banner ad
banner ad

Category: Book Reviews

banner ad
BOOK REVIEW: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

BOOK REVIEW: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge

| 26 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge Balzer + Bray May 2015 Hardcover, $17.99 6/10 This story begins with endless night and infinite forest; with two orphaned children, and two swords made of broken bone. It has not ended yet. Rachelle was always a good girl. She listened to her aunt and apprenticed to become […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

BOOK REVIEW: Rogue by Julie Kagawa

| 25 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Rogue by Julie Kagawa April 2015 MIRA Ink Paperback, £7.99 Reviewed by Aly Locatelli 7.5/10 Review for Talon (Book 1) can be found here. “What I’m trying to say, if you’re going to stand against Talon, you have to do whatever it takes to stay alive.” Rogue picks up directly where Talon left off. After the fight […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Black Iris by Leah Raeder

BOOK REVIEW: Black Iris by Leah Raeder

| 21 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Black Iris by Leah Raeder Atria April 2015 Paperback, $15.00 Reviewed by Aly Locatelli 10/10 Girls get under each other’s skin. We get too close, too attached, too crazy, and then we can’t let go. Our claws sink too deep. When we separate, we tear each other apart. Black Iris is not your typical […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: What She Left by T. R. Richmond

BOOK REVIEW: What She Left by T. R. Richmond

| 21 April 2015 | 1 Reply

BOOK REVIEW: What She Left by T. R. Richmond Penguin – Michael Joseph April 2015 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 10/10 Who is Alice Salmon? Student. Journalist. Daughter.  Lover of late nights, hater of deadlines. That girl who drowned last year. Gone doesn’t mean forgotten.  Everyone’s life leaves a trace behind.  But it’s never […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: The Bird’s Child by Sandra Leigh Price

BOOK REVIEW: The Bird’s Child by Sandra Leigh Price

| 17 April 2015 | 2 Replies

BOOK REVIEW: The Bird’s Child by Sandra Leigh Price  Fourth Estate April 2015 Paperback, $32.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 5.5/10 Sydney, 1929: Three people find themselves washed up on the steps of Miss Du Maurier’s bohemian boarding house, a once grand terrace in Newtown.    Ari is a young Jewish man, a pogrom orphan, who lives […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Jet The Rescue Dog, by David Long

BOOK REVIEW: Jet The Rescue Dog, by David Long

| 14 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Jet The Rescue Dog, by David Long Allen & Unwin, $19.99 1 November, 2014 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 7/10 Subtitled ‘And Other Extraordinary Stories Of Animals In Wartime,’ Jet The Rescue Dog features over thirty tales of bravery from dogs, birds, cats, donkeys & horses, and even a Russian bear, who helped save […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Let’s Go Crazy by Alan Light

BOOK REVIEW: Let’s Go Crazy by Alan Light

| 13 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Let’s Go Crazy by Alan Light Simon & Schuster, rrp$32,99 – 1 December, 2014 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 7 ½ /10   Written by an obsessive for obsessives, Alan Light’s exploration of Prince’s ‘masterpiece’ album & movie Purple Rain digs deep into the minutae: every facet of the record and movie, and the […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Girl in A Band by Kim Gordon

BOOK REVIEW: Girl in A Band by Kim Gordon

| 8 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Girl in A Band by Kim Gordon Allen & Unwin, rrp$29.99 25 February, 2015 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 8/10 Sonic Youth’s enigmatic bassist Kim Gordon opens her autobiography with a scathing diatribe against former bandmate and husband of some 27 years, Thurston Moore. Just as you start to think that this tome is […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Stupid Boy by Cindy Miles

BOOK REVIEW: Stupid Boy by Cindy Miles

| 6 April 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Stupid Boy by Cindy Miles TKA Distribution February 2015 eBook, $3.99 2/10 I had too much old, bitter baggage. I had that… thing inside of me that I wanted no one to ever see. Too much pain accompanied me. I was consumed with it. It’d never go away and I wouldn’t wish it […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler

BOOK REVIEW: We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler

| 5 April 2015 | 1 Reply

BOOK REVIEW: We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler Bloomsbury April 2015 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 7/10 When trying to think of something to compare We Are Pirates to, the closest thing that comes to mind – in terms of dark humour, characters, and world building – is American Beauty. The book itself isn’t quite what the […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Lifespan of Starlight by Thalia Kalkipsakis

BOOK REVIEW: Lifespan of Starlight by Thalia Kalkipsakis

| 4 April 2015 | 2 Replies

BOOK REVIEW: Lifespan of Starlight by Thalia Kalkipsakis Hardie Grant Egmont April 2015 Paperback, $19.95 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 8.5/10 There’s a common problem that comes with time travel stories, usually to do with paradoxes and the author’s inability to handle them as the delicate, universe collapsing things that they are. Inevitably, time travel books […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Touch by Claire North

BOOK REVIEW: Touch by Claire North

| 31 March 2015 | 1 Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Touch by Claire North Orbit February 2015 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 8/10 Tell me – do you feel like you’re losing time? Sure you do. Everyone does.  At two o’clock you sit down to read a book and then, what do you know, it’s five in the afternoon and you’re only […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Holy Cow by David Duchovny

BOOK REVIEW: Holy Cow by David Duchovny

| 31 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Holy Cow by David Duchovny Hatchette Australia, rrp$24.99 – February 2015 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 8/10 David Duchovny – actor, director and screenwriter – can now add author to his CV with the release of this delightful, dark fairytale that is decidedly NOT for children. Elsie Bovary, a dairy cow in America’s hinterland, […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie

BOOK REVIEW: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie

| 29 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie William Heinemann March 2015 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Steph O’Connell 4/10 The boy stepped Outside, and he did not die.  He was not riddled with arrows, his hair did not spring into flame, and his breath did not crush his lungs like spent grocery […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: The Universal Tone by Carlos Santana

BOOK REVIEW: The Universal Tone by Carlos Santana

| 28 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: The Universal Tone by Carlos Santana Hachette Australia, rrp$32.99 – November 2014 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 9/10 Carlos Santana couldn’t care less if people think he is an acid casualty from the ‘60s, a wannabe guru, or just plain old ‘Crazy Carlos’ – “Behold – my craziness is working. How’s your sanity doing?” […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Into The Black-The Inside Story Of Metallica 1991-2014 by Paul Brannigan & Ian Winwood

BOOK REVIEW: Into The Black-The Inside Story Of Metallica 1991-2014 by Paul Brannigan & Ian Winwood

| 27 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Into The Black-The Inside Story Of Metallica 1991-2014 by Paul Brannigan & Ian Winwood Allen & Unwin, rrp$29.99 1 November, 2014 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 8 ½ /10 The authors of Into the Black and its predecessor, Birth School Metallica Death, have a long standing relationship with the band, starting around the time […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Young Winstone by Ray Winstone

BOOK REVIEW: Young Winstone by Ray Winstone

| 26 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Young Winstone by Ray Winstone Allen & Unwin November 2014 Paperback, $29.99 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar Entertainment Biography 9/10 Ray Winstone, celebrated actor from the movies Scum, Sexy Beast, Nil By Mouth and more, tells the story of his youth (‘Young Winstone’ – geddit?) by telling of the importance to him of a dozen […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

BOOK REVIEW: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes

| 24 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes HarperTeen March 2015 Hardcover, $17.99 USD Reviewed by Aly Locatelli 7.5/10 “To me, Mother Nature isn’t nearly as scary as human nature.” What a crazy, wild, compelling read! Liars, Inc is one of those books that sucks you in just by the summary itself. Compared to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, Liars, […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

BOOK REVIEW: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

| 13 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones. St. Martin’s Press February 2011 Paperback, £6.99 Reviewed by Aly Locatelli 6.5/10 Never knock on Death’s door. Ring the bell then run. He totally hates that. – T-shirt. Scrap everything you ever thought you knew about Grim Reapers. Charley Davidson is, in fact, the Grim Reaper, the only one […]

Read More

BOOK REVIEW: Son Of Death by Andrew McDonald

BOOK REVIEW: Son Of Death by Andrew McDonald

| 12 March 2015 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: Son Of Death by Andrew McDonald Random House February 2015 Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar 8 ½ /10 How’d you like to wake up one day and find that your Dad isn’t just a mild mannered employee at the tax office, but is also a Grim Reaper? That’s what happens to Sod, a fourteen-year […]

Read More


banner ad
banner ad