Anthony Horowitz

TOP 5 WEDNESDAY: Books You Will Never Read

Top 5 Wednesday is a great feature created by GingerReadsLainey and hosted by ThoughtsonTomes. To find out more about Top 5 Wednesday and the upcoming topics, check out its Goodreads page. This week it’s about the books you know you’ll never read, whether it’s a series you’ve outgrown or don’t feel like continuing or if it’s a popular book that just does not interest you. Here’s the five books I just know I’ll never ever read.

The Mortal Instruments series, and anything else by Cassandra Clare in that world
I read City of Bones and City of Ashes a few years ago and while there were a quick read I didn’t really like them enough to continue. It didn’t help that I didn’t like Jace, Clary and Simon – three of the main characters! I just don’t care enough about the characters, world or story to continue with it. I have watched the Shadowhunters TV show and that’s kind of fun in a cheesy way so I might just watch that a forget about all the various books.

Paper Towns by John Green (and any of his other books)
I’ve read Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars and I really didn’t get the fuss about either of them. I actively disliked Looking for Alaska and just thought The Fault in Our Stars was alright so I am pretty sure I wouldn’t like Paper Towns or any of John Green’s other books. The writing style and his kind of characters are just not for me.

Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz and the rest of the Alex Rider series
I loved the Alex Rider series when I was a teenager and have read nearly all the books. For ages I thought I’d finish the series and read the final three books but now I just know I won’t ever finish it. It’s a shame but that’s life of a reader!

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas (and the rest of the series)
I read Throne of Glass last year and while I liked it well-enough it didn’t do enough to make me feel like I just had to get the next book and carry on with the series.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
I, like no doubt most people are in the book blogesphere, am a fangirl and there’s something about this book that makes me feel uncomfortable. Maybe it’s because even though fandom and fanfiction has become more mainstream, I personally still feel like fandom and fanfiction should be like Fight Club, you just don’t talk about it. I really don’t think I’ll ever read Fangirl, no matter how many good things I hear about it I just know it’s not for me.

Are there any books you just know you’re never going to read?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Fictional Families I’d like to Celebrate Thanksgiving with

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. In honour of Thanksgiving (which I know nothing about really because I’m a Brit) this week I’m going to list the ten fictional families I‘d like to celebrate with, these families are going to be from books, films and TV shows and my favourite trope of “Families of Choice” will almost certainly be making an appearance.

The Pevensies – The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Sure the Pevensies don’t always get along but they always come together and sharing a special dinner with them, and maybe some other characters like Mr Tumnus and the Beavers, would be nice.

The O’Connell-Carnahan’s – The Mummy and The Mummy Returns
This family is #familygoals. Rick may be the only American in the family so he might have to persuade his wife, son and brother-in-law to take part in Thanksgiving but I’m sure they would and then Ardeth Bay could join in too.

The Baggins’ – The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
Whether it would be a small dinner with just Bilbo and Frodo, or if Pippin, Merry and Sam were there too, it would be a great meal because Hobbit’s know their food and how to party. (more…)

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Creepy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. In honour of Halloween, which I don’t really do anything for, here are some creepy books you might want to check out if you’re in the mood for a scare.

Poe by J. Lincoln Fenn
There’s supernatural elements in Poe as well as the standard stuff of having a creepy old house full of secrets, a séance and a possible psychotic murderer. Poe may be creepy but it also does a great job in adding humour to make the creepiness bearable.

The Strain by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo del Toro
If you’ve seen the TV show, you’ll know what The Strain is about. The thing about the book is it starts with this plane that’s completely silent and the atmosphere in the airport is suffocating. From there it never really lets up, there’s the vampire like creature, the graphic description of peoples bodies changing – the whole thing really sets your teeth on edge.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
I don’t want to say too much about it because it’s one of those books that’s best to go in blind but it was another creepy book that gave me goosebumps. I liked the tension and sense of foreboding throughout the novel and when the weirdness starts to happen, you don’t know what to believe. (more…)

REVIEW: Nightrise by Anthony Horowitz

Fourteen-year-old twins Jamie and Scott Tyler perform a mind-reading act in a dingy theatre Reno, All the other acts our fake but theirs is real. When a sinister corporation kidnaps Scott, Jamie is left alone for the first time in his life. As he struggles to find his brother, taking any leads he comes across, Jamie learns he and Scott are a part of a bigger world, a world with powers and the evil Old Ones.

As this is a sequel, there may be some vague spoilers for the first two books in the series, Raven’s Gate and Evil Star, but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum.

This is the first book in the series that Matt isn’t the main character so it’s a bit weird to start with because you are suddenly with new characters that don’t know anything about the Old Ones and as the reader you know more about them and what is likely to happen than they do.

Jamie has a great story arc in Nightrise, he starts out a bit of a wimp and naïve as his twin brother Scott is the one who has always looked after him and made all the decisions. But when Scott is taken, Jamie slowly gains confidence in his ability to look after himself and in planning what to do next. Jamie’s relationship with Alicia is almost like a mother-son relationship. Alicia is a woman who is searching for her missing son Danny who she believes was taken by the same people that took Scott. Jamie opens up to Alicia and trusts her and they work together to find Scott and Danny. Alicia proves to be very smart and loyal and she’s not afraid to get in trouble with the police to help Jamie. Alicia’s just plain awesome. (more…)

REVIEW: Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz

Matt thought his troubles were over when he managed to close Raven’s Gate but really they were just beginning. When news of a second gate in Peru reaches him, Matt travels there with journalist Richard Cole but they are soon separated and Matt is in danger. On the streets of Lima, Matt meets Pedro, they don’t speak the same language but their fates are entwined as Pedro is special like Matt. Together they are Two of the Gatekeepers and they are stronger together than they are apart.

As this is a sequel, there may be some vague spoilers for the first book Raven’s Gate but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum.

In Evil Star Matt now knows who is and it makes him more likeable as even though he’s still a teenager who makes mistakes, he has become more resourceful and willing to believe in his role as a Gatekeeper. Matt still doesn’t have full control of his powers though so when he’s separated from Richard he really struggles until he meets Pedro. (more…)

REVIEW: Raven’s Gate by Anthony Horowitz

Matt Freeman has always known he was different. There was the dreams. And then the deaths. When Matt gets in trouble with the police, he’s sent to be fostered in Yorkshire. It’s not long before he realises something is very wrong with his guardian, and with the whole village. Soon Matt learns about the Old Ones, how he’s connected to them and how he’s supposed to be able to stop them. No one would believe him, but first there’s Raven’s Gate to contend with.

Matt’s fourteen years old and alone. He’s been with his neglectful aunt for years and after being peer-pressured into crime he ends up in Yorkshire in a youth fostering program. Matt isn’t stupid or a bad person but he’s never really tried at school so it’s easy to see why so many of the adult figures in his life give up on him. Matt also gives up on himself in a way because he doesn’t understand the things that sometimes happen to him, he just knows that people around him get hurt. Matt’s a pretty believable character as he is often angry and compulsive as he tries to figure what’s happening to him though it does end a little cheesy as it’s so predestined that he’ll (apparently) save the world.

Raven’s Gate is quite a creepy book and some horror elements can be quite graphic. There’s the weird things that happen in the village, like if you try and leave, no matter in which direction, you end up back at the same crossroads, which is unsettling. Then there’s the more graphic stuff like when Matt comes across a dead body or when he is drugged and can’t move.

I read Raven’s Gate for the first time ten years ago and while I still enjoyed it, I thought some elements were a bit predictable – not because I’d read it before, I couldn’t remember much at all, but because I’ve now read more and am used to different tropes. Still as I continue rereading the series I feel it’s getting better and better.

Fast-paced and creepy, Raven’s Gate does a good job at setting up the series but the best is still to come. 3/5.

WWW Wednesday – 16 September 2015

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words. It’s a simple meme where you just have to answer three questions:
– What are you currently reading?
– What did you recently finish reading?
– What do you think you’ll read next?

I think it’s a great way to share my recent reads as my reviews are always way behind what I’m actually reading.

So here’s my answers!

What am I currently reading?
Night Rise by Anthony Horowitz
As it’s the ReReadathon I’m rereading The Power of Five series. Night Rise is the third book of five and even though I only started it yesterday and it is 400 pages long I’m making good headway with it. It’s a bit odd being with new characters as in the previous two books the focus has been on Matt so not following him was a bit strange to start with but that being said it’s great to learn about Scott and Jamie who are two of the Five.

What did I recently finish reading?
Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz
The second book in The Power of Five series is my favourite so far and it’s actually the one that I could remember the most about even though it’s been almost 10 years since I first read it. The last third in the Nazca Desert is action-packed and what happens with the Nazca lines was pretty scary and one of the things that always stuck out about this series.

What do I think I’ll read next?
Necropolis by Anthony Horowitz
And continuing the ReReadathon with the fourth book in the series! I really want to power through these now, even though they are now getting longer and more complicated with more characters, because I’ve never read Oblivion (the fifth and final book in the series) and really want to see how it all ends.

FRIDAY 56: Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda’s Voice. The aim is to share a few sentences of a book (whether it’s the one you’re currently reading or not) so other people might be enticed to pick it up.

Here’s the rules:

– Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
– Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
– Post it.
– Add the url of your post to the Linky on Freda’s most recent post.

“He stopped. He could smell burning.
He didn’t need to look around. He knew there was nothing on fire. What he could smell as burnt toast…and if he closed his eyes he would see a sudden flare of yellow, a teapot shaped like a teddy bear, his mother’s dress on the morning she was killed…
And he knew that it meant something was about to happen.”

From page 56 of the paperback of Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz

ReReadathon 2.0

I have decided to sign up for the ReReadathon which runs for two weeks from 7th September and is hosted by An Armchair By The Sea.

I’m going to use the ReReadathon to return to an old favourite series. The Power of Five by Anthony Horowitz was one of my favourite series as a teenager but there was such a gap between book four and the final book in the series that I don’t know how it ends. The first book was released in 2005 and one book a year was released until 2008 when the fourth book was released, then there was the big wait till 2012 for the fifth and final book! Needless to say when that book came out I couldn’t remember much about the series at all and of course there was the obligatory cover change since there was such a gap in the series (WHY?!). My memory of the series is that it features five kids that discover they have powers or that they are reincarnated and together they can stop these old gods. At least that’s what I think the series entails.

So I hope to read at least two of the books from the series during the ReReadathon. I won’t necessarily focus all my reading during the two weeks on the challenge but I do want to re-read a couple and see if I still like the series enough to continue and to see how it finally ends – I hope I do.

Let me know if you’ve read The Power of Five series and what you think of it – I’m intrigued to see how it all ends and if it’s as good as I remember.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Top Ten Unread Books that have been on my Shelves the Longest

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature run by BrokeAndBookish each week – I’m thinking I might not take part every week but just see if a week takes my fancy. This week’s topic is actually called FREEBIE – so you can either pick a previous topic you missed out on or choose a new one. So this week I’ve decided to go through my shelves to find out which books have been sitting there the longest and I haven’t picked them up yet. I’ve worked this out by looking at the publication date (with the hardback books this worked especially well) and if I can remember if I was in school/college/university when buying the book.

The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Publication date: 2007 Been on my shelves for over seven years
I bought this (or more precisely I think I got my mum to buy it for me) when I heard that a film of the same name was being released. I always liked reading the book before seeing the film and when I realised the film was based on one book in the series I got the complete collection. I have yet to watch the film or read the book.

Life and Laughing by Michael McIntyre
Publication date: 2010 Been on my shelves for four years
I went through a stage of buying and reading a lot of autobiographies but then I just stopped so I’ve got a few on my shelve that I haven’t actually read. Michael McIntyre is a British comedian and it’s thanks to him I now have a word for that drawer you have in your house that is full of random stuff – it’s called the Man Drawer. This was definitely a Christmas present from my mum but it as a kind of joint-present since she’s read half of it (but not finished it) and I’ve never started it.
(more…)

Elena Square Eyes

Thoughts of a film fan, reader and geek