Fiction

The story follows Betty Dean, a girl who has grown up on Guernsey, latterly caring for her Grandmother Arlette. After the death of Arlette an unknown beneficiary is mentioned in her will and wanting to leave the island to start a new life Betty offers to track down Clara Pickle. All she has to go on is a book inscribed to her and the last known address from many years before.

Spartacus returns home after serving with the Roman Legions for a decade to discover that his father has been murdered!

He falls out with the king who sells him and Adiadne
a Dionysias priestess to a slave trader.

One of the main reasons I enjoyed this book is
the meticulous historical detail.I was fascinated by gladiatorial combat and the way they were trained each gladiator had at least two weapons which were used for different tactics to kill their opponent in a most horrifying way.

David Ashe is a ghost hunter and parapsycholist who is employed by a wealthy company to investigate the cause of paranormal activity at Cromaich castle on the western coast of Scotland. As David learns more about the castle and the inhabitants he becomes more aware that this is not just a ghost hunting problem.

This is an epic finale to Kate Mosse's tremendous Languedoc triology, featuring a battle to the bitter end between war, hatred and greed set against courage, strength and passion.
Mosse superbly weaves the story of the transfer and hiding of a vital early Christian manuscript by a fourth century monk Arinius with the bitter Nazi regime in Vichy France.

Conscious of the decline of the Roman Empire and the threat posed by the hordes of barbarians snapping at Rome's heel, the belligerent monk seeks to find sanctuary for the Codex deep in the mountains of southern France.

This is a further novel by Robert Rankin set in his'steampunk' Victorian/sci-fi milieu. There are three main characters: Colonel Katterfelto - a veteran of the Martian campaigns, now inspired to save mankind by creating a Mechanial Messiah; Cameron Bell - an expert detective and music hall aficionado; and Alice Lovell - acrobatic kiwi trainer and object of Cameron Bell's affections. The Colonel has had to resort to performing at the music hall to make ends meet, sharing the bill with Alice and her kiwis. ..read more

I have not read any of Joanna's novels before, and although it was a pleasant enough read, I did not engage with her characters very deeply, and kept thinking if you marry a soldier, you can hardly expect to play happy families, nor to get much support in the home or keep your career going. I felt very sorry for the elder daughter, poor Isobel, packed off out of the way to boarding school, but not much sympathy for Dan, Alexa, or Gus. I probably stuck with it because I had watched Gareth Malone form a MIlitary Wives choir and because I know both the Wimbledon and Headley Court areas. ..read more

What could one say about a Jasper Fforde book that hasn't been already said before! His books - especially the Thursday Next series have kept me brilliantly entertained - laughing out loud one minute and sending me to my book shelves to see what that literary book was all about the next! And of course I hadn't read said book - just one of those things you want to do but keep on putting it off because you're doing things like reading a Jasper Fforde novel!

Based on the highly successful screen play by Soren Sveistrup this book is a winner. David Hewson has filled out the characters and made them into believable people.He has captured the atmosphere of this rather bleak screenplay and made it into a book which is gripping and exciting. Once I started reading I was hooked until the last page and read it just three days! There is a slight twist at the end and several things in the book have been changed but in my opinion it made far more sense.

A throughly enjoyable book.I loved it and highly recommended it.

OK, so let me start off with saying, starting a book in the middle of a well established series is NOT GOOD!! No, it's not!! It's confusing, you have no idea of the history and unfortunately, Steven Erikson, does not explain/re cap previous story arcs! So... truth be told, I've not made much of a dent in this 1230 page book! BUT what I can tell you, is that book 6 of The Malazan series, The Bonehunters, is well written, thoughtful of it's characters and intricately woven (hence my being utterly lost!!).

So, instalment 7 of The Malazan epic fantasy series, Reaper's Gale. Again, I'm not going to lie to you guys... Do not start this book UNLESS you have read the previous six!! Don't do it!!!! Steven Erikson, is a wee master of his epic fantasy world! He is well written, detailed, plot enthused annnnddd, possibly in a wee bit of a rush to get this chapter of the series out on the shelves! This does not seem to have the same... drive? Oomf?? as The Bonehunters. Characters that seemed to be old friends of the previous six books, have been denied life in the seventh. Why?? ..read more