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I can understand that. I struggle with non-fiction myself and I'm not dyslexic! You might like the Night's Masque series by Anne Lyle - it's set in the Elizabethan era, and has some very obviously fantastical elements, but paints a nice picture of that historical period and has lots of cameos by famous historical figures (including Francis Walsingham and William Shakespeare!)

I don't really read much historical fiction - I always think, if they're going to bend the facts, or only use certain elements of history, why not just fictionalise it completely? Saying that, I own two of Iggulden's Emperor books and one of the Genghis Khan ones which I'll probably read at some point. Glad to hear you're enjoying them so much!

Thanks Gaia. I think the worst part is that I don't have as much time to write decent reviews - I get to thinking 'what's the point in reading this if I'm not going to have chance to post a review?' On the upside I'm about halfway through Dune - I'm getting there. Slowly but surely! I know, yeah, that irritating thing called life! It's always spoiling things for us! I think I'm going to buy the second Ketty Jay this weekend. I did see it the other day in Waterstones, but changed my mind because the cover didn't match the one I have. And yeah, the Riyria covers are awful. THIS!!! It's so true! When I was reading it I just couldn't believe how formulaic and unoriginal it was. I'll probably still go back and at least try to finish it at some point, though. Although, I'll never understand those people who hate a book and yet go and read the entire series. Mark Lawrence commented on something the other day: there's this guy on Amazon, and he's only ever posted 3 reviews, and they're all 1-star reviews of all 3 books in the Broken Empire. Why would you read the rest of the series if you hated the first one?? I loved all those other comments. Bit harsh, but very amusing!

Great finds Steve - they look space opera-ish enough to keep you going for a while.

Great books Devi! Hope you're feeling better.

Hi Virginia! Love your avatar - it looks just like my baby kitty.

Welcome to the forum! Harry Potter is one of my all time favourite series' too. I think I used to read the Fearless series . . . was the main character a girl called Gaia?

Review: 'Retribution Falls' by Chris Wooding Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves. So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn't just a nuisance anymore - he's public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down. But Frey knows something they don't. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he's going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons. It's going to take all his criminal talents to prove he's not the criminal they think he is . . . I’ve been going through a bit of a reading slump lately, probably due to working full time again, and I haven’t had much time for reading or reviewing. I read Jack Vance’s The Dragon Masters recently, which pulled me out of my slump a little bit; and then Retribution Falls pulled me the rest of the way and restored my reading mojo. It’s a light, fun tale of adventure and action, which I generally enjoyed reading it. Retribution Falls (book #1 of the Ketty Jay series) is fantasy with a few SF elements to it, which is once again quite adventurous reading for me (I don’t usually wander outside of swords ‘n’ sorcery/medieval-type fantasy). I think the fact that it was different really helped my enjoyment of it, as I’ve found a lot of the ‘traditional’ fantasy I’ve been reading has started to feel a little stale. I read a lot of this book on my commute to and from work, and other books I’ve read recently have suffered for this, partly because the structure of the story doesn’t stand up to being read in little chunks. Retribution Falls was actually great for this kind of reading: the characters spend a lot of time hopping from place to place, never doing any one thing for too long, and as such there are lots of short sequences and well-structured chapters that made it easy to just pick up the book and carry on from where I left off. The characters were a bit hit and miss for me, and I didn’t feel like I engaged with them as much as I’d hoped too. I’d pretty much expected ‘Locke Lamora on an airship’, so it’s no wonder Wooding’s characters didn’t quite live up to my expectations (then again, even the last Scott Lynch book didn’t live up to my expectations, so maybe the problem lies with me . . .). The main character here, airship captain and smuggler Darian Frey, is likeable enough, but not quite as roguish or interesting as the blurb suggests, and I actually found myself more invested in the secondary characters, mainly Crake and Jez, than in Frey. Even they didn’t feel fleshed-out enough, though. I think all the characters were lacking depth in one way or another: it felt to me like I was playing an RPG, and the characters were ‘companions’ who eventually revealed something about themselves depending on what you said to them. I also found it highly unbelievable that Frey had spent so much time with these characters before the events of the book, yet was only now starting to care about them enough to take an interest in them. Criticism aside, I enjoyed reading the book, and am looking forward to getting hold of the second one in the series sooner rather than later. My rating: 4/5

I haven't posted much lately - here or anywhere - as I've been quite busy and don't seem to have had much time for anything. I'm only managing to read on the train at the moment, so my reading progress is frustratingly slow! I'm currently about a third of the way through Dune, which I'm really enjoying (I only hope I actually finish it in time to participate in the reading circle . . .) and I finished Retribution Falls a couple of weeks ago (only just got around to writing the review, which I'll post below). I did also start reading Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan, but have put it on hold for the time being. I was really quite disappointed by what I read of it: considering that the whole series has had rave reviews, it all felt rather dull and derivative. I'm sure I'll go back to it at some point though . . . I do so hate abandoning books!

Wow, some of them are really creepy! For some reason the one about the boy in/under the bed really freaked me out . . . Thanks, BB, I won't sleep for a week now. (Some of them made me laugh, though. )

Welcome to the forum! I've had A Tale of Two Cities on my TBR for years, but never seem to get around to it!

Sorry to hear about all the bad luck, Tim. Won't dwell on it because that makes it worse, but I know how you feel. Still: it really is true that when one door closes, another one opens, etc., etc. Hugs and kind thoughts to both of you! Nice review of the Gemmell, I'm glad you enjoyed it - Waylander did the same thing for me when I was in a reading slump a few weeks ago. I have Legend on the shelf to read soon.

Amazing books and awesome stats Gaia! I look forward to seeing your new bakery/library pictures when you move in.

Thought this might interest you (and all the other lovers of fantasy who read your thread!). It's a new fantasy anthology featuring the likes of Pat Rothfuss, Mark Lawrence, Michael J Sullivan, Peter V Brett, Terry Brooks, etc., etc. . . . and NOT A PEEP FROM GRRM! It looks pretty good. (It's also only £2.48 on Amazon's Kindle store!) Also, this.

Yes, it's always a tough decision as to whether the film will ruin the books or not. They just released The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones as a film, but I'm staying away from it because it's supposed to be awful and I don't want it to spoil my memory of the book! (I'm looking forward to seeing The Book Thief at some point, though )

Nice review Gaia - I don't think I've met anyone who has disliked this book so it must be good! Is this the one they've just turned into a film?

Wow, they must be good if you're reading the whole series all at once! Nice review - the story does sound intriguing.

Mummys are the best. Hope you feel a lot better soon!

Oh, nothing dramatic, just that I applied for PhD studentships (unsuccessfully) at various places for 3 years in a row before giving up. I had a few interviews, and all of them accepted me for study - but I kept missing out on the actual studentships (it was very competitive), and so had to keep turning the offers down since there's no way I'd be able to fund it myself. I'd like to maybe try again in the future, though. Good luck with yours - I imagine it's quite different for sciencey ones (mine was Literature/Linguistics). Don't worry, though, that hour will absolutely fly by! Be sure to let us know how you go on! ETA: Thought I'd let you know: just finished Retribution Falls and really enjoyed it, and will be buying The Black Lung Captain some time soon.

When was your birthday? Let's pretend it's today - many happy returns!

Your book collection is seriously amazing, Gaia! And it's great to hear that you're sticking with the writing - well done!

Great news about the mortgage, and congrats on the PhD interview! As long as you know your proposal inside and out you should be fine. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did with mine.

What beautiful gifts, Devi! The ring is gorgeous.

Great view of Altered Carbon, Steve - it sounds brilliant!

Great books and great review of Harry Potter - Order of the Phoenix is my favourite one.