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The Change 3: Paris: A City of Fools
The Change 3: Paris: A City of Fools
Guy Adams | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Odd and more intense than previous books
This third book, again in a different city to the previous ones, is set in central Paris. A group of people have made a life for themselves in the catacombs and tunnels underneath the city, largely safe from the strange monsters and beings that have taken over the city.
Loic, the main PoV character, is a former street child who has quite easily adapted to life under the streets, scavenging for food where he can. The main threat they face is the Impressionists, a race of paint-monsters who roam the streets and tunnels rounding up the people they find.
This book is more focused on people who have made a life for themselves following The Change (still a mystery, but safe to assume that weird things can happen now), rather than those struggling to come to terms with it.
It is quite an exciting tale of rescue, bargaining and trying to evade some very strange, but very Parisian, enemies who are never as they seem.
This book, for once, is fairly self-contained and has an ending and was a good short read.
  
Sharpe's Assassin
Sharpe's Assassin
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's been 15 years or so since Bernard Cornwell last returned to perhaps his most famous creation Richard Sharpe, in Sharpe's Fury.

In chronological order, that was then, novel # 11 of 23 (including short stories in that count).

While Cornwell continued on with his 'Saxon Stories / Last Kingdom' series starring Uhtred of Bebbanburg (read those. Enjoyed those), I've always held a soft spot for the soldier-up-from-the-ranks of Richard Sharpe, so I was quite happy to hear that he would be returning to that character.

This is that return, chronologically novel # 23 of 24, taking place almost immediately after the Battle of Waterloo (worth reading Sharpe's Waterloo again - you don't need to, but it gives context). There's no historical battle (for the setting) this time around; instead we have Sharpe getting caught up in/foil an a plot to assassinate the Duke of Wellington - who, here, seems to have mellowed somewhat towards Sharpe - and the returning King Louis XVIII, with a large portion of the novel set in and around the environs of Paris (in particular The Louvre).

Good to have Sharpe and Harper back together!
  
TS
There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Beth
Mark Towse | 2024
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
32 of 220
Kindle
Book sirens review
There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Beth
By Mark Towse
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There's Something Wrong with Aunty Beth' is a collection of my favourite horror journeys, the best of the best I've taken to date. Twenty terrifying tales with something to suit all horror fans, from straight-up dread to signature Towsey weird. You'll never be the same again, and that's a Towsey guarantee. Within these haunted pages, you'll also find my new novella, 'Mother Dearest.'
Mother: A word that should summon trust, loyalty, love, and protection. But what if something begins eating away at such security, slowly transforming said Mother into something else entirely?

This is a compilation of short stories and everyone of them is dark, haunting, frightening and fun to read if you love horror. I always manage to find stories in these kind of books that I don’t like and end up skipping through but NOT this one! I recently discovered this author and I’m so glad I did his work is just brilliant. Do as Aunt Beth tells you!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.