James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing by G. Norman Lippert

James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing by G. Norman Lippert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall I enjoyed this book. I did have some misgivings at the start with the Reservoir Dogs opening (was that supposed to be a homage?), but I stuck with it and was glad I did.

I can't say that I entirely approved of the technomancy lessons either. I am one of the people who hated the sudden inclusion of the midi-chlorians in Star Wars Episode 1 - it's the Force, it just is, you can't suddenly try to explain it away as being caused by microscopic organisms. So trying to explain the science behind why magic works feels a bit the same. I also couldn't help but spot the fact that the explanation of apparation is the bloat drive from Harry Harrison's Bill, the Galactic Hero. Coming so soon after the Reservoir Dogs bit I felt that the level of homage was perhaps a bit high, so when the bloat drive turned out to be key to the story it made it worse.

However, fears of plagiarism aside, the overall feel of the story was fun, it was nice to be back at Hogwarts. There was enough about the plot that kept it interesting. Worth a read.

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The first fifteen lives of Harry August by Clair North

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Warning, spoilers ahead.

I did enjoy this book. I found the concepts to be quite cleverly realised. It was an interesting concept that the Cronus club came into existence, then spread through time by the elderly members taking the news into the past and the young members taking the news into the future.

I think my main gripe stems from the concepts which were not explored. For example, the talk about what happens to the parallel worlds which are created each time history is changed. I had hoped that might be explored further, but it was not. What would the quantum mirror have shown? After going to all of that trouble and tantalisingly getting to see it built, we find it never allowed to work.

I'm also on the fence about Vincent telling him where he was from. Was that deliberate or a big slip? I just feel Vincent wouldn't have ever risked telling Harry that information, even if he was going to wipe his memory. That kind of makes me wonder about the second 15 lives. Was it a lie? Now Vincent knows he planned to kill him there would be all out war between them, each trying to find the other's origin. Hmmm... Don't know.

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Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would dearly love to have loved this book. Terry Pratchett has been one of my favourite authors for almost as long as I can remember.

Regrettably it didn't feel up to par. I'm not the biggest Moist von Lipwig fan anyway, so this being another story about him possibly doesn't help.

It just felt less polished than much of his work, even his reference to the Railway Children felt forced, rather than his usual subtlety.

I think on the whole I am not so keen on the general storyline of the modern world catching up with Ankh Morpork and converting it gradually into a city we might see on Earth. It was a nice idea to touch on every now and then, it just seems to have been done a bit too much. We've resurrected the police force, the postal service, introduced the clacks, football and now the railways. Somehow it feels a bit like we've already been here, many of the themes have already been explored. Even the Iron Girder taking on a life of its own just feels a bit too familiar.

The other recurring theme is the racial theme with the various species from the Disk all living and working together. I kind of feel like I got the point quite a few books ago and I don't know that it needs raking over again and again.

That's all very negative, but there was still enough there for me to enjoy it enough to consider it worth a read, but will it get the re-reads that many of the earlier books have had? I'm not so sure.

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