Chaos - John O'Brien

I rated this 1/10

This hard-hitting, action-packed series begins with Jack Walker being suddenly thrust into a world where the infrastructure which cherished Armani suits, night clubs, fast and expensive cars and watching the daily stock market are gone. Left in its place is the material world mankind built but a majority of the population has vanished; replaced by a new, savage, unrelenting, cunning, animalistic species which hunts and operates at night.

Read from my iPhone.

I was mostly attracted to the jacket of this book, it's high impact; really well presented and gave me the urge to buy. I had mega expectations because I love apocalyptic adventures!

The first thing that struck me upon reading, was the fact that the narrative was jarring - first person present tense "I do this, I say that" just doesn't lend itself to writing unless it is really special, and this just wasn't. There were so many uncomfortable elements to the writing style that I just couldn't finish it.

O'Brien had the tendency to over explain everything... (ie: "Windows staring emptily" instead of "Empty Windows") This made it difficult not to skip through prose at times, but I really didn't want to read a full page on a door being opened. Sometimes when the narrator is thinking to himself, O'Brien adds it in as part of his usual narrative, and other times he uses italics instead. Again, this jarred the text and made me aware of his writing style.

It seems to me an inconceivable coincidence that everyone except the protagonist's family and his son's girlfriend have vanished or turned into zombies. And even the zombies are extremely sparse. The characters are robotic and lacking in personality. The narrator's children are perfect and agree with everything he says...

"Don't you want me to come with you and cover you?" Robert asks.
"No, just stay here. You have my back," I answer.
"Okay, Dad."

On top of this, there is a lengthy cut away flashback to the main character flying a military aircraft and I have absolutely no idea what it was there to achieve!

I'm sorry to say that I only managed to read 20% of this book (or 50 pages), but I'm not one to put a book down easily and I do usually try to make it to 100 pages at least. I tried but just couldn't do it here. I loved the idea of the story, but I think it could have been executed better.

Ex-Heroes - Peter Clines

I rated this 1/10

The first in a spectacularly genre-mashing adventure series that pits a small group of courageous, flawed, terrified superheroes against hordes of undead.

(Reading copy very kindly sent to me on request by Mike from Random House) 

I couldn't finish this book I'm afraid (I seem to be getting better at putting books aside if they're not doing it for me). After expecting something really spectacular, I was very disappointed with it and just couldn't carry on.

My main gripe was with the characters. There wasn't a single protagonist that felt well-rounded to me, maybe because there were so many to describe, and all of the female characters seemed over-sexualised or cliched. The bad guys were also one dimensional, and I just couldn't connect, sympathise or feel any kind of emotion towards anyone. I think that if Clines had reduced the amount of characters down to a smaller group in the first instance and spent a little more time allowing me to get to know them, I might have felt a bit more of a connection.

The final factor in my decision to put the story down was that I didn't like Clines' writing style, to me it lacked personality and flavour. The plot felt flat and I couldn't see it going anywhere exciting.

I'm sure that others might have had a better reading experience of this one, but although I really loved the concept of superheroes and zombies - there was nothing here that got me hooked!

I think the cover art of this book is ace by the way, it instantly caught my eye and made me want to read.

Intrusion - Ken Macleod

Rated 1/10

Imagine a near-future city, say London, where medical science has advanced beyond our own and a single-dose pill has been developed that, taken when pregnant, eradicates many common genetic defects from an unborn child. Hope Morrison, mother of a hyperactive four-year-old, is expecting her second child. She refuses to take The Fix, as the pill is known. This divides her family and friends and puts her and her husband in danger of imprisonment or worse. Is her decision a private matter of individual choice, or is it tantamount to willful neglect of her unborn child? A plausible and original novel with sinister echoes of 1984 and Brave New World.

My Thoughts: Where to begin! I actually got my biro pen and started editing this book at one point, it was that awful. The female characters are flat, forced and uninspiring, and they seem mostly irrational. I didn't really understand how Hope couldn't think of a reason not to take the fix, and yet was so adamant about it. People make their decisions based on a number of their own experiences in life, influences from upbringing, social standings, religion, education, the works. And so the whole foundation of the book wasn't credible as far as I could see it. She would have had some reason not to do it, no matter how small the reason might have been.

Apart from this, half of the text could have been missed out as it was just filler, the dialogue was terrible ("Man!" Said Bernard.) - there was so much rambling going on. I read 115 pages and still nothing had happened. When something exciting finally did happen it felt really out of place and unjustified.

I really like dystopian thrillers and I was looking forward to reading this one. It was money wasted unfortunately as I couldn't finish it.

The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

Date Read: March + April 2012

Paul Auster's signature work, The New York Trilogy, consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Room—, haunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller.

My Thoughts: I couldn't finish this book as it wasn't entertaining me in the slightest. I loved the concept of it and parts of the book were interesting, but I just couldn't concentrate on it long enough to be fully immersed into it. I reluctantly put it down.

RATED 3/10

What you see is what you get - Alan Sugar

Date Read: September 2011

From a Hackney council estate to the House of Lords, this is the extraordinary story of one of our greatest entrepreneurs. Alan Sugar was born in 1947 and brought up on a council estate in Clapton, in Hackney. As a kid he watched his dad struggle to support the family, never knowning from one week to the next if he'd have a job. It had a huge impact on him, fuelling a drive to succeed that was to earn him a sizeable personal fortune. Now he describes his amazing journey, from schoolboy enterprises like making and selling his own ginger beer to setting up his own company at nineteen.

My Thoughts: A massive disappointment. I think Alan Sugar is ace, but this book let him down. I couldn't finish it! He just did not come across well in this and it was so very dull. Not funny at all (as the blurb would lead you to believe).

I RATED IT 1/10

Feed - Mira Grant

Date Read: August 2011

In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, intended to act as a cure for the common cold, and a cancer-killing strain of Marburg, known as "Marburg Amberlee"—escaped the lab and combined to form a single airborne pathogen that swept around the world in a matter of days. It cured cancer. It stopped a thousand cold and flu viruses in their tracks. It raised the dead...

My Thoughts: This book was not worth ploughing through and unfortunately I gave up after 190 pages. Too much political tedium and information on teenagers blogging for me. There wasn't much action at all and I didn't care for any of the characters. It's a real shame because the front cover is pretty awesome and the blurb read pretty well.

I RATED THIS 1/10