Review: Thyla by Kate Gordon

Tessa is brave, strong and never cries. That is all she knows about herself after waking up in the bush near Hobart, Tasmania. Taken to hospital by a policewoman named Connolly, whose own daughter went missing in the bush, Tessa begins to slowly piece together who (or what) she is. The truth further unravels after she's sent to the elite boarding school Connolly's daughter disappeared from, and she begins to realise how interconnected the events are.

Thyla had the potential to be a great mystery, but I was disappointed that a major plot point seemed to be given away in the dedication. The title is also a big fat hint, if you know what it means (I didn't before reading it). Having an idea of what Tessa was meant that the big chunk of the book it took for her to figure it out was pretty damn frustrating. Still, I remained intrigued by the other mysteries: how Tessa ended up in the bush with no memory, how the memories she did have seemed to come from another time, and what happened to Cat. Unfortunately - without giving away any spoilers - the payoff was kinda anti-climatic for me.

I did appreciate the unique, very Australian take on the paranormal that Gordon creates in Thyla. However, the extensive dialogue explaining the world and mythology - at times when you wouldn't exactly expect characters to just stand there talking - felt forced. Plus, some things just didn't add up (more on that in the spoilery section below). The second person narration could also be jarring at times, as it wasn't consistently sustained throughout the novel.

What I loved about Thyla was the setting. There's something about Tasmania that is definitely spooky. It's so old, cold and isolated. The historical buildings and surrounding mountains and bush are the perfect breeding ground for the paranormal. Gordon effectively evokes these surroundings, creating a claustrophic atmosphere that heightens the tension between the characters who are stuck at the boarding school together.

I also liked that the inevitable love story took a backseat to the central mystery. While Tessa got all starry-eyed and distracted every time a certain guy was around, I liked the fact that at least he wasn't all she thought about. Tessa herself was likable enough, although I did get a bit over being told she was brave without her actually acting so. Thankfully, she eventually came through.

Overall, Thyla is a solid Aussie take on the paranormal genre, and I'm keen to see how the story develops in the sequel, Vulpi.

Rating 3.5/5

Spoilery Talking Points

• When Tessa follows Rin and her friends as they head out for a night bush walk, they handily pause from their apparently urgent activity to dicuss a bit of history at length. At this point, we're not supposed to know what they - or Tessa - are. Rin mentions something about the thylacines being smart when they let humans think they had all died out. Combined with the reference in the dedication to "Tessa the tiger", I figured that Tessa was a thylacine - a were-tiger (of the Tasmanian variety). Well, of course, she is - but apparently they don't transform into actual Tasmanian tigers - they're half-human, half-tiger hybrids. So they couldn't let humans think they've died out, when humans don't know they exist in the first place... right? OK, it's a minor point and I'm probably being nit-picky, but it bothered me.
• As I mentioned, I was glad to see the romance take a backseat. Which is why I was kinda disappointed that it totally took the wheel at the end. Probably because it had been a subplot, I wasn't majorly invested in it, so the way it was all of a sudden brought to the forefront - raising more questions than conclusions - was slightly frustrating.
• I really didn't like Cat. I know she's the focus of the next book, so I'm hoping seeing things from her perspective will help. Coz as it stands I think she's a selfish biatch.

Eye Candy
Publishers seem to love putting pretty blonde girls on the cover of books, so I was surprised that, when the main character is actually blonde, they put a very obviously dark-haired girl on the cover. I'm assuming it's meant to be Rin - either that, or they didn't care what Tessa actually looked like. Anyway, I pictured Cariba Heine as Tessa, and James Sorenson as Perrin.

Related
It's Aussie Author Month! April is all about promoting Aussie authors as well as supporting the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Check out the links for more info.

Revisit: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

So. Here's the thing. Melina Marchetta is one of my all-time favourite authors. She is my idol. But I've only ever read two of her books. I KNOW. But I have an excuse! Kind of. You see, for the majority of my teen years, Looking for Alibrandi was the only Marchetta available. I adored it. Obsessed over it. Reread it at least once a year (and often more frequently). I identified so strongly with Josie, and felt like this book just got me in so many ways. It was a cherished friend (and is still one of my favourite books, BTW). I longed for Marchetta to write more, so I could devour fresh words of wisdom and realism. Then Saving Francesca came out. I was 17 and... kinda disappointed.

I liked it, don't get me wrong. I liked it a lot. But I just didn't have the same connection to Frankie that I had with Josie. My subsequent wariness, and the fact that I grew out of Young Adult books for a little while (or thought I had, at least!), meant that I didn't rush to pick up the books Marchetta released in the following years. Then, thanks to a friend thrusting The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants on me, I rediscovered how awesome YA could be. I started blogging, and read countless reviews and comments on the amazingness of Marchetta's other works - some even said they were better than Alibrandi. Big. Call.

Needless to say, The Piper's Son, On The Jellicoe Road and Finnikin of the Rock quickly joined my ever-growing TBR pile. My plan was to reread Saving Francesca before tackling The Piper's Son, then on to Jellicoe Road before finally diving into Finnikin. The hitch in this plan was that every time I picked up Francesca, I couldn't bring myself to read it. Not because of my first experience with it (because I had actually really liked it), but because I knew it touched upon issues that had recently become a very sensitive subject for me. I was afraid of how it would make me feel.

Then last week, I did something that I am both incredibly excited and extremely nervous about: I signed up for a writing course taught by Marchetta. I am more excited than nervous, actually. I'm downright ecstatic. But the reason I mention it here is because it gave me the kick up the butt I needed to finally get over my fear of Francesca - or, at least, that fear was eclipsed by a frenzied desire to absorb every word Marchetta had ever written ASAP.

I'm so, so glad I reread it. Because Francesca, of course, is absolutely amazing. The very reason I was afraid to pick it up (recent personal experiences) meant that I was able to appreciate it - and yes, connect with it - in a new and powerful way that I couldn't as a teenager. It's not an easy read (though it's beautifully written); Francesca's sadness, and her mum's depression, permeate the book. But it deals with the issue in such a tender, realistic and ultimately hopeful way that, by the time I turned the last page, I actually felt a lot better than I had before I picked it up. Like Alibrandi before her, Francesca touched upon so many aspects that were completely relevant to my life, and made me feel good about them. As though I wasn't alone. My feelings for Francesca might just be on par with my love of Alibrandi. Which is really saying something.

The Piper's Son, here I come.

Rating: 5/5

Eye Candy
I pictured...

Caitlin Stasey as Francesca

James Sorensen as Will

Xenia Goodwin as Justine

Alicia Banit as Siobhan

Khan Chittenden as Jimmy

Fine Print
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 2003, Viking
Get It: Better World Books