Richard Mayhew is a young business man in London. He has a small apartment, a job were he gets little recognition of his hard work and a high maintenance girlfriend named Jessica.
One night whilst he and Jessica are on the way to meet her boss, he sees a young homeless woman whose been stabbed lying in the street. Jessica tells Richard to leave her. But Richard can’t. The homeless woman insists on not going to a hospital or involving the authorities, so Richard, being a good samaritan, takes her home.
After Richard nurses the homeless woman, named Door, back to a reasonable state of health, she leaves. Then Richard bizarrely seems to slip through the cracks in London Above (his London) and falls into London Underside, also known as Neverwhere.
Neverwhere is filled with all sorts of creative ideas: a Royal Court in an underground train carriage, Rat Speakers, The Floating Market, velvet women whose kiss can take a person’s life, monks, an Angel, a Beast and even a labyrinth.
In this strange world, Richard decides to seek out the Marquis de Carabas. Richard having previously met the Marquis on Door’s behalf when she was at his house recovering from the stab wound. Richard is convinced that Door somehow caused him to lose his London Above life and he wants it back.
Richard finds the Marquis de Carabas with Door at the Floating Market. Door and the Marquis are auditioning for a body guard. Door is on a mission to find out who murdered her family and why. Richard asks Door for his life back and she explains that she doesn’t think it’s possible.
The Marquis and Door recruit Hunter to be Door’s bodyguard. Richard with nowhere else to go, goes along with Door, the Marquis and Hunter. The four of them set off on Door’s quest, but each has their own intentions and wants and some are not compatible with the quest.
The characters are likeable, complex and clever. The reader will enjoy getting to know them and find himself/herself caring a great deal for each of the characters. The plot is pleasant, paced perfectly and continually shifts and twists, keeping the reader hooked in.
The setting and action descriptions were tremendous, allowing the reader to picture the scenes and what was happening. However the character descriptions were repetitive, Gaiman using the exact same words to describe characters again and again. Looked like a copy/paste job. After a while these did become grating, so maybe skip reading character descriptions once each of the main characters has been introduced.
Overall Neverwhere is easy to read, a pleasurable read, fun and moderately entertaining. Well worth a read once, but it’s not the sort of book you’ll read again and again.
Neverwhere is available to buy no Amazon and at all good bookshops.
Victoria Wood Funny Image (from: ‘An Audience with Victoria Wood,’ December 1998)
It is with great sadness that I write this blog post. Today Victoria Wood died, after a short battle with cancer at the age of just sixty two.
Victoria was an exceptionally funny Comedian, Actress and Writer. I feel that we have lost a great source of laughter in the world.
Victoria came from humble beginnings, being born and raised in Rochdale, Lancashire, in the North West of England. Victoria moved down to London to pursue her dream of becoming an Entertainer. In an interview with Victoria she once said that she always knew that she wanted to be a performer.
Victoria had much success and recognition in her career working in the mediums of stand-up comedy, sketches scene comedy, musical comedy and script writing. She has worked on TV, radio and theatre shows.
Through Victoria’s TV work she touched the hearts and resonated with millions of people across the country. This was likely because of her very down to earth and human approach to the audience. In Victoria’s shows she was always ahead of the times. All of her previous work is as relevant today as the day she wrote/performed it.
When Victoria first started out in mainstream comedy, all Comedians were male. It is said by some that Victoria led the way for other female Comedians – the likes of French & Saunders.
In Victoria’s personal life, she married young and has had two children. My thoughts are with her family. Victoria also disclosed and has talked openly about having depression.
My Victoria Wood DVD Collection, along with other DVDs by female comedians.
For me Victoria was and is a constant source of laughter. Proper laugh-out-loud laughter.
Left is an image of my Victoria Wood DVDs. Some of them I have watched so often that I could repeat them to you word by word. Yet they still make me laugh. Victoria was a clever comedian that found the fun and humour in the often otherwise ordinary. I wish she had toured in the last few years, so I could have seen her live.
Victoria Wood is also a source of connection to my good friend Sye. We have often watched Victoria Wood DVDs together and laughed. The laughter helping to cement our friendship through our shared love of Victoria’s comedy and the shared experiences of watching together.
I heard the news of her death on the radio whilst driving home from work. My initial thought was one of disbelief.
I had to check several newspaper websites when I got home from work. Then I sat down in shock. Victoria has often worked with the same people throughout her career, many of whom were older than her. Yet she has died before them. Just goes to show, you never know how much time you have on this planet.
My third feeling and the one that’s stayed is a feeling of sadness. Think of how much unfinished ideas and creative works she wasn’t able to complete. Think of the new jokes and tales of laughter she was planning on sharing. Very sad.
In Something To Hide by Deborah Moggach, each of the six main characters, spread across the world, has a secret. Their lives are intricately and cleverly linked by Moggach’s plotting. Moggach writes in the perspective of four of the six main characters:
Petra in London. Poor Petra had been through a difficult divorce. So when she finds love, in an unexpected person, the reader empathises with her, even knowing that he’s married to someone else. Petra’s character is interesting at first, but towards the end of the book she does begin to feel a bit whiny.
Bev & Jeremy in West Africa. Bev’s character is great, multifaceted, very real and a missed opportunity for Moggach whom didn’t write any scenes in her perspective. Moggach didn’t write any scenes from Jeremy’s perspective either, so the reader doesn’t really get to know him directly.
Li-Jing & Wang Lei in China. The reader will really feel for Li-Jing. Wang Lei dragged himself out of poverty with his drive and ambition.
Lei uses this drive and ambition to try to solve the problem he’s presented with at the start of Something To Hide. The reader will wish they learned more about him and it would have been great to have a chapter in his perspective, especially because of his importance in the book.
Lorrie in Texas. Lorrie’s husband is in the army, so she is at home with two kids. That is until she is scammed out of their life savings. She comes up with a cunning plan to earn the money back, but in the meantime can she keep the secret? Especially with the physical changes she goes through as the nine months of pregnancy progress. Lorrie is very likeable and it would have been good to get to know her better.
The pacing of Something To Hide is appropriate, unravelling a plot that is full of twists and turns. What let this book down was the lack of writing in the perspectives of the male characters whom played key roles within the story. The ending of the book is painfully drawn and dragged out.
Overall Something To Hide is a reasonable book. One that the reader will enjoy and be entertained by, but that will leave the reader feeling as if only half of the story was told. It wont stick in the readers memory as a memorable story.
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 End is the final instalment in the series. 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. The sixth book was The Hunted, which I have 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.
Wow. Just Wow. The End is the pinnacle of The Enemy Series. Showcasing Higson’s fast-paced plot, excellent description and an ability to capture the reader’s attention throughout. A superb finale to the The Enemy Series.
At the beginning of the book is a double-page map of Kensington Gardens, where the great battle between the diseased zombie grown-ups and kids will take place. This map is useful visual aid and well worth glancing at when reading the final chapters of the book.
The book starts with a statement: The events in The End run parallel to the events in The Hunted, until the closing chapters when all seven books come together.
The End starts with Achielleous, Paddy, Ryan, his hunters and their dogs are heading towards Hyde Park looking for some grown-ups that have been spotted. At first the streets are eerily quiet, but then they spot a single sentinel father. Paddy manages cut down the father with some difficulty. The father offers no resistance. This shows just how much of a small kid Paddy is. He wants to be a hero and this will be his undoing. Paddy gets to keep a Labrador dog that gets named Bright Eyes.
Shadowman (Dylan Peake) is angry at Jester for leaving him behind when they were attacked at King’s Cross station in a previous book. Shadowman takes Jester by force to see the enemy they face – the sicko army, led by St George.
In the Natural History Museum, Small Sam is still hoping that Ed will bring Ella, his sister back.
At the Palace, David discovers that Paul Channing (the kid who was bit on the neck and then went mad at the Natural History Museum in The Fear) can communicate and control grown-ups.
Wormwood & Fish-Face (father & daughter) reveal that Small Sam’s blood might hold a cure for the disease effecting the adults. Einstein, other kids and Wormwood work on a cure in the museum labs using samples of Sam’s blood. Wormwood is to be the test subject for these experimental vaccines. Over time as the storyline proceeds the vaccines begin to have some good effects on Wormwood.
Lettis spends her days with Ollie, in the library with Chris Marker or with the other little kids. She is practically mute since a group of grown-ups had cornered her in a church and Ollie saved her in a previous book.
Jester can’t believe the size of the sicko army, it looks like a big black mass of bodies. Shadowman knows a huge battle is coming and that all the kids need to come together and fight together. He has an idea of how to cause some damage to the enemy and where more fighting kids are. IKEA. So that’s where Shadowman and Jester go.
Shadowman and Jester tell all the groups of kids about the army of grown-ups. The kids begin preparing for battle, the fighters training with their weapons and the archers gathering projectiles. Shadowman and Jester invite Maxie, Blue, Whitney, Jackson, Achilleus (all from the museum), Nicola (from The Houses of Parliament), David (from the Palace), Ryan (from the Hunters) and Will and Finn (from the Tower) to a meeting, held at The Houses of Parliament. They agree that Jordan Hordern (Leader at The Tower of London) will be their General as he knows the most about battles, military tactics and is somebody that everyone respects. David doesn’t like this idea and feels that he should be in charge but is outvoted.
Jordan Hordern has a secret – he is going blind. Only his two assistance’s, Jim and Hugo, know just how bad it is. But despite this, Jordan gathered and commanded his army to save Mad Matt, Archie Bishop and Matt’s disciples when they were under siege at St. Pauls. He has created a safe area from the Tower down to St Paul’s cathedral using barricades and having regular guard patrols. Matt and his green-robed followers now live in safety, all thanks to Jordan.
Meanwhile David plays the political game. He tries to influence Nicola to side with him and join him. Nicola is well aware that David fancies her, in fact he is in love with her. But she can’t convince David to accept Jordan Hordern as a General over him. David is also in talks with Just John, from the squatters camp whom he has an uneasy truce with.
Jordan Hordern chooses Hyde Park, more specifically Kensington Gardens as the battlefield for the great battle with the sicko army. Jordan sets up a camp using anything that kids can find for barricades. St. George (aka Greg) is the leader of the sicko army.
Jordan takes Blue-Tak Bill to count numbers on the battle field, both of the enemy’s adult army and of his kids. Jordan takes Bright Eyes, Paddy’s dog, as it was trained to be a guide dog for the blind and Jordan need’s the dog’s sight. But Jordan who is still keeping his blindness a secret, doesn’t tell Paddy the reason. Paddy is upset about his dog and Achilleus refuses to fight. About half of the fighter kids from the museum follow Achilleus’ lead and also refuse to fight.
The rest of The Twisted Kids leave the warehouse, including: TV Boy, The Warehouse Queen and Monstar. They head to the centre of London to help out in the great battle. They will use their skills, along with Fish-Face, Skinner and Wormwood to interfere with St. George’s signal. So that St George can’t communicate and control his army.
Minor character Yo-Yo dies when with Shadowman, Ryan and his hunters are travelling from Westminster Abbey to the Museums and come across a second army of St George’s. Shadowman blames himself for Yo-Yo’s death, as he’d promised to take her safely back to the Museums, but there was really nothing he could have done. When the leaders of the other kids meet again, to discuss this second army, they are understandably panicked. But they decide to stick with the original plan, despite David’s efforts to make them reconsider and make him their leader. David refuses to take orders from Jordan Hordern.
Paddy decides that he and the smaller kids, whom he has earlier trained and named ‘Young Bloods’ will go to join the battle. Small Sam and The Kid try to convince him that they’re only little, but Paddy wants to be a hero and won’t take no for an answer. Whitney has been charged to look after the small kids at the Museum. Whitney is telling Paddy that he and his group are not going out to fight, when she is called away because of an accident.
Paddy spots his opportunity and leads the small kids out. What follows is that a small group of grown-ups sent by St George to try and get Small Sam attack the young kids, resulting in the deaths of Paddy, Froggie, Zohra and Whitney. I liked Whitney’s character and it was one that I felt was underdeveloped. Still I was gutted that she died, especially because she died because of Paddy’s stupidity.
The sicko army move forward towards Jordan Hordern and the others camp. Jordan orders Ollie and the missile kids to launch their projectiles. David and Just John have set up their own camp, safe from the grown-ups having used Paul Channing to communicate with St George and broker a peace.
Achilleus is still refusing to fight. He finds out about Paddy’s death and is devastated. It is revealed that Achilleus is gay and fancies Will from the Tower. This is a disappointment to Jackson who fancies Achilleus, but they remain good friends.
Once the missile kids have launched everything they’ve got and the sicko army are pushing against the camps barricades, it’s the job of the fighters to strike down as many of the grown-ups as they can. Jordan instructs small openings to be made in the barricades at key times to act as a funnel, allowing a small number of grown-ups through to be cut down by fighters behind the barricades. Ollie and the missile kids job is then to pile up the dead grown-up bodies along a particular section of the barricades so that they can be set alight a further defence against the sicko army if required. It’s a long hard slog and by the end of the first day of the battle many kids are exhausted.
Jordan goes to speak to Achilleus and convinces him to fight. Jordan explains why he took Bright Eyes, revealing his secret to Achilleus. He picks up his spear and so do the other fighting kids at the Museum who follow him. Achilleus and Jackson make a great fighting duo.
David, frustrated that the kids are doing so well instructs Paul to tell the grown-ups to attack the weak point in Jordan and the others camp barricades. St George instructs the diseased adults to attack this point, but then The Twisted Kids and Wormwood interfere with his signals.
That night, Nicola goes to speak to David. She tells him that he’s on the wrong side. That he shouldn’t be with the grown-up’s but against them. She implores him to see reason and to join forces with Jordan. But David is more interested in speaking about their relationship. Nicola is brutally honest, goes to walk away and is shot in the back by David. She dies.
The next day Ben and Bernie set off car bombs made using cars provided by IKEA group and explosives from nearby stadiums that authorities had put there to dispose of the bodies, prior to the collapse of society.
Saif, the leader of the IKEA group, arrives with his fighters in cars at this vital point in the great battle. At the same time in David’s camp, Jester tells Paul to stop helping St George. Paul refuses and Jester kills him. But without Paul, the grown-up’s close to David’s camp soon target the camp. David’s barricades are no where near as good as Jordan’s and soon David’s camp is in chaos.
Just John along with his squatters seizes this opportunity to invade the Palace and successfully take it. They begin to casually destroy the Palace. Franny, a kid that had been a grower of food at the Palace looses her temper when the squatters start pulling up the crops. She kills John in a rage and the other squatters just laugh and continue their destruction.
Meanwhile David’s camp is overrun by adults and David and Jester both die. Their deaths are not stated but implied and they probably die by being torn apart by grown-ups.
Then Ed arrives with his army that he won in The Hunted. This changes the course of the battle and for the first time the kids realise that they are winning and can win. Ed kills St George. The remaining grown-ups are cut down by the army of the kids.
The last two chapters of the book are emotionally touching. In one Lettis is in the library with Chris Marker finally starts writing in her notebook, signalling that she is finally getting over her trauma and wants to contribute to the new recorded history. In the very final chapter, Small Sam is finally reunited with Ella, his sister.
At the end of the book is a timeline of events. The timeline clears up the order in which things happen and in which books they happen in, which is important as the books in the series were not written in chronological order and do jump along the timeline.
There’s an awful lot of characters in the series. All of the characters are well thought out. Just the sheer number of them means that some of the characters lacked growth.
Overall The Enemy Series is a brilliant series. Anyone into zombies will love the series. I will no doubt read the series from start to finish again.
Are you a Doctor, Nurse, Healthcare Assistant or Other Healthcare Professional? Or a Student?
Ways The Human Body Can Go Wrong covers every system of the body, what can go wrong when the body malfunctions or fails, symptoms (including why these happen) and cures/treatments available.
It includes knowledge around essential skills for Clinical Excellence such as Assessment, All Age Observational Norms, Models of Care, Communication/Handover Tips, the role of Specialities, Medication Tips, Dealing with Errors, Documentation Advice and a list of Useful Resources.
It is written in plain English, but highlights important medical terminology. It has been written at a level where someone from a non-medical background can pick it up and learn, but that it is still valuable to those with significant Clinical Experience.
My dear friend Roy decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and enlist in the Royal Navy.
I wanted to maintain our friendship, to continue to support Roy, to make him laugh and to entertain him. So I came up with the idea of sending him a weekly email on random topics.
These emails were on a variety of topics, always being entertaining, sometimes being interesting, sometimes funny and occasionally being serious.
Topics included: Jokes, Puzzles, Inspirational Quotes, Future Technology to Be Excited About, How to Fight A Shark, How to Woo A Turtle, Some of the Most Amazing Jobs in the World, Facts About Castles, Do Aliens Exist?, The Kindest Humans, A List of Cakes, 13 Weird Body Facts, 20 Super Space Facts, Ancient Egyptian Curses, 10 Weird Olympic Games, The Great Emu War of 1932, Quiz: Flags of the World, Legendary Characters from the UK and others.
My Royal Navy Friend is a copy of these emails. In total, there are 52 emails. Dispersed throughout the book are also Royal Navy facts and stories.
This workbook has been designed for anyone that is struggling with alcohol or has struggled with alcohol in the past.
It is written in a Motivational Interviewing style, one of the key therapies used to support people with alcohol issues. It has been designed using a trauma-informed approach and is strength–based.
What you will find in this book is more than just worksheets about alcohol. You’ll find all the tools someone needs to get into recovery from alcohol and stay there. It’s a therapy-based book, not an alcohol-based book.
SpellCast is a comprehensive compendium of spells, oils, charms and talismans. It is purely a book about magic, folk magic for the 21st century. The spells are ones that are tried and tested, with some that will stand the test of time.
In SpellCast you will read about the power of Instant Magic, of Banishment & Bindings, Blessings, Cleansing, Communication, Death, Employment, Finance & Money, Fertility, Friendship, Happiness & Joy, Health, Love & Relationships, Luck Magic, Protection, Transformative Magic and WishCraft.
This book will change your life. Your life will be abundant in all meanings of the word.
This book contains everything that you need to know about mental health and mental illness. Mental Health Wisdom is divided into three sections.
Understanding is section one and is all about the facts of mental health.
In section two, Empathy Through Lived Experience, the author shares his personal experience of mental illness.
Life Hacks is section three. It’s all about self-care and quick and easy ways to improve your mental health, prevent mental illness or relapse of mental illness.
Mental Health Wisdom contains everything that you need to know about mental health and mental illness.
Mental Health Wisdom is divided into three sections.
Understanding is section one and is all about the facts of mental health.
In section two, Empathy Through Lived Experience, the author shares his personal experience of mental illness.
Life Hacks is section three. It’s all about self-care and quick and easy ways to improve your mental health, prevent mental illness or relapse of mental illness.
If you find my blog educational or entertaining, please consider making a purchase or donation on Ko-Fi.
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