Fiction

Another great Tempe Brennan novel, this time set in Reichs' hometown of Charlotte, and based around the world of NASCAR racing. Brennan is called to the landfill behind the racing track when a body is discovered in a barrel. Before she knows whats' happening, the FBI are involved and the body suddenly disappears from the morgue and is 'accidently' cremated before it can be identified.

La Plante excels again in british crime fiction with another great read. it is great, but slightly odd, to read a crime thriller book set in the UK - we are so used to reading american fiction that it disorientates you a bit to begin with! The characters are well rounded and the team could easily be part of a tv series (that would actually be very watchable).

I have to say I'm not a fan of travelling underground and 'Metro 2033' is an adventure in itself that hopefully we'd never have to cope with on the London tube if the apocalypse ever was to happen here.

I felt that Dmitri Glukhovsky's book was full of imagination and vision - he gives Artyom his main character full reign in this post apocalyptic fantasy of saving his Metro station where he lives. But can he save humanity itself from the dangers that he himself has to go through from the very unwordly creatures?

My copy of ‘Trueman Bradley' is very dog eared because it has been read by all my family and many of my friends and we all love it. Sadly my 4 month old puppy loves the book too which is why half of the cover is missing!

I have to say that Naomi Novik can do no wrong by me - her Temeraire series is fabulous. Each book takes in a different country with all it's politics, culture and colour as well, all overlaid the Napleonic Wars and the British seafaring traditions with added extras.

Here we are not only given the above but a seriously strong typhon, a sea serpent that was hell bent on trying to kill them for food as well as Chinese British relationships that were less to be desired!

Naomi Novik just keeps on getting better with each book she writes in the historical fantasy with dragons. I guess you could say that in modern warfare as opposed to the Napoleonic Wars, helicopters and fighter planes would be doing the work of the dragons, with Temeraire being the lead dragon character.

This time Naomi Novik has taken us to Europe, especially Turkey where they take the dragon eggs and fly home via Prussia - but it is a hard journey with several crew losses.

Another gripping thriller form Gerritsen. Again we join Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles as they investigate a series of killings in Chinatown, which seem to be connected to a murder-suicide 19 years earlier, and a series of missing girls. The main problem is that the present day killer seems to be undetectable - no evidence, never caught on cameras, and with animal fast reflexes.

However, some people aren't happy about a 19 year old case being reopened, and as they get nearer to the truth, the search has devastating consequences.

Can't emphasise enough - buy this for the Kindle - it's a huge, heavy book and uncomfortable to read unless sitting at a table !

Where to start - its classified as an epic, and the comparisons with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (which Sanderson helped complete) are inevitable and valid. It nearly lost me at the first hurdle as the size, plus the complexity and goriness of the first chapter didn't appeal but as it was a gift, I thought I should carry on, and I was well rewarded. It's a fantasy feast - rich, satisfying, complex.

When I was growing up, Tony Robinson was one of my heroes (and still is), with his many TV appearances in series like Blood and Honey and Stay Tooned, and audio cassette readings.

In this book (which he wrote with Richard Curtis - one writer of classic 1980's comedy Blackadder) he presents a retelling of events in Homer's epic poem, The Iliad, and chooses to see the whole story from the point of view of one character, Odysseus. The result is well written, pacy and often truly hilarious.

I took Temeraire to hospital when I had to go in for some surgery - afterwards this book took me on a journey like no other fantasy book I have read. It is full of well researched historical information being set during the Napoleonic Wars, but you are not overwhelmed in anyway whatsoever. ..read more