'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview|author=Nancy Farmer|title=The Islands of the Blessed (Sea of Trolls Trilogy) |rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=In this third adventure, Jack, a fourteen year old Saxon apprentice bard, and Thorgil, a bad-tempered shield maiden, follow the Bard Dragon Tongue on a quest to quell the draugr - the malevolent spirit of a drowned mermaid mistakenly summoned to Jack's village and who seeks revenge for her earlier ill treatment at human hands.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184738630X</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview
|summary=The hardback edition of 'A Blueprint for a Safer Planet' was published early in 2009 as an update to the 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change. Now here is the paperback edition, published too early to critique Copenhagen, but nonetheless an interesting read. Stern is an expert witness who presents his evidence understandably for the layman; he is unemotional and very convincing.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099524058</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Robert Crawford
|title=The Bard: Robert Burns - a biography
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=If Shakespeare is England's own Bard, the comparatively shortlived Robert Burns – who lived and worked nearly two centuries later – fulfils the equivalent role in Scottish iconography more than adequately. Yet as this very thorough biography demonstrates, there is much more to the man than the wordsmith of 'Auld Lang Syne' and 'Wee, sleekit, cowrin', tim'rous beastie'.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844139301</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alyxandra Harvey
|title=My Love Lies Bleeding
|rating=3.5
|genre=Teens
|summary=Solange Drake hates being the only born female vampire. Not only does she have to put up with her pheromones making her irresistible to male vampires, who all want to use her to start their own vampire families, she has a prophecy looming over her head, one that states a female Drake vampire will overthrow the current ruler to become Queen of the Vampires.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408803402</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Terence Morgan
|title=The Master of Bruges
|rating=5
|genre=Historical Fiction
|summary=Belgium, the fifteenth century. Hans is apprenticed to a master painter in the city of Brussels, until the old curmudgeon dies, and his studio falls apart. Luckily for Hans, a mistakenly drawn sketch, and a bizarre rescue from the gallows gives him a major boost - patronage, for both portraits and many religious images. With what might seem to be a patchy diary - some years have five pages only, concerning but one month - we see his startling life journey, covering beguiling models, ghostly war scenes, and even the biggest intrigues of English royal court.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230744125</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Markus Zusak
|title=Fighting Ruben Wolfe
|rating=5
|genre=Teens
|summary=The Wolfe family are only just getting by. Times are hard for Cameron and his older brother Ruben. Their father has been injured at work and even though he's mostly recovered now, he's finding it hard to get jobs and the ultimate emasculation of the dole is looming ever nearer. Older brother Steve has ambitions and he can't wait to get out of the house. Sister Sarah is drinking too much and getting a tarty reputation at school. Their mother's fighting to hold things together, but it's taking a heavy toll. Cameron and Rube can't even manage to win a bet at the dog track - even when they get a policeman to put it on for them.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1862309574</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Tom Palmer
|title=Captain Fantastic (Football Academy)
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Ryan is a changed boy. Since he got into hot water with manager Steve for bullying several books ago, and his captaincy of the United U12s was threatened, he's been determined to get his socks firmly pulled up. He's worked really hard at redeeming himself too - both on and off the pitch. He's more than halfway towards becoming the best captain the team's ever had. So when Craig's attitude suddenly nosedives and he starts playing dirty during games and being insolent during training, Ryan feels a big responsibility to help sort it out.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141324724</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sarah Duncan
|title=A Single to Rome
|rating=3
|genre=Women's Fiction
|summary=Natalie is in love with Michael. They've been together for three years, but Michael wants some space. He hasn’t said he doesn’t love her, so there is still a chance he could come back… Then he goes and finds himself a new girlfriend. Devastated, Natalie consoles herself with the help of her friends, who persuade her to go speed dating. There she meets Guy, a friendly man, who like her is trying to get over someone – his new ex-wife Vanessa. But Guy is one of the nice ones, and before she knows it, he has been invited to her friend’s wedding as Natalie’s date. At least she won’t be going alone and Michael will be there. But her love life isn’t her only worry. Past actions have come to light that have put her career in danger. At a loss, Natalie turns to Guy for help, who offers her the use of his flat in Rome. A place to escape? Or a place to dwell?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755345932</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Christopher Russell and Christine Russell
|title=The Quest of the Warrior Sheep
|rating=5
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=Take five rare breed sheep, put them in a field, and wait for something to fall out the sky on to one of them. You'll find the result is that they gather, confer among themselves, work out their sacred God Aries is in trouble as he's lost the only thing to confer his power over the sacred Demon of sheep, Lambad, and decide to take the fallen object up North to return it. A journey that will take them into London in a market truck, down the Underground, and so much more on their epic journey.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405243767</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=M J Trow
|title=Maxwell's Retirement
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell has always been something of a dinosaur and even he realises just how far adrift he is when some of his sixth form students start receiving threatening messages on their mobiles. He might prefer to make a phone call or send a note when the need arises, but this isn't the way of the younger generation and Maxwell discovers that he's going to have to climb a steep learning curve if he's to help his students through the problem.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749007664</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Linda Porter
|title=Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr
|rating=4.5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Katherine Parr was the last and arguably the most fortunate of King Henry VIII's six wives. Apart from Anne of Cleves, the speedily divorced 'Flanders mare', she was the only one to survive him. And while all six of the queens consort remain rather shadowy figures, this biography gives the impression that she was probably the most intelligent and well-rounded personality of them all.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0230710395</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=David Kessler
|title=Mercy
|rating=3.5
|genre=Crime
|summary=In some ways, the first line of this novel says it all: 'It's hard to sit still when your client is scheduled to die in fifteen hours.' From this moment on, the action comes thick and fast, leaving the reader with barely the breath to murmer 'is it really probable that all this was left to the last day?' However, if you suspend your disbelief, then the author does deliver blockbuster plot twists and twirls that are very satisfactory.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847561829</amazonuk>
}}
