Latest Reviews

History

Queensland Reviewers Collective (QRC) is the new name for an initiative that began eighteen years ago. Up until November 2016 it was known as M/C Reviews. In December 2015, the M/C Reviews website had a major security breach that took it down, and the editor of the book reviews section and some of the reviewers responded by starting a blog as a temporary site for book reviews until the website could be repaired. Unfortunately, it eventually became apparent that the website was not able to be restored, thus ending its long and illustrious presence as a place for the lively engagement with books and film through reviewing.

Once again, the editor and a small group of book reviewers decided they valued M/C Reviews enough to enable its rebirth as the Queensland Reviewers Collective. It no longer has an association with the Queensland University of Technology.

The website that M/C Reviews was initially a part of was M/C – Media and Culture, founded in 1998 as, according to the History section, ‘a place of public intellectualism, analysing and critiquing the meeting of media and culture’. It was meant as a place where the popular and the academic could meet, and ‘debates may have some resonance with wider political and cultural interests’.

The website was initiated and developed at the University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia; since 2004, it has been hosted by the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology in Kelvin Grove. The first publication was the M/C Journal, still thriving today, followed by M/C Reviews, and then M/Cyclopedia of New Media.

Acknowledgement of Country

In the spirit of reconciliation Queensland Reviewers Collective acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Other Reviews

General Fiction

Rat Daniels by Alex Sawyer

Reviewed by Rod McLary Although the title would suggest that the character Rat Daniels is the focus of this coming-of-age novel, that is not the case.  The main protagonist is Jimmy Quinn who narrates this thoroughly enthralling novel.  But Rat – whose real name is Damien Daniels – is at the centre of the narrative

Read Full Review »
Crime/Mystery

Red Lake by Jason Summers

Reviewed by Gayle Williams Red Lake by Australian author Jason Summers launches what promises to become the Harper Quinn Mysteries. Former Homicide Detective Sergeant Harper Quinn has returned with her family to the country town of Koorinda, New South Wales, where she grew up, to take up the role of Sergeant at the small local

Read Full Review »
Historical Fiction

Mrs Dickens by Emily Howes

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve The intricacies of a Victorian marriage are beautifully created in Emily Howes’s book devoted to the frequently overlooked Mrs Dickens. It is the result of extensive research skillfully enhanced by her imagination. Catherine Hogarth marries the renowned novelist and they enjoyed a delighted happiness, initially, but sadly that did not continue.

Read Full Review »

ACT Literary Awards 2026

MARION has announced the winners of the 2026 ACT Literary Awards. The winner of the overall Marion Halligan Award, selected from the category winners was The Dingo’s Noctuary (Judith Nangala Crispin, Puncher & Wattman). The winning titles in two of the categories are: Fiction Winner: In the Name of the Trees (Merlinda Bobis, Spinifex Press) Winner (self-published): To Heal a

Read Full Review »
Historical Fiction

Nothing to My Name by Kangkang Li Kovacs

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve This fine historical novel begins against the backdrop of the Civil War in China and concludes after the massacre in Tiananmen Square. These tumultuous events, the most significant in recent Chinese history, are a stark contrast to the lives of three women and their families. In turn, they form part of

Read Full Review »
Non-Fiction

Love Needs No Words by James Hunt

Reviewed by Gayle Williams James Hunt’s Love Needs No Words is a heartfelt memoir capturing the challenges and victories of raising his two non‑verbal autistic sons. Hunt brings readers into the everyday realities of their lives, highlighting what it means to parent children in a society that misunderstands them. Hunt’s memoir also highlights a very

Read Full Review »
Literary Fiction

The Northern Tomb by Isabelle Li

Reviewed by Rod McLary William Faulkner once said The past is never dead.  It’s not even past.  And this new novel by Australian Chinese writer Isabelle Li exemplifies that quote as she sets out the story of Mr Zhao, his carer Sister Fu and his son Jr.  They live in Shenyang in Northeast China at

Read Full Review »

Author Event – Kris Kneen

FRIDAY 10 JULY 2026 | INSTORE EVENT 6.00pm for a 6.30pm start Join us at Avid Reader West End for the launch of Kris Kneen’s latest book Rite of Spring. Kris will be in conversation with Carody Culver. ABOUT THE BOOK In the hope of salvaging their relationship, Miranda and Richard become caretakers of a

Read Full Review »
Children

Tiki and Jill by Kate Simpson and Dr Jill Colwell

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The children’s picture book, Tiki and Jill, retells the story of the Great Australian Camel Race, an endurance undertaking from Ayres Rock (Uluru) to the Albert Shire on the Gold Coast. This covered a distance of 3260 kilometres and took place between 28th April and the 16th of July 1988. The

Read Full Review »

🤞 Want to get the latest book reviews in your inbox?

Get In Touch

If you would like to contact the coordinator of the Queensland Reviewers Collective, either to enquire about becoming a reviewer, to offer a book to review, or to make a comment on the blog generally, please use the form.

Scroll to Top