“LoveOzYA was born from readers and writers and all who love Australia’s national literature (…) this book is a love letter to that movement, and all who got behind it.”
Bestsellers. Award-winners. Superstars. This anthology has them all. With brilliantly entertaining short stories from beloved young adult authors Amie Kaufman, Melissa Keil, Will Kostakis, Ellie Marney, Jaclyn Moriarty, Michael Pryor, Alice Pung, Gabrielle Tozer, Lili Wilkinson and Danielle Binks, this all-new collection will show the world exactly how much there is to love about Aussie YA.
<>
↠ Title: Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology
↠ Author: Various; edited by Danielle Binks
↠ Release Date: [AUS] April 24th ’17; [US] Jan 9th ’18; [UK] Jan 11th ’18
↠ Rating: 4/5 stars
Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this lovely collection of stories!
This book is adorable guys. The stories are incredible; the idea behind it is touching (we all remember the #LoveOzYA hashtag from last year, right?) I will admit I don’t read anthologies much and whilst I do enjoy them, I occasionally have trouble investing in the stories because they are short stories and their length can hinder how I empathise with a character and understand a narrative. But nevertheless, Begin, End, Begin was amazing.
Think of the Aussie authors you know. If you’re like me, you can probably only list a few: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner and Jay Kristoff. Amie Kaufman is the only Aussie author I knew featured in this anthology; this rest are unfamiliar to me. And I love that I don’t know them, I love that there are new brilliant authors out there whose works I can now explore.
(Side note: I would really love to read a British YA version of this, because there are so many amazing British YA authors who need more attention (I barely know any British YA authors off the top of my head – it’s Alice Oseman and that’s it – and I’m British myself which is appalling, so can someone get on this please?))
But I digress, so onto the stories:
One Small Step . . . by Amie Kaufman (4/5 stars) – This story is basically about gay girls in a community on Mars, what else do you want?
I Can See The Ending by Will Kostakis (3.5/5 stars) – This one was interesting for me because of the fact that the narrator was a boy (honestly, I need to read more YA books narrated by males), and also that this narrator could see where his relationships would end before it even started, but I found it a little on the long side.
In A Heartbeat by Alice Pung (3.5/5 stars) – A very real concept, focusing on teenage pregnancy, but from an Asian perspective. Also Luis (the love interest) was said to be “the lovechild of a Korean boy-band singer and Disney’s Aladdin” and honestly, I can get behind that.
First Casualty by Michael Pyror (4/5 stars) – Space!! A small spaceship crew (‘small’ being literally 2 people) end up saving an alien race who are really cute.
Sundays by Melissa Keil (3.5/5 stars) – A contemporary slice-of-life story set over the course of one night a at a house party where changes come and go in the lives of a group of close-knit teenagers.
Missing Persons by Ellie Marney (5/5 stars) – I have no clue why this one really clicked with me, but it did. I liked the characters (Mycroft especially) and how the protagonist struggled to adapt to life in the city after coming from the country. Also I liked how it didn’t end with a confirmed romance for the protagonist and left it slightly ambiguous.
[EDIT: Ooooooo so this story actually seems more like a prequel/spin-off; the author has a set of stories based off these characters! Oh my god and they’re based off Sherlock, excuse me whilst I scream *casually adds to Amazon basket*]
Oona Underground by Lili Wilkinson (5/5 stars) – A wonderful and original short story about two girls (one of whom is in love with the other) who go seeking the Witch Queen in the (magical) sewers to find out their destinies. This is potentially my favourite of the lot, potentially because I found it just incredibly unique. I think it was the world-within-the-sewers idea that did it.
The Feeling From Over Here by Gabrielle Tozer (4/5 stars) – an incredibly sweet story set over the course of one night as the heroine takes an overnight bus from Canberra to Melbourne (a drive of almost 10 hours, which is crazy and I can’t believe how big Australia is). On the bus she runs back into her old crush, Cameron Webber; things ended badly between them and there’s a lot things left unsaid. However, 10 hours on a bus is the perfect way to resolve them.
Last Night at the Mountain Solemn Observatory by Danielle Binks (5/5) – The one thing that stood out about this story was the fact that the older brother was deaf. And I love that there’s disabled rep, because honestly it’s so incredibly important. The other thing was that it was partly about space and how vast it is, which honestly I find incredible and awe-inspiring. Space is crazy cool. (Really off-topic, but Aussie author Jay Kristoff gives out random space facts on his Twitter sometimes and some of the things make you realise how incredible our world is).
Competition Entry #349 by Jaclyn Moriaty (4/5) – This story is about time travel agency! Exciting, no? Essentially the heroine goes back to find out why her crush is avoiding her, and ends up fixing multiple family problems at the same time.
Before Begin, End, Begin, Stephanie Perkin’s Christmas anthology My True Love Gave To Me was my favourite YA anthology but now it looks like it has a contender! Guys, I whole-heartedly recommend picking this one up – it is an amazing example of how brilliant Aussie literature is.
And now, I want to go to Australia more than ever.
Further Links:
Goodreads
Book Depository
Amazon
Advertisements Share this:
