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The BookViral Review:
Incredibly powerful, instantly compelling and often heart-breaking, Belko hasn’t picked an easy subject on which to write but her willingness to steer away from a prescriptive approach means she reaches her readers on a powerful emotional level.
The result is a read that not only entertains but is insightful and encourages much in the way of reflection whilst leaving us with a degree of empathy and understanding we might not have otherwise embraced.
Through teen-speak and acerbic observation, Belko captures a pivotal period in Xander’s life and then mirrors it with a poetic perspective from Grace which further reinforces the often unscripted progression of choices, confrontations and events in a teenager’s life that leads to self-harm.
Belko doesn’t go for shock value but by switching between perspectives it feels like real life unfolding before our eyes. Comfortably rising above dysfunctional-family-drama clichés, thanks to the truthfulness of Belko’s narrative, to smash through our defences.
On this level, her novel is an uncompromising examination of controversial subject matter, written with tenderness and undeniable insight as she reveals layer after layer of Grace’s and Xander’s thoughts and reflections. The plotting is tightly wound, but rather than get bogged down in extraneous detail she takes us through a kinetic series of escalating events whilst ramping up momentum towards what proves to be a perfectly pitched and highly thought-provoking ending.
An undeniably powerful debut from Belko, Perchance to Dream is highly recommended.
A mischievously clever and slickly humorous sci-fi comedy novel The Alas League saga continues with The Lost Ark with Falardeau delivering fun and reflection in equal measure as he gently tweaks the fanaticism of science fiction while at the same time validating it.
An artfully contrived science fiction novel with a terrific sense of time and place Paul III of Montreal reveals a more serious side to Falardeau’s work.
Whilst the issues of prejudice and discrimination are multi-faceted and complicated beyond belief, a key moment for me was the day I picked up ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Harper Lee implicitly drilled down the relative unfairness of human existence into my 12-year-old brain, creating a sense of outrage that has stayed with me throughout my life.
The magical allure of time travel has held a fascination for the layman and scientist alike. Indeed, no well-read individual can think of time travel without their mind creeping back to H.G Wells.
What makes a memoir so alluring? After all, they are not generally stuffed full with action, suspense, romance or mystery, which provide the highs and lows or other literature.
In the genre of speculative fiction Alternate History is proving more popular than ever.
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