Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron

Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron by Jonathan Strahan (Editor)

Hardback, 432 pages

Published 4th October 2013 by Hot Key Books

Shelves: arc-or-review, books-i-own, death, fairy-tales, fantasy, ghosts, let-down, magic, magical-realism, not-for-me, read, read-in-2013, shapeshifters, short-stories, supernatural

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

A stellar cast of acclaimed fantasy writers weave spellbinding tales that bring the world of witches to life. Boasting over 70 awards between them, including a Newbery Medal, five Hugo Awards and a Carnegie Medal, authors including Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix and Holly Black delve into the realms of magic to explore all things witchy... From familiars that talk, to covens that offer dark secrets to explore, these are tales to tickle the hair on the back of your neck and send shivers down your spine.

I love a good seasonal read and Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron was my choice of read for Halloween this year. The book is a collection of short stories by several well known and talented authors, with all of the stories relating in some way, to the iconic witch hat, witchery or in general, magic. 

I don't often read short stories, but with a choice of eighteen tales, I thought this would be a fun choice and I was guaranteed to enjoy at least a few of the stories! I haven't reviewed many short stories, but I thought it'd be easier to give you an idea of each of the tales, and what I thought of them. After an introduction by the editor, I started to take some short notes.

The first tale was 'Stray Magic' by Diana Peterfreund. Our protagonist, Malou, is working in a dog shelter when a magical dog called arrives. The dog has lost its owner/master. Malou is only one who can see the magic behind the dog and can  communicate with it. Malou and the dog attempt to find the owner as the dog becomes ill without him. Though the short story is resolved, this could have definitely lead to longer story. I thought that it was a well written piece, but personally I didn't find it interesting enough to hold my attention well.

The second tale was 'Payment Due' by Frances Hardinge. Immediately, this story felt modern, the contemporary writing style was very enjoyable.The story starts with our main character's gran having some of her goods reposessed by bailiffs. Our main character then seeks revenge as she trades her body with a cat, invades the bailiffs home and tricking him. The story did leave me a little confused by the end, but it was a fun read.

'A Handful of Ashes' by Garth Nix gave us a new  firm setting and a more complex story with a lot of structure. It's clear that we're only getting a sneak peek of a much bigger surrounding and story. The story consists of old magic bylaws, magic class systems and laws. It was quite dense in information and detail for a short story and I think that this will really appeal to people who like having a firmly established setting and history in their stories.

I really enjoyed the next story, 'Little Gods' by Holly Black. It had a contemporary and almost coming of age style to it. We follow a girl, Ellery, who is going on a trip to participate in a ritual with her coven. The ritual is one of passion and is actually very similar to many high school parties! The story appears to be about ghosts, witchery and magic, but really it focuses on friends, lessons and life. It focuses on the little things, and that's what I loved about this one. 

'Barrio Girls' by Charles de Lint turns the book in a little more creepy directions as we are introduced to two teenage girls who are on a walk, followed by their friend, Pepé, who usually watches over them. The friends find a Witch as they're walking in the wash and she kills Pepé. The girls look for revenge, finding out how to kill the Witch, and find out that the way is to kill her with kindness. There is a message about being yourself weaved within this story, which I appreciate, but once again, I wasn't all that interested in this story - there was no real excitement for me.

In 'Felidis' by Tanith Lee, there was a romance with a which who is a cross between a human woman and a feline. At first, I found it slightly confusing and the story was certainly peculiar. I can see the intrigue of the feline character, but this one was just too 'out there' for me.

'Witch Work' by Neil Gaiman is the shortest contribution to this book, in the form of a poem. The work was short but effective, with the very vivid scenes that you'd hope for from Gaiman. This piece may have had a small word count, but it still had one of the biggest impacts. 

'The Education of a Witch' by Ellen Klages came next, and this was one of my favourite stories in the book. It follows Lizzy, a young child who goes to see Sleeping Beauty but rather than love the 'good' princess as expected, she loves the 'evil' witch character and as her baby sister is is born, Lizzy begins to become even closer to her favourite character. This was a really fantastic story which felt quite like a psychological thriller. I loved the writing style, the slight tension and the good pace. I would have loved to have read more.

'The Threefold World' by Ellen Kushner is next and it is a story of knowledge, faith, legend and magic. It has a lot of substance and it works well. I imagine that it will appeal to many people who enjoy fantasy, journeys and folklore. I am not quite sure why, but I personally couldn't get into this story, it bored me.

Next was another slightly stranger tale, 'The Witch in the Wood' by Delia Sherman. This tale tells of a witch who finds true love -- in the shape of a stag that she shoots! The deer is a shapeshifter, and though I've never particularly enjoyed reading about shapeshifters, I thought that this was a really captivating story. I quite enjoyed the twist of the ending and I would like to know what happened in the end.

My favourite story in this book had to be 'The Carved Forest' by Tim Pratt. This is another story that read like a psychological thriller. The story told is of a witch who has a forest of trees carved into the shape of everyone in her town, and two special carvings of her late husband and daughter. When the main character, Carlos, starts worrying about his sister forming a friendship with the witch, he intervenes. This is a haunting and very intriguing read which really stood out and I loved it.

'Burning Castles' by M. Rickert had a sense of ambiguity about it - we don't know exactly what is going on between the witch and who appears to be her child. The realism with hints of a haunted spirit world was effective. The story was drark and powerful despite being so short and it was good in the way that you could use your own imagination to fill ing the blanks.

Isobelle Carmody's 'The Stone Witch' was next, following a woman on an airplane flight, disappointed to be sat next to a child. The plane starts to crash and the woman starts to dream. The child and a witch both appear in her dream, the witch threatening their lives. The woman and child both go on a quest in hope of saving their lives. Both characters have flashbacks which were effective and which added another good, strong dimension to this story. I did enjoy this story though to be honest, I think I would have preferred it without the magical/fantasy aspect!

The next tale, 'Andersen's Witch' by Jane Yolen was a very brave move by the author! This is a tale of both Hans Christian Andersen and an ice witch. I think and hope that fans of Andersen will enjoy the fairytale like quality of this story.

'B is for Bigfoot' by Jim Butcher was next. This story starts with a professional wizard being called upon by a bigfoot who needs help as his scion (half human, half supernatural) son, Irwin, is getting bullied at school. The wizard gets into the school and attempts to help the problem but ends up getting caught up in it whilst Irwin and the other kids manage to sort the problem out themselves. 

The penultimate tale in the book was 'Great Grandmother in the Cellar' by Peter Beagle. It is a story of family, present and past, and focuses on relationships, with a very spooky skeletal great grandmother at the centre of it all! Unfortunately this was another story that just didn't do anything for me, and I had to stop myself skimming through the pages.

The last tale, 'Crow and Caper, Caper and Crow' by Margo Lanagan was about a character meeting her magical grandchild. The story was a nice ending to the book as this story had very high quality writing and I wanted to read more of this tale.

Overall, this book had both high and lows, and I can't deny that at points, I really struggled keeping with it as I did feel bored or I just wanted to get onto something more exciting. However, there were also some stories that really stood out in a positive way, namely The Education of a Witch and The Carved Forest, and I appreciate the book for allowing me to sample some fantastic authors. Though this wasn't one of my favourite books, it is something that I would recommend to anybody who likes young adult fiction, especially of the fantasy genre, as there should be something for everyone in this book.

From the Review Pile (71)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron!
As it's October, I thought it was only appropriate to showcase the most appropriate book for the month and that is this one - Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron, from an abundance of talented writers. I love reading 'seasonal' books and will definitely have to read this around Halloween time!

Under My Hat by by Jonathan Strahan, Neil Gaiman, Holly Black , Garth Nix, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, Charles de Lint, Isobelle Carmody , Patricia A. McKillip

Paperback, 432 pages

Expected Publication 4th October 2013 by Hot Key Books

A stellar cast of acclaimed fantasy writers weave spellbinding tales that bring the world of witches to life. Boasting over 70 awards between them, including a Newberry medal, five Hugo Awards and a Carnegie Medal, authors including Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix and Holly Black delve into the realms of magic to explore all things witchy.

That Burning Summer

That Burning Summer by Lydia Syson

Paperback pages

Expected Publication 3rd October by Hot Key Books

Shelves: arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, cover-appeal, historical, read, read-in-2013, realistic-fiction, ww2, young-adult

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Romney Marsh, July 1940. When invasion threatens, you have to grow up quickly. Sixteen-year-old Peggy has been putting on a brave face since the fall of France, but now the enemy is overhead, and the rules are changing all the time. Staying on the right side of the law proves harder than she expects when a plane crash-lands in the Marsh: it's Peggy who finds its pathetic, broken pilot; a young Polish man, Henryk, who stays hidden in a remote church, secretly cared for by Peggy. As something more blossoms between the two, Peggy's brother Ernest's curiosity peaks and other secrets come to light, forcing Peggy and Henryk to question all the loyalties and beliefs they thought they held dear.

In one extraordinary summer the lives of two young people will change forever, in a tense and gripping historical drama from Lydia Syson, the author of the acclaimed A WORLD BETWEEN US.

Okay, first thing first - that cover! Yes, I completely unashamedly fell for the gorgeous vintage-style cover of That Burning Summer before I knew what the book was even about (though the contents are portrayed pretty well on the cover, actually). I am so glad that That Burning Summer caught my eye after finding out it was set in England during World War Two, I picked it up and absolutely devoured it.

That Burning Summer is set in rural England during the Second World War. We are introduced to Peggy, a sixteen year old, who one day, during her daily chores, stumbles across someone who she does not expect to meet - a young Polish pilot named Henryk. Neither are sure whether or not to trust each other, but they do begin to bond until Ernest, Peggy's younger brother, finds Henryk and becomes suspicious. Not only are there obvious difficulties with knowing who to trust or not during a war, we also sometimes have to wonder whether one family member can trust the family member as there are is also an interesting subplot regarding Peggy and Ernest's father. I believe that the main focus of the story is intended to be the gradual building relationship between Peggy and Henryk, but there felt like there was a lot more to think about or to consider if you weren't actually interested in 'romance'.

Due to the historical setting of the book, it is clear that this is also a big feature of the book, perhaps more so than anything else. It is very apparent that the author, Lydia Syson, has taken a lot of time and care when writing this book, and I really appreciated that, it was great to be reading and to be learning at the same time. I can't say that I knew much about the roles of the Polish in our RAF services during the war, so it was good to be enlightened! Though I did learn a few new things and appreciated the facts that I already knew, I liked how the information was shared - I never once felt like I was being filled full of facts, and I was never bored!

What I loved most about this book was the ease of reading - it was just so lovely to read. I can imagine that this would be great to read in one sitting or as slowly as you like, there is something about it that is so relaxing. To me, it felt like it would have made a fantastic sunday night drama on the TV - an enthralling story with a sweet ending. I really enjoyed this relaxing read and I hope that many others will do too, whether they are older children, young adults or adults. I will definitely be looking out for more books by Syson.

Vivian Versus The Apocalypse

Vivian Versus The Apocalypse by Katie Coyle

Paperback, 288 pages

Expected Publication 5th September 2013 by Hot Key Books

Shelves: books-i-own, young-adult, title-appeal, road-trip, realistic-fiction, read-in-2013, mental-health, lgbt-characters, cover-appeal, contemporary, apocalyptic

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

A chilling vision of a contemporary USA where the sinister Church of America is destroying lives. Our cynical protagonist, seventeen-­year-­old Vivian Apple, is awaiting the fated 'Rapture' -­ or rather the lack of it. Her evangelical parents have been in the Church's thrall for too long, and she's looking forward to getting them back. Except that when Vivian arrives home the day after the supposed 'Rapture', her parents are gone. All that is left are two holes in the ceiling...

Viv is determined to carry on as normal, but when she starts to suspect that her parents might still be alive, she realises she must uncover the truth. Joined by Peter, a boy claiming to know the real whereabouts of the Church, and Edie, a heavily pregnant Believer who has been 'left behind', they embark on a road trip across America. Encountering freak weather, roving 'Believer' gangs and a strange teenage group calling themselves the 'New Orphans', Viv soon begins to realise that the Rapture was just the beginning.

As soon as I saw the cover and title of this book, I had to know what it was about - it looked contemporary but the title sounded a bit dystopian - with those being my favourite genres, I had to investigate! I read the description and it did sound fantastic. I was curious to see how the author would put this together and I hoped that it would work out well - thankfully it did!

This isn't really like any other book that I've read and that is a fantastic thing. This is a contemporary, realistic book, but it's also apocalyptic. We're introduced to a situation where a lot of the American population have decided to follow a new religion and under the Church of America, many, but not all, of these people have disappeared in what has been known as the 'Rapture'. With Believers and non-believers left behind, a group of teenagers set out to try and discover what is really going on. Of course, there are plenty of twists and some stumbling blocks along the way which makes this book a definite page turner. There was a constant wonder in my mind as to what the Church of America really was, or what it involved. There is a lot of substance to this book and the characters also face a lot of other issues that are interwoven into the book alongside the Rapture.

I can't tell you about all of the issues - you'll have to read it for yourself - but nothing ever seems clear-cut or fully comprehensible, at least not until the end of the book. It's interesting to see how your thoughts and opinions change as the book progresses and we learn new things. The pace is consistent and there always seems to be something new to find out, making this a real page turner. There is one warning for you though - it is extremely hard to put it down! I could have happily sat and read this all in one go, it had me hooked!

The characters really helped this book to be a success. Our main character, Vivian, was really easy to connect with, she had real guts and determination but there was always that sense of vulnerability around her, which made her so real. I loved meeting her best friend, who seemed awesomely kick-ass whilst still being obviously fragile, especially due to problems within her own family. I also enjoyed reading about Edie, a pregnant Believer - it was interesting to see the differences between a Believer and the non-Believers. The character who grew on me most was Peter, the love interest to our protagonist. I was a little sceptical when we first met him, he seemed to be just thrown into the story quite randomly and I feared it would be an awful case of instant love between the two characters, but I was happily proved very wrong. The relationship between Vivian and Peter was so lovely to read about - it all felt so natural, slightly shaky (as a teenage romance can be) and both characters bonded in such a gradual, loving way. Their romance somehow felt intricate, it felt precious and a lot deeper than a lot of other YA romances - perhaps due to the problems they both faced and the conflicts that arose. I would have loved to read more about Vivian and Peter - I don't know if there will be a follow on to this book, but if there was, I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up.

Vivian Versus The Apocalypse has been one of my top summer reads of 2013 and will be a highlight of the books I have read throughout the year due to the fantastic writing and the compelling, refreshing plot idea. Katie Coyle has already won the Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize for this book and I truly hope that she wins more - she is clearly extremely talented and I think her writing rivals that of some of the current top YA authors. I will be recommending this to anyone I can!

From The Review Pile (64)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

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This week, I'm going to showcase Stray!

When I was first introduced to this book I was unsure whether or not that this sounded like my sort of book, but I decided it was certainly worth trying as it does sound pretty awesome! Unfortunately I'm still yet to get around to reading this one, but it will be interesting to see how it goes. 

Stray by Monica Hesse

Paperback, 352 Pages

Published 6th June by Hot Key Books

Lona Sixteen Always is not herself - quite literally. She lives her life virtually through the experiences of Julian, a boy who was chosen as a role model for the Pathers of Quadrant 1 - troubled children who have been 'rescued' by the government and put 'on-Path'. But one day Lona finds she can think for herself. And on top of that, the face of a familiar boy appears on her screen - Fenn, who she thought had moved on to a different stage of the Path last year. But he didn't. Fenn and other rebels like him have strayed from the Path, and now Lona must stray too. But life off-Path is strange and difficult, and Lona uncovers a secret that will threaten all their lives. Can there really be life after the Path?

From The Review Pile (59)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

-----------------------------------

This week, I'm going to showcase The Savages!

The Savages is one of those books that I wanted to pick up just by looking at the cover! It definitely has a bit of an eerie feel to it, as well as it looking a bit comical. I'm not sure if this book will be a little too 'young' for my liking, but I hope not - I have heard great things about it and it looks like it could be good fun!

The Savages by Matt Whyman

Paperback, 288 Pages

Published 6th June 2013 by Hot Key Books

They'd love to have you for dinner . . .

Sasha Savage is in love with Jack - a handsome, charming ... vegetarian. Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that Sasha's family are very much 'carnivorous'. Behind the family facade all is not as it seems. Sasha's father rules his clan with an iron fist and her mother's culinary skills are getting more adventurous by the day. When a too-curious private detective starts to dig for truths, the tight-knit family starts to unravel - as does their sinister taste in human beings . . .

A Month with April-May

A Month With April-May by Edyth Bulbring

Paperback, 224 pages

Expected Publication: 17th February 2013 by Hot Key Books

My shelves:  arc-or-review, cultural, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, series-or-companions, to-be-reviewed, young-adult

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

'Life is not a bowl of cherries. Suck it up.' On April-May's first day at Trinity College, she has the wrong colour bag, too-bright socks and she gets her favourite novel confiscated for reading it during class. She makes total enemies with the evil Mrs Ho, but she makes total friends with mouth-breather Melly. Then, she meets the gorgeous Seb, loses her entire wardrobe to a hobo and gets branded a sockless trouble-maker. A MONTH WITH APRIL-MAY is a one-eyebrow-raised account of a teenager's trials and tribulations as she navigates a new school, a new family situation and a whole new way of life.

My thanks go to Hot Key Books for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am always on the look out for fresh, fun and quick reads (aren't we all?) so I had to check out this new release from Hot Key Books. I admit that I hadn't heard of the author before, but the story sounded entertaining and I really wanted to see what April-May was like. From only the blurb, I knew that April-May was a character that I just had to get to know.

There are comparisons of Bulbring's writing to the hilarious Louise Rennison and one of my childhood favourites, Jacqueline Wilson. This both excited me and made me a little nervous - those are quite big names to live up to! I can understand these comparisons as the writing style is very easy to read, accessible and fun. I often have some issues where I feel the author tries to be 'too cool' when writing for younger teens, but thankfully this was not the case here. Though there were some words that some people will certainly not be familiar with, the words flow easily and it's easy to understand what they mean in context (though if you really are stuck, there's even a glossary at the back!).

The main thing that stands out about this book is the setting - rather than the usual British or American setting, it's set in South Africa. I've never read a book that was set in South Africa before so it made a great, interesting change. I loved the use of some Afrikaans words in the book - it added a great deal of authenticity and added to the cultural aspect of the book. 

Of course, the characters were interesting and fun too - especially April-May herself, who is a witty, funny character who is absolutely bursting with attitude. I enjoyed reading about her relationship with the 'awful' teacher, Mrs Ho. However, my favourite relationship in the book was between April-May and her father. Though the book is very light hearted and jokey, there was obviously a good and slightly deeper connection between April-May and her dad which stood out to me most.

This is a book that is aimed at young teenagers and so I am above the target age-group for this book. However, I can imagine that if I read this when I was younger that I would have liked it very much and it's something that I'd definitely recommend to middle grade readers. For me, this was a speedy and amusing read which grabbed my attention from start to beginning. Though there wasn't really any depth, I do look forward to seeing what April-May gets up to in her next instalments!