Review: The Fault in Our Stars (19/04/20)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If anyone is unfamiliar with this book, where have you been for decade? I admit I had not read this book. But I did understand the basic story line. The story follows Hazel as she navigates later stages of terminal cancer. She goes about her days muddling through as best she can. Her mum who worries about her mental state encourages her to go to group therapy session once a week. It is there she meets Augustus. They form a friendship full of witty banter and love of reading.

No more summary as its basically all tears from there…

It’s hard to say what I liked about this book. All of it? None of it? How can I like a book that so completely broke my emotional well-being? But I did.

The characters were brilliant. They were funny, so funny. Which was needed in a book that was dealing with the issue of childhood cancer. It was written beautifully and having never read a book by John Green before. I did not know what I was missing. I am ready (almost) to take on any of his other books if they are even half as good as this.

There was nothing I didn’t like about this book honestly. Except all of it. But not really. I guess you only understand if you have read it.

A solid 4 stars. If you want to weep like a baby and are ready to be emotionally distraught. This is the book for you.


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Darkly Dreaming Dexter (14/01/15)

This is the first book in the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsey. It could roughly be classed in the genre of crime. However unlike other crime novels this is told from the murders perspective. It isn’t often I start a book and consider the fact that I am going to be on the killer side. I have watched most of the TV show which I thoroughly enjoyed, the book is different enough that you don’t feel like you have been through it before.

The book starts with Dexter and his ‘Dark Passenger’ the voice inside him that drives his need to kill. Dealing with a killer worse than him by far. We follow him and his strange thoughts through his day to day life. He repeatedly mentions that he is not human and does feel the way he should towards others. His closest relationship is with is foster sister Deborah who is following in her father’s footsteps and aims to move up from the normal police to the homicide team. Dexter is a blood spatter analyst and manages to keep his extra curricula activities hidden from all the police officers and detective around him. However Dexter starts to question himself and his grasp on sanity when it starts to look like he is involved with a string of vicious murders on hookers grips Miami.

This book was so easy and fun to read. At no point did anything Lindsey wrote feel like a chore to get through. I started to forget about the show and just go with his utter brilliance that shone through every single page. It is such a good book I can’t think of any other way to explain it. The book won’t make you think too deeply but it is fun and different and happily part of a larger series of books.

My lasting impression of this book is liking a character that should be likeable. Hoping he stays out of the clutches of the law which will always try and stop him. Also I can tell there is more to Dexter than meets the eye and I can’t wait to read the rest and delve into his sick and twisted mind again.

The Walking Dead Vol. 5 The Best Defence (03/11/14)

Vol. five see the survivors pushing their boundaries outside the relative safety they have developed inside the prison setting. Whilst outside the main complex Rick notices a helicopter crashing in the distance. Seeing this Rick, Glen and Michonne venture out to discover where the helicopter came from and is anyone has survived. Upon arrival at the scene they discover anything of importance has already been removed and there is evidence another group of people got there first. As their car is stuck and night is approaching they decide this other group must be somewhere near by so go in search of answers. This lead them to the town of Woodbury and basically all hell has begun to break lose, with the introduction of The Governor.

Anyone who has seen the TV series will understand this importance and vaguely know what to expect… What I wasn’t prepared for is how evil this villain is in the graphic novels. He is so much worse than I thought he could be and I really fear for the characters. After saying I wasn’t fond of Michonne in the graphic novels I now have new found respect for her. I really hope she gets to wreak some revenge soon. Rick may have seemed crazy in the last volume but I am glad of this now and can’t wait until this story line really gets going. 

I really feel like the art work is developing and it definitely has its own feel about it now with characters facial expressions becoming more define as the story progresses. There is a definite feeling of story progression now rather than, these are some people and this is the setting. I feel like there are some drastic things to come in the next volume and really I can’t wait to see what happens.

The Walking Dead Vol. 4 The Heart's Desire (01/10/14)

So what can I say about Vol. 4… I will start with it being a little shocking. Not as in bad, but as in I didn’t see some of the relationship changes coming. I am pretty much a traditionalist at heart once I get an idea of a couple in my head it is very hard to change that. I will try not to go into too much detail, I do so hate spoilers, but I will talk about which characters shocked me. Firstly Rick, how ‘cray cray’ is his character going to go…. They touched on this insane descent in the TV show but it was never anything like this. I’m even at times finding it hard to like his character, that doesn’t mean I don’t get why he is doing what he is doing but it’s just hard to take the image of Andrew Lincolns portrayal of the character out of my head. However I can see these characters getting more removed from each other as I progress.

The other character that is shocking me in the graphic novel is Carol, she seems to have no backbone and is constantly on the edge of no return. I guess the emotions in this series are just so extreme. I’m finding it compelling but also a frightening how the human mind seems to breakdown. It would be impossible not to mention Michonne in the character shocking review. I love her character in the TV show, I liked her instantly and love what she brings to the group. But right now in the graphic novel I really don’t like her. There is something off about her and what she does, it would be a shame not to like her in the actual graphic novel series but I will have to see how things develop.

Talking about how the characters differ, I think I actually prefer Hershel in the graphic novels. He loses his optimism sooner and goes pretty scary after losing two of his daughters in the previous volume. This seems more realistic and credible. I also love this evil eye look he seems to always have going when someone does or says something to annoy him. It is so easier to read though these volumes and I can’t imagine it will take me long to get through them now I’ve got started.