Reign or Shine – Michelle Rowen
Bloomsbury Allen & Unwin, 2010
288 pages
RRP: AU$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9534-2

Review by Liz Grzyb

Nikki Donovan is a typical teenager. She’s just moved to a new town and a new school after her mother married husband #4, and the Winter Formal is coming up! However, her dreams of the most popular boy in the school are disrupted by a strange boy who seems to be stalking her telling her bizarre stories about her father being a demon king.

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Worldshaker – Richard Harland
Allen & Unwin, 2009
384 pages
RRP: AU$17.99
ISBN: 9781741757095

Review by Liz Grzyb

Worldshaker is the story of Colbert Porpentine, heir to the position of Supreme Commander of the juggernaut Worldshaker. Unsurprisingly with a name like that, Colbert is one of the Elite class who live in the upper levels, lording it over the Filthies who occupy the bottom desk and do all the work. Col’s world is shaken up somewhat when he meets Riff, a Filthy who has escaped from the lower decks. She educates him in the true nature of the moving monolith they live in.

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The Crowded Shadows – Celine Kiernan (Moorehawke Trilogy #2)
Allen & Unwin, 2010
518 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-870-2

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

The Crowded Shadows is a well-written second instalment in the Moorehawke Trilogy. Like the first novel, this has lovely characterisation, pacy action and interesting ideas. It does, however, suffer a little from being the middle child, as the story doesn’t come to a satisfying conclusion in this book, needing the third to finish the story.

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Eric – Shaun Tan
Allen & Unwin Children’s, 2010
48 pages
RRP: AU$9.99
ISBN: 978-1-74237-292-1

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

Like all of Shaun Tan’s picture books, Eric is exquisitely produced. It is a beautiful small hardback, illustrated mostly in black and white.

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Lord Sunday – Garth Nix
Allen & Unwin Children, 2010
324 pages
RRP: AU$15.99
ISBN: 9781741145915

Reviewed by Kate Smith

The Keys to the Kingdom series has been a thoroughly enjoyable read and the final part of the tale does not disappoint.  While the series is aimed at younger readers, adults will also be able to enjoy a diverting story if they allow themselves to read Lord Sunday for what it is and what it is meant to be – a well written and simple tale.  It is not absolutely necessary for someone to read the first six novels in order to understand events, however it is advised in order to understand why the different characters are motivated as they are.

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Conan the Barbarian Omnibus – Robert E Howard
Allen & Unwin Crows Nest, 2009
653 pages
RRP: AU$29.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-851-1

Reviewed by Kate Smith

Conan the Barbarian was excellent.  It was an easy enough read to be enjoyable, with enough in what would appear to be a fairly basic premise to be interesting.  Many people are acquainted with Conan at least in passing but this will be knowledge from the movies that have been made at various times.  Less people, perhaps, will be familiar with the novels that have been written by others.  I have enjoyed the movies but not so much the novels, and I approached this volume of short stories curious but without any great expectations.  Very quickly I was engaged.

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The Best of his Macabre Tales – Edgar Allan Poe
Crows Nest Allen & Unwin, 2009
652 pages
RRP: AU$29.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-850-4

Reviewed by Russell B. Farr

It should have been an easy, quick review. Get in, talk about how great it is to have a big, hefty, fine looking volume of Poe, collecting so many fine stories, including all the big ones. Talk about how great it is to have them all in one place, complete and unabridged (I always wonder how much of my childhood was abridged). If I felt like putting myself into the review, I could throw something in about the merits of reviewing the work of someone who has been in the ground for 160 years, after all, it’s not like he’ll really care what I say.

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Sharp Shooter – Marianne Delacourt
Allen & Unwin Arena, 2009
313 pages
RRP: AU$29.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-931-0

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

I’d been looking for a copy of this book for a while – even though it is set in Perth, Sharp Shooter isn’t that easy to come across here yet. When I finally ran it to earth, it was in no less than the bookshop in the international airport! I snapped it up, along with my water and muesli bar to keep me company to Dubai. It was the perfect airplane read – fast-paced, interesting and lively heroine, and set in the city I was just leaving!

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The Poison Throne (The Moorehawke Trilogy #1) – Celine Kiernan
Allen & Unwin, 2009
468 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-1-74175-868-9

Reviewed by Liz Grzyb

The Poison Throne is the beginning of a fantastic (in all senses of the word) trilogy from Celine Kiernan. It follows fifteen-year-old Wynter Moorehawke, an apprentice carpenter and daughter of Lord Protector Lorcan Moorehawke. The story starts as Wynter and Lorcan return from a five-year sojourn in the Northlands at the king’s request.

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The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
Allen & Unwin Dolphin, 2006
278 pages
RRP: AU$14.95
ISBN: 1-84255-517-0

Reviewed by Kate Smith

The Foreshadowing is set in Britain and France during the years of World War One and tells the story of Alexandra Fox, a young woman born into a middle-class, well-regarded family during those years.  Having seen future deaths at different moments since the age of five, Alexandra must cope with what these mean, with the fact that her family refuse to acknowledge that she has this ability, and with the ongoing World War that is changing her world and her family.  After the death of her older brother, Alexandra decides that she cannot accept her vision of her other brother’s death and finds her way to France to try to save him from the fate she has seen.  In order to finally reach him she is aided by a dispatch rider who also has visions of impending deaths. (more…)