Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack (Review)

Star Trek Discovery: Desperate Hours by David Mack

About the author

David Mack has been writing since 1995 and is best known for his freelance Star Trek Novels. He has also produced a Star Trek script and worked on a Star Trek comic.

Blurb

Aboard the Starship Shenzhou, Lieutenant Michael Burnham, a human woman raised and educated among Vulcans, is promoted to acting first officer. But if she wants to keep the job, she must prove to Captain Philippa Georgiou that she deserves to have it.

She gets her chance when the Shenzhou must protect a Federation colony that is under attack by an ancient alien vessel that has surfaced from the deepest fathoms of the planet’s dark, uncharted sea.

As the menace from this mysterious vessel grows stronger, Starfleet declares the colony expendable in the name of halting the threat. To save thousands of innocent lives, Burnham must infiltrate the alien ship. But to do so, she needs to face the truth of her troubled past, and seek the aid of a man she has tried to avoid her entire life – until now.

Review

After watching the first season of Star Trek: Discovery I was hooked with the series and decided to see if there were any books written based on the series. My cousin who is a major Trekkie informed me there was and I immediately went out and bought all four. I have read quite a few of the books based on the Star Wars films but never any Star Trek books, so this one is a first for me and will definitely not be my last.

I loved this book as it revealed so much about Burnham and Spock and their history together and their respective childhoods. The description of Spock was perfect to what I have always seen on the TV series of the original Star Trek. Burnham was also a perfect fit to the TV Burnham and I must admit I could not help but feel sorry for both of them. They are both troubled and have their own pasts to confront and get over and will need each other eventually to come to terms with their issues.

My other favourite character is Captain Georgiou, she is so strong and powerful, I can just imagine her power and influence on the Shenzhou, she is so full of wisdom and knowledge that her crew can not help but look up to her and be inspired. She is a powerful female lead in the book who holds strong to her principles and is not pushed around by men.

The other element I like in the book is that we get to meet Captain Pike and the USS Enterprise. In all honesty I find Pike to be a bit of a young puppy in comparison to Georgiou but I do not mind that one bit either, it is just another example of Georgiou’s wisdom, firm beliefs and power. Yes she shows weakness and loss of temper but it is also always controlled and just shows she is human.

The storyline of the book I found fascinating and was hooked very early on by the idea of this ancient ship acting out its orders from long ago. I immediately wanted to know more about the ship and where it had come from and could not put the book down.

The two elements which I did not enjoy very much was firstly the character of Saru, sadly I found Saru to be a bit of a wet blanket. He was constantly worrying, being socially awkward and just generally getting on my nerves. Yes, I know it is to do with his species and his genetic make up but at some time I felt like he did not belong in Star Fleet and could be better utilised elsewhere. I was delighted every time Burnham wound him up because I think Burnham and myself share the same point of view regarding Saru.

The second issue I had with the book was occasionally I found it to be a bit slow and I wanted it to move on quicker, this was mainly with the Burnham and Spock interactions. I just found them to be long winded, as the reader I knew the point that was being put across and did not need it dragged out like it was. I was desperate to know what was going to happen next and did not have the patience to deal with the twaddle that was present at times.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and at times could not put it down and that is why I have given it 4 out of 5 Dragons. I highly recommend it to any Trekkies out there and sci-fi lovers who are not necessarily Star Trek fans. I loved it so much that as soon as I finished it I started to read the next in the series Drastic Measures.

Lady Book Dragon.

Waterstones Challenge: Merry Hill

This week on the 7th February I visited my fourth Waterstones off the list, Merry Hill. It has been a while since I have visited the Waterstones at Merry Hill and I had forgotten how small the store is. Small in a good way, as sometimes I get overwhelmed by massive bookstores and just do not know where to look.

It was a really nice atmosphere in the store and quiet, which I love because you do not have to rush or fight through people to have a good browse. As usual the books were laid out perfectly and so I managed to find some good books to buy.

Here are the books I bought and I used my special book buying bag that I got for Chistmas off my sister-in-law.

The books I bought are as follows:-

The Man with No Face by Peter May

This edition I got is actually signed by the author and as he is a favourite of mine I just could not resist buying it. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it anyway.

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

Have been waiting for this to come out for a while now, I was very excited to buy it.

Rotherweird by Andrew Caldecott

This is actually my husband’s choice and I bought it for him but would also like to read it when he has finished it. It looks very intriguing and different to what I usually read.

Dog Stories Everyman’s Pocket Classics

I love the Everyman books, I just think they look so pretty. We have the cat version of this book and I thought it was high time we had the dog one.

Anyway this was my book haul, I think it is a good haul and can not wait to start reading them.

On to planning my next Waterstones adventure.

Lady Book Dragon.

Caste – Off by Jeffrey Archer (Review)

Caste – Off by Jeffrey Archer

About the author

Jeffrey Archer was born in England in 1940, he is a former politician and author. Archer was a member of parliament from 1969-1974 but did not seek re-election due to a financial scandal that almost bankrupt him. Facing bankruptcy Archer began to write and in so doing revived his fortunes. Archer’s political career has been filled with scandal and in 2001 he was sent to jail for perjury and perverting the course of justice, in 2003 he was released. All his life experiences influence his writing and make for interesting reading.

Blurb

Jamwal Rameshwar Singh, a hedonistic playboy prince, assumes he will never fall in love but this all changes when he meets Nisha Chowdhury. Their blossoming international relationship continues as she completes her degree at Stanford but even as their love grows, Jamwal knows that his family will oppose the match as Nisha is not of their caste. Will Jamwal choose love or will his family’s wishes prevail?

Review

After reading a few of these short stories I am starting to sense a theme, basically a man sees a beautiful woman and drops absolutely everything to chase her. I picked up this short story over breakfast and soon had it finished and it was a perfect start to the working day.

A classic tale of forbidden love that I absolutely loved. Archer set the book in India which I did not expect at all and was a nice surprise, I particularly liked the random cows on the road during the car race at the beginning. Jamwal is a typical playboy with a phonebook full of women he can call on whenever he feels like but very hard working and a successful businessman. Nisha is a Stanford student studying fashion, who is the most beautiful woman Jamwal has ever seen and guess what when he first sees her he drops all his plans in pursuit of her.

The story is beautifully written and the imagery and detail is fantastic. I loved how Jamwal’s and Nisha’s blossoming relationship is squeezed into the short story and yet it does not feel rushed or in anyway lacking, which proves Archer’s talent as an author. The question of whether Jamwal will choose his family or the love of his life has you on tenter hooks and there was no way I was putting the story down until I had finished the book.

This story took about 20 minutes to read, so an excellent read when you have a bit of time for a mug of tea and your feet up. It is free on Kindle and a wonderful read I can not recommend it enough. I rated this story 5 out of 5 Dragons.

Lady Book Dragon.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins (Review)

As Kingfishers Catch Fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins

About the author

Gerard Manley Hopkins was born on the 28th July 1844, he was an English poet and Jesuit priest. His two main themes in his poetry are nature and religion. He died in 1889 of what is believed to be typhoid fever. His work was largely ignored during his life but was published posthumously.

Blurb

Considered unpublishable in his lifetime, the Victorian priest’s groundbreaking, experimental verse on nature’s glory and despair.

Review

Oh dear, as I have mentioned in the past I struggle with poetry and this book has been a massive challenge and although I persevered I did not enjoy the poetry.

The second book in the Penguin Little Black Classics is a series of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins and titled after possibly his most famous poem As Kingfishers Catch Fire.

The main thing I struggled with was that I found the poetry stilted and lacking fluency. I also found his use of imagery a bit strange and his wording a struggle to grasp.

Overall I just struggled full stop and would not read anything of this author again, if it was not for the fact the book was so short I doubt I would have finished it. I have problems appreciating poetry but have recently been enjoying reading through some poetry books and discovering new poets that I enjoy to read. Sadly though this book did not appeal and I only give this little book of poems 1 dragon out 5.

New Books 3/02/2019

Amazon has a lot to answer for, they keep sending me all these emails advertising the cheap books and this evening before I had realised what I had done I had bought 7 books!

I could not believe that the the entire series of Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan was on the deal of the day, each book costing just 99p each. Then I also discovered another Veronica Henry book for 99p and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

I’m very excited to read the Heroes of Olympus series as I am a massive fan of Rick Riordan.

So here are my lovely new books.

Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

A Family Recipe by Veronica Henry

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

Many exciting books to read, lets hope I find the time to fit in all this reading.

I would love to hear if anybody has read these books and their thoughts on them, please drop me a comment.

Lady Book Dragon

January 2019 Wrap up

Well it is finally the last day of January, the snow drops have started to appear and all of a sudden the weather has gone very cold. Thank you to my new followers, the blog has now got 40 followers, which I am very happy about as I have only been blogging for 3 months.

This month I managed to read 6 books! To be honest getting back to work after Christmas I was not expecting to have read 6 books this month so I am very chuffed with myself.

If you click on the books you will be diected to the reviews I have written for the for books.

What I read…

5/5 Dragons and on my favourites list!

3/5 Dragons

5/5 Dragons

4/5 Dragons

5/5 Dragons

3/5 Dragons

As you can see January was a good month as 3 out of the 6 books are rated 5 Dragons. I also discovered a new author I would like to read more of which is Juliet Ashton, I have already bought one more book written by her and added some more to my wish list. I have also added Coming Home to my favourites list as I loved it so much and plan on reading it again. I hope the rest of year proves to be as good reading wise because January was certainly an excellent start to 2019.

I would love to hear your thoughts if you have read any of these book?

Thank you.

Lady Book Dragon

P.s I leave you with Lyra our book loving cat, I hope you can find her in the photo!

Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio (Review)

Mrs Rosie and the Priest by Giovanni Boccaccio

About the author

Giovanni Boccaccio was born on the 16th June 1313 in the Republic of Florence and died in 1375. He was an Italian writer, poet and an important Renaissance humanist. Boccaccio wrote his imaginative literature mostly in Italian vernacular, as well as other works in Latin. He was unusual for medieval writers because he did not follow the formulaic models for character and plot.

Blurb

Bawdy tales of pimps, cuckolds, lovers and clever women from the fourteenth-century Florentine masterpiece The Decameron.

Review

When the Penguin Little Black Classics first came out I slowly started buying them and reading them, however moving house and forgetting which box they were all kept in did not help. I just recently found them all and have started to read them from the beginning with the hope of this time reading them all, so here is my first review.

I have already read this book once and I loved it, reading it for a second time I loved it even more. I forgot just how amusing medieval literature can be. I am going to review each of the four stories individually.

Andreuccio’s da Perugia’s Neapolitan adventures

This story is about a young man called Andreuccio who is the son of a horse dealer, he hears that horses are trading well in Naples and so takes a lot of money to Naples to trade horses and make more money. However things do not go as planned.

Poor Andreuccio is not the brightest of men and falls victim to fraud. Then he has a load of other adventures after the fraud. I found this story highly amusing and to be honest felt no sympathy for Andreuccio as really he should have known better. The part I particularly enjoyed was where he got covered in poo and could be smelt everywhere, if that does not teach him a lesson to be more vigilant than I do not know what will.

A very funny read and nice and short.

Ricciardo da Chimica loses his wife

Ricciardo is a judge who has more brain than muscle and thinks his way of life would also please a wife. His mistake is the type of wife he chooses, he goes for a very beautiful, young wife who will be expecting more than Ricciardo can provide in the bedroom department and life in general. Bartolommea is the unfortunate wife of Ricciardo but then she gets a better offer.

Another amusing read, now I know I should be on the side of Ricciardo but to be honest I felt sorry for Bartolommea, she ended up married to a much older man who makes any excuse possible to avoid physical contact with her. In my opinion this story has the moral of do not bite off more than you can chew and not be greedy, otherwise you will get your comeuppance.

Mrs Rosie and the Priest

Well what a naughty priest! This is my favourite story in the book because I can not help but smile about this naughty little priest. I have this image of a short dumpy priest wearing a cloak, winking at women. I do feel sorry for Mrs Rosie as she was very wronged by the priest and could do nothing about it.

A brilliant little story, that made me giggle.

Patient Griselda

This is my least favourite story of the book. I can not believe that one husband can be so cruel to his wife and she does nothing but patiently take it. It made me angry to think a woman would stand so much, I know times were different then but still, how did she not run away.

Poor Griselda is tested to the limits by her husband to see if she is a good wife, it is mainly for him to prove to his friends that he has chosen, created and tested the best wife like he said he would.

I gave the whole book 5 out of 5 Dragons because I enjoyed it so much and desperately want to read the whole of The Decameron. Even though I was not keen on the last story the other three I loved so much I still give the book full marks. I think it is a fantastic start to the start of the Penguin Little Black Classics and I can not wait to read them and see what I discover.

Lady Book Dragon.

New Books 28/01/2019

Happy Monday!

Just a quick blog post today.

Firstly, thank you and hello to my new followers, I hope you enjoy my blog about all things bookish.

Secondly, I have bought a couple of new books on my Kindle and I thought I would share what they are:-

Bring Them Home (Detective Karen Hart Book 1) by D. S. Butler

The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton

I love looking at the offers on Kindle, as I tend to discover new authors and genres that I have never thought of reading before. I hope these two books will not disappoint. Has anybody read them? I would love to hear your opinions if you have.

Happy reading this week!

Lady Book Dragon

Waterstones Challenge

Hello!

How was everyone’s weekend? I hope you all managed to get lots of reading in.

Some of you might have noticed an added page on my blog called Waterstones Challenge, this page has every place that a Waterstones store is located. I got the list off their website and I plan on trying to visit and buy a book from every one of them. I will check their website once a month to make sure the list of stores is up to date and adapt my list accordingly.

I got the idea off my sister and her partner, they have been doing the same kind of thing for the past few years with JD Weatherspoon pubs. I love visiting book shops of any kind especially independent ones. However, the ones I really love are Waterstones, they are always so well organised and welcoming and I do love their loyalty card, plus you can find one in most places and I believe a holiday is not a holiday without a good book buying binge. Whilst on holiday in Bath I had a silly thought about trying to visit every Waterstones on the planet and that silly thought has stayed with me and developed and so I have decided to try to accomplish it.

The rules are:-

No Waterstones can be ticked off the list without:-

A photo of the store
A book bought from the store

I had to make sure I actually got some books as well, I am after all a book hoarding dragon.

Two have been ticked off the list already, Bath and Shrewsbury and I hope to get visiting as many as I can as soon as I can.

Wish me luck!

Lady Book Dragon

New Book 17/01/2019

Hello!

I have only bought one book today. It is a bit of complete fun and once I have finished watching the first season of Star Trek Discovery, I plan on reading this.

The book is Star Trek Discovery: The Official Companion The Making of Season 1.

It has finally happened my husband has turned me into a Trekkie.

Is anybody else a fellow Trekkie? I would love to hear from some fellow Star Trek fans.

Lady Book Dragon.