Review & How To Read S by Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams

Have you ever held a book in your hands and not known how to read it? I have and it was a completely new experience. S was written by Doug Dorst but it was conceived by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Fringe) and the author is often listed as Dorst or Abrams or both.

Brace yourself because it's about to become complicated. The book is called S and consists of a hardback book called Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka. (Confused yet?) Inside this beautifully produced hardback edition of Ship of Theseus are margin notes between two people, Eric and Jen.

You can easily identify the contributors from their handwriting style, and the first margin notes in pencil belong to Eric, then Jen finds the book and begins to leave her notes. As the book continues, the colour of ink they use changes several times, indicating the point in time at which they left their comments, some of which are even on the same page. You can think of this as a long conversation between two people over time as they leave their comments inside the book in the library for the other person to pick up. You also need to suspend your disbelief that two students would continue their protracted conversation in this time consuming and convoluted fashion rather than moving to a texting platform.

The conversation discusses the book within a book Ship of Theseus and the author Straka in addition to their personal lives and are colour coded as follows:

• Eric's notes before meeting Jen are in pencil.
• Eric is then using black ink and Jen's replies are in blue ink.
• Eric than uses green ink and Jen uses orange.
• Eric changes to red and Jen uses purple ink.
• Finally, Eric and Jen both use black ink.

As if that wasn't enough, throughout the book are various inserts that further add to the story. They include items like postcards, letters, newspaper cuttings, photographs and even a napkin. When I bought the book it came in a lovely slip case and the items were evenly dispersed throughout the book. I tried to keep them from falling out when I started reading but it soon became apparent that was going to be impossible. I frustratingly considered making a list detailing the page number location for each item but thankfully a helpful reader had already done that. (Check out the Ship of Theseus Wiki where you can see each of the inserts and if you zoom in you can see the margin notes between Eric and Jen).

Oh, and did I mention there are also footnotes? THIS is why I had no idea where to start reading S. When considered as a whole, S is a genre busting and revolutionary interactive book and puzzle in one and it's been staring me down on my bookshelf for far too long.

I wondered if I should read Ship of Theseus first. Should I read the margin notes as I go, or read the colour coded conversations in chronological order? Should I look at the inserts at the relevant page or study them at the end?

I'm not kidding when I say that I had to turn to Dr Google and found that those who love this book recommend reading Ship of Theseus first, without marginalia or inserts. Some reviewers recommend reading S a total of 4-6 times in order to fully appreciate it, Ship of Theseus first, then again with the first coloured margin notes, then again with the following coloured marginalia and inserts and so on. Phew!

So it was with a great deal of trepidation that I began reading and what I discovered immediately is that my eyes naturally drifted to the comments from Eric and Jen in the margins. I couldn't help it! I also found myself reading the footnotes and their abstract nature and tiny font annoyed me.

The basic plot is that the protagonist has amnesia, and finds himself kidnapped and taken to a ship. Those familiar with the ancient Greek paradox that questions whether an object remains the same if all components of it are completely replaced over time will be nodding in recognition. If every part of a ship is removed and replaced is it still the same Ship of Theseus? And if a ship is constructed from the parts removed, is that also the Ship of Theseus? And if so, which is the true Ship of Theseus?

Our protagonist ends up on this ship that is constantly changing but I didn't find an answer to this thought experiment because the plot was too bizarre. On a quest from the beginning to find out who he is and where he's from, the protagonist struggles to survive and ends up fighting what he considers to be a just cause. And then at the end he decides he no longer cares who he was/is, ummm WTF?

There were some moments of good writing I enjoyed, like this character observation about a newly met companion:

"Osfour has kept up a steady patter of nonsense (bland and meandering stories about people S. does not know, complaints about his digestive health, and exegeses on the volatile price of a particular tea and the aphrodisiac qualities of a particular wine), the constancy of which S has come to find companionable." Page 231

While all of this is happening, Eric and Jen are discussing the author V.M Straka and exploring a conspiracy theory as to the true identity of the reclusive left-wing writer.

"What does it all add up to, this farrago of images and words and voices and lives and nonsense and rants and fever-dreams and soliloquies and abject lies? What is he making, line by line, page by page?" Page 310

This quote from the book pretty much sums up the entire reading experience for me. I love the detailed concept of a central story, the layered conversations between two readers in the margins along with the intriguing variety of inserts, however the plot was too fantastical and impenetrable for me to become invested.

I'm guessing the moral is to fight against evil wherever we find it, and even if we don't believe we can stop it, every individual should at least try. You could apply this universal message to politics, environment and conflict throughout the world, but once I realised I didn’t particularly enjoy the central story, I found I had very little interest in pursuing Eric and Jen’s conversations about the book or their interest in the author’s identity or associated conspiracy. Nor did I want to spend more valuable reading time exploring this another 3-4 times just in case I was missing a transformational reading experience.

The production value alone is worth buying this book and why it'll remain proudly on my bookshelves but ultimately I've decided not to continue the reading process.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins is a dark and mysterious dual narrative novel and I received it for Xmas in 2024.

Sophia Ashmore-Percy accompanies her husband to Kratos, a remote Greek Island in the 1820s and records her experiences in a journal. Her husband is seeking to capture a rare specimen to study and their relationship breaks down as his obsession intensifies.

Decades later in Victorian England, Henry Latimer is an Aurist working at Argyll's shop when he meets Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy, who invites him to Carthmute House to treat his deaf daughter. While there, Henry learns more about Sir Edward's factories and the production of Telverton silk.

Named for the town where his factory is located, Telverton silk is made from the silk of the mythical Pseudonephila spider. One side of the silk has the ability to block all sound, whilst the other side contains a mysterious warp and whisper. Those exposed to the wrong side of the silk can hear whispers, suffer headaches, or develop an ill queasy feeling with some even questioning their sanity.

Henry becomes obsessed with the potential applications of the silk, readily ignoring the side effects:

"Silence is not only silence, sir, it is attention - it is sanity. It is sleep for infants, medicine for invalids, rest for the working man - it is money for the man who must think or starve. We build walls to shelter our bodies from the world, but we leave our minds open to assault on every side. The Telverton silk, sir, is not a gimcrack. It is the greatest discovery of our age." Page 55

The factory buildings where the unique silk is harvested and woven is extraordinarily loud and sends their workers deaf due to the machinery deployed in the production. As I was reading about the brutal working conditions, it brought to mind the exploitation of child labour in the cotton mills during the industrial revolution.

Both Kratos and Telverton in Northern England are fictional, however this frees the author to create dark and gothic settings in both locations. Despite a real fear of spiders, thankfully I didn't have any nightmares about the mythical creatures at the heart of The Silence Factory but I did find myself wishing I could hold Henry's small square of Telverton silk for just a moment.

Bridget Collins has a knack for producing dark tales that straddle multiple genres and feel unique to her writing style. The Binding was brilliantly unique and made my Top 5 Books of 2019 list, and I thoroughly enjoyed The Betrayals in 2020, giving it 4 stars in my review. The Silence Factory is completely different again; it's historical fiction meets gothic fantasy and I highly enjoyed it.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Woman in the Seal Skin by Lauren Keegan

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *

Orkney is made up of approximately 70 islands and is located off the north coast of Scotland. It's an isolated part of the world and with an average yearly temperature of 8 degrees celsius I can only imagine how inhospitable it must have been in the 17th century. The Woman in the Seal Skin by Lauren Keegan is set in Orkney in 1695 and is a dual narrative told by our main character Malie and her friend Henrye.

Malie's father is a fisherman and after her mother slipped into the sea and was never seen again, he raised Malie and her brothers alone. Brought up listening to tales of selkies, Malie has always been told her mother was a shape-shifting woman who shed her seal skin to seduce her father.

"Selkies slip from their seal skins and seduce lonely fishermen, but a Finnman takes the form of man and seduces lonely wives. Men, women and the sea, all at their mercy." Page 46

Living on the coast, Malie has an affinity with the sea and now that she's married and expecting her first child, she finds it difficult to resist the pull of the water. With little to no female agency in a male dominated family, Malie is also in an oppressive marriage with few real friends to confide in or lean on.

"My elder brothers circle us like a shiver of sharks." Page 295

The weather is harsh, the living conditions are rough and Malie's life feels stifled and unendurable at times. In fact the harsh environment and desperate conditions reminded me of The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, set in Norway in 1617.

I read this atmospheric book while on a cruise and being on the ocean certainly enhanced my reading experience. Admittedly, the temperature was warm and humid and I wasn't suffering any of the deprivations Malie was facing on a daily basis, but the author was still able to make me feel cold, hungry and fearful just the same.

"While there was once only fear bubbling beneath my skin, there is something else rising to the surface. Something fierce and uncontrollable. Something wild. Something that simmered in my mother's body too. I believe it's rage." Page 150

The Woman in the Seal Skin by Australian author Lauren Keegan is an historical fiction novel set in Scotland about nature, folklore, motherhood, loss, resilience and domestic violence and will appeal to fans of Hannah Kent and Kiran Millwood Hargrave.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola

In 1857, Audrey is on her way from London to the Isle of Skye to interview for the position of Assistant to a collector of folk tales. Miss Buchanan is a spinster and folklorist and rarely leaves her family home of Lanerly Hall; a dilapidated estate owned by her brother.

Some of Mr Buchanan's tenants (referred to as crofters) have been evicted, and Mazzola doesn't shy away from the effects of the Clearances in Skye around this time. The landscape is bleak and the crofters are struggling to make a living and keep food on the table, regularly relying on superstition and folklore rather than religion. Miss Buchanan recognises that local folk tales aren't being shared as freely within the community any more and the displacement of crofters from the land to make way for sheep farming means these stories are being lost.

The crofters distrust their landlord and believe there's something evil about Lanerly Hall so Audrey's job is to earn their trust and record as many stories as she can.

I enjoyed the descriptions of Lanerly Hall but when a local girl washes up dead on the beach nearby and another goes missing, the crofters believe it to be the work of faeries. Meanwhile, Audrey believes someone is responsible and we're given a number of potential suspects.

"Better to be terrified than miserable. If the reality is that people die of starvation and illness, drown themselves out of shame, or leave their impoverished homes in search of a better life, then maybe it's preferable to think that the fairies are taking people away to serve some greater purpose." Page 131

The author creates a dark and foreboding gothic atmosphere full of superstitions, myths, folklore and fairytales. In her historical note at the end of the novel, Mazzola explains the idea for this book came from the West Ham vanishings in the 1880s where a number of children and young adults disappeared from the East End of London. She also shares that the many folk tales relayed to Audrey in the book are adaptations of real folk stories which helped to ground the book firmly in 1800s Scotland.

The Story Keeper by Anna Mazzola was an enjoyable historical fiction mystery and will appeal to fans of books like The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry and The Good People by Hannah Kent.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

I enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab so much that it made My Top 5 Books of 2021 so I decided to give her 2025 release Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil a try. First and foremost, this is a well written historical fiction novel with multiple female character points of view. All three characters eventually intersect in this plot spanning multiple centuries and multiple countries.

Alice is our contemporary character in 2019 and a student at a university in Boston. Feeling adrift, a one night stand changes the course of her life and sets her on a path of regret and revenge. In 1521, Maria is aged 10 years old and living with her family in a small town on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. We meet the third character Charlotte/Lottie later in the book and we pick up her backstory from 1827 in London.

This is a character driven book about these three women:

"In fairy tales, big things happen in threes. Three children. Three beds. Three roads. The third bite is poison, the third gift is great, the third door always leads home." Page 338

Now that I've set the scene and have your attention, it's time to drop a bomb... this is a sapphic vampire romance. Yep, you read that right. The paranormal romance genre rarely features in my reading schedule but I took a chance on this based on the strength of the author's writing. And I was right!

The writing in Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is beautiful. The personal challenges and internal struggles faced by all three women kept my attention and the gothic setting was sublime. As they age over decades and centuries, vampires in Schwab's world start to lose touch with the values and characteristics that made them human.

"Now and then, she wakes to find another little corner of her emptied, some aspect crumbled away in sleep. Perhaps it was a shard of insecurity. A sliver of regret. Sabine probes her mind, trying to find the nature of the absence, like a tongue searching for a missing tooth, but never does." Page 265

Schwab addresses the topic I was most interested in when reading the Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire series: what is it like to be immortal? (Don't worry, there are no sparkly vampires here). The author examines the toll it takes on all three of the characters, including the challenges they face maintaining their existence in the world without revealing their secret nature and evading the dangers that pursue them.

This statement from a male vampire to one of our characters reminded me of the relationship between Lestat and Louis:

"If you wish to stay, then you may do so as my guest, and I will be your gracious host. But you will live as I do, by a certain set of rules. There will be no skulking about in shadows, no victims stolen from the street and cast in the canal. I will show you how to savor every soul you take. How to claim space, and bend minds, how to enthrall, enchant, and masquerade. How to be the last one they think of when the bodies go missing." Pages 206-207

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a unique genre-blending novel that defies easy categorisation and will appeal to a range of readers as a result. Straddling historical fiction, fantasy and queer romance and championing strong feminist characters, this book may appeal to you even if you don't like vampire novels. And if you believe books about vampires aren't for you, consider this:

"And here is the awful thing about belief. It is a current, like compulsion. Hard to forge when it goes against your will, but easy enough when it carries you the way you want to go." Page 401

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab is about female agency, love, power, hunger, control, rage and revenge and is highly recommended for Anne Rice fans.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Innocence by Dean Koontz

The last book I read for 2025 was Innocence by Dean Koontz. Traditionally a fan of Koontz from way back, I've read 29 of his books and since 2006, I've reviewed 20 of them. Stephen King and Dean Koontz were a popular choice in my twenties and having a chunky new release from either author on my bedside table was a real thrill. Just for fun, I had a look at the star ratings for the Dean Koontz books I reviewed and they vary from 1 to 5 stars, with an overall average rating of 3 stars. With stats like that, I guess I should ask myself why I keep reading his books, but perhaps it's a nostalgia thing. Nevertheless, Innocence was the last Koontz book on my TBR - for now - and it was a terrific read!

Addison Goodheart is 26 years old and lives the life of a recluse, deep underneath the city. He has a kinship with nature and a passion for books and reading, but Addison avoids other people at all costs. On the rare occasions he does venture above ground he hides his features and we're not told what he looks like - until the end - which equally bothered and intrigued me:

"By the standards of humanity, we were exceedingly ugly in a way that excited in them abhorrence and the most terrible rage." Page 13

Addison learned from a young age that his appearance inspired repulsion, hatred and horror in anyone who looked at him. This quickly turned to violence and he retreated from society as a result. Utilising a series of drains and tunnels to navigate the city, Addison accesses the city library at night to enjoy the books and one night he comes across Gwyneth. A goth who doesn't like to be touched, Gwyneth has her own loner back story and we learn them both as they get to know each other.

"The fallow soil of loneliness is fertile ground for self-deception." Page 60

Published in 2013, the writing in Innocence is peak Koontz. I had to look up the definition of several words along the way and found myself bookmarking many quotes I wanted to revisit and remember.

Gwyneth can't bear to be touched and Addison doesn't want her to look at him so they make a pact. She won't look at him and he won't touch her. Addison cleverly summarises their predicament:

"If I touch you, you'll pull the hood off my head. Or if instead you make the first move and pull the hood off my head, then I'll touch you. We hold each other hostage to our eccentricities." Page 67

Don't worry, this isn't an urban fantasy version of Five Feet Apart. It's a supernatural thriller and Gwyneth swiftly pulls Addison in on her mission. As the tension increases, I really enjoyed this anecdote from Addison's father about the past, the present and the future.

"He said that because we live in time, we think that the past is baked and served and eaten, that the present is coming out of the oven in continuous courses, and that the future is not yet even in the mixing bowl." Page 328

The familiar Koontz battle between good and evil is here, and if this is the last book by Dean Koontz I ever read then I'm pleased to finish on a high. I almost considered giving this 5 stars and you can read the first 7 chapters here in a free extract from the publisher.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor is based on the real events that took place between 1917 - 1921 when young girls Frances and Elsie from Cottingley in England took photos of themselves with faeries. The cousins aged 9 and 16 respectively, stirred up quite a storm at the time and even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed the photographs were genuine. The photographs were the subject of news and magazine articles and Arthur Conan Doyle was so convinced of their authenticity that he published a book in 1922 called The Coming of the Fairies.

In The Cottingley Secret, Hazel Gaynor imagines what might have happened from Frances' point of view and I found her take on the event to be a convincing one. The story is told in dual timelines and in the present day, 35 year old Olivia has travelled back to Ireland to farewell her late grandfather. With fond memories of their time together, he has bequeathed his beloved second hand bookshop Something Old to Olivia. Going through his belongings, she finds a document with hundreds of typed pages entitled Notes on a Fairy Tale by Frances Griffiths.

Written by Frances later in life, it begins when she is just nine and a half years old in Cottingley in Yorkshire in 1917. Frances loves to be outdoors and spends hours at the local creek where she sees real faeries. In Frances' manuscript, she mentions her father going to war and the heartache of not knowing when he is coming home or when WWI will end. When it eventually does end, the grief that follows leads to the rise of spiritualism right across the country. This was a unique period in time where people were looking for more and wanted to believe in faeries, making this an opportune time to pull off the perfect hoax... or was it?

Apart from dropping her collection of sympathy cards received after the passing of her grandfather into the kitchen bin - who DOES that? - Olivia is a likeable character. Her nana has dementia and is in a nursing home and the connection between Frances' manuscript and Olivia's nana and grandfather is a slow reveal.

Olivia's love of books is highly relatable and I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the bookshop and it's eventual glow up; I just love a property makeover and this one had a touch of fantasy about it. Admittedly there is a light romance element but for someone who doesn't like romance novels, I was relieved the romance didn't dominate or interfere too much with the narrative.

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor will appeal to readers of historical fiction interested in the case of the Cottingley Fairies and who enjoy mysteries, family secrets and intergenerational connections.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: A Magic Deep and Drowning by Hester Fox

* Copy courtesy of HQ Fiction *

A Magic Deep & Drowning by Hester Fox is a reimagining of The Little Mermaid set in the Dutch Republic in 1650. Sounds amazing and I certainly enjoyed the first section set in what is now the Netherlands. Clara and her maid take a ride in a carriage to see a whale that has washed up on a nearby beach. The daughter of wealthy parents, Clara wonders if the whale is a bad omen but is excited at the news of a betrothal as it means she can finally leave home and establish a household of her own.

On first sight, Clara believes the soon-to-be love interest Maurits could have easily stepped out of the pages of her nursemaid's fairy stories so we know that he's fae. Both characters quickly become besotted with each other and I was rolling my eyes early on with the descriptions of his tidal-pool eyes and the waves of heat that pass between them.

I reviewed The Widow of Pale Harbour by Hester Fox in 2023 and I'm assuming this is the reason the publisher sent me a copy of the author's latest release, A Magic Deep & Drowning. I commented in my 3 star review of The Widow of Pale Harbour that there was too much romance for my liking but here there's even more. In fact, I'd go so far as to call A Magic Deep and Drowning a romantasy or young adult coming of age paranormal romance. It sounds like a mouthful, but this historical romance will appeal to readers familiar with the genre.

This reimagining of The Little Mermaid involves a gender switch and Maurits hails from the Water Kingdom where his people are in turmoil, disgusted by the way humans have overfished the sea to the point of scarcity.

Clara was an adventurous and courageous protagonist keen to accept accountability for the destruction:

"For the first time in her life, she had made a decision herself, one that did not sit precariously on the axis of her own comfort and duty." Page 249

Wanting to atone for the sins of human kind is obviously admirable, but I have no idea why she had to do it while being hungry all the time. Even when there was food to eat, Clara chose to hardly eat any of it which proved annoying.

I kept reading in hopes of returning and dwelling in the bustling streets and canals of 1600s Amsterdam when in hindsight I probably should have set this aside. The overarching message about being better custodians of the land and the sea will appeal to many readers, but A Magic Deep and Drowning by Hester Fox is confirmation that romantasy isn't for me.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown

* Copy courtesy of Penguin Random House *

The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown is one of my most highly anticipated releases of 2025. The Book of Doors was a reading highlight last year and it made My Top 5 Books of 2024, so naturally I've been eagerly awaiting the author's next endeavour.

The Society of Unknowable Objects is set in present day London and is primarily told by Magda Sparks, with other character points of view shared throughout the novel. Magda has been attending six monthly meetings of the Society hosted by Frank in the basement of his bookshop for several years now.

"For eighty years the Society of Unknowable Objects had existed with a sole purpose: to collect and protect and keep secret the magical items of the world. For forty years no new item had come to light and the world of magical things had been quiet, the Society's collection undisturbed in the hidden recess behind the bookcase." Page 14*

After years of uneventful meetings, news of the emergence of a new magical item comes as a shock. Magda volunteers to meet with the owner and secure the item for the Society, swiftly learning she's not the only person seeking possession of the item.

I thoroughly enjoyed the sheer creativity and imagination with regard to the unknowable objects housed in the Society's collection. The magic is contained in everyday items, like a necklace or a chess piece and their various powers were interesting.

The writing is compelling and each chapter ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, enticing the reader to continue long after lights out. There's plenty of adventure, action and of course magic, but the romance really bogged down the story for me.

There were moments of dialogue that made me chuckle like this comment from one society member to another:

"I love you, but you're absolutely the model of a modern major pessimist." Page 198*

The characters engaged in clever use of the magical items while constantly acknowledging the danger of the items falling into the wrong hands, which of course some of them do. The origin story of the objects was believable, although the source of the origin story remained a mystery; to me at least.

I noted the slight nod to the science fiction classic Frankenstein - in the desire by the monster for a mate - but I'm relieved to say I enjoyed this book a hell of a lot more.

In fact, The Society of Unknowable Objects by Gareth Brown would have been a five star read if it wasn't for the heavy romance element and a little too much greenery in the denouement. Gareth Brown is now an 'auto read' author for me and I can't wait to find out where he plans to take his growing fan base in the future.

* I read an uncorrected proof copy, so the page numbers I've quoted may not accurately correspond with the published version.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★