Fragile Things [Audiobook] ~ Neil Gaiman
It’s a real treat to hear the author read his other own work, especially when like Gaiman, they are as equally proficient at telling tales as they are at writing them. His narration is as good as any I have heard, whether it be author, actor or professional audio-book artist, always clear and well paced, he brings the stories and characters to vivid life, and you’re compelled to listen to him tell you more and more.
One criticism I do have though and it’s not of Gaiman, but of the production team, and that is that they could have done with putting a short jingle in between each story (and I normally hate sound effects in audio-books), as if you’re not concentrating at the correct moment, it is possible to slip from one story to the next and not realise.
The stories themselves are a mixed bag of both styles and quality, but such is the thing with all short story collections, some will work some won’t, personally my favourites were, “A Study in Emerald” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties.” but such is the varity and number on offer, if you are a fan of Gaiman’s work, you are bound to find something to your tastes.
Well worth a listen.
Rating: 
for the book.
Rating: 
for the narration.
Buy, Fragile Things at Amazon.
You can listen to the full version of “A Study in Emerald.” here.
Stardust ~ Neil Gaiman
Spellbinding!
Pretty much sums up this fairytale for adults by Neil Gaiman.
Dunstan Thorn could not have predicted the events set in motion when he crosses the wall to visit the Faerie Market to purchase a gift for his intended, Daisy, certainly not that he would fall in love with a gypsy slave girl, and that the result of that union, his son, Tristan, would set out years later, to collect a fallen star for his own beloved, the cold hearted Victoria Forester.
Tristan, soon discovers that there is more to the star than he first thought. It is in fact a decidedly cranky young woman called Yvaine, is not best pleased to meet Tristan or learn of his plans. During his journey there and back he meets friends and foes alike.
As Tristan and Yvaine make through their way back to the Wall, and the life Tristan believes he wants, they must negotiate the dangers placed in their way.
This, is Gaiman weaving his magic once more, delivering a simple, humorous and yet nuanced tale, that is well worth investing your time in.
Rating:
Other reviews to consider:
- Just a Reading Fool
- Blue Archipelago
- The Hidden Side of A Leaf
- A Striped Armchair
- Booksworms and tea lovers
- Katrina’s Reads
Neverwhere ~ Neil Gaiman
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Synopsis
Under the streets of London there’s a world most people could never even dream of - a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London.
A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There’s a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining…
And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city.
Originally devised as fantasy television series by Neil Gaiman and Lenny Henry, that first aired on BBC2 in 1996, Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere is set, the London we know (known as ‘London Above’) and a magical realm, called ‘London Below’ hidden deep beneath the busy city streets.
Springing from a conversation between British TV comedian, Lenny Henry and Gaiman, who was wary to commit, fearing Henry’s idea of tribes of homeless people, living in London, would appear “cool” and cause young people to be tempted to emulate the characters, but agreed to expand it from there, eventually penning the series and this novel.
I watched the series at the time, and enjoyed it immensely, so buying the book at the time was an obvious choice. Since then I have read the book, owned it, given it away, bought it again, read it again many many times. I’m not a big re-reader of books, but this is one I am always happy to return to.
Richard had noticed that events were cowards: they didn’t occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once.
Richard Mayhew, is seriously out of his depth, a simple act of kindness, has thrown him into a nightmare world he has no control over, all he wants to do is go home, back to his normal very ordinary life.
“Who do you think we are? The Wizard of Oz? Of course we can’t take you back home!”
However, life, is not going to be that kind (it would be a short book if it was!), but in time, Richard, discovers something about himself, surprisingly that he can be, brave, bright, and strong when it’s required. Even if he is still prone to stumbling his way though life.
Will Richard, survive the adventure? Will he get the opportunity to return to his old life? Will he want to?
Stuffed full of quirky likable characters, and an ever present danger, life is never boring in London Below!
School’s Out. Forever. (Maximum Ride, Book #2) - James Patterson
Rating:
Synopsis
It’s 24 hours since Max Ride and her fellow bird-kids escaped the New York Institute, and they’re still on the run. But the six companions — 98% human, 2% bird — came away with some vital information. If they can decode the garbled words and numbers, perhaps they’ll find out where their parents are. There’s a lot of trouble ahead for Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel — not to mention Total, the talking dog.
Their enemies, the fearsome Erasers, have acquired a new skill — they too can now fly. After an air-battle, the badly hurt Fang ends up in hospital. There the FBI track down the flock, who have even ended up going to school! But that doesn’t quite fit in with searching for parents, or with what the insistent Voice in Max’s head keeps reminding her - that her mission is ‘to save the world’.
Part two, of Patterson’s young adult series, Maximum Ride, is just that, ‘part two’.� Just like the first book, it is part of a much longer story arc, (book 3 is already out and book 4 is out in the next few weeks) Max and the flock, start the story still on the run from ‘The School’ and the Erasers.
During a battle with the Erasers (who have acquired a new skill, the ability to fly!) Fang is badly hurt and the flock are forced to reveal themselves and their existence, to get him some lifesaving treatment.
Much of the story, it set in the weeks following this incident, taken in by Anne, who purports to be from the FBI, and looking to keep them from harm, they find themselves relatively settled and for the younger members of the flock, happy. Living the nearest to a normal life they have experienced in their lives, the even get to attend schools and meet kids of their own age, while all the way, trying to find out more about their parents and what the were created for.
Max, never quite settles down, and can’t bring herself to trust Anne fully, but puts it down to losing her status as flock ‘Mom’, and it is here I have my main gripe about this book, we never get any feelings about whether to trust Anne or not (and I won’t say here whether or not we should) and I know this is partly down to the story being from Max’s point of view if she doesn’t know, we don’t, but there are so few clues or red herrings, so we don’t really have the fun of trying to guess.
Yes, Max, is mistrustful, but so she should be, after all that has happened to them. Anne, however kindly she appears to be, is an outsider and has to earn or lose that trust. In the end I didn’t care either way as long as the flock were okay, and that’s a shame, it’d have been nice to either root for Anne or despise her. We may get to do one or the other in the future though, as one thing is certain at the end, Anne still has a big part to play in the flock’s future.
The motivations of Ari (chief Eraser) and Jeb their former trusted adult/parent figure continue to shift, change and reveal themselves. We no longer hate Ari, who is obviously as bigger victim of Jeb’s machinations as Max and the gang, but what exactly are those machinations? Where are they leading? Whose side is he really on?
We, don’t really get to find out, in this book, but it is clear, their is something much bigger going on, than he is letting either side know about.
In all it’s another great page-turning story, just don’t expect any resolution at the end. Stand alone books these are not!
On to book 3!
Buy, School’s Out. Forever. (Maximum Ride, Book #2) at Amazon. [UK
Maximum Ride - The Angel Experiment ~ James Patterson
Rating:
Synopsis
Max Ride and her five friends grew up in a science lab/prison called the School. They were created as an experiment. An experiment where they ended up only 98 percent human. That other 2 percent had a big impact. These children are pretty special.But when an ‘experiment’ this secret and this special has escaped from the School, the scientists are pretty keen on making sure the world never finds out about them.Soon, Max and the other children find themselves on the run in an adventure beyond even their wildest dreams.
I’ve read quite a few books by James Patterson in the past, and usually enjoyed them, and despite being in my thirties, I read and and enjoy a fair number of books aimed at the young adult market, so when I discovered Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, a few months ago, it was an easy choice to give it a go, and so snapped it up on Bookmooch along with it’s (first) sequel, School’s Out - Forever (Maximum Ride)
It then sat on my shelves (in the reading queue) until this week. A week off work and with nothing planned other than a much delayed trip to the dentist, I settled down to make a dent in said ‘reading queue’ and The Angel Experiment, was one of those to be chosen.
Patterson, states on the cover, “Prepare to launch, these pages fly,” and boy do they! Strap yourself in for the ride as he takes you on an adrenaline packed roller-coaster of a journey, filled with mystery and suspense.
YOUR FAITHFUL COMPANIONS: Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel. Six kids who are pretty normal in most ways - except that they’re 98 percent human, 2 percent bird. They grew up in a lab, living like rats in cages, but now they’re free. Aside, of course, from the fact that they’re prime prey for Erasers - wicked wolf-like creatures with a taste for flying humans.
THE MISSIONS: Rescue Angel from malicious mutants. Infiltrate a secret facility to track down the flock’s missing parents. Scavenge for sustenance. Get revenge on an evil traitor. And save the world. If there’s time.
Surviving on their wits alone, weathering the constant twists and turns, we follow Max and the ‘Flock’ as they first try to rescue their sister, then try and learn just what is going on and why. Secrets about their past and future,in turns , shock, horrify and delight the six brother and sisters, all the while trying to evade the Erasers, who somehow always know how to find the ‘Flock’…
We are led though this story, by 14 year old, Max, our eponymous (full name Maximum Ride) heroine, who’s wit and teenage cynicism makes for a thoroughly entertaining narrator.
The pace never let’s up from the first page, and is always thrilling and full of surprises, as it constantly twists and turns one way and the next, each one of the very short chapters driving the plot on and ending on some kind of cliffhanger, designed to make you read ‘just one more’ chapter, before you put the book down. This is perfect for younger readers, but for me despite getting close it never quite reached un-putdownable status. Precisely because I knew I could fit in a chapter or two during TV adverts or after I went and make another cup of tea. Then again for reading on the bus, at lunch, or for a busy parent, this is probably perfect, so it’s hardly a criticism. 
Some of the critical reviews I’ve seen for this book, most notably on Amazon, cite repetitiveness as one of the books faults and I can’t disagree, however as I’ve mentioned, the chapters are that short and the twists and turns, come that thick and fast it hardly matters.
Patterson’s skill as a story teller, elevates this out of the pure teen market (or even those older reader like myself who can enjoy a good young-adult book) to a great read for everyone 10-100!
Further Reading:
Check out MaximumRide.com for updates on an upcoming film, watch a video of Max soaring over New York City, and loads more, especially, Fang�s blog!I’ll be reading books 2 & 3 over the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for my reviews! and finally book 4 in the series, The Maximum Ride: The Final Warning (Maximum Ride)
is now available for pre-order!
Buy, Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment from Amazon. [UK] [US]
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