Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Release Date: 24th May 2012

Publisher: Orion Books
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 399
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY

Summary from Goodreads:

"Marriage can be a real killer. 

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?With her razor-sharp writing and trademark psychological insight, Gillian Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark, and ingeniously plotted thriller that confirms her status as one of the hottest writers around."

Review:

This was a really great mystery. So many twists and turns, you never knew what was coming. But, I did have some issues with it.

So lets start with the pros. For a start, kudos to Flynn for making me feel so certain about one certain character. I wholeheartedly believed everything I read about this character, and felt very strongly about a certain other person. And then, everything gets flipped in the first big twist of the book. How you perceive these characters changed completely, and for being able to dupe me into feeling a certain way and then flipping it so I felt the complete opposite, I have to give Flynn credit. Moving forward with the story, there were quite a few twists and turns in there that you look for in a good mystery. So, for the plot and the fact that it's a good ol' mystery, this gets a thumbs up.

Moving onto the characters, Flynn did a great job at crafting her characters. We have a flawed leading protagonist, Nick Dunne, who of course you're a bit wary of from time to time. Besides talking about Nick, I don't want to get into the other character's too much, otherwise I'd be spoiling. But, overall, Flynn's characters were crafted really well, and they were all quite complex.

But here's the problem I had with this - there wasn't really any resolution. Even though our main character's went through a lot of stuff together, we ended up right back where we began. I didn't feel like there was any uplifting end. I was rooting for one of our characters, really hoping they got their way. But instead, we ended up with our characters in a shitty situation, and I really didn't like that.

Overall, this was a great mystery, one of the best I've read in a while. With so many twists and turns, I couldn't predict what was going to happen, so I'd definitely recommend this one 

Book Review: The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales

The Bling Ring by Nancy Jo Sales
Release Date: 21st May 2013

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 259
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY

Summary from Goodreads:

"Meet the Bling Ring: six club-hopping LA teenagers accused of stealing more than $3 million in clothing and jewelry from the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bilson and other young members of the Hollywood elite-allegedly the most audacious burglary gang in recent history.

Driven by celebrity worship, vanity, and the desire to look and dress like the rich and famous, the Bling Ring made headlines in 2009 for using readily available sources-like Google maps, Facebook and TMZ, to track the comings and goings of their targets. Seven teens were arrested for the crimes, and instantly became tabloid fodder. The world asked-how did the American obsession with celebrity get so out of hand? And why did a band of ostensibly privileged LA teens take such a risk?

Vanity Fair reporter Nancy Jo Sales found the answer: they did it because they could. And because it was just that easy.

Author of the acclaimed Vanity Fair story on the Bling Ring "The Suspect Wore Louboutins," Sales gained unprecedented access to the Hollywood thieves, and in the process uncovered a dark world of teenage arrogance, greed, obsession, and delusion. Now, for the first time in a full book length work, Sales details the Bling Ring crimes up close and in depth, and reveals the key players' stories in a shocking look at the seedy world of the real young Hollywood."

Review:

What with The Bling Ring movie being released this year, when I saw this little book on a book stand for only $10, I thought I'd give it a go. And this was indeed a good read. 

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, because most of the time I find that it bores me. But, thankfully, I didn't encounter this problem here. The topic of interest is just so interesting - a bunch of teenagers burgled the homes of some of the highest profile celebrities, and didn't get caught, all because they were obsessed by celebrity culture. It really was fascinating to read about the reasons why they did it - it wasn't because they were poor, or they were criminal masterminds who sold everything they stole. Quite the opposite actually - these were relatively well off teenagers who stole from these celebs because they wanted to look like them, be like them, live their life. It's really fascinating to read about how affected these kids were by celebrity culture. It wasn't enough for them to read about their fave celebs, or see them on the TV - they wanted to be them. 

Being non-fiction, I would only suggest picking this one up if the story surrounding The Bling Ring interests you. Me, being quite interested by celebrity and pop culture, found this one really interesting. And it makes me just a little more interested to see how well the movie pulls this version of the story off. 

Book Review: Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire

Wicked, The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (The Wicked Years #1) by Gregory Maguire
Release Date: 6th December 2000

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: eBook
Pages: 406
Rating: DNF

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY, 2013 OTS, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Goodreads:

"In Baum's land of Oz, animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. Green-skinned Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, is smart, prickly and misunderstood; she challenges our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil."

Review:
I thought I would enjoy this a lot more than I did. Anything and everything that includes a retelling, or reimagining, of a classic story or fairytale, is something that I'm bound to love. But, I just didn't love this. And I think the problem is, when you strip this back, and take away the fact that it's set in the Wonderful Land of Oz, and our main protagonist is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, then what you end up with is a purely political book. And thats just not something I'm interested in.

I've wanted to read this for years, ever since I read one of Maguire's book way back when I was in high school. Seeing Wicked in the theatre only made me more interested, so when I acquired this one sometime last year, I added to to be TBR and was super excited to read it at some point this year. And now that I've read about 300 pages, I'm very disappointed. The fantabulous that I was expecting, probably because I expected it to follow the same plot as the musical, wasn't there. Instead I had a really political book, with our main character Elphaba fighting for animal rights. Which is all well and good, but this isn't the story I was looking for. I was looking for the forbidden romance between Elphaba and Fiyerio (which I did get, but it was cut waaaay to short), the warring between best friends Elphaba and Glinda, the downfall of Nessarose, Elphaba's preaching sister, destined to be the Wicked Witch of the East. Maybe if I had read further I would have gotten this - but with only 100 or so pages to go, its a bit late to be introducing these storylines.

I will give Maguire credit for taking a classic evil character and showing her in a new light. Elphaba was brought to be the Wicked Witch of the West through cirucmstance - her crusade for animal rights pitted her against the Wizard, painted as a dictator leader. I'm assuming the loss of her lover, Fiyerio, also pushed her onto this path. Since I didn't finish the novel, I don't really know, but everything Elphaba did seemed to make sense, given the context. Elphaba is a human, not just an evil character.

This is the first time that I've DNF-ed a book. I've always had the view of pushing through to the end, even if I wasn't enjoying the novel, because sometimes, the best things happen at the end. But as days crawled by where I didn't even touch this book, thoughts of putting this book down and picking something up eventually came. And with that, I picked up The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. And I loved it. I flew through it in a couple of days, and so I thought of picking this one up again. But, I went for something else, and it's become apparent to me that I won't be picking this one up again.

Book Review: A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone #1) by Sue Grafton

A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone #1) by Sue Grafton

Release Date: 1st November 2005

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia 
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC, 2013 GVR and 2013 BSR

Summary from Goodreads:

"PI Kinsey Milhone, in a pretty California town, gets her first case. Laurence Fife was a slick divorce lawyer and slippery ladies' man until someone killed him. Released from jail after 8 years, his wife Nikki wants the truth. But the trail is cold, and at the end is a chilling twist - a second eight-year-old murder and a brand new corpse."

Review:

It took a while for me to get into this. I wasn't find anything spectacular in the story, and I felt that it was really just going through the motions - Kinsey was finding evidence, formulating some sort of idea as to who the killer was, but then, of course, her theory gets knocked around because things aren't adding up, etc etc. It wasn't really until at least half way through the book that things started to pick up.

Around about here was when some genuine surprises were thrown my way. There were some twists in there that I didn't see coming, even though I had some sort of inkling as to who the killer was. And it wasn't until the final 3 chapters or so that everything fell into place. Kinsey had it all figured out, there was the final showdown that I was expecting, and then very abruptly, the novel ended. Maybe it was just me, but I found that ending very quick, pretty convenient, and it prevented me from seeing some other things I wanted to see - Kinsey explaining it all to Nikki, telling the police - I just think that ending could have been longer, we could have seen some things after. 

Overall, this was a quick and easy read, and although it took me some time to get really interested in it, I really enjoyed it - my only major qualm is with the ending. Definitely something worth checking out if you're interested in a short, quick crime read. 

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Release Date: 28th June 2011

Publisher: Baker and Taylor
Format: eBook
Pages: 544
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR

Summary from Goodreads:

"Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed."

Review:

Coming off from reading Days of Blood and Starlight, this was always going to have to fight an uphill battle. And, surprisingly, this book didn't fail to impress. 

The Help is set in the small town of Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s, during the time of the civil rights movement. We follow three ladies - Skeeter, a young aspiring author, and Aibileen and Minny, two black maids working for two white families - as they come together and try to make a difference, however small it may be. 

I've never read about this period of time before, so that it itself was quite interesting. The racism everywhere - from how the town is segregated into sections based on race, to Hilly's campaign to install additional bathrooms in all houses employing black maids because of their 'diseases' - it's just astounding to read that and think that people used to live like that. And nothing was ever done about it because either a) people had just come to accept the way things were (in Aibileen's case) or b) they just never thought about how wrong it all was (in Skeeter's case). Just that in itself was fascinating to read. 

I loved each of our three narrators for different reasons. Each had their own little story, and each grew throughout the novel and bridged the gap between the races. Minny grew to care for her employer on a personal level, for the first time. Skeeter grew to really appreciate her childhood maid, Constantine, and see her friends' true colours. And my favourite part by far, Aibileen decided to teach Maw Mobley, the little girl she looked after, that there was no difference between black people and white people. It may have gotten Maw Mobley in trouble a couple of times, but I loved that Aibileen taught her to see people for who they really are, not just the colour of their skin.

I loved so very many aspects of this novel, and it's a fascinating read - I'd suggest checking it out (or even just the movie, I heard that was pretty good too).    

Book Review: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire #2) by George R.R. Martin
Release Date: 16th June 1999

Publisher: Harper Collins
Format: eBook
Pages: 752
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"In this thrilling sequel to A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin has created a work of unsurpassed vision, power, and imagination. A Clash of Kings transports us to a world of revelry and revenge, wizardry and warfare unlike any we have ever experienced.

A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel . . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."

Review:
**This review has spoilers! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). Read at your own risk!**

Everything I loved in the first book is delivered in this great sequel, and so, so much more. Lets take this one step at a time.

Firstly, along with the characters we all know and love, we're given two new narrators - Theon Greyjoy (who we've met before) and Davos, a knight (?) who serves Stannis Baratheon. This takes our narrator count up to 9 (those of you who have read my review for A Game of Thrones will know we had 8 narrators in that book). The range of narrators just makes this novel so much more interesting - not only do you get to see everything, but you get to know these characters much more so than if we had one narrator. Plus, you'll come to love (almost) every character, each for their own unique reasons.

With the range of narrators, balancing how much we hear from each one can be tricky. We need to know the full story, and some parts of that can only be provided by one narrator, so the balance is crucial. I think it's done pretty well, but I do wish that we heard more for Danaerys. I want to hear more about her dragons! And I'm eagerly awaiting the day that she makes her strike and begins the war to reclaim her throne. That will be some enthralling stuff. 

The plot itself is a solid follow on from what was established in the first novel. For a rather long novel, I was surprised that I did feel like the story lagged at all; the plot itself really was quite solid. Whilst I did find that I got weary with the story the more I read, that was more to do with the length of the novel itself, rather than the plot. Whilst I wish that maybe the books were just a little shorter, I don't think that could have been achieved - I think this book covered everything it needed to, none of which could have been left out. Each character's story forged ahead at a solid pace, and I am really looking forward to picking up the third novel to see where it leads them. If the TV series is any indication, I'm going to need to prepare myself. 

Book Review: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith
Release Date: 19th April 2011

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 352
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS and 2013 ODY

Summary from Amazon:

"Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation"

Review:
I have mixed feelings about this one.

On the one hand, I enjoyed how smart this book was. It was very clever to intertwine Abraham Lincoln as a Vampire Hunter with historical events such as the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery. And it's done brilliantly. It all makes perfect sense, and it really makes Ab Lincoln a more interested character - literally everything he does is influenced by vampires - his entire life is re-imagined. For that I have to give the book props.

On the other hand, it wasn't until the last third of the book or so that I actually really got into it. Until then, the book was plodding along, but I didn't find anything particularly thrilling about it. It was more like one account of a vampire killing after another, and that didn't particularly pull me in. Also, I have issues with the ending, major issues.

Overall, the last third of the book or so really made it for me. The way that vampirism was worked into the life and history of Abraham Lincoln was done so well, that you could almost finish the book believing that this all actually happened. I've no doubt that many, many people would enjoy this read.  

Book Review: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin
Release Date: 1st December 1997

Publisher: Bantam Books
Format: eBook
Pages: 864
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."

Review:

It's been quite some time between reading this book and actually writing the review, so let me keep this short in order to actually get across what I really want to say.

I loved this book. I had no doubt that I wouldn't. For years I've had people telling me to read the series, or watch the TV show. I really do want to watch the show, but before I want to read at least the first two novels in the series. So I finally got around to reading A Game of Thrones, and I wish I had read it sooner.

I think what I enjoyed the most about this book was the number of different narrators it had. There were no less than eight different narrators, each having their time to shine (some more than others). Sometimes, when employing this technique you run the risk of having some chapters more interesting than others. But that didn't happen here. Everything was interesting, from Jon Snow at The Wall, to Eddard Stark in Kings Landing, even the chapters with Sansa, which I did find painful at times just because I found Sansa painful. 

I quite enjoyed everything about this book - the plot, the setting, the characters - everything! Can't recommend this book enough.

Book Review: The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes

The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes
Release Date: 9th April 2013

Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 580
Rating: 4.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 ODY and 2013 GVR

Summary from Amazon:

"As the youngest of the five Walsh girls, Helen has had a tough time finding her way in the world—at thirty-three, she has her job as a private investigator that has proven less than fruitful and after losing her flat, she’s moved back in with Mammy Walsh. Her hunky new boyfriend, Artie, and his three adorable children are a great distraction, but his beautiful ex-wife lives a little too close for comfort. Meanwhile, Helen runs into her ex-boyfriend Jay Parker and reluctantly signs on to help him locate Wayne Diffney, the recently disappeared fourth member of Ireland’s biggest mid-nineties boy band, Laddz. Of the five Laddz, the Talented One has long gone on to better things, but the Cute One, the Gay One, and the Other One are all busily shunning carbs and rehearsing their reunion tour, and it’s Helen’s job to track down Wayne, the Wacky One. Wayne hasn’t left a trace, and Helen throws herself into the search wholeheartedly, leaving no stone unturned while watching her own life slowly fall apart, one unpaid bill at a time."

Review:

I love Marian Keyes' novels. Quite a few years ago I bought my first Marian Keyes novel, Anybody out There?, and ever since then I've sought out and read all of her novels. So, when I saw that a new novel was being released, I preorded it on The Book Depository and read it pretty much as soon as it got here. And, just as I suspected, I quite enjoyed it. 

The novel centres on Helen Walsh, a 30-something private investigator who's pretty much hit rock bottom. She struggling for work, but then her ex swoops in and offers her a job to find a missing person, Wayne Diffney. So, over the next 4 or so days, she splits her time between searching for Wayne, spending time with her boyfriend and dealing with her family. I have to say, at first I didn't particularly like Helen - she just seemed snarky and annoying to me. But, as a read further and found out more about her and her back story, I did come to like her. I also enjoyed the reappearance of the Walsh family, who Keyes has centred many of her novels on (each of Helen's 4 sisters have a novel centred around them). 

I like how Keyes tackles big issues in some of her novels. One of my all time faves, Rachel's Holiday, deals with drug addiction and the rehabilitation process. In this novel, we dealt with depression. I liked how Keyes developed Helen's problem, and I thought that the picture she painted of a depressed person was pretty well done. Helen wasn't the stereotypical depressed person, the sort of person who doesn't do anything and stays in bed all day. She worked well and efficiently at her job, she interacted with her family and was getting along well with her boyfriend. Helen was struggling with some big problems, but from the outset, if you didn't know her you probably wouldn't think that she was depressed.

I also liked the mystery aspect of the novel. I honestly didn't know where Wayne was until it was revealed in the novel, and that very rarely happens to me. Some novels these days can be quite predictable in their story lines, and in mystery novels I tend to find that I can predict the endings fairly well. But with this one, I had absolutely no idea. Maybe that's why I loved the ending so much - not only did it fit in quite well with Helen's main storyline, but it surprised me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but I had no doubt when I picked it up that I would. I love that Keyes can write fun and entertaining novels that also deal with big issues - they've got a bit of everything really. Her novels really are great, I couldn't recommend them enough. 

Book Review: The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart

The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart 
Release Date: 6th May 2003

Publisher: Harper Collins 
Format: eBook
Pages: 494
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 BSR

Summary from Amazon:

"Born the bastard son of a Welsh princess, Myridden Emrys -- or as he would later be known, Merlin -- leads a perilous childhood, haunted by portents and visions. But destiny has great plans for this no-man's-son, taking him from prophesying before the High King Vortigern to the crowning of Uther Pendragon . . . and the conception of Arthur -- king for once and always."

Review:
For a start, I feel like the name of this series is misleading. For a series named 'The Arthurian Saga', the elusive Arthur himself isn't even born until the end of this novel. Since this story follows Merlin, from his young childhood up until his role beside Uther Pendragon and the birth of Arthur, I feel like this series should be called 'Merlin's Chronicles' or something like that. But, maybe in the second novel, we'll have more of an emphasis on Arthur himself.

That aside, I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get into at first - Merlin's childhood wasn't all that interesting, and I didn't feel like much was happening. When it all changed for me, I think, was after Merlin's first experience in the crystal cave and that vivid vision he had. There was action, things were happening, it was getting interesting. And then I feel that the book basically continued on the same heightened wavelength right until the end. Every little plot point was interesting, and it all tied in really well with all my preconceived ideas about the characters - I think we've all heard of Merlin before, and I found that I particularly liked the way Merlin was portrayed in this novel.

Overall, a solid read. Maybe there was a bit too much emphasis on Merlin's early childhood for me, but I do understand why it was there - we saw some interesting tidbits about Merlin's family and his powers, things that we needed to know. In the end, I felt like the story was wrapped up pretty well, and I'm not dying to get onto the next novel, but I'm sure I will at some point or another.  

Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Release Date: 16th September 2003

Publisher: Baker and Taylor
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY and 2013 EBC 

Summary from Amazon:
"The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack 

1. Organize before they rise! 
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it. 
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer. 
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on. 

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life."

Review:
This was interesting to read. It messed with my head a little bit, because it's set out like a non-fiction book, under the guise of being completely factual, that aims to help you prepare for the impending zombie apocalypse. In fact, many parts of this book are actually completely factual - descriptions of weapons, transport, and dwellings are all factual, but their descriptions are just zombified - ideal weapons for fighting zombies, ideal transport for getting away from zombies, and ideal buildings to shack up in during a zombie attack.

At first, it was a little hard for me to get into this book. Because it is written in the style of a non-fiction guide, its kinda boring at the beginning. When we started getting into detailed descriptions of different weapons and how they can be used, and then the same thing for transport, and dwellings, and areas that you might want to live or hunt in; it was just a tad boring. If you take out the minimal zombie reference, its just a description of loads of different weapons, and transport, and dwellings, etc - not the most enthalling stuff to read about.

But, I got more interested towards the end with the 'documented zombie attacks'. It was interesting, and funny, to read about all these different times in history where zombies could plausibly be added to the picture. I have to say, a lot of research must have gone into this book, and for that I have to give it props. Overall, it took a while for me to get into it, but I did enjoy it. 

Book Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (George Smiley #1) by John le Carre

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (George Smiley #1) by John le Carre
Release Date: June 1974

Publisher: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 400
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR

Summary from Amazon:"The first novel in John le Carré's celebrated and New York Times bestselling Karla trilogy featuring George Smiley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a heart-stopping tale of international intrigue.

The man he knew as "Control" is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn't quite ready for retirement-especially when a pretty, would-be defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley recognizes the hand of Karla—his Moscow Centre nemesis—and sets a trap to catch the traitor."

Review:
This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me - some parts I really enjoyed, whilst others I really, really did not. For the first 2/3 or so of the book, I was just really confused - being an espionage novel, there's quite a bit of mystery, which is to be expected, but sometimes it just got way to confusing for me to actually follow the plot. There were so many characters in this novel, that at the beginning I found it hard to a) remember them all and b) discern which were integral to the main story. Ultimately all the characters played some role in the novel, but there were some that I really needed to pay attention too, and at the beginning I found it hard to figure out who these people were. I also found it hard to keep track of what the characters relationships were - at some points, I felt like I needed some sort of diagram showing me how all the characters knew each other.

But, once I started reading the last third of the book, things started to come together. Characters that were really integral to the plot became more obvious, the connections being made were easier to remember, the plot started to make sense, and the book just became more interesting. It took me about 3 weeks to read this book, but the majority of that time was dedicated to that first 2/3 that was confusing - once the book picked up, I flew through it in a couple of days. Overall, I can see that this book would appeal to some people, but it wasn't really for me - a tad too many characters, coupled with a plot that was a tad confusing led to a book that was just a tad interesting.

Book Review: Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall #1) by Hilary Mantel

Wolf Hall (Wolf Hall #1) by Hilary Mantel
Release Date: 1st April 2010

Publisher: HarperCollins
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 650
Rating: 4.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY and 2013 GVR

Summary from Amazon:

"In the ruthless arena of King Henry VIII’s court, only one man dares to gamble his life to win the king’s favor and ascend to the heights of political power.

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years, and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his adviser, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell is a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people and a demon of energy: he is also a consummate politician, hardened by his personal losses, implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. With a vast array of characters, overflowing with incident, the novel re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hairbreadth, where success brings unlimited power but a single failure means death."

Review:
I'm actually finding it a bit hard to sort out my thoughts on this book. On the one hand, I really like reading historical fiction and this book was definitely interesting. But on the other, nothing particularly surprised me in this book, and being surprised by the plot is one of the things I most enjoy about reading. Having already watched The Tudors on TV (which is amazing, by the way), I already had some understanding of the going-ons at the Tudor Court, and as a result, I pretty much knew the whole story. Granted, this was told from someone else's perspective, but it all boiled down to the same story. 

So now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, because I just cannot sort out my thoughts on this book. Would I have enjoyed it more had I not seen The Tudors first? Probably, but I really can't be sure. This book was very long and extremely dense for me, and that could have overwhelmed me if I didn't already know the plot. In this sense, having already seen The Tudors pushed me to keep reading this book, because I knew the plot would be interesting. 

Overall, I think that hardcore historical fans will really enjoy this book, but I wouldn't say this book is for everyone. What I would recommend is watching The Tudors - that show is seriously good. 

Book Review: The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald
Release Date: 10th April 1925

Publisher: Scribner
Format: eBook
Pages: 144
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2013 OTS, 2013 ODY, 2013 EBC and 2013 GVR

Summary from Goodreads:

"A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem."

Review:
This took me longer than I thought it would to get through it. Probably because I didn't enjoy it all that much. Which I find strange, considering this novel is one of the great American classics. I really, really thought that I would like this book more. 

My problem was with the characters and the plot. The characters themselves, were not all that likeable. I hear that that's the point, but still - I tend to need characters I like, or maybe love to hate, in order to enjoy a book. These characters - I didn't love to hate them, I just disliked them. On top of that, I had some issues with the plot. Now, there were some twists and turns in there that I wasn't expecting - those parts of the novel I enjoyed. But that ending. I just didn't feel like anything had been resolved. We basically ended up back where we started from, and where we started wasn't that great to begin with. 

I am, however, looking forward to seeing this on film. I think this book could be adapted really well to film - with the added bonus of being able to see scenes not involving our narrator Nick. Overall, the novel was interesting. Read it if these sorts of novels interest you, but if you're like me who felt the need to read the book before you saw the movie, then you can probably give this novel a miss.