Sofa Spotlight - Extinction of All Children, L J Epps

Heads up - I was lucky enough to get a free copy of this book in return for an honest and fair review.

So when I picked this up I read the blurb and thought - this sounds really good, yes of course I will read it. Then I saw the title. And if I’m honest if I’d seen the title first I wouldn’t have picked this up. It’s something I had to look past and I’m glad that I did.

(Another downside to the title were the looks I got from people when I told them what I was reading!)

The start of the book really does feel like The Hunger Games and I was little worried that what I was reading wasn’t an original idea. And to some extent there is an element that means a dystopian young adult book will have similarities with other dystopian young adult books. But it didn’t remain like that for very long. It has a plot line all of it’s own. If I have one criticism it is that I wanted to see more. I feel it could have been developed more and had more depth. But that’s not to say that it wasn’t good.

So on to the plot. We are in an alternative America or at least part of America that has been divided up into three territories. The peeps at the bottom of the pile - Territory L are no longer able to have children because according to President Esther, the poor aren’t able to look after children properly. This leaves our heroine Emma Whisperer as the last child to be born in her territory. The story joins her as she turns 18 and is invited to make a speech at a party laid on by the president.

It’s at this point that things take a downward spiral for Emma as she has to make a decision about whether to go along with what the president is up to or stand up for what is right. Her decision is the right one, in my mind, but the rest of the book follows the consequences of what she says in her speech. And it makes for an exciting read.

There’s the inevitable love triangle being set up, which suffers from being a concept that’s been over done in the past. That aside though I think it’s a good read that keeps you wanting to find out what will happen next.

My only criticism is that I felt like Epps could have done more. I would love to have found out more about her siblings and the world in which she lives. More detail here would have been great. But maybe I will find that in the next two books which I will definitely be reading!

One to have a look at if YA dystopian novels are your cup of tea.

What I've Read so far this Year

The year is just over half spent and I'm not far behind on my goal to read 52 books this year. This is what I've read so far:

The Boy from the Snow - Maria Johnson

As Kingfisher's Catch Fire - Eugene Peterson

Follow Me Back - Nicci Cloke

Shoot Your Shot - Vernon Brundage Jr

Ronaldo: The Phantom Carrot Snatcher - Maxine Sylvester

The Tatooist of Auschwitz - Heather Morris

Racing Through the Dark - David Millar

Rob Roy - Walter Scott

A Journey of Three Degrees - A. L. Kent

A Life's Ambition - Alexandre Dumas

Mortom - Erik Therme

Madame Giovanni's Journal - Alexandre Dumas

The Prince of Thieves - Alexandre Dumas

The Neapolitan Lovers - Alexandre Dumas

A Dark Night's Work - Elizabeth Gaskell

Sofa Spotlight - A Dark Night's Work and Other Stories, Elizabeth Gaskell

I first read this collection of short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell one wet summer a few years ago. What I remember most was how much I enjoyed reading these to the sound of the rain drumming on the ground. So I thought I might try to relive that experience. Sadly I couldn’t recreate the rain but I did enjoy the stories.

A Dark Night’s Work is the main story and tells the tale of a young man who takes on his father’s business as a lawyer. He’s relatively successful and marries well and has a daughter. After a few tragedies he starts to spend beyond his means. All the while plagued by his junior partner Mr Dunster. Poor Dunster is trying to help Mr Wilkins and to save the firm but ends up dead at the hands of Mr Wilkins. The crime has to be covered up and Wilkin’s daughter has found out what happened. The story follows his daughter Eleanor as the weight of the crime weighs heavy on those who know.

My other favourite story from this collection is the Grey Woman. A tale that follows a young woman who gets entangled with bandits, quite by accident. It’s very exciting.

Gentle stories include one about sheep shearing in the Lake District so there really is something in this book for everyone!

So if you have a rainy summer’s day you should find a copy of this book and have a good read.

Sofa Spotlight - The Neapolitan Loves, Alexandre Dumas

This was the third Dumas book that I read over Christmas. I was hoping that unlike the other two this one would have a conclusive ending. It didn’t. And it sounds like an ice cream too!

The difference with this one is that there’s a fair bit more tension in this one - in my mind anyway. As the story goes a young girl marries a man who is a friend of her father’s and old enough to be her father. All is well until a spy is attacked by a band of assassins on her doorstep. She takes him in, hides him and helps him recover. Oh and also falls in love with him.

True to form Dumas brings in some famous characters to play with and this one includes Admiral Nelson. When I read books like this I get very inspired to do research into the politics of the time. As much as my favourite character was the King who gets conned into invading Rome and taking it back from the French I would be interested to know what the relationships between these countries and Austria and Britain was really like.

Anyway the heroine’s husband gets caught up in all the politics and it could be that his involvement in them could pave a way for the lovers to be together. But it’s on a knife edge as it could go completely the other way.

Aside from this there’s a lot of humour and running around delivering and intercepting messages and clock and dagger spy stuff that makes for a good read. And as a lesser known work of Dumas I would recommend it. If you don't mind unresolved endings.

Sofa Spotlight - The Prince of Thieves, Alexandre Dumas

Not long ago I reviewed The Journal of Madame Giovanni, and the problem was that it ended a bit abruptly. I haven’t got round to finding out if there’s a sequel to this book but I have a similar problem with this one.

At the start, which is rather dramatic, a mysterious man drops off a baby with a forester and his wife. They, unable to have children of their own, raise him and the story kicks in for real when Mr R Hood is in his teens. Many issues are brought in at about the same rate as characters. The two most obvious are - what is the mystery surrounding Robin’s birth and will he ever stand a chance with Marian? The circumstances of his birth are all worked out fairly quickly but the injustice that happened - that resolution is a lot longer in coming/doesn’t come at all.

But there are other adventures to keep one going so it’s not all bad. The characters are fairly clear cut - it’s fairly obvious which side everyone is on. As always with Dumas he pushes what you think is possible and absolutely convinced you that it could happen. This isn’t my favourite novel by him - there’s better stuff out there but it might be because he was rewriting an English myth and I prefer the stories he creates. And having everything nicely resolved at the end didn't endear this book to me.

However if there is a sequel I will be on a mission to find a copy.