Tink's Book Reviews

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 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.  When a forty year old man returns to his hometown for a funeral, he finds himself driving back to his childhood home but not knowing why, especially driving down to the end of the lane that was at the bottom on his house.  When he gets there he meets an old woman, and not just any old woman, there's something different about her, something that draws him in to her. He has a feeling that he knows the woman, but he's never seen her in his life.   Then it all comes back to him, walking down to the small pond behind the old woman's house, he soon remembers why he knows her, his childhood and the dreaded memori...

Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll When Alice follows a white rabbit in a waistcoat down a hole, she finds herself in a mixed-up world where nothing is as she expects it to be and anything can happen. Alice meets a pipe-smoking caterpillar, a grinning cat, a Mad Hatter and the formidable Queen of Hearts. Alice is fed up of the dinner party her family are throwing and is fed up of trying to be paired with someone to marry. So whilst on a walk through the garden, she notices a white rabbit, though not just any white rabbit, one that has a little waist coat, a pocket watch and most of all, can speak.  Curious, Alice decides to follow the Rabbit, but when he jumps into the rabbit hole at the bottom of a far away tree, Alice doesn't know what to do. So when she looks further into the hole and falls down it, she is in a whole new world. When she lands, Alice finds that she must go through the first door that she sees, though it is as small as a doormouse and there's no wa...

The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious buy inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet... In the far away galaxy, between thought and reality there is another world. Not just any old world, it's known as the Discworld. Different from our own round sphere. No, this is a flat disc, that sits upon four large elephants, where they stand upon the large turtle A'Turin, who glides through space.  Rincewind is a wizard, he has the cloak, the hat and the beard. Though he doesn't know any of the spells and he got kicked out of the Unseen University for Wizards. So life isn't pretty great for the worlds worst wizard, although he does know one of the most powerful spells in history, he just has tr...

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury A thousand pumpkin smiles look down from the Halloween Tree, and twice-times-a-thousand-fresh-cut eyes glare and wink and blink, as Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud leads the eight children - no nine; but where is Pipkin? -  On a leaf tossed, kite-flying, gliding , broomstick-riding trip to learn the secret of All Hallows Eve. And they do.  For all nine children, Halloween is their favourite holiday of all time. It's even better than Christmas. So when they all get dressed up in different costumes there's, The Skeleton, The Ape man, The Witch, The Mummy, The Beggar, and more! Though the group of lads can't start there night of Halloween and trick or treating without there good friend Pipkin, it's his favourite of all holiday's.  Though reaching up to poor Pipkin's house, they find he is too ill to go. With the group of boys stuck in their tracks without their leader, Pipkin tells them to go to an old Goth...

Black Dawn by Rachel Caine When a tide of ferocious draug, the vampire's deadliest enemy, floods Morganville, it's eclectic mix of residents must fight to save their town from devastation. Chaos has taken over the quiet college town of Morganville as the threat of the draug rapidly spreads with the help of city's water system. Whilst most of the locals have already fled, student Claire Danvers and her friends Shane, Eve and Michael chose to stay and fight.  Things take a turn for the worse when vampire Amelie, the town's founder, is infected by the master draug's bite, Unless Claire and her friends can find an antidote to save Amelie and overcome the draug, Morganville's future looks bleak... Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael are back to kick some ass, and for once it's not the vampire's there after. No, it's Magnus, a creepy, slimy, wet, rotting creature known as the master draug. And the vampire's worst enemy of all time.  W...

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury If El Greco had painted miniatures in his prime, no bigger than your hand, infinitely detailed, with his sulphurous colour and exquisite human anatomy, perhaps he might have used this man's body for his art... Yet the Illustrated Man had tried to burn the illustrations  off. He's tried sandpaper, acid, and a knife. Because, as the sun sets, the pictures glow like charcoals, like scattered gems. They quiver and come to life. Tiny pink hands gesture, tiny mouths flicker as the figures enact there stories - voices rise, small and muted, predicting the future. Blending magic, imagination and truth with Bradbury's rich storytelling skills and beautifully crafted imagery, these startling and thought provoking visions of humankind's destiny.  Imagine being in the future, what would you think 2021 would be like? Will there be flying saucers? Aliens? Robots? Sit back and let Ray Bradbury be your guide, and take your into a world...