THE PLOT: Shipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue is a YA fantasy about two strangers from different worlds who meet on a train. Margo is an Irish school girl on a train to boarding school in Dublin. Moon is a salesman who travels through a series of interconnected worlds on a magical train network. When Margo suddenly appears on Moon’s train their fates become inextricably linked. Moon agrees to help Margo return home, but she soon learns that each world has its own unique sense of time. And time isn’t just money…It’s power. As Margo gets caught up in the cruelty of Moon’s reality, she is pulled to help fight the oppressive regime that controls the train network.
SUMMARY: This novel was the perfect escapism. During the rainy autumn days, I became quite anxious and overwhelmed by my never-ending to-do list and big life changes ahead. So, of course, I turned to a fantasy novel for comfort. Caroline O’Donoghue is a sensational author so I knew I’d be in good hands with her. As expected, I got a fast-moving plot, endearing characters, whip-smart dialogue and impressive world-building. This is a book you can’t wait to read before bed. It’s an ‘under-the-covers’ ‘one-more-chapter’ kind of novel. Be warned, if you’re a fan of Caroline’s adult novels, this might NOT be for you. Read the blurb – it’s a typical fantasy and you need to be a fan of the genre as it follows the usual beats you’d expect from the ‘Hunger Games’ or ‘The Wizard of Oz’. Yet the premise is original and it’s so entertaining within the usual genre conventions, I can’t wait to read the second book in this duology.
GOOD BITS: Time travel stories are my jam. I truly love the intersection of historical and sci-fi, with a connection to (or reflection of) our modern world. So, the premise of this novel piqued my interest straight-away. Having read a lot of books about the concept of time, I still found this extremely original and it’s a clever twist on the meaning of ageing. This novel forces you to ask; what does time mean? How does it govern us? Do we all have the same 24 hours in a day?
Caroline is a known advocate for Palestine and the struggle for independence in the book highlights important themes about colonialism, immigration and privilege. The use of borders, checkpoints and controlling the free movement of people felt extremely poignant. I loved all of the side characters in various boarding houses and how they represented the different worlds they lived in. Moon’s status as a sort of refugee from a traveller community was very poignant and I connected with the character.
NOT SO GOOD BITS: Due to the complex world-building, Moon and Margo have to explain their backstories in a lot of monologues. In the beginning, I found there was a lot of exposition but I didn’t really mind it. You can see the author working to put some of the exposition in dialogue and interiority to establish the world up front.
Despite the explanations, I had a tiny bit of disbelief in the premise. I struggled to fully understand that each place is a different world, rather than different cities in the same world. For example, are they literally different planets? Do they spin on different axis? Are they parallel worlds in different dimensions? But it’s a fantasy novel so I just had to accept and go with it.
The romance didn’t 100% work for me and I felt a little bit uncomfortable at the age-gap relationship. Obviously, they’re from different worlds and time is meaningless, but there’s just a feeling of a power imbalance. In my opinion, Margo feels like an 18-yo and Moon feels like a 28-yo. It’s not completely wrong and you can feel the author trying to justify it. But my gut just felt like it was a tad off-kilter and the sex scenes were jarring.
Finally, the plot progression is a tad predictable but I felt a lot of comfort in the predictability. There is obvious foreshadowing about Margo’s father, which didn’t detract from my enjoyment, but it meant the ending wasn’t such a surprise for me as it seemed to be for others.
OVERALL: I can’t think of any good YA fantasy comps so, based on vibes, I’d recommend this book to fans of The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson. If you’re looking for a fantasy to dive into this winter, I highly recommend picking this one up.
You can purchase this book (with a discount) and support @aminasbookshelf via my bookshop.org. affiliate link.
