Tag: Isolation

L. A. Larkin – Devour | Review

Title: Devour

Author: L. A. Larkin

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 410

Rating: 4*/5

 

L. A. Larkin - Devour

L. A. Larkin – Devour

 

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

This book was a bit of a weird one. It was a slow burner to begin with, and it reminded me of a bonfire – the author chucked a match on it, and it didn’t light, and then they tried another and still nothing. Then they tried a third and it went up like a fireball, and once that happened, I was hooked.

Let’s start by taking a look at the story line. Loosely speaking, it’s based on a real life scientific expedition, in which experts travelled to Antarctica and attempted to dig around 3 km beneath the surface to reach an underground lake. The expedition failed, but in Larkin’s book, it succeeds and finds some rare bacteria that have been living in isolation for millenia. And unfortunately, they can have some pretty devastating effects.

I can’t say any more than that without ruining the story line, but that should be enough to give you a good overview of what to expect. The good news here is that not all of the action takes place in Antarctica – we get to see a decent cross section of the world, as well as a fascinating array of characters who keep you guessing about their true intents right up until the end.

 

L. A. Larkin

L. A. Larkin

 

As for the negative points, there are only really a couple that I can identify. The first is negligible, because it was unique to the book that I was sent – as an advance copy, the rear cover was plain and white, and the paper wasn’t of a high quality. But that won’t affect you once the mass market copy comes out. The second will still apply – the protagonist is being stalked, and there are a number of sections which are written in the second person, directly addressing the reader. For me, it just didn’t work, and it was particularly offputting at the start. Later on, it still didn’t work, but it was a lot easier to skim read over it.

But overall, as the first book in a promising new series of crime novels by a writer I’ve never heard of, I’m pretty impressed. There’s also plenty of room for the story to be developed in the future, and I know that the author has started work. Exciting!

 

L. A. Larkin - Thirst

L. A. Larkin – Thirst

 

Click here to buy Devour.


Terry Pratchett – Pyramids | Review

Title: Pyramids

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 384

Rating: 7/10

 

Terry Pratchett - Pyramids

Terry Pratchett – Pyramids

 

Pyramids is, of course, Sir Pratchett’s take on ancient Egypt, a subject that I’m interested in. It’s always fascinated both myself and my mom, and we were planning on visiting some of the sites until unrest in the country put a rest to that. You’d think that a Discworld book about Egypt would be like a dream come true for me.

Unfortunately, I struggled to get into it, and whilst I did ultimately enjoy it, it’s not a book that I’d bother to re-read, with so many others available to me. I’m honestly not sure how I’m going to meet my word count, because I don’t have much more to say – it was just filler material, at least to me.

I don’t even want to dig into the plot, and for once it’s not because I don’t want to ruin it for you – it’s because it leaves me feeling kind of apathetic, and I just don’t really want to talk about it. And it’s a shame, because I thought it started out well, with the future king (spoiler alert, my bad) training to become an assassin in Ankh-Morpork.

 

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

 

You’d think that would make for a good book, right? Unfortunately, you’d be wrong – the protagonist, whose name I can’t spell, leaves Ankh Morpork not long after you start reading, and things gradually go downhill from there. I’m not saying this is a bad novel, not at all – it’s just that it’s average, and average isn’t good enough when we’re talking about Terry Pratchett.

Personally, I’m close to recommending that you avoid it, but that’s just going too far – still, you might want to save it, so you can read it when you’re starting to run out of Discworld novels to devour. Pyramids almost sits in isolation to the other books in the series, which might be part of the reason why I didn’t think much of it, but that also means that you can skip past it if you’re reading them in order, without any repercussions.

Overall, then, feel free to proceed with caution – you might enjoy it, who knows? But as for me, I won’t be recommending it to any of my friends. Not any time soon.

 

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky...

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky…

 

Click here to buy Pyramids.