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Rebel Heart - Moira Young
by mattconnect
The sequel to 'Blood Red Road' by Moira Young sees Saba, after rescuing her brother Lugh, seek a new life out West with her family and a promise from her lover Jack that he will return to find her after fulfilling unfinished business.
When news of a Tonton revival and of Jack being part of it reaches Saba, she is determined ... to find the love of her life and rescue him so they could be together.
Simply put, the plot of this story is pretty much the same as the previous book except for the fact that Saba is trying to find Jack, not her brother. Saba is still the same stubborn girl and her continued refusal to accept her friends' help is deeply aggravating.
Whilst she is haunted from her past and the events of the last book causing her to have hallucinations add a level of emotion to her character, this is only dealt with in the first half and lost almost completely in the second.
The tension between Saba and her brother is also disturbing. What happens to Lugh during his captivity is still withheld from us which is understandable, but some of the fights the siblings have are quite irrational and stupid; I feel that Young tries too hard to make Lugh important (given he is Saba's twin) that in doing so, draws the focus away from the love that they supposedly have for each other and is almost just a mirror of the tension between Saba and Jack in the last book.
Whether or not Saba really knows it yet or not, it is in-your-face obvious that fate and destiny are driving the events that are occuring and the bigger picture is that she is an icon for rebellion and she will need to take that role sooner or later. Her self-awareness of her own selfishness and yet still chooses to make the choices she does as interesting as it makes her, causes me to dislike her even more.
But what is most disturbing is the way the plot begins to unravel towards the end. It is as if Young just read some wretched romance novel and tried to yank a chapter from it. Saba's lack of control and what she does it completely out of character and completely throws the reader. This could positively be an ultimatum of a twist, but it is not completely dealt with and from this point on, the remaining few pages do little to satisfy what has been conjured, not helped by the inconsistency of the plot and writing style.
Overall, 'Rebel Heart' appears to be a bridging point between the events of the first novel and what is yet to come. The dynamics between the characters are repetitive and loose; with Saba failing to be a likeable antagonist causing the reader to lose interest. The ending is shocking and inevitably divisive and although a third novel is sure to come, this lackluster sequel has anaesthetised me from really caring about what happens to any of the characters, maybe except for Emmi, who seems to be the only one with a level head and a moral compass. If I were you, I would leave it at the end of 'Blood Red Road' and positively imagine your own ending because Young's continuation of this story and how it ends is certainly rebellious but lacks any heart.
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Trick of the Dark - Val McDermid
by SWSt
Until recently, I had never read any of Val McDermid' s novels, but when I was given a couple I found that they offered an interesting twist on the rather done-to-death (pun definitely intended) murder thriller. McDermid' s books seemed to offer something a little different from the endless parade of standard police procedurals, without ... falling into the "Miss Marple" amateur detective genre. With a couple of books now behind me, I was hoping for something similar when I picked up Trick of the Dark.
The plot sees disgraced psychology expert Charlie Flint pulled back to Oxford by her former university tutor, who asks her to investigate the murder of her daughter's husband on their wedding day. Needless to say, the more Charlie digs, the more hidden secrets she uncovers and the more unhappiness and misery is caused.
The plot is both a strength and a weakness. It is relatively straightforward (despite the odd red herring) and so is nice and easy to follow. This, in turn, makes the book very readable. Despite the fact that is fairly lengthy (over 500 pages), it kept me entertained most of the time. On the downside, this simplicity worked against it because it was very easy to work out where the book was heading and who the guilty party would was. Anyone who regularly reads murder thrillers will have it worked out long before the main character finally pieces things together. This makes you feel a sense of exasperation that Charlie is so slow at working things out. I'm not always the fastest in the world at this sort of thing either, so there will be plenty of other people able to work it out much earlier than me!
On the plus side, McDermid books are always enjoyable because (however simple), she does know how to tell a story. She marshalls her facts well, slowly peeling back layers to reveal more and more of the story. As a result, even when you have worked out what is going on, you want to keep on reading to see if you are right and to see how all the various elements of the plot link together.
That said, the plot does feel rather artificial at times. From the slightly mysterious opening (the main character is sent a packet of press clippings as a "test") to the way the murder unfolds, it all feels rather contrived and unlikely. If you accept that this book bears about as much resemblance to reality as pink elephants, then you'll probably get on with it reasonably OK. If you like your murder mysteries to be realistic, then you might struggle.
The element I found most annoying is that pretty much every major character in the book is gay. Sure, there may be the a few straight characters, but all the ones that matter are lesbians, which is patently ridiculous. McDermid presumably does this to promote the gay agenda and highlight the prejudices some people face over their sexuality. Unfortunately, all she really does is reinforce some of those prejudices and stereotypes. The murderer turns out to be a lesbian (that's not a plot spoiler, given how many there are in the plot) pandering to the prejudice that all gay people are dangerously perverted. Charlie is actively considering betraying her long-term partner to have an affair with another character (pandering to widespread misconception that gay people are incapable of fidelity). If McDermid is trying to push the gay agenda, she rather shoots herself in the foot.
I also found it rather difficult to warm to many of the characters (good and bad). They all felt very superficial and selfish. Several also felt rather badly fleshed out (even the major ones), only cropping up as and when the plot demanded. Indeed, apart from Charlie, I didn't really feel like I knew any of the characters any better at the end of the book than I had at the start, and this compounds the feeling of a rather superficial book. I was left with the impression that either McDermid is starting to run out of ideas, or this was just a little book she knocked out to kill some time before she started on something more important. It's readable, but inconsequential
Ultimately, this is pretty much a one-read wonder and unless you are a McDermid completist, I would strongly recommend you try and get hold of it second hand. I got my copy for a couple of quid and I can't complain at that. I read it, I enjoyed it, I gave it away. Had I paid the cover price of £7.99 (or even the online price of around £4.50), I'm not so sure I would have felt as satisfied.
Basic Information
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A trick of the Dark
Val McDermid
Sphere, later edition, 2011
ISBN: 978-0751543223
© Copyright SWSt 2013
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Warm Bodies - Isaac Marion
by Hoggle-DR1749
Warm bodies is essentially a zombie version of Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet,' made humorous and with a happy ending. It's set in post zombie-apocalyptic America where zombies and humans live either side of a giant wall. It starts with the birth of thought within the zombie protagonist 'R' where humorous yet conscious thoughts begin ... the narrative of this story. We then get an insight into the different lifestyles of zombies and humans, to which we then meet 'Julie.' The daughter of the self-proclaimed general/leader of the human survivors/settlers/refugees. She has friends, a boyfriend and daddy- issues. The grand meeting of Julie and R occurs when Julie and the humans (including her best friend and boyfriend) go on a search for supplies in the zombie side of the wall, and R and his zombie pals go toward the human part of town to grab some food. After which R eats Julie's boyfriend and kidnaps Julie. Then the big romance blossoms complete with balcony scene. All in all a good read that could be good for many audiences, an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse, and a funny take on a classic Shakespearian love story.
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