Originally published in the Canberra Weekly 3 August 2017.
My Rating:
Tag: Australian Author
After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication Date – 1 August 2018
From bestselling Australian author Lili Wilkinson comes After the Lights Go Out, an incredible and powerful young adult adventure set in the heart of the bush that asks the impossible question: should a person choose family or community in an emergency?
Seventeen-year-old Prudence Palmer is a young woman living outside the small Australian outback town of Jubilee with her father, Rick, and her younger twin sisters, Grace and Blyth. To the other inhabitants of the town, they are just another mining family, living close to Rick’s workplace. However, they are actually hiding a much deeper secret: they are doomsday preppers. Convinced that the world will soon suffer some form of imminent catastrophe, Rick has moved his daughters off the grid to Jubilee and has constructed a hidden bunker out the back of his property. Filled with a substantial amount of food, medicine, equipment, weapons and entertainment, the bunker has everything they need to survive the end of the world. The girls have also been trained to survive and are ready to react against a variety of scenarios.
While Rick is sure a world-changing disaster is just around the corner, Pru is less certain, and is happy to keep her family’s activities a secret. So it is a great shock to her when something actually happens and every electrical device, modern car and generator in Jubilee suddenly fails. With Rick gone, Pru and her sisters must suddenly implement their survival plan without their father’s guidance and make the hard decision to hide their bunker and supplies from their friends in the town. With food, water and medicine becoming scarce, and with no transportation, communications or other vital necessities, the town starts to fall apart. As the situation gets even worse, Pru and her sisters must decide between helping their friends or doing as they have been trained and survive alone.
Lili Wilkinson is an exciting Australian author who has produced 10 intense and dramatic young adult novels since her 2006 debut, Joan of Arc: The Story of Jehanne Darc. Her eleventh novel, After the Lights Go Out is an outstanding standalone book that could potentially replace Tomorrow, When the War Began as the go-to disaster story for Australian young adult audiences. This book contains a dramatic and moving main story that plunges the world into chaos and places the potential survival of a small town in the hands of one young woman.
At the heart of this book lies a tough moral dilemma for the narrator Pru when she must decide between helping her local community and guaranteeing her family’s survival. Pru’s father, Rick, a hardcore survivalist, has stocked the family bunker with enough supplies to keep Pru and her sisters alive for several years. He has also taught his daughters to never help anyone but themselves, and to keep all their supplies for the family. When a disaster strikes and Rick goes missing, it is up to Pru and her sisters to make the decision, and at first they choose to keep the bunker and supplies hidden from their friends in Jubilee. As the situation in the town gets worse, Pru’s guilt conflicts with her father’s training and instructions. This internal debate is intensified when she falls in love with newcomer Mateo and watches him and his mother doing everything they can to save the townsfolk, despite the fact they are not locals and have no significant connection to people living there. Watching Pru’s internal struggle and the external debate with her sisters is intense, and the reader is left wondering what they would do in a similar situation. How Pru’s eventual decision affects her family and her relationships with the people of Jubilee is very memorable, and hits all the right emotional notes in this excellent story.
After the Lights Go Out contains an intriguing examination of the doomsday prepper phenomenon that is currently occurring around the world. The main character’s father believes every single conspiracy theory that exists and is determined to prepare his daughters for anything. It is clear that Wilkinson has done some significant research into survivalists and their various techniques, and as a result her characters are prepared for every doomsday scenario and have a ton of supplies and a high-tech bunker at their disposal. There is a lot of discussion and exposition about the various survivalist conspiracies, plans to live in an altered world, the necessary techniques and the ideal supplies that every prepper should have. Despite most doomsday preppers being American, many of the techniques in this book have an Australian flavour to them, as the girls know the local fauna, flora and means of survival out in the harsh bush conditions. While every preparation the Palmer family has undertaken is fascinating to read about, I found the examination of the improvised medical techniques the characters use to be particularly outstanding. This includes including one memorable and somewhat graphic sequence where the narrator needs to perform some rudimentary dentistry. Overall, the use of the doomsday preppers’ planning and theories is an incredibly intriguing part of this story that provides the reader with some cool facts and the results of the author’s in-depth research.
Wilkinson has also populated the book with some excellent characters who really bring the story together. While the Palmer sisters are good central characters and Pru is a great narrator who has to make a huge range of tough decisions, the best character has to be the Palmer father, Rick. Rick is a crazed survivalist who is convinced that the world is about to end and whose paranoia has driven him to outback Australia. When one of his disaster scenarios actually comes true, he becomes even more erratic, and watching his fears overcome his love for his daughters is very tragic to behold. There is also Mateo, the young American tourist and liberal city-slicker who is essentially the opposite of Pru when it comes to life experiences. The relationship between him and Pru is nice. It evolves at a natural pace and offers the reader some different insights into the situation and the motivations of the Palmer sisters. Another effective character is Keller Reid, the older boy with an unhealthy obsession with Pru’s younger sisters. Keller is a particularly despicable character who serves as a very annoying minor antagonist who moves the plot around. Watching him through the narrator’s eyes, you cannot help but hate him and hope he gets some eventual comeuppance. The other townsfolk of Jubilee are a good mixture of characters, and it’s nice seeing them come together as a community rather than break down and kill each other as Rick believed they would.
Another part of this book that stood out to me was Wilkinson’s use of the powerful Australian landscape and the examination of small country towns. The author provides some vivid images of the distinctive Australian bush, and looks at the various features that make it an intriguing backdrop for a story about survivalists. The author also produces some exceptional portrayals of the close communities that exists in small town Australia and how they their isolation might be both a benefit and a detriment to their survival in a doomsday scenario. It is definitely a unique setting for a catastrophe novel such as After the Lights Go Out, and one which I felt really added to the beauty and intensity of the story.
I really enjoyed this book and thought it was an incredible piece of literature from Wilkinson. Because of its excellent story and the phenomenal look it takes at survivalists and their viewpoint of the world, I think this book is perfect for its intended young adult audience, which could prove to be very empowering and enjoyable read for them. Parents should aware that there are some adult moments and a couple of graphic scenes, but this excellent and informative story is worth the risk. After the Lights Go Out is a deep and powerful five-star book that provides its readers with an excellent examination of doomsday preppers. This is definitely one of the best young adult books I have read this year and I cannot recommend this outstanding Australian book enough.
My Rating:
All-New Wolverine: Volumes 1 – 6: Complete Series by Tom Taylor
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Dates:
All-New Wolverine Vol. 1: The Four Sisters – 24 May 2016
All-New Wolverine Vol. 2: Civil War II – 8 November 2016
All-New Wolverine Vol. 3: Enemy of the State II – 3 May 2017
All-New Wolverine Vol. 4: Immune – 29 November 2017
All-New Wolverine Vol. 5: Orphans of X – 27 February 2018
All-New Wolverine Vol. 6: Old Woman Laura – 24 July 2018
Prepare yourself for an all-new Wolverine in this exciting new series from Tom Taylor and a skilled team of Marvel artists, as one of the best characters in the Marvel Universe, X-23, rises to take the place of one of comic’s most beloved superheroes.
Following the death of the original Wolverine, Logan, in the 2014 series Death of Wolverine, Marvel chose to elevate his clone and surrogate daughter, X-23, to the role of Wolverine. Starting in 2015, the All-New Wolverine series followed X-23 as she took on the moniker of Wolverine and made it her own. Originally running between November 2015 and May 2018, the series is made up of 35 issues. These issues have been assembled together into six collected editions, which were released between May 2016 and July 2018. With the upcoming return of the original Wolverine to the Marvel Universe, All-New Wolverine has been cancelled, and the character has reverted back to the X-23 moniker, with a new X-23 series having just started.
I have been a major fan of X-23 for years, and find her to be one of the most interesting characters in the entire Marvel Universe. As a result, I was excited to see how she would be utilised as the new Wolverine, and have been keenly collecting all the volumes in this series. I had originally intended to review the latest volume, Old Woman Laura, by itself; however, as this volume ends the series, I thought I would take this opportunity to review the entire series in one go.
The protagonist of this series, the brand new Wolverine, Laura Kinney, is a fascinating example of character creation, and it has been intriguing to see how this character has evolved over the last 15 years. Originally known by the code name X-23, the character was first introduced in 2003, in the season 3 episode of the X-Men Evolution animated television series, X23, and was established as a female clone of Wolverine created by an evil scientific organisation. In her first appearance in X-Men Evolution, X-23 took out every single X-Man and went toe-to-toe with Wolverine himself, only stopping when he broke through to her emotionally. This was a surprisingly dark episode for kids cartoon, but the fun appeal of a young female Wolverine and her sheer badassary quickly made Laura a fan favourite character, and her transference in the comic universe was quickly established. These days most people would recognise the character from her amazing appearance in the 2017 film Logan, played by young actor Dafne Keen, which showed a slightly altered version of her origin story.
Her first appearance within the main comic Marvel Universe happened in the 2004 series NYX, where she was shown to be living in New York City. She was later introduced to the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men 450, with her origin story fleshed out in two limited series. The first of these series, Innocence Lost, looked at her creation, early life, training and missions as part of the institute that created her, as well as the relationship she had with her mother and their attempts to escape the institute. The second series, Target X, follows on directly after Innocence Lost and focuses on Laura’s attempts to start a life outside of the institution, her interactions with her mother’s family and the pursuit that would haunt her for the rest of her life. This second short series also shows how she ends up in New York in NYX and her first interactions with Wolverine, and is framed as a retelling of her life story to Captain America and Daredevil. Both of these series are extremely well written and serve as an excellent introduction to the character.
After her introduction, X-23 appeared in a number of different series including Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, New X-Men and Marvel Team-Up. She was a major character in Volume 3 of X-Force and appeared in key roles in several of the larger X-Men storylines. She obtained another X-23 series in 2010, before having starring roles in Avengers Academy, Avengers Arena and All-New X-Men. Following The Death of Wolverine, Laura was involved in some of the following storylines dealing with his death before taking up the role of Wolverine herself.
This series was created by Australian author Tom Taylor and a rotating roster of Marvel authors. Taylor has a range of writing experience in a number of different formats, including theatre, musicals, books and television, and has also created an animated series, The Deep. Over the last 10 years, Taylor has worked on several different comic books, including several Star Wars series, some Injustice series, Superior Iron Man and Green Lantern Corps. The original art style and new character design for the series was developed by veteran artist David Lopez, and the other artists closely replicated his style.
The first volume of the All-New Wolverine, The Four Sisters, sees Laura newly in the role of Wolverine and keen to honour the name by becoming a non-lethal hero. In this volume, she encounters four clones of herself that are being hunted by the sinister corporation who created them. In order to save them, Laura must work with several other Marvel heroes, such as Dr Strange, Wasp and her boyfriend, Angel (the young one transported from a past timeline). The volume ends with Laura taking in one of the surviving clones, the young girl Gabby, who becomes one of the main characters in the series. This book is a fantastic introduction to this new incarnation of the character, and it sets the tone for the rest of the issues.
Volume 2 of the series, Civil War II, starts with Laura teaming up with Squirrel Girl in a zany escapade to save a squirrel Laura wronged in the previous volume, while also introducing the actual wolverine Jonathan, who becomes Laura and Gabby’s pet. The second adventure in this volume sees Laura and Gabby help SHIELD, Iron Man and Captain Marvel fight against the giant monster Fin Fang Foom. During this story, Laura and Gabby encounter and rescue the Old Man Logan version of Wolverine. While the first two issues are both fun significant, the main storyline of this volume ties into the Civil War II crossover event. The Inhuman Ulysses has a vision of Logan killing Gabby, so SHIELD and Captain America attempt to intervene, but the confusion and chaos that follows only results in tragedy. This sees an exciting tie-in to one of Marvel’s more intriguing and high-profile recent crossover events, and this volume also helps highlight the discord and disagreement that the other Marvel heroes were experiencing in the main Civil War II event. Seeing Logan’s alternate world connections to Laura and Gabby is rather interesting, and the reveal of Gabby’s full potential as Laura’s main side character is amazing.
The third volume, Enemy of the State II, sees the return of Laura’s arch-nemesis and sadistic former handler, Kimura, who is once again determined to make Laura’s life a living hell. After engineering the massacre of a small town with Wolverine present, Kimura forces Laura and Gabby into hiding as part of a terrible plan to control Laura once again. However, Gabby, with the help of Angel, Gambit, young Jean Grey and Nick Fury Jnr, has a plan to free Laura once and for all from the terror of Kimura. This is probably the most emotional volume in the series, dealing with the protagonist’s biggest fear: being turned into a killing machine once again. Enemy of the State II is strongly connected to both of the original X-23 series, especially Target X, and represents a massive turning point for the character. It is fantastic to see some of these storylines concluded and Laura given the happy ending she’s been denied for so long.
Volume 4, Immune, takes Wolverine up into the stars for an intergalactic adventure. When an alien ship crash lands on Roosevelt Island, the dying alien child piloting it has time to whispers one name: Laura Kinney. Within minutes, the island is infected with a fast-acting alien virus and is immediately quarantined. Laura travels to the island and must work with Gabby, Ironheart, Logan, Daken and Deadpool to cure the disease. Laura, Gabby and Jonathan than travel into space with the Guardians of the Galaxy in order to trace the origins of the alien virus, but they find a far more dangerous threat on the planet they visit. This is a very fun volume that includes some notable team-ups, while at the same time really highlighting Laura’s potential for heroism. This serves as a fantastic example of a really well-done one-off intergalactic adventure for a terrestrial based series and proves to be very entertaining. It is probably the most laugh-out-loud funny volume in the series, with some remarkable interactions with characters such as Deadpool and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The fifth volume of this series, Orphans of X, goes deeper into the mythology of Wolverine, as the only weapon that had the power to kill him, the Murumasa Blade, is recovered and unleashed upon his children. A mysterious organisation known as the Orphans of X is hunting down and killing all of the Marvel mutants with claws and a healing factor. Laura, Gabby and Daken must find a way to defend themselves from these devastating and well-coordinated attacks, but find themselves conflicted once they find out the truth behind the Orphans of X. This is another heavy and emotional volume with a great story premise behind it. This one ties into both Innocence Lost and Target X, and shows the devastating consequences of the Laura’s childhood missions.
The final volume, Old Woman Laura, contains an interesting mixture of stories. The first issue features Gabby and Deadpool teaming up to take down the scientific laboratory that Jonathan was rescued from in Volume 2. The second story follows on from the Orphans of X storyline, and sees Laura and Amber Griffen, the daughter of one of Laura’s first kills, team up to take down the person who ordered the hit. The final story is set far in the future and sees an older Laura and Gabby go on their final mission together in order rescue their long-lost sister, Bellona, from a dystopian landscape ruled by Dr Doom. These are some intriguing and diverse stories, and it serves as a good wrap-up to the entire series. The two team-ups in the first two adventures are very fun, while the issues showing the potential future for All-New Wolverine’s main characters is an intriguing and emotional affair that has some nice closing thoughts for this series.
A recurring theme throughout this series is Laura’s attempt to build on her character and to move past her childhood of being raised to be a vicious killer. Now, as Wolverine, she’s trying to live up to the legacy of her father, the original Wolverine, and become a non-lethal superhero, even though she will still maim many of her opponents. Taylor does a good job of conveying the guilt and responsibility that Laura feels. There are times where Laura thinks back to her past with Wolverine, seeing herself in his shoes. Like the original Wolverine, Laura establishes and maintains relationships with many of the other heroes in the Marvel Universe, most of whom find her to be a worthy replacement for Wolverine, even if they are surprised that she wanted to take on the mantle. There are also elements of family involved in this story, as not only does Laura take responsibility for Gabby, but she becomes closer to members of the Wolverine family, including Daken and Old Man Logan.
This series is a bit lighter than you’d expect of a series focusing on Wolverine or X-23, and perhaps this ties into the overarching feeling of redemption that Taylor was trying to infuse into the story. There is actually a huge amount of humour included within the various issues, including several crazy adventures and some real laugh-out-loud moments. Examples of this include Squirrel Girl randomly showing up to declare that Laura has “wronged the squirrel world” and bringing along a real life wolverine to help get her point across (she was under the impression that Wolverine could understand real life wolverines, just like Squirrel Girl can understand squirrels). Another of the series’ really funny scenes occurs when a serious conversation is interrupted by two burglars who break into the apartment and come face to face with Wolverine, Old Man Logan and Gabby. Having all three characters break down laughing as they consider just how unlucky these burglars are is a fun, hilarious scenario.
While All-New Wolverine has a somewhat lighter tone, Taylor is still able to produce some deep and emotional stories throughout the series. Many of these darker and more emotional stories are tied into the main character’s tragic past. It is great to see several of the old storylines wrapped up, and I was glad to see Laura reunited with the family who was forced to go into hiding.
For me, one of the best parts of the All-New Wolverine is the introduction of new character Gabby, who becomes the secondary protagonist of this series. Gabby is a young clone of Laura who has many of her abilities and training. However, due to protection she experienced from her clone sisters, Gabby grew up without the emotional damage that Laura and other members of the Wolverine family experienced. As a result, Gabby has a very funny and bubbly personality, as well as kick-ass combat skills, retractable claws and a healing factor. Given the moniker Honey Badger, Gabby ends up accompanying Laura on a range of missions, and proves to be quite a capable field agent. Much of the series’ comedy comes about because of her antics, as well as her humorous interactions with other members of the Marvel Universe, which sees her pull funny moments and comments out of several usually serious characters. Her instant friendship with Deadpool is comedy gold, and the two play off each other wonderfully, easily stealing the show in the issues they feature in together. Despite her major humorous overtones, Gabby does get serious when it comes to protecting her family, and she has several intense moments, as well as scenes where she makes scary threats in order to protect her sister. Laura’s relationship with Gabby is a major part of the series, and it is great to see Laura mirror the role Wolverine had in her life as a mentor and parent. Gabby is definitely one of my favourite new Marvel characters of the last couple of years, and I’m really hoping that she’ll have a similar role in the new X-23 series and will continue to have some insane adventures in the future.
Lopez and the other artists of the All-New Wolverine series have created a great style for this series, and I loved the new costumes that they pulled together for Laura, as well as the original and unique look of Gabby. There are some slight variations in drawing style between the various books, but the artists keep the style somewhat consistent throughout the series. There are a number of drawn scenes throughout the book that are particularly beautiful or memorable for various reasons. The final battle between Laura and Kimura in Volume 3 is very dark and brooding, but the artists are able to show the raw emotion on Laura’s face as she finally frees herself from Kimura’s shadow. I was also particularly drawn to the striking drawings of the Hand assassins in Volume 5, where the assassins wore the masks of the Orphan X organisation. The artists are also able to draw some funny pieces into their work. The potential comic cover art that Gabby imagines when she finally comes up with a superhero moniker, Honey Badger, is fantastic, especially as several classic Wolverine covers are replaced with Gabby’s evilly smiling face. I can also barely describe the awesomeness of the drawings in Volume 4 of the series, which see Gabby and Jonathon play with Baby Groot in the background in several funny scenes. Overall, the art displayed in this series is fun and has many uses to enhance the story.
Overall, All-New Wolverine is a fantastic, entertaining and really enjoyable series that promotes one of Marvel Comics’ most unique characters into the role of Wolverine. Featuring some amazing uses of humour, an excellent new supporting character and some deep, emotional storylines, this is an incredible series that is well worth getting into. I am definitely keen to check out the new X-23 series that has just been released, and I will also be looking into the new X-Men Red series from the Australian creator of All-New Wolverine, Tom Taylor, which will feature both Laura and Gabby. A perfect read for long term fans of the X-23 and the X-Men series, and also a great introduction to the comic universe if you loved X-23 in Logan.
My Rating (Series and Each Volume):
Restoration by Angela Slatter
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books
Publication Date – 9 August 2018
One of the very best authors of Australian crime fantasy returns with another outstanding release in her fast-paced and exceedingly entertaining Verity Fassbinder series.
In a world where the magical beings known as the Weyrd remain hidden from the Normal, non-magical population, Verity Fassbinder is a half-Weyrd, half-human agent for Brisbane’s Weyrd Council and is charged with policing the city’s Weyrd population. However, following an adventure to the underworld, Verity has been forced into the employ of a crazed fallen angel, and must take up his quest to find two secretive artefacts hidden in Brisbane. In order to protect those she loves from her murderous new employer, Verity has sent her family away and resigned her position with the Weyrd Council. Saddled with a murderous Kitsune, Joyce, as a driver and spy, Verity must find a way to recover these mysterious two items without giving ultimate power to the creature holding everything she love hostage.
As if her involuntary quest wasn’t hard enough, Verity is also forced to contend with a myriad of other problems from Brisbane’s Weyrd population. The vengeful sorceress Dusana Nadasy is back in town, determined to kill Verity for the role she played in the death of her family. The angel Tobit is refusing to take Verity’s calls, Weyrd Council politics is seriously starting to annoy her, literal ghosts from her past are haunting her and her friends the Norns have developed strange new powers. Finally, her contact in the Brisbane police, Inspector McIntyre, needs her help investigating a series of desecrated corpses of Normal women found around Brisbane whose bodies show the distinctive impact of Weyrd magic. What Verity does not know is that all of these strange occurrences will play a part in her quest for the fallen angel’s prize and will change her life forever.
Restoration is the third book from Australian author Angela Slatter and represents the third book in her Verity Fassbinder series. Restoration is an exceptional example of the benefits of combining two genres, and contains incredible fantasy and mystery elements blended together into a powerful final narrative set in modern day Brisbane.
Throughout Restoration, Slatter has surrounded her central storyline with an elaborate series of smaller mysteries and adventures, all of which cleverly tie into the protagonist’s hunt for the artefacts. Each of the smaller plot lines and investigations is very interesting, and readers will be amazed about how interlocked the story really is. Those who have read the previous books in the Verity Fassbinder series will also enjoy how Slatter expertly utilises elements and plot lines from the earlier books in the series throughout Restoration. This is a fun feature, and really shows off how much planning and foreshadowing Slatter included in her first two books, as even minor observations and actions from the earlier books have some big impacts in the latest volume. Despite this, Restoration is still an excellent book to come into this series with. The author makes sure all the relevant details of the last two books are fully explained and explored. As a result, new readers will be able to follow everything that is happening within Restoration, while also being tempted to check out the earlier books in this fabulous series. Fans will enjoy how the storylines and side quests come together in the end of the book for a big and exciting confrontation sequence that serves as an epic conclusion to the first three books in the Verity Fassbinder series.
In addition to the book’s strong mysteries, the author has also included a range of enticing fantasy elements for the readers to enjoy. The huge variety of fantasy aspects included within Restoration have been pulled together from a range of different cultural backgrounds. As a result, the book’s protagonist interacts with creatures that have their origins in Greek, Germanic, Norse and Japanese mythologies and culture, as well as the usual ghosts, magic users and generally powered individuals. There are also strong components from the Judeo-Christian religion that play a significant part in the story and which tie in well with the other fantasy elements. The great mystery elements mentioned above work in conjunction with these fantasy features to create an amazing story. Slatter comes up with some terrific fantasy based motives, plots and suspects for the reader to enjoy, and this helps create an intriguing and entertaining overall narrative. The protagonist’s hunt for the artefacts, the “grail” and the “tyrant”, leads to a greater insight into this universe’s magical and religious roots, and turn into some intriguing pieces of this universe’s lore. In addition, the protagonist’s curiosity about her Weyrd ancestors leads to her finding out some fascinating facts about their history, as well as a detailed bit of fictional mythology from Slatter. This focus on the family she is descended from also hints at these characters being involved in future additions of this series, and will no doubt prove to be excellent antagonists. Overall, the book’s fantasy elements are highly enjoyable and add sufficient wonder and enhancement to an already outstanding book.
Restoration is mostly set within the Australian city of Brisbane and its local environs. Slatter, a Brisbane local, has created a detailed and personal depiction of her city and it serves as a fun location for this book’s plot. People familiar with Brisbane will appreciate the descriptions of city and enjoy the concept of a hidden and chaotic fantasy world lying just below its surface. Special note should be given about the inclusion of the University of Queensland, Slatter’s alma mater, as a setting within the book, and it is always fascinating to see a location that the author is familiar with and passionate about.
Slatter has continued to use the humour-laden tone of writing that was such a standout of the first two books in the Verity Fassbinder series. The protagonist is a remarkable character who does not care who she annoys or who gets in her way as she tries to achieve her goals. This nonconformist attitude and general disregard for the rules for the Weyrd Council has a great way of getting the reader to support her, and as a result she has always been a very likable main character. The jokes and humour that inhabit the narrative as she encounters a range of strange and dangerous situations help lighten the tone of the dark investigations she is involved with. Things get serious towards the end, especially when the protagonist’s family gets involved and this helps raise the stakes in the readers mind, although some humour is still involved. Audiences will love the sass and humorous observations that inhabit this whole book, and it fits in well with the overarching urban fantasy crime narrative that Slatter has cultivated.
Restoration is another superb read from Angela Slatter and an outstanding addition to one of the best fantasy crime series in the world today. The books in this series are up there with The Dresden Files and the Peter Grant series, and are fantastic examples of this combination of genres. The third book in this Australian series makes full use of its elaborate mystery, intriguing fantasy elements, exciting Brisbane setting and distinctive humour to create an extraordinary read that comes highly recommended.
My Rating:
City of Lies by Sam Hawke
Publisher: Bantam Press
Publication Date – 3 July 2018
Poison, murder, conspiracy, and war are all on the way for readers of City of Lies, one of the best fantasy reads of the year from Canberra author Sam Hawke.
In the country of Sjona, the capital city of Silasta is a glittering beacon of culture and art. Young nobleman Jovan and his family serve a special role, subtly protecting Sjona’s ruler, the Chancellor, and his heirs from being poisoned. As a result of his training, Jovan is now capable of detecting and identifying poisons that could be slipped to his charges. While his uncle and mentor directly protects the Chancellor, Jovan serves the Chancellor’s carefree young heir, Tain.
When Jovan and Tain return to the city following a diplomatic journey, they are soon placed in a terrible situation. The impossible has happened: an unidentified poison has been slipped to the Chancellor, killing him and Jovan’s uncle. Without their respective mentors’ guidance both young men are thrust into new roles: Tain as an untested Chancellor, and Jovan now responsible for the safety of his nation’s ruler.
However, things can always get worse. A mysterious army has arrived undetected at the gates of Silasta, and the city, which has never known anything but peace, is soon besieged. The army appears to be made up of Sjona’s peasants and contains powerful individuals in control of spirits. With the majority of the military far away fighting in another conflict, few professional soldiers are left to defend Silasta, and Tain must lead a desperate defence against a superior force.
As the siege continues, it soon becomes apparent that not everything is as it seems. Why is the city being attacked, and how did no one see this coming? A deep conspiracy lies across the capital and no one can be trusted, not even Silasta’s ruling council. It also appears that the person who killed the Chancellor is still at large within the city and is aiming to poison Tain as well. As Jovan utilises all his skill to protect his friend, his sister Kalina searches for the traitors hiding inside their walls.
City of Lies is Australian author Sam Hawke’s debut novel and represents an outstanding first outing from a remarkable new talent. This ambitious book contains a fantastic plot, with some unique story elements and an elaborate thriller narrative that combines perfectly with the book’s overarching fantasy narrative. This is the first book in Hawke’s planned Poison War series, and is focused on two separate point-of-view characters, Jovan and Kalina, who each narrate around half the book.
This book contains an amazing and extremely compelling overarching thriller narrative that sees the protagonist attempt to unravel the conspiracies surrounding their city. Hawke has put a lot of work into creating an elaborate and multilayered plot that draws the reader in with its significant intrigue. The is so much for the reader to discover as the protagonists try to work out who the army attacking them is, what their motives are, and how the siege relates to the secrets of the ruling class. This intrigue-driven storyline is amped up even more once it is revealed that the person who poisoned the chancellor might not be a member of the army camped outside the city. Hawke presents the reader with a number of likely suspects, most of whom are on the city’s ruling council, as well as a range of interesting and plausible motives for the betrayal. The full extent of the interwoven conspiracies is quite impressive, and Hawke presents an extremely captivating storyline of the protagonists unravelling the plot that is guaranteed to pull in the reader’s full attention. This is definitely a high point of this fantastic book.
One of City of Lies’ standout features is Hawke’s substantial focus on poisons and role the main character plays in protecting the city’s ruler from harmful substances. At the start of the story, the Chancellor and the protagonists’ uncle are both poisoned and killed by an unknown toxin. Jovan, who already served Tain as his ‘proofer’, a combination food taster, poison master, and trusted personal chef, spends the rest of the book trying to defend Tain from a poisoner he knows is out there, who apparently has access to a poison he has no idea how to detect or cure. The battle of wits between Jovan and the poisoner is an intense part of the book’s narrative, and the reader can feel the desperation that Jovan feels trying to keep his friend and, by extension, his city alive. There are some great scenes throughout this book as Jovan attempts to work out how poison could be administered to Tain, as well as trying to work out potential cures and solutions to the poison’s victims.
In addition to examining the tension that the book’s poison elements elicit, Hawke also spends a significant amount of time exploring the various toxins of her universe and the techniques of the book’s poison ‘proofers’. The descriptions of these skills in training is utterly fascinating, and the author has come up with some amazing ideas that prove to be enthralling for the reader. In addition, Hawke has chosen to deepen the audience’s interest and knowledge of her universe’s poisons by including a page of the protagonist’s ‘proofer tome’ before each chapter in the book. These pages contain a description of the poison, what effects it has when administrated and what clues the proofer can use to identify the poison in food, such as taste or texture. This is a fun addition that also contains some information relevant to the book’s plot, and the readers will find themselves deeply exploring the lore being presented to them. Another cool feature was the way in which Jovan uses his knowledge and cache of poisons in an offensive manner against his opponents to compensate for his lack of martial skill. There are some fantastic scenes where Jovan uses a range of different substances in the middle of battles, as well as some excellent sequences where he doses potential opponents in advance of a confrontation.
Special mention should also be given to the wonderful fantasy setting that Hawke has created for City of Lies. The vast majority of the plot is set within the capital of Silasta, a large city that has a reputation and preference for culture and the arts, whilst viewing violence and warfare as a distasteful profession. The author does an amazing job describing this city’s many wonders, whilst at the same time creating a unique societal setup that plays brilliantly into the story’s intriguing elements. While the focus of this book is solely within the nation of Sjona, expect the sequels to follow adventures in other countries mentioned.
The siege elements of this book are also very enjoyable and offer another interesting point to this fantastic book. I’m always a fan of a good siege storyline, especially when it’s told from the point of view of the defenders. The parts of the book that focus on the siege are extremely well written and provide the book with some substantial action sequences. It is also fun to see how a city mostly made up of peace-loving artists and performers can defend itself without an army to help. Hawke produces some great ideas for her defenders, which also ties into the fantastic poison elements above, when the protagonists use their knowledge to create some defences for their city.
Overall, City of Lies is an intrigue-studded masterpiece of a fantasy novel that combines together a range or magnificent story elements with an excellent setting and an addictive overarching thriller narrative. Hawke’s use of poisons as a key plot point is just incredible and represents one of the most interesting parts of this book, and I am intrigued to see how she will continue to use poisons in future entries in this series. This is a five-star debut from Hawke, and I would wholeheartedly recommend City of Lies to any fans of the fantasy genre.
My Rating:
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication Date – 28 May 2018
Australian thriller star Megan Goldin follows up her 2017 debut, The Girl in Kellers Way, with The Escape Room, a sensational new story that stabs right into the heart of Wall Street and the corruption and death festering within.
For years, the high-flying Wall Street investment team of Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam have been the ultimate movers and shakers in the world of rich financiers. Despite years of success, recent setbacks have put them all at risk of being fired from the large investment firm of Stanhope and Sons. Ordered to a mandatory team-building exercise, the four colleagues meet at a half-constructed building and enter an express elevator to one of the top floors. However, the elevator only ascends halfway up the building before stopping and leaving them suspended between floors and high above the ground. As the four investors attempt to work out what is happening, they receive a chilling message: “Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.”
While the team searches for a way out of the elevator, it soon becomes apparent that this is no ordinary escape room. Secrets and lies are revealed through cryptic clues, and the information revealed is designed to make the four strong personalities clash and lash out at each other. But the greatest mystery is the clues that hint to the team’s past, and particularly to a dark secret they have kept hidden for years. As time passes and their situation becomes even more desperate, the four financiers start to turn on each other in their search for answers. Who has trapped them, and how is it linked to the deaths of two young women who used to be members of their team?
The Escape Room is the second book from Goldin and is another great work from this fantastic Australian author. I really enjoyed this book and found it to be so compelling that I read the whole thing in one go, intrigued as I was by the unique concept and eager to see how the story ended.
Goldin has split her book into distinctive halves, with two separate stories told in alternating chapters throughout the book. Half of the book is dedicated to the characters trapped in the elevator and is set over the period that they spend in their confinement. The other half of the book focuses on the life of Sarah Hall, a young college graduate and entrant to the team at Stanhope and Sons. The chapters that focus on Sarah are set over several years leading up to the events shown in the book’s other storyline. The chapters following Sarah feature younger versions of the characters trapped in the elevator and provide significant backstory on these people and the work that they do.
Apart from plot content, there is also another key change between the two halves of the book that is very noticeable to the reader. The chapters set within the elevator are all told in the third person from the viewpoints of the four characters trapped within it. However, the chapters set in the past that focus on Sarah are all told in the first person. This is an effective way of differentiating between the two halves of the book and represents a distinctive change of tone within the story. The use of two different styles is an interesting choice from Goldin, but it actually works really well in this book. The third person point of view is the best choice for the scenes in the elevator, as it allows the author to show the actions of the four characters, each of whom have strong personalities. It also allows the reader to see the mindsets of each of the characters, as their recent actions and relationships issues are explored at multiple points throughout the chapter. These extra details add to the story and help explain the pressures they are under and the reasons they start to disintegrate mentally. Using the first person point of view for the chapters following Sarah is also a good choice from Goldin, as the reader gets to see Sarah’s personal experiences of the Wall Street lifestyle and her impressions of the characters from the other storyline who are her superiors at the firm. This allows the reader to see the characters who become desperate and crazy in the elevator chapters as they were when they were confident and arrogant Wall Street hotshots. This results in some great scenes and is an amazing pay-off for this unique choice of format.
The Escape Room contains some exceptional storytelling from Goldin, who has managed to create an intricate and captivating thriller. The scenes of the book set in the elevator are particularly intriguing, as the reader gets to witness these characters slowly become more erratic the longer they are trapped, and finally turn against each other. The final reveal of who is set up the escape room is a little predictable towards the end of the book. That being said, there are some great twists and turns getting there, as well as some exciting revelations, such as how the whole situation was set up, the motives behind it, as well as which characters in the elevator actually knew the dark secret that resulted in their captivity. These additions to the narrative are intricate and clever, and are one of the main reasons that The Escape Room is such a great read.
While this book had a number of amazing elements, the thing that I enjoyed the most was the examination of the Wall Street lifestyle. Goldin has done a superb job of capturing the sleaze, the sexism, the nepotism and the cronyism that infects such an old-school boys’ club like Wall Street. The descriptions of the lifestyles that the Wall Street brokers have to live are just insane, and Goldin spends significant time describing every aspect of these character’s lives and how their work, with the long hours, focus on appearances, the corporate backstabbing and the hunt for more money completely consumes their lives. While Goldin does not paint Wall Street in the best light, it is the perfect background for a thriller, and I really hope that she returns to this setting in some of her future books.
The Escape Room by Megan Goldin is an outstanding second outing from this amazing new Australian author. With a brilliant setting that contains a deep and confronting look at the daunting Wall Street lifestyle and a complex and captivating narrative that masterfully combines two excellent storylines, The Escape Room takes the readers on a wild thrill ride that they will be unable to escape.
My Rating:
Deceit by Richard Evans
Publisher: Impact Press
Publication date – 18 June 2018
From former politician Richard Evans comes one of the most incredible fictional examinations of the Australian political system with Deceit, an exciting and superb political thriller.
When corrupt Australian Prime Minster Andrew Gerrard makes a deal with his Indonesian counterpart, he embarks on a plan to build up a retirement nest egg by passing a controversial funding bill for overseas detention centres over a period of several years. However, when key members of his party die in a tragic plane accident, Gerrard decides to process all of the funding in one go and receive the full amount of his payoff.
Outnumbered in the House of Representatives, and with only one week to pass the bill through both houses of parliament, the task looks impossible. But the Prime Minister is a canny political operator with no conscience to speak of and with the Speaker deep in his pocket and with no conscience to speak off. Equipped with a master plan, Gerrard starts to manipulate the bill through parliament.
The only person who may be able to stop him is the outgoing Clerk of the House of Representatives, Gordon O’Brien, who suspects that the Prime Minister’s mysterious last-minute bill is more sinister than it appears. As one of the few people who believe in the sanctity of the parliament, O’Brien will risk everything to find out the truth and ensure no wrongdoing is done on his watch. Utilising all the tools at his disposal, including the opposition and investigative journalist Anita Devlin, O’Brien prepares to move against the Prime Minister. Let the political games begin!
Evans is a former Australian politician who served two terms as a federal member of parliament in the 1990s. Evans has decided to utilise his political experience and expertise by creating a series of Australian politics based thrillers and dramas, with several books planned for release in 2019 and 2020. Deceit is his debut novel and the first book of his planned Democracy trilogy, with the second book in this series, Duplicity, already set to be released in 2019. Readers interested in fictional depictions of Australian politics should also keep an eye out for his upcoming Referendum and Jack Hudson series, both of which will start to be published in the next two years.
Deceit is a fabulous political thriller with a fantastic story that twists and turns through multiple layers of manipulation, deceptions, lies and double-crosses. The book’s main antagonist, Australian Prime Minister Andrew Gerrard is a selfish, manipulative and sleazy character who serves as a perfect villain for this story and whose plots are a highlight of this book. Evans has done a clever job of spreading the story out among multiple point-of-view characters, as this allows the reader to view the impact of Gerrard’s manoeuvrings and lets them see how they are received by members of the opposition, the media and O’Brien. Evans is a very talented storywriter, and the entire plot of Deceit is extremely compelling and very well thought out. Readers will fall in love with this amazing story and will find its overall conclusion very satisfying.
As someone who lives and works in the book’s main setting, Australia’s capital city, Canberra, I have received a lot of exposure to Australian politics. As a result, I loved the author’s exceedingly realistic and accurate depictions of the Australian political system and how it was used within this story. There is some great coverage of Australia’s parliamentary procedure and the creation and passage of bills and laws through both houses of parliament that are presented in a precise and well-described way. There are also a number of characters who hold roles that are actually part of Australia’s political and civil service. These positions and roles are explored in detail, and the reader is given significant insights into what work and requirements are needed by the people holding them. Evan’s does a fantastic job of weaving these usually dry subjects into a very enthralling narrative, and readers will be intrigued to see how the fictional Prime Minister plans to get a dodgy bill past the entire country without anyone noticing what he is doing.
The standout scene of the book has to be an extended chapter that featured a session of question time in the House of Representatives. Question time is a daily occurrence during the parliamentary sitting period during which government and non-government members of parliament ask ministers questions about their various portfolios. As someone who has been exposed to many question times, I was struck by how genuine Evans’s description of this event was. Evans perfectly encapsulates the entire process from start to finish and was able to recreate the snarky and sometimes petulant nature of the discourse that are the usual fare of question time. The author expertly links the overarching storyline of political corruption into this scene, as one member of the opposition is suspicious and starts to ask the Prime Minister leading questions about the controversial bill he has put forward. The political back-and-forth around these questions was amazing, and it was fascinating watching them being tied into the rest of the story. Overall, this sequence was exceedingly compelling, and the entire time I was reading it I was physically incapable of putting the book down.
Deceit also contains some detailed and enjoyable depictions of Australia’s Parliament House and the capital city, Canberra. Parliament House is a beautiful building, and Evans does a wonderful job describing Parliament House in detail and examining various parts of the building, from the Prime Minister’s office and courtyard, to the various gardens, media offices and even cafes. Other little nuances of life within Parliament House are also captured within the text, no doubt because of Evans’s prior experiences working within the building.
I also really enjoyed seeing my home city of Canberra featured in this book. Despite being the capital city, Canberra does not feature much in fiction, due to it being a smaller and newer city than Sydney or Melbourne. Deceit, however, contains some great depictions of the areas of Canberra close to Parliament House. There are several references to some real restaurants and cafes that politicians are known to frequent and where several big political discussions are known to have taken place. There are also several scenes where the characters explore other parts of Canberra as part of the book’s plot. I for one found it incredibly amusing and disconcerting to read a scene about a secretive handoff of documents set in a cinema that I’ve watched The Hunger Games and Doctor Who specials in. Canberra locals will love seeing their city as a major fixture of this book, and other readers will get to explore Australia’s capital and see its potential as a setting in this exciting thriller.
Richard Evans’ first book, Deceit, is a five-star thriller that brings the Australian political process to life. Former politician Evans brings all of his insight and expertise to this new book, and readers will be astounded by the realistic descriptions of Australian politics and the way it has been utilised in this exciting and first-rate story. This is an outstanding debut from Evans, and this terrific read comes highly recommended.
My Rating:
The Greater Good by Tim Ayliffe
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date – 23 April 2018
Australian author Tim Ayliffe presents a fantastic debut thriller set in iconic Sydney that delves into the heart of politics and the role of the media in the modern world.
John Bailey was a brilliant war correspondent for the Australian paper, The Journal. However, his life took a downward turn when he was kidnapped in Iraq and tortured for several months. Now, years later, Bailey is living a life of alcoholism and self-destruction, only occasionally contributing articles to The Journal.
However, when a prostitute is found murdered in her high-end Sydney apartment, his editor and old friend, Gerald Summers, sends him to investigate the crime, claiming that Bailey is the only person he trusts to report the story. The prime suspect in the case is an influential political advisor who had a close relationship with the victim. When Bailey encounters the advisor, he claims to have information that will clear his name, while at the same time implicating his boss, the defence minister.
After a run-in with an old friend in the CIA, Bailey soon realises that there is much more to this story than a simple murder. Investigating further, he soon discovers that the murder was committed to cover up a massive conspiracy that the defence minister is linked to. When witnesses to the crime start turning up dead and the police are pressured to drop their investigation, Bailey is determined to uncover the truth and publish the full story. But powerful people are invested in keeping this case quiet, and Bailey soon finds himself in their crosshairs.
This is an exciting and high-energy first book from Ayliffe, who makes full use of his journalistic experience and political insights to create a smashing thriller with a tangible Australian presence. The investigation into the conspiracy and its associated murders works well as the heart of this story, and readers are invited along on a wild thrill ride as the protagonists rush through this murky world of Australian politics and espionage in a quest to find the truth.
The character of Bailey serves as a great central narrator for this frenetic story, and readers will love the maverick approach he has to investigating the case and the lack of restraint of manners he has when it comes to dealing with Sydney’s political and financial elite. Ayliffe also spends a significant amount of time attempting to humanise his main character by examining his past as a prisoner and the effects his PTSD has had on his life and career. There are some great, emotional scenes as Bailey attempts to get over his problems with the help of other characters, and Bailey comes across as a much more grounded and damaged protagonist as a result. The other main narrator in The Greater Good is Sharon Dexter, who serves as the official police investigator and Bailey’s main love interest. Her investigation focuses more on cover-ups, sexism, and corruption in the police force, and these parts of the book serve as a great counterpoint to the sections featuring Bailey.
Ayliffe has made full use of his political knowledge and insight throughout this book. A large amount of the plot revolves around both Australian and international politics, and readers will be amazed at the potential conspiracy he is able to create. Various Australian political elements are dragged into the story and play a key part of the plot. These include discussions about pre-selections of federal seats, government spending and the role of several federal government agencies. World politics and the current status of Australia on the world stage are also examined within the story. There is a large focus on the expanding role of China, and the discussion about whether Australia should strengthen its relationship with this new world power or whether it should maintain its current relationship with the United States. This discussion is a key part of understanding the plot, and plays out in the book in a similar manner to current debates on the subject within Australia. This adds a real sense of realism to the story and makes readers, especially those familiar with current Australian news and politics, very thoughtful.
Throughout The Greater Good, the main characters are attempting to obtain evidence of a conspiracy so that they can print it in their newspaper, The Journal. As a result, the role of print media in keeping government’s honest and uncovering political corruption is examined in some detail. It is clear that Ayliffe, a career Australian journalist, is very supportive of the media remaining in this role, and many of his characters are quite critical of attempts to stall the publication of these stories. This allegorical analysis of the current role of media in politics and society is an intriguing part of the book and many readers will find this exceedingly relevant in light of recent world events.
Readers also need to keep an eye out for Ayliffe’s clever and entertaining inclusion of characters that are clearly based on real life Australian personalities. For example, the fictional Australian Prime Minister is described as an athletic man who is known for his fun runs and surfing, in a way reminiscent of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. In addition, certain plot twists towards the end of the book will also remind the audience of another previous Prime Minster. Another example is a minor character who is introduced as a prominent talk show radio host. This character appears to be a composite creation of several of Australia’s right-wing radio commentators and comes across in a very similar manner to these real life presenters. These cheeky additions are a fun inclusion that will amuse readers with even a passing knowledge of these Australian personalities.
In many ways The Greater Good can be considered a love letter to the author’s home city of Sydney, as it contains a number of different locations and references that will be quite familiar to Sydneysiders. The narrator visits a number of different suburbs within Sydney, including Palm Beach, King Street, Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo, Bondi and Chinatown, and also frequents some real life Sydney venues, such as Harry’s Café de Wheels. Not only is the food, geographical location and description of this Sydney café described in the text, but the author has also included a write-up of the restaurant’s owners and its history. In addition to furnishing the story with real life Sydney locations, Ayliffe also includes brief references to events and occurrences that Australians would recognise the significance of, such as Australian rugby, lockout laws and the current ice epidemic. While none of these locations or occurrences is essential to the plot, they do add a certain sense of reality to the entire novel, and Australian readers will enjoy seeing locations and scenarios that they recognise and understand.
Tim Ayliffe’s debut novel, The Greater Good, is a fun and exhilarating political crime thriller that is guaranteed to electrify and entertain in good measure. Making full use of Ayliffe’s extensive knowledge of Australian politics, culture and media, this very topical book is an excellent read for Australian audiences and those international readers keen to explore Australia’s potential for thrillers.
My Rating:
The Lace Weaver by Lauren Chater
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date – 19 March 2018
Love, war, suffering, oppression, hope and lace all come together in this emotionally charged debut from Australian author Lauren Chater.
It has been two years since the outbreak of World War II. Following their respective expansions, Nazi Germany and the USSR now control much of Europe between them. The small country of Estonia, located on the border of the USSR, has been occupied by the Soviets and is now controlled by Stalin’s Red Army, who have brutally installed their communist ideals. Now all of Estonia’s resources are controlled by the Soviets and any signs of opposition are brutally cracked down on.
In the middle of this horrific occupation lives Katarina, a young Estonian woman whose family survives because their farm produces food for the occupying forces. While the Soviets are attempting to control all parts of Estonian life, Katarina works to preserve her family’s culture through their lace shawls, which contain intricate and unique patterns and stories. She must also deal with her feelings for her old friend Oskar, who is leading the revolution against the Soviets.
At the same time in Moscow, another young woman, Lydia, lives an ostensible life of privilege, but is really living in a gilded cage, controlled by her ruthless guardian. Fleeing to Estonia, the land of her mother, Lydia attempts to find sanctuary but finds out just how far her captivity truly extends.
When a Soviet crackdown forces Katarina and Lydia together, these two women must find a way to survive the horrors of the occupation. As they become part of Oskar’s resistance against the Soviets, Katarina and Lydia must learn to work together, even when Lydia falls for Katarina’s brother Jakob. But their situation is about to get even worse, with the forces of the Third Reich set to invade.
This is fantastic first book from Chater, who has woven together an amazing tale filled with great characters and an outstanding and underused historical location. This book is also an extraordinary piece of dramatic literature. All of the main characters experience significant loss, heartache and disappointment as they attempt to survive the most turbulent time in our world’s history. These heartbreaking losses of friends, family and other loved ones draw the reader in, while Chater’s fantastic writing makes them feel the character’s loss and grief as she highlights the brutal reality of those caught in the middle of war.
Perhaps the most memorable part of The Lace Weaver is the story’s central setting of Estonia. During World War II, Estonia was in the unfortunate position of being one of the countries that fell between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Estonia was a significant theatre of war where many horrors occurred, and yet very few novels focus on this part of World War II. Chater’s decision to focus on this underused period of war history is intriguing, and she has done a commendable job of calling attention to the horrors experienced by the Estonians during the time that they were occupied by two of the world’s most brutal regimes.
Estonia was brutally occupied by the Soviets in 1940, and a large portion of this book is set during this period. Chater does an amazing job of describing this brutal period through the eyes of her Estonian characters. There is a serious sense of dread from these characters as they anticipate what horrible crimes might occur next. The descriptions of the Soviet soldiers’ brutality and contempt for the Estonians is at times harrowing, and there is one sequence describing a mass deportation that will stick in the reader’s mind. While the scenes describing the occupation of the Soviets are pretty distressing, one of the most disturbing parts of this story is that for much of the book many of the characters, especially Oskar and Jakob, believe that their salvation and freedom could be granted to them by the Nazis. Reading this can prove to be disquieting as you are forced to watch the characters help the Nazis occupy their country. The characters working out what they have let into their country is chilling to behold, and by this point readers will be desperate to see what happens next in Estonia.
In addition to focusing on the terrible occupations Estonia suffered during the war, The Lace Weaver also contains an insightful look into some aspects of Estonian culture. This is mainly shown through the use of the lace shawls, which are described as an important part of Estonian culture and history. Chater spends a large part of the book investigating these shawls, and the reader soon appreciates their importance. Katarina spends a significant part of her narration describing the significance of these shawls to her family, and her interactions allow the readers to see how vital they were to her social and familiar circles. These shawls are also very important to the story as they draw many of the characters together, especially the two main characters, Katarina and Lydia. The scenes in which the shawls are being worked can also be seen as an indicator of the periods when the characters are managing to survive and have some hope for the future, and are to be cherished, especially as the reader grows to care for these characters.
There are some great characters within The Lace Weaver that readers will find themselves deeply invested in. Narration of this story is split evenly between the two main characters, Katarina and Lydia, both of whom have unique stories to tell. Lydia’s transformation from a sheltered girl in Russia to a hardboiled Estonian survivor is particularly gripping, and revelations about who she actually is offer big thrills in the first part of the book and up her personal stakes. Katarina’s story of survival and her attempts to keep the cultural ways of life she inherited from her beloved grandmother are also heartfelt and compelling. The unique stories that these two characters have are deeply absorbing and emotional, and Chater does a masterful job of eventually combining these two stories together into one extraordinary and captivating tale.
The Lace Weaver is a deep and emotional wartime drama that makes full use of its dark setting, rare historical fiction location and amazing characters. Australian author Lauren Chater has produced a very impressive first book and readers will fall in love with this fantastic tale.
My Rating:
The Juliet Code by Christine Wells
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Publication Date – 30 April 2018
From acclaimed Australian author Christine Wells comes this touching and memorable tale of love, captivity and endurance in the darkest of times.
During World War II, Juliet Barnard was a British agent working for the Special Operations Executive. A skilled wireless operator, she was one of the few female agents that were dropped into occupied France to meet contacts and pass intelligence back to the Allies. While initially successful, she was only active in France for a short time before the Nazis captured her. Trapped in a prison that specialised in interrogating captured spies and infiltrators at Paris’s Avenue Foch, Juliet endured torture, drugging and manipulation and came out of the prison a different person.
Now, two years after the end of the war, Juliet is still recovering from her ordeal and trying to continue a relationship with Felix, the man she fell in love with during her training. Claiming to be suffering from memory loss, Juliet has managed to avoid providing any details about her time at Avenue Foch or about the man who held her captive, Sturmbannführer Strasser. Finding Strasser is the last thing Juliet wants to happen, because he knows a dark secret about Juliet – a secret she would kill to protect. However, when Juliet meets Mac, an SAS officer turned Nazi hunter whose sister served in the war with Juliet, her guilt compels her to return to Paris to help him locate Strasser.
This is the third book from Wells, who has previously written two English-based historical stories that feature a strong, female protagonist. The Juliet Code is the second book from Wells that focuses on British spy activities during World War II; her previous novel, The Traitor’s Girl, focused on a World War II MI5 operative. The Juliet Code is another excellent and intense romp into the history of World War II, and Wells has done an amazing job of creating this unique and emotional story. This book is a combination of a great dramatic story and a two-stage historical spy thriller wrapped up with a poignant romantic subplot.
Wells has injected considerable drama and emotion into her story, especially through her main character, Juliet, who goes through substantial emotional changes throughout the book. Before she is dropped into France, Juliet is portrayed as a shy girl, unsure of her abilities as a potential spy but eager to do her duty to her country. After the war she is more hardened individual who is suffering from guilt, both due to being one of the few agents to survive capture and because of her own actions during the war. These changes in the character are made obvious to the reader, not just because of Wells’s great writing ability but also because she switches between the mid-war and post-war scenes multiple times. Wells slowly reveals the main character’s wartime secret, which is a central part of the plot. While there are some hints to what this secret is early in the book, the full reveal is not done until later in the story, and makes use of a moving and artfully constructed confession scene.
The Juliet Code is set in the 1940s, and Wells has broken the story up into two distinct periods. The first period starts in 1943 and continues for the rest of the war, examining the main character’s training, her infiltration of occupied France and her time as a captive at Avenue Foch. The parts of the book set during the war are very intriguing and are some of the most appealing scenes from a historical fiction viewpoint. The sections that feature Juliet training and actively spying in France were some of my favourite parts of the plot, and I loved reading Wells’s descriptions about the French resistance networks, the British covert activities, their espionage techniques and the counteroperations the Nazis were undertaking to catch the operatives active in France. There are also some significant descriptions of how the British wireless transmitters functioned and British coding techniques. These very technical parts of the book contain some fascinating information while also providing the reader with a good understanding of this technology and what the operators were doing with it. There are also a number of scenes that follow Juliet after she is captured and held as an enemy spy in Paris. These parts of the book are, by necessity, darker in nature, depicting how these spies, especially female operatives, were treated during this period. There are also thorough descriptions of the historical locations used as prisons in Paris.
The second part of the book is set in 1947 and features Juliet and her companions revisiting the sites of Juliet’s captivity and attempting to hunt down her jailer. This part of the book comes across as more of a traditional spy thriller, and contains some vivid descriptions of post-war France. There are some examinations of how the Allies and the Soviets were attempting to capture or recruit former members of the Nazi regime, as well as some interesting looks into the post-war espionage that was occurring at this time. Wells also revisits characters and locations encountered by the protagonist during the war, and these scenes are used to provide clues to locate Strasser while also providing additional hints about what happened to Juliet during her captivity.
Among the defining features of The Juliet Code are the realistic and detailed characters that the reader gets to enjoy. They feel so realistic because these characters were inspired by real historical figures who served in similar capacities during the war. This touch of realism adds a lot to the book and serves as an inspirational reminder of those unsung heroes of British espionage. These fictional facsimiles do interact with a few real historical figures within the book, and readers will be captivated as they find out which of these unique wartime stories are actually historical fact.
Wells has included an enticing romantic subplot between the characters of Juliet and Felix. Readers will be able to feel the affection that these two characters have for each other, as well as the loss they experience as a result of Juliet’s capture. Their relationship is also masterfully woven into the main story, and elements of their romance become key plot points, such as some personal romantic poems that actually contain transmitter codes. Thankfully, Wells decided not to invest too much time in a love triangle between Juliet, Felix and Mac, although she does include the initial and somewhat entertaining jealousy you would come to expect from this situation. Overall, the romantic subplot is both absorbing and nicely subtle, as it does not overwhelm the rest of the story.
Australian author Christine Wells once again delivers an elegant piece of literature that makes full use of its well-paced dramatic story and an utterly stimulating historical setting and content. Fans of historical fiction will love The Juliet Code’s dive into World War II spycraft and counterespionage, as well as the excellent and electrifying thriller that blazes through post-war France. This is a phenomenal novel that sticks in the mind and will appeal to wide array of readers.
My Rating:
The Unseen Library 