Category Archives: Books

Review: The Human Thing

The Human ThingThe Human Thing by Kathleen H. Nelson
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars

This was a real pleasant surprise – I thought it looked quite good, but it definitely exceeded expectations. Although we only saw Jilly quite briefly before the accident, I felt that I got a good sense of who she was… and how she changed (and didn’t) afterwards. I loved the relationship between her and RK, which is almost entirely unspoken but clearly strong. Plus there are lots of interesting characters populating the rest of the cast.

The plot had plenty going on to keep me interested, too: who caused the shuttle accident, and why, what was causing Jilly’s headache and personality swings, and was it related to her memory loss? Then on Tolq, more strands are added, but there’s never too much happening at once. And although I thought several times that I could see where the ending was going, it wasn’t as predictable as that. I did enjoy the way it all tied together, though. A good, satisfactory ending without absolutely everything being tied up in a perfect bow. I just wish there was more to read – I’d love to see a sequel, or something else in this universe.

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Review: Basil Brush and a Dragon

Basil Brush And A DragonBasil Brush And A Dragon by Peter Firmin
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars

Basil Brush, his friend Harry the mole, and Alfred the dog go on a make-believe dragon hunt.

This was the first book I picked up by myself, aged 5, because I was looking for something to do and decided that I’d read. It had been a favourite bedtime story for Mum or Dad to read to me, and I already knew it off by heart, but I discovered that reading to myself (“in my head”) was a whole new world of fun! I’ve had my nose in a book just about constantly ever since.

“Forward Alfred!!”

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Review: Out of the Dark

Out of the DarkOut of the Dark by David Weber
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars

View spoiler: Aliens and soldiers and vampires, oh my! Seriously, this is just genius. I love a genre mash-up, and this one was a ton of fun. Yes, a fair bit of it consisted of set pieces of Big Explosions, and the body-count was enormous, but that was kind of the point of the book. I also particularly liked the fundamental inability of the aliens to understand the human response to them. And the ending – oh, I had to stop reading and just laugh and laugh! Classic. This is one that I’ll read again.

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Review: Silent Blade

Silent Blade (Kinsmen #1)Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews (Kinsmen #1)
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars

I loved the vivid world-building of this story, and found the hero and heroine strong and interesting characters. The gradual reveal of their personal history was very well done. My only gripe is that I’d love for the book to have been longer!

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Review: An Angel for the Earl

An Angel for the Earl
An Angel for the Earl by Barbara Metzger
My rating: 0.0 out of 5.0 stars

Lovely light-hearted fluff with a slightly unusual angle in that the heroine is in a coma / almost-ghost-state for the majority of the book. Her mission, should she choose to accept it, is to reform the hero’s lifestyle. Fun and games ensues!

I enjoyed this one, and it was a definite change from the more usual Regency formula.

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