Bite-size chunks of media for you to sink your teeth into.

Throughout the years, more and more books are released without ever hitting the ‘Big Time’ seen in series like Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling. Within these lesser known books you have your two main divisions: The Gems and the Duds. Hidden amongst these books are those ‘Sleeper’ stories that take the unwary by surprise. I’m happy to say that ‘The Roar’ by Emma Clayton falls right into a ‘Sleeping Gem.’

The basics of the plot are easy enough to comprehend. You have the world’s population driven to live behind The Wall (literally an enormous concrete wall) in a third of the space they used to. Why? A little thing called The Animal Plague. Things in this new world are horrible, with the people living off of mold and fake foods. The rich survive while the poor are left for dead in overpopulated areas filled with stinking floodwater.

The story follows the path of one Mika Smith, a 12 year old boy who’s trying to deal with the death of his twin sister, Ellie. You see, he doesn’t believe that she’s dead. This fact, along with him being a mutant, leads to him being a social outcast at school, and eventually gets him into some major trouble. I must say, the plot is rather simple in theory, but once you get into the book it becomes larger than life. Just a mere 60 pages into the story, you’ll have gotten enough information to have filled 120 pages in your average book. Don’t take that the wrong way, ‘The Roar’ doesn’t take twice as long to read, you just get twice the amount to think about per page, overall. The best part about this is that you, as the reader, don’t consciously realize how much you’re taking in.

However great this book is in the core, the surrounding aspects are what detracts from it. Some of the characters are flat and more boring than moldy cheese or drying paint. That, and the ending. The ending is painful, terribly painful. I mean, you’ve got such a great book, and then you have an ending that makes Christopher Paolini’s ‘Brisingr’ look like the perfect ending. The end comes so abruptly and unexpectedly, in fact, that I flipped through the rest of the pages (most of which are blank, you know) looking for the rest of the ending.

Why is the ending so random? Simple: Emma Clayton wanted a sequel, and boy does she set it up like very few authors could. The ending, as you should have guessed, is one hell of a cliffhanger. Some of the problems are solved, but so many more questions and issues are raised as you finish that final period on the last page of the book. The sequel to the book (which is supposed to finish the tale completely) is going to be called ‘The Whisper’ in case you wondered.

Overall, ‘The Roar’ is a great book. You get concepts and ideas that the general public would never have even thought to imagine. You’ll race through this book, and be left craving more.

‘The Roar’ by Emma Clayton had it’s first release in the UK back in 2008. Later, in 2009, the book would see it’s first U.S. release. Chicken House publishes the book and it’s upcoming sequel.

Rating (out of 5 starts, 0 being absolutely horrendous, and 5 being perfection):

4.5 / 5

This review was written by Rain Stinks, a member of MediaSlice Forums

The cover caught my attention

Author: Brent Weeks

Suggested age rating: 16+

Note: This is an informative review. Sorry that I spent more time setting the background than actually discussing it. 

I first stumbled upon this book through AllenP, our guru. He’d found the book while browsing through the endless shelves of fantasy books in a bookshop in Cork. The cover caught my attention and I began asking questions, to which Allen enthusiastically answered. A few days later he lent the book to me, and honestly, I’m indebted to him.

It takes a lot to interest me in a book, and I confess that I’ve probably put down more books after the second chapter than finished reading them.
The Way of Shadows, however, violently pulled me into its pages, and I was amazed from the beginning by Brent Weeks’ skill as an author.

The story starts in the Warrens, a filthy, poverty stricken slum in a corrupt city. Our main character is a guild rat named Azoth. We quickly discover we really wouldn’t want to be a guild rat. Life means nothing in the Warrens, and other members of Azoth’s guild drop like flies. He realises his only chance is to get out.

Durzo Blint is a wetboy, an elite assassin and a living legend in the city. A crossing with Durzo has Azoth wishing he could be Durzo’s apprentice. When the opportunity arises, Azoth jumps at it.

But he must disown himself, say goodbye to the few friends he once had and change his identity. Now, as Kylar Stern, he his life has changed completely. Ahead of him is adventure, pain, drama, impossible choices and epic battles.

It is everything you look for in a fantasy book and more. It evoked emotions I haven’t experienced in reading in years, and I spent many late nights turning pages, knowing I should go to sleep but not being able to pry the book out of my own hands.
The writing is top class, and throughout the book, there are very few parts that could be viewed as boring.

The fight scenes are fluid, raw and intense. The way Weeks writes those makes you really fear for the character’s well being, an effect which not enough authors can do.

Usually when reading a book, I notice (and I’m sure the rest of you do too) that many authors are good at writing a certain aspect of the story (e.g. fight scenes) and their writing in other areas is mediocre.

With Brent Weeks, this is not the case. In ‘The Way of Shadows’, the fight scenes are excellent, the tense scenes have an atmosphere that could be cut with a knife.

The intimate scenes would make you think a woman had written them.

The characters in this book are incredibly realistic, with unique personalities and feelings.

The Way of Shadows is simply a must read. If you read five books this year, let this be one of them.