Been reading:

– Across the Universe by Beth Revis is a YA generation ship story, the first in a series – I thought it explored a lot of interesting ideas, although I felt it suffered a bit from ‘stupid character’ syndrome (ie. the main characters taking ages to figure out something that the reader has realised long ago). I picked it up because I read great reviews of it on Tansy Rayner-Robert’s and Random Alex’s blogs.

– Eon by Alison Goodman, is a wonderful high fantasy with a girl-disguised-as-boy protagonist (Eon), and a lot of very high political stakes. Eon can also be a bit dense at times as to what is going on around her – perhaps this is just an ‘adult reading YA’ problem.

– Deadline by Mira Grant is the follow up to Feed which I bought and devoured as soon as it was published. I really enjoyed it, but it had its problems – repetitive, a narrator whom I found frustrating, and a few plot twists which left me undecided as to how I felt about them. Despite that, I’m really looking forward to the third book and seeing how Grant wraps up the series.

– Solitaire is Kelley Eskridge’s only published novel, and it’s a fantastic piece of science fiction. I only wish she had written another novel – maybe I’ll have to find some of her short stories.

– I have loved all of Tana French’s novels – while they sometimes push your ability to suspend your sense of disbelief, French’s writing and plotting is just so enjoyable. Faithful Place was no exception to the trend – a really wonderful mystery novel.

And watching:

– I binge watched the first season of Game of Thrones, which I loved – I have never read the books and I don’t think I will. The TV series seems to condense them very nicely (and then I won’t have the trauma of starting to read an unfinished series).

– The fourth season of True Blood is its usual very enjoyable mess of too many plot threads (and vastly improves upon its source material, I think – we don’t have to listen to Sookie’s interminably dull inner monologue about her morning routine, which is what most of Charlaine Harris’ books spend a lot of time going over).

– Torchwood: Miracle Day is a full season of Torchwood being shot in the US with Gwen (and family), Captain Jack and a whole lot of new American characters. It is suitably thrilling and disturbing, and I’m enjoying it enormously. In the first episode, there’s a scene where Gwen slips a pair of pink earmuffs on her baby daughter before sprinting down a corrider, holding the baby with one arm and shooting at a helicopter with the other. I love Gwen.