Category Archives: Book Reviews
The Salvation Project by Stewart Ross – Cover Reveal
Here it is. The cover for the third book in the The Soterion Mission series which is due out on 20th June. I’m hoping to take part in the blog tour and catch up with the first two books in the series. Sounds like it will be thrilling.
Summary:
Humanity’s hope of salvation lies within a single laptop…
A mutation in human DNA means no one lives beyond nineteen. Scientists working to reverse this pandemic died before their Salvation Project was complete, leaving behind the results of their research in a sealed vault – the Soterion.
122 years have passed. The civilisation of the ‘Long Dead’ is almost forgotten, the Soterion has been burned to ashes, and communities of Constants are tormented by brutal tribes of Zeds. Cyrus, Miouda and Sammy flee their burning city with a laptop rescued from the inferno. They believe it contains the key to the Salvation Project. But its batteries are dead, there is no electricity to power it, and murderous Zeds will stop at nothing to get it back…
Find it on Goodreads here
Author Information
Stewart was born in Buckinghamshire and educated in Oxford, Berkhamsted, Exeter, Bristol, and Orlando, Florida. He taught at a variety of institutions in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, the USA, and Britain before becoming a full-time writer in 1989.
With over 300 published titles to his credit, he is now one of Britain’s most popular and versatile authors. His output includes prize-winning books for younger readers, novels, plays, three librettos, a musical, and many widely acclaimed works on history and sport. Several of his books are illustrated with his own photographs.
Stewart also lectures in France and the UK, gives talks, runs workshops, and visits schools. He is an occasional journalist and broadcaster. His brother, Charlie Ross, is the celebrated auctioneer.
In his spare time Stewart enjoys travel, restaurants, sport, theatre, photography, art and music. He lives near Canterbury with his wife Lucy, and – occasionally – his four children and two grandchildren. Each morning he commutes 10 metres to work in a large hut in the garden.
Website: http://www.stewartross.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Booksmyth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Soterion-Mission-194311443946577/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jstewartross
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The Inventory: Black Knight by Andy Briggs – Blog Tour
Black Knight is the third book in The Inventory series that follows Dev and his friends as they protect the world from dangerous inventions and those that seek to use them. You might remember me taking part in the blog tours for Book one – Iron Fist, and Book Two – Gravity.
Author Andy Briggs has kindly returned with a guest post on writing sequels, and I’ll share my thoughts on Black Knight too.
The process of writing sequels in a series
The Inventory is my third series of books. My first venture was the HERO.COM and VILLAIN.NET series, and they were a huge leap into the unknown for me. I hadn’t written a serial before and this one was effectively two separate series – one hero, one villain – in which each book in the series happens the same time as the other. Effectively two parallel series in which characters and plot points crisscross from book to book. And there were to be eight books all together!
It was a nightmare to plot and I ended up with a huge map on my wall that looked more like a subway map, the interconnecting lines were individual character arcs bisecting at key plot points. It had turned from a book into a science project – but amazingly, it worked!
Tarzan came next. I thought this would be an easier series to plot as I had the weight of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ legacy to fall back on. However, that also made it a difficult challenge as there was a huge fan base that were very protective of the beloved character. The challenge was to create a new Tarzan that also felt familiar. That was a huge challenge I hadn’t bargained for.
When it came to the Inventory, I was delighted to once again have a blank canvas, something I hadn’t had since Hero & Villain. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to create new characters, with their own flaws and quirks, and not have to be guided by the past, and having a more linear series fused the best of both my previous series experience into one.
Looking back on my various series I think I have found the path I prefer – something new, something linear and something in which characters can grow and keep surprising me. I’m already in Book 4 and am delighted that I’m in a story that I hadn’t fully anticipated in Book 1, working with characters who weren’t even born then. That’s a nice place to be – after all, it’s the same place my readers will be as they turn the page… the future still unknown…
About the Author
Andy has extensive experience working on multinational co-productions and has worked in comics, books, TV, film and trans-media projects.
Andy wrote and Executive Produced Legendary, currently the most successful independent UK/Chinese co-production. Released in China and grossing $5 million in the first week, with a theatric US release in 2014. With his brother he worked on Hollywood features such as Judge Dredd and Freddy vs. Jason and TV shows for the SyFy Channel and Netflix.
He wrote and co-created Secret Agents, a trans-media interactive spy experience for children, currently on at the Discover Centre, Stratford. He has 16 books and graphic novels published in the UK and around the world.
He has written 20 books and graphic novels published in the UK and around the world. In 2016 his latest feature, Crowhurst, will be released.
@abriggswriter
Synopsis
Dev and his friends are back with more mind-bending tech in this third installment of the Inventory series.
The World Consortium is recruiting more agents to defend the most advanced technology the world isn’t ready for, and it’s up to Dev, Lottie and Mase to train them up for action. But will they be ready before Shadow Helix’s next strike? And has Dev uncovered all the secrets of his past, or is there more to know about his special abilities?
What I Thought
The playing field in Black Knight is spread wider still (we spend little time in the Inventory but the time that we do will have you on the edge of your seat…) and new players are added to the mix including more people Dev, Lot and Mason’s age. These new recruits are placed under the care of Dev and let’s just say not all of them like being bossed around, especially not by someone that keeps ‘spacing out’.
Something strange is going on with Dev and his memory, when he keeps having flashbacks into someone else’s mind. The other thing that drives him to distraction is a boy who seems to have taken a liking to Lot. Personally I’m liking this development in their relationship and hope it continues next time. My favourite parts are generally those from Dev’s point of view.
As ever the Inventory series is a fast paced thrilling read full of inventions and chases. There’s one particular chase that I really enjoyed, and I’m sure you will too.
We also have a new enemy – one that has been around much longer, and that has a potential super weapon at its disposal. I won’t let on the ending of course only to say that…Cliffhanger alert! But that means there’s more to come and I know I’ll be reading on.
Thanks to Andy for the story and Katrina at Scholastic for my copy of Black Knight. Opinions are my own of course.
Check out the rest of the blog tour at the stops below.
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Dream Magic by Joshua Khan – Blog Tour
Last year I read and enjoyed the first book in the series Shadow Magic. You can find my review, and more information about the author here. The second book in the series is out this week on the 6th and I’ve been lucky enough to get an early copy (opinions are still mine though).
Synopsis
In a world ruled by six ancient Houses of Magic, a girl and a boy begin an epic and dangerous journey of discovery . . . Lileth Shadow, princess of darkness, is struggling with her growing powers. Castle Gloom is filling with ghosts, zombies roam the country and people throughout Gehenna are disappearing. Then Lily is attacked in her own castle by a mysterious sorcerer known as Dreamweaver and his army of jewel-spiders whose bites send victims to sleep. Thorn, and his giant bat Hades, must save Lily from the realm of sleep and help her overcome the evil Dreamweaver in order for her to reclaim her kingdom.
Add the book to your Goodreads shelf here.
What I Thought
First up, can I just say, I love these covers. They definitely make you want to pick up the books and delve in. I also love that they clearly feature young children and reflect the age of our protagonists Lily and Thorn.
In this book, some of the challenges to be faced are, unwanted proposals, trolls, decomposing and wandering zombies and spiders whose bite can send their victim to sleep, as well as doing other nasty things (spiders – *shudders*).
As we discovered in the first book, women aren’t supposed to do magic and this is another thing Lily battles with. She also discovers that as well as necromancy and power over shadows, dreams are another arena where she can use her power.
In the first book I thought that our two young leads jumped to conclusions too quickly but I didn’t notice that here, instead they both appear to be growing into their responsibilities.
These books are an engaging read within an interesting fantasy world, and they contain a fair bit of humour too. I certainly giggled a few times. I’m particularly fond of the character Dott, Lily’s troll maid, in this book. Gabriel is also back, and just as annoying.
I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next in Burning Magic.
Do check out what other people on the tour thought too.
kirstyes 