Patricia Morais' 'Tides' is a fun and scary read

 Title: Tides - Ada Hughes Novella

Author: Patricia Morais

Published: June 8, 2022

Pages: 80

Genre: YA Fantasy

Buy Tides

What Goodreads has to say:

Years before Lilly Ashton was recruited, Ada Hughes had already caught the eye of the demon hunters. But what led Ada, the quiet and sweet girl from Diabolus Venator, to be recruited to fight supernatural creatures?

When children start to go missing in a fishing town, Ada Hughes starts to fear for her two little brothers’ safety. Tide Springs was never really safe for them but she has a plan to escape their toxic family environment.

While battling her own loneliness and ignoring her forbidden love, Ada is faced with one more unexpected twist. Mythological beings and an ancient demon-hunting order will change her life forever.

She is suddenly afflicted with questions… Is this a new reality or just a hallucination? Will she be able to face this new world while being confronted with the secrets of her hometown?

What I have to say:

Who loves a good spooky read? Me! (And hopefully you too.) 

This year I got to kick off spooky season in just the right way: by reading a creepy book about monsters! (And also visiting the best cemetery ever, aka, Sleepy Hollow, but that's a story for another day.)

I'll start with the obvious: this does not look like a spooky book about monsters. From the cover and the tagline, I'd guess it's a coming of age story featuring some family drama and messy love triangles. 

Now the book does indeed have all those things, but it also has a vampiric sea creature, a disturbing murder, and a pair of sassy monster hunters. The author manages to weave all these threads together in a seamless, suspenseful narrative I couldn't put down.

At the start of the story, Ada Hughes is dealing with an abusive father, trying to save enough money to fight for custody of her two younger brothers, and feeling conflicted about her feelings for her best friend's boyfriend. This is all pretty engaging by itself, so I definitely wasn't bored. But the real action didn't pick up until a few chapters in. Then things really got going, and from that point on, my eyes were basically glued to the page. 

While I did feel the final climactic battle scene could have lasted a bit longer, overall I have no solid complaints about this story. It was fast-paced, fun, and just the right amount of creepy. 

I also appreciated the complex characters and their equally complex feelings and dynamics. Ada's conflicted emotions about things like her father and her friends' relationship made her feel very real, and I was rooting for her from pretty much the first page. There was also some real tragedy that never got reversed, which, again, made it feel very real and valid as an origin story. 

In my opinion, those are some of the elements that make for a really good horror story, whether on the page, stage, or screen: characters with complex psychology and real tragedy in their past.

And, of course, scary-as-heck monsters.

On that note (MINOR SPOILER ALERT): I do love a good lamia and was very excited when one showed up in this book. 

So all around, kudos to the author for a good monster story well told.

Postscript: yes, this is a prequel and no, you do not have to have read any of the other books in the series to understand or enjoy it. I hadn't and I loved it.

Rating:

In 'Death at Friar's Inn,' Rob Keeley weaves a stimulating mystery against a legal backdrop

Title: Death at Friar's Inn

Author: Rob Keeley

Published: March 10, 2022

Pages: 107

Genre: Mystery

Buy Death at Friar's Inn

What Goodreads has to say:

Dinner at an Inn of Court takes an unusual turn when a corpse falls onto the Benchers’ Table. A battleaxe and a rubber glove are found at the scene. A trophy has been stolen. But who could have wanted the Porter dead – and why?

Aspiring barristers Tom and Becca set out to investigate. But another murder isn’t far away...

Rob Keeley is an established award-winning author of children’s novels, short stories and picture books, including the Spirits series. Other credits include the award-listed stage play Mr. Everyone, and Chain Gang and Newsjack for BBC Radio. Death At Friar’s Inn is his first novel for adults and draws on his own experiences training as a barrister.

What I have to say:

Who doesn't love a good mystery? Whether it's Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie, the best mystery writers present complicated characters and intricate webs of unraveling deception in atmospheric settings. And we love them for it.

Rob Keeley's Death at Friar's Inn checks all those boxes: a murder mystery set at a historic inn, featuring a cast of characters who all have something to hide. 

This may be the author's first book for adults, but it's definitely not his first mystery. After Childish Spirits--a mysterious MG ghost story that I absolutely adored; and The Treasure in the Tower--a MG story about a treasure hunt, it's no surprise that his first book for adults is a murder mystery in a historic setting.

When aspiring barrister (that's a type of lawyer, you're welcome) Tom decides to investigate a death he witnessed at a prestigious student dinner at Friar's Inn, he may get more than he bargained for. Not only does Tom himself end up falling suspect because he, you know, was caught holding the evidence at the scene of the crime; he also has to deal with Becca: a gorgeous but devilishly sly fellow law student who's already bested him in a mock trial, not to mention exacerbated his allergies with a scented tissue. 

It's funny, well-paced, and had enough twists and turns to keep me  guessing. Just about every character fell under suspicion at some point, which is just how I like it. And while I can't say the final reveal completely blindsided me (I had my suspicions but was by no means certain), it did take me by surprise, and there may even have been a slight intake of breath. 

I'm giving this one three trees (good), because while it was a very fun read and a clever, well-structured mystery, the author has set a high standard for his own books to live up to. While the character dynamics, especially between Tom and his roommate and Tom and Becca, were fun, I didn't fall in love with the characters the way I did in the Spirits series, and while I loved the historic setting, I felt it could have been played up a bit for more atmosphere, which I know the author can do very well because he's done it in, again, the Spirits series. (I guess if you get nothing else from this review, you should take my recommendation to read the Spirits series.)

Also, I feel like I'm getting too lax with the 4 and 5-tree ratings, and we need to vary things up. 

But at the end of the day, would I recommend this as a stimulating, slightly spooky but not too scary mystery? Absolutely.

Rating:

Rob Keeley's 'The Treasure in the Tower' is exactly the right kind of MG story--and awakened my inner Anglophile

Title: The Treasure in the Tower

Author: Rob Keeley

Genre: MG mystery

Buy The Treasure in the Tower

What Goodreads has to say:

A school trip to historic Deanchester becomes more exciting when Jess and her friends discover the city hides a secret treasure. Local historian Dr. Joseph Pyrite left a series of clues scattered around Deanchester’s landmarks, which Jess, Mason and Kessie are determined to solve. But they only have three days. And they have competition. A series of increasingly cunning tricks awaits Jess and her party as they try to beat Perdita and Thomas to the treasure.

What I have to say:

I always know a book by Rob Keeley will be fun, heartwarming, and full of twists--and The Treasure in the Tower was no exception. This middle-grade story about a group of students who decide to hunt for a long-lost treasure while on their school fieldtrip is a delightful adventure that kept me guessing and smiling. 

Sometimes MG books like this are just the kind of read you need: charming, breezy, and exciting without getting too intense. I was caught up in Jess's search for the treasure and amused by the various mishaps she and the others got into, but I didn't have to worry that serious harm would befall any of my favorite characters. (The worst thing that happens is someone gets doused with cold tomato soup.)

The characters are fun. Jess is determined but ethical in her pursuit of the treasure, whereas her arch nemesis Perdita, for all her sense of superiority, is not above cheating. Perdita's accomplice Thomas might have been my favorite, even though he's technically "the enemy." Though he is working against Jess for most of the book, it's only because he gets pushed around easily and Perdita ropes him into it. And unlike Perdita, he does feel bad about cheating. Mason, Jess's "evil twin" is also a fun character.

Also, can I just say how much I love seeing illustrations in chapter books? I love collecting illustrated novels and really think we should bring that trend back. The Treasure in the Tower has simple, whimsical black and white drawings by Simon Goodway that add yet another layer of charm to the story.

Unlike Perdita, I may be above cheating, but as an American, I'm not above being an Anglophile, and I guess there's something enchanting to me about a group of school children on a treasure hunt in a historic English town (even if I had to put up with a few Briticisms along the way). It makes me want to take another trip to England--and maybe go on a treasure hunt myself if the opportunity presents itself.

Rating:

Once again, Hûw Steer knows what I want in a book

Title: Nightingale's Sword

Series: The Boiling Seas (#2)

Author: Hûw Steer

Genre: Fantasy

Buy The Blackbird and the Ghost
Buy Nightingale's Sword

What Goodreads has to say:

In the endless jungles of Tyria, the Blackbird flies again.

Tal Wenlock and Max Odyn make a formidable team. The thief and the scholar have already unearthed one ancient scroll, filled with priceless knowledge and forgotten magic - and with it cured Tal's sister of her crippling illness.

But four more scrolls still lurk in long-forgotten tombs - and Tal and Max are determined to find them. Unfortunately, so is everyone else. Tal and Max will have to race the world's finest treasure-hunters across the deadly Boiling Seas, from the depths of the earth to the heights of the sky, if they want to win the glory - and the gold.

Thankfully, this time Tal and Max have help. Because Lily Wenlock is back on her feet - and she's not about to let her little brother have all the fun.

The jungle islands of Tyria hold secrets unimaginable - all the Blackbird and his friends have to do is find them first.

What I have to say:

What do airships, pirates, tomb raiders, duels, magic, and jungle expeditions have in common? 

They're all things I love in a story.

They're also all in Hûw Steer's newest novel, Nightingale's Sword. The second book in his Boiling Seas series (I reviewed the first one here), it's possibly even more action-packed and atmospheric than the first. And it sure is a great read.

After finding the first of several magic scrolls that contain ancient wisdom and spells, Tal Wenlock, alias The Blackbird, is determined to find the others. Helping him is scholar and unlikely adventurer Max Odyn, and Tal's intrepid sister Lily. The trio work well together both on and off the page: they're each strong characters in their own right, but they have a great group dynamic that makes the story fun and fulfilling. I'm hoping their relationships continue to develop and deepen in the next book.

The adventures begin on a huge, fancy airship sailing over the boiling seas. As far as cool stuff in stories go, this is pretty near the top. So just imagine how much cooler it gets when the airship is attacked by pirates, and Tal and his friends have to fight their way free. 

Honestly not sure what could be cooler than that, but a quest to find a magic scroll in a ruined temple in the deep jungle of an uncharted island seems like a strong contender. And did I mention it's a race?

At this point, I was starting to wonder if the author has mind-reading powers because he literally put everything I love in a story into this book--except maybe dinosaurs, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Thanks to a great, high stakes plot and engaging characters with great relationship dynamics, the story never gets stale or boring. But it's not just action at the expense of plot, worldbuilding, or character development. We're treated to a tour of the airship and an explanation of its inner workings, an artisan mapmaker's shop, a deep jungle, and an abandoned, unexplored temple. 

We also see characters having to make tough decisions and grapple with the effects of their choices, which is something I appreciate in a story. And we get a taste of this world's history and geography, so that it feels like a real place with a real past. 

Basically, Nightingale's Sword is part steampunk, part high fantasy, and part classic adventure tale. If that combination doesn't appeal to you, I don't know what will.

Rating: