Tag: Magical Realism

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YA Review: Her Dark Wings

Title: Her Dark Wings
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Edition: Paperback (Paper Orange Book Box)
Rating: 5/5

YA Review - Her Dark Wings - Paperback cover image

This wonderful YA retelling of the Persephone myth grabbed me from the first page and kept me reading right to the end. I loved the setting, the characters, the gorgeous writing style, and all the twists and turns of the story.

Seventeen-year-old Corey lives on an island, somewhere off the coast of the UK, in a world where the Greek gods still rule. The calendar is based around their festivals, and it is a temple, not a church, at the heart of island life. There are rumours that an entrance to the underworld can be seen just offshore if you look for it from the right spot, but no one has ever proved its existence.

Corey is recovering from a devastating double betrayal. Her best friend Bree has stolen her boyfriend Ali, and on her small island it is impossible to avoid them and try to forget what happened. At the Autumn festival, she attempts to move on, but when Bree arrives with Ali she can’t help wishing her friend dead. When Bree drowns after Corey kisses a stranger, Corey can’t stop blaming herself.

As she looks for a way to bring Bree back, Corey experiences her own brush with death, the underworld, and the gods. Searching for answers, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery – and finds herself impossibly far from home.

Her Dark Wings is an empowered, modern take on the Persephone myth. Corey is far from being a helpless victim, and as she discovers more about herself she begins to understand her own powers and calling. The female relationships are perfectly described, from the Corey-and-Bree friendship and betrayal, through Corey’s heartwarming relationship with her stepmother, and the women she meets on her journey. It’s a coming-of-age story that doesn’t follow a predictable path, and I enjoyed every page.

Have you read Her Dark Wings? What did you think of Corey’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!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

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YA Review: Burn

Title: Burn
Author: Patrick Ness
Edition: Paperback
Rating: 5/5

How could I turn down the chance to read a book that brings together dragons, prophecies, and assassins in 1950s America? I was very excited to read the new novel from Patrick Ness, and I’m delighted to say that he didn’t let me down.

Sarah Dewhurst lives with her father on the family farm. Since her mother’s death, her father has been struggling. If he doesn’t take drastic action before the summer, the bank will call in his debt and take the farm, so he hires a dragon to help him clear two fields for cultivation. It’s not illegal to hire dragons, but relations between dragons and humans are tense, and he knows the neighbours will be uneasy with his decision.

Sarah is no stranger to harassment from local people and law enforcement. She’s a mixed-race teenager in 1957, and her best friend is a Japanese-American boy who spent his early childhood in an internment camp. The dragon is just one more excuse for discrimination, and he understands how it feels to be discriminated against. As Sarah gets to know the dragon, he begins to share his reasons for being on the farm. Sarah finds herself at the centre of an ancient prophecy, and the target of a highly trained assassin.

The first part of the book follows this storyline. The Soviet Union is about to launch a satellite that could be used to spy on the US, and while the prophecy is vague, it centres on Sarah, the dragon, the satellite, and the assassin. The tension builds as the assassin, trailed by two FBI agents, makes his way to the farm. Just over half-way through, the plot twists, and the rest of the story plays out in an entirely unexpected way. Throughout the second part of the novel, idle sayings and superstition from the first part shift into reality, and the balance of power changes completely. It’s a very clever plot twist, and from that point on I couldn’t put the book down.

Sarah is a confident protagonist, used to dealing with people who don’t like her family, her poverty, or the colour of her skin. Her relationship with her father feels completely real. His trust in her abilities, his anger when she is hurt, and his frustration when he discovers she has been lying to him demonstrate his love for his only child, and the support they have provided to each other since the loss of his wife. The dragon is frustratingly alien and arrogant at the start of the book, but as Sarah discovers who he is and why he is on her farm, his attitude becomes more understandable and his relationships with the humans around him develop towards genuine friendship. Even the assassin has a human side, and his developing relationship with another boy helps to highlight his vulnerabilities.

It’s a clever, engaging book with some amazing world building – by the end of the first chapter the reader is completely immersed in this version of 1950s America, where dragons coexist with Chevron gas stations and pickup trucks and farmers in need of labour. It captures the paranoia of the Cold War, and the feeling of being on the outside of a society that would prefer you didn’t exist – dragon, mixed-race girl, Japanese-American, or gay man. There’s a cult of dragon-worshippers, a legend of a dragon goddess, a plot to kill Sarah’s dragon, and an exciting, dramatic conclusion to the story. Highly recommended!

Have you read Burn? What did you think of the story? Did you find yourself believing in dragons? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review cross-posted to GoodReads.

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YA Review: The Cost of Knowing

Title: The Cost of Knowing
Author: Brittney Morris
Edition: Kindle
Rating: 4/5

Alex Rufus is sixteen. He lives with his Aunt Mackie and his younger brother Isaac in an upmarket neighbourhood in Chicago – the only black family on their street. After the accident that killed his parents, Alex woke up in hospital and discovered that everything he touched gave him a vision of something that would happen to that object in the future. He can’t tell anyone – they’d assume he was lying or traumatised – so he lives with the visions every day.

It’s a great idea for a story. Alex narrates his life, constantly explaining the visions he sees. While some visions are important – an unidentified man buying the ice cream shop where he works – others are a constant source of annoyance: visions of typing in the lock code when he picks up his phone, or paying for something when he takes his card from his wallet. When he sees a vision of his younger brother’s death, he starts looking for ways to protect Isaac, and ways to spend time with him in case he can’t stop the vision from coming true.

I loved this idea, and the way the book explored the impact on Alex’s life. While seeing visions of the future sounds like a superpower, Alex comes to regard it as a curse. He has never found a way to escape the visions – whatever he does, they always come true. He is sure that Isaac is going to die, and he has a good idea when it will happen, but he feels powerless to prevent it.

Alongside this engaging story, the author gives us a wonderful cast of characters. Alex feels real and relatable, in spite of his visions. It takes a while to get to know Isaac, but the relationship between the brothers deepens as they start to spend time together. Aunt Mackie is fantastic – a real-estate agent with a million-dollar house and a seat on the neighbourhood housing association. She’s a no-nonsense guardian to the brothers, but she has a sense of humour, and it is clear that she loves the boys in her care. Talia is Alex’s girlfriend, and their relationship is strong and supportive, even though he can’t tell her about his visions. I loved getting to know the characters, and following Alex as he gets to know his brother.

I won’t spoil the story, but there are some scenes towards the end of the book as Alex spends time with Isaac that are filled with joy and excitement. I could feel the delight – Isaac in his experiences, and Alex as he watched his brother. It was an uplifting and heartwarming moment in their relationship, and as a reader I felt as if I was standing with them. I really enjoyed these scenes, and they provide a counterpoint to the underlying theme of the book – the constant obstacles faced by Alex and Isaac as young black men in the US today.

The Cost of Knowing is an interesting take on brotherhood, the issues around the Black Lives Matter movement, black history and heritage, and the cost of working through traumatic experiences. The author takes a unique approach to all these aspects of the book, and uses them to shape an original and engaging story.

The Cost of Knowing will be published on March 11th. Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you read The Cost of Knowing? What did you think of the book? Who was your favourite character? Click through to the full blog to access the comments section, and share your thoughts! No spoilers, though – you can post those on GoodReads!

Review 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.