If you'd like to write a review for a book you've read, we'd love to show it here, simply email it to info@marsdenbooks.com
Billy Wallace a True Rugby Legend
By Denis Dwyer
Radio NZ Book Review - Billy Wallace a True Rugby Legend
The Last White Man
By Mohsin Hamid
Radio NZ Book Review - The Last White Man
The Explorer
By Katherine Rundell
The Explorer is a book about four kids on their way back to England from Manaus, and upon flying over the Amazon forest, their pilot's heart fails and he stops breathing. They crash into the forest and all the children survive. Now they have to figure out how to survive in this vast forest, and how to escape.
I enjoyed how the author used every single character, and made them all have a special part of the book, and how they all work together (sometimes) to work out how to survive.
I also love how the author made each character have a different personality, for example, Fred is brave, Lila is smart, Con is a brat, and Max is disobedient and annoying. (What you can expect from a five year old).
Review written by Emily Hogg
Red Queen
By Victoria Aveyard
Red Queen is about a 17 year old girl named Mare Barrow, where she lives in a world where blood is your status. Red blood means you are a commoner, while Silver blood means you have special powers. Mare is about to be conscripted for the war like her brothers, when she finds herself working in the Silver palace.
Mare discovers that even though she has Red blood, she possesses powers of her own. One that threatens to demolish the power of balance. Agitated by Mare’s powers, the Silvers hide her, saying that she is a long lost Silver princess.
I enjoyed how intense this book was. It was kind of cliche at points, but nonetheless, it was great.
Mare was very clueless at times, as there were many signs that Maven was toying with her. She also kept blaming everything on Cal, when it was clearly her fault.
To me, it felt like it didn't really have any originality, it felt like the hunger games, but as I said I still loved it.
Review by Emily Hogg