"Allegiant" by Veronica Roth

Title: Allegiant

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins

Book 3 of 'Divergent'

Blurb:

What if your whole world was a lie?

The thrillingly dark conclusion to the No. 1 New York Times bestselling DIVERGENT trilogy.

What if a single revelation – like a single choice – changed everything?

What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered – fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.

But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature – and of herself – while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice and love.

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Synopsis:

Tris is shocked by the video released to the public at the end of the raid on Erudite headquarters. The video revealed the truth about the faction system and announced that the Divergent are needed outside the borders of the city.

Tris, Four and some of the others leave the city. They find out what is really going and decide to do something about it.

For a full synopsis go visit Wikipedia.

Verdict:

Truly I got bored, but had to finish it. It is a well written book, but I lost interest and was not completely happy with the ending.

Rating: 3/5

"Running with the Demon" by Terry Brooks

Title: Running with the Demon

Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Orbit

Book 1 of 'The Word and the Void'

Blurb:

It is the beginning of the hottest July in decades, and two men have come to Hopewell, Illinois. One is not human, a dark servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to achieve a terrible secret goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word. While he sleeps, he lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its course on waking. John Ross has been given the ability to see the future. But does he have the power to change it?

At stake is the soul of a fourteen-year-old girl and the lives of the people of Hopewell. And that's just the beginning. This Fourth of July, while friends and families picnic in Sinnissippi Park and fireworks explode in celebration of freedom and independence, the fate of Humanity itself will be decided . . .

Synopsis:

Nest Freemark lives in hopewell, Illinois, a wielder of Magic helping a farey creature in her local park. John Ross comes to her town claiming to have known her mother, but in reality he is tracking a demon.

For a full synopsis go visit Wikipedia.

Verdict:

This is a great urban fantasy book set in our world, bringing magic and demons to life. A bit more in depth than a Sunday read, but well worth the effort. looking forward to book two.

Rating: 5/5

"Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Title: Insurgent

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins

Book 2 of 'Divergent'

Blurb:

Fighting for survival in a shattered world… the truth is her only hope.

I have done bad things. I can’t take them back, and they are part of who I am.

Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever… because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.

Synopsis:

Tris, Four, Caleb, Peter, and Marcus travel to Amity to meet with other Abnegation survivors to seek sanctuary. Whilst there, Erudite and Dauntless traitors turn up to search for any Abnegation survivors. As you ould expect, Tris et al do not go down without a fight, evade capture and head back into the city.

After a while they meet up with the Factionless and Four's mother. A plan is hatched to expose the data that the Erudite are keeping secret and the rest of the book is about the war that escalates from this.

For a full synopsis go visit Wikipedia.

Verdict:

Picking up from book one, the story flows straight into quite a lot of action. The love story takes a back seat as our lead character fights herself internally. I enjoyed this book as much as the first and look forward to the film being released. The plot actually is less predictable in the second book, than the first, so in some ways this was a better book and not so teenager'ish. I liked it.

Rating: 4/5

"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Harper Collins

Book 1 of 'Divergent'

Blurb:

For sixteen-year-old Tris, the world changes in a heartbeat when she is forced to make a terrible choice. Turning her back on her family, Tris ventures out, alone, determined to find out where she truly belongs.

Shocked by the brutality of her new life, Tris can trust no one. And yet she is drawn to a boy who seems to both threaten and protect her. The hardest choices may yet lie ahead….

Synopsis:

In a post-apocalyptic Chicago, survivors divide into five factions based on their dispositions: Abnegation, for the selfless; Amity, for the peaceful; Candor, for the honest; Dauntless, for the brave; and Erudite, for the intelligent. Each year, all sixteen-year-olds must take an aptitude test that describes the one faction for which they are best suited. After receiving the results, they can decide whether to remain with their family's faction or transfer to a new faction. Those who do not complete initiation into their new faction become "Factionless", and are forced to live in poverty on the streets of the city.

Tris Prior and her brother Caleb are approaching their Choosing Day. The day they either choose to stay with the faction they have grown up in, or pick a new one. They are tested prior to choosing and Tris' tests are inconclusive to which faction she should choose, hence she is Divergent. She is warned never to reveal this to anyone.

On the day of Choosing, she picks Dauntless and enters their initiation program. During initiation she makes friends and enemies within her new faction. And she also finds love in the initiation trainer namer 'Four'.

For a full synopsis go visit Wikipedia.

Verdict:

When I first got told of this book/movie, a friend described it as "The Hunger Games" only without the Hunger or the Games. Lol. Although the comparison of post-apocalyptic world with teenage female main character is true, that is where the comparison ends. This was a good read, OK so the plot is predictable once it gets going, but hey what book isn't.

Rating: 4/5

"A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin

Title: A Feast For Crows

Author: George R. R. Martin
Publisher: Pocket Books

Book 4 of 'A Song of Ice and Fire'

Blurb:

It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears. . . . With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist—or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.

But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.

It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes . . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Synopsis:

Brienne goes here, Brienne goes there, Brienne goes everywhere, oh and meets Lady Stoneheart. Cersei plots and plots and plots. Sam crosses the sea with Gilly. Arya goes to Bravos and sells fish. Petyr does whatever he wishes...

Verdict:

What a long mainly boring book. Everything interesting happens in the last twenty percent of the book. I hope book five is better as this took me like what felt forever to read.

Rating: 3/5 (Let us hope the TV series is better)

"Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile" by J. L. Bourne

Title: Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile

Author: J. L. Bourne
Publisher: Pocket Books

Book 2 of 'Day by Day Armageddon'

Blurb:

Sporadic news reports indicate chaos and violence spreading through US cities. An unknown evil is sweeping the planet. The dead are rising to claim the earth as the new dominant species in the food chain. Day by Day Armageddon and its sequel Beyond Exile are the handwritten journals of one desperate survivor as he battles in the face of global disaster. Zombie fiction at its finest, these books will take you to a whole new level of terror.

Synopsis:

Our Naval Officer has survived the attack by the raiders and secured the base and its occupants. When the next attack comes, the occupants of Hotel 23 realise that the attackers are military wanting the  contents of the base and the resources it may provide. Knowing that they eventually cannot survive lots of attacks, our Naval officer does the one thing the military would not expect. He puts on his uniform and goes topside to take effective command of the units.

The population of Hotel 23 suddenly increases ten fold and contact is made with the remnants of the military currently running operations from Naval vessels.

A branch of the government, known as Remote Six, help our officer after he crash lands on a reconnaissance mission in a supplied helicopter. But are they really here to help, or do they have their own agenda...

Verdict:

Enjoyed this book, as the 288 pages again seemed to disappear quite rapidly. The descriptions are well written, enabling you envisage the situations that the officer finds himself in. Although we still do not know his name, it does not matter, the story stands up on its own merits.

Rating: 5/5

"Day by Day Armageddon" by J. L. Bourne

Title: Day by Day Armageddon

Author: J. L. Bourne
Publisher: Pocket Books

Book 1 of 'Day by Day Armageddon'

Blurb:

Day by Day Armageddon is the handwritten journal of one man and his struggle for survival. Trapped in the midst of global disaster, he must make decisions that could mean life, or which could condemn him eternally to walk as one of them. Enter, if you dare, into his world. The world of the undead.

Synopsis:

One Naval officer’s New Year’s resolution is to keep a journal. In the January a mysterious plague breaks out in China. By February the plague has signalled the end of the world as we know it and has given rise to the undead walking.

The journal becomes the narrator’s salvation and point of reference as day by day he tries to survive the madness that unfolds before him. Soon he makes contact with a neighbour (John), trapped inside his house just down the street. When a broadcast informs them that the city they live in is to be nuked, the Officer and John escape and start a trek across Texas. Along it they rescue a family and finally reach a nuclear launch facility named Hotel 23. This becomes their home and they rescue a couple more people.

After a while some people turn up that want the base for themselves. The occupants now have two enemies.

Verdict:

Enjoyed this book, as the 224 pages disappeared rapidly. Not as fast paced as some zombie novels, but well described and keeps your interest. As this is a journal, you can see where our unknown officer has his highs and lows.

Rating: 5/5

"The Long War" by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Title: The Long War

Author: Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Corgi

Book 2 of 'The Long Earth'

Blurb:

A generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth -- but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind... A new ‘America’, called Valhalla, is emerging more than a million steps from Datum Earth, with core American values restated in the plentiful environment of the Long Earth – and Valhalla is growing restless under the control of the Datum government... Meanwhile the Long Earth is suffused by the song of the trolls, graceful hive-mind humanoids. But the trolls are beginning to react to humanity'’s thoughtless exploitation... Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a gathering multiple crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any mankind has waged before.

Synopsis:

Joshua, Lobsang and a multitude of characters deal with how mankind is treating the trolls.

At 1.4 million steps from earth a new America named Valhalla declares its independence from Datum Earth.

What more can I say....

Verdict:

You would think from the book title and the blurb that this book is about a war. I obviously missed that bit of the book, hang on a minute, no I did not miss it as it wasn't there. The Datum Earth send out a fleet of ships to Valhalla, but nothing happens. To come to think of it, nothing much happens in the whole book!

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter have delivered a mediocre second book in this series. It moves the story along, although in what direction is not quite certain. I am hoping that the third book will bring the story to a conclusive end, as although the Long Earth series opens lots of possibilities, it seems that Mister's Pratchett and Baxter are not exploiting any of them.

Rating: 3/5

"Mitosis" by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Mitosis

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Gollanz

Book 1.5 of 'Reckoners'

Blurb:

From "New York Times" bestselling author Brandon Sanderson's action-packed novel "Steelheart" comes "Mitosis," a short story set in the world of The Reckoners series, exclusively available in the digital format.

Steelheart may be dead, but Epics still plague Newcago and David and the Reckoners have vowed to fight back.

Catch all the action before, "Firefight" is the exciting sequel to "Steelheart" hits shelves in December 2013.

Synopsis:

Having defeated Steelheart in Newcago, the Reckoners are attempting to restore the city with a human government. An Epic named 'Mitosis' comes looking for the Steelslayer, wishing to know the truth behind Steelheart's death, as he does not believe that a human could have defeated Steelheart. David, the Reckoners and the people of the City must fight to stop this epic from taking control of Newcago.

Verdict:

As soon as I saw this book was available, I had to read it. At 35 pages, it is less than an hours read and is action from the start. An enjoyable read with Sanderson delivering the goods once again.

Rating: 5/5

"Steelheart" by Brandon Sanderson

Title: Steelheart

Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Gollanz

Book 1 of 'Reckoners'

Blurb:

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Synopsis:

David as a young boy see's his father killed by the Epic Steelheart. After ten years he has been watching and waiting for the Reckoners to make a hit on one of Steelheart's subordinates. He spots their mission going wrong and decides to help, to become one of the Reckoners. David and one of the Recokners kill an Epic and the Reckoners take him into custody to see if he is a problem. He convices them otherwise and soon a second Epic is dead.

David convinces the Reckoners that nothing will change unless they kill Steelhart. The leader agrees and a plan is hatched....

Verdict:

I was recommended this book, but was unsure about it to begin with. Shortly into the book, my mind was changed and I found it hard to put down. The idea that if people got super powers they would use them for their own goals is great, leaving the normal people to become the heroes. At 400 pages, it took me a while to read, but well worth it. Sanderson throws you straight in at the deep-end and keeps the action hot. This would make a superb movie.

Rating: 5/5

"The Long Earth" by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Title: The Long Earth

Author: Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Publisher: Corgi

Book 1 of 'The Long Earth'

Blurb:

1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive (some said mad, others dangerous) scientist when she finds a curious gadget - a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever.

And that is an understatement if ever there was one...

Synopsis:

The 'Long Earth' is a series of parallel worlds that are similar to Earth, which can be reached by using an inexpensive device called a "Stepper". The "close" worlds are almost identical to 'our' Earth (referred to as "Datum Earth"), others differ in greater and greater details, but all share one similarity: on none are there, or have there ever been, Homo sapiens - although the same cannot be said for earlier hominid species, especially Homo habilis. The book explores the theme of how humanity might develop when freed from resource constraints: one example Pratchett has cited is that wars result from lack of land – what would happen if no shortage of land (or gold or oil or food) existed?

The book deals primarily with the journeys of Joshua Valienté (a natural 'Stepper') and Lobsang, who claims to be a Tibetan motorcycle repairman reincarnated as an Artificial intelligence. The two chart a course to learn as much as possible about the parallel worlds, travelling millions of steps away from the original Earth. They encounter evidence of other humanoid species (referred to as trolls and elves); of human settlers who learned their gifts early, and of an extinct race of bipedal dinosaur descendants. They also encounter warning signs of a great danger, millions of worlds away from 'our' Earth, causing catastrophe as it moves. The book also deals with the effects of the explosion of available space on the people of Datum Earth and the new colonies and political movements that are spreading in the wake of Step Day.

Verdict:

Terry Pratchett is a favourite author of mine, and I was a little skeptical what this book would be like. I was pleasantly surprised and have really enjoyed this departure from Pratchett's normal writing

Rating: 5/5


"Siege" by Rhiannon Frater

Title: Siege

Author: Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Tor Books

Book 3 of 'As the World Dies'

Blurb:

As the survivors continue to seek stability in their lives, forces both inside and outside the fort walls move them toward a final, climactic conflict between the living and the dead. Jenni, Katie and the others discover that they are not alone, that there is another enclave of survivors whose leaders plan to take over the fort.

Faced with a series of difficult decisions, each choice they make could lead to the deaths of those they love or, if not careful, their own demise.

Meanwhile, an army of the dead is descending on the fort. Soon, the living will face their ultimate fear...

...a siege by the dead.

But they will fight to the end to survive...

As the world dies.

Synopsis:

The fort comes under scrutiny of the remnants of government. On a raid to a hospital for medical supplies, members of the fort are kidnapped by the military, so the Senator of Texas can further her politica career in the new world. Things go badly wrong for the Senator and those in the Mall that has been set up as a rescue center.

The fort has to cope with thousands of undead heading their way, a siege by the undead. The ghosts of the dead come to their aid inthe fight for humanities survival....

Verdict:

Loved the book, although I could really get stuck into book 4 as the story is not truly finished. The body count is high, and all I can say is don't get too hooked on your favourite characters. Anyone is game for death in this third book.

Overall this is a good trilogy that is enjoyable to read.

Rating: 5/5

"Fighting To Survive" by Rhiannon Frater

Title: Fighting To Survive

Author: Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Tor Books

Book 2 of 'As the World Dies'

Blurb:

It’s time to clear the hotel.

The fort has grown crowded as survivors of the zombie apocalypse have found safety between its walls. Winter is coming; soon it will be too cold to live in tents and other makeshift shelters. The leaders of the survivors—Katie, Jenni, Juan, Travis, and Nerit—decide it’s time for an assault on the zombie-occupied hotel that looms over the town square.

A pitched battle in the banquet room is the start of a harrowing, room-by-room struggle from Reception to roof. As the sun sets, the people of Ashley Oaks gather in the hotel’s rooftop ballroom and gazebo to celebrate their survival. Gazing out over the beauty of the surrounding Texas countryside, it’s hard to believe that death and danger lurk around every corner.

The fort’s search and rescue teams have attracted unwanted attention from bandits who see the fort as competition for food . . . and as a ready source of women. The first attacks are minor, but everyone knows there is worse to come.

And beyond the fort’s walls, the zombies shamble, moaning, eyes fastened hungrily upon the living.

Synopsis:

The population of the fort finally deice to take the hotel. After losing several  people, the hotel is added to the fort and the population returns to something akin to a normal existence. But then the bandits turn up, taking out several of the out lying people that the fort talk to. Nerit decides it is time to bring the outlying groups into the protection of the fort, provoking a confrontation with the bandits.

Verdict:

Again, a really good read. This was 448 pages of pure zombie pleasure that I could not put down and jumped straight into book 3.

Rating: 5/5

"The First Days" by Rhiannon Frater

Title: The First Days

Author: Rhiannon Frater
Publisher: Tor Books

Book 1 of 'As the World Dies'

Blurb:

The morning that the world ends, Katie is getting ready for court and housewife Jenni is taking care of her family. Less than two hours later, they are fleeing for their lives from a zombie horde.

Thrown together by circumstance, Jenni and Katie become a powerful zombie-killing partnership, mowing down zombies as they rescue Jenni’s stepson, Jason, from an infected campground.

They find sanctuary in a tiny, roughly fortified Texas town. There Jenni and Katie find they are both attracted to Travis, leader of the survivors; and the refugees must slaughter people they know, who have returned in zombie form.

Synopsis:

Katie sees her wife eat the postman and is saved from zombies by a Reverend. Jenni screams as her husband eats her children. Katie saves Jenni and a friendship is born. They escape the city, find fuel for the Reverend's truck and make it to a small town where they meet Nerit and Ralph holed up in a gun store. They help Nerit and Ralph clear the town of zombies and then go find Jenni's step son.

At the camp where Jason is, Jenni and Katie get there just in time as the zombie infection was brought there by another family. they escape the camp but due to a zombie horde cannot get back to Nerit and Ralph. Instead they find sanctuary at a fortified Texas town where they become part of the community and help secure the center of town and expand the fort.

Verdict:

A really good read. This was 336 pages of pure zombie pleasure that I could not put down and jumped straight into book 2.

Rating: 5/5

"A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber

Title: A Beautiful Friendship

Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen

This is the full length novel of the short story previously published in the anthology "More than Honor".

Book One of the Star Kingdom saga.

Blurb:

Weber delivers the first entry in an original young adult science fiction adventure series, the Star Kingdom saga! Young teen Stephanie Harrington forms a telepathic bond with an intelligent alien treecat on a pioneer planet—and must fight for the freedom of her new friend and his species against highly-placed enemies determined to claim the world for humans only.

Stephanie Harrington always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl . . . until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the far distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home --- a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie’s explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no trips into the bush without adult supervision!

Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries, and the biggest one of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.

The forest-dwelling treecats are small, cute, smart, and have a pronounced taste for celery. And they are also very, very deadly when they or their friends are threatened . . . as Stephanie discovers when she comes face-to-face with Sphinx’s most lethal predator after a hang-gliding accident.

But her discoveries are only beginning, for the treecats are also telepathic and able to bond with certain humans, and Stephanie’s find --- and her first-of-its kind bond with the treecat Climbs Quickly --- land both of them in a fresh torrent of danger. Galactic-sized wealth is at stake, and Stephanie and the treecats are squarely in the path of highly placed enemies determined to make sure the planet Sphinx remains entirely in human hands, even if that means the extermination of another thinking species.

Unfortunately for those enemies, the treecats have saved Stephanie Harrington’s life. She owes them . . . and Stephanie is a young woman who stands by her friends.

Which means things are about to get very interesting on Sphinx.

Synopsis:

The story takes place in the year 1518 PD (Post Diaspora) or 3620 AD, approximately 382 years before the events of "On Basilisk Station". The story centers around the first treecat/human interaction on the planet sphinx.

Climbs Quickly, a young treecat scout of the Bright Water clan, ventures to a human settlement intrigued by the plant known to the treecats as "cluster stalk", a plant unlike any known to the 'cats, with a delicious taste.

Stephanie Harrington, an eleven-year-old girl whose family has recently migrated to Sphinx from the planet Meyerdahl is determined to find out who keeps stealing celery from greenhouses and gardens all over Sphinx.

In the middle of a nightime thunderstorm, Stephanie finally catches Climbs Quickly sneaking out of the greenhouse. The two young beings experience a moment of deep psychic connection, the first bonding between a human and a treecat has just occurred.

Wanting to know more about the treecat, Stephanie sets out to track them, with consequences she could not of thought could happen....Stephanie crashes her glider during a storm, and Climbs Quickly comes to her rescue, unfortunately a six legged beast sees Stephanie as a meal and between her and the treecat they battle for their lives.

Once this new species is public knowledge the rest of the Star Kingdom wants to know more about them, but it is not just the scientific community who are interested. Trade in obscure pets is lucrative, and the treecats are definitely obscure. What follows is how Stephanie and the scientists must protect the species.

Verdict:
At 384 pages this took me about 6 - 8 hours to read. The story flows easily and the short story that I previously read takes up about the first third of the novel. It is not just a reprint, but the author embelishes the short story and really does set the scene for the rest of the novel.

I enjoyed the story, however, the ending seemed a bit abrupt, almost as tho the deadline was looming and it had to be finished quickly. I'm hoping the second book will not dissapoint.

Rating: 4/5

"I am legend" by Richard Matheson

Title: I Am Legend

Author: Richard Matheson
Publisher: Orion Books Ltd

Blurb:

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood.

By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive like this?

Synopsis:

Robert Neville has survived the plague that has turned the rest of humanity into vampires. Initially at the loss of his wife and daughter, Robert turns to the bottle. He hunts down vampires during the day and cowers in his house at night. As time progresses, he hunts to find a cure rather than simply trying to survive in this new world. By the end of the book, we find he is the last known human, "a legend", in the new vampire world.

Verdict:

Nothing like the film staring Will Smith, but really helps to explain things. In the film I thought they were types of Zombie, silly me. At about 160 pages, this was an enjoyable read, but a little monotonous in places. Honestly the film is a better story.

Rating: 4/5