More of wot I have read…

Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

What can I say, I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and even though this is part of his teen series, I still enjoyed reading it. It is a good book for the younger readers to introduce them to the weird and wonderful Discworld and some of its more well known inhabitants… …the witches.

“At 9, Tiffany Aching defeated the cruel Queen of Fairyland.

At 11, she battled an ancient body-stealing evil.

At 13, Tiffany faces a new challenge: a boy. And boys can be a bit of a problem when you're thirteen. . . .

But the Wintersmith isn't exactly a boy. He is Winter itself—snow, gales, icicles—all of it. When he has a crush on Tiffany, he may make her roses out of ice, but his nature is blizzards and avalanches. And he wants Tiffany to stay in his gleaming, frozen world. Forever.

Tiffany will need all her cunning to make it to Spring. She'll also need her friends, from junior witches to the legendary Granny Weatherwax. They—

Crivens! Tiffany will need the Wee Free Men too! She'll have the help of the bravest, toughest, smelliest pictsies ever to be banished from Fairyland—whether she wants it or not.

It's going to be a cold, cold season, because if Tiffany doesn't survive until Spring—
—Spring won't come.”



The Rama series by Arthur C Clarke

I found the middle two books in a charity shop and bought them on a whim. I found I had the last at home, but it had been so long that I couldn’t remember reading it. The first book I don’t think I have ever read. Arthur C Clarke’s books can be a bit difficult to read in that he does detail everything in a way that must be logical to him, but unfortunately I don’t get all of his gadgets or aliens and I find they can irritate and detract from the story. I guess though trying to explain alien life forms and advanced technology is always going to be a risk. I also have a difficulty with the possibility that we could have any common ground with another race, or even be able to recognise them should we come across one – humans are not my idea of a constitutes superior species. Nevertheless some leaps of faith are required if a story is to be told, and the overall idea is very interesting and explores some of these issues in a controlled environment.


1972 Rendezvous With Rama
In 2130, a new celestial body is discovered heading toward the Sun. Earthlings name this object 'Rama' -- a vast cylinder, about 31 miles long and 12 miles across, with a mass of at least ten trillion tons. The spaceship Endeavor, directed by Commander Bill Norton, lands on Rama and has three weeks to explore its hollow interior. Inside the vessel they discover a completely self-contained world -- a world that has been cruising through space for perhaps more than a million years.

1989 Rama II
Years ago, the enormous, enigmatic alien spacecraft called Rama sailed through our solar system as mind-boggling proof that life existed -- or had existed -- elsewhere in the universe. Now, at the dawn of the twenty-third century, another ship is discovered hurtling toward us. A crew of Earth's best and brightest minds is assembled to rendezvous with the massive vessel. They are armed with everything we know about Raman technology and culture. But nothing can prepare them for what they are about to encounter on board Rama II: cosmic secrets that are startling, sensational -- and perhaps even deadly.

1991 The Garden Of Rama
By the twenty-third century Earth has already had two encounters with massive, mysterious robotic spacecraft from beyond our solar system--the incontestable proof of an alien technology that far exceeds our own. Now three human cosmonauts are trapped aboard a labyrinthine Raman vessel, where it will take all of their physical and mental resources to survive. Only twelve years into their journey do these intrepid travelers learn their destination and face their ultimate challenge: a rendevous with a Raman base--and the unseen architects of their galactic home. The cosmonauts have given up family, friends, and possessions to live a new kind of life. But the answers that await them at the Raman Node will require an even greater sacrifice--if humanity is indeed ready to learn the awe-inspiring truth.

1993 Rama Revealed
After the appearance of a spaceship, Rama, a second craft arrives, destined to house a group of colonists. But, the colony has become a dictatorship. Nicole Wakefield, condemned to death, escapes to an island called New York, and is forced to flee to the corridors inhabited by octospiders.