The Strain

The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

Published- 2nd June 2009
Publisher- William Morrow
Pages- 403 pages (hardback)

The Strain TV show- (from left to right)- Fet, Nora, Setrakian, Dutch, Zack and Ephraim.

Flight 753 has been found on the runway with all engines dead and every passenger inside the plane is dead aswell. What happened to all the passengers and how did they all die? Also, what is this sudden mysterious virus that is sweeping over the city of New York? 

The description of the vampires within this novel was well written as there was lots of description and they were terrifyingly written about. These creatures sound so scary and are not things you want to meet in a dark alley at night. The most horrifying thing about them is the stinger which they release from their mouths when they are about to finish off their prey. They are by far the scariest vampires I have ever read about within a novel. If you were expecting vampires like the ones in Twilight then this is definitely the wrong novel for you to be reading. 

Ephraim Goodweather was a great main character as he wanted to find out about this disease and find a way to cure it. He also wanted to protect his ex-wife, Kelly, and son, Zack, from being infected also. However, things don't always go as you want them to. Abraham Setrakian and Fet were also good characters as they had a lot of skills for killing the vampires. Setrakian was filled with all the vampire knowledge of how to destroy vampires and hopefully find and kill the Master. However, finding the Master and killing him are the hardest things as he is not that easy to kill. You didn't find out much about Nora, but she seems like a good character from what we know about her. Although, you did find out that she has been in a relationship with Ephraim and she would make a good mother figure to Zack. 

The writing in this novel flowed really well and it was an easy read. A lot of the descriptive writing was really graphic and in some parts terrifying. For example, some of the death scenes were very descriptive and contained a lot of violence and horrific reading. This is not a novel for younger readers because of all the violence that is involved within the writing. The TV show should also not be watched by younger viewers as that does get quite graphic at times and includes some violent death scenes.

The TV show is quite different from the book as they have changed a lot and added a lot of stuff to it. For example, Zack did not get attacked by Matt in his own home, that was added into the TV show. Also, the character Vaun does not appear in the books. There is a character like Vaun in the books, but he has a different name. TV shows are always changing stuff from the books to make them their own and to give them different twists and turns so they can run for many seasons. If a TV show always followed strictly to the books then it would only last for 1 or 2 seasons. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and give it 4.5/5 stars. It was easy to read as some of the chapters were really short. This is a definite must read if you love vampire novels, horror stories, love the TV show The Strain or love Guillermo Del Toro. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens to Ephraim, Setrakian, Nora, Fet and Zack. Will the vampires eventually all be wiped out? I'll have to read the next 2 books in the trilogy to find out.

                      Rating 4.5/5
   

Recently Purchased Books

Paper Towns by John Green &

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Emma by Jane Austen, 

Personal by Lee Child,

The 100 Homecoming by Kass Morgan &

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You Belong to Me by Karen Rose &

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey 

The Returned by Seth Patrick & 

Captain America graphic novel

Robin Hood,

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell &

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

Agent Carter Bobble-Head Pop Vinyl &

Donatello Ninja Turtles Pop Vinyl Figure

Magonia

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

RECEIVED FROM HARPER COLLINS FOR REVIEW

Published- 28th April 2015
Publisher- Harper Collins
Pages- 320 pages (paperback)

What and where is Magonia? Is Aza Ray destined to stay on Earth or go to Magonia? Aza Ray has spent her whole live not being able to breath normal human air, but is her life about to change forever?

This was a good fantasy novel about a subject I have not read about before. Aza Ray was born with breathing difficulties which means she cannot breathe normal human air, this was her rare lung disease. No one knew how to cure her or why she was born this way. Aza Ray was a good female character as she was brave and would do anything to protect the people she loved. She just wanted to live a normal human live, but she wasn't a normal human as she was born in Magonia. Jason was also a good character as he just wanted to protect Aza. I didn't really like Zal that much as she wasn't a very likeable person. She just wanted to control everyone and didn't care about their feelings.

The cover for this novel is very fitting as the feather represents what Aza is about to become and what the future holds for her. It also fits into the storyline where they find a feather in her lungs during an MRI scan. Birds are in this novel a lot as they are part of the main storyline. The writing flows fairly well. However, I didn't really like the parts where it kept repeating itself quite a lot throughout different pages. The fantasy elements were portrayed very well in this novel through Magonia and the birds who could talk/sing. However, you didn't get to find out much about what Magonia looks like as they were mainly on Earth or the Amina Pennarum ship.


Overall, I give this novel 3/5 stars. I gave it that rating because although it was a good fantasy novel there were not many action elements for me. Some parts were very slow for me like the start of the novel. All the action scenes came towards the end of the novel, so I had to wait quite a while for them to happen. However, this was still a good novel and a definite must read if you like fantasy novels with an element of nature.

               Rating 3/5
  

The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir

Published- 13th February 2014
Publisher- Del Ray
Pages- 369 pages (hardback)

Mark Watney is a botanist and engineer, but he becomes trapped on Mars after a freak accident. Will he make it off Mars alive? How will he survive on Mars? Will anyone rescue him in time?

I really enjoyed this novel and it has become one of my favourite novels that I've read this year. I'm not a big science fan, but I loved reading all the scientific elements of this novel. The scientific elements helped us get inside Mark Watney's mind in his battle for survival. We learnt about everything he needed to do in terms of food, water and how to make Mars a livable planet for him to survive on. There was also a bit of maths thrown into some parts of this novel.

Mark Watney is a great character because of his personality, sense of humor and the way he would do anything to survive. One of my favourite quotes from Mark is 'In your face Neil Armstrong', so I'm glad this quote has made it into the movie. In the movie Mark Watney will be played by the brilliant Matt Damon. Mark always tried to see the positive side to things by making jokes and finding ways to fix any problems that occurred. Some of his ideas were really funny to read about, like towards the end of the novel he wanted to become like Iron Man to try to get back to Hermes. 

I also liked reading the parts about the people on Earth who were doing everything they could to get Mark Watney back alive. You also got points of view from the crew of Hermes and how they were feeling after leaving Mark behind. The staff at JPL had to do a lot of work to figure out how to get Mark home and this was portrayed in the writing of the novel. It was easy to follow the whole way and easy to read. Some of the scientific words were hard to pronounce, but it helps you learn more. 

Overall, this is one of my favourite novels of this year. I give this novel 5/5 stars. I've never read a novel before about people trapped on different planets so it was a really interesting read for me. I can't wait to see how different the film is from the novel and to basically see how good the film is. Hopefully I will enjoy the film just as much as I enjoyed reading this novel. If you love novels about different planets, battles for survival or science novels then this is definitely a must read for you.

                                 Rating 5/5
    

Birthday Presents

My Birthday- 9th September 2015

These are the presents I got for my birthday. I also got some money, a ticket to see the Illusionist Darcy Oake and 3 boxes of chocolate. I may also be getting the Outlander Pop Vinyls of Jamie Fraser and Claire Fraser depending on when they are released.

Sam and Dean Supernatural Pop Vinyl Figures

The Walking Dead Season 1 Blu-Ray

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence &

Two Evils by P.J. Tracy

Twisted 07 E17 LDN T-shirt

To The Pub T-shirt

Ruby Necklace & Ring set

Purple & Silver Beaded Bracelet