Reviews and Comments

Fat Charlie has a comfortable life in London and a lovely fiancée whose mother is hell on Earth. Fat Charlie cannot say his life is everything he has ever dreamt of, but when his father dies and he learns he is the son of a god and that he has a brother, the life he knows and Rosie are gone and Fat Charlie wants it back.

This book was a brilliant surprise. Whether you like or do not like [b:American Gods|30165203|American Gods|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462924585s/30165203.jpg|1970226], give this a try because there is nothing in common between the two except that there are gods in it. Fat Charlie, Spider, Rosie, Rosie's mother and Daisy are characters that we easily care about but I wasn't expecting the humour. This book is way funnier than it should be because it is beautifuly written, the characters and story evolve in a very satisfying way and it even has a surprising twist in the end. I was not expecting such a novel from Gaiman, but I am immensely happy I read this. It is become one of my favourites from him.

Harry Potter learns that a very dangerous wizard has escaped Azkaban and that he may be after him. Hogwarts is obviously the best place to keep Harry safe, but no one intends to leave Harry alone - not even to visit Hogsmeade, the only village in Britain where everyone is a wizard.

This has always been my favourite of the series, and now that I am rereading it, I guess it was the promise of Harry finally getting a loving family. But there is so much more I love about this book! The Divination class always made me laugh, the way Dumbledore understands his students can play a big role in the destiny of things, the way Hermione always does what is right even when her own friends are against her (reminds me of [b:Coraline|17061|Coraline|Neil Gaiman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493497435s/17061.jpg|2834844]), the amazing Lupin as the new teacher... And of course, the existence of Sirius and the fact that Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and that it belongs to the Canis Major constellation, which made me connect the dots early on. This is where the darkness began and also where I became a fan. I will always love this book.

Death has another middeath crisis and Susan, as the only unnatural heir, gets the scythe and part of the powers that come with the job. But she does not want cute guys to die, specially when they are introducing the new "music with rocks in" era to the Disc - not even the librarian is immune to the new rhythm!

I love the Death character and it gets more and more amusing as humanity keeps finding a way in. A true rebel of the Gods! It is a brilliant book as always, filled with rock mentions/nods that had me giggling every time I found one. The story takes some time to develop and the end is a bit weird, but each paragraph is a story in itself filled with vivid images of recurring gags and hilarious moments. I am not the biggest fan of the wizards, but they probably are the best part of this story.

This audiobook explains why Mulder and Scully were called back to restart the X-files. The story starts with a cyberattack that downloads all the FBI information regarding the X-files. Since their identity has been compromised, they are taken out of reclusion and brought back to the FBI headquarters where they are supposed to investigate some of their cold cases. And aliens, a lot of aliens.

This worked very well as an audiobook, mostly because it was a full-cast dramatisation (with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson!) and also because it was adapted by the audio-genius Dirk Maggs. Having said that, I should mention that the foreign accents were very weird. I had to read the X-files story up to that point to be able to keep up with the audiobook, which makes me believe listening to this out of the blue won't work. It is too confusing to work as a standalone. Most of the cold cases regard aliens, but my favourite is the monster that makes a disgusting comeback!... If you're a fan, you'll enjoy this audiobook.

The Gatekeeper warns Dresden about the rise of dark magic in Chicago, but the warning is
atemporal and it is not clear if something has already happened or will happen. And after avoiding Michael for almost 2 years because of the fallen angel mark, Harry cannot put off meeting him any longer after Molly - Michael's older daughter - calls him for help. Her boyfriend Nelson is the main suspect in attacking an old man, but Harry believes he is innocent.

I loved when Harry called his friends his heroes, and that he has gathered a "team" instead of facing everything alone. At this point I do not believe I could ever read something associated with Harry Dresden and not enjoy it immensely. However, this book felt like a preparation for the next one (or ones). It felt like getting all the ingredients ready for a big magic banquet... and I cannot wait to learn what happens!

Meagan is walking back from a party with Ben, and she thinks she might just have found "the" boy when she is hit by an exceptionally heavy frisbee flying at a supernatural speed. She is brought back as a vampire by a "volunteer" sire and soon learns something is wrong with her when she rises after 24h instead of the usual 72h. And she has more fangs than usual, and that she may have killed Ben.

I feel like Molly Harper redeemed herself since I did not fins the last book as entertaining. Meagan is a great main character, she is lovely and all her reactions and thoughts are considerate. She is a lot like Libby (from [b:The Single Undead Moms Club|25101899|The Single Undead Moms Club (Half-Moon Hollow, #4)|Molly Harper|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425858096s/25101899.jpg|44793360] ) and that was one of my favourites from the series, so I guess it means I love this one. I particularly enjoyed the interaction between Jane, Gabriel and Georgie. This was a fun read!

I must add that the publish dates of the short-stories regarding the respective novels was a a bit messy.

Harry Potter has lived with is uncle, aunt and horrible cousin since he was a baby. His parents died shortly after he was born and he has no recollection of them, although he loves his parents unconditionally - probably because he is clearly not wanted by his remaining relatives. One day Harry discovers he is a wizard and that there is a whole new world waiting for him. He can leave his miserable life and embrace the magic that lives in him.

When I read this book for the first time, which was almost 20 years ago, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Maybe because I read it in Portuguese. But now reading the original words and seeing those beautiful illustrations, it took my breath away. What a great book to read over and over again! I loved how Harry forged his friendships, how children are so sure of the truth, and how love keeps it all together. And I was delighted in discovering that Dumbledore is adorably nuts, I had not realised that before! This is a great beginning to a magnificent series. I was missing it without knowing it.

Salander is in the hospital after Blomkvist found her and is slowly recovering, while her dad is alive in the same hospital some doors down. The police is as confused as ever, but finally they start to consider alternative theories to the big mess they got themselves into. Salander finds out she has her own small army and they will try to correct all the wrong done to her, while their enemies will try to discredit her yet again.

The final volume (for now) of the original Millennium series picks up right where the second book ended. And the amazing ride continues! It is incredible how the suspense keeps going even though the story was sort of finished in the last book. What an amazing writer! I followed every character like each was the main priority of the book. I loved the sudden changes in the pace and the mysteries untold. What is more incredible is that the story always feels real, there is no bit that makes it feel "too much". I am in awe of these last two books.

Millennium has another hot story to publish, a journalist has been researching and is about to expose a large network involving sex slaves and powerful people who have a lot to lose. When said journalist and his partner are found dead by Blomkvist, it just makes him want more than ever to publish the story and find the killer.

This book was so good! I confess I did not understand what the beginning had to do with the rest of the story, even though it would make a great short story. Was it for the readers to understand Salander's morals? To understand how she spent a year away? Nevertheless, it feels very disconnected to rest, which has a much faster pace than the previous volume and is impossible to put down. I loved every bit of it and when I could not read, I was thinking about the loose ends and how to tie them up. Excellent crime fiction.

Harry Dresden has a lot in his hands. Some really powerful necromancers are trying to take over the world using some really nasty magic. Murphy does not know but she is also in danger of having her career destroyed unless Harry gets Marva something called the "Word of Kemmler" - Kemmler was the most powerful necromancer in the world. Harry also has to protect the really frightened and not-that-brave Butters that gets involved by chance, while the White Council is at war with the Red Court.

I do not think Jim Butcher is capable of writing a bad Harry Dresden story. This was compelling as ever, powerful crazy enemies, friends that cannot be called to help, intrigue, and even Harry's own free will was at stake. However, I felt the pace was broken multiple times and I did not really understand why. Every time Dresden got up to do something important and the momentum was building up, he stopped to talk or to do something in between. Everything he did was important but I grew increasingly frustrated at the dialogues and pauses in the action. Apart from that, this could be one of the best of Dresden files. And the dinosaur!! Wow, that was worth 5 stars alone.

And I need to mention that James Marsters does a beautiful job as Harry's voice, as always. In my head while reading and not listening Harry has no other voice but his.