Disclaimer: Two of the writers below are friends on Facebook and one in real life as well, but as ever, my policy with friends' books is to review them if I liked them and to tell them honestly in private if I didn't!
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.
Never would have read this if my daughter hadn't told me to... Lots of very sassy, unconvincingly smart teenage dialogue gets in the way of a genuinely touching romance, humour and some interesting writing. Ultimately, I'm not the target audience - I read it at some emotional distance and resisted the shameless tear-wringing. Everyone who likes this book says the bit in the Anne Frank House is awesome - I'm afraid I cringed at it more than a little. ***
The Set-Up by Sophie McKenzie.
First in a highly successful series, so it must be doing something right - who am I to judge? But I found it emotionally flat, with the main character's continual obsession over the lead girl to be puzzling. The writing was flat and 'Year 6 SATs' in style, with lots of cheap phrases like 'my heart was pounding', the exceedingly dull narrator's body apparently being contorted in various uncomfortable ways by his unnecessary emoting. His whiny emo-mooning is totally at odds with the action-thriller the story wants to be, and totally gets in the way of his being likeable. There was a vestige of a good spy/action plot at the heart of it, totally wasted by the plodding way in which it was told. And please, YA writers, stop making your characters nod, smile and bite their lips all the time! It must hurt their necks and mouths so much. *
Flood Child/Flood and Fire by Emily Diamand.
This book and its sequel are charming. They're full of jokes, fun and quirkiness alongside the darkness and exciting adventure, and compellingly told. There's some quite visceral violence too. In a future Britain, drowned in post-apocalyptic floods and at the mercy of rampaging raiders, a girl called Lily is in possession of a unique treasure - one of the last remaining computers in the world. Action-packed but with a sense of fun and an underlying intelligence - rather like a clever Doctor Who two-parter, in fact. ****
Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick.
Coincidentally, another 'flooded future England' book with a young female protagonist, but this time set in Norwich, much shorter than Emily Diamand's books and much darker, at least until the redemptive ending. Didn't totally feel it. A novella which felt a little like an expanded short story at times - a glimpse of a world whose other stories it would have been interesting to know. I gather his later stuff is very good, so I may seek out more of it. ***
The Quarry by Iain Banks.
Sadly, not a great final novel. I so wish Banks had gone out in a roar of brilliance, but this is the book of his where I've cared least about the protagonists since A Song of Stone. After the very enjoyable Stonemouth I had high hopes, but sadly it wasn't to be. Flashes of his old self can't redeem it. There's a MacGuffin of a lost videotape which turns out to be not very interesting after all, and would you believe it, some drugs and sex, long-buried secrets and a few rants against injustice and established authority. Enjoyable in parts, but ultimately unsatisfying - The Crow Road it is not. **
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver.
Haunting, unsettling tale of an Arctic expedition in the 1930s plagued by dark forces, this could so easily have lapsed into stereotype or laughable parody. Instead, it is thoroughly intriguing and pulls off the very difficult trick of narrating an intelligent ghost story for the cynical modern reader. Astonishingly detailed sense of place - you totally believe you are there in the long, cold Arctic night - and a compelling, psychologically-disturbing narrative. *****
The Unpierced Heart by Katy Darby.
In some ways a clever pastiche of the Victorian Gothic novel, with flashes of Conan Doyle - an engaging approach to the storytelling and a mystery which intrigues. The story unfolds through the perspectives of multiple narrators, cleverly intertwined, and there is rich, superbly-researched period detail. Not sure it totally holds the reader's attention in the end as it veers off into over-the-top melodrama with its moustache-twirling villain and the seemingly obligatory pox-riddled prostitutes, but it was entertaining enough. ***
The Liberators by Philip Womack.
More YA fantasy, this time with rather complacent, wealthy children. Superbly dynamic and intriguing opening which makes one think the Alan Garner comparisons are going to be justified, but soon lapses into smugness and tedious runaround. I found myself unengaged by the end. **
The Secrets We Left Behind by Susan Elliot Wright.
Compelling story set in two time-zones, with a disastrous decision in a squat in Hastings during the drought of 1976 having shocking ramifications in 21st-century Sheffield. Lots of research has gone into the 1976 bits, and you feel you are really there with the characters in very real settings. They have jobs/situations you can believe in, as well. The ending requires you to buy into something I can't reveal without spoiling the plot, but the author carries you along with her crisp, strong narrative, teasing you when you think you've worked it out. *****
Love Falls by Esther Freud.
Languid, Italian-set holiday romance with pretensions to literary fiction, populated with the kind of people I would go out of my way to avoid. Complacent, pretentious protagonists laze in the sun in between magically-appearing meals ('supper'), and having giggly romances. There is no plot. Seemingly random 1981 setting, in order to shoehorn in some irrelevant references to the Royal Wedding. Rape is presented as a casual irritation. I remember quite enjoying her early novels Hideous Kinky and Peerless Flats, but this is one of the worst books I have read in two years, and I'd have quite happily drowned most of the awful characters in the swimming-pool. *
Never would have read this if my daughter hadn't told me to... Lots of very sassy, unconvincingly smart teenage dialogue gets in the way of a genuinely touching romance, humour and some interesting writing. Ultimately, I'm not the target audience - I read it at some emotional distance and resisted the shameless tear-wringing. Everyone who likes this book says the bit in the Anne Frank House is awesome - I'm afraid I cringed at it more than a little. ***
The Set-Up by Sophie McKenzie.
First in a highly successful series, so it must be doing something right - who am I to judge? But I found it emotionally flat, with the main character's continual obsession over the lead girl to be puzzling. The writing was flat and 'Year 6 SATs' in style, with lots of cheap phrases like 'my heart was pounding', the exceedingly dull narrator's body apparently being contorted in various uncomfortable ways by his unnecessary emoting. His whiny emo-mooning is totally at odds with the action-thriller the story wants to be, and totally gets in the way of his being likeable. There was a vestige of a good spy/action plot at the heart of it, totally wasted by the plodding way in which it was told. And please, YA writers, stop making your characters nod, smile and bite their lips all the time! It must hurt their necks and mouths so much. *
Flood Child/Flood and Fire by Emily Diamand.
This book and its sequel are charming. They're full of jokes, fun and quirkiness alongside the darkness and exciting adventure, and compellingly told. There's some quite visceral violence too. In a future Britain, drowned in post-apocalyptic floods and at the mercy of rampaging raiders, a girl called Lily is in possession of a unique treasure - one of the last remaining computers in the world. Action-packed but with a sense of fun and an underlying intelligence - rather like a clever Doctor Who two-parter, in fact. ****
Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick.
Coincidentally, another 'flooded future England' book with a young female protagonist, but this time set in Norwich, much shorter than Emily Diamand's books and much darker, at least until the redemptive ending. Didn't totally feel it. A novella which felt a little like an expanded short story at times - a glimpse of a world whose other stories it would have been interesting to know. I gather his later stuff is very good, so I may seek out more of it. ***
The Quarry by Iain Banks.
Sadly, not a great final novel. I so wish Banks had gone out in a roar of brilliance, but this is the book of his where I've cared least about the protagonists since A Song of Stone. After the very enjoyable Stonemouth I had high hopes, but sadly it wasn't to be. Flashes of his old self can't redeem it. There's a MacGuffin of a lost videotape which turns out to be not very interesting after all, and would you believe it, some drugs and sex, long-buried secrets and a few rants against injustice and established authority. Enjoyable in parts, but ultimately unsatisfying - The Crow Road it is not. **
Dark Matter by Michelle Paver.
Haunting, unsettling tale of an Arctic expedition in the 1930s plagued by dark forces, this could so easily have lapsed into stereotype or laughable parody. Instead, it is thoroughly intriguing and pulls off the very difficult trick of narrating an intelligent ghost story for the cynical modern reader. Astonishingly detailed sense of place - you totally believe you are there in the long, cold Arctic night - and a compelling, psychologically-disturbing narrative. *****
The Unpierced Heart by Katy Darby.
In some ways a clever pastiche of the Victorian Gothic novel, with flashes of Conan Doyle - an engaging approach to the storytelling and a mystery which intrigues. The story unfolds through the perspectives of multiple narrators, cleverly intertwined, and there is rich, superbly-researched period detail. Not sure it totally holds the reader's attention in the end as it veers off into over-the-top melodrama with its moustache-twirling villain and the seemingly obligatory pox-riddled prostitutes, but it was entertaining enough. ***
The Liberators by Philip Womack.
More YA fantasy, this time with rather complacent, wealthy children. Superbly dynamic and intriguing opening which makes one think the Alan Garner comparisons are going to be justified, but soon lapses into smugness and tedious runaround. I found myself unengaged by the end. **
The Secrets We Left Behind by Susan Elliot Wright.
Compelling story set in two time-zones, with a disastrous decision in a squat in Hastings during the drought of 1976 having shocking ramifications in 21st-century Sheffield. Lots of research has gone into the 1976 bits, and you feel you are really there with the characters in very real settings. They have jobs/situations you can believe in, as well. The ending requires you to buy into something I can't reveal without spoiling the plot, but the author carries you along with her crisp, strong narrative, teasing you when you think you've worked it out. *****
Love Falls by Esther Freud.
Languid, Italian-set holiday romance with pretensions to literary fiction, populated with the kind of people I would go out of my way to avoid. Complacent, pretentious protagonists laze in the sun in between magically-appearing meals ('supper'), and having giggly romances. There is no plot. Seemingly random 1981 setting, in order to shoehorn in some irrelevant references to the Royal Wedding. Rape is presented as a casual irritation. I remember quite enjoying her early novels Hideous Kinky and Peerless Flats, but this is one of the worst books I have read in two years, and I'd have quite happily drowned most of the awful characters in the swimming-pool. *
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