February 2023 - Taller Books

February 24, 2023February 21, 2023

YA Review: Different For Boys

Title: Different For Boys
Author: Patrick Ness
Edition: Kindle ARC
Rating: 4/5

Another short, illustrated, high-concept and punchy book from Patrick Ness. Different For Boys explores the concept of virginity and the validity of sexual experiences from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Ant and his school friends. The conversations between the boys are predictably full of bravado and banter, but Ant’s introspection gives the book a moving and emotional core.

To keep the book suitable for the YA audience, language you might expect to hear from sixteen-year-old boys has been censored, but in a novel and thought-provoking way. Instead of substituting milder swear words and sexual references, each allegedly unsuitable word or concept is hidden behind a black box in the text, and the characters are aware of the boxes. Of course, the first thing they do is test the limits of the censorship, discovering which words are acceptable, and which will be blacked out. It’s a clever protest against the watering down of the realities of teenage life in fiction aimed at teenagers. Swear words and direct descriptions of sexual experiences are censored, while the boys are surprised by the occasional, potentially offensive word that is permitted. The flip side of the censorship is that the reader fills in the gaps. If you are old enough to understand the concepts in the book, most of the boxes will be irrelevant, and you will be able to follow the conversations with no trouble. If not, you are ‘protected’ from concepts that many adults would prefer teenagers not to encounter, while directly questioning what might be forbidden, and hidden behind the frequent strips of black.

Over the course of the book, Ant reflects on several different sexual encounters as he tries to decide what constitutes the loss of his virginity – especially as a boy who likes boys. Different For Boys might be a quick read, but Ant’s questioning attitude and conversations with his friends draw the reader in, and emphasise the emotional aspects of his experiences without offering any kind of Happy Ever After or neat resolution. It’s a book about questions, relationships of all kinds, and the lack of a road map for teenagers discovering their own sexuality – and how that relates to the people around them. I found it moving without being sentimental, frank without being gratuitous, and infuriating that the knowing censorship is needed to allow this book to exist.

Every word feels carefully chosen, every scene is carefully crafted, and the illustrations add to the themes of uncertainty and exploration. This is a jewel of a book – beautiful, compact, and with a powerful message. Recommended.

Different For Boys will be published on March 2nd. Thank you to NetGalley and Walker Books for the ARC copy.

Have you read Different for Boys? What did you think of the back-box censorship? Did you feel the content was suitable for a teenage audience? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

YA review: Different For Boys cross-posted to GoodReads.

Please keep your comments YA appropriate. Be patient! We want to hear from you, but comments are moderated, and may take some time to appear.

February 17, 2023February 13, 2023

YA Review: Strange Gods

Title: Strange Gods
Author: Alison Kimble
Edition: Kindle
Rating: 4/5

This was a fun read. Spooky is the disappointing younger daughter of two high-powered lawyers, sent to a summer camp for troubled teens when she almost gets her perfect sister into trouble. Rules at the camp are strict, and punishments are tailored to keep each individual in line. When Spooky sneaks out of her cabin at night to meet a boy, she manages to hide from the camp counsellors, but finds herself caught up instead in the secret activities of a meddling god. Realising this could give her a way out of the camp, she agrees to help the strange and powerful creature.

While the book begins as an engaging teen-at-harsh-summer-camp story, it quickly evolves into a much larger adventure. Spooky finds herself crossing between worlds as she tries to protect the Earth from a divine invasion. With her unlikely companions – hostile teens from the camp who also stumble onto the god’s activities – she undertakes a cosmic scavenger hunt, locating items of value to trade with other gods and buy their support for her quest.

Spooky is a smart, sassy teenager, rejected by her parents and searching for someone who sees her value. Carcass, the god she discovers, offers recognition and protection – as well as some unpleasant threats if she doesn’t follow his commands. Her relationships with the other teens develop and grow as they make their way from world to world, uncovering each other’s secrets and learning who they can trust.

I won’t spoil the ending, but there is a hint that a sequel might be in the works. While this book works as a standalone story, I’d love to know what happens next!

Have you read Strange Gods? What did you think of Spooky’s story? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

YA review: Strange Gods cross-posted to GoodReads.

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February 10, 2023February 7, 2023

YA Review: Girl Island

Title: Girl Island
Author: Kate Castle
Edition: Kindle
Rating: 5/5

Wow – this book is good! It’s a female take on Lord of the Flies with strong Yellowjackets vibes. With a smaller cast and a much more focused story than Yellowjackets, I found it more convincing as an exploration of inter-personal dynamics in an all-female group. Full disclosure: I went to a single-sex school in the 1990s, around the time the book is set, so I am very familiar with the power and personality clashes in an all-female environment. This book captures them perfectly.

Ellery is farm girl. She’s keeping her family’s struggling fruit farm running after the death of her father, supporting her mother and younger brother as they all take on the extra work to keep the business going. She’s also an athletics star, and British Under-18 Heptathlon champion. When her achievements win her a full scholarship to an exclusive private school, she reluctantly accepts the mid-term switch to being the new girl, the scholarship girl, and the student who goes home at night to her beloved farm with its mis-matched furniture and make-do-and-mend lifestyle.

The scholarship includes an all-expenses-paid trip to an elite sports camp in the Maldives, and her first experience of her new school is the flight to Male with her new PE teacher and seven of her classmates – two boys and five girls. It doesn’t take long for her to discover the rift between the popular girls with the good-looking boyfriends, and the more academic Delia Dawkes. And then there’s the awkward reunion with Skye, the ex-best friend she hasn’t seen for two years. Plenty of opportunity for inter-personal conflict.

Of course, the trip doesn’t go to plan. The island-hopper plan crashes, leaving the party a long way off course and marooned on a deserted island. Dawkes and Ellery focus on long-term survival, including keeping their injured teacher alive, while the popular girls are more concerned with power, and their place in the hierarchy of the group. It’s a recipe for conflict and disaster, and when the boys head off to swim to the neighbouring island, the female power-plays become more vicious, and more dangerous.

The author brilliantly captures the dynamics of an all-girl group. The popular girls are used to being at the top of the group hierarchy, but when they find themselves in a situation that requires a different set of skills, they are ready to fight to maintain power. Ellery and Dawkes, used to being on the sidelines of all-female interactions, find themselves offering the solutions the girls need, but meeting resistance as they challenge the established social structure. I was impressed by the portrayal of the popular girls before and after the departure of their boyfriends. While their priority is keeping their man and the associated status, they exhibit a particular set of behaviours, but in the absence of the boys, they become much more focused on their own roles in the group – and much more dangerous.

As the book progresses, and the girls remain stranded, the tension on the island increases. The power-plays become more extreme as the need for sustainable survival strategies becomes more apparent, and the group splits under the pressure. Ellery finds friendship as well as conflict, and it is wonderful to follow the positive relationships as they develop in spite of the danger. It’s an entirely believable story, and the narrator’s fear feels very real. There are deliberate nods to Lord of the Flies in the plot, but you don’t need to know the original story in order to appreciate this book.

Plenty of readers have asked how the Lord of the Flies scenario would change if the marooned children were girls, not boys. This book provides a highly plausible, equally disturbing answer. I loved it.

Have you read Girl Island? What did you think of Ellery’s experiences? Would you survive on Girl Island? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

YA review: Girl Island cross-posted to GoodReads.

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February 3, 2023January 31, 2023

YA Review: The Stolen Heir

Title: The Stolen Heir
Author: Holly Black
Edition: Hardback
Rating: 4/5

I have been waiting for the next instalment in the story of Elfhame, and I managed to pick up a gorgeous hardback copy of The Stolen Heir on the day of release. I wasted no time finding a comfortable place to start reading, and jumped straight in.

This book did not grip me in the same way as the Folk of the Air trilogy, possibly because of the hype around its release. That said, I still enjoyed the story – and Holly Black’s trademark dark characters, plot twists, and betrayals. There are plenty of exciting twists, and plenty of delicious betrayals in this first book of an Elfhame duology.

After the events of The Queen of Nothing Suren, daughter of Lady Nore and child queen of the Court of Teeth, leaves Elfhame to find safety in the human world. Oak, heir to the throne of Elfhame, seeks her out to join him on a quest. Suren and Oak were betrothed before the the betrayals of the Battle of the Serpent, and Suren cannot be sure of his intentions. Suren has her own reasons for helping Oak, and returning to the home of her childhood nightmares. As they travel together, their constant suspicion and inability to trust each other add to the dangers they face. It’s a tense and exciting read, with Suren and the reader constantly questioning Oak’s motivations, and trying to unpick the truth from the things Oak doesn’t say.

Oak is seventeen, and utterly charming. Suren is a feral child, surviving in the woods, out of sight in the human world. Both are fae, and neither of them can lie, but they can deceive. Like Suren, I found myself constantly questioning Oak’s words, looking for loopholes and omissions in everything he said. It makes for an intensely exciting story, and the tension between the characters only increases as they approach the end of their journey. The final betrayal is exquisite, and I can’t believe I have to wait for the next book! I can’t wait to go back to Elfhame.

Have you read The Stolen Heir? What did you think of Suren and Oak? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

YA review: The Stolen Heir cross-posted to GoodReads.

Please keep your comments YA appropriate. Be patient! We want to hear from you, but comments are moderated, and may take some time to appear.