I've decided that as well as blogging about my latest musings of the writing world, which can be few and far between, I'm going to start posting book recommendations and hope that anyone who reads this will do the same as I'm always on the look out for a good book! Although these posts will have a 'review' aspect to them I will only be posting books I like as opposed to writing scathing reviews about those that I don't. So shall we get on with it?
Unsurprisingly, the first book I'm going to recommend is Time Rep by Peter Ward. This book came out in July last year and I was lucky enough to discover it just before the Christmas period kicked in and, quite simply, I devoured it within two days. I love fantasy and sci-fi books that give a new twist on the genre and I especially love all things time travel so this book quickly became one of my all time favourites. The story focuses on Geoffrey Stamp, a boring nobody with no aspirations in life who is selected to become a Time Rep. In the future time travel is not only possible but accessible to all and Time Reps guide tourists through various time periods, showing them great historical moments such as The Great Fire of London and even the moment when the dinosaurs were wiped out. Of course, being the main character, Geoffrey is far from a nobody and by the end of the book you find yourself wanting to take him to the pub and buying him a pint, which he would probably happily accept. I know that a lot of people measure how good a book is by how flowery or poetic the writing is but, for me, it's all about the story. That's not to say that I can abide bad writing but if the story doesn't grip me then I won't think much of the book overall. Thankfully, the pacing of the story and the many plot twists had me grinning throughout. I like to think that I'm quite good at spotting a twist or working out a character's secret but Ward had me floored (oh that is a good but of rhyming) so many times that I lost count. However, the best thing about the book for me was Ward's writing style, which has been compared to that of Douglas Adams and it's easy to see why. He has a dry wit that I find hilarious and if anyone else enjoys sarcasm and silliness as much as I do then I guarantee that you will enjoy this book. Admittedly, this book is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, even hard core nerds may be annoyed at the lack of seriousness but that's why I love it. The book is unashamedly ridiculous but the strong characters and plot keep it grounded so that you can, to a certain extent, believe that these events could actually happen. I pray that one day this becomes a film but until it hits the big time I fear that will not happen. Until then I'm just going to have to see what else Mr Ward has to offer!
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