Reviews

Review

Capsule Review and Poem: over under fed, by Amy Marguerite

Anuja Mitra is impressed by the spiky and fascinating debut collection OVER UNDER FED by Amy Marguerite, in this capsule review plus poem extract.

Reviewed by Anuja Mitra

4 May 2025

Review

Review: Sea Change, by Jenny Pattrick

SEA CHANGE marks veteran historical author Jenny Pattrick's first foray into contemporary fiction. Reviewer Carole Brungar is impressed by her deft handling of a community of indiv...

Reviewed by Carole Brungar

30 April 2025

Review

Review: Tusitala, by Danielle Kionasina Dilys Thomson

'There is relatability here, especially in poems such as ‘Ubers’, where the author describes the multiple worst case scenarios they could think of during an Uber car ride. It’s onl...

Reviewed by Katalaina Saute

27 April 2025

Review

Review: No Words for This, by Ali Mau

'Mau push[es] back against the systematic abuses and sexism women face in newsrooms and the institutions of power that are supposed to protect them... But underpinning the trajecto...

Reviewed by Claire Williamson

21 April 2025

Review

Review: Groundwork, by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson

'She was above all a talented, industrious, 'thorough and pertinacious' botanical painter. Her watercolours and oils of NZ flora were admired and exhibited internationally...'

Reviewed by David Hill

15 April 2025

Review

Review: The Good Life, by Gillian Swinton

Claire Williamson investigates homesteading and what it takes to be a little self-sufficient, reviewing Gillian Swinton's THE GOOD LIFE.

Reviewed by Claire Williamson

14 April 2025

Review

Review: Surplus Women

'There is a journalistic quality to the writing, a weight to the stories that is satisfying to read. There is artistry, something more playful, irreverent and dreamlike in many of ...

Reviewed by Nat Baker

13 April 2025

Review

Review: Northbound, by Naomi Arnold

NORTHBOUND is journalist Naomi Arnold's nine-month journey walking the Te Araroa trail, from one end of Aotearoa to the other. Anna Scaife is captured by the candid, immediate writ...

Reviewed by Anna Scaife

3 April 2025

Review

Review: Hastings: A boy's own adventure

'An element which runs through all of Frizzell’s multiple activities is self-confidence. He is admirably sure of himself, a characteristic that enables him to take on tasks which m...

Reviewed by Peter Simpson

2 April 2025

Review

Review: Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World

Becs Tetley muses on the wide-ranging appeal of Ruth Shaw and her latest book, THREE WEE BOOKSHOPS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, a continuation of Shaw's popular memoir.

Reviewed by Becs Tetley

2 April 2025

Review

Review: Bookshop Detectives: Tea and Cake and Death

The Bookshop Detectives return with another bookshop-based mystery, featuring legendary storyteller Dame Fiona Kidman amongst other real-life and fictional Kiwi novelists, as Garth...

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

1 April 2025

Review

Review: You are Here, by Whiti Hereaka and Peata Larkin

'You are Here feels like a homecoming. Home: both the beginning and the end, te tīmatanga me te whakamutunga, of an endless journey, with each new beginning different in its own wa...

Reviewed by Jade Kake

31 March 2025

Review

Review: Bear, by Kiri Lightfoot

'Lightfoot takes the classic coming-of-age story and drags it through a surreal, shadowy landscape where fear takes on a life of its own...'

Reviewed by Imogen Gadd

30 March 2025

Review

Review: Tiahuia, by Merenia Gray

'Tiahuia Gray wore many hats, from city councillor to teacher, kaikaranga to nurse; but despite despite her many positions and accomplishments, it was her mahi as a māmā that under...

Reviewed by Isla Huia

27 March 2025

Review

Review: Tony Fomison, by Mark Forman

'Forman paints a vivid picture of Fomison's life in the 1960s and 1970s, including his time on the streets in Paris, his stay in a European mental hospital, stints of incarceration...

Reviewed by Andrew Paul Wood

26 March 2025

Review

Review: See How They Fall, by Rachel Paris

Rachel Paris's debut thriller SEE HOW THEY FALL provides plenty of pace and unpredictability, as poisonings among a billionaire Australian family unleash all sorts of skeletons. R...

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

26 March 2025

Review

Review: Te Moana o Reo | Ocean of Languages

Anuja Mitra explores the kaleidoscopic collection TE MOANA O REO and its 'melody stitching together a number of voices; old and young, established and new.'

Reviewed by Anuja Mitra

23 March 2025

Review

Review: Clay Eaters, by Gregory Kan

Reviewed by Erik Kennedy

19 March 2025

Review

Review: Toitū te Whenua, by Lauren Keenan

Reviewed by Sarah Ell

18 March 2025

Review

Review: Violet and the Velvets, by Rachael King

'Meet Violet Grumble: a twelve-year-old rockstar in the making. Violet’s dream is to compete at BandChamps, the ultimate school music competition. The only problem? Her bandmates d...

Reviewed by Imogen Gadd

17 March 2025

Review

Review: An Indigenous Ocean, by Damon Salesa

Siniva Bennett considers the accessibility of Pasifika scholarship in Damon Salesa's award-winning AN INDIGENOUS OCEAN, published by Bridget Williams Books.

Reviewed by Siniva Bennett

12 March 2025