Month: June 2003

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J.K. Rowling

The latest and longest of the Harry Potter books was released this Saturday to enormous global hype.
In this latest book, Harry has definitely become a teenager. He’s moody, he’s angry, he feels left out and the world seems against him.
There’s really no point in going into the plot, but I will say that I enjoyed the book. I feel that some subplots were introduced just to give a couple of characters an appearance in the book. I enjoyed reading the subplots but if they had been edited out you wouldn’t have missed them.
As for the much trumpeted killing off a main character, well I guessed who was going to be killed off well before the book came out. It was the obvious choice.
It’s unlikely that my recommendation would make any difference to whether you’re going to read this book or not, but I do recommend it. The Harry Potter series is a lot of fun and takes little effort to read (I’ve read each of them in a very short time – the first two in the space of a day and less than a day each for the others). Not by any stretch of the imagination the greatest children’s books ever written, but definitely worth the time it takes to read them.

Witch Week

Diana Wynne Jones

This is my favourite of the Chrestomanci novels.
The story begins when a teacher finds a note saying ‘Someone in this class is a witch’.
Set in a boarding school in an alternate version of England where magic is illegal but magical ability is commonplace. The story is mainly told from the perspective of a couple of the school’s misfits, Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan.
When I first read this in the dim and distant past I really identified with Charles. What that says about me, I don’t know.
I’m not going to spoil the plot of the book, but fair to say it involves the discovery of magical ability, bullying, official stupidity and Chrestomanci turns up.
I unreservedly recommend this book, hell I recommend everything Diana Wynne Jones has ever written.

The Tamuli

David Eddings

Consisting of:
Domes of Fire
The Shining Ones
The Hidden City
This is the second of Edding’s Sparhawk trilogies.
Everything that I said about the Elenium holds true. The only differences are who the bad guys are and where everything happens.
I just ended up reading these. There was no real thought involved. Hopefully that’s sated my taste for generic fantasy novels for a while.

Tank Girl – The Novel

Martin Millar

I downloaded this off of the author’s website – you can too. It’s here
It’s a vast improvement on the film, funny, irreverent and insane.
It’s worth the short time it takes to read.

Things My Girlfriend And I Have Argued About

Mil Millington

Many of you will be asking yourself if Mil Millington is the same guy as Reader Millington aka Mills. Well, of course you’re right. One of the mightiest beings to walk the earth has written based on his hellishly funny web page found here. Which of course is based on his real life.
The novel is the story of Pel Dalton who works in IT support for the library of an English Poly/Uni and goes home to his insane German girlfriend and their two kids.
The plot, such as it is, is completely barking mad with Triads, Laser Quest and “swinger” librarians turning up at various points.
My advice would be to just read for the laughs and let the plot pass you by.
Very funny (not as funny as the webpage, natch) and definitely worth a read. Besides, he’s a mighty being, how could you not want to read his book?