Away With Words by Sophie Cameron

Pages: 288 

Publisher: Little Tiger 

Released: 11th of May 2023 

Set in a world where words appear physically when people speak, AWAY WITH WORDS explores the importance of communication and being there for those we love.

Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Catalonia to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi’s boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn’t speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. The two girls find their own ways to communicate, which includes collecting other people's discarded words. They use the words to write anonymous supportive poems for their classmates, but then someone begins leaving nasty messages using the same method – and the girls are blamed. Gala has finally started adapting to her new life in Scotland and is determined to find the culprit. Can she and Natalie show the school who they really are?

What I Have to Say 

I adored this book. The idea of words manifesting into physical form when speaking aloud was just so fascinating to read and the fact that the characters then used the words to make art out of was very satisfying. I loved all the descriptions of the different colours and shapes of the words and the way they were put onto the page as well made this a really interesting book to read. 

I loved the main characters and the fact that they both had their own struggles made the book interesting. This book covered so many topics from moving countries and learning a whole new language, to selective mutism to bullying, it also brushed over a few other topics lightly with what the people at school were going through. 

I think this is a great book for any 9-12 child to read and also a great read for the grown ups. 

5 stars 

My thanks goes to Little Tiger and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

The Sisters of the Winter Wood by Rena Rossner

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 464

Publisher: Orbit 

Released: 25th of September 2018 

A magical tale of secrets, family ties and fairy tales weaving through history.

Raised in a small village surrounded by vast forests, Liba and Laya have lived a peaceful sheltered life - even if they've heard of troubling times for Jews elsewhere. When their parents travel to visit their dying grandfather, the sisters are left behind in their home in the woods.

But before they leave, Liba discovers the secret that their Tati can transform into a bear, and their Mami into a swan. Perhaps, Liba realizes, the old fairy tales are true. She must guard this secret carefully, even from her beloved sister.

Soon a troupe of mysterious men appear in town and Laya falls under their spell-despite their mother's warning to be wary of strangers. And these are not the only dangers lurking in the woods...

The sisters will need each other if they are to become the women they need to be - and save their people from the dark forces that draw closer.

What I Have to Say 

I took a long time to get into this book, which was a shame because it should have been one I really enjoyed. I feel like the story took a long time to really get started and then by the time I was enjoying it, it was over. I liked the fairy tale elements of it and the look at Jewish culture and the way that hatred and prejudice can so easily spread through small towns such as the one that Liba and Laya called their home. 

I adored the ending though. It was powerful, magical and hopeful, despite the awful events that took place throughout the book. It would have been easy to end on a sad note, but I'm glad that Rossner chose to show her characters looking towards a future rather than looking back on a travesty. 

I loved the languages used in the book as well, showing the coming together of the Jewish bear shapeshifter in the form of the dad and the Catholic swan shapeshifter of the mother. The conversion of the mother and her background with the swans is so central to the book, so it was nice to see this reflected in the phrases and words that she brought into the household. 

I think this is a book I'd like to reread at some point. I'd like to see if I get into it more now that I know where it's heading. 

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

Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Publisher: Laksa Media Groups

Released: 8th of September 2018 

Journey with twenty-one speculative fiction authors through the fractured borders of human migration to examine assumptions and catch a glimpse of the dreams, struggles, and triumphs of those who choose--or are forced--to leave home and familiar places. Who straddle borders within our worlds--and within us.

Migration. A transformation of time, place, and being . . .

We are called drifters, nomads. We are expatriates, evacuees, and pilgrims. We are colonists, aliens, explorers; strangers, visitors--intruders, conquerors--exiles, asylum seekers, and . . . outsiders.

An American father shields his son from Irish discrimination. A Chinese foreign student wrestles to safeguard her family at the expense of her soul. A college graduate is displaced by technology. A Nigerian high school student chooses between revenge and redemption. A bureaucrat parses the mystery of Taiwanese time travellers. A defeated alien struggles to assimilate into human culture. A Czechoslovakian actress confronts the German WWII invasion. A child crosses an invisible border wall. And many more.

Stories that transcend borders, generations, and cultures. Each is a glimpse into our human need in face of change: to hold fast to home, to tradition, to family; and yet to reach out, to strive for a better life.

What I Have to Say

There were some truly amazing stories in this anthology. It was wonderful to see so many different perspectives, so many different kinds of people from stories set in the past, present and future in countries all over the world, the one thing connecting them all being that they're tales of migration, facing the struggles, prejudices and barriers that come hand in hand with moving their lives across the boarders. 

I don't think there were any stories that I particularly disliked, but there were definitely some that stood out more than others. I adored the way that language played a big part in stories like Porque El Girasol se Llama el Girasol by Rich Larson, Inkskinned by Jeremy Szal and Devouring Tongues by S.L Huang. I also really loved Critical Mass by Liz Westbrook- Trenholm and The Travellers by Amanda Sun. 

The only real problem I had with this anthologies is as the subject matter can be so upsetting and dark, I found that reading them back to back was really quite depressing. I wouldn't take issue with the book itself, but I would advise readers to take a step back and read something else for a bit of a break, which as they're short stories is very easy to do! 

I wholeheartedly recommend this book though. There were beautiful, important and heartbreaking stories throughout the anthology and really show different ways of viewing the world.

My thanks go to Laksa Media Groups and Netgalley for providing me with this copy for review. 

Vox by Christina Dalcher

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 384

Publisher: HQ

Released: 23rd of August 2018

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than 100 words daily, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial--this can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

This is just the beginning.

Soon women can no longer hold jobs. Girls are no longer taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words a day, but now women only have one hundred to make themselves heard.

But this is not the end.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

What I Have to Say 

This was powerful, intelligently written and completely terrifying when looked at alongside real life. From the blurb, you may think that it seems a bit far fetched, the sort of dystopia that needs a lot of explanation of how it happened. But actually playing on the "traditional values" that certain types of people love so much, the government shown in Vox manage to easily, realistically bring such a thing to pass. 

As you can expect from a book built so much around language, words and communication was such a important part of the book and Dalcher had obviously put so much thought into it. With only 100 words to speak a day, women and girls have to put so much thought into exactly what to say, when to nod or shake their head. It was so interesting how not only did they confine their words so much, it was training them to keep quiet without being obvious. 

Jean was a good character. Intelligent and fierce, caring so much about her little girl that she would do anything to get her out of this world that she's found herself in. I loved how much she thought about the past, about how much she and the other women like her could have done to prevent this from happening. The daughter was also a perfect glimpse into what they were teaching the girls at school. The range of characters coming into the novel from just one family, just one woman's viewpoint was really great. 

Not one for the faint of heart, Vox is the perfect look into what could become of our world if we keep letting politicians regress us back to the 50s mindset. 

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

Mother Tongue by Julie Mayhew

Synopsis (from Goodreads) 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Hot Key Books 

Released: 25th of August 2016 

Darya is a young woman trying to recover her life after a brutal terrorist attack shakes her rural Russian hometown, killing her young sister. Her father wants her married off to one of his factory employees and her mother has resurfaced as the matriarch of their family, displacing Darya and even blaming her for Nika's death. But the attack has drawn foreigners to their community, reporters and aid workers who open Darya's eyes to the world. When she falls for a older man, a journalist from New York, could he be her ticket out of her hometown, her old life and her grief?

What I Have to Say 

This book was beautiful, touching and absolutely heart-breaking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed every second of reading it, but I really want to warn you quite how sad the start of it is. The grief that is shown from Darya and the community that surrounds her is very well done and had me weeping to myself in the middle of the night when I shouldn't have really been reading. 

I have to admit, not that much really happens in this book. It's the kind of story that is more about the character's journey than about what happens. Normally I'm not so keen on this type of book, but the beautiful writing and character's in Mother Tongue kept my attention through to the very last page. 

I adore Julie Mayhew's writing and would strongly urge any of you who have never read her books to pick one up. 

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