By the time I got to the end of this book, I was really enjoying myself. Honestly, the final couple of chapters were hard to put down. But that isn’t able to cover up the fact that the first half felt rushed, oddly structured, and kind of redundant.

It’s been a while since I've read a book I almost literally couldn’t put down. Fall of Giants is Ken Follett at his best. Historical fiction, epic in scale yet filled with individual emotions and events.

This was a book it took me a little while to get into. Clearly emulating the dense, gothic style of the period it is set in, it starts off rather impenetrable. But once I pushed myself through, I found the characters and story emerged, making Affinity an incredible pleasure to read.

I was excited for this book. I absolutely loved Red Sister and had been wanting to get my hand on the second book in the series. However, as much as I still enjoyed it, it couldn’t shake the feel of being Part Two of a trilogy. 

I like stories that are told in interesting ways, and this promised something like that. I didn’t quite know what to expect and having finished it, I’m left with the weird feeling I shouldn’t have liked it, but I really did.

I enjoyed The Evening and the Morning, but it’s not Follett’s best work. And unfortunately, comparisons with the previous books in the series only serve to highlight its flaws.

When you go into a Susan Hill ghost story, you know what you’re expecting. She has shown over and over that she is a master of the gothic horror story. And with The Man In The Portrait, you get exactly what you expect. 

With Sword of Fire, Kerr manages to hit all the same notes I loved about the Deverry books, but it’s missing that uniqueness of the original series.

I am a sucker for stories told out of chronological order, so Out of Love caught my eye a while ago. I don’t know why the concept appeals to me so much. I think it’s something about examining cause and affect, playing around with what the reader knows and when, that somehow suits my sensibilities.

Every country has racism. But is that something we need to face, hold up, and forever atone for? Or something to move past and forget? (Spoiler, it’s the first one). Neiman, as a Jewish woman who grew up in the American South in the ‘60s, and has since lived in Berlin in the ‘80s, as well as Israel along the way, has a rather unique perspective of how different cultures dealt with their legacies. 

With all the... well, everything... that is going on in my life right now, I feel a little comfort reading is in order. In that vein, expect a few Pratchett’s to appear on here. Especially the earlier books which, I feel, are his best.

Finding books about non-monogamy is tricky. When you’re polyamorous, one of the things you notices about popular culture is how must it simply doesn’t get what polyamory is. A lot of resources out there are trashy, focusing on nothing but the sexual aspect. Others seem to have decided that they have worked out exactly what polyamory is, and make you feel that if you don’t want exactly what they say you want then you’re doing it wrong.

After The Night Circus jumped straight up until my favourite books, and lingered on my mind for days after reading, I was very excited for Morgenstern’s follow up. This is a story about stories, and it is intricate and woven around itself. But as beautifully written as it is, I will say I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did her debut.

Book six done, and we’re almost halfway through the series. In the last book, The Fires of Heaven, it felt to me as if Jordan was taking a breath before setting up the next round of story arcs. Now, with Lord of Chaos, things start to get moving again.

Jo Jakeman’s debut, Sticks and Stones, was about facing the truth about your life and how you free yourself from the shackles that hold you down. Now her second book is about the next steps: trying to create something new in the shadow of your past.

I’ve had Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th on my to-watch list for a while now. But it was a film I needed to be in the right mind-state to watch. I’ve not been in the right headspace to actively view anything for a while, but as soon as I was this was my first choice. And here’s the thing that struck me.

I tend to find that when an author has an ongoing character they come back to with some of their books but not all – as Atkinson does with Jackson Brodie – I enjoy those ones less. And it’s true that I’ve enjoyed her non-Brodie books more than her Brodie ones. But I this this was my favourite of the Jackson Brodie books, mainly because the way she uses him as a link between elements of the story, rather than the protagonist. This story isn’t about him. He’s simply part of it.

I enjoyed this book, but felt it only really got going in the second half. There is a really good story here, with a core concept that’s incredibly interesting once you reach it. However, I don’t feel that the set up and initial feel of the book gels that well with the second, much better, half.