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Twilight (Twilight Saga)
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £2.49
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 Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
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New Moon (Twilight Saga)
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £3.10
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Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
Decent-ish., 30 Nov 2008
No real point in going into depth over this one. The motivations are stupid, the characters stagnant (with one blazing exception - more on that in a minute.) Bella-as-everygirl-1st-person-narrator worked in the first book, when it was all about discovery. Now that the jig is up, though, she comes across as boring, petulant and self-obsessed, and only slightly outdistanced in those stakes by the hallowed Edward. The reason I gave it as high a rating as I did is a.) it's still compulsive reading, even if it is literary junk-food and b.) Jacob Black.
Ah, Jacob Black. A very wise (and well-known) author once told me that if a minor character starts speaking to you, you should do a U-turn and go with it. I wish Meyer had done that here. I know you all love Edward, but Jacob is just so much more interesting. And I don't think it would have taken much writing for him to usurp Edward as the romantic interest. Besides, Bella is much more dynamic as a character when she's w/ Jacob. I think her fixation w/ Edward made sense in the first book, but not so much here.
Read it, but don't expect edification...
Teenage Bites, Werewolves and Romance, 27 Nov 2008
The second novel in this imaginative reworking of the vampire fable set amongst the woods of Washington State.
Unllike its predecessor, this novel moves away from the pressures of fitting in to high school and explores the response to rejected loves and the breakup of passionate relationships. We see the world through the eyes of Bella Swann, a girl who has lost the love of her life and will risk her own to recover what she has lost. The book explores movingly her feelings of suicicidal desperation and rejection and show how she reaches out for comfort and companionship. Tied in with this emotional journey is a supernatural yarn which matches werewolves against vampires and which contrasts the human characteristics of both species.
The book is moving and well written and Bella's character is a strong and convincing narrator, a character still struggling to work out her relationships with her peers and her parents. However, as the book moves away from the town of Forks for a brief trip to Italy, it becomes less forceful, the dramatic tension evaporates and it moves to a rather sluggish conclusion.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the vampire genre and am looking forward to reading further novels in this series.
Old Theme With New Energy and Twists, 26 Nov 2008
Reality takes some strange bends around the small rural town near the ocean where Bella, an eighteen year old senior in high school, lives with her father, Charlie, a sheriff. Bella finds herself caught between the world of vampires and a significant other among them and a world of Indian legends come to life. The conflicts and drama do create many moments of frightful suspense, and teenage love takes new twists. Bella narrates the story and much of the book is devoted in quite an effective fashion to her emotional responses to events. More details would ruin the plot, so get the book for those. It's a fun read.Translator's Kiss
Disappointed, 22 Nov 2008
When I read Twilight, I loved it so much; I was really excited about readig the sequel. But when I did manage to read it, this book, I was really disappointed. I found most of it quite dull and as I read more of it, it got worse. Sorry, but this book is lucky I gave it two stars.
Book Two of the Twilight Series, 11 Nov 2008
Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.
Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.
However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...
New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.
It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.
Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...
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Product Description
John Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas will no doubt acquire many readers as a result of the subsequent film of the novel, but viewers of the latter would do themselves a favour by going back to the spare and powerfully affecting original book. Bruno is nine years old, and the Nazis’ horrific Final Solution to the ‘Jewish Problem’ means nothing to him. He's completely unaware of the barbarity of Germany under Hitler, and is more concerned by his move from his well-appointed house in Berlin to a far less salubrious area where he finds himself with nothing to do. Then he meets a boy called Shmuel who lives a very different life from him -- a life on the opposite side of a wire fence. And Shmuel is the eponymous boy in the striped pyjamas, as are all the other people on the other side of the fence. The friendship between the two boys begins to grow, but for Bruno it is a journey from blissful ignorance to a painful knowledge. And he will find that this learning process carries, for him, a daunting price. A legion of books have attempted to evoke the horrors of the Second World War, but in this concise and perfectly honed novel, all of the effects that John Boyne creates are allowed to make a maximum impact in a relatively understated fashion (given the enormity of the situation here). The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is also that rare thing: a novel which can affect both children and adults equally; a worthy successor, in fact, to such masterpieces as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye -- both, of course, books, dealing (as does this one) with the loss of innocence. --Barry Forshaw
Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
Decent-ish., 30 Nov 2008
No real point in going into depth over this one. The motivations are stupid, the characters stagnant (with one blazing exception - more on that in a minute.) Bella-as-everygirl-1st-person-narrator worked in the first book, when it was all about discovery. Now that the jig is up, though, she comes across as boring, petulant and self-obsessed, and only slightly outdistanced in those stakes by the hallowed Edward. The reason I gave it as high a rating as I did is a.) it's still compulsive reading, even if it is literary junk-food and b.) Jacob Black.
Ah, Jacob Black. A very wise (and well-known) author once told me that if a minor character starts speaking to you, you should do a U-turn and go with it. I wish Meyer had done that here. I know you all love Edward, but Jacob is just so much more interesting. And I don't think it would have taken much writing for him to usurp Edward as the romantic interest. Besides, Bella is much more dynamic as a character when she's w/ Jacob. I think her fixation w/ Edward made sense in the first book, but not so much here.
Read it, but don't expect edification...
Teenage Bites, Werewolves and Romance, 27 Nov 2008
The second novel in this imaginative reworking of the vampire fable set amongst the woods of Washington State.
Unllike its predecessor, this novel moves away from the pressures of fitting in to high school and explores the response to rejected loves and the breakup of passionate relationships. We see the world through the eyes of Bella Swann, a girl who has lost the love of her life and will risk her own to recover what she has lost. The book explores movingly her feelings of suicicidal desperation and rejection and show how she reaches out for comfort and companionship. Tied in with this emotional journey is a supernatural yarn which matches werewolves against vampires and which contrasts the human characteristics of both species.
The book is moving and well written and Bella's character is a strong and convincing narrator, a character still struggling to work out her relationships with her peers and her parents. However, as the book moves away from the town of Forks for a brief trip to Italy, it becomes less forceful, the dramatic tension evaporates and it moves to a rather sluggish conclusion.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the vampire genre and am looking forward to reading further novels in this series.
Old Theme With New Energy and Twists, 26 Nov 2008
Reality takes some strange bends around the small rural town near the ocean where Bella, an eighteen year old senior in high school, lives with her father, Charlie, a sheriff. Bella finds herself caught between the world of vampires and a significant other among them and a world of Indian legends come to life. The conflicts and drama do create many moments of frightful suspense, and teenage love takes new twists. Bella narrates the story and much of the book is devoted in quite an effective fashion to her emotional responses to events. More details would ruin the plot, so get the book for those. It's a fun read.Translator's Kiss
Disappointed, 22 Nov 2008
When I read Twilight, I loved it so much; I was really excited about readig the sequel. But when I did manage to read it, this book, I was really disappointed. I found most of it quite dull and as I read more of it, it got worse. Sorry, but this book is lucky I gave it two stars.
Book Two of the Twilight Series, 11 Nov 2008
Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.
Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.
However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...
New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.
It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.
Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...
Clever and gripping, 02 Dec 2008
I thought this book was cleverly written, from the view of a 9 year old boy - it is only because we have historical hindsight of the events that are being described by the boy, who does not understand, that the full story plays out in your imagination as the story unfolds.
I did not expect the story to end the way it did. I was gripped.
Try something different, 01 Dec 2008
This book was recommended to me and when I eventually got round to buying it, I was hooked fairly quickly and finished it in a couple of days. There are some annoying repetitions with words which are used as substitutes for the real-life words, but apart from that it was a very easy book to read. I will not say that the book was enjoyable in the normal sense, as the subject matter is one which cannot be enjoyed, but it was a really good, easy to read book with a twist which just took my breath away.
A real twist in the tail!, 01 Dec 2008
I borrowed this book from the library for my son who's very into WW2 but he didn't want to read it so I did. I loved it and was taken by surprise at the tragic ending. I will remember it for a very long time.
Unbelievable Patronising, 30 Nov 2008
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing that there was a film coming out about the book. I can honestly say this is one of the worst books about the holocaust that I have ever read in terms of inaccuracies, patronising views and poor writing.
The author is Irish and is writing as if he is a Concentration Camp officers son. The kid is ridiculously naive in that he has never heard of "The Fuhrer" and doesn't know anything about the Jews. Every German child - especially one of such a 'high ranking official' would have been a part of the Hitler Youth and would have been indoctrinated with this ever since he could remember. The fact that he can openly sit and chat with a 9 year old polish jew - Schmuel and pass food under the fence is ridiculous beyond belief.
Boyne has also put sum idiotic puns in the book such as "outwith" for Auschwitz and "Fury" for Fuhrer. Boyne seems rather proud of these puns (which were he actually thinking in German they would not translate) and uses them throughout the book. The fact that the main character Bruno and his friends Daniel, Karl and Martin all have English names makes you wonder whether the author researched the holocaust at all or just wrote a twee English public school book and thought he'd include the holocaust to make it different.
I really would not recommend this book to anyone and definitely not for children. If this is their first experience of the Holocaust it is terribly inaccurate and would not educate them at all. Books like Hannah Goslar Remembers, The Diary Of Anne Frank and Schindlers List although heartbreaking are recommended.
Surprising, 23 Nov 2008
Ever since this book was released I have been attracted to it. In need of a "quick" read this weekend, I decided to purchase it and I am so glad that I did.
I wont tell you the story because that would spoil the book for you but what I will tell you is that it is a story about a boy called Bruno aged 9 and totally innocent and the story is told through his naive eyes.
I read the book in two days and it was a pleasure to read. The style was simple but evocotive.
The ending was a total surprise, there were no hints at what was coming and I felt the desolation as the story ended.
I am not sure if this book would right for a younger reader but certainly one in the early teens and definately adults like me.
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Eclipse (Twilight Saga)
Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
*Best price found from Amazon Marketplace seller
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*Amazon: £3.22
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Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
Decent-ish., 30 Nov 2008
No real point in going into depth over this one. The motivations are stupid, the characters stagnant (with one blazing exception - more on that in a minute.) Bella-as-everygirl-1st-person-narrator worked in the first book, when it was all about discovery. Now that the jig is up, though, she comes across as boring, petulant and self-obsessed, and only slightly outdistanced in those stakes by the hallowed Edward. The reason I gave it as high a rating as I did is a.) it's still compulsive reading, even if it is literary junk-food and b.) Jacob Black.
Ah, Jacob Black. A very wise (and well-known) author once told me that if a minor character starts speaking to you, you should do a U-turn and go with it. I wish Meyer had done that here. I know you all love Edward, but Jacob is just so much more interesting. And I don't think it would have taken much writing for him to usurp Edward as the romantic interest. Besides, Bella is much more dynamic as a character when she's w/ Jacob. I think her fixation w/ Edward made sense in the first book, but not so much here.
Read it, but don't expect edification...
Teenage Bites, Werewolves and Romance, 27 Nov 2008
The second novel in this imaginative reworking of the vampire fable set amongst the woods of Washington State.
Unllike its predecessor, this novel moves away from the pressures of fitting in to high school and explores the response to rejected loves and the breakup of passionate relationships. We see the world through the eyes of Bella Swann, a girl who has lost the love of her life and will risk her own to recover what she has lost. The book explores movingly her feelings of suicicidal desperation and rejection and show how she reaches out for comfort and companionship. Tied in with this emotional journey is a supernatural yarn which matches werewolves against vampires and which contrasts the human characteristics of both species.
The book is moving and well written and Bella's character is a strong and convincing narrator, a character still struggling to work out her relationships with her peers and her parents. However, as the book moves away from the town of Forks for a brief trip to Italy, it becomes less forceful, the dramatic tension evaporates and it moves to a rather sluggish conclusion.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the vampire genre and am looking forward to reading further novels in this series.
Old Theme With New Energy and Twists, 26 Nov 2008
Reality takes some strange bends around the small rural town near the ocean where Bella, an eighteen year old senior in high school, lives with her father, Charlie, a sheriff. Bella finds herself caught between the world of vampires and a significant other among them and a world of Indian legends come to life. The conflicts and drama do create many moments of frightful suspense, and teenage love takes new twists. Bella narrates the story and much of the book is devoted in quite an effective fashion to her emotional responses to events. More details would ruin the plot, so get the book for those. It's a fun read.Translator's Kiss
Disappointed, 22 Nov 2008
When I read Twilight, I loved it so much; I was really excited about readig the sequel. But when I did manage to read it, this book, I was really disappointed. I found most of it quite dull and as I read more of it, it got worse. Sorry, but this book is lucky I gave it two stars.
Book Two of the Twilight Series, 11 Nov 2008
Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.
Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.
However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...
New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.
It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.
Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...
Clever and gripping, 02 Dec 2008
I thought this book was cleverly written, from the view of a 9 year old boy - it is only because we have historical hindsight of the events that are being described by the boy, who does not understand, that the full story plays out in your imagination as the story unfolds.
I did not expect the story to end the way it did. I was gripped.
Try something different, 01 Dec 2008
This book was recommended to me and when I eventually got round to buying it, I was hooked fairly quickly and finished it in a couple of days. There are some annoying repetitions with words which are used as substitutes for the real-life words, but apart from that it was a very easy book to read. I will not say that the book was enjoyable in the normal sense, as the subject matter is one which cannot be enjoyed, but it was a really good, easy to read book with a twist which just took my breath away.
A real twist in the tail!, 01 Dec 2008
I borrowed this book from the library for my son who's very into WW2 but he didn't want to read it so I did. I loved it and was taken by surprise at the tragic ending. I will remember it for a very long time.
Unbelievable Patronising, 30 Nov 2008
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing that there was a film coming out about the book. I can honestly say this is one of the worst books about the holocaust that I have ever read in terms of inaccuracies, patronising views and poor writing.
The author is Irish and is writing as if he is a Concentration Camp officers son. The kid is ridiculously naive in that he has never heard of "The Fuhrer" and doesn't know anything about the Jews. Every German child - especially one of such a 'high ranking official' would have been a part of the Hitler Youth and would have been indoctrinated with this ever since he could remember. The fact that he can openly sit and chat with a 9 year old polish jew - Schmuel and pass food under the fence is ridiculous beyond belief.
Boyne has also put sum idiotic puns in the book such as "outwith" for Auschwitz and "Fury" for Fuhrer. Boyne seems rather proud of these puns (which were he actually thinking in German they would not translate) and uses them throughout the book. The fact that the main character Bruno and his friends Daniel, Karl and Martin all have English names makes you wonder whether the author researched the holocaust at all or just wrote a twee English public school book and thought he'd include the holocaust to make it different.
I really would not recommend this book to anyone and definitely not for children. If this is their first experience of the Holocaust it is terribly inaccurate and would not educate them at all. Books like Hannah Goslar Remembers, The Diary Of Anne Frank and Schindlers List although heartbreaking are recommended.
Surprising, 23 Nov 2008
Ever since this book was released I have been attracted to it. In need of a "quick" read this weekend, I decided to purchase it and I am so glad that I did.
I wont tell you the story because that would spoil the book for you but what I will tell you is that it is a story about a boy called Bruno aged 9 and totally innocent and the story is told through his naive eyes.
I read the book in two days and it was a pleasure to read. The style was simple but evocotive.
The ending was a total surprise, there were no hints at what was coming and I felt the desolation as the story ended.
I am not sure if this book would right for a younger reader but certainly one in the early teens and definately adults like me.
Could have been worse..., 30 Nov 2008
The only redeeming feature of this book - which could have lost 200 pages of repetitive whining to no detriment, if not improvement - is the fact that Bella finally decides that she loves Jacob. Even if there is a qualifying 'too' in the mix. I'm dubiously giving #4 a bash, since in a fit of enthusiasm after 'Twilight' I bought them all, but I just don't think Meyer has the authorial skills to convince me that an animated marble statue is really worth all of this angst.
Honestly: am I the only one out there who finds Edward completely tedious? Not to mention self-obsessed, controlling and condescending.
Ah well, maybe #4 will surprise me...
Undead or hairy, what's a girl to do?, 27 Nov 2008
Ok so if you're looking at buying Eclipse, there's not much chance you don't know all about the Twilight Saga. There's no need to convince you! If you enjoyed Twilight and New Moon, you're going to want this one.
Out of all of the books, this one has to be my favourite. This was the book that took me from vehemently Team Edward squealy fangirl-arama into the 'Oh, Jacob's actually really nice and perfect for Bella' confusion. And i cant be the only one. (Ok so i was still Team Edward after reading Eclipse, but it makes you stop and think!)
There's a lot more depth in this book than the first two, and it shakes up what you've thought all the way through Twilight and New Moon.
What are you waiting for? Buy buy buy!
~x~
Better, 22 Nov 2008
My favourite so far in the whole series is Twilight, and this definately comes second. New Moon was quite dull, but this book sort of made up for that. It was a bit dull in parts and quite disturbing in others, but it isn't that bad for the series.
My favourite of the saga so far..., 11 Nov 2008
Eclipse is my favourite of the three so far. It has the most action, and the most struggle. Bella is still being stalked by a deadly vampire intent on revenge, and there are many people wanting to protect her. All of the Cullens, and the werewolf pack over at La Push. Most people would be flattered and relieved by this, but not Bella. She cares about these people so much that she is terrified of them getting hurt, especially on her account. But it doesn't seem to stop any of them. Edward loves Bella dearly and would rather die than see her hurt. Jacob Black feels the same. Bella is torn between the two men - she's desperately in love with Edward and can't see her life without him, but she is incredibly close to Jacob, and doesn't want to lose her friendship with him because Edward's back in town, and the two hate each other.
It's deadlock. Edward doesn't want Bella seeing Jacob, and Jacob won't be friends with Bella because she's with Edward, and he knows that she wants to become 'one of them.' It doesn't help matters that the vampires and werewolves have an ancient treaty not to hurt one another, and Bella's existence and the feelings she ignites in the two groups could potentially holes in the treaty and start a war.
As well as worrying about the dangerous vampire stalking her, Edward and Jacob, and her dad, graduation is approaching. And graduation is the date Bella has set for her to end her mortal life and become a vampire. And it's crept up on her so fast that she's made no arrangements, not said goodbye to anyone, and is now questionning if it's what she really wants.
Could things be any more complicated? Well, for Bella, yes of course. Things continue to pile up until they eventually comes to a head. Bella has lots of decisions to make, but you'll just have to read Eclipse to discover the outcome...
I loved this book. It's the most action-packed so far, with emotions running high, love, hate, fear, and more. There are also lots of new characters brought in, but the story still centres around the triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob - all of whom you'll love and loathe in equal measure by the time you finish this book.
If you've read the first two, again, you need to read Eclipse. I'm now going to dive right into Breaking Dawn and find out what the finale is!
Probably the best one so far, 11 Nov 2008
This book seemed to have plot unlike the other two which made it a lot better. However, it did take forever for the characters to work out that they had to collaborate with the werewolves and it was pretty obvious that they'd have to do it at some point. What was confusing about this book (and New Moon) was whether or not Bella was in love with Jacob. It turns out that she does fall for him but that just made it more confusing and unnecessary for the plot.
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Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
Decent-ish., 30 Nov 2008
No real point in going into depth over this one. The motivations are stupid, the characters stagnant (with one blazing exception - more on that in a minute.) Bella-as-everygirl-1st-person-narrator worked in the first book, when it was all about discovery. Now that the jig is up, though, she comes across as boring, petulant and self-obsessed, and only slightly outdistanced in those stakes by the hallowed Edward. The reason I gave it as high a rating as I did is a.) it's still compulsive reading, even if it is literary junk-food and b.) Jacob Black.
Ah, Jacob Black. A very wise (and well-known) author once told me that if a minor character starts speaking to you, you should do a U-turn and go with it. I wish Meyer had done that here. I know you all love Edward, but Jacob is just so much more interesting. And I don't think it would have taken much writing for him to usurp Edward as the romantic interest. Besides, Bella is much more dynamic as a character when she's w/ Jacob. I think her fixation w/ Edward made sense in the first book, but not so much here.
Read it, but don't expect edification...
Teenage Bites, Werewolves and Romance, 27 Nov 2008
The second novel in this imaginative reworking of the vampire fable set amongst the woods of Washington State.
Unllike its predecessor, this novel moves away from the pressures of fitting in to high school and explores the response to rejected loves and the breakup of passionate relationships. We see the world through the eyes of Bella Swann, a girl who has lost the love of her life and will risk her own to recover what she has lost. The book explores movingly her feelings of suicicidal desperation and rejection and show how she reaches out for comfort and companionship. Tied in with this emotional journey is a supernatural yarn which matches werewolves against vampires and which contrasts the human characteristics of both species.
The book is moving and well written and Bella's character is a strong and convincing narrator, a character still struggling to work out her relationships with her peers and her parents. However, as the book moves away from the town of Forks for a brief trip to Italy, it becomes less forceful, the dramatic tension evaporates and it moves to a rather sluggish conclusion.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the vampire genre and am looking forward to reading further novels in this series.
Old Theme With New Energy and Twists, 26 Nov 2008
Reality takes some strange bends around the small rural town near the ocean where Bella, an eighteen year old senior in high school, lives with her father, Charlie, a sheriff. Bella finds herself caught between the world of vampires and a significant other among them and a world of Indian legends come to life. The conflicts and drama do create many moments of frightful suspense, and teenage love takes new twists. Bella narrates the story and much of the book is devoted in quite an effective fashion to her emotional responses to events. More details would ruin the plot, so get the book for those. It's a fun read.Translator's Kiss
Disappointed, 22 Nov 2008
When I read Twilight, I loved it so much; I was really excited about readig the sequel. But when I did manage to read it, this book, I was really disappointed. I found most of it quite dull and as I read more of it, it got worse. Sorry, but this book is lucky I gave it two stars.
Book Two of the Twilight Series, 11 Nov 2008
Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.
Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.
However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...
New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.
It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.
Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...
Clever and gripping, 02 Dec 2008
I thought this book was cleverly written, from the view of a 9 year old boy - it is only because we have historical hindsight of the events that are being described by the boy, who does not understand, that the full story plays out in your imagination as the story unfolds.
I did not expect the story to end the way it did. I was gripped.
Try something different, 01 Dec 2008
This book was recommended to me and when I eventually got round to buying it, I was hooked fairly quickly and finished it in a couple of days. There are some annoying repetitions with words which are used as substitutes for the real-life words, but apart from that it was a very easy book to read. I will not say that the book was enjoyable in the normal sense, as the subject matter is one which cannot be enjoyed, but it was a really good, easy to read book with a twist which just took my breath away.
A real twist in the tail!, 01 Dec 2008
I borrowed this book from the library for my son who's very into WW2 but he didn't want to read it so I did. I loved it and was taken by surprise at the tragic ending. I will remember it for a very long time.
Unbelievable Patronising, 30 Nov 2008
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing that there was a film coming out about the book. I can honestly say this is one of the worst books about the holocaust that I have ever read in terms of inaccuracies, patronising views and poor writing.
The author is Irish and is writing as if he is a Concentration Camp officers son. The kid is ridiculously naive in that he has never heard of "The Fuhrer" and doesn't know anything about the Jews. Every German child - especially one of such a 'high ranking official' would have been a part of the Hitler Youth and would have been indoctrinated with this ever since he could remember. The fact that he can openly sit and chat with a 9 year old polish jew - Schmuel and pass food under the fence is ridiculous beyond belief.
Boyne has also put sum idiotic puns in the book such as "outwith" for Auschwitz and "Fury" for Fuhrer. Boyne seems rather proud of these puns (which were he actually thinking in German they would not translate) and uses them throughout the book. The fact that the main character Bruno and his friends Daniel, Karl and Martin all have English names makes you wonder whether the author researched the holocaust at all or just wrote a twee English public school book and thought he'd include the holocaust to make it different.
I really would not recommend this book to anyone and definitely not for children. If this is their first experience of the Holocaust it is terribly inaccurate and would not educate them at all. Books like Hannah Goslar Remembers, The Diary Of Anne Frank and Schindlers List although heartbreaking are recommended.
Surprising, 23 Nov 2008
Ever since this book was released I have been attracted to it. In need of a "quick" read this weekend, I decided to purchase it and I am so glad that I did.
I wont tell you the story because that would spoil the book for you but what I will tell you is that it is a story about a boy called Bruno aged 9 and totally innocent and the story is told through his naive eyes.
I read the book in two days and it was a pleasure to read. The style was simple but evocotive.
The ending was a total surprise, there were no hints at what was coming and I felt the desolation as the story ended.
I am not sure if this book would right for a younger reader but certainly one in the early teens and definately adults like me.
Could have been worse..., 30 Nov 2008
The only redeeming feature of this book - which could have lost 200 pages of repetitive whining to no detriment, if not improvement - is the fact that Bella finally decides that she loves Jacob. Even if there is a qualifying 'too' in the mix. I'm dubiously giving #4 a bash, since in a fit of enthusiasm after 'Twilight' I bought them all, but I just don't think Meyer has the authorial skills to convince me that an animated marble statue is really worth all of this angst.
Honestly: am I the only one out there who finds Edward completely tedious? Not to mention self-obsessed, controlling and condescending.
Ah well, maybe #4 will surprise me...
Undead or hairy, what's a girl to do?, 27 Nov 2008
Ok so if you're looking at buying Eclipse, there's not much chance you don't know all about the Twilight Saga. There's no need to convince you! If you enjoyed Twilight and New Moon, you're going to want this one.
Out of all of the books, this one has to be my favourite. This was the book that took me from vehemently Team Edward squealy fangirl-arama into the 'Oh, Jacob's actually really nice and perfect for Bella' confusion. And i cant be the only one. (Ok so i was still Team Edward after reading Eclipse, but it makes you stop and think!)
There's a lot more depth in this book than the first two, and it shakes up what you've thought all the way through Twilight and New Moon.
What are you waiting for? Buy buy buy!
~x~
Better, 22 Nov 2008
My favourite so far in the whole series is Twilight, and this definately comes second. New Moon was quite dull, but this book sort of made up for that. It was a bit dull in parts and quite disturbing in others, but it isn't that bad for the series.
My favourite of the saga so far..., 11 Nov 2008
Eclipse is my favourite of the three so far. It has the most action, and the most struggle. Bella is still being stalked by a deadly vampire intent on revenge, and there are many people wanting to protect her. All of the Cullens, and the werewolf pack over at La Push. Most people would be flattered and relieved by this, but not Bella. She cares about these people so much that she is terrified of them getting hurt, especially on her account. But it doesn't seem to stop any of them. Edward loves Bella dearly and would rather die than see her hurt. Jacob Black feels the same. Bella is torn between the two men - she's desperately in love with Edward and can't see her life without him, but she is incredibly close to Jacob, and doesn't want to lose her friendship with him because Edward's back in town, and the two hate each other.
It's deadlock. Edward doesn't want Bella seeing Jacob, and Jacob won't be friends with Bella because she's with Edward, and he knows that she wants to become 'one of them.' It doesn't help matters that the vampires and werewolves have an ancient treaty not to hurt one another, and Bella's existence and the feelings she ignites in the two groups could potentially holes in the treaty and start a war.
As well as worrying about the dangerous vampire stalking her, Edward and Jacob, and her dad, graduation is approaching. And graduation is the date Bella has set for her to end her mortal life and become a vampire. And it's crept up on her so fast that she's made no arrangements, not said goodbye to anyone, and is now questionning if it's what she really wants.
Could things be any more complicated? Well, for Bella, yes of course. Things continue to pile up until they eventually comes to a head. Bella has lots of decisions to make, but you'll just have to read Eclipse to discover the outcome...
I loved this book. It's the most action-packed so far, with emotions running high, love, hate, fear, and more. There are also lots of new characters brought in, but the story still centres around the triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob - all of whom you'll love and loathe in equal measure by the time you finish this book.
If you've read the first two, again, you need to read Eclipse. I'm now going to dive right into Breaking Dawn and find out what the finale is!
Probably the best one so far, 11 Nov 2008
This book seemed to have plot unlike the other two which made it a lot better. However, it did take forever for the characters to work out that they had to collaborate with the werewolves and it was pretty obvious that they'd have to do it at some point. What was confusing about this book (and New Moon) was whether or not Bella was in love with Jacob. It turns out that she does fall for him but that just made it more confusing and unnecessary for the plot.
Rubbish, 30 Nov 2008
This book makes a mockery of the whole Twilight series. The first book in the series was brilliant, the second okay, the third better than okay, but this is plain rubbish. The diologue is rubbish, the story is boring and dull and what I hate most *Warning spoiler* is how the character of Jacob imprints on Bella's daughter. It makes his love for Bella a waste of time and this was part of the reason the Twilight saga was so good. The story would have gone a bit better if he had imprinted on someone like Leah. I also found Bella annoying in this book, and sometimes found myself wanting to tell her to shut up.
Overall, a horrible read and I was so happy when I finished it. If you have only read the first three books, leave it at that as if you read this book, it will change how you feel about Bella and Edward. They aren't the same as in the other books and not in a good way.
Thank God that's over., 30 Nov 2008
I loved 'Twilight', but I wish it had just stopped there (or at any rate that I had), because following book 1 this series rapidly succumbs to Series Disease - editor apparently checks out, author rapidly loses the even more rapidly evaporating plot, and everything that made the first book unique and fresh gets repeated until it's formulaic with a vengeance.
Before I started reading this, I chuckled over an amazon reviewer who called it 'emetic', thinking it couldn't be that bad. After 700+ pages, though, I'll not only give him emetic, I'll riff of it too because, given the subject matter, I couldn't help comparing the reading experience with morning sickness: increasingly nauseating, all-consuming, and inevitable. In fact, once I figured out the premise of this book (and really, I never thought she'd stoop so low!), I was tempted to hurl it across the room. Stayed my hand because that would probably have resulted in a broken window (this is a tome of Potter-like proportions - RSI sufferers be warned!)
I hung in there solely because it seemed there would finally be an all-out, blood-and-guts vampire showdown at the end. Rue the misplaced hope! Because instead of the fight the second half of the book seems to promise, we get thirty-odd pages of vampirical squabbling, which culminates in the bad guys - and the Volturi had SUCH potential as bad guys! - stomping off in a snit because...well actually, I'm not really sure why. It had something to do with their inability to do anything else because then everyone might figure out they're not the righteous vampire police they pretend to be. Um, but didn't we already know that?
Oh, never mind. I'm sure my misanthropic reviews can't sway anyone who wants to like these books. And in the end I'm not so much out to trash them as to protest the waste: I mean, aren't vampires bloodthirsty predators first and foremost? Civilised as the Cullens might be in their stately home, it would have added a dimension to, say, Esme, to see her rip Aro's head off. I guess I'll just go back to Buffy and Anne Rice and stay away from teen horror series. For the moment, anyway...
So Disappointed......, 29 Nov 2008
I was really looking forward to reading this book. I have loved the series. Loved Twilight, really enjoyed New Moon and loved Eclipse and then we got Breaking Dawn, which in my opinion was very disappointing. So much so I rushed through the last 200 pages. I just could not be bothered to give it anymore of my time.
I thought the book started off well, and I was really enjoying it. But when a certain unexpected thing happens to Bella, for me it went down hill. I found myself slogging through the book instead of enjoying it.
It felt like I was reading an entirely different book from the series, all the personalities of the characters seem to disappear, and the book just seemed empty and bland. I felt it was far too long and the story was just dragged on and on....
The book should of just ended when they got married, as the rest of it is complete rubbish. Having to slog through so much boring stuff, just to get that perfect ending.
But, although I disliked this book, I'm not going to put Stephenie Meyer down, as I really did enjoy the first three. She gave us Edward, Bella and Jacob. They are three of my most favourite characters. It's such a shame this book didn't live up to the other three (imo).
'Perfect' Bella returns for another crappy book, 27 Nov 2008
One of the most disappointing things about this book was that there was not fight at the end. What was the whole point of building up the climax to the fight with the Volturi if Meyer was just going to let perfect (and extremely annoying) Bella save the day with her brick wall of a brain? The only part of the book that was actually good was Jacob's part considering that he's the only person in the book that has character. Bella somehow manages to end up more perfect that she started off (but her dress sense doesn't improve). Overall, I think the book could have had a better ending and the series, in general, could have been less soppy and plotless.
Complete and Utter Rubbish - A Review By Someone Who Enjoys Reading Too Much to Keep Quiet!!, 25 Nov 2008
I am unfortunately the kind of person who likes to see things through to the end... Normally that is a good thing, but in the case of the Twilight Saga it most certainly is not. What it is, is a complete waste of time. I have to say that I feel quite passionate about this: The Twilight saga is over-hyped trash and nothing more. It pains me to read about all the praise it is getting. It is nothing and I mean NOTHING in comparison to books written for a similar target audience (i.e. Harry potter/His Dark materials). In all honesty, Stephenie Meyer just cannot write. Her style (if you can call it that) is just horrendous. And to think people moaned about JK Rowling! A literary genius by comparison.
Twilight was okay - it started well but went down hill. New Moon was painful to read because I could see the saga begin to fall apart at the seams. Eclipse was less painful than New Moon but still pretty bad... and that brings me to Breaking Dawn.
Absurd, ludicrous, inane and plain stupid. If I could have given it no stars, I would have. I wonder whether anyone else finds Werewolves imprinting on babies to be very disturbing?
Do yourselves a favour and AVOID the saga like the plague. Wuthering Heights, Fire and Hemlock (Dianna Wynne Jones) or even the Nightworld series/Anne Rice books (if you must read something to do with vampires) are much much worthier of people's time and praise.
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Customer Reviews
Twilight., 02 Dec 2008
Bella Moves to froks to live with her dad charlie, she falls in love with somone she is not supposed to...
This book is amazing, in my opinion even better then the harry potter ones and that is saying something. i would recomend this book to anyone reading this review and urge them to buy it and the rest in the saga!
Jane Austen meets the Addams family, 01 Dec 2008
Well, I don't know if I am Twilight's oldest fan, but I am 50 in 2 days time, and I stumbled on this book whilst trying to find interesting new reads for my daughter (who hasn't had a look in yet). I think it is wonderful. Plot aside, it draws me in and the tension is amazing. The prose does have a hint of Jane Austen about it and Edward is like an old fashioned romantic hero. A very clever idea - fine romantic literature for the 21st century. I wish it had been around when I was 14 - I would have devoured it! I'm ready for the next books. Girls - keep them away from your Mums!
Surprisingly good, 30 Nov 2008
Having seen a lot of rather negative reviews around, I was understandably a little uncertain when starting this book. I had been dithering over whether to get it for months, stuck between reviews singing its praises and others damning it to the depths of hell.
However, I am glad to say I was not disappointed. Whilst the book does, admittedly, have a few flaws, the characters and the plotline drew me in, and I ended up re-reading it the day after I'd finished it. It certainly overturned all my rather negative expectations.
That said, I wouldn't say it was perfect. I think Bella's intstant "OMG I am in love" from the moment she sees Edward is a little... Sudden. And some parts of the book are just so easy to guess... But then, in some ways that adds to the charm.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful read, and I will certainly be getting New Moon after Christmas if someone doesn't buy it for me...
I Worship this book!!!!, 30 Nov 2008
First of all let me say one thing-BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN. it caught everything a book should. page after page it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside and at night i dream about them and in my mind wondering what happens next!
Heart gripping novel-pre-pare to eat you heart out.After you've read the book i am almost definite you will become obessed & drooling over edwar cullen just like the rest of us!
Brillian read-recomenned for ALL ages!
Fresh, riveting - wildly entertaining., 30 Nov 2008
Okay, yes, it's a gushy YA romance. And yes, it treads yet again over the already-muddied territory of bloodsucking-monster-as-misunderstood-tortured-sex-symbol (how's that for hyphenation?!) But despite that, and being exactly as silly as I feared, this is also the most compelling novel I've read in a long, long time. Why, I'm not really sure. It might be as simple as the skill with which Meyer drags out the 'Will he sleep with her, suck her dry, or both?' dilemma upon which the sexy vampire genre is founded. Or it might not. Either way, I'm tapping my fingers waiting for amazon to deliver the sequel...
Decent-ish., 30 Nov 2008
No real point in going into depth over this one. The motivations are stupid, the characters stagnant (with one blazing exception - more on that in a minute.) Bella-as-everygirl-1st-person-narrator worked in the first book, when it was all about discovery. Now that the jig is up, though, she comes across as boring, petulant and self-obsessed, and only slightly outdistanced in those stakes by the hallowed Edward. The reason I gave it as high a rating as I did is a.) it's still compulsive reading, even if it is literary junk-food and b.) Jacob Black.
Ah, Jacob Black. A very wise (and well-known) author once told me that if a minor character starts speaking to you, you should do a U-turn and go with it. I wish Meyer had done that here. I know you all love Edward, but Jacob is just so much more interesting. And I don't think it would have taken much writing for him to usurp Edward as the romantic interest. Besides, Bella is much more dynamic as a character when she's w/ Jacob. I think her fixation w/ Edward made sense in the first book, but not so much here.
Read it, but don't expect edification...
Teenage Bites, Werewolves and Romance, 27 Nov 2008
The second novel in this imaginative reworking of the vampire fable set amongst the woods of Washington State.
Unllike its predecessor, this novel moves away from the pressures of fitting in to high school and explores the response to rejected loves and the breakup of passionate relationships. We see the world through the eyes of Bella Swann, a girl who has lost the love of her life and will risk her own to recover what she has lost. The book explores movingly her feelings of suicicidal desperation and rejection and show how she reaches out for comfort and companionship. Tied in with this emotional journey is a supernatural yarn which matches werewolves against vampires and which contrasts the human characteristics of both species.
The book is moving and well written and Bella's character is a strong and convincing narrator, a character still struggling to work out her relationships with her peers and her parents. However, as the book moves away from the town of Forks for a brief trip to Italy, it becomes less forceful, the dramatic tension evaporates and it moves to a rather sluggish conclusion.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the vampire genre and am looking forward to reading further novels in this series.
Old Theme With New Energy and Twists, 26 Nov 2008
Reality takes some strange bends around the small rural town near the ocean where Bella, an eighteen year old senior in high school, lives with her father, Charlie, a sheriff. Bella finds herself caught between the world of vampires and a significant other among them and a world of Indian legends come to life. The conflicts and drama do create many moments of frightful suspense, and teenage love takes new twists. Bella narrates the story and much of the book is devoted in quite an effective fashion to her emotional responses to events. More details would ruin the plot, so get the book for those. It's a fun read.Translator's Kiss
Disappointed, 22 Nov 2008
When I read Twilight, I loved it so much; I was really excited about readig the sequel. But when I did manage to read it, this book, I was really disappointed. I found most of it quite dull and as I read more of it, it got worse. Sorry, but this book is lucky I gave it two stars.
Book Two of the Twilight Series, 11 Nov 2008
Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.
Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.
However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...
New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.
It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.
Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...
Clever and gripping, 02 Dec 2008
I thought this book was cleverly written, from the view of a 9 year old boy - it is only because we have historical hindsight of the events that are being described by the boy, who does not understand, that the full story plays out in your imagination as the story unfolds.
I did not expect the story to end the way it did. I was gripped.
Try something different, 01 Dec 2008
This book was recommended to me and when I eventually got round to buying it, I was hooked fairly quickly and finished it in a couple of days. There are some annoying repetitions with words which are used as substitutes for the real-life words, but apart from that it was a very easy book to read. I will not say that the book was enjoyable in the normal sense, as the subject matter is one which cannot be enjoyed, but it was a really good, easy to read book with a twist which just took my breath away.
A real twist in the tail!, 01 Dec 2008
I borrowed this book from the library for my son who's very into WW2 but he didn't want to read it so I did. I loved it and was taken by surprise at the tragic ending. I will remember it for a very long time.
Unbelievable Patronising, 30 Nov 2008
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing that there was a film coming out about the book. I can honestly say this is one of the worst books about the holocaust that I have ever read in terms of inaccuracies, patronising views and poor writing.
The author is Irish and is writing as if he is a Concentration Camp officers son. The kid is ridiculously naive in that he has never heard of "The Fuhrer" and doesn't know anything about the Jews. Every German child - especially one of such a 'high ranking official' would have been a part of the Hitler Youth and would have been indoctrinated with this ever since he could remember. The fact that he can openly sit and chat with a 9 year old polish jew - Schmuel and pass food under the fence is ridiculous beyond belief.
Boyne has also put sum idiotic puns in the book such as "outwith" for Auschwitz and "Fury" for Fuhrer. Boyne seems rather proud of these puns (which were he actually thinking in German they would not translate) and uses them throughout the book. The fact that the main character Bruno and his friends Daniel, Karl and Martin all have English names makes you wonder whether the author researched the holocaust at all or just wrote a twee English public school book and thought he'd include the holocaust to make it different.
I really would not recommend this book to anyone and definitely not for children. If this is their first experience of the Holocaust it is terribly inaccurate and would not educate them at all. Books like Hannah Goslar Remembers, The Diary Of Anne Frank and Schindlers List although heartbreaking are recommended.
Surprising, 23 Nov 2008
Ever since this book was released I have been attracted to it. In need of a "quick" read this weekend, I decided to purchase it and I am so glad that I did.
I wont tell you the story because that would spoil the book for you but what I will tell you is that it is a story about a boy called Bruno aged 9 and totally innocent and the story is told through his naive eyes.
I read the book in two days and it was a pleasure to read. The style was simple but evocotive.
The ending was a total surprise, there were no hints at what was coming and I felt the desolation as the story ended.
I am not sure if this book would right for a younger reader but certainly one in the early teens and definately adults like me.
Could have been worse..., 30 Nov 2008
The only redeeming feature of this book - which could have lost 200 pages of repetitive whining to no detriment, if not improvement - is the fact that Bella finally decides that she loves Jacob. Even if there is a qualifying 'too' in the mix. I'm dubiously giving #4 a bash, since in a fit of enthusiasm after 'Twilight' I bought them all, but I just don't think Meyer has the authorial skills to convince me that an animated marble statue is really worth all of this angst.
Honestly: am I the only one out there who finds Edward completely tedious? Not to mention self-obsessed, controlling and condescending.
Ah well, maybe #4 will surprise me...
Undead or hairy, what's a girl to do?, 27 Nov 2008
Ok so if you're looking at buying Eclipse, there's not much chance you don't know all about the Twilight Saga. There's no need to convince you! If you enjoyed Twilight and New Moon, you're going to want this one.
Out of all of the books, this one has to be my favourite. This was the book that took me from vehemently Team Edward squealy fangirl-arama into the 'Oh, Jacob's actually really nice and perfect for Bella' confusion. And i cant be the only one. (Ok so i was still Team Edward after reading Eclipse, but it makes you stop and think!)
There's a lot more depth in this book than the first two, and it shakes up what you've thought all the way through Twilight and New Moon.
What are you waiting for? Buy buy buy!
~x~
Better, 22 Nov 2008
My favourite so far in the whole series is Twilight, and this definately comes second. New Moon was quite dull, but this book sort of made up for that. It was a bit dull in parts and quite disturbing in others, but it isn't that bad for the series.
My favourite of the saga so far..., 11 Nov 2008
Eclipse is my favourite of the three so far. It has the most action, and the most struggle. Bella is still being stalked by a deadly vampire intent on revenge, and there are many people wanting to protect her. All of the Cullens, and the werewolf pack over at La Push. Most people would be flattered and relieved by this, but not Bella. She cares about these people so much that she is terrified of them getting hurt, especially on her account. But it doesn't seem to stop any of them. Edward loves Bella dearly and would rather die than see her hurt. Jacob Black feels the same. Bella is torn between the two men - she's desperately in love with Edward and can't see her life without him, but she is incredibly close to Jacob, and doesn't want to lose her friendship with him because Edward's back in town, and the two hate each other.
It's deadlock. Edward doesn't want Bella seeing Jacob, and Jacob won't be friends with Bella because she's with Edward, and he knows that she wants to become 'one of them.' It doesn't help matters that the vampires and werewolves have an ancient treaty not to hurt one another, and Bella's existence and the feelings she ignites in the two groups could potentially holes in the treaty and start a war.
As well as worrying about the dangerous vampire stalking her, Edward and Jacob, and her dad, graduation is approaching. And graduation is the date Bella has set for her to end her mortal life and become a vampire. And it's crept up on her so fast that she's made no arrangements, not said goodbye to anyone, and is now questionning if it's what she really wants.
Could things be any more complicated? Well, for Bella, yes of course. Things continue to pile up until they eventually comes to a head. Bella has lots of decisions to make, but you'll just have to read Eclipse to discover the outcome...
I loved this book. It's the most action-packed so far, with emotions running high, love, hate, fear, and more. There are also lots of new characters brought in, but the story still centres around the triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob - all of whom you'll love and loathe in equal measure by the time you finish this book.
If you've read the first two, again, you need to read Eclipse. I'm now going to dive right into Breaking Dawn and find out what the finale is!
Probably the best one so far, 11 Nov 2008
This book seemed to have plot unlike the other two which made it a lot better. However, it did take forever for the characters to work out that they had to collaborate with the werewolves and it was pretty obvious that they'd have to do it at some point. What was confusing about this book (and New Moon) was whether or not Bella was in love with Jacob. It turns out that she does fall for him but that just made it more confusing and unnecessary for the plot.
Rubbish, 30 Nov 2008
This book makes a mockery of the whole Twilight series. The first book in the series was brilliant, the second okay, the third better than okay, but this is plain rubbish. The diologue is rubbish, the story is boring and dull and what I hate most *Warning spoiler* is how the character of Jacob imprints on Bella's daughter. It makes his love for Bella a waste of time and this was part of the reason the Twilight saga was so good. The story would have gone a bit better if he had imprinted on someone like Leah. I also found Bella annoying in this book, and sometimes found myself wanting to tell her to shut up.
Overall, a horrible read and I was so happy when I finished it. If you have only read the first three books, leave it at that as if you read this book, it will change how you feel about Bella and Edward. They aren't the same as in the other books and not in a good way.
Thank God that's over., 30 Nov 2008
I loved 'Twilight', but I wish it had just stopped there (or at any rate that I had), because following book 1 this series rapidly succumbs to Series Disease - editor apparently checks out, author rapidly loses the even more rapidly evaporating plot, and everything that made the first book unique and fresh gets repeated until it's formulaic with a vengeance.
Before I started reading this, I chuckled over an amazon reviewer who called it 'emetic', thinking it couldn't be that bad. After 700+ pages, though, I'll not only give him emetic, I'll riff of it too because, given the subject matter, I couldn't help comparing the reading experience with morning sickness: increasingly nauseating, all-consuming, and inevitable. In fact, once I figured out the premise of this book (and really, I never thought she'd stoop so low!), I was tempted to hurl it across the room. Stayed my hand because that would probably have resulted in a broken window (this is a tome of Potter-like proportions - RSI sufferers be warned!)
I hung in there solely because it seemed there would finally be an all-out, blood-and-guts vampire showdown at the end. Rue the misplaced hope! Because instead of the fight the second half of the book seems to promise, we get thirty-odd pages of vampirical squabbling, which culminates in the bad guys - and the Volturi had SUCH potential as bad guys! - stomping off in a snit because...well actually, I'm not really sure why. It had something to do with their inability to do anything else because then everyone might figure out they're not the righteous vampire police they pretend to be. Um, but didn't we already know that?
Oh, never mind. I'm sure my misanthropic reviews can't sway anyone who wants to like these books. And in the end I'm not so much out to trash them as to protest the waste: I mean, aren't vampires bloodthirsty predators first and foremost? Civilised as the Cullens might be in their stately home, it would have added a dimension to, say, Esme, to see her rip Aro's head off. I guess I'll just go back to Buffy and Anne Rice and stay away from teen horror series. For the moment, anyway...
So Disappointed......, 29 Nov 2008
I was really looking forward to reading this book. I have loved the series. Loved Twilight, really enjoyed New Moon and loved Eclipse and then we got Breaking Dawn, which in my opinion was very disappointing. So much so I rushed through the last 200 pages. I just could not be bothered to give it anymore of my time.
I thought the book started off well, and I was really enjoying it. But when a certain unexpected thing happens to Bella, for me it went down hill. I found myself slogging through the book instead of enjoying it.
It felt like I was reading an entirely different book from the series, all the personalities of the characters seem to disappear, and the book just seemed empty and bland. I felt it was far too long and the story was just dragged on and on....
The book should of just ended when they got married, as the rest of it is complete rubbish. Having to slog through so much boring stuff, just to get that perfect ending.
But, although I disliked this book, I'm not going to put Stephenie Meyer down, as I really did enjoy the first three. She gave us Edward, Bella and Jacob. They are three of my most favourite characters. It's such a shame this book didn't live up to the other three (imo).
'Perfect' Bella returns for another crappy book, 27 Nov 2008
One of the most disappointing things about this book was that there was not fight at the end. What was the whole point of building up the climax to the fight with the Volturi if Meyer was just going to let perfect (and extremely annoying) Bella save the day with her brick wall of a brain? The only part of the book that was actually good was Jacob's part considering that he's the only person in the book that has character. Bella somehow manages to end up more perfect that she started off (but her dress sense doesn't improve). Overall, I think the book could have had a better ending and the series, in general, could have been less soppy and plotless.
Complete and Utter Rubbish - A Review By Someone Who Enjoys Reading Too Much to Keep Quiet!!, 25 Nov 2008
I am unfortunately the kind of person who likes to see things through to the end... Normally that is a good thing, but in the case of the Twilight Saga it most certainly is not. What it is, is a complete waste of time. I have to say that I feel quite passionate about this: The Twilight saga is over-hyped trash and nothing more. It pains me to read about all the praise it is getting. It is nothing and I mean NOTHING in comparison to books written for a similar target audience (i.e. Harry potter/His Dark materials). In all honesty, Stephenie Meyer just cannot write. Her style (if you can call it that) is just horrendous. And to think people moaned about JK Rowling! A literary genius by comparison.
Twilight was okay - it started well but went down hill. New Moon was painful to read because I could see the saga begin to fall apart at the seams. Eclipse was less painful than New Moon but still pretty bad... and that brings me to Breaking Dawn.
Absurd, ludicrous, inane and plain stupid. If I could have given it no stars, I would have. I wonder whether anyone else finds Werewolves imprinting on babies to be very disturbing?
Do yourselves a favour and AVOID the saga like the plague. Wuthering Heights, Fire and Hemlock (Dianna Wynne Jones) or even the Nightworld series/Anne Rice books (if you must read something to do with vampires) are much much worthier of people's time and praise.
Not what I expected., 03 Dec 2008
I only gave this book 4 stars as I was expecting the usual side-splitting TP novel. It wasn't. It was still funny but not laugh-out-loud (except perhaps the shark story) and it didn't have the twisting and turning plots of his other novels. It was also fairly obvious where the story was going but what made it magical was the way in which the story was told. It's basically a story of growing up and the responsibility that brings but TP has such a creative way of explaining things that you won't be disappointed even if you did buy it like me expecting hours of hilarity. It's been a few weeks now since I read the book but I'm continually finding myself thinking about it. A book that makes you think about things is a good book. I'm glad I read it. Thank you TP. Can we have a Granny & Nanny one next though? We all need a bit of cheering up. xx
Pratchett at his most thoughtful, 02 Dec 2008
Terry Pratchett had been talking about a book called Nation he'd really wanted to write for almost half a decade when he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. According to rumour, he'd already begun working on the next Tiffany Aching Discworld novel, I Shall Wear Midnight, but upon hearing the news he dropped it immediately to make sure Nation was written first.
Nation is not a Discworld novel, but is instead set in an alternate history very similar to our own late 19th Century when the British Empire was at its height. A tidal wave sweeps across the Great Southern Pelargic Ocean (the South Pacific) and wipes out the tribal civilisation of the Mothering Sunday Islands. In particular, the island simply known as the Nation is totally destroyed, apart from a single young man named Mau. Mau finds himself alone on his island, until he discovers the crashed remains of a foreign ship and a pale-skinned young woman who initially tries to kill him, but later invites him to tea. Soon refugees from the crisis gather on the island, and Mau realises he has the choice to rebuild the old world, or choose to do something new with his nation...
Nation is Pratchett's most serious book since his 1992 classic, Small Gods. In fact, it shares some similarities with that book and acts as another treatise on faith, religion, atheism and morality. It is slower and more thoughtful than that earlier novel, where a younger and more angry Pratchett was in full-on fiery condemnation of blind fundamentalism, but works well due to those contrasts. It isn't as funny as a typical Pratchett book, although there are a few chuckles to be found here and there, particularly what appears to be a clever inverting of one of the premises of the TV show Lost in the final chapter and epilogue. However, it is also a more spiritual book, which is interesting given Pratchett gives New Age ideas pretty short shrift in his other books. But here things happen that can't be easily explained away by science, and it's debatable whether this is Pratchett perhaps considering things in a different light or simply a facet of this world which is different to our own (and is quite reminiscent of the gods in Discworld who exist purely because people believe in them, not the other way around).
Nation is being marketed as a YA novel, but it really isn't. It's depiction of tragedy and death in the opening chapters is pretty unflinching, and occasional moments of blood and cruelty abound throughout its length. Also, the central themes are pretty weighty and not something I see young children really getting into. However, for the adult reader Nation is an interesting and thought-provoking read which raises many interesting ideas and questions, whilst remaining entertaining and well-characterised.
Nation (****) is available in the UK from Doubleday and, with a spectacularly awful cover, in the USA from HaperCollins.
Disappointing, 28 Nov 2008
As a great Pratchett fan I found this book bitterly disappointing. It drops everything that Pratchett is good at. There were no intricate plot, no strong characters and didn't have the magic that we have come to expect from such a great writer. I actually had trouble motivating myself to finish this book.
Island of Hope? , 11 Nov 2008
Pratchett's books for young people have a tendency to reach beyond the intended age group and are just as enjoyable and relevant for adults. His latest novel, "Nation", is no exception. Anybody who has read his Tiffany Aching books will also know that Pratchett also has a fondness for headstrong young girls, delighting in exemplifying how they grow more or less smoothly into maturity. In this delightful novel Daphne, or Ermintrude as she was named by her family, is another example. Just for the pleasure of meeting her, the book would be worth reading... but there is so much more to explore here.
Thirteen-year-old Daphne is pretty, | | |