Stephen McGovern

The Strain by Guillermo del Torro and Chuck Hogan, is another modern take on the vampire tale, and similarly to The Passage, has head vampires with brains, and the rest are basically mindless drones ala zombies, though the science behind them and their appearance etc is quite different. I actually preferred this to The Passage, but I still feel it was missing something I can’t quite put my finger on. The sequel is sitting on my kindle waiting to be read however, so hopefully it will continue the story and give me that little something extra.

After reading the first book in A Song of Fire and Ice not that long ago, I quickly became a huge fan. With George R. R. Martin not known for churning the books out, I’ve decided to pace myself somewhat on reading these, so I’m left with as few 5 year waits for sequels as possible.
Having said that, the books are impossible to put down, and Blood & Gold was no different. I won’t ruin anything plotwise for anyone, but some of the most memorable scenes in the series so far occur in this part, and lets just say that Martin is still not afraid to kill off much loved characters!

The fourth book in the Saga of the Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson, its been awhile since I returned to this series, and I was quickly reminded why.
The writing in these is terrible. Horrible. Constant reminders of what happened previously, and I don’t mean what happened in the previous books, I mean the last page and most twists are signposted so much that I can probably tell you how the next book ends. It’s a real pity because I feel there is a good space opera in Anderson’s head, but maybe he’s not the guy to tell it….

Singularity Sky by Charles Stross, is his second novel I’ve read. This one is a much easier read than Accelerando and has a more coherent story. Its very enjoyable and has some pretty interesting idea’s. The writing is not brilliant, but as this was his first published novel I’ll forgive him that and hope for more from him in his latter works! The next book in the series is sitting on my shelf in the “To Read” pile.

The is the third and final instalment in Peter F. Hamilton’s Void Trilogy, which started strongly, and the second one was not bad either. Evolutionary Void was not at the same level as the first one, though not a terrible ending. It was so long since I’d read the first two parts, that I’d forgotten most of the many characters/places etc, and was pretty confused for most of it, but I think this would have been the case anyway, some of the characters, especially the less important ones in the void never really stood out on their own and I couldn’t place them at any stage.

All in all, a decent ending to a series that had a lot of potential, but not as enjoyable as his Commonwealth Saga.

Back to A Song of Ice and Fire, and a welcome return it was! Not quite as good as the previous books, it still left me wanting more! It’s perhaps a bit slower passed that the previous novel in the series, with less action, and a tad more predictable at times, it was still very enjoyable, and I flew through it. Recommended.

I never really enjoy these collections, but there is always a few stories by authors I like that I want to read.
This one was no different, it had one or two good stories, a few terrible ones, and a bunch of ok ones. Nothing to write home about.