The story of Peter Pan is one I’m more than familiar with, having seen the mythos and the character appear in many different forms (Disney’s Peter Pan, Hook, Once Upon a Time….) The blurb of this book was extremely intriguing, especially since the focus was more on the so-called villain of the story of Peter Pan: Captain James Hook, the fearsome pirate captain and Pan’s nemesis. Or, in this case, a man who found himself washed up on the shores of Neverland and was forced into playing a deadly game with an immortal child…or whatever Pan actually is.

I haven’t read the prequel to this book, but I found this to be easy to follow even so. It was so interesting to see the different characters reacting to the time they’d spent in Neverland. I was very intrigued seeing Wendy and her relationship with her daughter. It was really strained and it was really good to see that there conflicts between them that needed to be dealt with. It was also great to see the outside conflicts with Jane training to be a doctor and how she’s had to deal with that, considering this book is set in a time where women were seen as less than men.

The glimpses I had of Neverland were intriguing, especially when it came to James’ interactions with Pan and the role he was forced to play for the amusement of something that is clearly not just an immortal child…though I would have liked some more detail about what exactly Peter Pan was. I also wasn’t enirely sure what had happened to Pan, other than his shadow being sewn back on. It didn’t seem like it had killed him, but whatever he was seemed to be completely removed from any type of reality.

I did find the concept of Neverland existing in so many different times all at once to be really interesting, although it did get confusing at times. And the idea of the characters existing at once in the real world and their ‘shadows’ in Neverland was a pretty intriguing one as well. I really liked seeing the flashbacks between James and Samuel, even though the beginning of the book made it clear that Samuel was no longer in the picture. It lent the flashbacks between James and Samuel a more bittersweet feeling, knowing how things would inevitably turn out.

I liked that this book was just as much, if not more, about the family relationships as it was about Neverland and that shared history. Pan’s beast manifesting itself in their world was a really good way of having more tension in the book itself.

I really liked that, despite his best efforts, James couldn’t get past the shadow of Captain Hook. Even despite his best attempts to remain civilised, it was obvious that Hook was lurking not even that far below the surface, even before it was made clear that James let his darker side out during his time living with the man he loved. That made me incredibly sad, as even if that violent part of him had been there before he was trapped in Neverland, Pan clearly did something to bring that side of him to the surface, making it impossible for James to live a normal life, or even be happy, with Samuel.

The flashback scenes with Timothy and seeing what happened with him were heartbreaking, but I couldn’t really blame Wendy for the actions she took. And just like everything else that happened in Neverland, the past clearly had a lot of negative effects on the characters in the present.

All in all, this book was really good to read and I enjoyed being able to see Captain Hook as, while not exactly a hero, definitely more than just a villain. I would really like to read Wendy Darling at some point in the future and see more of just what Peter Pan actually was.

So, Blink was the first book I read by Ted Dekker. And I loved it. It was one of my favourites and one that I re-read multiple times. When I realised it had been re-released, with changes made, I was immediately interested in reading it. And thanks to one of my brothers, who got it for me for Christmas, I was able to read it.

What would you do if you could see something a moment before it happens? That’s the dilemma university student Seth Border faces when he sees a bird fly into a window…a few seconds before the same thing occurs in reality. A surfer with an IQ that’s higher than Einstein’s, Seth doesn’t really feel like he fits in. He sees things in a different way to those of his fellow students and even his professors. It becomes a point of contention between him and one professor, who he can’t resist needling and engaging in a battle of wills with.

As intriguing as it is to read about a genius who develops abilities that he has to figure out how to navigate, Seth isn’t in fact the main character in this book, although he does play a pivotal role. The role of main character belongs to Miriam, a princess from Saudi Arabia who’s on the run from a political marriage that she doesn’t want. Due to a series of events, she falls in with Seth, whose newfound ability seems to grow stronger when he’s in her presence. Ultimately, his gift expands to the point that he can see every potential future, every possible outcome, three hours from the present. And that ends up being as exhausting as it sounds, which is good. Seth’s ability is huge, but he has very human limitations that do lead him to make mistakes and errors in judgement. These serve to make him a more ‘human’ character.

There were a lot of changes in this book from the original and I’m not sure all of them were for the better. Miriam’s new thoughts and ideals in this new edition were at odds with her actions and behaviour. There was no clear reason for the change; they weren’t worked seamlessly into her motivations and I was left wondering why this version of Miriam was running away when she was actively coming across as being happy and contented with a lot of her life. Seth remained the same as I remembered, though there was a missing scene in which he gets into a theological argument with a pastor that I felt would have added so much more to the book. In fact, I felt like a lot of the Christian elements of the book were removed…which was a major shame, as I feel it’s more detrimental to the feel of the original. My understanding is that this book is going to be made into a movie…and I feel like a lot of unnecessary changes were made to sell/cater to that audience. Like Miriam likening Seth to a Greek god. Repeatedly. She’d always come across as someone attracted more to the mind/personality than looks, so I can’t help thinking this is linked to the movie deal.

Sita’s drowning was as harrowing as I remembered it being; and Omar is as awful. I also liked the political aspects that many of the characters, from those native to Saudi Arabia through to those in the USA, had to deal with. There was a very moral dilemma on what value could be placed on a human life and I thought that came across very well. I also enjoyed seeing Clive and Seth interacting with each other. That was a relationship I would have liked to see more of.

I’m really disappointed that I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I did the original. I know why some of the changes were made, but I think they really detracted from the story I’d so much loved in the original. The character changes shouldn’t have felt as jarring as they did. Miriam was such a strong presence in the original book and I felt she really lost some of that in this one.

I do want to watch the movie when it comes out, as I hope it won’t stray too far from the world and the characters that I loved so much. I can’t say that I plan to read this version of the book again in the near future, though. It definitely didn’t keep me turning the pages in an effort to find out what was going to happen next. In reality, I kept turning the pages because I wanted to reach the end as fast as possible so that I could move onto something I enjoyed more.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

I’ve always been interested in well-written romances. And while I haven’t read too many alien romances, I was quite eager to read this book when I was given the opportunity to.

While I don’t really like dual first person perspectives, I did think it worked quite well in this book, though I was quite confused by the meeting/melding of the two different cultures. I didn’t really understand how Neyehuu’s people viewed human females. On the one hand, it felt a lot like they only saw them as slaves; on the other, it seemed completely contradicted by what was said and done through the book.

I found the different aspects to Neyehuu’s abilities really intriguing, especially when it came to the fact that his manerak and naxem both seemed to have their own opinions and personalities. I didn’t really know enough about those aspects to know if it was normal for the manerak to be like a split personality.

I liked seeing Mian’s interactions with the other characters, along with Neyehuu. It was really good to see how she found a place for herself in Neyehuu’s people, but there quite a few secondary characters and I did get a bit confused over who was who at times. Out of the secondary characters, though, I found Chimara to be the most engaging. I enjoyed seeing her interactions with Mian and I would have liked to see more of her history and relationships with the other characters.

I also really liked that Tekevanki, although really awful to Mian at first, had a lot more depth to her than just being a rivial and part of a love triangle plot. She’s a character I would have been interested in seeing more of.

I liked the glimpses of the different aspects of the cultures, such as the use of the wreaths. I really liked the visuals of the wreaths and the fact that the female was who made the decision, even after the males fought for her.

I did enjoy reading the book. It was easy and engaging and the world was one I’d like to see more of in the future.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

Okay, so…I’d ideally give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. The blurb was really intriguing and I actually really love the cover.

The biggest problem I think I had with this book was that I was given far too much information on the one hand…and on the other hand, I didn’t have nearly enough. For instance, there was way too much information given about the personal life of an assassin who only appeared a handful of times (that he liked young(er) American girls, but that had nothing to do with his actions in the book), but on the other hand, Alexander supposedly had problems with being too blunt with her supervisors. This was told to me in the text, not shown through her interactions with said supervisors.

There were various asides that were quite interesting, such as Mike dealing with Aisha and the group of people who later became known as the Cabal. However, lots of information was held back: unnecessarily so, in my opinion. Even by the end of the book, I had no clear idea of just how many people were involved in the Cabal, or who they were and what their end goals were.

While, at first, I found it hard to engage with the secondary characters, I did eventually get to know them. I liked Nancy and Mike the best, although I wasn’t really given the chance to get to know them as much as I would have liked.

I did get confused as to why so much information was being hidden from people by, well, everyone. For instance, Alexander didn’t want her Russian heritage to be known-why? And Mike’s hiding of Aisha made no sense and, in many ways, just seemed to make things so much harder for the team, as he was giving information in such a roundabout way.

I did appreciate the fact that all of the cases were connected in some way, as that did add another layer to everything that was going on. However, certain events seemed to just be ignored. Such as when the suspects in custody were killed. It really didn’t feel belieable that there was no fallout from what had happened.

Ultimately, there was a lot of potential in this book and most of Alexander’s team were well developed characters. However, there was too much going on. Way too much unnecessary information given and characters making choices that made no real sense. I would read a sequel to this book, as I’m honestly curious to see the fallout from what was revealed at the end of this book. However, there was no foreshadowing for the end, which made the whole ‘reveal’ senseless.

After having watched the first season, I was quite eager to read the book and get to know the characters better through the original medium.

Reading the introduction by the author, I had a clear idea in my head of who Kovacs was. An idea that was immediately contradicted with the first chapter of the book. That was interesting, though. It made me think about how people view themselves differently to how those around view them.

Even by the end of the book, I couldn’t say whether I liked or hated Kovacs. He was certainly a character with a lot of depth to him. However, he was the only one I really got to know. Seeing the others through his eyes coloured my perceptions of them a lot.

I wasn’t very clear on exactly what an Envoy did. The book, despite the wide range offered by the stack technology, was very focused on Earth. I did find it interesting to see the disconnect between Kovacs and the sleeve he wore, though. Like when he felt like a passenger being controlled by the original occupant.

It was also good to see the relation between the sleeve and its occupant. Like how Kovacs wasn’t resistant to pain, due to the young female sleeve. Or needing a cigarette because his new sleeve was addicted.

I really liked seeing how the society on Earth had evolved due to the technology, even if I did only get hints of it. The waste of bodies, for instance. I couldn’t understand where all of the sleeves were coming from.

I also would have liked more background to Kovacs. I had so many questions about his history. His relationships. Family. He was an interesting character, but something about him felt unfinished.

This book was an intriguing read, with interesting technology and a main character I would like to see and learn more of. At the same time, it would be good to get a much wider view of the world and society.

After reading Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson became one of my favourite authors. Even so, it did take me a little while to finish this book. Not because it was hard to read, but I think part of me wanted to draw the book out for as long as possible.

The idea of Elantris was a really intriguing one. Raoden was a character I could relate to right from the start. He had a lot of good qualities that clearly aided him after he was turned.

I did also particularly like Sarene. And I liked her not because of what she did well, but because of what failed. What went wrong. She was clearly an imperfect character and that’s what made her so interesting.

The heroes of this book weren’t the only characters I liked. Hrathen was one I enjoyed learning about. In my opinion, he was a good example of a three-dimensional villain.

I liked being able to see some of the politics and intrigue; the way some of the characters didn’t agree with the King’s actions, but had to work behind the scenes to affect any change.

While, at first, Sarene’s act of an air headed princess did irritate me, it was good to see that it worked against her quite often. And that she had to make adjustments due to not being able to hold onto the act. Compared to her father, she was a much stronger person.

I did find it sad to read about the fate of the people of Elantris. I could definitely get behind Raoden’s actions to change things. I thought I was rooting for them to return to their former glory for a while, but the strength the people ultimately demonstrated made me feel I would have been happy if they’d just made do.

Like Warbreaker, this book is one I would very much enjoy reading again. And I would love to read more books set in the same world.

I saw this book a while ago and was immediately intrigued by the cover, especially as it combined two of my favourite things: horror and manga.

The first story was really quite creepy. While it really wasn’t a realistic story, it was rooted enough in reality that it made my skin crawl while I was reading it. After all, vampire bats really do exist. And there was something truly disturbing about the scene with the bats filling the sky.

I found the second story much harder to suspend my disbelief for. Even with seeing what Tsuguo had seen at the comedy show, it didn’t really make a lot of sense. There just wasn’t a clear explanation as to where the ghosts had come from.

I especially liked the story with the flood. I enjoyed the fact it held a bit of a mystery and that there was still something to wonder about towards the end.

The Earthbound story was very intriguing, even though it wasn’t clear how and why it had started. There was a sense of dread that just grew the more the story went on.

The three interconnected stories were a bit harder to follow. By the end of the third one, I was completely and utterly lost.

The guardian spirits story was quite a sad one, but it also showed a sense of obsession, I felt. After all, going back to her every time, despite what she was doing, just seemed like an incredibly bad choice.

I did find the book entertaining and the artwork and stories were easy to follow. I’m very interested in reading more books by this author in the near future.