⭐⭐⭐⭐ This is my second read-through of Meg by Steve Alten, the first being about ten years ago. Back then, I gave it a full five stars without hesitation. It was fast, exciting, and exactly the kind of over-the-top creature feature I loved. Coming back to it now, with a bit more reading experience under … Continue reading A Big, Dumb, Bloody Good Time (With a Few Cracks Showing)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I’ve really been enjoying watching the Tiffany Aching books grow along with the character herself. A Hat Full of Sky feels a bit bigger and stranger than The Wee Free Men, but also more personal. It’s less about the adventure you go on and more about the kind of person you decide to be … Continue reading Learning to Be Yourself the Hard Way
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Monstrous Regiment was next up in my chronological read-through of the Discworld books, and it ended up being one of those moments where the project suddenly feels even more worthwhile. I went in expecting something solid and funny, and came out feeling like I’d just read one of Pratchett’s most pointed and emotionally grounded … Continue reading Marching Against the Absurd
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ll be honest: this one took me a little while to click with. Not in a bad way, exactly — more that I had to adjust my expectations. The opening didn’t immediately grab me in the way some Discworld stories do, and for a bit I felt like I was circling the edges of … Continue reading A Scrappy, Sharp-Edged Fairytale
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I just finished There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm, and I have to say, it’s exactly the kind of weird that gets me excited about fiction. From the very first entries, there’s this uncanny, almost clinical tone that makes you feel like you’re reading a classified briefing rather than a story, and I … Continue reading Bending Minds and Reality
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I went into The Judge’s House expecting a quick, slightly dusty Victorian ghost story, and what I got was something far more quietly unsettling than I anticipated. It’s short, sure, but Stoker absolutely understands how to make brevity work in his favour here. There’s no wasted space, no meandering setup — just an atmosphere … Continue reading Judgement Without a Jury
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ve just finished Night Watch as part of my slow, slightly obsessive chronological read through the Discworld books, and I’ve got to say: this one really stuck with me. Not in a loud, laugh-out-loud-every-page way (though there’s still plenty of Pratchett humour), but in a heavier, more reflective sense that lingered after I closed … Continue reading History, Hoods, and Sam Vimes
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a perfect example of Terry Pratchett doing what he does best: taking something familiar, twisting it sideways, and using it to say something sharp, kind, and quietly profound. On the surface, it’s a playful riff on the Pied Piper story, complete with a talking cat, a … Continue reading A Clever Con with a Surprisingly Big Heart
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Jingo is one of those Discworld novels that sneaks up on you. You go in expecting a fairly straightforward bit of satire — nationalism, flag-waving, the absurdity of war — and you get all that, but you also get something sharper and more uncomfortable than it first appears. On the surface, the plot is … Continue reading Laughing All the Way to the Battlefield
⭐⭐ I really wanted to like The North Woods, but by the time I finished it, I mostly felt tired and a bit let down. The biggest issue for me is the pacing. The story takes an absolute age to get going. There’s a lot of scene-setting, atmosphere-building, and slow circling around ideas, which isn’t … Continue reading A Long Walk Nowhere
Gareth Ellis - Author 