When I read the first part of this post-viral-apocalyptic trilogy (The Passage) I was completely blown away and loved it, but this second book, I have to say, I didn’t love so much. A lot of new characters were introduced, and it was quite some time before we met up with some of our old friends from the first book, which I didn’t like. Also this book seemed to be more heavy on action and fighting, and less on character development and growing tension, and that’s not really my thing. (I loved the first Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows film with all the talking much more than the second one with all the big battle scenes!). It’s still a good book and I was only a little bit bored at times, and I still went straight into reading the third book.
My son, Christy recommended this podcast series to me as an alternative to the audiobooks I usually listen to. It’s an anthology series of one off horror stories, but with an ever growing interconnectivity. At first the stories all seem spooky but stand alone, but then little patterns or names or details show up in more than one story, and an overriding arc starts to develop. I’m very much enjoying the stories and the unfolding mysteries. It took me a while to get used to the podcast set up – I’m not so young that all this technology is second nature to me, and for a while when I listened to an episode on Spotify, at the end of the episode it automatically played the most recent episode rather then the next one. Since I listen while out running, it is fiddly for me to sort this and I ended up listening to episode 190 several times and getting spoilers! I have sorted this out now by making a playlist with the next ten or twenty episodes in the right order and deleting them and adding more every now and then. The ads at the beginning and end of each episode are annoying too, although I think there is a way you can pay and not have to listen to these? The stories (in the first series at least) are mostly read by the author (Jonathan Sims) and he has a nice and quite mesmerising voice. At the end of each series they have interviews and Q&As with the writer and production team which are quite interesting.
I bought this book in 2016 but hadn’t got around to reading it until it popped up as a kindle daily deal recently and the premise intrigued me. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel set in a near (and distant) future in a world decimated by a virus (!) Lol. It’s actually a good one to read in these covid times as it makes you count your blessings since the virus in this trilogy of novels outright kills 90% of victims and turns the rest into immortal vampire/zombie type creatures.
I’m already reading the second book in the trilogy, since I loved the first one so much! It’s quite a long book, but I was never once bored. The book follows different characters and jumps about in time a bit (over 1000 years actually!) which some reviewers didn’t like, or found confusing, but I did like. Jumping through times and points of view (if done well) is a good way of keeping the narrative fresh and since all the threads were important to the whole story and contributed then they were all worth telling. I had that good feeling of anticipation to get back to a previous thread and find out how that character is doing, while still being totally gripped and invested in what’s happening in the current thread.
I thought to myself while reading this that there is nothing about this that I don’t like. The fairly large cast of characters are all well fleshed out and interesting and the plot is intelligent and makes sense. The writer manages to make the tone ultimately uplifting and optimistic without being unrealistic or sickly sweet. The book reminds me of one of my favourite films: I Am Legend (staring the gorgeous Will Smith), as the viral creatures are similar to the vampires in that movie, and in both stories the virus is brought about by man tampering with nature ( In I Am Legend, with the lofty intent of curing cancer, but in this book with the more sinister motive of using a modified existing virus to create ultimate strong self-healing soldiers).
I’m finding it hard to sleep at the moment, since I’m furloughed from work and don’t have the tiredness brought on by an honest day’s work, but reading this book into the wee small hours is actually a big compensation!
I really enjoyed this audiobook. It is an example of a sci-fi comedy that doesn’t resort to ‘lowest common denominator’ slapstick or just stupid schoolboy humour (like the awful Elvenquest). This is a thoughtful and engaging story of an American agent who usually works with actors, but is given the secret task of putting a positive spin on the first contact between humans and an alien species that while intelligent and peaceable appear as foul smelling ugly blob creatures. There is a lot of humour, especially when one of the aliens merges with a dog and takes on its form and memories while still being able to talk and think like an intelligent alien. The characters are likeable and the plot races along with lots of twists and turns and a nice satisfying conclusion. It was a fun listen.
I see from other people’s reviews on Amazon, that this is something of a ‘marmite’ book with people either loving or hating it. Well, I love marmite (on hot buttered toast…mmm!) and I love (or at least really liked) this book. It feels like a Victorian Gothic novel, with a deep sense of foreboding and dread throughout. It’s a retelling of a previous novel called Melmoth the Wanderer with Melmoth changed from a man who made a pact with the devil, to a woman who witnessed Christ’s resurrection but refused to testify that she had and was punished with eternal wandering and witnessing Man’s wickedness towards his fellow man.
The main character, Helen is an English woman living in Prague in a sort of self-imposed exile because of the guilt she feels over a secret from her past. She befriends an odd couple and the husband gives her a dossier before fleeing the country. It contains collected stories of people who have come into contact with Melmoth and Helen feels haunted by their stories and by the feeling of Melmoth coming for her because of her own guilty past.
I found the book really gripping and engaging, and I enjoyed reading the individual stories, as well as the arc of learning Helen’s history. I found the ending a little confusing, though, and the overall theme of the book a little too depressing and lacking in redemption, although it’s possible that there were deeper redemptive themes that when over my head? Still, a good read and I’m keen to read another book by Sarah Perry now.
I listened to this as an audiobook, rather then reading it, so have to base my review on that experience. I was very drawn to the title of this book – anything about book sellers catches my attention, and the left-handed part tweaked my interest too – are they sinister, or creative, or quirky…? and the reviews that I read sealed the deal describing it as urban supernatural fantasy. In the days when I used to read to my children at bedtime (my hubby was always impressed by my devotion to bedtime reading, but really I think I enjoyed it at least as much as the children and quite possibly more!) which is more then ten years ago now, we read Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series which I remember enjoying.
Well, first off I was instantly put off by the very posh English accent of the female narrator ( Marisa Calin ). It’s a problem I have, and I know it’s wrong of me, but coming from a long line of working class (although I’m kind of middle class now really, at least in my aspirations) northerners I can’t help associating that ‘proper BBC English’ upper class accent with privileged, entitled, arrogant colonial types. Imagine my surprise, when I looked up the narrator, and found out that she is American, born in California! Also, to be fair, her intonation and emotional interpretation of the text was really good, plus she did regional accents for a few of the characters (Scottish and Yorkshire among them) which were believable and pleasant to the ears, so I guess the problems with her were all mine, but still, I wish she’d picked a less posh voice for the main narration.
That aside, I did really enjoy the story. Set in the 1980s, the main character, Susan, travels to London a few months early to start her Art college course because she is on a quest to find out who her father is from a scant few clues gleaned from her mother. Very quickly strange and dangerous things begin to happen to her, and she falls in with the magical booksellers and other very mythical creatures before finding out her true lineage.
I loved the references to lots of books, as well as the mythology and lore in the plot and the inevitable romance wasn’t too cringeworthy.
This is a really lovely book. The main character, Frank is a middle aged man who had an unconventional upbringing by his bohemian but mentally ill single mother who instilled in him a passionate love for music – telling him tales that brought to life pieces of music from classical to jazz, pop, rock etc… He runs a record shop in a small London street with a tight knit community of small business owners who are each others family and support group. Frank has an uncanny knack for knowing what music each person needs to listen to to help them get through whatever troubles they are experiencing and he uses this skill with compassion and largesse.
One day a German woman faints outside Frank’s shop, and he brings her in and helps her. This meeting starts what should be a beautiful relationship, but due to secrets and miscommunications it is beset with problems.
I don’t usually like soppy feel good books, but I loved this. The characters are flawed and funny and relatable and their relationships are inspiring and frustrating and heartwarming. I also loved the passion Frank has for music and some of his descriptions of pieces of music and the stories behind them made me want to instantly listen to them on Spotify!
I recommended this book to my book group friends, although I accidentally told them it was called The Record Shop instead of The Music shop, which I can’t help thinking should have been it’s title, since Frank was so religious about Vinyl being the only acceptable format for music!
I was excited to read this, because I loved the Ten Thousand Doors of January so much. I have to say, that even though I really liked this book, for me it wasn’t as great as The Ten Thousand Doors. This is a more traditional tale of witches being just women trying to survive in a male dominated world. In this book the newly blossoming suffragette movement is classed as just another symptom of witchcraft along with practising herbal medicine and aspects of midwifery. The witches don’t just use wisdom and herbal lore though. The three main characters, sisters Juniper, Bella and Agnes, find the words to call up the old magic which gives them power to fight the oppressors, who have sinister supernatural powers of their own. The book is certainly exciting, and the three sisters have very different and well rounded personalities. There were sweet romances and heart wrenching sacrifices, and I missed the characters when I’d finished reading. I liked the idea that wisdom and power is passed down through old stories and rhymes and the obvious love the characters had for books and the written word.
This was my book group read for December/January, and probably not a book I would have picked up otherwise, which just goes to show that book group enriches my life!
My review contains semi-spoilers, so read on at your peril…
It is the story of a twelve year old boy who is the only survivor of a plane crash which kills his parents and only sibling. Edward (formally know as Eddie) is stunned and initially badly injured and his rehabilitation, both physical and mental is slow. He is adopted by his aunt and uncle, a couple whose inability to have children of their own has stretched their marriage to its limits, and befriended by his new next door neighbour, Shay, a girl who is a loner and a unique personality (which I know from personal experience is the best type of person, cough, cough….) . Eddie’s adopted parents try to shield him from the huge storm of media and social media interest that surrounds him and his case, trying to make his life as normal as possible, but when he and Shay break through their defences and discover the thousands of letters written to Edward since the crash, it is this very discovery that helps Edward progress towards healing. The real time chapters about Edward are interspersed with flashback chapters about the flight where we get to know many of the passengers and learn something of what happened to cause the tragedy. By the time Edward finds the letters, written mostly by friends and relatives of the other passengers, we know their stories and can with him feel their pain.
I thought the book was very wise, without being preachy. I loved the friendship between Edward and Shay, and the chapters about the flight were quite exiting. It may be a cliché that we learn to help ourselves when we stop thinking about our own pain and concentrate on how we can help others, and yet I loved this about the story and how Edward’s character progressed as he dealt with his world being turned upside down and his grief. It is ultimately a very uplifting and feel good book and I really enjoyed it.
I wanted an audiobook for my husband, Paul, and I to listen to on our road trip to my mother’s funeral. We were travelling between Christmas and New Year with the added fun of a surge in Covid cases making new travel restrictions be enforced daily! Our trip took us from our home in Northern Ireland, through the republic of Ireland, via ferry from Dublin to Wales, driving through Wales into the north of England for the funeral. Staying two nights in a Premier Inn, then doing the whole journey in reverse. We had to get special permission from the Irish Embassy to be allowed back since Ireland have a travel ban from mainland UK, plus extra customs checks now that Brexit is taking hold, and throw in some snow and ice on the roads – it was quite the trip!!
I have loved both reading and listening to Grady Hendrix books, and I chose this for our trip because it was just the right length at 6 and a half hours, and I hoped Paul would like it. It was the perfect choice. Set in an Ikea-like vast furniture store in America, the book builds tension and engagement as we get to know the main characters, all employees of the furniture store, and with them try to solve the mystery of why strange things seem to happen in the store overnight. A handful of characters end up spending the night in the store to investigate, and what a night it turns out to be!
It’s a really well written horror story, with great characterisation, quite a lot of humour as well as genuine tension and excitement. There were some quite gory moments as you would expect from the genre, and some really fun and increasingly strange adverts for products available at the store at the beginning of each chapter. Paul is a great movie watcher, but not really into reading fiction, but he, like me really enjoyed the book and was keen to start it up again after we’d paused to concentrate on a difficult bit of navigating. It had just the right level of surreal to perfectly fit with our trip and it kept us occupied and distracted on what might otherwise have been a more stressful journey.
Sarah Wray Writer 