Tag: reviews

KokkieH Reviews Side Jobs – Stories From The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

I’ve been wanting to read Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files for a while now but have been unable to get hold of Storm Front, the first book in the series. I’m not willing to start a series anywhere else as at the first book, but I decided to compromise when I spotted Side Jobs, a collection of short stories from the Dresden universe.

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher — Cover illustration by Chris McGrath
Publisher: http://www.orbitbooks.net

For those of you who have never heard of Harry Dresden (philistines!), he is a wizard. He is also a private investigator. And he lives in modern-day Chicago. So, we have a wizard/PI in Chicago (who is also a bit of a chauvinist), chasing down vampires, ghouls, faeries, and the like. He also catches regular bad guys, so he supplements his magic spells with a revolver. He has a talking skull called Bob. He has a giant dog called Mouse. He has a half-brother who’s a…no, that might be a spoiler. Continue reading “KokkieH Reviews Side Jobs – Stories From The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher” →

KokkieH Reviews The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Third time’s the charm, it seems, at least as far as Stephen King is concerned. The first book of his I read was The Talisman, back in college. It didn’t really do it for me and I mainly finished it because, as previously mentioned, I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive when it gets to books. Earlier this year I read Firestarter. It was okay, but way too easy to put down. I was ready to give up on Mr King, when I came across the brand new reprint of his 1988 (when I was in the first grade) novel, The Eyes of the Dragon.

Feel free to read on without fear of spoilers

KokkieH Reviews Secrets of Inferno – In the Footsteps of Dante and Dan Brown by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer

Review based on free ebook received from the publisher (and in fact my first-ever read-to-review).

Secret of Inferno cover — Jacket design by Barbara Aronica-Buck
Copyright © 2013 by Squibnocket Partners LLC
Used with permission

Secrets of Inferno is a reader’s guide to the journey Dan Brown took us all on in Inferno. The book gives readers the “back story” on particular plot points, Dante references, symbols, historical events, philosophy, art, music, and architectural works that Brown wrapped into his story. It is also an intellectually enriching, intriguing, fresh and fun look at Dante, the Divine Comedy, the world of ideas circulating in Florence on the cusp of the Renaissance, and the relevance of those ideas to our lives and our world today. In addition, the book turns to some of the leading experts in their field to address some of Inferno’s more provocative notions, including transhumanism and population control. – Book description from publisher’s website.

Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer have been unearthing the facts behind Dan Brown’s fiction since 2004 when their first book in the Secrets-series, Secrets of the Code, spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list. I have not read any of their previous offerings, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Secrets of Inferno in which they analyse Dan Brown’s Inferno (read my review of that novel here) which came out in May of this year. Click here to read more. As it’s non-fiction you don’t have to worry about spoilers

KokkieH Reviews Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks

Running With The Demon by Terry Brooks is an urban fantasy/fantasy thriller and the first novel in his Word and Void trilogy. It is the ninth novel set in his Shannara universe, though chronologically it is the first, the events in it taking place more than two thousand years before The Sword of Shannara which was his first novel.

Running with the Demon - Terry Brooks — Cover illustration: Brom
Publisher: http://www.orbitbooks.co.uk

The novel, which takes place over the Fourth of July weekend, tells the story of Nest Freemark, a fourteen-year-old girl being raised by her grandparents in the fictional town of Hopewell, Illinois (there really is such a place as Hopewell, IL., but this Hopewell is actually based on the city of Sterling, IL., Brooks’s hometown). Nest has a secret: she has the gift of magic. Along with the sylvan, Pick, and her mysterious protector, Wraith, she has to help maintain the balance between good and evil in Sinnissippi Park, one of the places on Earth where magic still resides. Read the rest of the review here. No spoilers. I promise.

KokkieH Reviews The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

What if the Earth wasn’t the only one? What if there were millions more Earths beyond ours, formed every time in that history went one way or the other while moving along the trousers of time? What if ours was the only one where homo sapiens developed, leaving the others empty, unspoilt and there for the taking? What if all you needed to do to reach one was step to the side?

Parallel universes are nothing new to Science Fiction, but the idea is given a wonderful new spin in The Long Earth, a collaboration between Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

(Please note: there are some minor spoilers to follow, but I won’t reveal any major plot points.)