David Best

For some reason this simply didn't catch fire for me.

Perhaps a little drier than I had expected but an informative read nonetheless.

This is a DNF for me. I have to give up on it because there is no point in having a current read which one is finding any old reason to avoid picking up to read.

The concept seemed interesting, but after several hundred pages I am entirely uninvolved. That it has taken me over a week to read just a few hundred pages says it all. Clearly, it is not for me.

This tale worked for me. Frank Guidry losing his heart over Charlotte was just credible enough. The pacing of the story-telling excellent.

There is a reasonable backstory on the end of humanity but, other than that, this is just a sort of Mad Max for robots.

Initially, I thought I was really going to like this book, but the story did not justify the length, and it began to bore me.

I really liked this shortish book. Poignant and engrossing. Not a word wasted.

In truth a 3.5.

It is not quite the book I was expecting: it begins oddly, for me, with much talk of John Constable painting clouds; however, I felt it improved thereafter, though it became increasingly a mini biography of Fitzroy.

International readers should be prepared for a very UK focused tale.

In truth a 3.5.

It is not quite the book I was expecting: it begins oddly, for me, with much talk of John Constable painting clouds; however, I felt it improved thereafter, though it became increasingly a mini biography of Fitzroy.

International readers should be prepared for a very UK focused tale.

I really liked the story structure but the core of the tale is not as strong as other Higashino books I have read.

Apart from the unnecessary social commentary interventions by Wells, this was an enjoyable, lightly comic novel.

Apart from the unnecessary social commentary interventions by Wells, this was an enjoyable, lightly comic novel.

Though I much preferred the earlier sections of this story, and the end seemed a little rush, I did enjoy it a lot.

A book that seemed to promise big ideas, left me completely cold and a little bored.

If one is dealing with the creation and destruction of civilisations, does one really need to know that two characters ordered meatballs in a restaurant?

Oh, tip for all budding civilisation builders - avoid right-angles! (Perhaps the meatballs were a clue?)

Although this is a relatively short book, it soon wears out its welcome. It becomes evident very early into Robert's story what is going on, but it then takes a long time to get to the end.

A strange mix of gothic horror, morality tale and critique of extreme Calvinism.

So close to a 5 star Wow.

A short, moving, powerful tale about a group of 4 Republicans seeking to evade the hunt of the Franco government forces.

Nothing radical here, but very nicely written and a fresh voice. I really enjoyed the read and will be seeking out the next in the series.

This is a dnf.

I have liked the author's crime books, but I did not enjoy her “chiller” I Remember You. I ought to have learned from that.

I got to half way through this book before giving up: I really had no interest in how the 2 plodding storylines were going to play out.

I had no idea what this book was about when I purchased it; I bought it because it's author is Dan Vyleta.

Had I known the subject matter and not the author in advance, probably I would have been scared off - a Victorian world where people's emotions produce smoke which can affect others.

I thoroughly enjoyed what Mr Vyleta has done with this concept. It had me gripped.

This was a real disappointment for me.

I had no issue with the reversed timeline structure, save: it simply seemed to be a device to hide the fact that there is no mystery, or complex tale here; it is not a true reversed timeline because having read the final chapter (about chapter 26) I had to go back and remind myself of how chapter 6 concluded in order to fit it all together.

I found the writing repetitive and, eventually, rather boring, which is why it took me a lot longer to read this book than it should have done.

This took far longer for me to read than it should have done.

The culprit was obvious.

The style a little plodding even if there was plenty of historical detail.

A little predictable, but a fresh voice. A good read in the page-turner category.

For me a 2.5. I found the tale amusing but not funny. Whilst I liked the writing, I found the ‘‘you have got to love them because their hearts are in the right place'' a little bit too sickly sweet to swallow.

More a collection of short stories than a novel. Having no nautical knowledge, I had to seek out a decent online diagram of a 3 masted frigate in order to gain some understanding of the many terms used.

More a collection of short stories than a novel. Having no nautical knowledge, I had to seek out a decent online diagram of a 3 masted frigate in order to gain some understanding of the many terms used.