New Releases! Retribution Rails

Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman

Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman is absolutely fantastic. The novel takes the reader back to the days of Wild Wild West. The storyline follows The Rose Kid, Reece Murphy, who doesn't exactly enjoy having the title of being a violent hood. Captured years earlier by a vicious gang The Rose Riders, Reece was forced to become part of the gang and follow along with all of their illegal activities. Reece gets caught up with a ambitious young lady, Charlotte, whose evil uncle makes her long for a change in her life. Though they're nearly enemies, fate might bring an unlikely companionship between the two.

    Bowman does an amazing job with the setting and really grasping the concept of the West during the 1800s. Many a time I've actually felt like I myself was in Jesse and Kate’s kitchen, listening to their conversations. The plot to the story is a rich and well-thought out plot, with meaningful points to the events taking place. The connections between characters take a smooth transition and are overall grand. Bowman makes vivid descriptions of everything! From characters to settings, she's blew me away at the level of greatness that comes along with her writing. Throughout both books, Retribution Rails and Vengeance Road (the companion book) the overall greatness of the novels makes me appreciate the Wild West as a topic and Erin Bowman as an author making wonderful stories, expanding my horizons.

Title: Retribution Rails

Author: Erin Bowman

Published By: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Released On: November 7, 2017

Review by Allison P.

Erin Bowman Skype

“Revise,Revise.Polish,Polish,” is just one of the many writing tips author Erin Bowman shared with Woodstown Middle School students. On Friday, January 8th, Woodstown Middle students held a skype session with author  Erin Bowman. Erin Bowman is the author of the Taken series and Vengeance Road. Both books are fairly different with one leading you back into the “Wild West” and the other giving you a dystopian vibe. Just as a young girl, Erin always loved to read or write. Having her mother as a librarian, she always got a head start on new books and had a wide variety for a choice selection.  Her biggest influence as a writer is the Harry Potter Series. Just like Hogwarts, Erin wanted to be able to create a world where readers wanted to live in through her writing. Not only that, “Inspiration comes from many things,” she said. A tiny voice in her head about an 18 year old boy, sparked the idea of the Taken series. It just goes to show, that amazing stories can be created through the simplest ways. Along with that some of Erin’s favorite books include the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

During the skype session we asked many questions and one happened to be, “If you could be one of the characters you created, who would you want to be?” Out of all the character’s Erin created, she would want to be Kate from Vengeance Road. Kate is a very strong-willed girl, who doesn’t struggle with confrontation or let anyone hold her back. Erin really admires her traits and hopes to let them have an impact on herself. Speaking of characters, Erin currently is working on two different books. One is a companion novel to Vengeance Road, which takes place in the west but has a completely different story. Then she started working on a sci-fi novel about a mission that goes terribly wrong! One thing I found interesting was that Erin really is amazing at writing different types of genres. Not all her books are the same. Lastly as Erin advises, pick up a fresh notebook, brainstorm ideas, and then move to a computer to begin creating a story of your own.  

By Julia L.