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Book Reviews
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Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2 Collector's Edition Guide
Dominic Richards28 November 2010
This is a novel that ties in to the Star Wars: Force Unleashed II videogame (available on PS3 and Xbox) that has recently been released. At the end of the previous game the galaxy had been poised on the brink of civil war but, as this book starts, the Emperor and his apprentice Darth Vader had another plan that they are about to unleash on the unsuspecting Jedi. This is a great story of treachery, deception, and the manipulation of the overwhelming power of the Force. It's a quick read but very entertaining. I particularly like the way that it provides insight into what occurred in the galaxy between the third and fourth Star Wars films.
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Editor26 November 2010
Exceptionally well written by Philip Roth, winner of the International PEN Literary Award.
A really interesting story in a dramatic period in US history. It is difficult to review this book without giving away too much of the plot. Cantor has been raised by his grandparents to be a responsible person. During the summer of 1944 he takes up a job working with teenagers in a playground following being rejected for wartime services overseas on account of his poor eyesight. Athletic and committed to his job, he is hero worshipped by the kids at the facility, especially when he stands up to a group of young men who arrive at the playground and begin to spit with the threat of spreading Polio. At that time Polio had no vacccination and was a summer menace, leaving young people with dreadful disabilities, commited to an iron lung for breathing or dead within a few days of catching the virus. The fear amongst communities where outbreaks occur was paralysing in its own right too.
Cantor's enormous sense of responsibility and the ignorance about how the disease is spread has a profound effect on his life at the time of the outbreak and repercussions for the rest of his life, which are desperately sad given that it was only 10 more years before a vaccine is manufactured.
This is a beautifully written, simple story about one mans values and beliefts and the effects of them on the narrative of his life. I couldnt put it down and highly recommend it to people interested in history as well as emotional and physical health. -
Richard Scott20 November 2010
I've never read a book that I actually feel i'm a part of! Stephenie Meyer has pulled off a masterstroke with Twilight and it's BY FAR the BEST series of books i've read, and most definately one of the best sets published, ever. The amount of detail she uses from the first page to the very last is fantastic, you turn the pages in anticipation and nervousness as to what will possibly come up next. A fantastic book, part of a fantastic collective set, and i'd encourage ALL readers, regardless of their preference of génre, to sit down, gety comfortable, and take a read of Twilight!
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Editor18 November 2010
What a fascinating life Ricky Tomlinson has experienced. Born and bred in Liverpool and passionate about its people, Ricky charts his life as the son of loving working class parents, his early jobs in road construction where he became involved in trade union representation, his devastating period in prison and his lucky break into acting.
Ricky has faced loss; business collapse; debt; divorce; imprisonment; and nervous breakdown, but comes through each experience with amazing humbleness, humour and a sense of being firmly rooted in a solidarity with his family and ordinary people. A really down to earth man with no illusions about himself or others.
You can almost hear Ricky Tomlinsons unique voice (along with scouse accent) in each sentence. I particularly enjoyed his accounts of reading the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists in prison which had a profound effect on his politics. I too read that book and found it utterly inspirational.
A very enjoyable and memorable autobiography! -
Editor16 November 2010
I was in two minds about purchasing this book having been utterly disappointed with the events following Blair's very persuasive stance to justify taking Britain into the Iraq war without a UN mandate and the subsequent unfolding of events. However, the fact that the proceeds are going to the Royal British Legion convinced me that my money was benefitting a good cause and that a complete rationale for this decision may help restore my waned faith in politics.
This is a fascinating book from someone at the heart of the history at the end of the last millennium. Unlike many political memoirs it does not follow a diary form, which can be rather dry and uninsightful. Rather it is a narrative of important Labour party events and decision making; national and international affairs; and the rationale behind the responses to the most important decisions made at the heart of government, including the power struggles that take place in order to do business.
What is brilliant about the style of this book is Tony Blair's ability to be objective about himself. He recognised at many points along his priministerial office that progressive politics involves much uncertainty and that if a difference is going to be made, it means that mistakes are inevitable. He is also undeniably honest about the naivety of being a new government compared with opposition, and how he didn't really want to leave the office of prime minister when he thought he was at the top of his game having followed a steep learning curve. He leaves you under no illusions about the relationship between himself and Gordon Brown which, not unlike many Company Board of Directors, was incredibly dysfunctional. He gives a very plausible explanation for not sacking him. However, I he fails to explicitly state that one of the main reasons he didn't was that Gordon Brown held the economic skills that he was aware that he lacked. This connection is only possible by interpreting Blair's admission that he was a dismal failure at Maths and Science at School.
There are many detailed accounts of very important events, including the abolition of Clause IV; the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement; the Iraq War; 9/11; Kosovo; Afghanistan; and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. What is striking is the extraordinary sense of responsibility that Blair felt towards global politics. This seems to me to come from a philosophical position of culpability for omissions as well as actions. Tony Blair makes a striking (though not absolute) case for the consequences of failing to take action in circumstances deemed too difficult. It is this particular quality of leadership that explains why he stands out on the world stage, and why he seems so at odds with many of his adversaries within the Labour Party.
This is a remarkable and enjoyable book that yes; it does contain a lot of self justification. However Tony Blair does not ask you to agree with all of his decisions, recognising those that were wrong, poorly executed or compromised. There are some very exciting, comical and tragic moments, such as the Olympic Bid followed by the G8 summit at Gleneagles interrupted by the 7/7 bombings in London. I think the sex scene is truly cheesy and was the biggest failure of judgement in the entire book. I would have liked an explanation for the National Programme for IT but hey, some explanations are better omitted if one wants to portray a particular image.
It is definitely a good easy read and one I recommend highly. -
Joan Haggerty05 November 2010
I bought this study guide for my daughter. She has been studying 'Of Mice and Men' for her GCSE core text this term but has been finding it tough going and didn't feel confident that she found eventually be able to answer exam questions on the book. She has found this guide to be very clear and the explanations to be detailed and understandable. I think that a great deal of study time is still needed even if you make use of this kind of guide but my daughter does seem to be more confident which can only help.
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The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles' Antigone
Gideon Abramov05 November 2010
The Burial at Thebes is a play by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, based on the fifth century BC tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. The title of the play recalls Antigone's punishment (she was condemned to be walled up in a cave) and her infamous crime. Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus king of Thebes, Greece, learns that her beloved brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, have killed each other while fighting on opposite sides during a war. Creon, then king of Thebes, buries one of the brothers, but refuses burial to the other, branding him a 'traitor'. Antigone defies him and as a punishment is walled up in a tomb. Creon eventually repents, but by then Antigone has killed herself. This is another great reinvention of a classic by Seamus Heaney (I would also recommend his Beowulf) and is a 'must read' for admirers of Greek tragedy.
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Play of Passion (Berkley Sensation)
Kelly Marsh05 November 2010
I don't normally read these kind of paranormal romances but my friend lent it to me so I decided to give it a go. Drew Kincaid is a Tracker for the SnowDancer werewolf pack and must rein in the rogue changelings who've lost control of their animal halves, even if it means killing those who've gone too far. But nothing in his life has prepared him for the battle to win the heart of a woman who makes his body ignite...and who threatens to enslave his wolf. Even I thought this was a bit cheesy but I did finish the book so that I could talk to my friend about it without her thinking I hadn't actually bothered!
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A Simples Life: The Life and Times of Aleksandr Orlov
Joshua Duggan28 October 2010
I know the run up to Christmas is often described as 'silly season' but this 'autobiography' is really taking things too far. It's sure to be a bestseller mind you.
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Dave Majors28 October 2010
Alan Moore is one of the giants of the comic book industry. His work on Watchmen and V For Vendetta revolutionised the comics medium and opened the genre up to 'serious' readers who had previously maintained that comics were for kids. While the majority of popular comics featured fantastical stories and superhuman exploits, in Moore's books the settings were recognisable and real if often skewed and his characters were all too human and flawed. The two previously mentioned titles may well be Moore's most famous work, but my personal favourite from among the many quality titles he has written is From Hell, a meditation on the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper.
Although the majority of the story is original, From Hell is actually based on Stephen Knight's theory that the Jack the Ripper murders were part of a conspiracy to conceal the birth of an illegitimate royal baby fathered by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and grandson of Queen Victoria. While Knight's theory might be far from plausible and certainly not popular, in his Author's Statement Alan Moore suggests that it is certainly one of the most entertaining theories and arguably the most interesting starting point for his own fictional examination of the Ripper murders, their era and impact.
From Hell, therefore, begins with Prince Albert Victor marrying and fathering a child with Annie Crook, a shop worker from the East End of London who is unaware of her new husband's royal connections. Queen Victoria becomes aware of the marriage and has Albert separated forcibly from his new family and Annie placed in an asylum. Queen Victoria then instructs her royal physician, Sir William Gull, to permanently damage Annie's sanity. Sometime after these events, women start to be brutally killed on the streets of London. As the devilish killer sends letters to the police, taunting them over their inability to catch him, Inspector Frederick Abberline of the newly formed Scotland Yard is assigned to investigate the Ripper crimes. From Hell follows Abberline as he trudges across London desperately trying to identify the Ripper while Alan Moore, just as desperately, tries to offer reasons for the Ripper's murderous actions.
From Hell is far more than a historical whodunit. In fact, the [fictional] culprit and the ostensible reasons for his actions are identified quite early one in the book. The brilliance of the book actually lies in its investigation into the psychology of the Ripper and the reasons, beyond the obvious, behind his crimes. Ideas of the occult and the symbolism of London's landmarks play a big role in the [back]story, as do Moore's own ideas on the nature of time. Moore must have done a great deal of investigation, looking beyond the facts of the Ripper crimes, into the Victorian era and into the inequalities of Victorian society. Eddie Campbell should also be commended at this point as just as much research must have gone into the illustration of From Hell as into the story.
It is such a rich, dense book, encompassing as it does criminology, occultism, architecture, social history, theology and mathematics, that it would be easy to write a whole thesis about From Hell. The explanatory notes at the end of the book are exhaustive while the story alone runs to around 552 pages. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say then that I consider this to be Moore's magnum opus. From Hell is a truly extraordinary novel; undeniably both unmissable and dark, it is a phenomenal piece of work and could arguably be held up as genre defining. From Hell is truly one of the most engrossing books I have ever read - buy it now!
