R & R

Did some R & R. Not rest and relax but reviewing and reading. I was reviewing the reviews I have received as a book review editor and as a break from reviewing, I was reading my favourite genre - supernatural in Chinese language. :) 

War Hawk by James Rollins

I just realised that James Rollins has a new book out, War Hawk. Need to find time to get it and read it!

Secret Garden

The Secret Garden I am going to talk about is not The Secret Garden, the novel but the colouring book. :) Yes, adult colouring books is the trend, the craze now. 
I have the Secret Garden colouring book for a while now but never found the time to start on it until now. It is supposed to make me calm but I have a perfectionist steak in me so you can guess what happened haha. :P

Book Reviews

This weekend is reserved for working on my review editor work. I have at least 5 book reviews lined up for my reading and editing if necessary. Hope to get half of the reviews read and edited.  

The Passage & The Twelve by Justin Cronin

Tried out a new author, Justin Cronin. 
Read his "The Passage" and it was GOOD! A totally engrossing tale of catastrophe and survival in a futuristic America overrun by vampire-like creatures. Cronin is not like James Rollins or Matthew Reilly who fill their pages with lots of action-packed adventure. But Cronin draws you into his book even without tons of physical action (don't worry, there are some action in the book lol). He looks deep into human nature and the way he bonded us to the characters is in itself an adventure!     
Reading the sequel, The Twelve now.

The Blood Gospel by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell

I finally got my hands on The Blood Gospel, the first-ever collaboration between James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell. It is the first novel in The Order of the Sanguines series and only released recently on 8 January 2013! I better make sure my Kindle is fully charged so that I read through the night! Lol :)

Bloodline - Read!

I have finished reading Bloodline by James Rollins! It has only been less than 48 hours since I got the e-book and it was in between work, having meals and sleeping when I could read it. Rollins, as usual, has written another page-turner book that compels you to finish it. 

It is the usual team from the Sigma Force, with the addition of two new characters, a former Army Ranger Captain Tucker Wayne and his military war dog, Kane. What's really interesting and unusual are the depth of these two new characters and the POV sections from Kane. Tucker and Kane definitely brought another new dimension to the novel. I hope to see more of them in future Sigma Force novels. :)

Bloodline is a non-stop thrill ride that just leaves you wanting more. Gosh, it is going to be such a LONG WAIT before the next Sigma Force book. That is the consequence of reading Rollins' books too quickly!

Bloodline by James Rollins

James Rollins has a new thriller out, Bloodline. It is the latest book in the SIGMA series. I can't wait to start reading it!! :)

Hardcover Book Binding

I received news yesterday that I could go ahead to hard bind my thesis and submit 3 copies of it by 4 May. Now, I finally feel I am a Dr. :) 

PS. Just sent 3 copies of my thesis for hardcover binding at Queensway Shopping Centre. I can collect them on 2 May. 

Book Chapter

I am co-writing a book chapter with my boss and another researcher. My first time! Really excited. :) Writing a chapter for a book is very different from being a co-editor for a book. My former boss gave me the opportunity to be a co-editor for a book. It seemed a relatively easier job as I only needed to edit the various chapters and send back to the authors for amendments/ revisions. Now being the co-author, there is a lot more work to do. :P

Level 26 by Anthony Zuiker with Duane Swierczynski

I read a novel, Level 26 by Anthony Zuiker (the creator of CSI, CSI:Miami, CSI:NY) with Duane Swierczynski. It is a crime novel but it is revolutionary in that it went beyond a simple novel. It is a whole new experience to reading a novel.

Level 26 is a digi-novel, the world's first at that! After every 20 odd pages of reading, you have the option to watch a cyber-bridge which is a short motion-picture footage which links one chapter to the next chapter visually. Level 26 not only has the movie footage (20 footage) within the novel, there is also an entire social community created, Level26.com where Level 26 readers or Level 26ers can connect with each other, watch behind-the-scenes footage, get production stills, meet Zuiker and the cast, partake in contests, participate in forum discussions, and even contribute ideas for characters and plot for Books 2 and 3 of Level 26! Level 26 is not just a novel, or just a movie or just a social community, it all three combined into one that makes it such a unique way of experiencing a crime novel. :) However, there is a downside to reading Level 26. You need to have a notebook around so that you can easily access the cyber-bridges or the movie footage. Of course, you could still read the novel without looking at the footage but the footage make the reading experience all the more richer.

If you love reading crime and thriller, if you love watching crime and thriller and if you love forum discussion, Level 26 is it! You will never read crime novel the same way again. :)

The Demon Child Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

I started reading The Demon Child Trilogy by Jennifer Fallon. Just done with the second book, Treason Keep. The first book is Medalon and now I am waiting for the last book, Harshini. The Demon Child storyline reminds me of David Eddings' The Elenium Trilogy and The Tamuli Trilogy which I totally enjoyed and I have not managed to find another fantasy series as good until now. :)

The Demon Child Trilogy has fantasy, action, adventure, magic, politics and somehow something about old-fashion battles fought with armour and swords has a certain charm for me lol. Think 300. Ok fine, they have no armour hahaha. :P The Demon Child Trilogy is definitely engaging and you won't want to put the books down until you have reach the last page. :)

Pleasure Reading

I am reading this book, The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chunk Hogan. Yes, Del Toro, the director of The Devil's Backbone, Hellboy, Hellboy II, Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth lol. The Strain is Book 1 of The Strain trilogy. Gosh, the book is really gripping. I haven't finish reading it yet but I know I can't wait to read the next 2 books!

I am also waiting to read the 6th Sigma Force thriller, The Doomsday Key by James Rollins and the latest Pendergast thriller, Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. :)

Terminal Freeze by Lincoln Child

I have finished reading Terminal Freeze. :) Although it is predictable in the usual style of Child lol, it is still really engaging. I just couldn't stop reading the book, one chapter after another, wanting to know what happens next lol.

Terminal Freeze tells of a group of scientists who found something astonishing up in the Arctic Circle. But the find was not what they thought and things started to go wrong... Child combined science and Native American mythology to great effect and makes Terminal Freeze a chilling thriller. No puns intended lol. :P

If you like Relic, you will enjoy reading Terminal Freeze. :)

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

It is a breath of fresh air, The Majesty's Dragon. It is fantasy, adventure, and history (alternate history, a kind of parallel dimension/ world if you like) all rolled into one. The dragons are what gave life and essence to the story. The dragons have their own personalities, characteristics, thoughts, ideas, ... The dragons are no mere side-kicks but the main characters too like their human counterparts.

In story of The Majesty's Dragon, dragons are well and alive. What we know as the Air Force in this history is known as the Aerial Corps, in the alternate history during the 18th Century, in The Majesty's Dragon. Instead of fighting aboard aircrafts, the pilots or the aviators as known in the story fought on the backs of dragons! The aerial combats and maneuvers by dragons with thinking abilities are definitely a lot more exciting than those executed by aircrafts. :) (No offence intended to aircraft lovers out there)

The Majesty's Dragon is a joy to read. I think folks who read books by Dale Brown, David Hagberg, Stephen Coonts who write about military, action, aviation stories might find Naomi Novik's Temeraire series interesting if they give this genre (fantasy, adventure, history) a chance. :) I am now reading the second book in the series, Throne of Jade. :)

The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik

I recently started reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. It is the first book of the Temeraire series: a fantasy series set in an alternate history during the Napoleonic era. The story has dragons in it as indicated in its title lol. His Majesty's Dragon has been really addictive and the action sequences are unbelievable. I would never have guessed that the air battles between dragons could be so much more interesting than dogfights between combat planes! Haha. :P

I will write a book review of it when I am done reading it. :) Hopefully I won't be too overwhelmed with work to do that. :P

The Last Oracle - Rollins

I managed to get my hands on the latest Rollins book - The Last Oracle. It is one of the Sigma Force novels so you will have the regular characters such as Commander Gray Pierce, Director Painter Crowe, Kat Bryant, Dr Lisa Cummings, and Joe Kowalski who was from the last Sigma Force novel, The Judas Strain.

In this latest installment of the Sigma Force novel, there is no lack of fast-paced meld of action and intrigue taking Commander Pierce and his team from United States to India to Ukraine. There is also a parallel story happening in Russian Federation to a dear friend thought lost to all. The two stories finally converged at the end.

I really enjoyed reading this novel because there are elements of history (ancient Greek and modern history), learning disability, parapsychology, adventure, and mystery. All the things that I am very familiar with or have a deep interest in. :) I think this is the best novel among the Simga Force novels (then again, I might be bias because of my personal interests in this novel lol). Amidst the intense adventure and action, there are comic reliefs too, provided mainly by Kowalski. There may also be a new regular character in the next Sigma Force novel. :)

Go ahead, read the book since you only need 24 hours to finish it and there is another public holiday coming up. :)

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse

It has been a long time since I last wrote a book review. Well, that doesn't mean I haven't been reading, just that I have been kind of lazy, haha.

Sepulchre is the second book by Kate Mosse that I have read. I enjoyed it as much as the first book. The story in Sepulchre, like in Mosse's first book Labyrinth, is set in two different centuries in France. Although the story telling slips in and out between the 19th century and the 21st century, there is no jarring effect to the story telling. The story is superbly linked the two centuries together by secrets, mystery, murder and the occult.

I enjoyed reading Sepulchre because it has my favourite genres all in one story. I thought it is rather refreshing with the tarot being a major feature in the story. It was almost like having the company of an old friend when I was reading Sepulchre, lol. The tarot feature in the book made the story all the more interesting for me as I read tarot cards. :)

If you like history, mystery, secrets and don't mind a dash of the occult (all in good fun), I think you will find Sepulchre a pretty interesting read. But a fair warning, Sepulchre is quite a thick book so it is not a book that you can finish reading in a matter of a few hours.

The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason

I think I just found another author whose books I will read. :) It was by accident that I saw Gleason's The Gardella Vampire Chronicles, The Rest Falls Away in the library.

As you can tell, it is a book about vampires. One of my favourite kind of read lol. It is kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer except the setting was in the last century, during the Victorian era. It is a refreshing read, that is if you like vampires and things supernatural and also a bit of history. I hope the second book, Rises The Night is available in the library. I can't wait to find out what awaits Victoria, the heroine, the vampire slayer or known as the Venator in the chronicles in the next book.

"Contest" by Matthew Reilly

Despite it being Reilly's first book, I only read "Contest" recently. After reading it, I am most glad that Reilly decided to stick with his style of writing. :)

Contest has a simple storyline. It is about a contest. Yes, exactly as the title said. :) But it is a contest of a different sort that involves, hmmm, other life forms in the most unlikely place ever, the New York Public Library. :) Our main character has been chosen to represent Earth in the contest against his will, with his daughter in tow. In his usual style, or rather, the beginning of his current style, there is a lot of action and excitement. There are also his trademark themes of friendship, loyalty and family. :) I shan't say any more. Read the book. It is easy to start but hard to put down until you have finished with it. :)

Enjoy reading. :)