Tag: #Death

The Haunting Scent of Poppies by Victoria Williamson

On By @f33lthesunIn Grown Up Novel, Spooky, SuspenseLeave a comment

Blurb

A spine-chilling winter ghost story set in the months after the Great War. Perfect for lovers of MR James and Susan Hill

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

Review

Having recently read a few of her books, a couple of MGs and a YA dystopian novel, I was intrigued to read a ghost story by her. I was not disappointed. Yet again, Victoria Williamson delivers.

The author’s descriptive writing, detailing the gas attacks and hauntings, is superb, my heart did beat faster during a couple of the “chases”. She creates a hauntingly spine-chilling atmosphere and builds the tension effortlessly.

I had some difficult finding any redeeming characteristics in Charlie, the main character. He was a wrong ‘un but did he deserve what happened to him? Was it karma for all his wrong doings, which including dodging the war draft?

Like all the best ghost stories, some things are left to the reader to wonder … was what happened to Charlie really a haunting, or hallucinations from nonchalantly burning the dried poppy bookmark he found in the book?

Thanks to @silverthistleps and @The_WriteReads for a copy of the book for review purposes.

The Nameless by Stuart White

On By @f33lthesunIn #Dystopian, #SciFi, #YALeave a comment

Having read and enjoyed Stuart’s MG novel, Ghosts of Mars, earlier this year, I was intrigued to read his latest YA dystopian novel.

Blurb

IN A NAMELESS WORLD, ONE HERO RISES BY DISCOVERING THEIR IDENTITY.

In a dystopian world dominated by genetic perfection and numbered gene pools, sixteen-year-old E820907, known as Seven, yearns for an identity beyond his assigned number.

To escape a life as a Nameless Exile, and become a citizen of the Realm, he must pass a loyalty test to prove his allegiance to the totalitarian Autokratōr.

With the world’s fate hanging in the balance, Seven’s journey sparks rebellion, hope, and the reclamation of individuality.

But as the truth unfolds, Seven faces a difficult choice between revenge and love.

Review

Stuart White has created a disconcertingly possible future world, where a dictator demands obedience and service. Children are trained and placed in the area of their strength (military, science, environment) to further the realm. Those who do not meet the standard are discarded from the walled city and left to their own devices and at the mercy of the other Nameless groups out there, some of which have turned brutally cruel, without an identity.

This obviously leads to rebellion, spies, treason and war.

Seven sits the tests … but will he ever find out who he is, who his parents are, why his foster mum protects him and refuses to answer his questions? Full of self doubt, fear and infinite questions that he frustratingly rarely gets full answers to, his journey takes him to places he never imagined, meeting people he didn’t even know existed, making him decide where his loyalties lie, despite knowing very little about the sides he is choosing between.

He also struggles with his purpose. Is it to protect his friends or lead a group who resent him? Will his impetuous decision making put him and others in even more danger? Will his training help or hinder him?

I recommend reading to find out the answers to all these questions. The author leaves us with some of the story resolved but waiting in expectation for Book 2 to take Seven’s journey on further. As a reader, this made me sympathise with Seven, not getting all the answers to my questions straight away! I look forward to accompanying him on his next chapter.

Trigger warning: this book is not for the faint hearted, it is bloody and involves torture.

Thanks to @StuartWhiteWM and @The_WriteReads for the eARC.