Safa Shadowers

King of Nothing
This book was great! It was an interesting blend of humour and serious topics, ones that I hadn't really been aware of, until now. The friendship between Anton and Matthew is adorable, and I loved the way each character was different, with different personalities, families, backgrounds, etc. Anton's transformation since the start of the book is really captivating, so much that even the way he thinks and talks changed by the end. I couldn't put this one down.

Mariam

The Final Year
I found the book good and well written. It was sequenced out like a normal storyline but it had a poetry vibe to it. I would rate it a solid 6/10.

Evelyn

The Final Year
I first read this book after hearing about it on a reading group - everyone who read it seemed to love it. I also loved it. I loved the allusions to Skellig, which forced me to go and re-read it. I love a story that includes a great teacher and/or a friendly librarian and I'm a sucker for anything that gives me an emotional hit. Every time a book makes me well up, I'm always amazed that print on the page can reach into my brain and turn on the same emotional switches to provoke a physical response. Magic. I really appreciated hearing Matt Goodfellow's videos as on the re-read I could then get his voice into my head. This helped with the rhythm and some of the rhymes of the verse. I also changed my view about the absent father figure - I'm looking forward to reading the next book Goodfellow has published about Nate's story. This book generated a great discussion in our reading group, not everyone was as much of a fan as I was, but we all found something that we identified with. A great read.

Briar

The Final Year
I really like this book! There was a really great storyline and you could really relate to the characters, especially through their school journey of the transition from year 5 to year 6. Poetry isn't my favourite, so the poems in their were a bit confusing, and I skipped a lot of them, but that’s just because I don't really enjoy poetry, I understand that lots of people probably really like that aspect of it. However, overall I really enjoyed the book!

Rosie