Book reviews

Stacey and Isak are recruited to become part of a new experimental IVF program called LIFEBLOOD after loosing their last child during pregnancy.

The program, which offers amazing financial support as well, blends Stacey and Isak’s embryo with edited cells – but no-one knows just how edited these cells are, or how human the resulting child will actually be.

The book follows Stacey’s journey from successful implantation until her daughter Asta is eight years old, covering her experiences with pregnancy and motherhood, the change Asta brings to her relationships with her other children and her husband, and the protectiveness Stacey feels for her daughter.

The writing style for Fauna is unique – sentences are short and choppy, sometimes even seeming abrupt, but vivid in their description.

It almost reads more like a science-fiction short story than a contemporary novel in this regard, but it works.

The format draws the reader in, engaging them completely with the story and deepening the relationship between them and pointof-view character Stacey.

The portrayal of motherhood is so poignant and real, the reader feels they are also experiencing pregnancy, birth and parenthood.

Fauna is published by Allen&unwin. THE VANISHING DEEP BY ASTRID SCHOLTE

Last year, Australian Astrid Scholte burst onto the novel scene. With an impressive portfolio in film, animation and television, the author debut novel,

Four Dead Queens, was met with international success.

Now, Schotle returns with another young adult mystery, The Vanishing Deep.

In what appears to be a post-apocalyptic Earth, people can pay corporation Palindromena to revive a loved one for 24 hours.

Since her sister Elysea drowned two years ago, Tempest has been diving for old-world relics that she can sell for Notes to pay for her sister’s reviving – and discover what her sister was hiding about their parents’ death five years ago.

The mystery is thrilling and the characters interesting, but for

The Vanishing Deep, it’s the world-building that makes it fantastic.

While the reader is never directly told it’s set on Earth, the narrative takes time to set up the lore of ‘the Great Waves’ that submerged almost all land across the planet, and how humanity survives in this new, wet world.

In regards to the plot alone, this book could be considered long, but Scholte uses this to her advantage by building depth and complexity in the three main characters. The Vanishing Deep is published by Allen&unwin.