Signor Finzione

Thanks Steve! I know, I know, I couldn't help myself! The ending was a little bit of a let-down and there weren't nearly as many zombies (or 'rotters') as there should have been. Otherwise it would have got full marks! The good news is that Blood Song is a 5/5 so far - and still going strong.

Sean Bean always looks depressed. Glad you're enjoying the series! If you're liking them now then you're in for a treat when you get to A Storm of Swords.

Review: 'Boneshaker' by Cherie Priest Ezekiel Blue’s father committed a crime, unleashing a deadly menace into steampowered Seattle. And his bereaved family has paid the price. Now, Ezekiel is determined to clear his father’s name, risking death and the undead in the attempt. Sixteen years ago, as the American Civil War dawned, gold brought hordes to the frozen Klondike. Fanatical in their greed, Russian prospectors commissioned Dr Leviticus Blue to create a great machine, to mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus the Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine was born. But the Boneshaker went awry, destroying downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas, anyone who breathed its fumes turning into the living dead. The devastated city is now walled in to contain the blight. But unknown to Briar, his widowed mother, Ezekiel is going in. His quest will take him into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive. Let me start by saying that this is most definitely not a zombie novel, although it is sometimes marketed as such. I picked this book up thinking “zombies? Awesome!”, and at first I was disappointed that they were such a minor aspect of the story. However, I quickly became enthralled in the plot, despite the disappointing dearth of zombie action. Priest does a great job of setting the scene, and paints a very vivid picture of the misery of day-to-day life outside the walls of Blighted Seattle. The scenes within the walled city itself, especially those on the streets, are brilliantly eerie and atmospheric, and the fact that we see it all through the restrictions of the characters’ gas mask (with limited peripheral vision and the echoing of their own breathing distorting their hearing) makes it very, very creepy. The highlight of the first half of the novel is really the tension that comes from entering the unknown, and I must admit reading these scenes made me quite jumpy. The rest of the novel is much more action-focused. We meet several other characters (some more nefarious than others) who scrape a living in the walled city, and the pace picks up quite a lot towards the end, with a three-way underground war and the big reveal of a dirty family secret. I wouldn’t say that the actual ending was brilliant, and the big ‘secret’ isn’t exactly hard to figure out, but I did find myself keen to read more of the series, particularly as the steampunk elements are a lot of fun and the scene-setting is so strong. The characters are fairly strong too, particularly the main character of Briar: she’s easy to both admire and feel sorry for (probably because she rarely feels sorry for herself): she’s a strong female character, but she’s also a realistic one, kept alive as much through the help of others as well as her own practicality, and driven only by her desire to protect her son (who, I must say, I didn’t have a lot of sympathy for). One of the downsides was, I felt, the lack of explanation about the Blight. Despite the eerie atmosphere created by the mystery of it and the fear of what to expect, I had hoped to learn much more about the undead, about the Blight and where it came from, but we never actually get any real answers on this front, which feels a little disappointing and unsatisfactory. I’d love to see further novels in the Clockwork Century series return to Seattle and stop the Blight once and for all. Until then, I’ll definitely continue with the rest of the series: I’m a big fan of Priest’s writing style, scene setting and suspense building, and look forward to reading more. 4/5

I totally agree with this. It's good to try and keep the author separate from the work - I think it would be a shame to deny ourselves a good read just because the author's a [insert word of choice here].

Nice review, it sounds great. Not sure I'd want to be seen reading something called 'Miles in Love' either!

Great review Tim! I'm still really curious about Sanderson and plan to read The Final Empire fairly soon. Have you (or anyone else here) ever read Warbreaker?

Great review Steve! Again, you really make me want to read this series, despite knowing it's not my cup of tea. Tut tut with the book buying - looks like you'll have to start exercising restraint before it becomes a problem. Great buys, though I've never heard of any of 'em.

BEAUTIFUL fantasy shelves Gaia! We share so many of the same versions of things - the various different styles of Feist, the mismatched Brent Weeks ones, the Pratchetts, the Thomas Covenant omnibuses, the GIANT Terry Brooks doorstoppers . . . and the Game of Thrones ones that almost match but aren't quite the same size. Good luck with the TBR-soon, and with organising the rest of them . . . and congratulations on not caving in!

Yes, it was a compliment!

It might even be a 5/5! I was actually quite upset when I found out that the other Clockwork Century novels aren't actually related to it in any way. EDIT: They are related to it! Yay!

Sorry to hear that Devi. The injections don't sound like fun, but I hope they do the trick. I'm glad the book buying helps to cheers you up - I read somewhere that shopping has been scientifically proven to produce positive hormones, so it must be good for you!

Great review of the Reynolds, Steve. You have a knack of making me want to read things I know I won't actually enjoy.

Thanks Tim! Glad we both felt the same way about it. Thanks, Steve - I try my best. Thanks very much BB! Again, good to hear others felt the same way - I was a bit worried I'd be in the minority. And I did find myself getting a bit annoyed with stuff that wasn't explained after they were mentioned like a million times. I've just finished Boneshaker - I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll have time to write a review soon.

The way he switches between viewpoints within the same chapters really confused me when I first started reading! I'd forgotten about that.

Sorry to hear about the damaged book. It's so frustrating, especially when it's a hardback and you've paid more than you would have for a paperback. Definitely write to them with a complaint, as they'll maybe be able to pass on the complaint to the delivery company and maybe get your shipping money back? Can't wait to see the pictures by the way. The wait makes it all the more exciting.

Fabulous pictures!! I'm especially loving all the new fantasy ones. When you said "the 1001 books I recently bought", I thought "wow, that's a lot!" Then I saw the picture.

Thanks guys!! :D

Haha we're just too quick for each other! Thanks for the comments - I wish I'd enjoyed it more too, though I'm glad a lot of the criticisms I had seem to be shared by others as well.

Great review Gaia - I've had my eye on this book for ages! Love all the new books, too! Good luck with not buying any more - I give it 1 week before you cave in and buy more.

Thanks! At least you don't have to worry about my usual spoilers, since you've already read it!

Review: 'Dune' by Frank Herbert Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the "spice" melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe. The story explores the complex and multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis and its "spice". So Dune was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand I enjoyed the desert setting, the fantasy elements, and the entire premise of the thing; on the other hand, I felt like most of the characters were un-relatable, and a large portion of the book felt like something of a chore to read. I’ll start with the positives: I loved the beginning of the book. I found myself warming to the main characters Jessica, Paul and Leto, and was intrigued by the mysterious not-quite-explained elements and mythos, such as the gom jabbar and the Bene Gesserit and the Kwisatz Hadderach. I liked how I was thrown in at the deep end, and that the author was clearly intending to reveal things gradually rather than just explain it all straight away. Then again, I did feel there was too much exposition at this point, and that dialogue was being used a little too much to try and convey some of the background; I felt like the characters were unnecessarily talking about things for the sake of the reader. And the mysterious things that started out so intriguing? They actually got quite annoying the more the book progressed. I got the sense that I was being excluded from something, and while this doesn’t always bother me (it’s pretty much one of the hallmarks of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, my favourite fantasy series of all time) it really started the get on my nerves here, to the point where I’d grind my teeth any time the words ‘Bene Gesserit’ or ‘prescience’ were mentioned. Anyway. I loved the way the beginning of the book conveyed a sense of total upheaval, how the protagonists were literally transported from one world to another within a matter of pages, and that this new world was totally alien and hostile. One of my favourite scenes in the whole book happens around this point: Leto, the ‘thopter, the sandworm, the spice factory, the daring rescue . . . I loved this scene. It’s epic. But . . . then I felt like the book sort of went downhill. I (kind of) get why Paul doesn’t have much personality, but it still makes for an incredibly unsympathetic protagonist. I think in some ways all of the characters suffered from this: I felt like I was watching them do things, but I was ignorant as to why they were doing them. As such, I felt disconnected from all of them, which made me less invested in the story as a whole. I was pretty interested in the Harkonnens; however, I really felt like they could have been fleshed out a lot more, particularly the Baron: I felt he was a rather disappointing villain, two-dimensional and defined only by his greed and his homosexuality (which I also disliked, since it’s presented very negatively). I would’ve liked to learn more of the feud between the Atreides and the Harkonnens, and instead felt that the scenes with the Baron ad Feyd-Rautha were a little shallow and irrelevant. Despite all my gripes, I did enjoy the book; just not as much as I'd hoped. I kept waiting for it to turn into something spectacular, and for some reason I never felt it really delivered everything it could have done. There were other elements I enjoyed, such as the setting. The author paints a very vivid picture of the desert planet - although I did sometimes feel like he didn't stress enough about how hot and uncomfortable it must be! - and I liked the whole idea of how the population wanted to change the ecosystem and create a better world. I liked the concept of having to wear stillsuits in the desert - it's a very practical rather than romantic view of the Fremen, and made it a bit more realistic. I also loved the sandworms, although I think I preferred them at the beginning when they were scary, rather than later when they were just used as glorified donkeys. I loved the fantasy (rather than SF) elements, such as the knife-fights and the sandworms; I just wish there had been more of both. To sum up, then: there were plenty of things I liked about Dune, and plenty more that I didn’t. I’ll probably give the second book a go at some point, just to see what happens, and to find out more about those characters I was interested in, such as Gurney Halleck and Count Fenring. I think I’d have enjoyed the book more had I not been reading it sporadically on busy train journeys, which is why I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and rating it 4 rather than 3. My rating: 4/5

Thanks guys! I'm really enjoying Boneshaker, and can't wait to start BLC too (I love how pretty the colours are on the cover ).

Nice review, Tim. Agree about Jessica giving the reader someone to relate to, and about the characters being a bit distant - I've said much the same thing in mine!

It's taken 3 weeks but I've finally finished reading it! I rated it 4/5, but feel I may have enjoyed it more had my reading not been limited to half-hour stints on the train. 1. Did you like the book? What was it that you enjoyed? If you didn't like the book, what were your reasons for disliking it? I did like it, though not as much as I'd hoped. I kept waiting for it to turn into something spectacular, and for some reason I never felt it really delivered everything it could have done. I didn't engage with many of the characters, and felt that some of their motives could have been shown/explained a bit more - scenes such as those with Baronn Harkonnen and Feyd-Rautha felt a bit random and irrelevant, as they were sort of dotted in here and there and never really explored much. I did enjoy the settings, however. The author paints a very vivid picture of the desert planet - although I did sometimes feel like he didn't stress enough about how hot and uncomfortable it must be! - and I liked the whole idea of how the population wanted to change the ecosystem and create a better planet. I liked that there wasn't too much science in it (I know, I know, it's SF, but still) - I never really felt like it was going over my head. I liked the concept of them having to wear stillsuits in the desert - it's a very practical rather than romantic view of the Fremen, and made it a bit more realistic. I also loved the sandworms, although I think I preferred them at the beginning when they were scary, rather than later when they were just used as glorified donkeys. 2. Did you have any expectations about the book before you started reading it, and if so, were they correct? I suppose I expected it to be more fantasy-esque - even though it's SF - and was a bit disappointed, I think because I didn't like the whole 'destiny' thing. There wasn't as much action as I'd expected, and the action that happened wasn't always described in a very exciting way. The fantasy elements I expected and liked were the sandworms and the knife-fighting, and I wish there'd been more of both! 3. Who was your favourite character...? Probably Jessica, although I did like Gurney Halleck (although his songs and quotations quickly got annoying!) and would like to know more about his story. Alia is very interesting too, and I thought Chani was a good strong female figure since she is independent and fierce, and is a nice balance of warrior and mother/wife. 4. ...and your least favourite? I didn't dislike Paul as much as others did, but I did find his sections became quite boring, probably because of all the ramblings about his 'prescience' and the fact that he never seemed to feel any emotion. 5. Was there a particular part you enjoyed more than the rest? I actually really enjoyed the beginning, when the Atreides had just arrived on Arrakis and were unfamiliar with it. I think my favourite scene is the one where Leto flies over the spice factory and rescues the workers, and sees a sandworm attack for the first time. Awesome. 7. Were there any parts/ideas you struggled with? Not really, just the vague philosophical musings, about the past/future and the Bene Gesserit, probably because I didn't really understand them! I kept getting the feeling I'd missed something . . . 8. Overall, was reading the book an enjoyable experience? Yes, though occasionally it felt like a chore. I think it would have benefited from longer periods of reading - it's definitely not suited to train reading! 10. Will you read the sequels/prequels? I might read the next in the series just to see what it's like - I was really disappointed when I reached the end and nothing happened! I thought there were still a few chapters left, but it was just the appendices. I was like, 'is that it??' Those who have read the sequels: how would you rate each one? Is the second one worth picking up?

New books! All from Amazon this month, as there were quite a few I wanted and I could get far more for my money. The hardback was only £7.50 and it's brand new!