Triple Ripple Review

Title: Triple Ripple

Author: Brigid Lowry

Release Date: 1^st September 2011

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Glory is sent to work in the Royal Palace, where the queen is planning a grand ball and a bad tempered princess is sorting through jewels and tiaras. And, unknown to Glory, the threads of her destiny are coming together.

Nova is reading the fairytale… Fairytales are not usually her thing but right now she’s feeling a bit messy and lost. Her best friend has gone away and she has no idea why bitchy Dylan is hassling her.

Can the Writer make everything turn out happily ever after? Will the princess find true love? Will Glory escape a secret curse? And can Nova smooth out the lumps and bumps in her life?

Running alongside each other, Brigid Lowry writes three tales. In real life, the Writer struggles to develop the plot. Within the fairy tale, Glory the Princess’ Maid has to break a curse while dealing with the demands of working in the palace and the Reader of the tale, Nova has to deal with real life and coping with being bullied.

It isn’t just the difference in font that make the separate sections of this tale so apparent but Lowry’s skill in creating different voices. The characters of the Reader and Writer are very convincing as well as entertaining and in a completely different genre from the fairy tale. The Writer makes us constantly aware that she has created the fictional worlds of the tale, both Glory’s and Nova’s and so the text is really cleverly written. At times, the novel is re-written and so we are given what could have happened in the tale as well as the Writer’s final decisions.

The tale of the Writer is probably the most interesting because it manifests itself through the tale of the Reader and the fairy tale. However, it is also the least developed tale in that there is no actual plot, more a collection of thoughts and the ending of her writing tale ends with the finish of the book.

Nova’s tale is strange in that although she does get a positive ending, there are many questions left unanswered. She finally thinks she is working things out with Dylan, who has been bullying her and she has dreams about a boy she met who was sat in a tree. From the Writer, we know there could have been many different paths for Nova and so it is strange when presented with the final outcome.

Similarly, Glory’s fairy tale ending could have been different but we are given a much neater rounding off of the tale in this case. I expected the fairy tale aspect of the tale to be the most prominent and although it is in relation to how much detail we are given, I find the other two tales more emotionally compelling.

This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in reading and writing. It was the fairy tale aspect that drew me in but the other tales were much more interesting and it is the Reader and the Writer that give the tale depth. There are funny aspects to this book as well as serious, emotional insights into the characters and overall it is a well-rounded novel. Without wanting to seem critical in the slightest, I feel this novel was possibly a way for the author to show off her story-telling talent!

5/5 Brilliant use of triple tales!

With special thanks to Frances Lincoln for sending me a copy of the book.

Not Quite the Perfect Boyfriend Review

Title: Not Quite the Perfect Boyfriend

Author: Lili Wilkinson

Release date: 1^st September 2011 (UK)

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Midge is sixteen and has never been kissed- so she invents a boyfriend. Then she is paired with George for a major school project. George is the New Guy who doodles dragons, tucks in his shirt, has an unseemly interest in secrets and a mysterious past. Not a good start to the school year.

Midge starts fabricating emails from her imaginary boyfriend, and even a MySpace page. Her secret is getting out of control. Then one day, he appears in the school corridor. Tall, brown wavy hair, English accent - Ben. Exactly as she’s described him.

Ben seems to be the answer to her prayer. A dream come true or is he? And what strange secret is George hiding? Before long Midge finds herself in all sorts of trouble.  

Midge invents an English boyfriend, Ben. Ben likes photography, black-and-white movies, reading and lacrosse (or at least that’s what Midge writes on his MySpace page). All is going well for Midge and her imaginary boyfriend, her friend Tahni is convinced she isn’t a lesbian who will end up knitting hats for cats. The next step is for Midge to break up with Ben, something about the distance being too far, which would be fine… if Ben hadn’t just appeared at school.

In this hilarious novel set in Australia, school girl Midge has to deal with her imaginary boyfriend becoming an actual boyfriend, dealing with her family’s break up, the destruction of friendships and also working on a project with new boy, George, who she is pretty sure is a psycho killer- why else would he have been kicked out of his last school?

I found the plot of the novel to be really predictable but that is in no way a negative criticism. The novel is written from Midge’s point of view and so as a reader we are made aware of her feelings about secrets that are revealed and secrets she reveals herself. Although in a sense I feel the reader is probably aware of what is going on before Midge is, even though things are not explicitly told to us. It made me think of how sometimes the clues to things are there but we can end up walking around with our head in the clouds and miss out on important things, including important people, which is definitely what Midge does with the arrival of Ben.

Going out with Ben gives Midge a new sense of confidence. He’s hot, he’s popular and most of all he is her boyfriend! By association, Midge becomes popular overnight. But popularity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and neither is having a boyfriend, no matter how good looking he is. Midge is in for a bumpy ride!

Not Quite the Perfect Boyfriend was a nice, easy read with a happy ending and will definitely put a smile on your face. The characters are all brilliantly constructed and you will definitely meet some that will become some of your favourites, for me, George in particular was fantastic. The ending of the book reminded me of the end scene from the film ‘Role Models’ but maybe this was just the description of the costumes. Overall, a definite chick-lit but well worth the laughs for anyone not usually interested in this genre.

4/5 Really easy to get into and a relaxing read.    

With special thanks to Frances Lincoln for sending me a copy of the book.

The Devil's Footsteps Review

Title: The Devil’s Footsteps

Author: E.E. Richardson

Release Date: 3^rd March 2005

Publisher:  Bodley Head Children’s Books

It was just a bit of fun, a local legend. The Devil’s Footsteps: thirteen stepping stones, and whichever one you stopped on in the rhyme could predict how you would die. A harmless game for kids – and nobody ever died from a game.

But it’s not a game to Bryan. He knows the truth. He’s seen the Dark Man, because the Dark Man took his brother five years ago. He’s tried to tell himself again and again that it was his imagination, that the Devil’s Footsteps are just stones and the Dark Man didn’t take Adam. But what does it matter if people believe in the legend or not? Adam’s still gone.

And then Bryan meets two other boys who have their own unsolved mysteries. It seems that Adam wasn’t the first to disappear. Someone or something is after the children in the town. And it all comes back to the rhyme that every local child knows by heart…

‘ One in fire, two in blood,

Three in Storm, four in flood,

Five in Anger, six in hate,

Seven fear and evil eight,

Nine in sorrow, ten in pain,

Eleven death, twelve life again,

Thirteen steps to the Dark Man’s Door

Won’t be turning back no more.’

The disappearance of children in Redford seems to be a regular occurrence, but one that people seem to ignore. The local legend of the sinister Dark Man haunts the town and its inhabitants seem reluctant to discuss it. Bryan’s older brother, Adam, walked the ‘Devil’s Footsteps’ (stepping stones in the woods) while speaking the rhyme and hasn’t been seen since. Only Bryan knows what really happened but no one is willing to acknowledge the Dark Man. After five years of suffering, Bryan’s parents behaving like zombies, he meets Smokey, a boy who has also seen the Dark Man. Accompanied by Jake, whose best friend, Lucy, also went missing, the boys set off on a journey to discover the secret of Redford and find out exactly what happened to the people they loved.

This novel is actually really scary. The continued use of the rhyme is really eerie and the Dark Man is an actual threat all the way through the novel.  As well as dealing with the current threat, the reader is given an insight into how Bryan and his family have had to deal with the disappearance of Adam and when Smokey’s sister, Nina, goes missing, the writing is really emotional.

The Dark Man is always just out of reach and it is more what the Dark Man does that makes the novel so effective. The characters have to undergo real trials in order to overcome their fear but it is apparent from the start that they will have to return back to the stepping stones in the woods in order to be able to move on. Richardson also uses suspense to build fear and the chapters are effectively structured, you definitely can’t end one chapter without being desperate to start the next.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this as a brilliant example of a teenage horror. Imagery used within the novel also creates atmosphere and I cannot stress how well The Devil’s Footsteps is written.  I was scared to go to sleep… so don’t start this novel unless you can hack it because the ending is also really well written and I wouldn’t want you to miss out!

5/5 Be prepared to be scared!