See inside wild places by Laura Cowan. Illus. by Rong Phanm & Vinh Nguyen
Usborne, 2025. ISBN: 9781805315551.
We know that the world is made of many diverse habitats and biomes, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily benign. For within them there are wild places providing homes to all sorts of dangerous and deadly creatures that have adapted to their environment while posing a great threat to those around them, including humans.
Whether it's the jungle environment of the Sundarbans that straddle the coasts of India and Bangladesh, the toxic waters of the lakes of Central Africa, the sandy stretches of the Great Victoria Desert here in Australia or another of the ten places featured in this new release from Usborne, readers are challenged to lift the flap to see what lies beneath. Whether it's an innocent looking worm attracting a bird on the deadly island of Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island; the hostile northern reaches of North America where caribou annually make the longest land journey of any animal on the planet, or daytime in the impenetrable forests of Uganda, this is one that is going to appeal to those who like to live on the edge with their reading, who prefer non fiction and discovering the secrets of their world.
This year's CBCA Book Week theme is Book an Adventure and many have created displays inviting young readers to venture into the jungle, under the ocean, or to explore some other exotic place but there will be few who are expecting to have quite such an adventure as this, particularly as all the characters in this one are real!
But as well as knowing that, its interactive format and eye-catching illustrations, this is another one for those who don't think that the Book Week theme (or, indeed books) has anything to offer that will entice them into the library. Who among those who prefer non fiction, particularly that which explores the wacky and the weird of this planet, could resist journeying to these extraordinary places, perhaps even sparking further investigations of place or inhabitant, maybe even inspiring a bucket-list item? And if what's on offer in the limited space of a double-spread, then there are the usual Quicklinks to take the explorations further.
Cass Biehn, in Vesuvius, catapults the reader straight into the first century world of Pompeii immediately before the cataclysmic eruption of Mt Vesuvius. The reader is immersed into the tumultuous, religious, political and cultural world of that time and place. Not only is the ground heaving but deadly political machinations and commercial enterprises are seething away alongside old temples dedicated to various gods.
Into this seamy cauldron, two young boys enter. Felix, is a talented young thief, who has mysterious flashbacks to his origins which he tries to tamp down. The book opens as he dodges through the crowds with a stolen priceless relic- the supposed helmet of the god Mercury. Loren is a temple attendant, also of unknown origins, who can foresee the future but can't exactly read or comprehend what he sees. Neither boy seems to know their origins or why Felix has always featured in Loren's dreams or what Felix's ties to the helmet mean or what the nightmarish dreams mean. As the tremors grow, as the city is cast into confusion and chaos, as treachery and death is around every corner, the boys must figure out what their fates are as their longing for each other grows in a simmering, slow-boil romance. The narrative has the rumbling, impending feel of catastrophe about to explode mirroring the mountain behind the town.
Biehn writes well. The plot and action is absorbing. The characters are well developed. Vesuvius could well fit onto an "additional reading" list for the study of Roman history which can be a topic studied in year seven and later in the high school years. Biehn states in the Author's Note that..."Although heavily researched, I'm the first to admit that Vesuvius takes some creative liberties with history". Nonetheless, Biehn has created an integrated picture of what Pompeii could have been like at the time based on her own study. Thus the young history scholar may find that reading Vesuvius makes the period come alive in the way of all good historical fiction.
Biehn has also created a book that looks at the effects of early childhood trauma and the way that it shapes people. She considers queer people in history and queer readers of today. She reaches out to contemporary readers not only through the story of Vesuvius with its message of hope and struggle in the overcoming of difficult odds but also through the list of resources for people in need of support - in Australia-Q Life (+contact details) in the end papers and through the message in the Author's Note.
Wombats poo in cubes? by Dr. Audrey Shen and Briana Heinrich
Little Steps, 2025. ISBN: 9781922678270. (Age:3+)
Winston the baby wombat wonders why his poo is shaped like cubes. He asks the question of his friends, to find out why. Greta the cow has big, flat poos, Billy the goat offers a handful of small round poos, Charlie the cockatoo has white sloppy poos that make a splat on the ground, but his research does not answer his question, so he offers some reasons why this may be so.
Perhaps it is so that it does not roll away or roll into his burrow as it would if it was round. Perhaps they are square so he could play with them like a toy, or their brick like structure may enable small creatures to build a house. Or is it because he is not eating healthily, or perhaps the cubes reflect the shape of his stomach or his bottom. He asks his mum but she does not know and sends him to the Possumwood Wildlife Hospital to ask the staff.
Dr Audrey and Nurse Briana give him several reasons, telling him his stomach is not cube shaped but does stretch and move about to give his poo the shape it is. The oddly shaped poo could be left as a warning to other animals, or left to attract other wombat friends, because it would not roll away but stay in one place. But for whatever reason, the wombat is the only animal in the world with cube shaped poo. Winston feels very special as he leaves the hospital, and going home finds a little pile of cube shaped poo, so he knows there is another wombat nearby.
A cute story which will intrigue readers, especially those attracted by the topic spelt out loudly on the title page, the little wombat story is a great way to introduce this animal’s signature waste disposal. Accompanied by illustrations that will appeal to young readers, children will follow Winston’s story with interest and a laugh.
Themes Wombats, Australian animals, Poo, Humour.
Fran Knight
The girl and the mermaid by Hollie Hughes and Sarah Massini
Alina and her grandmother live in a lighthouse and lately the stories Gran has told to her granddaughter have dried up. She is forgetting the stories she loves to share. Alina is at a loss as to how to help. She peers over the rocks into the sea below and sees a mermaid who beckons her to follow.
The mermaid takes her past seaweed forests, splendid coral reefs, sunken treasure ships, their cargo spilling out over the ocean floor. Sea creatures swim around them; pufferfish, whales, dolphins and shark are joined by turtles, sting rays and squid. Something is glinting far below and they swim towards it. A light filled city comes into view and the merfolk lead Alina towards a well where all the stories are kept. All the stories Alina thought were lost forever, come together in a shell which she takes to the sea’s surface.
She knows that tales must fly to live and tips them into the light atop the lighthouse, so the light’s beam is always full of stories. Alina and her Gran sit on the bench outside the lighthouse, watching the stories as they fill the night sky. I love this idea of the stories filling the night sky, enabling Gran to hold on to her memories.
This charming story of the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother, shows how children can help their older family members manage their lost memories. The child and her grandmother are lovingly drawn, the girl recalling her grandmother’s stories of the mermaid and the animals in the sea, taking the plunge to the city below.
Beautifully illustrated with a huge amount of detail, children will love diving down with Alina noting all the things from the sea around her. Sarah Massini has an eye for detail which is first drawn with pencil, then transferred to Photoshop. Layers of watercolour and mixed media build up the images she wants to project, the stunning results eye pleasing for all.
I love the image of the mermaid, a fantasy creature with her scales and long hair, seaweed draped around her long fishy tail. And the city beneath the waves is a breathtaking sight, one I can imagine enticing little fingers to recreate. The illustrations perfectly match the rhyming stanzas, full of adventure and wisdom.
Themes Sea, Old age, Memory, Verse, Storytelling, Grandparents, Mermaids.
Fran Knight
The Travelling Bookshop: Mim and the Mother Muddle by Katrina Nannestad. Illus. by Cheryl Orsini
ABC Books, 2025. ISBN: 9780733343124.
Imagine being a young girl travelling the world in an old wooden caravan pulled by a horse that decides where they will go and which seems to have magical powers that mean borders and mountains and oceans are no barriers. And that caravan is full of books, because it, too, has a magic that means that it is like a Tardis with so much more on the inside than appears on the outside.
That is the life of 10-year-old Miriam-Rose Cohen (who prefers Mim), her father and little brother Nat, Coco the cockatoo and Flossy the horse. Led by Flossy's instinct, they travel to wherever they are needed, wherever there is a child in need of a book to make their world right again because "the line between books and real life is not as clear as people suppose."
In this, the sixth in this series, Mim has arrived in Salzburg -- the city of Mozart and mountains, gardens and castles, Sacher torte and sausages, new people, new matches and new magic. But more importantly, it is where her mum is recovering from a nasty bump on the head. But when they spot her in the crowd, she doesn't remember them at all! How will they help her recover their memory and be a family again? Can their usual practice of healing people by giving them the right book at the right time work when it's so personal?
This is the ideal series for young independent readers to engross themselves in as they follow Mim's adventures and perhaps even wish they were her. Is it the final though? Or are there more detours as they make their way back to Vienna? It is an ideal collection to show that you really can "Book an Adventure' through stories, not just through rising along with Mim through Europe but also because it can lead to other series like Pages & Co which is for slightly older, more confident readers, and which, itself, could lead them to a new author with a new series, Losing the Plot. Or maybe just to the other brilliant tales of this wonderful author. Whichever path is followed, they are guaranteed many hours of being oblivious to the world.
Themes Travel, Books and reading, Memory.
Barbara Braxton
See how they fall by Rachel Paris
Hachette, 2025. ISBN: 9780733652684. (Age:Adult)
Who can you trust? What happens when you marry into a family where you are (perhaps?) out of your depth - blinded by their wealth and fabulous lifestyle? What happens when the attention of your handsome husband becomes rather too attentive? What happens when you are trapped in a gilded cage? The message readers is - make sure you never lose your independence, mental and physical fitness and contacts. Be ready to pivot in your life. Be smart.
Debut author Rachel Paris (Master of Laws and Creative Writing) sets the tone for See how they fall with an entirely appropriate quote by Honore De Balzac as an epigraph..." Behind every great fortune there is a great crime." The narrative unfolds through the first person points of view of the two female protagonists: Skye (who has married into the Turner family and is trying to keep life normal for her daughter Tilly, hiding a secret of her own and navigating chaos after a tragedy) and Mei (the detective who takes on the homicide investigation while her own life is unravelling). The chapters alternate between Skye and Mei as the parallel steams of the story unfold; the police investigation progresses alongside the escalation of danger in Skye's life. In the first chapter, through the first hand view of Skye (our female protagonist), we are introduced to the carefully curated image of the Turner family who are meeting at the dead patriarch's monument to himself "... a vast collision of concrete, steel and glass...", a house with its own private beach, somewhere north of Sydney, to discuss the estate. Arsenic poisoning happens and the New South Wales police become involved. Mei begins her investigation which widens into an international situation gradually revealing shady dealings behind the facade. A thrilling narrative evolves.
The all important major setting for Skye's ordeal is her own home - the setting having the significance of a major player. "Thornfield" in Bellevue Hill as Mei described it (as the police in their Toyota Camry tracked the Turners in their Aston Martin DBX) is set in a neighbourhood with leafy avenues and manicured lawns amongst imperious and solemn homes behind glossy hedges and inclined towards the harbour. The house was concealed behind steel entrance gates fitted with high-tech camera systems. Later in the story surveillance becomes hugely significant. Approached by a winding clipped topiary lined driveway, a helipad and a gazebo, the enormous three story house flanked by a pool, pool house and sprawling formal garden appeared along with a cavernous garage complete with a McLaren, a Pagani, a Bugatti Tourbillon etc. The interior of the house is equally opulent but cameras are everywhere. Everywhere is monitored.
Why are the police obstructing Mei's investigation? Why is Skye's freedom being curtailed? Are we seeing gas-lighting, leveraging, threats, blackmail - an escalating litany of danger and wrongdoing?
See how they fall is quite tightly written. Suspense is maintained. The reader is concerned for the highly likeable characters' well-being and the controlled story structure takes the reader through nightmare situations to a satisfying resolution which is also a surprise.
Compelling, unputdownable, dark romance gone wrong, murder by arsenic... Who did it?
Themes Domestic abuse, Entrapment, Russian mafia (Bratva), Family wealth succession, Women sleuths, International crime,Police procedural, Psychological thriller.
Wendy Jeffrey
Drift by Pip Harry
Hachette, 2025. ISBN: 9780734423900. (Age:14+ - Young Adult) Unreservedly recommended.
Nate migrates to Australia with his mum, Amber, leaving his dad 6,000kms away working in Singapore. They’ve come on ahead to settle Nate into a new high school, and for Amber to prepare for a procedure to relieve her chronic pain. Moving into the bungalow his parents purchased online, they see a swarm of bees disappearing into a wall in need of repair. Thus begins a new friendship when Tyler the local apiculturist is called to move the bees. Readers discover much about keeping bees and their precarious but crucial role in the environment.
Next door lives a friendly, athletic girl about his own age. Luna is returning to school herself after a long absence. Nate struggles to make new friends, but can’t understand why his neighbour is already an outcast.
“Drift”, is an expressively crafted title in the Australian YA verse novel tradition. Predictably, alternating chapters are narrated by the two main characters to express their respective backstories with rhythmic breaks rather than blank spaces. If new to unique lineation in lyrical storytelling, a rapid appreciation follows Pip Harry’s creative choices.
While Nate’s themes concern family and the biosecurity threat to Australia’s bees, Luna is a gifted distance runner dealing with the protracted nature of cyberbullying trauma. Drawn together in newfound isolation and the beehive which Nate is keen to protect, can Luna forgive Nate when she feels he too has betrayed her trust?
A coming of age story that will appeal to youths and young women, who will identify with these self-discovery journeys via the concise but imaginary writing, distinctive of the poetry genre. 309p.
Inferno's heir is American author Tiffany Wang's debut novel. Enough of a story has been built in this novel and there is enough interest in the side characters to warrant a sequel. This is a fantasy novel but it is also steeped in more than a little European folklore coupled with a dash of Asiatic exoticism, a touch of magical power and royal court drama that is reminiscent of the medieval era. It is an action/adventure story with action being fast-paced often accompanied by violence and bloodshed.
The novel is set in the fantasy kingdom of Erysia. A tale of kings fallen and princes and princesses rising, of rebellion against the monarchy, of court machinations, dastardly plans and rebel groups ensues. The action is based around the palace, within the secret walls within the palace and in the surrounding town and its notorious prison.
The main female character, Teia, has learnt from a young age how to bribe, extort, blackmail etc in order to manipulate people. Wang builds Teia's character layer by layer as she traces her trajectory from a young halfling child princess who has to learn to fight for her very survival against constant attempts on her life by assassins sent by her sadistic brother. What Teia and her brother have in common is a lust for power and a lack of kindness - a ruthlessness. However, Teia is distinguishable from her brother in that she, early on, shows some care for the wellbeing of the common people. Teia also has a magical affinity with two elements (water and fire) which she is learning to control.
Inferno's heir is about lust for power. It is about monarchy, cruel governance and the uprising of organised rebellion. Teia infiltrates and gains the trust of the rebel group (the Dawnbreakers). Power structures, morality and purpose become quite fluid. Teia changes as she works with the rebels seemingly against her own royal family and discovers a closeness to some of the rebels - in particular Tobias. Important friendships are formed. Other characters are well developed. (This reader particularly looks forward to seeing further adventures of the intrepid and mouthy Enna, a thief of the highest calibre). Teia is tested and demonstrates her valiant, gritty and heroic attributes aswell as her magical powers as she executes a dangerous heist. Not all characters are as they seem and danger is not only where it has always been (within the palace walls). There is unexpected betrayal and political treachery in the mix. There is failure, success and unfinished business.
Hilarious, whip-smart repartee between the characters accompanies the plot.
Inferno's heir, with its morally grey and feisty Teia is a fantasy book that manages to avoid the over-complicated world building (familial, political and social structuring) of many fantasy novels. It is easy for the reader to navigate the court and rebel intrigue so that the story can be enjoyed without confusion. The storyline is well plotted and the heroes/villains' interaction is compelling making the book unputdownable - one that you want to read in one sitting. Similar to A court of thorns and roses by Sarah Maas and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson, Inferno's heir is an accessible fantasy read with the palace world being not overcomplicated.
Inferno's heir is a great recommendation for those readers who are new to fantasy as it is somewhat of a hybrid book-combining action, adventure, magic and a brief wisp of romance as well as being a fantasy. Bring on the sequel.
Themes Political fantasy, Adventure, Blackmail, Murder, Betrayal, Morality, Governance.
Wendy Jeffrey
Luna's world: Library dreams by Hayley Gannon. Illus. by Michelle Conn
Luna's world: Library Dreams is a gentle, perceptive little story..."perfect for newly confident readers, as well as older readers needing to bridge the gap between graphic novels and novels proper". One can feel confident that this book hits the mark because it is written by Hayley Gannon - a primary school teacher librarian. Whilst being a librarian may not be always the golden ticket to being a good writer, one might say that it is a big step in the right direction as with Gannon being both a teacher AND a librarian she would have a pretty good idea about what children need to be reading and what they enjoy reading. Gannon has hit a gap in the market which is the space where a child needs to transition to continuous text.
Luna's world: Library Dreams is structured using continuous sentences and paragraphs but as a bridge to progress from a diet of mainly graphic texts typesettings including Sweet roll, Why notes, Note lover and Fruit cake have been selected. These greatly enhance the visual appeal making Luna's world an attractive and engaging reading experience. The internal design by Jo Hunt is very important. The font varies in size and changes for emphasis. Doodles are scattered around the edges but are not part of the script. Different sized illustrations are included and scattered - entirely consistent with creating a journaling kind of format.
The story is told in journal/diary form in the first person voice of Luna. Luna is a year 5 girl whose great wish is to be a library monitor. Unfortunately, she is impulsive and not the best at concentrating. She has to compete with her arch-enemy Jade Jones for the role. Luna is guided by smart adults (her mother, class teacher, school librarian) and her friends. She learns.
Love and knowledge of libraries, books and children shines through in a most authentic way. This simple and warm story illuminates a much larger phenomenon and that is the wonderful business of what school libraries, good educators and parents do all the time for children - especially in being able to turn deficits into strengths and fostering the love of reading.
A delightful read, Luna's world: Library Dreams is the first in a new illustrated junior fiction diary series which is "A love letter to the school librarian". This writer suspects that it will bounce off shelves into book bags just like the ever popular Ella diaries and Olivia's secret scribbles. I'm hoping that Gannon picks up on boys and their non fiction interests in this series too. Luna's friend Cody needs to star.
Themes School libraries, Journaling, Learning differences, Friendship, Competition.
Author Sophie Clark seems to be playing with dangerous metaphysical, spiritual and religious understandings in Cruel is the light. It is the first of a planned duology with the second book picking up on the further story of Selene and Jules. The line between writing about real world religious belief and fantasy is a fine one. When merging both it is possible to overstep that line into misinforming on an important topic and causing distress and confusion. A certain level of distaste and discomfort is acceptable in the fantasy worlds created in fiction but Cruel is the light may have overstepped. This writer therefore would not recommend this book for schools.
Beginning with a detailed map and key, the somewhat daunted reader does not find much relief from a confusing cast of characters and arenas of action. It takes even an intrepid reader quite a while to clear the confusion. On the flyleaf, information about the author states, "Sophie Clark likes to say that she writes fantasy featuring wounded girls with sharp edges, charming boys that fall for them anyway, twisted gods, and other unholy things."
Selene Alleva, a powerful exorcist, trained at the Vatican Academy, is the wounded girl with sharp edges. As the central female protagonist she is the emotional heart of the story. She is brave, strong-willed and powerful. Defying gender rules, she is a finely honed warrior. The possible key to understanding Clark's values is that if Selene decides to vent all her power she risks losing her soul to become a total monster. This is unacceptable - the line at which Clark pulls back her characters. Jules Lacroix (the charming boy) is impossibly handsome and likeable too. An elite soldier, he doesn't know his origins - the only hint is the thorn tattoo that he carries on his body. Of course, the unwanted attraction between the two is inevitable and during this war between demons and humanity Selene and Jules are thrown together. The "twisted gods and other unholy things" that Clark likes to say she writes about is a mixture of demons inhabiting dead bodies, exorcists and other hybrid types of gods, humans, demons and exorcists. Indeed Clark develops a cavalcade of unholy beings. The one that this writer struggles with is the ultimate one in the core of the Vatican.Too much is taken from Christianity and it could be disrespectful. There is the "deathless god" crucified and hidden in the core of the Vatican. He has a son. Crowns, thorns, crucifixes and stigmata come into it. There are the twelve demon dukes - another parallel or possible borrowing. This is uncomfortable territory for a writer and for young, impressionable readers. The author's stance around good and evil, god, demons and humanity is unclear. On returning from the war fields of Europe to Rome, Selene and Jules discover an appalling violation and atrocity in the Cor Cordium (latin phrase translation ="heart of hearts") a room right in the centre of the Vatican. This is where Clark's fiction possibly runs close to sacrilegious...
The characters are well developed. One feels for them. Violence is visceral. Action is cinematic. The enemies to lovers trope works. Betrayals are devastating. Friendships are forged in blood and both characters have to question the validity of all they know and believe in. What wins through in the end?
Cruel is the light is reminiscent of Dan Brown's Angels and demons (2000) in its references to religious and other ancient symbols and its theme of Vatican intrigue. Being a writer of fantasy fiction Clark has permission to allow imagination to run free but in the nuanced space of religion, twisting beliefs needs a careful, considered approach and sensitivity towards a readership from diverse perspectives and cultural contexts.
Cruel is the light 2 is not yet published.
Themes Demons, Exorcists, The Vatican, Romantasy, Enemies to lovers.
Margo is travelling to her Irish boarding school by train when she slips into an alternate universe and finds herself on another train in a very different world where even the length of a day may be different. In her confusion she is rescued or claimed by a young man bearing a crescent-moon shaped tattoo (known as Moon) and discovers that she really does not fit in this new world but is somehow very valuable and potentially powerful. There are others pursuing her and her disruptive influence seems to stimulate the rebellious locals, but also causes those who oppose them to become even more violent. Can she ever get back home and can they restore the world to its former normality or has Margo’s arrival set ‘the cat amongst the pigeons’? And is Margo’s attraction to Moon something that can survive the odd alternative reality that she is now trapped within?
This is a very clever alternate reality story that is complex and confusing in equal measure. Nothing that seems normal remains in this story - with different laws for time, strangely complex aging patterns, and social conditions that are unrecognisable. But what is recognisable is teenage attraction, the growth of romantic interest and working out how they can survive when they are under attack. With a unique dystopian feel, O’Donoghue has created a powerful story that also has commentary on discrimination and prejudice within the alt-society. The story is told with a third-person alternate focus on Margo and Moon, so we find their perspectives, but not in their voice. After the initial confusion of the worlds with no commonality to our own, the story does become quite compelling and we are left dangling at its conclusion. As this is book 1 of a duology there will need to be patient to wait for the next instalment in this exciting story. Readers aged 15+ are the target audience for this book… just note that the main characters do explore their relationship physically as is expected in the new social environment of the alt-world and there are some steamy scenes.
Mango and Hopscotch by Sophie Cunningham & Anil Tortop
Albert Street Books, 2025. ISBN: 9781761181122. (Age:3+) Recommended.
The inspiring story of a brave kangaroo and her joey rescued from floodwaters, will tug at the heartstrings of all readers, as they see the results of an unexpected flood, destroying the landscape and all they have known.The mob of kangaroos grazes peacefully next to the edge of the river. Hopscotch is out of her mother’s pouch, learning how to survive in their rainforest. But Mango notices the rain falling. Butterflies,frogs and lizards all seek shelter. Later thunder and lightning ensues, forcing the mob to find a place out of the rain. The river rises, they spy a houses where many other animals have sought shelter, and join them. But the river keeps rising, and Hopscotch and Mango are forced to swim for their lives. Meanwhile Max has helped get ready with others making sandwiches and giving out clothing. He and his kayak go into the water, noticing Hopscotch flagging as she swims. He hauls both animals onto his kayak and paddles back to shore where he dries Hopscotch then watches the pair as they hop up the hill to safety. The flood wains and the kangaroos resume their munching on the grasses.
A lovely story of how floods affect animals as they simply try to survive when such an event occurs around them. The affects on the wider community is noted as Max helps out with other members of his community. Lovely soft illustrations accompany the story, giving readers an image to view as they read, noting the environment the animals live in and other animals that live around them.
Inspired by the birth by in vitro fertilization (IVF) of her own grandchild, Susanne Gervay brings a joyful story about birth and families. Violet is having a dress-up party with all her friends and is having a great time, except when Charlie gets angry, and everyone gets something stuck on the trampoline! Tears and cuddles are part of every social encounter, and this story brings this to life while exploring the diverse ways children may come into the world, including IVF and adoption, as well as differing types of families, like same sex parents and families from different cultural backgrounds. Children will recognise their own family situations brought to life in this book and identify with the things that happen at parties. The lively, colourful, cartoon-style characters create a fun atmosphere for this tricky concept and will provide a welcome resource for classrooms discussing family.
Themes In vitro fertilization, Families, Children, Parties.
Gabrielle Anderson
Grave Empire by Richard Swan
Orbit Books, 2025. ISBN: 9780356523873. (Age:Adult, young adult) Recommended.
Sova is the centre of a powerful empire whose greedy merchants live off the exploitation of the land and sea and they vie with their Casimir neighbours for colonial power. The New East is one such disputed area where Peter Kleist has been posted after his father purchased him a commission in the elite Sovan Army. Fort Ingomar turns out to be as far from the pomp and ceremony of Sova as it is possible to be, and there is something seriously wrong there. The diplomatic offices of the empire are in Sova city, centres of power and luxury. Renata Rainer is attached to Ambassador Didacus Maruska and their Stygion embassy is in a rarely visited basement. The Stygions are a race of Mermen, living under the sea, and the embassy is much ridiculed by more mainstream diplomats. Sovans have long banned the use of magicks, except for the guild of engineers who are trained in its practical uses, but pagan beings to the north and some more extreme Neman sects still practice the arcane art of communing with the dead and news starts to filter through that all is not well in the spirit world, and that the prophecy of the Great Silence might be unfolding alongside a plague that is spreading throughout the north. The Stygions are known to maintain contact with the spirit world and a diplomatic mission is mounted to consult with them about the problem, a difficult task given the animosity on both sides and war in the lands they need to traverse to get to the Door to the Sea. The third thread to the story is that of Count von Oldenberg in his lands to the north. He has made a study of arcane practices with the help of a witch, Yelena, (who seems able to channel magical energy though sex) and has accumulated many arcane objects to channel magick. He is interested in the plague as it is bad for business, but as he learns more he becomes obsessed with the idea that he can use this leaking of power from the spirit world to enthrall others and bend them to his will.
Maps at the beginning are useful in tracking the many characters on their journeys and the author keeps control of the complex narrative, though at times the reader must trust that all will fall into place eventually. There is plenty of action, with battles, torture, zombies, aethereal screaming, or even worse, an all-pervasive sense of dread and unnatural silence, and I did start to care about some of the characters. I really liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter purporting to be from various philosophers, military and diplomatic policy makers. This story is about beings half wolf, or fish or cat but it has reverberations about our world and our selfish priorities while great existential threats are ignored. This is the first in a new trilogy, I haven't read the previous one, Empire of the Wolf and while this does stand alone I am now curious to go back and read more.
Themes Fantasy, War, Morality, Death and afterlife.
Sue Speck
The Giant by Sophie Masson. Illus. by Lorena Carrington
Those readers who are familiar with the CBCA 2024 Notable book Satin will be thrilled to read this latest picture book by talented creatives, Sohie Masson and Lorena Carrington. This story, that very strongly emits the tone of a fable, is wondrously told with the striking illustrations and endpapers, visual delights.
When the giant awakes from a long and deep sleep, he is excited to visit his friends in the local town but he seems to have been forgotten and frightens the townspeople. His tears of sadness cause a great flood that may lead to danger for the people. Two young children reach out to him and memories of happier times surface. The townspeople once again accept the giant and peace and friendship is restored.
Throughout this narrative, the large full page images provide the reader with so much to take in and the text is perfectly positioned to provide greatest impact on each page. The silhouette of the giant across the pages is a brilliant tool to further enhance the stunning backgrounds, often showcasing a magnificent collage of photographic images. The final image of the giant embracing the town in the darkness provides an outstanding ending.
