Jennie Blake
Jennie Blake is a native Californian who moved to Manchester in 2008 after getting married. The biggest part of the move was bringing over 1,000 books across the pond with her – luckily, she doesn’t own much else! Jennie will read just about anything, although she gravitates most towards fantasy and sci-fi. If Jennie’s not reading, or writing about books, she can usually be found horseback riding or outside running about. She can be found on LibraryThing.com, and blogging at unabridgedopinions.com.
Honor’s Paradox, by P.C. Hodgell
Reviewed on January 28, 2012
P.C. Hodgell’s Jame is back, tumbling down flights of stairs, off of horses, and into and out of the haunted spaces of Rathillien. She is finally nearing the end of her time at Tentir, the school where the Kencyrath send their people to learn the arts of war, and survive, or not, on their own. [...]
On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling, by Michael Dirda
Reviewed on December 23, 2011
Sherlock Holmes has been on stages large and small since his creation. Most recently, of course, he has been played by both Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr, and a new story has been added to the canon, penned by Anthony Horowitz. Behind Holmes, and often frustrated with the way this singular character came to [...]
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, by Jeanette Winterson
Reviewed on December 5, 2011
Jeanette Winterson is most famous for Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, a novel that skirts the edges of memoir and wove some of her own, often painful, history into the words. Now, with Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, she brings the reader back to her story, the origin story of an [...]
I Am Half Sick of Shadows, by Alan Bradley
Reviewed on November 15, 2011
There has been another suspicious death in Bishop’s Lacey. Luckily, Flavia de Luce is on hand, ready, willing, and eminently able to to untangle any mystery. Her fourth adventure, I Am Half Sick of Shadows, finds the intrepid investigator embroiled in yet another village mystery, with the added distraction of a (very well planned) experiment [...]
Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson
Reviewed on October 22, 2011
Brandon Sanderson has won international acclaim with his Mistborn trilogy and taken on the task of finishing Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series with a deft touch. Gollancz have now reissued his debut novel, a standalone fantasy titled Elantris. Elantris was the centre of Arelon, a place of magic, healing, and incredible wealth, and a [...]
Hysteria: The Disturbing History, by Andrew Scull
Reviewed on October 20, 2011
Andrew Scull’s The Disturbing History of Hysteria carefully details the often complex nature of a malady that sparked an array of treatment, symptoms, and diagnoses and puzzled, alarmed, and fascinated the doctors, patients, and public that came across it. At the height of its popularity, it was known as the “English disease”, blamed on women’s [...]
The Assassin’s Prayer, by Ariana Franklin
Reviewed on September 17, 2011
Ariana Franklin’s Adelia Aguilar has fought her entire life against ignorance, the tyranny of the powerful, and the assumptions of those she loves. She has carved a life for herself in a country not her own and found ways to care for her patients and her family. She has had a tumultuous few years in [...]
Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, by Jonathan L. Howard
Reviewed on August 19, 2011
Readers, rejoice; Johannes Cabal is back. He is back in all of his tetchy, focused, pragmatic, and witty-observation laden glory. He is back, and he is hunting for a truly dangerous opponent, the Phobic Animus, the embodiment of fear itself. Johannes is familiar with the stuff of nightmares; he has bested Satan, stolen priceless knowledge [...]
The Poems of Czeslaw Milosz, read by Stephen Fry
Reviewed on August 12, 2011
Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one’s hand. –Ezra Pound Czeslaw Milosz’s poetry reflects equally the hidden, quiet, corners of everyday life and the glaring spotlight of world events. It shows its readers the power found in memory and [...]
Snapshot, by Craig Robertson
Reviewed on July 29, 2011
Craig Robertson’s debut, Random, turned the traditional mystery novel on its side, seducing his readers with a main character that walked a careful line between revenge and remorse. Snapshot is a fitting second novel, full of people for whom the job is more than just a day’s work, and the world around them, Glasgow in [...]
The Thing in the Gap Stone Stile, by Alice Oswald
Reviewed on July 25, 2011
Alice Oswald has won the Forward Poetry Prize, the TS Eliot Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Ted Hughes Award; her first volume of poems (which won the Forward Prize), the slim and powerful The Thing in the Gap Stone Stile, was originally published in 1996. An exquisite collection of beautifully captured moments, [...]
Hit List, by Laurell K. Hamilton
Reviewed on July 22, 2011
Anita Blake thought she had at least some things in her life figured out; she knows how important her loves are, how much stronger she is than the typical US Marshal, how complicated her powers, both old and new, make her life, and she knows how absolutely, catastrophically, viciously dangerous the Mother of All Darkness [...]
The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, by Ken Robinson (with Lou Aronica)
Reviewed on July 17, 2011
You can see and experience this shift in all sorts of performances, in acting, in dance, in musical performances, and in sports. You see that people have suddenly entered a different phase. You see them relaxed, you see them loosen up and become instruments of their own expression. Ken Robinson’s TED talk on creativity [...]
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake, by Jenny Wingfield
Reviewed on July 4, 2011
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is a languorous trip to the southern parts of the U.S. Equal parts paean to the southern climate, culture, and landscape and enthralling character study, Homecoming builds a story of a family and community that resonates with honesty and serves as an astonishing debut novel for Jenny Wingfield. We begin [...]
Blackout, by Connie Willis
Reviewed on June 13, 2011
Few authors have the pedigree of Connie Willis, named to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, winner of six Nebula (and ten Hugo) awards for her fiction, her books become classics the instant they are published, and her most recent one-book-in-two (more on that later) Blackout/All Clear is no different. Full of the engaging characters, [...]
The Field of Blood, by Denise Mina
Reviewed on June 2, 2011
Denise Mina’s The Field of Blood is part of the “Tartan Noir” tradition of hard-bitten Scottish mystery, full of grim despair, sharp humour, and complicated crime. Recently turned into a BBC miniseries, it is also an excellent introduction to Paddy Meehan: Mina’s young, clever, journalist-hopeful main character. Paddy is a Catholic girl surrounded by world-weary [...]
The Enterprise of Death, by Jesse Bullington
Reviewed on April 26, 2011
One of the best experiences of reading a book is recommending it to others, insisting that this plot or that character will really appeal, carefully giving out just enough detail to entice without giving away the pleasure found in discovery. Every so often, though, a book comes along that is so indescribable that all that [...]
A Red Herring Without Mustard, by Alan Bradley
Reviewed on March 31, 2011
Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce series, which is on its third volume with Red Herring Without Mustard, continues to delight, intrigue, and enchant in equal measure. Flavia, child genius, poison expert, and consummate aide to the investigations of the local constabulary, has once again involved herself in the nefarious goings-on of the village of Bishop’s Lacey. [...]
The Oracle of Stamboul, by Michael David Lukas
Reviewed on March 10, 2011
The Oracle of Stamboul echoes with transitions and fragility. It carries with it the finite feeling of a bird landing on a branch nearby, waiting to take off and leave only a memory. Michael David Lukas evokes a place shaded with golden light, slightly out of focus, with an oracle that seeks to clarify riddles, [...]
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reviewed on February 26, 2011
Before there were vampires, zombies, and assorted paranormal beasties, there were pirates, and Stevenson’s now-classic work of pirates, treasure, and parrot toting adventure, contains some of the most famous swashbucklers of them all. Oxford University Press’ newest addition comes with an exemplary introduction, putting the story in the context of the time without revealing all [...]
Return to Ribblestrop, by Andrew Mulligan
Reviewed on February 23, 2011
Return to Ribblestrop is more than a return to a beloved setting, more than a story of children protecting what and whom they love, more than a tale filled with laughter and the sheer solid rightness of the love that friendship brings. Andy Mulligan’s Return to Ribblestrop is about the joy that can be found [...]
Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
Reviewed on February 4, 2011
Robin McKinley’s Sunshine is a dangerous novel; the characters and world it leads its reader into are, simply, literally and figuratively, magic. Once picked up, it is impossible to put down, and it’s one of those books that forces you to wander about the house tripping down stairs and making sandwichs without looking, just to [...]
The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, by Alan Bradley
Reviewed on February 1, 2011
We first met the incomparable Flavia de Luce in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag is her second outing and just as fun and engrossing. These mysteries are tightly plotted and intriguing all on their own, but the real star of the show here is Flavia: [...]
A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness
Reviewed on January 31, 2011
Diana Bishop is a witch, an extremely reluctant witch, an extremely reluctant witch with a family that can trace its lineage, and the power it implies, back hundreds of years. Diana, however, wants to be as far from magic, and the complications it brings, as possible. With that in mind, she has found work as [...]
The Dragon’s Apprentice, by James A. Owen
Reviewed on January 30, 2011
What do you do when the dragons have gone, and you need them? When the evil you thought defeated has risen more terrible than before? When the world you have sworn yourself to protect, and the world you have left behind, face a terrible danger? Charles, John, and Jack, the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, [...]
The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanof
Reviewed on January 22, 2011
Every child, every teenager, every adult, knows the feelings of despair and loneliness that come from not fitting in, from having secrets to keep, from struggling to figure out the difference between the person who looks good and the person who is good. But what if that was going on and the whole world was [...]
The Back Door of Midnight, by Elizabeth Chandler
Reviewed on January 6, 2011
Elizabeth Chandler’s Dark Secrets novels all take place in the small town of Wisteria and, by The Back Door of Midnight (the fifth book in the series), Wisteria itself is as important as the characters that inhabit it. Small, occasionally friendly, and always full of mysteries and things that go bump in the night, Wisteria [...]
The Spirit Eater, by Rachel Aaron
Reviewed on December 21, 2010
This review will contain some spoilers of the first book in this series, The Spirit Thief. If you haven’t had the chance yet, and don’t want any of the wonderfully entertaining surprises ruined, consider this a wholehearted recommendation for the entire series; the books are fun and well-plotted; the hero of the hour swans through [...]
The Arsenic Century, by James C. Whorton
Reviewed on December 11, 2010
Arsenic was a sensation in Victorian times. Cheap, widely available, and the source of much shock and horror at the terrible things people got up to with it, it prompted scientific breakthrough, took advantage of a nascent insurance industry, and inspired wild fictional flights of fancy. Whether it was women getting rid of consecutive husbands, [...]
The Spirit Thief, by Rachel Aaron
Reviewed on December 3, 2010
Rachel Aaron’s The Spirit Thief drops its reader directly into a world where wood can speak, magicians draw their power from the nature that surrounds them, and rogues, extremely likable rogues it must be said, manage to charm their way through life with that impish wit that makes them both dangerous and easy to underestimate. [...]
Behemoth, by Scott Westerfeld
Reviewed on November 3, 2010
Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan was fantastic: full of engaging characters, amazing creatures, and a fascinating take on history. Behemoth follows in its steps with the same attention to detail and lyrical language. We immerse ourselves in a world that seems real, follow characters that feel like old friends, and have the privilege of being along for [...]
The Rebel Prince, by Celine Kiernan
Reviewed on October 15, 2010
In The Rebel Prince, Wynter Moorehawke has come into her own. Protector Lady, beloved sister and friend, she has grown from the girl who desperately wanted to return home in Celine Kiernan’s first novel in the Moorehawke trilogy to someone who can make a place for herself, who refuses to let the demands of others [...]
Crescendo, by Becca Fitzpatrick
Reviewed on October 14, 2010
Becca Fitzpatrick’s debut novel, Hush, Hush, managed to walk a fine line between the trend of the supernatural in young adult literature and a suspenseful plot and original backstory. If you haven’t read Hush, Hush yet, it’s certainly worth picking up, and it sets up the world, and the story of Nora Grey, without feeling [...]
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
Reviewed on October 2, 2010
Charming is a word often used to mean overly sweet, or cloying, or just-so-lovely, but charming can also mean blinding, and deceitful, and bewitching; a charm, after all, is not necessarily something you can trust the results of. In Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie readers get all of the potential [...]
Reckless, by Cornelia Funke
Reviewed on September 27, 2010
Cornelia Funke’s Reckless is an intricate novel. Family struggles, friends and lovers, fairy tales and a more modern world, all weave together in a novel that masterfully evokes the danger that has always lurked at the heart of childhood stories. Reckless is just as enthralling and thought-provoking as her “Ink” series, and we begin, as happens in Inkheart, [...]
The Player’s Curse, by Brian Thompson
Reviewed on September 22, 2010
Brian Thompson’s Bella Wallis is an uncomfortable heroine. Sensitive, strong-willed, drawn to reveal the secrets around her, Bella and her alter-ego, sensationalist author Henry Ellis-Margam, poke and prod at the mysteries around them, even when it upsets those they love. In The Player’s Curse, the third in the series, Bella’s compulsion to understand the hidden [...]
Wicked Appetite, by Janet Evanovich
Reviewed on September 14, 2010
Janet Evanovich can always be depended on for a good time. Her heroines, whether covered in muck, fighting off the latest round of villains, or just trying desperately to deal with the men in their lives without losing their minds, have a sense of humour and determined attitude that make following their stories laugh out [...]
The Crowded Shadows, by Celine Kiernan
Reviewed on September 13, 2010
Celine Kiernan’s The Crowded Shadows sits neatly as the middle book in the Moorehawke trilogy. Wynter, Christopher, and Razi are searching for Alberon, Razi’s half-brother and the heir to Jonathon’s throne. Rumours swirl through the forest of a secret and terrible weapon, of something that could rain fire down on anyone foolish enough to get [...]
Shade, by Jeri Smith-Ready
Reviewed on September 1, 2010
What would it be like to be part of an entire generation that can suddenly communicate with ghosts? How do you recover from losing your first love if he never truly leaves you? Jeri Smith-Ready’s Shade inhabits a world where those that are left behind are never truly alone, and the question of what to [...]
Fade, by Lisa McMann
Reviewed on August 10, 2010
Fade, by Lisa McMann, is the second in a planned trilogy, following the excellent first novel Wake. We’ve returned to Janie, and Caleb, and the struggles they face to root out the wrongs that go on under the surface at their suburban high school. Caleb and Janie still struggle with the baggage they have acquired [...]
Johannes Cabal, Detective, by Jonathan L. Howard
Reviewed on August 3, 2010
Johannes Cabal, Necromancer was bizarre, intriguing, inventive, and funny. Johannes Cabal, Detective is all of that and more, plus mystery. Jonathan L. Howard’s second foray into the wild (and often wacky) universe that Cabal glides through takes the reader from incipient revolutions to airships to mountains containing the greatest evil the world has ever known, [...]
She’s So Dead To Us, by Kieran Scott
Reviewed on August 1, 2010
Ally Ryan and her mother have just returned to Orchard Hill, looking to start a new life in the place they once called home. Orchard Hill is the enclave of the rich and privileged, mansions and brand new cars, designer clothes and personal basketball courts. All Ally can think of are the things that she [...]
Travelling Light, by Tove Jansson
Reviewed on July 26, 2010
Tove Jansson’s Travelling Light is a collection of short stories designed to provoke. Whether emotions, thoughts, or introspection, each of the stories in turn demands a response from its reader, and their combined power surges through the collection, heightening the impact of each story as it is discovered. Jansson’s prose is, as always, crystalline and [...]
iBoy, by Kevin Brooks
Reviewed on July 21, 2010
Read our interview with Kevin Brooks Kevin Brooks’ iBoy is, as are all of his books, a tense, well plotted, often humorous, and always thought provoking young adult novel. Technology, teenagers, crime, friendship, and loyalty weave together in a story that shows what strengths lay at the heart of true friends and what power information [...]
The Secret Hour, by Scott Westerfeld
Reviewed on July 19, 2010
Scott Westerfeld’s Midnighters series begins in The Secret Hour, and it begins with Jessica Day, a reluctant import from Chicago, unhappy with her family’s sudden move to this tiny town, unhappy to be all alone in such a strange place. Bixby is even stranger than Jessica realises, though, and she has walked into a war [...]
Making Haste from Babylon, by Nick Bunker
Reviewed on July 8, 2010
Making Haste from Babylon takes the iconic American origin story of the Pilgrims (and their near miraculous almost without history arrival on the coasts of the continent) and places it firmly in an historical context that is both complicated and weighty. Delving into the background of the movement that would become the Mayflower Pilgrims and [...]
A Gambling Man, by Jenny Uglow
Reviewed on June 24, 2010
Jenny Uglow’s A Gambling Man is a book with a very specific focus. It chronicles Charles II’s return to rule Britain and the ten years that follow: full of women, science, and the forceful personality and vision of the man who restored the monarchy and finessed his way through a series of crises that required [...]
American Devil, by Oliver Stark
Reviewed on June 22, 2010
Oliver Stark’s American Devil owes a lot to current American crime fiction. The setting, the hard-bitten detectives, and the duo of psychologist and detective will be familiar to all fans of the genre, but Stark holds his own in a debut that focuses on characterization and has a villain certainly creepy enough to keep the [...]
The Demon’s Covenant, by Sarah Rees Brennan
Reviewed on June 19, 2010
The Demon’s Convenant is Sarah Rees Brennan’s second novel and follows the same characters found in The Demon’s Lexicon. Mae, Alan, Jamie, and Nick are still fighting the forces of darkness and dealing with the fallout from Mae’s struggle to save her brother. Though they have gone their different ways, and are separated in the [...]
We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
Reviewed on June 15, 2010
Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin is a conundrum. It is complicated; it is simple. It is the story of a victim; it is the story of a perpetrator. It is all of those things, complexity layered onto clarity, love mixed inextricably with hate, and, above all, blame and responsiblity, and where either, [...]
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Simon Kernick
Simon Kernick is one of Britain’s most exciting new thriller writers. He arrived on the crime writing scene with his highly acclaimed debut novel The Business of Dying, the story of a corrupt cop moonlighting as a hitman. However, Simon’s big breakthrough came with his novel Relentless which was selected by Richard and Judy for [...]
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Five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was one of the big film releases of 2011, and to celebrate its release on DVD we have five copies of John le Carré’s Smiley vs Karla Trilogy to be won – consisting of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley’s People.
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