Oh hey, Hi

How’s it been? Long time no see. Feels like a month since I did a blog post, oh wait that might be true. I’ve been back at work since the end of June and my work hours are all over the place. And I have been heavily addicted to watching TikTok videos. Earlier this week was my Birthday, I am 27 years old (Does anyone find themselves saying their age to themselves so their brain can automatically say it without thinking any other age that you’ve said before? Like writing down the year in your textbooks at school. Nope…just me). I didn’t buy any books but I did make a reading nook which is so cool, I did get frustrated with my Himalayan Salt Lamp at one point.

Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

The first things to shift were the doll’s eyes, the beautiful grey-green glass eyes. Slowly they swivelled, until their gaze was resting on Triss’s face. Then the tiny mouth moved, opened to speak.

‘What are you doing here?’ It was uttered in tones of outrage and surprise, and in a voice as cold and musical as the clinking of cups. ‘Who do you think you are? This is my family.’

When Triss wakes up after an accident, she knows that something is very wrong. She is insatiably hungry; her sister seems scared of her and her parents whisper behind closed doors. She looks through her diary to try to remember, but the pages have been ripped out.

Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange and terrible than she could ever have imagined, and that she is quite literally not herself. In a quest to find the truth, she must travel into the terrifying Underbelly of the city to meet a twisted architect who has dark designs on her family – before it’s too late… 

Published: May 2014

Published Edition: March 2018

Publishers: Pan Macmillian

Genre: YA, Horror, Fantasy,

Pages: 432

Goodreads Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Review

This book has been on my TBR list for almost two years, ever since I read A Skinful of Shadows by the same author. (Review here) I knew going into this book that itwas going to be dark but I was not expecting anything else.

Triss is a young girl who wakes up to find her family concerned over her, she is told that her parents found her by the river. After that night, she struggles to be herself, her sister hides from her, rag dolls start speaking to her and she always feels hungry every single time. But soon she starts to notice things, letters from her older brother who is supposed to be dead, birds delivering messages and not only that, she realises that she is not Triss.

I will be honest, I did buy this because of reading A Skinful of Shadows and while I really enjoyed this book. I can finally acknoledge that Frances Hardinge writing is so well captivating. It’s like I fell down the rabbit hole and landed into the Wonderland of this book. It’s creepy, thrilling and all round fairytale. There is a moral theme in this book with the topic of loss and family. I felt that this book fits very well in my tiny horror collection with Shirley Jackson because it gave me so many creepy vibes, especially chapter 8 (I don’t want to explain it, so you have no other choice but to read it) I actually used one of my audiobook credits and listened to the magority of it while colouring on my ipad.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a nice escapism from the current situation and I wouldn’t mind picking up another book by the author.

I hope you are all well, work has started to pick up and I am filling more of my time with embroidery. I have been in the mood to be creative and I do enjoy sewing, I always find embroidery patterns really cool and creative and I have even restarted watching The Big Bang Theory. So that is what I am going to do.

XX