The Runes Have Been Cast by Robert Irwin: review

 

I've enjoyed Robert Irwin's novels over the years (in particular, Satan Wants Me, a deliciously clever novel about, well, black magic), and so was delighted to be asked to review his latest, The Runes Have Been Cast, for the Times Literary Supplement. You can read the piece here.

Review of Jonas Eika's AFTER THE SUN

 I've reviewed Jonas Eika's AFTER THE SUN for The Times Literary Supplement. You can read it here.

A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos: Review

Also this week, my review of Christelle Dabos' young adult novel, A Winter's Promise, in The Times Literary Supplement.

Review of Dear Mr M by Herman Koch in the TLS

I've reviewed a Dutch thriller, called Dear Mr M by Herman Koch, in this week's Times Literary Supplement.

Once Again Assembled Here by Sean O'Brien: Review in Times Literary Supplement

I've reviewed Sean O'Brien's Once Again Assembled Here, a novel about the terror of the past in a provincial boarding school, for The Times Literary Supplement. You can read it in the August 19th Double Issue, or online (behind paywall) here.

The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily by Dino Buzzat, trans. Frances Lobb: review in The Times Literary Supplement

I've reviewed a new translation of The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily, by Dino Buzzati (trans. Frances Lobb), for The Times Literary Supplement. If you subscribe, you can read it here.

Nick Harkaway's Tigerman: review in the TLS

Top of the morning to you: I've reviewed Nick Harkaway's Tigerman, for the Times Literary Supplement. It's available on the website (subscription only) or in the elegant print version on newstands.

Review of The Liberators by Philip Womack on Just Imagine

I've stumbled across this review of The Liberators on the Just Imagine Story Centre. It's a lovely one:

"Ivo Moncrieff is thirteen and a half years old and he’s never been to London. Even before arriving at his glamorous aunt and uncle’s home for Christmas, he’s thrown into the greatest adventure any boy could ask for. As he enters London’s Underground, and waits for a train, an object is thrust into his hands by a wild stranger with an incoherent message. Moments later the boy witnesses the stranger’s gruesome murder, and Ivo is next in line to die if he doesn’t keep his wits about him. Ivo finds out he’s up against the ancient power of the Liberators who, after centuries in the shadows, are impatient to overthrow London. The murderers want the object, they seem untouchable from the laws of the land, and he’s a vulnerable child in a grown-up’s world. As the city approaches total breakdown, it’s all down to Ivo; his two new friends, a boy and a girl; plus an eccentric slightly over the hill adult hero. “Myth and fantasy intrigued me,” Philip Womack states, “I have always been interested in the human…to impose patterns upon what is chaos, and to find meaning in what we find meaningless.”

" The Liberators is a book full of rumbustious non-stop action from start to finish. It must be the dream of many boys to be caught up in a fantastic escapade completely outside an adult’s experience and imagination. This is its strength and some of its weakness. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It didn’t let up for a single moment, not even when Ivo goes for a cup of tea in a café; I would have adored to have been a customer that day. Tatler (also, informally, The Tatler) has stated that Philip Womack is "The New Philip Pullman".

"An enthralling tale that attempts to explore what it means to be a child surrounded by adults who have power and authority. "

http://www.justimaginestorycentre.co.uk/content/liberators