Pantomime, The Re-Read…

I read a lot of books. On average I get through three novels a week. Some of those I may not ever read again. Some I know as soon as I’ve read them I will want to read them again. They get spirited away onto the bookshelves that I end up rearranging after each new release and they get re-read in the next few years. And there are some that I want to read as soon as I finish them and I will go back and re-read them as soon as I can.

But I don’t think any book has nagged me quite so much for a re-read as Laura Lam’s Pantomime did. I read and reviewed it last October before the release (the review is here if you aren’t familiar with the book) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are so well depicted, the story itself is compelling and I knew this would be the kind of book that would be just as rich a reading experience the second time around.

So, five months on the nagging had become too much and I went for the re-read. Even though I already knew what was going to happen and had already experienced the tension, the drama and the secrets unfolding, I enjoyed the book as much as I did the first time. There were little details that perhaps I did not notice or register on the first reading, and there were elements of the plot that I had forgotten only to be surprised and impressed by them once again.

I can’t put my finger on exactly what is that makes this book work so much for me. It explores identity in terms of discovering who we are and being true to ourselves rather than shaping ourselves to how other people say we should be. This is a topic close to my heart, being a firm believer that no one should have to comply with the expectations society places on them or change elements of themselves to suit another person or situation.

So that is possibly why I feel such a connection to this book. It could also be the skilful storytelling; the arranging of a narrative in such a way that its secrets and mysteries are revealed slowly, little pieces of the puzzle coming together here and there to always be simultaneously rewarding the reader for coming this far and tempting them with the promise of more. Events in the present are interspersed with various moments from the past to complete the story whilst at the same time raising more questions.

Whether it is the exploration of identity, the narrative structure or the elements of magic and the inherent appeal of the circus that makes Pantomime such an absorbing read, I cannot say. For me I think it is the combination of all of the above. It is a story that conceals as much as it tells so perhaps the appeal is the reader’s desire to know the full story. It is a book that has a lot to say and a wonderful world and story to tell it in. I know it will be one that I will read time and again and maybe I will never quite know why, but the only way I can categorise it is ‘spellbinding’. Whatever magic it weaves I have been truly captured.

Elloise Hopkins.

Heather Gardner…

I went to see this adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at Birmingham’s Old Rep Theatre this week, and knowing it had been set locally my main intention was to see how well the Norwegian’s play would translate to 1960s Birmingham.

The answer to my question was very well. The 60s setting gave a very Mad Men feel to the whole thing. Lots of pouring scotch and sherry, lots of smoking cigarettes, amid funky 60s costume and furniture. The Birmingham in-jokes helped to ground the piece and overall the adaptation was a great success.

The overall themes of power and control and their changing of hands as the story progressed were still well in situ so the essence of the play was truly visible. Undeniably Elisabeth Hopper as Heather stole the show, bringing the right amount of seduction and bitchiness to the role. As a protagonist Heather is captivating as her downfall unfolds slowly and to the seeming obliviousness of those around her.

Robin French’s adaptation began strongly and ended suddenly, in just the same manner, taking full advantage of foreshadowing, symbolism and irresistible self-destruction in more than one character. When I come away from watching an adaptation wanting to re-visit the original I consider it a success.

Elloise Hopkins.

Book Review: Sutler...

SUTLER

The Kills Book One,

By Richard House.

Stephen Lawrence Sutler receives a phonecall that is about to change his life. His chance to set up a new military base and city is gone and he has nine hours to get away. They’ll set up money in an account only he can access, they tell him, but he has to disappear. Sutler had no choice but to listen to them. He runs.

All he has to do is transfer the money and create a new life for himself, but the situation is not as straightforward as it seemed. Accessing the money is harder than he imagined and now it seems he is being framed for the embezzlement of far more money than he was promised. A wanted man, Sutler has to put all of his energy into becoming someone else and getting to the cash.

Sutler is a political thriller and Stephen Sutler’s journey is rife with conspiracy, tension and at times confusion. Whilst he does not always seem to act in the best way to conceal his identity and purpose, he is nonetheless an interesting protagonist, perhaps because he is flawed; he does panic and get flustered like we do in real life, he does blurt things out and then have to create a story to support them.

The book is infused with video and audio clips that enhance the story, showing the reader elements of the characters’ lives that are not otherwise available in the narrative. This helps to round off the characters, particularly those who are not used as point of view characters as frequently as the protagonist. It also helps to connect the reader to the author’s vision.

This is the first part in a four book series called The Kills so as you would expect, particularly with it being a thriller, there is little resolution in this part of the story. Many questions are raised and many sub plots come into play which we can only expect will be explored and resolved as the series continues.

As the beginning of a series, Sutler is compelling and succeeds in creating empathy in the reader for the characters. The one thing Sutler is certainly not, is predictable. There is great scope for the story to continue from this point, and to attempt to imagine where it will head next would only lessen the suspense of waiting for book two. Aside from being a strong conspiracy-based tale, Sutler is also a triumph of descriptive prose and House brings the settings to life in rich detail.

At the moment you can get hold of Sutler for the price of a tweet:http://www.panmacmillan.com/thekills?utm_source=bloggers&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=thekills&utm_content=thekills so there’s ample reason to give it a try.

Elloise Hopkins.

Crayola Colour Mood…

My current Crayola Colour Mood is Electric Lime! Which totally equates to the fact that I am freaking out, meaning I am in the middle of a freaking pre-mid-life crisis.

Why? You may well ask. Well I still haven’t got the results of my MA, which zapped years of my life not to mention the money and sweat, and quite frankly the wait is turning me into a total basket case. Much as I love Green Day, feeling like a basket case is not much fun.

I’m all edgy and strange. I wake up daily from bizarro dreams. I have a constant nagging craving to do something reckless. I want to change every aspect in my life. Nothing seems good enough. Nothing seems to be sitting right and indeed if I manage to sit still for more than five minutes it is a complete miracle. I’m hyper active yet getting nothing done and it feels like I am totally out of control. In fact writing this wacky blog is the most productive thing I’ve managed in over a week.

Hence the freaking out Electric Lime sensation crawling its way through my veins. If this was a drug maybe I could find out how to kick it, but this unsettled consciousness, this knowing that whatever is causing this odd behaviour is out of my control, is utterly doing my head in.

But hey, Electric Lime is pretty cool in a way. Perhaps I should see this transitional phase as a good thing. Perhaps answers will come out of the vivid wilderness.  Here’s hoping.

Elloise Hopkins.

An Evening With Peter V. Brett…

Wednesday night and Waterstones New Street again, as you can tell from the awesome chalk artwork, this time an evening with Peter V. Brett as part of his UK tour. Writing West Midlands hosted the event, and they and the Waterstones staff made this a really memorable one. There was a brief welcome which discussed the location of the event and the drive towards more fantasy events in the Midlands – yes, I inwardly shouted, bring fantasy home! – and then Peter V. Brett took the floor.

A Q&A session began and the questions were fantastic. We got such an insight into Peat’s world, his writing practice, his characters, his journey to publication, his wards and so much more, including his warded ring, aka the precious. What stood out most was Peat’s clear passion for his work and his dedication to putting out the very best writing he can. And you could tell the fans were definitely glad of it.

After the Q&A came the signing, and Peat spent time with every single fan, signing books, personalising messages, answering more questions, humbly responding to compliments and issuing us all with superb bookplates – don’t fear the dark! It was so good to see an author interacting with their fans and Peat obliged every photo request and made everyone’s trip special.

But really this blog post should be dedicated to the fans as much as to Peat. It was fantastic to see such enthusiasm and appreciation of creative effort as they showed. And of course some deserve a special mention: 

There was a guy who named his baby Arlen and brought in the onesie that Peat had had made and sent to him when he found out.

Luke Fielding, twitterer, brought Peat a gift in the form of his rock demon painting, which Harper will post over to Peat’s home.

There were ‘keep calm and draw wards’ bags to be envied, not to mention a few cool t-shirts and hoodies in the crowd too.

There was Emma, whose dog ate her copy of The Daylight War (mostly literally as it turned out) somewhat redeemed by the great story of Harper Strikes Again, having shipped a replacement out as soon as they found out.

And there was lots of laughter, perhaps more so during the group hug bromance – I couldn’t decide if Peat or the huggers felt more awkward in that one – but it was all in good spirits and an excellent time was had by all.

All in all a great atmosphere and another successful event in a venue that I love, and despite Peat having a terrible day transport-and-other-wise he performed, entertained and impressed the crowd, reminding us just how hard fantasy authors work to bring us amazing stories and how appreciative they are of their readers. Now all that remains is to wait for his next book. 18 months may be just long enough for me to forgive him for my ‘gasp’ moment in this one!

An inspirational man and a night to remember.

Elloise Hopkins.

Book Review: Between Two Thorns...

BETWEEN TWO THORNS.

By Emma Newman.

Angry Robot Books.

On a night out after work Sam’s had one too many beers and all he wants is to get home. Unfortunately his bladder is interfering and a detour into the grounds of a museum leads Sam into the middle of something his alcohol-addled brain can’t quite understand. Two strange beings and one faerie later, Sam is under a Fool’s Curse with his memories bound in chains and one hell of a hangover.

Cathy is in hiding from her family and the Shadow Charm has been keeping her well concealed in the mundane world. After all this time she has become used to living among humans, but the knowledge that her family would not have given up the search stays with her. Now, a visit from a Lord of the Fae Court can only signal danger, and Cathy finds herself unceremoniously forced into making three wishes with the express purpose of impressing the Fae Lord.

Max, Arbiter and dislocated soul, is investigating missing women in London – technically not his patch but he’s choosing to temporarily ignore that little detail – when he stumbles across a much larger problem. Something is wrong, and Max will soon be fighting for his life, dealing with sorcerers and forced into an entirely new mission. The Master of Ceremonies has gone missing and Max has to make sense of the clues. 

Newman paints a beautiful, magical world in this, the first of a trilogy about The Split Worlds and the colourful cast of characters that inhabit them. The characters are a great strength, all likeable and suitably interesting, each with their own foibles and desperate desires. They are well drawn, with depth enough to endear them to the reader.

Between Two Thorns follows the stories of each character as they deal with their individual missions and challenges, and the eventual intertwining of the various sub plots adds great depth to the writing and works flawlessly to deliver a well-rounded story. That said, this is definitely the beginning of a trilogy so many plot elements are left unexplained in this volume.

Nonetheless this book has a fantastic ending and marks a solid start to a great new fantasy trilogy that will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys urban fantasy, stories about the Fae and detective stories. There are also some underlying themes in here, such as Cathy’s growing up in an old fashioned world where women are oppressed, that provide a good contrast to the modern day problems she and Sam encounter in the mundane world.

Elloise Hopkins.

I Was A Rat…

Last night I was lucky enough to attend a special performance of Philip Pullman’s I Was A Rat at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company are 100 years old and have a history of pushing the boundaries of what is expected from the theatre. Progressive on stage and off, the REP is a huge part of Birmingham’s culture and has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

While the Repertory Theatre itself is undergoing refurbishment, in tandem with construction of the new Birmingham Library at the same site, last night’s show was proof that the old roots are still strong and the prolonged closure of the theatre has had no affect on the quality of performances still ongoing in the city. Before the show members of The Destroyers played live music to welcome the audience and set the tone of the evening.

The adaptation of I Was A Rat was truly a theatrical extravaganza, employing physical and musical theatre techniques to produce a colourful, energetic show. During the play, puppetry, live music, dance, masks, streamers, lighting and acrobatics were all put to best use in a production that blew me away and left me grinning and whooping at the end.

The show far exceeded my expectations, and indeed not having read the book I was not sure what to expect. A kids’ show, I thought. A play, a fairytale. It was so much more than that. It was dark and mysterious, intriguing, clever, creepy and surreal at times, and overall utterly dramatic in every sense. This was by far the strongest stage performance I have seen in years, and I do go to the theatre fairly often.

What made the evening even more special was the fact that it was the REP’s birthday celebration. The curtain call itself was immense, deservedly so, but when the cast called the director up on stage I knew something bigger was afoot.

Representatives of the theatre company thanked the audience and gave a little background into the celebrations, then after a short introduction from the REP’s new artistic director, Birmingham born Steve Camden aka Polarbear gave a live performance in the form of a poem all about the Birmingham REP.

You can see why he is such a well-respected spoken word artist. The topic had clearly been well researched and transported the audience back to various moments in time from the REP’s history. From George Bernard Shaw to Laurence Olivier, from regular audience members to first time watchers, from controversy to awe, from Shakespeare to The Snowman, we were there, standing on Broad Street on a winter night, looking at this icon of a theatre alongside his memories.

With streamers still hanging in my hair and caught on my scarf, with a REP 100 goodie bag clenched between my fingers, I left the theatre truly elated and awed by the magic the REP continues to create time and time again. The world is changing and modernising around us, but theatre has existed for centuries and will continue to do so. Nothing will ever replace that buzz, the applause, the live and immediate atmosphere, nor that happy stroll from the theatre to home, discussing the play we have just seen and re-living each acrobat’s tumble, each hero’s lines, and each song, for hours and days and years.

Elloise Hopkins.

Crayola Colour Mood…

Today my mood is changeable and the only colour that seemed apt to match with that is Wild Blue Yonder.

It is one of those colours that looks different depending on where you see it and how you feel when you look at it. Which is exactly how I’m feeling towards life at the moment. Changeable, or perhaps a little unsure.

For the first time in six years, I don’t have a uni deadline or an academic qualification to work towards. Yes, I have personal goals, but the very fact that they are self-enforced makes them different.

So I feel changeable. One day I am motivated, upbeat, eager to get on with what I’m doing, the next day I feel pensive, detached, daydreamy, lost in the wild blue yonder. It is flat and uninspiring, vast and full of possibility. It is my current Crayola Colour Mood, my current feeling, my current adventure.

Elloise Hopkins.

Audiobooks...

I know lots of people who love audiobooks. They listen to them when travelling, at the gym, at home while doing chores and all sorts. I love the idea of audiobooks and have tried various times to listen to them. I even have some of my favourite novels in audio version, but even familiar stories I struggle with.

The trouble is, unlike books where I get completely absorbed for hours at a time, with audiobooks I can’t seem to focus my mind on them and will periodically realise that I have switched off from them completely and missed a significant chunk of the story. Then I have to backtrack. The story becomes disjointed and clunky and the whole experience is lost on me.

I don’t know if this is a common problem or whether I just have either a really poor attention span or an overactive imagination. Both probably, but as yet I have found no way around this. Why is it I can totally tune into a book on paper, or indeed on an ereader, and not have any issues concentrating, but when it is spoken to me I lose the thread?

Elloise Hopkins.

Book Review: LARP: The Battle for Verona...

LARP: THE BATTLE FOR VERONA.           

By Justin Calderone.

Dennis is a larper and he’s been a larper ever since he stood up for two of the unpopular kids at school. That decision sealed Dennis’ fate as one of the losers and lost him the protection and status having a football star brother had gained him. Dennis is still friends with those same two kids, still larping and still being mocked by his brother and everyone like him. And it’s not fair. He’s a professional success, intelligent and there’s far more to him than larping.

Dennis has reached a point where he feels trapped. Trapped by the life he is leading and trapped by the decision he made all those years ago. What ifs plague him. What if he had not saved them from the bullies? What if he had not taken up larping? What if he had listened to his brother? Perhaps the life he is living is not the one he is supposed to be living. And with that, Dennis decides that this weekend’s larping tournament will be his last. Unfortunately when crisis hits his hometown it looks as though Dennis won’t be able to turn away from larping just yet.

The book begins very much with Dennis in focus, but the roaming point of view that is used throughout is occasionally confusing, as it switches frequently mid-chapter and mid-scene. In fact there is a section in the latter part of the book where one of Dennis’ friends becomes the main focus of the story, and that means Dennis, who has been the hero of the story up to this point, takes a back seat for a considerable period, which feels slightly out of kilter with the rest of the narrative.

What is interesting is that when the main crisis of the story begins, Dennis and his friends are not immediately plunged into the centre of events, which makes for a refreshing angle on the ‘save the world’ adventure story. Much of the book is unpredictable which also works in its favour.

This is definitely a feel good book for all those who were mocked and called a nerd during their younger years. LARP fans will be thrilled at the level of detail and realism that Calderone captures. This is the kind of story where it is necessary to suspend belief and just go with it, but if you do you will find yourself enjoying a light-hearted and fun read. Pure escapism. 

Elloise Hopkins.