Julie

This was going to be a three star rating until the last page, then it became a four star because the ending wasn't happily-ever-after fuzzy-wuzzy but chilling and I like books like that. The story itself was quite gruesome and dark like other reviewers have said, this is probably the author's darkest story yet but there were no great surprises, hence the initial three star rating.

A nano plague, invented to help cure cancer, escapes from the lab before it has been fully developed and decimates the population of the world within days. The only survivors are the people who made it above 10,000 feet in time. Since then they have been living off what little remains of the fauna, what they can scrounge on their short trips below the limit and each other. Scientists are working to create a vaccine but not everyone has the same agenda...I can't compare this edition to the original, it has more pages but never having read the original I don't know if they add anything to the story or not. The story itself is well written and quite plausible but the kindle version has some serious proof-reading issues: words missed out, extra words added, wrong sentence order. In some cases it was so bad that even after reading a sentence for a second or third time, I still couldn't make sense of it. It totally spoilt the flow. Still, the story was good, comparable to [b:Prey 83763 Prey Michael Crichton http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298436337s/83763.jpg 1258566] if lacking the pace and I have downloaded the sequel [b:Plague War 2286329 Plague War (Plague, #2) Jeff Carlson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348469715s/2286329.jpg 10571903], I hope that there are no similar issues with this one.

This book follows on from The King's Daughter but isn't strictly a sequel, it can be read as a stand-alone story. Instead of continuing to follow the fortunes of Elizabeth Stuart, it focuses on the fate of Lucy Russell, the daughter of Elizabeth's guardian and Chief Lady of Queen Anne of Denmark introduced in the first book. Fate hasn't been kind to Lucy and she has fallen on hard times since the death of the Queen. Her only chance to shine at court again is to get Elizabeth and her husband to return to England and set up court with her father. But for political reasons, King James doesn't want her back in England, nor will he send armies to protect his daughter who is now in exile in the Hague. So Lucy takes it upon herself to orchestrate Elizabeth's return. Although Lucy wants Elizabeth back for her own personal reasons there are others who would like to see the return of the First Daughter of England for darker reasons and Lucy becomes embroiled in their plotting...

This book has it all: deceit, murder, treason, secret affairs...so why didn't I enjoy it as much as ‘The King's Daughter'? It's hard to say - the story is interesting and the subject new to me (although Lucy was a major historical figure at the time). It is well written and the detail impressive. I think the biggest problem was probably that I was expecting more of ‘The King's Daughter'. I ended up comparing Lucy and Elizabeth having read both books back to back. Elizabeth struck me as being innocent and pragmatic, whereas Lucy came across as selfish and sentimental. Far too much time was spent on the details of Lucy's affair with John Donne, from the blurb I had expected more cloak-and-dagger. Also, I felt the pace was slower. I think that had I read this book on its own rather than straight after ‘The King's Daughter' it would have fared better but as it was I was expecting something else. A future reread may well earn this book an extra star.

This is the first book by Ann Cleeves that I have read - it won't be the last. Although I am not a huge fan of crime fiction I enjoyed the almost claustrophobic atmosphere created by the setting: a tiny, damp, foggy island where a tiny community of haves and have-nots try to do the best they can to make a living whilst maintaining a certain status in the eyes of their all-seeing neighbours. When something happens to upset the delicate balance of the community (in this case two deaths) the fa??ade slips and the secrets trickle out.

Something evil escapes a burial mound when some archaeologists decide to open it as the crowning glory of their so far unsuccessful dig. The ancient evil takes over a depressed young woman but then is exorcised by the local pretty witch who warned them against opening the grave in the first place. The evil entity has no where to go but back to the burial mound where the archaeologists reclose the mound and banish the evil forever. Or do they? Find out in the next unexciting instalment of the story. However, you will be alone in reading it, I think, my life is too precious to waste on more of this drivel. This kind of story isn't new and it has been done much better. It didn't give me the creeps in the slightest. There was too much dialogue and not enough atmosphere and I don't think there was an original idea in there. I had hoped for more.

I Will Fear No Reread.

So I have finished it. Was I disappointed? No. Was it as good as I remembered it? No. The story was entertaining but it didn't make a lot of sense, esp. towards the end. It also lacked depth. It was through and through a product of the hippy era which in itself is not a bad thing. It could have been so much more, though. It was amusing and whiled away a few hours and you can't ask much more than that.

No great literature but fun. When I first started the story I was hoping for a different angle on the un-dead. I was disappointed and nearly abandoned it but I am glad I persevered. By the end I was quite invested in the fate of the occupants of the oil rig and the fate of the infected who turn out to be, not zombies but...well, you'll have to read it if you want to know. So yes, there was a new take on the zombie apocalypse.

Elizabeth of York: The Forgotten Tudor Queen This really wasn't about Elizabeth of York, it was a rehash of the Wars of the Roses and what her life might possibly have been like both during and after. It touches on the main events of her life including her possible affair with Richard III and the emergence of Perkin Warbeck as pretender to the throne but there is no evidence of any of the suppositions made about what she did, how she was feeling and the like. The author also has an irritating habit of repeating herself almost verbatim. So all in all, if you don't know much about the period this could be an interesting read but if you are looking for a biography of Elizabeth of York with supporting evidence you will have to look elsewhere. I found the book disappointing.
 
Edit: On reading this a second time I actually enjoyed it more and have consequently revised my star rating.

This is the best in the Merrily Watkins series so far. Big on atmosphere but comes up rather short on the supernatural. It almost had the feeling of a curtain call like it could have been the last in the series. There were characters from previous books involved and references to other events in the series.

The more I read of Merrily, the more I like her. She is heroic in an everyday sort of way and has very human shortcomings. Trying to do the right thing by everyone just isn't possible but she tries anyway. Even Jane is becoming more likeable as she matures and I actually felt quite sorry for her in this one. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

An All Too Familiar Story This is the story of Mary Bliss Parsons, a young girl who moved from England to Massachusetts with her family in the early part of the 17th. century. The book is based on true events in the author's family history and follows an all-too familiar pattern of life as an outsider in a puritan society. Mary Bliss starts life as a servant girl but marries an ambitious man who works hard to become rich. He enjoys spending his wealth on his wife and family. The couple are fortunate that ‘only' 2 of their many children die but this charmed life has its price - the jealousy of their neighbours. This jealousy turns to cries of witchcraft when her neighbours look for someone to blame for their misfortune. However, unlike so many of the trials for witchcraft at the time, Mary is so fortunate as to be found innocent. A really good read. 

I never knew that...

That is the way I should always start a review of a novel about a character I have only ever come across as a supporting actor in other stories. I knew nothing about Henriette Marie before reading this but I am certainly interested in learning more now. She is an interesting, if not particularly likeable, character who played an enormous part in English history, if this book is to be believed.
Fiona Mountain's take on the lives of Henriette Marie and her husband Charles I is interesting with good character development although Charles comes across as weak and Henrietta as headstrong but rather vacant: neither of which does much to endear them to the reader although they both have their redeeming qualities. Unfortunately, the graphic sex scenes have dragged this book down from being a solid historical novel to something rather trashy in places, that should have had Harlequin or Mills and Boon stamped on the cover. I'm no prude but sometimes less is more.

Although only a few pages long, I found this report to be absolutely chilling. Matthew Hopkins was the Witchfinder general and seems to have been absolutely convinced of the righteousness of his cause. The question seem to have been put to him and these are his answers. This was a real man, with a real conviction. Horrific.

This book was disappointing. I'm used to books going over my head and that doesn't usually detract from my enjoyment but I have to say that the final reveal in this one just did not make sense to me. Maybe I drifted off at a critical point but why did the aliens need actual hatches to communicate, it isn't like they used them themselves? And where did the power for the first hatch come from. I know the hatches were powered by the enegy released by the end of time but did this mean that they had to wait for the end of time to build the first hatch? Surely they would have been dead then? Also it seems like the author had too many characters and didn't know what to do with them once they had served their purpose



Not my favourite Baxter. Pity.

Merrily Watkins books are rather formulaic but still good fun. There is a lot of testosterone in this one as it is centred on Herefordshire's golden boys and Britain's elite - the SAS. What happens to you when you retire from a crack troop like that? You get reckless and die it would seem, but maybe not everyone? And what happens when you live around these guys but aren't one of them? There isn't a great deal for an exorcist to do so Merrily helps the police while Jane, being Jane, gets into serious trouble again. Not my favourite but entertaining enough.

Another excellent book about the people accused of witchcraft on Pendle Hill in 1612. This time the story is told by Demdike and her granddaughter, Alizon. I found this interpretation to be as heartbreaking as Mist Over Pendle was entertaining. It describes a family's slow slide to absolute ruin as, one after another, each member suffers mistreatment at the hands of others, forcing them to turn on each other and take dire measures just to survive. Unfortunately, their friends and neighbours are dragged down with them.

What a gripping story. as the tale neared its climax I was devastated because I knew what was going to happen. If you enjoyed The Heretic's Daughter you should read this.