The Colour of Revenge

Book Title: The Colour of Revenge

Author: Cornelia Funke

Series: Inkheart #4

Date Started: October 12th  2024

Date Completed: October 27th 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

Inkheart was always special in a way so few stories achieved - who could possibly top the idea that reading aloud could make the story real? That you could speak your most beloved, most feared, most magical characters, objects, worlds into being? It's so simple, as most good stories are, and I was not alone in being entirely enraptured by it as a child (made all the more precious because my mum read the whole thing to me at the time, too).

But, as much as I loved Mortimer, aspired to be Elinor, and felt very much like Meggie, who didn't really want to see the mythic heroes from the ink world on a true adventure of their own? Who didn't want to meet the Motley Folk, escape danger with the Black Prince, witness the Fire-Dancer's mastery of the flames? There were flickers of it in the original trilogy, but our wish is granted fully here and now. The Colour of Revenges is so immediately immersive - the prose, the imagination, the characters painting you into the story within mere moments and fragments of paragraphs - that the idea that you could speak aloud these characters and they would become real feels just as true as the first time I read about a battered book called Inkheart and the world inside of it.

I feel ambivalent about the continuation of beloved series - I do like letting a story be over at the original destination but, at this point, so many of them have done it and brought with them lovely new stories. There's a moment, towards the end of this book, where two of our most beloved heroes about about stories; where new ones start and old ones end. Literal or philosophical, it's something that could be a materialistic meta media moment it not spoken with feeling. But the enchanted inweave of Inkheart only ever speaks with feeling, even when she speaks through her characters; "In my experience, the story never ends. Only the heroes change."

The Haunted House on Hollow Hill

Book Title: The Haunted House on Hollow Hill

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant

Date Started: October 7th  2024

Date Completed: October 11th 2024

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure, Action

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I always marvel at how quickly Derek must write for the main series and these spin-offs to come out in such quick succession. I enjoyed the podcast version of this story a lot, but I find it hard to follow audio-only media so decided to read the books as well (I conveniently drifted off to sleep on the episode the killer was revealed so it made both experiences satisfying).

You can tell that the novel has been written for an audio production, the scenes dance around a little unnaturally for prose - but it's also very creative with the sound landscape and design. Of course that makes the podcast version really interesting, but it's also fun to see the way it weaves into the fabric of the narrative even when written.

These little mystery spin-offs are always fun and realised to the point they don't feel gratuitous. Derek is so good at creating new casts of characters, it feels new every time. I also really enjoyed that Valkyrie and Skulduggery are rarely the protagonists but instead feature in someone else's story. It makes the universe all the bigger and exciting.

Ultimately, The Haunted House on Hollow Hill wasn't my favourite instalment in the Skulduggery series (saga, is it big enough to call a saga yet?) but it was still fun, and actually really cool to see them trying new forms of storytelling for the series that make it all the richer.

Mr Fox

Book Title: Mr Fox

Author: Helen Oyeyemi

Date Started: September 21st  2024

Date Completed: October 7th 2024

Genres: Magical Realism

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

I love me some magical realism, I love fairy tale retellings, or be concise; I love Helen Oyeyemi. She is undoubtedly one of the most exciting, creative and dynamic storytellers out there. Her books feel so original even though they're steeped in stories we know like the back of our hands (or, I have to remind myself, are familiar even if you're not an amateur folklorist like me).

Mr Fox retells the Victorian fairy tale of the same name by Joseph Jacobs - as well as the countless other adaptations of Charles Perrault's Blue Beard and the dozens of very similar fairy tales involving a husband who punishes his new wife's curiosity once she discovers the corpses of his previous spouses. Oyeyemi's Mr Fox takes the wit and wariness of Vonnegut's version alongside the wicked vibrancy and liberation of Marina Warner and Angela Carters'. And I don't use those names to compare, but to celebrate the well-deserved place Oyeyemi has carved out for herself among them.

I'm discovering that Oyeyemi's novels are omnipotent yet aware of their own edge and irony; the novelist is simultaneously hidden behind her characters and yet oh so obvious as the author. Her narratives are magical realist and literary but also delve into downright fantastical and even social realist in tone, their transitions meticulously timed. It's the kind of book you descend into and have to blink a few times once the pages have stopped turning to reorientate yourself.