Book Review: 'The Sleeper & The Spindle'; Neil Gaiman.

I can't believe that I actually read this book in a day! I set off this morning on my Tube to work and by the time the journey had finished, I was already halfway through. I read the rest on my lunch break (I couldn't wait till later)! I'm also entering this one into the 'Key Words' challenge because it includes the word 'sleep' in the title.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Sleeper & The Spindle
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury Childrens
PAGES: 72
GENRE: Fantasy, Retelling, Middle Grade, Gothic

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

What I Liked:

• This is my fourth Gaiman book, and the most enjoyable of them all. It was partly because I'm a sucker for Fairy Tale Re-tellings, but also because I found Gaiman's writing delightfully engrossing. The man has talent of course, but he's got 'fairy-tale writing' down to an art. I loved his descriptive work and his ability to really set a scene, particularly as a few of the twists in this particular imagining were chilling to say the least. I was hooked from start to finish!
• The plot itself was fantastic. There were so many good twists and turns on the classic stories of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Gaiman put quite the feminist spin on the tales in question, and what's more, it felt different to previous stories I have read. There were a few twists and turns along the way that really took me by surprise too. In particular, the end was totally unexpected and managed to both warm and break my heart.

What I Disliked:

• This one is a short'n. In fact, at just 72 pages long, it took me less than an hour to read it. And therein lies the problem with a lot of Gaiman's writing that I hare dead so far, particularly his children's books: I'm always left wanting more out of it! This could have been a really good 300 page Fantasy adventure if it were padded out a bit, and I think it would have definitely earned 5 stars if that were the case because the rest of the ingredients were there. I would love to read an expanded, more adult version of this book!

Overall Conclusion:

What a wonderful book, complete with a gorgeous set of illustrations. Chris Riddell, the artist, does a gorgeous job of providing richly detailed, slightly Gothic drawings to spark the imagination and bring the story to life and his work was one of my favourite aspects of the book. This alongside a well thought-out plot and fantastic writing means I am a very happy reader. I just wish that Gaiman would pad his work out a little more.

Book Review: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane; Neil Gaiman.

I always find myself getting a little bit excited when I start a book by Neil Gaiman. His worlds are always built so well and I find myself really enjoying them! I thought this time, having read a couple of children's books, I'd go for something a bit different. I bought it a couple of months ago and it fit perfectly into the Key Word Challenge for this month. Also, being under 300 pages, it definitely fits into the Quick Fix Challenge too!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: The Ocean At The End Of The Lane
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Headline Publishing Group
PAGES: 255
GENRE: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Horror, Adult

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.


Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

What I Liked:

• Neil Gaiman's imagination seriously never ceases to amaze me. Some of the crazy things this man comes up with are so bizarre, and yet I love it all! This book was no different. He created a world that seemed like nothing more than a man's distant memory of a somewhat magical childhood. And yet, there was an underlying sinister tone that something was not quite right. Did it all happen or was it in his head? I was gripped from start to finish, and there were some pretty horrifying events that kept my eyes glued to the page.
• The characters were pretty cool in this one. The Nameless Boy was a likeable hero, despite the fact that nameless main characters usually irritate me. The Hempstocks were a curious, fun family and they reminded me a lot of one of my friends, her Mother and Grandmother. Seriously, the likeness is uncanny. I also really liked Ursula Monkton as a villain.

What I Disliked:

• The fact that the story was short meant that it was a bit of a whirlwind and I couldn't help but feel disappointed that the story wasn't longer and more fully explored. Ursula Monkton for example could definitely have stuck around a bit longer to cause more havoc than she did! She had so much potential!

Overall Conclusion:

I have enjoyed a few Gaiman books recently, but this is definitely my favourite so far. It had a really cool concept, good characters, and a fantastically creative world in which it was set. I will forever worship the imagination of Neil Gaiman, it amazes and horrifies at the same time. I just wish the book had been longer!

Book Review: Coraline; Neil Gaiman.

Well everybody before I begin this review, I just have to let you all know that I have moved into the new flat. What that means is I have no wifi until Friday 12th and that's going to hinder my post writing abilities a little. I'm writing this using my phone's 3G so no pictures and I'll have to re-edit after I get proper Internet. Now: this book. I really enjoyed this read and I'm entering it as a Monthly Motif entry, as well as a Quick Fix.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Coraline
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: William Morrow
PAGES: 186
GENRE: Middle Grade, Horror, Adventure

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures.

What I Liked:

• The world building was rather effective in this one and gave the whole book a very creepy atmosphere. I love creepy! Now I have watched the movie so knew partly what to expect but for anyone coming into this fresh, prepare yourself. There are some pretty terrifying ideas here! 
• Coraline was a great heroine! She felt, thought and acted like a child and yet was both brave and level-headed. I loved her to bits! The side characters were interesting too, I grew rather fond of the cat. He was hilarious! 

What I Disliked:

• I really do wish this book had been a lot longer. I felt like it got to the point a little too quickly meaning I didn't have time to be completely freaked out or feel like Coraline was in any true danger. Maybe a couple of trips to see the Other Mother, to build up the tension? I just felt it was over with a bit too quickly.

Overall Conclusion:

I really did enjoy reading this, especially after loving the film so much!  It was funny and quirky, yet gave me the chills too. The characters were really well written, and I adored the world building. I really wanted to read much more though,  I was disappointed that it finished so quickly!

 

Book Review: The Graveyard Book; Neil Gaiman.

I did it! I finally read a Neil Gaiman book! It has taken me so long to finally get round to reading one and it was beginning to get really annoying as I kept having to put it off. However, it was worth the wait. I'll be entering this book into a couple of challenges. Firstly, it's less than 300 pages so counts as a 'Quick Fix'. Secondly, I'm using it as my entry for the 2014 'Key Word Challenge'!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Graveyard Book
AUTHOR: Neil Gaiman
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Harper Collins
PAGES: 236
GENRE: Fantasy, Children's Literature, Horror

RATING: 3.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.


Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family...

What I Liked:

• I really liked the plot-line. It was a pretty simple story idea (based on 'The Jungle Book' in fact), which worked on so many levels! I was hooked from the first page, really buying into the danger of the situation and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised about just how invested I was considering that the book is aimed at children. The structuring of it styled each chapter as a mini-adventure that Bod gets into, but contributed to the overriding sense of danger which I really liked.
• The characters were well-written and interesting. I loved watching Bod develop and grow over the course of the story. It gave a real sense of him maturing as the years went by, and he became cleverer and braver as time went on. Silas was probably my favourite character, Bod's powerful but purposefully detached Guardian who also develops along with the story.

What I Disliked:

• I would probably have to say the ending here. I liked the emotional value of it and I did shed a tear. But my reason for not being too happy with it was because the story-arc for one character took a completely unexpected turn which I didn't really like. I don't want to give too much away but early on, a character is introduced, leaves and then is reintroduced again. What happens to that character left me wondering the point of re-introducing her in the first place.

Overall Conclusion:

I was so pleasantly surprised by this children's book! When people recommended it to me (and a lot did) as a fantastic Gaiman book I was a little taken aback to see it was aimed towards an audience much younger than myself. However it had just the right amount of macabre, emotion and imagination put into it that made it very much a worthwhile read for all sorts of ages!