Book Review

Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy #1) By: Ilona Andrews
Burn For Me

I don’t know what they were thinking with this cover

Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy #1) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile situation. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run and wanting to surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

Review:

I can only read an Ilona Andrews book for the first time once and I always feel a little sad because of that. I know I can re-read it and I do, I just don’t get to experience the same wonder and not knowing what’s going to happen next.

Anyway. Love the whole hierarchy system with Primes being in control and owning districts and such. It reminds me of her Kinsmen series, which is awesome by the way and you should totally check it out.

Unlike her Kinsmen series, though, people have powers because of a magical serum that was created and now years later there are powerful, rich Primes that pretty much rule everything. Obviously since they’ve been rich for generations they’re completely out of touch with the everyman so when Nevada comes along and turns down not one, but two Primes she’s an oddity.

I liked Nevada, and I really liked her family, I look forward to seeing what happens next. I’m also curious to see if Andrews can change my opinion of Rogan and make me think he’s worthy of love.

5/5

Side note: Not a fan of the cover or the blurb. I feel like they cheapen the quality of the story that Ilona Andrews has created. Just an opinion

Johnny and the Bomb

Johnny and the Bomb

Johnny and the Bomb (Johnny Maxwell Trilogy #3) By: Terry Pratchett

Plot:

Everyone thinks that Mrs Tachyon is just the local bag lady, a bit smelly and a bit mad. But Mrs Tachyon is somehow at the centre of an amazing time travel facility. Johnny and his friends find themselves transported back 50 years, where no-one’s ever heard of a biro, let alone a Big Mac.

Review:

Well I didn’t get the closure I was looking for, but in the end I don’t think that’s a bad thing. This is a children’s book and I was trying to remember when I was a child if I cared about what happened later to characters. Unfortunately I can’t remember, maybe I didn’t and that’s why it happens so often in children’s books. Kids don’t think that far into the future so why should their books.

I really enjoyed this series, even though it was a kids book it didn’t mess around. Johnny may think that he’s an idiot but he’s a lot smarter than he gives himself credit and honestly I wish there was more about him. The fact that so much happens around him and the theory that it’s because his imagination is so big his head can’t contain it, is interesting.

It has definitely made me want to read more Terry Pratchett. I’ve read Good Omens and loved it. I read the first Discworld book and thought it was ok, but wasn’t inspired to read further. I might have to try the second one.

4/5

Johnny and the Dead

Johnny and the Dead

Johnny and the Dead (Johnny Maxwell #2) By: Terry Pratchett

Plot:

Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he’s got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They’re not going to take it lying down . . .especially since it’s Halloween tomorrow. Besides, they’re beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it was when they were…well…alive. Particularly if they break a few rules . . .

Review:

I expected this to be a direct sequel, to talk about the video game aliens, maybe tell me more about Johnny’s unexpected ability. That’s not really what this is. It does continue with Johnny but he no longer talks to video game aliens, instead he can now see dead people.

In case you were wondering this book did come before The Sixth Sense.

I like the fact that Pratchett doesn’t stick with one power, sure Johnny can find a way into video games but he can also talk to the dead. He’ll probably get to do something else in the next book. It would have been interesting to continue on with the video games but he would have ended up having to give more details and explanations and while I probably would have found it interesting I’m sure it would have gotten boring.

I hope I get some answers about Johnny in the next one, not really about his abilities, but more about what’s going to happen to him.

4/5

The Gunslinger

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) By: Stephen King

Plot:

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King’s epic work of fantasy — what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus — has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King’s most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

Book I In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

Review:

I want so desperately to like Stephen King. I really do. He’s so popular and everyone loves him and knows his work. It would be awesome to have read something that other people have read and be able to talk about it. I’m not a horror fan but I’ve read a couple of his books and I dislike each one, The Gunslinger was not an exception.

In the forward he said he was inspired by the Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Both awesome things so I was excited to read this series. I can tell you right now I’m not going to read past this one.

It was boring and dragged a lot. He was overly descriptive and for someone who hates adverbs he used his fair share. The main character seemed to have redeeming qualities, but then didn’t. The world was such a horrible place, the people were horrible, everything was just awful. Not a world I want to read more about because you can already tell it is not going to be redeemed.

He constantly referred back to a female character that he killed and whenever he did he always said her name and the name of the town she was from. Like he was reminding you who she was, which was annoying. I just read that part I don’t need to be reminded every few pages where she was from.

The story bounced around from past to present a lot, but that wasn’t the confusing part. He didn’t explain the world you just had to try and figure it out. Which is not uncommon in fantasy but I thought he could have gone about it better. For someone who describes everything he did a poor job of describing what I actually cared about. It was always the desert and his surroundings, rarely magic and how the world became the way it was.

This book was not for me. This book was for Stephen King and his fans.

1/5

Something Rotten

 something rotten

Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) By: Jasper Fforde

Plot:

Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities in her new position at Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark’s pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her child, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full-time job, and Thursday decides it’s definitely time to get back her husband, Landen, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen’s eradication, the operatives of the Goliath Corporation – formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion – have pledged to right the wrong.” But returning to SpecOps isn’t a snap. Problems arise instantly. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon’s patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly sooner if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don’t win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that’s not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care?

Review:

There’s always so much going on in a Thursday Next novel and yet Fforde never seems to forget any of it. Thursday’s husband issue is finally resolved, which made me happy. The ending had me in tears.

Loved the fact that her son spoke Lorem Epsum. These books are so witty and full of so many puns and jokes and slapstick and everything you can think of. There’s a sci fi alien overlord. It basically breaks the fourth wall. They’re really great books.

Everything was resolved with Something Rotten and I was surprised to see that there are still more books in the series. I’m curious to see what happens next, though kind of concerned because I don’t want it to just be a repeat of what has already happened.

5/5