This is the first of Melina Marchetta's books I've read, although I have seen 'Looking for Alibrandi' and I quite enjoyed it.

Finnikin of the Rock was not special. It was cookie-cutter fantasy, with nothing new.



It left me feeling flat, bored and rather underwhelmed.

I enjoyed the world building, but I felt that the oppression was a little too strong, the idea of hope was completely trodden on by the doom and gloom. Realism in the Young Adult genre is important, but this amount of oppression in a childs book, while not really explored in graphic detail was constantly thrown up (rape, murder, atrocities of war, beatings etc) it was always in your face, always loitering just round the corner. It was too much for a YA book!

I also didn't like how the relationship between Finnikin and Evanjalin progressed. I mean how immature do you want to get?



And that twist about 70% in...when we find out someting about Evanjalin...(I don't want to add spoilers!)



And, while we're on WTF moments, I didn't like what happened with Trevanion and Beatriss. I felt ripped off and it felt weird. What was with that relationship?



Ultimately, this book was a giant let down after all the hype I'd heard. It was boring, too long and quite dark (not that I mind dark) but it doesn't have this sort of place in a Young Adult book.



I will not be continuing on with the series.

Behind the wattles is a collection of mostly Australian writer's flash and micro fiction. Each of the entries in the book either placed or was highly commended in Stringybark Publishing's flash and micro fiction competitions in 2012.

Every entry is either under 1000 words (flash fiction) or under 100 words (micro fiction). It is a true gift, to be able to sucker punch your reader in the guts in less words than most of us would put in an email to someone.

The absolute highlight for me in this book was Getting by byMaggie Veness. The 869 words of this story were so emotionally charged they left me feeling bereft and broken upon finishing. Yet, it was a strangely comforting story too, one of love and surviving and doing anything for those you cherish.

Another great story, this time a micro fiction, was Slim Hopeby Michael B Fletcher. Those 50 words tell of a great adventure. Yet, of the 12 people I showed this to, only four of us 'got it'. It was an interesting result. For what I thought of instantly, others hadn't the foggiest idea about. Isn't imagination and creativity great!?

Interestingly, of the five stories I flagged as my favourites, only one of them actually placed in the competition and that one entry was not my favourite favourite - if you get what I mean. I found this interesting as I wondered how the judging occurred.

I really liked getting a little information about the authors after each on their stories. It made me feel as if I somehow understood their stories better for that.

Now, this 153 page book took me four days to read and it shouldn't have. I mused over this last night with my husband and I think it may have been because of the font used in the printing. The pages seemed heavier and more densely filled than even the 400+ page book I read over the weekend.

I can't say that feeling has happened to me before, but I think next time I might get a kindle copy so I can change spacing and fonts.

All up, some great stories by a wide variety of authors. Stringybark Publishing and David Vernon, as well as all the authors should be supremely proud of this little collection.

You can buy this book from Stringybark directly or you can also find it on Smashwords. I fear that by not being available on Amazon, these books by Stringybark might be missing a larger readership. So guys, if you want to give this one a try, please head over to Smashwords and pick up an electronic copy today! You won't regret it.

Have you ever had the feeling when you read something that perhaps the author loved all things paranormal so much that they wanted to cram as many different paranormal beings into one book as they could?

No?

Well I'd have to say this is what Nenia tried to do here. It left me thinking along these lines:

Shifters and witches and vamps - Oh My!


The influx of Otherworld characters aside, the story was an interesting one. There was a lot of exposition and world building that I think was a touch too long, if I were editing this and the next book (that I haven't read yet) I would probably cut half of this book and smash it together with book #2 and call it the first book.

Aside from one really important scene with said deranged witch from the synopsis, much of the rest of the story was building characters, relationships and background. There's info dumping galore, which kind of irked me.



Ok, let's get back on track here - This book is the first in what is currently a 5 book series (4 novels and one novella - PS, don't check out the synopsis of the novella if you haven't read the rest of the books first - it totally starts with a spoiler! FAIL)

The synopsis of Black Beast drew me in, but I felt it gave me a skewed idea of what was going to happen in the book. Nenia's tiny blurb in her 'review' of the book is far more to the point and accurate. I think a review of the synopsis could be in order.

My favourite character was David, which seems to be a little off kilter with the rest of the reviewers. I didn't love or hate Finn, but I have a feeling I'm funnily going to enjoy his role in the next books... I'm messed up like that.



Will I continue to read the series? Hell yes! even if it's just to read the deranged goings on between Finn and Catherine as the series progresses.

Some things I noticed:

19% - The woman's large brown eyes were made large(r) by her...
29% - with her lucks (delete the s)
58% - but either the witch didn't hear... Repeated paragraph twice.
64% - It (delete it, add If) it was a real emergency...
77% - how many of these fundraisers... Repeated paragraph twice.
87% - ...shift (into) something small," she...
95% - I'm more concerned about (what) you'll do...


**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review**

This is the first of Melina Marchetta's books I've read, although I have seen 'Looking for Alibrandi' and I quite enjoyed it.

Finnikin of the Rock was not special. It was cookie-cutter fantasy, with nothing new.



It left me feeling flat, bored and rather underwhelmed.

I enjoyed the world building, but I felt that the oppression was a little too strong, the idea of hope was completely trodden on by the doom and gloom. Realism in the Young Adult genre is important, but this amount of oppression in a childs book, while not really explored in graphic detail was constantly thrown up (rape, murder, atrocities of war, beatings etc) it was always in your face, always loitering just round the corner. It was too much for a YA book!

I also didn't like how the relationship between Finnikin and Evanjalin progressed. I mean how immature do you want to get?



And that twist about 70% in...when we find out someting about Evanjalin...(I don't want to add spoilers!)



And, while we're on WTF moments, I didn't like what happened with Trevanion and Beatriss. I felt ripped off and it felt weird. What was with that relationship?



Ultimately, this book was a giant let down after all the hype I'd heard. It was boring, too long and quite dark (not that I mind dark) but it doesn't have this sort of place in a Young Adult book.



I will not be continuing on with the series.