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

Historical Fiction

The Night Parrots by Stephen Orr

Reviewed by Rod McLary This sprawling saga tells the story of Pastor Martin Gerlach, his wife Alma and their fourteen-year-old son Benjamin – or ‘Benno’ – who live on a Lutheran mission deep in the Australian outback.  It is 1922, and the Pastor and his family have travelled from Leipzig to run the mission with

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Miles Franklin Literary Award 2026

Shortlist for the Miles Franklin The shortlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced. Chosen from a longlist of 10, the shortlisted titles are: Discipline (Randa Abdel-Fattah, University of Queensland Press) First Name Second Name (Steve MinOn, University of Queensland Press) My Heart at Evening (Konrad Muller, Evercreech Editions) Fierceland (Omar Musa, Penguin Random House Australia) Little World

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General Fiction

Donkey Drop by S Tarulli

Reviewed by Rod McLary Grunge literature – or simply grunge lit – is a genre of Australian literature which looks at the lives of young people in disadvantaged circumstances and often deeply involved in alcohol or drug abuse.  The characters live on the social and cultural margins of their city.  The term was created after

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General Fiction

Simply Beside Herself by Judith Katherine

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Simply Beside Herself is the first novel by Judith Katherine who has always been fascinated by the narratives around role and how it can either broaden or narrow our worlds. Often people get caught up in doing the right thing, and what others expect by not making a fuss. This is

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Memoir/Biography

Unbothered by Margarita Nazarenko

Reviewed by Gayle Williams Margarita Nazarenko’s Unbothered is not a manifesto for indifference. Rather, it is a guide to developing personal standards and living by them with confidence, free from the weight of other people’s opinions. At its core, the book encourages readers to cultivate enough self‑trust that external approval no longer dictates their emotional

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General Fiction

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

Reviewed by Ian Hamilton This novel-memoir has smatterings of cultural references but the one that comes to mind, but not mentioned, is Frost’s poet “The Road Not Taken” because our protagonist’s story centres on his choices deliberate and choices fateful. I don’t think Frost ever wrote the complementary poem “The Road Taken” but the two

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History

Alexander: God, King, Man by Edmund Richardson

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Whether wishing to learn of the vivid life of one of history’s greatest figures or appreciating the brilliant scholarship involved in bringing this to the reader, Edmund Richardson’s biography of the legendary Macedonian/Greek is enormously satisfying and thrilling to read. Thousands of versions of Alexander have been scattered around the world.

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Memoir/Biography

True Crime by Patricia Cornwell

Reviewed by Rod McLary Patricia Cornwell is a best-selling author of over forty books – most of which feature her much-loved character Dr Kay Scarpetta a forensic pathologist.  Her first novel Postmortem won the Creasey, the Edgar, the Anthony and Macavity Awards – the first book ever to win these major awards in one year. 

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Young Adult

The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh

Reviewed by Clare Brook Reality and magical realism blended to create a nail biter plot concerning life for a Muslim girl in a private and very conservative American College.  This sums up The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh.  It connects stereotypical attitudes with the lived experience of those from another culture.  It

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