Ellie Quin in Wonderland by Alex Scarrow (No 4 of the Ellie Quin series)
23 November 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Alex Scarrow, Ellie Quin on Wonderland, No. 4 Ellie Quin Series, Sci Fi November 2014
EQ in Wonderland starts, as expected, where the last book left off with Ellie and Jez stowaways aboard a freight ship escaping from Harpers Reach. Be warned, this is the 4th in series and so there will probably be spoilers.
Unexpectedly they’re put down on an unopened theme park and need to await the arrival of a shuttle before they can get off this tiny chunk floating in space. At the same time, back on Harper’s Reach the Administration are investigating Ellie, desperately trying to find her whereabouts and uncovering some startling facts about her past life and acquaintances.
So, Wonderland. A fairly large holiday destination that never was! Unopened for some reason. Large bio domes within which different worlds exist. They can be changed and reprogrammed to look like virtually anything – a beautiful beach with the waves lapping on the sand, or snow peaked mountains with valleys resplendent with pine forests. It’s inhabitants can likewise be created – walking and talking jelly beans or puffs of candy! And yet, something is a little off in Wonderland. Two people remain in Wonderland – seemingly caretakers of sorts they spend their time recreating worlds and playing games to fill the days. One of these characters is a pretty hot surfer dude who Jez seems to be developing feelings for. The other is a slightly off kilter guy who Ellie seems to have wound up with (rather than playing the third wheel). Wonderland is a strange place – it kind of puts me in mind of a futuristic West World.
Meanwhile on Harper’s Reach the search continues. It appears that Ellie is more than first meets the eye – or at least she is to others. A terrorist organisation called the Awoken have been covertly watching Ellie since she was a tiny nipper. It’s all very mysterious.
I admit I’m really enjoying this series. Yes, it’s very simple to follow but it’s intriguing and I confess I want to know what the hell is going on with Ellie.
This is however going to be a short review as this is a short book.
The crux of the matter is – I would recommend this, I think it makes a great series for people who want to take on board more sci fi, okay, maybe it’s not all majorly deep and meaningful, it’s not difficult to understand, it’s not full of internal politics and conflict but it’s entertaining and I look forward to reading the next instalment. I don’t mind saying it’s fun – there I said the ‘f’ word!
In terms of criticisms – well, this ends on a cliffhanger! Not everyone’s cup of tea I appreciate.
However, unless this series takes a serious turn for the worse I will continue to the end!
This is one of my reads for Sci Fi November 2014. Check out the details here.
A little classic Q&A – the abridged version!
The Classics Club recently posted The Classics Club 50 Questions Survey. I’ve cheated a little bit on this in that I’ve chosen 10 of the questions only and on one of the questions I’ve changed the wording slightly – still, I don’t suppose I’m going to be arrested for cheating a little!
- First classic you ever read? One of the earliest reads I can remember independently choosing myself and reading was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum – I think I was about 8 years of age at the time. I’m fairly certain I also read The Borrower in the same year. Both books were recommended by my teacher at the time.
- Which classic do you think EVERYONE should read? Why. Woah, what a tough question. So many to choose from. But, I think i would probably go with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dicken. It’s a short story of redemption really with a feel good ending that has been popular since its creation.
- Favorite movie adaption of a classic? Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. All three films are just excellent. Jackson did an excellent job of recreating middle earth and the films were fairly faithful to the books.
- If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you most want to keep reading? Or, would you avoid the augmented manuscript in favor of the original? Why? I think I could continue Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Everybody could do with a little more Rhett Butler in the lives – and if you don’t agree, well, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!
- Whose advice do you always take when it comes to literature. (Recommends the right editions, suggests great titles, etc.) Well, I have a bunch of people that I rely on for recommendations but if I’m going to look for fairly early influences the first would be my dad, who is also a big reader and has massively influenced my reading over the years. I basically read more or less everything on his shelves ranging from detectives and mysteries to fantasy. The second biggest influence was a colleague at work who by dint of bringing me a constant supply of her favourite books introduced me to so many new authors and broadened my horizons.
- Classic author you’ve read the most works by? Jane Austen – well, I’ve read all her books. I’m not sure if I’ve read the most books by her or not but she’s the author that immediately springs to mind.
- List five fellow bloggers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs? I’ve cheated here on two counts – one, the bloggers I’ve listed are not all fellow classics club followers and two I’ve put too many down – I basically got carried away! Jessica over at The Bookworm Chronicles – we’ve been following each other virtually since I started blogging. She has a great blog and I love her books choices. Stainless Steel Droppings, ditto the above about the length of time I’ve been following this blog. SSD is Carl’s blog and primarily focuses on SFF – I love this blog and genuinely think I’ve had only one book where we’ve had slightly differing feelings in terms of liking it or not. I would pretty much read a shopping list if Carl recommended it! Andrea, over at the Little Red Reviewer – I think Andrea was one of the first people to actually comment on my posts – which was something of a revelation to me at the time as it never even occurred to me that anybody would even read my reviews. I love this blog – Andrea is always at the forefront of book recommendations, always one of the first to bring me new ideas and I read her blog religiously!! Wondrous Reads – Jenny is one of my best book buddies. This is helped by the fact that we also attend book events and movies together! We originally made friends through a love of reading and have continued ever since. Wondrous Reads is a fantastic blog and probably one of the earliest blogs to boot. If it wasn’t for Jenny I would have missed some amazing books – immediately springing to mind The Rebel Angels, The Martian, The Girl with All the Gifts and I am Legend! Finally – I’m going to be sneaky and add two blogs – basically because I found them both at the same time – Dark Cargo and Dab of Darkness. Dark Cargo – I would say this is a very quirky SFF blog and I never miss a post if I can help it. Dab of Darkness is Susan’s blog – tons of reading goes on over here and I’ve taken part in so many lovely readalongs with Susan that have introduced me to a host of other like minded bloggers. I would love to add many more here – Jason at Genkinahito, Lisa at OvertheEffingRainbow, but, no, I’m going to stop there!!
- If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made? Lord of the Rings – a readalong hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. This was a great read along that I really enjoyed. I always wanted to reread LotR but probably never would have done so without the impetus this readalong gave me. I loved sharing the experience with so many other people.
- Favorite thing about being a member of the Classics Club? I like the diversity of the events and I also like that it’s given me a personal challenge that encourages me to pick up books that otherwise I probably wouldn’t pick up.
- If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why? That would probably be Les Miserables. Why – because it’s on my list and I find it totally daunting. I think if I took part in a readalong it would give me more encouragement to read this plus readalongs are usually a bit more gentle affairs, spread out with allocated reading time so that you can read other books at the same time.
Guess the movie?
21 November 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Art It Up, Not Yet Read, Sci Fi November 2014, Tabitha
Art it Up. This is a weekly meme hosted by Tabitha over at Not Yet Read. The idea being to see if you can come up with some 
inspiration for a little sketch or doodle from your last week’s reading or just anything else in general. So, this week my reading has still mostly been dreadful – still too much going on at the moment!! I have read Ancillary Justice and also The Slow Regard of Silent things.
This month being all about (no – not badly drawn sketches: but
below – are a few random sketches that are clues for movies:
They seek him here, they seek him there..
Every week a whole bunch of us go trekking through the tropes of fantasy with Nathan over at the Fantasy Review Barn as part of Tough Travelling. This week the topic for discussion is MISSING HEIRS
MISSING HEIRS occur with great frequency. At any given time, half the countries in Fantasyland will have mislaid their crown princess/prince.
So, without further ado I’m going to jump right in – although, this week, I’m not actually naming the missing people – because that could just be considered a bit spoilery for those who haven’t read the stories below! I’m just going to name the books and you’ll have to trust me (Don’t forget to go and check out the others – there are always loads of great recommendations to be had)! Unfortunately this week the titles are all ones that I’ve picked before:
LotR – never miss an opportunity to get Tolkien on the list : the Heir of Isildur – okay I’ve named this particular heir but only because he’s known by a different name throughout most of the books. And anyway, who doesn’t know the Heir of Isildur!
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie – this one defo counts!
The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory – I’m not sure you could call this a missing heir – so much as a heir who goes travelling in cognito.
Age of Iron by Angus Watson – three companions and one of them with definitely a surprise in store for future readers out there.
Smiler’s Fair by Rebecca Levene – just check out the start of the story – definitely a missing heir in the making.
Stardust by Neil Gaiman – I’m thinking of a female, sometimes who takes the shape of a bird, who wears a chain that keeps her enslaved to a witch.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
18 November 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Patrick Rothfuss, The Slow Regard of Silent Things
This is going to be a slightly different and maybe somewhat unusual review but one that I think is perfectly fitting for a very unconventional little book.
I was very excited to pick up the Slow Regard of Silent Things. Firstly, it’s by Rothfuss. Secondly, it’s about one of the characters from the Kingkiller Chronicles that I thought I would enjoy reading about. And, thirdly, and very fickle of me, its an absolutely gorgeous little book, beautifully written and beautifully illustrated – which again seems perfectly fitting for a tale about Auri. Check it out:
I won’t elaborate on the plot – I say this quite often in my reviews but in this case I’m not going to elaborate further because, to be frank, there isn’t a plot. This is a snippet of time from Auri’s life. Not even a full week. Literally six days, during which we follow in the footsteps of Auri as she moves purposefully along the ancient passageways of Underthing, collecting, making and depositing things along the way.
In terms of characters – well, if you’re expecting a robust cast you’ll surely be disappointed. This is the Auri show. Nobody else makes an appearance and there is no dialogue or conversation, no witty repartee! Again though, I felt like this fitted with the story as the places that Auri takes us to almost have a reverential feel to them, or a scary one when seen through her eyes, so much so that lots of dialogue would feel a little like shouting through a megaphone whilst in a library! Auri is an unusual girl. Waiflike and alone. Not lonely though. She sees things differently. Some things frighten her and others make her unspeakably happy. To Auri, there’s a place for everything and everything has to be in it’s place. The inanimate objects around her seem to almost have feelings and personalities. It’s a very unusual world!
The setting is Underneath – a labyrinth of passages that run beneath the University where Auri was once a student. This is a very strange and fascinating place indeed and perhaps one of the only criticisms I have is that I would have quite liked, in fact I would have loved, an illustration of the layout, but that’s just a personal whim. I was fascinated with Auri’s world. It feels like an enormous place with twisting tunnels and secret rooms. I couldn’t help thinking of the Phantom of the Opera – don’t even ask my why, it’s just a strange fancy that I had when reading. I’d love to know what the dressing room was for example!
Anyway, to the crux of the review. The writing. The writing is beautiful. It’s lyrical and whimsical and a little bit sad and Rothfuss is undoubtedly a master of words. If Kvothe knows the name of the Wind then Rothfuss know the name of Prose! I can’t deny that I adore writing like this – it’s one of the reasons why I love writers such as Gaiman and Valente. The words are magical and the imagery they depict is captivating.
Okay, if you’re expecting a start, a middle and a conclusion to the story then get ready for disappointment. This isn’t that type of story. If you’re expecting to find out a little of Auri’s history or what happened to drive her into this strange and self imposed solitude – again this isn’t the right book – in fact, I think if we’re going to find out about Auri it’s more likely to be through others telling her tale. Other things you can forget about: this doesn’t take the Chronicles forward in any way whatsoever, we don’t meet up with Kvothe or any of the others, it’s not epic, dramatic or adventurous. It’s unconventional and Rothfuss is plainly aware of this as he states in the foreword ‘You might not want to buy this book’. Again, unusual to say the least and probably enough to give any publicist palpitations!
I really enjoyed it though. If you’re keen for a glimpse into the world of Auri then this is for you. It’s a bittersweet insight that leaves you frankly wanting more and also makes you feel strangely protective of this ethereal girl! I think the clue is in the title really – ‘the slow regard of silent things’ it’s basically what you’re doing here as a reader. You’re having a little peep into this unusual, slow paced and very silent world.
Recommended with the provisos pointed out by the good author himself!
Books and travelling with Lynn 