I really enjoyed this book. It’s the first book by Adrian Tchaikovsky that I’ve read and it is a stand alone novel about an AI robot valet, Charles who works in a full on stately home with a whole staff of servants who are all AI robots specifically made for their individual jobs. One day Charles inexplicably slits his master’s throat with a straight edge razor and doesn’t know what to do next, trying to convince his master to eat something to make him feel better, or take him for a nice drive in the car. It’s a deep and insightful but humorous dystopian sci-fi, with hints of Marvin the paranoid android. Charles (or ‘Un-Charles’ as he loses the right to the name when he is sent to diagnostics) goes on a quest to find out why he did this thing and on the way begins to realise that he can think and make his own choices beyond what has been programmed into him. I loved it!
In Cat’s Eye a mature artist returns to her hometown to attend a retrospective exhibition of her works and she reminisces over her childhood and the stories behind some of her pieces of art.
There is a lot about how cruel children can be to each other, especially girls and the power dynamics between groups of friends. I found much of it to be relatable, and the writing is of course (because it’s Margaret Atwood) beautiful.
It’s a slower paced book to many I listen to (or read) and more of a memoir (although fictional) then a plot led book, and although I enjoyed it, I wanted to get back to something a bit more exciting for my next read.
I was super excited for the release of the second part of M.R. Carey’s Pandominion series, so I re-read book one before listening to book two, to refresh my flagging memory and get the full enjoyment.
The main themes of this wonderful sci-fi series are exploring the multi-verse, and embracing difference – from versions of our Earth where the dominant sentient species evolved from cats, or reptiles, or even rabbits, to worlds where all life is machine based over biological and how these vastly different cultures can misunderstand each other to the detriment of everyone. It also explores the benefits and drawbacks of hive mind thinking over individualism and the tragic consequences of always fighting rather than taking the risk of trusting to peace – like the prisoner dilemma played out on a massive scale.
I loved these books, and didn’t find them depressing or bleak, but as I write this review in the context of wars around the world, and fighting in my own country as anti-immigration groups are rioting in the streets I’m feeling a bit down with humanity. I understand why some people fight, especially in times of scarcity – to try to protect what little they have and to feel like they are being heard in a world where they feel ignored but I just wish it was different, that everyone would share and look out for each other with empathy and love.
Anyway – back to the book (lol): I loved the characters (especially the rabbit girl and her AI friend) and I found the pacing just right – I never got bored or overwhelmed and I found the ending satisfying (although I was a little sad that it felt like things were nicely wrapped up so there will probably not be more books in the series!)
This is a lovely fairy tale of a book that is reminiscent of Joanne Harris’s book Honeycomb. While honeycomb had magical anthropomorphic bees this story is about magical anthropomorphic butterflies and moths.
Snippets of the story are told like a straight magical fairy tale story, but the bulk of it happens in the ‘real world’ when a shy young man who works in a camera shop in London helps a homeless man and falls in love with a beautiful girl whose face he can never quite remember, and is drawn in (like the lovely novel by the maybe not so lovely (yikes) Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere) to a magical quest across time and reality to find true love and end a war.
Bitter Water (Dr Greta Helsing Novella) – Vivian Shaw – 21.07.24
The Helios Syndrome – Vivian Shaw – 23.07.24
Version 1.0.0
So, I bought Bitter Waters, which is a novella companion to the Doctor Greta Helsing series by Vivian Shaw, and when I started reading it, I remember how much I loved reading the other books in this series, and also how much of the intricacies of the plot that my aging Swiss cheese memory has removed from my mind, so, I re-read the first three books before reading this novella, and then bought and read The Helios Syndrome because I was having such a fun Vivian Shaw ride!
Greta Helsing is a modern day descendent of the Van Helsing family, famous from the world of gothic literature as vampire hunters. Times have changed, however, and the majority of vampires and other non-human individuals just want to live peaceful and undisturbed lives and the Van Helsings have dropped the ‘Van’ and the hunting and instead studied medicine as well as anatomy and physiology of vampires, ghouls, mummies, and other ‘mythical’ beings in order to help to keep them healthy.
This is a lovely series with some excitement and peril but lots of nice relationships (some romance) some humour and great characters. I can’t wait for the next instalment.
In the mean time, I read The Helios syndrome, which is either a stand -alone or the beginning of a new series (I would read it if it was!). Again there is magical realism, in this case the main character can use divination with a Chrystal ball as well as talking to dead people. He is hired by people investigating air crashes and has a very exciting adventure guided by a dead pilot and at times by an aeroplane that talks to him in his dreams!
It’s less gentile than The Greta Helsing books, and set in America rather than England, but still very enjoyable.
Some people are fans of Stephen King’s earlier works over his more recent books, but I am in the opposite camp. I like how the master story teller that is Stephen King has become more gentle and contemplative in his stories, without losing any complexity, character building and tension (in my humble opinion!).
I really wanted to read Doctor Sleep, but since I had never read The Shining (I don’t remember watching the movie, although my hubby insists that we watched it together years ago) so I (with some trepidation) listened to The Shining first, then Doctor Sleep.
So, yes, I think it is important to read both books because so much of the character of Danny, the main protagonist of Doctor Sleep, is based on the journey he went on in The Shining, where he was a small boy in a terrifying situation, but I did much prefer the sequel to the original!
The ladies in my book group are horrified and mystified at my being a fan of Stephen King because they just see ‘horror’ and think gore and violence and evil, and yes, those things are in these books to an extent, but there is so much more – so much goodness and strong moral character overcoming the terrible challenges that the evil puts in their path, and ultimately so much optimism and life affirming joy.
I kind of (hmm, not so much) enjoyed The Shining, but I loved Doctor Sleep!
I don’t usually like memoir type books, but I really enjoyed this one. I was not aware of Chris Broad’s YouTube channel before reading this, but I was drawn to it because my son Danny lives in Japan, and my hubby and I visited him last year.
The book describes how Chris Broad moves to Japan almost on a whim to take part in a program for native English speakers to work as language assistants in Japanese high schools.
It’s an interesting and honest retelling of his first experiences living and working in Japan – the culture shock and the struggles learning the language and I liked that a lot of his experiences were the same as my son’s and that he visited some of the places that we visited on our recent trip. I might even start watching some of his videos now!
It’s very rare for me to give up on a book (especially an audiobook) and I did manage to get through two thirds of this one, and wondered if I shouldn’t just stick it out until the end, but then I thought about all the unread books out there, and the limited amount of time left in my life and decided it was dumb to continue a book that I wasn’t enjoying.
So, why didn’t I like it?
The book begins with a man being constantly respawned in a terrifying life threatening situation with no memory of who he is and what is going on and having to fight for his life over and over again (like in a video game, when he is killed, he just comes back to the last ‘save point’). It’s hard to describe what happens next without giving spoilers, but I just found the violence to be too relentless and gory and over the top, with unnecessary puerile toilet or sexual humour thrown in. I thought it could have been written by an exceptionally talented teenaged boy (talented because the writing isn’t bad just full of the sort of thing that teenaged boys are famous for enjoying).
There are a lot of positive reviews out there for this book and the author, so obviously there is a fan base for it, but this author’s work is definitely not for me.
This is the sequel to In The Blink of an Eye – (or second in the series, I guess) and as least as enjoyable as the first. It’s a police procedural murder mystery, with the twist being that one of the two main detective characters is an AI – projected as a hologram of a handsome black man.
I did like pretty much everything about it – the human detective is a widowed woman who’s only son has just left for university and she has all the feels that go along with that. The AI is unfailingly logical, but also dipping his toes into the murky waters of self awareness and exploring how he feels about that and his place in the world. The relationship between the two reminds me of Captain Kirk and Mr Spock – the clash between being led by hunches or instinct vs being led by logic and facts and the growing (sometimes grudging) respect of the one for the other.
The murder mystery element was also well done with a satisfying ending – I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
I’m still very much enjoying Jodi Taylor’s Time Police series. This time team weird (or at least some of them) are stuck on a crazy malevolent slightly sentient train hurtling through time and space with a bad guy from their past who has murderous intent. Meanwhile the rest of the time police try to free themselves (literally) from the results of some R and D that went wrong back at headquarters to be able to attempt a rescue.
More fun character developments, exciting plots and humour.
Sarah Wray Writer 