After a bit of a blogging break, I have the great honour of returning to blogging with a guest post by another fabulous author, Tim Major. The tour is for his new release Snakeskins, an epic science fiction thriller.

The Long Shadow of the Triffids

I can’t overstate how important John Wyndham’s novel The Day of the Triffids is to me. When I read it, perhaps around the age of ten, I swear I could feel a rearrangement of my brain patterns. It wasn’t just the content of the book that mattered; it was the timing, the sense of serendipity. I’d been a rabid Doctor Who fan for a couple of years, my love for the programme neatly coinciding with it being cancelled. Without access to the show itself, I was left with the Target novelisations of televised TV shows, which I adored, and which turned me from an avid reader into a full-on bibliophile. Perhaps concerned at my literary cul-de-sac, my parents passed me two additional books: H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids.

Wells’ novel is wonderful. It’s serious and pulpy and pretentious and daft all at the same time. Along with The Invisible Man and The Time Machine, Wells covered the bases of a huge range of what would become accepted SF territory.

But The Day of the Triffids is another matter entirely.

When I read it, the first shock was the shock. I was completed unnerved by the initial hospital scenes in which Bill Masen observes people blinded after witnessing the meteor shower of the previous night. A snapshot image of a blind patient standing in broad daylight, demanding that the curtains be opened, haunted me for months. I’d been prepared for an alien invasion, but the beginning of the book was, in fact, my first real introduction to adult horror fiction.

And though I’d expected alien invasion, it was more complicated than that. Far from a marauding army, the Triffids – huge, carnivorous plants – have arrived on Earth years before the novel begins and are safely contained. Our hero, Bill Masen, is already an expert on the subject. It’s only the effects of meteor shower, and the debilitation of the majority of the human population, that allows the Triffids to escape and thrive.

This was, and remains, a big deal to me. I guess I wouldn’t have spotted it at the time, but this idea of a latent threat, and a seismic event that happened some time ago, allowing the reader only to witness the aftermath, was intoxicating. More and more, my favourite SF would follow this same pattern: benign new phenomena gradually being perceived as a threat. (For example, soon after reading the Wyndham book, Russell T Davies’ Dark Season was televised on Children’s BBC – another touchstone to which I’m indebted today.)

There are other aspects of the book I find appealing. Brian Aldiss was referring explicitly to Wyndham’s books when he coined the term ‘cosy catastrophes’, but to me this seems hardly an insult. The vision of a post-apocalypse as largely safe, but with societal rules reset and simplified, was tremendously appealing to a child trying to figure out the workings of the world, and still appeals to me as an adult, whenever I find myself mired in chores or bureaucracy.

After I turned thirty, when I finally decided to stop talking of writing as an ambition and making it an active hobby, the influence of John Wyndham was there from the start. My first short story was about an unexplained blinding light – one that persisted indefinitely, so that people were forced to remain in their homes, blindfolded. I was happy to riff on The Day of the Triffids, and it turned out that in doing so I immediately diverged from it, finding my way towards my own specific concerns.

I’m still happy to acknowledge the debt. My novella, Blighters, follows the Triffids pattern precisely: giant alien slugs landed on Earth many years ago, docile and exuding calm that affects anybody in the vicinity, fought over for their strange properties.

My new novel, Snakeskins, isn’t about alien lifeforms. It’s about a group of British people who have the strange ability to rejuvenate every seven years, and in doing so they shed a Snakeskin, a precise clone of themselves. Complicating matters further, this Snakeskin is sentient, and may live for minutes, hours or days. The idea of sheddings and Snakeskins had been rolling around in my head for years – but when it came to devising a cause of this strange effect, I turned immediately to John Wyndham. So, the cause of the phenomenon was a meteor shower, affecting the population of a small village, and the effects have been passed down through the generations. And, like Wyndham, I placed this instigating event long before the novel – a century ago.

I’m already in John Wyndham’s debt to a huge degree, but I know I won’t stop riffing on his concepts any time soon. I’m busy finishing up with a novel about Midwich Cuckoos-esque creepy children – at least, that was the starting point, but as always the plot has diverged massively from its inspiration. The SF genre is built upon appropriation, building and expanding upon earlier ideas. I hope that John Wyndham would approve.

I am very sad to say that I have had to go back to a blended wrap up and TBR because I have once again had a disappointing reading month in April. Admittedly, I was aware that this month wouldn’t be amazing for reading, as the main priority was always going to be organising my house move and making it my home. That is one thing, I definitely did achieve.

So over the course of April, I only read two short stories, both from a collection on my Kindle. ‘Candace’ and ‘Alicia’ by Michelle Miller are from a collection of short stories all about the power of women. I downloaded them for free on my Kindle, although I’m not sure if they are still on the deal, I really do recommend you checking them out. While I loved ‘Alicia’, ‘Candace’ just felt like it was lacking. I know they are short stories, but it just felt like it was still just a scene within a story. There are still six more short stories within the collection, so will hopefully get through them all in the next few months.

With April behind me, I am going to hit the ground running again in May. I have my comfy sofa back to be my main reading chair, and I’ve set up a cute little TBR shelf in my bedroom. Although I still have loads of books to bring over from my Dads, I have loads here that I can not wait to pick up.

I don’t want to try and push myself too much, so I think I am only going to pick out four books to try and get to this month. The first will definitely be my current read, ‘My Mother’s Daughter’ by Ann O’Loughlin; I will be reviewing this on the 14th of May, so keep your eyes open for that. This is a family saga based around the idea of babies being mixed up at birth, its currently a better read than I was expecting.

Another that I have already started on my Kindle is ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ by Kevin Kwan. This got a lot of hype not that long ago, and from what I have read of it already, I can completely see why. So far its a fun, easy, light hearted read, perfect for reading around doing this in the house.

Next is a book I have had on a few TBR’s now, and that is a reread of ‘Truthwitch’ by Susan Dennard. I read this a while back, and really want to continue on with the series, but first I need to refresh myself on what happened. I believe I read the audiobook before, so this time I am going to actually pick up the physical book.

Finally this leads us to the twitter poll. I am sorry that I forgot to ever actually put the poll up for April, so a couple of these books are carry overs. So this month you have the choice between; ‘Obsidio’ by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, ‘Library of Souls’ by Ransom Rigs, and ‘Ruin and Rising’ by Leigh Bardugo. Make sure to head to twitter to have your say.

What are you planning to read this month?

This is one of those books that has been followed by a whole trail of hype, and that always leaves me a touch on the nervous side. In my experience, books that are highly hyped turn out to be either books I love, or books I absolutely despise. This one though did spark my fancy, and I had the great honour of getting to buddy read it with the lovely Ellie over at Hatterell. So be sure to head over there to check out her blog, and her review for The Cruel Prince.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

I adored Jude’s character growth in this novel, it is always so refreshing to see a young female character grow in strength and become independent and sure of herself. Although this is a common character arc for young adult books, normally they never get to the stage where they are more confident about what they want, than the man they think they want- this was a refreshing twist.

Having both the faerie world alongside the human world showed the distinction in culture; with the separate characters who prefer the way of life of one or the other. One downside though was that I really wanted to see more from Vivi’s relationship with Heather- a human girl. However, without saying too much, I really hope that this is taken advantage of in the following novels, as I feel that The Cruel Prince ended in an ideal scenario to explore this.

All in all, I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars, but I feel the following books have the potential to be even better and hit the five star boundary.

Going into The Wicked King, I can not wait to see more of Jude and Prince Cardan, I want to see more friction, and complicated attraction.

Have you read The Cruel Prince? What did you think about it?

 

Now if you’ve read my most anticipated book releases of 2019 you will know that this was a feature on that post, and I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to read it early and now share my thoughts.

After the death of her sister, seventeen-year-old Violet Saunders finds herself dragged to Four Paths, New York. Violet may be a newcomer, but she soon learns her mother isn’t: They belong to one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods.

Justin Hawthorne’s bloodline has protected Four Paths for generations from the Gray—a lifeless dimension that imprisons a brutal monster. After Justin fails to inherit his family’s powers, his mother is determined to keep this humiliation a secret. But Justin can’t let go of the future he was promised and the town he swore to protect.

Ever since Harper Carlisle lost her hand to an accident that left her stranded in the Gray for days, she has vowed revenge on the person who abandoned her: Justin Hawthorne. There are ripples of dissent in Four Paths, and Harper seizes an opportunity to take down the Hawthornes and change her destiny-to what extent, even she doesn’t yet know.

The Gray is growing stronger every day, and its victims are piling up. When Violet accidentally unleashes the monster, all three must band together with the other Founders to unearth the dark truths behind their families’ abilities—before the Gray devours them all.

This book turned out to be a solid three out of five star read for me, which as you can probably guess was not as high as I had been expecting, however in many ways I still loved this novel.

I felt like this left me wanting to know so much more about Harper and the full extent of her power. Although it does finally get touched on, its just not enough in my eyes. I feel that so much more could be made the back story to many of the characters to be fair, but Harper was definitely the one the peaked my interest the most.

However that being said, this is the first in a series- although I don’t know how many books are going to be involved in the series- and this definitely sets the series up to be amazing. This book gives you a good understanding of the world setting, and a nice introduction to the characters. It touches on what they are up against, but it certainly does not give anything away.

I found this to be a very fast paced quick read, that I flew through in just a few days, and was constantly wanting to pick it back up. That is definitely the making of a good book.

So although The Devouring Gray was only a three star read to me, I am definitely anticipating the sequel to be a four or five star read. It just holds so much potential, that I feel its been left at a place where the next book should be able to just take off into the action.

This releases in April this year, so I highly recommend you get it pre-ordered!

Time for another entry in my ABC book challenge series; if you are new here you can have a look at the first post I did for the series that explains it all and links to the blog that gave me inspiration. But otherwise, lets get started with the letter E.

Memorable Books I have read beginning with the Letter…

One of my recent reads just has to be included in this, and its one of the books that seems to of gotten me out of one of my worst ever reading slumps. That book is Everless by Sara Holland. A fantastic fantasy duology that I flew through in about a week, it is a must read for YA fantasy lovers.

Then, a historical fiction series that has stuck in my memory, Eagles at War by Ben Kane. I read these first two books back to back and then the final in the series in just one day! It is an amazing, gritty, emotional medieval historical fiction. And this isn’t even my favourite of Ben Kane’s work.

Books on my TBR beginning with the Letter…

Quite a recent release I believe, that I can not wait to get my hands on, Enchantee by Gita Trelease. This is a historical fiction based in Paris with fantastical elements, and its a Young Adult novel. I have definitely not read many young adult historical fiction books, but I feel like its something I would really love; even better with it having fantasy magical elements.

Finally, an absolute classic, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. If I’m honest, I don’t really know what this is about, but it is a high epic fantasy series, that is one of the all time originals. Been told in the past that its a staple read for any and all fantasy fans- that’s enough about it for me, as a big fantasy fan.

And that is it for another addition to the ABC book challenge series, make sure to check back next week for the letter F.

As you will of noticed, I split this months Wrap Up and TBR into two separate posts, and this is the second half, the April TBR. So while I am away for the last week of March, I am not expecting to get much time to read, but I have got Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, and Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan on my Kindle along with some other books, so I have options.

I am planning on being rather ambitious for April, which could go one of two ways. Supposedly we are meant to be moving, but as of writing this, we still don’t know what is happening- but if it happens then I probably wont be able to read as much. Or I could continue the great month of reading that I had in March and actually achieve everything I want to.

For quite a while I have been meaning to do a reread of Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. I read the first book quite a while ago, and never continued with the series; but now I have a signed edition of Bloodwitch, I really feel that I need to reread the first one and then continue on with the series. Plus while I am loving my fantasy books, it makes sense to keep getting through them.

Continuing on with the fantasy theme, are two arcs I have, one which I believe is already out, and the other out 2nd of April. They are The Tesla Legacy by KK Perez, and Other Words for Smoke by Sarah Maria Griffin. I do believe that the Tesla Legacy is actually a sci-fi, but either way, I am very excited to read both of these and have a feeling that they will be quick reads.

Then a bit of a different one for me, is The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston. This is a companion novel to her first book Geekerella, but I have been reassured that I am okay reading it without reading the first book. Normally contemporary isn’t really my thing, but lately I have really been feeling the need for easy light hearted reads, and this sounds like its the perfect fit!

Onto this months poll, I promise that I will try and prioritise the poll winner this month as I generally seem to never actually get around to it. So for this month I have gone with a theme of continuing on with a series, as I feel like this will make me more likely to pick it up. Your options are; Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs, Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman, and Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes. Be sure to check my twitter to have your say.

What are you hoping to read this month?

I promised you two editions to this series within one week, so here you go. Today the letter is D, though if you know your alphabet then you probably could of worked that out- maybe I should mix it up and confuse you all.

Memorable Books I have read beginning with the Letter…

I couldn’t possibly only choose two books for this one, it turns out I read a lot of books that start with D. But I have managed to cut it down to three, which I am quite proud of, so lets get started.

First of all, I have to mention a book that was from a new found favourite author of last year and that was Mary E Pearson, with her new book Dance of Thieves. I adored this fantasy novel, and the sequel is one of my most anticipated books for this year. It truly is a book that I think all fantasy lovers will enjoy, its got a great romance, lots of action, and tons of political tension.

Another fantast novel but this time actually from one of my favourite historical fiction writers, Darien by C F Iggulden is a fabulous epic fantasy, with a super magic system and lots of history and politics. I adored this book, and it got me out of my big reading slump of 2017.

Then finally, one of very few sci-fi novels that I have ever deemed to be a favourite, The Diabolic by S J Kincaid is an amazing duology about a modified being having to take the place of her human in a dangerous court setting. Seriously, even if you aren’t a sci-fi lover, you should look at picking this up along with the sequel The Empress.

Books on my TBR beginning with the Letter…

I love a good retelling, and Damsel by Elana K Arnold looks to be a sleeping beauty retelling. I cant say I’ve ever read one of those so its definitely high on my list of books to get to. It is just sitting on my shelf waiting to be chosen. Probably be the next retelling book I pick up.

And then another retelling of sorts, I would have to say Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. This is a book I have had for a while, but for some reason I have been struggling to get hold of the rest of the books in the series so I don’t want to start it until I have them all. A Wizard of Oz retelling definitely sounds like something that I will want to marathon through.

So that is it for the letter D, make sure to check back for E. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books and what you thought about them.

For a number of reasons this month is a bit different to normal. First of all, I have actually had a good reading month, and secondly I am actually ending March on the 22nd, and counting the last week of March as April for the purpose of Wrap UP. As I have talked about I am away for the last week of March and I want to have this post scheduled before I go, so this seemed like the best solution.

So for what is technically just three weeks, I managed to finish five books. Admittedly two of those I had read the majority of in February, but still that’s not the point. This has really helped me to get my GoodReads Goal back up to not a terrible failure.

The first book that I finished, was a carry over from February, and it was After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott. This is a psychological thriller, that is absolutely brilliant; following each eclipse, young girls keep going missing, and trust me it will have you glued to its pages. I gave this a four star rating, and you can read my review for this book here.

I then flew through a fantasy mystery thriller genre blend, and one of my most anticipated books of the year. I’ve had the great honour of getting to read this before its release date, and you really should add it to your preorder list. The Devouring Gray, is the first book in a new series and one that you really should get involved with. Although this isn’t the best book in the world, it definitely is a great start to what is looking to be a really intriguing series. I gave this first book three stars, and keep your eyes open for my review.

After a very long time of putting it off I then also read Everless by Sara Holland, and the sequel, Evermore. Both of these were really good, with a super interesting concept, and a really loveable main character. I doubt I am going to be review these books on the blog as I read them purely for enjoyment. But if you are looking for a fast paced, quick fantasy that I feel is actually quite a good introduction into high fantasy, then this series is definitely for you.

Then another carry over from February was my buddy read with Ellie over at Hatterell, you really should go and check out her blog. Although she is super busy with University, her blog is still full of really interesting content. Over the last month or so we have been reading The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and although I didn’t know what I was expecting, it was actually a really amazing read. I got really engrossed in this book, and am gutted that I cant just pick up The Wicked King. All in all, I gave it a four and a half stars, and will be doing a post about it in the near future.

That is by far the best reading week I have had in a very long time. My reading slump is looking to be well and truly over, although saying that I do not want to jinx it. What did you read this month? I will have my TBR up at the start of April.

Its time for a further instalment of this ABC book challenge series, it may only be entry number three, but I’m still loving it all the same. Today’s letter is C, and you are lucky enough to be getting two of these posts within one week!

Memorable Books I have read beginning with the Letter…

This time around, I’m taking Memorable as meaning books that I expected to be so much more than they were. They have stuck in my memory as not being all that good, so here we go…

First of all is a fantasy novel by an amazing booktuber, based around LGBTQ+ elves, and I believe the rest of the series has dragons as well, Cloaked in Shadow by Ben Alderson. This turned out to be a three out of five star read for me, as I just felt that it had very little depth. However I did love the romance in this, and I may one day have to pick up the rest of the series at some point to see how it unravels.

Then the next, is actually a book by one of my favourite authors, a young adult historical fiction, Changeling by Philippa Gregory. This had so much potential, with a run away daughter of a noble, and a religious father on a journey around Europe. This should of been so good, with the mystery and the romance, but it was just a big let down. I have actually finished this series, or a least read all that are out, and it just never picked up.

Books on my TBR beginning with the Letter…

I have to start this off with a book that I have been putting on my TBR now for a few months, but I am still yet to start, and that is The City of Brass by S.A Chakraborty. This is a fantasy novel based around the concept of someone who does not believe in magic, then managing to summon a Djinn (which I believe is a genie?). I have never read anything like this, and it sounds really exciting so definitely cant wait to finally pick this up.

Another that I have been meaning to pick up for quite a while that I am really looking forward to is Clash of Empires by Ben Kane. I adore all of Ben Kane’s works, and Ive even had the pleasure of meeting him, and this is no different. I have really just not had the mood or feelings to pick this up since I have had it, I’ve not really been reading any historical fiction lately. But as soon as I’m in the mood for history, I will definitely be going for this one.

So that is it for the letter of C, this was actually a tough one. Check back soon for another instalment.

Its time for round two of the ABC book challenge series, if you missed the first then you can catch up on what its about, where I got the idea and Letter A, here.

Now todays letter is B, so lets see what books come up this week.

Memorable Books I have read beginning with the Letter…

Last year saw a few very memorable books being read, some of which I have the great honour of reviewing on this blog. The first memorable book to mention is A Baby’s Bone by Rebecca Alexander, a super emotional historical thriller genre blend. You can read an extract for it here.

Another thriller on this list is A Breath After Drowning by Alice Blanchard, a chilling who did it, following a psychiatrist having to face her demons to work out who was behind her sisters murder years before. This book really did envelope me into its hold, and I loved the entirety of this book, I need more by Alice Blanchard!! You can read my review here.

Books on my TBR beginning with the Letter…

First book that comes to mind is one that I have had on my shelf for a very long time now. I believe I brought it on a Christmas shopping trip a few years ago, and that book is Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Still I know little about this, but I think that its about a woman’s experience on death row.

Finally a book that I got in a FairyLoot box and have been dying to read, Beyond a Darkened Shore by Jessica Leake. All I know about this is that it is a young adult fantasy, but it has had some very mixed reviews from what I have seen. Have you read it? What were your thoughts?

That’s it for Letter B, join next week for Letter C. You should give this series a go, send me the link if you have.