Book Review: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

An excellent follow up to The Summoning, yet again Kelley’s books contain lots of action and the pace of the story is fast from page 1.  The book is left on a bit of a cliff-hanger (as you’d expect with a trilogy!) and getting to know the characters more is a pleasure.  Should Chloe get together with Simon or Derek though?  I think Derek myself!!!

Score:  3.5/5

Book Review: Dirty Game by Jessie Keane

I’ve not read anything by Martina Cole before and this author is supposed to be in the same league.  Well that aside, I found the book to be gripping, tarty, dangerous, tragic, thrilling and lots more.  I like the way Jessie Keane writes,  I found it written in a very down to earth manner, nice touch.  The introduction of all the characters was stepped in nicely through the book, you certainly felt like you got to know the characters traits as the book flowed along.  The tragic descent of the sisters relationship was described well.

In all I thought the plot had plenty of edges to it, lots of twists and turns.  The characters were interesting and obscure.  Descriptions of locations and actions were plentiful without being overdone.  The length of the book was just about right for me too.  I’ll certainly look out for more of Jessie Keane’s books.

Book Review Score: 4/5

Book Review: Living with the Dead by Kelley Armstrong

I’ve been a fan of Kelley Armstrong books for a long time now and this one continues the Otherworld series very nicely.  Living with the Dead follows Karl Marsten and Hope Adams which are an interesting couple to say the least!

The book is actually written from the perspective of the 3rd person which is a new angle for this series.  The chapters are written from the each of the 5 main character perspectives.

A new character, Robyn, who is nothing but human does make some very annoying choices throughout the book, i.e. running away from murder scenes.  Another new character, Finn who has a weak necromancy talent also brought a new fresh view to the series.

Altogether a good story I thought, new characters too to give it a lift.  Look forward to the next installment as usual.

Book review score: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Quiet American by Graham Greene

This is the first book of Graham Greene’s that I’ve read and I found it took me completely by surprise, totally unputdownable!  The topic of the book isn’t my normal choice at all, but the writing style had me hooked until the story was finished.  For such a short book it contains so much:

- characters are shy and innocent yet tough and imaginative
- clashes of american, british, french and asian cultures
- descriptions of locations are detailed
- even the theme of the book could be said to cover political, romance, thriller and military tastes

Surely this book must therefore prove to suit a multitude of reading styles!

My score: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Another excellent book by Kelley Armstrong, this author never fails to please when it comes to her supernatural series of books.  This one is about Chloe who comes into her Necromancy powers during adolescence and finds herself in a group home for people of similar a disposition.  The book flows well, unputdownable even (well for me anyway).  This is one of Kelley’s young adult series of books.  An excellent plot and the ending leaves you wishing the next in the series was already released so you can just carry on reading.

My Score: 3.5/5

Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I found this book somewhat unsatisfying and actually rather annoying in the way it was written.  The author was obviously writing the book from the eyes of the main character, Margaret Lea.  However, one chapter to the next would jump from having Margaret’s story as the current text to Vida Winter’s story as the current text with no clear destinction between the two.  This confused me several times.  

I also don’t see how Adeline can be suggested as Vida Winter’s childhood name/character through about three quarters of the book when all along she isn’t.  How then does Vida Winter tell her story as Adeline to Margaret if she isn’t that person?  

The book doesn’t appear to be placed specifically at any point in time, but I felt that it must have been set in a victorian period.  No modern facilities are mentioned at least.  

How people with such serious mental illnesses can be left to their own devices for so long by authorities (even in victorian or older times) seems totally unrealistic.  Doctors are mentioned throughout the book, why on earth didn’t the doctor have Adeline and the uncle, Charles, committed for such serious mental problems?

I found the book long winded, unrealistic, tedious and confusing.  Not my sort of thing at all.

My score:  2 out of 5

Book Review: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

An amusing story about a couple of brothers (Fat Charlie and Spider who are total opposites) who have an embarrassing, but godly, father.  Fat Charlie is a character you warm to as you follow his path through this short section of his life.  This has got to be one of the funniest books I’ve read for a while.  I’ve become quite addicted to Neil Gaiman’s books (as I’ve now started another of his books and have yet one more waiting to be read).  There are thought-provoking moments in the book, but on the whole I would class it as a fantasy/comedy/fairy-tale story.  Someone described Neil Gaiman’s books to me as “witty but slightly wonky”, I like this description, most apt I’d say.  Neil Gaiman’s writing style does almost show his friendship with Terry Pratchett, if you read his books you’ll know what I mean.

My score:  4 out of 5

Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Well I started off rather enjoying this book.  Rather a quirky kind of story, quite original.  Loved the characters in the book, Bod seems like a loveable boy along with most of the ghosts etc. actually.  I did feel a bit disappointed though towards the end.  I thought the build up of the character “Jack” who was after Bod didn’t seem that frightening after all.  The other “Jack of all trades” didn’t seem to come across as that imposing either.  I would have preferred the finale to have been a bit bigger I guess.  Lovely book though, will read more of Neil Gaiman that’s for sure.

My score:  3.5 out of 5

Book Review: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

I decided to read this book after hearing it reviewed by Graeme Le Saux on Radio 4.  It certainly is an inspiring read.  The story is based around a hospital for sufferers of mental illness and the main character’s story is that after an attempt at suicide, she is told her heart is irrepairably damaged and doesn’t have long to live.  This news takes Veronika on a path where she learns to love life more than she ever has before.  One very memorable piece of the story for me was where a patient of the hospital talks to a doctor and says “Where is my soul?”, she then talks about her soul being in the past with her husband and family, and that it’s also with her job where she hasn’t the courage to quit and find something better…

All in all the story is short, very well written, and caused me to take a look at a few aspects I hadn’t thought to look at before.  Very good, thoroughly enjoyable.

My marks for this book would be 4 out of 5.

Book Review: Relentless by Simon Kernick

I loved this book.  It didn’t take me long to read the 460 pages and to be honest, I found I took the book everywhere with me so that I could read it at every little opportunity.  The summary of the book on the back had me interested from the start but that doesn’t always guarantee the story is going to be worthwhile, this book was however.  From the first chapter the book contained lots of action, interesting characters and a plot that has you begging for more.  The pace of the book is breakneck and the plot twists and turns constantly.   I like the writing style of this author especially as I’m not usually a crime novel fan.  I even read the preview chapters of the next novel by this author and ordered it the same day I was so intrigued.   If we can have more books like this in the book club, I will be a very happy member!

My score: 3.5/5