Reviews

Review

Review: Surviving White Island, by Kelsey Waghorn

Angela Walker reviews Kelsey Waghorn's SURVIVING WHITE ISLAND, a story of persistence and grit.

Reviewed by Angela Walker

24 March 2026

Review

Capsule Review and Poem: Lyrical Ballads, by Bill Manhire

Loren Thomas admires the creativity 'let loose' in Bill Manhire's latest collection, LYRICAL BALLADS.

Reviewed by Loren Thomas

24 March 2026

Review

Review: Hungus, by Amber Esau

'Esau represents barriers to participation in today's civic society via a poetic imagery of streaked and smeared and smashed screens, or squashed flat KFC packs...'

20 March 2026

Review

Review: Alagā'upu Fa’asamoa Ma Uiga Mo Tamaiti

'a rich resource that champions Gagana Sāmoa...'

Reviewed by Elsie Uini

19 March 2026

Review

Review: Rere Atu Ki Poronihia - Flight to Polynesia

'It is a celebration of Pasifika identity and solidarity. It is able to uplift every culture it touches...'

Reviewed by Elsie Uini

19 March 2026

Review

Iloiloga: Manuali'i a Rex Letoa Paget

I le vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa, matou te fiafia e fa’aalia le iloiloga a Ruby Macomber i le tusi Manuali’i sa tusia e Rex Letoa Paget, ma ua fa’aliliuina i le gagana Samoa e Sieni R...

Reviewed by Ruby Macomber

18 March 2026

Review

Review: Giving Birth to My Father, by Tusiata Avia

'...a rich and raw homage to her father, a deeply moving and personal reflection on his death interwoven with poignant descriptions of a daughter’s grief and family trauma.'

Reviewed by Gina Cole

16 March 2026

Review

Review: Be Brave, by Barbara Dreaver

'The tension is palpable as she practices removing her clothes in case she is strip-searched or prepares to wield a phone charger plug as a makeshift weapon. It’s the stuff of spy ...

Reviewed by Richard Pamatatau

16 March 2026

Review

Review: The Black Monk, by Charlotte Grimshaw

'THE BLACK MONK is both highly perceptive and unreservedly ambiguous...'

Reviewed by Clare Travaglia

10 March 2026

Review

Review: Leather & Chains, by Kate Camp

Claire Williamson revels in the details in Kate Camp's teenage diary.

Reviewed by Claire Williamson

6 March 2026

Review

Review: Party Boy, by Breton Dukes

'The novel is entirely Marco’s. We are never shown anything outside of what he experiences, or is forced to remember...'

Reviewed by Anna Scaife

3 March 2026

Review

Review: Stepping Up, by David Hill

13-year old Libby Timmins enjoys the humour in STEPPING UP, David Hill's latest young adult novel.

Reviewed by Libby Timmins

27 February 2026

Review

Capsule Review: What to Wear, by Jenny Bornholdt

Loren Thomas enjoys the small and intimate moments in WHAT TO WEAR by Jenny Bornholdt.

Reviewed by Loren Thomas

19 February 2026

Review

Review: The Edge of Light: The Miracle

'...a dystopian post-apocalyptic world where control and obedience are valued above all else, and technology has taken a sharp turn...'

Reviewed by Katarina Stretton

28 January 2026

Review

Review: The Welcome of Strangers, by Atholl Anderson

David Veart is impressed by Atholl Anderson's THE WELCOME OF STRANGERS, a definitive history of Ngāi Tahu.

Reviewed by David Veart

15 January 2026

Review

Review: Everything But the Medicine, by Lucy O'Hagan

Lucy O'Hagan's memoir EVERYTHING BUT THE MEDICINE impresses reviewer Bernadette Cassidy with its honesty and empathy.

Reviewed by Bernadette Cassidy

18 December 2025

Review

Review: The American Boys, by Olivia Spooner

'The American Boys is more compelling as a love letter to Kiwi women and how they upheld domestic and industrial responsibilities despite being told that their place would only be ...

Reviewed by Krysana Hanley

18 December 2025

Review

Review: Landfall Tauraka, edited by Lynley Edmeades

'It is dense. It is modern. It contains some of the best of Aotearoa’s new and not so new writers...'

Reviewed by Claris Harvey

17 December 2025

Review

Review: Huia Short Stories 16

'Thirty years of Pikihuia Awards has created space for voices that might otherwise go unheard...'

Reviewed by Savannah Patterson

10 December 2025

Review

Review: The Spirit of a Place, by Sarah Ell

'The narratives of any home always appeal more than descriptions of it, and THE SPIRIT OF A PLACE offers an abundance of events, crises, anecdotes, even jokes...'

Reviewed by David Hill

30 November 2025

Review

Review: Standing on my Shadow, by Serie Barford

'Resistance, in a multitude of forms, could very well be the collection’s central theme. Barford’s own, beautiful voice comes across strongly in the poems, yet this is a collection...

Reviewed by Hebe Kearney

25 November 2025