Review of "The Empress Emerald"

I wish I could remember who recommended this to me so that I could discount any future recommendations from that source. The first part covering Leo's childhood in India is not bad, but when we meet the soppy Davinia it goes rapidly downhill. Plot is completely disjointed, characters totally one dimensional, author over fond of invoking deus ex machina tricks rather than dealing with the consequences of her characters actions, minor (and not so minor) characters treated with complete distain. The author has no respect for the people he tries to create, and in fact abuses them. Overall it is like watching a child making up a nasty fairy story about some dolls and nothing like an engrossing narrative with anything interesting to say. I struggled on to the end increasingly despairing that anything remotely interesting would happen and hoping against hope that the end which had been obvious since Leo and Davina met might fail to happen - nothing unexpected happens. At time the technical quality of the writing is also poor - I'm guessing it went straight from word-processor to printer without a sub-editor.

Review of "The Wake"

Written in a meta-language based on anglo-saxon adjusted to make it readable to a modern English reader. The rhythms of the speech drive the world-view of the characters (or vice-versa) which allows us to get an intense picture of what life might have been like in such a situation. The flawed leader, Buccmaster, is the centre around which te book revolves..

Review of "Only Planet"

Very good, enjoyable to read and interesting. Wanted more detail in some places but a good summary of a slow-travel round the world. Makes me wonder what the book that Matt Wooton would have written would have been like.