Review: Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood
Reviewed by Maggie: March 15, 2013
Originally reviewed on August 19, 2011
Published August 1, 2010 by Pan Macmillan Australia
Goodreads • Buy at Fishpond • To be published in US




I first read Six Impossible Things in August of 2011 after seeing Cath Crowley's review. When one of my favorite authors loves a book, I seek out said book. I'll stop at nothing, including 3 international calls to Australia, a PayPal Australia account, and begging. It all worked out in the end because I adored this book. This past Christmas, it was the book I chose to give out to members of my book club.

I am so thrilled it will be published in the United States later this year, and that more people will be able to read it -- without international begging even! I reviewed it on goodreads in 2011 and I'm reposting it here.

• • •

Meet Dan Cereill.

Fourteen, smart, and totally adorkable.

He’s also dealing with:
1. His parents’ divorce
2. ...on account of his father being gay.
3. Having to move and start a new school
4. ...because dad lost their savings.
5. Trying to shed his loser image and impress the girl next door
6. ...as he ends up answering to ‘dickhead’ in front of her on the first day of school.

Needless to say, things aren’t going well. After moving into his deceased aunt's house, the person he talks to the most is Howard, the judgmental poodle who came with the house.

Still, he has a list of six things, six seemingly impossible things, that he revisits and uses as a reference point to get through each day. For example, in order to cheer up his mom (#3 on the list), he confronts the school bully, Jayzo, about crank calling his house/mom's business.

Yeah, it doesn't work for Dan either.

Even as I cringed for him, I just wanted to give Dan a hug. I was cheering for him the whole way through and hoping that he'd end up taking the girl to the dance at the end.

This was so witty and heartwarming. I would be surprised that this is a debut novel except that the author is Australian. I appreciated how she tackled social issues such as homophobia without being heavy-handed or having her character rant on and on. Dan is also prone to typical 14-year-old petulance, but I loved his character's development. There was such a sweetness to how he liked Estelle.

This book took me some effort to get (Don't even get me started on Paypal vs Paypal Australia!), but it's definitely worth it. Dear Dan, Love you big time!

Rating: 5/5 stars. 

Review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
(Dust Lands #1)
Reviewed by Noelle: June 30, 2011.
Published June 7, 2011 by Margaret K. McElderry
Goodreads • Buy at Amazon • Buy at Fishpond • Kindle



I thought this was fun as hell. First of all, as you all know, I adore a good adventure road trip tale. I just love 'em--the stranger the people/lands, the shittier the conditions and the steeper the hardships, the better! There's nothing more entertaining to me than a bunch of random personalities dependent on each other for survival while they are saving the world/defeating evil/[insert epic quest here]. So obviously I was pretty on board after reading the story blurb. Yet, I've been burned in the past so although I was eager, I withheld my full-fledged enthusiasm. 

But then I discovered that not only was Blood Red Road an adventure quest/road trip but it was based on hillbillies in a post-apocalyptic world AND featured a heroine with an anger management issues, a girl gang of revolutionaries, an enigmatic dark knight, a Flynn Ryder-esque hero, and the best dang animal sidekick I've seen in awhile (a crow! that plays dice! and "aint much fer huggin"!) and.....OH HELL YES. 

The heroine was awesomely flawed. A couple times I recoiled with a “DAMN, cold!” to some of the doozies Saba lobbed at her sis but then I imagined being responsible for the physical safety and well being of a 9 year old where the best possible outcomes could be dying of thirst and the worst possibilities included slavery, cage fighting for your life and oh yeah, HELL WORMS. I’d probably lose it once or twice at dear lil' sis myself. 

There were a few things that bugged (the totally unnecessary piece of jewelry for one) but for the most part I could easily overlook them because the story as a whole was such a fun ride. 

I'm not sure if it's a sign that ---ack!--I've lived in the South too long or what, but the dialect didn't bother me one bit. While this book is the first of a series, it has a full and complete plot and could stand on it's own. After reading so many first books that bury you with "this is a trilogy!" exposition, I appreciated Blood Red Road so much. I look forward to the rest of the series.  (Even though reading the sequel's title made me do this.) 

Sidenote: You MUST check out this amazing interpretation of the Free Hawks by foralllove.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Reviewed by Maggie: February 22, 2012

Published May 21, 2011 by Feral Dream

Goodreads • Buy Paperback at Amazon • Kindle  

I just got my paperback copy of Angelfall today, so I thought I'd revisit this book and write a proper review -- one that doesn't involve a Korean grandma, a cell phone, and a 911 operator.

I've made some successful forays into fantasy recently (Finnikin of the Rock, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Seraphina), but as a genre, two elements repel me: tedious world-building and nonsensical names. The latter reason is why, despite some glowing reviews, I can't even consider a Rachel Vincent novel. Angelfall, a self-published dystopian fantasy about a 17-year-old girl named Penryn, looked like a potential disaster. However, it was only a $0.99 potential disaster, so I decided to risk it and buy it for my Kindle.

I'm so glad I did.

Angelfall throws you into San Francisco 6 weeks after angels descended and attacked. All we know is that the angel Gabriel was gunned down, unleashing an angel apocalypse all over the world. Penryn, named after an exit off Interstate 80 by her mentally unstable mom, is trying to survive in this new world order, with angels up top and humans trying to fill whatever space they can underneath, no matter the cost to themselves. It's human nature in its basest form -- survival of the fittest, kill or be killed. Penryn can fend for herself. Her paranoid schizophrenic mother made sure of this, enrolling her daughter in self-defense classes from an early age. However, Penryn isn't just fending for herself. She's caring for her handicapped younger sister, Paige. Except Paige gets taken by an angel while Penryn is defending another angel from certain death. Now Penryn must trust this injured angel, Raffe, to take her to the guarded angel aerie to find her sister.

And that's just the beginning.

Going back to my two fantasy dealbreakers, there is no tedious world-building -- some would say that there isn't enough world-building, or world-explaining, but that works for me. I'd prefer to know less, at least initially. Secondly, Penryn's name fits her completely. This isn't a cool name; this is a name chosen because it was there. Like her child.

Angels were another potential stumbling block because I consider myself devoutly agnostic. I don't mind religion if it's intrinsic to the story and the characters, like in Sorta Like a Rock Star. I just don't like being preached to.

Oh, is this unrelated? SO ARE MY REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS TO THE REPUBLICAN AGENDA.

Imagine my delight in finding out Raffe, the angel, was agnostic! And that wasn't even the turning point for me because I was already invested in the story. I loved the dynamic between our two feisty leads, Penryn and Raffe. I really loved what happened when Penryn pulled out her Ally McBeal "I am a trained kickboxer" card and punched a man twice her size, fully expecting all the people around her to swoop in and stop the fight before any harm came to her. Not in this new reality. This is the kind of detail I love. It shows how societal norms have changed, that a man fighting a woman who challenges him isn't the end all because they've seen the end all.

This is a novel that I thoroughly enjoyed -- so much so that after finishing it on Christmas, I gifted it to 5 friends that night. (And still only spent $5!) This is a quality story with quality characters written by a very qualified author. I highly recommend it.

Verdict: 4.5/5 stars. 

Review: All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

All I Ever Wanted by Vikki Wakefield

Reviewed by Noelle: December 5, 2011
Published June 27, 2011 by Text
Goodreads • Buy Kindle edition • Buy at Fishpond


Oh, man. I really, really liked this.

Mim dreams of a different life, a life far, far away (in every respect) from her current one and it’s not difficult to understand why she wants to escape. She lives in a rough neighborhood where bright futures are the rarity, not the foregone conclusion. The family business includes drug dealing and loan sharking and her neighbors range from strange to genuinely terrifying. Mim hardly dares to say her dreams out loud, but she fiercely clings to the idea of a better life. By drafting a set of strict rules for herself, Mim is determined to change her fate. She has managed to steer clear of any outright involvement in criminal activity, but that all changes when both of her brothers are arrested and her mom needs her to pick up a package. Over the following week, Mim’s rules are systematically broken and her life is forever changed.

It’s amazing how much Vikki Wakefield accomplishes in so few pages (202!). Her prose is stunningly beautiful and atmospheric. There's nothing extraneous in her writing, every word is chosen with such precision and care. Wakefield really has a knack for nuanced, genuine characters. Although the plot is suspenseful, gritty and entertaining, where the book really delivers is the character interaction. The emotional relationships are bitterly honest. And Mim? Mim is just plain special. She is tough, yet a dreamer. Resigned, yet hopeful. She's prickly, funny, flawed and fierce. I loved her journey as all of her preconceptions about everyone from her mother to her crush to herself blow up in her face and challenge her to adapt and grow. Her blind need to escape has kept her separate from the world around her, but what happens when she opens her eyes and really sees "her people"? I was completely absorbed throughout all of her mistakes and triumphs.

Verdict: 5/5 stars.  All I Ever Wanted is one of my favorite books of the year.

Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Reviewed by Noelle: March 15, 2011 

Published May 4, 2009 by Chicken House Ltd

Goodreads • Buy at Amazon • Buy at Fishpond

Gah. The feelings. I'm still trying to process them all. This book evoked such a visceral response. I'm not sure if I thought anything the entire time I was reading it but I felt everything. There was this constant low level buzz of dread--a wonderful, dazed, hysteria always in the background. I had a knot in my chest the whole book and it is still there even now that I'm finished. The Australian outback is such a perfect setting too, filled with beauty and despair. After awhile it started to feel like a hallucination.

Stolen is 16 year old abductee Gemma's letter to her captor after she is kidnapped from a Bangkok airport and taken to Australia.  The writing style is simple but utterly engrossing.  Lucy Christopher skillfully immerses  the reader in Gemma's emotional roller coaster of fear, confusion, desperation and shockingly, sympathy.

And what a genius format to choose--a letter directed to the captor. Blurring the "you", the captor with "you", the reader. Such a clever way to form that subconscious bond.

I thought the book needed a few more speed bumps in the last corner before home stretch and the format, while perfect in so many ways, allowed for some huge unanswered questions. Still this book, while not flawless, will immediately put its hooks into you. Be prepared to read it in one sitting. At one point I seriously debated calling in to work so I could continue reading!

This book stressed me out in the best possible way.
Verdict: 4.5/5 stars.