fiction | Lost in a Good Book

The Constant Rabbit by Jasper Fforde

18 Dec 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy Tags: andrew wincott, Audiobook, fiction, four stars, jasper fforde

Published: 2 July 2020 (print)/2 July 2020 (audio)
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton /Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 307/12 hrs and 27 mins
Narrator: Andrew Wincott
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4.5 Stars

Peter Knox lives quietly in one of those small country villages that’s up for the Village Garden of the Year award. Until Doc and Constance Rabbit move in next door, upsetting the locals (many of them members of governing political party United Kingdom Against Rabbit Population), complicating Peter’s job as a Rabbit Spotter, and forcing him to take a stand, moving from unconscious leporiphobe to active supporter of the UK’s amiable and peaceful population of anthropomorphised rabbits.

Jasper Fforde has a fantastic way of creating alternate timelines/universes where it feels so real yet there’s always something slightly off. In Thursday Next it was the Crimean war and airships, and technology to bring back extinct creatures, in The Constant Rabbit there is the unexplained event that anthropomorphised rabbits and a few other creatures. But it happened so long ago, and has been so ingrained in society it’s its now normal.

Having an older narrator was great because being old enough to know about the before times, while having life experience behind him with the new world order worked to give a well-rounded story. There are people who know no different, and those who remember before. And the snippets of information about the years before add another element of this creative world Fforde has built.

Peter was a great character, he was perfectly suited because he was very middle of the road and accepting, but at the same time had a few opinions but still needed to be pushed into a cause. Being surrounded by such a variety of other types of people (and rabbits) was a great way to see that a regular person can make a difference without being presented to us from the beginning as The Hero.

I loved the subtle yet not subtle dig at UKIP and the characters based on certain UK politicians with their xenophobic and racists views. It felt real within the universe Fforde has created, yet mimicked their real world idiotic views. Fforde keeps it in world beautifully but still manages to pointedly state despite their loudness, they are wrong and in the minority.

One thing I adore about Fford’e writing is he’s great at giving you glimpses of future events in the story without telling you any spoilers. They are intriguing enough that you know something happens but not when why or how, and often not even if it will happen in the current book or is just there for story context. But this time we know it’s going to happen in story and it’s those little clues at future events actually makes the waiting more enjoyable because with a type story like this, anything is possible and could happen at any time.

One key highlight was the narrator was fantastic! Wincott had an absolute perfect style of reading this book that I adored from the second I started. I loved the tone used to tell the story, I can’t think how to describe it but it was perfect for this type of narrative. I don’t think it’s entirely down to the writing either (heaven knows I’ve heard some rubbish audio from brilliant texts) because while the tone and writing style of the story was fabulous, it matched perfectly with Wincott’s voice.

The mystical concept of anthropomorphised rabbits and the way society has adapted in such a short period of time was fascinating. There is so little else that is different from our world that having them coexist and the societal rules around that in terms of legislation and polite society was fascinating to read. Fforde always comes up with clever concepts but the execution and the well thought out world building and ground work he lays to have it all make sense is astounding.

There is personal drama, animal politics, and the magical realism we love from these kinds of novels. The tiny details are as important as the bigger ideas and as per usual they are interwoven and threaded together, circled back to and have more impact than you think in pure Fforde creativity.

Honestly, I have to say it again, if you can get this as an audio please do, Wincott smashed it out of the park and I enjoyed the brilliant style in which he read it as much as the story itself.

You can purchase The Constant Rabbit via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

18 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fiction Tags: Audiobook, cassandra morris, fiction, four stars, gabrielle zevin

Published: 9 September 2005 (print)/11 October 2005 (audio)
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/Listening Library
Pages: 275/7 hrs and 3 mins
Narrator: Cassandra Morris
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvellous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

Despite being well before The Good Place, this is a beautiful story that captures what I adored about that show: an afterlife that is still a life where you can grow and think and love before starting the cycle again.

There is a wonderful structure to the Elsewhere world while also being mystical. There’s rules and guidelines, there are things still bound by reality in terms of what is possible, but there is also a touch of the unknown, the magical, and the unexplained. The Benjamin Button aspect of the universe was really well conceived and I loved how Zevin ties that into relationships, living situations, and jobs.

We get to see Liz’s perspective mainly but around halfway through Zevin branches out and we see aspects of other characters like Betty and other key characters. I liked this balance because Liz’s story is what we want most, but the small additions of the other voices gives unique insights and great additions to the story without overshadowing Liz.

Stuck at 15 is a hard age, and I understand Liz’s fear at never growing up. She has a strong obsession with her breasts which was interesting, as well as never getting to take her driving test. I liked that despite being in an afterlife situation, she still felt bound by the fact she couldn’t accomplish life goals like getting her driver’s license. The exploration of the stages of grief and the yearning to return to the living, to live vicariously through them, to keep the connection alive is explored in subtle but powerful ways. I loved the gentle way Betty interacts with Liz, as well as Thandie and other characters who are often far more accepting of their fate than she is.

One interesting thing is, and isn’t a spoiler, but I doubt the reality of Marilyn Monroe being there given my understanding of the aging and rebirth system. Even with a vague setting of when this book takes place I think it is still unlikely Marilyn is still in Elsewhere and hasn’t been reborn. Just a curious observation. Other than that I do love the concept of Elsewhere. I love how jobs are viewed and how family reconnects, even the respect and ceremony of rebirth and the regulations around contact with the living is cleverly done. Zevin has created a beautiful story that is light-hearted but still explores the weight of grief, death, and what it means to be alive.

You can purchase Elsewhere via the following

QBD | Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Beneath the Sugar Sky (#3) by Seanan McGuire

04 Mar 2025 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fantasy, Fiction, Novella Tags: Audiobook, fantasy, fiction, four stars, michelle dockrey, novella, seanan mcguire, Wayward Children

Published: 9 January 2018 (print)/9 January 2018 (audio)
Publisher: tor.com/Macmillan Audio
Pages: 174/4 hrs and 11 mins
Narrator: Michelle Dockrey
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fantasy
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest – not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.) If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests…

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do. Warning: May contain nuts.

I love how we get introduced to characters in book one, and then as the series progresses we get their own individual stories, but scattered in between the original story arc keeps going as well. It is incredibly clever, and all the while revealing more about the rules of the worlds and the understanding of the system.

With the second book devoted to Jack and Jill’s story I was curious to see if the next book would pick another character we’d met and show their origins but I was delightfully surprised. We are back in the school as Rini literally lands at their door on a mission to save her mother, a character who died in book one.

This is why McGuire’s books are so fantastic, her rules on Logic and Nonsense, not to mention life and death are fascinating and primed for storytelling when put in the right hands. The nonsensical world works well with the nonsensical mission. Rini is as wild as her mother and the random nature of events only support the irregular world she’s come from.

I was delighted we got to revisit Nancy, especially in her own element, and it was great seeing characters deal with different land so unlike their own or their desired places. Given the world of Confection is a sugary light-hearted delight, there isn’t a lot of darkness or heavy themes, even with Rini’s possible demise. That isn’t to say there aren’t some wonderful things explored like understanding other people’s experiences and tolerance, but it is a much lighter story. Coming from Down Among the Sticks and Bones having something so sugary and nonsensical was probably the best call, and it is certainly a great reminder of the variety of doors and alignments people can be.

What makes these books so fantastic is they are relatively short reads but McGuire packs so much amazing story into so few pages. It’s truly a gift to be able have such real and complicated characters with such an involved plot and world while still keeping the page count short.

You can purchase Beneath the Sugar Sky via the following

Dymocks | Booktopia

Wordery | Blackwell’s | Angus & Robertson

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible

Somewhere in the Crowd by Katrina Logan

03 Sep 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 1 Star, Fiction Tags: contemporary fiction, eurovision, fiction, katrina logan, one star

Published: 20 April 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Genre: Fiction
★ – 1.5 Stars

Four friends. Twelve years. One Eurovision . . .

Eurovision is always the highlight of Millie’s year. So when she and her best friend James get the chance to see the final live in Oslo, it’s a dream come true – until they get swept up the excitement and try to break backstage, along with carefree German singer Ingrid and charismatic Australian backpacker, Noah.

Getting thrown out of the stadium wasn’t exactly the plan, but it might just spark the friendship – and the pact – of a lifetime. The four of them are going to reunite for every final, every year, every Eurovision.

Over the years, the unlikely four celebrate iconic Eurovision moments all across Europe – and, most importantly, are there for each other during all their highs and lows, heartaches and triumphs. But real life takes them down increasingly different paths, their promise becomes harder and harder to keep. Can the magic of Eurovision bring them together one last time…?

A joyous and uplifting novel inspired by the iconic song contest, about friendship, love and finding where you belong

I picked this up initially because the cover caught my eye and then I realised it was about Eurovision and it sounded great. Unfortunately, it didn’t really turn out that way. Looking at the ratings afterwards it is a clear hit or miss, either 1-2 stars or 4-5 stars. I felt generous at 1.5.

The main problem was it was boring. I couldn’t stick with the character after a while. They were fine, the premise was fine, but there was nothing to keep me engaged. I skimmed the rest of the book, establishing I’d made the right decision as it didn’t really improve. I came back in properly at the end, the final few chapters, but it was the same. I hadn’t missed anything, not much had actually happened, and that was fine.

Eurovision is the pull but it is not the focus. Either they couldn’t mention anything actually happening for legal reasons? Or maybe being at Eurovision was the meeting point, but it isn’t actually about Eurovision itself, despite the claim. Even if they couldn’t mention the concert, surely the whole city wasn’t void of something interesting to explore or mention. From that angle there is no reason to include Eurovision at all, they could all agree to meet at a park once a year. I meant to check if it was based on a real year, with a few fake acts thrown in, but by the end I didn’t care much either way.

The friendship group never made sense either, it did feel this minor connection to a single year at Eurovision was the thing holding them all together. Perhaps if they didn’t meet at Eurovision there would be no common factor to keep these people in contact.

In terms of actual story, the book follows four friends as they live their lives after meeting one year at the Eurovision Song Contest. From there we see snippets of the rest of their year, from relationships to jobs, and other life events. Then they come together once more and have another Eurovision adjacent experience. The characters are flat and while seem interesting feel undeveloped on the page, there is certainly no reason to invest in them.

The scope of the book is twelve years, so a lot of life events happen. Which is why it’s fascinating to me how it can be so unengaging. It is also a fascinating inside to these four people’s lives where they can actually traverse Europe and meet up once a year, from what I picked up everyone is living nomadic and simple lives where spur of the moment decisions are frequent as are decisions to change countries on a whim. Which is perfectly fine, except I kept thinking about the cost of doing all of this versus the lives I’ve been shown.

It might be a book that speaks to you, if you love Eurovision you could be in the 4-5 star range, but if you’re concerned you’re at the opposite end, maybe skip this on and find another book that has a story around the annual celebration.

You can purchase Somewhere in the Crowd via the following

Blackwell’s | Dymocks | Wordery

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

01 Aug 2024 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars, Audiobook, Fiction Tags: Audiobook, fiction, four stars, gabrielle zevin, jennifer kim, julian cihi, video games

Published: 5 July 2022 (print)/12 October 2022 (audio)
Publisher: Random House /Vintage Digital
Pages: 397/13 hrs and 52 mins
Narrator: Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★ ★ ★ ★ – 4 Stars

On a bitter-cold day, in the December of his junior year at Harvard, Sam Masur exits a subway car and sees, amid the hordes of people waiting on the platform, Sadie Green. He calls her name. For a moment, she pretends she hasn’t heard him, but then, she turns, and a game begins: a legendary collaboration that will launch them to stardom. They borrow money, beg favours, and, before even graduating college, they have created their first blockbuster, Ichigo: a game where players can escape the confines of a body and the betrayals of a heart, and where death means nothing more than a chance to restart and play again. This is the story of the perfect worlds Sam and Sadie build, the imperfect world they live in, and of everything that comes after success: Money. Fame. Duplicity. Tragedy.

Spanning thirty years, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Venice Beach, California, and lands in between and far beyond, Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a dazzling and intricately imagined novel that examines the multifarious nature of identity, games as art form, technology and the human experience, disability, failure, the redemptive possibilities in play, and above all, our need to connect: to be loved and to love. Yes, it is a love story, but it is not one you have read before.

I had heard praises for this book for so long, but I never knew it was about videos games until I actually started reading. I wish I’d picked it up sooner now. As a massive fan of Ready Player One I was curious about how this would be a similar love letter to video games but Zevin does a wonderful job. Not only showing how important, creative, and wonderful video games can be, but also how the human condition is balanced so precariously around friends, family, grief, and chance.

Zevin’s writing is incredibly vivid, this books reads like it is playing out before you on a screen. The other day, months after having read it, I was thinking of a scene and couldn’t remember the movie I had seen it in, before realising it was actually a scene from this book. There is fantastic foreshadowing but you never know it is foreshadowing which makes it even more incredibly heartbreaking.

The story is character driven but is also following a captivating story through their lives. It’s fractured and broken and strewn across the chapters and it is slowly pieced together as you read and switch perspectives. It’s skilfully told, interwoven stories and periods in their lives that reflect and mirror and resonate as you read. It’s fascinating to see the layers of their lives and the games they create, how their past and presents shape them and how those around them impact on who they become. Moments in their lives that shaped them, which tell a story of their own, are laid out before you and as the pieces fit together and you learn more, it becomes both beautiful and tragic.

An important thing to note is I don’t think you need to know anything about videos games to appreciate the story, or their role in it. There is enough context and explanation for you to know what is going on. The gaming aspect is very much behind the scenes while not being too actual game or tech heavy. It’s a love letter to videos games without being solely about video games. It goes through real history with a false history alongside and looks at the emotional and human connections that come through gaming.

I adore the characters. They are incredible realistic. They are flawed, compassionate, and human. Seeing their journey over the years and how the influence each other, adore each other, hate each other. It was wonderful to see the complexities of the human experience play out in a way that feels relatable.

Sam and Sadie are complex people and I loved seeing them grow from their youth to adults. From the beginning they are fully developed, alive on the page, and we follow their lives and their growth so intimately they only become more solidified as their experience shapes them. Secondary characters like Marx and Dove as great too, and Zevin balances our opinions of them through Sadie and Sam’s eyes well so it’s a constant see saw of how we think of them.

I read this as an audio and the format of transcripts, point of view swaps, and time skips aren’t hindered at all and you still completely experience and understand the wonderful story being told. There’s strings that connect that you aren’t aware of until they’re pulled together at the end when it falls in pace, but you are never left lost by the time jumps and the format. A truly beautiful story that is about an area not usually given the respect it deserves.

As the story progresses through the years you are reminded that the world was a much simpler place pre 2000, but at the same time post millennium has advantages too. It’s a perfect balance between the love of games and the knowledge of how impactful they can be coupled with an emotional journey through life and love and the universe.

You can purchase Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow via the following

QBD | Dymocks

Wordery | Blackwell’s

Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible