Search

Search only in certain items:

The Sandman (Audible Original #1)
The Sandman (Audible Original #1)
Neil Gaiman, Dirk Maggs | 2020 | Comics & Graphic Novels, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well. Flipping heck. I’m a huge fan of the graphic novels, so I was both hesitant and wildly excited (it’s confusing to be me sometimes) when this popped on to my radar. Of course I preordered it off Audible, I’m not completely daft, and just in time for our holiday in Scotland. A nice, seven hour drive from Chester to the Black Isle (near Inverness - it’s beautiful there, by the way) and time well spent listening to this.

The cast was excellent: James McAvoy as Morpheus/ Dream/ The Sandman (they’re all the same person), Michael Sheen as Lucifer, and a host of other excellent voice actors: Rio Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Miriam Margolyes. There are more actors, and they were all wonderful. It was ALL wonderful - it stuck faithfully to the original graphic novels, and Neil Gaiman narrated wonderfully ( I know I need a thesaurus, but ‘wonderful’ is THE word!). Whatever that man touches is golden, it seems to me.

Can you tell I liked it? Actually, I LOVED it. I usually fall asleep on long car journeys (I get terribly car sick, and I don’t drive 🤷🏼‍♀️), but I stayed awake for the whole time - and didn’t feel sick at all (even during the gory bits!).

The most potentially exciting part for me, is that it says ‘#1’. So I’ve set up my waiting post (I have to work out what that is exactly. I see it as a mental waiting room).
I can’t wait!!
  
City Spies
City Spies
James Ponti | 2020 | Children, Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Meet the City Spies
Sara Martinez is in jail after hacking into New York’s juvenile justice system to turn in her foster parents. She gets the surprise of her life when her lawyer turns out to be a man called Mother, who reveals himself to be a British spy. He whisks Sara away to Scotland where she joins a secret team of MI6 made up of other kids like herself. Sara has joined them just weeks before their next mission – infiltrating an ecological conference to stop a group that is out to sabotage it. Will Sara be far enough along in her training to be an asset to her team? Will they succeed in their mission?

I saw this new series debut recommended by another author I love, and I’m so glad I did. This middle grade book is fast paced. We get plenty of set up, but everything is introduced as part of the story, so it never slows things down. Once the mission begins, the pace picks up even more, and I couldn’t put the book down. Some of the elements are a little over the top, but I just reminded myself this is a spy story and got right back into the book. We don’t get to know all the characters well yet, but we definitely saw some growth in Sara and a few others, and what we saw of them is great. There are some truly heartwarming moments as well as moments that made me laugh. This is a fantastic middle grade book for readers of all ages.