April May Read

Some more book reviews for the stuff I read in April and May.

The World House

Guy Adams

I can't rememebr the last time a book gripped me like this one. I finished it in a day. There are similarities to books like House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski) or The Cypher (Kathe Koje) but I was most reminded of a web serial I read years ago and can no longer find that I think was called Hotel Flamingo? Anyway, this book is really good.

The concept isn't particularly novel (though it's certainly not worn out its welcome) but the characters and the way it plays out are great. 5/5

One Chef!

M.L. Buchman

This may be the horniest book ever written. Two chapters in, and I can't deal with it. 1/5

The Moving Finger

Agatha Christie

I'm not keen on Miss Marple, so I was happy to discover that she's barely in this one. And although the mystery wasn't particularly great, I did like the characters and the narrator and the style. 4/5

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

Laurence Sterne

Conceptually funny but in execution it just didn't hit for me. Stopped reading at 6%. 2/5

Exiles: An Outsider Anthology

Rob Brunet, Graham Wynd, Heath Lowrance, Patti Abbott, Colin Graham, Gareth Spark, Steven Porter, Paul D. Brazill, Tess Makovesky, K.A. Laity, Pamila Payne, Richard Godwin, Benjamin Sobieck., Heath Lawrence, Carrie Clevenger, Ryan Sayles

Some of the stories were all right, some were tedious. All very short though, which I appreciated. 2/5

Kensuke's Kingdom

Michael Morpurgo

Quite an enjoyable children's adventure story. The only thing I really disliked about it was the extremely cavalier attitude the protagonist's parents had to safety. It's necessary to the plot, but it angered me. 4/5

Untamed Shore

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I liked the main character, Viridiana, and the plot came together really neatly by the end. Describes itself as a thiller but I wouldn't say it was thrilling. More of a slow-burn mystery, sort of? 4/5