'''Read [[Features|new features]].'''
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{{newreview
|author=Ben Okri
|title=Tales of Freedom
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Tales of Freedom is a book of two halves, with a short story entitled Comic Destiny taking up the majority of the book. Comic Destiny is made up of a series of short pieces that follow on from each other and are probably best described as being closer to prose poetry than anything else.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846041597</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Sara Wheeler
|summary=Take fifty of science's most thought-provoking theories, and try to explain each in thirty seconds or one page. It's all here, from Schrodinger's cat, to cosmic topology, via the Gaia hypothesis and chaos theory.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184831129X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Ned Beauman
|title=Boxer, Beetle
|rating=3
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=According to the blurb for Boxer, Beetle, 'This is
a novel for people with breeding… It is clever. It is distinctive. It
is entertaining. We hope you are too.' I like about half of it, so
does that mean I'm on the way to being those things?
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0340998393</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Phoebe Reeves Murray
|title=Ghost: Blood and Fire
|rating=1.5
|genre=Fantasy
|summary=Young Jennifer Rhys has been orphaned by the evil
Dark Angels. They can possess people and bite off their hands, and
there's something about living tattoos which you can take out of boxes
and paste into your skin. After growing up in an adolescent
psychiatric ward, she will grow up to go on and confront them and
fulfil her destiny. Or something like that. Between the huge amount of
poorly drawn characters, the leaden prose, and the disappointing
pictures of computerized 3-D models, I got lost a few times and
couldn't summon the interest to work out what was going on.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955808863</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nick Lake
|title=Blood Ninja
|rating=4
|genre=Teens
|summary="It makes perfect sense that ninjas should be vampires". So Taro is told early on in this book, and on the evidence here that statement is correct. With a gutsy, bloody opening to the adventure we see Taro being attacked by ninjas, and rescued by a friendly vampire among them - having doubted the existence of both from his corner of sixteenth century rural Japan. The attack nearly leaves Taro an orphan, but opens himself up to a whole unexpected destiny, as people seek to kidnap him - or worse, and beyond that, an entirely unforseen existence as a teenage vampire when his saviour turns him.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848873875</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Lisa Lynch
|title=The C-Word
|rating=4.5
|genre=Autobiography
|summary=In the beginning was the word, closely followed by the internet. The two combined to form the wonder that is blogging, and when that took off and people wanted a more concrete and permanent record, books quickly followed. Perhaps that's not ''exactly'' how the quote goes, but it's close enough. Breast cancer at twenty eight is not just scary and unusual. For journalist Lisa, it's downright inconvenient. But, when a stage three tumour bulges out of her boob, she decides to document her subsequent fight against the big C (or, as she affectionately calls it, ''The Bullshit'') online for all to see. The [http://alrighttit.blogspot.com/ blog] was a success, it garnered some famous fans ([[:Category:Stephen Fry|Stephen Fry]], among others) and a book offer followed. This is the result.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099547546</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Trevor Byrne
|title=Ghosts and Lightning
|rating=4
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=Denny comes home to Dublin from Wales after his mum dies suddenly, and hangs around drinking and taking drugs with his sister, her girlfriend and some of their mates, while he wonders what to do with himself. There are some practical matters to sort out too, such as the nasty older brother who owns their house and wants his siblings out.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847673309</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Douglas Rogers
|title=The Last Resort
|rating=5
|genre=Biography
|summary=Author Douglas Rogers is a Zimbabwean who moved away
from the country many years ago, but has never been able to persuade
his parents – two white farmers, Lyn and Roz – to follow him out of
their homeland, despite the resettlement policies of Robert Mugabe,
the hyper-inflation, and the corruption in the country. Instead, the
pair just wanted to stay on the farm welcoming people to Drifters,
their backpackers' lodge.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906021910</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Paul Magrs
|title=Hell's Belles
|rating=3.5
|genre=Humour
|summary=The idea behind this series of novels is quite enchanting and amusing. Frankenstein's daughter is living and sleuthing in Whitby, ably aided and abetted by her sidekick, the enigmatic Effie, and a growing menagerie of younger accomplices, namely Michael and Penny. Whilst the original idea showed huge promise, I felt that the author has rather overdone it in terms of output, in his desire to capitalise on his original success. Book two in the series was quite disappointing, relying on sensationalism rather than adequate plot and character development. Book three was an improvement-and I'm delighted to report that this, the fourth book in the series, shows him returning to form with the promise we saw in the first of the series.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0755346467</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Craig Silvey
|title=Jasper Jones
|rating=4
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The title and central character of this book, Jasper Jones is a no-user, a trouble-maker and has, for some reason in his hour of need, sought help from an unlikely source. Charlie Bucktin. Charlie is a rather bookish, quiet, unassuming teenager. And although both boys live in the town of Corrigan, until now, they haven't spoken a word to each other. They live in different worlds. Until now, that is.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099537540</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Thomas Mullen
|title=The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=The country is in deep recession. The economy has collapsed. The banks are hated and there's 'the next round of politicians, assuring us they were not afflicted by the same lack of vision as their predecessors'. Does this sound at all familiar? But just when you think you have strayed into the non-fiction aisle, it all becomes clear. This is 1930s America - full of gangsters, speakeasies, tommy guns, fedoras, beautiful heiresses, bumbling cops and the newly formed FBI, daring bank robberies and kidnaps. Yes, the gang is all here, but 'The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers' is a lot more than your average gangster book and it's a hugely fun story.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007340826</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Alexander McCall Smith
|title=The Dog Who Came In From The Cold (Corduroy Mansions)
|rating=4.5
|genre=General Fiction
|summary=Ah, bliss! To sit down once more to an Alexander McCall Smith story and wish only for someone thoughtful to come and serve me tea and biscuits whilst I read! We are back, once again, with the residents of Corduroy Mansions to earwig on their conversations, their private thoughts and, of course, to catch up with what every one's favourite dog, Freddie de la Hay, has been getting up to. Written once again in serial format for The Daily Telegraph each short chapter is a gem, and all the characters we met previously in Corduroy Mansions are back again to entertain us.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971616</amazonuk>
}}
