Can’t Wait Wednesday : The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Posted On 5 February 2020

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Can't Wait Wednesday

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine.  Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for.  If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to.  This week my book is : The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky – and here’s why:

DoorsofedenLee’s best friend went missing on Bodmin Moor, four years ago. She and Mal were chasing rumours of monsters when they found something all too real. Now Mal is back, but where has she been, and who is she working for?

When government physicist Kay Amal Khan is attacked, the security services investigate. This leads MI5’s Julian Sabreur deep into terrifying new territory, where he clashes with mysterious agents of an unknown power ­who may or may not be human. And Julian’s only clue is some grainy footage ­– showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.

Khan’s extradimensional research was purely theoretical, until she found cracks between our world and countless others. Parallel Earths where monsters live. These cracks are getting wider every day, so who knows what might creep through? Or what will happen when those walls finally come crashing down…

Expected publication: May 2020

Top Ten Tuesday : High Expectations

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic.  Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by  The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here.  This week’s topic is:

Books On My TBR I Predict Will Be 5-Star Reads

I think I pick up every book hoping for a 5* read – I imagine that’s the hope for most readers isn’t it, finding that special book?  But, with certain books and authors I definitely pick the book up with high expectations – maybe that’s wrong but it’s difficult not to do so.  With that in mind, here are 10 books that I’m greatly looking forward to and strongly expecting to be excellent:

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough because, basically, I have loved everything I’ve read by this author and so I’m always excited when she releases a new book.

DeadtoHer

A Time of Courage by John Gwynne the first two books in this series have been brilliant, they make me regret not having picked up his previous series because I know I probably won’t at this stage go back to pick them up.  I have very high hopes for the final book in the series.

Atimeof

The Wolf’s Call by Anthony Ryan – I loved the Raven’s Shadow series and so the idea of a return to this world and more than that, to read more of Vaelin Al Sorna’s adventures, well, colour me happy.

thewolf'scall

The Guest List by Lucy Foley.  This is definitely an author that made it onto my ‘keep my eye on this author’ list (yes, I do have such a list).  I really enjoyed the Hunting Party, it was such a good murder mystery and this promises another engrossing read.  Fingers crossed for much love for this book.

TheGuestlist

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel – this ia an author that I’ve been patiently (not really patiently at all) waiting for more from.  I loved Station Eleven.  It was such a great book that I highly recommend.

GlassHotel

The Deep by Alma Katsu.  Another author on my list (see above).  I love the style of writing and the concept for this novel sounds absolutely absorbing.  I can’t wait to pick it up.

TheDeep

Survivors by G X Todd.  I’m a little late for this one but that is certainly no indication of my desire to get started.  Just simply not enough hours in the day.  This is the final instalment of a series that has had me positively gripped.

Survivors

The Girl with No Face M.H. Boroson.  The Girl with Ghost Eyes was totally kick ass.  Again, lack of time has stopped me picking this up in a timely fashion but I’m still excited to get started and I definitely have very high expectations given the reviews I’ve seen from some of my fellow bloggers.

TheGirlWithNoFace

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison.  I know.  I’m probably the only person on the planet that hasn’t picked this up yet.  It enjoys such glowing reviews and comes highly recommend by a blogger who has very similar tastes to mine. Excitement am I.

goblineEmperor

The Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence.  I’m almost 100% certain that this author writes his books simply with me in mind.  Joking aside – I’ve been completely won over by everything he’s written so far so you could say my expectations with this book are a little bit ridiculous – they’re not just high, they’re astronomical.  No pressure at all then.

The Girl

#SPFBO Review : A Sea of Broken Glass (The Lady & The Darkness #1) by Sonya M. Black

ASeaofA Sea of Broken Glass is the second finalist I’ve picked up as part of the SPFBO competition.  Ultimately, this was a fast paced read with some very good ideas but it didn’t quite work as well as I’d hoped, particularly after an intriguing start.

As the book opens the main pov character, Ris, has been sentenced to death for witchcraft, a sentence that none of the townspeople believe but their dissenting voices are quickly squashed in a very no-nonsense fashion.  Fortunately Ris escapes with the help of friends and finds herself not only on the run from the Inquisitors but also on a quest to find an object that can save the world.  Basically, this isn’t a witch hunt as such, Ris may be the town healer but her true secret is that she is the ‘vessel’ of the Lady of Light and she needs to find a certain object that both the ‘light’ and the ‘dark’ are seeking.  This is a struggle between good and evil and it is made interesting by the fact that some of the players have themselves been tainted meaning Ris, and indeed the reader, is never really certain who she can trust.

So, world building.  This is the area that I struggled with.  To be fair, the author does provide some background information as the story develops and I imagine that more information will be forthcoming in future instalments, but, I must say that I found myself very perplexed by the world, the people, the history and the whys and wherefores of why Ris found herself in the predicament she was in at the start of the story.  At one point I actually went to check if this was perhaps a book that was set in a world established in a previous series but I don’t think that is the case (I could be wrong though).  I simply found myself struggling to envision either the people or the place.

There are four povs although Ris is the main character.  There are two paladins who for want of a better description act as Guardians.  These characters have lived for hundreds of years and over the centuries have protected other vessels of the Lady of Light.  They have unique magical abilities such as shapeshifting and they have raised Ris, protecting her in their roles of Shield and Cloak.  The other pov is Michel who takes on the role of ‘sword’ and is given the role of taking Ris out of danger and delivering her to a specific meet up point, but the best laid plans, etc,.

The story is very fast paced and I had no trouble making progress but there’s a superficial feel somehow – I can’t really put my finger on it to be honest, I think I simply didn’t connect with, or particularly like, any of the characters and this is a real stumbling block for me and on top of this it started to feel a little repetitious with the main characters having constant fights with barrages of ghouls and other creatures, barely escaping with their lives, progressing a little further and then facing another attack.

Okay, criticisms aside, I think it’s highly likely that other readers will enjoy the constant action and the swiftness at which the story unfolds and I seriously don’t mean to be overly negative because in spite of my issues I did find this a very easy book to read.  I had no issues at all with the pacing but it just didn’t quite work it’s magic on me. Which reminds me – I must also mention the magic system. It’s not explained in depth but it is interesting and involves both music and elements such as air, water, fire and earth.

Overall, I found this a light but easy read. I would have liked to feel more grounded and to form attachments to the characters but the writing was good and there were some interesting concepts, it just needed a little more development for me.

My thanks to the author for a copy for review.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 6 out of 10

 

 

 

 

January – My Month in Review

Posted On 2 February 2020

Filed under Book Reviews
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This is my first monthly review for 2020 and frankly I can’t believe how quickly this month sped by.  I’ve definitely not caught up with everything (pre Christmas) but still trying to make progress and I only have two reviews to catch up for this month (although I do have a few books left to review from 2019 – soon).  Also, if I’ve not visited your blog yet I am gradually blog hopping and making way with my comments – too much fun over the past two months – the toll has to be paid.  Anyway, here’s my month in review:

Books read:  this month = 9

  1. The Shadow Saint by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
  2. The God Game by Danny Tobey
  3. Blood of Heirs by Alicia Wanstall-Burke
  4. The Other People by CJ Tudor
  5. The Woods by Vanessa Savage
  6. Highfire by Eoin Coffer
  7. Moontangled by Stephanie Burgis
  8. A Sea of broken Glass by Sonya M Black
  9. The Bard’s Blade by Brian D Anderson

Backlist books

None.

Unfinished series completed:

None –  I did complete a few series last month and intend to post about this soon.

Books Bought: 

  1. All Systems Red (Kindle Single): The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells – I figure it’s about time I jump on this series as everyone seems to adore it.
  2. Howards End (Classics To Go) by E. M. Forster – thank you Jessica for your review that tempted me to buy this.
  3. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch – so many blogger buddies love this book.
  4. Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier – I confess, I can’t remember who recommended this one – if it was you then let me know.
  5. Owl and the Tiger Thieves (The Owl Series Book 4) by Kristi Charish – I have to know what happens, the third ended on a cliffhanger.

Audio Books Bought:

  1. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (my current listen)

Review Books:

I’ve been quite restrained this month I think and I have some absolutely fantastic books to look forward to – feast your eyes on these little beauties:

  1. The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K. S. Villoso
  2. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
  3. A Time of Courage by John Gwynne
  4. Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs
  5. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
  6. The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
  7. The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky

SPFBO: I’ve read two books this month, at the moment I am one book behind schedule and I do have a fairly heavy review month for February but I’ll catch up in March which I’m keeping fairly quiet.  I should have my next review up this week.

What I’m looking forward to reading this month (this may be a bit of a stretch but I’ll give it my best shot and I did read 9 books this month so we’ll see):

  1. The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K. S. Villoso
  2. Stormsong by C. L. Polk
  3. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
  4. The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
  5. The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag
  6. The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood
  7. The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd
  8. The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovits
  9. The Wolf’s Call by Anthony Ryan

Hope you’ve all had a good month this month and that February treats you all well.

Friday Face Off : “Ack, Ack, Ack, we come in peace”

FFO

Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy .  This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers.  The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite.   Future week’s themes are listed below – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme.  I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout.  This week’s theme:

Chinese New Year – Year of the Rat – this could be a chinese style cover, something with a rat or rats, or any interpretation that comes to mind.

A lot of the new themes are open to interpretation which might make choosing the covers and seeing other’s choices very interesting.  I can’t stress enough that this is all about your own interpretation and hopefully this new open feel to the meme will bring a larger selection of books and covers.  It’s not supposed to be hard work, there are no rules, just enjoy yourself.

This week I did struggle a little. I thought of a book I’d love to use but there were no alternative covers and then the books I had in mind I’ve used previously. Anyway, I eventually came up with The Bone Season (The Bone Season #1) by Samantha Shannon.  I enjoyed this series where I read up to but I’m not sure if I just got left behind or the series came to a standstill – investigation is needed methinks.  Anyway here are the covers:

Difficult to choose a cover this week – nothing jumps out at me particularly although I do like the fresh colours in this one:

BoneSeason11

Which is your favourite?

I’ll be updating the list in order to include forthcoming events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share then let me know in the comments).  As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know 😀

Next week – Lion- “Is that a lion with horns and a pitchfork?”

Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers) (I’ve added some new themes – some of these are slightly different, in order to avoid too much repetition I’m trying to make the themes more of a suggestion that everyone can interpret how they like.  

2019

7th February – Lion- “Is that a lion with horns and a pitchfork?”

14th February – romantic – “thus with a kiss I die”

21st February – meringue – the puffy dress? – Lots of covers with ‘big’ dresses

28th February – Leap Year – One Ring to rule them all – A cover with a ring

6th March – Skeleton – them bones, them bones, them dry bones…

13th March – Exotic – ‘That which yields, is not always weak”– anything that represents something from distant lands.

20th March – Brown – a cover or covers that are brown

27th March – Freebie – choose one of your favourite covers

3rd April Fools – a trick of the eye – a cover that is more than meets the eye.

10th April – Moody – a cover that is atmospheric,

17th April – out of focus – double vision or all a blur

24th April – Armour – ‘“Pretty armour doesn’t make a warrior.”

1st May – Canine – “And then there were cats, thought Dog.:

8th May – graphic novel cover – “Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel”

15th May – pink – as pink as cotton candy – any cover that is pink

22nd May – Sorrow – a cover that makes you feel sad

29th May – Silhouette – an island, a person, anything you like

5th June – Flight – any type of flight – to flee, to fly

12th June – The bodice ripper – exactly as it seems

19th June – Time – time waits for no one

26th June – Windows – windows to the soul?

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