Old-Fashioned – DaneCobain.com

Title: Midworld

Author: Alan Dean Foster

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 216

Rating: 4.5*/5

Alan Dean Foster – Midworld

I picked up this book because I watch Todd the Librarian on YouTube and this is her favourite book. I figured if it’s good enough for Todd then it’s good enough for me and so I picked it up, and it was delightful.

What’s interesting about it is that it’s almost like a mixture of fantasy and science fiction, following the story of Born as he defends his village against the creatures of the forest. They live amongst the trees and live in harmony with the planet, but then a couple of strange men show up from a futuristic world. What follows is a classic case of technology not being all that it’s cracked up to be.

I thought this was a fantastic read, and Alan Dean Foster has an unusual writing style that’s perfect for people who love strange words and beautiful language. At the same time, at its heart it’s just a good old-fashioned adventure story, but it also has a lot to say about society. It’s arguably even more relevant now than it was when it was published back in 1977. It was a great little book and I’m glad I picked it up. Thanks, Todd!

Alan Dean Foster

Click here to buy Midworld.

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger | Review

Title: The Moving Finger

Author: Agatha Christie

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 304

Rating: 4*/5

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger

This book was a lot of fun, and part of that is because it’s less of a “whodunit” and more of a “whowroteit“. Basically, the plot follows the goings on in a small English town when a spate of anonymous letters leads to what appears to be a suicide. That actually helps to put a unique spin on this that you don’t always see in a crime novel. The drama comes from the tension and anticipation as you wonder who’s going to be targeted next.

This is actually one of Christie’s Miss Marple novels, but Marple plays such a minor role in the story that she might as well not be there. But that’s not such a problem, because it actually helps to highlight the other characters in the story. I always find myself immediately forgetting about Agatha Christie’s characters purely because they differ from book to book and I’ve already read so many of them. But the characters here were pretty believable, even if they were old-fashioned in their ways.

That’s to be expected from a book that was first published back in the 1940s, and I personally found that it stood up well to the test of time. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the best Agatha Christie book – nor even the best Miss Marple book – but it’s still a decent read and I’m glad I picked it up. The time seemed to fly by when I was reading it and although I gave it my best shot, I wasn’t able to guess who was behind it all. And then, when it all came together in the last thirty pages, it all made sense. It’s just a cracking little murder mystery.