Award Winning New Zealand Authors

My reading slump is continuing with not many 5 star reads left to review. Nevertheless I have two fabulous reads for you this week and by NZ authors too! Go out and buy these ones if you can.

First up this week we have The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāi Rauru, Ngāruahine). This is his debut novel which was released in August 2023 and read by me in September 2023.

The Bone Tree is so hard to review without giving away plot! Right from the very beginning, incredulous things happen. This book is largely a coming of age novel which is centred around two brothers, Kauri and Black who live out the back blocks of Taranaki.

“Kauri and Black's mum has been gone six months now. Their dad is barely holding on and the threat of child services taking Black looms large. Kauri won't let that happen, and so he embarks on a journey into their family's past. The only way to break the cycle of violence is to understand where it all began. But when an accident brings child services to their door, the race is on for Kauri to save his brother. And he will learn that no matter how brave he is or how strong he is, he cannot do it alone.”

I particularly enjoyed the character development of Kauri. I think the author does an excellent job of getting into the head of a young person and writing from that perspective. (Black is unwell for much of the book so he isn’t the main character). I enjoyed the way Māori myths and te ao Māori weave their way through the story, at times giving the writing a mystical quality.

I have a definite bias toward New Zealand authors and it’s important that these stories are told and read! Go out and grab yourself a copy and let me know what you think.

Next up this week we have Better the Blood by Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue). This is crime fiction set in Tamaki Makaurau. The story follows detective Hana Westerman who received a video which sends her to a condemned building. There, she finds the first murder victim. This discovery is the start of an investigation where the story weaves its way through a back drop of Māori history, Māori concepts, as well as Hana’s past. Hana is confronted by her role as a police officer in a system which arrests and incarcerates her people, and she questions whether this is the place for her.

I think this is almost more a book about Māori history and the impacts of colonisation than it is a crime novel. This book will be really confronting for many, as there is so much social commentary - books are such a powerful tool in this regard. Many of the issues within New Zealand systems are laid bare - spoiler alert, in the beginning of the novel a privileged law student who is found guilty of drugging and raping a Māori girl receives no punishment for his crime. 

I’m not a huge reader of crime fiction so perhaps this is why I was less focused on the actual investigation and more on the other parts of the novel. I had a lot of sympathy for the killer - this was likely the intention of the author.

Both of these books were ones that I devoured quickly - confronting page turners  have got to be good, because life is too short to read bad books.