Iain Rob Wright

I’m a little confused. The title of this book is Witch, The Cursed Manuscripts. That is not the story that I just finished. I read about Jude and Ashley and their encounters with a supernatural witch but that is the only thing that relates to the title. I did enjoy the book but felt it was a bit juvenile the way it ended. It also doesn’t help that I went in to this book expecting not what was on these pages. Seeing very similar comments, maybe hopefully the author can give an explanation for this.… (plus d'informations)

I don't really know where to start with this one. It's classed as young adult but it's more on the younger side of young adult, bordering on middle grade in a lot of ways. That said, not every way there are some references to nakedness and blood and gore but overall, it's a pretty tame read. It's also referenced as being like Buffy and Angel. It is. All the best parts of Buffy are included in this book. There's lots of wit and spunkiness and some of the plot lines. For instance a lot of this is like the Tabula Rasa episode. Or a lot of first season Buffy. Miles is pretty Giles like. Indy has Xander moments. Scarlet's dad embodies Joyce. Etc, etc. Parts of this had me feeling like I was reading a Buffy novelisation or an extra episode or fanfiction. It was original enough in it's own way but it also incorporated echoes of all my favourite Buffy elements. But I'm a Buffy fan and I can't quite imagine how this would be for someone who is not - I mean I liked it because of the Buffy reminders - I don't know if the plot works without that background. There's not really any romance in this, just a tiny bit if you squint - most of Scarlet and Sorrow's relationship is simply friendship. There's also not enough character depth. There is lots of humour and I was busy chuckling as I read. However, the humour disguised the fact that there wasn't a lot of action - the characters kept going from disaster to disaster but there wasn't much actual fighting or solving them. That said, I was distracted enough while reading not to particularly notice that until after the fact. It's a shame the author hasn't written a sequel because I would be interested to read it and see where the plot goes. The ending sets up a second novel and I would definitely read it if available.… (plus d'informations)

This was a quick read - 2 hours - but I did spend most of it wondering if I should carry on. It was ridiculous. I liked the synopsis and the general idea - the animal apocalypse, basically, with humans suddenly becoming the bottom of the for chain - and following the misadventures of a group of people who happened to be visiting a zoo the day it happened. The characters were incomplete cliches - violent homophobic tattooed Scotsman, uppity smug rich businessman, helpless yet beautiful tortured young lady, etc. There was a cute kid who said cloying cute things that made everyone laugh. The dialogue felt unrealistic and the writing seemed stilted to me.
All that said, the idea and the rough plot, while ridiculous and not entirely fleshed out, was quite fun, like a blockbuster film. I am a sucker for post apocalyptic of all sorts and haven't read one quite like this before, and in the over saturated genre, that in itself is pretty impressive. Because of that I've upped from 2 to 3 stars. Hey, at least it isn't more zombies...… (plus d'informations)