REVIEWS NICK STORER, SCOTT MOORE, KATHARINE ENGLAND

Wine CHAMPAGNE: A SECRET HISTORY Robert Walters Allen & Unwin

The Champenois invented marketing/ brand-management and their region is today the most successfully represented worldwide. The great houses produce and blend their own styles that remain consistent over the years – a remarkable feat considering the volumes. Walters questions, in an honest and well balanced examination, whether this results in the very best wines possible. He concludes: not always. During this sometimes controversial and contrary investigation of the area, its history and products, he engages in some myth-busting and introduces some grower-producers taking a different approach, whose terroirdriven styles offer an alternative perspective on the region. Champagne lovers will enjoy this book.

Fantasy GONE DRAGON T.P. Sheehan Querencia Books $29.95

The good news is that the plot of Gone Dragon will resound beautifully with fantasy fans, thanks to its potent mix of warriors, magic, politics, betrayal and mighty dragons. The better news is that its sequels – this is Book I – may well be even better. SA author Tom Sheehan has set up wonderfully for what is to follow, with a complex story that grabs the reader and barely loosens its grip until the end. There’s a sense that the writing, which could use a little tightening, will become more polished as the series goes on to hit new heights. Fans will be clamouring to find out what happens to hero Magnus and his true love Catanya, both of whom are becoming much more than they could ever have imagined.

Picturebook LOLA DUTCH IS A LITTLE BIT MUCH Kenneth and Sarah Jane Wright Bloomsbury, $24.99

From an American husband and wife team, this light, bright, exuberant book is one of a growing genre in which little girls are parented (or butlered) by large, loving, longsuffering bears. Effervescent, extravagant but affectionate Lola Dutch has three other sidekicks – an alligator, a pig and a crane – and a positive fountain of creative ideas: breakfast is a lavish French feast, a visit to the library results in truckloads of borrowings and a book on the great artists furnishes a room with Lola’s zappy looklikes including Bear playing God on the ceiling to her Man. The book zings with colour against generous white space.