A Life of Order's.

Lamplighter, book Two of the Monster Blood Tattoo Trilogy by D.M.Cornish.

"A rever-man below us, sir! A rever-man in the tunnels underneath!"


Rossamund Bookchild is finally becoming a Lamplighter. He is becoming one of those hardy men sworn to light the lamps of the empire and protect travellers from ravenous bogles from the wild.

But Rossamund is still finding it hard to fit in, he has a girls name and he is small for his age and as a consequence is good at nothing but the strange chemistry of his world. This of course means he is the constant butt of jokes from his fellow trainees, none of them are his friends and the teachers yell at him often. On top of it all, learning how to light lamps is boring, not at all the adventurous life he was promised.

Rossamund is lonely......

....... And then Threnody arrives in a most dramatic fashion....

Lamplighter's world is unique, it is a world loosely based on 18th century England where the mechanical has been replaced by bio-mechanics and monsters are born from the mud. Although not as ordered as the first book, lamplighter contains a lot more detail of the world and it's people (it's more interesting). A good page turner, enjoy.

A Sad Birthday.

Shades Children by Garth Nix.


"most (children) don't have the guts to slice open their own wrist, to reach in and pull the capsule out from where it nestles between veins and bone. "


One day, now long in the past, all humans over the age of 14 disappear, never to return......


In their place, arrive the tyrant overlords and several freakish hoards of creatures from an alternate dimension. All the children are rounded up and placed in dormitories, there to be trained and raised.


At the dawn of their fourteenth year, upon their sad birthday they are sent to the meat factory where their muscles, brains and bones are transformed into yet more creatures for the overlords to use in their senseless bloody battles.


Gold-eyes a boy nearing his sad birthday manages to obtain a razor. After a grisly and painful removal of his tracking capsule he escapes in a desperate ploy to extend his life. He finds ruined buildings, constant danger from the creature and finally he finds Shade.


Shade, a cold cruel and calculating computer program, once a university professor now the last hope of the escapees. However the food he provides is not for free, he requires information on the overlords and such information is costing lives at an inhuman rate.

Shade's children is dark. Dark in the story it tells, dark in its ruined streets and dark in its disfigured characters. It is refreshing to me to read such a story, one without cute little bunnies and fairytale characters, Shades Children is real in its darkness and original in its ideas.

A decent book I give it three out of five.

Daughter of the Clayr?

Lirael By Garth Nix Part Two of the Old kingdom Trilogy.

"It opened it's eyes and they were silver fires, brighter and more terrible than anything Lirael had ever seen."

For every Clayr there comes a time around their twelfth birthday when they receive the ability of true sight, this enables the Clayr to watch over the entire old kingdom. For Lirael the sight is two years overdue leaving her feeling abandoned, alone and unsure of who she is.

She eventually joins the ranks of the librarians. While working in this surprisingly dangerous environment she manages to summon the Disreputable Dog. Together Lirael and the Disreputable Dog explore the library of the Clayr and in the process find out some interesting things about Lirael.

Eventually Lirael's explorations lead her on a journey to find herself that turns into a journey to save the living of the world.

Lirael is a good page turner with one of the best sidekicks ever (the Disreputable Dog) however it ends weakly necessitating the reading of Abhorsen to tie off unending plot lines. A welcome taste of The Old Kingdom.

Blood on Stone.

Sabriel by Garth Nix part one of the Old Kingdom trilogy.

"The bell was twisting in her grasp, trying to sound of its own accord, a sound that would make her walk in Death."

In ages past a wall was made from blood, stone and charter magic to separate two kingdoms from one another.

In Ancelstierre there are cops, cars and cameras. People are born, people go to school, people work and people die and that is their end. It is a land ruled by science.

In the old kingdom there are Charter-stones, carriages and crossbows. People are born, people work and people die but not always forever. It is a land ruled by magic. It is a land ruled by death.

Sabriel is a sixth form schoolgirl in Ancelstierre, she is pretty, smart and privileged. Her father is a necromancer. Her father is the Abhorsen one of the few dedicated to quieting the restless dead of the old kingdom.

When her father goes missing she takes up his bells and sword (tools of necromancy) and sets off into the Old Kingdom in an effort to find him. soon she is fighting for the survival of the charter itself.

This is the start of a very original seres with a new magic system and a very real main charactor. It is so good my sister is reading it! (that is rare FYI) I certainly enjoyed it.

There and back again by Bilbo Baggins

The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkin.

"Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not today. Good morning! But please come to tea- any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Come tomorrow! Good bye!"

Chapter one: An Unexpected Party

In which the hero of the story Mr Bilbo Baggins entertains a large number of almost uninvited and certainly unexpected guests.

During the course of the most unusual and stressful party poor Bilbo finds himself and a company of dwarves swept up into one of Gandalf''s "Adventures" . A long and dangerous trek through wild lands followed (hopefully) by an attempt at the hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon...

The Hobbit is the King of adventure stories perhaps superseded only by its sequel "The Lord of the Rings".

The Hobbit's twists, turns, circles loops and above all its straightforwardness lead the reader into the unique world of middle-earth. It is perhaps best read at bedtime to a small child a chapter at a time as it was read to me and my brothers. I hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

Outlaw.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

"Terminal velocity! A seagull at two hundred fourteen miles per hour! It was a breakthrough."


More than anything else Jonathan Livingston the seagull loves to fly. He doesn't fly to eat, or to impress the flock or anything else. He flies for flights sake itself (he does like speed quite a lot as well).


His dedication shows, he can fly faster and longer than any seagull alive. He is also a bag of bones and rather unpopular with the flock and his parents for his unseagullish ways. Nevertheless he is happy. He discovers a rich bounty of fish under the surface by diving from far above and is thereafter better fed.


One morning he crashes though his flock at terminal velocity shocking them dreadfully and almost killing himself in the process. That night the flock elder outlaws Jonathan Livingston Seagull from the flock.


Jonathan flies away.


This is a book about a seagull's quest for perfect flight among other things. It is very old (1972) and I am assured very famous. It contains some very good black and white pictures of seagulls and a totally new way of looking at the world. I am not going to say good or bad but I will say "worth reading", it's a new lens to see the world through.

A life of Adventure.

Foundling, book one of the Monster Blood Tattoo Trilogy by D.M.Cornish.

"Beware the monsters, me boy! Ye've been safe in here all yer life, but out there..."

Rossamünd Bookchild, a foundling from the city of Boschenburg, has lived his entire life at Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society For Foundling Boys And Girls. He is often bullied for his girlish name and his small size and if it weren't for his dormitory masters Fransitart and Craumpalin, and Verline, a parlour-maid he would be having a horrible time.

Rossamünd dreams of heroism on the vinegar seas, of great battles with slavering sea monsters, of becoming a vinegaroon in the Empire's service. So when he is summoned to begin life as a lamplighter by a leer named Sebastipole he is shocked and disappointed.

A Lamplighters life is a life of adventure he is told, "a life of land-locked boredom" he thinks as he sets out on one of the most dangerous, interesting and certainly exciting journeys of his life.

Foundling contains the beginning of a marvellous world where mechanics are replaced by bio-mechanics and alchemy mystery and monsters abound. Fun and easy to read, I like it.

A World of light.

The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau.

"There it sat, unnoticed, year after year until its time arrived, and the lock clicked quietly open."

The Food shortages are spawning corruption. The coughing sickness is coming in waves, killing many. The generator breaks down often plunging the city into chaos. Worst of all the light bulbs are almost gone.

Darkness is choking the city of light.

Lina sees none of this. She continues her day to day life looking after her little sister Poppy and her slightly senile grandmother and running messages across the city for young and old.
But even she dreams of a taller city, a newer city, a brighter world.

Doon sees it all. He sees the shabby generations old clothing, the food deficit and the general shortness of things. He desperately wants to help Ember and even takes a job in the paperworks to try and help repair the centuries old generator. Sadly he cannot even understand how it works.

Poppy mostly sees things to chew on, but when she finds and chews on some very tough paper (how satisfying) she changes the lives of Lina and Doon and the destiny of Ember itself.

This is an engaging Post-Apocalyptic novel about a city filled with lights but surrounded by darkness. A good read for anyone of high school age or under with a truly imaginative theme.

Concorde.

Wings, the third book of the Nomes by Terry Pratchett.

"you re not suggesting we steal a plane!" " Well it can't be harder than stealing a truck,"


This is the story of Those who went away, Maskilin, Angalo, Gurder and "The Thing".
After their enormous (for Nomes) adventure in truckers Maskilin, Angalo and Gurder leave the quarry.

Gurder is leaving to find "Grandson Richard Arnold, 39" living deity and grandson of his God "Arnold Bros (est 1905)" in the hope that he will refresh his faith and explain the world in terms he can understand.

Angalo is leaving to find "Grandson Richard Arnold, 39" human and grandson of one of the arnold brothers who built the store in 1905, mainly to prove Gurder wrong but also to write his masterpeace "A Scientific Encyclopedia for the Enquiring Young Nome".

Maskilin is leaving because the thing told him to. He is to travel to Florida wherever that is and find a satellite so The Thing can find the ship to take them HOME.

This a good solid book with real people and situations but sadly it is for children, its plot line is a bit to simple for anyone over about 8 years old. However it is a very good bedtime book for the younger ones.

A Bright New Dawn.

Diggers, The second book of The Nomes by Terry Pratchett.

"I said don't press it! Did i say press it? I said don't press it!!"

After the epic journey in Truckers, The Nomes have settled in a quarry and a Bright New Dawn is coming for them all, or is it?

Maskilin has gone on a journey to find Grandson 39 and hasn't come back...

Nisodemus the mad Nome is inciting riots, trying to grab power and throwing doubt...

Dorcas has found a strange monster call Jekub buried in the hill....

The weather is growing cold, puddles are going solid and frozen bits of sky are falling from above.

The Store Nomes are confused and unsure of their new environment.

And the humans are returning...

Can Grimma fight them off?, will Maskilin return alive?

Again this is a good solid story, with nice 3D characters and backgrounds, a very good story for younger readers. I feel a bit sorry for the humans in Diggers, I'm glad I'm not one.

A Journey of sorts.

Truckers, the first book of The Nomes by Terry Pratchett

Most of the things you are hunting are also hunting you...

Maskilin must hunt ferocious beasts, gather enormous amounts of food and perform all the finicky and back breaking maintenance for the 8 very old and cranky people he lives with.
Grimma does the cooking, the cleaning and the reassuring needed in any household/hole in the ground. A journey of sorts.

Maskilin and Grimma are not human, oh sure, they have the right number of legs, arms and heads and the eyes and ears are in approximately the right place, but they look like brick walls on legs. They are so stocky they make Japanese sumo wrestlers look half starved by comparison. As a species the Nomes don't live long, ten years is a long lifetime, but they do live fast, for a Nome one year lasts as long as ten years does to a human.

They are only 4 inches tall...

Truckers tells the story of Maskilin, Grimma and the old people's hardships and their subsequent escape attempt. It also tells the story of The Store.

This is a very nice story, it's plot is good but direct and the characters are believable enough but i'm afraid that it is not a young adult book it is more directed at children.

Bored?

Coraline, the graphic novel written by Neil Gaiman and adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell.

Coraline is an Explorer, she has discovered the hot water tank (in cupboard), she has counted all the windows (21) and all the doors (14) and one more which is bricked up.

Coraline has talked to Mrs Spink and Mrs Forcible about their younger days and she has talked to the old man upstairs about the mice that won't go oompah oompah.

Coriline is bored..........

Coriline goes to look at the bricked door and finds a dark hallway where the bricks should be, she enters....

This book is actually quite scary for a childrens comic but its well drawn with a good plot.

Signs in the dark..

Thud! a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett.

The Dwarf bled alone in the mud and darkness....

There once was a time when Sam was one of only three policeman in anka-morpork. He was for the most part drunk, greasy, single, happy and as free as a bird. Sadly not any more. Sam Vimes is the current Duke of Anka-Morpork and police chief of the same he has a wife, a butler and worst of all responsibility. Though he is ashamed to admit it, he is loving it.

These perks do not come without problems to solve. The Dwarfs are getting angry and secretive, the Trolls are wearing more lichen and carrying bigger clubs, there is a government inspector loose in his watch, he is expected to hire a Vampire of all things and Koom valley day, the historic start of dwarf-troll hatred, is looming along with a civil war. He must do something!

But every night without fail at 6:00 Sam Vimes must read "Where's my cow?" to his little son.

There are some things you have to do.

One at a time.

Reaper man, a discworld novel by Terry Pratchett

What happens when Death goes on holiday?

Windle Poons is 130 and like all good wizards he knows when he will die, it just happens to be tomorrow and he's been looking forward to it for a very long time.

After a bit of a party Windle Poons dies and his spirit leaves his body only to find that there is.... nowhere to go. Being a pragmatic sort of person Mr Poons goes back. He finds that as a dead person he is more alive, more in control and certainly more mobile than he has been in years.

Windle Poons begins to have fun...

A new zombie on the loose isn't the only odd thing happening on the Discworld, clothing is getting up and walking away, furniture is putting down roots and things are starting to float around. The cause of all this, it seems, is an excess of life. You see Death does not kill you, he just takes away your life and without him the life just floats around wondering what to do with itself.

The problem is that Death is having a holiday as a human pending his permanent and enforced retirement. The Auditors of Reality have decided that Death is too slow and nice and are bringing in a new model. So Death gets to find out what it means to be human and he likes it....

There are also strange snow globes appearing in the nooks and crannys of Anka-Morpork......

Classic Terry Pratchett book, not one of his better works in my opinion but as original and good as usual, worth a read anytime.

A balancing act

Making Money, a discworld novel by Terry Pratchett.

The post office is running smoothly on mountains of paperwork. Moist von Lipwig is tipped to become chairman of the merchants guild complete with goldish chain and he has a beautiful chain-smoking golem-hunting girlfriend Adora.

Moist von Lipwig is trapped in chains of goldish.....

When the old crook is offered a post as chairman of the Royal Mint and the Bank, his heart leaps at the chance to escape the boring bureaucracy, stifling security and the chains of goldish. He is warded off by the inbred insane and rich lavish family, the gold loving semi-vampiric Chief Cashier and the giant glowing gurgling glass Glooper lurking in the cellar.

Fearing death or worse Moist sadly declines the offer.

Then Mrs Lavish steps into his life. Current manager and chairman of the bank, a Mk1 feisty old lady with an embarrassing sense of humour and a gleeful pleasure in mild cruelty. As fast as she enters his life; she sadly exits hers. She inflicts a final cruel prod in her will, she leaves 50% of the banks shares to a small dog named Mr Fusspot who already owns one percent.

She then leaves the dog to one Moist Von Lipwig........

This leaves poor old Moist in exactly the same position he was trying to avoid. He is now the owner of, one Royal Mint that runs at a loss, one bank currently in dispute by the insane and rather murderous Lavishes and finally one very rich dog named Mr Fusspot who needs to go for walkies at least once per day.

This is a good yarn with a well put across message as well as being very very funny and insane................ Completely insanee Ha Hah Hah Hahahahahaha!! Ahahahahahahahahahah!!!!

just kidding lol, this book is thoroughly recommended by me.

Selling the Sizzle.

Going Postal, a discworld novel by Terry Pratchett.

Moist Von Lipwig is a face in the crowd, even when he is by himself.

He uses his natural gifts of a unremarkable face, irresistible showmanship and a silver tongue to defraud, trick, pass false cheques and generally relieve fools of their money.

As fools like to keep hold of their various monies, some less than foolish persons have tracked him down, caught him and thrown him into an Ankh-Morpork jail cell for the six weeks he has before he is to be hanged. For six weeks Moist has been chipping away with a spoon at the crumbling mortar around the large stone in the wall to which he is chained. His spoon is now a stub, his mattress is full of mortar and the rock is almost free. One last tug and it is free and behind it he finds.......

.......... Another spoon, another rock and some suspiciously new mortar. He whimpers. The guards walk and see that the rock is free, one of them grumbles and hands the other some money.

After a short explanation of why he was led to believe he could win his freedom involving "occupational therapy", "keeps you from moping" and "the greatest gift of all, hope" he is taken to the gallows and hung. CRACK! The lights go out.

"Mr Lipwig, Have you ever heard of Angels?"

After being hung to within an inch of his life Moist von Lipwig is offered a choice, be hung for real or aid the ailing Ankh-Morpork postal service.

It is a tough decision.

I am a bit of a diehard Terry Pratchett fan but this is one of the prime examples of his work, just real enough to be believable but the situations and people are quite literally out of this world, a lively and likeable contrast to the normal and ploding plot lines of most other books, have fun reading it =)

The soul of a dragon.

Brisinger by Christopher Paolini, third in the Inheritance series.

Eragon and Roran are hunting.

During the thrilling finale's of the last book, Eldest, Eragon battles against the new evil dragon rider, Murtage and Thorn (his dragon) and loses but is spared. Roran's epic trek across his world with his home village ends with Roran killing the twins with his hammer and turning the tide of battle as a consequence.

Eragon is now torn between oaths. He has made commitments to the Varden, the Dwarves, Natasha, the Elves and to his cousin Roran and he is having trouble keeping them all. In the last book Katrina, Roran's beloved is kidnapped by Sloan and the Ra'zac and are currently housed in Hellgrind, home of the Ra'zac.

This is the purpose of Eragon and Roran's hunting deep within the empire, to find and kill the Ra'zac and their mounts and rescue Katrina from her prison. At first everything seems to work out fine, a Ra'zac is dead and so are both its mounts, Katrina has been found, but then Eragon finds Sloan. Sloan is a murderer, a traitor and Katrina's father, Roran would kill him if he found him and Sloan would return the favour if his eyes hadn't been pecked out and he wasn't half starved.

Eragon cannot find it in himself to end Sloan's miserable existence and instead sends away Roran, Katrina and Sapphire so Roran will not learn that Sloan is still alive. Eragon begins a long arduous trek through the heart of the empire in an effort to bring himself and Sloan to safety.

Good book, necessary reading if you have read the first and second installments, getting deeper moralistically at points but the characters are 3D and the setting is amazing as usual, hop to it.

Red and gold scales...

Eldest by Christopher Paolini, second in the Inheritance series

Eragon is now a cripple. During the epic battle at the end of the first book Eragon fought against Durza, the shade, and won turning the tide of battle but only with the help of Ayra and Sapphire. The victory came at a cost, the star Sapphire is broken and Eragon has an enormous scar across his back that sends him into seizures when he does anything physical rendering him effectively useless as a rider.

Directly at the start of the book, the twins , the leader of the Varden and Murtarg are killed by a group of Kull and Eragon is in time to hear the last words of the Varden's leader, compelling him to make sure the Varden is not thrown into turmoil. These deaths as well as the thousands from the battlefield throw Eragon into emotional and political turmoil.

Eragon now has many problems, his love for Ayra is causing problems, his back is rendering him ineffective, he must delve in politics, he is emotionally fraught and his magic is weak. Eragon is not the only one with problems and in this text a parallel story emerges telling the story of Roran and what happens when the Ra'zac come to Carvahall and threaten Katrina, Roran's beloved.

Both Eragon and Roran set out on a journey, Eragon to the elves and Roran to the Varden, both get more than they bargained for.

A worthy second installment of the inheritance series perhaps not as imaginative as the first but a good read nevertheless with a good assortment of new information to digest. Go forth and read!

Eragon and his Dragon.

Eragon by Christopher Paolini, part one of the Inheritance series.

Eragon, the hero of the story, is an orphan who was placed in the hands of his uncle Garrow when he was a baby. He has grown up with his cousin Roran and learned to farm, hunt and work under the tutelage of his uncle.

While out hunting for deer in the treacherous range of mountains called The Spine, he is witness to an explosion of fire and noise. When he investigates the source, he finds a polished blue stone.

Coming home in a failed attempt to sell the thing, he places it on the shelf and sleeps. The blue "stone" hatches. It is in fact an egg, a dragon egg to be precise. Over the next few months he both feeds and hides his growing dragon, until the day the Ra'zac (evil servants of a mad tyrant) destroy Eragon's uncle's farm and his uncle.

With the help of the village storyteller Brom, he sets out with his dragon Sapphire to exact a heavy revenge upon the Ra'zac, growing and learning on the way all the skills he will need and the rich history that it is a part of.

A good and lively tale full of twists, turns and realistic settings. characters, A little cliched but never the less a a good story.

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams is the single greatest book of all time in its category.

This statement, grand though it may seem, is not an overstatement (at least in my opinion).

This book tells the tale of an inconspicuous and seemingly insignificant British man named Arthur Dent, who wakes up one morning to find a yellow bulldozer advancing down his garden path with the intention of demolishing his much ignored brick house. This slight misunderstanding starts the morning in which,

1). He meets a direct male-line decendent of Genghis Khan,

2). His house is destroyed to make way for a bypass,

3). He finds out his best friend Ford Prefect is from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse,

4). The earth is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

He wakes up upon a Vogon spaceship having being saved by his friend Ford and begins walking running and randomizing his way around the universe, unwillingly on a quest to discover the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything and meets some interesting characters on the way.

A sci-fi, a comedy, a damm good book.