The Mountains of Instead

Championing fiction as an escape from pandemics, politics and bad TV.

And Not A Stone Tell Where I Lie (review of The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater)

The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater Scholastic 2012
As never seen in any good fairy tale, Blue must not ever kiss her one true love.  To do so would be to kill him.  A non-psychic in a family of future-tellers, Blue has known this fact for as long as she can remember and has spent her life avoiding almos…

Time After Some Time (Review of Liminal States by Zack Parsons)

Liminal States Zack Parsons Citadel 2012
I am sewn gristlething full of hate. I invade the gory trench and crush and stalk through waves of poison gas. I am pierced by metal. My limbs are burst by heat. I howl my fading fury to the sky.”
From the outset Zack Parsons' debut novel Liminal States env…

I Wonder About the Trees (review of Breathe by Sarah Crossan)

Breathe Sarah Crossan Bloomsbury 2012
It’s been a long time since anyone could breathe easily.  Humankind has destroyed the earth’s forests, polluted its oceans and left the world with an oxygen level of only 6%.  Unable to breathe in the outside world, what is left of the population has taken up resi…

I Dream of You and All The Things You Say (review: Slide by Jill Hathaway)

Slide Jill Hathaway Harper Collins 2012
Vee Bell hates having narcolepsy.What she hates more is sliding into the bodies of strangers when her narcolepsy takes hold – seeing things that are never meant to be seen.Including murder.When cheerleaders begin turning up dead left right and centre, Vee is con…

There Will Be Time No Longer...er...maybe (review: Good Omens; T. Pratchett and N. Gaiman)

Good Omens Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett Corgi 1991
It's just another day in the sleepy English town of Lower Tadfield; children are playing, dogs are barking, lawns are being mowed and the Apocalypse is going to happen next Saturday. Not just any apocalypse - The Apocalypse - the fire-and-brims…

Daddy, Daddy, You Bastard, I'm Through (Review: This Is Not a Test, Courtney Summers)

This is not a Test Courtney Summers St. Martin’s Griffin 2012
Sloane Price was living in hell long before the rest of the world joined her there.Daughter of a domineering and abusive father and sister of a girl who abandoned her to his mercy, she’s been ready to die for a long time.When those around h…

Writing to Reach You (review: Post Apocalypse Dead Letter Office, Nathan Poell)

Post-Apocalypse Dead Letter Office
Nathan Poell
Oscura Press 2012

“Oh no”, you sigh, “not another post-apocalypse sci-fi muddle.” and toss the book on the ever-expanding 'to-read' pile. But wait, this one is different! Seriously, just give it a chance. Yes, it can seem that the shelves and scr…

Come Back In Tears, O Memory (review: Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry)

Pushing the Limits Katie McGarry Mira Ink 2012
Echo is lost in the wake of tragedy and violence, auto-piloting her way through life in a haze of intangible memories and all too tangible scars.  Fighting to get back to her old life she no longer knows who she is, or what happened to Echo as was.  As sh…

The Sins of The Father (Review: I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga)

I Hunt Killers
Barry Lyga
Bantam Press 2012


Some parents want their kids to be doctors and lawyers, some raise their offspring to be artists and musicians, some help their kids to make their own choices and some take it a step too far, hoisting their own careers and ambitions onto their children. S…
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