Posts under ‘Books’

Xenocide is the fourth novel in the Ender series, and the penultimate of the series overall – even though it is succeeded by the “Shadow” series. I know this review is going to be messy. It’s hard to summarise the ideas and thoughts in this series here, but I’ll try.
If you’ve read Speaker For The [...]

David Eddings, one of the fathers of modern “door stopper” Fantasy, has passed away aged 77. His stories were some of the first fantasy series I really loved, published through the 80s and 90s such as the Belgariad, the Malloreon, the Elenium, etc.
Many of his novels were co-written with his wife Leigh, and she was [...]

Speaker For The Dead is the second book in the “Ender” series by Orson Scott Card. It follows “Ender’s Game” – but, really, it’s a very different book. Again, warning: spoilers abound!
It’s now 3,000 years since the events in the first book. Due to the intricacies of time dilation at lightspeed travel, Ender is still [...]

Ender’s Game is one of those classics of Science Fiction that I had never got around to reading, but now I’m glad I did.
The story is set in a fantastical future in which the human race is struggling to avoid overcrowding and is just getting over a war with a race of insect-like creatures nicknamed [...]

There are a lot of misconceptions in science – mostly fueled by the mass media. Some of this is just plain wrong, while others can even be dangerous.
Most of this pseudoscience – that is, theories that are cloaked in scientific-sounding explanations or extrapolated from honest research but misinterpreted. Some of this has seeped into the [...]

Double Cross is James Patterson’s latest Alex Cross based crime novel. This time, the eponymous hero heads for Africa.
There’s a lot of good and bad things you can say about Patterson’s work, but the fact remains his novels regularly top the bestseller lists and he remains immensely popular with a huge fanbase. And I am [...]

James Rollinson is another favourite author of mine. His books tend to cover the genres of techno thriller, adventure thriller, and conspiracy theory. A heady mixture!
Most of his books, apart from the first few, have covered the Sigma Force – his fictional team of soldiers cum scientists.
In “The Last Oracle” we have an adventure spanning [...]

One of my favourite authors, Michael Crichton, has passed away aged just 66 from cancer. He had kept his illness private between him and his family.
Crichton was the author of such novels as Jurassic Park, Eaters Of The Dead, The Great Train Robbery, Westworld, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Prey, and many more. He was also [...]

Matthew Reilly is a “guilty pleasure” of mine. He’s a young Australian author who self-published his first novel before finding success.
His writing won’t win any awards and his plotting and characterisation are – to be kind – simplistic. But his books are fast paced, action packed, and if you’re like me you’ll pretty much find [...]

This was a very satisfying novel. It’s pretty short – maybe it could even be classified as a novella – and I read it one sitting. After reading Toll The Hounds, Book 8 of the Malazan Series (review coming next) it was pretty relaxing and enjoyable to read a “straight” story such as this.
Blaze is [...]