The Very First Damned Thing - I've got a good feeling about this!

The Chronicles of St Mary's Series by Jodi Taylor is one that has been "suggested" to me by Amazon and Audible, based on stuff I've either purchased or just looked at (too clever by half!). I have looked but not touched ... until now. The Very First Damned Thing is a prequel to the series and was offered free from Audible last Christmas, so I thought ... why the heck not! And hip hip hooray, I think I'm on to a winner here. This short book is definitely a scene setter and tells the tale of how St Mary's was set up and provides plenty of hints as to what St Mary's will become ... a group of historians who study historical events by actually going to them. Within the first page, I knew I was in safe hands, with a story that just starts ... no fancy preamble, no set ups, it just gets going from the off. It is two years since "the final victory at the Battersea Barricades", which isn't fully explained in this book, but that doesn't present a problem for me. It's enough to know that this event has plummeted the country into a drab and dreary existence, with the population struggling to come to terms with the massive loss of life. Rebuilding is a slow process, and money is tight, so it takes a strong and determined man to persuade the powers that be to fork out for something new. That man is Dr Bairstow, and the something new is a miraculous device that allows people to travel to the past and study it up close to find out what really happened. Met with initial scepticism, his practical demonstration at the Battle Of Waterloo secures him the funding he needs. He bases himself at St Mary's and then, a little bit like Yul Bryner in the Magnificent Seven (yes, I'm that old!), he travels the country persuading a hand-picked team of unusual people to join him. Humorous, historical, and with so much back and front(?) story hinted at, that I can't wait to get to know these characters better. Even after such a short time, they already have a depth that was distinctly lacking in Allegiant (see previous blog). Whilst I suspect that I would have got more out of this short book if I had already delved into the series, I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am so looking forward to reading the first book in the series. I hope this is a great taste of things to come ... and that I have found a new series to fall in love with (well, I do need something to fill the void that will be left after I finish Bernard Cornwall's Sharpe books).

My STAR rating: FOUR (only because it was so short ... I wanted more!)

Length: 74 print pages.
Price I paid: FREE (special Christmas offer from Audible).
Formats available: unabridged audio download; ebook.

Allegiant - disappointingly tedious!

So, it's 18 months since I read the second instalment of the Divergent Series by Veronica Roth. I'd loved the first book, but was disappointed by the second, feeling it had spent most of the time setting the scene for the final showdown that would be Book 3. However, in Allegiant, I turned page after page after endless page, waiting for the action to get going, but was consistently disappointed ... there was no big showdown, in fact, nothing much seems to happen at all. I will attempt to relay some of the plot, such as it is ... So, after the disbanding of the "faction" system in Chicago, things do not turn out as rosy as they should ... with the leaders still fighting for control and, instead of allowing people to live how they want, trying to impose a new, and equally unfair and restrictive order as before. Our two young heroes, Tris and Tobias end up joining the Allegiant, and escaping from the city. They find themselves in the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, where they discover that the lives they had been living had been part of a massive experiment to see if a population of genetically damaged people could, eventually, become pure again. Discovering this, Tobias goes into a bit of a tailspin, and he takes yet another wrong turn and almost starts YET ANOTHER revolution. The BGW are keen to do a reset of Chicago using a memory serum that would, in effect, reboot the city and wipe everyone's memories. Tris, Tobias and their comrades set out to prevent this and try to give everyone true freedom once and for all.

This book could have been so much more, but it was flaccid and padded out with endless "moments" between Tris and Tobias that instead of being touching, just started to become irritating. It felt like a rerun of the previous two books, but without the real drive and vigour of the first. It's never a good sign when you can't wait to finish a book and unfortunately, that's how I felt from very early on. Not sure there was enough material for a trilogy here and this story completely ran out of steam. I stopped caring about the one-dimensional characters very early on in this one. Hey ho, at least it's over!

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 526 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

The Muse - a bit of everything!

The Muse is a story of love, art and loss ... not necessarily in that order. The action starts in London, 1967, where Odelle Bastien, a budding writer from the Caribbean is working in a dead end job just to make ends meet. When she starts a new job at the Skelton Institute of Art, her life is completely transformed by her enigmatic colleague, Marjorie Quick, and the discovery of a previously unknown painting by Isaac Robles, a mysterious Spanish artist about whom people know very little. Odelle and the owner of the painting become romantically entangled and, it seems, life is on the up, but why does Quick seem to trust Odelle one minute and push her away the next?.

Meanwhile, the story takes us back in time to a small village in Southern Spain in 1936, where an Anglo-Austrian family have recently settled despite the threat of Civil War. Olive Schloss, the daughter of an Austrian Art dealer and an English heiress, is a budding artist, who has turned down her offer from Slade Art School to come to Spain with her parents. Half-siblings, Terese and Isaac Robles, make themselves invaluable to the Schloss family, with Olive falling for Isaac, budding artist and fervent revolutionary, in a big way. She feels he is the inspiration for her finest work which has started to pour out of her. When Mr Schloss asks to see some of Isaac's work, with a view to selling it, Terese switches his work with one of Olive's in an effort to get her work recognised. However, Olive wants Isaac to take the credit. This initial small deception leads to heartache that is felt for many decades to come.

Jessie Burton has created two totally believable narratives that are beautifully intertwined over the course of the book. I loved the character of Odelle who is funny and insecure, but brave and determined too. The scenes in Spain were stifling, unsettling and completely engrossing. The descriptions of the artwork were so detailed that I felt like I had an actual image of them in my mind's eye. This is a clever book that is hard to categorise ... there is love to be had, a mystery to solve and a journey of self-discovery. It's great to have a book where women take centre stage and I was hooked from the get-go and I really thought I knew where it was headed ... but I was wrong-footed, which doesn't happen very often, so when it does, I am a happy girl!

I read the audio edition. narrated with style by Cathy Tyson.

My STAR rating: 5 STARS.

Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Dead Souls - grim, but determined

Guilt weighs heavily on Inspector John Rebus in Dead Souls, which is the tenth outing for our favourite Edinburgh-based policeman. Guilt about the distant past, when an old flame turns up looking for her missing son. Guilt about the near past every time he looks at his daughter Sammy, who is now confined to a wheelchair. And guilt about the present when he outs a freed paedophile, who is subsequently murdered. Life gets even tougher when a convicted murderer is sent back to Edinburgh from the USA, and starts to entangle Rebus in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The writing is taught and tense, and Rebus is not a happy soul in this book. His many, many ghosts are keeping him company on an almost permanent basis, and his relationship with Patience is in severe danger of collapse. Ian Rankin seems to take immense pleasure in putting his main character through some deep traumas in every book, but this one pushes him to the very edge. This is a book for those who like their crime drama to be dark and brooding. The crimes in question are disturbing and make for a tough read. The dialogue feels authentic and crisp, and the slow reveal of what's really been going on is patient and un-showy. There is plenty of action too, and none of it is pretty. While it may be grim, this is still a good read with plenty of stuff to keep the reader gripped. If only Rebus could catch a break and have a little happiness from time to time ...!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 477 print pages.
Price Paid: free, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

A Christmas Carol - familiar fare

A Christmas Carol is probably one of the best known works of Charles Dickens ... who among us hasn't seen a TV or film adaptation (obviously, The Muppet Christmas Carol being the best of the bunch)? But how many of us have actually read the original book? It's a short work, and is often included within other Christmas stories in print. Here we have the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly money-grabbing tyrant who thinks Christmas is humbug and doesn't understand why anybody would want to do anything on Christmas Day except work. With no friends to call on, he is a lonely, bitter man. One Christmas Eve, he is visited by three spirits who show him his past, his present and his future. In the past, we see the sad, slow demise of the good cheer and humanity that once rested within the young Ebenezer. In the present, he is taken to visit the home of his much put upon employee, Bob Cratchett. He is astounded at how happy this family is, who have almost nothing but each other. In the future ... suffice to say, it isn't exactly pretty! Will Ebenezer be inspired to change his ways and find a better future for himself? Well ... it is a Christmas story so I think we all know the answer to that. I did enjoy reading A Christmas Carol, the audio edition of which I can recommend as good fodder for a journey! Yes, it's predictable, but there are, as usual with Mr Dickens, some great passages of descriptive prose. However, it is very light weight and probably because I knew the story so well, it didn't grip me. It is still worth reading, for there is heart and warmth and humour to this tale of redemptive possibilities which reminds us that it's never to late to change your ways!

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 90 print pages.
Price I paid: FREE.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Burial Rites - grippingly dark tale

Set in Iceland in 1829, Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent, is the story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, a woman convicted (alongside two others) of the murder of two men. While awaiting execution, she is sent to live out the remainder of her days on an isolated farm. The family who live on the farm are less than happy with this arrangement, and are convinced that they will all be murdered in their beds. During her stay, she is ministered to by a young assistant priest, Thorvardur Jonsson, who, on repeated visits, tries to get her to talk about herself and to come to terms with what is about to happen. The tragedy that has been her life story slowly unfolds, and those around her start to see Agnes as a young and vulnerable woman, rather than a dangerous criminal. The writing is haunting at times, and the underlying threat of Agnes' fate that is drawing closer to day by day can be felt like the constant vibrations of distant drumbeat, even in the lighter moments. The book is emotionally engaging and you cannot help but root for the central character and hope that there will be a last minute reprieve for her. The relationship which develops between Agnes and Margret, the mother of the family she is placed with, moves from suspicious disgust to open tenderness. All the characters are well drawn and the pacing is superb. Even more poignant is that the book is based on real events. I read the audio edition which was fabulously narrated by Morven Christie. I can heartily recommend this book, but be warned, it is bleak, it is dark and will stay with you for some time.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £2.99.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.