Others: Overwhelmingly positive A man receives fabulous recompense for a traumatic accident, and completes his recovery with an unusual therapy program that slowly spirals out of control.
Lists: …
John Wyndham
1955 · 204 pages · 6 reviews
Others: Mostly positiveThis book is about a post apocalyptic world returned back to the times of the horse and carriage seen through the eyes of a young boy. Deviations are punished or destroyed and what few books remained govern the way people think about change and the differences from the norm. The twists and turns in this rather short book as bought me back to it many times over the years, which is very unusual for me. It would make a great Spielberg movie with the authors descriptions of the scarred landscape and the characters being fantastic. you could really picture the trials and tribulations of these people. When the young boy David finds his closest friend has a sixth toe on each foot and is asked to keep it a secret from his god fearing tyrant of a father, he comes to question his own secrets and what would happen to him if anyone found out. I wont tell you the twist, but definitely recommend this read to anyone, young or old.
What made the match, strongest first
Adam Roberts
2009 · 326 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveA group of Soviet authors are shocked to watch the science fiction story they wrote 40 years ago slowly come to life, beginning with Chernobyl.
What made the match, strongest first
Iain M. Banks
1988 · 309 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Leaning positiveThe Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer, and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game ... a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - a very possibly his death.
What made the match, strongest first
Stephen Gregory
1986 · 147 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveA young family receives a surprise when old Uncle Ian dies and leaves them a cottage in north Wales. For Ian’s nephew and his wife Ann, it seems a stroke of incredible good fortune, enabling them to leave their life in the city for a newfound freedom in the remote seaside cottage. There’s just one catch. Uncle Ian’s will has an unusual condition: the couple must care for his pet cormorant or forfeit the bequest. The will’s provision seems harmless enough at first, but when their young son Harry develops a strange fascination for the increasingly sinister and malevolent bird, they soon find that Uncle Ian’s gift may not be a blessing, but a curse.
What made the match, strongest first
Kayla Ancrum
2017 · 301 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveBest friends August and Jack struggle to cope as one spirals into madness.
Susin Nielsen
2017 · 256 pages · 1 review
Others: Negative"When Petula de Wilde, who is anything but wild, meets Jacob in their school's dorky art therapy program, his friendship (and something more) helps her overcome intense fears since her sister died. And he has a secret of his own"-- Since her sister's death, Petula de Wilde sees danger in everything. A mandatory art therapy class with a groups of teenage misfits is the worst part of each week. She wants nothing to do with them-- especially Jacob and his prosthetic arm. When they work together on a project, he helps her with her fears. But a secret he's been keeping from her could unravel everything....
Loved itThe Remainder is a compelling read, slightly odd one I must say, but a compelling nonetheless. I thought that McCarthy did a nice job of establishing the narrator's potential unreliability pretty early on, and also his behavior pattern, mildly odd at first, or even understandable given his trauma and probably associated PTSD, slowly building through cycles of nested obsession to a deadly climax of connection.
Loved itit's absolutely fantastic this really is one of the best novels I've read this century
