Room 13 - Robert Swindells

This is the book I am looking at this half term with my guided reading group at school. I was given it to read over half term and I must say I enjoyed every word on the page. I tried to keep in mind that this is a story aimed at children while reading and found there was so much I discuss with my group.

The heroine of the book is a young girl named Fliss. She is about to embark on a school trip to Whitby for a 5 day stay. This is something I am doing during the summer term (albeit for a weekend rather than a week) so found it very easy to relate to. I understood her nerves about being away from home for the first time and will no doubt have to help several children cope with this too. She is the rough age of the group I work with and hope they will be able to identify with her too. Fliss is a balanced, well rounded character who's fears and hopes come through in an easy way. She has been expertly written and is supported by a group of characters who are as full as she is.

The plot itself is interesting and I found I wanted to know what happened next from the first page. It is a mild horror, which plays on popular superstitions about the number 13 and references the well known novel Dracula. Young boys in the story use Dracula to terrify the heroine and her friends in a comically typical boyish fashion. The pace of the plot is good and will be suitable for my group to follow without being too much. The plot is horror enough to keep the boys interested as well and anything that gets boys interested in reading is a winner in my book!

Swindell makes great use of language in the novel, it is easy to follow and yet will be enough of a challenge for my ten year olds. It will force them to look up words in a dictionary because I know they won't understand every word written. It's going to be a good book to work on and I am looking forward to seeing the children's reactions. 

Song of Susannah - Stephen King

I have one major major issue with this book.

What author, in their right mind, puts themself as a pivotal figure, in thier own book? Seriously! This is the biggest ego trip I have ever had the displeasure to read. The longer the story went on, the more I was outraged. I can't believe King had the audacity to stick himself in one of his own books. I write myself, as some of you will know, and feel that King broke on of the cardinal rules of writing. Who knows themself so well that they are able to portray themself accuratly in fiction without making themself look vain-glorious and self obsessed? Although King writes himself as a normal average guy, it still verges on ridiculous and it most definitely did not sit well with me.

This major flaw aside, I once again enjoyed reading the story of the gunslinger and his pals. The pace, which was a bit slack in Wolves picks up again, returning to the break-neck speed I so enjoyed about the last four novels. The companions draw closer to the tower and thier end goal and the sense of threat is present throughout the novel. We learn more about the characters as we read through the novel and I am under no illusion that there is still much to be learned. The journey is by no means over.

I only have one left in the Dark Tower series and I am very much looking forward to finding out how it all ends. I have been forewarned by those I live with that I won't be happy with it so am also a little anxious. It may well be I have to be alone when I read it but rest assured, there will be a post about it, for better or worse!

Supernatural: The Unholy Cause - Joe Shreiber

And now everyone knows I am a fan of Supernatural. No bad thing, the TV show is well worth a watch and after my last couple of reads I felt it was time for something cheap and easy.

This book is both of those, cheap and easy, I read it in a matter of days and have to admit I was most pleased with it. The author has caught the two characters perfectly. Dean says some very Deanish lines and Sam is his usual moaning self. Castiel is about as deadpan as he is in the show and the three characters manage to work together to save a small Southern American town from disaster while also averting the Apocalypse. Who could ask for more than that?

The pacing of the novel is brilliant as well. The ending has me flicking the buttons on the Kindle as fast as I could. I was even reading while lounging on the sofa - a rarity for me - it had gripped me that much! The language used in the book is good, yet not too complicated and has some decent similes as well. In fact, this book as so many similes in it, they become a bit grating towards the end. However, this is my only complaint about the book and it's a minor one at that!

I'd recommend this book for Supernatural fans without hesitation but if you don't know what the show is about, your just going to get confused so it won't be worth your time.