Helen Eddy
Kev and Trev: Snot scary jungle stories by Kylie Howarth
Cockatoo Kev and marine iguana Trev are megafamous after publishing their first book and now are taking their popcorn powered houseboat to the jungle, the setting for their next creation, hoping to find some pugorillas to please their puglisher. When Mr Happy, their grumpy squid editor disappears leaving a note that he has gone on holiday, Cappy the capybara quickly becomes their editor and guide. There are certainly adventures to be had in the jungle and a big hairy spider is the inspiration for their first story but Cappy’s editing is a little imprecise and the title becomes the Pig Fairy Spider, followed by the Poison Fart Frog. The stories are in clear but clever rhyming couplets with simple illustrations introduced to the reader by the main characters. Meanwhile the search for the pugorillas continues with numerous encounters including being bitten by a jaguar and eaten by an anaconda.
The Snot scary jungle stories are fast paced with lots of fun puns and word play while imparting some jungle facts about the inhabitants, like the not crocodile or alligator but cayman they harness to ferry them to their boat. With a colourful, sparkly cover the inside grayscale graphics work well on quality paper and the big cast of expressive animal characters that like to party and tell bum and fart jokes are easy to like, especially the cute pugorillas.
Themes Graphic novel, adventure, cartoon humour.
Sue Speck
Powerful like a dragon by Christopher Cheng & Jacqueline Tam
Christmas Day 1941 at the height of World War II. Japan has bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, bringing the USA into the war, and the governor of the British colony of Hong Kong has just surrendered to the imperialist Japanese army as they continue their seemingly inexorable march south towards Australia. Shu Lok was too young to know there was even a war on until it literally arrived on the doorstep of his village home and he hid behind his Baba as the soldier shouted and poked and spat. And before he knew it, he was put into a large basket with his cousin to be carried with another cousin in another basket for hundreds of miles into China, fleeing the invaders along with many of the villagers, mostly relatives.
However, Shu Lok's parents decided not to leave, and the last words he heard were his father telling him to be "powerful like a dragon".
Thus, hoisted on the end of a pole on his uncle's shoulders, Shu Lok's new life began - a life of being bounced around for endless hours, the occasional opportunity to climb out of the basket to stretch his cramped body and feast on cold bean curd cake, after having had only a few soybeans tied in a bag around his neck to nibble on during the day. As they moved into the mountains and his uncle removed his own shirt to keep Shu Lok a little warmer at night, he learned what the snow-covered mounds at the side of the road meant, and still they travelled on...
But whenever things got tough he remembered his father's words "be powerful like a dragon" and from somewhere deep inside came the strength to take one more step...
This is a story that is just like its title. It's "powerful like a dragon" and not just because it is the retelling of my friend Christopher Cheng's family story told to him decades later by his uncle, the real Shu Lok. It is a story for all ages as Jacqueline Tam's haunting illustrations offer so much more to think about beyond Cheng's masterful words, their almost-monochromatic palette echoing the bleakness and uncertainty of the future, but brightening with images of the dragon when Shu Lok recalls his father's words. No matter the challenge - having to swallow his hunger even through the tantalising smell of the hawker's sweet corn roasting; having to pay precious money to warlords for the right to cross their land; having to bandage his uncle's blistered bare feet because his sandals had long disintegrated - he thought of the power of the dragons to overcome and like the others, kept on and on and on...
As well as being a story of courage, resilience and hope because of the belief in a better future, it is all the more poignant because it is true. And it makes the reader think of how many of our students have had to endure the same sort of hardships as they have been displaced from their homes to flee tyranny, the journeys they've had, the challenges they've overcome and the courage and resilience they have displayed. How have they had to be "powerful like a dragon"? Or perhaps their journey has been one of illness, family breakup or other life-changing circumstance... And while the journey may have been tough, was it worth it? How did it impact the you that you are now?
One might also wonder why Shu Lok's baba meant when he said be "powerful like a dragon'. Why not some other creature like a lion or elephant? Did he mean physically powerful or perhaps mentally powerful - for Shu Lok to face his fears and demons and fight them with his mind rather than his fists? Is it possible to be courageous and brave without being combative, belligerent or aggressive? Does the dragon have a different role or symbolic presences in Eastern cultures compared to Western culture?
In the extensive author's notes, Cheng offers a lot of background information about his uncle's journey, giving it not only authority and authenticity but also opening up the possibility that other families might have similar stories to tell but which have been hidden for decades for one reason or another. I know both my father and father-in-law never talked about their wartime experiences because while both had extraordinary times as prisoners of war of the Germans and Japanese, respectively, their stories pretty much went with them to their graves. Therefore, perhaps this book could be the impetus for older students to probe their family histories before it is too late.
This review and the possibilities that this story opens up only scratch the surface. The more times I read it the more it reveals - as I said, it is "powerful like a dragon'.
While One Childwill always be my favourite title by Chris for a whole lot of reasons, this one is a close second.
Themes Refugees, World War, 1939-1945, Hong Kong - History, Resilience.
Barbara Braxton
Draining the Lake & The Family Business by Archimede Fusillo
Short stories with straightforward, uncomplicated "boys-being-boys" plots may be the key to unlocking the world of reading for some of our reluctant readers who are overwhelmed by the length of novels, and if they are, then these two by author Archie Fusillo could be just what they are looking for.
When the local council decide to drain the local lake in the middle of a drought, Russell and Demetri are very suspicious that there is something sinister and secretive afoot and decide to discover what it is. A casual remark about the lost city of Atlantis by Demetri has Russell's imagination running wild, and before they know it, the boys are heading out onto the lake at dusk in their dinghy to see just what the Council is not telling them. To their dismay, their boat bumps into something very hard, very tall and very cold protruding from the water's surface and they are convinced... Racing home and sending photos and some dramatic text to the local newspaper they are certain they are going to be rich and famous...
Meanwhile, in the second story, Nick's parents have a prosperous singing act as Elvis and Elvira Presley, impersonating the famous singer at local venues. His father thinks that Nick should be included in the act as a young Elvis, but apart from being stage-shy, it is not something Nick wants to do. So he hatches a plan with a friend for a completely different act... What could go wrong?
Fusillo has been writing contemporary realistic fiction for independent readers for years, and has a knack for turning the everyday into an absorbing story as he explores issues and emotions that are familiar to his audience. These two are no different, although they are more "boys' own adventure" stories than particularly deep and meaningful treatises, particularly as both have boys who are typically blinkered to the needs and lives of others, live for devising pranks that are better than those of their peers, and are fearless and fancy-free until they aren't.... However, if they spark an interest in those who are hesitant about delving into the world of print, they provide an opportunity to suggest more substantial works by the same author, so they not only consolidate their skills, but build their confidence about mastering them. And that has to be win-win.
Themes Lakes, Atlantis, Mythical places, Acting.
Barbara Braxton
Hello cocky: A stickybeak at the cockatoo by Hilary Bell & Antonia Pesenti
Seeing a brilliant life size picture of a cockatoo on the cover of Hello Cocky I knew that I was in for a treat.
Who rules the skies from back garden to bush, Launching from trees with a screech and a whoosh? Bossy and smart, loves to put on a show, Who could it be now? Why, Cocky — hello!
With the publicity about cockatoos doing different dances, young and old readers will be interested to see what fabulous facts Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti have to offer about this intriguing species of bird. The reader is taken into the snug little nest inside a gum tree, ready to have a stickybeak at the cockatoo, who is ready to have a stickybeak back! With rhyming text, the reader learns that they are inquisitive, there are different kinds and all are clever and love having fun. Readers will be amazed at the idea of them divebombing traffic and opening bins to find food and rip up paper and will have fun imitating their squealing and squawking and reading that Fred the sulphur crested cockatoo in the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary has lived to be 100 years old. There is some new vocabulary for young children to learn as well with words like stickybeak, intrigued, waddle and preen bringing vivid mental pictures
The illustrations are gorgeous, pictures of the cockatoos set against bright blues, reds, greens and yellows. I particularly loved the final pages showing a flock of cockies against a sunset and a pair flying to their nest in a hollow tree. Each of the cockatoos has a personality of their own, often having what looks like a cheeky grin or a curious glint in the eye.
Hello Cocky: A stickybeak at the cockatoo is a highly recommended nonfiction rhyming story, joining othe rtales about this well-known bird. Readers might like to look at Who's the gang on our street? by Suzanne Gervay, Cockatoo wars by Helen Milroy and Cato's can canby Juliet Sampson.
Themes Cockatoos, Story in rhyme.
Pat Pledger
Tenderly, I am devoured by Lyndall Clipstone
Penguin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761345975. (Age:16+)
This Gothic romantasy is centred on 18 year old Lark, betrothed to a chthonic god, in order to save her family from penury. The god Therion has the power to restore the depleted salt mines on which Lark’s family are dependent to pay a debt, but his price is for Lark to spend six months each year as his wife. It is a price she is prepared to pay, but when the ceremony is disrupted, she finds herself repeatedly ensnared in swirling seas between this world and another.
The story alternates between two time frames, the present and the past, and it is only gradually revealed how it is that she has been expelled from a prestigious school, all her future aspirations in shreds. Clipstone’s writing is at its best as she describes the heartbreaking betrayal of early friendships, firstly with her childhood playmate Alistair, and then later the callous treatment by her closest school friend Damson. Feelings of hurt and loss makes it easier for Lark to consider self-sacrifice to the god.
Clipstone’s writing is emotive, and the reader is swept along in the early chapters piecing together the events of the past. Readers of fantasy will revel in this world of gods, potions, sea caves and altars, with threads of romance entwining Lark with both male and female loves. However, the pace falters as the novel progresses and the action becomes confused, with new characters introduced to extend the plot in unexpected ways. For this reader, some of the power of the initial writing is lost. Perhaps others will find their interest sustained by the twisting strands of romance, friendship so readily leaping to passionate relationships.
Although quite separate from Clipstone’s popular World at the Lake’s Edge duology, this latest book shares many themes, particularly the sustaining love between siblings, the vulnerable heroine, damaged hero, fighting against evil, and of course the haunted settings, so fans of the genre will probably find much to enjoy in this book also.
Themes Fantasy, Romance, Gods, Sacrifice, Dark magic, Polyamory.
Set in England, A Time to Wait is a World War Two story about Basil, a young boy alone in the world and an abandoned border collie puppy that he found. Basil raises Wimbledon under difficult and cruel circumstances and their bond is unbreakable.
Sadly, Basil has been taken in by a nasty cousin after his parents go missing in Europe. She treats him cruelly and when children are encouraged to evacuate London, she immediately sets about to do this and have Wimbledon put down at the same time. Fortunately, a kind and wise vet saves Wimbledon and is instrumental in setting him on his arduous journey to find Basil.
Meanwhile heartbroken Basil is placed on a train and begins a long journey to the town of Rye. On the journey he befriends Maisie and their connection is another layer central to this story. Basil finds himself billeted with a kind older gentleman who served in World War One and who helps Basil search for Wimbledon over many weeks. Basil and Maisie form a close bond and both will not give up the dream of finding Wimbledon alive.
Throughout this story, there are adventures for both Basil and Wimbledon that see them move further away from finding each other but also help to share glimpses of what life was like in 1940’s England. The language used is descriptive and the steady pace and changing subplots of the narrative will keep readers engaged. The ending is particularly satisfying and resolves many of the storylines.
Themes World War Two, Dogs, Family, Evacuees, Adventure, Danger, Friendship.
Kathryn Beilby
Weaving Country by Chris Joy & Aunty Kim Wandin. Illus. by Ashleigh Pugh
When Walert (Possum) sees her Gugung (grandmother) gathering djirra (reeds) by the river, the susurrus through the rushes invites her to follow her home, little knowing that she is going to learn one of those precious lessons that generations share between each other as they pass the knowledge of their culture to each other.
In Walert's case, she not only learns about the physical construction of a woven binak (basket), but also how the sun, land, water and wind all play their part in the growing and the preparation of the djirra so they are ready to weave, strengthening her understanding of her connection to Country that is so integral of First Nations culture and life. And when a boroin (blue wren) builds its tiny nest in the drying djirra, and lays three little eggs, Walert also learns patience. This is not the time to disturb the circle of life that has endured for so long.
This is a story set on Wurundjeri Country in the Yarra Valley, Victoria and based on the work of author Aunty Kim Wandin who is a master weaver and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elder, whose traditional basket making has been handed down to her by direct lineage, so Walert's lessons have authenticity and authority. The teachers' notes which accompany it specifically focus on encouraging "students to slow down, listen deeply, and build respectful relationships with place, themselves, and each other, honouring the wisdom of intergenerational learning and the living stories carried by land and water" offering opportunities to engage with the land, its harvest, its inhabitants and each other that they might not otherwise consider.
But as well as connecting both Walert and the students to their natural environment, the story itself has a strong focus on the passing of knowledge, skills and understandings between Gugung and Walert making it an ideal springboard for helping young readers develop their understanding of the outcomes embedded in the early years of the Australian HASS curriculum. What stories and skills have their grandparents shared with them, such as favourite books, or music, or crafts or how to mend a bike or....??? Is there something that their family always does at a particular commemoration or celebration because that's the way it has always been done? For older students, what stories, traditions and skills will they pass on to their own children?
From 2027 in New South Wales, the Human Society and its Environment K−6 Syllabus (2024) requires students in Stage 1 (years 1 and 2) to understand that “People use stories, images, objects and sites to understand the ancient past” with a specific focus on the ancient cultures of China, Egypt, Greece and Rome, and those in Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) to focus on the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica which include the Maya, Aztecs and Incas so although their grandparents are not that old, this could be a bridge that helps them understand that much of what they know and do today is built on what those who have gone before have known and done beginning within their own family and their own experience.
While there seems to be an upsurge in the writing and publishing of books that explore First Nations' connections to Country, helping non-Indigenous children understand and appreciate the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country that are part of their daily lives, this one, through its story and indeed, its literal and metaphorical focus on weaving, is a stand out.
Lay Maloney's first book Weaving Us Together is a story of identity, belonging and strength told from the perspective of Jean O'Ryan, a non-binary Aboriginal adolescent in a coastal Queensland town (2011–2013). Jean experiences adolescence, reconnects with culture and discovers oneself alongside Seraphina Landry and her tight-knit friends, 'The Crew.' Jean and her friends experience difficulties and mend the traumas of the past and weave a tapestry of hope, grief, joy and love.
Maloney is a genderfluid Gumbaynggirr and Gunggandji author who infuses her writing with the authenticity of personal experience in tackling issues of gender identity, family, healing, and ethnic origins. The writing is acutely perceptive and describing of adolescent experience while making the story securely located in the rich landscape and communities that inform Jean's experience. The book has been praised by reviewers for its emotional strength and cultural resonance. Grace Lucas-Pennington identifies it as "poetic, hilarious and heartbreaking in turn," and celebrates the importance it represents for young readers seeking depiction and identification. Weaving Us Together is an emotive and compelling read for fans of present-day Australian writing, especially tales of exploration of Aboriginal life and queer culture. It provides a true account of discovering where one belongs in the world while raising a glass to endurance, camaraderie, and self-acceptance.
Jaibir S. (student)
Themes Identity, belonging, personal growth, adolescence, aboriginal and LGBTQ+ identity.
They bloom at night by Trang Thanh Tran
Bloomsbury, 2025. ISBN: 9781526674838. (Age:YA)
They bloom at night conveys the feeling of trauma informed writing. The writing is raw and simultaneously revealing and concealing. There is a disturbing sense of something being very wrong beneath the surface. The surface doesn't look too good either. The story could be read on a literal level or on a metaphoric, symbolic level. This reader sees They bloom at night as a text that points to somewhere else - a dark place. There are hints about the cause of the personal hurt and ultimately there is disclosure and a kind of healing. Mirroring the human pain, the environment is equally hurting with the submerging town scenario serving as a metaphor for the human impact on the environment. The townspeople of Mercy are being displaced just as the central Vietnamese family were displaced from their home country.
The lead character Noon is of Vietnamese origin and still coping with the problem of diaspora. Noon has trouble living in her own skin it seems and the internal struggle and references to wanting to shed like a snake and become something new and fresh mirrors the algal bloom spead and has its roots in a trauma. Noon states, "Here's the truth: my life went apocalyptic ...when I lost my virginity...I am all the wrong shapes, skin flaking away to shell under prying fingers." Noon and her mother are coping with the loss of the family father and brother and living a precarious existence in the waterways of a broken down town called Mercy somewhere on the Mississippi floodplain close to the Gulf of Mexico. In all respects this is a town that has submerged as the result of unspecified environmental changes. Water level has risen; houses have been flooded. As Noon further states, "The bloom has claimed much of our town of Mercy, red algae spilling over the Mississippi and adjacent flood like entrails." This sentence reflects the tone and descriptiveness of the novel. The bloom, with its tendrils spreading throughout the water and reaching into bodies and under skin looks something like entrails. The land, the waters, humans and marine creatures have become infested with algal growth in a horrific, visceral way. As the red algal bloom infests everything, wildlife is mutated, the riverways and ocean become choked and there seems to be a further unknown menace from underwater. Townspeople go missing and are found in a zombie-like state - half dissolved in the algal infested water and dangerous.
Through the first person narration of Noon the reader gradually learns of her past and her courageous plan to secure a safer future away from Mercy with her mother. Along the way she makes true friends for the first time and literally and symbolically rids herself of her old skin to take on a new one. The process is painful and abhorrent. She has to escape predators, understand the problem and survive. The monsters are both within and outside.
American writer Trang Thanh Tran, author of New York Times bestselling horror story She is a haunting has delivered in They bloom at night, a psychological, environmental, dystopian, speculative horror story.
Themes Algal bloom, eco-dystopia, the monster within and outside, predators, trauma, friendship, Vietnamese diaspora, identity.
Wendy Jeffrey
Impossible creatures: The poisoned king by Katherine Rundell
The poisoned king, the second in the highly awarded Impossible creatures (winner of the Waterstones Book of the Year, British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year, Foyles Children's Book of the Year and the Books Are My Bag Readers Award) is another stunning fantasy by Rundell. Christopher Forrester is woken up by Jacques, a tiny dragon from the Archipelago, who demands that he come with him to rescue the dragons who are dying. Christopher has been dreaming of returning to that mythical place and when he meets Anya, a princess on a mission to save her father who has been wrongly accused of murdering the King, the pair embark on a quest for justice that involves flying on the back of a sphinx, meeting dragons and finding an anecdote to poison.
Rundell’s prose is a joy to read. The story flows beautifully with the mythical land and its creatures coming alive for the reader. There are fantastic drawings of the strange beasts that inhabit the land at the back of the book and it was wonderful to be able to turn to them to visualise the gagana, a bird beloved by Anya, the chimera who accosts Chistopher and Annya, the dragons who need their help and the ratatoskas who tell of murder.
Anya is obsessed with revenge for the wrong done to her father and wants to rush to his rescue, while Christopher has been called to help the dragons. They must cooperate and help each other with the differing quests, making allies along the way and facing great danger and threats to their lives.
I had not read the first in the series, but Rundell gives enough information for the reader to be able to read The poisoned king as a stand-alone book, although it would be better to start with Impossible creatures. This series, full of strange creatures, engaging characters, danger and adventure is outstanding.
The street is a great place to live, neighbours know each other, the narrator does crosswords with Mr Morris, helps Mrs Lou water her garden and makes funny faces with baby Samir.
Everyone in the street is aware of their environment, so the bins are always in use and there is no litter to be found. The bins are put out on Tuesday evening, but each Wednesday morning rubbish is found strewn around the streets, the bins askew and lids left open wide. But who is the scoundrel who does this? The people decide to stop the monster who tips over their bins. Mr Morris puts bricks on top of his bin, hoping to stop the bin monster, but it doesn’t work. Mrs Lou puts a big stick through the cover hoping to deter the monster, but it too does not work.
The narrator hears them in the night, squabbling, noisy and scattering rubbish, and draws an image of what it may look like. No matter what they do, the rubbish is all over the street when they wake up. The narrator decides to act. She listens through the night, making some armour for herself to defend the bins. But pursuing her quest when the noise occurs, she finds cockatoos pulling the rubbish out of the bins. The bin monsters have been exposed. Now what to do?
Lots of questions will occur to the readers as they read this story. Initially, they will ask questions about what the street population can do to stop the bin monster. They will laugh at the methods tried and the failures that ensue. Then the big question will be about how they can deter the bin monsters when they find out just who they are.
The funny illustrations will engage readers as they ponder the problems posed in this story. I love the images of the rubbish strewn street, rubbish even finding itself in the trees. The endpapers give a lovely double page image of before and after, with cheeky cockatoos peering out of the tree.
Themes Humour, Cockatoos, Rubbish, Recycling, Problem solving.
Fran Knight
The pearl of Tagai Town by Lenora Thaker
Text Publishing, 2025. ISBN: 9781923058392. (Age:14+) Highly recommended.
Tagai Town is a Torres Strait Islander shanty town much like the old Malay Town area of Cairns. It’s where Pearl grows up with her family, on the outskirts of the fictional white township of Figwood, with her granny, her aunties, and cousins like Curly Anne and Sam Boy. But her heart is secretly captured by Teddy Brooks, the kole or white boy, son of the Figwood bank manager, despite stern warnings from her mother, Ama Rose, to have nothing to do with kole boys. While it seems that Teddy returns her affections, the path of true love never runs smooth, especially love between people from different sides of the track.
This is the era of the 1930s and 40s in small town Queensland. While there have been many Australian historical fiction novels set in war-time this is probably the first time we are presented with the story of a Torres Strait Islander girl, drawn from Thaker’s recollections of the oral stories of her family, of how life was for them in those days. It is a story of great warmth and humour, told with the inclusion of many first language words, from Kala Lagaw Ya, Meriam Mir and Yumplatok, three Islander languages. Although there is a glossary at the end, their meaning is apparent from context, and adds to the authenticity and down-to-earth feeling of Pearl’s family interactions. This is what shines through the novel, the caring and interconnectedness of family. Pearl seeks always to honour her parents’ expectations and diffuse conflict, and she expects the same of Teddy.
Thaker’s novel provides a new perspective on this era in Australia’s history. The Japanese strand in Pearl’s extended family is interned during the war years, Islander women struggle to find work to support their families, and then there is the impact of American black soldiers seeking the sense of family and community, the love of music and dance, that is found with the Islander people.
Pearl navigates all of this, staying true to her family values, yet also finding ways to assert her independence, her own sense of self. It is a thoroughly absorbing story, and a welcome insight into a view of history that has been neglected until now. It’s to be hope that Lenora Thaker, a proud Meriam and Wagedagam woman awarded the Writing NSW Boundless Mentorship in 2021, will be encouraged to go on to write more in this genre.
Themes Torres Strait Islander, Romance, Community, War, Racism, Historical fiction.
His face is the sun is the first book of a trilogy by Michelle Jabès Corpora. Within Corpora’s novel, she focuses on a fantasy world known as ‘Khetara,’ which was heavily inspired by Egyptian history and mythology. The story is structured as a multi-perspective narrative, alternating between four distinct viewpoints. It focuses on the lives of four characters: a princess, a priestess, a rebel, and a thief. The pharaoh is slowly dying and the kingdom is falling, which leads to corruption between the people below. What ties these four characters together is the potential to save the kingdom from destruction. Who will rule the kingdom Khetara?
Corpora's writing style is beautifully crafted, utilising poetic language filled with vivid imagery. Corpora’s rich descriptive language is presented when she explores the characters experiences in hardships, struggles, self-identity and romance. Moreover, Corpora’s usage of pacing is evident in her ability to shift between different perspectives, allowing her to navigate various situations effectively. As the story unfolds, Corpora emphasizes the significance of weaving together crucial life events between the four characters, which act as steppingstones toward self-discovery.
Additionally, Corpora explores the complexities of selfishness from a royal political standpoint and its impact on the social dynamics of society. She highlights the nature of royalty, illustrating how power and privilege can lead to moral dilemmas and ethical conflicts. By exploring this through four perspectives, Corpora reveals how motivations and decisions can result in consequences in self-serving actions, ultimately impacting royals but also the lives of ordinary citizens. Her focus motivates the characters to rebel and realise the implications of leadership and the responsibility in determining societal dynamics.
The setting of Khetara feels ethereal, displaying Corpora's ability to create a magical world while drawing authentic inspirations from historical mythology. The kingdom is vividly depicted, rooted in a specific time of hardships that enhances the story's emotional weight. Additionally, Corpora highlights the stark contrast between the wealth of the kingdom and the struggles of the rural areas, revealing the impact of the corrupt monarchy. Through rich imagery and evocative language, she conveys a powerful message about inequality through setting.
Truc M. (Student)
Themes Fantasy, Mythology, Historical Fiction, Romance, Power Dynamics, Self-Discovery and Identity.
Revenge of Odessa by Frederick Forsyth with Tony Kent
This is an impressive and heart-stirring story that investigates the possibility of the resurrection of the Odessa - the Nazi group known from the past, that appears to be ready to rise again. How far has their poison travelled around the world? Georg Miller is a German investigative journalist who runs into an old dementia patient in the hospital while collecting stories from victims of a terrorist attack. A sliver of a story from the old man cracks open a historical and present-day Nazi horror story that has Georg in the firing line. In the USA, a political staffer gets a hint of some uncomfortable political toxic possibilities in her role within the office of a rising Senator. She is horrified to think that fetid corruption is about to rise to the surface and is afraid for her life. With assassins and corrupt influences hiding within reliable places there appears to be nowhere to turn. Can either Georg or Vanessa survive to reveal the threats to modern society?
This is a book that makes you wonder - can Nazi ideologues hijack terrorists of other ideologies for their own purposes? Could they infiltrate every level of society in order to position themselves ready to ‘take over’ the world? How can those who discover their lies and the horrors they plan for global political systems, escape the murderous intents of their supporters? I was really captivated by the mastery of the storytelling in an arena of spies, politics, assassins and innocence. Frederick Forsyth’s career as an investigative journalist has given us modern thrillers that are powerful reminders of evil’s influence, and his recent death means this is his last. This is a story for adults who can juggle the intensity of the murderous individuals who are involved, and the political ramifications of the Nazi power play - it is a real page-turner with action aplenty. The ending seemed to come too quickly and almost felt incomplete, until the ‘kick in the guts’ last page.
Themes Nazism, extremists, journalism, terrorism, American politics, assassins, espionage, thriller.
