Goodreads Challenge – 53% done.

As we approach the end of May 2016 my reading challenge is progressing nicely.  I have joined a reviewing website ‘NetGalley’ who now provide me with books to review on behalf of some publishers.  So my new reading, blogging and reviewing hobby expands![image error]

So what have I read and reviewed since my last blog?

 

Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans.

I’ve finished this book with some mixed feelings and must admit, with a bit of a forced push to get over the finishing line (last page). I think if I’m honest, I never really got ‘into it’, but struggling at the minute to put my finger on why.

As with many books in the fantasy genre, and something that often switches me off, this story has numerous amounts of strangely named characters and places, which I just couldn’t keep track of and subsequently left me lost and confused, resulting in me…well…losing interest! I would also have liked to have had the Dragons involved a lot more, they are definitely peripheral, and what with the beautiful front cover showing Dragons I would of expected a lot more of and from them.

However the book is well written, and the author does a great job of making you feel that you are right there with the band of soldiers. Feeling their frustrations of being in a pointless war, in a hostile foreign land with sweltering heat, dirt and unseen hidden dangers and enemies.

So overall a nice idea of a book, which doesn’t quite grip you at any point. 2 out of 5 stars.

 

The Witch who came in from the Cold – Series of Authors.

I’ve not read a series of individually written episodes for a story before, so was unsure how this would work and if I would enjoy it. Authors tend to have different writing styles etc., and I worried the switch from one to the other would not help with the flow of the book. But I’m pleased to say this transition from one chapter to the other did seem pretty seamless.

This book is an enjoyable and engrossing espionage, cat and mouse style thriller with the added mix of magic sprinkled on top to appeal to my more geeky side! We not only have the CIA and KGB, east Vs west fighting a covert war of secrets and deception in the cold, wintry streets of Prague, we also have another more hidden secret war going on, one involving magic, wizards and witches in which allies in one war could well be enemies in another more secret war.

I don’t read a lot of spy, espionage type thrillers but rate this alongside one of my all time favourite books ‘The Jackal’ by Frederick Forsyth. Really enjoyed reading both sides of a story, running alongside each other, and how you find yourself routing, bizarrely, for both sides!

Recommended! 5 out of 5 stars.