Book 69 – Monsters of Blood and Honour by Ken Catran – New Zealand

Posted on August 18, 2012 by abond

This is three novellas depicting teenagers interacting with war veterans from World War 2. The first story is about a cranky old man, Mr Parkin, who confronts the local teenage drag racers about their terrorizing the elderly residents of a retirement village with their night racing along the long stretch of road. This confrontation leads to one of the teens, Jase, wanting to get revenge for the old man shaming him. He begins to research the Lancaster Bomber squadrons that Parkin is so proud to have flown for. As Jase confronts him with this new information of the devastation the Bombers caused in Germany the teenager experiences a passionate counter attack as Parkin invites him in to listen to the tapes he has made for the oral history project. As you would expect perceptions change as Jase listens to the description of the terrors the Lancaster crews faced each night as they flew their missions.

The second story is about a young woman who is asked to care for her stern spinster great aunt. The rest of the family is unable to be with her so it falls to the girl to stay with her aunt who has been unwell recently. As their weekend together progresses it turns out that the aunt has been writing her account of the fall of Singapore and her time in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp.

The last story is the most unusual. It is the account of a reclusive old man and his encounter with a teen who discovers that the man was involved is the largest tank battle at Kursk on the Russian border. The old man was in the German Panzer division and has terrible secrets to hide from his neighbours.

The book has a moving epilogue of a veteran attending ANZAC day commemoration.

In each story the links between the veterans and the teens are tenuous and a little contrived. The retelling of the war stories are well researched and compelling which is the redeeming feature of this book.

Bob from National Library NZ reviews the book. Trevor Agnew’s review

Book 68 – Calling the Gods by Jack Lazenby –

Posted on August 11, 2012 by abond

Winner of the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Award 2012. I saw the proof copy of this when I was in New Zealand last year and couldn’t wait to read the actual book. As soon as I arrived back in Auckland I headed for my local library and had to reserve it (a good sign).

This book is set in the future and follows the banishment from her village of a young woman named Selene. Selene has the gift of calling the gods to her village each year – whales. Her village makes the most of the gift of one of the gods to them by preserving the meat, making oil, using every part of the whale to sustain their precarious existence. We meet Selene as she is banished and we travel with her on her journey of survival against amazing odds. She has to bury her lover at sea as his attempt to join her is discovered and he is killed by the villagers as he attempts to sail to her. She rescues her brothers and a few others from the burned out remains of the village and they flee north to try to make a new life for themselves.

As they find a bay that is inhabitable and begin to create their own village Selene is ‘seen’ by an elderly man in our time. He sees Selene and her new tribe as ghosts and begins to understand that they are not from the past but of the future. His observations bring a kind of anthropological commentary to the story. It is this aspect of the novel that is troubling for some readers. The novel does demand a lot from its readers but gives us an inspirational person in the character of Selene. She shows courage in the face of overwhelming odds. She is forced to take risks in her efforts to build a future for her family. Her leadership provides the younger children with security.

Review from Tomorrow’s Schools today and a less than favourable review from Aleisha Cotterall posting in a forum of Booksellers NZ

Book 67 – Real life by Ella West – New Mexico, USA

Posted on August 6, 2012 by abond

I really enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy by Ella West, Thieves and Anywhere but here. The main character in all three novels, Nicky, has an extraordinary ability to ‘travel’. She can think of somewhere and then appear there simply by thinking about it. As ‘Thieves’ was first published the popular TV series ‘Heroes’ was first being shown in New Zealand. Whenever I book-talked these books I would link Nicky’s abilities to those of the characters in that TV show. Nicky’s ability to travel caused her much heartache throughout the series. In the first book she is kidnapped from her home in New Zealand by the “Project” which brought her together with a group of young people with the same ability. They were asked to rescue lost people and to go to offices to retrieve files. They suspected the Project’s motives for sending them on these missions.

As Real Life begins we find Nicky back at the Project having been captured after the whole group had escaped. They are all distrustful of the Project and each other. Nicky discovers that there is a swimming team in a small town near the Project and she decides to get back to the sport she was passionate about in her life before the Project. The solitary nature of swimming training meant that Nicky was able to reflect on what had happened to her in the Project and think about her present situation. She also discovers that many people in the small town have links with the Project.

I really enjoyed all three books and was surprised at how Ella West finishes this series. There is a great discussion on Ella West’s blog between her and a fan called Aimee about the ending of these books. Just a warning though this discussion does have details about the ending so if you want to read the book don’t read this blog post and discussion. I am impressed that West encouraged Aimee’s critique of her work and had such an indepth discussion.

More details about the book from Wheeler’s website