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Two books in one

Advantages: Readable and interesting memoir
Disadvantages: The short stories get in the way

"Green Shadows, White Whale" is an autobiographical novel, describing Bradbury's stay in Ireland to write the screenplay for the film "Moby Dick". However, as Bradbury is always more confident in the shorter form, it incorporates many of his "Irish" short stories. The result is a schizophrenic book. I found the new material, about Bradbury's relationship with John Huston and how he constructed the screenplay, fascinating. However I have never liked ...
...got in the way of a highly readable memoir. I feel that the book would have been far improved if Bradbury had abandoned his attempt at fictionalising his stay - if he had taken out the short stories, and treated the book as a genuine account of a small piece of cinema history. Nonetheless, given my disappointment at some of Bradbury's recent work, I was encouraged that it was the new material which I enjoyed, and I would still recommend the book ...

NeilHudson 10.09.2000 · Read full review
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Review of Green Shadows, White Whale - Ray Bradbury

Closer to Heaven

Advantages: Great character building
Disadvantages: A little slow paced for my taste

Fantasy and science fiction are genres that mesh well together. Some authors have written successfully across both genres, but not usually in the same story. Jaine Fenn has managed to combine both in one book and it's an interesting read. One night, a stranger is found lying unconscious in a bog just outside the village of Dangwern. He appears to have come from nowhere and, apart from a strange piece of cloth lying near his naked body, there is nothing ...
...Unfortunately, this includes the stranger himself, as he is suffering from amnesia and has no idea even where he is, much less how he came to be there. Fortunately for Sais, as he is nicknamed, the boy who finds him is "sky touched". This means he is soon to travel to the City of Lights to be tested to see if he is worthy of being a consort of the goddesses. The village elders permit Sais and the boy's mother Kerin to accompany him to see if anyone ...

Soho_Black 19.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Consorts of Heaven - Jaine Fenn

It is not just about football!

Advantages: It's very funny, and oh so true!
Disadvantages: None

The Disc, for those who don't know, continues to float in space, supported by the elephants who ride the back of the great swimming turtle A'tuin. The Hub about which the planet spins is a centre of great magic, and best avoided if you want to live a happy and contented life. At the outer perimeter is the great circle sea which unendingly streams over the rim into the void, which is best avoided if you want to continue to live at all. Most Discians ...
...Smeems, for instance, is the Candle Nave at the Unseen University. He has to worry about keeping the candles not just alight, but properly melted, artistically, gothicly, dribbled, as it were. Of course, there's Trevor to help. And there's Nutt. With two t's. Trevor Likely has a tendency to skive off work whenever possible, and to kick a tin can around. His dad was a legend. Nutt is… well, no-one's quite sure what Nutt is, even him. Goblin isn't ...

hiker 07.12.2009 · Read full review
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Review of The Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett

From Dead to Worse

Advantages: Good read
Disadvantages: Lots of threads, can be confusing

...A failed attempt of takeover from werewolves in another area results in Alcide becoming the new packleader. This, however, comes with a price which is the death of a few weres in the community including the previous packmaster Patrick, Maria-Star, Alcide’s girlfriend. As for the vampires, the explosion in the vampire summit results in the loss of various main personnel in Queen Sophie’s court and the King of Nevada, Felipe, grabs the opportunity. ...
...Louisiana apart from Eric and his gang. Eric surrenders to the new regime and manages to keep his area. And with Sookie saving the King from the attack of the Sophie’s last surviving child, Eric is slowly gaining the trust of the new King. And as for our heroine Sookie, a surprise meeting with her great-grandfather Niall reveals her heritage of being part-fairy. This completes Andre’s discovery of Sookie having fairy blood. And also explains the ...

medgenie 21.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of From Dead to Worse - Charlaine Harris

A mind bending story of artificial realities

Advantages: A very novel and surreal look at life
Disadvantages: Hard to follow and too outside of the box

...starts to unfold around him. Time and logic really start mind bending when objects around him start fading away and in time, the reality of the illusion is uncovered. So why the illusion and where is he really living? What is his role in the new existence. MY THOUGHTS I love the surreal nature of science fiction that completely thinks outside of the box. This book achieves this in abundance and creates an entirely new set of rules for existence ...
...whether to recommend this book to friends as it really is down to individual preference and how your own logic works. It didn’t entirely work for me but there again I am glad that I read it. Please take the time to rate this review. Thank you ...

Nothing-But-The-Truth 09.11.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick