Average Rating:

.

Found Wanting

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Robert Goddard

September 11, 2008
I did not understand the ending! Did Tolmar Aksden have Romanov blood or not or wasn't this central to the plot after all? I read the book in Iceland which helped to make the northern setting of the story particularly vivid, absorbing and enjoyable but left me frustrated and wondering if I was asking the right questions after all.

Average Rating:

.

The Reluctant Dragon (BBC Audio)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Kenneth Grahame

March 05, 2007
I did not understand the ending! Did Tolmar Aksden have Romanov blood or not or wasn't this central to the plot after all? I read the book in Iceland which helped to make the northern setting of the story particularly vivid, absorbing and enjoyable but left me frustrated and wondering if I was asking the right questions after all.

Average Rating:

.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Penguin Popular Classics)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Robert Louis Stevenson

March 31, 1994
doesn't matter if you know the main 'twist'- everyone does and this doesn't really matter. this is extremely well written and a fantastic book.

Average Rating:

.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Picador)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Oliver Sacks

November 07, 1986
Fairly well written, and as someone who has no prior background in this field, it was easy to understand and descriptive enough to be interesting. it was not too technical that i got bogged down with terms, unlike some other neurology books i've read.

Average Rating:

.

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
from: HarperPerennial

May 05, 2008
I knew nothing about the Mitfords before borrowing this book from my mum. I found it highly compelling, especially all the references to the many influential and varied people of the 20th century. It is also very sad at times, especially the harsh realities of the passage of time. This collection of letters has been carefully chosen to tell the reader the Mitfords' story but in the words of the girls themselves.

Average Rating:

.

The Ashes of Worlds (Saga of Seven Suns 7)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Kevin J. Anderson

August 04, 2008
The author's ideas startec out well in the first couple of books, but there are just so many inconsistencies and so little science in these books that they lose any credibility and become fantasy rather than science fiction. Dwarves, elves and orcs in space you might say. Just hwo fast is this stardtrive? The main players travel vast distances in such a short space of time, how do trees get into space, and what drives them? Is earth populated by dimwits with no investigative journalism? The chairman (of earth - what a daft concept) is a Stalin type figure who seems to have no opposition at all, the Klikiss insect has fabulous technology, but you never hear of or get to meet an intelligent one, and worst of all, if such a being as a faero existed (that lived in the heart of a sun), ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Gift

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Cecelia Ahern

October 20, 2008
The author's ideas startec out well in the first couple of books, but there are just so many inconsistencies and so little science in these books that they lose any credibility and become fantasy rather than science fiction. Dwarves, elves and orcs in space you might say. Just hwo fast is this stardtrive? The main players travel vast distances in such a short space of time, how do trees get into space, and what drives them? Is earth populated by dimwits with no investigative journalism? The chairman (of earth - what a daft concept) is a Stalin type figure who seems to have no opposition at all, the Klikiss insect has fabulous technology, but you never hear of or get to meet an intelligent one, and worst of all, if such a being as a faero existed (that lived in the heart of a sun), ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

The Birthday Present

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Barbara Vine

August 28, 2008
(I intended four stars but I can't change it back. Oh well.)

The Birthday Present has probably been the book I was most looking forward to in 2008, especially considering how good Rendell's last effort under the Vine name - The Minotaur - was. Sadly, this doesn't get within a long creeping tendril's distance of the quality.

It's early 1990. The Thatcher government it's nearing it's last days, and there's a love affair going on. Ivor Tesham, a thirty-year-old political rising star is secretly bedding beautiful London housewife Hebe Furnal. For her birthday Ivor decides to give her a special present that certain more open couples have begun to engage in: a practice known as `adventure sex'. Hebe is to be abducted, consenting but unknowing of when, at an unknown ... Read More:

Average Rating:

.

Batman: The Killing Joke (Deluxe Edition)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: Alan Moore

April 25, 2008
I was really looking forward to this, having heard so much praise. I guess I missed something, but I was expecting a really deep, complex story, like so many reviews and articles had described, and didn't find anything of the sort. The artwork's flawless, but the story really did nothing for me, especially the Joker's back story, which seems to be the most raved about part. I felt no attachment to any characters, and having only recently read Watchmen for the first time, and being so blown away by that, I couldn't see how this was the same writer. I also found it shockingly short, which I don't expect from a graphic novel. As I said before though, awesome artwork. I still love that cover!

Average Rating:

.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) [Adult Edition] (Harry Potter)

Childrens Toy Shop > Books > Fiction
by: J.K. Rowling

July 10, 2008
This thing, the deathly hallows, the beginning wasn't the best beginning, but... I could not stop reading it. I don't understand why people think the ending is disappointing. The Nineteen years later could be expanded into a book, maybe, but, if J.K doesn't then that's all we really need to know to end the Harry potter phenomenon. Hopefully she will deliver another H.P book, because I know, I know, it won't end here.