Timstar

I haven't been there in ages! Was it busy? I hope you came back with both your legs!

I was gonna say you might regret that after reading it I'm reading The Fall of Hyperion, Elfstones of Shannara and Sharpe's Devil, plus a few other things. All of which I am enjoying immensely more than Great North Road Always nice to get books as gifts. I'm sure you will like it. I got mine for 20p on kindle years ago, can't argue with that.

Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton Synopsis When attending a Newcastle murder scene, Detective Sidney Hurst finds a dead North family clone. Yet none have been reported missing. And in 2122, twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire was horrifically murdered in the same manner on the tropical planet of St Libra. So, if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? She never wavered under interrogation, claiming she alone survived an alien attack. Investigating this potential alien threat now becomes the Human Defence Agency's top priority. St Libran bio-fuel is the lifeblood of Earth's economy and must be secured. A vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and experts are dispatched to the planet - with Angela Tramelo, grudgingly released from prison. But the expedition is cut off deep within St Libra's rainforests, and the murders begin. Angela insists it's the alien, but her new colleagues aren't sure. Did she see an alien, or does she have other reasons for being on St Libra? Review I picked this up on a whim from the library, had no idea what to expect as it is one of Hamilton's very few stand-alone books. The cover shows the exotic planet of St. Libra whereas the title suggests this is somehow linked to the A1 (The longest road in Britain linking London to Edinburgh, formally known as the Great North Road). After finishing it I still don't quite know how. At 1085 pages this was a real chore to get through, the plot and the characters were no where near developed enough to justify the page length. It could very easily be half the length and not lose anything because of it. This is the 8th Hamilton book I've read and most are long but none have overstayed their welcome like GNR did. There are two main plot threads, one following a detective in Newcastle (the A1 going past here and a brief action scene on the road itself are all that seem to the link the title to the novel) investigating the murder of a prominent family member in the same manner as a series of murders on St Libra 25 years previous for whom Angela was accused. Which brings us to the second thread, Angela is released from prison to help track down the 'alien' she claims committed the murder, along with a large expedition they head to St Libra (A wormhole links Newcastle to St Libra). I loathe detective stories, I find them incredibly dull but I thought if anyone could make it interesting it would be Hamilton... he did not. It drags on and on and the characters involved are all 2-dimensional stereotypes that could have been lifted out of any generic crime show. The St Libra plot is much better and writing alien worlds is clearly Hamilton's strong point but he doesn't bring his A-Game and apart from a few redeeming moments it falls pretty flat and ultimately fails to capture any suspense. I really wish I had abandoned this after a few hundred pages but I assumed it would pick up pace and get me hooked... I was wrong. There are a few redeeming features; A couple of interesting characters (out of a cast of dozens though), a few good actions scenes and some intense death scenes. But there really isn't a reason to recommend this to anyone, even Hamilton fans. If it was a few hundred pages long I would say go for it but at the length it is, life is too short. Overall 5/10

Been busy at work, lots of experiments to do. Also trying to enjoy the brief moments of sun. Lots of family and friends stuff going on, and making the most of our National Trust membership. We went to Isaac Newton's childhood home which also included his apple tree The film was a very good adaptation and has stunning visuals which the book doesn't really describe, but they had to include due to the lack of events that actually happen. It was a great read apart from the Island section which just felt tacked on and added nothing to the story. I really liked it! I can see why some people wouldn't but it makes a lot more sense and makes a good statement on stories vs truth. I can't remember what it is now but I really loved the final line.

Apologies for the lack of updates. Life gets in the way Finished a few books lately: Life of Pi by Yann Martel- 9/10 The City and the City by China Miéville - 7/10 The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett - 6/10 Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - 6/10 I am quite close to finishing Great North Road (finally)

You'd think they would be trying to avoid the obvious similarities to LOTR but it is filmed in New Zealand and stars John Rhys Davies If it is anything like the first book then it will be very family friendly and cheesy.

Great pictures! Looks amazing. I really want to do a Canadian road trip at some point. Glad you had a good time

That's very strange... I definitely wrote the rest of that sentence ETA above.

Definitely! There is almost no good place to put it down Not sure I could do that to a 'friend' Don't be disheartened a lot of people really love them! Yes, I gave it 8/10. Not the best in the series but a good addition. You probably will, I seem to be in the minority. I'm sure we could name more than a few. . Not my favourite in the series but a strong addition. I'll be starting the 5th soon.

I did end up buying Station Eleven and On Stranger Tides from the monthly deals.

Clearly you missed this gem!

Worked out I have at least 13 series on the go at the moment, that's not including unfinished series. So yes, very sensible

I added The Silence to my wishlist and bought The Hunt as it was only 99p. I'll get round to Reynolds... one day

Great picture! I have Malice on my Kindle but can't bring myself to start any new fantasy series right now Hope you enjoy it!

Jurassic World: Hilarious in its over-the-top stupidity and predictability... Good fun though.

...sort of. It's hard to explain without giving anything away. It certainly doesn't take itself seriously and at 300 pages it is a very quick read. Yeah they might be worth a go, although his novels are already pretty short

Chris Wooding is a great author, good purchase

Definite improvment! I might not even be embarrassed to be seen with those copies

Read quite a few smallish books lately: A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson - Steve's review of The Shrinking Man got me in the mood for more Matheson and this was the only other book my library had by him. Maybe I was expecting too much after I am Legend and the Shrinking Man but I didn't think much of it. Not very scary or tense and no great or memorable characters. 7/10 The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - Very few books split opinion more than this, it seems to be a love it or hate it kinda deal, I'm not sure what it was about it exactly but I certainly fell into the former catagory, couldn't read it fast enough. 10/10 Redshirts by John Scalzi - I picked this up as it is on my Hugo award winners list as well as my first Scalzi book. It is certainly an original idea that was well executed. Unfortunately it should have ended 50 pages earlier, you'll have to read it to understand. I also feel I would have gotten more out of it if I were a Star Trek fan. 8/10 Breach Zone by Myke Cole - The third installment of his ongoing Shadow Ops series sees the action taken to the heart of New York as a portal to the goblin world is opened in lower Manhattan. The book suffers slightly from an abundance of action in lieu of characterisation but the action is pretty awesome with returns of the main protagonists from the first two books there isn't much to not love. 9/10 Eric by Terry Pratchett - The shortest and weakest installment so far for me in the Rincewind series of Discworld novels but still plenty of puns, mishaps and running away from things. 7/10 Currently Reading: Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett Darkness, Be My Friend by John Marsden (Tomorrow Series Book 4) Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton (A hefty tome) Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon (A heftier tome) Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (Short stories)

Did you even read my review! When reading it I was trying to remember all the things you liked about it but couldn't for the life of me Hmm it's the sort of thing I might give a go in a few years or something.

I've only got 1 Sharpe left! Been reading them since 2010! Oh dear

I am very tempted and I will probably end up doing that. I did quite like the look of her Liveship Traders series but I can't imagine it being any better than what I've already read. Speaking of the Empty Throne, when are you going to carry on with that series?

Royal Assassin - Robin Hobb Synopsis Fitz dreams of Red-Ship Raiders sacking a coastal village, leaving not a single man, woman or child alive. Tortured by this terrible vision he returns to the Six Duchies court where all is far from well. King Shrewd has been struck down by a mysterious illness and King-in-waiting, Verity, spends all his time attempting to conjure storms to confuse and destroy the Red-Ship Raiders. And when he leaves on an insane mission to seek out the mystical Elderings, Fitz is left alone and friendless but for the wolf Nighteyes and the King’s Fool with his cryptic prophesies. Review The second book of the orginal trilogy from Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings picks up where Assassin's Apprentice left off. Written in the same past tense format but this time the book is three times as long. Sigh, this was a struggle for me to get through. As with Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy I found the main protagonist too whingey and the supporting characters underdeveloped. The world building is pretty poor, you don't see much of what happens outside the court, you are sometimes told what is happening but you don't care as they are just names and places that don't mean anything. Most of Fitz's actions don't seem to make sense. He spends ages trying to avoid using the berated animal bonding skill known as the Wit but then just does it on a whim. The King is dying, we all know who is responsible, Fitz knows, his friends know, do they do anything about it? NO! They just hope he gets better. They are also well aware of the on-going power struggle between the King's heirs but do nothing to intervene and prevent the usurption of the throne. It started to get quite fustrating. Furthermore, my favourite characters (I.e. the only ones I liked); Verity and the Fool are massively underused. I also found the dialogue quite clunky and unnatural, it didn't have a nice flow to it that allows me as a reader to immerse myself in the book. But I really wanted to like it and really want to finish this trilogy so I perservered and eventually completed it. There were certainly sections that really picked up in tempo and had me gripped to the page, but these were few and far between. The last 100 pages or so were pretty descent which salvaged it for me in the end. To be honest I just don't think Hobb is for me. I will read the final book... I'm just not looking forward to it . Overall 7/10

I decided to start Breach Zone this weekend after reading your review

I bought all 4 books a couple of years ago but haven't gotten around to them. Too many fantasy series It sounds great though, fab review!