The Last of the First – Ian W Sainsbury Book Review

Format – Audiobook

Series – Halfhero #3

Synopsis – The conclusion of the Amazon and Audible best-selling Halfhero series.

When The Deterrent comes out of hiding and kidnaps the titans, it triggers the biggest manhunt in history. On one side, the military might of the United States and Air Commodore Fiona Bardock, Britain’s most talented investigator. On the other, three halfheroes, one human and a puddle of slime.

Daniel Harbin hopes to get through this alive and track down the children he never knew existed. What no one realises is they’re about to confront the greatest danger of all.

 

My Thoughts – I have listened to the complete Halfhero Trilogy now this year and I have to say I’ve really enjoyed it. This is the last book – the reason for a lot of build up in the other books. This picks up pretty much where the last book ended and straight away I was hooked by it all again.

Daniel is back and along with the other halfheros has hatched a plot to save the Titans. The book is full of action and is a real jam packed book. I really enjoyed the end to the trilogy – I am pretty disappointed that it has ended though as I really enjoyed this authors work and the narrator was really good too. The author has written another series and I’m really looking forward to starting that soon!

A really good book – I’d recommend the whole series!

Rating – 5/5

Halfheros – Ian W Sainsbury

Series – Halfhero #2

My thoughts on Healfhero #1

Format – Audiobook

Synopsis – The world’s only superhero was discovered in 1969. No others were ever found. Until now.

With Station destroyed and their friends dead, might Daniel and Abos finally be allowed some peace? Yeah, right.

Daniel’s talents are needed by a UN department taking on the bad guys, including rogue halfheroes. Abos is searching for more of her species. She soon finds she’s not the only one looking. There’s a new threat that no one saw coming. And halfheroes are being targeted.

When Daniel goes missing, it’s down to Abos to find out what’s going on and try to stop it. Her only chance of success means risking everything she’s gained since she stopped being The Deterrent.

Meanwhile, Daniel’s staging a breakout from the most secure prison ever built, but what’s waiting for him is even worse. It’s time for Daniel to find out if he’s a halfhero or a real hero.

My Thoughts – As I had enjoyed #1 in the series I downloaded the second book to listen to. This book is about Daniel and what happens after Station was destroyed and what happened to Abos after the events of the last book. This was a really good book again, the plot was really good and the characters were really good too.

 

I also enjoyed the narration of this book again. It took me forever to get through this but no fault of the book – I decided to have the baby in the middle of the book and as I tend to listen to audiobooks in the car I didnt really go anywhere for a couple of weeks!

I’ve just seen on Amazon that the final book in the trilogy is available so I’ve just added it to my library. The author has also written another series – the World Walker series and I’m going to listen to this aswell as I really enjoyed the writing style!

Rating – 4/5

Children of the Deterrent – Ian W Saisbury *Book Review*

Format – Audiobook

Series – Halfhero #1

Synopsis – “My name is Daniel Harbin and I’m a child of The Deterrent.”
What if a super human turned out not to be so super…or even human? Britain’s superhero, The Deterrent, was unveiled to the world in 1979, and disappeared two years later.
The truth about his origins has never been revealed. The rumours about his children—those that survived—and their mysterious abilities have never been confirmed.
Until now.
Armed with a diary that reveals everything about The Deterrent’s early years, Daniel Harbin—discovering powers of his own—finds himself dragged into the same secretive government department his famous father worked for.
Can a halfhero be a better superhero than his father, or is Daniel making a terrible mistake?
When the wrong people know what you’re capable of, no matter how powerful you are, you’re still in danger….

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book from audible as it sounded quite good – but I didn’t realise that it was the first in a trilogy at the time!

This book is about Daniel, a guy who sort of figures out he has super-human powers. It was done in a really good way – I’ve read a few books where super-powers were made to be unbelievable but it really works in this book. Along with Daniel it also jumps back to the 1970’s to a young girl called Cressida. It did take a little bit of getting used to with the double narration but it soon led me to try to work out how the two of them were interlinked – and it took me a while to work this out – it wasnt as obvious as first thought.

This book was both very well written and very well narrated and I’ve already downloaded part two of the trilogy to listen to asap! I can’t seem to find part 3 on audible just yet but hopefully it will be released soon as the first book was really good!

Rating – 4/5

The Lost World – Michael Crichton A Book Review

Synopsis – It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end – the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public.

But there are rumours that something survived. And when a team go to investigate, they are determined not to give it a chance to escape.

My Thoughts – I read Jurassic Park a little bit earlier in the year as it was one of those books that I just hadnt got around to reading. I was aware that there was a sequel book but again I just hadnt got around to reading it.

This book, much like the first is so much better than the film that reflects its name. It has a much better plot to it and in my opinion would have been better if the film followed the plot of the book.

The book does have a revisit of the character Dr Ian Malcolm which I enjoyed as I really enjoy this character but it also has a  whole lot of new characters too.

This was a good book, I enjoyed it a lot and I would probably read it again.

Rating – 4.5/5

Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton

Synopsis – On a remote jungle island, genetic engineers have created a dinosaur game park.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now one of mankind’s most thrilling fantasies has come true and the first dinosaurs that the Earth has seen in the time of man emerge.

But, as always, there is a dark side to the fantasy and after a catastrophe destroys the park’s defence systems, the scientists and tourists are left fighting for survival…

With this masterful cross of science fiction and action-adventure, Michael Crichton created one of the biggest bestsellers of all time, turned by Steven Spielberg into the highest grossing blockbuster ever in 1993.

 

My Thoughts – This is one of those books that I’ve wanted to read for a long time but never picked up. My little boy is absolutely obsessed with Dinosaurs at the minute and loves the film franchise so I managed to finally pick this book up.

This was amazing! As I’m already familar with the film it did take a little bit of getting into as I was seeing the characters as they were in the films and as the characters and events differ a little in the book then this did prove a little bit hard to start with.

The actual process of how the dinosaurs were made and the whole debate on nature will find a way was also totally brilliant. I loved how it was all explained and especially liked the chaos theory behind it all.

Reading it now also makes you think that it could possibly happen one day. THe fact that we have such brilliant technology and this could happen one day is quite a scary thought!

Also the characters are a bit different in the book – Lex is younger than her dinosaur obsessed brother and Hammond came across as more of a harsh buisnessman than a lovable Grandfather that Richard Attenborough portrays in the films.

Overall a fantastic book and one that I will read again. I already have brought The Lost World to read asap!

Rating – 5/5

Before and Gone (The Chosen) – J. M. Pierce

 

Started – 30/6/12

Finished – 1/7/12

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis – Some of the greatest minds of our time have hypothesized that alien contact could possibly result in the inadvertent introduction of a virus that would spread like the Plague. What if they were right? What if the human race were to fall victim to a pandemic of extinction-level proportions? What if it wasn’t by accident?

Just as Shiloh Winter embraces the fact that his girlfriend is pregnant and prepares for his role as a parent, his life takes yet another sharp turn. A work related road trip, a vividly frightening dream, and a visit to the emergency room culminate in the end of life as the human race knows it. Shiloh is soon to find out that everything that was before, in a fraction of time, is gone.

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book as it was free for a day on the kindle. It tells the story of Shiloh, a young boy in America who becomes a young dad. His daughter is born with a disability and he takes to working away to provide for them. It is this point that he is abducted by aliens and everything starts to change.

 

I thought that the idea behind this book was really good, aliens spreading a plague throughout the world in order to take over the earth, however for me i didnt really enjoy the book. I didnt see the relivence in his daughters disability to the rest of the story. Maybe this will become apparent in further books in the series, the next is due to be released in the autumn of 2012. I also didnt like the part where he was abducted by aliens, i just thought that it dragged on a bit too long.

 

I felt that parts of this book were really really gorey and i didnt enjoy this part too much. To be honest, i dont really have too much to say on this book, it wasnt one that i enjoyed, but im sure that others will like it.

 

Rating – 2.5/5

The Firestone Crystal – Linda M. David

Started – 24/3/12

Finished – 2/3/12

Format – Kindle e-book

 

Synopsis – Agathea Fulstropp is a lonely 11-year-old girl, a bit on the moody side, and more than a little spoilt.

She is looking forward to a luxury break in the Caribbean with her parents, but is livid when they announce that the trip has to be cancelled due to work commitments! So instead of spending six weeks sunning herself on a tropical beach, Thea – as she insists on being called – finds herself unceremoniously packed up, and sent off to stay with a grandfather she barely knows for the entire summer!

But it turns out to be the best summer of her life when her grandfather has a strange reunion with a mysterious childhood friend, and she is given the opportunity of a lifetime.

To visit a world beyond the stars, and become Earth’s first student to be enrolled in an experimental Inter-Planetary Education Programme at the Firestone Academy, where lessons in telepathy, mind-reading and astral projection are the norm.

Things, however, are not as straightforward as they seem. One of her fellow students makes no secret of the fact that he despises her, and will stop at nothing to make her leave…she is having increasingly disturbingly vivid dreams…and just who is that hideously deformed cave creature, and more to the point, what does it want with her?

 

My Thoughts – I downloaded this book as it was a freebie for a day over at amazon. I am so glad that i did. This book tells the story of Agathea, or Thea, a spoilt only child who is sent away to stay with her grandfather for the summer holidays. It is here that she meets an alien who takes her away to summer school on a far away planet. There is lots going on at the school, friendships, lessons, all new things, but also something a lot more sinister.

 

I really enjoyed the plot of this book, i do enjoy books that are set within the school environment (blame Enid Blyton and the St Claires and Mallory Towers series’) and this was another enjoyable read for me. I felt like it was easy to understand and follow as sometimes there are books set in outer space that are difficult to get into. But with this book, it was easy to follow.

 

I ended up really liking Thea by the end of the book, as towards the start i found her very spoilt and not all that likeable. There was the usual young adult plot line, parents away so sent to live with relative that is not liked. I felt in this case that this was well done.

 

I really couldnt guess who was the ‘spy’ in the book, i kept changing my mind over about four of the characters, and in the end i was horribly wrong! Who would have seen this twist coming? It was fantastic and a brilliant end to the book.

 

Although this is a young adult book, i really enjoyed it. This is not just a book for children, its also good for adults too, i would recommend this one to anybody. The book has gone back up to cost, but it is still under £2 on amazon. I would have quite happily have paid for this book, its very good and well worth a couple of quid!

 

Rating – 5/5

The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham

 

Challenges – BCF July Reading Circle
BBC Top 200 Books
Ultimate Teen Book Guide Challenge
501 Must Read Books

Synopsis – The triffids are a monstrous species of stinging plant; they walk, they talk, they dominate the world. The narrator of this novel wakes up in hospital to find that, by missing the end of the world, he has survived to witness a new world. But the new world that awaits him is fantastic and horrific.

My Thoughts – This is not a genre of book that i usually read, but i have to say i really enjoyed it. The idea that this sort of thing could happen does scare me a little bit, but i didnt find the triffids actually scary! I found the book itself was easy to read and its a relitivly short story, but there is an awful lot of story crammed in. I liked the search for Josella and how bill never gave up looking for her. I found it interesting as i thought i would reflect how the human population would react. This was my first ‘world ending/changing’ book but i will definitaly read more! This is a really good book and i highly recommend reading it if you havent already!

Rating 4/5

Flowers For Algernon – Daniel Keyes

Challenges – BCF February Reading Circle
Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Synopsis – Charlie Gordon, IQ 68, is a floor sweeper, and the gentle butt of everyone’s jokes, until an experiment in the enhancement of human intelligence turns him into a genius. But then Algernon, the mouse whose triumphal experimental tranformation preceded his, fades and dies, and Charlie has to face the possibility that his salvation was only temporary.

My thoughts – I dont want to go into too much detail until the february reading circle but i really enjoyed this book. It actually made me cry at the end! i thought it was a fantastic read and would highly recommend it. More thoughts to come in the february reading circle 😀

Rating – 4/5