Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe


  • Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow. Nevermoor #4 – Jessica Townsend

    Hachette Australia April 2025 ISBN: 9780734421029  $18.99 If you saw my recent excited posts regarding Nevermoor and finally meeting Jessica Townsend, you will also realise how mad keen I was to read this. I started it the Friday night after the event and finished it the following Thursday – all 660ish pages of it! I…

  • Down the Plot Hole – Annaleise Byrd

    Walker Books April 2025 ISBN13:9781760659059 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Annaleise Byrd’s second fractured fairytale is as highly amusing as the first. Basil and Terry resume their reading schedule, continuing on with Grimms’ Fairytales, though Basil is very uncertain about the whole idea of going back into fairytale with all its uncertainties – and dangers!…

  • Mim and the Mother Muddle: The Travelling Bookshop # 6 – Katrina Nannestad

    Harper Collins Australia March 2025 Young fans of this delightful series will be excited for this new one, in which we finally get to meet Mim’s mother. The travelling bookshop has arrived in Salzburg, which was not their intended destination, but as usual Flossy, the Clydesdale, knows exactly where they ought to be. And, indeed,…

  • The Marvellous Submarine -Zane Clayton Comber (The Marvellous Submarine, #1) Clayton Zane Comber. Connor McCammon

    Harper Collins Australia April 2025 This hails the start of a new series, co-written and illustrated by this pair from Kiama [one of my favourite places in the country] which will completely hook your young readers, particularly those who have been languishing for more Treehouse-like books. It is completely absurd and crazy and all the…

  • Silverborn arrives!

    Ok, so that whole global gasp when the latest in the Empyrean series arrived a while back has got nothing on the collective excitement of both young ‘uns and adults as this long-awaited #4 in the Nevermoor series makes its grand entrance. And last night I was lucky enough to meet and chat with Jessica…

  • The Night Librarian – Christopher Lincoln

    Scholastic Australia Scholastic Australia January 2025 ISBN: 9781761643507 RRPP: $19.99 There was a lot to like about this one but as usual the graphic format, didn’t quite do it for me, which I freely admit is just a personal thing. There were definitely moments when I felt confused about sequences or even conversations but I…

  • Are you ready for Silverborn?

    Just a few weeks ago, I re-read all the books, in preparation for #4’s release- at last!! and today this sumptous box arrived. Like a Xmas present only betterer. So I’m re-posting my original reviews for your delectation. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow Jessica Townsend Hachette October 2017 When you receive a proof copy…

  • The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest – Aubrey Hartman

    Walker Books Australia May 2025 ISBN:9781761601453 RRP: $17.99/New Zealand RRP:$19.99 Now, how to describe this delightfully quirky and sometimes dark quasi-horror with heart? It’s a little bit My Dead Rabbit, maybe a little bit Coraline, and a little bit The Graveyard Book. And then there’s A Girl Called Corpse – and soon you will get…

  • The Girl and the Ghost – Jacqueline Harvey

    Penguin Australia April 2025 OMG!!! JH fans, both young and old, are about to lose their minds!!! This fabulous new book, which I gobbled up in two sittings, heralds the start of another new series from the best-selling author, who really knows how to reach her audience. In this instance, the audience has just expanded…

  • Bravepaw and the Clawstone of Rotwood Mire: a Tail of Adventure. Bravepaw #2- L. M. Wilkinson. Art by Lavanya Naidu.

    Allen & Unwin February 2025 ISBN:9781761180569 Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:Albert Street Books RRP: $16.99 My newest favourite mouselings are back and their quest continues apace. Titch and Huckleberry have absolutely no idea how to reach the Heart of Alluria, where they are meant to repair the crack in the world. And even though Titch has the…