Reading Challenge 2017 – End of January

Well I’m looking out of the window, it’s cold and miserable out there!  The kind of wintery day that makes you want to stay in doors, get housework done (?), watch films and read some good books.  Sure I had to say that.  So how’s my reading challenge going?  Well I’ve read two more books since my last blog, and those first two books where very good, so it’s surely going to be difficult to maintain that standard.

Book #3 – The Midnight Gang by David Walliams

I don’t normally include children’s book in my reviews and blogs, as my regular (and lovely) followers will know, but as I’ve started trailing my reading target and I have read this book I thought I would include it.  Cheating? Nahhhh.

Now this is the first book written my David Walliams I have read, my youngest son Harry (7) requested I buy this when it came out, and obviously as keen to encourage my son’s reading I went out and bought it. We’ve been reading this together most nights since. So what did we find….this story is about a young boy (Tom) who ends up in hospital, who makes some friends (Midnight Gang) who then sneak around at bed time having fun and adventures.

And I have to say we both enjoyed it! I was pleasantly surprised how good David Walliams has done here, as I was a fan of his early comedian work, when he first burst on the scene with Little Britain some moons ago. Then, as he started appearing everywhere on more mainstream rubbish like X-factor or whatever, found I tired of him very quick! So was dubious to how good these books of his would be. I’m pleasantly surprised.

I can understand why he’s been likened to the legendary Roald Dahl, as there is a similarity in writing style as well the use of some lovely hidden messages tucked away in the pages. The illustrations again are good and again (no doubt by design) are similar to the illustrations done by Quentin Blake for Roald Dahl.

So an overall good book, that had Harry (and me) chuckling at times and having some good discussions afterwards at others. Thumbs up and 4 out of five stars.

Book #4 – Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red rising is an interesting, futuristic dystopian story set on the now heavily inhabited Mars. Our main character is Darrow, a young miner (Sorry Helldiver) from the Red section of society on the beloved Mars. And can I say the first section of the book, which is more about the Red’s, Darrow and his family was great! I loved the start of this book, and thought I’d walked into another 5* book, with the descriptions, characters, atmosphere and world building. Brilliant. I was thinking to myself, Wow, 2017 reading so far has been awesome.

Then the story twists and unfolds as Darrow is then, after some I guess expected tragedies, is enlisted by some resistance to how Mars is currently run, as secrets are unravelled. He is transformed, but will say no more so at to avoid spoilers, and is entered into the top part of societies (The Golds) brutal war like gsmes, used to help pick future leaders etc.

It was during these tests/games, around the half way mark, my interest levels dropped. Mars (and I understand why) was now no longer Mars like in it’s descriptions, which took something away from the originality and initial love of the book I had. I also found my early engagement and like of Darrow, dwindle, which never bodes well for a story.

So overall a good read, not sure I’ll carry on with the series though, but definitely worth a go for fans of fictional dystopian yarns. Three out of five stars.

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We read on…8% of challenge completed.