Tag: Chronologically

Jodi Taylor – A Second Chance | Review

Title: A Second Chance

Author: Jodi Taylor

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 310

Rating: 4*/5

 

Jodi Taylor - A Second Chance

Jodi Taylor – A Second Chance

 

This book is the third book in Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s series, and I’ve really enjoyed each of the books so far. The first was actually my favourite, but the series is still going strong and the only thing I didn’t really like here was the contradictory way that some of the characters behaved. I felt like they were often totally against something one minute and then were suddenly all in favour of it the next.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot of cool stuff here, from the author’s interesting take on the ethics of time travel to the scenes we get to see during the fall of Troy and other key historical events. What’s interesting about Taylor is that when she writes about historical events, it feels chronologically accurate without feeling like historical fiction. That’s impressive because it’s super difficult to write a good battle scene, and yet here the author does it in such a way that it fits in with the rest of the narrative.

There’s not much point in reading this if you haven’t read the first two, although I do think that it’d work reasonably well as a standalone. But if you read the first two books and enjoyed them then you’re going to like this one too – although as usual, none of the characters are band you may have to say goodbye to people when you read it.

What I like about these books is that they’re short and easy-to-read but also a hell of a lot of fun. Taylor’s writing style reminds me of Terry Pratchett but with a modern twist, and there aren’t many authors I can say that about. That should be reason enough to read some of her work.

 

Jodi Taylor

Jodi Taylor

 

Click here to buy A Second Chance.


Charles Bukowski – Slouching Toward Nirvana | Review

Title: Slouching Toward Nirvana

Author: Charles Bukowski

Type: Poetry

Page Count/Review Word Count: 276

Rating: 4*/5

 

Charles Bukowski - Slouching Toward Nirvana

Charles Bukowski – Slouching Toward Nirvana

 

This book is another collection of the poetry that Charles Bukowski left behind to be published after his death. Bukowski was never one to self-censor, but he’s even more honest than usual here because he knew that he’d be dead and so he wouldn’t need to deal with any fallout. The temptation, then, must have been to use his most incendiary poems, such as the ones where he writes about other writers, and how they’re not very good.

There are a few of those poems here, but there are many, many more that simply reflect back across his life, as well as the state of the world and even the relatively new (at the time) development of the personal computer. Most of these poems were written when Bukowski was either side of seventy, and so his infamous wisdom goes even deeper here because he’s at his oldest, his most cynical.

Overall, I thought it was a cracking collection of new poetry, and it’s a must-have for any serious Bukowski fan or collector. I find it hard to say whether this is a good place to start, though – there are so many fantastic collections out there that it’s hard to recommend any one above another. I read through them almost at random, trying to read all of them but without focusing on a particular order. You could either do that, or you could read them chronologically. That all comes down to personal preference, but it isn’t going to hamper your reading experience either way. So enjoy!

 

Charles Bukowski

Charles Bukowski

 

Click here to buy Slouching Toward Nirvana.