Simon

Was that women’s cancer cured by prayer? Is that young man with asthma a killer or a victim? Was The Hound of the Baskervilles originally going to be set in border between England and Wales? Will an Arthur Conan Doyle appreciation society be able to contact the spirit of the author and find out? Is that women working in the struggling hotel really a teenage killer now grown up? Will Gomer be able to get his tractor through the snow? Who or what is killing the sheep? And for the love of God will you just marry Lol and get it over with!!!!

These are the kerfuffle's that Merrily Watkins (local vicar and chain smoking exorcist) must solve to bring peace and tranquillity back to the county of Herefordshire. This was pretty good, dragged in the middle a little and the ending was a little bit Scooby Doo, but I just love the characters so much any failings just seem to flutter away.

"People can do terrible things when they feel safe and powerful"

The two books I read before this one were full of hate and prejudice, so this was this perfect antidote to that. I guess three words to describe this book would be.

REALLY REALLY LOVELY

Everything is lovely, the crew are lovely (ok there’s a miserable one who works with algae but in the end even he’s quite lovely). the people they meet and the planets they visit are all really quite lovely. When the ship gets raided, the raiders do it in a lovely agreeable way. Even the ships computer is lovely and is actually called Lovelace (shortened to lovey).

Ok, so why I didn’t give this 5 stars. First off, I did love these great fables about morality and tolerance that are told by the characters, and I don’t think I've come across a sci-fi book, or any book for that matter, that is so easy to read. However, when I got towards the end, the cuddliness did start to wear a bit thin and that’s only because it makes the sci-fi elements feel a little superficial.

Overall, really enjoyed it, really really lovely. It's like being wrapped a huge blanket, and I’m ordering the next one right now, and I really hope its really really lovely like this one was.

Neither loved it or hated it. Very well written, but just a bit mid-range depressed pigeon staring at a semi deflated dirty paddling pool. Probably didn't help that my house has been invaded by a hyperactive builder called Andy who's entire medical history and love of heavy metal music is now engrained in my brain for all eternity. Although I will say, he does lay good felt.

There's a few of Stephen King's earlier books that I've never read so I'm going back and filling in some of the gaps. This was released in 1979 and is probably more eye-openingly unsettling now that it was back then.

Johnny can see the a persons future just by touching them, and when he shakes the hand of an up coming politician he sees a horrifying glance into the future. The big dilemma here is what do, and will what you do make a difference.

Probably up there with his best books, even at 460 pages (mass market edition) it felt like a quick read. I didn't give it 5 and that purely down to the fact that I already knew the story and outcome before hand.

A disillusioned teen, a terminal cancer patient, a pregnant woman on the run from an abusive husband and a telepathic alien octopus called Sandy who has fled to earth after his home world (one of Saturn’s moons) was invaded by a bunch of terrifying crows.

Chased across Scotland by a shadowy organisation and a psycho husband, they end up in Ullapool where they find the rest of Sandy’s octopi friends hiding under Loch Broom. What does it all mean? I have no idea.

This was right up my street, full of wonderment, life affirming moments and of course completely and utterly bonkers. Definitely exciting enough to make me run for book 2.