Book Lover 1989: 2016

Showing posts with label 2016. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 January 2017

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Published- 5th June 2008
Publisher- Yearling
Pages- 336 pages (paperback)

Salim visits the London Eye with his cousins Kat and Ted. He goes up on the Eye, but when the pod gets back to the ground Salim is nowhere to be seen. How can someone disappear from a sealed pod on the London Eye? Where is Salim and what has happened to him? Will Kat and Ted work out the mystery?

This was a good novel as the blurb on the back of the novel really intrigued me when I first picked it up in a charity shop. I was wondering how someone could go missing from a sealed pod on the London Eye without anyone noticing. The novel was told by Ted who has a special condition in which he sees things differently from other people. He is obsessed with the weather and different weather conditions. Ted said his brain works on a different wavelength from other people. It was good to see the story told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy. He teamed up with his older sister Kat to find out what happened to their cousin Salim and try to find him.

Ted and Kat were great main characters as I loved reading the story from a child's point of view rather than an adults. They would go anywhere in London just to find clues as to what happened. They even spoke to people they had never met before to try to find out the mystery. Salim was a good character aswell as he just wanted to be with his friends and he was also a brave character because of what happened in the novel.

The end of the novel was a good twist because you didn't see it coming. You thought there could only be a few events that could have actually happened like he was kidnapped, killed, killed himself or something else happened. I always knew that Ted would work out the mystery as to what had happened to his cousin though. The story started with Salim going missing and then it went to 24 hours before that event occurred. The whole story only took place within the space of about 4 or 5 days.

Some of the language was quite long as it featured a lot of meteorological terms as that is the job Ted wants to do when he is older. It was also good seeing how Ted's brain worked and how he worked through the clues. He was a person who could remember anything that people said, or things he saw, or theories he worked out. Kat would go out on her own sometimes to find clues but only because she was the eldest sibling.

Overall, I gave this novel 5/5 stars as it was a good mystery novel. It left you thinking the whole way through as to what the mystery was. You just wanted to know what happened to Salim so you had to keep reading. This novel gripped me from just reading the blurb on the back of the book. If you like a good mystery then this will certainly capture your attention when you read the back of the book. This is also a good book if you live in London and know the different areas of London featured in the novel.

Rating 4/5

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

The Witch's Kiss Blog Tour

5th July 2016- This is my stop on the blog tour for The Witch's Kiss by Katharine and Elizabeth Corr.

Sixteeen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school – not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she’s stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse. Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love’s kiss save the day?

Video recorded at The Witch's Kiss Book Launch on 4th July 2016

Merry is a witch, but her powers are very sporadic and sometimes non existent. However, a great evil has been unleashed on the world in the forms of Jack and Gwydion. People are being attacked in Merry's hometown and it is up to her and her brother Leo to stop this evil before it can be unleashed on the whole world. Merry needs to stop people from being killed, but does she succeed and does she regain the use of her magic?

I found this to be quite a fast paced novel with action throughout the whole story. The action parts weren't just confined to the end of the novel. The main action did come at the end as you would expect, but there was also scenes throughout the rest of the novel such as Jack being released from the lake, people being attacked, Merry trying to use her powers, etc. I did kind of predict what would happen at the end of the novel, but I wasn't expecting the little twist in the action at the end of the novel. That was a good surprise as I wasn't expecting it.

Merry and Leo were good main characters as they were brave, would do anything to protect the people they love and they just wanted to save their town from the evils that haunted it. Even though Leo didn't have magical powers he was still important when it came to stopping Gwydion. Gwydion was a good villain as he just wanted to kill and control people and he didn't care who he hurt in the process of doing that. Jack just wanted to be human again, but he couldn't while Gwydion was controlling him so he knew that a sacrifice had to be made by him in some way shape or form.

The language flowed really well throughout the whole novel. However, in some parts throughout the novel I found that some words in sentences were missing so some of the sentences didn't make much sense. I liked the use of dreams and nightmares throughout the novel so Merry could see what happened to her ancestors in the past when they tried to stop Gwydion. I also liked the use of visions in which Merry could see events which were about to happen or had just happened.

Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. I found it a good, fast paced, enjoyable read which I didn't want to stop reading. This story will be continued in the next novel The Witch's Tears which should be released at some point next year. I can't wait to see what happens next to Merry and Leo on their journey to stop the forces of evil and darkness from taking over the world and their quiet little town.

Rating 4/5

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Klickitat

Klickitat by Peter Rock

Published- 12th April 2016
Publisher- Amulet Books
Pages- 240 pages (paperback)

SOLICITED ARC REVIEW

The premise of the novel is about two sisters called Vivian and Audra. Audra suddenly goes missing one day, but where has she gone and why? When she does reappear who is the mysterious guy with her? Does the guy have anything to do with the mysterious words appearing in Vivian's notebook? Why do they want Vivian to come with them and will they all make it home safely?

This novel was quite a quick read as the text was quite small but there wasn't much text per page. A lot of the page was blank around the sides and at the bottom and top. So the pages could have been filled up a bit more. In some ways I enjoyed this novel, mainly because it was a quick mystery/survival read. The ways I didn't enjoy it include some aspects of the novel which were not included or talked about.

Two things which weren't explained where what exactly was wrong with Vivian and why did she need to keep taking medication. Also, what exactly was her dad's job, all it said was that he spoke to people in other countries in his basement. Some other parts which were not explained include who exactly was writing in the notebook, that was never answered. I also wanted to know exactly what happened to Henry and Audra. I'm guessing they both died in the water, but it was not explained what they were doing at the water or exactly what happened to cause them to drown. Some parts of the action were also very slow paced so it took a while to get through some of the scenes.

I liked that the novel was very descriptive in terms of the landscape and where they were staying. It was also descriptive in how they would describe some of the people they met. In terms of back stories I would have liked more back story for Iceland and Henry. We never found out exactly who Henry was or why he suddenly appeared with Audra. This novel definitely had the mystery element to it in terms of Audra's disappearance and no one knowing where exactly she was.

Overall, I gave this novel 3/5 stars as it was a quick reading, but it was lacking in a lot of elements of the plot. Such as back stories, explanations, key questions answered, etc. I got through this read within a few days which was good. Its a good mystery survival novel, but it does need a lot of things added to the overall plot of the novel.

Rating 3/5