nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

Child Item

Keep on Reading........

The White Feather

I had reading logs here before so here I go again.I have a load of books to read in my house and I'd say i could literally open up a book shop!!

Last year I only read 32 books which is poor in my view. The years before that I had read 56 and 69.

I want to read at least 50 and the good news is that I am off and reading already! It's just keeping it going is the thing!

I would tend to read thrillers mostly but also read classics, sci-fi and some non fiction too.Hopefully you might have read the same stuff as me or want to.

I will always say what I thought of it and feel free to give your views as well.

Find more posts tagged with

Quick Links

Comments

The White Feather

Ted Bundy:America's Most Evil Serial Killer by Al Cimino

This is a biography of the notorious serial killer Ted Bundy. If you have never heard of him, he was a kidnapper,raper and killer of women in the 1970s. What was interesting or made him stand out was that he broke the mold in killers. He wasn't a guy who looked evil and he was actually the opposite. He was handsome and charismatic and used his looks and manner to his advantage. He would approach women and usually have a ruse to get them comfortable such as a cast on his arm or crutches. Then when they let their guard down he would hit them over the head, get them into his car and drive off with them.
It's amazing how lucky he was but he believed that people didn't notice nice looking people and he was right. He would rape and kill them and even go back days and weeks later to the bodies to have sex with them and clean their hair and put make up on them.He even kept severed heads in his room also.

Even after he was caught, people close to him couldn't believe he was guilty as he seemed so normal. He escaped twice also! Yes thats right, twice! Then in his trial he defended himself as he had went to law school for a while.He really was a gambler as he would go back to scenes of crimes and attack people in busy areas. He once got one woman and then went back and kidnapped another. Another time he kidnapped and killed a woman when she went up to her hotel room to get something.These were huge risks but he kept getting away with it. He was even offered life in prison but didn't take it as he thought he could beat the accusations. He finally didn't as he ended up being executed.

I must see the Netflix doc and the movie with Zac Effron that came out now! This book is really good as it goes into a lot of details on his life. I have read books on him before but here it goes into a lot of things that I didn't know such as what he got up to, day to day, while on the run.It is a story that you couldn't make up as it has so much in it. Trials and escapes and all the while it seems impossible to people that he did the crimes as he seems so normal.

If you like true crime books then this should definitely be on your shelf. A fascinating read from start to finish but bear in mind the details are graphic but these books usually are like that.

The White Feather

To Keep a bird Singing by Kevin Doyle

A book that I didn't really know anything about prior to reading it and sometimes that can be the best way to read a book. Its a debut novel from a Cork writer and the story is completely set in Cork too. Its about Noelie Sullivan who finds his old punk records that were stolen, in a Charity shop many years later. He buys them back but then finds a note inside a record sleeve saying that a man was murdered many years ago.

This seemed like a very simple start but as he tries to learn more about it, Sullivan ends up in a tale of conspiracy and corruption. It is full of twists and turns and the story was very compelling. You could definitely see this being made into a movie as it was that good.I liked the realism and it felt Raymond Chandler esque in ts style.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is the cover and the name of it. They don't really tell you what this book is about or even what genre it is.Of course, you shouldn't judge a book by the cover but it didn't draw me in. I saw this book a few times and have passed it over but just happened to pick it up one day. It's only after reading the back that I realised that this might be a good book.I thought it was some traveller and nature book originally!!

It is an impressive debut though as the story progresses very well and you really do want to see how it ends, I would definitely recommend this book and the fact that its a first time Irish writer even makes it better.

The White Feather

Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

I was eager to read this as its been on my to-be-read list for ages on my shelf and it will be released as a movie in November this year. It is set in Brooklyn (funnily enough!) and is about a guy called Lionel Essrog who has Tourettes Syndrome who works for a seedy Detective agency that doubles as a limo service.When his boss is killed, he has to investigate it to figure out what happened.

I think this is meant to be a comedy type thriller but it falls into the cracks where it isn't anything. Its not funny enough to be a comedy or fast to be a thriller. It might even be an attempt at a Raymond Chandler type detective story. I don't know as I found it to be none and all of the above!!

I enjoyed the writing though and that's what kept me going until the end. The plot and "mystery" is wafer thin. It struck me as a novel that thinks it is better than it actually is and it just didn't pull me in.

At the start, I was wondering if it is meant to be set in 1920s as it felt like that but then mobile phones are mentioned so it is very recent. At the end, everything was as I expected so there wasn't anything surprising about the reveal. I have seen people online saying this was amazing but it seems way overrated to me.

So I didn't love it but also didn't hate it. I enjoyed the writing but story was poor. If it had been very long I might have given up. It will be interesting to see if the movie can improve things as it will star and be directed by Ed Niorton who I like a lot.

The White Feather

Apaches by Lorenzo Carcaterra

This is by the same author of the book "Sleepers" that was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt. That was a good book so I wanted to read more of him.Apaches was written in the late 90s but is set in the early 1980s where crack cocaine is just beginning to flood America. This brings a lot of crime and leads to crimelords.One of them is Lucia Carney who has an empire of drugs and violence. She operates seemingly above justice and seems untouchable.

One by one, a backstory of a bunch of characters is told where they were in the police force and something happened to them and now they are basically retired due to injuries. They decide to team up to take down Carney and they call themselves Apaches. They are basically vigilantes. It all leads to a big showdown with the crimelord.

This book is both entertaining and silly at the same time. It read like an A-Team episode or an eighties TV show. All the Apaches were brilliant in their line of work. You have the undercover guy who goes into the bad guys den and takes everyone down, the bomb disposal guy who can disarm anything etc Then due to various mishaps they end up disabled. Of course they team up to take the bad guy down even though they can barely move. Then the bad guy is a woman also which would be rare! They all have nicknames too!

It is a fun read once you park your brain at the door but it really reads like an A Team episode where everyone goes over to the bad guys villa to take him on. This is literally what happens. It felt like it was written in the early 80s rather than the late 90s as the story is a bit silly. If you want a silly action story then you will enjoy this. I dd but some of it is unintentionally funny as it has a load of cliches.

At least it has good action and a good shoot out at the end. A short, silly but fun read!!

The White Feather

The Hollow by Agatha Christie

Another of Christies "Country House" mysteries where a Lady Angkatell has invited a few people to her estate called "The Hollow" Most are members of her extended family and a Doctor and his wife. An old flame of the doctors who lives in a nearby cottage comes over one night to borrow matches(!!) Later they secretly meet where the old flame who is a famous actress, wants to get back with the doctor but he rejects her. Staying in a nearby cottage for a few days is Hercule Poirot and he has been invited for sunday lunch. Big mistake as if he is around, you know someone is going to die!!

As Poirot calls around he comes across a scene by the swimming pool. The doctor has been shot with his wife standing over him with a gun in her hand. One of the other guests takes the gun from her had but fumbles it and it falls into the pool destroying any evidence. None of the other guests actually saw the wife shoot the doctor as they came along later after the gunshot. The wife claims she was blacked out and cant remember what happened. Then the gun that she had in her hand is proven to be the wrong calibre of weapon that killed the doctor. So who actually killed the doctor??

Agatha Christie said in her autobiography that she ruined this novel by introducing Poirot. Not sure why she thought that but I think she got annoyed with people asking her for more Poirot. This story was after she had a four year break from him. Straight away I was thinking of a Murder on the Orient Express type solution for this mystery. If you have read that then you will know what I mean. Its not that but it is somewhat related in its solution. That's all I will say!

I liked the unusual nature of the murder with it just happening as Poirot arrives as usually he comes along much later. This was also called Murder after Hours in the USA.I really liked the way Christie did the under current of issues that are going on behind the facades that everyone has up in the estate. It seemed a bit of a psychological tale until the murder has to be solved. So in one sense I can see why she didn't like Poirot having to solve it as the psychological side was interesting.

A really good book that isn't long but felt like a good lot packed in. The murder isn't the most ingenious but the underlying story and characters are what makes this great. Very much recommended.

The White Feather

Elevation by Stephen King

The most recent of Kings novels right now and in one sense could be the worst ever. I saw this new in a shop for 22 euro but I got it second hand for 8 euro. Its only 132 pages and I read it in one siting. This feels like a child's book and there are even illustrations so the book is shorter. It feels like something written while King was waiting for a bus or on the toilet!!

It is set in Kings usual of Castle Rock and deals with Scott Carey who is losing weight and he doesn't know why. He looks the exact same but when he weighs himself he keeps getting lighter.All this is happening while he is having a mini feud with 2 lesbians over dogs going to the toilet in his lawn. They have a restaurant that no one seems to go to as they are lesbians in a small town. Meanwhile the town is preparing for is Annual Thanksgiving Fun Run.

The story is wafer thin and should be in a collection of stories and not on its own.Even if you are a huge fan of King like me, don't buy this new for a big price. It's not worth it. I felt I still paid too much!! It's a very quick read that felt like a child had wrote it.Not much happens and it just wasn't very interesting.

The White Feather

Disclosure by Michael Crichton

I am making my way through Michael Crichtons books and Disclosure was next.This was made into a movie starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore as you can see from the above cover of the book. It concerns a Tom Sanders, an executive with an electronics company in the 1990s. A merger that would earn Tom loads of money is about to go through and he is in line for a promotion.

Instead he is stunned that the promotion has been given to an ex-girlfriend of his and she is now his boss. While meeting alone with her to discuss things, she sexually harasses him but he just leaves. Then he finds out that she has accused him of sexually harassing her and he is being transferred away. If he accepts the transferal, he would lose the money that he was about to gain in the merger and everyone would think he was the sexual abuser. So he begins court proceedings to try and prove she was the guilty one and he is innocent.

This was written in 1994 and was cutting edge at that time again as the book refers to Virtual Reality and technology where information is stored in CDs rather than huge computers. Its dated now as it is talking about CD-ROM drives and how quick they are and can be made.The sexual harassment case is switched as obviously its usually a male boss and female employee and Crichton says at the back of the book that it is based on an actual case he knew of but its still fiction.

It is really showing that these type of harassment cases are not about sex but about power and control as women tend to do it as much as men when they are the boss.The story is very good and flies along in typical Crichton style so its hard to put down. Other than things being a bit dated it is still a very good book so if you like thrillers then this will be for you.

The White Feather

The Stand by Stephen King

I have been meaning to read this for a long time and finally got around to it. I read the uncut edition. The Stand was published in 1978 and is his longest book. This was his attempt to do a Lord of The Rings type epic set in the USA.The Stand is about a flu like virus that gets out and kills 99% of the population.Society breaks down and any survivors that are left keep having recurring dreams. Some dream about a 108 year old woman who directs them to go to Boulder, Colorado.Others dream about a Dark Man who directs them to Las Vegas. So in other words the good people left are going to Boulder and the bad people to Las Vegas.

The good people set up a small society to try to get peoples lives on track but in Boulder, The Dark Man called Randall Flagg (basically the devil or his representative) becomes aware of them. So the stage is set for battle between Good and Evil.

I was really enjoying this book until the end where there isn't any big battle and it has a Deus Ex Machina ending that left me almost laughing as it was so bad and furious at what an anti climax it is. Kings book "It" and "The Outsider" (I reviewed The Outsider in Review no. 21 if you wish to know more) all had poor endings. I am beginning to think King has great ideas but cannot finish them off properly. "Cujo" has been his best book that I have read so far.

From what I understand, the uncut version adds in an epilogue and a story about a character called "The Kid" in the middle as well as a bit more backstory to characters. "The Kid" seemed like a stupid character that talked in a really silly way so he was best cut out!

So I did enjoy the book but it was just left down with a poor Deus Ex Machina ending which is a shame. In case you don't know, Deus Ex Machina is a plot device where the author just fixes his story problems by bringing in something that sorts it out easily for him or her. Like a get out clause or divine intervention.

If you really want to read a book with the same theme of humanity being wiped out by a virus and society breaking down, I much preferred The Passage Trilogy that I reviewed in reviews 12,13 and 14.

The White Feather

A River of Bodies by Kevin Doyle

This is the sequel to To keep a Bird Singing that I read and reviewed in review number 32 It continues on where the previous book left off with Noelie Sullivan trying to get to the bottom of a mystery. His nephew was killed in the first book and he is trying to find out why and who did it. It's totally set in Cork and everything is linked to what happened in the first book.

Thankfully the title is much better than the first book and will help tell you what its about. It struck me as very realistic and full of twists and turns as things progress. This ends on almost a cliffhanger and this is the second book in a trilogy. I was literally reading it non stop and the end left me really wanting the third and final installment. I would highly recommend this book and the first one as both are really gripping reads.Now I must wait for the last book.......!!!

The White Feather

The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie

This is a short story collection featuring Hercule Poirot and has 12 stories linked together by Poirot accepting cases in the same sequence as the mythological 12 Labours of Hercules. As with all collections some stories are better than others but each one can be read in one sitting so they are perfectly long. Each story has a link to a famous labour of Hercules and some are quite tenuous but others are better. The last story in particular is highly improbable and stretches credulity but all stories are fun reads.

If you are a fan of Christies and Hercule Poirot then this collection is a must read. They aren't totally ingenious and as they are short they don't have the usual red herrings but they are all enjoyable.

The White Feather

Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie

Another great story from the great Agatha Christie. This features Hercule Poirot on the case of a blackmailer being found dead. A wealthy man dies abroad but he was basically bankrolling a load of members of the same family. Unfortunately a woman turns up who says she married him before he died so now all his money goes to her. Naturally the family are not happy about this. Then a mysterious man shows up in town asking to meet her and her brother. He is overheard saying he is the wealthy man but then he is found murdered. The wife is adamant the dead man was not her husband but an old army buddy says it was.Then later there are more murders.....Whats going on and why does everyone have so much to hide?

If this happened nowadays then DNA would solve it instantly!! :pac:

This is a great intricate story that had me guessing until almost the last page.A very interesting story showing how people will do anything for money when they are used to getting it.There is one really silly point in the story where someone tries to kill someone else but Hercule Poirot stops it. Then that person says they now love the person who tried to kill them as clearly they care so much not wanting to see anyone else have them!! Other than this silliness then the book is another masterpiece that is highly recommended. This is defiinitely one of Agatha's best!

The White Feather

The White Feather wrote: »

The Stand by Stephen King

I was really enjoying this book until the end where there isn't any big battle and it has a Deus Ex Machina ending that left me almost laughing as it was so bad and furious at what an anti climax it is. Kings book "It" and "The Outsider" (I reviewed The Outsider in Review no. 21 if you wish to know more) all had poor endings. I am beginning to think King has great ideas but cannot finish them off properly. "Cujo" has been his best book that I have read so far.

I said this recently about King and his endings and then saw he tweeted this recently......

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1169715644444631043?s=20

It seems I am not the only one to think that about his endings!

The White Feather

The Martian by Andy Weir

This is a debut novel and is about an Astronaut in 2035 waking up on Mars alone after being assumed dead.He has to try to survive on his own and somehow get help to come back for him.This seems a wafer thin plot and it kind of is but what follows is a brilliant gripping story. Think of a MacGyver in space and you will understand what this is like.The story is told in the form of a diary that he is keeping as things go along.

Things go wrong a few times but he keeps coming up with ideas to keep things running along. I like the way his thought processes are told and his explanations of why he is doing what he is doing. There are loads packed in to the story and it keeps you really wanting to read more.

The only time it slowed a bit and had filler was when it was talking about the other astronauts. When they were talking about the guy stranded then it picked up again. This is only a minor quibble though.

This is definitely recommended if you like sci-fi

The White Feather

Artemis by Andy Weir

Artemis is the second book of Andy Weir after The Martian which I reviewed just above. This book is set on the moon where we now have a mini city called Artemis. There's only about 2000 people and they are in a few domes that are connected up. This is told in the first person like The Martian but this time its a female viewpoint in the form of Jazz who is like a courier but does smuggling on the side.

There are some nice world building in this and you feel like colonising the moon is very possible but then there are a few things which makes no sense. Its meant to be in the 2080s but everyone talks like they are in the present. They even talk about Star Trek. Even with this problem I would be willing to go with it.

The biggest problem is Jazz does not talk like a young woman at all and it completely takes from the story a few times. She talks like a guy when she likens the domes to boobs and saying that she has a hot body.Weir clearly cannot write as a woman but what he is good at is a good story if you let the above problems go.

Jazz gets mixed up in a conspiracy for control of the city and the story and action are very good.Jazz is meant to be Muslim which is further weird as she talks about sex and guys a lot.There are a few sub plots that go no where such as a new type of reusable condom.....I kid you not. I assumed she would use it at the end but she doesn't.

I liked the story but it is a bit convoluted. There's meant to be no police force on the moon except one guy and no prison. The whole book is full of odd things like that as in no children but then contradictions as Jazz has meant to have grown up on Artemis. She talks about being in high school but theres meant to be no schools there.

The whole book needed a few rewrites as Weir has a good idea but needed to think it out more. Writing as a woman was a disaster for him as he cannot do it. I was convinced she was a man for ages as it didn't sound like a woman.

Much as I was annoyed with all of the above problems, I still wanted to see what happened at the end. So it wasn't the worst book ever and was somewhat enjoyable.

The White Feather

The Game : Undercover in the Secret Society of Pick up Artists by Neil Strauss

Back when I was younger, I was hopeless with women. I usually got no where with girls. This continued until I went to University.I remember being on a night out and failing miserably while trying to chat up some women and I was licking my wounds at a table. Then I saw a guy that I knew from my class and stopped to chat with him. He started telling me about some method to pick up women and I thought it was a load of rubbish.Then he took me under his wing and we immediately started getting girls. I was absolutely amazed. He was following this type of approach that is detailed in this book.

Now we didn't do all the stuff mentioned in this book but it was more of methods to try to get talking to girls and not just the usual "hi whats your name , where do you work or study etc" We used it to just break the ice (and seal the deal!!)

This book details everything about how the author goes from being a no hoper with women to bedding women left, right and centre! Its very americanised but the same principles do work every where. The author meets a pick up artist called Mystery and then becomes his wingman. They use things like "the neg" to try and give a slight insult jokingly to the woman to seem more attractive to them. It sounds crazy but seems to work for them. I didn't go into these types of mind games, I used it to try to get talking to them but thats just me!

Eventually he is part of the pick up community and calling himself "Style" Then they end up living in a mansion and picking up women everywhere while making money giving seminars about how to pick up women. As a story the whole thing is very entertaining as they progress from one thing to the next. So even if you have no interest in using their ideas, its a very fun read!!

The White Feather

51Cp-9hIh%2BL._SX310_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

The Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss

This is the follow up to the previous book that I just reviewed. These are the "rules" as in a how to book, to pick up women. It gives you a challenge to do each day in order to build up your skills and most of all confidence. I didn't actually do the challenge (as I don't need to!) but I read it as a self help book. I found it still working as a book to help your confidence in general life.

Getting past the daunting feeling of going up to women is universal and this does prepare you with things to do to get over those negative feelings. Recently I had a job interview while I was reading this and I found it helped with the nerves of going up to new people and trying to impress them. Make no mistake though, the book is designed for meeting women but I found some aspects helped me anyway.

I liked that Strauss says once the challenges are done in sequence that its okay as not many people have time to do things every day as if you are busy with the job or friends then these would be impossible.He does lead up to organising a dinner party and inviting loads of women to it. To me this seems very american and there would be no way that I would be doing it but I would use the parts for going up to women if I was single.

The book is filled out with a few more tales that I presume didn't make the cut of the first book and they are just okay. Like any self help book, I would say try to glean things from it that you can use and I would think this book is good if you are hopeless going up to women. It kind of gives you ideas to get your confidence up and practical exercises in what to do. Perfect if you have no idea where to begin and this will help with your confidence.

The White Feather

Nemesis by Mark Millar

I haven't read a graphic novel in ages so its good to get back into them. This is Nemesis by Mark Millar and basically has the idea of what if Batman was evil? Nemesis is the name of the super-villain and he is loaded with money and uses it for bad instead of good. Its an intriguing premise and here we have Nemesis going up against the American Police Chief. Nemesis is said to have gone up against police chiefs in other places such as Japan and Korea already.

He goes into an area and pays off locals to help him and then starts blowing up the place eventually trying to kill the chief as he is the top lawman.This has got good action and I liked the story. Its funny to see Nemesis having a load of weapons and vehicles just like Batman but using them to kill cops! I liked the few twists in the story and there's a lot packed into these even though its a very short read.

This is also supposed to be made into a movie soon so that will be interesting too.

The White Feather

Celtic Warrior: The Legend of Cú Chulainn by Will Sliney

Another Graphic Novel about the legendary Cú Chulainn that I think everyone in Ireland has learned about in school. Great to see the story in comic form and I really enjoyed seeing it retold in this medium. It's really well drawn by Will Sliney and is divided up into 6 chapters.This would be great to give to someone young in school to get them interested in Irish Mythology.

I really enjoyed this and really recommend it but there were 2 minor quibbles. Some of the font used is very difficult to read. At least I found them that way and had to reread them a few times to make them out.

The other problem is kind of a good one. Its not long enough! Loads of things are rushed through and this should really be another 20 pages at least! Trying to tell the whole story means things are a bit rushed. It felt like there were lots more that could have been shown. I mean lots of cool stuff. Everything could have been fleshed out further.

Other than wanting more, this was very entertaining. I enjoyed all the drawings and they really do being the legend to life.

The White Feather

41%2B4OqzaRdL._SX350_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Hostage by Guy Delisle

Continuing on my recent Graphic Novel/Comics run we have Hostage by Guy Delisle. This is actually a true story of Christophe Andre. He is a Doctors without Borders administrator who was kidnapped and held hodtage in 1997. He was working in the Caucasus region when he was bundled into a car and ended up shackled to a radiator and a mattress in a room. Left on his own in solitary confinement except for meal times and toilet breaks.

Christophe is french so he can't really communicate with his abductors anyway and this is his story of what happened to him. Each panel is brilliantly drawn and Christophe is shown what he was thinking at the time. It sounds like this would not be entertaining at all but Hostage is riveting. You really feel his loneliness as he tries to remember the date of each day and what he thinks about to occupy the time.

I'm not spoiling it for you but you really feel the tension as things happen near the end and you really feel like he felt at the time.Being a true story and being well told and drawn, I found myself really rooting for him to get through this and not to get a bullet in the back of the head which is always the fear when held hostage.

This is definitely recommended and is a great tale of human spirit in the face of adversity.

The White Feather

The_Sculptor%2C_cover_illustrated_by_Scott_McCloud.jpg

The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

This was a comic that I didn't think I was going to like at all at the start. Its not about superheroes or have shootouts in it! Its about a young New York artist who is broke and his patron has left him. He has no family left but he wants to be a great sculptor. His name is David Smith and this has the added complication of people confusing him with a famous sculptor who had the same name. (There was a famous sculptor called David Smith so this is true. I know as I looked him up!!)

He is down and upset inside a diner and he meets Death who comes to him in the form of his dead uncle. Death offers him a deal. He will give him the power to sculpt anything with his hands but he will only have 200 days to live. David accepts this deal.

The story continues and is kind of a love story but held my attention throughout. I really liked the artwork in this and the story was well told. As I said, I thought I would not like this but I ended up loving it. Its nice to be pleasantly surprised when you are reading!!

The White Feather

No Way by Simon Morden

This book directly follows on from where the previous book "One Way" left off that I reviewed here

Frank Kitteridge is left alone on Mars after all that happened in "One Way" The evil Corporation XO (Think of Weyland-Yutani from Aliens!) has left him there but he is determined to try and get a way home from them. He has to try and bargain his way home as he is the only one left on the Mars base. The only problem is he is out in his Mars buggy and sees evidence of tracks that are not his. He isn't alone.....There is another Mars Base nearby! Should he tell them the truth about what happened? While he is wondering that, he realises that they are very low on supplies and he has some.When they come to take his by force things begin to unravel. Can Frank somehow use all this to his advantage and get a way home to Earth?

This is the direct follow up to One Way and this is just as good. Takes a while to get going until he meets the others but then it picks up really well.Its interesting as both of these books are kind of similar to The Martian yet they are different but I enjoyed all of them! Morden is quite literally a rocket scientist with degrees in geology and planetary physics so things are kept very much in the world of reality. I would definitely recommend both these books if you like Sci Fi.

The White Feather

Misspent Youth by Peter F. Hamilton

First book that I have ever read by Peter F. Hamilton and this is a prequel in the Commonwealth Universe. I started here as its kind of the first in the sequence although I think he wrote it later.This is meant to be a science fiction book set about 40 years in the future where we are experimenting in genetics and we are attempting to rejuvenate a human. A man in England called Jeff Baker gets chosen for it and what follows is utterly predictable and very dull. Its not really a sci fi book as its more of a teen drama set in the future.

Baker has a son who has friends and one girl in particular that he likes but he hasn't got anywhere with her as he is not very experienced with girls and relationships. Oh look, here is his Dad who has loads of experience but is now as young as his son. What do you think will happen when everyone is now hanging out together? Yes very predictable and the story doesn't really end up going anywhere other than teen angst.

This book is generally considered to be poor from what I see on reviews online so I will read more from Hamilton but this is a book best avoided.His other books get great reviews so I put it down to just a throwaway prequel that he thought up later.

The White Feather

Wanted by Mark Millar

Another graphic novel/comic by Mark Millar and this is a great one too. Its about a guy who is a loser who ends up being one of the greatest assassins who ever lived! The world is secretly controlled by Supervillains. You didn't realise? They banded together and killed off the superheroes. Why didn't they think of this idea years ago?!! Well they actually did, you just didn't know about it!!!

This was made into a movie but this comic is far superior. The bad guys do whatever they want in this world and they do really bad things such a rape and murder so maybe I can see why the story was changed for the movie! This won't be for everybody as they are so bad but I loved it as it was so different to the regular stories.

It has a great story with great action so this is recommended if you dont mind adult type themes.

The White Feather

Loveless, Vol 1: A kin of homecoming by Brian Azzarello

This Comic/Graphic novel is a western that is meant to be a cross between Sergio Leone movies and the TV show Deadwood.I love both of them so I really thought I would like this comic but sadly the story didn't grab me at all. Another massive negative is that every character seems to be drawn with long hair and a beard so it was impossible to tell who was who and that's the illustrators fault.I found myself constantly asking "wait, which guy was he?" and " Was he just killed a page ago?"

Its set around the American Civil War and the plot is something about a guys missing wife yet seems to be travelling with him at one stage but no one seems to realise this! I think in a dream sequence or maybe a flashback.I'm not sure.Really baffling. Throw in a few shootings, racism and sex with this weird plot and you have this story in a nutshell.There are meant to be 3 volumes in this but I only read the first and now have no interest in the others. It's a shame as it could and should be a lot better. Very disappointing.

The White Feather

Bright Morning Star by Simon Morden

This is the latest from Morden who also wrote "One Way" that I reviewed here and "No Way" that I reviewed here This is another Sci Fi story that is not linked to those books. This is very different. It is about a space probe that comes to earth and it has artificial intelligence.It is just here to collect and analyse data and is not here to harm in any way. It arrives during a war so it has to learn to adapt to a whole new set of circumstances that it is not prepared for at all.

The unique part of this book is that it is told entirety in the first person from the probes point of view.So you can see how it learns and processes things that we take for granted but to someone or something not from Earth then they seem odd. The book acts like a mirror to humanity and shows the good and bad of how we must look to an alien intelligence.I really enjoyed this book as it seemed very different and felt very fresh in its ideas. Really well written and very enjoyable.If you like Sci Fi then this book is another must read.

The White Feather

Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 03 by John Wagner/Pat Mills

As a kid I used to love reading Judge Dredd but they were very hard to get where I lived. I think it was thought of too violent at the time or something! Here we have a collected volume of Dredd stories. They are progs 116-154 that were published around 1979 and 1980. They are all short enough stories and there is not one lone story arc.

If you don't know who Judge Dredd is then shame on you! He is a policeman in the dystopian future city of Mega City One and he can arrest, convict, sentence and even execute criminals!! He dispenses instant justice.

These stories are really very good. They had me laughing out loud at some stages with the humour in it.Walter the Wobot is hilarious!! Good action and great stories throughout the whole volume.It has the first appearance of Judge Death and Psi Judge Anderson also. These are a must read for fans of comics.You won't be disappointed!!

ILikeBoats

Do you buy all these?

The White Feather

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Do you buy all these?

Most of them. I have loads of books picked up over the years but I still buy stuff!! I like to stockpile as when I want something, I find I can never get it. I know I can order books but it takes a while. It depends on my mood what I like to read.

I have recently counted all the books I have. Not counting books I want to keep, I have over 800!

My spare room in the house is full up with books!

A few here and there I get in the library as well believe it or not. I love to read and try to read every day.

Another thing is that I rarely buy books new. Nearly all the books I get are from charity shops or second hand shop bar the few new releases. One place I know here in Cork were saying to me that Easons sends them surplus stock every so often as I was wondering how they had so many great books. They sell 3 for 5 euro. I see books in there that are over 10 on their own in Easons. (I know its Eason but I think we all call it Easons by the way!!)

When I'm not keeping these books that I read, I give them straight back into the same charity shop so this way I am doing my bit for charity. A win all round!

The White Feather

100 Bullets, Vol. 13:Wilt by Brian Azzarello

This is a graphic novel by the same author as Loveless that I have reviewed a few posts previously. I hated that and unfortunately I hated this also!! Now admittedly this is the final volume in this series. I haven't read the others but this was all over the place.

Its meant to be a crime saga where a mysterious guy offers people a chance to get even with people who wronged them. There are also factions called The Trust that the mysterious man is at war with.

Just like Loveless, the story is really muddled. Characters who I thought were good became bad and vice versa. There are double crosses everywhere and I had no idea what was going on. In the end

everyone just got killed. So there wasn't any resolution

I'm glad I had not waded through all the volumes for this poor end. I would avoid this whole series as its not worth reading.

The White Feather

Scrublands by Chris Hammer

This is a crime novel and the second one of Chris Hamner. His first was a non fiction book so its kind of a debut. Hammer is Australian and this is also set in Australia.It is set in a small country town where a priest has come out after saying Mass and then suddenly started shooting people. He kills five people and then kills himself.No one knows why he did it.

A year later, a journalist, Martin Scarsden arrives in town to do a story on it as its the 1 year anniversary of the tragedy.He begins talking to people in the town and gradually uncovers new information. Then something happens in the town leading to all media descending on it again and Scarsden is in the middle of things. Things get very dangerous as there are people with secrets to hide and will do anything to keep them hidden.

I really enjoyed this book as its full of twists and turns until the truth is revealed. Hammer is a former journalist himself so he really knows how the media side works in news stories. The story is complex and is very good. The only cliche is the troubled journalist sent to do a fluff piece that ends up a lot bigger. Even with this, its a very good read and definitely recommended if you like thrillers or crime novels.