Diversity
Written by Angie Thomas
Contemporary, Fiction
448 Pages
Published February 5th 2019
Thank you to Walker Books Australia
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★★★☆
Sixteen year old Brianna wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighbourhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it. She has to make it.
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be and of the desperate realities of poor and working class black families.
On The Come Up follows the narrative of sixteen year old Brianna Jackson, the princess of Garden Heights. Brianna is the daughter of Lawless, slain at the pinnacle of his music career. Brianna creates lyrics from her experiences, the death of her father, her mother dependant on narcotics, Brianna and older brother Trey abandoned on the doorstep of their grandparents, their mother withdrawing from society to overcome her addiction and now facilitates group counselling for recovering addicts.
Tensions are high in Garden Heights since a young black man was killed by police officers, the subsequent rioting has resulted in a heavy police presence throughout the suburb, including Midtown School of the Arts where Brianna attends school. Her mother wants Brianna to concentrate on her education but for Brianna, since the tender age of only ten years old, she's wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father and rap her to a better life for her mother and brother.
Brianna is a tenacious young woman, proud of her African American heritage and culture, of who is she and where she's from. Garden Heights. Readers will remember the Garden Heights community from Angie Thomas' debut novel The Hate U Give and although the two narratives do not converge, we're reintroduced to the Disciples, the local gang and the Crowns, a rival gang on the east side and those responsible for taking the life of Lawless. Brianna and her family live below the poverty line, working is a necessity to make ends meet. We're introduced to Brianna as their gas has been shut off and her mother is struggling to pay their rent, the cupboards are all but bare and her college graduate brother has returned home and now works in a small pizzeria and yet, there's little money to afford food never mind to replace Brianna's shoes.
The hardship the Jackson family are experiencing is harrowing so when Brianna's mother Jay loses her job, she has no other option but to quit night school and seek welfare, handouts and food stamps to survive. With winter fast approaching, the chill in the air is a reminder of why so many young people of Garden Heights turn to gang life. The companionship of family and making money to survive despite the odds, including Brianna's Aunt Pooh who begun running with the Disciples shortly after her brother was murdered.
Rapping is in Brianna's blood. Affectionately known as Lil' Law, Brianna is about to make her debut at the Ring, a local club known for it's amateur rap battles and star making potential. Think Eminem's 8 Mile. Through her lyrics, Brianna tells the story of being a young black woman in a world created for white people, about the assumptions made upon black communities, stereotyping and racial profiling. She raps about real world problems facing her community, drugs, violence and being all about that life. Who you run with and who you run from. After her success in the Ring, when she's roughed up at school by security guards and thrown to the floor, something has to give. While students begin to protest against the racial profiling of black and latinx students, Brianna begins penning her breakout track, On The Come Up.
Brianna Jackson refuses to become a stereotype based on assumptions. She is determine to rap about her experiences, she's a contender not a pretender. She comes up against a sexist and opportunistic industry where young artists are taken advantage of. Their image no longer their own as they are shaped and modelled into a product for consumers, told to play their part and luring often underprivileged young adults with gifts and the promise of a easier life for their families, not necessarily better.
No doubt readers will compare On The Come Up to The Hate U Give but where Starr Carter was finding her voice in a hostile environment fulled by revolution, Brianna demands to be heard, a beacon of hope within her community and for young black women wanting to thrive in the male dominated rap industry. I enjoyed the narrative but not Brianna herself. I understand the animosity of your only parent unable to care for her children and choosing their drug dependency but Brianna showed very little respect for her mother who fought her way back from addiction for her children. Brianna calls her mother by her first name and held her at arms length. I felt an incredible amount of sadness for her mother who is an inspiring woman in her own right. Understandably the experience has hardened Brianna but I felt she often treated her mother with undeserving disrespect while holding her Aunt Pooh, a gang member and drug dealer on a pedestal.
On The Come Up is a quiet novel, challenging stereotypes and the prejudiced faced by young black men and women in particular. How young black women are spoken over, how they fight to create safe spaces for themselves and their voices. Although I didn't like Brianna, I loved what she represented. A strong, young black woman on the cusp of great things without compromising who she is and what she stands for.
Brianna Jackson refuses to become a stereotype based on assumptions. She is determine to rap about her experiences, she's a contender not a pretender. She comes up against a sexist and opportunistic industry where young artists are taken advantage of. Their image no longer their own as they are shaped and modelled into a product for consumers, told to play their part and luring often underprivileged young adults with gifts and the promise of a easier life for their families, not necessarily better.
No doubt readers will compare On The Come Up to The Hate U Give but where Starr Carter was finding her voice in a hostile environment fulled by revolution, Brianna demands to be heard, a beacon of hope within her community and for young black women wanting to thrive in the male dominated rap industry. I enjoyed the narrative but not Brianna herself. I understand the animosity of your only parent unable to care for her children and choosing their drug dependency but Brianna showed very little respect for her mother who fought her way back from addiction for her children. Brianna calls her mother by her first name and held her at arms length. I felt an incredible amount of sadness for her mother who is an inspiring woman in her own right. Understandably the experience has hardened Brianna but I felt she often treated her mother with undeserving disrespect while holding her Aunt Pooh, a gang member and drug dealer on a pedestal.
On The Come Up is a quiet novel, challenging stereotypes and the prejudiced faced by young black men and women in particular. How young black women are spoken over, how they fight to create safe spaces for themselves and their voices. Although I didn't like Brianna, I loved what she represented. A strong, young black woman on the cusp of great things without compromising who she is and what she stands for.
Mirage Book One
Written by Somaiya Daud
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance
320 Pages
Published August 28th 2018
Thank you to Hachette Australia
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★★★★☆
The crown of Dihya had been stripped from me, my face changed, my body broken.
But I was not a slave and I was not a spare.
I was my mother's daughter, and I would survive and endure. I would find my way back home.
In a star system dominated by the brutal Vathek empire, eighteen year old Amani is a dreamer. She dreams of what life was like before the occupation and of receiving a sign from Dihya that one day, she too will have adventures and travel beyond her isolated moon.
But when adventure comes for Amani, it is not what she expects, she is kidnapped and taken in secret to the royal palace, where she discovers that she is nearly identical to the cruel half Vathek Princess Maram. The princess is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double to appear in public, ready to die in her place.
As Amani is forced into her new role, she can’t help but enjoy the palace’s beauty and her time with the princess’ fiancé, Idris. But the glitter of the royal court belies a world of violence and fear and if Amani ever wishes to see her family again, she must play the princess to perfection... Because one wrong move could lead to her death.
Imprisoned and held within her gilded cage, Amani was taken captive by imperial droids moments after her Majority ceremony, a milestone celebration of maturity. Amani is a character of quiet determination, intelligent and spiritual, enshrined to Massinia. A theological Prophetess that has become the symbolism of a rebellion. Captured from her home among the stars, Amani is enslaved upon the Vathek occupied Andala. Amani and the Andalaan Vathek Princess Maram are indistinguishable, Amani is deprived of her identity, tortured, assaulted, her Indigenous symbolism removed and instructed to simulate as surrogate for the reclusive Princess Maram.
Maram is young woman of Indigenous and Alien heritage, forsaken and displaced by the Vathek and Andalaan communities. Maram is isolated from royal courtesans and betrothed for political alliance, her father is apathetic towards his young daughter and heir. As the rebellion opposing the Vathek colonisation intensifies, Maram remains sheltered within her palatial home, her inhumanity ensuing Amani remains compliant.
Amani and Maram establish a tentative friendship, Maram remorseful of her treatment of Amani on arrival and confiding in the young woman she is holding captive. Posing as Maram, Amani deceives the royal consort and betrothed Idris. Idris is perceptive and determines Amani as an impostor as his attraction to Amani jeopardising both their lives. The romance is delicate and compassionate, allowing Amani to disengage the masquerade of captivity.
Mirage centralises on oppression, erasure and slavery. Although contrasting characters and circumstances, the imprisonment of a young woman who is tortured and a Princess within her gilded cage, both young woman are tormented by the burden of expectation. It scrutinises colonisation as the Vathek conquered the Mizaal Galaxy, poisoning the atmosphere of Vaxor and colonising Andala, enslaving the Indigenous population and depriving the Andalaans of their ethnology and spirituality. Rebellion arises as rebels strategise against their oppressors, Amani becoming embroiled in the uprising.
The narration infused with delicate female and Indigenous empowerment throughout the instability of dissent and cultural reclamation, comparable to the current political climate and resonating with Indigenous readers. Amani represents a quiet endurance and resilience against her environment, a reiteration of nevertheless, she persisted. Somaiya Daud has composed an exquisitely imagined narrative, enchanting and affluent. A remarkable debut.
The blood never dies. The blood never forgets.
Maram is young woman of Indigenous and Alien heritage, forsaken and displaced by the Vathek and Andalaan communities. Maram is isolated from royal courtesans and betrothed for political alliance, her father is apathetic towards his young daughter and heir. As the rebellion opposing the Vathek colonisation intensifies, Maram remains sheltered within her palatial home, her inhumanity ensuing Amani remains compliant.
You do not kneel or bend, I told myself. To anyone. You continue.
Amani and Maram establish a tentative friendship, Maram remorseful of her treatment of Amani on arrival and confiding in the young woman she is holding captive. Posing as Maram, Amani deceives the royal consort and betrothed Idris. Idris is perceptive and determines Amani as an impostor as his attraction to Amani jeopardising both their lives. The romance is delicate and compassionate, allowing Amani to disengage the masquerade of captivity.
Mirage centralises on oppression, erasure and slavery. Although contrasting characters and circumstances, the imprisonment of a young woman who is tortured and a Princess within her gilded cage, both young woman are tormented by the burden of expectation. It scrutinises colonisation as the Vathek conquered the Mizaal Galaxy, poisoning the atmosphere of Vaxor and colonising Andala, enslaving the Indigenous population and depriving the Andalaans of their ethnology and spirituality. Rebellion arises as rebels strategise against their oppressors, Amani becoming embroiled in the uprising.
The narration infused with delicate female and Indigenous empowerment throughout the instability of dissent and cultural reclamation, comparable to the current political climate and resonating with Indigenous readers. Amani represents a quiet endurance and resilience against her environment, a reiteration of nevertheless, she persisted. Somaiya Daud has composed an exquisitely imagined narrative, enchanting and affluent. A remarkable debut.
Written by Aisha Saeed
Middle Grade, Contemporary, Diverse
240 Pages
Publishing May 28th 2018
Thank you to Text Publishing
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★★★★★
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal's Pakistani village, but she had no complaints, and besides, she's busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Her dreams are temporarily dashed when, as the eldest daughter, she must stay home from school to take care of her siblings. Amal is upset, but she doesn't lose hope and finds ways to continue learning. Then the unimaginable happens. After an accidental run in with the son of her village's corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family's servant to pay off her own family's debt.
Life at the opulent Khan estate is full of heartbreak and struggle for Amal, especially when she inadvertently makes an enemy of a girl named Nabila. Most troubling, though, is Amal's growing awareness of the Khans' nefarious dealings. When it becomes clear just how far they will go to protect their interests, Amal realises she will have to find a way to work with others if they are ever to exact change in a cruel status quo, and if Amal is ever to achieve her dreams.
In the small farming province of Nabay Chak, Amal is an inquisitive young lady with a penchant for knowledge. Inspired by Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, Amal is an intelligent and inspirational young lady, the eldest daughter who is reluctantly coerced to abandon her education, her mother overcome by postpartum depression.
Amal appreciates her education, acknowledging the ideology that female education is frivolous although vehemently in disagreement. Challenging the educational ideals of her father and although their discussion remaining courteous, Amal is conscientious of the discrimination against females throughout conservative communities.
Jawad Sahib is a tyrannical and oppressive leader within the region, his affluent and privileged family beneficiaries impoverished families throughout Nabay Chai. Displaced by her insolence, Amal will reside at the wealthy estate as compensation, a young life of oppression and servitude. The secondary characters are vividly imagined, especially Fatima, an orphaned child. Fatima and Amal share a wonderfully tender friendship and surprisingly, finding a kindred spirit in Nasreen Baji, lady of the estate and woman within her own gilded cage.
Inspired by Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, Amal Unbound is a beautifully written and extraordinary narrative of one young girl and her determination to invoke change. Essential reading.
Huggabie Falls Trilogy Book One
Written by Adam Cece and illustrated by Andrew Weldon
Middle Grade, Adventure, Humour, #LoveOZMG
288 Pages
Published April 2nd 2018
Thank you to Text Publishing
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★★★★
Kipp Kindle and his friends Tobias Treachery and Cymphany Chan live in Huggabie Falls, the weirdest town on Earth. Weird things happen all the time, that’s normal. But when an extremely weird thing happens Kipp and his friends know that something is wrong. They embark on a fast paced, action packed, hilarious adventure to find out what is making everything turn normal, and to return the weirdness to Huggabie Falls.With an evil villain, Felonious Dark, a creepy scientist and a fierce wand wielding teacher, who has turned Cymphany into a baby hippopotamus, to contend with, not to mention killer vampire bats, vegetarian piranhas and a Portuguese speaking lab rat called Ralf, Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany have quite a task ahead of them.
In the small town of Huggabie Falls, nothing is out of the ordinary. An alliteration of names? Yawn, nothing to see here. Every street called Digmont Drive? Oh, perfectly normal. Late for class and turned into a hippopotamus? Commonplace. Kipp Kindle and his friends Tobias Treachery and Cymphany Chan begin to investigate a series of worrying accounts of normalcy.
The Extremely Weird Thing that Happened in Huggabie Falls is a delightfully eccentric and whimsical mystery adventure. Reiterating the importance of friendship and embracing our differences.
Written by Darrell Pitt
Middle Grade, Adventure, Space, #LoveOZMG
256 Pages
Published February 26th 2018
Thank you to Text Publishing
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★★★☆
Twelve year old Bobby Baxter’s not the bravest kid on Earth. His list of things that scare him is up to number 689, and includes lightning, crowds, spiders, alien abductions, crocodiles, falling from great heights, falling from small heights and eggs.So when he learns that he’s the first Earthling ever chosen to attend the Galactic Space Academy, light years away from home, he’s terrified and that’s before he discovers that someone at the academy wants the boy from Earth gone.
Welcome to the Intergalactic Space Academy. Bobby Baxter is a new cadet and the first scholar recruited to the Academy from Earth. A prestigious although compulsory achievement. Bidding farewell to his father on Earth, Bobby will journey to the expansive Galactic Academy. Expect the unexpected.
Interplanetary sabotage, Earthly misconceptions and a peculiar assortment of friends, Bobby endeavours to become the first Earthling to graduate the academy.
The Boy From Earth is a galactic, exuberant adventure, ludicrously hilarious and absurdly charismatic. Bobby Baxter is an irrationally apprehensive young man although intelligent and inquisitive. Throughout his journey, Bobby discovers courage and determination, an ability to conquer anxiety. Beneath the brilliantly absurd, entertaining adventure, is a narrative of compassion, solidarity and confidence.
Wildly entertaining for the adventurous middle grade reader.
Wildly entertaining for the adventurous middle grade reader.
Australian Refugee Stories
Edited by Sonja Dechian, Eva Sallis and Heather Millar
Non Fiction, Young Adult
224 Pages
Published September 2012
Thank you to Wakefield Press
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★★★★☆
Dark Dreams, Australian refugee stories is a unique anthology of essays, interviews, and stories written by children and young adults. The stories are the finest of hundreds collected through a nationwide schools competition in 2002. The essays and stories represent many different countries and themes. Some focus on survival, some on horrors, some on the experiences and alienation of a new world. This book will have a key role to play in schools across Australia.
Eva Sallis's first novel Hiam won The Australian Vogel and the Dobbie Literary Awards. She is cofounder of Australians Against Racism and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.
Australia has a tumultuous history. In seventeen seventy eight, Australia was colonised by Great Britain, destined to establish the first European settlement in Australia. The Australian indigenous communities were decimated by violence, displacement and diseases introduced as a consequence of colonisation.
Australia is a multicultural landscape of migration. Since the White Australia Policy was abolished after the Second World War, over seven million migrants have immigrated to Australia, our population of twenty four million people comprising over six million immigrants, speaking over two hundred languages. A multicultural, multilingual country, forcibly removed from Indigenous communities, now imprisoning refugees escaping persecution.
Their journey to freedom is tumultuous, emphasised in the incredible Journey to Freedom written by Hai Van Nguyen, the winning entrant and one of over thirty narratives included in Dark Dreams. Fourteen years after arriving in Australia, the trauma of their journey remains.
We had lived to tell a story some never could. But the battle was not over, in fact, it was just beginning. We had fought with the elements and the authorities, but the real battle started the day we arrived in Australia. My parents have since learned that language barriers can be as insurmountable as giant waves, that exclusions leave a void far greater than the size of any ocean and that numbers last long after they have been removed.
There’s nothing like having to cling to every bare breath, to see life reduced to a scarce trickle, to walk the tightrope separating life and death, at times not knowing one from the other. Very rarely do we get to see human nature stripped of all that it depends on to learn that human nature is itself enough.
Throughout each unfathomable circumstance, we are confronted by our own privilege and the mistreatment of migrants and asylum seekers. Dark Dreams is a collection literary memoirs from young, emerging authors chronicling the harrowing journey of immigrants and those escaping violent, ravaged communities from a multitude of destinations and circumstances. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Albania, Sudan and Germany. It is imperative for their stories to be recounted, to be heard. The human experience to be felt. Essential reading.
Written by Emily X.R. Pan
Contemporary, Magical Realism, Own Voices
480 Pages
Published March 27th 2018
Thank you to Hachette Australia
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★★★★★
Leigh Chen Sanders is sixteen when her mother dies by suicide, leaving only a scribbled note, 'I want you to remember'. Leigh doesn't know what it means, but when a red bird appears with a message, she finds herself travelling to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time.
Leigh is far away from home and far away from Axel, her best friend, who she stupidly kissed on the night her mother died, leaving her with a swell of guilt that she wasn't home, and a heavy heart, thinking she may have destroyed the one good thing left in her life.
Overwhelmed by grief, Leigh retreats into her art and into her memories, where colours collide and the rules of reality are broken. The only thing Leigh is certain about is that she must find out the truth. She must remember.
With lyrical prose and magical elements, Emily X.R. Pan's stunning debut novel alternates between past and present, romance and despair, as one girl attempts to find herself through family history, art, friendship, and love.
Identifying her environment with colours, Leigh Chen Sanders reminisces the brightness of laughter, the gentle caressing of keys as the house is bathed in music, the hues of romance muted, the darkness slowly pulling her mother into depression.
Leigh is a biracial, a Taiwanese Irish American young woman, an artist of smudging and hues. Once a house awash with the melodious sound of her mother is now enveloped by despair, returning home to find her mother unresponsive, her life taken by clinical depression.
The nonlinear narrative accompanies Leigh in the moments after discovering her mother, despair reverberating throughout the family home. Dorothy Chen Sanders was diagnosed with depression, characterised compassionately and reiterating that mental illness is an incurable, continual and indiscriminate diagnosis.
I try to think of a colour to match it, but all that comes to mind is the blackness of dried blood. I can only hope that in becoming a bird my mother has shed her suffering.
The nonlinear narrative accompanies Leigh in the moments after discovering her mother, despair reverberating throughout the family home. Dorothy Chen Sanders was diagnosed with depression, characterised compassionately and reiterating that mental illness is an incurable, continual and indiscriminate diagnosis.
Here is my mother, with wings instead of hands, and feathers instead of hair. Here is my mother, the reddest of brilliant reds, the colour of my love and my fear, all of my fiercest feelings trailing after her in the sky like the tail of a comet.
With a discarded note and a promise to remember, Leigh is doused in shades of sterile white, her colours now depleted. Leigh will journey to Taipei to uncover a life shrouded in whispers, perusing the elusive crimson feathers her mother has adorned after passing. The infusion of Taiwanese mythology is ethereal. As Leigh immerses herself in the Taiwanese landscape, she experiences moments of dissociation carried on the whispers of foreigner by curious bystanders, raised without the influence of her Taiwanese parentage.
The journey to Taipei is cathartic and although abandoned by her father on arrival, her grandparents Waipo and Waigong are welcoming and affectionate towards their granddaughter despite the language barrier. Her father is a contentious aspect of the narrative. A sinologist and scholar fluent in Mandarin, her father prioritised his career preferably to the deteriorating mental health of his wife. As her father increasingly travelled abroad, Leigh assumed the responsibility of primary caregiver and upon his return, he remained inaccessible and isolated. He continuously chastised Leigh for her creative medium, creating tension and frustration.
The racially and sexually diverse characters are wonderful. The narrative also pertains to the American Asian identity and the sense of acceptance towards biracial, multiracial and migrant communities.
The journey to Taipei is cathartic and although abandoned by her father on arrival, her grandparents Waipo and Waigong are welcoming and affectionate towards their granddaughter despite the language barrier. Her father is a contentious aspect of the narrative. A sinologist and scholar fluent in Mandarin, her father prioritised his career preferably to the deteriorating mental health of his wife. As her father increasingly travelled abroad, Leigh assumed the responsibility of primary caregiver and upon his return, he remained inaccessible and isolated. He continuously chastised Leigh for her creative medium, creating tension and frustration.
The racially and sexually diverse characters are wonderful. The narrative also pertains to the American Asian identity and the sense of acceptance towards biracial, multiracial and migrant communities.
My mother's hands have turned to wings. Her hair, to feathers. Her pale complexion now red as blood, red as wine, every shade of every red in the universe.
The Astonishing Colour of After is exquisite. The Mandarin Chinese dialect complements the affluent and atmospheric tapestry of Taipei and Taiwanese elegance. Debut author Emily X.R. Pan is extraordinary, a lyricist captivating readers. An impeccable read.
Contains sensitivities such as mental illness and suicide
Written by Elizabeth Acevedo
Poetry, Contemporary, Social Issues
320 Pages
Publishing April 1st 2018
Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont
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★★★★
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers, especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Sixteen year old Xiomara Batista is a beautiful young woman, intelligent and compassionate, whispering words between the pages of her worn leather journal of a life never her own. Altagracia and her husband migrated to America from the Dominican Republic, surrendering her celibacy to a womaniser and embracing her Catholicism, residing in the community of East Harlem.
My parents probably wanted a girl who would sit in the pewswearing pretty florals and a soft smile.They got combat boots and a mouth silent until it's sharp as an island machete.
Brother Xavier was birthed as a whisper moments before Xiomara, wailing, entering the world. Xavier attends a prestigious private school, incapable of confronting his tormentors, incapable of confronting the men who sexualise Xiomara, now conscientious of her physique.
Her mother is antagonistic woman, disapproving, abusing and degrading Xiomara and the young woman her daughter represents. An independent feminist young lady. Emotionally absent, her father is a complacent bystander, creating a turbulent and oppressive environment.
We're wild women, flinging verses at each other
like grenades in a battlefield, a cacophony of violent poems
and then we're both gasping, wordless.
Xiomara's exploration of the world as a young woman is analytical, faith, femininity, relationships and the expectancy of young women and women of colour. Inspired by the poetry of women of colour, creative writing encourages Xiomara to articulate her thoughts. A formidable young woman who will confront, inspire and empower her captive audience throughout her verse narration.
To grab my notebook,
and write, and write and write
all the things I wish I could have said.
Make poems from the sharp feelings inside,
that feel like they could
carve me wide
open.
Legacy of Orïsha Book One
Written by Tomi Adeyemi
Fantasy, Magic, Diversity
352 Pages
Published March 13th 2018
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia
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★★★★★
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for the enemy.
Heaven and Earth once blessed the lands of Orïsha until the Maji community was slain, a genocide ordered by King Saran. Zélie Adebola remembers the night her small wind swept community was pillaged, her mother slain by atrocities of the Monarchy. The vibrant white mane of the Divĩner children continue to be oppressed and persecuted by the King, in retribution for the atrocities of the Kosidán.
Zélie Adebola is a defiant young woman, her village of Ilorin decimated by the Monarchy of Orïsha as her mother was captured and slain. The young women of Ilorin are disciplined in the artistry of non lethal defence, taught to protect their bodies against the brutality of the Guard, Mama Agba ensuring the Ilorin godlaw is preserved. Brother Tzain is a gentle man, Zélie and Tzain caring for their windowed father and one another. Zélie inherited her tenacity and defiance from her mother, a vivacious woman compassion and inspiration, her husband and children bereaved by their loss.
As Zélie encounters the Monarch heir attempting to abscond the Orïsha marketplace she is reluctantly embroiled in the heist, enticing the Guard to Ilorin to retrieve the sacred artefact. The Divĩners are an enslaved lineage, children with dormant abilities and artefacts once lost to time have now resurfaced to awaken the Divĩners, their ashê laden blood a language of the gods and expendable to King Saran.
As Zélie encounters the Monarch heir attempting to abscond the Orïsha marketplace she is reluctantly embroiled in the heist, enticing the Guard to Ilorin to retrieve the sacred artefact. The Divĩners are an enslaved lineage, children with dormant abilities and artefacts once lost to time have now resurfaced to awaken the Divĩners, their ashê laden blood a language of the gods and expendable to King Saran.
Amari is the daughter of King Saran and a reluctant heir to the Orïsha Kingdom alongside brother Inan, a general of the Orïshan forces. Unaware of atrocities of her Kingdom, Amari is held captive within her palatial tower, maligned by her mother for her dark complexion, her vitality quelled by her oppressive confinement. Brother Inan is a morally ambiguous young man pursuing validation from his father. With the Monarch wealth comes privilege but Inan and Amari are burdened by parental expectations. Amari is a treasonous deflector pursued by Inan under instruction of King Saran, loyal to the Orïsha kingdom and the crown.
The narrative Tomi Adeyemi has conceived is transcendent, intertwined with meticulous folklore. Children of Blood and Bone emphasises the lives of the African American youth lost to violence, inspiring readers and invoking discussion about prejudice. The prose is exquisite, the celebration of West African mythology and the Yorùbá dialect is captivating. A breathtaking debut.
Abogbo wa ni ọmọ r1ẹ nínú 1j1 àti egungun.
We are all children of blood and bone.
The Belles Book One
Written by Dhonielle Clayton
Fantasy, Dystopian, Diverse
Expected Publication February 13th 2018
Thank you to Hachette Australia and Netgalley
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★★★★★
Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In the opulent world of Orléans, Belles are revered, for they control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orléans, the people are born grey, they are born damned, and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful.
But it’s not enough for Camellia to be just a Belle. She wants to be the favourite, the Belle chosen by the Queen of Orléans to live in the royal palace, to tend to the royal family and their court, to be recognised as the most talented Belle in the land. But once Camellia and her Belle sisters arrive at court, it becomes clear that being the favourite is not everything she always dreamed it would be. Behind the gilded palace walls live dark secrets, and Camellia soon learns that the very essence of her existence is a lie, that her powers are far greater, and could be more dangerous, than she ever imagined. And when the queen asks Camellia to risk her own life and help the ailing princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, Camellia now faces an impossible decision.
With the future of Orléans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide, save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles, or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever.
Sixteen year old Camellia Beauregard is a Belle, a young woman disciplined in the artistry of beautification. On debut, Camellia and the Belles of Maison Rouge De La Beauté will perform for the cosmopolites of Orléans in the Beauté Carnaval, the Favourite chosen as the Royal Belle while her fellow sisters, blessed by the Goddess of Beauty, will be appointed to Tea Houses around the Kingdom.
In Orléans, citizens are are depleted of colour, their monochrome appearance dependant on each generation of Belles to beautify the wealthy and privileged citizens by bringing forth the Acana. Camellia is a grandiose young woman, her beauty and Belle stature are celebrated throughout the kingdom. From a tender age, Camellia has been cautioned to the significance of her responsibility, become the favourite. Competing for the converted position are her five fellow Belles, Edelweiss, Padma, Valeria, Hana and Camellia's childhood companion Ambrosia.
While Camellia with her mischievous temperament enjoyed the spoils of her gilded cage at Maison Rouge De La Beauté, Ambrosia demanded perfection. Ambrosia is a character of contrasts, a tender girl with a gentle disposition but beneath the surface is insidiously competitive. I admired the carefree, nonchalant boldness of Edelweiss, unafraid and unconcerned about the Belle position. As the narrative progresses, Edelweiss' insolence towards authority takes on a greater importance. Fiercely loyal and rebellious, I cherished her character.
The Belles must adhere to stringent guidelines. Only those with wealth and privilege are worthy of embellishment and in no circumstances should a Belle associate with men beyond a professional compacity or engage in consensual relationships. Charismatic Auguste Fabry is the son of the Minister of the Seas and although aware of the forbidden nature to engage with Auguste, Camellia is captivated by his confidence and insistence. The kingdom of Orléans is flushed with colour and glamour, the splendour the royal family of Orléans is eclipsed by the despair for their eldest daughter. Heir to the throne Princess Charlotte, who remains unconscious while the abhorrent Princess Sophia presides over extravagant parties. Sophia is a vindictive young woman, consumed by jealousy and hostility.
Beneath the imaginative extravagance is a narrative that explores cultural and racial identity, confidence, esteem and perception, challenging the confines of affluence and privilege. The Belles is exquisitely lyrical and atmospherically enchanting. Impeccable reading.
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