The Caldecott Chronicles No 1 - Review

The Caldecott Chronicles No 1 Review

Publisher: SilverHouse Books

Author: R. G. Bullet

Rating: 8/10

Description: Caldecott Estate, the ancestral home of the 32^nd Earl of Rothshire, is besieged. The undead are traipsing and crawling across overgrown lawns, intent on ripping the very flesh from the Earl’s body.

But many of them will not make it that far as the 32^nd Earl has two things in their way: A prized Purdey shotgun and an accomplice named, Saffy. Saffy is a young and simple girl from the local village. She is quick of foot at setting traps, and dispatching the undead to the afterlife. She is endlessly coming up with cunning and disturbing methods to rid the estate of the disease.

The bizarre and gruesome details are narrated in a journal by a very Aristocratic British gent. Get a first hand look on how the Victorian upper class deal with stumbling trespassers and see how one draws inspiration from a teenage girl born to kill.

Review: Well, what can I say; I really enjoyed this little story. I can’t say that I have read many zombie books and stories, but I can say that this one has encouraged me to read more as it’s an exciting genre and I really liked the sense of urgency that made me turning the pages.

You really feel that you are inside the protagonist’s head, and that there could be a zombie just around the corner from them, so you want everything to work out okay for them.

I liked the relationship/friendship between the Earl and Saffy. At first, it was quite comical to read as he’s an upperclass earl, and she is just a regular, young girl caught up in all the danger and action. I felt that having Saffy as a character lightened up the story, and I look forward to reading more about her in the sequel.

I also enjoyed reading about the little cat that the Earl finds in one of the zombie-infested houses. I found it really interesting and sweet how a cat could survive the zombies and I really hope that he/she survives whatever is to come as I do like cats (I have one as a pet).

I look forward to reading the sequel.

Book Haul - 15/05/12

I haven't wrote about the books I've bought/received et cetera since the last of April, so this is my haul for the books that came in May.
First of all, I have gotten quite a lot of books this May, both on my Kindle and paperbacks so I will probably have a lot to get through!

It was my birthday on the 13th, and, as presents, I got two books from my family: Dead in the Family and Dead Reckoning, both by Charlaine Harris and two books that are in the Sookie Stackhouse series, which I am a big fan of. I'm really excited to have them since it's been a while since I read Dead and Gone, and they don't take me that long to read.

Also, as a birthday present I got The Hunger Games Official Illustrated Movie Guide by Kate Egan. I am a super excited to read this, as anyone close to me knows that I am obsessed with The Hunger Games; it is one of my favourite books, and the movie has definitely been my favourite film of 2012, without a doubt. I can't wait to get into it and read it all.

Next, on my kindle I bought The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa. I'm really glad I bought it as it was a real bargain; plus its dystopian and since getting into The Hunger Games again, I'm looking out for any good dystopian books or series, so if you have any suggestions or recommendations, please let me know! :)

I also bought A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks, Timeriders by Ales Scarrow and Wither by Lauren DeStefano. These we're all bargains as well, and I'm really happy I have them, especially Wither and A Walk To Remember as I was looking for the latter in particular for ages so I will probably be starting that soon. Hope you all have a good week/month in reading :)

The Hunger Games Review

The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Publisher: Scholastic

Published: 2008

Length: 454 pages

My Rating: 9/10

This review is a part of my re-read of The Hunger Games series. I read it at some point in 2011 but had forgotten quite a bit of the story by the time the movie came out, so I read it a few weeks after I saw the movie. Which was amazing =)

The main protagonist, Katniss lives in a futuristic society where North America has been divided into twelve districts and the country is called Panem. The country is ruled over by President Snow and the harsh Capitol city where all the rich and famous people live. Basically, each district is better off than the next one; the first two districts live in luxury with nothing to worry about, and Katniss lives in District 12 where most of the residents live in poverty and people starve to death on a regular basis.

Due to parts of the country rebelling, the government created The Hunger Games, an annual event where a boy and a girl is selected from each district and are forced to kill each other in an arena until one remains. Due to the circumstances, Katniss and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta end up fighting in the games together and the stories pace really picks up from that point.

First off, I really enjoyed Katniss as a protagonist. You can tell from the first few pages of the book that she cares a great deal about her family and would do anything necessary to protect them. I also liked her determinedness and her feisty attitude, and this aspect of her reminded me of Rose from Vampire Academy at points.

I also loved the character of Peeta; at first I didn’t know if he and Katniss would enjoy each other’s company; maybe he hated her at home and couldn’t stand the sight of her (luckily this didn’t seem to be the point). I liked how optimistic he was, even when he was going to be fighting for his life, he seemed to take it in his stride more than Katniss, which made his scenes good fun to read.

Although they were the villains or “baddies”, I also enjoyed reading the Careers scenes (the people from the wealthy districts who seem to really enjoy killing people). Although you are meant to hate them all, especially Cato, I found that whilst I didn’t like them as characters, I could understand why most of them acted the way they did; training to kill people was just the way they had been brought up to think like, and after all, they were trying to save their lives in the process as well.

Other characters I loved: Rue, she was adorable and her and Katniss’s friendship was really sweet to read about. There is a real sense of urgency as you as the reader follow Katniss’s attempts to survive in the arena, and you never know what’s coming around the corner on the next page.

I could go into lots more detail about this book since I loved it so much, but I will just end on that it is a fantastic dystopian/action/love story that I recommend to anyone who isn’t afraid of reading something a little darker. Suzanne Collins is an amazing writer and this is an amazing book.