The Sharp Edge of Silence by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum

Pages: 496 

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 11th of April 2023 

Students at Lycroft Phelps are marked for success.

As a straight-A student and girlfriend of the school's star rower, Charlotte believes in what the school has to offer. Meanwhile, scholarship student Max is struggling. Until he's asked to join the rowing team offering him popularity - but at what cost? Then there's Quinn, a sixth-generation legacy student, who should be able to lay claim to the school in a way others can't. Who instead must watch the boy who assaulted her continue to play at the top of the school's food chain. Only in the dead of night does Q realize the solution to her suffering: Colin Pearce must die.

But Lycroft Phelps has more than one dark secret at its heart, and as the three students uncover just how far the school will go to keep those ugly truths hidden, there's a lot more than reputation at stake...

TW: Misogyny, panic attacks/ disorders, rape 

What I Have to Say 

I will never get tired of reading books about girls bringing down the system and getting revenge on boys for all the shit they put us through. The only downside was how long it took to actually get to the plot of bringing down the system. It felt like there was a lot of set up with the different relationships and the crew team. I don't know if anything could have been taken out, because a huge part of the plot was Max getting caught up in the crew team and that was very necessary, but it just slowed down the book a lot. 

I wasn't sure at first about having a male voice in a book about rape, but I really really liked Max's POV. I think it really added a lot to the book. Because it showed how boys, even boys who know better, can be pulled into the toxic masculinity and become part of it. It was good to see one of the "good ones" and how easy it can be to stand by and not stop things like this from happening. 

In all, I think this was handled really well. I liked how the emphasis wasn't on the rape. The rape had happened before the book even started and was only shown in flashbacks. The emphasis was on the fall out and how to stop it happening again. 

Definitely on my list of best feminist reads of all time. 

4 stars 

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

Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

 

Pages: 470

Publisher: Tor Books 

Release: 1st March 2022

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few...

- Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.

- Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.

- Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.

- Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.

- Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

What I Have to Say 

This book fascinated me. I really enjoyed reading it.

 First of all a little warning, this is not an easy read. The writing is dense and there is a lot of very science-like talk about magic. The magic system is elaborate and the writer has gone deep into the way it works. Don't pick this up if you mind a slow read. I could only manage it in small sections, because it tired me more than some books do. I happened to like the slowness and the sciencey stuff so it worked for me but different people have different tastes. 

Secondly the characters are all immensely dislikeable.  This was something I loved about the book. It was so interesting how the writer could write such horrible characters and still get you to like them and feel empathy for them. One of my favourites was Parisa who was one of the worst. She was callous and manipulative and I ate up every moment of it. 

The ending was the only thing that let me down a bit. And it was a big let down. The big reveal was told rather than shown and it felt really distant from the action. I was really disappointed because it would have been a really good reveal if it had been done better.  

That said, it really set up some interesting stuff for the next book so I'm excited to see what comes next. 

(3.5 stars) 

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

Agatha Oddly: Murder at the Museum by Lena Jones

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 320 

Publisher: Harper Collins Children's Books 

Released: 7th March 2019 

A second mystery for thirteen-year-old Agatha Oddly – a bold, determined heroine, and the star of this stylish new detective series.

Agatha Oddlow’s set to become the youngest member of the Gatekeepers’ Guild, but before that, she’s got a mystery to solve!

There’s been a murder at the British Museum and, although the police are investigating, Agatha suspects that they’re missing a wider plot going on below London – a plot involving a disused Tube station, a huge fireworks display, and five thousand tonnes of gold bullion… 

What I Have to Say 

A lovely new voice to the MG detective scene! Though this was the second in the series, it still gave a really nice introduction to the characters. I don't normally like coming into a series on the second book, but this one just really worked for me. I might go back and read the first book at some point, but there was enough detail in the book to catch me up with what happened. 

I loved Agatha's character a lot. I loved how she liked fashion and looking good alongside codebreaking and investigating. Often girls who are active and adventurous in children's book are made into tomboys and are given less feminine-attributes so it was really good to see that Agatha was allowed to be feminine alongside her dectectiving. I also loved her friend Brianna who was more of a sciencey-girl and helped Agatha out with the science side of her investigations. I loved her style too. I'm not sure what she was like in the first book, because I know she was a popular girl in the Chic Clique , but in this book she was awesome. 

I also really liked how detailed it went into Agatha's code breaking when she was working through the tests for the Gatekeeper's Guild. It made me really want to learn how to code break and send secret messages for my friends. 

This is definitely a book for any fan of MG detective so if you have a murder-mystery obsessed kid or just want to investigate Agatha's world yourself, go pick up this book or the first in the series! 

My thanks go to Netgalley and Harper Collins for providing me with this free copy for review. 

The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 464 

Publisher: Wednesday Books 

Released: 15th of January 2019 

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can't yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they'll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

What I Have to Say 

This has all the workings of a new favourite series! I found the world really interesting and would love to see more of it. I also really liked the characters. They worked well together and had the sort of humour that I love. The book came together perfectly to make just the sort of story I liked

I loved the mythology in it too. The way that the fictional society, the artefacts they seek and the dangers that the team face are rooted in various cultures and mythology, from the biblical tower of Babel, through Chinese numerical code, to the Egyptian Eye of Horus. I loved to see so many different myths brought together to create a story that felt real, like it could be hidden in the shadows, just waiting to be found.

Everything about this book felt rich and detailed. It's definitely a new fantasy novel to look out for!

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

The Secret Fire by C.J. Daugherty and Carina Rozenfeld

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 424

Publisher: Atom

Released: 3rd of September 2015

French teen Sacha Winters can't die. He can throw himself off a roof, be stabbed, even shot, and he will always survive. Until the day when history and ancient enmities dictate that he must die. Worse still, his death will trigger something awful. Something deadly. And that day is closing in.

Taylor Montclair is a normal English girl, hanging out with her friends and studying for exams, until she starts shorting out the lights with her brain. She’s also the only person on earth who can save Sacha.

There’s only one problem: the two of them have never met. They live hundreds of miles apart and powerful forces will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

They have eight weeks to find each other.

Will they survive long enough to save the world?

What I Have to Say 

I've been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it and it was so good! I loved it from the first page until the last. The characters were both perfect. I loved Taylor a lot. She was intelligent, driven and had a distinct personality that is sometimes lost in that type of character. Sacha was tough, dangerous, off the rails and wonderfully French. You could see the chemistry between the two from really early on. 

The writing styles of the two authors complimented each other really well. I adored the mysteries surrounding the two characters. Taylor, starting to find out that there's something unusual going on with her and Sacha having known for a while that he's going to die and given up on his life because of it. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this series develops. I have a feeling it's going to become one of my favourites. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by e.Lockhart

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Pages: 352

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Released: 6th of November 2014 (originally published 25th of March 2008) 

Fifteen-year-old Frankie Landau-Banks has grown up a lot over the summer. She's no longer daddy's little girl - and almost immediately after starting the new semester at her highly prestigious school, she bags goofy-but-gorgeous Matthew Livingston as her boyfriend. They get along great but then Frankie discovers that Matthew is a member of a boys-only secret society that specialise in 'hilarious' pranks. Which hardly seems fair... especially when Frankie knows she's smarter than any of its members. And to prove this, she's going to teach them a lesson.

Impersonating lead member Alpha by using a fake email account is surprisingly easy, and soon Frankie is setting the boys up with all sorts of ridiculous schemes and sending them on wild goose chase after wild goose chase. Alpha's not prepared to lose face and admit it's not him sending the emails - but the fun can't last forever, and soon Frankie will have to choose between what she think she wants, and the reputation she deserves. 

What I Have to Say 

This book was incredible. Often I don't like books about the highly intelligent people because it seems the books look down on those of us with more average school grades. I think it helped that there wasn't patronizing toward the lesser educated and that most of the humour was based on grammar, which I can always get on board with. 

The best bit about this book though was Frankie herself and the strong feminist character that she was. Perhaps her behaviour isn't the best role model, but her perspective of herself as a strong female 

who won't bow do to the male run society that she lives in is one that should inspire us all. 

I just adored this book from start to finish. All the pranks that Frankie and the Basset Hounds pulled were inspired and I loved the fact that Frankie was trying to promote certain messages and social change with the things she planned. 

Anyone who likes boarding school, feminism, social protests, secret societies or really anything really should read this book.