Savage Her Reply by Deidre Sullivan

Pages: 256 

Publisher: Little Island 

Released: 1st of October 2020 

A dark, feminist retelling of The Children of Lir told in Sullivan's hypnotic prose. A retelling of the favourite Irish fairytale The Children of Lir. Aife marries Lir, a king with four children by his previous wife. Jealous of his affection for his children, the witch Aife turns them into swans for 900 years.

 Retold through the voice of Aife, Savage Her Reply is unsettling and dark, feminist and fierce, yet nuanced in its exploration of the guilt of a complex character. Voiced in Sullivan's trademark rich, lyrical prose as developed in Tangleweed and Brine - the multiple award-winner which established Sullivan as the queen of witchy YA. Another dark & witchy feminist fairytale from the author of Tangleweed and Brine

What I Have To Say 

I couldn't connect to this story at all. It just felt unemotional and I didn't have any sympathy for the character. I wanted to hear her side of the story but it was told so matter-of-factly that I just couldn't really feel for her. 

The book was set out in a really interesting way and I really liked all the poems between the chapters, but the paragraphs detail what happened in the original story felt unnecessary. It was good to see when Aife's version diverged from the original, but a lot of the time it was just telling us what would happen in the next chapter. 

I wish I could have enjoyed it more. I wanted to like it but it just fell completely flat. 

2 stars 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Little Island for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Agevedo

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 368 

Publisher: Electric Monkey 

Released: 3rd of May 2018 

Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. When it comes to standing her ground in her Harlem neighbourhood, she lets her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But X has secrets – her feelings for a boy in her bio class, and the notebook full of poems that she keeps under her bed. And a slam poetry club that will pull those secrets into the spotlight.

Because in spite of a world that might not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to stay silent.

What I Have to Say 

I'm not a massive fan of just sitting and reading poetry, especially with something like Slam where it's supposed to be read allowed, but I liked this book so, so much. The combinations of the story and the poetry meant that I could see Xiomara reading the poems. The beautiful cover is one that gets so stuck in your mind that it makes Xiomara so, so easy to picture. It was the perfect combination of Slam poetry and prose. 

I loved Xiomara's passion and the emotions that were stirred up in this book, especially when it came to her poetry around her family. It struck me that she and her brother had a lot of big secrets they were hiding from the rest of their family. 

I also really liked the romance. It felt so real and easily broken, especially considering her parents opinions on dating. I do think there's something about hidden romance that makes you more worried and invested in the characters. 

I promise, you will not be let down by this book. 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Electric Monkey for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 266

Publisher: Candlewick Press 

Released: 8th of May 2018 

i am the girl manny loves. the girl who writes our story in the book of flying. i am alice.

Alice is fifteen, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words, but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows that words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chips shops, quiet corners. Manny is sixteen, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken, too: he once was a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with people who care for him, Manny explores the small town on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up, a poem whose words he knows by heart. The relationship between Alice and Manny will be the beginning of love and healing. And for these two young souls, perhaps, that will be good enough.

What I Have to Say 

It took me a while to get into this. Alice's voice was very interesting and I liked her use of words, but especially in the first few chapters and the poems were hard to understand, but after I got into it, it became much easier. It was definitely a unique voice, with a playful use of words that really showed Alice's character, that despite her struggles with words being a result of her brain injury, she has found a way to own it and make it her unique way of speaking. 

 I felt that the story was a bit lacking through most of the book. The fact that Manny and Alice didn't even meet properly until quite a way through the book meant that the first half was just them wondering about one another and not much really happened. 

I really got into the book by the end though and the finale was very good and quite gripping. I only wish that the rest of the book could have been as satisfying plot wise. 

My thanks goes to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for providing me with this copy for review.