Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with reviews from April and May.

1) Shrabani Basu-Victoria & Abdul 
The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure at court, becoming the queen's teacher, or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish gillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near-revolt in the royal household. "Victoria & Abdul" examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the Empire, and his influence over the queen at a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force. Yet, at its heart, it is a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen, a relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it.  

Abdul was handpicked to come to the UK when Victoria wanted to form a closer relationship with India, the fascinating country that she was the new Empress of. He began as a common servant which is not what he was expecting as his skills were in administration but Victoria took a liking to him and gave him a more fitting role where he could assist her with her papers and become her teacher in her desire to learn Urdu. He soon became her most trusted companion, something that other Indian servants, the stuffy Royal Household and her family did not approve of. I understand their concerns as he did ask for honours and perks for himself and his father and friends, which is really not acceptable behaviour. It brought her into a conflict every time with her UK or Indian based staff, and he even tried to get her to take the side of the Muslims over the Hindus in an India that was getting close to splitting.  It is easy to see their frustrations with the situation.

On the other side it does seem that Abdul genuinely cared for Victoria and knowing the hostility against him, was perhaps being prudent in ensuring that he had a future after she was gone ie looking for land to own in India. Her family were certainly not going to provide for him after her death and Victoria was also concerned for her future. He certainly filled a void in her life after the death of John Brown and tried to look after her interests. I can imagine that he also had to endure not just hostility and jealousy but outright racism. This book gives an interesting insight into this friendship, the political upheaval in India and Victorian life. I was also fascinated by the personality of Victoria, how much she wanted to learn about India and her determination to learn to speak and write Urdu. I found it very interesting and will probably watch the film.

Read May 2019
3 stars.

2) Boyd Craven-Breaking Point
We hear with increasing frequency, reports of mass shootings or terrorist activities on American soil. Don’t you get tired of the media sensationalizing everything? Do you hate how the police have their hands tied on how they can react, by politicians who are more worried about political correctness, and getting re-elected? Don’t you fantasize about just giving the bad guys what they have coming to them? That’s what this story is about. It’s guaranteed to offend the crap out of some people! It’s not illegal to fantasize in this country… Yet. 

Two Middle Eastern attackers exit an SUV and murder most of the 150 men, women and children attending and participating in a church nativity play. Computer hacker Dharma loses three family members but has little faith in getting justice and decides to get payback in a different way. She investigates and hacks into the ATM camera across from the church and then sees the same vehicle outside a local gun store. She decides to contact the owner Mike to see if he wants payback too for the terrorists buying their murder weapons in his shop, along with hiring men to gain revenge on the terrorists. 

The idea was good in theory as a lot of angry people long to get revenge when their loved ones are killed in terror attacks, so I was interested to see where this story would go. I didn't much like Dharma, whose thirst for revenge leads to other people being put in danger. Will works at Mike's gun store and gets into a violent conflict outside with a pro jihadi protester that leads to him being investigated for murder after Mike rescues him. Despite being cleared Will has to run a gauntlet of hate and go into hiding while a furious Mike realises that terrorists did invade his store for evil purposes. He is happy to involve his friends, a shadow group for hire who are happy to hunt down the terrorists for Dharma. However, I found the whole thing to be a bit over-the-top and not the most interesting plot and characters to read about. I ended up really annoyed by the unsatisfying ending, which only seems to prove that getting revenge leads to other innocents being hurt. I hated the ending! It did not make me want to read on.

Read May 2019
2 stars. 

3) Arthur T Bradley-Anarchy Rising (The Survivalist #2)
After the worst pandemic in mankind's history, anarchy threatens to break apart the United States. The government is years away from providing even the most basic necessities. Militias, gangs of convicts, and rogue soldiers face off in a violent free-for-all as they vie for power. Few safe havens remain. Big cities have been overrun with deformed survivors of the Superpox-99 pandemic. Smaller towns are being overtaken by authoritarians and lawless thugs. And congested interstates have become thoroughfares for desperate travelers and bandits seeking to capture women and supplies.

President Glass must face daunting challenges, completely unaware that some of her closest advisors are using unthinkable methods to have her removed. Their clandestine hunt for her eleven-year-old daughter, Samantha, intensifies, and the only person standing in their way is a ruthless convict who will stop at nothing keep the young girl safe.

Duty drives Deputy Marshal Mason Raines to leave the small town of Boone to discover the fate of his fellow lawmen. With his faithful wolfhound, Bowie, at his side, he crosses paths with desperate refugees, a bloodthirsty hangman, and savage cannibals. Only as he discovers the horrific truth, does he realize that he may be the last of his kind.  

I was disappointed that Mason was leaving Boone because the scenes in the town with the supporting cast were the best bits of the book. I wasn't as keen on the President's story or her daughter's journey and those plots were the main part of this book along with Mason deciding he wanter to go to Marshall HQ in Georgia for some strange reason. I would've thought that trying to get the towns around Boone settled and on trading terms would be priority instead of a bit of a weird road trip where he gets into all kinds of trouble. I mean, why bother going to take action on two men robbing an armoured bank vehicle, then leaving them alive and swearing revenge, and then rob it yourself??? What was the point in that Mr Lawman??? And yes that decision does come back to bite him! 

The puppet President continues to struggle and it becomes clear that she has lost control of rogue members of her government. She really is a pretty pathetic and ineffective character and I got quite bored reading about her. Mason's journey was full of non stop stupid decisions and I missed seeing what was happening in Boone. The third plot was the journey of irritating smart arse child Samantha who really gets on my nerves and who is travelling with Mason's convict father Tanner. there is more action in their story with zombies and government agents trying to snatch Samantha but I didn't find their problems that interesting. The characters just don't feel well developed and more like cardboard cutouts, while the plot meanders along in random directions. The most interesting things are the different versions of the infected but they are background in the book and vastly underused. This is book two in the series but I'm not going to read on with it.

Read May 2019
2 stars. 

4) GR Carter-The Pullback aka Dawn of Darkness (Fortress Farm #1) 
Dawn of Darkness begins the Fortress Farm series detailing the story of ordinary people forced into extraordinary situations. Technology meant to create utopia forsakes billions of people, setting society’s clock back over a hundred years. Complex supply chains quickly break down, leaving people to answer the most basic question – how do I care for myself and my loved ones? New cults and strongmen emerge from the chaos establishing power by controlling the food supply; while outlaws simply seek to pillage. Just as humans have done for millennia, heroes and villains arise from the ashes of a great empire, struggling to determine the fate of people looking to them for guidance. Ramifications of simple decisions and desperate conflicts will resonate for generations.

Against storms of nature and man, Fortress Farms arise from the prairie to shield good people from evil and despair. Technology of our forefathers becomes new again, giving hope that bountiful food and shelter will return once more. Heroes roam the countryside like fables of old, determined to provide a better life for their children's children. Find out how one community rebuilds and provides a shining example for other survivors. Follow the rise of a new republic, inspired by a simpler life and led by common people creating a new world where freedom and safety take root. 

This might well be the most boring apocalypse book that I've ever read. The story starts three years before the event as temperatures globally will soon drop, causing shorter growing seasons, food shortage and disease. The US government plots how best to ensure most people don't survive the crisis and it only takes one small speech to sway the outraged world leaders into total agreement. They will switch off the power in three years, letting everyone perish as the chosen people take over the best land to survive on near the equator. Scotland was a test case for a brief power switch off for a month. We apparantly became total savages in that time which really annoyed me.

We then get rich rural men endlessly talking politics in their towns and debating the economy yet every one of them seems to talk with the exact same voice. There was no character development in either these guys or the out for themselves politicians to make you really care about the story. There were endless councils and political meeting and it was just all so dull. I gave up on it long before we got anywhere near the actual event itself. It was repetitive and the story was all over the place. I could not get into this at all and struggled through several chapters before the boredom overcame me and I quit.

Read April 2019
DNF 1 star.  

5) Harley Tate-Darkness Begins
Madison spends her days tending plants as an agriculture student at the University of California, Davis. She plans to graduate and put those skills to work only a few hours from home in the Central Valley. The sun has always been her friend, until now.
 
Tracy starts her morning like any other, kissing her husband Walter goodbye before heading off to work at the local public library. She never expects it to end fleeing for her life in a Suburban full of food and water. Tackling life’s daily struggles is one thing, preparing to survive when it all crashes down is another.



With no communication and no word from the government, the Sloanes find themselves grappling with the end of the modern world all on their own. Will Madison and her friends have what it takes to make it back to Sacramento and her family? Can Tracy fend off looters and thieves and help her friends and neighbors survive?
  

I read a lot of these apocalypse books and it amazes me how many have the dumbest female characters in them. This one was exactly the same. Tracy was the best of the characters and she at least tries to get herself organised when she becomes aware of the danger that they might be facing. She goes and stocks up with food and supplies, though why she cares if a woman she hardly knows thinks that her stocking up is weird is beyond me. I'm more interested in how she deduces from a vague text from her daughter that she should check online for any sign of trouble in space. I can forgive her because she is a character I didn't actually hate and the situatios she got into were interesting enough to read about. Brianna, travelling companion of Madison, is well aware how dangerous things are going to get and she is capable of looking after herself and surviving. 

What a pity about Madison and Wanda. Wanda is a work colleague of Tracy and Tracy decides to give her a lift home, worried that harm might come to her on the streets alone. Wanda doesn't seem to take in anything that Tracy tells her about losing the power long term, and she keeps on about getting back to her flat for a shower. I was ready to throttle her as she just wasn't getting it at all. It took forever for her to finally wake up and smell the power cut, but even then she tells Tracy she can't cook and has no skills to offer. Then we get to Madison, the college student. She knows less than Jon Snow but is forever bleating that her friends are overreacting to everything, the supplies aren't needed, things are fine, looting is bad and so on. She doesn't listen either and can't seem to grasp the chaos around them. Madison is guiding her friends to her family home but can't seem to manage not to get them lost. She 'forgets' that the park is a dangerous place at night because of gang warfare and lets Brianna park there, almost getting them all killed. But it is her whining that drove me mad!

I'm not sure how I managed to finish this book but I'm not reading on with the series!

Read May 2019
2 star.