⭐⭐⭐ I really wanted to love Devolution. The premise is pretty much exactly the sort of thing that should work for me: an isolated community, a volcanic eruption, people cut off from the outside world, and then a group of Sasquatch deciding that the humans have wandered a little too far into their territory. It … Continue reading A Great Premise That Gets Bogged Down
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely sold on I Shall Wear Midnight when I first started it. I went into this one expecting to enjoy it because it’s Terry Pratchett, it’s Discworld, and it’s another Tiffany Aching story, but for quite a while I found myself wondering where exactly the book was going. It felt … Continue reading A Slow Start, But a Great Discworld Finish
⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Haunted Forest Tour is exactly what it promises to be. The premise is wonderfully ridiculous in the best possible way: after a portal opens up and unleashes countless monsters into a forest, the government does the only sensible thing they apparently can think of and turns it into a tourist attraction. Visitors climb … Continue reading A Wild Ride Through Monster-Filled Mayhem
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I had a really good time with Whistle. Linwood Barclay has always been great at writing fast-paced thrillers that are difficult to put down, and while this one leans much more into horror than some of his previous work, it still has that same page-turning quality. I found myself saying I'd read just one … Continue reading Creepy, Compelling and Hard to Put Down
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I absolutely loved this book. I went into it expecting a few funny stories about making low-budget horror films, but I ended up getting so much more than that. Bruce Campbell has such a distinctive voice that it feels less like reading an autobiography and more like sitting in a pub while he tells … Continue reading The Ultimate B-Movie Memoir
⭐⭐⭐⭐ I really enjoyed Artemis. It isn't quite on the same level as The Martian for me, but it's still a fun, fast-paced read that kept me turning the pages. Andy Weir has a real talent for making science feel interesting without it becoming overwhelming, and the setting of a city on the Moon is … Continue reading A Fun Trip to the Moon
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Going into Unseen Academicals, I honestly wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The central focus is football, and as someone who has never really been interested in the sport, I thought this might be one of the few Terry Pratchett books that wouldn't quite work for me.I couldn't have been … Continue reading Even a Non-Football Fan Can Enjoy This One
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I've been slowly working my way through Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, and Making Money has easily become one of my favourites so far. What surprised me most was how Pratchett managed to make a story about banking, economics, and finance not only entertaining, but genuinely difficult to put down.The novel follows Moist von Lipwig, … Continue reading A Brilliantly Funny Take on Banking and Human Nature
⭐ There are books that overwhelm you with the sheer volume of events, where every chapter feels like it is trying to outdo the last. Mosaic by Catherine McCarthy goes in the opposite direction, and while that might sound like a relief on paper, the result is far more draining: a story in which very … Continue reading A Story That Never Quite Starts
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ There’s always something a little strange for me when I pick up a Tiffany Aching book. I never dive into them with the same immediate excitement I get from some of the other Discworld novels, and every single time it takes me a while to properly settle into the story. Wintersmith … Continue reading A Wintery Return to Tiffany Aching
Gareth Ellis - Author 