The Mountains of Instead

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

The Will of the Wind (review: West of the Moon by Katherine Langrish)

West of the Moon Katherine Langrish Harper Collins 2011
When Peer's father dies, leaving him an orphan, he is distraught to find himself dragged from his Norse village by a pair of cruel and brutish uncles. He is forced into hard manual labour on their mill, working in miserable conditions while …
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Burn, Baby, Burn (Review: Burning Secrets; Clare Chambers)

Burning Secrets Clare Chambers Harper Collins 2011
I have recently been lamenting the lack of good YA thrillers. As a big fan of adult crime/thriller fiction I have been looking for a decent YA contribution and slowly some are starting to emerge (Long Reach and The Body Finder standing out in particu…
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All That Glitters (Reviews of The Other Countess and The Queen's Lady by Eve Edwards)

The Other Countess and The Queen's Lady Eve Edwards Razorbill 2010/11
I have oft been heard to say that I do not enjoy historical fiction but, having been proved wrong time and time again, I may have to start qualifying that with the statement that when it is done well it can be jolly good fun. W…
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Lord Of The Dance (review: Dancing Jax by Robin Jarvis)

Dancing Jax Robin Jarvis Harper Collins 2011
It was a dark and stormy night... Well, not really but that's the general atmosphere in the opening chapters of Robin Jarvis's Dancing Jax an odd tale that, suitably, takes it's readers on a long and meandering dance through some strange and dep…
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Life Of Crime (Review: Long Reach by Peter Cocks)

Long Reach Peter Cocks Walker Books 2010
I can oft be found bemoaning the lack of decent crime thrillers in young adult fiction. It's a genre that I adore in adult books – a guilty pleasure. I'll read pretty much anything on the crime shelves (well, not the true crime stuff – although The Susp…
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What Is This Life, If Full Of Care (Review: Being Billy; P. Earle)

Being Billy Phil Earle                 Puffin 2010
To be honest, when Being Billy appeared through my door I pretty much instantly dismissed it.  I read YA mostly to try and escape the real world and a story about a kid in a care home really doesn’t fit that bill.  However, an impassioned email from t…
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Who Is This Creature With Terrible Claws (Review: Wereworld: Rise of The Wolf; C. Jobling)

Wereworld: Rise Of The Wolf
Curtis Jobling Puffin 2011
I have a bit of a love hate relationship with fantasy at the moment. I started the year by trying to re-read the Wheel Of Time – a series that I have a somewhat traumatic relationship with (read up to book 10 without stopping; author sadly dies; I…
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British Books Challenge 2011

As a UK blogger, I often feel that I should be reading more British books.  It's all to easy, particularly when reading a lot of YA to find myself reading mainly American titles and I don't think that I'm alone in this. In fact, I know I'm not and am excited that the lovely Becky at…
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