A lost missionary, banana goblins, a paradise hotel an historical sprawl through China, a nod to Harry Potter and a therapist...
Dragonstone
James C. Stuart
£7.99, Self-Published
With reports of a new Harry Potter film delighting muggles worldwide, it's easy to forget that fans will still be without a new entry into the wizarding franchise for some time. As such, Potterheads might well consider picking up a copy of James C. Stuart's unashamedly Potter-esque debut novel, Dragonstone. Dragonstone begins with protagonist Charlie Stuart bravely thwarting a group of snivelling school bullies. And young Charlie will need all this courage because, soon, he finds himself whisked away to the mysterious, Nottingham-based Dragonstone School. Stuart portrays the city superbly, sculpting a clear sense of the architecture and ambience. Accents are used throughout, but they are well-measured, crisp and never subtract from the pacing. However, the book really takes off once inside the walls of Dragonstone. The students learn swordplay, magickal history and, significantly, some of the life-lessons familiar to more orthodox school goers too. Jack Croxall
CPR
Trak E Sumisu
£8.99, Self Published
The cover of CPR cites neither the author’s name nor the meaning of the eponymous TLA (both are spelled out on the spine). If the effect is meant to be enigmatic, then it certainly befits a novel that sets out to investigate the schism between psychology and superstition, understanding and reality. The novel itself, however, is less a riddle wrapped in an enigma than a taut 120 page novella stretched out to nearly three times that length. The prose style is overblown, with far too many adjectives studding the text. For every scene that generates an interesting dynamic or pushes forward the narrative, there are three that labour the scene-setting or wander off at tangents. Genuinely clever concepts rely too much on exposition rather than trusting to the reader’s intelligence. CPR is simultaneously a fascinating and frustrating read. An author who shoots for the moon deserves kudos, but a stringent copy-edit could have done so much to help fix the co-ordinates. Neil Fulwood
The Lost Missionary
Christopher Richardson
Are you a fan of the obscure corners of Northern socialist history? No? How about an epic migration from the streets of Nottingham to the unknown shores of the New World? Still no? Fair enough. The Lost Missionary is an essay focusing on the later years of famed “social missionary” Henry Layland Knight, whose work as an activist throughout the North-East throughout the 19th century are the subject of Richardson’s previous book A City of Light. The Lost Missionary is effectively a short biography, piecing together what little is known about Knight’s life in America during his attempt to establish a socialist colony. Fans of social history will no doubt find this to be a quick read filled with nuggets of information. To the layman, however, this may come across as a fairly niche and slightly dry text. The pamphlet has now been added to the second reprint of City of Light where it has greater resonance bookended between other stories of chartism, socialism and co-operation. Liam Mills
The Bestiary
Barend Harris
£3, Self Published
Bright, bold and fanciful, illustrator and comic book artist Barend Harris’ The Bestiary is a joy to behold. Formatted like the compendiums of beasts, which were popularised in the middle ages, Harris’ book showcases a colourful collection of cartoon illustrations and descriptions of imaginary creatures and mythical beasts. Accompanying each image is a detailed etymology of the creature’s name, witty descriptions of their characteristics and tendencies, and where you’re most likely to stumble upon them. The beasts are categorized into their respective domains; ‘Spirits’, ‘Woodland’ and ‘Aquatic’ creatures. There’s also a lesserknown ‘Modern’ beasts category, featuring the brilliant, bad tempered ‘Banana Goblin’. A couple of the images feature illustrations superimposed onto a realist background, which jar a little against the other, highly stylised drawings yet many of the illustrations have a Studio Ghibliesque quality to them, particularly the ‘Tree Wights’ and ‘Surrow’, both of which are real standout pieces. Helen Frear
The Woman Who Lost China
Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang
£10.89, Open Books
At its best, The Woman Who Lost China combines the immediacy of a thriller, the evocation of autobiography and the precise attention to detail of social history. Rhiannon Jenkins Tsang has a passion for and knowledge of China that stamps itself on every page. The opening chapters, set in 1949, are written in a tense, urgent style. Then Tsang shifts the narrative back to 1894 and the novel becomes a sprawling historical epic ... or rather, it would have benefited from a bit of sprawl. At 357 pages, it struggles to contain a burgeoning cast of characters and a timeline that clocks in at nearly a century. Historical detail threatens to overwhelm character arcs, but the world Tsang evokes is utterly mesmerising - she opens a window on an entirely different culture and mindset - and ultimately it's this sense of place that makes her debut novel well worth reading. Neil Fulwood
Paradise Hotel
Martin Sumner
The author of Paradise Hotel, Martin Sumner, is intelligent, politically engaged and incredibly imaginative. He even has glimmers of Pratchettesque wit. I began reading this collection of short stories with great hopes, but, I personally felt it was all potential and no follow through. The concept is brilliant. Paradise Hotel is a series of stories linked by theme and setting, a set of Bangsian fantasies where famous names real and fictional pass through a staging point at the gates of the afterlife. There were points were I laughed and I enjoyed the satire on the post-modern condition. The problem is the novel lacks stylistic prowess. Description is often thin and some of the stories lack plot, which makes it hard to engage with them. I wouldn’t let you put this off reading Paradise Hotel though because this is an exciting author and concept with a lot of potential. Katie Hutchcraft
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