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I've not read "Legends & Lattes", so I'm coming in cold to this universe.

This is a story about relationships, frustrations, getting over hurdles and healing. There's a story going on, but you're going to spend time invested in people, taking in the sea air and reading about books. You like books, right? Well, this is a book about books and bookshops, so you're in the right place.

This is the kind of book you can pick up when you've been beaten up a little bit and need something easy that's not too challenging, but can make you smile a bit, cry a bit and feel better about the world. It's queer, it's fun, and did I mention it has books?

It's about being left behind, finding new things, helping others, finding things your good at, a bit more of helping others, a bit of high fantasy and adventure (not too much mind), books, more books, baking, some gentle romance, some more books and friendship. Pacing focuses on the people, but doesn't leave the story behind. An exceptionally easy read.

Second or third read through for me, but I've not read it for a good while.

"The fact that she was a free agent and her own mistress and quite at liberty to go off to Ankh-Morpork had nothing to do with it. They'd interfere. They always did."

This is the crux of the problem I have with Maskerade. Agnes, mostly, just wants to be left alone. A series of events happens to and around her, and Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax who insist they know best over a range of things, insert themselves over the whole book. It's not to say they don't help to resolve things, it's that they insist on doing it their way on every occasion. By any other account, we would possibly accuse them of a level of toxicity. It rubs me the wrong way.

It's not one of my favourites. I have more affinity for Carpe Jugulum, when there's some refinement to the Witches formula and some other aspects of Terry start to come out. Maskerade at times just feels honestly mean to me.

Otherwise, a passable Terry story. There's enough jokes and references in here to keep most theatre-people happy. You've broadly got a pastiche on Phantom, we have an Opera house, a ghost, and shennanigans. Agnes Nitt / PeridtaX has travelled from Lancre to make it big in the city. Shennanigans ensure.

It's taken three readings, possibly four and another ten years to get possibly one of the biggest gags in the entire book related to Walter Plinge. I suspect after the heat death of the universe, some aspect of the cosmic universe will titter to itself on understanding yet another joke or reference in a STP book.

The Secret Barrister takes a critical and holistic look at the England and Wales criminal justice system from the point of view of a junior barrister circa 2015. Not everything here will be up to date, but Is suspect things probably haven't improved.

The author has been writing for a while, and I came across them when Twitter was a greener place, but did not get around to reading the book at the time of publication and I wish I had. It's an absolutely heart wrenching read, written beautifully, in surprisingly accessible language and is amazingly fair to those involved in the service while pointing very stern fingers at those responsibile for the systemic failing of the criminal justice system. His real life experience as a junior barrister between the magistrates, crown and appeals courts really does provide a true down to earth view that isn't seen from the side of the media.

The book also provides a great look at English criminal justice, why we have the system we do, the alternatives available and the arguments for and against (like a good barrister should).

This is another book that's probably going on my "please read" list. It will make you angry, sad and hopefully a little more fired up for change.

Tricky one here.

The Dragon Waiting is an alternate history, medieval/early renaissance, fantasy novel following the ride of Richard III.

It does this very, very well.

However, it does not give you any handrails. Either you already need to have a strong familiarity with this period of history or you're going to need to read this with one eye fixed on Wikipedia. There are notes in historical context in the back of the novel, but they talk about the deviations - rather than the history itself. You're going to need to do your homework here.

John Ford's "show, don't tell" approach also applies to plot. Expect the plot to jump from one paragraph to the next and not to blink. You're left wondering if you missed a page, some other context elsewhere - nope, this is how he writes. When you get in to the flow of reading it works. But don't expect to pick up and drop this book. Set aside reading time. And a whiteboard. And markers.

Once you're ready to read it, it's great. The story is quite pacy, a fantasy spy thriller. Very Le Carre in places, but with some oddly Noir vibes, especially around Gregory. Really don't be afraid to go and look up "who is..." if you get lost. It will help make your reading experience more enjoyable.

It's good, worth the time, approach like battle.

Written in 1964, this novel follow political candidate/non-candidate John Thatch rise from celebrity outsider to Rublican party candidate, being guided through the outside of the established political system. He's presented as a people's hero, being manouvered by a group of political scientists with the help of technology to exploit the local electorate.

It's difficult to read in it's own context, because from the viewpoint of 2024, it's a bit "so what?". Everything here is absolutely now par for the course, but would have probably appeared ... shocking? at the time. The idea that every social group can be categorised, sliced, analysed and predicted is exactly what we do with big data, and have been doing for a long time. But in 1964 this really was new.

There's a lot of anti-communism in the book, and a lot of racism. There are points where the book skirts Ayn Rand-esque language and again, it's one to read carefully, with a very clear view on when it was written. It's an interesting read, very dated, but an interesting milestone in political history.

This closely tracks the original Dune novel, possibly a little too faithfully, split over three volumes. Volume 1 ends with the storming of the Palace and the fall of House Atraedies. Volume 2 starts with Paul in the desert. The art is very cinematic, and I would argue quite mostly faithful, but where interpretations range from Jodorowsky to Lynch to Villeneuve, this often feels a bit lacking.

The writing is lifted almost directly from the book, with a few extra scenes, and can feel a bit heavy. Exposition is heavy, and some breathing room would be good to let the artwork do some of the work instead. The Bond books from Image were exceptional at this, and sometimes a bit less is more.

There are flashes in here of the fantastic. The water if life sequence is great, and more.of this would be appreciated. But there's a lot of very busy action going on, and not a lot of breathing room.

It feels rude to not finish out the series, but I'm expecting more of the same.