Book on biology from Nobel Prize winner, Paul Nurse.
The five ideas he uses to help understand life are 'The Cell','The Gene', 'Evolution by Natural Selection', 'Life as Chemistry', and 'Life as Information'.
It is a short, simply written book that explains what must be very complicated science in an understandable way. Quite amazing, and a clear message on the interconnectedness of all life, and our duty to care for our ecosystem.
The five ideas he uses to help understand life are 'The Cell','The Gene', 'Evolution by Natural Selection', 'Life as Chemistry', and 'Life as Information'.
It is a short, simply written book that explains what must be very complicated science in an understandable way. Quite amazing, and a clear message on the interconnectedness of all life, and our duty to care for our ecosystem.
Second book in the Great God's War series and a real stunner. I found that I could not put it down.
Set 20 years after the first book, Bifalt is now King of Belleger and married to Estie, Queen of Amika. Though they are both attracted to each other, for complicated reasons their marriage remains as yet unconsummated. They are trying to prepare for the inevitable coming of the Last Repository's enemy through their lands, though they are sorely threatened by internal plotting and power struggles.
It is a long book, but I loved it all. The relationship between Bifalt and Estie is brilliantly written. I was surprised to read on the author's website that it was not terribly well-received, and he is having trouble with the publishing of the last book. I pray that it does come out!
Set 20 years after the first book, Bifalt is now King of Belleger and married to Estie, Queen of Amika. Though they are both attracted to each other, for complicated reasons their marriage remains as yet unconsummated. They are trying to prepare for the inevitable coming of the Last Repository's enemy through their lands, though they are sorely threatened by internal plotting and power struggles.
It is a long book, but I loved it all. The relationship between Bifalt and Estie is brilliantly written. I was surprised to read on the author's website that it was not terribly well-received, and he is having trouble with the publishing of the last book. I pray that it does come out!
First book I have read by Storm Constantine.
The novel involves a story within a story. Casmeer is the last living inhabitant of Thermidore. All the others have undergone a sickness that turns them to crystal. Casmeer protects their crystal bodies from being broken apart by plumosites, half bird and half monkey creatures that are drawn to the crystal. Casmeer is the writer of the inner, main story. His novel is set in a surreal, medieval-like, fantasy world where cities fly or move about on walkers. The moving cities are guided by terranauts, who lay a path of pilot stones (the crystal hearts of people from the outer story). The two main characters in Casmeer's story are Ays, a priest of the Hands, and Finnigin, a young terranaut.
This is one of the strangest books I have read for a long time. SC's imagination is pretty amazing and she writes well. I struggled to make sense of things for much of the book but I did enjoy the story and was moved by it. Well worth reading.
The novel involves a story within a story. Casmeer is the last living inhabitant of Thermidore. All the others have undergone a sickness that turns them to crystal. Casmeer protects their crystal bodies from being broken apart by plumosites, half bird and half monkey creatures that are drawn to the crystal. Casmeer is the writer of the inner, main story. His novel is set in a surreal, medieval-like, fantasy world where cities fly or move about on walkers. The moving cities are guided by terranauts, who lay a path of pilot stones (the crystal hearts of people from the outer story). The two main characters in Casmeer's story are Ays, a priest of the Hands, and Finnigin, a young terranaut.
This is one of the strangest books I have read for a long time. SC's imagination is pretty amazing and she writes well. I struggled to make sense of things for much of the book but I did enjoy the story and was moved by it. Well worth reading.
First book I have read by Australian author, Martin Vine.
It is set on Dellreigh, a distant world created and loved by Aethelron, the lonely "God of Small Things", who is the youngest of seven gods and had always been sidelined by his older siblings.
Hopskotch is a young boy Slyt, the race that inhabit Dellreigh. He and his friend, Dobbin, are keen to take part in the annual cicada hunt (a hunt where cicadas are not harmed!). However their lovely world is now under threat after an attack by one of Aethelron's elder siblings and it seems young Hopskotch may have a role in protecting Dellreigh.
I really liked this. The story is very original and the characters are easy to relate to e.g. the boyish excitement of Hopskotch and Dobbin and the fact they are not the cool kids. The message of love and care for the natural world is great too. I did think the ending of this first part was a little abrupt but I'm very keen to continue reading the next in the series! :).
It is set on Dellreigh, a distant world created and loved by Aethelron, the lonely "God of Small Things", who is the youngest of seven gods and had always been sidelined by his older siblings.
Hopskotch is a young boy Slyt, the race that inhabit Dellreigh. He and his friend, Dobbin, are keen to take part in the annual cicada hunt (a hunt where cicadas are not harmed!). However their lovely world is now under threat after an attack by one of Aethelron's elder siblings and it seems young Hopskotch may have a role in protecting Dellreigh.
I really liked this. The story is very original and the characters are easy to relate to e.g. the boyish excitement of Hopskotch and Dobbin and the fact they are not the cool kids. The message of love and care for the natural world is great too. I did think the ending of this first part was a little abrupt but I'm very keen to continue reading the next in the series! :).
Collection of short detective stories by G K Chesterton. I don't normally read many short stories but these are beautiful.They create a strange, surreal atmosphere that draws you back to the the time they were written. One can get a feel for Chesterton's philosophy and his religious ideals from them.Some are funny, like "The Singular Speculation of the House Agent" and others are quite affecting, like the Gabriel Gale ones e.g. "The Shadow of the Shark".
It took me a while to get into this book but I'm glad I stuck with it. A disconcerting book set 200 years in the future, Raymond Mantle is trying to reclaim his lost memories and to find his missing wife, Josiane. Dann's writing style feels a bit like Kafka or Gene Wolfe to me - very literary as well as mysterious and puzzling at times. One scene that stuck with me is the physiological card game that Pfeiffer and Joan play against another couple at the casino where all players are "hooked in" to each other's minds. A book that is well worth reading!
Star beast picks up the story from just after the end of the first book, Shadow hunter. Ronnie Drager and Tima are being held in a psychiatric institution after their "rescue" from the Pobla. They need to escape before they are separated and their stories exploited for political gain in the upcoming NorthAm elections.
A wonderfully written and moving story. It has themes on the importance of nature and man's proper place in this world. There was obviously a third book planned to follow on from this one. So sad that Will Baker has gone and it won't be written.
Definitely a book worth reading (but be sure to read Shadow hunter first).
A wonderfully written and moving story. It has themes on the importance of nature and man's proper place in this world. There was obviously a third book planned to follow on from this one. So sad that Will Baker has gone and it won't be written.
Definitely a book worth reading (but be sure to read Shadow hunter first).
“Blood Ties” is the first book of the Castings trilogy by the Australian writer Pamela Freeman. Set in the Eleven Domains, the story is centred around Bramble and Ash, two troubled young adults belonging to the “old blood”, an oppressed and dispossessed people in their own country. It is an enthralling story full of mystery, magic and dark secrets.
I was very late to discover Pamela Freeman’s work but it is always a pleasure to find another talented Australian fantasy writer along the lines of Sara Douglass and Trudi Canavan. I’m really enjoying the series.
I was very late to discover Pamela Freeman’s work but it is always a pleasure to find another talented Australian fantasy writer along the lines of Sara Douglass and Trudi Canavan. I’m really enjoying the series.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this but it is an amazing book.
It is set in the future well after the Earth has been partially devastated by a nuclear exchange. The "uninhabitable" areas are set off from the cities as reserves and these are the places where the natural world has regenerated. These areas are also inhabited by an evolved, supposedly degenerate human related species called homo lapis or in slang, Ginks. The Ginks are hunted for sport by wealthy officials and the story starts with a father, Frank Drager, taking his son, Ronald on his first hunt. As you will know from reading the blurb, the hunt goes wrong and Ron is kidnapped.
The ideas in this book are startling and original and the story stays with you for a long time afterwards. Highly recommended.
It is set in the future well after the Earth has been partially devastated by a nuclear exchange. The "uninhabitable" areas are set off from the cities as reserves and these are the places where the natural world has regenerated. These areas are also inhabited by an evolved, supposedly degenerate human related species called homo lapis or in slang, Ginks. The Ginks are hunted for sport by wealthy officials and the story starts with a father, Frank Drager, taking his son, Ronald on his first hunt. As you will know from reading the blurb, the hunt goes wrong and Ron is kidnapped.
The ideas in this book are startling and original and the story stays with you for a long time afterwards. Highly recommended.
Wonderful book and conclusion to the Crossroads trilogy. There is a twist in the later part of the story that I really didn't see coming. I was just thinking it was getting a touch predictable and then it took my breath away. I definitely recommend this trilogy (and all the books by Kate Elliott that I have read so far).
I loved many of the characters in the book especially Shai, Jothinin, Marit, Joss and Scar (the eagle).
I loved many of the characters in the book especially Shai, Jothinin, Marit, Joss and Scar (the eagle).
This is the last book in the “Boreal Moon” trilogy. It starts 16 years after the end of the second book with Deveron Austrey and Induna newly together again after being separated all that time. At the request of the Source (He who is denied the sky) Induna has tracked Deveron down and convinced him to help again in the New Conflict, a struggle between the Beaconfolk (aka the Coldlight Army, the Pain Eaters) and the benevolent lights that is played out on the earth through human, Salka and other agents.
All the characters from the previous books return including Conrig, Beynor, Ullanoth and Maudrayne and there is an ever increasing web of plots and intrigue as the story builds to its resolution.
I really like the way Julian May writes. It isn't always highly paced but there is an underlying gentleness and humour that makes this series standout for me in comparison to many other fantasy works. From the some of the other reviews this trilogy isn't to everyone's taste but I certainly recommend trying it.
All the characters from the previous books return including Conrig, Beynor, Ullanoth and Maudrayne and there is an ever increasing web of plots and intrigue as the story builds to its resolution.
I really like the way Julian May writes. It isn't always highly paced but there is an underlying gentleness and humour that makes this series standout for me in comparison to many other fantasy works. From the some of the other reviews this trilogy isn't to everyone's taste but I certainly recommend trying it.
The second book in the Mage Heart series and even better than the first one. I can see why it won an Aurealis Fantasy award. The story begins with Dion working as a healer in a remote part of Gallia and still trying to put her traumatic encounter with Bedazzer behind her (that story was described in the first book). She meets an enigmatic Wanderer, Symon, who tells her she will be going home soon. Soon after she visited by two half brothers from her Morian family that she hasn't seen since she was a child. They need her help to find her sister, Tasha, whom they believe to be in mortal danger. Once more Dion needs to confront necromancy and to overcome societal prejudices and political machinations by those in power. A very readable and exciting story that does make you think.
A compelling story of how the author experienced great loss in her life, her crisis of faith and how she came to experience the presence of the divine. Experiencing the presence of God through the natural world rang true for me. I feel there is a lot of wisdom in this book.
A fun read with with some interesting characters and twists in the story. It is nice to read works by a local Australian writer. I think this is better than the first book in the trilogy (her first published work) - TH seems to get better as she goes. It will be interesting to read the final book in the trilogy and some of her later works.