The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Here is the blurb:

When Ted and Kat watched their cousin Salim get on board the London Eye, he turned and waved before getting on. But after half an hour it landed and everyone trooped off - and no Salim. Where could he have gone? How on earth could he have disappeared into thin air? So Ted and his older sister, Kat, become sleuthing partners, since the police are having no luck. Despite their prickly relationship, they overcome their differences to follow a trail of clues across London in a desperate bid to find their cousin. And ultimately it comes down to Ted, whose brain works in its own very unique way, to find the key to the mystery. This is an unputdownable spine-tingling thriller - a race against time.

I had to read this book for a book club and, admittedly, wasn't too keen on reading it. Well, that all changed after the first chapter.

Ted, the narrator of the story, has Asperger Syndrome and sees the world around him very differently. When he meets his cousin for the first time, he is a little apprehensive but Salim puts him at ease from the start and they become comfortable with each other very quickly.

Then the unthinkable happens and Salim disappears from the London Eye. Ted tries to explain his theories and observations to his parents and the police, but nobody listens to him. Except for his sister. Together they try to figure out what happened and how Salim could have disapeared from a sealed pod they never took their eyes off.


Ted's voice is fabulous. You see the world around through his eyes. He wants to be a meterologist when he grows up and throughout the story he compares his observations to different weather phenomena. I absloutely loved the clarity and logic he used to follow the clues. Ted explains everything in a manner that makes you, the reader, see the world with different eyes.

The chapters are short and move the story along very quickly. The way Siobhan Dowd trickles in the clues is fantastic and the ending was completely unexpected, with a sudden race against time to save the missing boy I had not anticipated at all.

I started to read 'The London Eye Mystery' because I had to, but I finished it because the story pulled me in and didn't let go. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys reading a story with a very special voice, a voice that makes you look at the world in a new way.

Siobahn Dowd tragically passed away in 2007. All her royalties from her books go to a trust created just before her death, the Siobhan Dowd Trust, a charity set up to support the joy of reading for young people in areas of social deprivation. For more information go to www.siobhandowd.co.uk.

Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Here is the synopsis from amazon:


Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...


Isn't the cover gorgeous? When I first saw it I was totally blown away. 'Archangel's Kiss' is the second book in Nalini Singh's 'Guild Hunter' series after 'Angel Blood' and came out last week. I spent the beginning of the week checking online every night to see if it had arrived in one of my local book stores. You could say I was eager to read it;D.


I LOVED this book! It starts off days after 'Angel Blood' ends and Elena has to get used to being an angel, retrain her body and learn to fly. She also needs to find a place in Raphael's life as his permanent companion. Most of the other Archangels and Angels see her as a pet, something Elena is not too happy with.

After the death of one of the Archangels (they rule world, each taking care of a territory) one Angel has decided he/she has what it takes to become the next ruling Archangel. And is prepared to show it with twisted mind games and attacks on both Raphael and Elena. Then he/she breaks one of the Angels' most sacred rules, maybe the only line left that they will never cross, and Elena has to hunt in earnest. But will she be strong enough?

The whole way through I was amazed how realistic the characters were. I know they are Archangels, Angels, Vampires and a Vampire Hunter, but the world Nalini has created is totally real. There was nothing I thought was exaggerated or over the top, everything fit together seamlessly.

I really liked how alien and inhuman Raphael was. At no point do you forget that he is an Archangel and has lived for centuries. His cruelty and brutality were sometimes a little hard to take, but really pushed the story forwards. Elena is a great counterpart. She clings to her humanity while at the same time trying to find her place in a very different world.

This book has everything you want: fabulous main and supporting characters, great story, chemistry that jumps off the page and all taking place in a world you can believe in.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series and am desperate to find out how Elena's and Raphael's relationship develops. Nalini's website is here.

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Here is the synopsis from amazon:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Here’s the most important bit of the review:

GO BUY AND READ THIS BOOK! It is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

And here are a few more details:

I LOVE this book! Yes, I know I keep saying that about most of the books I review, but if I had a ‘Best of 2010’ list “Soulless” would be on it for sure. I cannot remember when I have had such a big, fat grin on my face for the entirety of the book.

After being attacked by a mannerless vampire and, having to defend herself, actually killing him, Miss Alexia Tarabotti is thrown into the middle of the London supernatural world. Rove vampires and packless werewolves are disappearing in London and the surrounding areas, she's invited to meet the Westminster vampire hive queen and who is that pesky creature constantly trying to abduct Alexia?

Alexia is the typical bluestocking, intelligent and outspoken. Her inner musings have made me laugh out loud more than once while reading and her interaction with the brash, overbearing, and, worst of all, Scottish Lord Maccon had me in stitches.

Gail Carriger has created a fabulous Victorian London and her characters are well developed, totally off the wall and still so believable. More than once I sat back amazed at what Gail created. Her dialogue is witty and funny, the whole story has an energy and a pace that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I love this fantastic mixture of mystery, action, romance and steampunk. Everything fits together seamlessly and should you be in the unfortunate situation that you have to stop reading because your lunch break is over, you’ll be waiting with eager anticipation to get back to the book.

Soulless is published by Orbit and Gail’s website is here. The sequel “Changeless” will be out at the beginning of April and I cannot wait!*taps her foot a few times* Is it April yet?

Bloodring by Faith Hunter

Wow, it's been ages since I've posted a review. As much as I would've liked to, I wasn't kidnapped by aliens (hunky space pirate anybody;D), I've been incredibly busy with my new job and moving into my new flat. I was also without internet access for a considerable time. I apologise.

Here is a goal for 2010: I will post a review every Friday (they may just be a little bit on the short side;D)! Well, it will be Friday for me and Saturday for you UK people.

Here is the synopsis of Bloodring from Faith Hunter's website:

In a novel filled with exhilarating action and lush imagery, Faith Hunter portrays a near-future world, caught in the throes of an ambiguous apocalypse, where a woman with everything to hide finds her destiny revealed….

No one thought the apocalypse would be like this. The world didn’t end. And the appearance of seraphs heralded three plagues and a devastating war between the forces of good and evil. Over a hundred years later, the earth has plunged into an ice age, and seraphs and demons fight a never-ending battle while religious strife rages among the surviving humans.

Thorn St. Croix is no ordinary neomage. All the others of her kind, mages who can twist leftover creation energy to their will, were gathered together into Enclaves long ago; and there they live in luxurious confinement, isolated from other humans and exploited for their magic. When her powers nearly drive her insane, she escapes—and now she lives as a fugitive, disguised as a human, channeling her gifts for war into stone-magery and the pacific tasks of jewelry making. But when Thaddeus Bartholomew, a dangerously attractive policeman, shows up on her doorstep and accuses her of kidnapping her ex-husband, she retrieves her weapons and risks revealing her identity to find him. And for Thorn, the punishment for revelation is death….

I've been looking at these books since I walked past a display in the 'World's Biggest Bookshop'. I would walk into the section, read the back and admire the cover, but I kept hesitating because it didn't look like the romance would play such a big part in the book.

Finally, I bought the book and I was right, romance wasn't the driving force behind the story, but there is plenty to keep me glued to the page;D.

Thorn has disguised who she is and her stone mage powers for a decade. When her ex-husband disappears and she becomes the main suspect, Thorn can either run and leave the jewllery store she built with her two best friends behind or investigate on her own and risk being found out. Being an unlicensed Witchy-Woman results in horrific and extended torture, followed by slow death (what can I say, the people of this world are really loving and tolerant).

'Bloodring' had me by the throat from the first page. This post-apocalyptic world Faith Hunter has created is mindblowing. There are some inconsistencies (sugar is rare and expensive but aspirin readily available, the world is in an ice age, major cities are destroyed but the internet still works), but I didn't notice any of that because I was so caught up in the action, creatures and characters.

Thorn is the narrator and she has a wicked sense of humour. Her self-depeciating sarcasm made me laugh out loud more than once. When her powers came online as a teenager, she could suddenly hear the thoughts of every single mage around her; she had to leave her home or go mad. Now, following the clues searching for her ex-husband Lucas, Thorn discovers that Darkness is once again rising in Mineral City and that there may be far more involved than just the kidnapping of one human. And her being here at this point in time may not be an accident.

I really enjoyed the way Hunter describes Thorn using stones and crystals for her magic, the way she mixes fact with fiction. It always felt smoothly weaved into the story and appropriate for the situation. You were never quite sure what would happen next.

Thorn's investigation kept me on the edge of my seat, twisting and turning in directions I did not see coming. Sometimes it became a little too complicated and just one creature too many, but overall, I found the story new and different and Hunter's charaters well developed and intriguing. 'Bloodring' is the first book in a series and I went right back to the store to buy 'Seraphs' and 'Host' and I now cannot wait for the next book in the series.

'Bloodring' is post-apocalyptic fantasy with a certain amount of violence, is published by Roc and Faith Hunter's website can be found here.