Book Review

Ink Pellet’s book review section covers an eclectic selection of new fiction, teachers’ guides, audio books and classics.

Many of our reviews are written by teachers, so we have an expert eye on how texts will work in the classroom. We hope to create a useful archive of reviews so that you can use this as a reference.

If you would like to join our panel of reviewers, please join in or email the editor john@inkpellet.co.uk.

We hope the section inspires you to share new fiction with your pupils or to revisit old favorites yourself.

  1. Book Review: The Blackthorn Key By Kevin Sands

    Book Review: The Blackthorn Key By Kevin Sands  

    Book Review of The Blackthorn Key By Kevin Sands. Set in London in the 1660s, the story revolves around Christopher Rowe, the apprentice to a Master Apothecary named Benedict Blackthorn. Christopher is eager to learn and please his benefactor. Blackthorn, recognizing his young student’s potential, teaches him everything from chemistry and Latin to church history and cryptography. It’s well that he does, as Christopher will need all his wits and knowledge to solve the mystery of the murdered apothecaries happening around him.

  2. Book Review: On Shakespeare’s Sonnets – A Poets’ Celebration

    Book Review: On Shakespeare’s Sonnets – A Poets’ Celebration  

    Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets are some of the loveliest and best known poems in English. And as Mr Shakespeare knew they would (“my verse shall stand” – Sonnet 60) they have more than stood the test of time since they were first published in 1609.

  3. Book Review: Wild Lily

    Book Review: Wild Lily  

    This new novel from the veteran author, KM Peyton takes us right back to Flambards territory – and the series of young adult novels which, from 1967, later spawned a television series and an amusement park in Cornwall.

  4. Book Review: Facing the Fear – an actor’s guide to overcoming stage fright

    Book Review: Facing the Fear – an actor’s guide to overcoming stage fright  

    Insightful, empowering and reassuring, Facing the Fear is a book for any actor – for those who are experiencing or have previously suffered from stage fright, as well as for those who want to be fully prepared just in case that day ever comes!

  5. BOOK REVIEW: The Oberon Book of Comic Monologues for Women, Volume 2

    BOOK REVIEW: The Oberon Book of Comic Monologues for Women, Volume 2  

    By Katy Wix Published by Oberon Books Regularly seen showcasing her comic talents on our small screens, this second volume of short comic monologues from Katy Wix offers a wonderful collection of witty, original audition speeches or showcase pieces. Although essentially written for women, many of these can be applied/adapted for male performers too. Each […]

  6. BOOK REVIEW: How to Write About Theatre: A Manual for Critics, Students and Bloggers

    BOOK REVIEW: How to Write About Theatre: A Manual for Critics, Students and Bloggers  

    by Mark Fisher Published by Bloomsbury Whether you are a student looking to enhance your critical writing skills for A Level, telling your friends about a show you’ve seen or planning a career as a theatre critic – or indeed already a critic – this book offers great advice. Drawing on his long years of […]

  7. BOOK REVIEW: Playwriting – a Writers & Artists Companion

    BOOK REVIEW: Playwriting – a Writers & Artists Companion  

    By Fraser Grace and Clare Bayley Published by Bloomsbury Full of inspiration and practical advice, Playwriting: A Writers’ & Artists’ Companion is a comprehensive companion to writing for the stage. Divided into three parts: PART 1 includes reflections on the art and the craft of playwriting, guidance on writing for a full range of genres […]

  8. BOOK REVIEW: The Artificial Anatomy of Parks

    BOOK REVIEW: The Artificial Anatomy of Parks  

    by Kat Gordon Published by Legend Press At 21, Tallulah Park lives alone in a grimy bedsit. There’s a sink in her room and a strange damp smell that means she wakes up wheezing. Then she gets the call that her father has had a heart attack. And so begins a story so richly woven […]

  9. BOOK REVIEW: Acting Shakespeare’s Language

    BOOK REVIEW: Acting Shakespeare’s Language  

    by Andy Hinds Published by Oberon Books Acting Shakespeare’s Language opens with the following quote by Ralph Fiennes: “Andy Hinds offers a rich and detailed path towards a precise contact with the challenge of speaking and inhabiting Shakespeare’s language. This book is an immensely useful resource for anyone teaching, speaking and acting Shakespeare.“ I won’t […]

  10. BOOK REVIEW: Phoenix Rising

    BOOK REVIEW: Phoenix Rising  

    by Bryony Pearce Published by Stripes Publishing From award-winning author Bryony Pearce, comes this gripping YA trilogy set in a future world where fossil fuels have run out and democracy has collapsed. An outlawed pirate crew fight for survival on their ship, the Phoenix, kept afloat by whatever they can salvage or scavenge from the […]