Reborn Book Review Thread

[mde2001]

REMINDER: When submitting reviews please state which section they go into. This just makes my life a lot easier!

Reading is an activity that I've loved my whole life, and despite the fact that lots of people seem not to like books that much, I'm sure there are plenty of other people who have this in common with me. However, the age old struggle for readers is running out of books to read. Rather than making a thread where people post what they enjoy and get suggestions, I've decided to make a thread dedicated to reviews of books, sorted into categories based on what they're about.

So if there is a book you've loved make a post here (I'll give specifications on how reviews should be submitted to help me keep the OP up to date). Then if you ever need inspiration for what to read next, look in the section dedicated to what you feel like reading and see if any reviews there interest you. Hopefully this will let us all share our reading preferences with the other avid readers and continue to enjoy doing what we love!

I'm planning on having this thread run a little bit like the monotype threads where people write up reviews that get edited into the OP. So given this is going to be a thread with lots of books in it, reviews can't be too lengthy, around 200 words max if possible. If these could include a brief outline of the plot, what you thought the books strengths are, and why people should read it (also any other information you want- I don't want to be too controlling on this). I'm not going to incorporate rankings, as this thread is really only meant for books you enjoyed a lot, and I always feel like assigning a number to how good a book is oversimplifies things massively. If books do contain more mature themes that might be confronting, giving a bit of warning about this is appreciated. If books that are super sexually explicit (e.g. stuff like Fifty Shades of Grey) weren't written up that'd be great- obviously that isn't to say books with sex in them aren't allowed- just use your judgement and you should be fine.

If you want to include key details of the plot that don't occur relatively early in the books using spoiler tags would be appreciated!

The only other thing that should be included (other than author and title) is which of the categories below it fits into. If you feel like I should add a category feel free to let me know as well! I want this thread to be a community run thing, so if you feel like there is a way to improve it let me know! If a book fits more than one category then just chose one of them. I'm going to put who wrote each review, so if you're more interested in the book I'd encourage you to engage in discussion about it with them!

So here are the reviews:

Classics:

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (Submitted by Mde)

In my opinion, this is Dickens' stand out work. David Copperfield tells the tale of a young boy, whose parents both pass away, leaving him with his abusive uncle as his only family. He finds safety in the arms of his housekeeper, Peggotty, and her family and books. After being sent off to boarding school, runs away and eventually ends up in Wikfield, a lawyer's, house as a clerk. His romance blossoms with a young lady called Dora, and Agnes who is like a sister to him. Through many trials of betrayal, death and despair, the young man grows and develops beautifully. Dickens creates believable, likable characters who you gain a real emotion attachment to, creating a stunning, exciting novel.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (submitted by Mde)

Wuthering Heights is one of the most beautifully written books ever. Most of the novel is told through the eyes of Ellen, a housekeeper who tells a tale of Heathcliff, a poor orphan taken in by the Earnshaw family and Catherine, the daughter of the wealthy Earnshaw family. The two childhood lovers, separated by family expectations and wealth end up marrying others, and the repercussions of their love and conflict are passed down to the next generation, who despite having no knowledge of the circumstances are brought up in fear of the other family. Brontë's emotional writing conveys the heartbreak, passion and complexities beautifully resulting in one of the greatest works of literature ever.

Pride and Prejudiced by Jane Austin (submitted by Viri)

This book is quite possibly one of the most insipid novels I have ever read in my life. Granted, I think romance is a lot of tomfoolery by people with no serious dedication, but why this book is so highly treasured by society is beyond me. It is 345 pages of nothing. The characters are like wispy shadows of something that could be interesting, but fail to be so because of the blandness and inanity of the actual story itself. The language is admittedly beautiful, with lots of quips, witticism and artful jibes that make one almost relish the feeling so crudely conveyed today by 'OOH, BURN!' But the book after all does call itself a romance, and is therefore well stocked with a lot of soppy lines that to me, spoil the language's wit. I read the book multiple times, and each time was tired of having to stumble through the pages only to emerge unsatisfied, for the plot is non-existent, as though Austen decided one fine day that she wanted to write a novel and began without having any idea what would happen next except that there would be a boy and a girl who seemingly didn't like each other but in the end got married. The story really could have been told in about 10 pages, but Austen make us slog through 345 of them, full of mind-numbing balls and dinner-parties. I appreciate the old English humour and the portrayed nobility and nature of Darcy and a few others, but mostly I don't quite think it's my cup of tea. However, romance fans would certainly be pleased to join the world in elevating this book to godhood.

Note from Mde: This book is a treasure that should be respected and read by everyone. While usually I don't want multiple reviews for one book if someone wants to write a positive one I'd be down for that.

The catcher in the rye - J. D. Salinger (submitted by Lugruf)

The catcher in the rye can't be explained. You must read it. It tells the story of Holden Caulfield, a teenager that has been expelled after failing almost all of his subjects. He will tell in first person the next few days of his life, from the moment he leaves the school until he has to face his parents, wandering in the city of New York. But what is good of The catcher in the rye is not the story itself, but the main character. Holden will tell the story in first person, in an informal style, as if he was telling the story to you in person. The reader will be able to see the world with Holden's particular viewpoint and follow his train of thought. It's an amazing glimpse of the thoughts of a person, free and uncensored, giving voice to many of those things we think but we can't say.

Throughout the story, Holden will leave us meny memorable phrases. Here it goes one of my favorite quotes:

“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.”

1984- Review can be found under Science Fiction

Jeeves and Wooster- Reviews can be found under Comedy

The Count of Monte Cristo- Review can be found under Adventure

Fantasy:

A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin (submitted by Lugruf)

A song of ice and fire is a series of five books (and other two not written yet) which you probably know for the TV series Game of thrones, that supposed an inflexion point in the way I understand literature.
There are two main differences with the rest of fantastic novels: In AGOT there are no protagonists, and there’s no “good” and “evil”. Each chapter of the books is told from the perspective of a character, so you get to know the viewpoints of all of the parts in the conflict. This way, there’s no “good” and “evil” as I mentioned before, but different sides with their own interests and ideas. Besides, there’s not a central character who you know that will survive until the end of the story. Anyone can die at any moment, no matter the importance it has had up to that point.
For the ones sensitive about these topics, there are several sexually explicit and violent scenes throughout the five books. It’s not as frequent as in the TV series, where this was magnified to the absurd because boobs are the best way to sell your product nowadays, but still there are some.
In general, the books tell a great story with well built characters and a very rich world. They are also a nice conversation topic if you have friends who have read them, as there are still two books that haven’t been written and there’s lots to speculate about. Finally, it provides this change to the way we have always written fantasy that I consider that needs to be mentioned.

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (submitted by Mde)

This series of 14 books is incredibly long, complex and intriguing. There's no way I can cover the plot of it properly, but the basic premise is centered around the protagonist Rand, who is believed to be the fabled Dragon Reborn who will be able to defeat the Dark One's force. The universe includes the Aes Sedai, a group of females with magical abilities, the Forsaken who serve the Dark One, and a whole host of other excellent characters. I can't do any of the plot or characters justice in this format, but I would recommend anyone with a bit of spare time, who enjoys high fantasy novels and excellent plots to give it a go, as it is an incredible series.

Science-Fiction:

Do Androids Dream of Electrical Sheep - Philip K. Dick (Submitted by Halloween)

What defines "life"?

On a desolate earth, Rick Deckard hunts down and kills rogue artificial intelligence robots, so humanoid that they're almost impossible to distinguish from actual humans. Rick isn't in it to bring money to his bored wife, nor for the thrill of it, no, Rick is saving up for the ultimate status symbol – a real life animal. It follows him as he starts to question the difference between flesh and electrical wires, when live starts mattering - and what things we can't fake. It's an interesting dissection of humanity, a sci-fi classic and a thought-provoking portrait of a man. Philip K. Dick is perhaps the most influential sci-fi writer of all time; with brilliant ideas and splendid execution, he doesn't waste words, doesn't pull any punches and doesn't let you put down anything he's written.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (submitted by Mde)

This series is incomplete, currently with only two books written, but it is one of the best science fiction novels I've ever read. It focuses around Paige, a clairvoyant with the ability to break into other people's minds, who works in the criminal underworld of a society that outlaws clairvoyants. Eventually she is taken to Oxford, which is controlled by an alien race called the Rephiam, who enslave Clairvoyants to do their bidding. She is paired with a powerful Rephiam called the Warden and their relationship is a key aspect of the novel. The book explores the possibility for good to exist in those who seem evil and the necessity of trust in hopeless circumstances. It isn't a hard read at all, but is a lot of fun and pretty well written.

Worm- Web serial by J.C McCrae (Submitted by Dobby)

For those not familiar with web serials, the first thing you should know is that Web serials tend to be incredibly long. Worm is no exception. To quote the home page that gives a quick summary of the book. "It totals roughly 1,680,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels)." So if you give it a try, be prepared to stick through a lot.

So, let me now summarise the serial. It is about an introverted young woman named Taylor who has the capability to control bugs in this superhero filled world. The story begins with her first attempt to take down a bona fide badass of a villain, the notorious leader of a local gang, because she aspires to be a hero. Shit goes down, she proves how bugs can be scary and the circumstances evolve. The story follows Taylors induction and adaptation to the Superpower community in the main setting of Brockton Bay. McCrae uses Taylors perspective to explore morality in this world and explore what a society would be like in such a world. If that doesn't interest you, bear in mind, Taylor does not start off on the good guys side.

Now, for what makes this serial shine. Power scaling and action. The writer is fantastic at choreographing action scenes and the unique set of powers in the very, very large cast is used very creatively. In specific Taylor's capability to control bugs, something that seems insignificant, is proved to be something incredibly versatile and downright scary. A character who has very good intuition as a superpower is actually one of the most feared characters in the series.

Then there's the threats. The characters and monsters that are literal walking disasters. The Endbringer battles are some of the most harrowing scenes I've read. If you think Game of Thrones is liberal with character death, then Worm takes it up a notch because no one is safe in these fights. In the first Endbringer battle in the series, it has been said that McCrae simply rolled dice to determine if a character survived.

One final note about the finale. No spoilers, don'tchu worry child. but I like to think a finale is one of the bigest selling points of a story so it needs to be discussed. The finale is, well, it's built up for a long, long time. It takes a while to get there and it drags as it approaches. However, the final arc of the series, holee shit, the final arc is every bit as climactic as you could want. It's orchestrated perfectly, every faction plays it's role and the Big Bad is no joke. The epilogue alone leaves you with a little sigh of satisfaction.

So, go read it, Worm is good.

1984 by George Orwell (submitted by Despair Syndrome)

1984 is set in a fictional, dystopian take of Great Britain. In 1984, Orwell makes a grim prediction of the future (the story was published in 1949), where Great Britain is taken over by the Party. The Party is a tyrannical organization that rules through manipulation and fear via perpetual surveillance of their citizens. The Party is represented in media by Big Brother, who may or may not even exist, but serves to keep civilians in check by having propaganda of him spread throughout the city. The story follows Winston Smith, an everyman who works for the Party, struggling through everyday life in this dystopian world. He does his job well, yet he secretly despises the Party's tyrannical rule. Orwell manages to create a fictional, yet seemingly realistic and terrifying world in his novel. And the most terrifying part is that the setting described in this novel can easily happen in real life. The novel is themed towards everyday folk like ourselves to always be wary of government manipulation and that we can make a difference if we stand united.

If you want to look intelligent at school or at work, or just want to open your eyes wider to the corruption of this world, this is the book to read.

Based on True Stories:

I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall (submitted by Mde)

One of the stand out pieces of Australian literature, I Can Jump Puddles tells the story of the authors childhood. He developed poliomyelitis at the age of six, but despite this was able to remain relatively positive and continue to be a child. Set in rural Victoria, Marshall tells the tale of a young boy who struggles but still values the joys of life, and tries to partake in all of the actives he can. His family, who love him, but don't have much experience with unwell children, must find a way to allow him to thrive in difficult conditions and keep him happy in very confronting circumstances. Overall, this is an incredibly inspirational, heartwarming read, and while a little confronting at times, shows the amazing optimism and persistence of some people. It is also very authentically Australian, which is always nice to read.

Historical Fiction:

The Killer Angels - Mike Shaara (Submitted by Hukuna)

This is a piece of well American literature that follows a dramatization of the Battle of Gettysburg what is widely considered the turning point of the war. While it does draw from a lot of Historical fact, a lot of it is romanticized or written in a way to give it a story arc etc... It flips between both the Confederate Sides and the Union giving us views into both sides of the conflict. We see the struggles they face from the common infantry up to the high ranking officers who all make their appearances throughout. It goes through all 4 grueling days of the battle and hits most of the major notes within it. It covers all the way up until the High Water Mark of the Confederacy and even a bit afterwards. It is a well detailed account of the events and even still hailed as one of the most realistic and believable Historical novels of all time. If you have any interest in American history it's worth the read.

Some fun facts((can ignore these for the post... I just wanted to include them.)): The Firefly series Creator Joss Whedon strictly stated that this Book was an inspiration for the series. The final episode of the first and only season, Objects in Space" even pays homage to this fact.

The Killer Angels was the source of the Screenplay for the 1993 film Gettysburg. In fact, a lot of the books dialog was used for the script and quite a lot of it remained intact.

Romance:

La Chica de Los Planetas by Holden Centeno (Submitted by Lugruf)

La chica de Los Planetas is a beautiful and heartbreaking love story where the author narrates his relationship with a girl. The girl is refered to as chica de Los Planetas (girl of the planets) or other nicknames to keep her anonymous.

So, what's special about this book? Why should I read this instead of any other of the dull love stories that flood our book stores nowadays? Well, the book is written in first person, in a Catcher of the rye-ish style that catches the reader and makes him feel very close to the protagonist. The reader lives every up and down in their relationship, from the falling in love and the first overly sweet weeks when everything's happiness to the doubts and arguements, to every time they break up and come back.
It's important too the fact that the story really happened, so the character's are round and act like humans. One of the main problems I find with certain stories is that they're not believable because of how the characters act and talk, because dialogue looks too forced instead of a real conversation you could have with a real person. Here, it doesn't happen at all.

Throughout the story the protagonist will also mention lots of books and music bands, so the book is also a good chance to disscover some music you might have not heard and books you haven't read.
In general, if you want a beautiful love story that can catch you and make you believe that there's hope and love exists, read this book. Then, if you want to cry with the hard moments, estrangement and the end of a beautiful relationship, you can read the second part.

Pride and Prejudice- Review can be found under Classics.

Wuthering Heights- Review can be found under Classics.

Mystery:

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (Submitted by Despair Syndrome)

Stephen King, mostly known for his Horror and Supernatural stories, tries his hand at making a 'hard-boiled detective book' (as he calls it) and he does magnificently well. Though it is part of a trilogy (the last book is due on June 2016), it also functions perfectly well as a standalone novel. The story follows Bill Hodges, a retired police detective who recently picks up a scent on one of his most famous cold cases, the Mercedes murders, after a man who claims to be the killer sends him a letter. However, the novel doesn't just tell the story from Bill's perspective, it also tells it from the perspective of Brady Hartsfield, the man responsible for the Mercedes murders. More than just a detective story, King manages to capture the inner emotions, motives and goals of both the protagonist and the antagonist extremely well. Though the book gets pretty dark at times, I have to admit I absolutely loved the ending and feel like it would play very well into an action movie. With cliffhangers at every corner, you'll find it very hard to put this book down.

All in all, grab this book if you want to see into the mind of a mass-murdering sociopath. 10/10.

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (submitted by Despair Syndrome)

The final 12 of 56 Sherlock short-stories are arguably one of the best. All 12 short stories in this book present the most unique and mysterious cases (or as Watson puts it: the most singular occurrences) of all the Sherlock short-stories (not counting the novels). One of the stories is from Holme's point-of-view instead of Watson's which is admittedly an interesting style, and Doyle nails it down perfectly. The adventure fails to feel any less exciting and you can clearly feel Sherlock's ego through the writing.

Easily my favorite Sherlock Holmes book and it would be a lot more enjoyable if you read through the previous stories too.

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz (Submitted by Despair Syndrome)

Although not written by Doyle, Anthony Horowitz manages to capture the spirit of the Sherlock Holmes books that we all know and love and he arguably does it better too. The book focuses on Professor Moriarty, widely considered as the primary antagonist of Sherlock Holmes and yet, only ever appears in one short story (The Final Problem). The events of the story take place after the events of the Final Problem, where Moriarty and Sherlock seemingly fall to their demise.

The story follows Frederick Chase and Inspector Athelney Jones as they try and stop an American criminal organization from taking over London after Moriarty's demise. Horowitz's portrayal of London is vastly different from Doyle's, focusing on more of the grim criminal underworld aspect with a touch of American in it too. He also manages to spot the many holes in Doyle's 'the Final Problem' and use them to see his advantage to craft a perfectly believable Holmes story.

If you're a fan of the Sherlock series, I'd highly recommend this story as it has many references to the canon works.

Horror:

Pact by J.C Macrae (Submitted by Dobby)

This story is quite long but not to the extent of Worm, much smaller. In case you wanted something a little less. This story follows Blake Thorburn, Blake used to be a part of a very unhappy family constantly vying for the grandmothers favour so they can inherit the Thorburn estate. However, the Thorburn estate and the surrounding area is not normal by any means and Blake finds himself plunged into a goddamn terrifying, if ordered, world of every monster under the bed.

The high points of Pact aren't as evident for me as they may be for others but I can appreciate them. For one, McCrae is god damn fantastic at writing horrific creatures of the beyond. Some of these things are just shy of being Eldritch abominations. When McCrae wants to be terrifying, they are fucking scary.

Another pro of the series was touched on in my revew of Worm. McCrae is very good at Choreographing action scenes and whilst action isn't quite as prevalent, this choreography actually transfers very well into interactions. Due to the nature of monsters, these interactions are as close to verbal sparring as you can get so this skill is used very well.

There is a glaring Con of the series and that is just, it's depressing as all hell at times. Naturally it's not meant to be bright and happy but the things that happen to each of the characters is pretty devastating. The shit Blake has to wade through is insane and barring a grand total of two characters there's practically no one else going through it with him. Along side him yes but not with him. The plus side of this is that there are some huge crowning moments of badass.

The finale for Pact. McCrae does some pretty good finales in my eyes. The consequences may not be the best but dammit all if it wasn't awesome. You know one of those crowning moments of badass? All I'm going to say is: Defenestration.

Worm- Review in Science Fiction

Emotional/ Character:

The Memory Tree by Tess Evans (submitted by Mde)

Now I'll admit I know the author of this one, but I honestly can say this is one of the best books I've ever read. It is authentically Australian, and covers some very confronting themes beautifully. It focuses around Hal, a man whose wife dies suddenly, leaving him with two young children to raise both of whom are disturbed greatly by the incident. His son Zach, goes off to war and returns deeply disturbed, leaving Hal's daughter Sadie to care for her family putting her own life on hold. The novel explores mental illness, depression, loyalty, death, forgiveness, loss and self sacrifice beautifully, leading to it being my favourite book of all time. It may be difficult for you to get a copy in America, but if you can I'd highly recommend it. But expect a confronting read, it most certainly isn't a light one!

Comedy:

Right Ho, Jeeves (1934) by P.G Wodehouse (Submitted by Viri)

Scene: Brinkley Manor. Major characters: Augustus Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Angela Travers, Aunt Dahlia, Uncle Thomas, Hildebrand Tuppy Glossop, Anatole.
An enthralling book, with fine comic characters and gleeful verbiage (And yet you come bringing me Fink-Nottles. Is this a time for Fink or any other kind of Nottle?). Gussie, originally engaged to Madeline, gets engaged instead to Angela, infuriating her ex-fiancé Tuppy; the chef Anatole blows his top; Gussie drinks too much; and Bertie has to bicycle eighteen miles in the night.

The Code of the Woosters (1938) By P.G Wodehouse (Submitted by Viri)

Scene: Totleigh Towers. Major characters: Aunt Dahlia, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Sir Watkyn Bassett, Stephanie Stiffy Byng, the Rev. H. P. Stinker Pinker, Roderick Spode, Constable Oates, and the dog Bartholomew.
My personal favorite among these books. A wonderful novel, full of high spirits and plot twists. Bertie accidentally steals Bassett's umbrella; Gussie loses a leather-bound book containing insults, to disastrous results; various people try to steal a cow-creamer; Stiffy blackmails Bertie by threatening to sabotage Gussie's and Madeline's engagement; Jeeves and Bertie scramble on top of furniture to avoid Bartholomew; and Spode is thwarted by the word Eulalie.

Religion/ Mythology:

Fact/ Non Fiction

History

Overlord by Max Hastings (Submitted by Viri)

I'm sure that most history books worldwide would mention the Normandy Landings of 1944. I believe it's important for as many people to learn world history as possible, the more and deeper the better, and this is a very significant part of it.

Max Hastings's definitive book, 'Overlord', details how on June 6, 1944, American and British troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history to begin Operation Overlord, the battle to liberate Europe from the scourge of the Third Reich. With gut-wrenching realism and immediacy, Hastings reveals the terrible human cost that this battle exacted, with many British and American infantry units suffering near 100 percent casualties during the course of that awful summer.

Far from a gauzy romanticized remembrance, Hastings details a grueling ten week battle to overpower the superbly trained, geographically entrenched German Wehrmacht. This book is acclaimed as the definitive chronicle of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Geography

Natural Philosophy

The Art of War (孫子兵法), by Sun Tzu (Submitted by Halloween)

The book deals in war strategies; it's thin, simple and straight to the point and every copy I've gotten my hands on has a foreword by someone that sounds like they should be in jail. Almost of none of the content sounds like it would applicable in real life to someone not a soldier (when you plunder villages, don't violate the women, guys). And yet, it's a compelling book, because of it's importance. It has helped nations won wars. It's helped us to shape modern warfare. China would not be the same country without the existence of these barely 100 pages. It's the Citizen Kane of warfare, and that's why you should read it.

Economics

Science

How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil (submitted by Halloween)

'Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence', says Bill Gates. This book goes through how our brains work, and how to translate that into artificial intelligence. Even if it was written in 2012, it's more relevant than ever now that two artificial intelligence robots have said they wanted to destroy humanity in less than a week. It doesn't dumb anything down; there's algorithms over how to program speech, how our morals set in, and how to fake fear. It explains how love, creativity and patterns of the neocortex. We're all going to live long enough to live with artificial intelligence as an essential part of our lives - we should know how it will work.

Politics

Biography

Autobiography - Morrissey (submitted by Halloween)

Steven Patrick Morrissey is a self-righteous asshole. But he's a good musician, superb lyricist, and he has earned his stardom the hard way – this book details what shaped him.

Unfortunately, Morrissey's magnificent lyrics doesn't always translate to a longer format. I sometimes lose sight of the story from his convoluted metaphors about how the streets look, his teachers, and how they'll die alone and unloved; this book is written with a pen in one hand, and a book with flimsy synonyms in the other. Opening a page on random, the first new sentence is "The band is listed as the Nosebleeds, and I am lumbered with this miscued name in private sufferance forevermore." If Tolkien had a description overdose problem, Morrissey has 99 of them.

All that being said, it's probably the best autobiography I've ever read, because it's so unmistakable him. There's a distinct beauty in his word mangling, and it's a very very honest story of how this man came to be as he is today. The understated humor, the sometimes-poetic portraits of everyone around him, the middle-wage life – I wish I was in this book, if only to hear how he'd describe me. And after a while it even gets interesting; heavens knows he's been miserable.

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain (Submitted by Halloween)

It's a rough assemble of interviews and magazine cut outs; it's a narrative as honest as it is unreliable, it's a confession of pedophilia, power struggle, drug abuse and violence that made it down as one of our music culture's defining milestones. It's the story of punk, and it's exactly as it should be told. Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Sid Vicious, Lou Reed and Andy Warholt all feature in this clusterfuck of horribly broken people that somehow all re-defined music. Perhaps because it's all real-life, it's one of the most honest portraits of humanity I ever had the pleasure to come over; they describe addiction, back-stabbing and loss with a candor that only comes from having been there. It's remarkable easy to read too; I absolutely swallowed it, and yet there's paragraphs that I actually had to bookmark because they hit me so hard.

However, if you have absolutely no interest in punk, it pains me to say that this probably not the book for you; it's a high-speed train crash that throw out names like snow cannons compress water.

Action:

A Whole New World; A Twisted Tale By Liz Braswell (Submitted by Pocky)

So, to give an outline, think of it as Aladdin, but if Jafar uses him then steals it, and then usurps the throne, then shit goes through the roof. This is basically that. I found it rather interesting take on the classic Aladdin story that you're used to, and it even puts Jasmine and a commander type rule, which is pretty cool since I've (personally) thought that Jasmine would probably make a great leader. You get to see new characters, and there are some deaths in this story. However, this is to be expected, i mean, check out the title! You should read this if you'd like something with tons of action as well as twists in the plot. I'd think that this wouldn't really be your cup of tea if you really like character development, since the story is very action packed.

The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (submitted by Viri)

The Day of the Jackal (set in 1963) is the gripping story of the struggle to catch a remorseless assassin, hired by the OAS to kill Charles de Gaulle, the then President of France, before it is too late. This is the book that skyrocketed Forsyth's name; it's simply in a class by itself.

Of course, one reading this must bear in mind that this classic Thriller is set in the 1960s. Had the same story been written today, the plot would've failed in ten minutes with today's technology and resources.

Those interested in more Forsyth should read The Avenger and it's sequel, The Cobra. This is set in 2010, so it Incorporates today's world much better, but they're all equally excellent as a read.

Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden (submitted by Mde)

This series is widely regarded one of the best Australian young adult series ever written. After Ellie and her friends go on a campign trip, they return to discover Australia has been invaded by an unspecified foreign entity, and their family and friends have all been taken prisoner. They become almost guerilla fighters, who ruthlessly attack the invading soldiers. The books explore the mental impact this lifestyle has on a group of young people with no military training and no experience with death. The books aren't difficult reads, but are really engaging and thought provoking. There are seven books in total, but they aren't very long and can be read quite quickly.

Worm- Review in Science-Fiction

Pact- Review in Horror

Supernatural

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (submitted by Dobby)

This series, quite a long one mind you with 15 books to it's name so far and going to a staggering twenty WITH a concluding trilogy, is indeed about a man known as Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. Harry is a Wizard for hire in Chicago, taking on P.I jobs of the mundane and extraordinary kind alike. First allow me to clarify, this series is not an explicit supernatural secret society series. The world of the Dresden files makes no effort to hide itself, its just that Harry is the only one to actively advertise himself.

The first few books spend time familiarising you with Harry, the people around him and the people against him. This is by no means a small cast but every single person is significant in their own way. From mortals to half fae to beings capable of breaking reality (and actively trying to do so). Then the series picks up a little with the Red War, no that isn't an official term or anything, there's no other way of saying it without some kinda important spoilers. Once this war comes to a close, you get a midpoint trilogy that focuses on bringing the war to a close and focusing on the aftermath. We are now still balls deep within that aftermath as of the most recent book Skin Game.

Now, I'm biased here, but the Dresden files shines in many different ways. First and foremost for me is the attention to detail that is important. Everything Harry, who narrates the series, says is important to either set up the scene or display what Harry is thinking and what insight he gleans from the scene. The second way the series shines is that it's funny. The Dresden files deals with some pretty morbid and gruesome things, monsters tend to deal in that after all, but Harry's wiseass demeanour and commentary helps ensure that the dark doesn't cling to every part of the story. It's this wonderful mix of observational humour and stupidity that blends with the mature insights into the world to create a very funny sense of humour. Of course I literally grew up with it so, it may not be as funny to you.

The next point that is fantastic is the continuity in the world of Dresden. Each book is different in it's own right, they tend to focus on different aspects of the world as they go. One book will be about Vampires. the next, Werewolves, the next will be the Knights of Denarius, hellions and demons banded together. Despite these fairly large changes in threat and the nature of what Harry faces, the stories all blend together as Harry gains clues as to what is happening in the world at large. Huk was right that it's a detective story but Dresden is trying to piece together clues abut his reality on the whole. The characters and cast all tend to devlop over the course of the series. Relationships change, people grow, Harry learns more about people as life goes on. In particular Harry goes through the most development, which is only natural as he is the main character. Mainly thought this is shown in how he learns to face the world and his approach to things. He's literally taking something from every fight and coming out with a new lesson learned. Like not being a sucker for a damsel in distress.

It's very hard to pick out flaws in the series for me. I think the biggest really is the volume. These books are pretty chunky, moreso as you go on, and if you find that you don't like stories that are rooted to one perspective then it could drag. It might help to read them out of order if I'm honest. Funnily enough I started on the fifth book in the series. I don't regret it. Each book is worth reading in it's own right but if you take the time to get stuck into the series on the whole then you'll have a lot more to appreciate.

If you want, audiobook may be the way to go with this one. James Marsters, also known as Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, does a fantastic job narrating and in doing so taking the role of Harry Dresden.

Go read it for the love of God, this series holds a place nearer and dearer to my heart than some of my family members. Give it a go and see why.

Adventure

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Submitted by Despair Syndrome)

The story follows the adventure of Edmond Dantes, an intelligent and charming young man who's bright future was snatched away from him when he was wrongly imprisoned in the Chateau D'If. After escaping, he manages to obtain an incredible treasure hidden in the island of Monte Cristo. His heart is filled with nothing but vengeance upon the men responsible for his imprisonment, and he has the money and power to make sure they get it. One of Dumas' most popular works, it manages to capture the darkness of an obsession and how a perfectly fine person ended up becoming an avatar of revenge. It is a fairly long book and like most long-running TV series, a few chapters come together to form an arc. With many arcs in this story, there'll be surprises around every corner. You'll definitely be left longing for more by the end of the book.

All in all, I highly recommend this, if not for the character development, then at least for the general badassassitude of Edmond Dantes.

Graphic Novels:

Oyasumi PunPun (Submitted by Halloween)

Sample image:

This amongst the greatest growing-up works I have ever read, which is ironic because I wouldn't recommend it to anyone below the age of 16. It deals with puberty, spirituality, mental illness, individuality, love & death in a manner ranging from awkward to painful to surreal. The story follows Punpun, depicted as a crudely drawn penguin among backgrounds and other characters where every frame is an artwork, from the elementary school to his early 20's, and his crushes, misfortunes and deliberations with God. Some of the many things this manga does great is the inner debates of "Am I good? Am I going crazy? Will I amount to anything?", the shame and stigma surrounding sex, and how loss can change people. Or in this case, penguins.
This work contains graphic sexual themes and violence.

Otoyomegatari (Submitted by Halloween)

Sample image:

Don't dismiss this one just because it's labeled as a love story, because more than anything else, it's an incredible day-to-day insight of a culture that you might not have paid much attention to otherwise. And besides, it's not about that kind of love.
The story is set during the late 19th century on the Asia-European border, and centers around Amir, (♀, 20), whom is put in a arranged marriage to a boy 8 years her junior. This is a setup that could go terrible with clichés in so many ways, but Amir and Karluk, her 12 year old husband, take the situation in stride and proceeds to try from each other's cultures and habits. The author doesn't do much to criticize the system of arranged marriages, as askew it might be, but rather takes us into the bottom of a culture of hunting, mat weaving, natural disasters, bread making and ancient medicine. It's not a story of forbidden romance, death or war, but despite it's melancholy it rarely drags either, and the art is marvelously rich and detailed.

Pluto (Submitted by Halloween)

Sample image:

The fantastic collaboration from two of manga's greatest masterminds. As much as you can call it a collaboration when one of them is dead, at least. Fans of Do Androids Dream of Electrical Sheep/Bladerunner, eat your heart out.
Gesicht, a german robot policeman, investigates recent murders of robots and humans alike, as line between what should be considered human or not crumbles. There's a sobering realism to the manga, from real life tie-in with the Iraq wars and the contrast between the ones who wages war and the ones that has to fight it, to childish insights, self-doubt, governmental control and how much power for destruction one individual should be allowed have, but the heart of it all is in the end very human. The art, managed to be both detailed and at the same time austere – the robots, especially, look very much retro, like the ones we have now, rather than some kind of sleek, sci-fi designs.

Collapse of the world as we know it (Suggested by Halloween)

Sample image:

Abandon all sanity, yeh who enters here. This manhua is unlike anything else you will ever read; and not necessarily in a good way. Every chapter has a new horrifying theme, often starting out weird and ending straight up macabre. It's not deep, it's not well-drawn, but if definitely worth a read for it's unhinged creativity.

Umineko by 7th Expansion (submitted by Tartar)

Umineko takes takes place in 1986, on the island of Rokkenjima where the rich Ushiromiya family is gathering in order to discuss what will happen to patriarch Kinzo's inheritance, since he has been ill in recent years.

While the arguments about the inheritance ensue, a typhoon traps all eighteen people on the island. The family then finds a mysterious letter from a person claiming to be Kinzo's alchemy councilor, the Golden Witch, Beatrice. Beatrice claims that she has been summoned by Kinzo to claim the inheritance, as the family has been deemed unworthy of it.Unless someone solves the riddle of the epitaph on her portrait before midnight on October 6th and becomes the family successor, Beatrice will claim everything that the family owns, including the ten tons of gold that Kinzo claims will be given to the successor. This is only the beginning of the strange and shocking events that will occur on the island during these two days. Panic, reasoning, romance, heated confrontations and a lot Mind Screw ensues.

But above all else this story is about finding the truth about what really happened during the meeting of the Ushioromiya's. No character are what they seem, and the puzzles and mysteries the story presents will leave you thinking about possible solutions even when not reading. And here comes the true beauty of this game, the true answers are never revealed. It is up to the individual to read this tale and piece together for themselves the truth behind the events that occour. No book has engaged me for as long, or made me think so in depth about something as Umineko. Therefore I recommend anyone even merely interested in what I've written to give try and read the book.

The first chapter of the Visual novel can be found here which takes about 10 hours to read through. Otherwise a great Manga adaptations of the story exists, and you can read more about it here

I've started it off with a few books, but will add more later and encourage everyone to add their ideas. I'm not doing any sort of quality judgement on whether I believe the book is good, or the review is good. This thread isn't mine, I'm simply going to be updating the post to reflect everyone's suggestions. I can't wait to hear what you guys have read and want on here!

[Shad_]

I was waiting for a thread like this honestly, i'll edit this post by writing 2-3 reviews tomorrow, today i haven't time rip

[Ironbound]

Why, this is wonderful! I might be a sesquipedalian, but for once I can't find the words to express how happy I am that a library of sorts is being made here! I'm certain that this will make the community as a whole a lot more fleshed out, with myriads of branches available in literature.

Michael, you have my full support, and I would definitely love to contribute in my capacity to this thread!

For a start, though, why not add a section for fact? Subdivided into categories for History, Geography, Natural Philosophy, Economics or the Sciences?

Granted, this is a lot more serious that novellas and even classics, but there's a wealth of academic and philosophical treatises out there that should not be missed by those inclined to peruse them. I'll come up with reviews and suggestions shortly!

[Despair Syndrome]

This looks cool. I'll definitely write up some reviews when I have the time. c:

[Ironbound]

*is actually so happy he makes another post for the hell of it. I don't even care if you haul me over the coals for this*

But truly, I do think I can contribute to this thread; I love talking about books! I also suppose there ought be a guideline about enclosing important bits, especially of fiction, in spoiler tags, so that the impecunious reader does not have his plot spoiled.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

I'll have to try to write up some... However... you're going to make me wish I had the ability to pick up all of these... and I'm broke. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan....

[Avatar of Grima]

Oh boy, I can suggest good books... however reviews aren't my strong point... May just toss one or two to you at one point.

[Halloween]

urghha this is gunna be one of those threads i'll have to grammar in.

i picked off the first books i found on my bookshelf, welp, autobiographies mostly, but here we go

The Art of War (孫子兵法), by Sun Tzu

The book deals in war strategies; it's thin, simple and straight to the point and every copy I've gotten my hands on has a foreword by someone that sounds like they should be in jail. Almost of none of the content sounds like it would applicable in real life to someone not a soldier (when you plunder villages, don't violate the women, guys). And yet, it's a compelling book, because of it's importance. It has helped nations won wars. It's helped us to shape modern warfare. China would not be the same country without the existence of these barely 100 pages. It's the Citizen Kane of warfare, and that's why you should read it.

Autobiography - Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey is a self-righteous asshole. But he makes good music, good lyrics, even if Johnny Marr should be the real hero of the Smiths, Morrissey has earned his stardom the hard way, and this is a story about how.

Unfortunately, his magnificent lyrics doesn't translate to book form. I lose sight of the story from his convoluted metaphors about how the streets look, how evil his teachers were; this book is written with a pen in one hand, and a book with unnecessary synonyms in the other. Opening a page on random, the first new sentence is "The band is listed as the Nosebleeds, and I am lumbered with this miscued name in private sufferance forevermore." If Tolkien had a description overdose problem, Morrissey has 99 of them.

All that being said, it's probably the best autobiography I've ever read, because it's so unmistakable him. There's a unmistakable beauty in his word mangling, and it's a very very honest story of how this man came to be as he is today. The understated humor, the sometimes-poetic portraits of everyone around him, the middle-wage life – I wish I was in this book, if only to hear how he'd describe me.

i picked out four more that's on my bedside table now, i'll edit them in after i brought some caffeine

[mde2001]

Thanks for the reviews. I put the Art of War under classics- but it could fit under a few other things. Let me know if you want it moved.

[Lugruf]

Looks like this thread is going to make my ever growing list of books to read go out of bonds.

I love the idea and I'll try to add some reviews of things I've read whenever I find something I really want to share.

[Pocky]

Alright, I'm bored and it's 3 AM so i'll type up a review for ya:

A Whole New World; A Twisted Tale, By Liz Braswell

So, to give an outline, think of it as Aladdin, but if Jafar uses him then steals it, and then usurps the throne, then shit goes through the roof. This is basically that. I found it rather interesting take on the classic Aladdin story that you're used to, and it even puts Jasmine and a commander type role, which is pretty cool since I've (personally) thought that Jasmine would probably make a great leader. You get to be introduced to new characters, and there are some deaths in this story. However, this is to be expected, i mean, check out the title! You should read this if you'd like something with tons of action as well as twists in the plot. I'd think that this wouldn't really be your cup of tea if you really like character development, since the story is very action packed, but otherwise, give it a chance! Any book is really a hit or miss unless you actually read it.

(Edited for gRAMM3R!!!1)

Edited March 28, 2016 by Pocky

[Despair Syndrome]

I'm gonna start with a good ol' classic:

1984

by George Orwell

1984 is set in a fictional, dystopian take of Great Britain. In 1984, Orwell makes a grim prediction of the future (the story was published in 1949), where Great Britain is taken over by the Party. The Party is a tyrannical organization that rules through manipulation and fear via perpetual surveillance of their citizens. The Party is represented in media by Big Brother, who may or may not even exist, but serves to keep civilians in check by having propaganda of him spread throughout the city. The story follows Winston Smith, an everyman who works for the Party, struggling through everyday life in this dystopian world. He does his job well, yet he secretly despises the Party's tyrannical rule. Orwell manages to create a fictional, yet seemingly realistic and terrifying world in his novel. And the most terrifying part is that the setting described in this novel can easily happen in real life. The novel is themed towards everyday folk like ourselves to always be wary of government manipulation and that we can make a difference if we stand united.

If you want to look intelligent at school or at work, or just want to open your eyes wider to the corruption of this world, this is the book to read.

This should go into Science Fiction, though I guess it is old enough to be considered a classic.

I'll write more reviews when I have the time. ; )

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Is anything preventing things from going in more than one category?

[Lugruf]

Here it goes, one of my favorites ever.

A song of ice and fire by George R. R. Martin

A song of ice and fire is a series of five books (and other two not written yet) which you probably know for the TV series Game of thrones, that supposed an inflexion point in the way I understand literature.
There are two main differences with the rest of fantastic novels: In AGOT there are no protagonists, and there’s no “good” and “evil”. Each chapter of the books is told from the perspective of a character, so you get to know the viewpoints of all of the parts in the conflict. This way, there’s no “good” and “evil” as I mentioned before, but different sides with their own interests and ideas. Besides, there’s not a central character who you know that will survive until the end of the story. Anyone can die at any moment, no matter the importance it has had up to that point.
For the ones sensitive about these topics, there are several sexually explicit and violent scenes throughout the five books. It’s not as frequent as in the TV series, where this was magnified to the absurd because boobs are the best way to sell your product nowadays, but still there are some.
In general, the books tell a great story with well built characters and a very rich world. They are also a nice conversation topic if you have friends who have read them, as there are still two books that haven’t been written and there’s lots to speculate about. Finally, it provides this change to the way we have always written fantasy that I consider that needs to be mentioned.

It should go into fantasy I guess.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Lugruf

[Halloween]

1984 is like, my favorite book ♥ or at least one of them. Such great taste, much wow. Agree that it should be under sci-fi; it's like, the sci-fi book.

Making a new post instead 'cause more people posted. I think Art of War should be under non-fiction - philosophy.

And here's to Non-fiction, science.

How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil.

'Ray Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future of artificial intelligence', says Bill Gates. This book goes through how our brains work, and how to translate that into artificial intelligence. Even if it was written in 2012, it's more relevant than ever now that two artificial intelligence robots have said they wanted to destroy humanity in less than a week. It doesn't dumb anything down; there's algorithms over how to program speech, how our morals set in, and how to fake fear. It explains how love, creativity and patterns of the neocortex. We're all going to live long enough to live with artificial intelligence as an essential part of our lives - we should know how it will work.

i rewrote the morrissey one, sorry, but i was falling asleep during draft one

Autobiography - Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey is a self-righteous asshole. But he's a good musician, superb lyricist, and he has earned his stardom the hard way – this book details what shaped him.

Unfortunately, Morrissey's magnificent lyrics doesn't always translate to a longer format. I sometimes lose sight of the story from his convoluted metaphors about how the streets look, his teachers, and how they'll die alone and unloved; this book is written with a pen in one hand, and a book with flimsy synonyms in the other. Opening a page on random, the first new sentence is "The band is listed as the Nosebleeds, and I am lumbered with this miscued name in private sufferance forevermore." If Tolkien had a description overdose problem, Morrissey has 99 of them.

All that being said, it's probably the best autobiography I've ever read, because it's so unmistakable him. There's a distinct beauty in his word mangling, and it's a very very honest story of how this man came to be as he is today. The understated humor, the sometimes-poetic portraits of everyone around him, the middle-wage life – I wish I was in this book, if only to hear how he'd describe me. And after a while it even gets interesting; heavens knows he's been miserable.

And here's some Sci-fi; along with George Orwell and Anthony Burgess, Philip has really helped with shaping me into a cynical asshole.

Do Androids Dream of Electrical Sheep - Philip K. Dick

What defines "life"?

On a desolate earth, Rick Deckard hunts down and kills rogue artificial intelligence robots, so humanoid that they're almost impossible to distinguish from actual humans. Rick isn't in it to bring money to his bored wife, nor for the thrill of it, no, Rick is saving up for the ultimate status symbol – a real life animal. It follows him as he starts to question the difference between flesh and electrical wires, when live starts mattering - and what things we can't fake. It's an interesting dissection of humanity, a sci-fi classic and a thought-provoking portrait of a man. Philip K. Dick is perhaps the most influential sci-fi writer of all time; with brilliant ideas and splendid execution, he doesn't waste words, doesn't pull any punches and doesn't let you put down anything he's written.

And finally, another Autobiography. I guess?

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain

It's a rough assemble of interviews and magazine cut outs; it's a narrative as honest as it is unreliable, it's a confession of pedophilia, power struggle, drug abuse and violence that made it down as one of our music culture's defining milestones. It's the story of punk, and it's exactly as it should be told. Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Sid Vicious, Lou Reed and Andy Warholt all feature in this clusterfuck of horribly broken people that somehow all re-defined music. Perhaps because it's all real-life, it's one of the most honest portraits of humanity I ever had the pleasure to come over; they describe addiction, back-stabbing and loss with a candor that only comes from having been there. It's remarkable easy to read too; I absolutely swallowed it, and yet there's paragraphs that I actually had to bookmark because they hit me so hard.

However, if you have absolutely no interest in punk, it pains me to say that this probably not the book for you; it's a high-speed train crash that throw out names like snow cannons compress water.

[Ironbound]

For a start, I'd recommend some humour, of the good old 1930s kind.

I'm not sure if many here are familiar with the works of P.G.Wodehouse? The creator of Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings Castle, Psmith, Ukridge and Mr.Mulliner among others, his series of works paint a jolly, light-hearted picture of English society at the time, particularly English aristocracy. In a way, Wodehouse tends to take a preconception and turn it upside down and inside out, in his own unique style.

The most iconic of his works is the Jeeves and Wooster series, which revolve around the tribulations of Bertram (Bertie) Wooster, a sporting but simple-minded young aristocrat, and his valet Jeeves, who usually uses his intelligence and tact to save Bertie and his pals from many a funny or awkward social situation, usually involving one of Bertie's tyrannical aunts or a friend's love affair.

While a simple Google search will show the reader the entire collection, my personal favourites of the lot, where Wodehouse shines at his brightest, are these:

Right Ho, Jeeves (1934)

Scene: Brinkley Manor. Major characters: Augustus Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Angela Travers, Aunt Dahlia, Uncle Thomas, Hildebrand Tuppy Glossop, Anatole.

An enthralling book, with fine comic characters and gleeful verbiage (And yet you come bringing me Fink-Nottles. Is this a time for Fink or any other kind of Nottle?). Gussie, originally engaged to Madeline, gets engaged instead to Angela, infuriating her ex-fiancé Tuppy; the chef Anatole blows his top; Gussie drinks too much; and Bertie has to bicycle eighteen miles in the night.

The Code of the Woosters (1938)

Scene: Totleigh Towers. Major characters: Aunt Dahlia, Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, Sir Watkyn Bassett, Stephanie Stiffy Byng, the Rev. H. P. Stinker Pinker, Roderick Spode, Constable Oates, and the dog Bartholomew.

My personal favorite among these books. A wonderful novel, full of high spirits and plot twists. Bertie accidentally steals Bassett's umbrella; Gussie loses a leather-bound book containing insults, to disastrous results; various people try to steal a cow-creamer; Stiffy blackmails Bertie by threatening to sabotage Gussie's and Madeline's engagement; Jeeves and Bertie scramble on top of furniture to avoid Bartholomew; and Spode is thwarted by the word Eulalie.

I admit that, especially to a new reader who doesn't know the context, this summary or review of mine mayn't capture the humour in its fullest, but I assure you of Wodehouse's way of enthralling the reader, carrying them off into a wonderful world where nothing is more serious than a stolen umbrella and several people getting engaged to the wrong people before everything going right in the end. He remains, in my view, the best chronicler of a certain kind of Englishness, with wit that none has been able to reproduce.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Viridescent

[Felicity]

You might need more genres.

Worm- Web serial by J.C McCrae. It can go in action, sci-fi and maybe a little bit of horror is in there too.

For those not familiar with web serials, the first thing you should know is that Web serials tend to be incredibly long. Worm is no exception. To quote the home page that gives a quick summary of the book. "It totals roughly 1,680,000 words; roughly 26 typical novels in length (or 10-11 very thick novels)." So if you give it a try, be prepared to stick through a lot.

So, let me now summarise the serial. It is about an introverted young woman named Taylor who has the capability to control bugs in this superhero filled world. The story begins with her first attempt to take down a bona fide badass of a villain, the notorious leader of a local gang, because she aspires to be a hero. Shit goes down, she proves how bugs can be scary and the circumstances evolve. The story follows Taylors induction and adaptation to the Superpower community in the main setting of Brockton Bay. McCrae uses Taylors perspective to explore morality in this world and explore what a society would be like in such a world. If that doesn't interest you, bear in mind, Taylor does not start off on the good guys side.

Now, for what makes this serial shine. Power scaling and action. The writer is fantastic at choreographing action scenes and the unique set of powers in the very, very large cast is used very creatively. In specific Taylor's capability to control bugs, something that seems insignificant, is proved to be something incredibly versatile and downright scary. A character who has very good intuition as a superpower is actually one of the most feared characters in the series.

Then there's the threats. The characters and monsters that are literal walking disasters. The Endbringer battles are some of the most harrowing scenes I've read. If you think Game of Thrones is liberal with character death, then Worm takes it up a notch because no one is safe in these fights. In the first Endbringer battle in the series, it has been said that McCrae simply rolled dice to determine if a character survived.

One final note about the finale. No spoilers, don'tchu worry child. but I like to think a finale is one of the bigest selling points of a story so it needs to be discussed. The finale is, well, it's built up for a long, long time. It takes a while to get there and it drags as it approaches. However, the final arc of the series, holee shit, the final arc is every bit as climactic as you could want. It's orchestrated perfectly, every faction plays it's role and the Big Bad is no joke. The epilogue alone leaves you with a little sigh of satisfaction.

So, go read it, Worm is good.

Next, from the same Author, the second Webserial to their name, Pact. This is a Horror/Action story without any doubt.

This story is quite long but not to the extent of Worm, much smaller. In case you wanted something a little less. This story follows Blake Thorburn, Blake used to be a part of a very unhappy family constantly vying for the grandmothers favour so they can inherit the Thorburn estate. However, the Thorburn estate and the surrounding area is not normal by any means and Blake finds himself plunged into a goddamn terrifying, if ordered, world of every monster under the bed.

The high points of Pact aren't as evident for me as they may be for others but I can appreciate them. For one, McCrae is god damn fantastic at writing horrific creatures of the beyond. Some of these things are just shy of being Eldritch abominations. When McCrae wants to be terrifying, they are fucking scary.

Another pro of the series was touched on in my revew of Worm. McCrae is very good at Choreographing action scenes and whilst action isn't quite as prevalent, this choreography actually transfers very well into interactions. Due to the nature of monsters, these interactions are as close to verbal sparring as you can get so this skill is used very well.

There is a glaring Con of the series and that is just, it's depressing as all hell at times. Naturally it's not meant to be bright and happy but the things that happen to each of the characters is pretty devastating. The shit Blake has to wade through is insane and barring a grand total of two characters there's practically no one else going through it with him. Along side him yes but not with him. The plus side of this is that there are some huge crowning moments of badass.

The finale for Pact. McCrae does some pretty good finales in my eyes. The consequences may not be the best but dammit all if it wasn't awesome. You know one of those crowning moments of badass? All I'm going to say is: Defenestration.

So there's two of my reviews and I've got many, many more to go.

[Lugruf]

I wasn't going to post this initially due to the fact that the book is in Spanish and not translated. However, some people encouraged me to do so and well, here I go.



La chica de Los Planetas - Holden Centeno

(The author's nickname, literally Holden Rye, is a reference to the Catcher in the rye's Holden Caulfield.)

La chica de Los Planetas is a beautiful and heartbreaking love story where the author narrates his relationship with a girl. The girl is refered to as chica de Los Planetas (girl of the planets) or other nicknames to keep her anonymous.
So, what's special about this book? Why should I read this instead of any other of the dull love stories that flood our book stores nowadays? Well, the book is written in first person, in a Catcher of the rye-ish style that catches the reader and makes him feel very close to the protagonist. The reader lives every up and down in their relationship, from the falling in love and the first overly sweet weeks when everything's happiness to the doubts and arguements, to every time they break up and come back.
It's important too the fact that the story really happened, so the character's are round and act like humans. One of the main problems I find with certain stories is that they're not believable because of how the characters act and talk, because dialogue looks too forced instead of a real conversation you could have with a real person. Here, it doesn't happen at all.

Throughout the story the protagonist will also mention lots of books and music bands, so the book is also a good chance to disscover some music you might have not heard and books you haven't read.
In general, if you want a beautiful love story that can catch you and make you believe that there's hope and love exists, read this book. Then, if you want to cry with the hard moments, estrangement and the end of a beautiful relationship, you can read the second part.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Lugruf

[mde2001]

Okay all books have been edited in.

Dobby- if you want any genres added just let me know and I'll add them. I just did all the ones I could think off from the top of my head and most likely missed some good ones. So I'm happy to put in whatever.

Huk- In terms of books going in more than one section, rather than putting the review in twice- I've put a tag of where you can find the review within the sections (e.g. If you look in classics you'll see 1984- Review in Science Fiction). This will just save space and allow more books.

Viri- I wasn't 100% sure what you wanted included in the reviews, so if you could check I've done what you wanted with the Jeeves and Wooster books is what you want, that'd be great. I put them under comedy and put in a reference of where they are in classics.

[Felicity]

First one of the top of my head is supernatural. That in itself will cover a lot of bases. For example, The Dresden Files. It fits into fantasy, action, mystery and several others but I'm sure anyone else who has read the series will agree with me that supernatural is the most fitting.

And I will be talking about the D files at some point. Or Fanboying, either or.

[Ironbound]

Last time I recommended 1930-40s Comedy. Now I recommended 1940s fact, and dead serious at that.

I'm sure that most history books worldwide would mention the Normandy Landings of 1944. I believe it's important for as many people to learn world history as possible, the more and deeper the better, and this is a very significant part of it.

Max Hastings's definitive book, 'Overlord', details how on June 6, 1944, American and British troops staged the greatest amphibious landing in history to begin Operation Overlord, the battle to liberate Europe from the scourge of the Third Reich. With gut-wrenching realism and immediacy, Hastings reveals the terrible human cost that this battle exacted, with many British and American infantry units suffering near 100 percent casualties during the course of that awful summer.

Far from a gauzy romanticized remembrance, Hastings details a grueling ten week battle to overpower the superbly trained, geographically entrenched German Wehrmacht. This book is acclaimed as the definitive chronicle of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.

Edited March 30, 2016 by Viridescent

[mde2001]

Added both the category for supernatural and Overlord for you Viri. By the sounds of your review, I think it is fiction- so I put the book under historical fiction. If this isn't where you want it I can move it.

[Ironbound]

It's not fiction, it's fact. A chronicle of events as they truly took place. I think it should go under the History tab under Non-fiction.

[Ironbound]

Mmm? No one else contributed anything since my last post, so don't hand out warning points for a double post, OK? OK.

This time, I recommend Frederick Forsyth's iconic 'The Day of the Jackal' as my suggestion. Forsyth is a master of the 'thriller' and his entire series ought to be a staple in any library which contains an Action or Thriller section.

Review: The Day of the Jackal (set in 1963) is the gripping story of the struggle to catch a remorseless assassin, hired by the OAS to kill Charles de Gaulle, the then President of France, before it is too late. This is the book that skyrocketed Forsyth's name; it's simply in a class by itself.

Of course, one reading this must bear in mind that this classic Thriller is set in the 1960s. Had the same story been written today, the plot would've failed in ten minutes with today's technology and resources.

Those interested in more Forsyth should read The Avenger and it's sequel, The Cobra. This is set in 2010, so it Incorporates today's world much better, but they're all equally excellent as a read.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Viridescent

[Despair Syndrome]

I really don't want this thread to die, so here's more reviews!

My most recent book:

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas

The story follows the adventure of Edmond Dantes, an intelligent and charming young man who's bright future was snatched away from him when he was wrongly imprisoned in the Chateau D'If. After escaping, he manages to obtain an incredible treasure hidden in the island of Monte Cristo. His heart is filled with nothing but vengeance upon the men responsible for his imprisonment, and he has the money and power to make sure they get it. One of Dumas' most popular works, it manages to capture the darkness of an obsession and how a perfectly fine person ended up becoming an avatar of revenge. It is a fairly long book and like most long-running TV series, a few chapters come together to form an arc. With many arcs in this story, there'll be surprises around every corner. You'll definitely be left longing for more by the end of the book.

All in all, I highly recommend this, if not for the character development, then at least for the general badassassitude of Edmond Dantes.

This should go into Adventure - Classic.

And as the wise DJ Khaled says:

Another one.

Mr. Mercedes

by Stephen King

Stephen King, mostly known for his Horror and Supernatural stories, tries his hand at making a 'hard-boiled detective book' (as he calls it) and he does magnificently well. Though it is part of a trilogy (the last book is due on June 2016), it also functions perfectly well as a standalone novel. The story follows Bill Hodges, a retired police detective who recently picks up a scent on one of his most famous cold cases, the Mercedes murders, after a man who claims to be the killer sends him a letter. However, the novel doesn't just tell the story from Bill's perspective, it also tells it from the perspective of Brady Hartsfield, the man responsible for the Mercedes murders. More than just a detective story, King manages to capture the inner emotions, motives and goals of both the protagonist and the antagonist extremely well. Though the book gets pretty dark at times, I have to admit I absolutely loved the ending and feel like it would play very well into an action movie. With cliffhangers at every corner, you'll find it very hard to put this book down.

All in all, grab this book if you want to see into the mind of a mass-murdering sociopath. 10/10.

I believe this should go into Mystery.

More reviews when I feel like it. >:3