Starting a new school is tough. You have to make sure you fit in and show no weakness. This is what gets Arthur into all of the trouble. All of his life, he has suffered severe asthma. The last thing that he should be doing is running cross-country. Being a new school, his coach thinks he’s making excuses and, being a new school, Arthur doesn’t want to draw attention to himself by protesting too much.

Rather than look stupid in front of his new classmates, Arthur ignores his better judgement and runs.

The ensuing asthma attack is worse than any Arthur has experienced before. While Leaf and Ed, two other students, go for help, two strange men appear. After a baffling argument, they leave Arthur a clock-hand and disappear again.

The clock-hand turns out to be a key and soon Arthur is on the kind of adventure that most people only dream about.

Mister Monday is the first book in a series of seven novels by acclaimed Australian author, Garth Nix. After having finally read this, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never read any of his novels before. While Mister Monday is aimed at a more middle grade audience, the imagination behind it is fantastical enough to appeal to anyone.

The House that Arthur enters with his key is a world that shapes the whole universe. With the minute key Arthur can get into the realm of Mister Monday, a lethargic young man who runs the Lower House. A disorganised Victorian-esque realm drowning in paperwork, Arthur must navigate through the Lower House and take Monday’s hour key from him if there is any hope for Earth. The world of the House itself is enthralling, but the way Nix weaves detail and explanations into the writing without breaking the action completes the story.

The characters, too, are an interesting and motley bunch. From the Will who has one driving purpose and never deviates, to the slothful Mister Monday to Suzy Blue – who isn’t educated but is highly intelligent for all of that.

Mister Monday is a highly imaginative and entertaining novel. The characters and world draw you in and keep you hooked. With a sympathetic protagonist, I’d recommend this to high fantasy and urban fantasy fans alike.

Mister Monday – Garth Nix

Allen & Unwin (July 1, 2003)

ISBN: 9781741142136

Melissa May says the oranges and eggs she used are fresh from her Dad, and recipe is inspired for her memories of her Grandpa loving orange cake so much.

Ingredients

Four oranges (any kind)

Half a cup of raw sugar

Two cups of sifted self-raising flour

One hundred and twenty five grams of chopped unsalted butter

Four small eggs or two large eggs

Syrup

One quarter cup raw sugar

Half cup cold water

Method

Preheat oven 200 c fan force. Grease a twenty centimetre ring cake tin then sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar in the bottom of the pan. Slice one orange thinly and place sliced orange in the bottom on the ring tin. Take the zest of three oranges then juice the the pulp. Cream butter till light and fluffy. Slowly add sugar till combined and dissolved. Add eggs one at a time. Mixture should be pale yellow and frothy . Slowly add flour and half a cup of orange juice with some of the zest. Mix until well combined.

Add more juice if needed or water to thin cake mix. Put the cake batter in the ring tin. Bake in a moderate oven, 180 c fan force if you have it, for forty five to fifty minutes or till a skewer comes out clean.

Syrup

To make syrup put sugar, remaining juice, and zest in an suitable small saucepan. Heat gently, add a small amount of water. Do not boil or over heat you do not want to make toffee. A thin syrup will take fifteen minutes to make. When the cake is cooked, take out of oven and leave for ten minutes. Turn cake onto a rack to cool. When cake is just warm put on a cake plate and carefully pour syrup over the cake. Repeat a few times.

Next make a cup of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate then get a good book, piece of cake, and sit down to enjoy !

The Warlock’s Child writing competition

Ford Street Publishing is running a writing and art competition for students fifteen years of age or younger.

Check this website for all the details on how to enter.

The Twice Lost (Lost Voices #3)

Mermaids have been sinking ships and drowning humans for centuries, and now the government is determined to put an end to the mermaid problem—by slaughtering all of them. Luce, a mermaid with exceptionally threatening abilities, becomes their number-one target, hunted as she flees down the coast toward San Francisco.

There she finds hundreds of mermaids living in exile under the docks of the bay. These are the Twice Lost: once-human girls lost first when a trauma turned them into mermaids, and lost a second time when they broke mermaid law and were rejected by their tribes. Luce is stunned when they elect her as their leader. But she won’t be their queen. She’ll be their general. And they will become the Twice Lost Army—because this is war

Characters: This story jumps around from several characters perspectives. Our main focus is still on Luce, as the general who is taking a stance to help prevent any further mermaid deaths. We get the side of the American Government, a secret weapon the government is holding hostage, and the humans that have had connections with the mermaids and are on their side.

Plot: As Luce travels south after witnessing the loss of her old Tribe, she has found other mermaids and humans along the way. Breaking the code of the Timahk more than once, she is now focusing on finding her long lost friend Nausicaa and warning the mermaids of the government killings. When she reaches San Francisco however, she comes across hundreds of misplaced mermaids and decides this is the spot where she will stop and fight.

Originality: This trilogy includes all female mermaids. There is very little made of any ties to current mermaid mythology. However, the mermaids do age more slowly than humans and have the ability to sing to the water to cause magical effects, some dangerous enough to sink ships. The mermaids (Queen’s) are ranked and chosen by how powerfully they can sing (manipulate the water).

Writing: The pacing of the story is pretty slow. The building up and causes of the war, in particular, involves a lot of different characters. Each character’s story has to evolve and grow until the point that the war begins. As the mermaids are aiming for a peaceful ending, they show a lot of restraint but the humans are less honourable.   The villain of this story is a truly horrible, abusive, and manipulative person who oversteps his boundaries.

Krista’s Rating: As this is the final book in the trilogy, I was expecting everything to come to a very fast-paced ending but the writing was slower than I anticipated. Yet even with a lot of down time, this is a series that kept me thinking long after I finished the books; the story still sticks with me.

Read Krista’s review of book one in the trilogy.

Snip review by Belinda Hamilton as she enjoys her new Netflix

At the encouragement of my boss, this time I’ve been watching Vikings. Now I do realise I’ve missed this one on free to air TV via SBS and I think I’ll wait for season 3 to come to Netflix before I catch up so I don’t have to deal with ads, and can just marathon them like I did these first 2 seasons.

I’m a history buff, and European history is always a shiny trinket to my magpie mind. Michael Hirst writes about actual historical figures with, I guess what would be considered,  some accuracy, making this program something special.

The cast is perfectly selected, from Ragna Lothbrok played by Travis Fimmel, to Lagertha Lothbrok played by Katheryn Winnick, whom you may know from Bones.

This brutal and bloody series from the History Channel is extremely entertaining and makes me long for the Abbey Festival.

Once you’ve finished all the Netflix stuff, there is plenty of youtube content from comic con and other interviews.

If you haven’t seen this series yet, you’re welcome in advance.

Skål!