The Book of Days

by K.A. Barker

Most people believe the best way to forget someone is to throw them down a well. Or lock them in a room with eight keys, or bury them at a crossroad in the thirteenth hour. But they're wrong. The best way to forget someone is for them never to have existed in the first place.

When sixteen-year-old Tuesday wakes from sleep for the first time, she opens her eyes to a world filled with wonder - and peril. Left only with a letter from the person she once was, Tuesday sets out to discover her past with the help of her charming and self-serving guide, Quintalion.

Along the way she runs into mercenaries, flying cities, airships, and a blind librarian. But what is her connection with the mysterious Book of Days - a book that holds untold power...

'Just when I thought nothing new could be achieved in fantasy, along comes The Book of Days. K.A. Barker has created an extraordinary world, a series of compelling landscapes and an unforgettable cast of characters. All hail K.A. Barker for giving us something so dazzlingly different! And funny too!' JOHN MARSDEN

Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fiction, Books About Books, Contemporary

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

K. A. Barker is a twenty-something writer from Brisbane, Australia. She writes books about imaginary places and impossible deeds. Her first Young Adult novel, The Book of Days, is due out in September from Pan Macmillan Australia. She is fond of dirigibles, good books, shower singing, cheesy adventure movies, and time periods not her own.

If you love any of the above, feel free to tell her about it any time at k.a.barkerwrites [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also find her on twitter at @k_a_barker.

Reviews

[Edacheeky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I. LOVE. THIS. BOOK.
Here is my attempt at a fan art!!

more images here

Basically, to sum things up, A 16 year old girl wakes up in a strange house from a 10-year sleep knowing the basic human actions like talking and walking except she has no idea who she is. She's told her new name is Tuesday and receives a letter which is apparently from her "Old self" telling her to forget her past and live a new life fresh and without regrets BUT tuesday is determined to find out who she is and with the help of her guide Quintallion as well as Hester and Jacobi whom she meets on her journey, Tuesday begins the quest to discover who she is and she develops her own personality through doing so. One question remains - Why was she so desperate to escape her old life and start anew? and when she does find out who she was, will she like that person?

How I would describe it in one sentence:
A journey of self-discovery and unintended self-creation on the way displaying the importance of friendship, love and identity in one's life.

So, my review:
You know those books that are so good that you never want to put it down and you feel as if YOU are the one embarking on this journey and all the other characters are your loyal and loving friends and when you finally put the book down you realise it's all over and you have no idea what to do?

Well, this is that book.

This book is so wonderful and beautiful and I feel so sad right now that I'm parting with it! I developed this wonderful bond with the characters in this novel; The main character Tuesday which I really did grow on as the story went on, she's brave, strong, caring, and determined, Quintallion the charming, witty, sarcastic, caring, charlatanistic guide, Hester the passionate, strong, loving, female warrior, and Jacobi the intelligent, and caring assistant librarian. Even sterling is somewhat likeable towards the end of the novel and you do feel some empathy towards him.
This book kept me on my my toes, constantly excited and just wondering what will happen next. It's almost impossible to predict what will happen next and that's what I love about it. Not even could I predict the romance between Jacobi and Tuesday - and their romance by the way wasn't all kisses and lust at all it was beauitful and old fashioned which I LOVED! The only thing i managed to predict but then deny was that (MAJOR SPOILER HERE) Tuesday was actually Thais but then i was like no way... wouldn't they look alike? I mean she's seen Thais in her dreams before... it CAN'T be... BUT IT WAS
The storyline was so amazingly crafted and as each chapter passed, it was like new doors were opening on the mystery.

LITERALLY the only thing this book needed is A FEW MORE CHAPTERS OR SOMETHING AT THE END OF THE BOOK I NEEEEEEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO TUESDAY AND HESTER AND QUINTALLION AND JACOBI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't really read a proper fantasy novel or an adventure novel in YEARS but this book is probably the best of both! I sure hope many people out there enjoy it as much as I did and I really do anticipate the day that this book will hopefully turn into a movie!
BUT for now, this book is joining my favourites shelf!
And as John Marsden himself said "All hail K.A.Barker for creating something so dazzlingly different! And funny too!" I completely agree!!! :) P.S. COME ON PEOPLE THAT COVER IS TO DIE FOR!!!!!

[Steph Sinclair]

Ohh, I love this cover!




Check out the cover reveal on the blog and enter to win a signed copy!

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!

The Book of Days was a fun, charming and quirky adventure set in a wonderfully imaginative setting. From Madame Marisol’s Unreality House which is a place where people go to be forgotten, to the floating Fortune City which was very steampunk in nature, to the corrupt Beggars End, I really enjoyed these creative settings. It was a true adventure story reminiscent of classic childhood stories like Peter Pan and Enid Blyton books.

There’s always something happening along the way, whether Tuesday and her companions are running into the evil daybreakers, meeting new and quirky characters like Hester the feisty warrior girl, or discovering something about the present and looking for the Book of Days. The book is filled with colourful characters, like the witty and charming Quintalion with a swagger, the sweet and unassuming blind librarian Jack, or the conflicted daybreaker with another side to him, Sterling. The personalities and dialogue was filled with humour and wit and so much fun. While many people love Quintalion, his ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ character has been done before such as Abe Mazur from Vampire Academy or Jackal from the Blood of Eden series.

Now to the downside….the whole story felt like a really unexpected adventure with A LOT happening, and it was hard keeping the interest with so much jampacked into it. Tuesday’s goal was to find The Book of Days and discover her past, but they went so incredibly off track with running, fighting, discovering new locations and meeting new people that I didn’t know whether she was going to achieve her goal. It was hard to keep up with and I was cautious about whether the ending would be satisfactory, or whether it would drag out to another sequel, but luckily I needn’t have worried (and this is a standalone). The unexpected twist tied things up nicely too.

More in depth world building about how and why these wonderful places exist could have developed the world a bit more, but unfortunately this was all done on two pages explaining what the daybreakers and the Days who is this world’s version of gods and goddesses who are now in hiding. There are so many wonderful concepts that could have been developed further, but the dialogue and the quirky characters took center stage.

The Book of Days is a quirky, fun, out of the box adventure with a cast of colourful characters and imaginative steampunk settings. While it may go off track at times and had a few inconsistencies, it features some wonderful fresh and fun dialogue and really takes me back to the time of classic adventure stories.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so much love for this book, it is an entertaining and heart warming adventure quest through a rich fantastical landscape populated with fascinating characters. Tuesday wakes in the Unreality House with no memory of her past and a deep need to find out who she is. With the help of Quintalion (my favourite character), an irresistible and gorgeously attired rogue, she journeys to find The Book of Days and her true name. Allies and adversaries are found along the way. The fiesty, ass-kicking, airship captain Hester and sweet blind "Assistant" Librarian Jack join Tuesday in her search, united in their loathing of the Day Breakers and their vicious and obsessed leader, Sterling. Sterling is a delicious villain who speaks as all evil villains ought in the 3rd person. He is set on wrecking vengeance on Tuesday for a past she has no memory of.

The quest covers several fantastical locations, for me the most noteworthy were Madame Marisol's Unreality House and the hovering Fortune City. My favourite character's were Quintalion and Sterling, both vividly drawn and given the most wonderful dialogue. I must confess to have developed a major book crush on Quintalion and I will be petitioning K. A. Barker to give him his own book where the pages are filled with his one-liners and girls swooning at his feet.

If you loved Neil Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' then you will love The Book of Days!

[Paperback Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review was originally posted at Paperback Princess.

Turning the last page of this book was truly astounding and left me breathless...my mind hasn't stopped reeling from how it all came together at the end. The Book of Days by Australian Author K.A. Barker is truly a treat to read. It is so engrossing, original and the concept and characters within the book cannot be compared to any other book I've read in the past, that is truly how original this book is!

The Book of Days by KA Barker begins with a girl being released from Madame Marisol's Unreality House where people go to be forgotten, she does not recall who she is and the only clue she had to her past identity is a letter from her past self begging her to forget who she was and to live a new life. This is where we are introduced to Tuesday, the name she decided to call herself as she couldn't recall her past name, and Quintallion, the strange man that showed up at Madame Marisol's Unreality House to pick up Tuesday despite him not knowing who she was or why he was picking her up. This is where their adventure begins as Tuesday seeks to find her true identity and Quintallion comes for the ride, almost immediately they are faced with disaster, a strange reunion and a new friend.

The Author truly created a magnificent story line that keeps the readers captivated and glued to its pages. The mystery was superbly written with enough clues unfolding in a timely manner, it kept me guessing and I loved it! It's like having something in the back of your mind but not quite being able to put your finger on it! I cannot wait to re-read this book in the future, now knowing the ending I want to see the clues I missed the first time.

The whole book was imaginative, from the concept of the Unreality House, to the Fortune City, the Book of Days and the Days themselves...WOW is all I can say, I'm yet to find a book apart from The Harry Potter series that blew me away this much with the imagination in the concept, plot and world creation as The Book of Days has.

The characters were well written and I found myself falling in love with them all, the camaraderie amongst the group was truly heartfelt and it was truly a pleasure to be part of their journey. I even had a love hate relationship with Sterling and empathised with his heartbreak.

The Book of Days by K.A. Barker is seriously a must read for all those that enjoy YA Fantasy with a dose of Steampunk. The originality and imagination within these pages are truly astounding and it's certainly something one must experience. As Author, John Marsden writes about The Book of Days:-

"All Hail K.A. Barker, for giving us something so dazzlingly different! And funny too!"

[Emily Mead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read reviews, see awesome GIFS and see my rambling thoughts at my blog, The Loony Teen Writer

I wanted to read this book for a few main reasons.


1) The cover

I mean, isn’t it just BEAUTIFUL.
2) The blurb

I don’t often read blurbs. But this one was awesome. It sounded very whimsical and different and something I would vastly enjoy.
3) That quote from John Marsden.

“Dazzlingly different.” I mean, of course I’m going to listen to John Marsden.

All this contributed to a DESPERATE need to read this book.

Aaaand…

Well.

This is going to be a very difficult book to review, because while I LOVED some parts of it, I didn’t like a lot of parts. So let’s start with the good.


QUINTALION.

Quintalion was such an awesome character. He reminded me a bit of Jack Sparrow – sorry, CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. He’s described in the blurb as “self-serving,” and it’s true – he has this sort of arrogance and charisma about him, but it’s very funny and not overdone. He’s a really fantastic character and I love how Tuesday can tell his different moods through the sorts of sarcasm he displays. A+++ for Quintalion. (plus, what an awesome name!)

Thank you for being part of this book, Quintalion.

The way it kind of reminded me of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making.

That book seriously needs to get a shorter title. But anyway, this book IS “dazzlingly different.”

It’s also wonderfully whimsical, excellently eccentric and uniquely unusual. I absolutely LOVED the beginning of the book. I loved Madame Marisol’s Unreality House and how that was set up. I loved the world that was created. I loved Tuesday and Quintalion and Hester.

Unfortunately, it went a bit downhill after that.
What went wrong?

We had some excellent eccentric-ness for a while, and places that were amazing to read about. But then it became more about running and hiding than actually GETTING anywhere. I wanted to know more about how Tuesday was finding her name!! It all jumbled together and it wasn’t as dazzlingly different once we got past halfway. My interest dwindled and the pacing became quite a lot slower.

So that was unfortunate..

BUT THE BEGINNING.

So I would highly recommend reading the first half and then…maybe stopping there. Okay, I'm kidding. You should of course read the whole book :)

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gently quirky, fantasy of the personal-quest variety, with charming settings, witty banter and a generally fun adventure.

We start in the unreality house, where souls caught between life and death wait and sometimes are awoken. Our main character awakes when someone comes to collect her, she awakes knowing nothing about herself and sets off on a quest to find herself, despite a note her previous self penned to prevent just that.

The book of days is a pleasant reading experience, its strengths are the exotic, fascinating and well crafted locations and backdrops: The flying city, the wastes... all make for great settings for a quest. Another strength is the vivid description and depiction of characters, their interactions and dialogue.

It's weaknesses include a tendency to meander both in terms of the quest, the plot and the adventures. Several times it idles off into scenarios that are lightly enchanting, but do not seem essential to the plot and leave one a little bewildered. This is not a short book, this is NOT a fast read and it is meant to be a young adult book, so I think it could have been edited down a bit to keep the plot tighter. At times it was difficult to stay invested in the story, and once or twice I may have skim read for a while.

Another weakness (for me at least) was the main character's tendency to do idiotic things. I don't like stupid main characters, if one has no survival instinct then I think they should not survive. Tuesday was not terrible, but one spent a lot of time exasperated with her poor choices. Tuesday also confused the issue of the target audience: 'YA' covers a lot of ground, some are gritty, some are childish or at least childlike. Tuesday is meant to be about sixteen, but to me she read as about twelve. Maybe. A fairly young twelve. So between the main character and the very naive adventures, I would say this story is better suited to very young readers, however, it is long and slow to read, leaving the exact classification confusing.

Anyhow, I do not quite see why it has had so many rave reviews. The cover? yes it is ok but seriously? This deserves a review? It is a sweet book, but not ground breaking, many of the concepts which are well integrated are hardly unique (floating cites? steampunk? sure...). The ending was not too bad but not really, entirely unpredictable.

[Anika Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuesday wakes up in the Unreality House with no memory of her past. She is given clothes and supplies to make her way in the world and told to forget about finding out about her previous life, but she's desperate to find out who she might have been before ending up in the keeping house. Her companion Quintalion is keeping quiet, on that at least. What dark secret was she trying to cover up, even from herself?

Argh, it's taken me so long to get to this review, and it's partially because I loved this book but found it hard to put my finger on why. It's quite whimsical, bizarre in places, even. It's also quite brutal and even sad at times.

This world is a richly detailed Steampunk fantasy world, complete with flying cities and cannon-laden airships. There's a strange and slightly disturbing bad guy, Stirling, and several friendly and bad-ass companions met along the way.

I think the main thing that gave this book a little extra spark is that the relationships between the characters are just brilliant. The snark, the humour and the friendships are so well written that I was sad to leave them all at the end of the story. I really hope there's some more stories on the way for Tuesday, Quintalion, Hester and Jack, because I love them!

One thing is for sure, and that's that this is a brilliant debut book from Kiralee Barker, and also one of my favourite reads of this year. More please!

This review was originally posted on Tea in the Treetops in December 2014.

[Melissa Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book of Days by K. A. Barker was a delight to read. The story revolves around Tuesday, a 16 year old girl who wakes up in Madame Marisol's Unreality House with no memory of who she is or why she ended up in this place. With only a letter from past self as a clue, she embarks upon an adventure to discover her identity.

Firstly, the cover is beautiful. The whole production of the book is lovely, with the map which is staple for any good fantasy adventure, and a fantastic plug from John Marsden which is always helpful. I read the advanced readers copy which didn't have the map or the awesome cover, so needless to say as soon as I could, I picked up the finished product.

I found the book quite cinematic whilst reading it. The world building was imaginative, and I felt it had a bit of a steampunk vibe. The Unreality House reminded me somewhat of the concept from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but it turned out to be radically different to what I expected. The character of Quintalion reminded me a lot of the character Mal from Firefly as well. These similarities which I have made aren't criticism at all, I really enjoyed this aspect.

The way that Barker constructs her characters is amazing. Tuesday's comrades bring a lot of light and shade to the book and the banter is highly amusing. Also, the villian of the story Sterling has such a strong back story and it gives the narrative a natural momentum.

In closing this book has sharp wit, is well crafted and I hope there is more to come of this author and the world she has created.

[Trisha]

Let's just dnf this, and be done with it.

[Dark Matter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was reviewed on Dark Matter Zine; for more reviews, interviews and articles, go to Dark Matter Zine. Alternatively, this link is just to Dark Matter Zine's reviews.

A review by Nalini Haynes

The Book of Days is steampunk set in a fantasy world where pro-industrialist forces combat magic. The war is in hiatus but that doesn't stop the industrial forces — daybreakers — from hunting down magically-inclined folk, torturing them and killing them.

Quintalion, a dark stranger with mismatched eyes, arrives at Madame Marisol's Unreality House with an invitation to revive one of the inmates therein. Although suspicious of this stranger, Madame allows the sleeping teenager to be revived by a touch from Quintalion's hand. She then releases the teenager, whom Madame named Tuesday, into Quintalion's care. Tuesday has no memory of her past; this is, we think, normal. Her curiosity piqued by a letter from her past self, Tuesday disregards its plea and, instead, sets off to discover her past.

Quintalion is described as a scoundrel out to cheat and steal whatever he can and yet his declared motives conflict with his inconsistent behaviour. Tuesday's acquisition of lifelong allies on a limited budget is not questioned regardless of the sacrifices these strangers make and yet, knowing far more of the world than Tuesday, these allies refuse to share their knowledge. Instead, Tuesday enters the unknown ill-prepared. For example, Tuesday attended Lady Fortuna's court after receiving admonitions not to speak in her own defence without understanding the reasons behind these strictures, resulting in predictable calamity. Well, sometimes it results in predictable calamity. If the author follows through with a second novel, I'm calling Lady Fortuna's price now.

[Spoilers, sweetie]

The Book of Days world is broken internally. Tuesday lost her memory in the Unreality House; Jack, another former resident, woke with his memories intact; no-one questions why. Sterling cannot enter the City of Lost Things because he's alive; his first attempt to do so caused irreparable damage to his hand. Later he enters the City intact; a monster seeks to kill him because he's alive within the City. Narvi, Hester's brother, died voluntarily thus opening the door to the City of Lost Things but he's not within the city as he should be if he's dead. Another dude who died similarly is within the City. I recommend switching off your critical brain and going with the flow to enjoy this book, a bit like when watching Doctor Who these days.

[The worst spoilers are done]

Jack, aka Jacobi Heller, is blind. Jack's 'blindness' was really frustrating, jolting me out of the story again and again. There are multitudes of ways for someone to be blind or vision impaired. To the sighted, these different disabilities may seem inconsistent but every disability has its own internal consistency. Not so with Jack. Jack is blind but he's an assistant librarian. He can't read, his mother had to read to him as he went blind with a disease. No, his mother blinded him by touching his eyes to wake him in the Unreality House. He can't read. Yes he can. He carries books and scrolls around, pulling information out of them when necessary, touching them the rest of the time.

Let's pause to unpack the books and scrolls. Braille is a system whereby a blind person can read dots embossed into paper. However, Jack's books appear to be for sighted people; there's no mention of braille. There is NO. POSSIBLE. WAY. you can roll braille up into scrolls keeping the writing intact. I've handled braille paper and books, both kids' and adults' braille quality. The paper is not that flexible. Furthermore, if you forcibly rolled braille paper into scrolls, you'd ruin the braille. There's no mention of some clever code cut into the edges of the scrolls, no means for Jack to be able to read or draw information from the pages. I waited for a 'tricked you, not blind' reveal or a magical-inconsistency reveal. Neither were forthcoming.

Jack is totally blind but he binds his eyes to shield himself from glare; he's grateful for sunglasses to protect his eyes. So... Jack has partial eyesight? How much? Lemme guess, his father's glasses will enable him to read where before he couldn't.  [image error]

Yeah, I know: I should be grateful that a person with a disability is in the story at all. I just think that if you wouldn't write an Australian Aborigine and make him white whenever it wasn't convenient to be black then you shouldn't write a blind person with sight whenever being blind isn't convenient. Plus I get enough harassment from people who really seem to believe that if I tried harder I could read that tiny print on the overhead projector, y'know, print so small that I've never been able to read it ever, even with the bestest possible glasses. Teachers apparently also believe it's ok to give me a choice: miss out on classroom learning or read something so small it will cause eyestrain within minutes, including severe headaches and even worse vision while my eyes recover. This shit is real, people. If you're going to write a vision impaired person, please get it right.

Deep breaths.
In Conclusion
The Book of Days has strengths. It's a journey-quest story that is fast-paced and interesting, with awesome steampunk modes of transport including dirigibles, dragon-drawn chariots and more. These modes of transport will inspire steampunk fan-art.

The first chapter of the Book of Days won the John Marsden Prize, Australia's top writing prize for young people. The rest of the book struggled to maintain that opening standard and world-building consistency.

It's marketed as a children's book so I'm not sure how to evaluate the Book of Days. For children who haven't read the like previously, I think the Book of Days will be an exciting uproarious journey.

While reading, I felt there were similarities between the farce The Importance of Being Ernest and some of Robert Rankin's steampunk SFF comedies. Some adults will love this book to bits and re-read it regularly. Others will hurl it at the wall in between rants about Doctor Who. I'm giving the Book of Days 3 out of 5 stars. I recommend evaluating what I've said and deciding whether The Book of Days  is your cup of herbal tea.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. First, the good things. I loved the characters! I couldn't choose a favorite because they're all my favorites! They were fully fleshed out and each one had their own distinct personalities. Speaking of which, the villain wasn't one-dimensional either. He had a motive for everything he did, and it was a rather sad motive, too. The author definitely pulled on my heartstrings, not only for the heroic characters, but also for the villain.
Now for the reasons why I rated this book 3 1/2 stars rather than 4 or 5. First off, The Book of Days was a little too busy. By that I mean that it seemed like it had way too much going on in it. There were pirates, magicians, steampunk elements, flying ships, etc. It was just too many elements all smashed into one book.
Another thing that bothered me was that I predicted who Tuesday was in her past life almost from the beginning. It wasn't too much of a revelation to me, which also didn't help me enjoy this book more.
Finally, the ending was way too rushed. I was reading it on my kindle and around the 90% mark, I started to wonder how all the loose ends were going to get tied up, to the point that I thought there must be a sequel that I didn't know about. All in all, this was a pretty good book, just a little scattered genre-wise.

Favorite Quotes:
"She liked to think of the words surrounding them, sandwiched between leather covers: old words, and new; words that didn’t mean what they ought to; and words that carried too much power to even whisper them. Just like names, she thought. After all, what was Tuesday, if not a day of the week? Yet it was her everything." - 44%
"A desperate hope was starting to rekindle within her; she cradled it against her heart, terrified that a single breath of air would extinguish it forever." - 90%

[Samkabam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh, how I wanted to like this book - especially being a fellow Queenslander and rather close by!
I mean, I finished it.. but the fact it took me 4 weeks to make my way through it (a book of 336 pages) really, in my mind, proves the 2.8* rating being given here.

Whilst the cover, blurb and map pulled me in, the story didn't spur me along, leaving no real desire to become immersed in the story. In saying that, I enjoyed the idea of the fierce friendship created between the lead characters Tuesday, Quintalion, Jack and Hester, but feel further development would have made this a better read, as there seemed to be so much going on. It was hard to understand how such loyalty between each other grew so quickly with that much happening.
Maybe I missed something?

Perhaps the map inside the cover mislead me by having me think it would be a more fantasy filled John Flanagan type explanation of the world inside The Book of Days. At times I felt lost trying to understand all that was going on with the world here, as there wasn't too much world building, just lots of 'stuff' happening. More focus and development about the world would have maybe had me more invested.

[Shauna Pollard · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book suffers from a deficit of underwriting. Let me explain...
The characters are interesting and the plot itself is too; however, too much happens in too short a time period, not enough is explained so there are large and inexpicable gaps in the logic, so much has been squeezed into this short space that it is virtually impossible to get a real sense of place.
In my opinion this reads like the outline for a 3 book series.

Disappointed

[thegreensofa · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a confusing book! Great cover though. I spent most of this being confused, imagining Johnny Depp, and wondering which words were real and which were made up, and not really knowing if the story really was going anywhere!!

[Pegaunimoose · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2

[Lara || 🦑 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 //

[Becky Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written. Loved the characters and explanation of the fantasy world.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, it made me feel like I was capable of doing what I set my mind to. I was very engaging and multiple times through the text I felt how Tuesday felt. I loved it so much!!!

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This promised something that it didn't deliver for me.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't remember where I discovered this book, but its immediately eye-catching cover art is something that reinforced my desire to read it. Another positive is that K.A Barker is Australian and I really need and want to find more Australian fiction (I keep finding myself reading the John Marsden's book's over and over again instead, who coincidentally has his opinions of the book on the front cover!).

One thing for sure is that "The Book of Days" is definitely "dazzlingly different" in its overall plot. Following the life of Tuesday, who has just been woken from sleep in the Unreality House by companion, Quintalion, readers are invited along for Tuesday's journey of self-discovery as she embraces the new world and aims to learn who she was in her past after sleeping for nigh on ten years.

Barker's descriptions throughout the novel are definitely one of her strengths, describing the colours of fish under water and vivid dystopian (somewhat steampunk) landscapes. She creates something that is quite visually understandable without using superfluous (that was an intentional word choice) words. Although sometimes in the simplicity, I felt like I was reading the same descriptions over and over again and I wasn't sure when and where the scenery had changed.

This sometimes lead to confusion as I tried to work out which character was talking, or if their actions and communications had been contradictory. I had this worry especially with the character of Jacobi, known as Jack to his friends. Being visually impaired himself, sometimes his actions didn't feel authentic despite the enhancement of his other senses and my understanding of this drawn from comic and television series "Avatar: The Last Airbender." The way that his blindness is portrayed within the book allowed him to still be capable on Tuesday's quest, but sometimes at questionable lengths. Thankfully his cheekiness and thoughtfulness aided aided his character despite this.

Also on the lines of characters, whilst each of them had their own trademarked trait, (Jack: cheeky and intuitive, Quintalion: cynicism and wit, Hester: courage and bravery), a lot of their characteristics felt very similar, each one of them experiencing loss in forms of death or simple missing information, and battling it throughout the novel. This sometimes added to my difficulty in differentiating character also. Thankfully there were some definite standout characters throughout the novel, such as Quintalion who remains himself from the first scene in the book, Madame Marisol's generic vagueness and compassion and Sterling himself who speaks in plurals, emphasising his love for Thais and his dreams for the world. So whilst the characters sometimes blurred, there were definitely stand out moments that helped to liven the book up significantly.

In regards to Madame Marisol, it would have been interesting to see her character furthered as a somewhat more archetypal wise lady figure, as Tuesday frequently refers back to her, so it would be intriguing to see how that could go. Perhaps if there is a sequel, finding the other Gods, readers might return to her in understanding more on the history behind the Book of Days within the novel. With better execution and more succinct descriptions, I think a sequel could be incredibly successful, or even a prequel explaining the history and exploring the other Gods.

I also have to note that it took me over a year to finish reading this book. On my first attempt I only managed to get 90 pages through despite knowing from those pages that I desperately wanted to finish reading it. There are very few "oh my god" moments throughout the novel, and unfortunately for myself I did predict most of the end in regards to Tuesday's identity, but whether that's just me or predictability is anyone's guess. "The Book of Days" can travel quite slowly, as not a lot happens other than travelling to different locations and fighting off Sterling, but it does possess a very intricate and interesting story. I think perhaps, offering more of a quest after finding the Book of Days and attempting to use it to find Tuesday's identity, could have furthered the story more, adding more events and risings in tension, but it still managed to do what it intended: create an inventive story of identity and power.

Whilst I felt it was a very slow read and there were definitely areas that could be improved in writing and editing, "The Book of Days" does offer an incredibly interesting story that I was consistently urged to finish. The beginning of the novel and the end are definitely the strongest parts of the book, the middle being a bit too slow for myself. Thus I might recommend it to people around the ages of 14 to 16, who can take the time to take in the descriptions more vividly than myself.

K.A Barker is close to hitting the core of creative with the ideas behind "The Book of Days" and offers an innocent and moving story of discovery.

[Ursula]

This was a great book full of unique scenery, humour and characters which left you in tears. A must read on so many levels and like nothing I've read before.

[Lisa Fleetwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read all my reviews at www.illuminationsbylisafleetwood.word...

In June last year I attended 'Pitch Perfect' at the Australian Society of Authors with Pan Macmillan editor Claire Craig. It was one of the most helpful and immediately useful courses I've done in regards to confidently pitching and selling your book to publishers. Read about the course HERE. Claire talked about writing blurbs and first impressions and submissions, how to write a great synopsis, how to hook the reader and amongst many other things - how to grab the attention of a publisher with the first page. Claire used an example of an author whose first page (and chapter) captured their attention.

Claire handed out a copy of the first page of the yet to be released 'The Book of Days' by K.A Barker to which I was unaware of the book title. John Marsden thought the first chapter was so good he recommended it to Pan MacMillan. The first page was awesome, fresh and new, mysterious and I wanted to read more. I wasn't until I connected on Twitter with K.A Barker through author Kylie Fornasier that I decided to buy her new book. To my surprise it was the book that I read the first page of in June at Pitch perfect, so I was excited. The beginning of the the novel is so original - and it just gets better.

It begins with the debonair and amusing Quintalion arriving on the doorstep of Mrs. Marisol's Unreality House where people go to be forgotten. Once a person has been placed in there they are forgotten by the outside world - its as if they never existed. But sometimes people leave and Quintalion has received an invitation. He is there to pick someone up - a someone Mrs.Marisol calls Tuesday, who wakes from her 'sleep' knowing enough of the day to day actions get by in the world, but remembers nothing from her past.

What an adventure this book was! Tuesday embarks on a quest with Quintalion to find out who she is, or was before she entered Mrs. Marisol's house. Tuesday is a sparky and vivacious heroine, brave (sometimes to the point where as a reader I was thinking 'No, Tuesday - what are you doing!'), and knows there is more to the past than the mysterious letter she wrote to herself before she entered Mrs. Marisol's Unreality House. Along the way she learns of the Days, the former gods of the land who have disappeared, but the old ways still linger even though the Daybreakers and their cruel commander Sterling, who is looking for Tuesday, continue to try to stamp it out.

On her journey Tuesday meets the brave Hester, a musket-weidling, wooden-legged captain of a flying ship who is seeking revenge for the death of her brother, and Jacobi, the blind Assistant Librarian from the floating Fortune City who is searching for his father. It is there that Tuesday learns that the clue to finding out her identify will be found in the Book of Days which contains the knowledge, experience and magic of the Days themselves - but it appears that everyone else is looking for it as well.

K. A Barker has introduced a fantastic world with elements of steampunk, fantasy and even a bit of wild-west thrown in with chase/fight scene an top of a moving train. The Book of Days was full of action packed scenes, sword fights, gun fights, flying ships, a floating city, wild rides across a deserted plain while in a chariot pulled by wingless dragons, and more. This is a great story for young adults of either gender, adults (like me who love YA) and whoever enjoys an action packed fantastical read with characters to love.

Oh, and what a fabulous book cover!

[Caity · Rating 3 out of 5]

~Sixteen-year-old Tuesday awakes from a long ‘sleep’ for the first time: she has no memory of her past or how she came to be in the Unreality House. All she knows is that her past-self wrote a letter to her future-self begging her not to discover the secrets of her past. So what does Tuesday do? Embark on a fantastical quest to discover who she is and why she told herself not to do the things she’s about to do...~

I’m not looking to be particularly delicate here; I think I should just speak my mind.
My first issue with the book was that it waffled a bit. Like for most of the book. The ending was very concise which I appreciated, but the 392 page book probably could have done with a bit of a trim. I did tire quickly with long chapters during which not much happened that was essential to the story.

Secondly I had a lot of problems with the dialogue, particularly that of the character ‘Hester’ who spoke almost like something out of a Tolkien novel. Compared to how the rest of the characters conducted themselves, she stuck out like a sore thumb and I had to put the book down at times because the interruption of the flow irritated me so much. I think it was meant to set Hester apart from the other characters but it really just bothered me.

Also, this book falls under the Young Adult category I believe, and I usually have no trouble reading YA… but this one seemed to have moments (I thought) where it would suit a much more juvenile audience. However, these were often followed by a detailed fight scene or a character death, so that didn’t even quite fit together. The sometimes childish content paired with the graphic content really clashed for me, and makes it difficult to put the book into one genre or give an age recommendation.

But I think my main beef with the book was the main character, Tuesday. The book made you think that she would rediscover her past at any moment and become a total badass, but instead she spends the entire book being a timid little bunny of a thing that was quite bland to read in a YA fantasy/adventure book. Character highlights instead came from her sassy friends Jack and Quintalion.

Overall I’m not sure who I’d recommend this to if anyone. The book doesn’t seem to have a purpose other than the author’s release of imagination which bugged me a bit, but then I may have just been reading it at the wrong time in my reading cycle. It’s a good premise and quite a great achievement for the author’s first book, so maybe give it a crack if it sounds good to you. But I’ll probably keep an eye out for her future work, it looks promising!

[TheCosyDragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

Tuesday is 16, but she doesn't remember any of her life so far. She's been forgotten for 10 years, and the person who comes to find her isn't all she expected. Not that she could expect much, since she can't remember anything of what she is.

Tuesday, in her own silly way, is endearing. It's fascinating to imagine what a person with no memories would be like. At the same time, her stubborness is really frustrating. Why can't she take advice for once? Even once the reader knows who she is, we aren't any more enlightened to her stupidity.

There are so many unnecessary deaths and destructions. Indeed, with the very limited little bit of landscape and people that we see, it feels like the whole world is destroyed. I didn't see one piece of kindness outside Tuesday and her friends, and her friends weren't even really her friends until near the end.

I would have loved to have seen more of Madam Marisol. It felt like she had an even bigger part to play. Although her dream-tea makes the narrative move forward, I could see other ways in which the author had done it.

I didn't really see the ending coming. Well, some of it I did, with death and all. But the rest? Well, it made sense, but also, it was a little confusing with the forgetting and all. There were many questions left unanswered for me. And in a way, I hope there is another book. I found that I wanted Tuesday to do more. I don't care about promises! Look at the heap the world is in! It's not going to change by itself!

This novel is said to be something entirely new in the world of fantasy, but for me, it wasn't exactly. I could see similarities with a number of other novels I have read. For instance, Garth Nix's 'Mister Monday' rang all kinds of bells, including the ship, and of course, the days of the week. For some reason, Jasper Fford's novels also came to mind. And some... hmm, other novels in the steam-punk genre.

Do I regret using my time to read this novel? Not in any way. I did enjoy it while I was reading it, and teens will no doubt love this novel. Highly recommended for lovers of Garth Nix.

This copy was sent to me for review, but my opinions as always are my own and are not influenced in any way.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was overall an okay read. The ending was a bit disappointing, but the story was clever and for the most part I liked the characters.

This book started out really strong. I thought the premise was interesting and unique - definitely something I have not seen before. I was definitely drawn in to Tuesday's story, and very interested to see what she did next once she had been woken.

Unfortunately, from that point on, I found Tuesday to be wishy-washy, and very much in the vein of the heroine tied to the train tracks. Throughout most of the book I just wanted to shake her and yell: "GET OVER IT! You chose to take this journey so step up and stop being a wimp". Every once in a while during the adventure, it seemed Tuesday was finally going to stop being a dishrag and take control of her life and her choices . . . and then, she went back to being the helpless princess needing someone else to save her. I just never really connected to Tuesday. She isn't the type of character I like.

The REST of the characters in this book, however, were a very different story! I absolutely loved Quintalion, Hester and Jack! All of them were completely different personalities, but each in their own way was a hero, who took full responsibility for their choices, and went all-in once they made a decision to do something - whatever the cost and whatever the motivation - THAT I can relate to!

The adventure the group goes on was also fun to tag along with. There was lots of suspense adventure and unexpected events for our gang to contend with. I thought the worlds the group visits were all very clever and interesting to read about. Fortune City in particular, I found very enjoyable to experience.

So, again, overall this was a good read. An interesting story with plenty of action and - mostly - great characters. I wish Tuesday had been written with a bit more spunk and backbone, but otherwise this was a fun, light read with an interesting approach.

[Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can find this, and other reviews, on my blog.

Oh how I enjoyed this book. Everything about it was fresh and fun, from the way magic worked, through to the plot itself. I was hooked from the opening paragraph:

Most people believe the best way to forget someone is to throw them down a well. Or lock them in a room with eight keys, or bury them at a crossroad in the thirteenth hour. But they’re wrong. The best way to forget someone is for them never to have existed in the first place.

The Book of Days follows Tuesday as she embarks on a journey to rediscover herself with the help of friends collected along the way. More than once, I wanted to shake Tuesday a little, but that is a testament to how well she’s written. Her three companions are equally delightful, from the roguish Quintalion to feisty Hester, and delightful Jacobi. I find it impossible to pick a favourite out of them, they’re all wonderful in their own ways. It would be very, very fun to see the four of them continuing their adventures in future books.

I like the subtle flavour given to the world and the characters - there is just enough time spent on world building to enhance the story, rather than bog it down in unnecessary detail. The cheerful writing style makes it a fun and easy read, and I demolished it in perhaps 4 hours of reading time. This is definitely a book I’ll be recommending to others, and rereading often.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and adventurous this book was everything I expected and more. The plot is very original and the writing threw the reader into a world that had its own style and language which you came to understand throughout the story (rather than being given all of the information you need to know at once like some other books I have led, leaving you to grasp at everything all at once). The characters are well-written and full of layers that do not necessarily show themselves at first. I thought this was going to mostly be fantasy and was surprised to find some steampunk as well, but definitely not disapointed. While I loved that the plot was about Tuesday's journey to discover herself as the description suggested (I have read many a book where the description was misleading), Barker still managed to write a narrative on certain real-life situations, most notably the Westernization of cultures that might not necessarily want it. I very much enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone looking for a little adventure.

[Katy Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Days was amazing. I do not know where to begin with the amazingly original fantasy book. From the character depth, to the multi-faceted universe which they live in, its hard to put down when you become so immersed.

The Unreality house was one of my favourite settings, the air of magic surrounding it, where anything could be possible, and people could sleep for years upon years was curious, intriguing and engaging. From the moment the place was described I knew I wanted an Unreality house of my own. Tuesday while hard to connect to at first, grew on me and she was the underdog that everyone roots for. I am a sucker for charming men, and Quintalion had hook, line and sinker.

Even the cover was magical, the graphic cover and the very apt recommendation from John Marsden is in itself reason to pick up this book and explore it. I look forward to what K.A Barker has to offer in the future.

[Emily Craven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite entertaining, the settings were brilliantly depicted and the characters were a bit of fun. It was definitely a highly immersive fantasy world. I did find though that the first third of the book seemed to be highly polished and focused in its plot and characterisation, but the rest of the book seemed to wander a bit. I'm not really a fan of wanderings off into cute little scenes if they have no point to the overall plot. And though I liked many of the weird and wonderful characters the main character, Tuesday, drove me nuts. She kept doing these supremely idiotic things, and she tended to be this helpless maid that just got swept along by events (that she triggered doing something silly). On the whole the book was charming, but hasn't joined the ranks of favourites.