$2.99 USD (Smashwords ebook)

$11.99 USD (Amazon)

It seems fitting that with the Australian publishing and bookselling industry discussing ebooks and self publishing over at Isobelle Carmody’s Greylands launch site, I should read and review an up and coming Australian author’s self published ebook.

Normally I detest self published books. My friend loves the 99c Amazon ones for the train and the quality authors for hard copies but I find myself noticing too many editing mistakes, or weird structural decisions or stereotypical characters or cliched writing etc which detracts from my enjoyment of the book. I only agreed on this book because Cooke is a local writer and because I knew she had rewritten her manuscript multiple times and had some good feedback from some Australian publishers.

Nadine’s first book, Soulmaker, tells the story of 15 year old Ashden and 13 year old Elanora; two misfit teens drawn into the mysterious Timefold in order to give toys a second chance at life. The first book in a slated trilogy, Soulmaker flicks between these two characters perspectives, with Elanora getting stuck in time, and Ashden trying to enlist his old teacher to try and rescue her. Aimed at Year 6 readers and older, the story is well written, doesn’t fall into the telling rather than showing trap, has sympathetic characters and strong imagery. All positive reasons to take a punt on a first time, self published author.

I do have some caveats. The story did head hop between characters. The Final Destination/Christian allegory was very obvious and will really rub some people up the wrong way, especially those who criticised C. S Lewis for utilising the sledgehammer in his Narnia books, and the character arc of Elanora is left very ambiguous. She aged quite a bit, very fast, and we miss out on seeing her character growth. This did irritate me but I am assured by the author that this comes in Book 2 so fingers crossed.

Story structure and sledgehammer theme concerns aside, Soulmaker is a different, original fantasy concept, rooted in a very strong sense of Australian place and culture. I will watch this author with interest. I have a suspicion it is only a small matter of time before a publisher picks her up.

Soulmaker: 2.5/5 inky stars (I reccomend buying the ebook to see if you like the author’s style and then buy hard copies on book 2’s release if you like what you read)

A proof copy of the book was supplied to InkAshlings by the author. You can purchase Soulmaker from Cooke’s website here:  http://www.nadinecooke.com/shop.html

There are many debates online and elsewhere about the future of books of course; debates about the book selling and publishing industries role with the rise of self publishing and ebooks; debates about the death of the hard copy book; cries of Brave New World and technological terror, cries of civilisational progress… but never before has there been such a concentrated and academic discussion all in one place. Each day of the month Isobelle has enlisted a different author, editor, agent, essayist, poet, student, teacher, book seller, book publisher or librarian to write about an aspect of the pros, cons and potential innovations of the ebook. Comment on a post and you instantly go into the draw to win your own ereader, signed copies of Isobelle’s books as well as some audio books!

You don’t need to be interested in Isobelle’s books or want to win a competition to participate. With advice and discussion on ebook formatting, self publishing, kindle and other ereader types, the future of picture books as ebooks, enhanced ereaders, interactivity and reading, creative possibilities and the ereader and much, much more, this is a month all writers and readers don’t want to miss!

Interested? Today’s guest post is by respected Australian steampunk author, Richard Harland. Previous posts by Helen Chamberlain, Nick Bland, Sophie Masson and Alex Adsett can be viewed by clicking links on the side of Richard’s post. The website itself will self destruct when the month is up, but all posts and comments will be archived on Isobelle’s blog.

An interesting and informative forum for discussion, this is the month the Australian book industry talks about ebooks…

Click here for the link for today’s post by Richard Harland: http://greylands.theslipstream.com.au/2012/07/pop-ups-playaways-and-cruising-for-kindles-richard-harland/#comment-136

Click for more information on the website’s purpose, Isobelle Carmody and Min Dean here: http://greylands.theslipstream.com.au/

This blog post was compiled by InkAshlings independently of the Greylands ebook launch. Any mistakes are my own. Specific details about the Greylands ebook launch are located on the website.