book review

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rec160: Dream Weaver

NOVEL

Title: Dream Weaver

Author: Steven Paulsen

Publisher: IFWG, 2023

In which fellow Ballarat-based writer Steven Paulsen draws on his own travels, a tonne of research and a well-honed imagination to conjure a thrilling chase across a chunk of 1400s Anatolia. Ali is a poor youth with a valuable gift – a gift he barely understands but drops him into the centre of a bloody power struggle. To survive he must fulfil a quest that involves unexpected allies and merciless pursuers, the prize a sheer delight. The story is pitched at a YA audience but rewards the older reader, even if some of the turns and reveals may not be too unexpected. The characters are enjoyable, the setting well detailed, and moments of magic are beautifully entwined in the historical period in what must draw references to the Arabian Nights. There’s an earthiness, a darkness, the flavours and scents of the food and the landscape, that keep the flights of fancy grounded while giving the story plenty of lift. Good fun.

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rec160: The Hidden Keystone

NOVEL

Title: The Hidden Keystone

Author: Nathan Burrage

Publisher: IFWG, 2023

The first book of the Salt Lines duology, in which history gets an occult makeover. Set in two timelines, the story imagines a hidden purpose to both the fall of Jerusalem in 1099 and the French destruction of the Templars in 1307. There’s a large cast (blessed be the character list), taking in the two sides competing for an artefact of Biblical proportions, with would-be ruler of Jerusalem Godefroi and newly minted Templar Bertrand at the forefront. Burrage, not unused to this terrain, finds contrast in the heat of the Holy Land and foggy, rainy France, the intersection of the two storylines no doubt to be made in book 2, due out in 2024. Bertrand and his trusty bodyguard make for an engaging duo, being dropped into the conspiracy as they are pursued across France, while driven Godefroi takes the role of hunter in the desert. The supernatural slips easily into the well-drawn historical elements, making this an entertaining read.

NOTE: I’ll have the pleasure of helping Nathan launch The Hidden Keystone at Conflux in Canberra on Sunday 1 October 2023.

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rec160: The Left-Handed Booksellers of London

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin, 2020)

In 1983 England, all is not what it seems in this slightly askew historical setting.

Creatures of folklore and myth intrude into the human realm, with a dedicated band of booksellers keeping them in check.

The booksellers, versed in lore and adept in magical and martial battle, police the realm with a nod and a wink from the authorities.

Enter art student Susan, with a family secret that leads her into the secret world, with left-handed bookseller Merlin and his right-handed sister Vivien keeping her company as they pursue their own quest.

The characters are vibrant, the world as intriguing as you’d expect from a master of the genre such as Garth Nix.

There’s an engaging voice to the narrative that harks to the likes of Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and others who have brought the mythic into the mortal, and Nix is not adrift in that company as he doffs a fresh hat to that tradition.

A version of this review appeared in the Herald Sun, 31/10/2020

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rec160 – The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

NOVEL

Title: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies

Author: Alison Goodman

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2023

This Regency romp marks a departure of sorts for Goodman, in that there is not a whiff of the fantastical to be had as the Colebrook twins set about righting some wrongs while maintaining the appropriate social graces. Broken into a series of cases, the narrative is held together by ongoing storylines – a caddish brother, the health of stoic Julia and the burgeoning attraction of the bold Augusta to fallen nobleman Evan Belford, himself not without a mystery fit for the unravelling. What starts out as a favour gathers momentum as the unmarried duo take on increasingly challenging rescues of women in peril. Underpinning the adventure is Goodman’s (PhD-stamped) eye for historical detail, ear for a fetching turn of phrase, and consummate skill with characterisation, plot and pace. While Goodman’s YA series appeal equally to older readers, this is her first novel for adult readers since 2007’s Killing the Rabbit, and it doesn’t disappoint. We await book 2 with anticipation.