Michelle

How about Gone by Michael Grant?

If you haven’t watched Silence of the Lambs as a film, I recommend it. Beth watched it recently (she’s 18) and she was hooked.

I haven’t gotten around to try it yet...

For fans of Black Mirror and HBO’s Westworld, and readers of James Dashner and Veronica Roth, Otherworld is the first book in New York Times bestselling authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller's new YA sci-fi-thriller series. The future is now. And the future is terrifying. There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire. It’s a game so addictive you’ll never want it to end. Until you realize that you’re the one being played. Welcome to Otherworld, where reality is dead. Step into the future. Leave your body behind. I was offered an early copy of this book, and with comparisons being made to two of my favourite shows, I couldn't resist. Sometimes I do take a while to get to a review book, but I decided to take a peek when I got it, and was soon hooked. I'm seeing quite a few mixed reviews coming in, and I think a lot could depend on what you've read before in this area, how much technology progress you're willing to accept etc. I had no particular expectations, and I found it a fast paced, rather excellent read. We're initially introduced to a VR game, which although is very realistic, still relies on a headset, gloves etc. The company are also working on a totally immersive version, complete with a patch which goes straight on skin, and utilises your brain instead.. sounds far fetched, but is made to work! The story goes between the quests within the game world, complete with self aware AI characters, and what's happening in the real world. The main characters in the book could have been developed a little more, but at the end of the day, this isn't really a character driven book.. it's a fast, action driven book, with some interesting turns. It's taken some new ideas, and some old ones, and made quite a ride. I'l definitely be picking up the next one.

Tarnished City So, finally I got my hands on a copy of the second book, Tarnished City. Obviously it's hard to review content with a second book, but for those wanting to know if it's worth containing the series - absolutely! This goes straight back into the story, with the same main characters. The power of the Elite is even more ruthless, and there's an overall darker feeling to this one. It does have the feel of a 'middle book', but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Characters are explored in more depth, and their changes often surprise. The magic used by the Elites also develops in rather interesting ways, and I can not wait to see where the final book is going to take us with that. Thankfully there is a fairly short gap between the three books, which means I still had lots of memories of the first - Vic has a way of writing which managed to tease these memories out, without being too jarring, which can be a difficult step in a sequel. The last one still feels too far off though... Deeper, darker, twister - just the way I like it!

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins I'm probably one of the few reviewers who hadn't already heard of the author.. I requested because I'm a horror fan, and I especially loved Scream in it's day. I can't decide if the author was aiming for a straight forward horror, or the self-aware humour of Scream, but for me it rather fell flat on both accounts. I know it's hard to do, but it didn't feel original, but rather a loose copy of those which had gone before.. done right, this can be a good thing, but not so much here. The murders were quite gruesome, but didn't feel particularly scary, the characters made some stupid decisions, and the murderers reasoning was flimsy at best. The romance angle was a little off-putting for me, but I do realise that that is the author's usual genre. There are some positives.. it was an 'easy' book to read, and it might prove a good introduction for teen readers into the horror genre. Of course, as with all books, some are going to love it.. but it just wasn't for me.

Quick catch up.. Lost Boy by Christina Henry - I do love this author.. and I enjoyed this retelling of Peter Pan. There's an interesting thing here, the US cover tells you exactly what the book is about, whilst the UK one doesn't - and I think it's far better without that spoiler. So if you're interested, avoid the US cover! Alien Rain by Ruth Morgan - this was very much a YA book, but one I sped through quickly, with some interesting ideas. There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins - this has been all over twitter recently, and I managed to get a review copy.. proper review to come, but overall, not good! The Explorer by James Smith - hmm.. on the whole, I did like this, but it went on a bit too long. It wasn't what I expected.. the story I expected from the synopsis is over fairly quickly, and there's confusion at the end of part one. The second part was a little too long, and I skimmed slightly, but the ending pretty much explained things. 13 Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt - I've been looking at this for some time now, and I'm glad I finally got round to it. Another YA one, but I found plenty to enjoy, and will try book 2 fairly soon.

I have a Ford Fiesta, it's hardly a status symbol! ;-)

I have had the strangest thing happened - I decided to give my kindle yet another try.. and this time it's worked! I suddenly find myself actually preferring picking it up to a book! It's much easier to get the occasional review book I want, holiday will be easier, and I can get cheaper kindle books! I'm so pleased.

I re-watched it again recently...

Ah yes, I agree - as much as I like his books, he often draws things out, and then goes a bit crazy at the end!

I'm excited about the film.. which also means I'm nervous about it too! @Nollaig - I love the idea of a black screen for 90 mins!

Have you not seen that episode?

Here's the problem with a show which has stretched over 50 years.. nothing is really set in stone, and it tends to change, or be handled differently by different writers. I'm not an expert, but I've been following some discussions on Gallifrey Base - apparently some Time Lords seem to have control (Romana apparently 'tried on' a few different ones before choosing), but the Doctor doesn't seem to have this control. He did choose to be a 'War Doctor' at one point, but that was helped by.. whatever the 'sisterhood' was he visited, I can't recall details off hand. In The Doctor's Wife, he talks about Corsair, a Time Lord he knew well, and he mentions that he kept the same tattoo.. even during the odd occasion he regenerated into a woman. So in that case, it appears to be a case of usually male, but occasionally female.. so maybe they have a tendency to one gender in particular, but it's just that, a tendency? Also, he's past his usual 12 regenerations, so maybe this set are different?

Amy makes a lot of fruit smoothies, and we have a simple blender. I don't know about veggies though.

We tend to be simple book lovers and readers here, we're not experts in any way... sorry!

Well that doesn't surprise me, we're often the opposites! 😊 See if you like the the sound of Ex-Heroes. I've listened to them as audiobooks, and they're up there in my all-time favourites. Hmm.. which might mean you won't like them.....

I'm not even thinking about it as being done for PC reasons. For me, if you think about the character, why should The Doctor always be male? If any thing, I think it's been done because the show needs a change. I know far too many people who haven't enjoyed, or watched, the last few series, despite everyone saying what a great actor Capaldi was. I've watched, but I couldn't think of one male actor who would have made me excited about a new Doctor.. but this has! The Master became Missy.. it worked for some, and not for others, but it wasn't seen as a huge deal. I'm happy to wait and see how it's handled in the show, bu the pointers were all there, especially in the last two episodes.

14 took me a while to get into, but I ended up really liking it. Have you read his Ex-Heroes series? I LOVE them!

The companion can be anyone.. it's only NuWho which has been mainly male Doctor / female companion.

My quick thoughts on I Am Behind You: So, I am aware that this book is not going to suit everyone, but I for one got very caught up in it, and loved it! If you like a story where you get all the answers, and everything is nicely wrapped up at the end, then you are probably not going to get on well with this book. It's very much character driven rather than plot driven, which I wasn't expecting. We are presented with a set of caravans which have apparently been moved overnight.. or maybe everything has been removed from around them? It's not clear at all what has happened, and we are as confused as the characters. Thankfully they explore their surroundings quickly (otherwise I would have given up on the book!) but there appears no where to go. There is threat, and strangeness, and a plot-as-such, but it's the characters who play centre stage. Some are likeable, others not so much, but all found their way into my head. This is a book which wasn't as I expected, but I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it!

I'm a little scared of this thread now, because I'm so annoyed by some of the hatred I've seen on social media. Personally, I think that it's a brilliant idea, and it's about time. The series has struggled recently, and I'm now excited by a new start.. new showrunner, new Doctor, and a change! I'm still baffled by some people's reactions.. the character of the Doctor is a time travelling, regenerating alien, so why on earth can't he regenerate into a female... or any shape or form wanted?! I was in the minority when Capaldi was announced.. I hadn't seen The Thick of It, and for some reason he just didn't work for me (although the last series was much better). I watched the tiny clip of Jodie, and immediately grinned.. to me, she looks great, and just right. I for one am now really looking forward to this!

That sounds really good Noll - I hope it works out!

yea, I really did like it, and I'm quite fussy about SF books. If you've enjoyed his writing, you'll probably get on well with it.

The Hatching and Skitter by Ezekiel Boone - yep, I listened to two audiobooks about spiders.. . They actually weren't that scary, most of the descriptions were more about swarms of spiders, which for some reason didn't seem real enough in my head to scare me. They were both good books, although they tended to drift towards the end of each, rather than having a big build up. I'm waiting for the 3rd one though, it has me interested to know what happens next. Then more spiders, in Children of Time.. again, nothing in the description of the spiders was enough to scare me, and in fact, you actually end up quite liking them! it's a difficult book to explain, a very epic tale over many years.. and was nothing like I expected! Finally, I Am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist - proper review later. The first few to pop up on amazon aren't great, but I really enjoyed it. It's not one for readers who like everything to be wrapped up and answered, but I definitely enjoyed the ride!