July Book Reviews

Alice in Virtuality by Norman Turrell - 4 stars

Recap: Martin tests some AI tech called Alice. 

Review: We've got the stereotypical IT guy Martin and the gentle nature loving heroine Emma. I liked how insidiously the AI Alice begins to destroy their lives and affect their behaviour. I thought it was amusing that the hacker group behind it all were teenagers but I felt like we were shown something was wrong with the mum yet it was never explained further. I enjoyed how the AI was trapped in the end and also how it acted in the various virtual worlds. An easy read with a heartwarming life turnaround tale. Yay nature - boo computers! 

Smoke and Iron by Rachel Caine - 4 stars

Recap: Jess Brightwell has a plan - it involves sending Morgan back to the Tower, putting Wolfe in prison and pretending to be his twin Brendan. They'll infiltrate the Great Library and bring down the Archivist. What could go wrong?

Review: Well, lots of things go wrong leaving the group of friends to fight tooth and nail for their freedom and to save the Library. There are some heart-stopping moments and a collection of truly horrible characters you can take great pleasure in hating. Plus, there's a dragon! We know these characters well by now and we're rooting for them, we feel their highs and lows. There are moments of happiness but on the whole, it's a tale of grim survival. They haven't won yet either and it's not a foregone conclusion so I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!

Darkly Dreaming by Chloe Hammond - 3 stars

Recap: Rae and Layla try to recapture their youth & friendship while on holiday in France. Instead, they get turned into vampires!

Review: What an opener! It had me blushing and made me realise this is not my normal book pick, that said the sex scenes throughout the book were written well without massive use of cliche and included one hilarious lol moment. The key to this book though, is not it's slightly different take on vampires, but it's focus on the friendship of the two main characters. Hopping from POV and zipping back and forth through their timeline could've been muddled but it worked well and there's a great deal of sympathy generated for Rae and Layla. I think most women can relate to one or more aspect of their lives. I'd give it 3.5 if I could and I'd be tempted to read book two, now that all the masses of backstory are out of the way, it'll be interesting to see if the writing style changes.

All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka - 4 stars

Review: Japanese soldier Keiji keeps dying in battle.

Recap: I've watched Edge of Tomorrow and naturally the book is different to the film and predictably, I think I prefer the book. It's easy to grasp the concept and I like the way the iterations are written. There is such emotion in the final few scenes and the concept of the frog-like aliens and what they can do really does scare you.

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson - 4 stars

Recap: Bill Bryson walks the Appalachian Trail.

Review: First of all, I enjoy reading Bill Bryson books so I know the meandering style, the shoehorned anecdotes and I expect all the facts. This book didn't disappoint. A touch of personal commentary here and there, some truly comical observations and escapades with his hiking companion plus the odd highly random segway into a different part of the story which had me head-scratching from time to time thinking I'd missed a bit! Enjoyable. Makes you want to hike even though you know you'll hate every minute. (I have my own hiking/mountaineering/jungle trekking tales)

Snap by Belinda Bauer - 5 stars

Recap: Abandoned by his father, left to look after his sisters and burgling for food, teenager Jack is trying to keep the pieces of his shattered life together in the aftermath of his mother's brutal murder.

Review: My goodness this was a page-turner and it gave me the collywobbles, so much so I couldn't fall asleep last night in case the murderer and/or burglar came a-visiting. Great characters, great twists, heart-wrenching children and an extremely satisfying ending.

Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.