Dr Who: Engines Of War - George Mann

I was granted the amazing opportunity to read this book before its official release on  September the 9th of this year.

Consisting of 198 pages I was gripped from the very start. As a fellow Whovian I was excited to read it as soon as I was granted the rights to do so. In this book you follow The Doctor and his companion on a journey throughout the time of the tragic war between two of the most powerful existing beings of the time.

The sarcastic and spontaneous side of The Doctor is a side I've always loved of any person/character.
There wasn't anything i could possibly dislike in the story it was a great written piece and a great read.

When the book is published on the 9th of the coming month I recommend this book to sci-fi lovers and any other Whovian who happens to be reading my blog.

Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi

I have a curse
I have a gift

I am a monster
I'm more than human

My touch is lethal
My touch is power

I am their weapon
I will fight back

Juliette is special, she has a power that is lethal when she touches anything with a heartbeat. The reestablishment lock her up in a institute after she unintentionally kills a young boy. She has not touched anyone in 264 days when the book begins, but then she wakes up in her cell, but shes not alone. There is a boy she knows in the cell with her, she teaches him things she has learned in her time there so far.

The world outside of Juliette's cell is crumbling down, the birds don't fly and the clouds aren't the right colour, no one cares about her as long as she doesn't kill anyone they clearly have other things to think about. Juliette doesn't know it but diseases are destroying the population and food is hard to come by.

The people responsible for Juliette's confinement believe the only way to fix things was to throw Juliette in to the cell. But after the remaining survivors begin whispering about war do the reestablishment change their mind. They believe she is no long just a soul within a body but what they need right now. A weapon.

She goes through hell when she makes friends with her new cell mate but are suddenly split and he is found to be someone she didn't think he could ever be. But all is well when he shows her he is who she believes he is. The book ends where they find a sanctuary, where they truly belong but who was once her cell mate now her lover, he could be just like her.

Shatter me is a part of a trilogy and hopefully I can get my hands upon the other books. It is an interesting read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading. I found it hard to put the book down.













Book Rate:
4.5/5

The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien

Admittedly I had already watched the first 2 movies of The Hobbit, but the book is all 3 movies in one. If you haven't seen the movies or the books, it is about a hobbit who travels with a group of dwarves and a wizard to free the king under the mountains gold. Thorin Oakenshield (who is one of the dwarves traveling with the hobbit) is a descendant of the old king under the mountain, the king was killed by the mighty Smaug who took over the mountain and all of the treasure within it.

This book shows what real bravery and friendship is, it is a brilliant story especially if you like fantasy and adventure. Some found that J.R.R Tolkien had written large chapters, I didn't have a problem reading this as I was unable to get my hands upon the book so I had an 11 hour audio version of the book on Youtube playing whenever I was able to listen to it. (over a period of 3 days)

As I like the work of J.R.R Tolkien I will be having the audio versions of the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy playing whenever I have the time.

Book Review /5 :
5

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War - Max Brooks

This book consists of looking back upon the time of the Zombie war. Throughout the book there are several different stories, this format helps readers save time, if they have a short attention span they can read a story a finish for the day and read another the next day ect.

The author takes on the role of an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission as he travels the world and holds interviews with men and women who share their survival stories, these stories give us a detailed image of what life was like for the survivors around the world and what life is like now that humanity recovers.

We get to hear a range of survivor stories ranging from everyday people trying to survive another day to the military and the tactics they use to fight against the dead.

Brooks uses real world history as well as culture, and social situations of other countries to create how they would respond in a world crisis of the like. Reading about the government responses in some countries, military actions employed, and the methods of some survivalists show us that zombies are not the only things to fear in a global situation like an outbreak. In some cases, humans can be much deadlier when they kick into survival mode.

It is hard to say that if you liked the movie you will love the book because in this case they are not so closely alike as you  would expect. However, if you like zombies you will love World War Z, and if you love social and political warfare, then you will also love this book. It has a little something for everyone whether you are a keen reader or someone who is simply in love with zombies or war stories.

 

Book Rating:

4/5

An Abundance Of Katherines - John Green

"19 Katherines and counting...
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type is girls names Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.


An Abundance of Katherines is about a former child prodigy, Colin, who has always dated Katherines. He uses a road trip with his best friend as a way to recover from recently being dumped by his 19th Katherine. In honesty I read this book because I like John Green's writing style and the thought and development of his characters.

Throughout the book Colin's best friend Hassan has no problem telling Colin when he talks about things people find utterly uninteresting. Colin likes to try and talk Hassan into enrolling in college but he has not managed to be successful. Beyond both of these characters is an amusing and powerful friendship, it is obvious to see both characters are trying to have the other succeed where the other fails.

Throughout the book it is repeated about mattering to the world, some don't think the point is relevant to the plot, but I do. It is important to know you matter, even if the author has put it into his book where others think it irrelevant. The book does focus primarily on Colin ans his theorem of Dumper's and Dumpee's, this does involve math but it is a choice of yours whether to read the math part, that is what I like, you don't have to read the math part its a choice of the reader and it was enough to keep me interested in something I have not previously given much thought to.

One thing that always intrigued me throughout the book was Colin's revelation about how stories always affect us, regardless of their importance, which was tied in with his thoughts about mattering and oblivion. His belief that we can never be the person we once were because we are only the person we are now was also another thing I thought intriguing.


I love this illustration on the book cover even thought it is different to the one I have, I  like it because if you look, the heart in Colin's chest is broken in 19 pieces representing the 19 times his heart has been  broken by a Katherine.

Book Rating:
4.5/5

Readathon Relay

As most of you know, me and two other bloggers took part in a 24 hour book read where the money raised would be given to beat bullying. The event begun at 12pm on Friday night til 8am then from 8am to 4th then 4 til 12pm.
I had the first shift, and let's just say it was a difficult time. At 4 am I was suppose to have a break and update you all but due to the thunderstorm my Internet had gone down and It was bad timing.

By the end of my 8 hours I had finished
the last 1/3 of World War Z -  Max Brooks
I also read a short horror story called The Second Coming - Griffin Hayes.

Both were very enjoyable to read and there will be a review up for each of them very soon.

I also got round to reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, by 8am I had reached the beginning of chapter 35.

The Readathon relay is officially over and I would like to thank all of those who supported and sponsored us. I had a great time taking part and hopefully with the money raised we can make a difference.

The other two book bloggers who took part with me are:

@booktuation  
@betweenlines309

Go check them out.

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

"Conor has had the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that dont quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight when he wakes, theres a visitor at his window. Its an ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor.

It wants the truth." 

Thirteen-year-old Conor has nightmares. He's losing his mother to cancer and he's losing himself, becoming detached from his own life and others. Every night he dreams a truth he does not want to face. One night, he hears a monster calling his name, and sees it walk from its place to his window. But he's not scared. There are worse monsters, and this is not the monster he was expecting.

This monster, an ancient kind of being in the form of a yew tree that has the ability to heal. He has come walking, because Conor had called him. And it wants to scare him. To tell him stories. To make him admit the truth of his fear, that he faces every night when he falls asleep.

The book is based around several concepts, but most of all Family, Illness and the ability to heal. but also the story is about stories, the strength of the stories we tell each other, and how they can affect us. Stories we tell can hurt and heal us if we use them for that purpose. as always this is a story that tells a story, it isn't rare to find a story within a story.The monster tells the stories, but they don't turn out quite as we might expect from our knowledge of childhood fairy tales.

The plot of Conor's story is quite simple. It is a journey of learning to heal, so there isn't a whole lot of anything even though some action, like his encounters with the school bully, and the clock at his grandmother's house. But mostly there is a lot of character development, and simple events that mould the family in the mist of illness.

I would recommend A Monster Calls to nearly any reader. Older teens might be put off by the young lead character or the simple story, but I hope you'll (if you're reading this) try it anyway. Some readers might find the monster frightening, but it is the best kind of frightening. The kind that shows you that maybe there wasn't so much to fear after all.

Even though the cover is quite intimidating and dark it isn't all that much scary, there is some violence but only of the bully kind. it is a deep story that you may interpret differently than to what I did, but I hope if you do indeed read it that you embrace it's many meanings. 

Book Rating:

5/5