Now before I announce the winners there is just one small
adjustment I need to make. The fourth prize (50 Books to read before you die
bookmark) has been replaced by a copy of Animal Farm by George Orwell. I had to
change it because I could find the bookmark anywhere and thought Animal Farm
would be a great substitute!
Anyway onto the winners! Thanks to everyone who entered, congratulations
to the winners and commiserations to all those who didn’t win.
1.One Amazon.co.uk £10 gift voucher- Book Shelf Central
2.Sworn Sword and The Splintered Kingdom by James
Aitcheson- Billy Lyons
3.The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien- Josh Hardy
4.
Animal Farm, George Orwell- Pearl
Wilson
5.75g tube of sweets + Lego Minifigure- Jon-Paul Coyne
6.The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark
Haddon- Lisa Cooke
7.75g tube of sweets- Kim Renshaw
8.The Silmarillion, J. R. R. Tolkien- Sam Wilkinson
9.Fatherland, Robert Harris- Finley Harnet
10.75g tube of sweets- Lucy Jordan
If you guys could e-mail me your
addresses to adampreviews@gmail.com
I’ll get your prizes sent off as soon as possible! Thanks again to everyone who
entered! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
Today's the last chance to enter my Happy Booking Christmas Competition! There are ten prizes up for grabs including a £10 Amazon.co.uk! If you'd like to enter click on the link here.
Clifton Falls in a small rural town in Yorkshire where
nothing much happens. The economy of the town is based on farming and one of
the town’s most well-known farmers is Blake. Farming is not an easy game and Blake
needs to find a new way to increase his yearly yield and protect his crops from
a menacing insect that is poised to destroy them. Blake comes across a new fertiliser
that is designed to kill these bugs and help his crops grow. He manages to
secure the first batch of fertiliser that is released for public use and
spreads it on his vast crops and fields. Blake even gives some of the fertiliser
to his wife’s boss Vincent, so he can use it on his garden. Vincent has been putting off doing the
gardening. His mother died recently and her final wish was to be buried in the
garden of the house that she had lived in (the house in which Vincent now owns!).
Even now after a few months, Vincent is still freaked out that his mother is buried
in the garden! Nevertheless, Vincent finally plucks up the courage and uses the
fertiliser to try and reinvigorate the plants he has recently being neglecting.
Unluckily for Vincent, his hard work does not pay off as a storm washes away
most of the fertiliser whilst the rest just soaks into the soil.
What Blake and Vincent don’t realise is that the fertiliser
contains a dangerous chemical called Moltovenium. When this new chemical comes
into contact (with the help of the storm) with dead cells, it reanimates them
causing the corpse to come back to life! What’s even worse is that the newly
revived bodies come back to life with a hunger for human flesh and will do
anything to get it! One of the first zombies to rise is Vincent’s mother and unfortunately
for Vincent and his wife, the reunion is not a happy one.
With the zombie epidemic in full flow, the local police
force is tasked with keeping the virus inside Clifton Falls and preventing it from
spreading to the local city. But when the fertiliser washes down to the local cemetery,
the task is made much, much harder as a dozen new ghouls are brought back to
life. The fate of human kind is held in the hands of the local Police Chief Mike,
but this fate does not look good with these cunning and devious zombies out on
the hunt!
I really enjoyed reading Clifton
Falls! I have never really read a horror book before but have always wanted
to. I think that is because there are so many good horror books out there and I
never knew where to start. I’m glad I waited and luckily read Clifton Falls because it was such a good
read! I really liked how the novel was set in a small town, which I thought
made the book and the reactions of the characters much more believable. I also
liked the fact that the book wasn’t over gory on the zombie killing front. I think,
especially in films and games, the zombie genre sometimes ends up more about
the killing and violence instead of actually sticking to the story of the
epidemic and the characters. I think Taylor did a great job of telling the
story with some gory scenes, which made the book really interesting and thrilling
to read. There was also some humour in the novel. This further made it exciting
to read and helped balance the book from it just been a horror novel and again
made it much more believable.
However, I did have one little issue with the book and that
was when the characters (especially the police officers) came across a zombie.
They would nearly always be sneaked up on, go to get their gun out, fail to
shot and then be attacked. It sort of made me think ‘Just shoot it!’ but
instead they’d stand there looking at it! I just thought that if I was in that
situation I’d either run or shoot, whereas most of the officers just stood
there!
Nevertheless, this was just a small issue and all in all I
really enjoyed the book! I would like to say a massive thank you to Lee Taylor
for getting in touch and being patient with my review! I’d suggest this book to
anyone who enjoys reading horror novels or to anyone who is a fan of movies like
Dawn of the Dead or Resident Evil.
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Happy Booking ChristmasCompetition for your chance to win a FREE £10 Amazon.co.uk gift voucher and some other bookish treats! For more information on how to enter the competition please click here.
A life of
crime is a circle that is hard to break. This is especially true for Harry; who
having just been released from prison and surviving cancer is hoping to get his
life on the straight and narrow. However, fate is not on Harry’s side and when he
is asked to become a police informer, Harry's life radiates back towards crime.
Harry
becomes the head of the local gang in Barton; a town in Lincolnshire in the
north of England. As the new leader of the gang, Harry has to deal with the
problems left from his predecessor. The main issue is the rival Polish gang
that operates in Barton. The Poles have started to smuggle weapons into England
which they then plan to sell on to gangs in Italy and Tunisia. Harry’s gang
manages to steal one of these shipments and plans to sell the weapons on for a
nice profit. However, the Polish gang also has a new, ruthless leader; Kudron
Overbury. Overbury is placed at the head of the gang by his superiors in
Warsaw. He is tasked with getting back the stolen arms and is willing to do
anything to achieve this goal.
Overbury
has an obsession with killing Harry and has numerous cunning and violent plans
on how he will do this, even using Harry’s family to draw him into a trap! But,
will Overbury's obsession meet fruition or will Harry lead his gang and his
family to safety?
I really
enjoyed this book. I really liked the grungy feeling that surrounds the gang
and the violence that occurs in the book. It really shows the extreme measures
that Harry and Overbury have to take to secure their dominance in the town,
which makes the criminal underworld in the book seem much more believable. I
also liked the fact that the book was based in Lincolnshire. This is because I
live quite close to some of the places the book is based in (like Whitby) so it
was really easy for me to visualise many of the events in the novel and to some
extent I could relate to some scenes in the book (which I loved!). However, I did feel
that there were some editorial issues with grammar, but I think the story
really makes up for this because it is fast paced and exciting to read!
All in
all this was a good read that I really enjoyed! I would suggest this book to anyone
who likes a good crime, thriller or drama novel and if like me, you live near
the area the book is based in it should really appeal to you!
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Happy Booking ChristmasCompetition for
your chance to win a FREE £10 Amazon.co.uk gift voucher and some other
bookish treats! For more information on how to enter the competition
please click here.
It’s finally here! (Well it should be if I’ve got my timing right!) Today is the 13th December 2012 and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released in British cinemas! I’ve been looking forward to this film since the day I heard Peter Jackson was making it! To celebrate the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I decided that I would review the book (I actually read the book a few months ago but I thought I’d save my review until today!). I think this is the only book I’ve ever read more than once. I remember being in primary school and my teacher reading The Hobbit to the whole class and ever since then it has been one of my all-time favourites! So here we go, here’s my review. I won’t say too much about the plot because most of you will already know what happens! (And I don’t want to spoil the film!)
Bilbo Baggins is a shy Hobbit who enjoys peace and quiet in his own company. However, when the mischievous wizard Gandalf the Grey turns up at Bilbo’s door, his peaceful and quite life will be changed forever! Gandalf asks Bilbo to accompany him and thirteen Dwarves on a quest to reclaim the Dwarf’s old home of Erebor and recover their lost treasure that is hidden there. However, what Bilbo isn’t told is that a huge and vicious Dragon called Smaug lives in The Lonely Mountain which Erebor is built in to. To make things worse for Bilbo, it will be his job as the thief to sneak past Smaug and steal the treasure he is sleeping on. However, Bilbo is aided in his task with a small ring which he manages to find in the dark, damp lair of Gollum; deep under the Misty Mountains. Bilbo tricks Gollum with the riddle; ‘what have I got in my pocket’ and manages to escape the Mountains with his life and The Ring. The Ring has the power to make Bilbo invisible, but will this be enough to get him past the cunning Smaug? Will Bilbo become the hero and capture the treasure; will the Dwarves regain their homeland? You’ll just have to read the book (or watch the films) to find out!
Like I said, this is one of my favourite books and it opened me up to the wonderful world J. R. R. Tolkien creates in his epic fantasy series. After reading some early reviews of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it seems like Jackson has drawn out the film somewhat by adding parts from some of Tolkien’s other books based in Middle-Earth. For me, I think this is great because it adds parts from books that will probably never be made into a movie, because they are either not finished or not well known enough to be made into a film. However, I can see why some people might be annoyed by this because the film is meant to be based on The Hobbit and not other books like Unfinished Tales. Nevertheless, I still think the movies are going to be great, even if they are three hours long (each!).
So there you go, that’s my quick review of The Hobbit and my thoughts on the film. I’m actually going to see the movie tomorrow so I may post a review of the film as well as the book. Please tell me what you thought of the book and the film. Which parts you like/didn’t like and why in the comments below.
I would suggest this book to anyone who is a Tolkien or Lord of the Rings fan. Also if you enjoy reading fantasy books then you should definitely read The Hobbit, it’s like the Godfather of them all!
The winner of my November Book of the Month Competition is… Tony Cordwell! Congradulations Tony, I’ll get Sword and Scimitar sent to you as soon as possible! If you could just e-mail me your details at adampreviews at(@) gmail dot(.) com (I’m spelling it out so I don’t get spammed!).
Thanks to everyone who entered, sorry to all of those who didn’t win, better luck next time. Please remember to enter my Happy Booking Christmas giveaway where you could win a £10 Amazon gift voucher and some other epic bookish prizes. For more info on how to enter click here.
Before I start my review, I have a quick confession to make… I didn’t actually read this book! A few weeks ago I signed up to Audible, which as most of you will know, is an audiobook website. For signing up I got a free download (which I thought was great). After searching through Audible’s extensive library, I finally chose to download Dominion by C. J. Sansom. I chose this book because I am a massive fan of C. J. Sansom and because Dominion is quite a long book and I wouldn’t have had time to read it! I have to say that I was really pleased with my download. The novel is narrated beautifully by Daniel Weyman, who does an excellent job of narrating the various characters’ voices. I thought this really gave depth to the novel and made listening to the audiobook such an enjoyable experience. Anyway, I’m glad I got that off my chest! Let’s get on with the review.
The book is based in an alternative history where Winston Churchill gives up his claim to become the British Prime Minister when Neville Chamberlain steps down from the position in 1940. Because Churchill was not there to push the war effort, Britain surrenders to Germany after the failed Dunkirk campaign and becomes a close ally to the Germans. Also, because of politics in America, the U.S. does not enter the war with Germany, leaving the Germans to sure up their Western front and focus all of their military forces against the Russians.
Twelve years after the defeat at Dunkirk, Britain looks a very different place. Churchill and his anti-fascist supporters have gone into hiding forming ‘The Resistance’, which aims to remove the German hands that are poised around Britain’s throat. Meanwhile, with the support of the Nazis, a fascist government is set up in Britain which aims to copy the totalitarian state of Germany. In amongst this political and social turmoil there is David, a civil service worker who works in the Dominions office. After the death of his son and the ever growing presence of the Nazis in British politics, David becomes a member of The Resistance and passes information onto the Resistance from the Dominions office. However, David’s position in The Resistance becomes much more important. News arrives that one of his old University friends my hold information which could aid the Nazis. David is tasked with getting his friend (Frank) out of the mental hospital he is currently living in and has to transport him safely out of the UK.
However, the task is made much harder by a German policeman called Gunther Hoth. Gunther is on the tail of Frank and suspects that his secret may be about the American Nuclear Program, which the Germans are desperate to get their hands on! The chase and flight of Frank and David is gripping! But who will succeed? Will the Germans gain the A-Bomb and finish their war with Russia or will David and Frank get away?
As you could probably guess from above; I thought this book was amazing. I love C. J. Sansom and am so glad he released this book because I love these alternative history novels. I would suggest this book to anyone who liked Sansom’s other 20th century novel; Winter in Madrid or to anyone who is a fan of Robert Harris’s book Fatherland (which I’m giving away btw). Also, if you have any interest in this period of history, I think you’d really enjoy this book!
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Happy Booking ChristmasCompetition for your chance to win a FREE £10 Amazon.co.uk gift voucher and some other bookish treats! For more information on how to enter the competition please click here.
Hey guys, don't forget to enter my Happy Booking Christmas Competition and you could win a FREE £10 Amazon gift voucher and some other great prizes. Check out the video below to find out how to enter!
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