Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

I've spent the last few days reading Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.  I was given a copy to review by WHSmith.co.uk.  This is what I wrote in my review.

This is the first Alastair Reynolds book I've read.  It won't be the last.  A friend described him to me as a writer who definitely knows his subject.  She was right but before I read this I didn't realise just how right she was.  Mr Reynolds uses this knowledge to enhance the book and bring it to levels it wouldn't otherwise reach.

Terminal Worlds is real proper sci fi and it's got all the elements it needs to fall under that category.  The plot is fast paced and intriguing with some ideas I've never seen before.  It's also got totally believable characters.  They really come to life and the book ended with me wanting to know what happened next.  Both in terms of the plot and also to the characters.

What have you been reading recently?

Absorption by John Meaney

I've been meaning to update here for ages but keep not getting round to it, sorry!

As you might know if you read my blog, I've gotten several free books this year.  Some just because I've been lucky and others to review.  Currently I've done four reviews and I have fifth book on the way.  I've gotten into this through twitter mostly, by following major UK booksellers.  Some of them also post review offers on facebook.  It's worth checking out!  It's also worth checking out if your favourite authors or publishers are on twitter as I also won a book from a publishing house via twitter.

@Waterstones and @WHSmithcouk are the two on twitter I've had books from

The most recent one I've reviewed is Absorption by John Meaney for WHSmith.co.uk  It's the first book in the Ragnarok trilogy and I loved it.

This is what I said:

Really, really enjoyed this book. Well crafted sci fi with plenty to attract people who aren't true sci fi fans as well. I liked the shifting perspective/place/time aspect with every chapter although I preferred some of them to others. Equally there were a few I would have liked to see more of. Very well written, this sucks you in completely. My only criticism - and it isn't one really - is that being the first of a trilogy it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger which has me really wondering. I'll definitely be buying the next one to find out

We're Just Ordinary Girls

I've been meaning to publish this post for about a month or so now, but I was either not in the mood or I was distracted by something else and wrote about whatever it was that had my attention at the time. I donno if any of my regular readers remember, but in January I started re-reading the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot for a second time. My goal was--and still is--to read the entire series again this year.

My original intention, though, was to read the books straight through, one after another. However...as I got close to the fifth volume I knew I had to take a break from Mia's teenage travails, because the melodrama she created mostly for herself in each novel was getting on my nerves. True, some of her problems/concerns were valid and understandable, like her flunking Algebra and the fact that her bohemiam, flighty mother began dating her staid, traditional and responsible math teacher, Frank Gianini, and ended up having his baby. Then of course, there was her demanding, self-absorbed grandmother, the Dowager Princess, who constantly pulled Mia into her schemes that were, more often than not, designed to further the Dowager Princess' accomplishments or show off her "largess." But then, there were many times when Mia worked herself into a tizzy over things that were truly inconsequential. Like whether or not Michael would break up with her only after a month of being a couple, just because Mia couldn't keep their first date upon her return from Genovia. (Now I realize this may be a valid concern to a teenage girl with low self-esteem, but to a grown woman of 34 years, it's a needless worry!)

I realized part way through Volume IV, Princess in Waiting, that while I enjoy Mia's often humorous and...interesting view on life and the world--which I don't always agree with--I enjoy her diaries more if I read them in smaller groupings, 'cause I loved most of the books when I read them the first time and couldn't wait for the next one to come out! So, I'm taking a break from this teen fiction for a while. I've read a couple of books since, and after Fablehaven 5 (by Brandon Mull) I intend to read The Sword of the Templars (by Paul Christopher), then maybe The Gates of Sleep (by Mercedes Lackey). After that, I'll see about picking up the fifth volume of Mia's diaries again and going on from there.

=0/ What a long-winded explanation, huh, or opening to the real topic I have in mind today. When reading the first several volumes of Princess Mia's diaries this time around, I jotted down some notes from each novel of things that caught my attention. The first thing is found in Volume I on page 55 of the hardback edition. (***SPOILER ALERT***)

Mia just found out from her dad that she is the sole heir to the throne of Genovia, a small European principality. Naturally this was a bombshell of monumental proportions for Mia! She didn't handle it very well at first; she pretended for the first few days after her dad told her that nothing had changed. She even bulldozed her mom in to giving permission for sleeping over at Lilly's that Friday night, in order to avoid her father a lil longer.

And it was the sleepover that stirred a childhood memory in me as I read about that night's fun. Mia opened that entry with the question, Why do I always have such a good time when I spend the night at Lilly's?, and I think I asked myself that question many a time when I stayed over at a friend's house.

The answer, of course, was obvious even though I couldn't see it for the longest time. The reason I--and Mia--always had a fun time sleeping over at a friend's house was the fact that for a short while we could forget our responsibilities and obligations at home. At a sleepover, there are no chores to be done, no homework to worry about, no sister or brother to be annoyed by. At a sleepover, you can cast any worries or troubles aside for the time being, and just be silly with your best friend(s). That's certainly what Mia did! *laughs* And what I did too.

I hate to admit this, but I hated it when it was time to go home. Not that I didn't like my home or love my family, but while I was at a sleepover I was able to forget that I had a disability, that I had to do exercises and go to physical therapy to remain limber and strong, that I had to see a speech pathologist for my speech impediment. I was just an ordinary girl when I was at a friend's house. And that's what Princess Mia was whenever she visited Lilly Moscovitz's high-rise apartment.