#ReviewMonday with KM Lockwood: Gathering Voices by Kris Humphrey

Summary

When a raven drops a white feather at the doorstep on the day of your birth, it is a symbol of your destiny. You are a Whisperer - a guardian of the wild. 

The war against the shape-shifting Narlaw is raging. Mika and her Arctic fox companion, Star, must travel from their distant mountain home to join Dawn and the other Whisperers at the palace. The journey is fraught with danger and the outlook for the kingdom of Meridina is bleak, but Mika has discovered a gift that might just change their fortunes. Could she hold the key to defeating the Narlaw?

Gathering Voices written by Kris Humphrey

Published by Stripes in 2016 ( read via NetGalley)

Illustrated by Chellie Carroll

224 pages in paperback with illustrations

****

This is the third book in the Guardians of the Wild series by Kris Humphrey. (A Whisper of Wolves and Warning Cry are both reviewed on this site). It will help to read them in order - certain references will make more sense - but it’s fairly easy to work things out by various clues. This time Mika the central character has an Arctic fox, Star, as her companion.

As the overall story is coming towards a conclusion (in book four), events are becoming more dramatic. There’s a strong sense of peril throughout - and good deal of challenge for Mika to deal with. Friends will make sacrifices to help the cause - and one is truly poignant. 

A pleasing sense of environment, as seen on the bold and attractive cover, infuses the story. The bringing together of people from a variety of backgrounds to defeat an evil that threatens them all is a heartening feature of these books. Why wouldn’t you like a kind of multicultural war on misery and greed?

The magical aspects include a range of tactics and it’s good to see characters you like grow and develop their skills. There are set-backs and at least one whoa-I-didn’t-see-that-coming moment (for me, anyway.) 

In short: fast-paced fantasy adventure with a taste of nature - ideal for a quick read. The publishers recommend nine and up but some fluent younger readers might well enjoy them.

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

#ReviewMonday with KM Lockwood: The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim by Shane Peacock

Published by Tundra Books May 03, 2016 

352 Pages in Hardcover (available as an e-book)

Read via NetGalley

Edgar Brim is a sensitive orphan who, exposed to horror stories from his father as a young child, is afraid of almost everything and suffers from nightly terrors. His stern new guardian, Mr. Thorne, sends the boy to a gloomy school in Scotland where his dark demons only seem to worsen and he is bullied and ridiculed for his fears. But years later, when sixteen-year-old Edgar finds a journal belonging to his novelist father, he becomes determined to confront his nightmares and the bullies who taunt him. 

After the horrific death of a schoolmate, Edgar becomes involved with an eccentric society at the urging of a mysterious professor who believes that monsters from famous works of literature are real and whose mandate is to find and destroy these creatures. With the aid of a rag-tag crew of friends, the fear-addled teen sets about on his dark mission, one that begins in the cemetery on the bleak Scottish moors and ends in a spine-chilling climax on the stage of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in London with Henry Irving, the infamous and magnetic actor, and his manager, Bram Stoker, the author of the most frightening and sensational novel of the day, Dracula. Can Edgar Brim truly face his terror and conquer his fears?

***

To get a feel for the gothic atmosphere of this YA tome, you might like to watch a trailer found here. It should give you a good idea of the kind of Victorian horror story mood Shane Peacock creates.

One of the best things about horror and ghost stories as genres is that they both cross age-ranges. You can read them when you’re ready - whatever age you might be. So The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim might just as well be read by an adult as a teen. 

Whatever the age, the book will be enjoyed most by those who like plenty of detail, scene-setting and references to Victorian Britain. Characters from both literature and history make their appearance and in 352 pages, there’s plenty to get immersed in.

You might expect from the cover (designed by Jennifer Lum) it wouldn’t be for the squeamish - and you’d be right. There are gruesome and eerie moments a-plenty. Yet since it’s book one of a trilogy you do know at least one of the ‘good guys’ will survive - but how?

Read with the lights on to find out . . .

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

#ReviewMonday with KM Lockwood - Grayling’s Song by Karen Cushman

“Grayling, come. Attend me now!” It was her mother’s voice. The calling mingled with the croaking of frogs in the pond and the ting-tang of dew drops, and it sounded to Grayling like music.

“Grayling, come at once or I shall turn you into a toad,” her mother shouted again, much louder. Belike she would if she could, Grayling thought. But, by borage and bryony, I can do but one thing at a time. Why can she not do whatever it is herself and leave me be? Grayling could think such things, hidden as she was in the mist in the herb garden, even though she could not imagine saying them.

Published by Clarion Books, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in June 2017

224 pages in hardback (including Author Notes)

Cover by Jaime Zollars

Summary and extract from author’s own website

It’s time for Grayling to be a hero. Her mother, a “wise woman”—a sort of witch—has been turned into a tree by evil forces. Tangles and toadstools!

Lacking confidence after years of being called “Feeble Wits” by her mother, Grayling heads off dubiously into the wilds in search of help, where she finds a weather witch, an aromatic enchantress, a cheese soothsayer, a slyly foolish apprentice, and a shape-shifting mouse named Pook!

In the morning, mist again sheltered the valley. Grayling sat cross-legged on the edge of the pond, humming as she scoured the kettle. She thought about dinner --they still had parsnips and carrots in the ground and perhaps there were even enough apples left for an apple tart.

With cream, if they only had cream. She licked her lips.

***

I know I go on about covers quite a lot - but this is delightful and so true to the spirit of the book. (You can read about Jaime Zollars’ process for creating the cover here - it’s fascinating.) We see Grayling and Pook setting out on their adventures in a wood - all part of the story. The style is detailed yet gentle in tone, and there’s a touch of medieval European fantasy in her appearance which is exactly right.

Yet she has a touch of determination - no frilly-gowned princesses here - and there’s a hint of menace in the dark trees she’s entering. There will be threat and magic used for horrible purposes, and it will be down to Grayling to do something about it.

As you can see from the extract, she doesn’t have the best of relationships with her wise-woman mother. Matter get much worse, of course, and she learns a great deal about resilience and self-belief. One of the most appealing aspects of the story is the odd assortment of colleagues she picks up along the way - and the message that you don’t have to totally like someone to get along. 

You can also see there’s a strong flavour of bygone language which some readers will love, and some will find off-putting. Karen Cushman is known and celebrated for her historical novels (this is her first fantasy) and there’s a wealth of detail, including notes at the back, which the right sort of reader will absolutely love.

I would say Grayling’s Song is ideal for those who already enjoy witchy books and fancy something a little different. Because of its hopeful tone, it is suitable for experienced young readers who need a challenge. Despite some peril along the way, the humour (not least from a shape-changing enchanted mouse) means there’s nothing here to upset someone in a UK primary school.
In summary, a gentle historical fantasy with plenty of heart and enchantment.

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

#ReviewMonday with @lockwoodwriter : Night Shift written and illustrated by Debi Gliori

Summary

A groundbreaking picture book on depression with stunning illustrations. 

With stunning black and white illustration and deceptively simple text, author and illustrator Debi Gliori examines how depression affects one's whole outlook upon life, and shows that there can be an escape - it may not be easy to find, but it is there. Drawn from Debi's own experiences and with a moving testimony at the end of the book explaining how depression has affected her and how she continues to cope, Debi hopes that by sharing her own experience she can help others who suffer from depression, and to find that subtle shift that will show the way out.

Published by Hot Key books in January 2017 

32 pages in hardback - illustrated throughout 

***** 

I don’t usually do personal in reviews. I believe reviewing is about suiting the right book with the right reader - and therefore it’s not about me. But I am going to make an exception. 

This beautiful book is about fighting depression - which is something both Debi and I suffer from. Her artwork has expressed sensations that words often fail to convey. Her prose simply yet thoughtfully works with the moving images to deepen the experience. It works whether you know the ‘Black Dog’ or not. 

Despite the subject matter, it is fundamentally a hopeful book that I will treasure. Please get hold of a copy for anyone you know who has to deal with depression themselves or in their family. Brilliant for discussion with all ages. It would make a great companion piece with Horatio Clare’s Aubrey and the Terrible Yoot. 

Highly recommended for individuals, families and schools. 

(I do hope Hot Key bring it out as a Big Book for PSHE.)

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed and breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You'd be welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter

#ReviewMonday with @lockwoodwriter - The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

During the first three weeks of seventh grade, I’d learned one thing above all else: A person can become invisible simply by staying quiet.

I’d always thought that being seen was about what people perceived with their eyes. But by the time the Eugene Field Memorial Middle School made the fall trip to the aquarium, I, Suzy Swanson, had disappeared entirely. Being seen is more about the ears than the eyes, it turns out.

Published by Macmillan Children's Books 2015

352 pages in paperback including illustrations by Terry Fan & Eric Fan

Summary from author’s own website*

Suzy Swanson is pretty sure she knows the real reason Franny Jackson died. Everyone says that there’s no way to be certain…that sometimes things just happen. But Suzy knows there must be a better explanation—a scientific one. Haunted by the loss of her former best friend — and by a final, terrible moment that passed between them — she retreats into a silent world of her own imagination. Convinced that Franny’s death was the result of a freak jellyfish sting, she crafts a plan to prove the truth, even if it means traveling around the globe… alone. As she prepares, she learns astonishing things about the universe around her… and discovers the potential for love and hope in her own backyard.

*Please note she is an American author so the spelling is a little different.

***

The strange creatures of the ocean are fascinating - and few are more weird and wonderful than jellyfish. I’ve been a scuba diver and I still love rock-pooling and snorkelling, so it’s not surprising this quirky title caught my eye. Such an attractive cover by Terry and Eric Fan - which cleverly gets across the mix of sorrow and lightness in this moving book.

Some of the best parts of Ali Benjamin’s novel are the facts - they’re fascinating and they do help the story along. You so get to know Suzy’s character and empathise with her way of coping with her loss. You don’t just feel pity, but grow in understanding.

As an aside, the inclusion of biology through Suzy’s investigations and the 7th Grade Life Science teacher, Mrs Turton, is a great feature. Young readers know the difference between fact and fiction - but their minds are open enough to run them alongside each other. More of this, please publishers.

I was actually surprised to learn it’s 352 pages in paperback. I raced through it on my Kindle - it certainly didn’t feel long. Perhaps the unusual structure (with the extracts from Mrs Turton’s advice) and illustrations take up the space. At any rate, it’s suitable for any reasonably competent reader from ten or so onwards. Elective mutism and a drowned friend might not sound like a bundle of laughs, but there’s quite a bit of humour and a good deal of heart and hope in this book.

Highly recommended for any family dealing with grief, regardless of their beliefs - and good read for anyone, unless you truly hate jellyfish.

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

#ReviewMonday with KM Lockwood: The Book Of Bera Part One: Sea Paths by Suzie Wilde

Bera reached the waymark and took the path towards the Ice-Rimmed Sea. Marsh reeds and grasses whispered, husky in the frosted air. It was dawn, at the tipping-point of the autumn solstice; the end of fishing and trading and the start of hunting. Until Winternights, no one had time to visit the sacred sites, too busy making provision for the barren months ahead.

Only someone who needed to.

Her mother’s rune-stone sat on top of a hillock at the edge of their inlet, the place she had chosen at the height of her power. It was close enough to be reached from the village where Ottar had brought his daughter, leaving behind the rest of their folk to die from the red-spot sickness. Closer to the Seabost raiders, too, who needed his boats and would trade. Folk resented Seabost arrogance and feared their battle-scars but they needed meat, so deals were struck.

Bera paused while she was still quite far away and gazed at the grey sentinel in a bleached landscape. Beyond it, a skein of whale paths stretched to the flat horizon, with furrows and cat’s-paws where the wind whispered on the water. She sensed the distant swell of long waves, their slow tumble in the deeps. The edge of the Known World.

This was the seventh time she had come here on the day of her mother’s death. Her brother had killed her by being born and not lived long afterwards; but Bera was too young to remember much more than the heart-shape of her mother’s face. She walked on and the warmth of her skern, nestled into her neck, was a comfort. For once, she was glad he was silent.

Cover by Joe Wilson

Published by Unbound 2017

298 pages in hardback

Summary and excerpt from Unbound

The Book of Bera is a standalone Viking adventure fantasy novel, the first of a forthcoming series following Bera: a feisty young woman with an inherited gift of Sight. Since her mother's death, Bera has struggled both to control her gifts and to help her people endure assaults from cruel nature, sea beasts and the unburnt, walking dead.

In Part One: Sea Paths, we enter Bera’s stark world. During long Winter nights, when fires should hold back bloat-corpsed Drorghers, Bera has to defend her village alone. Her twin spirit offers no assistance and Bera's failure to understand and control her power leads to her childhood friend’s slaughter. Bera swears to make his killer pay. When her father immediately weds her to a rival clan, Bera gets her opportunity sooner than even she had hoped.

Now Bera must learn how to be a wife - and stepmother to a hostile boy - whilst all the time honing her skills to kill her foe without being caught. The trouble is, Bera’s gifts are growing every day and her predictions are becoming more and more ominous.

Will she be able to get her revenge and safely lead her folk across the perilous Ice-Rimmed Sea before it's too late?

*****

First off - do judge this book by its cover. So Norse, so epic in both senses of the word - and so striking. Joe Wilson’s artwork sweeps you off into a Viking world of dragon-prowed boats and daring voyages. Look too at the colours - spare, and as if made from natural pigments. This all absolutely suits Suzie Wilde’s first book in her YA series. 

The Book Of Bera is dramatic and yet simply told; credible with a touch of magic deeply rooted in the Icelandic Sagas. There’s violence and courage, the harshness of survival and a spirited young woman making mistakes, friends - and enemies.

How to Tame Your Dragon it is not. But there is humour from Bera’s camp and waspish skern or twin spirit. Reminiscent (in a good way) of Pullman’s daemons, it’s a fickle yet loyal being which adds much to Bera’s character. Bera has much to deal with in this harsh world - and learns a great deal, along with the reader. Suzie Wilde know her stuff - yet keesp it underplayed. Not an historical treatise.

The prose is as simple and unaffected as you’d hope it to be, and the adventures suitably bold and exciting. Ideal for someone who loves the Vikings! TV series, it would sit rather well beside Joanne M. Harris’s Runemarks and Runelight (though they are set in alternative future). A little older in tone than Oskar Jensen’s The Stones of Winter, it is not for the faint-hearted, what with the hideous Drorghers and traumatic things happening to our heroine.

Recommended if you want a strong story showing a brutal world with a brave protagonist beset by many difficulties. Bonuses - dry humour, convincing magic and great heart.

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

#ReviewMonday with KM Lockwood - The Hidden People by Alison Littlewood

Published by Jo Fletcher books in hardback

384 pages - paperback due in October 2017

Summary from author’s own website

Pretty Lizzie Higgs is gone, burned to death on her own hearth - but was she really a changeling, as her husband insists? Albie Mirralls met his cousin only once, in 1851, within the grand glass arches of the Crystal Palace, but unable to countenance the rumours that surround her murder, he leaves his young wife in London and travels to Halfoak, a village steeped in superstition.

Albie begins to look into Lizzie’s death, but in this place where the old tales hold sway and the ‘Hidden People’ supposedly roam, answers are slippery and further tragedy is just a step away . . .

*****

Review

This Victorian-style murder mystery with more than a hint of the supernatural will suit many accomplished readers with a taste for the Gothic. It’s told in the first person by Albie Mirrals, a rational modern man of the 19th century - a not entirely trustworthy narrator. He investigates the bizarre death of his cousin Lizzie Higgs only to enter a weird world of superstition and half-truths.

The alluring cover art by Leo Nickolls embodies the summery night-time strangeness of Halfoak - both enchanting and unsettling.

I would particularly recommend it for those who loved Frances Hardinge’s The Lie Tree and/or Cuckoo Song. It’s not an easy or quick read - you need to get your ear in (as it were) for Yorkshire dialect and Victorian turns of phrase. If you can read The Secret Garden in its original form, or Dickens, you’ll be fine. 

It is worth it.

You’ll disappear into an eerie northern countryside full of foreboding and delusions. Like the cover, it’s darkly beautiful and disturbing at one and the same time. Not specifically for YA readers, yet like most of the best unearthly fiction, it will thrill all ages able to deal with the weird, the difficult to explain and the elusive.

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.

It’s a Top Ten, but not as we know it, Jim. By K.M. Lockwood

K. M. Lockwood looks back over this year’s reading in her own unique way.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading a wide range of books this year - from tiny gems of 64 pages each to whopping great immersive tomes at 443 pages long. I’ve had great fun with picture books, short story collections and graphic novels. There’s no way I can pick out a top ten - it would be like comparing bananas, cauliflowers and pine nuts. 

But I can tell you about the features I’ve found most satisfying this year. 

Quirky sidekicks - Who would expect to care about a clockwork octopus, a grumpy dormouse, a wind-up fox or a pet worm called Porridge II? 

Fab new worlds to explore - Braving fantasy ones with vicious shape-shifters, sports-car-driving witches or a very unpleasant Fellowship, or historical ones with alchemists, explosions and spies. It’s good to get away sometimes.

Fast moving action - So gripping - be it evading vicious plants, keeping clear of contamination or detecting thieves in department stores.

Weird humour - Very hungry cabbages, hard-boiled snark in duels and bizarre creatures in not-quite-Prague - will those do you?

Magic - I love it and it’s in every book I enjoy. It doesn’t have to be literal wands and monsters (though those do thrill) but making me believe in the adventures of a she-vole or the romance between oddball teens is a kind of magic too.

Daring girls - One of my favourite type of characters - such as the hidden child who seeks out The Man in the Black Cloak, an islander who ventures into uncharted territory and a clever mortal who outwits a goblin king.

Kind-hearted boys - I cannot get enough of these lads - the sort who’d care for a lost, troubled and mysterious girl, a monster in a boiler room or a small and frightened half-sister. Who wouldn’t admire them?

Courage - Whether it’s coping with time-travelling villains, resurrected witches or the coming of The Beast, valour is a trait I want to see in action.

Peril - And you can’t have courage without danger. All the books I admire, whatever the age they are written for, have threat in them. It can be an ancient curse, tormenting ghosts or being trapped in a strange otherworld. 

Hope - No question - this is essential. However dark, however full of danger and villainy, the best tales give you a faith in the future. I grin or cheer or cry (sometimes all three) when there’s that moment of promise at the end. When a young couple find a better world or when a boy comes to terms with his terrible loss. It’s not always easy - but it must be there.

What are your Top Ten must-haves in stories?

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K. M. Lockwood lives by the sea in Sussex - see the pics on Instagram. She fills jars with sea-glass, writes on a very old desk and reads way past her bedtime. Her tiny bed-and-breakfast is stuffed full of books - and even the breakfasts are named after writers. You're always welcome to chat stories with @lockwoodwriter on Twitter.