Rogue Protocol, a review

Yes I did read yet another Murderbot book, no I won’t be accepting judgement. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells is the third novella in the Murderbot Diaries series. We follow an AI unit who really does not want to have to deal with humans. And yet here they are.

Yet again I really enjoyed this book. It was so fun to see Murderbot engaging with other bots, and in a really interesting way this time around (spoiler free so I can’t say much more than that!)

In this book we get to see Murderbot become a lot more adept at dealing with humans, as well as understanding their emotions (and their own) a lot better than previously. I adored the stark contrast we had between Murderbot and one (god damn adorable) character and Murderbot’s reaction to this themselves.

On CAWPILE I gave this book: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 9, Writing: 10, Plot: 8, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 9, and Enjoyment: 10. That gave me a total of 9.14 which to nobody’s surprise is a 5 * rating.

This Sci-Fi series is one of my absolute all time favourites and I’m still so so grateful to Veronica from Veronica’s Shelf got me into this series and clearly made my life infinitely better! So excited to read more of these!

The Dying of the Light, a review

This is the ninth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy and was originally intended to be the last. Which means this was supposed to be the big finale. And oh boy did Landy deliver.

This is an amazing “last” book. So many people died. My heart was broken so many times. And this is a reread for me! I’ve read this book a few times, but most recently I’ve been doing a full series reread along with the Dead Famous Readalong. So this was impacting me when I already knew the story.

We have sharp twists and turns, where nothing is anything like it seems whilst we try to avoid the “big evil” (look I’m trying to be spoiler free), and Landy engineers this in a way that wraps up so much about the world and all those loose ends that we’ve had floating around from the previous books.

Don’t get me wrong, the book isn’t perfect. Some things didn’t quite make sense, with the plot being a little choppy in places, but regardless this was still a fun read.

For my CAWPILE ratings I gave this book: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 10, Writing: 9, Plot: 8, Intrigue: 8, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 8. That gives an overall score of 8.57 which is a 4 star book.

It’s not perfect. But this was a good book and even better when knowing we still had more of the world to delve into.

Five Forget Mothers Day, a review

I’ve managed to take so long to do this review that it’s now timely! Cause in the UK, Mother’s Day is on the 27th of March (less than 2 weeks away, shop people! Shop!) This is one of the parodies that Bruno Vincent has published of the Famous Five and because I loved those books as a kid I’ve been trying to collect them all!

This one was technically gifted to me. No I’m not a mother! I actually bought it for my own mum, and she read and enjoyed it (she’s where I get my love of the Famous Five from) but she doesn’t keep books and so considering I’m collecting them all the book came back to me 😂

This is such a fun parody. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve not enjoyed all of these parodies I’ve read. But this one is all about how Aunt Fanny doesn’t feel appreciated, how George is trying her damn best to be a good daughter (yet failing spectacularly), and how eventually mum will get her way!

A fun little read that I gave 3 stars and I’m happy to have on my shelves!

Touch, a review

I definitely read Touch by Claire North at the wrong time. It should definitely not be read during a panini!

We follow a being which doesn’t have a body of its own. Instead it utilises other peoples bodies by touching them to take possession. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem in and of itself, but there is one scene where the entity is attempting to flee and does so by running through a crowd and flitting between all of the bodies that they happen to touch against as they run.

Like I said, bad timing to read this because what do you mean touching people outside on a busy street?? I’ve been in pretty stringent isolation through the entire two years we’ve been in this global pandemi lovato so touching people is a foreign concept to me right now.

This, if you couldn’t tell, just fully pulled me out of the book. It’s not a judgement on the author at all because this book was published back in 2015, probably the last time the world felt vaguely normal.

Other than this I really enjoyed the concept that the book played with of consenting and unconsenting bodies used for these entities to jump around and explore the world in. It wasn’t quite as good as The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August or The End of the Day but still enjoyable nonetheless and I’m excited to read some more from North in the future!

Have you read anything from Claire North? Let me know what you thought of it!

Q: Have you read self-help books?

💕💕💕

I’ve not purchased any myself, but my mum likes to buy me them sometimes as presents, especially when I was younger. This is one of those books!

A book from the late naughts that talks about health and beauty, when I delved back into this I wasn’t expecting much. I was expecting some decent advice, along with some questionable content and a lack of representation. I was pleasantly surprised!

This book has genuinely good health advice, there’s representation in the girls they photographed, and the makeup and hair sections make a point of also providing ways of looking after Black hair and Black skin. It’s not perfect by any means but it’s definitely better than I’d expected!

Image ID: Be Beautiful by Alice Hart-Davis and Molly Hindhaugh laid flat ona white background. Above the book is “growing” spelt in scrabble letters , around the book are generic beauty items like nail polish, makeup brushes, and a balck skirt with roses

Crown of Midnight – a review

Throne of Glass was a fun book, and I enjoyed it, but Crown of Midnight is a much better sequel and I’m glad I picked it up! Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, put those she loves at risk.

Sarah J Maas does so much better with Celaena in this book. All the way through the first book we are told that she is an insanely talented assassin, but this doesn’t come across in any way, shape, nor form throughout the book. In other words we’re told not shown. Thankfully, in this book we actually get shown her skills various times and it makes it a lot more believable that she would win the original contest and be known and feared across the city.

One issue that I’ve had with both books so far is that the pacing at the beginning is SO SLOW. I find myself bored so much at the beginning of both books and then by the end I’m enamoured and wanting more! This kinda scares me for Heir of Fire because it’s a much bigger book and I really don’t want to be going through 100/200+ pages of boredom to get to the good bits.

Overall this book has made me want to carry on in the series and for me was so much better than the first book! I just hope that this trend continues!!! Have you read this series? If so tell me what to expect!

One you need to read

I’d wanted to read this book for a while, but for some reason never picked it up full price. When I saw it in the charity shop however, I knew that I just had to get it. I ended up reading it on the hottest day on record here in the UK (that’ll date this) and I was visiting distant family at the time, so I got to sit next to their little paddling pool and become completely absorbed in this book. I gave it 5/5*.

I will say from the get go that I didn’t “enjoy” this book. And that is a compliment to Colson Whitehead. This book is covers a horrible but unavoidable section of the history of the US, the forcible capture, transportation and slavery of black Africans on plantations. This is a very real part of history, however, this book is a fictionalised version of events. These events all most likely happened, not exactly as depicted in the book but they occurred and they were and are atrocities.

I was immediately absorbed into this life, the fear that is present and the attempt at living as normal, at getting through this atrocious treatment. As a Brit, we’re not taught about this part of history in school, or at least we weren’t when I was there, but through my own reading I knew about the time. However, this book made me feel it, it specified events, it brought them to a very personal and one-to-one level, and trust me this will shake you to your core. Even if you’re American and you’ve been taught about this part of your history in school (hopefully) I still recommend picking this book up as it will make you see the events from a human perspective, rather than an impartial historian.

Possibly the worst part about all this is that events like the ones in this book still happen today, some people are still just as racist, and legal equality only happened in the 60’s (although depending on State that varies a lot and also doesn’t take into account how black American’s are still treated to this day). This isn’t long lost history. This is still happening.

And that is why you need to read this book.

Alphabetised Death

A serial killer is working his way through the alphabet, killing off not only those who’s initials fit his theme, but those with this feature who also live in a town with the same first letter. A very specific event, and to add to this predictability, letters are also sent from the murderer to Poirot before each event! What on earth is occuring?

Agatha Christie does it again, of course! This book, I knew from the title and the cover, was going to be one of my favourites. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did! From the start Christie lets you further in to behind the scenes, similarly as to how the killer lets Poirot in more than usual. However, of course, things are not quite as simple as they seem and multiple twists and turns occur throughout with so many intertwining sections that you’ll need to focus to keep track! But don’t worry, the story is as gripping as always so you’ll have no issue with being completely immersed.

Another greatly enjoyable Christie book, although you guys knew that before even clicking on the review soooooo…. 😀

A little bit of Stardust

So many people wanted me to read this book, so I felt that I had to oblige! I have seen the movie adaptation before, and I really enjoyed it, so I was anticipating enjoying this book. However, I’d heard from many people that the ending was not the same as the movie and that it was darker. I will say that, personally, I don’t really understand where these people were coming from. The ending is a little different, and there’s one section of the movie that is missing that I enjoyed, however, it didn’t “ruin” the movie for me and I loved having the cinematic depiction in my minds eye as I read.

This is such a fantastical and beautiful read, with the world being so amazingly fleshed out despite the short length of the book. I adored Tristan’s quick realisation that he was being an arse and his efforts to change this, as well as all the sparks of magic throughout the story that never quite let you forget that he wasn’t in England anymore.

If you enjoy fantasy reads, this is a must try. It’s very short (especially when some fantasy books can reach a thousand pages) and I think it’s such a charming and enjoyable read with so many gorgeous plot points and moments. One of my favourite reads of the year by far!

The Mystery of the Blue Train

Another Poirot! Yes, I always read these bad boys quickly once I get my hands on them. They just fly by!

In this story, Poirot is travelling by train from England to France when a murder occurs onboard, so of course the ever humble Poirot declares himself the only man fit to solve the case and begins to track down clues!

This case had so many twists and turns, and I actually ended up shouting at the book at one point because I had about 3 people that I thought were the murderer! One of those three guesses turned out to be pretty accurate, but the fact that I couldn’t pin the damn thing down speaks to Christie’s genius.

Have you read this book? Let me know in the comments below! I want to know if you guessed the culprit!