THE ZOMBIE PLAGUES: Book
One What if the world ended tomorrow? What would you do? Would you be
able to survive? The Zombie Plagues books follow a small group of men
and women as they struggle to survive on a vastly changed earth, where
the dead sometimes do not remain dead. Follow along as they try to
rebuild their own lives as they rebuild their world. A great change was
coming to the Earth. Catastrophe was about to change everything her
people took for granted. It made some wish for death, but death was no
longer a guarantee. For some death had become some other sort of life. A
life they could not easily leave. Several lone survivors live through
what will become the dawn of a new world. The only thing these people
had in common is that they all lived in the same small city in upstate
New York. Before the week was out they would be thrust together in a
struggle for survival. Before the month was out those that survived
would begin to seek others who had lived through the catastrophe that
had blighted the Earth. Looking for ways to stay alive...
My Review:
The story begins with a gangster lecturing a wannabe dancer about
letting men treat her like a whore and that goes on for some reason for
several pages. Then we skip out the start of the zombie apocalypse and
join the action a few days later where she is recapping what happened.
However she recaps it in the form of a rambling diary with no cohesion
to how things unfolded. She is talking about her family history a
helluva lot. Who DOES that in a diary? I know who I am and wouldn't need
to remind myself! And I wouldn't be talking about stuff like that as
zombies are running wild! We get a few aimless descriptions of earth
tremors and house damage....and then suddenly we switch to a new
storyteller. We get random thoughts and ramblings then we switch again
to a third new person. Then back to the first again.
The whole
thing is messy, confused and lacks any kind of cohesion. It jumps about
so much that it doesn't give you time to get to know or care about the
characters, or to get a real sense of how the whole crisis is unfolding.
The story just does not flow and it was difficult to get into it. We
don't even see any zombies in the beginning. It's only later when the
survivors are forced to go out into the world that we see a zombie in
the distance or hear about an attack or a sighting. There is endless
chat and no action, and the conversations weren't even interesting.
The
author was too busy having the women all fighting and competing for the
attention of some hot guy, while another jealous person tries to get
the attention of a someone who doesn't get the someone they want, and we
get all their attention seeking preening and petty little tantrums and a
pile of stuff that has nothing to do with zombies. They are like a
bunch of hormonal kids all out to get laid while the world goes to hell
around them. Call me old fashioned, but if there was a zombie
apocalypse, I'd be looking to survive. I wouldn't give a damn if I
looked pretty or worry about who to have sex with. I hate this kind of
stuff when it is meant to be about zombies.
My Review:
This book is a must read for St Mirren fans. 1987 Scottish Cup winning
captain Billy Abercromby tells the story of his football career and his
battle with alcohol which nearly killed him.
I grew up in a St
Mirren mad family and I still remember the humiliation of going into
primary school after the 5-1 drubbing by Forfar, as friends who followed
Rangers laughed at me. I missed the Aber years in person on the North
Bank, which is a shame. I started going to the games with my friends
when I was 15, in 1988, when injury had already hit. We met Aber and the
team multiple times that year, as we hung around Love Street to watch
them train. We were a permanent fixture there and at matches, and the
club did a wonderful job looking after us with free away tickets from
Frank McGarvey, and David Winnie, who went to the same school my dad
worked in for years. Tommy Wilson treated us like old friends, sitting
with us at a reserve game one night and telling off Campbell Money for
swearing in front of us. Jimmy Bone invited us into the dressing room
one wet day to watch the players doing aerobics(with some ritual
humiliation dished out when he uncovered who each of us had a crush on!)
I won't forget the sight of poor George Shaw in a towel having just
been yanked out of the shower to say hello to us! Ah we loved Jimmy!
Tony Fitzpatrick was such a lovely man who always made time for us when
he was manager. Aber himself was a great laugh whenever we bumped into
him, despite all that he was suffering. Those were special times.
This
book let me look at what came before my time. It was great to read
about Alex Ferguson making players quake in their boots even then, as
Aber turned up in September for pre-season training due to too much
summer fun at Butlins! I was laughing at the story of Fergie coming on
to the pitch as a sub during a match in Guyana pre-season to get revenge
on players who had given his young team a kicking, earning a red card
for himself soon after. Oh I'd LOVE to have seen that! His sacking, when
he was doing great things at Love Street is one thing I'm not proud of
my club for.
There was so much to laugh at in this book. Aber
doing the safety drill on a plane in camp style in front of drunken
players and journalists after a weather enforced party in St Etienne.
Derek Hamilton flagging down a car for help as he ran from the scene of
his drink driving accident only to discover it was CID from Paisley in
the car, who arrested him after he blabbed his story. Paul Lambert
having to sing nursery rhymes to the entire Love Street staff as a
forfeit or face the fire hose in the showers. Aber's guide to the
biggest psychos in Scottish football-Doug Rougvie, zombie on steroids,
Walter Kidd, Skeletor without the charm, Willie Miller, world class
defender and referee. Funny stuff! Aber getting his own back on
countless players who were brave enough to hack a fellow buddy or dive.
How I would have loved to have been in the crowd yelling 'Aber's gonnae
get ye!' It was really funny to read all these stories and memories from
the days with no fourth official or trial by TV. Let's face it, if Aber
was playing today, referee Willie Collum would be setting new records
for cards issued! Half of the players today would run a mile from Aber
and his own brand of footballing justice.
Reading about the 80's
brings back fun memories of other players...big Basil Fawlty on one of
his mad runs up the park, Kenny McDowall taking no prisoners in the
pursuit of a goal, the brilliance of players like Stevie Clarke and
Frank McAvennie(another lovely guy for fans to chat to)...it's really
got me remembering the many reasons why I love this club so much. SMTID.
There were also the bad times, being sent off three times in
one game and a huge ban that would have ended his St Mirren career, had
Alex Miller not quit to become Hibs manager. This allowed Alex Smith and
Jimmy Bone to save his career and take him and St Mirren to the glory
of that 1987 Cup win. I still get choked up when I think about
that...Hammarby. Enough said about THAT game. The terrible injury that
escalated his drinking problems. The shocking slide almost to the grave.
Pretty much every St Mirren fan knew that Aber was an alcoholic but
until I read this book, I had no idea of how bad his life had become, or
how close he came to dying. It says a lot about that fighting spirit of
his that he was able to come back from the brink to start his life
again. I greatly admire him for this and hope that he can continue to
stay sober.
This was a great book, one that I will certainly keep
on my book shelf to remind me of the good times at Love Street. Aber,
you are a legend and you will never be forgotten in Paisley!
Welcome to Reading with Chuckles! This is where I fill you in on what
I'm reading each week-what it is, where I got it or heard about it,
what I think of it, if I'm continuing with it or abandoning it and any
special offers I'm aware of where you can try the book yourself.
Comments are welcome but no spoilers please! It's not fair to other
readers!
I am now on to my winter readathon. This means I'm turning my
attention to series that I've started and liked but never got round to
finishing. So I hope to get through a LOT of books and catch up with a
few favourites!
Another good reading week! I read the next book in the Monster Haven series, which was really good. I totally LOVE that series! I then caught up with a couple of books related to my beloved football team St Mirren(great win on Friday boys!!!) as well as a nice horror novella, and two urban fantasy books. Nice!
These books I'm about to mention were all abandoned this week, for a variety of reasons. The first four I thought were really poor, especially Soulbound. I don't think I've ever seen such a childish adult urban fantasy character in my life! The characters in Book of the Forsaken and Solstice were horrible and Midnight Crossroad was so boring and lifeless. I expected much more from Charlaine Harris. The other four I just didn't take too-too slow mostly.
The James Potter Project
is a series of fan written novels about James Potter (Harry Potter's
father) and the Marauders (Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Petter
Pettigrew) during their time as students at Hogarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry.
DOWNLOAD FREE COPY: http://www.jamespotterproject.com/
My Review:
My previous reads of fan fiction have not been very happy experiences
but this one attracted me because it was a prequel to the Harry Potter
books. I would love JK Rowling to write a series of books about James,
Sirius, Snape and the gang at Hogwarts, so seeing that this was a fan
fiction of their first year, I had to read it. And I thought it was
GREAT!
The first thing to say is that it is true to the
characters and the world that JK Rowling invented and nurtured. The
author obviously referred to the books to get things right, then added
in a few things of their own to enhance the plot, things that were a
perfect fit into the world we know. This book is a salute to the work of
JK Rowling but is also a great piece of writing in its own right.
So,
what is the plot? A death eater at Hogwarts is seeking the Bolt of
Ages, the scepter of Alexander the Great which is said to control time.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter need to find the diary which gives clues
as to where the Hogwarts founders hid the four pieces of it. It is a
dangerous treasure hunt and the death eaters are waiting for the chance
to take the prize from them.
The four boys are exactly the way I
imagined them to be. Sirius with the good looks and lazy grin, always
ready for an adventure, James trying to catch Lily's eye and getting
into fights with Snape, Peter going between being terrified and daring
depending on the situation, and Remus being caught out in lies about
visiting his sick mother while he covers up his werewolf condition.
Peter becomes less of the bad guy and more like Neville was in the first
Harry Potter book, which felt weird in a way but you could see how he
would be easily led to the dark side. Snape sees James as a rival for
Lily and tries to get him into trouble and make Lily think that James
hates muggle borns. We see other characters as well, with the boys
sharing a room with Frank Longbottom, which was nice. Kingsley and
Lucius are prefects, Slughorn has his Slug Club with Lily as a member,
and Ernie, driver of the night bus in HP&POA is the conductor on it
in this book. It felt comfortable to read, as if you were slipping back
into that world all over again.
There was plenty of humour in the
book, which I enjoyed, including the boys adventure with the Giant
Squid and the Knight Bus as they sneak out of school to find the diary. I
liked the whole adventure of looking to solve the clues and find the
pieces, which had the elements of excitement and tension, with death
eaters and Peeves lurking around every corner! The map that they are
following is obviously the inspiration for them to invent the Marauder's
Map which Harry finds so useful. The action was well written and fits
with the sort of adventure which you could imagine having in the castle,
with great attention to detail. We have the paintings getting involved
in the fun and even an 'appearance' from the Invisible Book of
Invisibility' which was fun. There was so much attention to detail to
make it feel more like a JK Rowling novel.
There were poignant
moments too, as we get flashes of how James is to meet his fate. After
being attacked by a rat during an adventure Sirius says to James
'That'll probably be the last time a rat ever tries to kill you'. I
found that kind of sad, as was the future glimpse of a scene involving
Harry. I won't spoil it but I did feel a bit sniffly after that!
L
Wilt has certainly got a flair for storytelling and is very good at
putting it together for the reader to flow along with. She pays homage
and respect to the material of JK Rowling but adds things that fit well
into the world. I have no hesitation in recommending that you get
yourself a free copy if you love all things Harry.
What’s it like to be the son of the most famous wizard of all time?
James
Potter thinks he knows, but as he begins his own adventure at Hogwarts,
he discovers just how much of a challenge it really is to live up to
the legend of the great Harry Potter. As if it wasn’t enough dealing
with the delegates from the American wizarding school and figuring out
the mysteriously polite Slytherins, James and his new friends, Ralph and
Zane, begin to uncover a secret plot that could pit the Muggle and the
Magical worlds against each other in all-out war.
Now, with the
help of Ted Lupin and his band of merry mischief makers (The Gremlins),
James must race to stop a war that could change the world forever. His
only hope is to learn the difference between being a hero and being the
son of a hero.
My Review:
The opening of this book felt more like an imitation of Reservoir dogs where the criminals had colour coded names that they didn't like. In the film Mr Brown complains that he hates his colour and wants to be something cooler. In this book, Mr Grey complains that he isn't a real colour and wants to be Mr Purple. There seemed little point to the conversation as they two guys were cannon fodder anyway so why it was added was a mystery to me.
The American boy, quite frankly, is the worst steriotype of his country-loud, brash, annoying, with more money than sense. He bugged the hell out of me every time he opened his mouth and I can't imagine wanting to be friends with this asshat. He takes the piss out of everything British and is a self obsessed loser who does not fit into the Hogwarts that I know and love. Had he been a good character, I would have had no problem with an American student at the school. After all, Draco had considered going to Durmstrang. I found the whole Gremlin story to be annoying, weird and irritating. The characters like Teddy who are mentioned fleetingly in the Deathly Hallows final scene, are morons with no real character development to make you like them in any way.
We are constantly told how James has to live up to Harry and his legacy. In fact we get our skulls bashed in about it every few pages until I was sick of hearing about the great Harry Potter.
The worst thing though, was the complete disregard for JK Rowling's writing. For me, if you are writing fan fiction, you should stay true to the world that the author wrote. Yes, add your own spin to the story but don't change things that are part of Hogwarts lore. The house elves were frequently seen and sneered at. No, because a good house elf is never seen in the castle. We know they do the cleaning when the students go to bed. We know the tables are magically filled by house elves in the kitchen who send it up but are not seen during the meal.
The Gryffindor boys of all ages are sharing a dorm room so Teddy is in with James. This would never be happening at a normal boarding school and it certainly never happened at Hogwarts. A rule change like this is unworkable. You can't have 17 year old wizards having to share with 11 year olds! And explain to me how in the heck a first year is having classes with older students???? James and Teddy can't have classes together for the obviou reason of magical experience!!! New students who struggle to learn to float a feather cannot be having classes with experienced students who have six years or seven years learning behind them. It's insane! He rewrites the rules on EVERYTHING: a form of driving tests for brooms, Quidditch on weekdays, changing the laws of apparating, and not allowing people to move into portraits unless it is another portrait of themselves! It all just left me screaming and saying 'that's WRONG' every few pages. Has the author really read the Harry Potter books???
Then we have the new inventions of electronics working instead Hogwarts-well, occasionally working it seems. No no and no. Wizards have magic. Muggles have gadgets, Never the twain shall meet. Wizards don't need all this stuff. One of the reasons we loved Hogwarts is because it was a different world where everything was new and magical. This author seems determined to mugglify and Americanize Hogwarts and for me it does not work in any capacity. Hogwarts is British and if you are going to write about a British school, do your homework on it and not make it some version of an American school just because that is what you know best.
I found it interesting to hear that the author isn't always happy at people saying that he has ruined Harry Potter by making all his changes. 'The Canon Police'? Really? Buddy, it's quite simple. If you write fan fiction where you change established rules and routines that people loved in the original story, and then get yourself as much attention as possible for your work/put it up on Goodreads, you KNOW it will be compared to the original world. I'm not saying don't write it but you must be prepared for people not liking your changes, so don't moan about it. If you go looking for people to read your work, you are going to get positive and negative reviews. Promoting your fan fiction work is even riskier. I have nothing against fan fiction itself, though I don't have time to read much of it, and small changes to plot or giving attention to characters that we never saw much of(ie Neville's parents) is fine. But changing big things will get fans backs up. Go and write something original instead if you don't like the response!
This was not good fan fiction in my book. The author did not refer to the books or in my opinion, honour the Harry Potter world. If you want to read a great example of fan fiction, one that does justice to Hogwarts and the characters, I have provided a link to the work of L Wilt. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13509032-james-potter-and-the-bolt-of-ages
And no, I have no connection to L Wilt. I just loved his/her book!
