What do you think?
Rate this book
Stormbird
Before technology and social connectivity became integral to our busy lives, some may argue that we lived a much simpler life. But perhaps Jack Armstrong, a student of Evansdale High, would beg to differ as his final year of high school comes to an end.
It’s 1998 and it’s warming up to be one of the hottest summers in Australian history. With the build-up of heat the storm season is on its way to Tropical North Queensland, but not before a series of malicious events set to end Jack’s chances of graduation.
Even the distraction of Jack’s growing feelings towards Susan, his best friend and lifelong neighbour, has little effect on easing the mounting pressures from the influential adults around him. Nothing is certain to him anymore.
With the high school bully hot on his heels, it’s up to Jack and his friends to discover why he is the target, and what link an assigned novel - Paperback Writer - has to all these events, before it’s too late and before it becomes a matter of life or death.
It’s 1998 and it’s warming up to be one of the hottest summers in Australian history. With the build-up of heat the storm season is on its way to Tropical North Queensland, but not before a series of malicious events set to end Jack’s chances of graduation.
Even the distraction of Jack’s growing feelings towards Susan, his best friend and lifelong neighbour, has little effect on easing the mounting pressures from the influential adults around him. Nothing is certain to him anymore.
With the high school bully hot on his heels, it’s up to Jack and his friends to discover why he is the target, and what link an assigned novel - Paperback Writer - has to all these events, before it’s too late and before it becomes a matter of life or death.
422 pages, Paperback
Published June 5, 2020
About the author
Leon Jane
2 books16 followersLeon Jane has always liked reading stories with a twist or with hidden messages, perhaps it stems from being a Gemini or that he loves being creative. He likes to delve into his imagination by creating stories and poetry which cover various genre. When he’s not busy reading or writing he loves spending time in his tropical garden with his beautiful family in Far North Queensland, Australia.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 24, 2020
As the author's first title in full-length format, I think Stormbird shows a lot of promise. It's a well imagined piece straddling the Young Adult and Thriller genres.
The story consists of two interconnected plot arcs - the budding romance between 17-year-old Jack Armstrong and his lifelong friend and neighbour, Susan Valentino, and a series of alarming events that begin to unfold in their neighbourhood of suburban Cairns, Far North Queensland.
Stormbird features a large cast of disquieting characters, including: Local bus driver Bill and his eccentric daughter Sissy, Susan's highly-strung sister Valerie and her possessive and traumatised mother, Frances; Jack's English teacher Mr. Friar, who seems oddly insistent that he read and review a manuscript recently produced from the writing group Friar runs; beautiful but prickly performing arts teacher Nancy Smith; Daris Kovacevic, a troubled survivor of the Bosnian genocide whose backyard is stacked with categorised junk; and Jack's nemesis, bully Jonas, who hides his appalling home life from the world.
There are many passages of excellent prose throughout the novel - the prologue and several passages and poems quoted from a book, Paperback Writer, by a local writer who uses the pseudonym John Bird particularly stood out. Leon Jane captures the nuances of teenage angst very effectively, and manages to portray both male and female perspectives quite sensitively. He also weaves beautiful descriptions of the exotic plant and bird life of FNQ into the story.
That said, I feel that Stormbird requires additional editing to achieve the level of polish expected by readers of the Thriller genre particularly. At 422 pages, I felt the book was overlong, and would be improved by some judicious cutting of extraneous paragraphs. There are also numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the text and on several occasions the author uses words whose meanings are out of context. I found a lot of the dialogue quite clunky and unconvincing, and felt that it would be improved by a review of syntax and greater use of contractions and insertion of some non-lexical pause fillers (um, ah etc.), as the content itself wasn't at issue. While I felt both major plot arcs were strong and well-developed over the course of the story, I felt that the dramatic conclusion was perhaps over-cluttered by too many converging events. I wonder whether this would have worked better as two separate crescendo events, separated by time and place in the narrative.
As a reader in the 30s-40s age bracket (and I'm somewhere near the top of that!), I found the 1998 setting and music soundtrack to the narrative nostalgic and evocative. I'm not sure that this would be the case for the modern YA market, although it might be a means for those readers to discover some great music!
All in all, an imperfect but promising read. I look forward to reading Leon Jane's future output.
My thanks to the author and Booksprout for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Stormbird. I wish the author the best of success with its publication.
The story consists of two interconnected plot arcs - the budding romance between 17-year-old Jack Armstrong and his lifelong friend and neighbour, Susan Valentino, and a series of alarming events that begin to unfold in their neighbourhood of suburban Cairns, Far North Queensland.
Stormbird features a large cast of disquieting characters, including: Local bus driver Bill and his eccentric daughter Sissy, Susan's highly-strung sister Valerie and her possessive and traumatised mother, Frances; Jack's English teacher Mr. Friar, who seems oddly insistent that he read and review a manuscript recently produced from the writing group Friar runs; beautiful but prickly performing arts teacher Nancy Smith; Daris Kovacevic, a troubled survivor of the Bosnian genocide whose backyard is stacked with categorised junk; and Jack's nemesis, bully Jonas, who hides his appalling home life from the world.
There are many passages of excellent prose throughout the novel - the prologue and several passages and poems quoted from a book, Paperback Writer, by a local writer who uses the pseudonym John Bird particularly stood out. Leon Jane captures the nuances of teenage angst very effectively, and manages to portray both male and female perspectives quite sensitively. He also weaves beautiful descriptions of the exotic plant and bird life of FNQ into the story.
That said, I feel that Stormbird requires additional editing to achieve the level of polish expected by readers of the Thriller genre particularly. At 422 pages, I felt the book was overlong, and would be improved by some judicious cutting of extraneous paragraphs. There are also numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the text and on several occasions the author uses words whose meanings are out of context. I found a lot of the dialogue quite clunky and unconvincing, and felt that it would be improved by a review of syntax and greater use of contractions and insertion of some non-lexical pause fillers (um, ah etc.), as the content itself wasn't at issue. While I felt both major plot arcs were strong and well-developed over the course of the story, I felt that the dramatic conclusion was perhaps over-cluttered by too many converging events. I wonder whether this would have worked better as two separate crescendo events, separated by time and place in the narrative.
As a reader in the 30s-40s age bracket (and I'm somewhere near the top of that!), I found the 1998 setting and music soundtrack to the narrative nostalgic and evocative. I'm not sure that this would be the case for the modern YA market, although it might be a means for those readers to discover some great music!
All in all, an imperfect but promising read. I look forward to reading Leon Jane's future output.
My thanks to the author and Booksprout for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of Stormbird. I wish the author the best of success with its publication.
Displaying 1 of 1 review