Adam Colclough (3 KP) rated Harry's Game in Books
Mar 6, 2018
For the most part thrillers are the literary equivalent of Danish pastry, enjoyable but not made to last. A few, and ‘Harry’s Game’ is one, are more substantial fare, food for the mind that may give you indigestion.
On one level it is a book in the tradition established by Frederick Forsythe, fiction played out as fact allowing the author to draw on his journalistic background. Seymour goes beyond this by creating characters who aren’t simply stock heroes and villains. Instead they are human beings engaged in a struggle that is squalid and futile rather than heroic and purposeful.
This combines to give a grimly believable picture of daily life in Northern Ireland at a time when a single word or action out of place could have deadly consequences. He also writes well about the machinations behind the scenes on both sides, with the British political and military establishment struggling to fight an undeclared war they don’t understand; and the IRA high command masking the brutality of their actions behind misty eyed romanticism.
Brutal, believable and still relevant more than forty years after it was first published this is a novel that is very much worth reading, even if doing so can be unsettling.
Kafka: The Years of Insight
Reiner Stach and Shelley Laura Frisch
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This volume of Reiner Stach's acclaimed and definitive biography of Franz Kafka tells the story of...
Alexander I: The Tsar Who Defeated Napoleon
Marie-Pierre Rey and Susan Emanuel
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Alexander I was a ruler with high aspirations for the people of Russia. Cosseted as a young grand...
Winter of the World
9.0
Rate It
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Berlin in 1933 is in upheaval. Eleven-year-old Carla von Ulrich struggles to understand the tensions...
Drone Warfare and Lawfare in a Post-Heroic Age
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In the past decade, the United States has rapidly deployed militarized drones in theaters of war for...
Hawker Hurricane and Sea Hurricane
Martin Derry and Neil Robinson
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When Sidney Camm's masterpiece, the Hawker Hurricane, entered RAF service in late 1937 it quickly...
Ark of War
Games and Entertainment
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- Enter your country's guild and vie with players from all over the globe to become the ruler of the...
Fieldrunners Attack!
Games
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Hold onto your helmets - the award-winning Fieldrunners series returns! From exploding Popcorn...
Kyera (8 KP) rated World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie Wars in Books
Feb 1, 2018
You learn about the experiences of everyday people just prior to the outbreak. This is a time when no one knows what is happening. People are dying, becoming infected, and turning into violent cannibals. Is it some strange new disease that modern medicine has yet to find a cure to, or something worse?
Then, the stories become more dire, strained, broken; as the population begins to figure out the absolute devastation that this event will wreak. Suddenly, the stories are just people trying to survive or those attempting to combat the enemy. No one knows how to halt the impending storm. The absolute destruction such an enemy poses.
Unlike humans and their armies, the undead need no respite. The undead don't feel pain, hunger, anguish, or lose moral. And as the military's forces dwindle in battles, the zombies swell in ranks. Each loss to you is a welcome addition to their force. An enemy that is unknown cannot easily be beaten.
Will the human race even survive long enough to worry about rebuilding, destroying every trace of the plague, or even what brought it to the world to begin with?
The novel was a unique take on the zombie/war genre and interestingly written. I did find my attention wandering at times and would have to reread sections. Although I prefer reading physical books, this novel has an incredible voice cast for its audio-counterpart. Their talents brought this book to an entirely new level, giving each character a unique voice and story (and I'm not just saying that because there was a different person voicing each one.) I've never read a book before (or listened to one) that had such a diverse cast to bring the book to life.
If you like historical fiction or zombie novels, than you're likely going to enjoy this. If zombies and historical/realistic fiction (regardless of the fact that zombies are involved) are not your style, than you may not enjoy this.
How would you react if the dead began to rise, attack, and devour your neighbors, overrunning your town - could you survive?
Mediterranean: A Year Around a Charmed and Troubled Sea
Book
On 26th April 2014 Huw kayaked away from Anzac Cove at Gallipoli, Turkey, taking the next three...