Book Box: Dive into fantasy worlds
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SINGAPORE – In this week’s Book Box, The Straits Times looks at four works that invoke magic and prophecy. Buy the books at Amazon
Book review: In The Shadow Of The Wolf Queen shows things are not so black and white
In The Shadow Of The Wolf Queen by Kiran Millwood Hargrave has just enough spice to keep it from becoming too predictable.
PHOTOS: PANSING
Ysolda’s idyllic village life in Glaw Wood is shattered when her elder sister Hari is abducted by Ryders, who are knights of Seren, the Wolf Queen.
Hari is just one of the many “gifted” who are kidnapped by the queen, who intends to use their ability to communicate and connect with nature as a means to achieving her goal of locating the fabled Anchorite.
Some believe the Anchorite to be a spirit, an entity – a girl – with some sort of power who resides in the End-World Wood.
Others, like Ysolda, think it is just an origin story of how the world came to be.
Book review: Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s horror novel Silver Nitrate casts a dark spell
Mexican author Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Silver Nitrate is a paean to the golden age of Mexican horror movies.
PHOTOS: PANSING, MARTIN DEE
Decades after it was phased out in the 1950s, cinema buffs still wax lyrical about silver nitrate film stock.
Whites “like bleached linen”, blacks “so rich you feel you could bury your hands in that velvet darkness”, raves a character in the novel Silver Nitrate.
Its beauty was unparalleled – and so was its danger.
Nitrate stock was incredibly flammable. Cinemas and film vaults through the decades burned down because the reels got a little too hot.
This valuable, volatile material is at the heart of Mexican author Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ninth novel, which, though entertaining, ultimately plays it too safe to catch fire.
Book review: Navigating the intricacies of fate and fortune in The Square Of Sevens
The Square Of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson reminds readers that control is but an illusion.
PHOTOS: PANSING, ADRIAN SCOTTOW
At the tender age of seven, Red, also known as Rachel, finds herself abandoned in Bath after her father’s death.
She is left with memories of her dad and a genteel guardian, but also something more extraordinary – a manuscript that unveils the intricate art of cartomancy known as the Square of Sevens.
English historical fiction writer Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s so-titled adventure novel follows Red, astute beyond her years, as she pursues her family’s secrets and her birthright, despite discouragement from her guardian, Mr Henry Antrobus.
It is a path that leads her through the luxurious estates of Georgian England and into battle with two influential, warring families in London and Devon.
Book review: Menna van Praag’s Child Of Earth And Sky the petering out of an innocuous trilogy
Child Of Earth And Sky by Menna van Praag is the third and final instalment of fantasy series The Sisters Grimm.
PHOTOS: TIMES DISTRIBUTION, RAFAL LAPSZANSKI
The third and final instalment of fantasy series The Sisters Grimm is a pretty but flat affair, with too little magic and an enigmatically written finale that eschews violence for a vague sense of transfiguration.
Unlike her two previous books, English author Menna van Praag is here more interested in intimate human drama than bold clashes in Everwhere, the alternate magical realm she has created.
In place of wars waged with the elements, readers are left with essentially the story of single mother Goldie, who is trying to convince social services that she is capable of taking care of her gifted daughter Luna.
In the process, the happenings in Everwhere become so incidental, they are in danger of becoming mere allegory.
The Straits Times’ Weekly Bestsellers Oct 7
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF HANOVER SQUARE PRESS, COURTESY OF MACMILLAN
This week’s bestsellers contain new releases from John Patrick Green, Rick Riordan, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.
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