Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Published by Picador
Ebook
Published 10 September 2014
352 pages
Library book

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor’s early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as The Travelling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor’s first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.”

OPENING 

THE KING STOOD in a pool of blue light, unmoored. This was act 4 of King Lear, a winter night at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto. Earlier in the evening, three little girls had played a clapping game onstage as the audience entered, childhood versions of Lear’s daughters, and now they’d returned as hallucinations in the mad scene. The king stumbled and reached for them as they flitted here and there in the shadows. His name was Arthur Leander. He was fifty-one years old and there were flowers his hair.

WHAT I THOUGHT 

I really enjoyed Station Eleven. I’m a huge fan of apocalyptic fiction so knew this would be right up my street. I was impressed by the fact the author offers a refreshing scenario for the end of the world and chose something other than the old zombie apocalypse which has been done to death. Station Eleven is a breath of fresh air. What I also like was how simple and quiet the book was, moving back and forth in time showing the day the flu came and what happened to civilisation in the twenty years after the world ended. A trope of apocalyptic fiction is battles between survivors or survivors and something nasty left behind at the end of the world. There are no scenes with burning cities, epic battles or riots in Station Eleven. A refreshing change. Station Eleven is about people trying to find a place in a decimated world. I found it riveting and would highly recommend it.

RATING

Normandy Gold #1

Normandy Gold #1 by Megan Abbot & Alison Gaylin
Published by Titan Books
Ebook
Published 14 June 2017
32 pages
Review Copy

Connect with Megan

Connect with Alison

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

I was given a review copy by the publisher and voluntarily reviewed it.

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

When her younger sister is found murdered in a D.C. hotel, relentless Sheriff Normandy Gold dives headfirst into the seedy world of prostitution and politics, soon discovering a twisted conspiracy that could lead right to the White House.

EXTRACT 

They were going to call me victory.

WHAT I THOUGHT 

I must confess I rarely read graphic novels. I’ve read a few and enjoyed them but tend to forget them because there are so many things to read. Maybe I ought to read more? I really enjoyed Normandy Gold #1I, the first part of a longer story. I loved the character’s name by the way, Normandy Gold, genius. This first volume does a good job laying the foundation of what’s to come. Normandy Gold #1I sets up a lot of questions and not many answers so you need to read further volumes to get the whole picture. I was impressed by the quality of the images on my kindle as well as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to read it. I enjoyed Normandy Gold #1 and would recommend it.

RATING

Lost Boy ARC

Lost Boy by Christina Henry
Published by Titan Books
Ebook
Expected publication 4 July 2017
304 pages
Review Copy

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

I was given an ARC by the publisher and voluntarily reviewed it.

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

There is one version of my story that everyone knows. And then there is the truth. Once I loved a boy called Peter Pan. Peter brought me to his island because there were no rules and no grownups to make us mind. He brought boys from the Other Place to join in the fun, but Peter’s idea of fun is sharper than a pirate’s sword. He wants always to be that shining sun that we all revolve around. He’ll do anything to be that sun. Peter promised we would all be young and happy forever. Peter will say I’m a villain, that I wronged him, that I never was his friend. Peter Lies.

EXTRACT 

Once I was young, and young forever and always, until I wasn’t. Once I loved a boy called Peter Pan.

WHAT I THOUGHT 

I only have a vague understanding of the story of Peter Pan gleamed from Disney movies and the film Hook (which I love by the way). I thought Lost Boy was amazing. I loved that Peter comes across as the villain in the book when stories tend to paint him a hero, the boy who never grew up, who lived on a magical island with the boys who adored him. Lost Boy is darker than I expected. I loved it. I loved the way the most common ideas and themes from Peter Pan are twisted, distorted and a little darker. Jamie is a great narrator. Just when I thought I couldn’t love Lost Boy anymore, Jamie’s real identity is revealed at the end. I probably should have guess who he was but I didn’t so my jaw got bruised when it hit the floor. Well done for fooling me. Lost Boy is fantastic. I’d highly recommend it.

RATING

This Is The End Of The Story

This Is The End Of The Story by Jan Fortune
Published by Liquorice Fish Books
Paperback
Published 1 February 2017
206 pages
Owned

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

Belief is Cassie’s gift, so much so that she believes herself to be whoever those in her life tell her she is Cassie, Kat, Kitty, even, as Miriam insists, Casilda, an 11th century Muslim princess from Toledo. Cassie s loyalty to Miriam s extraordinary internal world survives a traumatic incident on a beach and a coming of age fraught with hostility, but is strained by an act of betrayal that propels her towards Liam, another person waiting to tell Cassie who she really is.

EXTRACT

 She watched Miriam sleep, hair a tangle of soot and pitch. Four years and many defeats ago, Miriam had told her she’d chosen her for three things: the thick fair plait that swung below her waist; that she was so small; and for her name. Cassie thinks of herself as the ram caught in the thicket, the replacement sacrifice when Abraham was no longer compelled to kill his son. She continually warns Miriam not to go looking for trouble. Let’s find another road, she says. But she hadn’t see trouble coming today.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I thought This Is The End of the Story was great. I found it absorbing. I loved the way the author portrays the intense almost disturbing friendship between Cassie and Miriam. It reminded me a lot of the relationship between the two girls in the movie Heavenly Creatures. The book uses an unusual structure, the narrative is non-linear and there is very little signposting to help ground you in a place or time. I would have expected this to be confusing but it works in This Is The End Of The Story. I loved the way the author portrays the friendship between Miriam and Cassie. I found their obsession with each other fascinating if a little disturbing. Miriam disturbed me. She sees Cassie as more than a friend and is obsessed to the point of jealousy almost as if Cassie is her lover. I loved the way the narrative gradually reveals information drip by drip especially the shocking incident at the beach when both girls are teenagers. I loved This Is The End Of The Story and would highly recommend it.#

RATING

Ashes

Ashes by Sarah Mitchell-Jackson
Published by Blue Moon Publishers
Ebook
Expected publication 9 June 2017
240 pages
NetGalley

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

When Eva emerges from a burning building, she is unable to remember anything that happened before Dan rescued her. Where will she go until someone claims her?

Dan wants to keep her to fill the space which is growing between him and his wife. Can they heal together or will grief pull them apart?

Carrie-Anne lives in a grainy fug of depression, alcohol and denial, sleeping through days and drinking away nights. Can she find the strength to tie up loose ends?

OPENING 

The house was well under way by the time they got there.

WHAT I THOUGHT 

Ashes is one of the saddest books I’ve read in a while. The ending actually made me cry. I thought something good was going to happen then the author took out my heart and ate it in front of me while laughing. I was not prepared for that. Ashes is really well written and a great read. Each time I sat down at my Kindle I got lost in Eva’s world. I liked the way the novel is structured with chapters written from Eva’s point of view, Dan who Eva lived with for a while and Carrie-Anne, her real mother. I like reading different perspectives. Ashes is an enjoyable read and I’d recommend it.

RATING

Stillhouse Lake

Stillhouse Lake by Rachel Caine
Published by Thomas & Mercer
Ebook
Expected publication 1 July 2017
302 pages
Kindle First

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

This was my Kindle First choice for June.

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom.

With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake. Though still the target of stalkers and Internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband’s crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace.

But just when she’s starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake—and threatening letters start arriving from an all-too-familiar address. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed—or watch her kids fall victim to a killer who takes pleasure in tormenting her. One thing is certain: she’s learned how to fight evil. And she’ll never stop.

EXTRACT 

Gina never asked about the garage.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I thought Stillhouse Lake was an excellent read, a top notch psychological thriller. I liked the concept, not something I’ve really come across in the thriller genre before. The book opens with a bang with the skinned body of a woman being found as a result of a drunk driver crashing into the side of a garage unleashing terrible dark secrets. I knew I had to read on when I read this corker of an opener. I liked the characters. Gwen has had to become tough to take care of her kids in the fallout from her husband’s crimes and distance herself as much as possible from gullible, easily duped Gina Royal. I enjoyed the way the tension really builds in the novel from the moment the first body is found and Gwen struggles to hold onto the fragile life she’s built. Stillhouse Lake is the definition of a page turner. What spoiled it for me was the cliff-hanger ending. I’m not opposed to them as long as they work and there are enough unknowns to make a second or third book work. This isn’t the case with Stillhouse Lake. I felt the story concludes and there’s no need to drag the plot out for a second book. If there will be one otherwise a cliff-hanger is pointless. Stillhouse Lake is good and recommended but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending.

RATING

The Outrun

The Outrun by Amy Liptrot
Published by Canongate Books
Ebook
Published 21 January 2016
280 pages
Library book

Connect with the author

Buy the book: UK (affiliate’s link)

Buy the book: USA

This is my non-fiction choice for June.

WHAT’S IT’S ABOUT

When Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the Outrun on the sheep farm where she grew up. Approaching the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with the recent events that have set her on this journey.

Amy was shaped by the cycle of the seasons, birth and death on the farm, and her father’s mental illness, which were as much a part of her childhood as the wild, carefree existence on Orkney. But as she grew up, she longed to leave this remote life. She moved to London and found herself in a hedonistic cycle. Unable to control her drinking, alcohol gradually took over. Now thirty, she finds herself washed up back home on Orkney, standing unstable at the cliff edge, trying to come to terms with what happened to her in London.

Spending early mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, the days tracking Orkney’s wildlife – puffins nesting on sea stacks, arctic terns swooping close enough to feel their wings – and nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy slowly makes the journey towards recovery from addiction.

The Outrun is a beautiful, inspiring book about living on the edge, about the pull between island and city, and about the ability of the sea, the land, the wind and the moon to restore life and renew hope.

OPENING 

UNDER WHIRRING HELICOPTER BLADES, a young woman holds her newborn baby as she is pushed in a wheelchair along the runway of the island airport to meet a man in a straightjacket being pushed in a wheelchair from the other direction.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I really enjoyed The Outrun. Liptrot offer a memoir with a difference. This memoir is honest, brutally at times. Liptrot offers a no holds barred account of her descent into alcoholism when she moves from Orkney to London and her home coming in an attempt to sober up, pick up the shreds of her life and heal. I don’t have any personal experience of alcoholism. I drank a lot in my late twenties but that was because I was depressed after a messy break-up and I was not anything resembling an alcoholic. I loved the setting of the book in Orkney. It seems the perfect place to sober up after a painful reality check. The descriptions of the landscape are vivid and made me want to be there. I liked the way The Outrun is structured, using a non-linear narrative to show Liptrot’s experiences in sobriety when she comes home with time shifts showing her past including her experiences in London and growing up in Orkney. The Outrun is vivid, heart wrenching and touching. I highly recommend it.

RATING