Review: My Side of The Diamond by Sally Gardner

An extraordinary tale about the search for love from the acclaimed Costa and Carnegie winning novelist Sally Gardner.

Jazmin has been shunned ever since her best friend Becky disappeared. But Becky didn’t just disappear – she jumped off a tall building and seemingly never reached the ground. It was as if she simply vanished into thin air. Did Jazmin have something to do with her disappearance? Or was it more to do with Icarus, so beguiling and strangely ever youthful, with whom Becky became suddenly besotted . . .

With detailed and intriguing black and white illustrations throughout.

I received a copy from Readers First in exchange for an honest review.

The book is bound in the style of a notebook, which intrigued me and I thought was quite creative and quirky. It has relevance to the story, I won’t spoil it for you in case you decide to read it.

I realised very quickly that this was going to be a “marmite book”, by the end I wasn’t so sure. Despite the obvious giveaway on the cover I had no idea this book was going to have aliens in it. There were times where I was confused, despite this I found it a weirdly compelling read. I was weirded and creeped out regularly throughout the book, even during the confusing moments, where I had absolutely no idea what was going on I couldn’t put it down.

Here’s the thing though… it’s told in multiple perspectives, usually I love this but on this occasion it didn’t work. Everyone’s voice and personality felt the same and two dimensional throughout the whole book, it was hard for me to remember whose perspective I was reading at any given time. Usually I give books a rating in my reviews, on this occasion i’m not. My reviews are always my 100% honest opinions and with My Side of the Diamond I honestly don’t know what to rate it. I don’t know if I loved it or hated it.

Published by: Hot Key Books

Published: 05/10/17

Pages: 240

Buy from: Waterstones Book Depository