Review: True Fire by Gary Meehan

True Fire by Gary Meehan (April 2014, Quercus, ISBN: 1782069135)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read  her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: This book is simply glorious! A wonderful adventure and a real fight of good against bad, TRUE FIRE is the first in an exciting new YA trilogy and tells the story of Megan, who loses her home and her family when she is only 16. Not knowing where she can turn for help, or even who to trust, as things are not always as they seem, Megan sets out to discover why her village was destroyed around her and to also rescue her twin sister from her kidnappers. What she finds out casts a shadow on everything she has ever known and believed in. Her society’s priests and revered religion might not be the truth after all. And what about the dreaded witches? They came and destroyed the land once before, burning everything and killing millions of people. Now the witches are on the move again and the land is heading towards more bloodshed. Megan must learn to be brave in order to survive. She must also learn how to use her sword to defend herself, and others, as she finds out exactly why she is at the centre of what will turn out to be the worst war that her land has ever known.

As well as being a gripping story, TRUE FIRE is about an ordinary girl. Although the story is about witches, there are no magic powers in the air. Megan has to use her wits and guts, not spells and second sight, to keep herself alive. She is scared and unsure of what to do, as well as devastated by the violent death of her grandfather. The reader is able to identify with Megan and you end up willing her along, cheering when she manages to use her sword properly and being really relieved when she escapes from the foe.

If you like reading adventures that have ordinary people as the heroes then you are going to love this story. The ending is dramatic as well as bitter sweet. I can’t wait for the release of the second book in the trilogy so that I can find out what happens next!

Highly Recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (April 2012, Puffin, ISBN: 0141330872)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read  her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: What an awesome story this is! The Power of Six is the second book in the series featuring nine Loriens that have come to earth to save their people and planet from destruction. The thrill and tension of the pace that is set right from the start gets hold of you and draws you in. It is definitely preferable to have read the first in the series (I Am Number 4) before embarking on this story, so that you have a full grasp of the background and characters, but it isn’t essential to do so. I didn't read the first book but was caught up in the thrill if the chase in this one right from the start and read the whole thing in a day.

The story focuses on three of the Loriens: Number 4, who has teamed up with Number 6, and Number 7, who is alone and searching for her associates without trying to draw attention to herself. She is in Spain in an orphanage and can leave when she is 18 – only a few short months away. Numbers 4 and 6 are in America and being chased by the dreaded Mogadorians, whose job it is to destroy Loriens before they reach their full potential. They can only kill them in a certain order, though, so Number 4 knows he is next. Their mission is to stay alive, train, open their Chests, and find each other so that they can reclaim their planet before it is gone forever.

This book is totally awesome! I started it 'cold', as I knew nothing of the previous book, and totally loved it from start to finish. The third book is due out in August this year and there are supposed to be a total of six books in the series. The books are written by Pittacus Lore: the pseudonym for James Frey and Jobie Hughes, and if you've not read them yet I suggest that you do so. Soon.

Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: The Broken Road by B R Collins

The Broken Road by B R Collins (February 2012, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, ISBN: 1408806495)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: This is a heart-breakingly beautiful story that leaves you with tears in your eyes.

This latest book by B R Collins touches on the very moving topic of the Children’s Crusades that took place some 800 years ago, after the failure of the Fourth Crusade to liberate Jerusalem from the Infidel and return it to Christian rule. Two separate groups of children started marching at this time – one from France and another from Germany – determined to win the day with their purity and innocence. Both of these Children's Crusades are shrouded in mystery and tragedy. It is moving to see such young people convinced that they can succeed where the adults have failed before them.

The Broken Road concerns the German crusade and starts when Nick, a charismatic but flawed young peasant lad, enters Cologne and preaches in the cathedral. It isn't long before huge crowds of teenagers and young adults are flocking after him and they start out on their way south. The story is told from the viewpoint of Rufus, a young red-haired boy who is won over by Nick’s passionate words and decides to join the crusade. Evading his furious father, who is devastated and adamant that his only son won't go, Nick sets out, firm in his belief that he is doing what God wants. The most moving aspect of the book is that God is a central character. Or, rather, Rufus's comments and pleading prayers to God are central to his thoughts. He seems to yearn for a more personal relationship with God, doubts God's feeling towards him but has no doubt at all that God is real and watching him. Nick could very well be a young person in today's society, confused and anxious to do what is right, questioning his motives for his actions and asking for confirmation that he is accepted and loved by God in the place of his biological father who, he believes, doesn’t love him.

The crusade ends in tragedy, as we know before we even start to read the story, but the end of The Broken Road will have you weeping. The characters are so real and contemporary that the book could almost have a modern setting and be dealing with modern issues.

Absolutely fantastic and very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: The Black Banner by Helen Hart

The Black Banner by Helen Hart (June 2011, SilverWood Books, ISBN: 1906236461)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: The Black Banner follows the nautical adventures of Billy Baxter and friends as they journey from England to the Caribbean in search of their fortunes. Billy has a secret. His real name is Becky, not Billy, and "he" is a girl. A girl dressed up as a boy and working as a deckhand on a merchant ship bound for pastures new. Becky has run away from drunken old Ma and her unpleasant friends, from the cold and damp room they lived in and from the dirt and poverty that were threatening to swamp her.

Becky lives in almost constant fear of being discovered – but then finds out there is something worse than living with Ma – being attacked by pirates! Becky, or Billy, survives the attack, joins the fearsome band of blade-swinging buccaneers and finds her life changing yet again. She has some pretty cool experiences as she learns to fight and survive and then plunders her way around the Caribbean with her fellow pirates, filling her sea-chest with gold along the way.

Filled with excitement and adventure, The Black Banner is written in the first person, by Becky herself, in the form of her private journal, and is brimming with her bravery, determination and hope for the future. She makes some great friends on her travels, including other women pirates, but also comes face to face with the potential dangers that pirates face every day, when the legal system doubles its efforts to crack down on the threats facing honest merchants at sea.

What an awesome, heart-warming tale!

Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper (June 2011, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, ISBN: 0747599122)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: What a beautiful book this is! Exquisitely written and with such a brave young lady as its heroine, I loved every page - from start to finish. Aside from being chock-full of classic Victorian Villains and Damsels in Distress, Fallen Grace is very informative and interesting in terms of the information it contains about the harsh realities of life in Victorian England. It is also full of fascinating facts about the Victorian’s apparent obsession with death, mementos and funeral ceremonials.

Without wanting to spoil things for the reader, sisters Grace and Lily have fallen on hard times and just about manage to get by on the money they make selling water-cress on the streets of London. Sadly, things get even worse for them when their boarding house is pulled down and they have nowhere to live. In desperation, Grace turns to the Unwins for help and is employed as a funeral mute in their family undertakers business. Her sister, Lily, becomes a maid in the family home. The Unwins are unscrupulous people and discover a secret about Grace and Lily that the sisters know nothing about. Determined to steal what rightfully belongs to the girls, the Unwins look as if they will stop at nothing to achieve their evil ends. But Grace is a resourceful girl and won't rest until she discovers what they have done with her beloved sister…

The superb twist at the end of Fallen Grace is sure to bring a tear to your eye and had me dabbing at mine on the bus. Just beautiful. Mary Hooper is a fabulous author and this book is one of the best I have read this year. Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: Halo by Zizou Corder

Halo by Zizou Corder (February 2011, Puffin, ISBN: 0141328300)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: Halo is a truly heart-warming and magical tale. Set at the time when Sparta and Athena were at war but also when The Gods spoke to the faithful, and centaurs roamed the earth. It kept me totally captivated from cover to cover and I cried tears of joy at the end. Wonderful!

A small baby girl is washed up in her basket and rescued by a family of centaurs. They name her Halo and adopt her as one of their own. She leads a very happy, carefree life until one day she is captured by fishermen and dragged away to the world of men. Not being best pleased with what she finds, or the way she is treated - simply because she is a girl - Halo runs away and starts an adventure of her own to find her way back to her beloved centaurs, and also discover who her real parents were. Her journey finds her taken captive again by the Spartans, then by the Athenians but all is well as she eventually finds her uncle. Her big problem is that she has disguised herself as a boy in order to be treated fairly.

Happily settled, Halo maintains her disguise and learns archery human-style. She also starts to train to become a doctor, but war is coming and she must try to return to her centaurs to warn them of a mysterious new threat to their safety.

"Zizou Corder" is the pen name used by Louisa Young and her daughter Isabel Adomakoh Young. They have been writing together since Isabel was seven and this is their fifth book. Halo is well written and full of such delicious descriptions that you are there with Halo on her journeys and experience everything first-hand when she does. This book should appeal to anyone who loves to read fantasy and still believes in their dreams. Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: Crusade by Linda Press Wulf

Crusade by Linda Press Wulf (January 2011, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, ISBN: 1408804840)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: Set in the summer of 1212, and based on the Children's Crusade that took place that year, this is an enchanting tale of love, devotion and unquestioning faith. It is exquisitely written and brims over with the emotions of the two young people at its centre - starting with their joyful innocence that is slowly eroded but replaced with burning passion and belief based on bitter experience.

In brief, Georgette is mesmerized by the handsome young shepherd boy who comes riding triumphantly into her village. He is holding a golden crucifix and looking for youngsters to volunteer for his crusade. His cloak and golden curls only add to his air of mystery and godliness and many children do set out after him - Georgette included. They make their way southwards and, buoyed up by a blessing from the King himself, despite a stark lack of food, eventually reach a large abbey where young foundling Robert is being raised by the abbot. Robert also joins the crusade, moved by his steadfast faith and utter belief that this is what he is meant to do.

Both Georgette and Robert witness many events on their long journey that are a real test of everything they hold dear. They discover that many things, and people, are not always as they seem, and face death on more than once occasion. Their momentous journey is life-changing right from the start, but even more so once the two young people meet and discover they share the same hopes and dreams.

This is Linda Press Wulf's second book. The appeal of its beautiful style and timeless message means it should speak volumes to everyone who reads it. Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees

The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees (April 2011, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, ISBN: 0747597346)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: Based upon Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night and set mostly in the south of England in the 1600s, The Fool's Girl is a delightfully romantic tale about magic and mystery, first love, separation and being reunited. With a real sense of 'true love conquers all', it brings a warm feeling to your heart as you read the story of young Violetta and her faithful friend Feste. They are disguised as players and in London to find a valuable holy relic that has been stolen from their country, Illyria. Violetta has vowed to return the relic to its home and with it to gain her rightful place as duchess, alongside her truelove Stephano, who is rightfully duke. They have been sworn to each other since childhood but tragedy, war and imprisonment have so far kept them apart.

Remarkably, Violetta and Feste meet William Shakespeare while he is still Will - an up and coming, but still very ordinary playwright from Stratford. He helps them in their quest to find the relic and their adventures bring them face to face with death on more than one occasion. Will's final role in the whole affair is to produce it all as a play and, given the importance of the people in the audience for its first viewing, one wonders if this is supposed to be Will's lucky break.

So very little is known about the life of William Shakespeare. This wonderful tale, that suggests the plot for Twelfth Night could be more than just a story, is magical. Will is an ordinary, albeit gifted, man with a wife and children and to see him in this somewhat romantic setting - captivated by Violetta's story and so keen to help her, is extremely refreshing.

Very highly recommended.

Amanda Gillies

Review: Gladiator by Simon Scarrow

Gladiator: Fight for Freedom by Simon Scarrow (February 2011, Puffin, ISBN: 0141333634)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here and her YA reviews here.

Review: Gladiator is the first in a new series for boys and came out in hardback this month. It is a fabulous story, full of courage and heartache, and centres on the life of Marcus, a young boy who is one minute living very happily with his family on their farm, then suddenly has everything taken from him and winds up alone, in slavery.

Set in Roman times, before Julius Ceasar is made emperor and just after the slave uprising, led by the infamous Spartacus. Marcus’s father, Titus, has retired from being a centurion in the Roman army and settled for a quiet life with his wife and son. Life on their farm is good but times are hard and Titus has taken out a loan that he can’t repay. Decimus, an extremely unpleasant and impatient money-lender, sends his men to collect the money that Titus can’t pay and, before too long, blood is shed. Titus is murdered, while Marcus and his mother are captured, to be sold as slaves.

Marcus is only ten years old but full of determination to better his situation and get out of slavery. An escape attempt seems to work but he accidentally get caught while stowing away onboard a ship and is once more a slave in chains. This time Marcus has been bought by the owner of a gladiator school and, despite his young age, soon finds himself learning to fight for his life. Marcus is very much the hero and thinks constantly of two things: first, rescuing his mother and, second, avenging his father’s murder. Interestingly, things are not quite as he imagines them to be and a whispered conversation with an old gladiator in the kitchens of the school changes the very centre of Marcus’s entire world.

A fascinating and gripping story – full of vivid descriptions of life as a Roman slave and gladiator. You are there in the arena with Marcus and his fellow trainees, willing them on, yet wishing that they don’t kill each other, as, indeed, they must. The book sets the scene for what is definitely going to be an exciting new series. I am already hooked!

Amanda Gillies

Review: Winter's Knight by Richard Argent

Winter's Knight by Richard Argent (September 2010, ATOM, ISBN: 1905654545)

Notes: The following review is written by Amanda Gillies who reviews crime fiction on my Euro Crime website. You can read her crime reviews here.

Review: What a simply awesome tale! Full to the brim of excitement and adventure, with just the right amount of magic thrown in to keep things interesting.

Winter's Knight is set around its hero, Andrew, an ordinary young man from a small English village. Andrew is bullied by the other village youths for being different. He was born in the twelfth century, during The Crusades, at a time when superstition ran rife amongst the common folk, and he is marked as suspect by being delivered by a warlock's wife and having webbed toes. Andrew is not content with life as it is and longs to be a Templar Knight. He wants to ride a fine horse, wear the white mantle and protect pilgrims in the Holy Land.

Not long after he sees the ghosts of two dead men, who foretell his future successes, trouble at the hands of his bullies forces Andrew to leave the village. He is saved from starvation by a group of players and with them he travels to London, where circumstances see him becoming a squire and starting out on a path that will lead to the realisation of his dreams. The path we follow alongside Andrew is full of highs - success in battle, being adopted by a noble, finally taking the Templar mantle - but, equally, has many lows - including more than one fall from grace and the death of a close friend.

Andrew is very ambitious but, over the course of the story, increasingly questions why he wanted to be a knight in the first place and then, when he becomes good friends with a young Saracen, you see him question why he should want to kill people that are not so different from him after all. His eventual return to England is both nail biting and suspense-ridden, but the ending, although perfect, is not at all what you are expecting.

Then, there is The Secret that the ghosts mention at the start - that is worth waiting for, too. When you find out what this Secret is, it brings a lump to your throat.

Winter's Knight is a well-written, awe inspiring novel about having dreams, realising ambitions and then discovering not everything is as you hoped it would be. It is extremely enjoyable from start to finish and I highly recommend it.

Amanda Gillies