[DanaC]

I'm listening to the audiobook of The Passage by Justin Cronin. What a wonderful book! And beautifully read too.

I'm so pleased to be into something again. Had a spell of not being able to get into anything. tried a dozen books on kindle and several on audio that just didn't click with me. Probably because I'd previously had a run of superb books that spoiled me for a while. Y'know when a book or a series gets right under your skin and you just want that same hit, but nothing quite compares?

Some of the books in that run of awesomeness:

1. If You Fall I Will Catch you , by Eifion Jenkins. Unusual for me to go for a standalone novel. Usually I prefer series or at the very least standalones by an author with a large back catalogue of books to hit if the style grabs me (like Tom Holt or Stephen King) - but this was a real gem of a novel. Not all that long, maybe 350 pages - but by the end of it I felt like I'd read an epic. Hard to describe it - it's sort of sci-fi, but with a spirituality to it. Beautifully written and with a surprising depth. Set in the future, after a plague (I think was a plague) has wiped out much of humanity. The world is dominated by a Spanish empire of sorts, but the main character, Gwidion is in a Welsh village (to start with). He's haunted by a memory of sorts - and a 'twin' brother who never existed. The twin is connected to the events of 9/11, and event Gwidion knows nothing about, and yet is connected to via the twin and dreams of falling.

I'm not doing it justice - just take my advice and read it. You'll be glad you did.

2. Dark Eden - another standalone. And another sort of sci-fi with a spiritual edge. Set a century and a half after a small group of people landed on the planet they called Eden. A strange planet completely alien to Earth, with no sunlight. The light all comes from the plants and animals. The descendants of the small group are all one family, though divided into little groups. They've remained in theplace where the craft landed - fearful of ever straying too far in case the shps came from Earth to retrieve them and can;t find them - stuck in a cycle of repetition and locked into living in the same way, following the same paths their forebears had, with most of the planet unexplored. One youngster wants to change ho they live - he recognises that they cannot continue to exist in the little valley, with food running scarce as their population continues to grow. Again, I'm not doing this justice :p One of the lovely things about it is the language. It's told from the perspective of different characters, swapping between them as the story unfolds, and using the dialect and speech patterns of the little colony. Reminded me a little of Ridley Walker at times. The rhythms of the speech and the little survivals of words and concepts from Earth (such as the yearly meetings known as Any Virsries and the occasional Strordinry Meeting - with the Secret Ary taking notes, scratched on bark).

I've already talked about the Gentleman Bastards series on audio - listened to the three currently available - was a marathon! 70 hours or thereabouts - like watching a boxset :P Made it difficult to get into any audio afterwards - was so good and so well read.

The other series that got under my skin was on kindle - The Demon Wars cycle, by Peter V Brett beginning with The Painted Man (The Warded Man in the US). Tried the audio and it didn't click with me - but then I got them on kindle and they blew me away. Love the way it's written - the dialects remind me a bit of Game of Thrones (inasmuch as I can hear the accent). Really well- built world, with a clear sense of place and people. Gutted when the third book ended on a (fairly literal) cliffhanger! Now probably have a year to wait at least for the next instalment.

The Demon Wars trilogy spoiled me on reading, in just the same way that Gentleman Bastards spoiled me on audio. I so wanted that same kind of feel and just couldn't find it anywhere.

I tried so many different books on kindle and audio and nothing was clicking with me. I'm a chapter or three into about 8 books just now. I'd get into one a little and read for a night, but then didn't feel drawn to return to that story. And tried a few audios too, none of which took. Then I remembered The Passage, which I got through audible a couple of years ago for Mum and never listened to it myself.

So pleased it's good. I really needed to be into a book!