Josh
“It came to him, with the force of a revelation, that you had to have been imprisoned to fully understand what freedom was.”
I wanted to love The Institute... for parts of the novel I really did, but the overall feeling when I finished the last page was “Meh”.
The characters build interesting relationships but you never see enough of them together to get truly invested, King has a real talent for throwing kids together and making you love them and there dynamic, The Institute didn't have that (in my opinion).
Also, the ending felt too easy. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Institutes around the world have been running for 50+ years yet Luke and his friends are the first ones to group together and combine their powers? In 50+ years no one else had that idea? I get Luke being super smart but that's not a super-smart call, its basic power in numbers.
Is The Institue worth a read? Hell yea, is it a good book? You bet it is. Is it one of King's best? Nope, not for me.
“Watch out for men in black cars.”
Such a great book, I really hope this gets a follow up!
Full spoiler free review coming to my YouTube channel soon!
Probably my least favourite Dahl book so far, it was incredibly random and didn't feel lile a follow on from Charlie and the Chocolate fact at all.
Another lovely Roald Dahl book!
“All you do is look
At a page in this book
Because that's where we always will be
No book ever ends
When it's full of your friends
The Giraffe the Pelly and me.”
One of my favourite things about reading so much to my daughter had been finding stories and authors I wouldn't usually look at.
Jacqueline Wilson has very quickly become of my favourite children's authors, she writes such complex stories in such simple ways and she does a great job of demonstrating trauma.
When it comes to parents separating we all know it's tough, but seeing it through the eyes of Andy, the main girl of the Suitcase Kid, shows just how damaging it can be and how at times the children are a second thought to divorce.
This is a story I'd highly recommend, it's a quick read as well!
“People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.”
After a what felt like a slow start I actually really enjoyed Carrie, she's a character you feel for who's lead a sheltered and beaten down life, a cruel joke was one step to far and she snapped, a good lesson for any bullies out there.
As a big King fan I probably should have read this sooner!
3.75 stars, the slow start means I cant give a full 4!
I haven't read many books recently (thanks to my manga obsession) but this was a really great, if somewhat predictable thriller!
This series is honestly, fantastic. I'm a thirty-one year old man reading this ro his daughter and I'm having so much fun, so much so, I've ordered every other book in the series, not just the next one!
Brilliant for kids and big kids alike, just read it!
Great introduction to a series I hadn't come across before, I'll be picking up book one to read soon!
Not for me, reakky struggled with Clockwork Orange and read the second half via audio book, to anyone thinking of reading it I would suggest the audio book, makes the language much easier to understand!
I think this is my fourth re-read first time reading to my daughter. There's a reason this series is such a classic!
Chamber of Secrets isn't my favourite HP book, but it's still fantastic!
Okay, so let me say first of all I really enjoyed the Legends of Eve, is it a perfect book? No. Would I recommend it to fans of Fantasy YA, Yes!
Positives, the story (very much like the Last Air Bender) is intriguing and drew me in after an initially slow start, once the story got going I didn't want to put it down.
Characters, I really enjoyed the relationship between S'Rae and Vayp and their development through the story, by far my favorite characters.
The story grows and carry's you rite through till the end and if your anything like me you'll want to explore the world more in the future!
Negatives, the first chapter or two didn't have me hooked but I was intrigued enough to read more.
The story felt very similar to the last air bender, similar to the point where I questioned how original some of the ideas are? Don't get me wrong any story of this style would be compared to the Last Air Bender but I was disappointed to find myself comparing large parts of the story.
Characters, it took me a while to get used to the characters and there place in the story, I enjoyed the Game of Thrones style chapters where you split between characters but think the story may have been easier to follow if you spent longer in one characters perspective.
Overall this is a 4 out of 5 for me and if you're a YA Fantasy fan I would recommend it!
“By the power of Phil Collins, I rebuke you!” she said. “By the power of Phil Collins, who knows that you coming back to me is against all odds, in his name I command you to leave this servant of Genesis alone.”
Great quote.
For a long time I thought this would be a three star read for me, it didn't have as much of the 80s cheesy horror (slight let down) I was hoping for but maybe that was me expecting something I shouldn't have.
However, the really well written story of friendship and amazing main character Abby means this has to be a four star read for me. It's more of a friendship story than a campy horror story but you know what, it was worth every page.
200+ pages of persona goodness... What's not to like!? The only downside is I now have to wait for the next volume!
As with most mangas the art work is great quality, the writers really captured the characters and had me hooked from page one. With P5R out at the end of the month it felt great to be back in that world!
4.5 ⭐ to Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.
Firstly let me say this was a really great buddy read with Meg from Tome Infinity (check her channel out).
Onto the book, I love it! Very much like the film but with just enough to make it different and unpredictable, the characters are ones we know well and so is the plot so I won't go over tgam but I will say I loved the relationship between Dr Grant, Tim and Lex.
Chrichton has a very detailed and analytical writing style that not everyone will enjoy, because of this in parts this book was slow, luckily I like getting plenty of detail so I enjoyed those parts to!
If your a fan of them film you need to read this book, even if your not this is a great science fiction read!
SO, this is a tough one to honestly review, i'm a big fan of the TV show and I see a lot of similarities although the plot and story are still very different... the main difference is Elena, Elena is basically Katherine in the books so that was a big difference to get use to.
Moving past that, Damon is painted in the same light as the first few VD series, the big bad with no good in him... anyone who's watched the show to its end knows that couldn't be further from the truth, I hope the following books will continue to shed more light on the characters as I know them but then again book and show are different so we will see!
Some changes just confuse me... Bonnie Bennett in the books is in fact a ginger Scottish Pagan, very different to the Salem esk story line I know. But again is it fare to compare book and TV?
100% i'll continue reading the story and its close enough to the show for me to enjoy it!
If your not a VD fan, I dont think these books will be for you, if your a fan of the show, there well worth a read!
“Dear Diary,
Oh, it's all too much to explain and you wouldn't believe it anyway. I'm going to bed.
Bonnie”
It took me two days to read this book (that's a good sign)...
Another strong read and it was great to spend more time with my second favorite character (Bonnie, obviously!) Whilst Scottish Druid Bonnie is very different to the Salem witch of the TV show she's equally as endearing and loveable.
Onto my favorite character Damon Salvatore, you see hints of Damon's true loving nature in each book but in Dark Reunion, you really start to see the true character coming through not the hard dark shell he hides behind.
Would I recommend this series? 100%, after watching the show twice all the way through I consider it well worth the read, just remember the show is based on the books but they do differ massively!
How does the series continue from here VD fans?
Read this a while back... forgot to review it, can't remember enough for a good review.
Muppet.
“Ursula ta-daed back before their eyes, her noodle legs looking like Hellboy's right fist, ending in heavy-armored sneakers.”
If you give into its completely mental nature of This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us its a great, fun read.
The idea of two siblings (brother & sister) sharing the same body from birth is enough to tell you what you're in for, both personalities are very different and they clash on every page.
I personally REALLY like Cantero's writing style and whilst this didn't live up to Meddling Kids, it was super fun.
Almost gave it four stars but I think thats probably half a star to many! 3.5 very well deserved stars, would read a sequel!
This quote sums the plot up perfectly, don't fight it, just enjoy it...
“Kimrean sighted purple caged dancers, mud wrestlers, tattooed devils, G-stringed Atlases erected like Pillars of Hercules out of a liquid crowd waving in worship of ancient twerk masters summoning cellulite tsunamis.”
3.5 out of 5 stars for Live and Let Die (James Bond #2)
Mixed feelings for Live and Let Die, on the one hand I enjoyed the book as (in all honesty), I have with each Bond book I've read so far. But, and there is a but. The casual racism was difficult to read.
However, It's worth noting this book was written in the 50's where racial prejudice was more accepted than it is today, and worth noting that Bond himself is not portrayed as racist (in my opinion) the causal N word drop did make me cringe a few times.
The bad guy Mr Big doesn't get as much page time as I would have liked and the same for Solitaire, the Bond girl. The Voodo inspired story was interesting but for me this wasn't as interesting as Casino Royale or the newer Forever and a Day.
Worth a read if you're a Bond fan, if your new to the series I recommend starting with either Casino Royale or the newer Forever and a Day.
Also – side note – Bond as a character is much more loving that he is portrayed in the films (and media), he basically has mummy issues (as an orphan) and doesn't know how to handle his feelings. Macho man!
Not my favorite Bond so far but still an enjoyable interesting read, Enjoyed the character of Gala and the plot but the slow opening didn't draw me in!
3 stars!
Let me say first of all that I really enjoy Patrick Ness and his writing style, he has a beautifully descriptive style and (in my opinion) always makes interesting and complicated characters.
In And the Ocean Was Our Sky we follow Bathsheba who is a Whale starting her journey as a hunter, the twist is in this retelling of Moby Dick the Whale's hunt humans, Bathsheba is an interesting character but I wont lie its hard to make a cast full of Whales that interesting.
The story is fast (ish) paced and moves quickly so I didn't find the book hard to get through, I did most of it in an housr/hour and a half, i'm giving And the Ocean Was Our Sky four stars but thats mainly down to the illustrations, if this was a simple novel with no illustrations I would have scored it low, the artwork is beautiful and I would recommend it for that alone but done expect a classic.
I'll read anything written by Ness but this isn't one of my favourites.
Really interesting spin off, always good to see more of the ultimate best friend Suwa, can't wait for the last manga!
“Reality is thin ice, but most people skate on it their whole lives and never fall through until the very end. We did fall through, but we helped each other out. We're still helping each other.”
4.5 Stars to The Outsider
I loved this book. I loved the Mr Merceades trilogy and the Outsider did not let me down one bit! The character of Detective Ralph Anderson really grew on me as I read on and Holly Gibney is basically perfect.
Modern King writes very differently to the King of 10, 20 years ago. I don't hate that, whilst I love classic King the more modern reads are (to me) easy page-turners!
If you havent already, read the Outsider (and the Mr Mercades trilogy)! Onto Doctor Sleep now...
“Just promise me you'll stop every once in a while and acknowledge the day, honey. It's the only one you'll have until tomorrow.”