Wednesday Wishlist #3

This week's wishlist is all about the pre-orders. These are the books I am really looking forward to getting hold of when they come out:


Carrier - Anne Tibbets

You may have seen the cover reveal for this one on my blog a little while back, and the reason I included that was because this book really intrigued me. It's a dystopian fiction that seems really gritty, involving sex slavery and motherhood. It also deals with poverty and I can imagine that is has some pretty horrific stuff in there. This could be a really engrossing read.

Trial by Fire - Josephine Angelini
I haven't read Starcrossed yet, but it's on my Kindle, ready to go (look out for a review on that one) and I can't wait. This series looks really interesting; Set in Salem but travelling to a different world where her other self is a powerful Crucible (I think that's a witch, but I'll have to read the book to confirm), and Lily is the only one to save this world.

Camelot Burning - Kathryn Rose
An alternate idea of the Legend of King Arthur, with a lady-in-waiting come sorcerer's apprentice protagonist? Sounds good to me! It features all the much-loved characters, plus a couple of new ones to keep the story fresh. It seems to be that it will also have a slightly steampunk quality next to all the magic and chivalry. I'll be keeping track of this one.

Which books are you looking forward to reading this year?

Top Ten Tuesday #2 - Fantasy Places I'd like to Experience

Top Ten Tuesday is a Meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where I will be picking from their top tens and attempting to reveal what my thinking is behind these choices

Top Ten Fantasy Places I'd like to Experience:

1. Gallifrey
Home planet of the Time Lords, and the most beautiful place in the galaxy, before it was destroyed in the Time War... or not. What good fan-girl wouldn't wan't to go there?

2. Asgard
Mythical land of Norse Gods, home of Thor, Loki and Odin. Looks like a big shining city sitting on top of clouds and has a really nice-looking rainbow bridge. I'd love to go there and hang with the Asgardians.

3. Camelot
The legendary castle of King Arthur has been depicted in so many films, books and TV series, but I want to see how it really would have been.

4. Inkworld
Cornelia Funke's imaginary book-world certainly grabs your attention. Whether you're having a meeting with Dustfinger or a confrontation with Basta, you'd never be short of amusement or danger, but it sure sounds beautiful.

5. Rivendell / Ellesmera / Greenwood (before it got Mirkwoodified)
Anywhere were the elves live sounds like a nice place to me, and whether they belong in the Inheritance cycle or The Lord of the Rings really doesn't make a huge difference. Bring on the beautiful woodland realms and the idyllic peace.

6. Westeros
This Game of Thrones land is rife with danger, but wouldn't you love to see it? The beauty of Highgarden, the desolate mountain of the Eyrie, the silent rock of Dragonstone and the splendour of King's Landing are something that every reader /watcher of this series would want to visit for themselves.

7. Oz
Nothing says holiday like the bright, happy fairyland of Oz, with its girl ruler and its cute little munchkins. Yes, there may be a few witches and trolls lurking about, but every now and again they are killed or thwarted, so they aren't too much of a bother. You can go off here and have adventures any time you like.

8. Wonderland
The fantastical world of Wonderland isn't one you'd want to stay in for too long or you may end up with a pretty bad headache, but wouldn't it be great to go wandering in and find yourself face to face with a frumious Bandersnatch, or a Cheshire Cat, or a Tea Party where it is everyone's unbirthday?

9. Narnia
But specifically, it has to be the Narnia in the time zone when the Pevensie children are the rulers, because that's when everyone is free and there are hardly any men to mess things up. Imagine walking down the beach with a faun and talking with a Mermaid or two on your way to Cair Paravel.. bliss.

10. Neverland
Never has a tiny island hosted so many types of person; a ticking Crocodile, a group of lost boys, some Pirates, some Mermaids, some Indians, and a load of random creatures or people that flit about in the woods. For a few days, it would be nice to stop time and just relax, and as long as you don't side with anyone, you could do just that.

11. Special Mention; Discworld
Terry Pratchett's incredible imagination knows no bounds, and niether does the Discworld, by the looks of it. Pratchett can't stop writing about it and choosing things to make a satire of, and we love him for it.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

Well then, you know why I read the series, but you don’t know why I am writing reviews on each individual book. This is very simple and a lot more boring than my rant at the beginning of the previous review, and here it is...I read The Hunger Games series at my girlfriend's request so I could post as a guest reviewer on this blog. Anyway I think I let her down a little bit because instead of writing a proper review, which you may have guessed I have no idea how to do, I just rambled on about how I felt about the book rather than tell you what actually happened. Then again if I did that before you read it you may as well not read it so chew that over when you’re bored some time! On top of that rather than just doing it as a guest reviewer I decided to set up my own blog and do a few things myself, so please check me out! I am still not sure why I decided to do this but I guess I’ll either get bored of it or just rant about random crap at some point in the future.

Anyway, on with it! At this point in the last review I wrote about how the book was written but since it was written in exactly the same style as the first book I guess that is out of the question. So to recap; written in first person, blah blah blah, I  love David Gemmell, blah blah blah, quick to read...and so on.

This time the book and the film are a little further apart, but not enough to annoy me or make me think that one is overly better than the other. Our young heroine, Katniss Everdeen, is in the aftermath of the annual event known as The Hunger Games, of which she was last years winner. The book begins with her struggle to cope with the obligations towards the Capitol that winning the Hunger Games brings as well as dealing with the psychological ramifications as she struggles to regain her former life. Tours of the country, fake marriages and personal threats from the president himself are among some of the events she has to deal with as her mental state deteriorates. Then the bombshell, which if you have seen the film you already know, she must go back to compete in a special Hunger Games as part of an event called the Quarter Quell. We go back to the Capitol to meet many previous victors who also have to compete and then begin the ‘75^th annual Hunger Games!’ as Stanley Tucci so brilliantly puts it. Her and her fellow victor Peeta Mellark go back into an arena to once again fight to the death. However this time there is a twist at the end of the tail as the games go on and people die it is made clear that the tributes are trying to keep Katniss and Peeta alive. This culminates at the end when Katniss destroys the arena and is rescued by a group of rebels who inform her on the last pages of the book that ‘this is the revolution’ and ‘you are the Mockingjay’.

After reading this book I realised how perfectly Josh Hutcherson had played the role of Peeta Mellark in the films. His character's kindness, compassion and devotion to Katniss come across very strongly in this book and you get the sense of a real relationship developing between them, rather than the fake one they had in the previous book.  We are also introduced to another of my favourite characters in Finnick Odair, who is just brilliant. Also, if you have seen the film you will be glad to know that his sugar cube speech is almost word for word with the book, so credit to both writer and director there! As I mentioned in my review of the previous book you begin to lose the illusion that Katniss is the strong independent girl that she is meant to be. This continues in this book as her every move is controlled by another characters and she begins to have a couple of breakdowns because of the mental stress of her ordeal.

Once again I surprised myself by reading this book in a couple of days without having to spend hour upon hour reading. Once again I enjoyed how close my read was to what I had seen in the films. I thought the book was a brilliant read and did not want to put it down again. You are pulled into a political situation that goes well beyond the first book and creates complex plots which I instantly bought into. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book just as much as the first one and would recommend it again to anyone who has any lingering doubts.

8 out of 10

Review: The Diamond Thief - Sharon Gosling

Remy is the headlining act in the Cirque de la Lune, but she is also a notorious jewel thief. That is, until her latest and most important robbery goes awry, and she ends up presenting her manager with a fake diamond. The blame is eventually pinned on her, and so Remy soon finds herself alone and on the run. Thaddeus is the youngest policeman on the force, and seemingly the only one paying attention to what is going on around him; he thinks that a famous diamond will be stolen when it is shown to the public, and he is very right. He does his best to secure it, but when the jewel does get stolen, the blame is laid at his feet by the other policemen. The only way to clear both of their names is to team up and, with some help from a few friends, find the real thief, but what they uncover goes much further than a simple robbery.

Character-wise, most were fairly straightforward, and their motives were easy to figure out. It is a small book, so that much is expected. However, it would have helped the complexity of the plot if it was less obvious how each character would react to situations. Thaddeus, for example, is only ever good and his other traits are kindness and courage; a stereotypical hero, but not much else. His initial cleverness is soon lost to stupid questions and he just becomes a simple love interest.

Remy is tiny, agile, french and has some anger issues. Her character is much more rounded than Thaddeus's as she has a few allegiances and secrets that are slowly revealed. She even has a small character arc, which adds some more interest to the book. However, the most interesting character is Abernathy, and it is a shame that his character appears to be glanced over briefly. I would have preferred a longer explanation as to why he acted the way he did and the reasons behind it. I do not believe that simple anger at being denied something can lead to madness, and there should have been something more than that to support the claim he was unhinged.

The ending is compulsive and exciting to read , but somehow it felt like it should have gone on for longer, with more content to build up the dimensions of character as well as the plot. There is a lot that is left unsaid, and there is definite room for another book.

This book fits more into a teen category, as it is short with plenty of action to keep their attention. A bit of romance has also been thrown in for good measure, and amazingly it really ties into the plot. A dose of steam-punk completes the mix, making it a pretty good read for the target audience. For me, however, it needed to be a bit more involved. It gets a 7 out of 10.

This book was kindly given for review from Capstone

Author Love

I have hardly reviewed any of her books on this blog, but if I had, they would get nines and tens all around. You may have heard of Chocolat, and you may have watched the film (made more wonderful by the acting efforts of Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, not to mention a few other recognisable faces), but have you ever read the book?

Have you guessed who it is yet? Joanne Harris is the author I am giving love to today, because she is an utter marvel. Her books are wonderfully emotive, flawlessly descriptive and very distinctive. She will never give you the same book twice, and none of her stories seem to be regurgitated from other authors. She can write about murderers, online messaging, vampires, norse mythology and food, and make it all enthralling.

But enough gush, the real way to show you all what an incredible writer she is, is to give you a few quotes from her books, my favourite books.

Chocolat: 
'Nests of spun caramel with hard-shelled sugar eggs, each topped with a triumphantly plump chocolate hen; piebald rabbits heavy with gilded almonds stand in rows, ready to be wrapped and boxed; marzipan creatures march across the shelves.'

Blackberry Wine:
'The wasp crawled thickly against the glass, it's wings were clotted with syrup. He thought he could hear the insect inside the bottle. buzzing in a growing frenzy, but perhaps that was the wine itself calling, its hot bright scent distressing the air.'

Five Quarters of the Orange:
'This is something different again. A feeling of peace. The feeling you get when a recipe turns out perfectly right, a perfectly risen souffle, a  flawless sauce hollandaise. It's a feeling which tells me that any woman can be beautiful in the eyes of a man who loves her.'

As you can probably tell, my favourites are the foodie one, but I have to say that Gentlemen and Players is also an exceptional read. The story is intense and intriguing, leaving you hanging on a thread to find out how the book will finally fit together.

If you do one thing this year, pick up a Joanne Harris book and give it a read.