REVIEW: Tape - Steven Camden

GENRE: Contemporary
PAGES: 368

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins Children's Books
FORMAT: Hardback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This review refers to an uncorrected advance edition.

SUMMARY

TAPE is the outstanding teen debut of 2014. Told with crackling prose, shimmering with humour and deeply moving, it will haunt anyone who reads it...Record a voice and it lasts forever...In 1993, Ryan records a diary on an old tape. He talks about his mother's death, about his dreams, about his love for a new girl at school who doesn't even know he exists. In 2013, Ameliah moves in with her grandmother after her parents die. There, she finds a tape in the spare room. A tape with a boy's voice on it - a voice she can't quite hear, but which seems to be speaking to her. Ryan and Ameliah are connected by more than just a tape. This is their story.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed this book; the plot was intriguing and wonderfully written, and the way the two narratives weaved the past and present together was fantastic. Both Ryan and Ameliah's narrations were distinct and vivid - Steven Camden's work as a spoken word artist was evident is how strongly his characters shone through from the page. Ryan's story evoked a real sense of 90's nostalgia which made me smile throughout, and Ameliah's sections made me laugh constantly. I guessed what would happen quite early on but that didn't make me love it any less. I'm really excited to see what he comes up with next!

- Gem.

REVIEW: A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

GENRE: Adult/Fantasy/Contemporary
PAGES: 703
PUBLISHER: Headline
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

This book is for older readers.

SUMMARY

A world of witches, daemons and vampires. A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future. Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it. When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...

REVIEW

Wow, this book is amazing!

This has to be one of the most beautifully written and engaging stories I've ever read. Deborah Harkness's historical knowledge suffuses the plot with incredibly vivid details that paint a wonderful picture of Matthew's life (good and bad aspects!). Diana is a fantastic character; Intelligent, funny, brave, kind, loyal and determined, she's the perfect heroine that readers would want to aspire to be. The romance between Diana and Matthew is captivating, thankfully it's not a typical swoony type supernatural romance, it's a beautiful relationship based on their protectiveness of each other and the romantic scenes are sensual and lusty and fit in perfectly with the way vampires have always been described to be. 

The plot is outstanding and incredibly intricate, the way that Deborah has rooted the history of witches, vampires and daemons in with science and evolution is mind blowing - it truly makes it seem plausible that these creatures exist! I never like giving away any plot points because it spoils it for others, but with each chapter that passed I fell more in love with this book. I'm so glad my friends Bex and Jane told me to read it. Don't be put off by the size, not even one single sentence is unnecessary - it will draw you in and not let you go until the last word and then you will be desperate for the next instalment in Diana and Matthew's adventure.

- Gem.