July Reads 2025

 gh my favourite was The Dark Ways. Note: the books seem also to be available under different titles.

I came across Joe Donnally’s adult books and enjoyed the first read so much I bought his other books. I got this children’s trilogy with it in mind to donate to the local library after I read them, which needs such books. This series definitely shows imagination. I would have loved Jack’s adventures when I was a child, and I would have hated the parts where the horses get hurt. Filled with strange people and beasts, portals to other universes, giants, trees that come to life in different forms, magic, and threat, along with bravery, loyalty, and love. Jack, Kerry, and Corriwen form an excellent trio for this trilogy, with weaknesses and strengths that balance them out well. They’re listed as children’s books, but the amount of violence and killing may therefore surprise some, even though it’s presented lightly. Jack seems to be the only one who feels deeply sorry, and they all seem to handle the trauma too easily for 15-year-olds. It’s a difficult balance in a book to master and is unlikely to please everyone. Still, I was reading much darker books by the time I was a similar age (Herbert, King, and I’d read books like Oliver Twist when I was 8), so for a modern audience such details are likely tame now.

The Changing Man, Tomi Oyemakinde

I’m uncertain what to say about this book, except I’m clearly not its intended audience. I picked it randomly from my to-be-read mountain, not knowing it was Young Adult. Overlooking the rather awkward way the teens interact, for the first half I felt as though I was settling into a cosy horror of the urban legend variety. Is that how teenagers talk these days? I’m at a loss. Even so, the dialogue and action seemed erratic age-wise, so sometimes I struggled to keep in mind how old these teens were reportedly supposed to be. Usually, the age of the protagonist goes a long way to show the age of the intended reader, but to me these ‘children’ seemed alternately older, or younger, and finding time to giggle in a moment of crisis made their behaviour odd and childish. The pacing fluctuates almost as much, though it’s an easy read. The big reveal… well, admittedly, I did not see that coming. It’s so bizarre it’s definitely surprising. At that point, I almost decided not to finish, but curiosity won out. Not creepy or scary, and in the end pages as it was wrapping up, I’m sorry to say I was laughing. It’s not a terrible book, and will find a readership, but I’m guessing that target audience will be as varied as the plot. I even checked to see whether this was self-published, but no, it’s from a well-known publisher. I’m surprised this made a splash in the market, though I can see potential in the author.