Review: The Cloisters: The Secret History for a new generation

The Cloisters: The Secret History for a new generation by Katy Hays
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I will admit that this book caught me straight away, which is strange as I am not always fond of a first person narrative. But the voice of Ann slipped into my head, and I found myself compelled to read the book to find out exactly what was going to happen to her. And I was so pulled in by this book that I finished it in one sitting, and found myself more than a little shocked once it was over.

The book is set in the Cloisters, a part of the Met Museum, though built to look like a fifteen century Cloister. The way the author describes the building, with such love and care, it really does put you there, in the galleries and libraries. It was beautifully written, atmospheric in all the right ways. And while there are hints of the supernatural in the tarot card readings, and the feelings that Ann has can be seen as either divine providence or the character simply seeing what she wants to see.

I highly recommend this book, it is a beautifully dark, twisty-turny tale who takes you through the past and present, and showing the depths that people will sink to, to succeed.

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Review: Marking Time

Marking Time by April White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Priest of Bones

Priest of Bones by Peter McLean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Essex Dogs

Essex Dogs by Dan Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Lost Metal

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: The Vanishing

The Vanishing by David Michael Slater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh wow, I seriously do not know where to start with this book. Except wow.

This book captivated me from the word go with our main character Sophie, from who's point of view the book is told. She is an eleven year old German Jew, who at the start of the book is more concerned about being named top student than she is being pulled from class. This is where her troubles, due to her religious beliefs start. She see's the decline in her family, before a tragedy hits and she suddenly turns invisible. From that moment on she spends her time trying to keep her best friend Giddy safe, and help the Jewish community that is being persecuted. Her journey takes her from the Slums, to a Concentration Camp and beyond, all trying to keep her friend safe with her amazing invisible powers.

The writing of this book captured me straight away, and even though it is coming from a child's perspective (which was quite believable) it was not dumbed down or made ridiculous in any way. The detail of the period was captured flawlessly, as well as the details of the Jewish faith was are transferred over, which gives a nice segway for those who do not know much about the religion. I can see the author has worked hard to try and not be insensitive on such a delicate subject, or be insulting to any who had family who lived through that terrible period of history. I think he has done a very good job in this, and I hope people do not dismiss the book simply on its subject matter without reading it.

This book takes you on a terrible and wonderful journey, where the best and worst in humanity are shown, where consequences to actions are seen, and a little girl grows up alone and yet surrounded by those she wants to help. A beautiful book that made me weep tears of both joy and sorrow, as I could do nothing but cheer Sophie, an Angel, on in her journey.

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Review: Wolfsong

Wolfsong by T.J. Klune
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I did not know what to expect from this book, but I did soon find that I could not put it down. It is a beautiful tale of growing into ones self, discovering a different form of love and family, and large elements of lgbt+ love, though that is not made such a big deal of, but is simply just part of the characters make up. And all this is wrapped up in a beautiful tale pf magic and werewolves.

The tale is told from Ox's point of view, he starts as a boy as his Father leaves, which scars him for a long time, especially with the things he says to Ox on the way out the door. It leaves him and his Mum in a destitute way, but they get help from the owner of a mechanic shop, and from there Ox's life and who he is and will become starts to form. It is a beautiful tale, one that takes you on a journey through self discovery, destiny and love, where you can have a family that is not blood, and letting peoples belief in you start to shape who you are.

The writers style was easy to follow, though I would not say it was exactly smooth, at no point did I feel lost or unable to continue. The world that they have created is wide and open to many more books to come in the Story or Ox and his companions, and truly I can not wait for the sequal.

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Review: The Furies

The Furies by John Connolly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Black Lake Manor

Black Lake Manor by Guy Morpuss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had no idea what to expect from such a book, but truly it did ending up touching all my "buttons" as it is a thriller / detective "who dun it" / with some fantasy thrown in, plus a touch of history too. All my favourites.

So the scifi tech that is at the core of the book is quite interesting, though something of it also did remind me to Rimmer in Red Swarf. But it spoke of a reasonable future that we could be heading towards, and the uses of the tech. Though the research for such is shown and does the writer credit.

The fantasy part of the book was intriguing, the time skipping, and placing it as a ritual of the indigenous peoples of the area. Plus against the back drop of the North Pacific, it was quite atmospheric.

The writing style was smooth, easy to get into and truly once I had let myself slip into it, I found I could not put it down. A fun book to get into.

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Review: Feed Them Silence

Feed Them Silence by Lee Mandelo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was one interesting premise of a book, and when I started it I had some high hopes for what was to come. I did not understand all the science behind it, which was fine, as they do not need you too. You know what is going on, which is good, and I admit I started withy mixed feeling about what the characters were going to be doing.

When it comes to the main character, I don't see much to like about her, if I am honest, but I do feel sorry for those in her life.

But the way the author describes the senses that the character shares with the wolf, now that was amazing and I enjoyed those bits immensely. The scents, colours, thoughts and feelings the interaction of wolf and the pack. That was some great writing.

I wasn't a big fan of the ending, but can like them all. But is this book worth reading? The it is a big fat YES from me.

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Review: A Fearsome Moonlight Black

A Fearsome Moonlight Black by David Putnam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, so one of the things I loved about this book was the fact that you learn that the cases that the character worked on are actually real and cases he worked on when he worked in law enforcement. Some how for me, that just made this book even cooler, especially as it is not written as a memoir or a bio, but with his cases mixed in with some he has made up for the purposes of this being a work of fiction.

The writing style took me a couple of chapters to get used too, but once I had I found it smooth and seamless to to read. I liked the character, how he starts off so innocent or naïve I should say, and then after a brief time skip, he is much more jaded by his job.

This was an intense book, once things start to get laid 0ut and you can see where they are going, you can not help but feel sorry for the main character and his wife.

I do hope there is a sequel to this book to come.

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Review: Witch

Witch by Iain Rob Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you know me, you know that I love a good horror book, I love the way they make me feel, the shiver down my spine and the way it will play on my mind at 3am.

And while I did like the story in Witch, it didn't give me those feels.

I liked the fact I could read a horror that was based in the UK for a change, the way the characters spoke to each other was quite normal for teens now a days, even when I was a teen. Their actions seems legit, the story having some gore, and an evil presence that made itself known.

Plus normal issues that just added to the difficulties in the kids lives.

This was a good story, just it didn't mess with my head as I like horrors to do.

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Review: All He Has Left

All He Has Left by Chad Zunker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do like a thriller, and this is the kind of thriller that you can read between other books as a little pallet cleanser (as it were.)

I found I liked the authors writing style, it was smooth and he did not add in unnecessarily big words just to make himself look smart. The characters are realistic, you can sympathise with them and cheer them on when they need it.

The story has some twists, as you'd expect, and the story was a fun ride.

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