Review: The Night Itself by Zoe Marriott

GoodReads


When fifteen year old Mio Yamato furtively sneaks the katana - an ancestral Japanese sword - out of its hiding place in her parent's attic to help liven up her Christmas party costume, she has no idea of the darkness she is about to unleash on modern day London, or the family secrets that she is going to uncover.

The paralysing paranoia that descends on her before she gets to her friend's party is her first clue. The vivid and terrifying visions that nearly get her killed are a pretty good warning too.

The giant nine-tailed cat demon that comes after the sword and tries to rip her throat out? Overkill.

Seconds away from becoming kitty-food, Mio is saved by Shinobu, a mysterious warrior boy. But it's already too late. Mio has ruptured the veil between the mortal realm and the Underworld, and now the gods and monsters of ancient Japan stalk the streets of London, searching for her and the sword. 

With the help of her best friend Jack, a fox spirit named Hikaru - and the devoted protection of the betwitchingly familiar Shinobu - Mio attempts to discover the true nature of the sword and its connection to the Yamato family. Because if she doesn't learn how to control the katana's incredible powers, she's in danger of being overwhelmed by them. And if she can't keep the sword safe from the terrible creatures who want it for their own, she'll lose not only her own life... but the love of a lifetime.

Review

Oh Zoe Marriott; how I love thee.o  You always give me the best writing and stories to read and characters I don't want to leave behind.  In a twist on her usual breed of stories, The Night Itself is a contemporary fantasy set in London *claps manically*.

Mio is a teenage girl who's family has a long history from Japanese culture but her parents don't alway embrace it.  She's learnt a little from her grandfather before he died but now she's going to need to learn pretty quickly because her history and mythology are coming for her and she'll need every weapon within her reach.  When she takes a family heirloom, a katana sword, to a fancy dress party she unleashes an deadly demonic being out to settle an old score.  Thrown in a yummy looking action hero 500 year old warrior called Shinobu who has been trapped in time, a punk rocker BFF, evil cats and a fox spirit and then mix rapidly.  That's roughly what you get in The Night Itself but with that Marriott edge that is clever and cool all at once.

I really adore how Zoe manages to make me want to learn as well as read.  I've always found the Japanese culture fascinating and I end up craving to learn more about the mythology from her books.  She's so passionate about what she writes that it can't help but filter through into her work.  

Mio is transitioning from child to adult and finding it hard to fit in, even in her own skin and having a demon after your flesh and the fate of the city in your hands is a tad much for anyone.  My favourite pairing in the book was the relationship between the two girls, who even through their differences are as thick as thieves. They are almost like sisters and the highs and lows of the relationship are well balanced through out the book.  Plus the locations as ever made me squeak loudly because being able to recognise places near me is rather cool and fun.

The Night Itself is a complex story and isn't something you can expect a smooth ride with.  It's got it's scary moments as well as the tender ones.  I enjoyed it just as much as I've expected to love anything from Zoe Marriott.  However Shadows on the Moon is still my favourite.

Published by Walker Books UK and is available here and bookshops from July 2013

Letterbox Love [51]

Letterbox Love is a weekly feature hosted by Lynsey on Narratively Speaking inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie

It came out of a group discussion on twitter for the desire and need for a UK feature to share our weekly grabs, buys and haul of a bookish nature as well as any other goodies we care to share.

Received

Just one this week from Macmillian Children's Books

Tidal by Amanda Hocking

Event Post: Tanya Byrne Book Launch for Follow Me Down

I've been dead excited since I received my invite for the launch do for Follow Me Down by Tanya Byrne.  Not only did I love the book but Tanya is a FANTASTIC author and you can't help but adore because she has the most infectious personality and sense of humour.  Plus there was going to be a gathering of some of the best lovelies in the UKYA blogging and publishing community so it was going to be a nice night indeed.

The venue was a pub in New Oxford Street, London.  I went in and there were all these business men types and it was rammed.  Oh dear; I was in the wrong place.  I double check the address and asked the nice lady at the bar and said I was here for an event and she simply said "Top floor".  So up the narrow creaky stairs to be greeted by Tanya herself.  Hugs and smiles all round.

What did make me giggle was Tanya's words of warning to me: 

Tanya: Don't freak out but Patrick Ness is here?

Me: OOoooOOOOOooo

Tanya: I know. 

Tanya, like myself, is a big Patrick Ness fan so it was a mega honour for her to see him turn up to HER launch and she was beaming as each new guest arrived.  I went over and hugged the adorable Andrew from The PewterWolf, who was wearing a stunning Calvin and Hobbes Tee.  I tried to steal it but he wouldn't allow it.  There was much chat between ALL the fun people there and I finally got to meet Kimberly (aka @kimmiebells on twitter and a fab Waterstones person)

EVEN more exciting was when Andrew told me to go and look at the promo boards dotted around the room.

I'M QUOTED ON THERE! LE GASP!!!

The evening no doubt went on well into the night and I did manage to have a mini cupcake and get my book signed by Tanya but after the speeches and a bit of a catch up I took my leave because I was tired and the room was really hot too.  

Thank you to Tanya for a lovely time (I hope you enjoy the Red Skittles!) and thank you to the fab folks at Headline for inviting me.  Always a Tanya Byrne fan and nothing will change that!

Blog Tour: The Bone Dragon: Picture or Prose?

‘A picture’s worth a thousand words’ according to the famous saying, but it rather the begs the question why authors spend so much time and effort on description. 

Getting interested in photography has had a huge impact on my approach to description and setting. It’s also taught me that sometimes a hundred words can say more than a picture. It just depends on the words, the picture, and the subject in question.

In one of my favourite passages in The Bone Dragon, Evie wanders through the fens on the night of a hoar frost. 

‘The berberis is an armoury of silver-green weapons. The acer a marvel of white over red, stepped limbs dripping tiny crystals. The skeleton of the tree glows in the frozen night air as if displaying its soul to the heavens.’

For several years, I’ve tried to capture on camera what I saw in my mind when I wrote this, but it’s never quite worked out. The pictures below are pretty enough, but the words cut to the heart of what I want people to imagine.

  

Since doing more photography, I’ve learnt that if I can represent a thing or place better with a picture than with words, there’s little point in describing it in a book – unless that thing or place is both important to the plot and unfamiliar to most readers. 

For instance, I’m working on a historical novel that’s partly set on the Isle of Man. I describe several aspects of the setting that could be conveyed just as well, if not better, with a picture. But I’ve kept these passages because the Isle of Man is a real place, the look of which is vital to the story, so I need to be sure that readers can form a picture of it in their minds. Similarly, I describe the Dragon of The Bone Dragon in detail because I can’t expect the reader to know what my version of a dragon looks like, whereas I say almost nothing about Evie’s appearance because it’s not significant to the plot and readers can easily ‘fill in the gaps’ to their own satisfaction, without losing anything of the plot.

Sometimes I feel a description offers something different but equally interesting to a picture, in which case I try to tease out what the image means to me visually versus verbally. In that case, the important thing for me is focusing on how words versus a picture allow me to represent different aspects of the thing in question.

The other key way I use photography is on fieldtrips. I almost never take notes. I find that photos are a much better aide memoire, even for things like smells and tastes and sensations. I try to include photos that capture the complete sensory experience of the relevant place or thing – or at least ones that will jog my memory and take me back there to re-experience it. For instance, this shot of Southend Pier captures exactly what I planned to write about how bitter and wet and endless it is.

I’ve also learned that fieldtrip photos don’t always need to be pretty: sometimes they’re just image-notes that capture factual information efficiently. For instance, the over-exposed shot on the left was intended purely as a reminder of the types of plants that grow on the shore in Ramsey on the Isle of Man, while the lovely picture of parked vehicles on the right shows me roughly how wide the road and promenade are and that there’s greenery directly below the beach-wall.

The key is to take different types of photos: multi-sensory photos, photos to jog your memory, information photos, pretty photos, and photos that capture the thing or place as a whole.

I often find myself zooming in to take pretty shots of things that interest me, but those are usually not the best pictures to write from. Zooming in is effectively a way of editing the information in the picture: when taking fieldtrip photos, it’s often important to include the ‘messy edges’ so that I can edit the picture for what I want to say in the book, which may be quite different from what I’d say in a picture taken for its own sake. For instance, the first picture below tells me a lot about the geography of this particular street in Douglas on the Isle of Man. The next picture is purely intended to be pretty and to inspire me to write about the beauty of the place.

                                           

However, the type of fieldtrip picture I love most is all about beauty: it’s about finding particular things that inspire me to want to write about that place or thing. Often I don’t end up writing about what’s in these pictures per se, but rather the sense of the place that the pictures conjure for me. For instance, sometimes I have a very strong sense of the ‘colour scheme’ of a book and capturing this across a series of photos is vital for helping me bring the setting to life. For instance, The Bone Dragon is blue and silver: the colours of the night. My new book (‘MoB’) is red and yellow.

                  

 

Ultimately, the most important thing that photography has taught me about writing is a better understanding of my own aesthetic. What do I find beautiful? What do I want to communicate to people about the place or thing I’m describing? If you keep coming back to those questions, you’ll soon find that your descriptive voice becomes much clearer and more compelling.

Review: Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti

GoodReads

When the Langur monkey troop rises to power on the dusty streets of Calcutta, it is at a price. A brutal massacre drives the Rhesus troop out of the place they called home and forces them to embark on a dangerous journey. But one Langur monkey, Mico, is prepared to stand up to the tyrannical Langur regime and fight for truth, friendship and love. As Mico uncovers the secrets and lies at the heart of the corrupt Langur leadership, he quickly realizes he is playing a dangerous game. And when monkeys turn on each other, there can be no survivors...

Review


I was sent an email from the lovely Hannah at Walker Books and she was quite upfront about this book as being one she didn't know who out of the UK Bloggers this book would appeal to because it doesn't sit in just one category.  It has action, drama and romance.  It's a thriller for sure and it asks lots of big questions about social morals and the role of power.  Plus the characters are all Monkeys so it's not your average book but Hannah was just SO passionate about it that it really grabbed my attention.

Set in the hectic cityscape of India and two warring factions of monkeys: Langur and Rhesus.  When the Rhesus are removed very violently from their home, an abandoned cemetery, and the Langur move in, their worlds are destined to change forever.  A Rhesus, Papina, and a Langur, Mico, are intertwined over the battle lines and they soon discover things about each others society that are not what they grew up learning.  Mico has his ideas about Rhesus shattered and soon works out that the world he's grown up in is full of secrets and lies.  Can they change things for the better or will corruption and power destroy their lives before they even get a chance to?

I must say that you very quickly forget you're reading about the lives of monkeys and the ideas could be applied to anyone or anything.  It's got such a strong vibe of Orwellian tones and crawled inside my brain.  I couldn't stop myself reading just one more chapter when really I should have gone to sleep or left for work in the morning.  I loved the strong characters and boldness of the story as a whole.  Even the secondary characters stood out in the plot and all had a part to play in how the story was shaped.  Wonderfully addictive and  honestly horrific and a book that will be perfect for English Lit classes as well as a truly fantastic read.  I completely loved Monkey Wars and can't wait to pass my copy along to another lucky reader!

Published by Walker Books UK and is available here and bookshops now

Letterbox Love [50]

Letterbox Love is a weekly feature hosted by Lynsey on Narratively Speaking inspired by Alea at Pop Culture Junkie

It came out of a group discussion on twitter for the desire and need for a UK feature to share our weekly grabs, buys and haul of a bookish nature as well as any other goodies we care to share.

Received

Doll Bones by Holly Black

Thanks to Random House Children's Books

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien

Bought for myself.  I have never read this and this must be righted (or so my BF tells me).  Actually quite excited to read it!

Shadow and Bone/Siege and Storm by Leigh Burdugo

Thank you SO much to Nina at Indigo/Fierce Fiction.  A lovely new edition with the new title and redesigned cover for Shadow and Bone (previously The Gathering Dark) and a proof copy of Siege and Storm in one book! Started this already and really love it!

Heaven by Alexandra Adornetto
Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin
Both from Atom Books UK

Event Post: Recon at Waterstones Southampton

On a mild spring evening I find myself at a Waterstones in Southampton awaiting the arrival of many Manga and Anime inspired costumed folks and I've been warned several times that it's rather a nuts event.  Robin (ace Waterstones lovely that organised the whole thing!) was fab and greeted me and I also got to meet Lloyd (*waves*) and two fab Waterstones ladies that would be working the event.  Authors in residence for the evening are Andy Robb, author of the Geekhood Series (I'm pretty sure Andy expects me at all his events now just to be some sort of side line entertainment if he's bored) and Laura Powell, author of Witch Fire and Burn Mark (Cool! Ace books and a lovely author too!).

Andy and Laura

I sort of ended up here randomly on purpose which makes no sense but would take too long to explain but suffice to say I was very pleased I made it!  It was one of the strangest, loudest, colourful and enthusiastic events I've ever seen.  It seems that Southampton has a big Manga community and tonight was a favourite gathering event.  The sheer effort put into some of the costumes just blew my mind.  One girl had handmade her whole outfit and it was unbelievable.

Andy and an attendee in her fully handmade outfit

There was a quiz (that was way over my head though I did know the original TV series Batman was played by Adam West!) and there was an author panel where we had a variety of questions from "Would you like a Jaffa Cake?" to "Do you know where the toilets are?".  It was a continual round of things to look at and do and the community feeling among the people there was astonishing really.  They all come together and there was laughs, chatting, gaming and exchanges of tips for costume making.  The effort in every aspect made me take a step back in shock really.  The only other time I'd seen this amount of costume effort was at LFCC.

I had a fantastic evening and kinda wished I'd dressed up but I have a limited Manga knowledge so would have had to go as a Pokemon.  Maybe Charizard or Psyduck.  It was a fantastic evening and thanks to all the Waterstones Southampton people for their hard work that really paid off!