Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley (#4) by M. C. Beaton

18 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 2 Stars, Agatha Raisin, Audiobook, Mystery Tags: , , , , , , ,

Published: 4th August 2009 (print)/1st July 2012 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Minotaur Books/Bolinda Audio
Pages: 192/4 hrs and 40 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★   ★  – 2 Stars

Agatha Raisin joins Dembley hiking club to pursue handsome Cotswold neighbour James Lacey. Angry member Jessica targets wealthy landowner Charles Fraith, who retaliates with tea invitation, but her body is found dead on his grounds. Agatha and James investigate the crime, the group ready to kill.

I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as the others. This was almost an uneventful story and it couldn’t hold my interest, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t focus on the story and my mind kept wandering. I think in part it was the long dialogue between the walkers and the story in general, there was nothing engaging about it.

Even during the reveal of the culprit I found myself tuning out because I wasn’t interested. Nothing in the story had grabbed me enough to care about these characters or what they were doing. The most interesting part of the whole thing was at the very end with the set up for the events in the next book.

The story isn’t set in the village of Carsley and as a result we are introduced to a host of new characters. After the events at the end of the last book where Agatha returned to London briefly, she gets herself involved with the walkers through her desire to get fit, and as usual goes over the top and her vanity and complaints take up a lot of sentences.

With a lot of the focus on the walkers most of the story revolves around them, as well as those in the surrounds of the new village like Sir Charles Fraith. I liked how Charles tells Agatha outright that she shouldn’t pursue James because I never connected with this love match Beaton is trying for. They get together to start sleuthing about who the murderer could be, but since James has shown barely any interest in Agatha, often seems to dislike her at times, it’s weird trying to force them together.

You can purchase Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Audible

Wizards of Once (#1) by Cressida Cowell

16 Mar 2021 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy, Junior Fiction Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 19th September 2017 (print)/19th September 2017 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books/Hodder Children’s Books
Pages: 393/5 hrs and 56 mins
Narrator: David Tennant
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Junior Fiction Fantasy
★   ★   ★   ★ – 4 Stars

Once there was Magic, and the Magic lived in the dark forests.

Wizard boy, Xar, should have come in to his magic by now, but he hasn’t, so he wants to find a witch and steal its magic for himself. But if he’s got any chance of finding one, he will have to travel into the forbidden Badwoods.

Xar doesn’t realise he is about to capture an entirely different kind of enemy. A Warrior girl called Wish.

And inside this book, at this very moment, two worlds collide and the fate of the land is changed forever.

Xar and Wish must visit the dungeons at Warrior fort, and face the evil Queen.

But something that has been sleeping for hundreds of years is stirring…

Cressida Cowell books are something of magic themselves because I get so much pleasure from reading them. I loved her writing style and the humour she puts into her stories. Not to mention the creativity and imagination of the stories and how in a way the reader becomes a character in the story too.

The world Cowell has created contains magic and non-magic folk, as well as an ongoing long established feud between wizards and warriors. I found it really easy to fall into this world. Cowell establishes the rules and the laws early on and through the myriad of characters there are different roles for everyone to play in passing on information to the reader. There is never a moment where it became too complex or confusing which is an advantage of having a narrator who doesn’t mind breaking the fourth wall and addressing and problems right away.

The unknown narrator acts as our guide and their role is to tell us the story but I love how the narrator knows all and yet knows very little at the same time. It’s delightful as it varies from ‘I know the future and it’s awfully dangerous just wait and see’ to ‘I’m only the narrator and I only know so much I don’t know what is going on either”. They are also wonderful at explaining certain aspects of the story that need more clarity and the way they address the reader is great because it reinforces that this is a story being told to people, the small pauses to interject explanations are wonderful and it’s like a pause in the story to clear up any confusion before they proceed again.

Through Xar and Wish’s actions we gain an understanding about how the world works and with each child having a small group of friends, bodyguards, and guides, their little band of assorted creatures create all sorts of mischief which pull the story along. To be fair, the story is also full of chaos. There’s drama and danger, angry parents to deal with, not to mention the growing threat around them.

The audiobook was simply divine to listen to. David Tennant reads the story and his voice is perfect on all fronts. Listening to him do various voices for all the different characters was incredibly entertaining because when you are dealing with magical creatures there are a great deal of voices to choose from. I know I missed out on some illustrations that were in the physical book, but listening to Tennant’s voices was a pure delight I couldn’t ever switch back now.

I am excited to keep going with this series because even one book down I am invested in these characters and I love this story. It’s got elements of fantasy, adventure, friendship and utter and complete chaos. It is the perfect introduction to this new world and these characters while also being incredibly entertaining.

You can purchase Wizards of Once via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Theodore the Unsure by Pip Smith

12 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 5 Stars, Australian Women Writers, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 1st August 2019 Goodreads badge
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Illustrator: Beau Wylie
Pages: 32
Format: Picture Book
★   ★   ★   ★   ★  – 5 Stars

King Theodore is the Ruler of the Whole Animal Kingdom.

When his mane keeps growing and growing and growing, he must decide whether to cut it or keep it.

But Theodore is always so unsure! What will he do?

This is a very cute story. Poor Theodore has been crowned ruler of the animal kingdom but he dislikes making decisions. When the summer heat gets too hot for his growing mane, he can’t decide whether to cut it off or not. Enter the vote!

I liked the humour about Theodore’s reign and how he rules the animal kingdom when he’s never left the savannah. Travelling to the different habitats also showed off the differences in all the animals and their experiences. It was clever how Smith shows the misunderstanding between habitats for while Theodore is too hot with his mane, the polar bears for example worry if he cuts it off he will freeze. The in-jokes about the voting systems were divine, and I loved the comments of the animals because they were clever and had jokes that made adults laugh if they understood the references.

I’m not sure whether Smith or Wylie made the comments for the animals in the pictures but they were the best. I absolutely loved all the illustrations in this book, Wylie’s pictures of the different animals were brilliant; snakes in hats and cockatoos with fancy dos were only some of the joys I experienced reading this. I also loved how the uncontrollable mane started to take over the literal page while Theodore remained undecided.

There is a fun solution to Theodore’s problem and once again it shines through with Wylie’s illustrations. The story itself is very cute, but getting to read it while also seeing the fun, clever and adorable illustrations was a much better bonus.

You can purchase Theodore the Unsure via the following

QBD | Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon Aust

 

Long Lost Review: Darkest Place by Jaye Ford

11 Mar 2021 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Australian Women Writers, Thriller Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all. 

Published: 1st February 2016
Publisher: Random House Australia
Pages: 390
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
★   ★  ★  ★ – 4 Stars

Carly Townsend is starting over after a decade of tragedy and pain. In a new town and a new apartment she’s determined to leave the memories and failures of her past behind. However that dream is shattered in the dead of night when she is woken by the shadow of a man next to her bed, silently watching her. And it happens week after week.Yet there is no way an intruder could have entered the apartment. It’s on the fourth floor, the doors are locked and there is no evidence that anyone has been inside. With the police doubting her story, and her psychologist suggesting it’s all just a dream, Carly is on her own. And being alone isn’t so appealing when you’re scared to go to sleep.

This is a perfectly suited Long Lost Review because I remember bits and pieces of this book but not enough to write a proper review about it.

Looking at the literal one sentence note I wrote about it when I read it in 2016 I determined it was clever and “You understand Carly’s reasoning for what she does, and even at the end, she leaves you wondering about her and what her future holds.” All very important pieces of information.

I remember feeling unsettled as I read, the nature of the story and how Ford plays with your mind that you get caught up in Carly’s own paranoia. As she suspects the people around her so do you and the unknown is a very good fear factor. The simplicity of this thriller is what makes it works. It isn’t anything over the top, it relies on playing with the human experience, the unsettling nature of the unexplainable and our own fears and using that against us. The everyday nature of the narrative is what connects you, the fact this could happen to anyone is where it becomes most unnerving.

I would be interested in a revisit to this story because I think I remember how this ends but getting caught up in Ford’s gripping, dark and twisted story again could be worth it.

You can purchase Darkest Place via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Angus and Robinson

  Amazon Aust

The Potted Gardener (#3) by M.C. Beaton

10 Mar 2021 1 Comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Agatha Raisin, Audiobook, Mystery Tags: , , , , , ,

Published: 15th July 1994 (print)/1st August 2010 (audio) Goodreads badge
Publisher: Minotaur Books/Bolinda Audio
Pages: 256/4 hrs and 44 mins
Narrator: Penelope Keith
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Cosy Mystery
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

Never say die. That’s the philosophy Agatha Raisin clings to when she comes home to cozy Carsely and finds a new woman ensconced in the affections of her attractive bachelor neighbour, James Lacey.

The beautiful newcomer, Mary Fortune, is superior in every way, especially when it comes to gardening. And Agatha, that rose with many thorns, hasn’t a green thumb to her name. With garden Open Day approaching, she longs for a nice juicy murder to remind James of her genius for investigation.

And sure enough, a series of destructive assaults on the finest gardens is followed by an appalling murder. Agatha seizes the moment and immediately starts yanking up village secrets by their roots and digging up all the dirt on the victim. Problem is, Agatha has an awkward secret of her own.

I really enjoyed this story. I’m new to the cosy mystery genre and while Agatha is a difficult character to like, once you read a few books you can adjust and settle in knowing it’s going to be that kind of book where she is self-centred, brash and rude but also with a quaint village and a murder so hopefully it balances out. It’s just a shame she’s the main character.

Credit to Beaton for her creativity with these murders, they haven’t been dull and uneventful and I really liked the motivation behind this murder. The mystery was satisfying and being a short book there wasn’t a lot of characters in play and misdirection going on but I enjoyed the different villagers and their unique personalities.

More village life is explored and with rituals like the garden open day more of Agatha’s personal infatuations and place in the village are described. There are humour and antics, not laugh out loud but there are scenes where Agatha behaves a certain way that is comical or the characters say something funny.

I have to say I did enjoy the quirky characters, I also loved James’ complete confusion about Agatha. He says he wants her but then is scared when she wants him. His reasoning is very basic and in a way he is as uninterested in Agatha as before, and whether we’re meant to root for her or pity Agatha for trying I’m not sure.

There is a cynical approach looking at how Agatha behaves and her motivations, but at the same time it’s easy to look through it at as her being scared of being humiliated and judged. She is no nonsense and loves praise and accolades and when this entire village is made up of strange characters acting strange and saying strange things it’s hard not to find it enjoyable.

 

You can purchase The Potted Gardener via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Dymocks | Wordery | Angus and Robinson

 Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

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