[ US | UK ]
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
by Stieg Larsson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Salander is plotting her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. But it is not going to be a straightforward campaign. After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in Intensive Care, and is set to face trial for three murders and one attempted murder on her eventual release. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must not only prove her innocence, but identify and denounce the corrupt politicians that have allowed the vulnerable to become victims of abuse and violence. Once a victim herself, Salander is now ready to fight back.
Ok, so the book spins a bit out of control with a few sub-plots that didn’t need to exist (Berger’s stalker, Salander’s trips to Gibraltar) but a great finish to the trilogy.
April 14, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society
by Chris Stewart
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: The Good Life goes on at El Valero. Find yourself laughing out loud as Chris is instructed by his daughter on local teenage mores; bluffs his way in art history to millionaire Bostonians; is rescued off a snowy peak by the Guardia Civil; and joins an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society. You’ll cringe with Chris as he tries his hand at office work in an immigrants’ advice centre in Granada, spurred into action by the arrival of four destitute young Moroccans at El Valero. And you’ll never see olive oil in quite the same way again… In this sequel to ‘Lemons’ and ‘Parrot’, Chris Stewart’s optimism and zest for life is as infectious as ever.
Again, honest, light and good.
April 11, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
A Parrot in the Pepper Tree
by Chris Stewart
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, the sequel to Driving over Lemons, follows the lives of Chris, Ana and their daughter, Chloë, as they get to grips with a misanthropic parrot who joins their home, Spanish school life, neighbours in love, their amazement at Chris appearing on the bestseller lists … and their shock at discovering that their beloved valley is once more under threat of a dam. A Parrot in the Pepper Tree also looks back on Chris Stewart’s former life — the hard times shearing in midwinter Sweden (and driving across the frozen sea to reach island farms); his first taste of Spain, learning flamenco guitar as a 20-year old; and his illustrious music career, drumming for his school band Genesis (sacked at 17, he never quite became Phil Collins), and then for a circus.
I liked Driving over Lemons and this was equally good. It really is a series of semi-connected stories. However, they are funny, interesting and above all genuine. Chris is willing to share his live, warts and all. So good in fact that he turned northern Greece into Spain for me.
April 5, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
A Web of Air (Mortal Engines)
by Philip Reeve
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Two years ago, Fever Crumb escaped the war-torn city of London in a travelling theatre. Now she arrives in the extraordinary craer city of Mayda, where buildings ascend the cliffs on funicular rails, and a mysterious recluse is building a machine that can fly. Fever is the engineer he needs - but ruthless enemies will kill to possess their secrets. The fabulous sixth book in the Mortal Engines series, from the brilliant
I have read the whole of the Mortal Engines Quartet and Fever Crumb but this was my least favorite. I think it just progressed the characters the least far really. Still clever and worth reading — just not ‘amazing’.
March 30, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
This Is Where I Leave You
by Jonathan Tropper
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Poor Judd Foxman returns home early to find his wife in bed with his boss - in the act. He now faces the twin threats of both divorce and unemployment. His misery is compounded further with the sudden death of his father. He is then asked to come and ‘sit Shiva’ for his newly deceased parent with his angry, screwed up and somewhat estranged brothers and sisters in his childhood home. It is there he must confront who he really is and - more importantly - who he can become. Funny, moving, powerful and poignant.
Well, I like Tropper. I have read The Book of Joe and How to Talk to a Widower and loved both. This one I liked less. There was a bit too much drama and perhaps a bit to like his other books (revisiting your past). But his characters are great and it is laugh-out-loud funny in parts. I think Angela liked it a lot more than I did… perhapa it cut too close to the bone in parts for me?
March 23, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander’s prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her. Mikael Blomkvist, editor-in-chief of Millennium, does not believe the police. Using all his magazine staff and resources to prove Salander’s innocence, Blomkvist also uncovers her terrible past, spent in criminally corrupt institutions. Yet Salander is more avenging angel than helpless victim. She may be an expert at staying out of sight - but she has ways of tracking down her most elusive enemies.
Again, excellent, perhaps the best of the three books.
March 17, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.
Really involved, engrossing like everyone says. Very interesting style as well, you sort of hover on the edge of the characters minds, funny tenses and constructions. I loved it.
March 7, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Gone Tomorrow
by Lee Child
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: In the latest outing for Jack Reacher, Gone Tomorrow, Child’s resourceful hero is travelling in New York City, observing his fellow passengers on the subway. He’s aware that suicide bombers are easy to spot – they’re usually nervous, and (as he wryly notes) by definition they’re first-timers. As an ex-law enforcer, Jack notices that of his five fellow travellers, one is distinctly giving out the signals that spell danger. Grand Central Station is approaching – will Jack act and save lives – including his own? But… what if he’s wrong? This high voltage situation is the arresting curtain opener here, and the tension is screwed tighter, as Jack Reacher is pitched against the one of the most challenging threats he has come up against.
Another good Jack Reacher book. He takes apart an al Qaeda Sect in this one.
February 16, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Three Men in a Boat
by Jerome K. Jerome
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: Martyrs to hypochondria and general seediness, J. and his friends George and Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a ‘T’. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts and tins of pineapple chunks – not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.’s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, and, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions and wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian ‘clerking classes’, it hilariously captured the spirit of its age.
Lovely and timeless. Living by the Thames, I know most of the places in the book and can’t doubt any of it. Some bits are too funny to read in public.
February 6, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John “Longitude” Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.
I had already seen the BBC dramatisation of this, but Toby recommended it as a great quick read. I had about five days to read it why Oma and Opa took the boys to Belgium for half term. It was a quick and great read. Dava is a great storyteller, really bringing the history and the development of the chronometers to life. I really recommend it.
January 17, 2010 |
Category » culture
, culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Longitude
by Dava Sobel
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: The thorniest scientific problem of the eighteenth century was how to determine longitude. Many thousands of lives had been lost at sea over the centuries due to the inability to determine an east-west position. This is the engrossing story of the clockmaker, John “Longitude” Harrison, who solved the problem that Newton and Galileo had failed to conquer, yet claimed only half the promised rich reward.
I had already seen the BBC dramatisation of this, but Toby recommended it as a great quick read. I had about five days to read it why Oma and Opa took the boys to Belgium for half term. It was a quick and great read. Dava is a great storyteller, really bringing the history and the development of the chronometers to life. I really recommend it.
January 17, 2010 |
Category » culture
, culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artefacts in its ancient binding - an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair - she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation.
In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In Venice during the time of the inquisition, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics, and her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love.
Based on a true story, this is very interesting and all the vignettes are well done. Highly recommended.
January 7, 2010 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Nine Dragons
by Michael Connelly
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In Los Angeles, a Chinese liquor store owner is killed in what appears to be a shakedown for the triads (the retailer, Mr Li, was under the thumb of a protection racket). Harry Bosch realises that the case is not quite as straightforward as it initially seemed, and finds himself taking on some very dangerous opponents. However, he has an area of vulnerability has not taken into consideration. Harry’s estranged wife lives in Hong Kong with her new Chinese lover — and Harry’s daughter. To his horror, Harry discovers that his daughter has been kidnapped, and takes the first plane to Hong Kong. His problems there are threefold: to save the life of his child as the sands of time run out, to deal with conflict with the local force (and its Asian Gangs Unit) and (perhaps his most difficult challenge) to come to terms with the ways in which he has abdicated from his duties as a father.
I love Bosch. This book was very different than any other Bosch book, but I still liked it.
December 18, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Lost Symbol
by Dan Brown
Rating: ★★★½
Synopsis: Robert Langdon flies to Washington after an urgent invitation to speak in the Capitol building. The invitation appears to have come from a friend with copper-bottomed Masonic connections, Peter Solomon. But Langdon has been tricked: Solomon has, in fact, been kidnapped, and (echoing the grisly opening of the last book) a macabre mutilation plunges Langdon into a tortuous quest. His friend’s severed hand lies in the Capitol building, positioned to point to a George Washington portrait that shows the father of his country as a pagan deity. The ruthless criminal nemesis here is another terrifying figure in Brown’s gallery of grotesques: Mal’akh, a powerfully built eunuch with a body festooned with tattoos. Mal’akh is seeking a Masonic pyramid that possesses a formidable supernatural power, and a pulse-pounding hunt is afoot, with Langdon stalled rather than aided by the CIA.
I admit, I like Dan Brown’s books. This was another page turner. The Masonic bits didn’t hold as much interest at the Catholic Church, but still interesting.
December 16, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Catching Fire (Hunger Games, Book 2)
by Suzanne Collins
Rating: ★★★½☆
Synopsis: After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen returns to her district, hoping for a peaceful future. But Katniss starts to hear rumours of a deadly rebellion against the Capitol. A rebellion that she and Peeta have helped to create. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the districts on the Capitol’s
Not as good as The Hunger Games but still great… can’t wait for book three.
December 5, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or the Murder at Road Hill House
by Kate Summerscale
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: It is a summer’s night in 1860. In an elegant detached Georgian house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet. Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep. At some point after midnight a dog barks. The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later. He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects. The murder provokes national hysteria. The thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes - scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing - arouses fear and a kind of excitement. But when Whicher reaches his shocking conclusion there is uproar and bewilderment. A true story that inspired a generation of writers such as Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, this has all the hallmarks of the classic murder mystery - a body; a detective; a country house steeped in secrets. In The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale untangles the facts behind this notorious case, bringing it back to vivid, extraordinary life.
So well written, you don’t know it is non-fiction. So interesting, you can’t believe it’s true.
November 25, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before—and survival, for her, is second nature. The Hunger Games is a searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present. Welcome to the deadliest reality TV show ever…
Very un-put-down-able. Really.
November 20, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Pyramids (Discworld Novels)
by Terry Pratchett
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: It’s bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn’t a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he’s been trained at Ankh-Morpork’s famed assassins’ school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun.First, there’s the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad — a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal — not to mention a headstrong handmaiden — at the heart of his realm.
Pratchett back on form in this one. I love the camel!
October 25, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Moving Pictures (A Discworld Novel)
by Terry Pratchett
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: The alchemists of the Discworld have discovered the magic of the silver screen. But what is the dark secret of Holy Wood hill? It’s up to Victor Tugelbend (“Can’t sing. Can’t dance. Can handle a sword a little.”) and Theda Withel (“I come from a little town you’ve probably never heard of”) to find out…”Moving Pictures”, the ninth “Discworld” novel is a gloriously funny saga set against the background of a world gone mad!
Ok, so I didn’t love this as much as Mort, but it was still worth reading. Bits of it were brilliant, some bits slow to build and some bits just didn’t finish.
However, I loved Gaspode the dog so much I would read it just for his quote:
“There was sunnink I got to tell you. What was it, now? Oh yeah. I remember. Your girlfriend is an agent of demonic powers.”
September 16, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
The Brass Verdict
by Michael Connelly
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: When down-at-heel lawyer Mickey Haller gets the news that his old colleague Jerry Vincent has died, he also gets an unexpected windfall. Jerry had left instructions that Mickey should inherit all of his clients - putting Mickey’s stalled career back on track at a stroke. Not only that, but Vincent was about to go to bat for Walter Elliott, the Hollywood mogul accused of brutally slaying his wife and her lover, in a trial that promises big fees and an even bigger place in the media spotlight. If Mickey could find the magic bullet and win that one against the odds, he’d really be back in the big leagues. The only problem is that Vincent was murdered, shot at close range in his office garage. And the detective handling the case - a certain Harry Bosch - is convinced the killer must be one of Vincent’s clients. Suddenly Jerry Vincent’s legacy is beginning to look more like a poisoned chalice, and Mickey is faced with the biggest challenge of his career: how to successfully defend a client who might just be planning to murder him.
Pretty good Connelly. I wish the brothers story-line was fleshed out a lot more. But I didn’t see the end coming and was reading quickly as I could find time.
August 20, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Mort (A Discworld Novel)
by Terry Pratchett
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. After being assured that being dead was not compulsory, Mort accepted. However, he soon found that romantic longings did not mix easily with the responsibilities of being Death’s apprentice.
OK
So, I never heard of the Diskworld series until Paula mentioned it for Owen about two years ago… however, I saw a used copy and picked it up to try on a long train ride. Wow, what a book!
It’s irreverent, funny amazing parody.
I still don’t know if I was luck and hit a great book, or this is what Pratchett does, but I wish I knew about it sooner.
August 2, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Cathedral of the Sea
by Ildefonso Falcones
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: This is a masterful epic of love, war, treason, plague, famine, witchcraft, anti-Semitism and the Inquisition. 14th-century Spain, the medieval city of Barcelona is enjoying a golden age of prosperity. Its humblest inhabitants are building, stone by stone, a magnificent church to overlook their harbour. This is the Cathedral of the Sea: a church to be built for the people by the people. In its shadow, Arnau, a young serf on the run from his feudal lord, struggles to earn his freedom. After famine, plague and thwarted love, Arnau’s fortunes begin to turn when King Pedro makes him a baron as a reward for his courage in battle. But he is also forced to marry Eleonor, a ward of the King whom he does not love. His new found status excites jealousy from his friends who plot his downfall with devastating consequences. Arnau’s journey from slave to nobleman is the story of a struggle between good and evil that will turn Church against State and brother against brother…
Not the kind of book I normally love, but I really liked it. I wanted Arnau to make it and was very interested in how medieval Barcelona’s politics and society are so parallel to today’s world.
July 15, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Amazing book.
June 15, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Fever Crumb (Mortal Engines Quartet Prequel)
Philip Reeve
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Fever Crumb is set many generations before the events of Mortal Engines, in whose dazzling world huge, predatory cities chase and devour each other. Armoured fortresses are advancing towards London. Buried deep in the city’s past is a terrible secret that may save it from destruction. Only one key can unlock it – an odd-looking orphan named Fever Crumb
Excellent prequel that sets up the Mortal Engines quartet. You start to learn about the moving cities and the birth of Shrike. Really well done.
May 5, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Journey to the End of the Night
by Amazon.co.uk
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: First published in 1932, “Journey to the End of the Night” is regarded as Celine’s masterpiece. It is told in the first person and is based on his own experiences during the First World War; in French colonial Africa; in the USA - where he worked for a while at the Ford factory in Detroit - and later as a young doctor in a working class suburb in Paris. The novel gives a picture of those years as seen by an underdog.
What can I say, the book is absolutely a masterpiece. Yes, it is dated and placed in a strange non-real/real world, but that takes nothing away from how powerful and amazing the book really is. The characters are so real, the emotions so strong. I can only imagine how much this book as influenced everything that has come afterwards.
April 25, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
A Darkling Plain
Philip Reeve
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis:
The once-great traction city of London is now just a radioactive wreck, a ruin haunted by electrical discharges and the dashed hopes of the people who once called it home—people like Tom Natsworthy. Twenty years after he fled, intending never to return, he discovers that something stirs in the remains of the old city.
Tom and his daughter, Wren, aren’t the only people interested in London. The desperate armies of the Traction Cities and the Green Storm are also closing in, certain that whatever is taking shape within the city holds the key to victory in their never-ending war.
But it may be too late. Even as Tom and Wren hurry to uncover the mystery of London, Hester Shaw—estranged from her husband and her daughter—tracks the resurrected Stalker Fang, who has found another way to end the war and all life on the planet once and for all. Wow!
Amazing book, amazing ending to the series.
April 24, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Predator’s Gold
by Philip Reeve
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: Fleeing from an Anti-Tractionist sect, the Green Storm, Tom and Hester are left drifting in the frozen Ice Wastes, slowly dying of cold after the Jenny Haniver’s engines have failed. They are saved at the last minute, finding Anchorage, a once-beautiful ice city that has fallen on hard times. Crippled by plague, there are barely fifty souls on Anchorage now, and the teenage margravine has made a desperate choice. They are heading for America, the Dead Continent…
I still don’t know what makes this a “children’s book”, perhaps it is in the omission of descriptive sex and violence? This book is quite simply genius - for children or adults.
I have read a LOT of science fiction. I have read a lot of “children’s books” and this series rate’s as high as any of have read. On par with Harry Potter and possibly above His Dark Materials (books 2 & 3 anyway).
It is completely original, very clever, well paced, wonderful characters. I can’t say enough. READ THIS BOOK!
DISCLAIMER: I work for Scholastic and nearly met Philip — twice
April 18, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Infernal Devices
Philip Reeve
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Nearly twenty years after the events of Mortal Engines and Predator’s Gold, Tom and Hester have finally settled down. The wild adventures of their past are now little more than stories to tell their daughter, Wren, who relishes their adventures just a little bit too much. Her foolhardiness gets her kidnapped—and worse, whisked right back into the very world her parents thought they’d left behind. To rescue her, Tom and Hester must jump head-first back into danger. Their pursuit will reunite them with enemies they thought they’d left behind forever, will ask of them sacrifices that no parent can make, and will cost one of them everything that matters most.
Probably the quietest book of the series and the one that diverges from the core characters the most, but still excellent and worth reading.
April 14, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Mortal Engines
by Philip Reeve, David Frankland
Rating: ★★★★★
Synopsis: Tom and Hester have been thrown together. Truly-thrown out of a city on wheels that’s left them stranded and starving in the middle of nowhere while it hares off after its prey. Hester is desperate for revenge, and Tom is only desperate to get back on board his beloved London. This is a stunning literary debut from Philip Reeve. A novel that defies easy categorisation, it is a gripping adventure story set in an inspired fantasy world, where moving cities trawl the globe. Peopled with convincing and utterly likeable characters, this story is a magical and unique read.
My company publishes this book and I felt almost obligated to read it; however, I am really glad I did. It is wonderful! The characters are very human and the plot so well conceived.
It takes place way in the future and most cities are on tractor treads and hunting each other. After centuries, the prey is getting harder and harder to find. London digs up some old technology, some engergy beam, and decides to blast its way into a defended area of cities still on land.
Two young couples join up to stop the killing…
I will say no more. Go read it.
April 8, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
Crown of Shadows (Coldfire Trilogy)
by Celia Friedman
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Despite opposition by his Patriarch, warrior priest Damien Vryce again seeks the assistance of the immortal sorcerer Gerald Tarrant. While racing against time to prevent the enslavement of their world, the two men find themselves trapped between justice and retribution. Betrayal and loyalty assume ironic forms in this conclusion to Friedman’s complex and compelling Cold Fire Trilogy. The richly detailed setting and strong supporting characters give substance to a tale that explores the consequences of embracing evil in the hope of achieving its redemption.
Good book, but I felt like it was rushing to resolve itself. It introduced a lot of new complexity on the planet that I am not sure was required. The end was slightly confusing for no reason I could discern.
March 1, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
[ US | UK ]
When True Night Falls (Coldfire Trilogy)
by Amazon.co.uk
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Warrior priest Damien Vryce and immortal sorcerer Gerald Tarrant reunite in an uneasy alliance to combat an evil that threatens the delicate stability of life on Erna, where the mysterious force known as the fae conjures monsters from the stuff of dreams. This sequel to Black Sun Rising secures Friedman’s reputation both as a gifted storyteller and an innovative creator. This sequel to Black Sun Rising secures Friedman’s reputation both as a gifted storyteller and an innovative creator.
Really good; however, I would say the end was a bit disappointing. I don’t want to give away the story, but…
— so if you plan to read this stop —
- why did Hesseth have to die the way she did? didn’t help the plot, seemed really disappointing to lose her in such a meaningless way.
- what was the Undying Prince trying to do? it was completely not explained?
- why wasn’t Calesta in the final scenes? seems unlikely
- why would the Hunter showing the Mercia ruler the divining break his pack with hell, really?
- why did the pilot from the Golden Glory have to die? really?
I could go on.
That said, I will read book three!
January 24, 2009 |
Category » culture
Comments (0)
