Book Review: Budgie Smugglers by Gary Taaffe

Budgie Smugglers

by Gary Taaffe
Series: Urban Hunters #4
Published: July 25, 2012
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult
Format: eBook (152 pages)
Source: For Review

Suffering similar tragedies a world apart and forced to grow up before their time, Billy and Amber must find a new future, one beyond anything either of them could ever have imagined. Life was normal for Billy, living hidden in the bush with the last of his kind. Until the spirit of his mother told him in a dream to go Walkabout where the whitefellas live. Find some girls or watch his clan of men die out, ending the Dreamtime forever.

Spoiler free even if you haven’t read the first three books in this series. 

I loved the glossary in Budgie Smugglers. I know that sounds weird, but let me explain. The author, Gary, talks about how there’s a “rule” in writing that you shouldn’t use colloquialisms and you should change the spelling to suit whatever country you’re selling it in. Gary says the heck with that because he thinks readers are smart – give them a glossary so they can learn and be entertained. I agree 100% (why didn’t Harry Potter do this!). The Australian flavor of this book is immensely entertaining. As a non-Australian, it’s pretty easy to follow the slang throughout the story after briefly reading through the glossary.  (And even if you don’t read the glossary, the important words are explained in the story so you won’t be lost.)

We get to see more of Billy and Amber’s adventures in Budgie Smugglers.  Billy is a boy from the Australian bush and Amber is a city girl that Billy meets.  This book was just as laugh out loud funny as the first three books in this series. It was charming yet brutally honest and raw at the same time. The contrast between the two is so interesting. Like Billy talking about eating kangaroo pups and Amber being horrified by it. Then Billy explained it was to keep his grandfather fat so he can stay warm in the extreme conditions of living in the bush. See! They ate baby kangaroos and it’s disturbing and cute at the same time. And there were just enough gross-out scenes to make you squeal. Billy roasting a cat in a straight-forward way made me squirm. It was awesome. No way would I ever want to see Billy cook something, but I love reading about it in all it’s gory detailed glory. Billy slowly learning about girls and falling in love for the first time in his innocent way was just plain adorable. I can’t get enough of these characters and their adventures.

Content Rating: Medium, for some language and mildly graphic descriptions of eating unconventional things.

I received this book for review from the author, Gary Taaffe, in exchange for an honest review. I was not told what to say, I was not paid to write this review and all the opinions expressed are my own.