The Balloonist

The Balloonist
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher

Lieutenant William Fraser, of the Royal Flying Corps, has had one hell of a journey. Starting in Germany pre-war, he ends up hanging out with an American reporter, fleeing, and joining the Belgians and fighting with his new best friend Claude, he meets and becomes close to the King and Queen of Belgium, after a particularly bad attack by the Germans, and losing Claude, Willy ends up four thousand feet above the Western Front....in a balloon. Going under the name of his dead friend, he's on a mission to reach Claude's wife to give him his last letter to her. Willy is now a balloon observer, hanging under a gasbag full of extremely explosive hydrogen, which is anchored thousands of feet above the Ypres Salient. Trailed by said American journalist, who's determined to find out his whole story, Willy is settling into a role where he gets to help direct batteries. That is, until his line is accidentally hit, and cut, and he drifts across enemy lines to crash on a Belgian farm. He's nursed by them and sheltered, and it turns out the farmers daughter is the woman he's been looking for, they help him, and a German deserter to escape across the flooded delta, where he has a close call with a firing squad, but eventually ends up back to his duties. It's there, back up in the air, that he will have to make a horrendously difficult decision, one that could threaten the life of the woman he has come to love.

Well, this book has a totally unique angle on the war! The Balloonist is so incredibly well researched and utterly fascinating. I couldn't stop reading, I wanted to know more about this side of the war I haven't seen, I was so caught up in the world, and the characters and what was happening I  honestly couldn't put the book down! It was incredibly different to what I was expecting, I mean, I don't know why, but I was expecting this to be aaaalll about the romance with a smidge of history but I was totally wrong.

Obviously the book has a lot of action, so there's always something going on, something grabbing your attention and sucking you in, I learned so much from this book as well as being thoroughly fascinated and entertained. I incredibly shamefully had never heard or known about the Balloonists before I read this book, and they really should be talked about more! They where so incredibly important, and so good at their job, and incredibly daring, you know, they take such huge risks, it was an incredibly dangerous job, but they did it anyway and must have had so much courage and bravery to do it, you wouldn't catch me in one of those in any circumstance, let alone when I'm being shot at while a war rages on! Utterly fascinating how they did it, and how it all worked. anyway this goes from pre-war through to the midst of war, and there's tonnes of different scenarios and historic events before the ballooning starts, I don't want to give too much away, so that's all I'll say!

This is quite an emotional read, I mean obviously it would be, but like I found myself rolling on emotional waves between happy, even chuckling at a few moments, and then being so profoundly sad from what I'd read, and thinking about the situation more. It's a true rollercoaster of a book, you go from dangerous situation, to even more dangerous situation. You can feel the danger and tension oozing off the page.

I enjoyed the Churchill cameo, I think it painted him as not quite the hero everyone thinks he is, if that really did he happen and he caused that to  happen, granted it was before the war, but everyone paints him as a hero and never really mentions his life before, or if they have, I haven't read about it! The focus was very much on the Belgians for the majority of the book, the British where kind of douches to Willy, except for the Balloonist group! What fascinated me, is that we get a real look at the Belgians and what they where doing to try and stop from being invaded, and their tactics, for a nice chunk of the book, I've only really read about the British point of view. I actually quite liked the King and Queen of Belgium!

The Balloonist has kind of an awesome ending, it really left you wondering about the romance, if they ever eventually ended up together, probably quite like wives and girlfriends where left wondering about their own romances, it was quite a nice touch! I loved making up a little ending of my own! You want to know what happens next, want to know what daring feat Willy attempts next, but you also have fun making up your own ending. Although if there is a sequel, I won't be complaining!

The  Balloonist was incredibly vivid, the world well and truly comes to life around you and sucks you in, not to mention how atmospheric the book is, you can feel every emotion oozing off the page, feel the danger, the uncertainty, the heartbreak, the horror and so on. The Balloonist captivates you and your attention isn't allowed to wander, the book keeps all your focus on the story. The Balloonist is realistic and believable, obviously it's historical and based on real events, but sometimes authors take liberties and things get stretched, not the case in this, everything was organic and natural and well...real.

The characters where all so colourful, I loved all of them! Willy was such a badass, I mean, he was determined to fight and help no matter what other people did to him, kicking him down the ranks, making him change his name and so on, he did the most daring things, and he was such a deep character, so well written and kind of larger than life to me. Claude. Why, whyyyy! I loved him, I really did, he was so funny, with the trumpeting and the scene at the fortress, I can't even. I loved him, he was the most colourful character there, and I loved his friendship with Willy and I was so gutted. You could really see the bond of comrades develop and what it meant to each.

Otto was another of my favourite characters, he was also a total eyeopener as well, because he was a half British, German soldier, who deserted from the German army because he never actually wanted to fight for the Germans, and it was eye opening because there probably where soldiers like Otto, fighting when they didn't want to, or fighting for what they felt was the wrong side. It was also eye opening to see what Otto was told, he and the  other soldiers where basically fed lies and told they where going to one place to do one thing and ending up in Belgium.

The romance should be mentioned, the lovely lady was kind of awesome. I liked her. The romance developed very naturally and subtly, and was very organic and realistic. I enjoyed how the romance was subtle, and a note underneath everything else going on. I had originally thought this was going to be all about the romance, and I was reading, and so captivated and astounded by this book and the events, and it kept going and there was no woman, and then when it eventually rolled around I was like "omg it's going to take over now" but it didn't. It was there, but it wasn't in your face, you'd quite possibly have to squint to see it! The book's synopsis leads you to believe it's all about this Balloonists and the other Balloonists and this romance across a war kind of thing, that's why I wrote my own synopsis with what I feel is a better representation of the book because so much happens!

The Balloonist is most definitely a must read, it's truly astounding. So well written, with a fantastic, engaging plot that keeps you guessing, and shows all of the pitfalls of war, as well as the heroes fighting to win. It's a truly incredible read, and everything is so believable and well researched, and well written, and the characters jump off the page and the setting is vivid, and atmospheric and sucks you in, and you want to know so much more than the incredibly amount you learn! I mean, I want to know even more about the Balloonists!

Aaaaaaaaaaand that's enough rambling from me! But seriously, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS! Whether you like historical or not, or just have a passing interest in history or the war, these guys deserve some recognition to be honest!

Wishing For Wednesday #17

This week I'm most looking forward to these two little gems!
I don't even think  it's a secret anymore that I'm a HUGE fan of Jennifer L Armentrout, and so obviously I can't miss out on her new book! Sooo it makes my most looked forward to list, no surprise there! You gotta admit though...it sounds reaaaalllyy good!
Second I have a little one that I stumbled across, I appear to be quite good at stumbling across gems!
So anyways, I stumbled across it, it piqued my interest because it sounds like the kind of thing I would love, but I'll let you judge that for yourself!

Wicked

Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans.
Twenty-two year old Ivy Morgan isn’t your average college student. She, and others like her, know humans aren’t the only thing trolling the French Quarter for fun… and for food. Her duty to the Order is her life. After all, four years ago, she lost everything at the hands of the creatures she’d sworn to hunt, tearing her world and her heart apart.

Ren Owens is the last person Ivy expected to enter her rigidly controlled life. He’s six feet and three inches of temptation and swoon-inducing charm. With forest-green eyes and a smile that’s surely left a stream of broken hearts in its wake, he has an uncanny, almost unnatural ability to make her yearn for everything he has to offer. But letting him in is as dangerous as hunting the cold-blooded killers stalking the streets. Losing the boy she loved once before had nearly destroyed her, but the sparking tension that grows between them becomes impossible for Ivy to deny. Deep down, she wants… she needs more than what her duty demands of her, what her past has shaped for her.

But as Ivy grows closer to Ren, she realizes she’s not the only one carrying secrets that could shatter the frail bond between them. There’s something he’s not telling her, and one thing is for certain. She’s no longer sure what is more dangerous to her—the ancient beings threatening to take over the town or the man demanding to lay claim to her heart and her soul.

Wicked is out December 8th, pre-order your copy here.
Add it to your GoodReads here.

Suspicion

Mysterious. Magnificent. Creepy. Welcome to Rockford Manor.

"There's something hidden in the Maze." Seventeen-year-old Imogen has never forgotten the last words her father said to her seven years ago, before the blazing fire that consumed him, her mother, and the gardens of her family's English country manor.

Haunted by her parents' deaths, Imogen moves to New York City with her new guardians. But when a letter arrives with the news of her cousin's untimely death, revealing that Imogen is now the only heir left to run the estate, she returns to England and warily accepts her role as duchess.

All is not as it seems at Rockford, and Imogen quickly learns that dark secrets lurk behind the mansion's aristocratic exterior, hinting that the spate of deaths in her family were no accident. And at the center of the mystery is Imogen herself--and Sebastian, the childhood friend she has secretly loved for years. Just what has Imogen walked into?

Suspicion is out December 9th, pre-order your copy here. 
Add it to your GoodReads here. 

The Ghosts Of Heaven

The Ghosts Of Heaven
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher.

Spirals are everywhere, it's existed since time began, and it can be seen everywhere. It's there in Australia when a girl walks through a forest, it should have been there when she made her mark on the cave wall. It's there in England, carved in to the ground, it can be seen in the waters Anna is dunked in when she's accused of witchcraft, and it's on the toy her younger brother plays with, a brother who saves her. It's there in the US, a source of fear for a mad poet, taunting him in the form of a staircase. And it's present in the future, on a space craft speeding through...well..space. They are all connected by a spiral.

Woooooww, okay, I see why everyone is raving about this book! It's so incredibly unique and different and I still can't quite wrap my head around it! I tried to do my own synopsis without giving too much away, you can be the judge of if I succeeded! I read the book in the order the author suggested, and each quarter was different from the last. One was numbered after a sequence, one was in poem form, one was diary entries and one was regular chapters, and I've never read a book that was done in so many different ways. And we all know I love unique things which is why this has me squealing!

Each quarter is around 100 pages or so long, but each gives you a feel for the time, the setting and the character. You feel for the character and get a connection to them. I mean the first quarter was written in kind of a poem style, and I still felt a connection to the character, despite not knowing too much about her! Each quarter has such a vivid setting, a world is created in each quarter that sucks you in and each is different to the others, obviously.

I was particularly impressed with the first quarter, because it was short chapters, set out like a poem, with lines, which sounds stupid when I'm describing but you'll see what I mean when you read it! I was so impressed because there wasn't as much of a word count as the other quarters, with just a few words I could so easily picture the caves and the paintings, the people, the way of life, and you get a lot of information about the culture of the time. I'm not entirely sure about the exact time, but it was set in Australia (I think). But yeah, I was fascinated by the tale, and wanted to know what happens next but it leaves you hanging! She totally thought of the idea of writing like on a bit of a paper and leaving messages and stuff, and of course the spiral was present throughout.

So it was a total jolt when you move to England circa the witch trials and the prat in the carriage. This quarter well and truly got my emotions working, it really riled me up. I always get so riled reading stories about the witch trials and this was no exception, I get so angry that poor innocent girls pretty much got murdered because other village members where jealous, or a bloke got rejected. Ugh. I just can't get my head around the fact that people could live with themselves doing that. This one had a more heartbreaking ending for  me to be honest, and it really left me with emotions running high. Again spirals everywhere. Lots of jealousy and betrayal and so on.

The third quarter was in the US, I want to say 1930's but I think I'm wrong, but it was before there was too much known about mental illness I think, SO ANYWAY, this one is set in an insane asylum. This quarter was the diary entries, and it's about a new doctor there, who there was more to than met the eye, with his wife and everything, and he makes a connection with a patient there who is kind of terrified of spirals. He's a poet. This one connects to the previous two, incredibly well, there's pictures of the cave paintings and his daughter is reading about Anna and her trial! This one was a very gritty look, the patients where being abused in different ways, and it was clearly not a nice environment and you got a huge vibe off the quarter, not quite sinister, but definitely dodgy. The injustice in this really got me worked up as well!

The last quarter takes us in to the future and in to space, on a ship heading for New Earth. This one, again, ties all the parts together, first, second and third, and it was kind of like a murder mystery, the passengers are dying and our narrator has to work out what's going on and who's killing them. It's a bit more complicated than the other quarters, there's two of him and it involves a spiral/helix and it's a time type thing, a time type of complicated. I'm really not making any sense, trying to explain without giving too much away! This one is also the one that's chapters but that are numbered in a certain sequence, and there's little time jumps. To be honest each has a different and distinct narrative style.

None of the quarters are happy stories with happy endings. They're all quite powerful, sad, heartbreaking, serious type things. But they're all so well written you can feel the atmosphere of each quarter, each has a different vibe to it, each is different from the last, and each is twined together so incredibly subtly. The settings are also quite different from each other, but incredibly vivid. The characters are all so well written and developed for the little section they're allocated and the plots are quite developed but simple.

The plot is very complex. Each quarter dives right in, and you immediately grasp what's going on and what's happened previously, and then it's the perfect fast pace, concisely detailing the rest of the plot to the conclusion. I mean, I'm astounded at the fact there's four mini stories so perfectly written in so few pages with such detail, it's incredible. This is hard to review because, for me at least, it was like four mini books in one instead of one book!

This book is so totally for intelligent readers, people more intelligent than me I would imagine, I don't think Sedgwick was going for the "ooohh pretty words making pretty worlds" thing I had going on. Each story is kind of eerily similar, in a way, and this book is all about the symbolism. It's got plenty of history in its pages (something I love) aaaand for the super intelligent types there's philosophy and psychology, there may have been science in the last quarter, but science and I don't get along. You won't just be entertained by this book, you'll think. The book will really make you think. Although I felt quite disconnected from the last two stories, I was so invested in the first two, but the last two I was a bit like hmmmm. Not sure if it was on purpose or not, but even though I wasn't as invested, I was still enthralled by the storytelling.

So in conclusion. This book won't be for everyone, but if you're on the fence, you should give it a shot because while the stories are simple, what's going on behind the scenes as it where, with the connections and so on (sorry I'm so shit at explaining this) is more complex, aka there's bigger stuff going on. So anyway, the writing and storytelling is so beautiful and so incredibly detailed and well done considering the shortness of each quarter. So yeah...DOOO IIITT.

The Walled City

The Walled City
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher

730. That's how many days I've been trapped.
18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....

Couldn't have said it better myself GoodReads, I'm sucking at coming up with my own synopsis lately but I'm such a dick when I do mine because I always end up giving too much away and ugh. So yeah. 

Weeellll Nina is amazing at sending me books I end up totally loving, it's like she has a superpower or something. This book is all go right from the beginning, and I was drawn in right from the beginning, from that point, I was a goner and I couldn't put it down. I'm still shocked that the Walled City was an actual real place, I was totally shocked and fascinated when reading the authors note and looking at the pictures, I can't even imagine living in that place! 

I really enjoyed the portrayal of the different types of people that would live in that sort of place, the vagrants, the gangs, the prostitutes, fugitives, and general criminals. None of it was romanticized, like things like that so often are, it was very gritty, brutal, natural, organic, real etc, it was all portrayed with respect as much as being brutally honest, and you feel such an empathy for all of the different types of people. 

We switch POV's from Jin, Dai and Mei, each of them is vastly different from the others, and has a unique personality, each has qualities you admire and each is strong in their own way. Each of them you form a connection with and really feel for them. Jin changes her entire life, to live in the Walled City and look for Mei, she's strong enough to go in to that place voluntarily and help Dai even though she doesn't entirely trust him, just to get to search another brothel for her sister. Mei is strong enough to rebel against the master, despite the consequences she knows will occur, and turn down a way out from the brothel to help Dai, and Dai, well he's strong enough to turn round and help Mei and Jin as well as following his own plan, I mean he takes Jin out of the Walled City, goes back home knowing he could be arrested, just to save her life. 

Each character has so much depth to them and is written so well that they can easily be pictured, and you can easily get a feel for them, the chapters are quite small, but you still get a strong feel for them within the first few chapters. 

I loved the different POV's because the changes where perfect, each POV switched at the right moment, and the POV's where used to keep you guessing. When Dai is left in the brothel and the gun goes off? No POV for him for a few chapters, so you really do start to believe he's dead, and you're like "oh my God....but....what?!" but then it's like BOOM he's alive, and he's back with his POV. It was genius, seriously, I've never seen POV's used that way, usually they're just there to show some more perspective on a scene. The different POV's are not only used to add to the tension and the suspense and the mystery, but you always see what's going on with other characters instead of the same scene from another perspective. You see Mei and how she's faring in the brothel with her part of the plan and so on. As well as the thoughts of the characters and what's going on with them. 

The story was full of an overwhelming atmosphere, it was incredibly powerful, because you're not reading about some fictional world where fictional things happen, you're reading about a real place, or what used to be a real place anyway, and real things that would have gone on there. Not to mention the fact that drug trafficking and brothels/prostitutes being forced in to the business, does actually happen in this day and age, and not only is it a scary thought, it makes reading this so brutally powerful. Each chapter left you wanting more, they where short, but they all ended making you want to read on and the atmosphere, well, it made  me read on because I was rooting for the characters to escape it! 

The plot was very well done, I don't think the book would have worked without the multi-pov, there was a smidge of romance, subtly threaded underneath, almost as an after thought, and by no means the main attraction. You have a cast of colourful characters, not just the main characters, but secondary characters and extra's (excuse the actor terminology), running around in this incredibly vivid world, fantastically crafted so you get an atmosphere that's oozing off the page, aaannd all of this with a fantastic plot that hooks you in and keeps you reading, there's action, there's plot twists that are fully "OH MY GOD" shocking and at points it has you on the edge of your seat. 

I was kind of gutted though because I totally thought Jin was going to end up with Dai, and I was really rooting for them but he ended up with Mei, and poor Jin was left without anyone. Although I do get there wasn't really time, or an appropriate place in the plot to introduce a romance for Jin, but still.....POOR JIN. She did all that work to help everyone else out! 

The Walled City, despite what it's being called, is not in actual fact Dystopian, it is based on a very real place, and not everyone is going to love it, it may be too gritty for some people and they might not like the concept, but The Walled City is definitely worth a shot because it's truly fantastic. Everything is so well done, so thought out, so well described and everything comes alive as soon as you start reading. This isn't the kind of book I usually go for either, not gonna lie, I do have quite a penchant for the sunshine and rainbows books, but I really found this fascinating and incredibly written.

The Chase

The Chase
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

There's an artifact the Chinese would like returned to them in the Smithsonian. Except the US can't give it back because it happens to be a reaaaally good fake, due to the fact the original was stolen. Fox and O'Hare are teaming up once again, once they obtain the identity of the thief of the Rooster, things become....slightly more difficult. It turns out that he's the former White House chief of Staff, Carter Grove, who's the leader of BlackRhino security, a private security firm made up of ruthless killers. Getting the Rooster back is going to require a mid-air heist, but that's not the hard part. When Grove discovers he's been robbed, he wants his Rooster back. And revenge. Then there's the fact Fox can't let it go that Grove just so happens to have a large collection of stolen goods from some of the biggest thefts in history. You know what that means? Fox and O'Hare are going to take him down....

I appear to be in a small minority of people who did actually rather enjoy this book, I thought it was quite good fun, and an easy read! Unfortunately I haven't read the first book, but I found it easy enough to understand what was going on, what had gone and so on, you could quite probably read this as a stand alone, because previous events are mentioned.

The Chase is action packed from beginning through to end, there's never a dull moment. The plot keeps steaming on, they pull of the heist and their mission, but then something else happens, and it's a big, rolling adventure. Fast paced, we go on an adventure along with Nick and Kate, and you're never quite sure what's going to happen next.

I'm fully shipping Nick and Kate and waiting for them to get together. I mean....they have to, right?! They go so well together, and the banter had me chuckling, and it really reminded me of Castle and Beckett, not to mention the show White Collar in general. Not to mention the Oceans Eleven of it all with the team! Admittedly it's a team of oldies, an actor and a tech genius, but still! I loved Boyd, as an actor, I really enjoyed him and found myself chuckling along and agreeing with him!

The setting is vivid, the characters have depth and the narrative is entertaining and engaging. Not to mention the work gone in to how to pull off the heists! The book takes you all over the world, with our rag tag group, there's bad guys, dodgy assassins, and sinister threats over frozen yogurt. There's danger and suspense everywhere, and this book won't fail to make you laugh.

Roll on the third book in the series! Excited to see what's going to happen to my ship! ;)

Brood

Brood
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Borrow
Source: Copy courtesy of Bookbridgr

Adam and Alice where conceived using a fertility treatment, a treatment that turned their parents into cannibals. Now Alice and Adam are reaching the age where other children conceived by the same means, have started to turn feral. The twins are taking steps to stop puberty hitting so they won't go the same way as their parents, but will they be able to stave it off forever? Their Aunt Cynthia has taken them and has refurbished the home their parents turned in to a dungeon of sorts, she's determined to help them get over the psychological trauma she feels they have endured due to their parents actions, and all she wants to do is show them love. As symptoms start to present themselves on the twins, the twins frequently disappear from home, leaving their aunt worrying. They're involved with a group, a group of kids just like them, but kids from this group are going missing, being kidnapped. Cynthia is doing everything in her power to get the kids to behave, but she just can't control them. What's she going to do when the twins make that final leap over the edge.

I haven't read the first book unfortunately, but I found that this could probably stand alone, I got a grasp on what had previously happened quite early on, and understood the background and such. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the book. It was suitably dark and creepy, I mean the atmosphere and the vibes spilled off the page. I think the part I enjoyed most was the atmosphere and the world being created by the author. It was the right kind of dark and creepy, not too dark and creepy, but enough to give you that little feeling when you're reading a....welll....dark and creepy book ya know.

For me, I felt like the different POV's made the story very jerky and fragmented. I felt like it didn't really work, and there where a whole load of loose ends that where annoyingly left flapping there in the breeze. Dennis and Bree for instance. Like....what happened to the poor girl? I'm gathering he killed her but why? There was no need for him to. It was all ominous like "she won't leave the apartment" but I'm kinda curious as to why. She did what he wanted, sort of. Not to mention her friends who came to rescue her, what the hell happened to them!? Rodolfo and his gang scattered off in to the world with no more word or follow up to what happened to them. I'm not entirely opposed to being left in the dark if there's enough info that you can draw your own conclusions as to what's happened, but that's not the case with this. I know, I know, there's probably going to be a third book, which is why we leave the twins as we do, but still. It felt like things where being forgotten or just left in the dust of the story.

While I did enjoy the darkness and the creepiness and the horror of it all, I did find it hard to get in to the book, if I left it for example, I found it hard to get back in stride, and I did find myself a smidge bored once or twice, but I can't deny the premise is fairly unique, and certainly intriguing, I am curious about what happens to the twins next! I've had a look at the reviews for the first book, and it would appear that while the first book was very strong, the sequel hasn't quite lived up to what it should have been or was expected to be. None the less, curiosity will abound as to the fate of the twins.

I had this the other day with another book I was reading, Timebomb, I think it was, and it's present again here, the coincidences....there's just so many and it's all so unlikely I can't get behind or believe it at all. It kind of annoyed me because it felt quite a weak attempt to wrap everything up and get the story moving on to set up the third book.

I had problems with the characters. Maybe it's because I didn't read the first book I don't know, but I found Alice to be incredibly annoying, rude, disrespectful and incredibly ungrateful to her aunt. Yeah she saved her aunt but she was a right little bitch to her the majority of the time, running off and so on.  I didn't particularly like her. I didn't really have much of an opinion on Adam, I thought he was okay seeing as he called Cynthia mum and everything, but just feeling bad wasn't enough really. Clearly he can't stand up to his sister, and went along with whatever she said or did. He felt bad but he didn't do anything about it which was quite infuriating. Then there was Cynthia. I actually felt really sorry for her the majority of the time because she was trying so hard and the kids didn't want to know, well Alice didn't, and they where constantly worrying her. But at the same time, she was almost annoyingly whiny at some points.

Cynthia was also quite boring a lot of the time, we frequently returned to her sitting there doing nothing waiting for the kids to come back, or writing in her diary or whatever. The author did do very well at showing the contrast between human behaviour and the more animal behaviour of the kids going feral.

For me Brood wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be, it was dark and creepy as promised, but I couldn't gel with the characters and the narrative, with the switching and everything was very jerky. Having said that I am curious about what's going to happen to the twins next! I'm hoping there's a third book anyways.