Soulbinder by Sebastien de Castell

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 400

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 4th of October 2018 

Kellen and his murderous squirrel cat, Reichis, are on their own. They've heard rumour of a mythical monastery, known as the Ebony Abbey. It's a place that outsiders can never find - but Kellen is getting desperate. He's been told that the monks inside the Ebony Abbey know more about the Shadowblack than anyone else - and that they even know how to cure it.

Then Kellen and Reichis are separated and for the first time, Kellen must face the world alone - and venture deeper into shadow magic than he ever knew he could.

What I Have to Say 

This book hurt my heart a lot. For one thing, Kellen started off not knowing if a couple of his friends were dead and we were kept in suspense through most of the book!! I'm not going to tell you which friends or if they survived but it was a really rough ride! I teared up several times. It really reminded me just how much I loved these characters and how much I never want anything bad to happen to any of them ever! Too bad these books are basically about Kellen and his friends suffering through various attempts on their lives! 

I've said before how much I adore this series. I've mentioned that Kellen just feels like such a realistic character and how awesome Reichis is (I was gonna say cute but then I thought he might decide to eat my eyeballs if I said that! I'm pretty sure the fact that he's trapped between the pages of a book wouldn't be enough to stop a squirrelcat!). I don't want to keep writing the same post over and over again for each book. But I don't have much else to say really. The books are so amazing and they've kept such a great standard for the whole series. There's only a few series that have been able to maintain the same level of enthusiasm from me for this long. 

I think something that did hit me on this retelling was how good the overarching narrative was. I was fortunate enough to meet De Castell at a blogger meet earlier this month and he talked about how Kellen's story is connected very closely to his own feelings of being Canadian and growing older to find out how badly the native Canadian population have been (and still are) treated. I've always liked that it's a story that shows a people who have invaded and basically wiped out the people who owned the lands they inhabit and the fact that it really doesn't shy away from this fact and the horror that Kellen feels to be Jan'tep because of this, but I think that after hearing the author talk about it, it felt more prominent to me. It's a really important subject matter and I'm really glad to see people writing about it when so many people try to forget or hide it. 

Do I really need to say go read this series again? What are you waiting for, it's fantastic!? 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Hot Key Books for providing me with this copy for review. 

No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 288

Publisher: Anderson

Released: 4th of October 2018 

Felix Knutsson is nearly thirteen, lives with his mother and pet gerbil Horatio, and is brilliant at memorising facts and trivia. So far, pretty normal. But Felix and his mom Astrid have a secret: they are living in a van. Astrid promises it’s only for a while until she finds a new job, and begs Felix not to breathe a word about it. So when Felix starts at a new school, he does his very best to hide the fact that most of his clothes are in storage, he only showers weekly at the community centre, and that he doesn’t have enough to eat. When his friends Dylan and Winnie ask to visit, Felix always has an excuse.

But Felix has a plan to turn his and Astrid’s lives around: he’s going to go on his favourite game show Who, What, Where, When and win the cash prize. All he needs is a little luck and a lot of brain power . . .

What I Have to Say

This was basically an Canadian version of Slumdog Millionaire for kids. Felix is a optimistic teenager who just wants to save him and his mum  through the junior edition of his favourite game show! It's a great blend of hope, friendship and real life issues. 

Living in a van with his single mum, Astrid, Felix has a lot of struggles. I can't remember if it was stated specifically that Astrid had bipolar or if it was something that I read into it, but it definitely dealt with her going into depressive slumps and Felix having to look after her. Spending most of the time trying to hide from the questions of friends, teachers and anyone else who might report them to the authorities (something that Astrid is terrified of due to her own bad experiences in the past), Felix has to get through life and school and friendships without anyone finding out he lives out of a van. It's amazing that Nielson managed to squeeze so many real life issues into one book so completely naturally. 

I loved the bond between Felix and his friends. He had such a great friendship with Dylan that he could so easily pick up after so many years, but the best thing was how Winnie just inserted herself in the group through shear force of will. Winnie was a great character who is definitely the sort of person who everyone hates at school, but the friendship still worked once Felix and Dylan just accepted that they wouldn't be able to get away from her. She proved herself to be such a great friend to Felix and shows that the most unexpected friends can be the best. 

This is an important book and also a thrilling on. It is fun to read while still hitting the hard issues without shying away. Definitely a book to pick up this year. 

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