Wonderland Reader

Beasts of a Little Land   by Juhea Kim Published: 3rd February 2022 by Oneworld Publications I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review. I find Japan's control of Korea, and Korea's eventual independence, to be a very interesting, though tragic, aspect of history that I don't know enough about as it isn't a common topic of history taught in the UK, and in seeking out Beasts of a Little Land as a narrative interpretation of people's experiences during that time, I found out so much, and in such an approachable way. Although quite clearly fiction, the lived experiences of each of the characters portrayed how this time was experienced in such differing ways, from Jade's turbulent childhood to Jungho and his fight for his country's freedom. I did find the story to drag at times, especially when reading about the characters that I didn't care for as much as Jade, and I found the pacing of the story and ...

A Million to One  by Adiba Jaigirdar Published: 5th January 2023 by Hodder Children's Books I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affects my review. I had no idea what to expect from this, but I was very intrigued by the idea of a heist set on the Titanic ship, especially one performed by teenage girls. Although this is the first book from Jaigirdar that I have read, she is a well-established YA author, and now I can see why! The writing was incredibly strong throughout, and I found it very impressive that she was able to write A Million to One from four different people's perspectives at times, with mostly equal amounts of depth and character development. I did find the first half of the book to be stronger than the latter half, and I also personally wasn't a fan of the pacing of some of the storylines involving the four girls and what happened to them, however. I felt that the heist plot became quite convoluted, and when added t...