Fighting Terms - Thom Gunn

Advantages: Accessible and easy to read
Disadvantages: Poetry put some people off!

...movement, a loose collection of American poets and writers who managed to give an alternative voice to American youth in the early 50’s in the same way that Jazz and later Rock and Roll did in the field of music. Thom Gunn was not a fully paid up member of this literary movement but in this collection he covers the same ground. Youth angst and culture in general is the principal subject as it was for many writers of the Beat movement like Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg. A BIT OF BACKGROUND Thom Gunn was born in Gravesend in 1929 and was brought up in Hampstead North London. After leaving school, Gunn did two years of National Service and then got a place at Cambridge to read English at the age of twenty-one. This was a formative period for Gunn and during his studies he published his first book of poems ‘Fighting Terms’ in 1954... Read review

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Advantages: A couple of new ideas
Disadvantages: Not a great deal of depth

...Given the recent success of the film version of Matheson's "I Am Legend", it's not a surprise that anything featuring humans fighting vampires should be optioned for a film version. Admittedly, the identity of the enemy is really the only thing the two books have in common, but on reading this one, I can see exactly why the film industry would be interested. Gunn shows us how the vampires first seized control after the break down of civilisation. We are briefly introduced to their human guards and the methods they use to keep them and the human populace under control. After this, it's straight into the action, as a group of rebels seek to destroy their local group of vampires, led by Nero. There is little subtlety to their methods, mostly involving the humans destroying and killing as many of the vampires and as much... Read review

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Advantages: Believable characters and settings, exciting and sentimental at times.
Disadvantages: Takes a while to get into, quite predictable.

...I’m not a big fan of fantasy books, I must admit, but this is one of those sorts of (groups of) books that anyone will enjoy, no matter what their preference is. It is the story of a young woman called Alanna. She lives in a medieval world where women are considered inferior to men, which makes her ambition to become a knight a little hard to achieve. Luckily for her though, she has a twin brother, who doesn’t like his fate any more than she does. So when Thom (her brother) is sent to the palace to begin the eight long years training to be knight of the realm and Alanna is sent to a convent to become a lady, they swap places, pretending they are twin brothers so that Thom can learn to use his magic and become a powerful mage and Alanna can go to the capital to train with the young men of the realm. This is a disguise she... Read review

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