Weekly Wrap Up : 18th November 2018
Hi all. Hope you’ve all been having a good week. This week we’ve been in Porto which is a really beautiful city. Yesterday I visited the above bookshop which was visited (so I’m told) many times by JK Rowling during the time she spent in Portugal and was inspirational in certain areas of her writing. What do you think? Anyway, reading plans straight out the window. Sorry this isn’t the best picture but google Livraria Lello to get a better idea online. I completed only one book this week, Songwoman by Ilka Tampke. This is the second book by this author, I really enjoyed the first book Skin and Songwoman picks up from where that left off. Think of Celtic Britain and the Roman invasion. Rich with detail and very character driven this is a great historic read that takes us back to an era full of superstition and folklore. I really enjoyed it.
- Songwoman by Ilka Tampke
- Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean
- The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Upcoming reviews:
- Starborn by Lucy Hounsom
- Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace
- Noir by Christopher Moore
- Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
- The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
- An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris
- Dragonshadow (Heartstone #2) by Elle Katharine White
- Songwoman by Ilka Tampke
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
#SPFBO 2018 : Batch 4, Books 4-6
As mentioned in my post here as part of the SPFBO competition I’ll be randomly choosing six books per month for the next five months, I will then aim to check out at least the first 30% of each book during that month. I’ll post information about the first three books chosen at the start of the month and then about the remaining three during the mid way point with a conclusion around the end of the month about which books will be going forward or which will be eliminated. The conclusion for my first, second and third month’s reading can be found here, here and here Ultimately, the aim is to choose one book from the thirty I’ve been assigned – that chosen one will then be my finalist.
Books 4-6 in my fourth batch of books are as follows:
Victor Boone Will Save Us by David Joel Stevenson
Victor Boone is an arrogant, six-foot tall hunk of man candy who uses incredible powers to fly around in spandex and save his city’s citizens from evil doers. Especially the busty ones.
But he’s not a superhero.
The truth is, an invisible, insecure and overweight Robby Willis is the one with the powers. But he’s so terrified of anyone knowing that he even exists as a person that he’s not comfortable with a cliche disguise.
The two men form a partnership: Robby does the saving and Victor takes the credit.
The problem is, Victor’s been murdered.
Can Robby overcome his social anxiety with the help of the prettiest smelling girl he’s ever known? Or will he let the evil villain The Vacant destroy the city, leaving him to finally be alone?
- Goodreads: author page
- Website: http://www.davidjoelstevenson.com
- Twitter: geekoffgrid
Under Ordshaw by Phil Williams
An abducted youth. A book of horrors. A city with a nightmarish secret.
Pax Kuranes has two simple goals: make rent and win a poker tournament. When a young man steals her bankroll, and she finds out she’s the least dangerous person after him, her ambitions quickly shift to keeping herself alive. To do that, she’s going to have to figure out exactly what he was into – and face what’s lurking under Ordshaw.
Phil Williams’ contemporary fantasy is a fast-moving thriller filled with rich detail, sharp dialogue and things that will keep you up at night. Take your first step into Ordshaw and learn why it’s such a hard city to leave…
- Goodreads: author page
- Website: http://www.phil-williams.co.uk
- Twitter: fantasticphil
The Sangrook Saga by Steve Thomas
They have been called warlords, necromancers, demon-worshipers, torturers, and monsters. The Sangrooks ruled half the world before they were defeated, but they were not eradicated. The menace of the Sangrook clan lives on, and the morbid history of this cursed family unfolds across seven doomed lives.
- Goodreads: author page
Friday Face Off : ‘There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.’
16 November 2018
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books by Proxy, Coraline, Friday Face off, Neil Gaiman
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, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – 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. This week’s theme:
‘There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.’ – A scary cover
There are so many books for this week’s theme so I can’t wait to see what everyone came up with. I discarded quite a few – and I know that at the back of my mind I have a particular cover that really scared me but I just couldn’t dredge it up. However, I think that Coraline by Neil Gaiman has some brilliant covers and the Other Mother gives me the serious heebees with all the buttons and needles and eyes *shivers*. There are a lot of covers for this book, as you may imagine, so I’ve selected only a few:
In terms of fitting the theme I’d have to highlight:
I think though that my favourite is:
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so I can visit and check out your covers. Thanks
Next week – A cover featuring a mermaid/man
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ of one of your favourite covers)
23rd November – ‘The child is in love with a human. And not just any human. A prince!’ – A cover featuring a mermaid/man
30th November – “..the children of the night. What music they make!” – a cover with a vampire
7th December – ‘I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.’ – A cover featuring a hero
14th December -“Heavy is the head that wears the crown” – A cover featuring a crown
21st December – ‘ho, ho, ho’ – A seasonal cover
28th December – A freebie – choose one of your favourite titles and compare the covers
2019
4th January – A cover that is fresh – New beginnings for a New Year
11th January – ‘I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king’ – A cover that depicts a novel set in the Tudor period
18th January – A cover featuring an Amulet – either in the cover or title
25th January – ‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’ – A cover featuring a monk/priest/person of the cloth
1st February – A comedy cover
8th February – ‘Hi little cub. Oh no, don’t be ssscared.’ – A cover with snakes
15th February – A heart – for Valentine’s day past
22nd February – “Woe, destruction, ruin, and decay; the worst is death and death will have his day.” – A cover with abandoned building/s
1st March – ‘who will buy this wonderful morning’ – A cover featuring a shop or market
8th March – ‘Two little fishes and a momma fishy too’ – A cover featuring a fish/fishes or other sea creatures
15th March – ‘Beware the moon, lads.’ – A cover with a shapeshifter
22nd March – ‘A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ – A cover featuring a king
29th March – “I thought unicorns were more . . . Fluffy.” – A cover featuring a unicorn
5th April – ‘nomad is an island’ – A cover featuring a desert landscape
12th April – ‘Odin, Odin, send the wind to turn the tide – A cover featuring a longboat
19th April – ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – A cover featuring a school
In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey
In the Night Wood is a book that I finished with mixed feelings. On the one hand I loved the gothic premise, the idea of an old mansion and an enchanted forest. The writing is really impressive and there are so many bookish quotes and references that you couldn’t throw a stick around these pages without hitting something of note. It’s also a relatively quick read and I can’t deny that the idea of the dark forest that seems to almost have a mind of it’s own left me deeply intrigued – not to mention a huge antlered beast.
So, why the mixed feelings. In a nutshell the main protagonist was really difficult for me to like – in fact I didn’t like him at all. He’s a raging MCP who felt massively out of sync with the modern world in which he’s living. I think this is the closest I’ve come in a long while to having the irrational urge to throw my kindle across the room.
The book gets off to a good start. We learn of Charles who since being a young boy has had a fascination with a novel named In the Night Wood. The book, written by a Victorian author, has gained a cult like status, it’s creepy and almost sinister nature belying what appears to be a children’s story at first glance. Time moves on apace and Charles meets a young woman, unbelievably a distant relative of Caedmon Hollow – the legendary author of Charles most favourite book, it seems fated that the two should fall desperately in love.
Time then moves forward again, things have spiralled out of control for Charles and his wife. Their young daughter dies in a tragic accident and at the same time it becomes apparent that Charles has been having an affair with one of his fellow academic colleagues. He takes a leave of absence from work (at the polite but insistent request of his superiors) and his situation looks dire indeed until his wife unexpectedly inherits Hollow House and the two leave America to take up residence in the huge dusty mansion that will become their home. For Charles this spells the start of a new beginning. He’s writing a biography about Caedmon Hollow and what better inspiration could he hope for than living in the author’s own home, surrounded by the dark forest that plays such a huge role in the original tale, plus who knows what he’ll find lurking in those old closed up rooms?
You have to admit this has a great premise and there are plenty of inspirational moments during the read. I liked the author’s style although I think he can occasionally become a little more wordy than is really necessary. There is atmosphere and folklore thrown into the mix and even a quaint little village. But, Charles just got on my last nerve. I can’t lie. And, maybe it shouldn’t matter, but I couldn’t get past it. I would explain why but frankly that direction would just lead to a massive rant which I don’t think would be helpful. Suffice to say Charles changed the read for me and every time I started to sink into the story he would say or do something unbelievable or ridiculously maddening and tear me straight out of my wormhole.
So, was this a bad book? No it wasn’t, but at the same time it ultimately wasn’t for me. On a different note, whilst this book didn’t quite work out I would certainly like to try more by this author.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
#RRSciFiMonth Can’t Wait Wednesday : The Fall of Io (Io Series) by Wesley Chu
14 November 2018
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: #RRSciFiMonth, Can't wait Wednesday, The Fall of Io, Wesley Chu, Wishful Endings
I’m combining today’s Can’t Wait Wednesday with Sci-fi month, an event being hosted by One More and Dear Geek Place (check out the #RRSciFiMonth hashtag to keep uptodate)
“Can’t Wait 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 Fall of Io (Io Series) by Wesley Chu
The superb aliens-in-your-head SF sequel to the wildly popular The Rise of Io, by the author of The Lives of Tao series
When Ella Patel’s mind was invaded by the Quasing alien, Io, she was dragged into the raging Prophus versus Genjix war. Despite her reservations, and Io’s incompetence, the Prophus were determined to train her as an agent. It didn’t go well. Expelled after just two years, Ella happily returned to con artistry, and bank robberies. But the Quasing war isn’t done with them yet. The Genjix’s plan to contact their homeworld has reached a critical stage, threatening all life on Earth. To complete the project they need Io’s knowledge – and he’s in Ella’s head – so now they’re both being hunted, again.
Due for publication January 2019
