I very rarely pre-order things, but sometimes you just have to. Here’s what I’ve pre-ordered off Amazon lately:
UK Release Date: 19th October 2015 |
UK Release Date: 29th October 2015 |
UK Release Date: 5th November 2015 |
Have you got anything pre-ordered? What’s coming out soon that you’re excited about? Leave a comment below.
Blog soon,
Antony
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Recently, I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve had so many things on that I’ve felt like I’m plate spinning. My daily creative play has stopped. My blogging and book reviews have stopped. But now I hope to get back to normal – whatever that is. |
While I have been exceptionally busy, I have managed to listen to some new music, watch some good TV, re-watch some old films and do a bit of reading.
Musically, I’ve been enjoying Ed Sheeran’s new album X. I’m particularly fond of the first track, One. It’s sentimental and mellow. Perfect chill out music and believe me, I’ve needed to relax. I’ve had Sam Smith’s album In The Lonely Hour on repeat, appreciating the sound of his voice.
I bought Matt Fishel’s new album Cover Boy, but have to say that it was a disappointment. It was nowhere near as good as his first album Not Thinking Straight. I did like his cover of Finally, but I’m afraid that was all I liked.
I’ve watched season 2 of Under The Dome, well all but the final episode. It’s a brilliant show based on a short story by Stephen King. In Under The Dome the people of an American town are trapped under a giant dome. The plot is intricate, ever twisting and full of intrigue.
I’ve been watching the new series of Dr Who and have very mixed feelings about it. Peter Capaldi isn’t a convincing as The Doctor. Clara’s character feels a bit conflicted, not because of Mr. Pink (Danny) but because of the writing.
The Walking Dead has started again and I’m super-excited, thrilled and ecstatic during every episode. We’re only a few episodes in and it’s already my TV highlight of the week.
I’ve watched some old films like Jurassic Park 1, 2 & 3 as I love dinosaurs. In my mind, there just aren’t enough dinosaur films out there. The Adams Family 90s film has made me laugh, especially Cousin IT and thing who never fail to make me chuckle.
I’ve watched good triumph over evil through working my way through the complete collection of Harry Potter films. Mum and I are going to Harry Potter World (London) in November, so I wanted to be adequately prepared.
I got my essential hit of zombie versus kids by reading The Hunted by Charlie Higson. You can read the review I’ve wrote for The Hunted here. I felt elated reading Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella, which I will review soon. I’m currently reading the ridiculously funny Good Omens by legends Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman and the love story Us by David Nicholls.
I was organised enough to write two articles for The Gay UK. One for National Coming Out Day and The Gay UK‘s digital magazine entitled My Come Out Reactions. It’s people’s responses when I’ve come out as a gay to them. The other article I’ve just finished is 14 Reasons It’s Great To Be In A Relationship.
What music, TV and films are you enjoying? What literature are you reading? Anything I’d like? Leave a comment below and let me know.
Blog soon,
Antony
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The Enemy Series is a series of books by Charlie Higson about all adults becoming diseased sicko’s that like to eat children. The stories are about the kids survival (or not).
The first book in the series was The Enemy, which I reviewed here. The second book was The Dead, which I reviewed here. The third book was The Fear, which I reviewed here. The fourth book was The Sacrifice, which I reviewed here. The fifth book was The Fallen, which I reviewed here. This review will be like the ones I’ve done for the other books in the series – it will give an overview of the storyline. So please be aware that this review contains spoilers. The Hunted is the best book in the series so far! It starts with Ed finally getting small Sam to the National History Museum, only to find that Ella (Sam’s sister) left that morning for the countryside. Ed recruits a group from the Museum who set out to try to find Ella. |
But the countryside is worse for disease-ridden adults than London. Ella and her group of children were attacked, but Ella was rescued by a grown up who she names Scarface. Ella is grief stricken after loosing her friend Monkey-Boy. Scarface hunts grown ups, can use weapons and takes Ella to a farm which is his home. The farm has boobytraps, chickens and there he takes care of Ella. She soon discovers that he can talk. He is like no grown up she has met since the disease came. Ella and Scarface become friends, but their routine is interrupted by some kids who are running away from an army of grown ups heading towards London. The army’s path will lead them straight through the farm.
Ella survives thanks to Scarface, but he’s injured and it’s her turn to look after him. He has a hiding place and Ella helps him there. Once there, as Scarface recovers he tells Ella his story. That he is not a grown up, only a kid that looks like one. Scarface is a kid called Malik Hussein, who went to Rowhurust School with Ed. He tells Ella how he became like he is and the mistreatment he’s suffered at the hands of a Dr Chris, a doctor who was looking after kids before he started suffering with the disease. Scarface tells Ella of mistreatment from kids who didn’t believe that he was a kid like them, yet knew wasn’t quite an ordinary grown up either.
Ella and Scarface decide they must move on from his hiding place. They’re running low on supplies and they decide that rather than just the two of them being together, that they need to be with a group of kids. Ella is rescued by The Golden Twins, but because Scarface looks like he does, they take him for The Races.
Meanwhile Ed and his group set off to find Ella. They come into contact with the Army of grown ups and have to abandon their car. Then they follow smoke to an old people’s care home. They discover elderly adults who’ve managed to escape the clutches of the disease. Amelia, one of the elderly explains that they are Scientists and were working on a cure before the collapse of society. She explains that she came to the old people’s care home to be with her sister Dot and ordered all the supplies they would need. Amelia explains that the army are merging on London to release disease spores, like a mushroom. To spread the disease to the next generation.
Amelia tells Ed and his group that without knowing where the disease originated it is difficult to create a cure. Luckily for Amelia, Trinity, one of the twisted kids has come along with Ed and knows the answers to all of Ameila’s questions. Trinity agrees to stay with Amelia and the other old people, while Ed and the rest his group continue on their search for Ella.
Ed and his group meet Josa and her group of kids who try to take their car off them unsuccessfully. Ed and his group then meet Ascot kids who tell Ed about The Races. Ed and his group go to The Races with a plan to win them. At The Races they catch up with Ella, who is worried about what happened to Scarface (Malik).
At The Races, the last event is an event were kids battle diseased sickos. The Golden Twins have kept Malik for this event. Malik uses the sicko grown ups as shields from the kids and kills many of the adults before mounting one of The Golden Twins horses. Ed recognises Malik and they are reunited, which is quite emotional. The book ends with Ed claiming his prize from the leaders of the other groups of kids. Ed wants all of the kids to come to London to fight the army of grown ups. The group leaders have no choice but to agree, as Ed won The Races. So the army of kids set off bound for London.
I’ve probably said it before, but this series has to many groups of kids to keep track of. That said, the main characters are well developed, well thought through and flawed like all good main characters should be. The telling of this story is superb using a good mix of show and tell, as it always is with Higson. Higson writes for children brilliantly, but his books can be enjoyed by both children and adults alike.
Higson got the pacing perfect, I absorbed every word and it left me wanting more. I do think that if one or two of the main characters died it would have improved how I felt in the action scenes. I didn’t feel any genuine fear for the main characters in actions scenes, as every time an action scene happened I just knew that the main characters would come out of it alive.
Higson has announced that the next book in the series will be titled The End and will be the last in the series. On the one hand I’m utterly devastated by this, but on the other hand I appreciate that he will have spent seven years of his life telling this story. I’m already excited for The End, which is likely to be published in September/October 2015.
If you’ve not done so already, you can buy The Hunted by Charlie Higson on Amazon. I highly recommend this book if you love action, zombies, apocalypse and survival type stories.
Review soon,
Antony
The Hunted is Charlie Higson’s sixth terrifying installment in the thrilling The Enemy series
The sickness struck everyone over fourteen.
First it twisted their minds.
Next it ravaged their bodies.
Now they roam the streets –
Crazed and hungry
The others had promised that the countryside would be safer than the city. They were wrong. Now Ella’s all-alone except for her silent rescuer, Scarface – and she’s not even sure if he’s a kid or a grown-up.
Back in London, Ed’s determined to find her. But getting out of town’s never been more dangerous- because coming in the other direction is every SICKO in the country. It’s like they’re being called towards the capital and nothing is going to stop them . . .
In the penultimate book in The Enemy series, the survivors’ stories cross with chilling consequences.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: Thursday 21st August 2014.)
In The Establishment Owen Jones, author of the international bestseller Chavs, offers a biting critique of the British Establishment and a passionate plea for democracy
Behind our democracy lurks a powerful but unaccountable network of people who wield massive power and reap huge profits in the process. In exposing this shadowy and complex system that dominates our lives, Owen Jones sets out on a journey into the heart of our Establishment, from the lobbies of Westminster to the newsrooms, boardrooms and trading rooms of Fleet Street and the City. Exposing the revolving doors that link these worlds, and the vested interests that bind them together, Jones shows how, in claiming to work on our behalf, the people at the top are doing precisely the opposite. In fact, they represent the biggest threat to our democracy today – and it is time they were challenged.
[Praise for Owen Jones’s Chavs] ‘A passionate and well-documented denunciation of the upper-class contempt for the proles that has recently become so visible in the British class system’ – Eric Hobsbawm, Guardian Books of 2011‘As with all the best polemics, a luminous anger backlights his prose’ – Economist
‘A bold attempt to rewind political orthodoxies; to reintroduce class as a political variable … It moves in and out of postwar British history with great agility, weaving together complex questions of class, culture and identity with a lightness of touch. Jones torches the political class to great effect’ – Jon Cruddas, Independent
Owen Jones was born in Sheffield, grew up in Stockport, and studied history at Oxford. His first book, the international bestseller Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and chosen as one of The New York Times top 10 non-fiction books of 2011. In 2013 he received the Young Writer of the Year prize at the Political Book Award. He is a columnist for the Guardian and a frequent broadcaster.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: Thursday 21st August 2014.)
Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) is in Hollywood! It’s as if all her life has been leading to this moment. She’s hanging out with the stars . or at least she will be, when she finally gets to meet movie superstar Sage Seymour, whom husband Luke is now managing.
There’s so much to see and do! And getting Minnie through the hurdles for her A-list Hollywood pre-school will require some.er.help.
Becky sets her heart on a new career – she’s going to be a celebrity stylist. Red carpet, here she comes! But Becky soon finds it’s tough in Tinseltown. Luckily her best friend Suze comes over to keep her company, and together they embark on the Hollywood insider trail. But somehow…things aren’t quite working out as they’d hoped.
Then Becky’s big chance comes, and it’s an opportunity that money can’t buy. But will it cost her too much?
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: Thursday 21st August 2014.)
David Nicholls brings to bear all the wit and intelligence that graced ONE DAY in this brilliant, bittersweet novel about love and family, husbands and wives, parents and children. Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2014.
‘I was looking forward to us growing old together. Me and you, growing old and dying together.’
‘Douglas, who in their right mind would look forward to that?’
Douglas Petersen understands his wife’s need to ‘rediscover herself’ now that their son is leaving home.
He just thought they’d be doing their rediscovering together.
So when Connie announces that she will be leaving, too, he resolves to make their last family holiday into the trip of a lifetime: one that will draw the three of them closer, and win the respect of his son. One that will make Connie fall in love with him all over again.
The hotels are booked, the tickets bought, the itinerary planned and printed.
What could possibly go wrong?
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: Thursday 21st August 2014.)
A thoughtful, captivating and ultimately uplifting novel from this uniquely talented author
Jasmine loves two things: her sister and her work. And when her work is taken away she has no idea who she is.
Matt loves two things: his family and the booze. Without them, he hits rock bottom.
One New Year’s Eve, two people’s paths collide. Both have time on their hands; both are at a crossroads. But as the year unfolds, through moonlit nights and suburban days, an unlikely friendship slowly starts to blossom.
Sometimes you have to stop still in order to move on…
Original and poignant, The Year I Met You will make you laugh, cry and celebrate life.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: Thursday 21st August 2014.)
Blog soon,
Antony
A great introductory article on candle magic :)
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