The Mountains of Instead

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

It's Pretty, But Is It Art? (Review: I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson)

I’ll Give You The Sun Jandy Nelson Walker 2015
Noah and Jude are twins, linked in that ineffable way that twins so often seem to be.Inseparable for their childhood, things start to change as they get older and I’ll Give You The Sun tells their story from two points in time and alternating perspectives…
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FYA Photo-a-Day 12: A Powerful Quote

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history wit…
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Forever Young Adult - Picture A Day September

Because she loves them, Splendibird will be participating in FYA's Photo-a-day September.  If you aren't already reading FYA (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN) then you can find them (and more information photo-a-day) here.  While participants are only obligated to share on Instagram, Splendibird likes …
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Full Fathom Five (Review of More Than This by Patrick Ness

More Than This Patrick Ness Walker 2013
There is a boy and he is drowning.The sea batters him unforgivingly against unrelenting, insurmountable rocks, which cut his skin and ultimately snap his spinal column.He dies, his final thought a plea for what he knows not.Then, he wakes up.He’s dead, of this i…
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Roving Reporter PolkaDot Steph talks Star Author Patrick Ness at EIBF 2013

I'm not entirely sure what we could say about Patrick Ness that we haven't already said on The Mountains of Instead (see the links at the bottom of the page) but in the words of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, where Ness talked on Saturday, Patrick Ness is "the greatest youn…
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The Night Itself Book Trailer! (starring Splendibird - for your sins).

Recently, myself and a few others were approached by lovely Hannah Love at Walker regarding the upcoming title from Zoe Marriott - The Night Itself. asking if we would like to participate in making a book trailer.  I'm pretty sure that everyone said yes... and now you get to experience the resu…
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If I Could Tell You I Would Let You Know (Review: The Night She Disappeared by April Henry)

The Night She Disappeared
April Henry Walker 2013
Kayla sets of to deliver a pizza, a normal part of a normal job.  She never returns, leaving behind a few scattered pizza boxes on the forest floor and no answers.  Drew, who took the fateful order, remembers nothing bar an unmemorable voice that asked…
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Bittersweet Symphony (Review of Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare)

Clockwork Princess
Cassandra Clare
Walker Books 2013

Clockwork Princess is the third and final book in Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series.  This review contains spoilers for the previous two books (Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince).  You have been warned.

The Institute of London is full …
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Wild Boy Blog Tour - Making a Hero

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Brothers in Arms (Review: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare)

City of Lost Souls Cassandra Clare Walker 2012
City of Lost Souls is the fifth book in The Mortal Instruments series and this review contains spoilers for all five previous books. If you’ve not read them, don’t read this.
Life has been suddenly and irrevocably changed for Clary. Reeling from the disa…
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Comfort Him With Apples (Review: Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare)

Clockwork Prince
Cassandra Clare Walker 2011
After the events of Clockwork Angel, Tessa finds herself living in the London Institute surrounded by Shadowhunters whose future looks increasingly uncertain. The Enclave remain dubious of how the Institute is run, with the bullish Benedict Lightwood headi…
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The Earth Is Blue. There Is No God (review of Life: An Unexploded Diagram by Mal Peet)

Life: An Unexploded Diagram Mal Peet Walker 2011
Clem Ackroyd is the only child of a small family living in the Norfolk of the 1960's. Born into post war Britain neither he has little interest in the world at large apart from the vague whim that he wishes to escape into it and away from the suffo…
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