Book Review: Ice Station by Matthew Reilly

Ice Station by Matthew Reilly 
Release Date: 15th September 2000

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 611
Rating: 4.0/5.0

Summary from Amazon:

"Anarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself...

A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else...First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice..."

Review: 

One of my best friends recommended this book to me because she absolutely loves the author, and I hadn't read any of his books. She told me that it only took her 3 days to read, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, the book fell a little short for me. As it turns out, this type of book just isn't to my liking. It's a real action packed story, with lots of mystery (which I did enjoy in parts), but this is definitely more aimed towards a male audience. That's not to say that girls won't enjoy this - if you're into anything to do with action, mystery, political espionage and lots of kinda gory fighting, then I'm sure this book would interest you.

For me, I think that when it comes down to it, it isn't so much the story or the characters or anything like that that put me off this book, I think it was more the writing style. Every single paragraph ends with some sort of cliff hanger. Sure, in the beginning this is an effective writing tool - it keeps with glued to the book, forces you to turn to the next page instead of closing the book, and at certain parts a cliffhanger is justified - but after a while it just gets annoying. Honestly, you don't need to end a paragraph with a cliff hanger like, "and then he found it", only to find out in the next paragraph that what he actually found was just some scuba diving equipment; its just annoying. 

Overall, I did enjoy this book somewhat - parts of the story really did interest me, and some of the action sequences had me reading up late into the night. But, when it comes down to it, I don't think I'll be reading another Matthew Reilly book any time soon.
 

Book Review: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Release Date: 5th January 2010

Publisher: Hachette Australia
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 291
Rating: 3.5/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 OTS Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"He placed a notice in a Chicago paper, an advertisement for "a reliable wife." She responded, saying that she was "a simple, honest woman." She was, of course, anything but honest, and the only simple thing about her was her single-minded determination to marry this man and then kill him, slowly and carefully, leaving her a wealthy widow, able to take care of the one she truly loved.

What Catherine Land did not realize was that the enigmatic and lonely Ralph Truitt had a plan of his own. And what neither anticipated was that they would fall so completely in love.Filled with unforgettable characters, and shimmering with colour and atmosphere, A Reliable Wife is an enthralling tale of love and madness, of longing and murder."

Review: 

Its been a while since I read this book now - I don't know why it's taking me so long to get around to these reviews. So, as you can probably imagine, this book isn't fresh in my mind - kinda finding it hard to figure out exactly what I want to say about it. But, to be honest, I had the same problem when I finished the book in the first place. I'm not quite sure about this book. It didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would, which was probably to be expected because I really didn't know anything about this book going into it. But, I guess I just thought that it would be better.  And some of the themes in this book I really wasn't expecting - and I didn't particularly enjoy them. Overall, this was a good read, with an interesting storyline and some interesting characters, and I would suggest it to anyone who is a fan of this genre or this style of writing. 

Book Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide by Jill Hathaway 

Release Date: 1st March 2012 

Publisher: HarperCollins 
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 250
Rating: 3.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed "friend" when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie's slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can't bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting distant lately, especially now that she's been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again."

Review: 
I was excited to read this book. The premise of the story, I thought, was very original and interesting; Vee Bell, a mostly average high school girl, has the ability to 'slide' into other people, and see exactly what they see - it's a really interesting idea. Unfortunately, however, I don't really think Jill Hathaway was able to pull it off. Looking back on the book now, all I can really say about it was that it was only an average book. For me, the characters were unremarkable and the plot was predictable. It was a shame really, because the sliding aspect of the story was really interesting to read about, and was really well written. It was just the rest of the book for me - characters that I didn't like and a plot that I could easily predict just brought the whole novel down. Overall, just an average read.

Book Review: Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross

Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross 

Release Date: 5th January 2012 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan 
Format: Paperback 
Pages: 352
Rating: 5.0/5.0

This book was read as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge

Summary from Amazon:
"The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world."

Review: 
I really, really enjoyed this book - much more than I expected to. and its kinda hard for me to explain exactly why. With the clarity of hindsight (that is, I've been too busy to get around to this review for a month or so), I can say that the novel isn't necessarily anything special. What I mean is, there isn't really anything I can pinpoint that sets this novel apart from the rest (I mean, romance with a bit of time-travel thrown in there, it's been done before). But there is just something about this book that made me enjoy it immensely. The plot was interesting and well thought out, and the characters were likeable and relatable. Just go and read the book....NOW! :D 

Musing Mondays (9)

Musing Mondays is a weekly Meme by Mizb @ Should Be Reading

This weeks musing asks... When you're stuck for a book to read next, what do you do?
Gotta be honest, this doesn't really happen to me. It tends to be that for every book I read, I find 5 others to add to my reading list, so my list ends up very, very long. For me, its more a matter of deciding which book to read next. Sometimes I'll have a couple of books at one given time that I want to read, so it's always a matter of which one do I choose!
What about you? What's your fail-proof plan for when/if you get stuck for a book to read next?

The Quarterly Challenge Update Post

For my first year of blogging, I decided to participate in 3 blogging challenges.
Some of the books I'm reading apply to more than one challenge. So far, I've managed the following:

4/5 books read for the Around the Stack in How Many Ways? Challenge
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin

11/15 books read for the Off the Shelf! Challenge
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Alchemyst by Michael Scott
The Magician by Michael Scott
The Sorceress by Michael Scott
The Necromancer by Michael Scott
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory 
Vixen by Jillian Larkin
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi


5/6 books read for the Debut Author Challenge
Cinder by Marissa Meyer
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Tempest by Julie Cross (review coming soon!)
Slide by Jill Hathaway (review coming soon!)


What about you? Are you participating in any reading challenges this year, and if so, how are you going?

55 Questions About Reading

I stumbled across this questionnaire at Realms of an Open Mind, and it looked so interesting that I thought I'd give it a go!

1. Favourite childhood book?
It has to be Time Stops for No Mouse by Michael Hoeye. Its just such a delightful mystery where the main character is a mouse...I can't even remember how many times I've read it, all I know is that I've read it multiple times! It's probably the oldest book I own, and I just can't seem to get rid of it.

2. What are you reading right now?
I just started reading A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick today.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
I don't generally borrow books from the library, so none.