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Finished The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes which is the first of an SF trilogy. It was a struggle to be honest and I won’t be carrying on. Took fucking ages to read it too. Can’t believe I didn’t fuck it off, to be honest. 
 

Then I read Billy Summers by Stephen King and absolutely battered it. It’s about a hit man who only kills twats and then takes the cliched “one last job”. It’s ace. 

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1 minute ago, Paul said:

Finished The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes which is the first of an SF trilogy. It was a struggle to be honest and I won’t be carrying on. Took fucking ages to read it too. Can’t believe I didn’t fuck it off, to be honest. 
 

Then I read Billy Summers by Stephen King and absolutely battered it. It’s about a hit man who only kills twats and then takes the cliched “one last job”. It’s ace. 

Ha ha I popped in to post about Billy Summers. I’ve not read any King in years so for half the book I was expecting the supernatural twist.  Brilliant book, although I’m listening to it on my commute. Is Mr Mercedes any good ? Might get that next. 

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Just read Dune.  Pretty good, and really sucked me in, even if I don't reckon the narrative was really as fully formed as it could have been.  You can see how influential it is too (Lucas had obviously been inspired by it for one).

 

I've never seen the David Lynch film, but I will be interested to see how the new version goes down considering the heroes are basically the Taliban on psychedelics. 

 

Started Dune Messiah now, not quite enjoying it as much, but maybe it will pick up.

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13 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

Ha ha I popped in to post about Billy Summers. I’ve not read any King in years so for half the book I was expecting the supernatural twist.  Brilliant book, although I’m listening to it on my commute. Is Mr Mercedes any good ? Might get that next. 

The references to the Overlook hotel are good.  

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One of my sisters recommended ‘The Midnight Library’ to me. It’s another that’s sold millions but might not be to the taste of all on here.
 

The book focuses on Nora and her attempted suicide which takes her to a place between life and death (The Midnight Library) where she gets to explore how her life might have been, and perhaps still might be.

 

If you park similarities with Christmas Carol and right yourself with the fact that the author isn’t as clever as he thinks he is then it’s a nice read.
 

The themes around mental health, poor life choices and unfulfilled promise will be relatable to many.

 

I have to declare that I’m a little in love with Nora so that probably accounts for my score. 

 

7.5/10

 

 

ABF9B014-5958-4230-9979-106194773969.jpeg

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I really enjoyed Billy Summers, Mr Mercedes is good, it's the first part of a trilogy with Finders Keepers (best of the three) and End of Watch.  

You can take your pick of all the recent King books from 112263 on, they're all really good, particularly on audio, great commute and walking listens.

14 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

Ha ha I popped in to post about Billy Summers. I’ve not read any King in years so for half the book I was expecting the supernatural twist.  Brilliant book, although I’m listening to it on my commute. Is Mr Mercedes any good ? Might get that next. 

 

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14 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

Ha ha I popped in to post about Billy Summers. I’ve not read any King in years so for half the book I was expecting the supernatural twist.  Brilliant book, although I’m listening to it on my commute. Is Mr Mercedes any good ? Might get that next. 

I enjoyed Mr Mercedes, and its sequels, well worth a read. They do have supernatural elements, but apart from the last novel, they're not as prominent as in the Outsider.

 

The series is pretty good as well, with a much better Holly Gibney than the ridiculous Mentat they had in The Outsider. It's on a pay channel through Amazon Prime (Starz?), but you can get a free 7 day trial of it (providing you already pay for Prime).

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8 hours ago, NoelM said:

I really enjoyed Billy Summers, Mr Mercedes is good, it's the first part of a trilogy with Finders Keepers (best of the three) and End of Watch.  

You can take your pick of all the recent King books from 112263 on, they're all really good, particularly on audio, great commute and walking listens.

 

Agree with this. 

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I’ve now started Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn which is the first of a trilogy set in a fantasy version of Japan about a child who becomes an assassin because of his unusual skills. It’s instantly engaging just one chapter in and I have very high hopes for it. 

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48 minutes ago, Elite said:

I listened to a few chapters of Billy Summers on the way home from work today. Took me a few minutes to get used to listening instead of reading but enjoyable once I got used to it.

The guy reading it is great, but at some points he obviously has to do accents. Is that ok nowadays?  
 

 

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12 minutes ago, Rico1304 said:

The guy reading it is great, but at some points he obviously has to do accents. Is that ok nowadays?  
 

 

He was in Boardwalk Empire and also Castle Rock. His accents are very good but I imagine this is not always the case.

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On 03/09/2021 at 18:34, Paul said:

I’ve now started Across The Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn which is the first of a trilogy set in a fantasy version of Japan about a child who becomes an assassin because of his unusual skills. It’s instantly engaging just one chapter in and I have very high hopes for it. 

This was great. Went straight onto Book 2, Grass For His Pillow. Apparently it’s not a trilogy though as there are five books.  

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The Witcher books by Andrzej Sapkowski. The fantasy setting is unoriginal - I bet the author played a lot of D&D in his youth - but they are so well written that it doesn't matter. The violence is brutal and graphic but not gratuitous; I'd go as far as to say that the descriptions of fights are as good as anything in a Sharpe novel. A series I will read again.

 

The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox. This has rave reviews; I can't understand why. Usually I enjoy books that have a Sidhe (fairyland) setting but this is poorly plotted and the main characters aren't engaging (actually the protagonist is irritating and whiney). Read the far superior Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock instead, or Fairyland by Paul McAuley if you want a science fiction twist on the setting.

 

Network Effect (Murderbot book 5) by Martha Wells. A full length novel this time. It's brilliant, as are the first 4 shorter works.

 

The Inimitable Jeeves by P G Woodhouse. I fail to see why so many people consider the Jeeves books to be comedic masterpieces. Spoiler alert: every story features an upper class wastrel who gets in a scrape and his butler saves the day. I gave up half way through. Fuck off, Jeeves.

 

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. The first third of this novel is superb - I honestly thought it was going to be one of the best science fiction books I had ever read. Sweterlitsch's version of time travel is original and mind boggling. Unfortunately the plot became far too convoluted for me and a mess by the last chapters. It's also hard to forgive the ending; Shannon Moss is a great character, rather like Ellen Ripley or Clarice Starling - now imagine Ripley running away and leaving Newt to the Alien Queen. The novel doesn't end with an act of cowardice but it's a similar kick in the guts.

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