As the schools break up for Christmas and snow twinkles on the horizon, this week's roundup is taking a wintery theme. Site member HenrylX wrote a fantastic review of Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis, in which Timmy, who runs a crime detective agency, is helped out by his polar bear Total!
"This book has a lot of complicated words about Timmy's detective work but actually this is all just a lot of mischief. For example he says "I must report I have some devastating news" when he can't find his pen, and he gives Gabe a huge questionnaire about some missing chocolate. The contrast between the official language and the silly problems is really funny … If I had more copies of this book I would give them to all my friends as I really enjoyed reading it."
Our next pick continues the winter theme with XoXo, BOOKWORM_98's excellent review of Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz. In this dystopian future all that exists is coldness, snow and ice. XoXo, BOOKWORM_98, however, didn't warm to the book…
"For cut-throat mercenaries, the group of boys escorting Nat to the Blue certainly didn't seem like them, but more like love sick boys that can't make decisions and don't have any semblance of loyalty. At sixteen, they're 'educated', have served time in the army and are scarred, with blood on their hands but that maturity that they should have had wasn't there … All I can say is that I was disappointed and Frozen is something I simply can't recommend."
Moving away from winter now, but to another dystopian future, Readaholic02 wrote a brilliant review of Noble Conflict by Malorie Blackman. In this story Kasper trains to be a Guardian to protect his society, but soon learns everything isn't as it seems.
"Knowledge is at the centre of Blackman's book – Kasper quickly learns that knowledge is power, but that the leaders of his world are working on the basis that ignorance of their population is what makes them powerful … Noble Conflict is higher class of YA novel than some out there. It's a thought provoking novel about how we should question our leaders, and it's a beautifully crafted story – Blackman tells you everything her characters know and need to know, and nothing more. It makes for something quite poignant, and as a standalone I thought it ended just right."
Similarly, another dystopian world – indeed, perhaps THE original dystopia – features in peace_love_books' outstanding review of The Trial by Franz Kafka. In this story, a supposedly innocent man is arrested and put to an unfair trial, without ever being told why.
"The Trial is deeply thought-provoking in its uncomfortable presentation of a world where people are observed by secret police and suddenly arrested, reflecting the social turmoil in Europe around the time Kafka wrote it in 1914. There are striking parallels to Orwell's 1984 where the protagonist is observed constantly and people are punished by the totalitarian state for actions which seem harmless, such as 'thought-crime'. As such, fans of fiction which presents a disturbingly realistic alternative world ruled by oppression would enjoy The Trial. While the plot itself is rather slow – as K. simply discovers more about the trial process, rather than enacting a fast-paced adventure scheme to overthrow the court – it is worth reading for the important and interesting concepts Kafka raises."
More deception and dystopia as Hannah3111999 wrote a terrific review of There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake. After being struck by a car, teenage Shelby goes on the run from dangers only her mother understands.
"The multiple plot twists really drew me in and I felt as though they were extremely fitting to the slogan of "there will be two lies, and then there will be the truth" … Although the truth was hard to handle, it made for an emotional ending and gave the perfectly unexpected ending to a perfectly unpredictable book."
Finally, we end this week's roundup with a amazing review – perhaps not the best choice before Christmas! – by Rider of The Devil and His Boy by Anthony Horowitz. In this fantasy book, Tom Falconer discovers his grandmother is Queen everything changes and he must defend her against the Garden Players.
"My favourite character is Wiliam Hawkins. I quite like his horse too. I also like secret passages and guess what! I also like wizards, especially Welsh wizards with Welsh cats."
That's all for our roundup this week. Thank you to all our superb reviewers for sending in such fantastic reviews! If your review has been mentioned above, please email the book elves and we will send you something highly readable in the Christmas post!
