Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier

Title: Razorhurst

Author: Justine Larbalestier

Release Date: 1st July 2014 (March 2015 in the US)

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:

The setting: Razorhurst, 1932. The fragile peace between two competing mob bosses—Gloriana Nelson and Mr Davidson—is crumbling. Loyalties are shifting. Betrayals threaten.

Kelpie knows the dangers of the Sydney streets. Ghosts have kept her alive, steering her to food and safety, but they are also her torment.

Dymphna is Gloriana Nelson’s ‘best girl’, experienced in surviving the criminal world, but she doesn’t know what this day has in store for her.

When Dymphna meets Kelpie over the corpse of Jimmy Palmer, Dymphna’s latest boyfriend, she pronounces herself Kelpie’s new protector. But Dymphna’s life is in danger too, and she needs an ally. And while Jimmy’s ghost wants to help, the dead cannot protect the living . . .

In A Nutshell:

A thrilling, danger-filled historical crime novel with all the glitz and grime you would expect, as well as a touch of the paranormal to add a new spin. Razorhurst sees 1930’s Sydney through the eyes of a couple of teenage girls, one from the streets and one from the fold, as the world went from the roaring twenties to the dirty thirties.

My Review:

I don’t usually read stories set in the past as I am a contemporary girl at heart, but I couldn’t pass up Razorhurst. Firstly, it’s Aussie YA (Yay!). Secondly, I love crime stories and I thought that since I unexpectedly loved The Diviners, which was set in the 20’s, I should really give Razorhurst a go.

Kelpie lives among the abandoned buildings of Surry Hills. Orphaned at birth, and her age unknown, she has been raised by the kindness of strangers and ghosts. You see, Kelpie can see and talk to ghosts. She has no idea why she has this ability. She just knows that some ghosts ignore her while others actively try to get involved in her life.

Those that help Kelpie have taught her to read, found her places to hide and pointed her in the direction of food. But sometimes, others like to mess with her and that’s what happens the day she is directed towards a supply of apples and instead finds the eviscerated body of Jimmy Palmer, mob-boss Gloriana Nelson’s right-hand man.

As police descend on the building, Kelpie, and Jimmy’s girlfriend Dymphna (who also came upon the body as she arrived for a pre-arranged meeting), flee the scene, hiding in backyards until they can break away from the police patrols. Caught in the middle of an organised crime mob-war, Kelpie’s life just got a whole lot more complicated than hiding from the authorities and finding food.

With help from her friend Snowy and writer Neil, Kelpie and Dymphna attempt to escape the dangers of the city whose controlling powers, Mr Davidson and Gloriana Nelson (having watched a few episodes of Gotham on TV, my mind kept likening Gloriana and Mr Davidson to Fish and Falcone), have eyes and ears everywhere, as well as most of the city’s police force in one of their pockets.

Kelpie is forced to grow up quickly as she finds herself in far more unsavoury and unfamiliar places than she is used to. The events and revelations that occur around her have Kelpie musing over what makes a good person and realising that there is a blurry line between what is right and wrong.

I have some unanswered questions that lead me to hope there will be a sequel to follow Razorhurst. Certain things are alluded to so maybe the reader is supposed to be left to make their own assumptions. But I really would have liked to know more details, especially about the mythology surrounding the ghosts that Kelpie interacts with such as why do some people become ghosts and others simply die? And why can Kelpie see them? Also, if certain people survive the inevitable bloodshed as the mob-war threatens to consume the city.

Overall a thrilling, danger-filled historical crime novel with all the glitz and grime you would expect, as well as a touch of the paranormal to add a new spin. Razorhurst sees 1930’s Sydney through the eyes of a couple of teenage girls, one from the streets and one from the fold, as the world went from the roaring twenties to the dirty thirties.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Title: The Diviners
Author: Libba Bray

Release Date: 1st September 2012

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

1920s New York. A teen clairvoyant. An old evil. It has begun...

Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old home town and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City - and she is pos-i-tute-ly thrilled! New York is the city of speak-easies, rent parties, shopping and movie palaces, and soon enough Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfeld girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult - also known as 'The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies'.

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of it. Even Evie's new pals - hoofers, numbers runners and activists, but all swell kids - are drawn into the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer - if he doesn't catch her first...

In A Nutshell:
The Diviners is an intricately woven story of superstition, old magic, religious zealots and race relations. It also portrays the different ways love and family can take shape, how meaningful those relationships become, and what people would do for the ones they love. Although the novel is a about a serial killer, there are many other aspects to it and you’ll find that amongst the suspense and superstition, there is an exploration of what drives cults and religions, but this is also balanced out at the same time with fun, light-hearted frivolity. I loved it!

My Review:

I "pos-i-tute-ly" loved The Diviners. Libba Bray’s storytelling abilities continue to blow my mind. The first chapter is amazing and sets the scene for the rest of the book. We are thrown right into the belly of the beast which is Manhattan in the 20’s and we get an insight into all the different boroughs of NYC and how it was then.

Right from the beginning we know the murderer is Naughty John, but we follow the characters as they are introduced to us and as their lives become affected by Naughty John’s actions. John is a fantastic and truly creepy villain and you never know who he is going to go after next, sometimes it’s a stranger, other times it is one of the characters already known to us. Each chapter I was worried one of my favourites was about to be killed. I dare say I wouldn’t read parts of this at night when you are home alone cos you may just get a little too creeped out!

There are lots of characters to keep track of but this isn’t hard as they are all given plenty of page-time as their lives and secrets are discovered. Our main character Evie likes to have a good time and sometimes forgets to think before she acts. Arriving in the Big Apple from Ohio with her clairvoyant abilities a secret, her pending new lifestyle has her brimming with excitement. She’s sassy and at times selfish, but she has a good heart and if you don’t like her at the beginning, she will definitely grow on you. Staying with her Uncle Will, Evie joins forces with her New York pen pal Mable, who lives in her uncle’s building. Mabel is often the voice of reason but her complaints sometimes fall on deaf ears, particularly when Evie gets together with the theatrically divine Theta and Henry. Together, Manhattan is their playground.

Evie’s Uncle Will, curator of the occult museum, has a few secrets of his own, as does his assistant, Jericho, and the pickpocket Sam Lloyd, who wrangled his way into Evie’s life and won’t entirely disappear. There’s also the charming Memphis, a poet with a lot on his shoulders, his brother Isaiah whose unusual talent catches the interest of the mysterious Miss Walker and Blind Bill. There’s trumpet player Gabe and attention seeker Daisy, Will’s old friend Detective Malloy and annoying reporter T.S Woodhouse. Let’s not forget Evie and Will’s old neighbours, Miss Adelaide and Miss Lillian, spinster sisters who appear to be losing their marbles. Pretty much everyone has something to hide and as many of the characters meet and their story-arcs cross over, these secrets are slowly revealed.

It is obvious how much research went into The Diviners and it was well worth it as there is so much detail to every scene. The reader is able to fully immerse themselves in the story, feeling as though they are right there with Evie, or in the same room as Naughty John (not always a good thing!), or sitting in the cemetery with Memphis. The story feels so authentic and I could really picture what the 1920’s was like in New York City. The setting is woven so well into the story that readers won’t feel as though they are having descriptive details thrown at them, you just become enthralled with what is going on.

I spent much of the novel reading it as though Libba herself was narrating it after she read aloud at Reading Matters last year. It made it so much fun imagining her theatrically voicing Evie and Theta and the 1920’s slang really helped set the atmosphere.

If you’ve seen The Diviners sitting on a bookshelf, you've probably noticed that it is quite a brick of a book. At 578 pages, my arms did occasionally get sore, but the length was by no means a detriment to the novel. If anything, I am glad it was so long as I didn’t want it to finish. I’m pleased to know there will be a sequel out in late 2014 but until then, make sure you savour all 578 pages!

The Diviners is an intricately woven story of superstition, old magic, religious zealots and race relations. It also portrays the different ways love and family can take shape, how meaningful those relationships become, and what people would do for the ones they love. Although the novel is a about a serial killer, there are many other aspects to it and you’ll find that amongst the suspense and superstition, there is an exploration of what drives cults and religions, but this is also balanced out at the same time with fun, light-hearted frivolity. The Diviners also only scratches the surface of a bigger picture, one which I am sure will be unravelled in the sequel.

This is Libba Bray’s signature storytelling at its best!

The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Title: The Eternal Ones
Author: Kirsten Miller

Release Date: 30th August 2010

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:
Have you ever fallen in love at first sight? Do you long for a place you've never been? Do you often experience the sensation of deja vu?

Ever since Haven Moore can remember, she's experienced visions of a previous life as a girl named Constance, whose love for her soulmate Ethan ended in tragedy.

And then the sight of the world's hottest movie star, Iain Morrow, brings Haven to her knees. She knows she has met him before. Is Iain her beloved Ethan?

Unable to deny her past any longer, seventeen-year-old Haven flees to New York to find him - and an epic love affair begins. But it is both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Can Haven unlock the deadly secrets hidden in her past lives - and loves - before all is lost and Ethan disappears again...forever?

My Review:
The Eternal Ones was one of those books that generated a lot of hype, and for this reason I did not read any reviews of it so I could avoid being influenced by others. I still haven't read any now that I have finished the book so I have no idea if people are loving or hating it.

That said, I loved it. After reading the blurb and drawing assumptions from the title, I was under the impression it was going to be another vampire story (because they all seem to be) which is why it has taken me so long to get to it, but I was so pleasantly surprised when I started it and realised that is not the case at all. The Eternal Ones is based on the concept of reincarnation or past lives if you prefer. This is not something that gets explored a lot in YA fiction so I was very intrigued.

I thought the novel was very well written with a love story and a couple of murder mysteries, spanning across time with many different points of view. Because we as the reader, and Haven, didn't know who was lying and who was telling the truth, the suspense was at an all time high, you just never knew what was going to happen next. I really liked this aspect because I am usually able to guess what is going to happen in a story, so it was a nice change!

The characters were really interesting but it felt like there were lots of characters when really there weren't. This is because of all the past lives and the characters revisiting their memories of those. The supporting 'cast' of those without past lives was made up of strong characters who provided a stable point in contrast to the 'busy-ness' of all the past lives. Haven has grown up in a small southern town and she has never fit in, especially with her visions causing her to pass-out randomly. The scene and towns people have been created perfectly, I felt like I was Haven, living in this small town, dealing with all the small-mindedness that surrounded her and her best friend Beau.

One thing I would like to point out is that the majority of the novel is set in Manhattan, and I found this very surreal because I am currently in New York on holiday and a lot, if not all the places and neighbourhoods that are mentioned, are places that I have walked past. I could picture very clearly, for instance, when Gramercy Park was being talked about because, only the day before I started reading this, I went to Gramercy Park and wandered around the streets there. It was very, very surreal and I wonder if this is how it is for people who live in cities that stories are often set. I suppose it is the same for T.V. shows. I live in Perth, Australia which very rarely gets featured in anything (ironically enough the previous book I read was actually set in Perth!) and for me to actually be able to fully visualise a location, and not have to rely as heavily on the author describing it, was very exciting.

The Eternal Ones finishes with a twist, but not a cliffhanger and so I was a little surprised, but happy, to hear that there is going to be a sequel. I don't feel it needs one so it will be interesting to see what Miller does with it. No news yet as to when but as soon as I know, I will put it up on my Coming Soon page.