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Precious and Grace
Precious and Grace
Alexander McCall Smith | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Don't read this if you haven't read the others
So I probably shouldn't have started reading this series from the 17th instalment, as you have zero grasp of the characters and the context in which these women have set up this agency.

In this latest installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe and Grace Makutsi help a young woman on a quest to find someone from her past.

A young Canadian woman who spent her early childhood in Botswana requests the agency's help in recovering important pieces of her life there. With only a faded photograph - and, of course, some good old-fashioned detective skills - to guide them, Precious and Grace set out to locate the house that the woman used to live in and the caretaker who looked after her many years ago.

The problem is that as a stand-alone book it seems rather bland and a bit of an anti-climax. However, I'm sure it's much more interesting having read the rest of the series.
  
MP
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The last thing Mrs. Pollifax expected to find that day was a young woman hiding in her closet. Kadi is afraid of the men who have been driving by in a van for the last couple of days, and Mrs. Pollifax’s efforts to sneak her out of the house end with both of them on the run. A call to Carstairs at the CIA leads them to an unusual safe house and another mystery. Are the two related?

This is a bit of an unusual entry in the series since it takes place mostly in the US and Carstairs plays a much more active part in the story. However, I like it for that change of pace. The plot relies a bit more on coincidence than is normal for the series (which is saying something), but all the various threads do wind up playing a part in the end. Overall, another great entry in the series.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/07/book-review-mrs-pollifax-pursued-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Blood Charged (Dragon Blood, #3)
Blood Charged (Dragon Blood, #3)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So this has taken me a long time to finish, especially considering that this is a Lindsay Buroker book and that I'm a huge fan.

I think I know why though.

I read for the romance element of books and in this we'd already met the characters and they were already couples, so that aspect was already in place and I didn't get to read it happening because it already had.

Lindsay is really good at writing steam-punk books (check out her Emperor's Edge series!) while still adding a romantic side-plot. With this newer series it has previously focused on the romance more but like I mentioned this was slightly lacking in that respect.

The adventure they went on for me wasn't as engaging as some of her other books, which is why it's taken me forever to finish this and I'm not too sure if I want to continue the series if it's following Ridge, Sardelle, Tomolek, Ahn and the rest of the team on the hunt for Dragon blood.
  
Sharpe&#039;s Tiger (Sharpe, #1)
Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1)
Bernard Cornwell | 2003 | Fiction & Poetry
7
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Chronologically the first Sharpe book (or, at least, it is at the moment!), this was publishes as the 16th novel in the series, after the success of the 1990 Sean Bean starring TV series, which followed the original, Napoleonic-set, stories.

As such, this is actually set prior to the Napoleonic Wars, with Sharpe - as the novel starts - a young private in the regiments of Arthur Wellesley's battalion of the 33rd regiment of foot, who are on campaign in India against the Tippoo Sultan of Mysore.

For plot reasons, Sharpe - in the company of William Lawford (who was a character mentioned in the 'original series' as having taught Sharpe how to read, thus making the jump to Sergeant easier) - have to go undercover in Seringapatam, just as that city is about to be besieged by the Allied forces.

It helps that, by doing so - or so Sharpe thinks - he'll be able to escape from the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill: one of those creations that you just love to hate!
  
Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Tony Robinson, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.4 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
When people ask which Discworld book to start with, I often tell them to skip the first two in the series (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic), then ask in which direction their interests lie.

Reimagining of famous plays/fairytales? Try any in The Witches series.

Primarily murder whodunnits? The Guards.

Of which this is the first.

So this is the one to introduce the reader to Sam Vimes, Nobby Nobbs, Fred Colon and Carrot Ironfoundersson, as well as featuring a prominent role for The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, and which would lead to perhaps the most-revisited characters in the entire Discworld series - I think Pratchett returned to the Watch a further 7 times, for a total of 8 such novels.

Quick google search: yes, 8 times. Only matched by the Wizards of Unseen University.

Anyway, this is the one that sees a secret society summoning a Dragon in the hopes of installing a puppet ruler to the vacant throne of Ankh-Morpork, before things go awry ...