by NRB | 27 Feb 2014 | SFF |
An intricate and well-plotted narrative, full of incident, ends the Empire of Bones trilogy with a flourish. In this final book, the complex developments of the first two books in the Empire of Bones series are brought to the point of an epic battle. Wall of Spears...
by NRB | 28 May 2013 | Fiction, SFF |
This fast-paced epic fantasy has plenty of Machiavellian twists and poses some deeper questions. Book Two of Duncan Lay’s Empire of Bones trilogy opens with an emotionally devastated Rhiannon trying to deal with a series of powerful shocks. She has found that the men...
by NRB | 27 Aug 2012 | Fiction, SFF |
Celtic and Japanese cultures give visual and emotional charge to two recent fantasy novels. There is much richness and complexity on offer in fantasy writing, as well as extraordinarily varied and layered resources available to the writer. Two recently published books...
by NRB | 11 Feb 2021 | Non-fiction |
These stories range widely across different experiences of disability, and question why disabled people must always be the ones to adapt to the world. In her introduction to this remarkable collection of personal essays, Carly Findlay writes that she didn’t identify...
by NRB | 14 Aug 2024 | Non-fiction |
Fintan O’Toole takes a fresh look at the world’s most famous playwright and the resonances his plays hold for our own time. Fintan O’Toole takes issue with the way Shakespeare has commonly been taught and discussed since the nineteenth century. In particular, he...
by NRB | 30 May 2024 | Fiction |
Set in 17th-century London, Lauren Chater’s new novel brings together a royal artist, a young woman’s quest and the real-life Anne Hyde. What do you do if the king invites you to share his bed but you find the idea repulsive? A wave of nausea ripples through her...
by NRB | 16 Sep 2021 | Fiction |
Charlotte McConaghy follows up her international bestseller The Last Migration with a story of wolves and the Scottish Highlands. When I was eight, Dad cut me open from throat to stomach. Such a dramatic first line promises a dramatic story and Once There Were Wolves...
by NRB | 23 Apr 2021 | Giveaways |
Here are more fabulous books to win in our series of autumn giveaways. To go in the draw to win all four, simply email editors@newtownreviewofbooks.com.au with ‘Autumn 3′ in the subject line and your name and address in the body of the email by midnight tonight,...
by NRB | 1 Dec 2016 | Crime Scene |
Bauer’s new novel keeps us guessing until the very end. This is the fifth book by Belinda Bauer, the Gold Dagger award-winning author now resident in Wales. Unlike some crime writers who, once they’ve developed a successful character, stick with them forever,...
JUNE WRIGHT Mother Paul series. Reviewed by Karen Chisholm6 December 2024June Wright has faded from view, but in 1948 her novel Murder in the Telephone [ … ]
ANDREW O’HAGAN Caledonian Road. Reviewed by Catherine Pardey5 December 2024This new novel from the author of Mayflies is set in London, but Glasgow is [ … ]
IAIN RYAN The Dream. Reviewed by Ben Ford Smith3 December 2024Iain Ryan’s latest novel continues his fascination with 1980s Queensland and [ … ]
MARINA YUSZCZUK Thirst. Reviewed by Ann Skea28 November 2024Argentinian writer Marina Yuszczuk puts her twist on the vampire novel in [ … ]