Enola Holmes, The Case Of The Missing Marquis
(Children's Fiction Ages 9/12)
Enola Holmes lives a very unconventional life for her time. She spends much if her time Alone which happens to also be her name only spelt backwards. She has no governess and has long been in charge of her own education. Her mother disappears on her birthday leaving her a number of gifts including a book of flowers and cyphers. When Enola calls upon her brothers for help finding her they are not all that helpful and Mycroft decides to send her away to a finishing school. Enola decides to take matters in to her own hands and taking a leaf from her mother's book she disappears off in search of her mother. Along the way she get tangled up in another missing persons case. I bought a copy of this for my niece and decided to give it a whirl. This is the kind of book I would have loved to read at that age.
4/5
(Graphic Novel)
If you've read my blog over the past few weeks you will know I have been reading anything and everything that could possibly relate to Scarlet Witch and Vision. It's the safe to say I am deep down the WandaVision rabbit hole and I honestly couldn't be happier about it. This one gave me alot of theories and who knows maybe some of them will pan out long term. I won't go into details because I don't want to spoil the show for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to watch the show.
The Children's Crusade story mostly revolves around Wiccan and to a lesser extent Speed. Wiccan accidentally loses control of his power during a battle and inadvertently puts some people into a temporary coma. The Avengers decide it would be best for him to live at the compound for a time (basically it's an imprisonment) he goes along with this at first but he very quickly decides he is going to search for the person he believes to be his real mother Wanda Maximoff. Wanda has been missing for some time since the events of House Of M ( If you haven't read house of M I'd advise reading that first). He escapes the compound Magento (Wanda's Father) rocks up and offers to help Wiccan find Wanda. So off Wiccan his young avenger friends go on a quest to find The Scarlet Witch. The Avengers and X-Men go after Wiccan and Magneto many of them with the intention of killing or punishing Wanda if they do find her, for her crimes against Mutant kind. It's really hard to explain it all 😂 but you get the idea. Definitely not a dull story.
4/5
Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan
(Folklore/Mythology)
A retelling of The Children Of Lir from Áife's perspective. For those that don't know The Children Of Lir is a well known much loved story from Irish Mythology. After his wife Aebh dies Lir weds her sister Áife. Áife grows jealous of the affection Lir shows his and Aebhs children and curses them to live as swans for 900 years. This story has been changed many times and sadly like all of our Mythology it has been re-shaped to fit the narrative of Christianity.
This book doesn't discount Catholicism but it does read between the lines of the story and try to find the nugget of truth that lies in all tales of folklore and mythology and for that it is to be commended. Writing this book can't have been an easy task either as how do you undo the destruction and erasure of an entire culture. The answer is that you can't. I feel like I expect too much from books like this. I'll be honest religion in this country is a sore piont for me. Don't get me wrong I believe In freedom of religion but I also hate that so much of our heritage was taken from us, warped and changed to suit someone else's view of how it should be. How different would we be if Christianity never reached our shores? It makes me very angry to think of everything we have lost and for what? All we really have to show for it is oppression, abuse, trauma and the deaths of women and babies conviently discarded in a septic tank because their existence was deemed a sin. I have no problem with people believing in whatever God they want but I do have a problem with organised religion as it's often got very little to do with God and everything to do with power and control. Anyway I've said my piece and I'll leave it at that. I wanted to love this book and I didn't but I do still love Deirdre Sullivan as a writer and look forward to her new book due out in September.
3/5
(Mystery/Crime Fiction)
If your looking for an intelligent, gripping, interesting and hilariously funny read then The Thursday Murder Club is for you. The book follows a rag tag group of pensioners who like to solve old murder cases for fun. So they are absolutely thrilled when they get to investigate a murder right on thier own doorstep.
If this book teaches you anything it's that older people are awesome and shouldn't be underestimated. I think we forget that the older generation have lived full and interesting lives of their own. They have had all sorts of careers,experiences and adventures. Just because you get old doesn't mean that you suddenly become less or suddenly just transform into some poor innocent old dear who only cares about knitting and having naps.
All the carachters in the Thursday Murder Club are interesting and I hope to the god's I'm half as interesting as them if I have the privilege to reach old age.
Usually I can predict everything that's going to happen in a crime novel but not this time. The Thursday Murder Club is full of surprises from start to finish. I was thrilled to find out that there will be a sequel due for publication in September. I can't wait to find out what's in store for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim & Ron next.
5/5
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