My Book Reviews

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I don't think I need to say that fans of Harry Potter would love to have this book as a collection. What's even better is that royalties from the sales of this book are 'donated to the Children's High Level Group, which works to benefit children in desperate need of a voice'.

This book has 5 stories, conjured up (pun intended) by Beedle, and serves as 'fables' of sorts in the wizarding world, as were Cinderella and Red Riding Hood in ours.

Of course, in this is the famous Tale of the Three Brothers, as read by Hermione in The Deathly Hallows. It also features commentaries by Dumbledore at the end of each fable.

So for fans who want to know more about the story that Hermione was reading to Harry & Ron, this makes for a good 'side reading', if you will.

Clouded Vision by Linwood Barclay

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I knew this book was shorter than most books I've read, and I was expecting to be done with it by evening, at the latest. But I finished it just under 2 hours.

It was a very simple murder story, with the author not going into as much detail as other books I've read. The story unfolded very quickly, and ended as quickly.

The book ends in a cliffhanger that I would have liked to know more about. I know that the author's intention was to probably keep the reader at suspense, but that would have worked better if this book had a second part to it.

It was ok story-wise, and the result of Keyshia and Wendell's face-off made me cringe (due to the happening, not because of the story!).

Why The Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Although it was quite a predictable story, plot-wise, I still really enjoyed it. I liked how the story was told in the point of view of a child, rather than an adult. It's a bit refreshing, I think. I was very slightly annoyed by how the conversations were carried out, though. It sounded a bit like an annoying, too-curious child. Haha.

I also found the ending a little too 'simple'. I think that the villagers caved in a little too easily with minimum persuasion. And although Big Tim was one of the last ones to comply, I still thought that realistically, it wouldn't have taken that quick to convince a whole village to do the compete opposite of what they've been led to believe their entire lives, and probably generations before.

Either way, I loved it and I would really love to read more from the author.

Spooky Tales: True Cases Of Paranormal Investigation In Singapore by Kenny Fong

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



To be honest, the first few stories left me skeptical. This book was written by Kenny Fong of SPI (Singapore Paranormal Investigators), and in the first few stories, he had managed to prove that it wasn't paranormal activity.

I guess in a way, it was a little refreshing that Kenny approached these cases with an open mind; that it could or could not be other-worldly.

About halfway through the book, it started to get interesting. I think the creepiest of all was The Devil's Face in the Old Commando Barracks. I got so immersed in and creeped out at the story that as I was reading it in a quiet room, the sudden sound of the room door opening made me jump and sent my heart racing. Lol

Probably the most interesting story was Secrets of the Shinto Shrine in the MacRitchie Reservoir. I admit that I even looked up Amatsu Tatara, as was mentioned by the author's Japanese friend, Ki.

I had originally wanted to start reading yesterday, but all the smaller books that I had bought were mostly ghost/horror stories and I didn't think it wise to read them at night, judging by how over-active my imagination can be at night. =p And thankfully so, because I would have probably been too 'haunted' by that Devil's Face story to go to sleep.



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