Review: The Long Earth, Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Reading this was a slog! I love Terry Pratchett books, and though I've never read Stephen Baxter, the combination clearly doesn't work - for me at least. As another reviewer said, the result is that it came out flat.

It is a brilliant concept, that there are endless identical, parallel worlds which we are able to 'step' to, but the writer spent too much time repetitively explaining it, and describing it, losing what could be a dynamic story in its midst. I had hoped that something amazing was going to happen at the end, but it didn't really, just the usual human destruction. And it didn't feel like a climax of any kind, it was told in the same monotonous monotone narrative used throughout the book.

There were elements where it attempted to get interesting. They kept returning to characters, but not quite building anything substantial besides the main narrative of the lead character and some strange human robot, which felt like a cross between CP3O and Hal 9000, who was unlikeable and spent most of the book over explaining everything.

It was a real shame, and I have the rest of the books in the series, but I'll be returning them to the charity shop I found them in.

Not a recommendation from me. I think people rave about it because of the authors involved, rather than on the merit of the book.



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For some time now I have wanted to be able to offer my ebooks direct to readers, and finally I can! 😀

I have set up a Payhip shop, linked to Bookfunnel for easy delivery. But although I would love to make my print books available, I am not yet convinced the postage is worth it, though I am going to look into it, maybe for special signed copies! 

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Review: Throttle by Joe Hill and Stephen King

Throttle by Joe Hill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I probably bought this back when it was released, or a couple of years after. As with many book on my ereader, I tend to buy them and then promptly forget about them, unlike my shelves of unread paperbacks, which stare at me silenting telling me to read them. And at the end of the year, I decided to have a look through to find some short tales and I spotted this one.

Written by Joe Hill and his father Stephen King in dedication to Richard Matheson, the director of many films, including Duel, which this is a sort of homage to. I know the film Duel, having seen it at some point in my teens, and so I understood that something was going to happen with the truck, when it appeared, but it was still pretty shocking.

There were a lot of characters, but they were handled well as we started to understand the story through dialogue and interaction. A group of bikers have been scammed out of a lot of money, and when confronting the perpetrator, things went array and a murder took place. They are on their way to Vegas, debating whether to confront a connected person to try and get their money back, when a trucker overhears them - at least that's what they believe, we never really know. What follows is grim, and tense and there are few survivors.

I really enjoyed this, it's definitely in the King wheelhouse. Worth a read.

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Review: Burn by Daniel Swensen

Burn by Daniel Swensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have had this story sitting on my Kindle for a LONG time, but, like sometimes happens, you forget they are there. This is a short novella I read over two nights. I loved how this story unfolded. My first book of Stephen King's was Firestarter and this was similar, but told in such a way that you aren't quite sure what has happened, what is currently happening and what will happen - though you suspect the longer it goes on. Full of tension and suspense, Burn, builds and keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat. Brilliant writing.

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