Title: Season 7
Author: D.F Nightshade
Genre: Sci-fi
Pages: 232
Series: stand alone
Publisher: Lulu
Rating: 2 stars
Richard has been a security system salesman for about a year now. He’s good at what he does and loves his job, but doesn’t feel valued at the workplace. He’s passed up for promotions he feels he should get and is constantly second-guessed. His anger starts to affect his job performance. Stressed out Richard goes to a bar to try to calm his nerves. On his way home from the bar he is waved down by Nautilus who is nothing but trouble.
Nautilus is a seemingly normal guy who just so happens to be an alien. Nautilus believes that Richard is the “special one.” The one destined to rule his planet, but everything’s not as it seems and Richard has to find that out the hard way.
Or does he?
I know, to some readers of this review your immediate thought might be 'oh only 2 stars? Maybe I shouldn't bother.' Trust me, for some, this book would really hit the spot and there were some really great things about it! So keep reading for an insight into my rating.
I thought the plot to the book was pretty good. There were some unexpected twists which keeps the reader slightly on edge. There were a few brilliantly placed hooks - chapters often ended mysteriously and I found myself wanting to find out more. I read the book in a matter of hours and although it is fairly short, I do think this signals that I was gripped.
I don't really feel opinionated, character wise. I quite liked the main character Richard, and I thought some other characters were quite nicely developed. I quite liked the twist in some of the characters personalities and how you felt you couldn't trust anyone as everything was not how it seemed as this left it unpredictable.
I liked the idea of the story: the alien world was unique and I thought that the foundations of the story were sound and it was easy to follow.
What really let it down for me was the grammar. For me grammar is really important but in this book the mistakes between 'there', 'their' and 'they're' was so frequent that it made the writing seem immature and haphazardly put together. Likewise with the use of 'was' instead of 'were' throughout the book. This was disappointing to see and to be honest, made the reading experience not as enjoyable as it might have been.
Overall, Science-fiction isn't a genre I enjoy greatly but I think if it is your thing maybe you should give Season 7 a go!
Happy reading,
Hebe
Title: Warp and woof
Author: Sahar Sabati
Genre: Contemporary short story collection
Pages: 140
Series: Stand alone
Publisher: Self published
Rating: 4 stars
Man is a social creature; relationships are an inevitable part of his life. Formal ones, informal ones; constant ones, intermittent ones; those that make a heart race with joy, those that make it race with dread, and those that are just there because of the way society is structured. Relationships are essential to personal and collective spiritual and material development. One of the most mysterious relationships of all is that of marriage. It is a big commitment, often portrayed as the union of two individuals when in fact it is the union of two families, of two groups of friends, and, at times, of two communities, which means that a large number of relationships have to be adjusted. It is a fundamental building block of society, as married couples create homes in which two families are welcome, children are raised, and members of the community can find solace and love. It is therefore a powerful institution that exerts its influence on the two spouses as well as on those surrounding it. In this series of short stories, real life situations, conversations, and continuous study of Bahá’í Scripture come together in an attempt to understand what can go right and what can go wrong in relationships and how they can influence a community.
I haven't read a collection of short stories for a while and this one was truly a delight. Often it is nice to have short yet thorough stories which have deep meanings, such as this one, that lead me to pondering the issues raised after i'd read each story.
After some thought, I have decided that rather than going through each story individually and giving my verdict on each one, I shall simply talk about the stories as a whole.
I have to admit, before this, I'd never read a book that looked into the issues of relationships and marriage in particular. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease I found in reading about some deep and emotionally quite vexing situations.
Each story's purpose and psychology was well planned out and every issue was left to the reader's own interpretation and also gave some amazing advice along the way, which was my favourite aspect of the book.
The characters were well developed and in some of the stories, I was amazed at how Sahar Sabati managed to describe the characters in such few pages. I enjoyed how each character was different with their own story to tell, it made it all the more real.
This brings me on nicely to my next favourite thing in the book and that was its credibility. I liked how the stories were realistic and covered issues lots of people face within relationships that aren't always talked about. I thought this was great because it gives the reader insight to the fact that other people also have problems and you are not alone and also maybe helps people look into their own relationships and find struggles they didn't even know were there.
I think my favourite story was actually the last story in the book. The beauty of its simplicity really struck me and it was a light-hearted perfect ending to some pretty hard hitting stories in some cases.
If I had to give some criticism it would be that I thought the book wasn't very hooking. I know I talk about this in all my reviews but I really do feel it's vital. Understandably, it's so so so much harder to get a gripping story line when you have a collection of short stories so my criticism doesn't go particularly far!
All in all, a fantastic read! Wonderfully therapeutic and really makes you think about your own life and issues and the relationships around and within you.
I recommend this book to anyone, especially adults who are interested in the workings of relationships or who are maybe struggling with their own issues!Well done Sahar, truly magnificent!
Happy reading,
Hebe x
