Music is back

Hey guys,
I know it's been a super long time since i reviewed any music so this time instead of doing a particular artist, I thought that i would take a quick look at the top 40 highest selling singles of 2014 and see if i agreed with them or not.
These are just my opinions and i don't want rants about how wrong I am. If you don't like what you're reading then just stop reading. We all like different things.

1	HAPPY	PHARRELL WILLIAMS- Truly genius song and well deserving of the top place. Pharrell is a genius (as proven by Blured lines) and the song just has an upbeat happy feel to it that everyone likes. Pharrell has a great voice and really brings something to the song with the higher notes in the song.
2	RATHER BE	CLEAN BANDIT FT JESS GLYNNE-  Justifies it's inclusion on the list but maybe not the best contender for second spot. As i'm listening to it I am dancing and have to admit liking it a lot  but i probably prefer Aloe Blacc's The Man instead.
3	ALL OF ME	JOHN LEGEND- Totally worth this spot. Something calmer and more emotional that has made a sensational breakthrough in music. Keeping just the basics to make a beautiful song. John Legend has a fabulous voice that hits the high notes beautifully and brings people to tears. At not point does he try to force the song.
4	WAVES	MR PROBZ- Another brilliant song. There's sensitivity in this song that other artists lack. It's a tough call but i'd be inclined to budge this up the list instead of rather be but this isn't a list of best songs, rather a list of highest selling songs and the public went for Rather Be more than they did Waves.
5	TIMBER	PITBULL FT KESHA-  A dancy song that makes you want to run like Phoebe from friends and do the funky chicken dance. Timber also has the folk feel from the strings that just makes you want to listen to blue grass and do things that you would never have dared to do before.
6	GHOST	ELLA HENDERSON- Nice to see someone going to back to experiment with different styles of singing. The guitar has the 'Ed Sheeran' feel to it but the vocals sliding in and out is a nice mix to normal things that Ed Sheeran does with his voice. Ella Henderson is like the female challenger to Ed Sheeran and much better.
7	STAY WITH ME	SAM SMITH- Overplayed. Sam Smith has a similar style of voice to Plan B but Stay with me lacked the musical production and quality that She Said had. I like the gospel backing vocals but this song is not as good as everyone thinks. Sam Smith is like Bruno Mars which equals to whinny and pathetic and really not as good as everyone makes out.
8	MY LOVE	ROUTE 94 FT JESS GLYNNE- As i'm listening i am getting the feeling that we've gone back to the nineties with a cracking beat and a few chords. It's definitely electro dance pop but i'm not sure that making club music is really the way to go. There's not enough in this song for me to justify it's inclusion on this list.
9	NOBODY TO LOVE	SIGMA-  not much to say about it. I am happy with where it is and can see why so many people bought thins song. I didn't feel that there was something that made it particularly outstanding but collectively it is worth being there or there abouts.
10	LET IT GO	IDINA MENZEL- one of the highest grossing singles when it was released and a world phenomenen. Instant hit with children and even adults love to sing it when drunk or at a party. Idina Menzel has excelled herself with this song and personally i think that she has set a career best with this song. In my opinion i would swap it with Sam Smith because i think that it's a much better song!
11	HIDEAWAY	KIESZA- not worth it's position on this list. Reminiscent of Angie Browns 1992 I'm Gonna Get You which was cracking and a hit in the nineties. This song has tried to develop the music more but its just not up with the others that are this high on the list.
12	DARK HORSE	KATY PERRY FT JUICY J- Not worth being on this list. Roar was a much better song. Katy Perry cannot pull of doing songs that aren't catchy and dance-able to. Roar had everything including the potential to make really good metal covers and Dark Horse has nothing. I would swap this for Roar and then leave it where it is.
13	SING	ED SHEERAN- I maintain that no Ed Sheeran song should be on this list but i almost liked this song. The problem is the guitar strum that just can't really make it's mind and doesn't quite fit with the drums. It sounds kinda messy but it's nice to see him trying something different... I just wish he would learn how to write lyrics.
14	MONEY ON MY MIND	SAM SMITH- Awefull. Especially the chorus bit. He just has a mess of vocals and does way too much in the song. There is nothing catchy about this song, only irritating. Sam Smith should quit now before he gets worse.
15	I GOT U	DUKE DUMONT FT JAX JONES- yeah..... like ok. Not grabbing me. Something that i would sit in a club having a chat over with a pint in one hand. Not something that i would sing along to and not really justifying it's place unless it was bought by every club worldwide.
16	RUDE	MAGIC- good to see that we are trying to incorporate reggae and Bob Marley back into popular music. One of the better songs on this list. It's got the kosak dance feel to it and enough to make you dance if you were high. This is a better song that it's successor.
17	SUMMER	CALVIN HARRIS- Really Catchy but i have to admit that i've never really been a big fan of Calvin Harris. I don't feel that it's fair to comment on it too much and it's probably just about suited where it is.
18	BUDAPEST	GEORGE EZRA- Has a really catchy chorus that makes up for the rest of the song being just about at par.
19	HEY BROTHER	AVICII- Like all Avicii songs, not a single one is bad. Hey Brother is a different change to 'Wake  me up' which is featuring Aloe Blacc. Instead of using the soul feel, Avicii has gone for a more country feel to this song and it has paid off to perfection. Thoroughly deserving of it's place on the list, but it should be higher and be above Ed Sheeran.
20	I WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN	RITA ORA- Nice. got a good feel to it and a happy feel to it. I love the style of it and the feel to the song. I would push this higher up the list, it's better than some of those directly above it.
21	PROBLEM	ARIANA GRANDE FT IGGY AZALEA- again i wasn't a huge fan of this song. Sometimes i hear a song that everyone is talking about and I just can't see the hype in it.
22	FEELIN' MYSELF	WILL I AM/CYRUS/KHALIFA- another god aweful song. Nothing to it. I expected more from WILL I AM being the producer that he is. It's just lacking in every way.
23	SAY SOMETHING	A GREAT BIG WORLD/AGUILERA- absolutely beautiful and much better with Christina. It's a lovely single without her but she adds the quality that brings people to tears in this duet. They sing so much pain that everyone has felt and Christina makes it real for everyone. It's hard to push it higher because it doesn't have that upbeat feel that makes people listen to it on repeat. You need to be in a certain mood to listen to it again and again.
24	FANCY	IGGY AZALEA FT CHARLI XCX- not a fan. I disliked it from the moment it started. Even Brittany Speers is better than this! Should be moved down on the list to the bottom.
25	HOW LONG WILL I LOVE YOU	ELLIE GOULDING- A solid contender for the spot it has been given. Ellie Goulding has class and shows it all the time in this song.
26	ONLY LOVE CAN HURT LIKE THIS	PALOMA FAITH- a massive thumbs up to Paloma Faith! Stunning song. The musical production is fantastic and her singing is exquisite. Should be moved up to where WILL I AM is.
27	TRUMPETS	JASON DERULO- Good enough to be on this list but not better than The Man. I know that this is showing what the public felt but i'm going to disagree with the people of the wold out there.
28	THE MAN	ALOE BLACC - Should be higher on the list. Upbeat and feel good is Aloe Blacc. Everyone wants to clap their hands together and start dancing with this song. It's a much better song than the public make it out to be. Aloe Blacc is better than everyone thinks and should be given more recognition.
29	LOYAL	CHRIS BROWN/LIL WAYNE/TYGA- Possibly the worst song on this list. Not deserving to be bought by anyone ever.
30	AM I WRONG	NICO & VINZ- much better than Chris Brown. Should be moved up several places and should be given more credit than it has been. I like this song a lot. Maybe not more than Paloma Faith but I still really like it and it should be moved up several places.
31	SHE LOOKS SO PERFECT	5 SECONDS OF SUMMER- Typical cheesy boy band with aweful hair and guitar so far down that they can hardly play them. The lyrics are aweful but the music is catchy. These guys kinda have a one direction feel about them but slightly better. Plus the video was totally unnecessary.
32	READY FOR YOUR LOVE	GORGON CITY FT MNEK- should be moved up a place. Got a nice feel to it and good music behind it. This is how club music should be done!
33	DRUNK IN LOVE	BEYONCE FT JAY-Z- yeah not that great. Her album a few years was much better. It's not that it's bad... its different and lacking in several things such as real sustainability in the music behind. It does build up but it doesn't draw you in in the same way that something like Crying for no reason does.
34	GECKO (OVERDRIVE)	OLIVER HELDENS & BECKY HILL- a difficult one to judge. I can't decide if i actually like it or not. There's no denying that he's got potential as a singer but i'm just not sure about the music behind it... it's a bit hit and miss.
35	DANGEROUS LOVE	FUSE ODG FT SEAN PAUL-  the first fifteen seconds are already better than Gecko Overdrive. I admit that it gets worse after those 20 seconds or so but even so. It should be moved up at least one place as its much better than Oliver Heldens and possibly better than Beyonce but not better than Am i wrong.
36	COUNTING STARS	ONEREPUBLIC - the song that everyone was talking about and singing. Counting stars deserves to be where Sam Smith's money on my mind is as it is a much better song in every way.
37	CRAZY STUPID LOVE	CHERYL COLE FT TINIE TEMPAH- not a massive fan of Cheryl Cole but liked this song. Am a fan of Tinnie Tempah so all is good. Should be moved up past Beyonce.
38	CRYING FOR NO REASON	KATY B- I'm a huge fan of this song which is something that people may not have expected me to say given that i'm a metal fan. Crying for no reason has a stroke of brilliance in the music to it. The lyrics are powerful and Katy's vocals are powerful and meaningful. She could go on to be the next Elvis with her similar style of singing in a way that expresses clearly what she thinks. Deserved more than it got and more than it is getting. Should be replacing Ed Sheeran on this list.
39	WIGGLE	JASON DERULO FT SNOOP DOGG- A big hit with teenagers who only have one thing on their mind. In a way it kinda reminded me of Shaggy's Wasn't Me a decade or so ago. The songs are of a similar nature and i'm sorry but anyone who sings 'cos you know what to do with that big fat but' isn't worthy of a higher place.
40	STAY HIGH	TOVE LO- the lyrics are crap and the song isn't that great. I'd be more tempted to put Friday on the bottom of this list instead. This song has it's moments but not enough of them.

Seconds

Finally!!!
I finished seconds yesterday and I was quite impressed with it. I have to admit that at first I was slightly confused by it and wasn't really sure if he really had a plot to work with but i guess that Bryan Lee O'Malley always surprises.
The story is weird and it does kinda feel like he didn't really have anything to work with except food but even so he manages to make a rather excellent comic from it!

I do love how he manages to get what has become his signature trademark quote of 'bread makes you fat' in all his comics! It's true that bread does make you fat but thanks to the film and the comics, the nerds and comic lovers of this world have all learnt that bread makes us fat.

The story is simple, Katy is a chef and having been successful with one restaurant, she is now opening another which is taking more money than she has. An accident happens at work and she starts eating mushrooms (never a good idea) and changing her history until she has changed it so many times that she is completely confused and no longer really knows anything. Eventually she gets back to her original life and decides to just live with it. She pays more than she wanted to for her restaurant but it opens, she gets the man that she wanted and the restaurant does well, so all's well in the end.

Seconds has just come out and my sister actually went to see Bryan Lee O'Malley and got her book signed by him (which i promptly stole and read).

Loved it!

Killing Joke

I read Arkham Asylum over a year ago and have to admit that I haven't really read any other Batman since. I switched towards the league of extraordinary gentlemen and then stopped reading graphic novels altogether.
So... what did I make of it??
It was Graphic (NO WAY!!!) and occasionally I feel that graphic novels take it too far just because of the name but appart from that I loved it.
The Joker keeps escaping and tries to turn commissioner Gordon insane but he doesn't manage it thanks to batman. There was less in it than in Arkham asylum but i still spent a lot of time stroking the hardback copy in my room. I know that for most of us the Joker is the best character in Batman and he doesn't disappoint in these graphic novels.
This is an Alan Moore novel and therefore worth reading. Whilst it's easy to have an idea of what the plot was in my head, it's not easy to really write it down so i'd just recommend that if you're a batman fan and haven't read it, do.

Pyramids

I did say that the next post would be Pratchett,

I have been reading this book for several months. I guess you're wondering why it has taken me so long and the answer is because i left it in one of my houses and only read it when i was in that house and i spent half my week in a different house so therefore i could only read it for a few nights at best.

For years the talk around the dinner table in my house has been about Pratchett, quoting and discussing various plots and the board games. So for ages the talk was about this name that Pratchett had given a place and this name took my sister ages to work out that it was Jelly Baby spelt Djellibabe (or something to that effect). Anyway, I had not made the connection until i read this book and I have to say that i had no trouble reading it for what it was so i don't know what my sister was going on about but anyway.
Like all early Pratchett books, this is a comical and very entertaining book. I struggle a lot with Pratchett because there is a lot of writing, no pictures and a small font. Occasionally I get so confused with what is going on that I just give up and move on to the next in the series but not with this one. I loved this one from start to finish and hope that the next one which is guards guards will be just as entertaining.
I read guards guards ten years ago and can't remember anything about it so it should be fun!
The only book that I have read which hasn't been on a level with the Death novels is the first one: The colour of Magic. I found it difficult to get my head around but from then onwards I have really enjoyed his novels. What I have enjoyed most is that you can read them in any order because some novels are character related and others aren't particularly so you can just pick a book and start with it and work your way around in any order.
I know that he had a new book out last year or the year before and I heard that it wasn't that good but come on, he's written like thirty of these books so he's probably reaching his limit in terms of character development and decent story line.
Anyway- greatly looking forward to the next book in the Pratchett series.
Next post will be on Bryan Lee O'Malley's latest book Seconds.

The Books of Magic

These are a series of comics by Neil Gaiman and I think that they were made into a graphic novel like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
These comics are about magicians. A young boy called Timothy has the potential to be a great magician and in each comic he is shown a different part of magic by a different type of magician. He explores the past and the future as well as alternate worlds.
Each comic has it's own sub story and makes for really excellent reading. As soon as you finish one you automatically pick up the next to see what is going to happen in the next comic.
The art work is fantastic and the story is gripping. I loved it, maybe more than neverwhere!

Lost at sea

Bryan Lee O'Malley's first book since the Scott Pilgrim series.

This is still a comic style book and equally as good as Scott Pilgrim. A young girl is in a minibus with a few people that she went to high school with and she is explaining how they are going to Canada and that she came from Canada originally. This girl is also not friends with any of the people on the bus but she's doing ok.
As the story goes on, we learn a little about her history and of course Bryan Lee O'malley has the great idea to incorporate the idea of the girls soul being inside a cat instead of her body- so in the middle of the book they all go on a search randomly in the middle of the night to find her soul by capturing as many cats as they can so that she can stare at them and determine which one has her soul.
On the trip she is told that she is cool and eventually things don't matter anymore.
I thoroughly enjoyed it- almost as much as i enjoyed all the Scott Pilgrim books.
Bryan Lee O'malley is doing a talk in London relatively soon and his new book also comes out soon!!

It's been a while

I know it's been a while- Sorry about that.

I've been caught up with my film blog and also been struggling to fit two blogs in with work and other projects.

I will keep updating my Homer post and any other posts that I have started but not yet finished. 

Anyway- I've struggled to read (it find it hard to read) but now i have found my medium which is graphic novels. I've read about 6 in a day and i'm loving getting back into reading them.

So this post is about Neil Gaiman's neverwhere. 

I'm told that the book is epic but i haven't actually read the book- only the graphic novel. I'll be honest and say that most of the graphic novels I have just read where Neil Gaiman but i'm looking to branch out into other ones as well so keep watching this space and i'll keep adding posts about other graphic novels.

So what can I say about Neverwhere? The art is amazing. I could just stare at the chapter pages all day instead of reading the book and be quite content. 

The story is about a woman who lives below London. Her family were all killed by two men who were hired to kill the entire family. She is trying to find out who wanted to kill her and then destroy him. Lady Door keeps running. Her power is that she can open doors. Anyway, she falls out of a door and is discovered by a man called Richard Mayhew lying on the streets. Richard is a normal man who has a boring job and is engaged to an important woman. When Richard helps this woman he ceases to exist in london above. 

Desperate to get his life back, he tracks down Lady Door and joins her on her quest to find her killer. Along the way he discovers that he does have a use, he can fight.

The novel takes you through Earls court and Knightsbridge. 

Neil Gaiman takes the london underground, mashes it up with his imagination and creates something truly remarkable. Full credit to the artists that are responsible for creating the world that you can see on paper in front of you- it is truly amazing.

I know some of you guys might want me to post about 'real' books again but unfortunately i'm slowly working through Terry Pratchett's 'The Discworld Novels' and they are taking me a while to read. I'm only half way through Pyramids, having read only Equal Rites and Sorcery this year. When i finish it, i'll post about it but it will take a while because books with no pictures take me a while to read and understand.

The tale of a dog called Rover

It's been a while and even longer since i've been and bought a book from a bookshop.
I'm a Tolkien fan, but had never read anything except the Lord of the rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. My sister recommended the book to me as a short story intended for children (perhaps she was trying to imply something!).
Anywho- this is a book written about a Dog called Rover. Rover bites a wizards trousers and suffers the consequences. The wizard (who's name is too complicated to spell) puts a spell on Rover to make him wooden toy sized. This story is about how Rover gets back to being his normal size.
If you read the introduction to the story, it tells you about how Tolkien made up this story for his son when his wooden toy dog went missing after he and his brother went for a walk along the beach when they were on holiday. Tolkien really uses his imagination to create characters such as the man in the moon and sand king Psamoth. Rover's adventures on the moon are something similar to the character moonface in the magic faraway tree and the kind of adventures that you can imagine taking place there.
This book is really easy to read and really enjoyable. There's nothing particularly complicated about it (unlike The Lord Of The Rings), it just seems to be a simple childs story with the moral... don't bite wizards trousers. I think it's similar to the brilliant Gandalf quote in The Lord Of The Rings: "Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger".
I loved reading it and I don't want to give anything else away about it!
The only other thing to mention is that the cover is really awesome!

What About Now

I know that at the moment I am doing more music reviews than book reviews. This is because I am writing a long in-depth post on Jonson's 'Volpone' and I am trying to update and finish my post from a few years ago on 'The Odyssey'.

I watched Bon Jovi play live yesterday and suddenly realised that they have released a new album. So I'm going to review it- afterall it is the first real rock album that i've reviewed in my blogs!

We owe so much to Bon Jovi. All their songs are anthems and I'm told that they are truly amazing live! I'm desperate to go to their concerts and sing you give love a bad name as loudly as i possibly can! Songs like Livin' on a Prayer, It's my life, Wanted Dead Or Alive and You Give Love A Bad Name are the most commonly known songs and the most requested in sing-a-longs. These songs get you through crap times and motivate you all the time.

What amazes me is that they have never produced a bad album! Of course there are some songs that are better than others, but they don't have a bad album. Another amazing point is that i have never heard a cover of Livin on a prayer. There are some songs that shouldn't be covered and everyone seems to accept that this is one of them!

So 'What About Now' was released in March 2013. The song What About Now has a similar feel to Two Story Town or Say It Isn't So. It's got a calmer, more relaxing feel to it that is often associated with Bon Jovi . It shows their ability to really sing and keep writing songs in the same style. Sometimes we hear bands and we think that all their songs sound the same.... Bon Jovi songs all sound like Bon Jovi songs, but they don't sound the same. They incorporate the styles of Bon Jovi but manage to adapt and make every song a new song.

All their songs are catchy and easy to listen to, but a personal favourite of mine is #2 on their album "I'm with You". It sticks in my head easily and incorporates everything I liked about It's my Life and You Give Love A Bad Name. I wouldn't say that it is the best ever Bon Jovi song- I don't think that they will ever outdo 'Livin On A Prayer', but they are still meeting the exceptionally high standards they have set for themselves over the previous 11 album.

I have to admit that I almost forget about the existence of their 2009 album 'The Circle'. I do know some songs off of it such as 'We weren't born to follow' and 'Brokenpromiseland', but they just don't spring in to my mind when i think of Bon Jovi, not like Bad Medicine. Their album wasn't bad- they aren't capable of producing a bad album, i just forgot to listen to it on loop because at that time, a lot of things were due to come out such as 'The Final Frontier', 'Death Magnetics' and 'Black Ice'.

Because I stopped reading Kerrang!, I stopped becoming informed about new albums and therefore didn't realise that Bon Jovi had released another album. So this is a reason why you should carry on reading Kerrang! and keep following bands that you like.

My final point is about his voice! He sounds like a trained singer and has managed to keep his voice exceptionally well. It has a mystical tone to it that manages rock exceptionally well but also does acoustic songs beautifully. I know they did a cover of hallelujah, which i really liked and if Romeo And Juliet wasn't such a good song to start with and on the list of songs that should never be covered, i would go as far as to suggest that they could do a really good cover of it!

Ignore the ratings that magazines gave to this album- all Bon Jovi albums are better than 3 stars and this one is no exception!

Steeleye Span- Wintersmith

Following on from my other music reviews... i thought that i would do an album that has recently been released that is based on a book!
My chosen topic (so to speak) is 'Wintersmith' by Steeleye Span, which is based on the book 'Wintersmith' by Terry Pratchett. He collaborated with them on the lyrics.
For those of you that don't know who Steeleye Span are, just as I didn't until they released this album... they are a kind of electric folk group. They use the traditional folk instruments but also have a slightly more electric and rock like feel to them.

I've got to be honest and say that i've really only hear the whole of two songs: 'The dark Morris song' and 'Wintersmith-you'. Even if like me, you haven't read Wintersmith, you can still easily enjoy the music. What makes their songs unusual are the female vocals. They are perfect for the song, but you probably wouldn't hear them anywhere else except in this band. Folky with light rock but i still can't really make up my mind on the vocals.

Anyway... I should be talking about the music. 'Wintersmith-you' is more of a ballad, and a great one at that. calm and more traditionally like the folk that you would associate with Simon and Garfunkel.
'The Dark Morris Song' has more of the rock/folk feel to it and has a really catchy chorus part. This is the song in which you have the slightly unusual vocals. I'm told that the vocals and the music fit the song perfectly based on the book. I'll take their word for it because i can't possibly comment.
If the rest of the album is anything like this song... it's going to be one hell of an album! I absolutely love listening to this song and walk around singing it all the time.
If you are like me and haven't read the book, listening to this album will help encourage you to read the book!
This is the link... listen to it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfEUBJLZSHw

Mort

So I thought that i'd carry on with the fantasy style books by posting about Terry Pratchett's Mort.

Pratchett's discworld novels contain a lot of characters, but you can separate them by character. Mort is the first discworld novel about the character DEATH.
If any of you have seen the film 'Hogfather'.. it is another Death novel.
Mort was also made into a musical and put on in the rose theatre in Richmond a few years ago.

Plot:
DEATH takes on an apprentice: Mort. Death's job is somewhat like the Grim Reapers. Death comes when you are dying and completes the last step of your death... removing the soul from the body. Death can suspend reality... meaning that he moves through time while effectively, the rest of the world is moving very slowly or has in fact stopped moving.
He trains Mort on how to do this job effectively, how to ride the horse, that Witches and Wizards can see him and are always difficult, and that he has to read the books and look at the hour glasses. On no account whatsoever is he allowed to turn the hour glass up the other way to give someone more life.
So guess what he does!

He is sent to remove the soul of a queen... or almost a queen. A young girl who is about to be killed. Instead, he kills the people that have been sent to kill her and turns over her hour glass.

Then the story really happens...
Death has adopted a daughter... guess what? She falls in love with Mort, Death turns over her hour glass.

Death has a wizard living in his house called albert. He is there because he will die if he goes back into the real world. His time was up and he refused to die.


I have to be honest and say that I never really got into Terry Pratchett. I started reading them when I was about 8 or 9 and that's too young to be reading his work. I started off by reading all the ones about DEATH and have now moved on to some of his others. There are a lot and I have a long way to go but i'm gradually doing it! If you haven't read any of his discworld novels, I suggest that you start like I did and read the ones about DEATH first.
Pratchett has possibly an acquired sense of humour, but the more you read, the more that you will understand so long as you accept the fact that it's all mostly made up and mostly completely insane!
One last thing... The album 'Wintersmith' has just been released and Terry Pratchett collaborated with the band Steeleye Span because the album is about his book 'Wintersmith'.

Gemmell

David Gemmell:

Troy Trilogy:

The Lord Of The Silver Bow:

Opening up the novel and reading the first few pages was something really difficult for me. The pages weren’t very self explanatory and i found myself not knowing what was going on and was very tempted to put the book back down...DON'T! The beginning is intriguing and a novel that explains the entire novel in the opening chapter is not worth reading past the first chapter in my opinion.  Gemmell has made it so that we have to keep reading to find out what the first part of the book is about.

As the book opens up and I realised there were 4 small books in the novel, I really had to fight to convince myself that this was going to be worth reading! Fantasy, Love, Death, Revenge and Mythology all in one novel, how could someone fit that many themes into just one novel? By intertwining the themes into each other and by allowing the genre of the novel to play a small part in to novel, small but none the less important!

I am ashamed to admit that I had pushed off David Gemmell for such a long time, everything I love to read about is in this novel and as an opener to the trilogy; Gemmell produces a fantastic opener that really makes you want to pick up the next part as soon as you finish the first part! Well done to Gemmell for producing such awesome novels!

Shield of Thunder:

The seccond novel in the 3 part series! absolutely fantastic! the time changes that close down the boredom that could otherwise be found in this novel to keep the action and excitement going is simply incredible! More action, more drama, everything is still here, carrying on from where he left off in the first novel- Gemmell creates an even more thrilling 2nd part to this novel ending with a cliff hanger like ending to make us want to grab the remaining book and just keep reading!

Fall of Kings:

This third novel is an amazing finish to the series written by David Gemmell and Finished by Stella Gemmell! The fall of kings really talks about what the title is, the battle for troy and the fall of many warriors to defeat the on going threat from myken king Agemnon  to restore peace and order in the world and to start a new line of Kings.

Dont want to say any more that might spoil the book- read it and find out!

Moving along:

The Swords of Night and Day

An Earlier novel by David Gemmel consisting of his usual fantasy and mythology action/romance.

At the start of this novel, I felt that Gemmel had failed to capture his audience in any way; that is to say that I wanted to put the book down because I couldn’t understand the point of the novel or anything that had really happened and I felt that I knew what was coming later on and didn’t want to read on when the novel was so easy to predict, however I was wrong.

This Novel takes a while to get in to but like many other slow starting novels, it contains something absolutely fantastic that is impossible to take your eyes off of. By the end of the novel, you are wishing there was another one to carry on from because the end half of the novel is simply breathtaking and filled with everything you look for in a David Gemmel novel.

For all those obsessed with sword play and games such as Age of Empires and old fashioned mythology, this definitely is the novel for you. Films such as Troy and Gladiator only slightly put in to perspective the style of sword play used in that era and David Gemmel helps to explain in detail what’s missing from those films by creating characters that can handle multiple swords and are completely undefeated in battle.

So now we ask ourselves, if they are completely undefeated in battle, why should we bother to read about it because we know that the hero will win and everything will be ok? Or we ask ourselves, because the hero is un beatable, does that mean that he will die in the end of the novel? I answer these questions for us, Gemmel creates and un beatable hero and Villain so that it’s not a typical ending to a novel and now asks us the questions : if there are two un beatable warriors, who will win?

The ending of the novel makes up for the slow start of the novel and by far, when the characters develop, this is not a book to be put down however I do feel that this book is a sign of Gemmell’s work in progress towards novels such as Troy and Ravenhart that take the form of some of his ideas in this novel but expand and develop them in a way that Gemmel wasn’t able to do with the plot of this novel.

I encourage all of you readers out there to pick up this book and to persevere with it to find the adventure and satisfaction that you are searching for in this type of novel.