First off a review of Hounded by Kevin Hearne (1st book in the Iron Druid series
Take a slice of Harry Dresden, add a pinch of Buffy/Angel, throw in some Sookie
Stackhouse and you have a recipe for success.
Atticus, the 2100 year old
druid (who only looks to be about 21 - don't worry, the explanation makes sense)
runs a Pagan/Mysticism shop in Tempe, Arizona. He has a sword that Aenghus Og,
of the Irish Pantheon wants - and he's coming to get it!
There are plenty of
mystical and mythical creature in the pages of this book - Gods and Goddessess,
witches, a Vampire and Werewolf legal team - and they all fit well within the
story. There's always something going on but it doesn't feel rushed or overbusy.
I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.
Oh, yes, and
there is Oberon the Irish Wolfhound, Atticus' pet - possibly the greatest dog
character ever written and an excellent comic foil at times.
NEVER judge a book by it's cover art
Up till the last few days I've never really given this old maxim much thought but then.............
Being a regular bookshop visitor I've seen the first three books in the Iron Druid series quite a few times but never bothered with them because I Really Do Not Like The Cover! If it hadn't been for accidentally reading a review of the books I may never have picked them up - and that would have been my loss. The guy on the front, who looked a bit surfer dude-ish (and no insult intended to surfer dudes!) just made me think it would be another book aimed at the twilight types (again, no insult intended, just not my "thing") so I ignored it and moved on to other things.
And this got me thinking of another plus thing for the Kindle/ e-reader, which is this;
When you pick up a book with an illustration of one of the main characters on the front, each time you see the cover a part of you may unconciously think "this is what the lead guy or whoever looks like". Even though you may have your own idea of how they look a part of you will be guided by what the cover artist thinks they look like.
With Kindle/e-readers you only see the cover the once so the characters you see in your minds' eye as you read are more likely to be your own personal interpretation of the authors' vision.
And that for me is a massive plus point.
On a last point with Hounded (as mentioned above) the author has created, in Oberon the Irish Wolfhound one of the great animal characters in modern fiction. Kevin Hearne goes up there with Dean Koontz and Crystal Connor as one of the best authors of Dog characters around.
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Diary of a Part Time Ghost by Vered Ehsani (a review)
I was offered the chance to review the follow up to this book so thought I'd best read this one first. What follows is the review I posted on Amazon and Goodreads
Ash is disappointed when his Great Aunt, gives him an old book for his birthday - but it turns out to be more important than he'd ever expected!
This entertaining YA novel starts a series (the follow on book - Where Shadows Dance - is available now) that has a lot of promise for young and old readers alike. Ash finds he can use the book to travel, ghostlike, into the past and finds himself back around the time of the Boston Tea Party. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say the action is more or less non-stop with a few twists along the way.
The main 'bad guy' is a nasty piece of work but also, slightly vague. I'm sure we will find out more about him in future volumes.
All in all a very solid start to a series, well written with mainly good characterisation and some clever ideas.
I will be following this series with interest.
Just a small point - although I have been offered free copies for review I generally prefer to buy them, both so I don't feel obligated to give a good review to a bad book (which I don't do - if I don't like a book doesn't mean everyone else will dislike it too - I just don't review it) and also to help support authors. That's just me though, I'd be interested to hear other opinions.
Ash is disappointed when his Great Aunt, gives him an old book for his birthday - but it turns out to be more important than he'd ever expected!
This entertaining YA novel starts a series (the follow on book - Where Shadows Dance - is available now) that has a lot of promise for young and old readers alike. Ash finds he can use the book to travel, ghostlike, into the past and finds himself back around the time of the Boston Tea Party. I don't want to give anything away so I'll just say the action is more or less non-stop with a few twists along the way.
The main 'bad guy' is a nasty piece of work but also, slightly vague. I'm sure we will find out more about him in future volumes.
All in all a very solid start to a series, well written with mainly good characterisation and some clever ideas.
I will be following this series with interest.
Just a small point - although I have been offered free copies for review I generally prefer to buy them, both so I don't feel obligated to give a good review to a bad book (which I don't do - if I don't like a book doesn't mean everyone else will dislike it too - I just don't review it) and also to help support authors. That's just me though, I'd be interested to hear other opinions.
Monday, 14 May 2012
Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace (a review)
Boy (Jason Priestley) meets Girl (The One?) briefly as he helps her into a taxi with her bags. As she disappears he realises he is left holding a disposable camera.
Jason's flatmate Dev convinces him the only way to find her is to get the photo's developed and hope for a clue or two. When Jason and Dev pick up the prints they find something they never expected to see..........
This first novel by Danny Wallace is a cracking read which I got through in a weekend - just because I really didn't want to put it down. At first I didn't like the lead character, Jason, but as the book went on I found myself warming to him.
The secondary characters (Dev, Zoe - Jason's boss, Sarah - his ex girlfriend and many others) all bring their own thing to the story, while the band that feature in the book (The Kicks) deserve to be real.
The story is full of lows and highs and even one moment that had me hoping and hoping that everything would be alright. There were also times when I felt like giving Jason a good shake but by the end of the book I felt like I was leaving friends behind.
This is a book I feel I will come back to again and would recommend to fans of Notting Hill, One Day and the likes but also to anyone who likes a good story well told.
The perfect holiday book.
Jason's flatmate Dev convinces him the only way to find her is to get the photo's developed and hope for a clue or two. When Jason and Dev pick up the prints they find something they never expected to see..........
This first novel by Danny Wallace is a cracking read which I got through in a weekend - just because I really didn't want to put it down. At first I didn't like the lead character, Jason, but as the book went on I found myself warming to him.
The secondary characters (Dev, Zoe - Jason's boss, Sarah - his ex girlfriend and many others) all bring their own thing to the story, while the band that feature in the book (The Kicks) deserve to be real.
The story is full of lows and highs and even one moment that had me hoping and hoping that everything would be alright. There were also times when I felt like giving Jason a good shake but by the end of the book I felt like I was leaving friends behind.
This is a book I feel I will come back to again and would recommend to fans of Notting Hill, One Day and the likes but also to anyone who likes a good story well told.
The perfect holiday book.
Monday, 23 April 2012
Into The Mist: Silver Hand by Steve Finegan (a review) and general thoughts on YA books
I'm starting off this post with a review of a quite excellent Young Adult novel -
Into The Mist: Silver Hand by Steve Finegan
A rivetting read that bodes well for the series.
Gage, a young boy with a form of epilepsy, moves to a new town with his family where he meets his new neighbour Ellie, who seems to be guided by the spirit of the Brynmoor Witch, a woman who lived in the area in years past.
The Brynmoor Witch had a cottage in the woods, an area local townspeople generally won't go near (the exceptions being Ellie and local bully boy/ badboy Alex). Ellie seems to recognise that Gage is different and when she takes him up to the woods an epileptic episode seems to take him to another place.
Throughout the rest of the story we are transported between the two worlds, both perilous in their own way.
In this world Gage has to cope with his medical condition, his family and starting a new school, complete with bullies. In the other world, Elfryth, Gage takes on the persona of Mabon Silverhand, a character from Welsh Myth, who is all that stands in the way of Arawn and his allies taking over the land. In Elfryth we meet several characters from the myths (Merlyn, King Bran etc)and also Corvus, the crowman who Gage has been drawing as a comic book in his sketchpad.
The stories of Gage and Mabon are both intertwined and both told well. You get a slightly different style and tone of storytelling for each character which I found to be very effective. The story builds to a climax that ends with a cliffhanger that left me stunned and aching to get my hands on the next book in the series.
A really, really good book - just don't let the YA tag put you off - I'm 45 and I loved this book.
MY THOUGHTS ON YA BOOKS
Over the past year or so I have read several Young Adult books and as a general rule they have been of a very good standard. I guess this is because books for young people aren't as deep and heavy going as some books aimed at the older reader. With younger people I guess you have to hit the ground running and keep going till you pass the finishing line on the last page.
Well, you know what? Sometimes I just want to jump into the story and enjoy it without having to remember dynastys, timelines, characters who haven't been in the story for the last 5 books etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like the heavygoing stuff as well but sometimes.................
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is give YA authors a chance - you just might find you've been missing out on something.
Into The Mist: Silver Hand by Steve Finegan
A rivetting read that bodes well for the series.
Gage, a young boy with a form of epilepsy, moves to a new town with his family where he meets his new neighbour Ellie, who seems to be guided by the spirit of the Brynmoor Witch, a woman who lived in the area in years past.
The Brynmoor Witch had a cottage in the woods, an area local townspeople generally won't go near (the exceptions being Ellie and local bully boy/ badboy Alex). Ellie seems to recognise that Gage is different and when she takes him up to the woods an epileptic episode seems to take him to another place.
Throughout the rest of the story we are transported between the two worlds, both perilous in their own way.
In this world Gage has to cope with his medical condition, his family and starting a new school, complete with bullies. In the other world, Elfryth, Gage takes on the persona of Mabon Silverhand, a character from Welsh Myth, who is all that stands in the way of Arawn and his allies taking over the land. In Elfryth we meet several characters from the myths (Merlyn, King Bran etc)and also Corvus, the crowman who Gage has been drawing as a comic book in his sketchpad.
The stories of Gage and Mabon are both intertwined and both told well. You get a slightly different style and tone of storytelling for each character which I found to be very effective. The story builds to a climax that ends with a cliffhanger that left me stunned and aching to get my hands on the next book in the series.
A really, really good book - just don't let the YA tag put you off - I'm 45 and I loved this book.
MY THOUGHTS ON YA BOOKS
Over the past year or so I have read several Young Adult books and as a general rule they have been of a very good standard. I guess this is because books for young people aren't as deep and heavy going as some books aimed at the older reader. With younger people I guess you have to hit the ground running and keep going till you pass the finishing line on the last page.
Well, you know what? Sometimes I just want to jump into the story and enjoy it without having to remember dynastys, timelines, characters who haven't been in the story for the last 5 books etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like the heavygoing stuff as well but sometimes.................
Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is give YA authors a chance - you just might find you've been missing out on something.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Earth Girl by Janet Edwards (Review)
First things first, this review is from an uncorrected proof copy - the book will be available to buy in the shops on August 16th.
The year is 2788 and thanks to the use of portals mankind has now moved out to the stars.
Unfortunately, due to a problem with the immune system, a small percentage of humans are only able to survive on Earth. Portalling off planet would mean death unless they can be sent straight back to Earth and hospitalised. These people, know as "handicapped or apes" (amongst other things) are seen as an underclass.
Our heroine in this book, Jarra, is one of these "apes" but she is determined to prove she is eqqual to, if not better than, the off-worlders (or "exo"s). To this end, she enrolls on a Pre-History Foundation Course with University Asgard which is based at dig sites around Planet Earth. By not having to leave Earth for the course Jarra believes she can hide her handicap and pass off as normal to her classmates.
Jarra invents a backstory for herself as Jarra Military Kid (JMK) but is often nearly caught out, until she gets some shock news and actually starts to believe her JMK persona and life is real.
This is a really well thought out story, with believable science that doesn't require you to have a phd in astrophysics. The idea of the old cities of Earth being abandoned as people headed for the stars makes sense. We only get to see the New York site but that is so well described and atmospheric that, especially when the team move from the fringe site to New York Main, the city/ ruins almost becomes a character itself.
Each off system has its' own character traits which makes for an interesting student group and maybe Jarra is not the only one with a secret!
This book will appeal to people who like things like the Hunger Games series but also to a wider audience and, in my opinion, it has massive potential for being made into a movie (I really want to see New York Main and the solar storm on the big screen).
Another, final, plus for me - the book ties up neatly at the end. There may be more from Jarra, Earth Girl, but if there isn't, there are no real loose threads left dangling.
A 5* book from a promising new author
The year is 2788 and thanks to the use of portals mankind has now moved out to the stars.
Unfortunately, due to a problem with the immune system, a small percentage of humans are only able to survive on Earth. Portalling off planet would mean death unless they can be sent straight back to Earth and hospitalised. These people, know as "handicapped or apes" (amongst other things) are seen as an underclass.
Our heroine in this book, Jarra, is one of these "apes" but she is determined to prove she is eqqual to, if not better than, the off-worlders (or "exo"s). To this end, she enrolls on a Pre-History Foundation Course with University Asgard which is based at dig sites around Planet Earth. By not having to leave Earth for the course Jarra believes she can hide her handicap and pass off as normal to her classmates.
Jarra invents a backstory for herself as Jarra Military Kid (JMK) but is often nearly caught out, until she gets some shock news and actually starts to believe her JMK persona and life is real.
This is a really well thought out story, with believable science that doesn't require you to have a phd in astrophysics. The idea of the old cities of Earth being abandoned as people headed for the stars makes sense. We only get to see the New York site but that is so well described and atmospheric that, especially when the team move from the fringe site to New York Main, the city/ ruins almost becomes a character itself.
Each off system has its' own character traits which makes for an interesting student group and maybe Jarra is not the only one with a secret!
This book will appeal to people who like things like the Hunger Games series but also to a wider audience and, in my opinion, it has massive potential for being made into a movie (I really want to see New York Main and the solar storm on the big screen).
Another, final, plus for me - the book ties up neatly at the end. There may be more from Jarra, Earth Girl, but if there isn't, there are no real loose threads left dangling.
A 5* book from a promising new author
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Never say never
Over the last few weeks I have been asked to read and review (or consider reviewing) a heck of a lot of books but an e-mail on Sunday night really caught my eye.
The main question was "do you review children's picture books?". Now, I am 45 years old and haven't read a children's picture book for many, many years but it was free to download so I thought "what's to lose?" and downloaded it - and do you know what, I'm really glad I did.
Here's my review
Dog Wants To Be Famous by C M Dixon
I read this book this morning after a night shift and must say it really hit the spot for me. I get the idea that of the two characters (Dog and Cat) Cat is the one with the brains.
This will be a great starter book for small children as I think they will be enthralled by the characters.
The illustrations were very good but pictures are not a Kindle's strongest point (although the Kindle fire will no doubt improve that aspect of the book.
So - a pleasant, humourous, enjoyable bedtime story (or anytime story really) for small children and characters that we will hopefully see more of.
Anyway, the purpose of this blogpost is just for me to say don't always stick to your comfort zone for reading (well, obviously you can if you want) because you never know what you might be missing out on.
As I said earlier, I have a lot of books to review read and I've also just downloaded the complete Harry Potter kindle set, so, as you can imagine my to read pile is getting a bit precarious - thankfully the majority are on Kindle though. I'll stick more reviews and comments up on here as I get to them.
Currently reading a pre-publicaton review copy of Earth Girl by Janet Edwards - this could well be the next big thing for the Hunger Games crowd. Review to follow when I've finished it but so far it is very, very good
The main question was "do you review children's picture books?". Now, I am 45 years old and haven't read a children's picture book for many, many years but it was free to download so I thought "what's to lose?" and downloaded it - and do you know what, I'm really glad I did.
Here's my review
Dog Wants To Be Famous by C M Dixon
I read this book this morning after a night shift and must say it really hit the spot for me. I get the idea that of the two characters (Dog and Cat) Cat is the one with the brains.
This will be a great starter book for small children as I think they will be enthralled by the characters.
The illustrations were very good but pictures are not a Kindle's strongest point (although the Kindle fire will no doubt improve that aspect of the book.
So - a pleasant, humourous, enjoyable bedtime story (or anytime story really) for small children and characters that we will hopefully see more of.
Anyway, the purpose of this blogpost is just for me to say don't always stick to your comfort zone for reading (well, obviously you can if you want) because you never know what you might be missing out on.
As I said earlier, I have a lot of books to review read and I've also just downloaded the complete Harry Potter kindle set, so, as you can imagine my to read pile is getting a bit precarious - thankfully the majority are on Kindle though. I'll stick more reviews and comments up on here as I get to them.
Currently reading a pre-publicaton review copy of Earth Girl by Janet Edwards - this could well be the next big thing for the Hunger Games crowd. Review to follow when I've finished it but so far it is very, very good
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Answer to a question
Earlier this week I was asked a question on Twitter that got me thinking.
The question was with reference to my offer to review books - "Is there a cost for getting a book reviewed". My first thought was the obvious "no no no no no!"
I don't believe there is any place for "bought" reviews, because, let's be honest that's how it would seem to be. If I were to review a book and was paid for it and gave it 5 stars it could be taken that I have given 5 stars BECAUSE I was paid to do the review.
On the other hand, if someone were to pay me £x and I gave a poor review (let's say 2 stars), the author could easily turn round and say "hold on, I paid you £x to do this review, I want more stars than that"
So, my answer, as I said is NO! there is no cost for a review (bought reviews, like bought votes in an election, is wrong in my opinion).
BUT........it did get me thinking.
I cannot and will not charge for reviews but if you are appreciative of what I and other reviewers do, maybe you can do something "nice" for someone else, maybe put a donation in a charity box or something like that or try and support your local literacy support group. I guess what I'm trying to say is treat it like Karma - when you do something good, something good happens.
I hope this makes some kind of sense - please feel free to comment your opinions
The question was with reference to my offer to review books - "Is there a cost for getting a book reviewed". My first thought was the obvious "no no no no no!"
I don't believe there is any place for "bought" reviews, because, let's be honest that's how it would seem to be. If I were to review a book and was paid for it and gave it 5 stars it could be taken that I have given 5 stars BECAUSE I was paid to do the review.
On the other hand, if someone were to pay me £x and I gave a poor review (let's say 2 stars), the author could easily turn round and say "hold on, I paid you £x to do this review, I want more stars than that"
So, my answer, as I said is NO! there is no cost for a review (bought reviews, like bought votes in an election, is wrong in my opinion).
BUT........it did get me thinking.
I cannot and will not charge for reviews but if you are appreciative of what I and other reviewers do, maybe you can do something "nice" for someone else, maybe put a donation in a charity box or something like that or try and support your local literacy support group. I guess what I'm trying to say is treat it like Karma - when you do something good, something good happens.
I hope this makes some kind of sense - please feel free to comment your opinions
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