Finnikin of The Rock by Melina Marchetta (4 stars)

I wasn't sure how this was going to pan out; it seemed somehow unlikely that Melina Marchetta who wrote Looking for Alibrandi could write a decent fantasy novel. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the book and barely put it down.

I thought that Evanjalin was obviously important, but I hadn't picked her true identity until it was revealed. I was slightly surprised that Froi didn't turn out to be royalty or have some special powers, given how much he features in the story and the lengths to which Evanjalin goes to keep him.

I found Finnikin a little annoying, especially at the end of the novel when he acts more like a petulant child than someone who is ready to assume an important role. There is plenty of talk of Finnikin interacting with the other kingdoms, negotiating treaties etc. but it all seemed implausible given his level of immaturity. I guess it is young adult fiction, so the young adult has to do all the important stuff, even if they are under-qualified and have no real authority.

Enjoyed it!

4 stars.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson (4.5 stars)

The final book in the Millennium trilogy, and it is a big one at 599 pages. I have really enjoyed the trilogy, and this book was a great end to the series. It begins where the previous book left off with Salander seriously injured, which means the pace is frantic from page one. I found it really difficult to put down.

Salander perspective isn't told nearly as much as in previous books - she spends a large part of the book in hospital. This is a shame, since she is by far the most interesting character. Most of the story focuses around Blomkvist, with a strange, seemingly out-of-place side-story involving Berger. I have spoken before about the lack of editing of the previous books, and I think a decent editor would have scratched that side story.

The trial itself seemed pretty silly at times. Maybe I have watched too many American legal movies, but it seemed ridiculous that Giannini could just interrupt her questioning of one person to fire questions at Salander, Palmgren, Ekstrom and others:

...We can interpret that as a manifestation of self-hate".
Giannini turned to Salander.
"Are your tattoos a manifestation of self-hate?" she said.
"No," Salander said.
Giannini turned back to Teleborian...

Blomkvist continues true-to-form by sleeping with pretty much every important female character in the entire trilogy. Surprisingly there was much less product placement in this book (or I was more immune to it).

If there had been more of Salander kicking arse I would have given this 5 stars.

4.5 stars

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (3 stars)

This book has sparked a lot of discussion in Australia - it won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and was on the shortlist for a whole swag of other awards. It centres around an incident at a BBQ when 'a man slaps a child who is not his own'. This act divides friends and family (and Australia it seems) about whether he was right to slap the child, given that his own child was possibly about to be hurt by the other kid. It also creates discussion about how children should be disciplined, and what effect a lack of discipline from one set of parents has on other children and families.

I think there are plenty of interesting issues and themes in this book, but ultimately I didn't enjoy it much. Tsiolkas totally overdoes the sex (there is way more than The Bride Stripped Bare!) and swearing (I've never read so many c-bombs in one novel before). There was also not a single character I actually liked, which made it hard to care about the story.

Tsiolkas chooses an interesting set of eight points of view; I was expecting him to write about the same chronological time from each point of view (like the movie Go), but the chronology is linear, so each person's part of the story adds on where the last left off. I thought the end of the book dragged with Aish's experience at the conference and then the horrendous Bali 'holiday'. I totally didn't buy Hector as some sort of Greek Adonis. He was such a prick and so self-centred, I don't care how good looking he was, he would have been ugly.

Should Harry have slapped Hugo? No, he should have protected his own child without hurting anyone. Is Hugo a little shit? Yes. Every time I read about Hugo being breastfed, I thought of the Little Britain 'Bitty' skit...

3 stars.