Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

You can’t stop the future.

You can’t rewind the past.

The only way to learn the secret... is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

Like many I first became aware of the novel through the Netflix series and being of a curious mind I decided to give it a read. Firstly I'd like to point out that I really don't think I'm the target audience for this story which to my mind can only be a good thing... more on this later...

I'd like to address the two central characters first, Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker. Well as I said I'm not the desired audience for this and found one to be a super earnest, weight of the world on my sixteen year old shoulders type while the other is a everything is awful and someone else's fault type. Neither of these characters is much more than a vehicle for a "woe is me" narrative. Am I being unfair? Yeah, probably but it's my review and if you don't like it click away dear friend.

Now on to the story itself; while competently written I feel that it while not glorifying suicide per se doesn't make any effort at all to say that there just may be different options. If just one of the characters given a voice said anything, anything at all, about this I might feel differently about the story... but they don't. I was actually a little surprised to find that the author, Jay Asher is a middle-aged guy and not an angst ridden tween.

The only ray of light I can offer in this negative review is that the narrators on the Audible version are very good and both give a sterling performance

So, there you have it, my review. As you may be able to discern from my oh so subtle hints I didn't like this book, not one little bit. Read it if you want to, I'm not your Mum, but I really do not recommend it.

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Review: Chalk

Chalk by Paul Cornell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paul Cornell plumbs the depths of magic and despair in Chalk, a brutal exploration of bullying in 80s England.

Andrew Waggoner has always hung around with his fellow losers at school, desperately hoping each day that the school bullies, led by Drake, will pass him by in search of other prey. But one day they force him into the woods, and the bullying escalates into something more; something unforgivable; something unthinkable.

Broken, both physically and emotionally, something dies in Waggoner, and something else is born in its place.

In the hills of the West Country a chalk horse stands vigil over a site of ancient power, and there Waggoner finds in himself a reflection of rage and vengeance, a power and persona to topple those who would bring him low.

From Tom Brown's School Days to Carrie via Lord of the Flies children casually inflicting horrors on each other has been a mainstay of literature for a long, long, time. Chalk takes this and weave a gripping tale of magic and vengeance. Our protagonist is Andrew Waggoner, one of those kids destined to be seen as a punching bag by the school's bullies, who after a particularly terrible attack leaves him disfigured finds he can't go to the ineffective adults of the story... after all snitches get stitches as the saying goes.

In pain, fear, and desperation Waggoner calls out to a much older, darker power who surprisingly answers. It's from here that Chalk really hits its stride.

The calm, almost matter of fact way Johnathan Broadbent narrates the story only makes Cornell's horror the more riveting. For me it was this dry, emotionless delivery that really made the story hit home. This isn't a mile a minute kind of story so when the action does ramp up and get a bit frenetic it makes it all the more effective. Anyway I'm finding it tough to put into words exactly what I liked about this so I'll wrap up. Read this book, better yet get the audio version like I did and have a man with a mellow Wiltshire accent tell you one of the most horrific stories I've ever heard.

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Review: Half a War

Half a War by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half a War is the final instalment of the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Words are weapons

Princess Skara has seen all she loved made blood and ashes. She is left with only words. But the right words can be as deadly as any blade. She must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge if she is to reclaim her birthright.

Only half a war is fought with swords

The deep-cunning Father Yarvi has walked a long road from crippled slave to king’s minister. He has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God, and put Bright Yilling at its head – a man who worships no god but Death.

Sometimes one must fight evil with evil

Some – like Thorn Bathu and the sword-bearer Raith – are born to fight, perhaps to die. Others – like Brand the smith and Koll the wood-carver – would rather stand in the light. But when Mother War spreads her iron wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness.

Abercrombie follows his established method for the Shattered Sea and introduces us to new point of view characters for this third volume. To my mind this time they're not quite as strong as in previous entries. The almost caricatured naivety of Skara is just plain annoying but she does develop thankfully. This is only exacerbated by the the stereotypes that are Raith (cock sure warrior) and Koll (cocky minister in training). Again they do receive development but for me it was too late as I'd already made my decision on them. Maybe I'm being unfair to Abercrombie and these characters because the protagonists in the other books were, and are, so strong but hey-ho.

Right, on to the story, as the title and synopsis say "only half a war is fought with swords". The other half is fought with politics, so much politics, all the politics. Don't misunderstand it wasn't boring, there was just so much of it. Mind you there was enough fighting for even the most blood thirsty reader to get their fill.

I particularly enjoyed that the grey rather than black and white morality was explored more in this book. Decisions were made and outcomes were unexpected to both the reader and the characters. Plans are made that do not go as expected, outcomes once seen as a win become more dubious as time goes on. There's a quite a bit of talk about the greater good (and by extension the lesser evil) in this book and you just know anyone who talks like that is in for a world of pain when the dust settles.

I think this is probably the weakest of the three novels in the trilogy but it is by no means a bad book. Over all I would say it's the best ending any of the characters could expect even if it's not what they deserve. Read the whole trilogy you won't be disappointed.

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