Month: October 2017

Reading List: November 2017

Posted on October 31, 2017October 18, 2018 by fantasyst95

Happy Halloween, guys!!
Technically where I am from, we don’t celebrate “Halloween”, in the strictest sense. A lot of our local history is steeped in Celtic tradition, so instead, we celebrate an alternately named (but basically the same) holiday!
ANYWAY… back on subject! Tomorrow is the start of a new month so it’s that time again, ladies and gents, to share with you my reading list!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to complete my October list. It was ambitious, I’ll admit, but I was the idiot and piled too much on my plate, so now I have to play catch up.

I am both my own worst enemy and my greatest critic, which is amazing, considering there are so many people out there who are more than happy to put you down. I really need to remember that I have achieved a lot this year and I ought to be proud of myself. I don’t think I’m the only person who feels this way. We all have our own insecurities, after all.

1 My Life As Steve Keller – Zach Baynes

Goodreads – My Life as Steve Keller

One man’s journey through twelve cities, three decades, and four lovers, all while living with the realities of climate change and technology. The stories about food and history will make you want to travel, and the charming dialogue will make you smile. The book depicts two of the most basic needs in life, that neither technology nor the passing of time can erase: the need to be loved and the need to be protected.

So this is the first of two independent review requests I received this month, and I am very much looking forward to sharing my thoughts about this book with you. This looks to be a little different from the usual thing I would pick up, however having checked out a preview on Goodreads – I think this is something new I will enjoy!

2 Aaru – David Meredith

Goodreads – Aaru

“…Death and the stillness of death are the only things certain and common to all in this future…”
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Rose is dying. Her body is wasted and skeletal. She is too sick and weak to move. Every day is an agony and her only hope is that death will find her swiftly before the pain grows too great to bear.
She is sixteen years old.
Rose has made peace with her fate, but her younger sister, Koren, certainly has not. Though all hope appears lost Koren convinces Rose to make one final attempt at saving her life after a mysterious man in a white lab coat approaches their family about an unorthodox and experimental procedure. A copy of Rose’s radiant mind is uploaded to a massive super computer called Aaru – a virtual paradise where the great and the righteous might live forever in an arcadian world free from pain, illness, and death. Elysian Industries is set to begin offering the service to those who can afford it and hires Koren to be their spokes-model.
Within a matter of weeks, the sisters’ faces are nationally ubiquitous, but they soon discover that neither celebrity nor immortality is as utopian as they think. Not everyone is pleased with the idea of life everlasting for sale.
What unfolds is a whirlwind of controversy, sabotage, obsession, and danger. Rose and Koren must struggle to find meaning in their chaotic new lives and at the same time hold true to each other as Aaru challenges all they ever knew about life, love, and death and everything they thought they really believed.

This is the second book of the month that I am reading on request.
I was extremely glad to have been approached about this. Nobody deserves to suffer, but especially not children. I already know three people who I went to school with, that have suffered terminal illnesses and passed away as a result. It’s awful! In an ever-changing world and with advancing technology, is everlasting life a possibility? Is it a desirable thing? I really hope this book challenges these ideas.

3 The Weight of Shadows – Karl Holton

Goodreads – The Weight of Shadows

When you have spent your life in the shadows, what would you do at the dying of the light?
Three years ago the best murder detective in London is blamed for the death of his colleague and kicked out of the Met.
A man with secrets buried in the past and present returns to London, the city that started the mysterious career which made him a billionaire.
The two need each other.
But they have no idea how much.
A gripping crime thriller mystery with twists from the beginning to end.

I decided this month to try something a little different. Whilst I am not adverse to the genre, I don’t read much in the way of crime/thriller, although I do have plans to read more books within this genre. I don’t know much about this book, so I am almost taking a leap of faith with it. I see a lot of people testifying that it is a good way to approach a book, as there is no prejudice.

4 Zero Debt: Break the Debt Cycle and Reclaim Your Life – Neeraj Deginal

Goodreads – Zero Debt

“Yes, being debt-free is POSSIBLE. If I could do it, then, anyone can do it!” – Neeraj Deginal
Zero Debts – Break the Debt Cycle and Re-Claim Your Life, is about the author’s ten-year long journey from going neck deep into debt to being absolutely debt-free.

In this book you will learn:

How the author got into debt (circumstances)
How being in debt paralysed cognitive decision making
How even simple day to day life became complicated
The thought process applied by the author to analyse his situation rationally
Systematic steps taken by the author to become and stay debt-free and the dilemmas faced during execution
Further actions taken to simplify life and plan for a better life
This book seeks to inspire the reader to become debt-free, which eventually leads them to total freedom, be it, financial freedom, emotional freedom or freedom from stress.

I received a copy of this book courtesy of the author via The Book Club, so thank you very much!! As a general rule, I don’t normally reach for self-help books. I read to escape reality. One of the last things I like to confront myself with is problems, (be they real or potential ones). I am going to hold my hands up and say that whilst I am perfectly on top of my finances, I feel this book could be worth deviating from the norm. It is good to learn from other people’s experiences; let’s not forget our circumstances can change in the blink of an eye.
Last year, I had to contend with being made redundant. At this point, I had moved into and was financing my own flat. I would be lying if I said that wasn’t a stressful time for me. Thankfully everything worked out, but it is best to prepare for every eventuality.

5 The Black Prism – Brent Weeks

Goodreads – The Black Prism

Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.
When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

Fingers crossed I will actually get around to reading this book this month…
I’m sure I will – I’m making sure my schedule is a little more manageable. I’m not making that mistake again.

6 Former.ly – Dane Cobain

Former.ly – Dane Cobain

When Dan Roberts starts his new job at Former.ly, he has no idea what he’s getting into. The site deals in death – its users share their innermost thoughts, which are stored privately until they die. Then, their posts are shared with the world, often with unexpected consequences.
But something strange is going on, and the site’s two erratic founders share a dark secret. A secret that people are willing to kill for.

This is a book I have downloaded via Netgalley, and it drew my attention as it features a kind of modern technology that is potentially relevant to today’s society.
I have mixed feelings about social media. Obviously, when used correctly and safely it is a useful tool to keep in touch with friends and relatives. By very nature, bloggers use the Internet and social media in order to get books and their opinions out there. There are people that abuse this technology, sadly. I’ll outright admit that I am against the idea of social media use featured in the book. I’m curious to see if my feelings are justified or not.

You may also have noticed that with the exception of one book, I acquired all of these for free..? Guilty!! Not only do I have to think about Christmas soon (yep, it’s that time), I also have a short trip away with some of my female friends that I have to plan for. Every little helps, right? This will not impact my posting schedule – I’ll be sure to plan ahead so you guys don’t miss out!
So that is my reading list for November!! Has anyone read any of the books featured on the list?

Sunday Summary – 29 October 2017

Posted on October 29, 2017October 18, 2018 by fantasyst95

Good morning everybody!!
I cannot believe it is nearly November already!! Hasn’t that just flown by?! It always amazes me how days or weeks can feel like they are dragging on, yet from a different perspective, time seems to be running away from us!

Books Read

So, after my last Sunday Summary last week, I did manage to finish IT by Stephen King at about 11pm! I have never felt so happy to finish a book and be content with the way it ended. I also published my review on Friday, so if you would like to check that out, here’s a cheeky little link!
Following on from IT, I was hoping to enjoy a couple of smaller reads from authors I haven’t picked up in a while, as a nice way to round off the month. Sounds like a plan, right?
Time to confess that I’m an idiot. I decided I wanted to read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and The Black Prism by Brent Weeks, not realising that the former of those books is just over a thousand pages long in itself.

So I’m currently working my way through this second epic in a row. I am currently about 40% through and I am enjoying it, but I can’t seem to read it at the kind of pace I would like. Perhaps I have burned out a little?
Needless to say, given that I am going to struggle to read The Way of Kings before the end of the month, I am going to postpone The Black Prism to next month. It’s a shame, but what can I do?

Books Discovered

I didn’t spend a single penny on books this week!! I dread to think the last time that happened…
That isn’t to say I didn’t acquire a couple of books though!!

I downloaded Ekata: Fall of Darkness by Dominique Law via Netgalley.
I also received a copy of Zero Debt: Break the Debt Cycle and Reclaim Your Life by Neeraj Deginal via The Book Club, so thank you very much for getting me in touch with the author.
I’ll admit this isn’t a typical read for me, but I figured it could have some worthwhile information or advice. Let’s face it, at some point in our lives 99% of us have some kind of debt, arranged or not. I would imagine we would only think about taking on any debt management advice when it’s too late and the vicious cycle already has its grip on you. I figured this to be a great opportunity to get one step ahead!

Coming Up…

Next week brings us both Halloween and the beginning of a new month, so on Tuesday, I’ll be publishing my reading list for November. I’m also looking forward to working with a couple of authors who have provided me with copies of their books in exchange for reviews! No spoilers now – you’ll have to check out my post on Tuesday!
I also need to give myself some breathing space from reviews and catch up reading, so I am going to be publishing another “Down the TBR Hole” post on Friday. I think I’ll be adventurous again and sort through the next ten books on the list! I hope you can join me for that.
As ever, I’ll also be rounding up the week as usual.

So that has been my week… how about yours? What are you reading? I’d love to hear from you!!

Review: IT – Stephen King

Posted on October 27, 2017October 20, 2018 by fantasyst95

How does anyone even go about reviewing such a mammoth book as this? It is something I have been thinking about for a few days now. After much deliberation, I decided that much like George Denborough, I was just going to get dragged into it somehow…

I won’t give up my day job, I promise. I’ll just crack on with the review, shall I…?

GoodReads – IT

It was the children who saw – and feel – what made the small town of Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, IT lurks, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each one’s deepest dread.

Time passes and the children grow up, move away and forget. Until they are called back, once more to confront IT as it stirs and coils in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.

The year is 1985. The residents of Derry have lived in peace for the last 27 years. When IT awakes once more, the town slips into quiet unease. IT feeds off fear. Lurking in the shadows and manifesting as the beholders worst nightmare, it manipulates the wild imaginations of children, using it to terrorise and murder them.

After the death of his brother George in late 1957, Bill Denborough and his friends Beverly, Ben, Eddie, Mike, Stan and Richie unite against the monster in the sewers and somehow make it out alive. 27 years later, Mike Hanlon watches the death toll begin to rise once again and tries to reason against the truth. Eventually, he makes good his promise made all those years before: if IT came back, then he and his friends had to go back and kill IT for good.

If there is anyone out there who doesn’t know, this book is incredibly long. The edition I read was precisely 1,376 pages. Not only is this the longest book I have read ever, but I also managed to read it in just about two weeks! I was quite impressed I will admit. The next longest book I have read is War & Peace (which I also read this year). This is a few hundred pages shorter but still tops over a thousand. This also took me two weeks to read. Not bad going, in my book.

IT’s length is probably a turn-off for a lot of people, but I genuinely think that the length is necessary. I’d like to explain why.

A person’s way of thinking, their experience, history and relationship with fear is very personal. In order for the reader to get under the skin of each of the seven characters of this story, we had to learn an awful lot about them.

I absolutely agree that there is a lot of description and back story before we get to any real point of hair-raising action and from what I have read, some people aren’t so fond of that. I don’t think I could truly have invested into the characters without it.

That’s not to say I loved each and every one of the characters all the time; there were moments I liked and disliked them.

I loved Beverly when she fought and left her abusive husband to go to Derry and make good on her promise. That isn’t to say I understand why she would have tolerated that in the first place, exactly. Well, I do; she says as much herself that she married her father (not literally, but her father was violent towards her child-self). I’m saying, having blessedly not grown up with that, I don’t understand because I would never tolerate that behaviour towards me. Just a word of warning, lads.

“You pay for what you get, you own what you pay for… and sooner or later whatever you own comes back home to you.”

IT – Stephen King

I cannot praise this book highly enough for the way it was written. King really does know how to draw you in as a reader. It is his realistic portrayal of characters that I love best about his writing.The perspective of the book frequently changes between time periods, especially so at the end, but manages to achieve this seamlessly.

Naturally, each of the characters has changed dramatically during a quarter of a century, but the consistency of the character’s mindset and attitudes to the respective timeframe (and to their background) is spot on.

The timeline of events for each “period” is also frequently discussed and this also seemingly consistent.
I have already mentioned the manner in which the book splits between the time periods of 1958 and 1985. One of the effective techniques King uses to maintain suspense is by slowly unveiling the events of the first encounter in 1958 by having trigger events in 1985 prompt each character to recover memories of IT.

It is entirely possible, when an individual experiences a traumatic event, for the mind to repress these memories as a coping strategy.

Therefore, not only does each of these small revelations keep the reader engaged with the story, but it also has a psychological foundation.

As events unfold in 1985 we simultaneously re-live the first encounter with IT. Whilst we have glimpses of the end of their troubles in 1958, we only learn the detail of their duel with the devil at the same time as when they go back that second (and hopefully last) time. The last few hundred pages flew for me. I also have no nails left. Literally.

I’m going to be honest and say that I didn’t find the book “scary”. Of course, it is unpleasant to read about children being murdered and vulnerable people being manipulated into committing heinous acts. What I am saying is this, I didn’t lose any sleep from reading it. The majority of fears experienced and again re-lived as adults are the fears of children – the dark, clowns, werewolves and the school bully, for instance. Whilst the book absolutely lives up to the genre of horror, I wasn’t uncomfortable reading it.

Despite the genre of the book, I found it had some lovely, positive notes that could be taken away from it; for example, the power of friendship. Here is one of my favourite quotes by way of an example:-

“Maybe there aren’t any such things as good friends or bad friends – maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you’re hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they’re always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for too, if that’s what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.”

IT – Stephen King

Emotions like fear, anguish, anger and despair are what makes us human. But what also make us human is our ability to hope, to dream and to believe.

Would you rather live having never experienced emotion?

I say give me the good, the bad and the ugly – after all, they say that it is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Disappointing Books

Posted on October 24, 2017October 18, 2018 by fantasyst95

Hi!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Tuesday so far!
Today I wanted to do something a little different – it’s another meme frequenting the world of blogging and I’m excited to dive in!! Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish for the purpose of sharing lists about a variety of book-related topics.
Personally, I feel like I spend a lot of time talking about books I love and enjoy, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! After all, I am not intentionally going to pick up a book I know I am not going to like.
That being said, sometimes with the best will in the world, we cannot love everything. Books that other people rave about, or books you think you will really enjoy just don’t always cut the mustard. (This is a really bizarre expression, but I love it!) These books are the feature of today’s post, so let’s get to it!
I’m writing the list in reverse order, so I’m starting with the least offensive books:-

10. American Gods – Neil Gaiman

I think I’ll get some hate on this one. It is not that I didn’t like it. I did. I DID, OKAY?! I just didn’t love it… and I really thought (hoped) I would. This is a book that has been talked about a lot this year and perhaps the hype got my hopes up. It’s an okay read – and I would probably pick it up again (as has been recommended to me)… but not yet.

9. Eric – Terry Pratchett

Again, this is a book in which I enjoyed certain parts of, but not all. Towards the end of the book, Rincewind and Eric have to make their way through Hell back to the Discworld. I particularly loved this part as Hell was basically run like an office, with memos, policy statements and torture by boredom instead of the traditional variety of physical methods. Working in an office for 35 hours a week, I saw the humour in this, but not much else. It isn’t a bad book, but not one of Pratchett’s finest in my humble opinion.

8. Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett

It’s bad enough having one Pratchett book on here, never mind two!!
I just found this one to be really slow. At school I studied a lot of theatre so this parody of the magic of Hollywood should have been right up my street. Sad to say, I found it a bit dull.

7. The Inheritance Cycle series – Christopher Paolini

I started this series whilst studying my A-Levels, and I have fond memories of reading Eragon whilst on break duty, supervising the kids in the younger years.
I think by the time I came to read Eldest I had outgrown the series – I found it a little bit childish and ultimately, I have given up on it. If I had read it sooner I probably would have enjoyed it.

6. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

My dad would absolutely hate me if I knew this was on my list of most disappointing books. I don’t mind the film so much, but I find it really silly. It’s not supposed to be a book you take seriously, sure. I just didn’t enjoy it all that much.

5. The Great Iron War Series – Dean Wilson

I started this series this year. I also DNF’d it this year. The foundations of the series are good – I love the base plot and the motivations of the characters. What I dislike about the books is how repetitive and unrealistic they are.
“Well damn, the enemy broke my super expensive submarine. Good job I kept an arsenal of weapons and a barrage balloon on standby… you know, just in case.”
Right. Sounds legit, no?

4. The Books of Pellinor – Alison Croggon

I really enjoyed three-quarters of this series. Guess which one let me down.
The Singing, of course. The build-up to this huge battle between “The Chosen One” and the darkness begins early on and you know what? By the time the battle actually came Alison must have realised she only had about 12 pages left in her, rushed the ending very badly, and for me, the whole series just fell flat on its face. I was so disappointed, as this had so much promise.

3. Magician’s Guild – Trudi Canavan

Now we are getting to the really bad books. This was a DNF pretty much straight away as I couldn’t get into it. There isn’t much more to it than that.

2. The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness

The idea of a world in which you can read minds sounds both fantastic and scary right?! I thought so too, but this was also a DNF straight away. I seem to recall I thought it came across a bit childish, but I attempted this years and years and years ago and truth be told, I’ve erased the painful memory of trying to read this from my mind.

1. The Darkness that Comes Before – Scott Bakker

What makes this book the worst on my list is that by every right, I should have enjoyed it. I felt so strongly that I should, I ended up forcing myself to read it and that was a mistake. I’ve even attempted a re-read years later and I cannot get into it. I don’t like the main character; I find the fantasy world confusing… the list goes on. It doesn’t get any better. I can honestly say that whilst I am sure someone out there loves it… I don’t. It gets the top prize for being the worst book I ever read.

So that makes up my list of the Top Ten Most Disappointing Books!!

The important thing to remember is that everybody has different tastes and we are all entitled to our opinions. I’m basically saying don’t hate on me for any of my choices, pretty please?
Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with me?

Sunday Summary – 22 October 2017

Posted on October 22, 2017October 18, 2018 by fantasyst95

Aren’t the weeks just flying by?! I cannot believe it is Sunday already… AGAIN!
It really will be Christmas before we know it!! (Don’t hurt me for pointing out the unequivocal truth – honestly, it’s sneaking up on me too!)
To get away from that slightly depressing thought, let’s talk about books instead!