House of Hollow

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland (Penguin Books) RRP $19.99 HB ISBN 9780143796992

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Reviewer Melissa Albert has described this YA novel as a ‘haunting modern fairytale (which) will wrap you up like a glittering fog, before going for your throat.’ This reviewer agrees.

There’s no doubt Iris Hollow and her two older sisters, Grey and Vivi, are strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their walk. And they are changing. First their hair turned white, then their blue eyes slowly turned black. 

Now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris is trying to fit in and graduate high school, something her famously glamorous globe-trotting sisters never managed to do. But then Iris goes missing, leaving only bizarre clues about her disappearance. Grey and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. Soon they are brushing against the supernatural.

This is a beautifully written story with sentences that linger in the memory because they are so clear and evocative. The language is full of sensuous imagery. Here’s a description of Grey, a supermodel and fashion designer: ‘…she had grown into a gossamer slip of a woman with hair like spun sugar and a face out of Greek mythology. Even in still pictures, there was something vaporous and hyaline about her, like she might descend into the ether at any moment.’ And a description of a cat: ‘(she) … was older than me, and so threadbare and crooked she was beginning to look like a bad taxidermy job.’

This is a beautifully crafted story with sensual poetry and power in most sentences. It is sure to be loved by teenagers who appreciate well-written, compelling, and thrilling novels.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast retold by Alex Field, illustrated by Helene Magisson (New Frontier Publishing) HB RRP $24.99

ISBN 9781925059809

Reviewed by Rebecca Newman

This is a retelling of the well-known fairytale in a picture book format. The text of the story is in large clear type with lots of white space. The pared back narrative occasionally feels more like a story summary than storytelling — however, this simpler format might enable younger readers to have a go at reading the story for themselves.

I’m already a fan of Helene Magisson’s work as an illustrator and her illustrations glow with fairytale magic. The use of birdcages and butterflies in the background to symbolise imprisonment and then freedom will delight the observant child reader. The end papers give an extra twist to this element.

Beauty and the Beast is just one title in the Happily Ever After series and will be in bookshops from 1 March 2017. This is a beautifully presented hardcover book.

About the reviewer: Rebecca Newman is a children’s writer and poet. She is the editor of Alphabet Soup’s website and former editor of Alphabet Soup’s print magazine. rebeccanewman.net.au

Frogkisser!

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix (Allen and Unwin) PB RRP $19.99

ISBN 9781760293512

Reviewed by Daniela Andrews

True love’s kiss can break a spell, right? That’s what the fairytales say. But what if true love’s kiss isn’t available? What if, say, a fickle queen-to-be (whose suitor has been converted to a frog by her evil step-stepfather) is too disgusted at the thought of kissing an amphibian?

Enter Princess Anya … the younger, practical, responsible sister, who really just wants to put an end to her sister’s wailing and get back to her reading. Anya promises to find Prince Denholm and reconvert him. She is helped by the palace librarian, Gotfried, who offers two remedies: a spell for finding the frog, and a ‘Transmogrification Reversal Lip Balm’ that can be applied in the absence of true love. It should be simple, but of course it isn’t. First, the frog she catches and kisses isn’t Denholm. Second, she’s out of lip balm.

Award-winning fantasy author, Garth Nix, slowly builds on Anya’s basic quest to kiss a frog and turns it into a humorous fairytale adventure of epic proportions. As her step-stepfather, Duke Rikard, grows stronger in power and attempts to steal the throne, Anya realises she needs to save her sister. And the kingdom. Other kingdoms, too. Plus restore the ‘All-Encompassing Bill of Rights and Wrongs’. Find allies. Build an army. Source obscure ingredients for more lip balm. Kiss lots of frogs. Oh, and possibly reassess her entire life vision.

Garth Nix has once again created a brave, admirable heroine, with traits reminiscent of Lirael and Sabriel. His writing is fresh and playful, with a hint of the absurd, all the while remaining vivid in description and intensity. I was delightfully taken aback at the amusing moments sprinkled within moments of action.  (For example, an awestruck Anya quietly observes a tree spirit … and her royal canine sidekick, Ardent, explains why dogs like trees. Amidst the Duke’s list of serious crimes is a charge for ‘improper cackling’, and there’s a Shakespearean-like character – ‘Gerald-the-Herald’ – who randomly enters a scene and obnoxiously shouts out headlines.)

Frogkisser! targets readers aged 13–16 years and will be made into an animated musical film by FOX Animation and Blue Sky Studios (creators of Ice Age). It is a stand-a-lone novel, but Nix has cleverly left behind some unexplained mysteries that would allow him to expand the story if he chooses.

Reckless III: The Golden Yarn

Reckless III: The Golden Yarn by Cornelia Funke (Murdoch Books)

PB RRP $24.99   ISBN 9781782691266

Reviewed by Daniela Andrews

Fairytales have long told of magic mirrors and Cornelia Funke’s Reckless series – a story inspired by the Grimm brothers – features one that is a portal to an alternate fantasy world (‘Mirrorworld’).

In The Golden Yarn, Jacob discovers a Rumpelstiltskin-like character (Spieler) in the human world, while trying to hide the legendary crossbow he found in Living Shadows. It seems the Reckless brothers are not the only ones who can cross between worlds … and theirs is not the only mirror.

Funke slowly weaves us through the plots and subplots of this third story in the series, as we absorb the details of the world she has built. First, Kami’en and Amelie’s baby goes missing. Then, the Dark Fairy disappears. Clara is in a Sleeping Beauty slumber so Will is seeking the Dark Fairy. Jacob is looking for Will … with several distractions along the way. He meets elf siblings, ‘Sixteen’ and ‘Seventeen’, who steal faces from mirrors to disguise themselves. He also meets … his long-lost father! Having struck a painful deal with Spieler, Jacob keeps his distance from his true love (Fox), who then falls in love with someone else. We also learn more about Will’s cursed skin from the first book, The Petrified Flesh.

This series will appeal to young adult readers of fantasy, particularly fans of Funke’s prior works (such as the Inkheart trilogy). Reading the first two novels in the series is a must as Funke releases crucial details at different points across the series. There is always a sense that she knows much more than she has revealed! Admittedly, this can either hook her readers or frustrate them.

Funke has revised and re-released The Petrified Flesh, retaining the original story but adding more depth to her characters. (The portrayal of darkness and light in her characters is definitely her forte, with her writing beautifully depicting the hesitation in their actions.) The second novel, Living Shadows, has also been re-jacketed. She is currently working on a fourth book in the series.

The Most Wonderful Thing in the World

The Most Wonderful Thing in the World by Vivian French, illustrated by Angela Barrett (Walker Books)

PB RRP $16.99

ISBN 9781406365726

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

The Most Wonderful Thing is a gorgeous fairytale, made so much more by Angela Barrett’s exquisite illustrations. They transcend the text. She expands her view to what surrounds the characters and where things are happening, then looks even further.

Here is the story of a king and queen who realize they must find a husband for their only child, a girl who will one day rule the kingdom. Sheltered within the castle for years, Lucia knows nothing of the world outside.

They depend on the wisdom of Old Angelo to guide them in choosing the right man. His suggests they find a young man who can show them the most wonderful thing in the world.

Lucia mustn’t realize what they are planning. They want to distract her, but she gets in before them. She decides that as she will be queen one day, she must go out into her kingdom.

Each day Lucia goes out with Salvatore, Old Angelo’s grandson, to explore the city without him knowing who she is. Each day the suitors present their idea of the most wonderful thing to impress the king and queen, to no avail.

Can Salvatore show the royals what the most wonderful thing is?

This book is perfection. The artwork is sublime and it’s obvious that Angela Barrett takes time with her work. Breathtaking and detailed, Barrett’s characters, their clothing, the background buildings and the animals, all come alive on the page. Suitable for ages 6-106.

The Ragnor Trilogy

The Ragnor Trilogy: Irina the Wolf Queen, Irina and the White Wolf,

Irina and the Lost Book by Leah Swann (XUOM Books)

PB RRP $14.99 each

ISBNs: 9781922057112; 9781922057082; 9781922057136 respectively

Reviewed by Anne Hamilton

This fantasy trilogy begins with the abduction of Irina, firstborn child of King Harmon and Queen Chloe of Ragnor. In revenge for a taunt, Chloe once carelessly inflicted on the executioner’s son, Vilmos, he artfully (pun intended!) gains access to the queen’s chamber by posing as a portrait painter. After stealing the baby, his plans quickly go awry when he encounters a savage wolf while fleeing pursuit.

Irina is taken by the wolf and, although she is believed to be dead, she is suckled by the vixen. Growing up with the wild pack, she learns the ways of wolves. One day a bear attacks the wolf cubs and her wolf-brother, Durrel, sacrifices himself to allow Irina to escape. She comes to live with a farmer and his wife, and so at last learns the ways of humans.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring kingdom of Pavel, Vilmos is fostering war. He’s learned a few dark spells from a sorcerer and he’s insinuated himself into the good graces of King Niklas, best friend of King Harmon. Gradually he’s feeding Seely, King Niklas’ wolf-guardian, magic-dusted meat to muddle the animal’s instincts. The wolf is slowly coming under Vilmos’ sway and bringing the allegiance of the entire wolf-clan with him.

War is imminent and only one person can intervene to stop it—Irina. If she can break the hold Vilmos has over the wolves.

Although this is classed as ‘children’s fantasy’, the storytelling style is much closer to fairytale. It has the omniscient viewpoint, the rapid-fire hopping from one character’s thoughts to another, even the split-second scene changes that are more in keeping with old-fashioned fairy story narration than with the canons of the modern fantasy genre. ‘Point of view’ and ‘show don’t tell’ are not in evidence anywhere.

For all that, this is a steadfast and charming adventure, full of clear-cut black-and-white characters. There is no ambiguity about the villains or the heroes.

The writing becomes increasingly confident in the second book in the series (which had the misfortune to feature one of my least favourite spelling mistakes. I only point it out here because I am on a personal crusade: the electrical bolt that occurs during storms is ‘lightning’ not ‘lightening’.) That irritant aside, I found the storyline in Book II to have increasing focus. It was a delight to see the development of Andor, son of King Niklas.

While Irina has grown up in these books, by contrast Andor has matured.

As the book opens, Irina has spent nearly two years alone with the wolves she is trying to save. As a result of the enchantments they suffered while in the control of Vilmos, they have forgotten how to hunt, how to wrestle and play, and how to bond as a pack. The females are barren. It’s the end of the Wolves of Ragnor.

But then Irina meets Baruch and regains hope for her wolf-kin. If she can travel across the sea to the Valley of Carmine Cliffs and persuade the white wolf, Gunda, to come to Ragnor, then there is the potential for re-building the pack.

But something Irina doesn’t know is that there is a prophecy about a child of a holy woman riding a white beast, a child who will usher in the Age of Peace and defeat the vile magicks of the Venerated Dragon.

So of course there are those who will stop at nothing to ensure Irina does not meet her destiny. These include the increasingly dark-hearted villain, Vilmos, and his masters, the sorcerer Iniko and the monstrous Venerated Dragon.

This book effectively leaves the light, charming touches of the first behind. The black-and-white characters are murkier and more realistic. Vilmos was almost a comic caricature in the first novel but now he’s moved to outright malevolence.

If this trilogy were a triptych of paintings, the first volume would be bright, folksy naïf, the second one of the moody Romanticists. And the third—different again: it’s almost got a baroque complexity to it. Swann has hit her stride in a big way with this book and it’s much more meaty and intricate than its predecessors.

The good guys are no longer lily-white. The bad guys have moments when they deserve pity rather than condemnation. Doubts start to emerge about the motivations of several major characters. The prophecy of the ‘rider on the wild beast white’ might just have been misinterpreted.

All in all, the stark black-and-white of the previous books has greyed up in a serious way. Thus there is a stirring finale to the series which is suitable for teen readers.