Latest batch of review links

[dolorosa_12]

My project of backing up all my old newspaper book reviews continues, and I've now managed to post everything up to the end of 2004. I still feel the same tendencies I deplored initially — the penchant for treating my own preferences and tastes as facts rather than opinions, and to make sweeping statements without much evidence to back them up — are there, although I'm not sure my opinions of the specific books reviewed would have changed much in the intervening twenty years, just my manner of expressing such opinions!

The reviews are:

Bleak glimpse forward to a decaying world — review of Jackie French's Flesh and Blood dystopian YA novel

A magical, mythic tale — my review of Sophie Masson's In Hollow Lands (children's fantasy literature inspired by Breton mythology and medieval history)

Rich avenues wandering the streets of Quentaris — a review of several books in the shared world Quentaris children's fantasy series

Convict tale full of twists and treats — a review of Jackie French's Tom Appleby, Convict Boy (children's historical fiction)

Comforting reminder of a simpler world — my first foray into the newspaper's Sunday 'Borrowers' column (in which reviewers wrote about older books that might be borrowed from the library, in this case Rumer Godden's The Greengage Summer)

Only one has the magic touch — a review of more Quentaris books and other Australian children's fantasy novels

Depth and quality to keep every child happy — a round up of books I recommended parents buy their children for Christmas/summer holiday reading

It would be interesting to revisit some of these books (the Rumer Godden in particular), since I'm absolutely certain I would interpret them in very different ways, even if my overall opinion of their quality is likely to remain the same.