Rebel, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages: 448

Main Characters:

Nathanial Starbuck

When I first saw these books written by Bernard Cornwell I had no desire to read them. Yes they are written by my favourite author and yes they are very highly acclaimed as some of Cornwell’s best work but still I didn’t want to read them. I think this was because at the time I had no desire to read about American History. For me I thought U.S. history was too modern as I preferred more Medieval history (why I had no problem reading Cornwell’s other novels like Azincourt) and therefore didn’t feel the Starbuck Chronicles would appeal to me. However when I came to university I had a module on American history, from the War of Independence to 9/11. I became absolutely hooked, especially the foreign policy, so then decided to turn my attention back to the Starbuck Chronicles, and I’m glad I did they were brilliant!

 Rebel is the first book in the four part series of the Starbuck Chronicles. The book starts out with Nathanial, the son of a famous anti-slavery preacher, getting caught in the South when the Civil War begins. After been caught in the South because of his famous name, Nathanial is saved from been tar and feathered by the father of his close friend Washington Faulconer. As the war starts Nathanial ‘Nate’ is split between his loyalties. Does he return to his father, who despises him for running away with a French actress or stay in the South where his friends are and become a soldier in their army. Nate chooses the latter deciding to stay and fight with the Confederacy and make his name in the army.

Nate finds himself becoming a staff member in Washington Faulconer’s Legion. A core trained and paid for by Faulconer to be part of the Confederate army. As the Legion marches into the first battle of the War, Nate is dismissed for his actions in blowing up the North’s main rail supply bridge. As Nate returns to headquarters he stumbles into the Northern army's flacking force. Rushing back to the Legion he warns his General of the flanking force and helps lead the Confederate army to its first victory of the war.

As I said above I thought this book was brilliant. As usual it was filled with detail, from the names of the commanders of the armies, or the movement of the troops, or the way Cornwell portrays the battles, it really created an image of what fighting in a 19^th Century army was like. The book also shows how people’s loyalties were divided during the Civil War. And how not everybody from the North and South were united in the beliefs that a war was been fought over.

This was a brilliant book, great for anyone who is a interested in the Civil War as Cornwell really brings the history alive with his story telling. I would also suggest this book to anyone who is a fan of Cornwell’s Sharpe novels, as I always see Nate as the American version of Richard Sharpe. Great read can’t wait to review the next one!

For author’s official website click here

Copperhead, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages: 490

Main Characters:

Nathanial ‘Nate’ Starbuck

This is the second book in Bernard Cornwell’s American Civil War series, the Starbuck Chronicles. Nate is a Copperhead, a Northerner fighting in the Confederate army. After the win at Balls Bluff and Seven Pines, Nate becomes a key member in the Legion and the Confederate army. However because of his Northern roots it isn’t long until Nate is accused of been a northern spy. Thrown into prison and cruelly tortured, Nate agrees to spy on the Northern army for the South and uncover who the real spy is. His espionage sees him come into contact with the high command of the Northern army, as well as reuniting him with his elder brother. Nate has to decide if his loyalties still lie with the South after the harsh treatment he received in a Southern jail, or whether his loyalties are with his family and the North.

This was another great book from Cornwell. As usual it was full of historical detail making the story seems so much more real and accurate. The character of Nate also starts to emerge as one of Cornwell’s trademark characters in this book. This is because he becomes a hero, even though his does not see himself as a hero and in many ways does not want to be one. This makes for great reading in this book as we get to see Nate’s struggles with leaving the Southern army and his friends for the North and whether he will ever return to them. I always love this side of Cornwell’s writing as you get to see the main character growing from a green boy into a leader of men. It might not always be easy for the character to get there, there may be deaths, love and betrayal but the journey is always brilliant to read and that is why I love Bernard Cornwell.

Great book, as I said in my review of Rebel I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the Civil War and anyone who is a fan of Cornwell’s Sharpe novels. Interesting fact that I didn’t realise is that Sharpe’s son Patrick Lassan is one of the characters in this series!

For author’s official website click here

Battle Flag, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages: 480

Main Characters:

Nate Starbuck

 

Battle Flag is the third novel in Bernard Cornwell’s epic Starbuck Chronicles. Following on from Copperhead, this book focuses on the battle of Richmond as the Confederate army is put on the defensive to defend their capital city. In amongst the defence of Richmond is the promising, if a little rag-tag, infantry Captain Nathanial Starbuck. After fighting his way through the first battles of the war and distinguishing himself as a brave and loyal soldier, Nate becomes noticed by quite a few of his superiors as a possible leader. However, Nate’s commander Washington Faulconer is jealous of Nate, as he is getting all the praise because of his superior leadership skills whereas Faulconer is not. To spite Nate and to stop his rise in the army, Faulconer again puts him into situations that makes Nate risk his life and his honour to further help the Confederate cause.  But Nate’s talents once again shine through as he returns to the second Battle of Bull Run.

Another brilliant book that only adds to this series. As usual the detail of the book is exceptional, really bringing the history to life and sticking to the historical facts as close as possible. I can’t wait to start the next book, The Bloody Ground! I would suggest this book to any fan of Bernard Cornwell, or of his work such as Sharpe because I always think of Nate as the American version of Sharpe! Also if you have an interest in the Civil War period you would love this book. For me I thought it was good because it tells the military side of the war. Whereas at university we only really learnt about the political side e.g. slavery and states’ rights. It was nice to finally get hold of what happened in the war and battles which Cornwell does perfectly.

For author's offical website click here

The Bloody Ground, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages: 340

Main Characters:

Nate Starbuck

The Bloody Ground is the forth and at the moment last book in Bernard Cornwell’s Starbuck Chronicles. There are rumours that Cornwell will be adding to this series after a sixteen year break! I wish he would get back to Nate’s story because I love this series.

This novel picks up after Battle Flag as the Confederate army fights off the last Northern attack and finally goes on the offence and invades the North itself. The mastermind behind this plan is Robert Lee and for his plan to work he will need the best soldiers in the Confederate army, soldiers like Nathanial ‘Nate’ Starbuck. However instead of playing a key role in the leadership of the army, Nate’s enemies conspire against him and place him in the control of a ‘punishment’ Battalion. Hoping that with this Battalion’s poor record of routing, Nate will never become the great officer he is destined to be. But Nate turns his Battalion into a well-trained unit and is rewarded for his hard work by been given the command of the attack on the Northern Garrison at Harper’s Ferry. After his victory over the garrison, Nate and his Battalion then go onto Antietam Creek where the bloodiest battle ever fought in America pushes Nate to the limit. Meanwhile a conspiracy is happening at the heart of the Confederate army. One of Nate’s best friends Adam Falconer is trying to lead Lee’s army into a trap, to try and re-unite both the North and the South and stop the bloodshed spilt between American and American.

This book was brilliant and I can’t believe that Cornwell has left the series with this novel and hasn’t as yet written the next book. I suppose you could argue that during those sixteen years he has written some truly excellent books such as The Warlord Trilogy, The Grail Quest and The Saxon Stories as well as writing many new Sharpe books, so maybe hasn’t had time to get back to them. Nevertheless the four he has written were all brilliant and the thing I like the most about these books is that throughout the novels we get to see Nate grow from a boy into a man. As I have said in my earlier reviews, Cornwell’s technique of making a character who would not normally become a hero into a hero is most apparent in these novels. I think this is because they are set over such a small space of time. During that time Nate is put through some of the bloodiest battles in history, forcing him to become a leader of men (because so many officers were killed) and eventually become a hero. I do hope Conwell adds to these novels, it would be great to see where Nate’s path takes him after the Battle of Antietam.

Brilliant book, brilliant series but please Bernard do write some more of these books! Anyone who is a Cornwell fan will love this series. Also if you are interested in the Civil War period I think you would really like these books as Cornwell really brings the facts to life and portrays the horror of the battles in what some people call the first modern war.

For official author’s website please click here

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

Publishers: Scholastic

Pages: 480

Main Characters:

Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark

Catching Fire is the second book in Suzanne Collins’ epic trilogy The Hunger Games. The novel continues with the two main characters from the first book as they return to District 12 as victors of the Hunger Games.  The victors Katniss and Peeta are set to start their victory parade around the other 11 districts of Panem. However after a visit from Panem’s president Coriolanus Snow, Katniss is threatened to keep the romance between her and Peeta alive or risk the Capitol taking and murdering her family. To keep Snow happy and to prevent the uprising of the other Districts, Katniss tries to keep up the false relationship with Peeta, even though her feelings towards her friend Gale are stronger.

However, this false relationship is not enough to keep the Districts from revolting. To prevent the revolts spreading further, the Capitol reveals that as the next Hunger Games is the 75^th it is therefore a Quarter Quell, a special Hunger Games that only happens every twenty five years. The surprise for this Quarter Quell is that the tributes for the games will be made up of past victors. Katniss soon works out she will be the tribute for District 12 as she is the only female winner from her District. Whilst Peeta knows he will have to return to the games, as Haymitch is not up to the challenge. Katniss is thrown back into the games with the sole purpose of keeping Peeta alive. With the help of allies from the other Districts such as Fennick Odair from District 4, Katniss fights her way through the toughest Hunger Games yet.

This was a great book. However it was not what I thought was going to happen. I thought after the victory of Katniss and Peeta in the first book, the fight to over throw the Capitol would start in this one. I was therefore shocked to find that they would both be re-entering the Hunger Games and have to fight for their lives a second time. I know some people might think this abit repetitive from the first book but it really wasn’t. This Hunger games was so much different. We see Katniss and Peeta become ‘the Careers’ in their second games, fighting with allies in a group against the other tributes. The arena is also different from the one in the first book as they are fighting in a tropical environment with some of its own quirky secrets. We also get to meet the old tributes from the previous Hunger Games and learn their stories, as well as finding out how Haymitch won his games.

This was a great book, totally different to what I expected which only made it that much better too read. The ending is also brilliant but I won’t give too much away. It was also nice to meet new characters such as Fennick, Johanna and Beetee who are all tributes in the games and play major roles in the rest of the series. Definitely read this book if you have seen the movie. The movie was good, but there were parts it missed out or shortened which the book gave much more detail on.

For author’s official website click here

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

Publishers:  Scholastic

Pages: 448

Main Characters:

Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark

Mockingjay is the final book in Suzanne Collins’ epic The Hunger Games trilogy. The book sees Katniss take the fight to the Capitol as she becomes the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion against the iron grip the Capitol has over the Districts. It picks up after Katniss’ flight from the arena and her escape to the safety of District 13, the District the Capitol supposedly wiped out. There she learns of the plan hatched between Haymitch, District 13 and some of the other tributes such as Finnick, Johanna and Beetee to remove her from the arena and start the rebellion. However the plan did not go as smoothly as the rebels were hoping. Unfortunately Peeta was captured by the Capitol and held as its prisoner. Katniss has to overcome her emotions and help fight the Capitol without Peeta.

Further on in the book, a rescue attempt is made and Peeta is brought to the safety of District 13. However the Capitol has tortured Peeta both physically and mentally, altering Peeta’s memory by using Tracker Jack venom to turn him against Katniss. This makes Katniss move away from Peeta and towards Gale, who she believes she likes the most. However the relationship is strained as Gale becomes a major leader within the army and drifts apart from Katniss as she is left in the depths of District 13 and he is fighting against the Capitol. Eventually Katniss is allowed to become a member of the rebel army as her uses as the Mockingjay have ended. Taken into the Capitol itself, Katniss and her team have to fight their way through each street against countless ‘pods’ to get to President Snow’s mansion to capture the President and end the war.

This was another good book and a great ending to the series. It was possibly my least favourite book in the series because the other two were so full of action. Much of it was spent in the tunnels of District 13 as the rebels were plotting how they were going to overthrow the Capitol. I also thought the Katniss seemed to be in hospital most of the book. However the completion of the series was very good and the ending to the book is brilliant and quite shocking. The series as a total was amazing. I know at the minute reading The Hunger Games is the ‘in thing’ because it’s been made into a film. But (and I’m not trying to be big headed) I have read quite a few books that have been made into films. Some of those books have been excellent and others quite bad, which I only read because they were made into a film. This was not one of those books, this series was brilliant. Don’t put off reading it because its cliché to read a book that has been made into a film. I read at the suggestion of a friend and I’m glad I did. The series was brilliant and has become one of my favourite books series ever, well up there with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Game of Thrones.

For author’s official website click here

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

Publishers: Scholastic

Pages: 454

Main Characters:

Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mallark

I was suggested this book a few months ago from a friend of my blog how gave me a brilliant overview of what this book, and what the Hunger Games series was about. After reading their overview I fought this was a book I could really get into and decided I would give it a read. However a few months have passed since then and I never managed to get round to reading it as the books piled on my bookshelf had grown substantially higher after Christmas. But now after a few solid weeks of reading and many books later I finally got on to The Hunger Games. And I’m really glad I did because this book was amazing!

Set in the future in the land that once was North America, The Hunger Games tells the tale of the nation of Panem. Spilt into twelve districts, each with its own specialist form of production (e.g. agriculture, coal mining) which all surround the Capitol, the centre of the nation of Panem and the oppressor of the twelve districts. The novel follows the life of Katniss Everdeen, a sixteen year old girl from District 12. However Katniss is not your everyday sixteen year old. She is an expert hunter, deadly with a bow and arrow, whilst been the protector of her younger sister Primrose (Prim).

Katniss’ life is hard. She is the sole provider of food for her family after her mother’s mental break down after the death of Katniss’ father. However Katniss’ life is even harder this day because today is the day of The Reaping e.g. the choosing of the two children to take part in the Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is an event held by the Capitol to remind the Districts that they are the power in Panem and to prevent them from rebelling (as they had a few decades earlier). Two children, one boy, one girl are chosen from each district to take part in The Hunger Games.  The Games take place over a number of weeks as the Tributes (the children chosen) live and fight to the death in the Arena against the other twenty-three Tributes to gain their own life, wealth and riches for their District.

The day of the Reaping comes and Katniss feels something is wrong. Katniss has over 40 ballots in the bowl and her chance of been chosen is high. However she feels safe in the knowledge that as it is her sister Prim’s first year at The Reaping, she only has one ballot and her chance of been chosen is very, very low. The choosing comes and the first name out of the ballot is ‘Primrose Everdeen’. From this point on Katniss’ life is turned into a nightmare. Volunteering to take her sister’s place Katniss and her fellow Tribute Peeta are thrown into the training of The Hunger Games and that battle of their lives.

This was a brilliant book and has probably been the best book I have read since The Game of Thrones (and I love that book!). It was so fast paced, keeping you on the edge of your seat all the way through the book making you just want to read on and on. Which is what I did, I read it in two days it was just that gripping! I think the idea behind the book is brilliant and it is something I have never read before. Collins’ really brings her world to life describing the details of the people, places and animals of Panem brilliantly. Her ending to the book is also brilliant and makes you want to pick up the next book Catching Fire straight away! I was quite surprised to find this book under Teenage Fiction in my book shop. I think this could put a few people off reading the book as they could see it as been childish and not worth their time to read a teenage fiction book (which are mostly filled with Vampire stories now anyway). For me this book was a thriller or a fantasy-thriller as it is set in the future. It was filled with romance, action, betrayal and a lot of gore!

This book was amazing! I would suggest it to anyone who wants a good book to read which is a little bit different. I cannot wait to read the next two books in the series and am looking forward to seeing the film when it comes out. If it is half as good as the book the film will be brilliant too!

For author’s official website click here

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

Publishers: Bloomsbury

Pages: 608

Main Characters:

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the sixth book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. This book sees Harry go on the offence against the evil Lord Voldemort, as the Lord is slowly gaining power and starting to take over the magical world.  With the help of Dumbledore, Harry sets out to find a way to defeat Voldemort once and for all. At the same time, Harry looks into the mystery of the ‘Half-Blood Prince’. The mysterious owner of Harry’s potion book whose techniques make Harry the top in his class at potions. However it comes as a sock when Harry finds out who the Half-Blood Prince is.

Like my other Harry Potter reviews I have not said too much about what happens in the book because most people will know the plot of the book from the films.  But, this is another brilliant book in the series. The mystery of the Half-Blood Prince is intriguing as you are lead to believe that one person is the Prince, but when you find out who the Prince is it is a huge surprise. This book is also a great prelude to the final novel as Harry, Ron and Hermione are set on their task of finding and destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes. I think this shows a total move away from the children’s book that started the series and into the adult books with which the series ends. This is because the issues in these last few books such as murder, torture, love and betrayal are a lot more grown up. However for me (been 21) this only made the books better as it became more about the battle between good and evil, but I do miss a lot of the humour the first few books had.

Nevertheless, this was still a great book and a great part of the series. I would suggest that anyone who has seen the Half-Blood Prince film should definitely read this book as it does help explain some aspects of the plot, which I don’t think the movie did.

For author’s official website click here

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 607

Main Characters:

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series. This book was brilliant and was everything I wanted it to be. Good conquers evil, even though the journey to end Voldemort’s reign is hard for Harry, Ron and Hermione, they still come out on top as only best friends can. The books sees the three following Dumbledore’s final instructions in hunting down the last six of Voldemort’s Horcruxes. The task is not as easy as it sounds as a Horcrux can be any item. The quest takes Harry, Ron and Hermione into Voldemort’s mysterious past as well as finding out who Dumbledore really was before he became the Patriarch of Hogwarts School.

As I said above, this book was a brilliant ending to the series. It is full of action as Harry, Ron and Hermione risk their lives looking for the Horcruxes. The battle at the end is also amazing. I think Rowling does a brilliant job using every single character and species in the final fight between good and evil. I thought this was brilliant as it made it feel like it was all or nothing, either good wins or Voldemort rules. I was also massively impressed that Rowling managed to link events in the past books all to Harry’s last struggle with Voldemort. Events such as him looking in the Mirror of Erised, or the last attempt of Harry’s mother at protecting him from Voldemort all link up in the final conclusion of the book. The battle was a great ending to a series that has defined a whole generation of fiction readers, as well as a generation of movie lovers. I am sad that both the books and movies are over but I am glad they ended the way they did. I think Rowling has left it open for more books, possibly about Harry’s children at Hogwarts, but I think the series should end with the Deathly Hallows. Hopefully Rowling will come up with a different character and series which will mesmerise an audience of readers as much as Harry Potter did.

A great book and a great series! If you have seen the movies you should read the books. The films have done a good job of portraying the books but I feel the novel adds just abit more detail which the films didn’t have the time to include so please read them!

For author’s official website click here

Death of Kings, Bernard Cornwell

Publishers: HarperCollins

Pages:  330

Main Characters:

Uthred of Bebbanburg

Death of Kings is the sixth book in Bernard Cornwell’s brilliant ‘Saxon Stories’. The novel continues on from book five of the series The Burning Land and sees Uthred return to Wessex after his glorious victory over the Danish war lord Haesten at the Battle of Beamfleot.  On his return to Wessex Uthred is sent on a diplomatic mission to the East Anglian king Eohric to secure a treaty against the increasingly militant Danish leaders Sigurd and Cnut. However on the way to the King, Uthred is betrayed and walks into a trap set up between Eohric and Sigurd in an attempt to kill him. After fighting his way through the trap, Uthred returns to Wessex to find his king Alfred on his death bed. Knowing Alfred is all that holds the Danes at bay, Uthred returns to his land and prepares his sworn shields for war! But the war never comes. Alfred passes away and his son Edward takes the thrown of Wessex without an incident. Uthred knows something is wrong. The Danes should have attacked when Alfred died and Wessex was at its weakest, but three years pass without a single death. Uthred knows the survival of Wessex depends on the defeat of the Danes and if they won’t start a war, he will.

This was a great read and really adds to the ‘Saxon’ series. I knew that in this book Alfred was going to die and couldn’t wait to see how Wessex would cope without him. As usual Cornwell didn’t let me down. The book was brilliant! Full of action, battles, betrayal and conspiracy.  I am always amazed at how much detail Cornwell puts into these books as they are written about a time where there are not many primary sources available and the ones that are usually are unreliable. Nevertheless Cornwell does an excellent job of creating ninth century England in this book.

The only issues I had with this book is that the narrative is written from Uthred’s perspective (First person ‘I said’) when most historical novel have the own narrative (Third Person ‘said Uthred’) so it was a bit difficult to get used to. However, when I did get used to it, the narrative was much easier to read. It was also a nice change reading a book through the eyes of the main character. The only other issues with this book is that its prequel The Burning Land was realised two years ago, so I had trouble remembering what had happened in that book and the ones before.

All in all this was still a good book, I would suggest it to anyone who has read the other ‘Saxon Stories’ or to anyone who is a fan of Cornwell’s other books. I would also suggest it to anyone who enjoys Anglo-Saxon history as I think the book really brings history alive as most of the characters and events really did happen.

For author’s official website click here

Praetorian, Simon Scarrow

Publishers: Headline

Pages: 350

Main Characters:

Marco, Cato

Praetorian is the eleventh book in Simon Scarrow’s epic ‘Roman’ series, or as I like to call it ‘Marco and Cato’ series. This book sees Marco and Cato back in Rome awaiting their final appointments to Prefect and Centurion after their victory over the rebel Gladiator Ajax in Egypt. However, Rome and the Emperor Claudius come under threat from a group known as the Liberators, who want to return Rome to the ways of the Republic. The Emperor’s imperial secretary Narcissus blackmails Marco and Cato into becoming his spies. As the plot to depose the Emperor comes from within the ranks of the Claudius’ own troops the Praetorian Guard. The plan to uncover the plot is simple, return to the ranks of the Praetorian Guard, seek out any conspirators within the ranks and have them and the threat removed from the Emperor, easy. But as Marco and Cato find out, there is more than one conspiracy to depose the Emperor and they must stop them soon or all of Rome could be destroyed.

This was a great novel from Scarrow and even after eleven books in the series the plots still keep me wanting to read on and on. I thought this book was a change to the other books in the series. This was more of a mystery book as Marco and Cato try and uncover who is planning to kill the Emperor. Whereas the other books I think are more your historical fiction, filled with action, battles, and romance. For me this was a nice change as it just made me want to find out who the conspirators are. As always this book is well written. It is extremely detailed, really creating a feeling of what Rome looked, felt and smelled like in Antiquity. In places it is also very funny. This is because of the relationship between Marco and Cato. Cato is the young idealistic Prefect, deeply in love with a senator’s daughter. Marco on the other hand is the older legionary veteran, who likes nothing more than ‘good soldiering’. The friendship is unusual but makes for great reading.

This was a great book. I would suggest it to anyone who has read any of the other ‘Marco and Cato’ books (but read the others first or you may not understand this one!). I would also suggest this book to anyone who has read Conn Iggulden’s Emperor Series as that series is set a few centuries before and helps give context to the situation in the Rome of Marco and Cato’s time (plus they are brilliant books).

Mud, Sweat and Tears, Bear Grylls

Publishers: Channel Four Books

Pages: 404

Main Characters:

Bear Grylls

Firstly, I would like to say that reading autobiographies in not something I usually do. I think the last one I read was about six years ago and I’ve never really had the urge to read one again. For me, I think this is because most autobiographies you see on your average book shop shelf are written by ‘celebrities’ who became famous in a TV reality show and whose life before was just a normal day-to-day life (and not worth £12.99 to read about). Also these ‘celebrities’ seem to publish two or three sequels to their autobiographies which I think is a way for them just to make more money on something that they probably didn’t write anyway! However when I saw Bear Grylls’ autobiography on the shelf I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve always been a massive fan of his show Born Survivor: Bear Grylls and from the show I know that he was an ex SAS soldier, a karate specialist, the chief of the Scouting movement and one of the youngest people ever to climb Mount Everest. These things intrigued me and I wanted to know how one person could fit so much into their life, so I decided to give the autobiography a go.

To be fair to the autobiography, it gives you a great view into the life of someone who has achieved many amazing things. It is well written, Grylls does an excellent job of portraying his feelings and doubts through some of the hardest tasks in his life such as the SAS selection and his climb up Everest. Grylls also shows a side of himself that is not portrayed through the TV cameras. This is his faith in Christianity and the way this has helped fuel him when he was at the end of his endurance.  Another aspect the book portrays which the shows do not is the amount of self-doubt Grylls has. When you watch the show you get this persona of someone with unlimited confidence and fearlessness, whereas in the book Grylls tells of how he doubts himself because of his less than average physical build and his less than average school qualifications. For me it is amazing to see the difference between the Bear Grylls of the show and the Bear Grylls of the book.

However some aspects of this book were a let-down for me. As I said above, I knew that Grylls had been in the SAS and I have watched his TV series from the very beginning. When I picked up this book I thought it would be more about his time in the SAS and that he would uncover some of the stories from the missions he had been on. But what I didn’t realise is that the SAS are sworn to secrecy on their missions, operations and training so Bear could not tell much about his time in the SAS, apart from bits about his selection.  I also thought there would be more stories from his time filming his TV shows. However again I was disappointed as there is not much written about these either. But more focus is spent on Bear’s childhood and his relationship with his family. For me this was great because it shows how Bear got into climbing and the influence his father had on his life.

Overall though, this was a good book. For me it created a rounder picture of who Bear Grylls is. He is not just a survival expert but a family man, with his own fears and doubts just like everyone else. I would suggest this book to anyone who watches his TV shows as the Bear Grylls on the screen is a different person to the Bear in the book.

For author’s official website click here