by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (translated by Lucia Graves) Re-post of original review Secret Societies and Ghostly Terror by Bookheathen) ‘Never mind the number of candles on your birthday cake,’ writes Zafon in his introduction to The Midnight Palace, ‘for those in the know, it’s what lies beneath them that matters’. Zafon’s first four published novels were …
Category: Book Review
Hogwarts #5#
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix By JK Rowling Harry Potter Special Hogwarts Editions Following the encounter with Voldermort in which Cedric Diggory lost his life, Harry Potter is back in Muggleland with his aunt and uncle. Now, forced to use magic to save himself and his cousin Dudley from the Dementors, he …
Hogwarts #4#
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire By JK Rowling Harry Potter Special Hogwarts Editions Readers who have progressed thus far in the series know that Harry Potter is a wizard. When he isn't attending Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, he lives with his unpleasant aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, and their bullying spoiled …
New Troy
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Over the past few days, I have been revisiting the classic poems of ancient Greece, and watching a series of lectures on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. These epic poems always bear retelling. Whether in the original format or recast in one of the many variations that have appeared …
Strike Five
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (a JK Rowling pen name) 'She stopped moving before they had finished with her. She'd have screamed, of course, she couldn't have failed to scream, but there was no soundtrack.' The mystery at the centre of Troubled Blood, the latest novel by the creator of Harry Potter, is a forty-year-old …
Stormbird
by Conn Iggulden (Wars of the Roses) Set in England and France during the years after 1443, Stormbird is best described as an historical thriller. It has a large cast of characters, most of them real people, though the author, by his own admission, takes the odd liberty with them. The novel's main historical theme …
The Road to Bosworth Field
The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory A Review ' "You are a girl; girls have no choice. You could never choose your own husband; you are of the royal family .... It is forbidden for one of royal blood to marry their own choice." ' Margaret Beaufort knows she is chosen by God for a …
How long is long?
Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George A Review Once upon a time, when I was reading lots of crime fiction, detective stories were relatively short. The crime, the investigation and the solution were wrapped up in two to three hundred pages. Much has changed. Compared to the works of Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. …
It isn’t all tinsel and lights
Cold Christmas A short story collection by Reggie Walton I suspect that most of us view Christmas as a happy season, with lots of food, drink, fir trees, decorations and good company. Even when we are not moved by its religious significance, Christmas is a time for reflecting on the past year, and for looking …
The Thinking Tank
by Jae De Wylde The Thinking Tank is a novel I enjoyed reading a few years ago. I have just finished it for the second time. Set partly in Rutland, England's smallest county, in the present day (well, 2003), it is a story of relationships and family secrets. The principle character, Sarah, suffers from …
