The Maze Runner by James Dashner

You see the thing is that no matter what I read after the abomination I read previous to this book it would come out shining. However I don’t think that I’m exaggerating when I say that this is a really, really good book. 

Ok so Dashner’s writing leaves a bit to be desired and Thomas character isn’t immediately likeable but that all pales in significance to the utter originality and brilliance of the whole plot line. It sounds similar in theory to Roth’s Divergent series and Collin’s Hunger Games but you know what? In my humble opinion this is so much better. 

So basically Thomas wakes up after being sent to a mysterious place called the Glade which is surrounded by a seemingly unsolvable Maze. With his memory of anything before arriving in the Glade gone walkabouts, Thomas begins the task of settling into Glade life. With the arrival of the first girl the Glade has ever seen soon after Thomas’s arrival things start to get interesting quickly. 

I loved the whole idea of the Maze and a code to allow them to get out and it being an experiment. It just made for such an interesting and exciting read. I can’t wait to invest in the Scorch Trials and see where the next book leads them. I do hope that the characters of Newt and Minho follow Thomas and Teresa into the next book as they were a lot more likeable than the two main characters. 

All in all a damn good book. 

 

 

The Death of King Arthur by Peter Ackroyd

Oh dear god….

You know those slapstick comedies that try so hard to be hilarious that they end up being not funny at all? This was kind of like that but it wasn’t trying to be funny at all which made it possibly one of the most depressing books I’ve ever had to read. It was like a Monty Python skit but one that wasn’t in the least bit humorous. I don’t know how else to describe it. 

I honestly don’t know how much of the story is based on fact or fiction. I’m guessing it’s loosely based on events at that time in history. However if people back then really did act like they acted in this book I am so, so very glad that I didn’t live back in those times. 

It was written in the weirdest, most horrible style I’ve ever come across. There were weird little synopsis sentences every few paragraphs which basically ruined any kind of surprise that was coming up in the following few paragraphs. It also read like something my two year old could come up with. 

I’ve read Peter Ackroyd before and it wasn’t bad. His Casebook of Victor Frankenstein was a great twist on the original so I wrongly assumed this would be something similar. A modern take on the tale of King Arthur. How wrong was I? Very. 

Poor, so, so very poor.



 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I’m angry at myself for not reading this sooner. It’s one of those books that I’ve been seeing everywhere since the moment it came out. I remember seeing it in the new releases section of the bookstore and thinking ‘hmmm that looks interesting’. I remember reading rave reviews about it online and thinking I really must invest in a copy. I remember people actually saying have you read Gone Girl yet? No I hadn’t I was busy reading something else. And now finally I’m jumping on the film release bandwagon and I hate myself a little bit.

As a rule I usually try to read the book before I watch a film and so because a friend kindly loaned me their brand-spanking new copy of the DVD of Gone Girl I decided I better read the book. I’m ashamed to admit I borrowed the book off a different friend. I didn’t even spend a penny. Shame on me. This book was so worth spending money on. I bought Fifty Shades for Christ’s sake. 

Gone Girl is one of those books that will haunt your dreams and waking thoughts for weeks after finishing it. I’ve only finished it an hour ago and I know this already. The characters are scarily brilliant. Especially Amy. Oh Amy…

You begin this book thinking I don’t really like this Nick character what an arrogant, dickish man. You think maybe he is also a little bit evil and you begin to hate him. This is Amy making you dislike him. But you, the reader, don’t even realise. You are being manipulated by a character in a book. It’s scarily brilliant. I’m using that phrase a lot because it’s the only one I feel describes this book accurately. It’s scary and it’s brilliant and more often than not it’s both at the same time. 

Amy’s character is written fantastically well because for the first half of the book you empathise with her as a wronged wife. She does everything she can to make her failing marriage work and her dickhead husband does nothing except make it worse. Sometimes their stories don’t quite match up but that’s because he’s an asshole who doesn’t pay attention right? Wrong. It’s because most of the first half of the book didn’t actually happen. 

Amy’s the most psychotic character you’ll probably ever have the pleasure to read about. She’s extremely intelligent and also completely and utterly insane. But she hides it unbelievably well. 

I loved this book. I could barely put it down. I’m embarrassed I waited this long to read it. I wish I could have been one of the first few to discover it and think wow this is going to be huge. Instead I’m a bandwagon fan but at least I’m definitely a fan.