Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Metropolitan Police had to deal with the supernatural? Well, now your pondering has come to fruition. Aaronovitch manages to combine the reality of being a Police officer in modern-day London with some rather ghostly happenings.

Junior Constable Peter Grant is guarding a crime scene in the early hours of the morning when he finds a witness to the crime. There's just one little problem. His witness is a ghost, and his story doesn't make any sense. Read on a few pages and you'll be hooked on the mystery of how on earth someone can manage to knock someones head clean off.

If you thought that this was just another Harry Potter, think again. Whilst this is admittedly set in a real world where magic is hidden away from the public and the main character does become a wizard (well, an apprentice), it is definitely an adult book. Sexuality and goriness are rife here, and there is even a bit of explanation to the magic.

This book is for people who love the sci-fi and fantasy genres, but yearn for something witty and (fairly) realistic. But really, I think anyone could read it.

10/10.

I don't think I could have asked for a more entertaining read.

PS: Look out for the sequel: Moon Over Soho

Reckless - Cornelia Funke

Following her extremely popular Inkheart series (also made into a film starring Brendan Frasier), Cornelia Funke comes up with another insightful take on the adult fairy tale. Drawing from classic tales such as 'Through the Looking Glass', 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Rapunzel' as well as various other fairy tales, this story is fast paced and enchanting.

Jacob Reckless has been going through the mirror for years. He knows the world behind it almost better than his own - he even calls it home. But now everything has changed. His brother has followed him though and has been clawed by a ferocious Goyl, whose stony skinned race are slowly taking over the land. Jacob will try anything to save his brother, but this world isn't making it easy.

This book is reminiscent of a few other writers works who have tried their own interpretations of fairy tales. Perhaps the most notable is John Connoly's The Book of Lost Things, whose world is also riddled with elements of fairy tales. Another notable writer is Gregory Maguire, whose retelling of The Wizard of Oz (Wicked) has been made into a successful theatre production.

However, this story has become its own with the great imagination of its author, who dreams up entire underground cities, as well as creature species and interesting characters. The fairy tales are entwined into it with sophistication and newer, scarier ones are told in their stead. Knife-fingered men lurk in the forests, ready to make your skin into clothing. Gingerbread houses are so alluring they lull their trespassers into a soothing sleep, locking the gate behind them.

The plot is a great credit to Cornelia Funke, as many fairytale based stories can get too lost in their original forms. Here, she creates a set of entirely new heroes and villains to build her world around, and includes a rather good political plot as well as a few good twists. The characters, who are altogether very good, may not be entirely relatable. Jacob, for example, is rather aloof to begin with, which may cause the reader to warm to him less.

The story is centred around the themes of love - in a familial, friendly and romantic sense - and gives the reader a heartwarming idea of how the characters interest and feel about each other. The style is easy to read, almost too easy, as it is difficult to put it down.

It is clear that the book was meant for a teen and adult audience who are more than familiar with the fantasy and fairy tale genres. If this sounds like you, then this book will be just the thing you may be looking for. It deserves a 9 out of 10.

The sequel, Fearless, is out in 2013.

The Language of Flowers - Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria is an 18 year-old orphan, who is now homeless. But there is one thing that may save her; the language of flowers.

As we read through the book we discover there is more to her than we first thought. There is a bitter, hidden past that seethes underneath the narrative. there are some good memories too, but all of this has an undercurrent of guilt mingled with longing.

The book is written very well, with a lot of emotion being displayed as well as an interesting fascination with flowers and their meanings. The content makes the reader want to learn more about the main character and her past and she is so multi layered we wonder where her emotions come from. In fact, all of the characters are quite complex and realistic, making the reader feel like they know them personally.

One of the things that could be improved on is the ending. Although it is realistic enough, it comes as a slight shock. As it is written in the first person, the reader gains a good insight into the mind of the character. However, the change in her mind that we see seems rather abrupt compared to the thoughts we are privy to throughout.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the story is the context concerning the language of flowers. In the Victorian period, couples forbidden to see each other or marry would often use bouquets to send messages. Each flower had a different meaning that the recipient would find out before sending a reply. For example, in the book Hazel means reconciliation and a yellow rose means infidelity.

The way that this idea is entwined into the life of an orphan girl is simple and well thought through. As a young girl she learns the language of flowers and then later uses it in floristry to develop a good business.

The main themes of the story seems to be the lack or abundance of love and emotion, and how it affects people's lives. The protagonist shows a need for love, and yet a hatred of others. We see why in the many flashbacks from her past.

There are claims that this author could be the next Joanne Harris (the author of Chocolat). This may be a little bit too much of a presumption as it needs a bit of work to get to that kind of standard. Joanne describes foods to the point of you salivating, therefore we as readers need to almost smell the roses, so to speak. Unfortunately the authors style is in need of a bit of a fine tune, and as previously stated, the ending needs a bit of work as it didn't quite flow with the rest of the book.

Maybe with a bit of work, Vanessa Diffenbaugh could be capable of some very poignant literary works. As for now, The Language of Flowers gets an 8 out of 10.



For the Wikipedia page on the language of flowers, click this. For flowers and their meanings, click this.

Conan The Barbarian

This film hasn't had a lot of publicity in the weeks prior to its release, but now that people have seen it for the first time, there should be.

Conan has been around for a while now, becoming famous from the pages of the original books by Robert E. Howard, as well as featuring in comics by Marvel and being written about by various other authors. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the first to play him on the big screen, and he immediately shot to fame.

So with this in mind, how did this film work out?

The plot is rather similar to that of the 1987 film, where Conan sets out to avenge his father and also rescues a Princess. However, it has to be said that there is a lot of depth and vision in this 2011 version. The scenes are both bloody and brutal as people get killed in rather... imaginative ways. There is an air of magic and war that the fantasy lover would adore. And amongst all that is the character of Conan himself.

I have not read the books, but I was reliably informed that the film had indeed done them justice. Conan is every bit the warrior, but also the human. He likes to drink himself into a stupor with his winnings and have lots of beautiful women around him, and here the film fails to disappoint.

The acting was very good, but of course Jason Momoa, playing Conan, simply stole the show, even with the likes of Ron Pearlman (HellBoy), Stephen Lang (Avatar) and Rose McGowan (Charmed) in supporting roles.

The end was the only part that could have been better. At any moment I was waiting for something else to happen, but it never did, and I was left feeling like they left out a bit.

A fast paced and exciting film, it shows all the promise of becoming a firm favourite with fantasy and comic book lovers alike. An 8 out of 10.

Ultraviolet - R.J. Anderson

This book is something of a mystery.

It is the story of a girl with extra-ordinary abilities; to see sound as colourful shapes, to attribute meanings and colours to letters and words - synesthesia. Alison wakes up in a hospital after having what appears to be a psychotic episode in which she claimed she had killed someone. as a result of this, she gets sent to a mental institution.

The story is beautifully written. It provides an insight into both the world of a synesthete (which is an actual neurological phenomenon) and that of a person in a mental institution, who may or may not have a mental condition. The feelings of the protagonist are so well described that the reader can very much sympathise with her, even whilst thinking that she may be crazy.

As said in my sister's blog, it certainly is a tale of two halves, and this is where my initial comment comes into play. Although there were many clues and I had already guessed where the story was going, it came as rather a surprise when the book took a somewhat drastic turn from the mental institution when we finally learn what happened. And to be honest, that may not have been a good thing.

The end was somewhat unimpressive compared to the rest of the book. It was almost off topic and rather less life-like than your average person who picked up the book on the blurb alone would have liked. The author obviously wanted it to end like that, but the way it was done was sudden and therefore quite a shock to the system.

Unfortunately, for this lapse and for the ending overall, the score is rather a lot lower than it could have been: 4 out of 10.