THE METHOD By Juli Zeh

Okie dokie! Here we are with the fourth book I have read for the POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge. This time I've read a book to fill the category 'A book originally written in another language'. The Method was originally written in German and the translated into English by Sally-Ann Spencer.

Mia is a scientist in the world run by The Method. Everything about this world is completely health based. Everyone is required to submit various blood tests and urine samples to The Method in an attempt to create an completely illness free human race. Things begin to get a little heated when Mia stops submitting her data. She is now technically a criminal and could be facing a fate worse than death.

Ermm.... I'm not really sure where I should start with reviewing this book. It had the weirdest effect on me, no word of a lie. I found that while reading this, I wasn't particularly hooked, I wasn't gripped to the story line, I didn't even find the book overly special or interesting, but something kept the pages turning. I'm not entirely sure what it was. It could have been the fact that I wanted to make sure it ended right, or I had a slight hint of hope that it might get a little more gripping.

I really, really liked the idea and the structure of the world that Zeh created and I think there is a lot of potential for this to have been a really good book. I felt that the relationships between characters were very confused. As a reader, on many occasions, I wasn't sure whether the writer wanted me to like a character or not.

Over all I think it was an interesting book and a good idea that maybe could have been written down better. Whether or not the German manuscript read better or not, I don't know and unfortunately as I don't speak German, I will never know. I didn't not enjoy this book but I didn't particularly enjoy it either and unfortunately I don't think I'll be reading an of this author's other books in a hurry.

As usual I don't like telling people what they can an can't read. We all have different preferences and this blog is purely my personal opinion. If the synopsis sounds like something you would like to read, go for it. It's only a short book. What have you got to lose?

THE SHINING By Stephen King

Oooooh *shivers*, no guessing which category this book got read for. You got it! A book that scares you. Before I go any further, let me clarify the kind of fear that this book induced in me. It was the shiver-down-the-spine kind of fear rather than the pant-wetting-screaming-crying kind of fear, although I could see how The Shining would have that effect on people. I guess I've just read too many graphic, horror/murder novels to be frightened of blood and gore, but no matter how many books I read, I will always be an unwillingly willing victim to psychological terror.

This is the first Stephen King book I have ever read and I must say that I wasn't disappointed. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting from the great S.K but I'm really pleased with what I did read and I do not regret it in anyway shape or form. I will certainly be reading more of his novels in the future.

We start off with Jack at an interview for the job of winter care-taker at The Overlook Hotel. Looking at this as a second chance to get his life back on track after a life time of alcohol abuse, a slowly dwindling writing career and a more than dwindling marriage. However his son Danny has an incredibly strong psychic 'gift' despite being only five years old. Alone and snowed into the hotel, things start coming to life in the hotel and its grounds and things start to reveal themselves for what they truly are. The question is, is the Overlook Hotel a door to a new life, or something else?

Hallorann was my favourite! Throwing that out there right now, I liked Danny and Wendy as well, but I always loved Dick Hallorann throughout the entire time! He's the kind of person who you'd want for a Grandad, or and Uncle. His heart throughout the entire thing is so unique and genuine it is just impossible not to love him.

I would definitely recommend this book. It's gripping, your hooked from the first page, the characters are believable and after reading this it is incredibly easy to see why Stephen King is the best selling author he has become. You aren't just buying/reading these books for the author's name, you're reading these because they are amazing!

THE MAZE RUNNER By James Dashner

Here we go with my second book for the 2015 POPSUGAR reading challenge, this one is heading for the category: A book by an author you've never read before, and it's true! This is the first of Dashner's novels I have ever read, and I must say that after this I wouldn't mind reading a few more.

I've got to admit that I hadn't heard about this book until I say they poster at our local cinema for the new film that recently came out last year. Then browsing through the bookshop I stumbled across a copy, (or rather thousands of copies) and I very nearly didn't buy it. I love the hunger games and when I saw the plug at the bottom about how its 'a must for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES, I was worried that I would be disappointed that it would be a non-story. Compared to the Hunger Games so that it would sell more copies but I thought What the heck and took it to the counter and paid for it.

However I now stand here with my hands held high in surrender and apology to all you Maze Runner fans out there... you were right. This book is amazing and it has indeed left me with a book hangover to such an extent, that I don't know when I'll be able to start the sequel.

Just like it says in the blurb, we begin the story just as confused as Thomas and we stay as confused as he is until starts fighting back and asking questions. From the moment the box open, and Thomas is spewed into the Glade, to the moment he falls asleep at the end, you feel everything that he feels. Basically Thomas has somehow been made to live in a huge concrete square surrounded by walls that seem to be impossibly tall. There are four 'doors', on in each wall but all that seems beyond them is black. We soon learn that the Glade, as it's more commonly known, is the centre of a giant, seemingly unsolvable maze. He is trapped in there with 50 - 60 other teenage boys and there is only one rule: Solve the maze or die. The people before Thomas arrived have been trying to solve the maze for two whole years, so why should his arrival make any difference?

Firstly, I thought that this book was incredibly well written. The idea of creating lab rat style humans is almost unthinkable and I cannot begin to think where I would have started if I were the writer of this book, but Dashner has done an incredible job of making it realistic and believable. There was not a single moment when I stepped back and said 'Whoa! this ain't real'. The author here has managed to find the perfect balance between reality and fantasy, a sometimes very difficult thing to do. As a slight aside, I love the way that each boy is nicknamed after a famous scientist, that tickled me. I loved it.

As usual I talk a little bit about my favourite character so that what I'm going to do now. Newt. Favourite character has to be Newt. He's strong, he's a leader, he's hot and I just think that if I had to be stuck in a giant hostile maze with anyone, it would be Newt. I kinda liked Chuck as well in that annoying little brother sorta way but Newt definitely had to be the one for me.

Certainly one I would recommend to all people great and small who enjoy a good book, and most definitely a book for people who think that reading is ponsey and for girls, because this book could not be further from that assumption. Give it a read, see for yourself and see if you would be strong enough to solve the maze.

THE WARD By S.L Grey

Happy new year guys! Hope you've had a good book filled year with some incredible books to recommend to people. The Ward is the first book I have read for the POPSUGAR 2015 reading challenge (Checkout the heading up top :) ), and will be filling the category of 'Book you can finish in a day'

This incredibly surreal book was recommended to be by my wonderful friend, colleague and author Rebeccah Giltrow. Having been warned about its graphic content prior to reading this, I attempted to prepare myself for the journey I was about to embark on, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING could prepare me for what lies within these pages.

We begin the story with Lisa; a cosmetic surgery addict, and Josh Farrell; a celebrity photographer who is more commonly known as Farrell. Both these people have ended up in the grimmest of all hospitals; New Hope. Neither can wait to get discharged and every time they come close, a doctor demands they stay. After they try and escape, they find themselves in separate luxury hospital suits labelled 'Client' and 'Donor' and things start to get very weird indeed.

Firstly I have to thank Rebeccah for recommending this book for me and secondly I have to warn you all! This book is not for the meek and/or faint hearted. From about page 50, reading the book gives you the same experience I would imagine you get from a really bad acid trip. Its almost hallucinogenic in places.

I really really enjoyed reading this book and am tempted to read some other books by this author. (well actually, its two writers writing together under one name, Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg). Other than that I'm not really sure what I should say about this book. I liked the characters, more so Lisa than Farrell. At times I really did hate Farrell and I found that I tended to side with Lisa more often than not as I found Farrell too judgemental and quick to act on things. I didn't like the way he insisted on assuming power and blamed Lisa for the choices he made. Don't get me wrong, I liked him, he was just an idiot.

This is most definitely not a book for younger readers (due to severe bad language, mild sexual references and graphic violent content), however for those experienced readers looking for something unique and different to change up their reading habits... I think you've found you're book.

I was going to say enjoy, but that doesn't seem like the right word.... more like proceed with caution and always read the fine print.

BEHEMOTH By Scott Westerfeld

Well, here we are. The sequel to Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan which I reviewed two books ago. At the time I said I wouldn't mind reading the next one and so, guess what?! I ordered it from the library and gave it a read.

This time round, we join Alek and Deryn on the run in Istanbul. Deryn is given a top secret mission which doesn't exactly go to plan and Alek and his men attempt to escape the Leviathan now they are technically prisoners of war. This too doesn't go to plan and the team gets slip up rather spectacularly.

Alek finds himself alone and fully in charge of his men for the first time in his life, how will he cope, and how many seemingly bad choices will he make along the way?

I liked the way that this book was so completely different to it predecessor. You knew that it had a book before it and you knew it was part of a bigger picture. It followed the story very well and it wasn't just the same characters in an entirely different book. The linking between the two books is incredibly well done and I say 'Well done Mr Westerfeld!'

There were a couple of odd occasions where I felt a little bit disappointed. Not with the author for the way he'd written the book. But because I felt almost like I had entrusted my friends to him and when something bad happened to them, it was the authors fault. Something inside me really rang out if the author hadn't kept one of his characters safe. This is the first book to ever really make me have that reaction. It was bizarre and took me a while to work out how I felt, but I guess it just goes to show how well Westerfeld linked his characters with his audience.

I really enjoyed reading Behemoth and will no doubt carry on to read the third and final book Goliath in the not too distant future. I found the pace a little slow in places and sometimes it was a little hard to keep reading, yet at other parts of the book, I could hardly bring my self to put it down and go to sleep. I've not been left with too much of a Book Hangover, yet I feel satisfied that I've read a good book. Not as good as the first but never-the-less still a good  read :) What will Goliath bring I wonder?

THE BEHAVIOUR OF MOTHS By Poppy Adams

This is an interesting story about an elderly woman named Virginia who has lived alone in her family mansion for nearly fifty years, when suddenly her sister Vivien decides that  she is suddenly moving back in to the house to be with her older sister. This triggers memories and feelings to surface for the first time in decades and suddenly, the truth comes to light and the prices are finally paid... but is it to many decades to late?

I gotta say that I really enjoyed reading this book and it had me hooked quite definitely. The story line was simple and relatively easy to follow. Although I normally read something a little more complex in structure, it was nice to be able to read something that didn't take too much thinking about.

I really liked the back story of the protagonist, it was something different and something that is very memorable. Its a story that stands out among the thousands of other characters in the thousands of other books in the thousands of book stores across the globe.

I thought that the use of the child surrogacy plot line was an interesting addition to the story and really added another dimension to the intercharacter relationships. Although I can help but wonder what things would have been like if the child hadn't died so young... hmmm....

The ending of the book was very very sudden and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I kinda liked it and I also kinda didn't. It left me feeling a little bit helpless and I knew that I felt uncomfortable with the direction that the book was heading in. Ultimately I was saddened my the ending, but that doesn't make it any less of a really good book.

The only quarm I have is that the questions that Virginia asks all the way through the book don't get answered at the end of the book leaving you a little bit lost and disappointed with the lack of closure you are left with.

A good book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good book that doesn't take too much concentration to read. A good book, a good good book.

LEVIATHAN By Scott Westerfeld

A good friend of mine recommended this book, but in my awful judgemental ways, I assumed that because my friend is slightly older, that this book would also be a more adult book. So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I opened the cover to start reading a teen/young adult book.

The world is at war, however this world war is nothing like we would remember it. The Germans and their allies, have developed their Clanker machinery. Tanks, and walkers and mobile military units! Meanwhile, the Brits and their allies have created a vast army of Darwinist fabricated beings. Living warships and ferocious warriors. What would ever happen if these two sides were ever to meet? Well when Austrian Prince Alek has to go on the run after his royal parents are killed, and Deryn disguises herself as a boy to join the British air force, the two meet and things get interesting.

I really enjoyed reading both sides of this story, but the storyline that stood out to me the most was Deryn's. Who doesn't love a young girl disguising herself to achieve her dreams? Yeah the ideas a little corny but sometimes, its the things we know and love that make the best story. I found her character easier to connect to and more relateable. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to empathise with a young prince who has just lost both his parents and is heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, but a young girl whose dreams of flying are squished my society? That's a little more real.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Alek and his story. Sometimes you need something completely separate to your one circumstances to get you through the day. However, this time round, I needed something a little closer to home and for me, that just happened to be Deryn.

I really, really, really enjoyed the whole Science Vs Nature argument throughout this book and over all it made me think, is there such a big difference between the two? The Natural world is made up of chemical reactions and scientific equations, and surly it is only natural that we should want to invent and build things to make us more powerful and efficient at humans? Yes this is a YA (young adult) book, but maybe its more than that... Maybe its a simple commentary on the similarities of nature and science and the two put together. After all is it not the two sides coming together in the end that makes them more powerful than the enemy and enables them to escape?

I think the only thing I have left to say is that I've ordered the next two books in the series from the library and I can't wait till they arrive. This is definitely a book I would recommend to any reader of any age. And adults, please don't dismiss a book just because its in the Young Adult section! Read everything!!