Reviews
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Read our independent reviews of the latest books from Aotearoa.
Pānuihia ā mātou arotakenga tūhake o ngā pukapuka hou nō Aotearoa.
ReviewMatt McEvoy’s 30 Queer Lives has the avowed ambition of telling stories that “challenge stereotypes and offer courage and hope.”
Reviewed by David Herkt
31 January 2022
ReviewWhai is Nicole Titihuia Hawkins’ debut collection from a new press in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, We Are Babies, which is off to an impressive start with a place on the longlist of the Oc...
Reviewed by Elizabeth Heritage
31 January 2022
ReviewI hope that Wai Pasifika will help ignite a change in policymakers’ thinking towards a more holistic, long-term, sustainable and resilient way of living.
Reviewed by Laura Goodall
26 January 2022
ReviewKia Kaha celebrates 100 individuals whose journeys can be shared with our tamariki — in a small but significant way we are changing the way we as a nation remember our heroes.
Reviewed by Dione Joseph
25 January 2022
ReviewSeabirds are some of the most amazing animals on the planet yet many of us are unaware of their remarkable life stories and the fact that they are the most threatened group of bird...
Reviewed by Alex Eagles and Jim Eagles
24 January 2022
ReviewFor too long, we were taught that any type of confidence and self-hype was narcissistic and unbecoming. Nuku is filled with women lauding their indigeneity, their strength and thei...
Reviewed by Siena Yates
19 January 2022
ReviewRay Ching New Zealand bird paintings is one for anyone with an affection for birds or art.
Reviewed by Keith Woodley
12 January 2022
ReviewStrange times call for strange fiction and in Year’s Best Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume III we can redefine beauty, find moa in the wild and investigate...
Reviewed by Louise Ward
22 December 2021
ReviewI grew up in Northland and carry the summer sun, the tropical dumps of rain, the coastal beauty in my bones. Kerikeri is a vital landmark in my memory banks, so it is with delight ...
Reviewed by Paula Green
22 December 2021
ReviewIf you’re hoping for a short read before a good night’s sleep, I cannot recommend Voice of World War II: New Zealanders Share Their Stories because once you open it, it will be ho...
Reviewed by David Christian
22 December 2021
ReviewLandfall 242 is the perfect arrival for summer reading with its inclusion of poetry, prose, essays, reviews and artwork.
Reviewed by Paula Green
21 December 2021
ReviewAljce in Therapy Land is a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland but for adults which feels dreamlike both in its sense of unreality – or heightened reality – and in that nightmarish ...
Reviewed by Elizabeth Heritage
20 December 2021
ReviewEnvironmental artists Martin Hill and Philippa Jones serve up a visual feast in Fine Line with 260 glossy pages documenting a series of ephemeral sculptures placed in stunningly be...
Reviewed by Paul Simei-Barton
20 December 2021
ReviewIn this deft memoir The Forgotten Coast, Richard Shaw unpacks a generations-old family story he was never told: that his ancestors once farmed land in Taranaki which had been confi...
Reviewed by David Hill
20 December 2021
ReviewMoving seamlessly between different times and places, and with its intertwining of mythology, psychology, philosophy, ecology and environmental concerns, The Time Lizard’s Archaeol...
Reviewed by SR Manssen
15 December 2021
ReviewAt first glance, the photo captures a typical day out at the rugby in the 1980s as fans mingle in the sun outside Eden Park before a game...
Reviewed by Michael Burgess
13 December 2021
ReviewToo Much Money is probably this country’s most insightful, well-researched, clearly written treatise on Aotearoa’s wealth divide to date.
Reviewed by Penny Hartill
13 December 2021
ReviewIsland Notes: Finding my place on Aotea Great Barrier Island is a loosely chronological narrative which also turns in unexpected directions and folds back on itself, dipping into s...
Reviewed by Sarah Ell
8 December 2021
Review“Wow, what a beautiful behemoth of a book!” writes reviewer Alison Ballance of the moment when Above the treeline – a nature guide to alpine New Zealand landed on her doorstep with...
Reviewed by Alison Ballance
6 December 2021
ReviewWith its show-stopping cover and title, Saffron Swirls and Cardamom Dust is a beautiful production. The pages are filled with glorious photos that are colourful and clear and certa...
Reviewed by Lauraine Jacobs
6 December 2021
ReviewWorks of fiction have the power to make us reconsider our own worlds. The Uprising: The Mapmakers in Cruxcia is one of those books.
Reviewed by Sarah Forster
1 December 2021