YA REVIEW - 'The Ant Colony', Jenny Valentine (Harper Collins, 2009)

Number 33 Georgiana Street houses many people and yet seems home to none. To runaway Sam it is a place to disappear. To Bohemia, it's just another blip between crises, as her mum ricochets off the latest boyfriend. Old Isobel acts like she owns the place, even though it actually belongs to Steve in the basement, who is always looking to squeeze in yet another tenant. Life there is a kind of ordered chaos. Like ants, they scurry about their business, crossing paths, following their own tracks, no questions asked. But it doesn't take much to upset the balance. Dig deep enough and you'll find that everyone has something to hide… (Synopsis from Goodreads)

I've read a couple of Jenny Valentine's books in the past (Finding Violet Park and The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight) and a few things have struck me...

1) She is very good at plot. I'm always a bit sceptical when picking up a book labelled as a 'mystery' because I am invariably disappointed. Having been brought up on a rigorous diet of Agatha Christie, I have very high mystery standards and quite like my mysteries to be very mysterious. Jenny Valentine has won me over before  by being successfully mysterious on two previous occasions.

2) The covers of her books are very misleading. They seem to be either very light-hearted comic-strippy things or pastelly with lots of swirls. If I was the sort of person who used the word 'fluffy' them I might call them that. But her writing is not. A lot of the subject matter is very dark indeed. Yes, maybe in a slightly wry and humorous way, but dark nevertheless. Which means I end up looking at her covers with a scrunched up forehead most of the time.

Light-hearted cover is light-hearted

So,The Ant Colony...well, the dark stuff is still here. It quickly becomes apparent that one of our narrator's, ten year old Bohemia, has a pretty grim existence, but manages to put her own optimistic take on it. And the mystery is here to, with the background of runaway Sam shrouded in MYSTERY until the very end. So yes, I did keep staring at the bizarre cover and thinking WTF?? quite a bit. This wasn't as plot-heavy as some of her other books, but felt more focused on how these characters interact. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Quite a good thing in fact.

And her writing is just so bloody good. Just the most gorgeous turns of phrase that made me dog-ear so many pages of my copy.


"A little boy at the window of another train, crammed in, surrounded by arms, the sleeve of a quilted jacket squashed flat against the glass like someone pulling a face."


See?

And I think my favourite thing about this book is how she writes London. How she makes it feel like a living, breathing whole, in equal parts exasperating and exhilarating.


"Mum and Dad moved away from London before I was born. They always said that city people who move to the country are never at home. Wherever they are, they miss the things they love about wherever they're not. You fall in love with the spaces and the air, while you pine for the crowds and the movement. You learn four hundred and fifty new shades of green but everyone's skin is the same colour. You crave the lights and the speed and the noise that when you get there are too bright and too fast and too loud."


I found this video on the Guardian website where Jenny Valentine talks about London and books and London books. Watching it makes me feel very proud and lucky to live here (although some days, not so much). Anyway, it might give you an idea about how important the city is to this book, how it works as one of the main characters.

So, back to the point I made at the start concerning the covers. Well, I loved this book. Up to a point. And I shall explain why, or try to without littering this review with too many spoilers. Although there is a bit of a spoiler, sorry...

Light-hearted cover = dark subject matter. So why, when I got to the ending, did I end up wishing that the cover didn't match the book at this point? Does this make sense? For a book that seems to spend 90% of it's time wallowing in the complexities of life, why does it choose to have a very cut and dried conclusion? I love a happy ending as much as the next person, but this just did not feel right and put a bit of an ironic dampner on proceedings for me, I'm afraid.

But I heartily recommend this one. I can see adults enjoying it just as much as younger readers and it has so much to say about so many things - community, why people choose to disappear, the things that go on under our noses that we choose to ignore. I just wish real-life endings were as happy as this one.

( I just had a look at the US edition of Cassiel Roadnight on Goodreads. It's called Double and they've made it look like a typical YA thriller, although this doesn't feel right either. I KNOW. THERE'S NO PLEASING ME)

(BUT, I do like this cover and title of Finding Violet Park)

(Sorry, I'll shut up now)

REVIEW - 'Finding Violet Park' (Harper Collins Childrens', 2007)

Sixteen-year-old Lucas Swain becomes intrigued by the urn of ashes left in a cab office. Convinced that its occupant -- Violet Park -- is communicating with him, he contrives to gain possession of the urn, little realising that his quest will take him on a voyage of self-discovery and identity, forcing him to finally confront what happened to his absent (and possibly dead) father. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

I completely adored this book. And what makes it all the more fantastic it that I wasn't expecting brilliance on this level. I was expecting a good read, yes. The only previous Jenny Valentine I'd read was the rather good 'The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight'. I enjoyed it, yes. It was a clever, taught little mystery, intelligently written, with a convincing voice. BUT I had a few niggles with certain aspects and this cast a little bit of a downer on it all.

When I read the synopsis for this, I wasn't desperate to rip it from the shelves and devour there and then. (Although, to be fair, only a couple of books have has this effect on me thus far.) I was expecting quaint, twee adolescent learns valuable life lessons through talking to/learning about a dead lady, blah, blah, blah.

What I got, however, was an ingenious, skillfully layered, revealing only teeny tiny nuggets of information at precisely the right times. I did not have a bloody clue where this one was going, I just prayed that the build up would have a satisfying payout. And I was NOT disappointed. This plot is so bloody clever, it should be sparring with Stephen Fry. Even when I thought I knew what the hell was going on, it pulled another masterstroke and I was left sitting there with my mouth wide open in awe and wonder.

All the characters were just wonderful. As with Cassiel Roadnight, Valentine has given us an authentic male protagonist. The relationships were very convincing, particularly that between Lucas and his mother. And I loved Lucas's Nan. I had the image of Catherine Tate's sweary Nan every time she cropped up - very funny.

Only some very, very minor quibbles. Quibblettes, if you will. I would have liked a bit more of Lucas interacting with love interest, Martha. There exchanges rang a very truthful note, and for purely selfish reasons, I wanted just a little bit more. Also, I know this sounds a bit odd, considering the book was essentially all about her, but I would have enjoyed a little bit more Violet. Her appearances were too brief and felt a little rushed. Just needed a little bit MORE, because it was all so damn good and I'm greedy like that.

A beautiful depiction about how past events an cast a dark shadow over lives and how it can feel impossible to pull away from them, so the only way of coping is to bask in it and drink it in.

A fine, fine book.

REVIEW - 'The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight' (Harper Collins, 2010)

A lonely teenager, Chap, takes on the identity of a missing boy, Cassiel Roadnight, attempting to satisfy his desire to have the family he has always dreamed of. Is this a case of 'be careful what you wish for?'

This is a great premise and the plot here more than lives up to the promise in the brief synopsis. I really can't tell you too much about it as this would make me a major spoiler spoil-sport, so I'll attempt to keep my trap shut and restrain my keyboard fingers.

What I CAN tell you is this - Ms. Valentine stays very true to the voice of a lonesome, sixteen-year-old drifter, struggling to come to terms with the mysteries of his own past, conflicted through his growing sense of danger of the strange situation he has found himself in and his reluctance to leave his new 'family'.

I love a good gradual reveal and this did not disappoint. Even if you do guess at some of the plot developments before they happen, there are still some genuine surprises (for me, anyway - you may be smarter and more perceptive).

I did feel the first half was too slow, maybe the reveal was just a bit too gradual. The plot starts to really pick up some pace in the last third, maybe to the detriment of some of the supporting characters - the introduction of an ally and confidant in Floyd is great for the plot, but the reasons for his involvement are never adequately explained, and he is accompanied by some pretty MAHOOSIVE, gaping plot holes that I couldn't really overlook.

This has intrigued me enough to examine the rest of Valentine's back catalogue, and that's a good a recommendation as any.