Slow and gentle for 3/4 of the book, getting to know Mira and Ben, and learning to really like them a lot, building up to a very satisfying ending. I can understand some readers' frustration at the lack of action throughout the majority of the book, but I think there were enough tantalising hints of what was to come to sustain engagement with the very likeable protagonists and their poignant connection. ( )

Just starting the book and WOW. I see already why AA Bell won the Norma K. Hemming Award. It's feeling more SF/horror than fantasy, not my usual read by loving the style and her voice. Really drawn in.

Finished! Bell handled some very interesting concepts of perception, vision, time and space. This is a SF novel with a strong element of romance, not a combination I've read a lot of. I liked it. Without the building relationship between the main characters, the theoretical line of the story would not be as easily absorbed, and without the theory, the story also would lose legs so the blend is very much necessary and well executed.

At times it was hard to keep up with Mira's position on her emotional scale. Sometimes she was childlike and raging, other times she was sophisticated and poised. On retrospect it seems she could not have matured as fast as she did in one week but the story is so well crafted that when in it, there is not doubt.

A winner of the 2010 Norma K Hemming Award. Not hard to see why. ( )

Diamond Eyes By A A Bell

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this novel. I had made it to the author's web page and looked at the covers, which were intriguing. I really did not read the blurbs. I was, in fact, taking a break from another tedious novel that I felt lacked some bit of style to keep me interested. So I decided to go ahead and try the bit of sample the author is offering. It's about one hundred pages. I usually don't put a lot of stock in the cover or the blurb, but prefer to read at least ten or more pages when possible. And I will say this-about Diamond Eyes- read those pages and then try to act like you're not interested in reading the rest of the book.

I was immediately drawn into the book by the engaging narrative. This is not one of the usual action packed, heart pumping, seat of your pants hooks. This is more a carefully crafted lure that is placed gently and casually entices the reader into the world of Mira Chambers and her heart rending story.

Ben-recently released from prison for something he had nothing to do with- thought that he'd just been through the worst he could ever see and was looking forward to getting back into the life he had to so abruptly leave behind. He's just taken a job with Serenity-better known as Libica Isle Benevolent Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Not the best assignment but he's now an ex-con. He'll be working with youths and young adults, but is primarily here to help with Mira's case. If he thought he had it bad he's about to discover a whole new meaning of bad. Not the way that the story initially misleads the reader, though. He's about to see how much of a hell that Mira has had to confront and slowly he begins to realize that it may all be even more of an injustice than his own incarceration.

Mira is blind- that's the least of her problems. She's not much hindered by her blindness and she is in no way to be considered helpless. Her real problem is that because her hold on reality seems so tenuous and her nature is to strike out at everyone, she is kept mollified through heavy medication. She has no friends in the staff and the one friend she has among the patients has recently sewn here eye lid shut.

There's a lot of mystery just in this first bit of getting acquainted with these characters. And sometimes this reads like a paranormal story and for some it might not get to the action as quick as they desire. This is a suspense thriller that build slowly one brick at a time and it kept me interested all the way through. There may have been some predictable elements in the narrative but I think that helped the pacing of the story if anything.

There are often novels, which I've read, that resonate with me in such a way that they really touch me and this novel had several moments. There were times when the struggles and decisions of Mira seemed so real that I could cheer when it appears that Ben has somehow connected and goes way above and beyond to help her. In the same token when Ben suffers for both his past and those decisions to help that put him a odds with the system I found myself sympathizing and trying to figure out how things were ever going to work out for him.

It seem for every breakthrough in Mira's condition they run into another setback for which either one of them might be responsible and until the two researchers come into the story there seems to be little hope in a total understanding of what is going on. But, with the possibility of answers for both Mira and Ben there comes a new set of risks and dangers that begin to make everything else they have experienced so far look like a walk in the park.

I'm not sure how anyone could put this book down after starting. I want the answers to the burning questions about Mira's condition.

There were several times that I had to look up some of the stuff mentioned in Diamond Eyes and I'd say the A.A. Bell did the research necessary to bring as much realism into this novel as possible.

If you like psychological thrillers, a bit of the paranormal, and some weird time travel like stuff you'll love this book. All this, and it could very well be considered a literary masterpiece. It's well told, clear and understandable as the author builds- each step of the way- the explanation of what the Diamond Eyes mean to Mira.(To say nothing of the Poet Trees.)

Well Woven Psychological Suspense Mystery Thriller

J.L. Dobias ( )

Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at
Book & Movie Dimension a Blog

Mira Chambers is classed as a blind and insane inmate at an asylum. She wrestles against the asylum clinic's staff and wont allow anyone to get past her barriers to get to know her. Then, Ben a new staff helper sees in her something that can open up and be good. Mira Chambers can be more than that, but nobody besides Ben truly sees that she may just be different then the rest of us. In a way that lets her understand things like no other with her beautiful eyes. Diamond Eyes has a lot of great suspense during moments where we begin to see of Mira's unique condition.
A new fascinating Science fiction concept I am now forever in love with. ( )

I chose to read DIAMOND EYES because it is on the Best First Fiction Nominations list for the Ned Kelly Awards for 2011.

Despite the product description there is little that marks the early stages of the novel as crime fiction and I found it hard to place the novel. Perhaps futuristic fiction I thought. Although I did come to appreciate why it has been nominated for a Ned Kelly, but I am not convinced it should be there. There is evil, crime, and even murder, but for me the threads strayed more into science fiction.

There are just too many layers in this story for me. Mira's affliction, Fragile X syndrome, allows/forces her to see events from the past that have taken place in the rooms and settings she is in. The colours of her glasses determines what she sees. Sometimes what she sees are memories, while other visions are conjured up by her imagination.

She becomes part of an experiment to enable a comparison of delusions with reality and one of the assessors sees her as a "goldmine" whose case will attract funding to their project by drawing media attention to the medical misdiagnosis she has been subjected to over the last 10 years. In addition, many of the characters, even those in authority in the mental institution Mira is in, are "damaged goods" and some are just plain corrupt.

I think this is a book you will either relish or dislike. For me it was a very long read and not one that I particularly enjoyed. I felt the author had changed her mind several times in relation to what DIAMOND EYES was about. ( )