An Echo of Things to Come
Book
AS SHADOWS RISE, A DARKNESS AWAKES An amnesty has been declared for all Augurs - finally allowing...
Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years, Vol. 1
Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin and Archie Goodwin
8.0
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May the Force be with you, in the mighty Marvel manner! The classic original Star Wars comic-book...
Mulan (2009)
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The epic story of the Chinese girl-warrior, Mulan, who fights to defend her father. China 450AD,...
Mulan
Shattered Ties (Guadel Chronicles #4)
10.0
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Brittle Bonds (The Guadel Chronicles Volume 3) saw Va'del and Jain driven from their mountain home...
Epic Fantasy Young Adult
Sohng: Prisoner of Fate (Tales of Arca #1)
6.0
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n a world of hidden secrets, all will be revealed in this Dark, Science Fiction, Fantasy Adventure....
Irene M (130 KP) rated A Whole New World in Books
Dec 7, 2018
The first about 1/3 of the book follows the Disney film pretty much to the letter, and without surprising anyone too much that is when the story changes.
In the film Aladdin gets the lamp… in this book he doesn’t (I won’t write “spoiler” as that bit is written on the front cover) and needless to say the camel dung hits the fan.
Where I think people might not like this book is the style of writing. Without being derogatory to the style this is very fanfictiony. You know those AU stories where one thing has changed? Well, that. At times the language is a bit too modern, it IS set in old Agrabah afterall.
I can see where the author tried to go with the plot, and while maybe not the most highbrow retelling of the story, it also wasn’t as bad as the previous reviews I’d read made it out to be. Certainly not a kids story (a tad gory, character death warning, violence etc) but a logical enough route for the bad guy winning.
Don’t go into this book expecting an epic Disney tale and you might well enjoy it. The author has rewritten Beauty and The Beast and Sleeping Beauty to follow this one, and I’m going to give them a read as well.
However, he passed away in 2006 while finishing the final novel in his <i>Troy</i> trilogy (<i>Fall of Kings</i>), which was then finished by his second wife Stella.
<i>The City</i> is her first fully solo outing. Following recent trends, this definitely weighs in on the 'epic' side of the fantasy scales: think 'A Game of Thrones', where one novel is the size of three what I would term 'normal' reads. Indeed, the novel itself is split into various sections: personally I feel that it could have been split into two or maybe three separate books rather than under the one cover.
<i>The City</i> of the title (which is never actually named) is ancient and bloated, locked in an endless war with its enemies. Built over centuries, it reminded me somewhat of a passage in one of Pratchett's Discworld books (I forget which, and referring to Ankh-Morpork), something along the lines of:
'the main thing Ankh-Morpork is built on is Ankh-Morpork'.
That could be a pretty fair description of The City as well!
I also found some sections to be slow-moving, and while I never lost interest in the story, it also never really grabbed me, seeming to lack that certain something to turns a good story into a great story.
Would I read more by Stella Gemmell? At the moment, I'm undecided.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Thief of Hearts (Hearts, #5) in Books
Jan 9, 2020
I read the previous books in this series a while ago now and gave all of them 4.5 stars but one, which is a rare thing for me to do.
This is Stu's story, Lee's brother from the previous book. He's just been released from prison and has enrolled in an adult class where Andrea is teaching at the local college. There's an instant attraction between them but Andrea fights it as Stu is her student. Stu flirts with her continuously and before long feelings begin to emerge. It turns out all is not as it seems.
I won't go into too much detail as it will ruin the story but I did enjoy this. I grew to really like Stu but he did deceive Andrea a bit. He made up for it big time and, through Andreas teaching and her just being a really supportive, caring person, he started to believe in himself and that he could do better than being a thief.
That epilogue had me smiling like a lunatic. Alfie is a bit of a genius!
This hasn't been my favourite of the series but I have enjoyed seeing more of the Cross clan, and I'm looking forward to reading Trevor's story next. I have One Epic Night as a freebie from the author which is a prequel to the sixth book in this series and I will be reading it next.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Night Shift in Books
Feb 23, 2020
King is my favourite author, and it's books like this that really highlight why. I've never before known an author who can bring such detail and intrigue into 20 different short stories, even those stories that are only a few pages long. He's a master storyteller and this book is a great example. Every single story is engaging and filled with horror, telling you just enough to leave you satisfied and not feeling like you're missing out and with a well developed plot and characters.
Out of these 20 short stories, I'd only highlight one of these that is maybe weaker than the rest: 'The Woman in the Room' and this isn't bad, just more that it's lacking in the horror that the rest of the stories have and it's a shame because this is the final story. But aside from this every single story is a brilliant read and if you ever want to find a place to start reading Stephen King, without tackling his major epic novels, there's no finer place to start than this.
Fidel and Che
Book
FIDEL AND CHE is the story of the remarkable and revolutionary friendship between two of the most...