Soul Of Science Vol.2, The (Compiled By Ian O'Brien/Kirk De Georgio) - Ian O'Brien/Kirk De Giorgio

Advantages: Good story, enjoyable writing and exciting ending
Disadvantages: No epilogue

...Background I'm sure most people have heard of this author Ian Rankin through the Rebus books and television series. This was however my first experience of his work. About the Author Ian Rankin was born in Fife, Scotland in 1960. He is the UK's Number 1 selling crime author. So far he has written 27 novels, of which his most successful have been the Rebus books. His first novel was indeed 'The Flood', which originally was planned for Radio 4's Short story section but was considered too long so Rankin converted it into a novel instead. He has received many awards for his work including an OBE in 2002 for his services to literature. The Storyline of the book The book is set in a small Scottish town called Carsden. Whose traditional industry of coal mining was closing down due to it being uneconomic to mine there any... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A very good police procedural with a likable protagonist in John Rebus
Disadvantages: Part of a long running series, you may feel you have to read the earlier books to keep up.

...Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series is now 15 books strong and probably stands at the top of the list of new releases that I look forward to each year. John Rebus is a CID detective with the Lothian and Borders Police in Edinburgh, Scotland. He's a driven, dedicated policeman who lives for his job and rarely rests until his case is solved. But for all his dedication he has always had a distinct disregard for his superiors with his unorthodox and preference for working in solitude regularly landing him in trouble. Faithful readers of the series will have noticed a gradual but definite change in John Rebus’ personality (a necessity in the success of a long-running series). When we first met him in Knots and Crosses he was a tormented man who was trying to get over a failed marriage, invariably drinking himself to sleep, that is... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: short, well written, poignant
Disadvantages: cold

...a largely pre-determined inevitability to what happened and ensued, or whether is was a result of a momentary decision made by one or both of them, understandable in the context of their personalities and the mores of the time, but ultimately not inevitable until it actually happened. What I found the most gripping was the rendition of Florence's emotions, thoughts, but most of all, perceptions of the sexual contact. McEwan has been nominated for the bad sex award for this book, but I think unjustly so. The stilted language used to describe the limited sexual experiences of Edward (and the imaginations of Florence) is a reflection of the idiom of the time, while the detailed account of the wedding night's disaster workes brilliantly to de-familiarise the experience normally coloured by desire and vividly shows how the sexual act (and, even... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful