Triumphant Return

I've just got back from Greece! ...Okay, that's a lie, I actually got back yesterday at about 11:30pm. But I haven't had a chance to write about it until now. I've spent most of today catching up on things that I've been missing while I've been away, watching episode 4 and 5 of Torchwood Miracle Day and getting filled in on the riots.

I had a great time in Greece - probably the coolest thing we saw was the Mellisani Lake, which is a big underground lake inside this massive cave. It looks amazing, plus it's really refreshing because it's a lot colder in the caves than outside. The days were hot, so it was nice to spend some time cooling down. I'll do a proper post about what we did in more detail when I can get some photos or something uploaded onto my laptop from the camera, but for now you'll have to do with this.

I did a lot of reading on holiday, mostly because the temperature was so high that we couldn't go outside between 11am and 3pm without melting. Because of that, I'm even more behind on my book reviewing schedule than I predicted. In order to combat that, I'm going to cover every book I read on holiday in this blog post! And awaaaaaay we go!

The first book I read was I Am Number Four, in which John (one of nine survivors of an alien race known as the Loriens) is hunted down by the Mogadorians, another alien race who are trying to wipe out all traces of the Loriens. It has a lot going for it; it's fast and action-packed, and I did end up staying up into the small hours to finish it off, so it's definitely a compelling novel. I think a lot of that is down to the way it's written, as it's done entirely in the present tense. On the minus side, a lot of the characters are pretty uninteresting, including John, and some of the plot holes are patched up in really flimsy, unbelievable ways.

Moving swiftly on to Paradox Lost, which is the first of three Doctor Who novels I read; the plot concerns the Squall, alien parasites who are bleeding through a rend in time caused by a paradox. It's got a little bit of timey-wimey messing about, but mostly it's a straightforward adventure with some strong characters and fairly interesting enemies. Of the other DW books I read, Prisoner of the Daleks was unusual, as it was a lot bleaker than the average NSA books; lots of dying and hard moments from the 10th Doctor. Meanwhile, Parasite was a much older 7th Doctor novel set on a planet with no gravity, which was pretty confusing in parts but overall enjoyable.

I also read two Neil Gaiman books, Stardust and the Graveyard Book. The former (man sees falling star, man promises to retrieve the star in exchange for woman's love) was classic Gaiman, fantastic writing and a great sense of fun. It shares a structure that I've seen in a lot of Gaiman books; the main character is thrust from a world of normality into a world of chaos. He spends much of the book trying to get back to his old world, only to eventually get there and realise he prefers the world of chaos. The latter book (boy grows up in a graveyard, raised by ghosts) is a little more subdued, but still retains the great characters and themes of all Gaiman's novels.

The other books I read were only average; Vegas Knights is about two young wizards scamming a casino using their powers - described on the cover as Harry Potter meets Ocean's Eleven - while the Name of this Book is Secret is all about... Actually, I can't explain that one. After all, it's a secret. In both cases, I found them mostly uninteresting, and the characters were in need of more development. They weren't all bad though; Vegas Knights had some pretty clever references to historical magicians that fans of magic will like, and the Name of this Book is Secret had a very novel writing style.

And that's that! Hopefully you enjoyed my compact run-through of what I read on holiday. Coming soon: proper book reviews, Friday Night Who updates, and a proper post on Greece. Thanks all for reading.