Rae of Light

In 2016 I resolved to set myself a reading challenge through Goodreads . This first challenge saw me attempting to read 100 books in a year. I achieved this with only the tiniest bit of cheating. I’ve been assured it was allowable cheating, so thankfully my penance simply consists of having to read more books. My second challenge saw me delving into the #Discworld. What a Fantasy-tastic challenge that was. To read about it please check out my 15 December post from last year. For my reviews of all the books I read please go to Goodreads . This year I’m going for the big 100 again but with a little twist. My aim is to read as many graphic novels and Indie books as possible. To save costs I’ll be getting the graphic novels from the library and the majority of the independent books I’ll probably read on my kindle. So I’m going to be spending a fair amount of time accessing books through Instafreebie for that portion of the challenge. For those of you not familiar wit...

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett While reading a Pratchett I usually feel that I’m part of a group of people enjoying an in-joke. In the case of this book however, I constantly felt I was missing the joke. At the start of the read I kept waiting for something to happen. While I got a lovely insight into how the Assassins’ Guild is run and conducts its final examination, I was left rather baffled as to where all this was leading. The first 250 pages seem steeped in great sadness. I could not shake this feeling, especially when reading sections about High Priest Dios as he desperately clings on to power through the manipulation of time and aging. I came away from the remainder of the hero’s wanderings through the desert and other dimensions parched and in desperate need of a waterhole. I struggled to finish this one. Overall I was left feeling hollow, like one of those doughnuts with the hole in the middle. So I’m very glad I’ve got Guards! Guards! to move on to as...

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett The murder of the King of Lancre is the opening for this Pratchett offering and sets the scene for the tyranny and intrigue to follow.  Pratchett playfully refigures the plot of Macbeth to give us the story of how a country ruled by a tyrant chooses to rebel. It’s not pretty, with the usual majority blaming whomever the ‘media’ decides is to blame. And for this particular scenario, the witches come under the cosh. Naturally the witches are forced to fight back in the manner which only a Pratchett creation can. As usual, he is able to highlight the flaws in society and how people turn on each other at the slightest provocation. The book also focuses on feelings of frustration due to powerlessness in a given situation. How well I know that particular emotion. The book also emphasises how words can have a power which we dismiss too easily. But that very power affects more than one person and has a terrifying domino effect. I was amus...