Translated into English

Reviewlets: City of Ghosts by Victoria Scwab & Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

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Sorry that this is late, in trying to fix the image placement I managed to completely delete one of the reviewlets. Anyway, I hope you’re doing well and looking after yourself.

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 stars)

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

This is a brilliant ghost story. It just pulls you in. Cass is a fun, interesting character and I really enjoyed following her and Jacob as they explored Edinburgh. I also really enjoyed the fact that Cass can see ghosts, and her parents write about hauntings and have recently started hosting a TV show about them. One of the things I most like about Cars is how independent she is, and I thought her surprise that there were more people like her out there in the world was really believable. I also thought Scwab’s ideas about ghosts and people that can see them are really interesting. I don’t have a lot to say about this book, but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson, translated by Elizabeth Portch ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)

Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson

This was a surprise gift from my aunt, uncle, and cousin for my birthday. I used to watch The Moomins when I was younger, so I had a vague idea who everyone is but although this is the third book in the series it is the first book I’ve read. The book is quite short – one hundred and seventy-three pages – and each chapter is like a mini story, so it is quite easy to dive into and out of it. This edition includes some illustrations by Jansson, which are beautifully done. There is also a map of Moonin Valley at the front of the book, which I really enjoyed (I like books that have maps, they’re awesome). It is a lovely thing to hold, and I think fans will enjoy it to add to their Moomin collection. I was a little disappointed with the stories themselves as I found them quite hard to get into, despite them being quick reads. I did enjoy most of the book, so I can see why people read them and enjoy this series, but I don’t plan on getting any more in the series.

Reviewlets: Becoming The Supervet: Listening to the Animals by Noel Fitzpatrick & The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exputéry, translated by Michael Morpurgo

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So you may have noticed from the title, but this is something a little different to normal. I try to write reasonable length reviews about the books I read, but sometimes I have something I want to say but it’s a struggle to get something that I consider a review length piece. I’ve noticed that this means that I don’t really want to read after this, so I decided to do something a little different. Instead of struggling to find something to say to fill a whole review, I thought instead I’d offer a short (between 100 and 200 words) review – a reviewlet if you will. I hope this works well for you as well. I’ve got several of these scheduled, so I’d love to know your thoughts on the format.

Becoming The Supervet: Listening to the Animals by Noel Fitzpatrick ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars)

Becoming The Supervet: Listening to the Animals by Noel Fitzpatrick

If you are a fan of the tv show The Supervet, and of Noel Fitzpatrick then you will enjoy this book. I thought it was a very interesting read, though a lot of the time his ideas went completely over my head because the science/maths was just a bit too much for me. It was interesting to learn about his past, and to see how he got to where he is now.This is definitely a must read for anyone interested in getting into veterinary medicine, or with some link to it. My only slight complaint is that the narrative isn’t necessarily linear, which I found confusing at times. It’s not a book I’ll go back to, but I definitely enjoyed reading it and seeing how far veterinary medicine has come – and how far, in a lot of ways, it still has to go. Noel’s idea of “One Medicine” is a really interesting one, and one I hope is explored in the future as it seems to have a lot of potential.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exputéry, translated by Michael Morpurgo ⭐️⭐️ (2 stars)

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated by Michael Morpurgo

I don’t know if it was Antoine de Saint-Exputéry’s story or Michael Morpurgo’s translation of it, but this book really did not resonate well with me. I can kind of see why so many people love it, but it honestly just leaves me cold. Maybe I’m not in touch enough with my younger self to enjoy it. Certainly a lot of people seem to enjoy this story, whether in its original french or in a translation. The story itself has a certain whimsey to it, as do the illustrations. This is not a book for anyone who prefers linear narratives. It reminds me a bit of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which I absolutely hated but which I suspect people who enjoyed that will enjoy this.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

Review: The Landfill War by Luca Tarenzi

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The Landfill War by Luca Tarenzi

Title: The Landfill War (Poison Fairies, 1)
Author: Luca Tarenzi
Translator: Kieren Bailey
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Acheron Books (13 December 2014)
Blurb:

Life in the landfill is hard. Between the ever-present danger of the deadly seagulls, problems with finding enough food, and the fights with other fairy tribes like the fearsome Boggarts, it’s a challenge just to make it day by day.
Needleye decides that things must change and so she convinces her friends, Verdigris and Thaw, to help her steal a car battery from the Boggarts.

Winter is on the horizon and the acid from the battery will provide plenty of energy for her people. It sounds like such a good idea, but then again, bad decisions usually do.

How will Needleye’s brother, King Albedo, react to the unauthorized mission? What is Waspider, King of the Boggarts, plotting? And who’s the mysterious fairy gifted with a Glamour that’s different from any other kind of magic Needleye has ever seen?

Find out in The Landfill War, the first chapter in a trilogy about the most ferocious beings in the entire world: fairies!

(Blurb taken from goodreads)

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

THE LANDFILL WAR by Luca Tarenzi is the first book in the Poison Fairies series, and my edition is translated from the Italian by Kieren Bailey. The novel tells the story of Needleye, a fairy who lives in a landfill. Life is hard in the landfill, as the tribe Needleye is part of has to defend itself from other fairy tribes and from seagulls, as well as remain hidden from man. A battery has been spotted on another fairy tribes land, and Needleye is determined to claim it.

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