Ink Exchange, Melissa Marr

The stunning sequel to bestelling Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange leaves you wishing it were real.

Leslie is drowning in her own world of lies, unable to tell the truth of her awful family life, she feels the only way to restore her pride is by claiming a one time tattoo, something to call her own. Tattoo artist Rabbit warns her that this tattoo will change her, but without revealing the link it will create, but Leslie is sure. This is what she wants.
Despite the protection of the Summer Court, Leslie is tangled and trapped in the world of Faery war and rivalry, caught bewteen the love of a summer faery and the irresitible pull of the tattoo that binds her to Irial, King of the Dark Court.
As capturing as it's predecessor, Ink Exchange leads you away from reality into the complex world of the Immortals, leaving you hanging on for the next chapter, and dying for the next dose of Marr.

Praise for Wicked Lovely “Riveting and dark: I love this tale of a smart, tough girl who walks the razor’s edge between an ancient fairy curse and her future!”-- Tamora Pierce, bestselling author

Hit http://www.melissa-marr.com/ for more awesome reviews and upcoming info

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

The world was on the verge of destruction, before it was tamed. Set in the shining city of Panem, built on the ruins of what was once North America, surrounded by twelve districts each unique from the other and each represented by 2 Tributes aged between 12 and 18 who must participate in The Hunger Games, a glamorous fight to the death designed to remind the Districts who holds the authority, and televised 24/7.

Our heroine Katniss comes from the poorest of the disctricts, 12, nicknamed the Seam, she must hunt illegally with best/almost friend Gale (a smoldering boy of course) in the nearby woods and sell it for what she can to support herself, younger sister Prim and an emotionally unstable mother. That is before she volunteers to take her sisters place as this years Tribute, of course the viewers love this, not to mention the fake romance between her and tribute partner, the sweet Peeta Mellark, Katniss can only hope she'll have enough sponsors to keep lying until the twisted end.

But fighting for her own survival in this confusing web of deceit, truth and love and that of the few friends she finds, whilst also taking down the other tributes is more than difficult, there is no option, and there can only be one winner.

Brilliantly written, utterly addictive, full of humour and quirky, loveable characters this futuristic gladiator book is suitable for anyone from age 12 up ( as long as you don't a mind a bit of blood).

For information on the sequel (because it WILL leave you drooling for more) visit http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/

City of Bones, Cassandra Clare

A riveting book for all teen readers! Set in modern day New York, Clare drags out every one of New Yorks secrets, from Shadow Hunter hating Downworlders including everyone's favourite vampires and werewolves to the creepy Silent Brothers and hard partying Warlock who knows more than he's letting on.

Clary thoguht she was just a slightly geeky 15 yr old girl, but when her mother goes missing and Clary returns to a demented croccodile demon stalking her destroyed house, Clary is forced into taking things into her own hands. In this fast paced teen novel Clary faces sexy tattoed boys, jealous girls, and dangerous weapons in the quest to find her imprisioned mother, while still keeping her friendships intact.

"Cassie's writing makes my toes curl with envy. She is the rare writer who can write fast-paced dramatic fantasy with gorgeous language and memorable characters that you grow to love and worry about, as well as really funny bits that will make you honestly laugh and remember them and repeat them to your friends. It is rare to find someone who can do any one of those things well; to find someone who can do them all is just dangerous."
- Holly Black, author of Tithe and Valiant

For information on the next installment City of Ashes visit http://www.mortalinstruments.com/

Outliers - The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

We all know the myths, that people make it big because they're so awesome, that they are in some way- a genius.

Outliers dispels those myths with a vengeance, in a way that's not ony informative but highly entertaining. Now you can pick and mix and just choose to read what interests you, murder planecrashes, success -- but you almost certainly wont because Outliers draws you in to find out more about yourself and how you work, how we all learn and why, and the ways in which society completely totally and uterly throws away so much raw potential.

The theories within are as liberating as they are constricting, as sensible as they are irreverant, as Malcolm Gladwell shines a spotlight on how success really works.

Review by Alicia Ponder

The Roar by Emma Clayton

Science Fiction meets the 21st century. It's the sort of book that can distract children from television, now how often do you see that!

Ellie is chased across New London in a fighter, her pet capuchin monkey eating popcorn. Somewhere below, her twin brother has been told that she's dead, but he doesn't believe it, and he's determined to find her.

There's lies, animals, outrage, adults being so stupid only children could believe it, and this rollercoaster of a book doesn't let up until - the end - and not even then - we're all expecting a sequel.

So my advice is, strap yourself into your fighter cockpit, make sure your most trusted dog, mouse, parakeet is by your side -- and escape!

Review by Alicia Ponder


PS. becasue I've been asked so many times I believe the release date for "The Whisper" in NZ is February 2012.  Cross your fingers. :)

Gool by Maurice Gee

OK I admit I haven't read Salt, and so perhaps I shouldn't even be reviewing Gool, but here goes. I found the beginning was strained, but that's often the case with book number two and most particularly, I found it difficult to get into because of the language. It was too simplistic, almost as if Maurice Gee was too scared to write words of more than two syllables and I found that stultifying. Of course, once underway, the plot was great and the ideas were of the callibre that they stayed with you, developing slowly into larger ideas -- that would be completely ruined if I telegraphed them in this review.

So instead of posting a review right away I talked to other people about their reaction to this book, given that mine wasn't exactly what I had expected, because you see, I LOVED Maurice Gee's Half Men of O series, and I know this man can write -- not just, ah that's nice, he's a New Zealander and the writing's ok., but Fiona Kidman -- this is a national treasure -- can write.

And the big thing that they all agreed on was that the writing for Gool and Salt was very simplistic - which is absolutely great if you want to be able to make sure a whole class will be able to read the book, but for the upper end of the market, for those children who read widely and are sensitive to style there's a certain something lacking. In fact in some ways this is true fantasy science fiction of the traditional kind where the plot is terribly important and the writing is merely a scaffold for the ideas --ideas that seem greater than the sum of their parts.

Anyway, if you liked Salt, you'll probably like Gool, some of the locations and characters are obviously revisited and there's nothing like going back and revisiting a world you love and finding hidden depths and dangers -- and the human spirit to confront them.

Review by Alicia Ponder

The Gone-Away World - Nick Harkaway

Interesting book, the brilliant writing dragged me along even though at first I wasn't that engaged by the story. Something was missing. Something was wrong, and I couldn't figure out what it was until about half way through, when suddenly it clicked. This isn't fantasy, or science fiction it's political in the same way that Animal Farm is a rubbish Fantasy/Science fiction story, but a brilliant political commentary. Ok, I dare say if you liked Animal farm you'll hate this because in every other way they are completely different, but if you're going to get the best out of this book, that's the way to read it!

Have fun reading

And a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

from Alicia Ponder and everyone at Rona Gallery

Celebrate - A Calender of Cakes for Special Dates - By Annabel Langbein Illustrated by Annie Hayward

A book to be treasured, "this beautiful book will become a compact treasury of your favourite cake recipes and the most important dates in the lives of family and friends - An heirloom to be passed down through generations."

The Illustrator, Annie Hayward will be exhibiting "Twelve New Myth Paintings" originals from the book in Rona Gallery between the twelth and twentyfourth of December.

Francis Hardinger, Gullstruck Island

Yes, the next Francis Hardinger book is coming soon. It should be here sometime January and I have to say - I couldn't wait. I had to read the preview. And for just a moment I thought I was going to be disappointed. Partly because the first ten pages seemed a little slow, but mostly because the wonderfully dense prose has lightened to something easier to read and I missed that sinfully dense experience.

First impressions are often deceptive and I admit I was deceived. Francis Hardinger has done what few authors can, re-invented her prose to best suit the story she is telling. With treachery and danger all around Hathin must convince others her sister has special powers, although she has only ever showed signs of being vegetative.

Treachery, murder, escape and revenge lurk within the pages. These must all be faced along with the concomitant forces of greed, envy and distrust by adversaries both outrageous and fantastical and there is a quiet cleverness that is reserved for the main character, quiet as dust, strong as hurricane, determined to right the terrible things that are happening to her people. Can she do all this, keep her sister alive and not become a soulless killer who lives only for revenge? Read on, adventure awaits.

Congratulations to Peter Friend for pulling off a win in the Jack Lazenby competition.

http://www.the-wcba.blogspot.com/

Peter Friend is a contributing poet in Richard Ponder's Caught on Canvas and I feel it is only time before he becomes far better known as a master of the short story, despite his style being somewhat different from traditional NZ writing.

It is always compelling when an author takes the real world and twists it into something frought with otherwordly danger. Cassandra Claire has done exactly this, a world every bit as rich as the one Harry Potter inhabits, and just like that world it is highly derivative of many similar stories that have been before, building layer upon layer of the familiar into a rich tapestry that is as comforting and familiar as it is exciting.

This is a teenage book of angst as much as it is of vampires and werewolves and otherwordly creatures, that has many people comparing it to Buffy. And on the surface this would be right, a girl gets caught in a world where people are trying to destroy bad supernatural creatures. To me though it was far more reminiscent of Stephenie Meyer's first book in the amount of teenage angst it manages to dredge up.

Did I enjoy it - well, yes I did, and certainly more than Stephenie Meyer, but not nearly so much as my niece who is perfectly situated in the demographic this book was designed for - thirteen to eighteen year olds.

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

While Faerie Wars is not the perfect book, it's a great read. And there is something for everyone, real life, fantasy, adventure, kittens in danger, a prince who rescues animals, and a terrible threat to the faerie kingdom.

It begins with Henry for a chapter. He's just an ordinary boy, with an annoying little sister, and he earns money tidying the house of an eccentric pensioner . Then for a long time Henry is abandoned while we follow the exploits of the faerie, Pyrus, as he goes about getting himself into trouble. Just as Henry is almost forgotten the two collide and Henry and the eccentric pensioner have to help Pyrus return to his Faeire kingdom so they can unravel the plot to wrest the throne off the Purple Emperor. It's fun, it's fast, and while it does not have the lyrical beauty of an award winning book it's one of those novels that has children sitting up under the covers and reading through the night.

Overall very absorbing, fast, and perfect for ten plus.

Review by Alicia Ponder

Y Fiction

Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan

Finally someone who knows how to spell faerie properly -- Faeire wars is a most charming and absorbing book. Review coming soon.

Appologies for few reviews at the moment from me as I'm very busy, I should be able to get back to at least a review a week very soon. Hopefully others will also be filling in over this time.

Alicia Ponder

Fantasy

Shadowmarch & Shadowplay - by Tad Williams

Every so often I take a deep breath and immerse myself in what can only be described as Epic Fantasy -- with capital letters.

Yes, the cover does not lie, this is such a book, and yes it has fairies and gods and strange races with odd names that might as well be called dwarves and selkies and borrowers. Yes borrowers, bless him. I loved the borrowers growing up, and these truly perfect little people remind me of their vigeur, sans the overly cutesy angle.

The story begins with the threat of the fairy shadowline moving near the kingdom of Southmarch. The king has been kidnapped, and the world they had been a small part of is now threatened, not only by an evil ruler who believes he is a god, but by an incursion of fairies. Not the nice, sweet ones many people grew up with, but big, nasty, dangerous ones.

A fiesty princess -- yes of course there's a fiesty princess otherwise why would any girl ever pick up such a book? -- is kept pretty busy even as her twin brother is beset by nightmares and unsurprisingly eventually finds himself on the wrong side of the fairy "Shadowline." Notice the Capitals. High Fantasy, after all seems to demand them.

Anyway, I'd love to make this a complete book review with an ending, but it's impossible. The series isn't finished -- and wont be for some time by the look of it -- so I can't help but wonder if I've started this series a little too early, on the positive side Tad Williams is relatively young, so he's unlikely to die before writing the last book -- unlike David Gemmel and Robert Jordan, on the negative side this could turn into another of those, "walking, walking, walking," epics where nothing heappens as the publisher and author take all the money they can. There was a small section in the middle of Shadowplay where I was terrified this was about to happen, enough to make me think it didn't quite get the stronghanded edit it deserved, especially as I was thrown out of the story too often by typographical errors.

Still, I can't help but feel the gandness of this is Tad Williams at his best, at his peak of writing, and he's never been a slouch, the plot so far is strong, always keeping me reading from one chapter to the next. In the end I can only surmise the weaknesses are only those that can be expected in this strange genre where writers aren't thinking in hundred pages, but in thousands. And the strengths are those that can possibly only be appreciated by people who aren't immediately put off fiction because there might be fairies and gods and ... doesn't Shakespeare have such things? --

Anyway if you love fantasy, and just can't get enough, or you want your fantasy-loving teenager to be invisible for several days, this is the series you're looking for. Plenty of blood and gore and violence for the boys - without straying too far into graphic realism, but most of all there is a cast of definite characters, a sense of adventure, and of our protagonists rising to enormous challenges to cope with events that, despite their best efforts, keep spiralling out of control.

Review by Alicia Ponder

YA Fiction

Juno of Taris, review by Joanna Ponder

I fell in love with Juno. The story of a twelve year old girl who tries to fit into the utopian society of Taris. Taris was established after a major upheaval in the outside world. Here there are many rules the inhabitants are expected to live by, but Juno can't help herself asking - why?

Juno is a carefully crafted novel, it moves along at a steady pace, and kept me entertained me every step of the way.

Richard really enjoyed it, and the declared it was a girls' book, and he is probably right, but obviously it has a wider appeal than just girls.

RECYCLE AT RONA GALLERY

Congratulations to Jazz Kane, winner of the $20 gift voucher for September's plastic bag recycling draw.

Sci Fi

Peace and War by Joe Haldeman


I could not help but notice this in the bargain bin section of Rona Gallery. Peace and War is one of the most celebrated Science fiction classics ever - originally published as "Forever War" "Forever Free," and "Forever Peace."

These books have haunted me since I read them almost ten years ago. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to understand what those veterans went through, or just to someone who loves science fiction that makes not only a social commentary but uses the known laws of physics as part of the underlying metaphore. And the basic premise is that people encounter aliens. Nobody is sure how the shooting started, but it has started, and the world goes to war to destroy the threat.

Only it's not that simple fighting bugs out in space, because this is one of the few Science fiction stories I've read where Einstein's relativity is a factor, and each time the soldiers return, not only are they coming home damaged by their experiences but the world is so changed they feel like they are not coming home at all...

Joe Haldeman was a Vietnam Vet and his storytelling isn't as polished as some, but the drama, and the plot, and the theme - and the sheer guts of this story, more than make up for a lack of fancy prose. Indeed it would seem out of place. There's a lot in this book, a lot of disturbing ideas about how wars are fought, and Joe Haldeman does not deny any connections with the Vietnam war, in fact when he was in New Zealand he described it as his therapy when he came back, his way of making sense of what happened to him, and I think that is why the books are so powerful and why they have been re-published again and again over the years.

Review by Alicia Ponder

YA Fiction

The Alchemist by Michael Stott


The Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel is still alive, his tomb lies empty -- and ready to exploit this is Michael Stott, author of -- well, The Alchemyst.

He does it well.

Josh works in Nick Flemming - sorry Nicholas Flamel's bookstore, his sister Sophie works across the road. It's something they only discover when John Dee, another character out of the past comes to steal the book that contains the secret of eternal life.

It's fast paced fantasy, and once started the story rolls onward with a breathlessness that doesn't stop. No seriously it doesn't stop - it just leaves you on a cliff-hanger so you can't wait to read the next book.

It's not the best book in the world, and doesn't hold a candle to "The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World" or "Verdigris Deep" at least not in terms of stylish writing, but in plot and knowing his market Michael Stott has done a superb job.

I found it fun, and so did Richard, once he got past the information about the famous historical figures and got into the plot. Recommended for about 12-13+

Event

This Sunday at Rona Gallery

Bernard Beckett talks about his new novel Acid Song, the internationally acclaimed Genesis.

We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Alicia

Adult Fiction

Acid Song by Bernard Beckett.

Every so often I take a deep breath, focus really hard and attack the writing of a New Zealand author. Such exertions often bring mixed results, mostly because they are so mainstream oriented and I'm not. But I went there again, because Bernard Beckett is ostensibly a perfect science fiction writer because he's an ideas man, and I was pretty impressed with his award winning children's book. Anyway, Acid Song is quite a departure for Bernard Beckett, being his first adult novel.



The beginning of Acid Song stumbled around with a deliberate incoherency, enhancing the theme of a frayed, but intertwined destiny, with all the characters bathed in a social acidity that has them so disconnected from their feelings and their relationships. This theme was enhanced by the characters themselves being quite male-centric, as though the only purpose for females was to in some way define the men and provide them with something to ogle. Well, I like to think that this was a deliberate comment on society, and that the ambitious female documentary host on her big break was demonstrating a kind of modern shallowness -- that she was not simply a cardboard character. Easily enough she could be both, I suppose, even as she was also the glue, or more accurately the hinge around which all the bigger, "more interesting" characters took their cue.



In the end, the interesting part of the book wasn't the characters, however enjoyable, and insightful they were. The interesting part about the book was an idea. The idea of a fraying society busily trying to hide socially unacceptable facts, even as the loose knot of characters and their lives fray around the edges and are left indelibly etched by the lack of support and respect that truth and honesty fail to gain. Not just generally in society, but most particularly in the educational and academic worlds.



A must read for everyone in education, and not just for the wonderfully sad-funny resignation letter that is never posted. Well written, well paced, and of course most interesting for anyone who wishes to understand how science and society sometimes clash, and how most important and influential ideas are often released against the tide of the status quo.