Author: admin (Page 27 of 51)

Anya didn’t leave her room for breakfast while Sherdan was about the following morning. He went over to the compound with a sad weight on his heart. He’d have to hope she was more open again that evening. Women were so fickle.

There was plenty of work to do, however. The shelters at all the newest occupied houses were being built and installed. Sherdan also expected some kind of response from the UN after Anya’s news the day before.

He had a live link to the BBC news just after six that evening so he could get a full days work in before he needed to be back in his own study. He hoped Anya wouldn’t stray out of her room while it was happening. There wouldn’t be time to tell her about it before hand.

The morning passed uneventfully and he soon took a break to grab some lunch. Hitchin joined him, a little unexpectedly.

“I know you don’t like being studied Sherdan, but we really need to do some more tests. People are beginning to wonder why you don’t come and identify the new abilities in the growing number of residents who still don’t know what they can do.” Sherdan sighed but knew his friend was only telling the truth.

“I’ll come next week, I promise.”

“Very well.”

Hitchin stayed where he was sat despite not saying any more. Sherdan waited, not sure he wanted Hitchin to say anything else but not wanting to offend him either.

“How’s everything going with Miss Price? Has she agreed to marry you yet?”

“Not yet. I think things have improved but something holds her back. Her beliefs I think.”

“Hmmm… that would be tricky. Can you not get her to see that it’s in her best interests to do as she’s told?”

“She’s a headstrong girl,” Sherdan said, “I’m sure it won’t be much longer. If anyone can succeed I can.”

“I’m sure she’ll see sense soon as well. After all, it’s a definite result.” Hitchin finally got up and left. Sherdan hadn’t been entirely truthful with him. He didn’t want Anya to just ‘come to her senses’ but to actually love him. He wanted more than he’d ever wanted from a woman before.

The first conversation they’d had regarding Hitchin’s vision sprang to mind. His presumption of winning Anya had been so arrogant. He thought he’d be impossible to refuse and hadn’t really known what it was to love someone. He was learning.

He’d just wanted her to do as he demanded but it no longer seemed enough to have a woman do as he wished. Now he wanted a woman who really though similar things as important as he did, who wanted to be at his side.

Sherdan went back to work. Hitchin hadn’t cheered him up at all. Instead Hitchin had only shown him how different falling in love had made him. He threw himself into his work with more energy than normal, practically making Graham’s job obsolete. Two hours later he’d given himself a headache.

Shortly after four that afternoon a phone call came through for him. The UN had decided to approve the request for recognition as a separate country. While officially, the Queen of England owned the land, it was an old law and the UN thought there was enough weight behind Sherdan’s request to disregard that problem.

They added that they felt it was important Sherdan not just take any more land, however, saying it only weakened his political position with his neighbours. Sherdan didn’t particularly care. He had what he wanted. The UK would be forced to treat him with more respect than they had recently.

Less than ten minutes after he got off the phone to the UN they announced their decision publicly. The whole world knew he had succeeded. Sherdan immediately addressed the whole country.

“I have brilliant news for you all. Utopia has officially been recognised and accepted as a member of the United Nations. In celebration of this, there will be a street party and ball a week today. Congratulations.”

There was a sound of applause from the command room when Sherdan took his finger off the intercom button. This was another very important day for his country. So far, with the exception of Anya, everything was pretty much going to plan.

Sherdan had another phone call before he could do anything else. The President of America, who had ignored him after his first attempt at opening diplomatic relations, now wanted to speak with him.

“I’ve only a moment but I wanted to say congratulations on achieving membership in the UN. I think we should talk about trade and other such things between our countries.”

“Of course, Al, I’m sure we can discuss things like that over the coming weeks. Shall I have someone get in contact with one of your cabinet to begin discussions?”

“That sounds good. I look forward to hearing from you.”

Sherdan smiled as he put the phone down. He was highly unlikely to trade them any of the things they probably wanted, but they didn’t need to know that yet.

Many similar calls rolled in from various diplomatic figures across the world. All of them congratulatory with an undertone of visitation or trade. He had something they all wanted.

He had to cut short all the calls and request Graham take any more as he headed back to his house for his live news interview. He’d only just sat down where Anne had set up his satellite link when he was introduced.

“Sherdan Harper, you’ve become quite the icon today. How does it feel to gain recognition as the leader of a new country?”

“It feels very good considering the opposition we’ve faced. We’ve also been working hard on relations with other countries and are in the beginning of all sorts of agreements with many of them.”

“What do you plan on doing next?”

“It depends on the British government really. At this point we’d like to negotiate a ceasefire with the UK and concentrate on forming a working political system. We will continue to retaliate as we have been if things stay as they are, however.”

“Do you intend to give the homes you’ve taken back?”

“Possibly. Some of them. Definitely not all. A lot are now inhabited by my own citizens. As I said, I wish to negotiate a ceasefire and giving land back is something I expect to be a part of that.”

“And what about the soldiers that are considered ‘missing in action’?”

“All of them are safe and will be allowed to return home as soon as we’re at peace with the UK.”

“Do you intend to divulge any of your technology now?”

“We intend to keep as much of it as possible to ourselves. For the most part, we just want to get on with our lives in peace.”

“Thank you again Dr Harper.” Sherdan nodded before he was cut off. He looked up to see Anya in the doorway. She’d been listening to the whole thing. She smiled.

“So are you a Prime Minister or a King?” she asked. He smiled and chuckled.

“Neither, yet. I have my views on the best form of government. You already know about that, however.”

“I do. I happen to agree with them in principle.”

“Only in principle?” He noticed she had her kitten curled up in her arms again.

“I’m not convinced you’d be as benevolent as required.”

“What would you prefer to be?” he asked, changing the subject back to her first statement.

“I don’t understand.”

“I want you to be my wife. Which would you prefer? Queen perhaps?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I can make you anything you want to be right now.”

“The only thing I want is to be free.” Her eyes flashed in anger. He shook his head.

“I’m not trying to upset you Anya. I love you. I want you to be happy.” She sat down, all the anger dissipated from her. She let Antonio go and watched him play on the floor for a moment.

“Can I come to the party and ball then?”

“You can, if you are staying. It would be dangerous for you to be seen with me and then to leave here.”

“I don’t see how.”

“It just would Anya. Please can we not argue about everything?” She looked away from him. He’d upset her yet again, but he felt hurt too and she never seemed to see that.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really want to argue either. I’m just fed up of being stuck here.”

“No one is keeping you here. If you’re really not happy with me then please leave and go somewhere you are.” She turned her face back towards him. A tear slowly ran down her left cheek. It pained him to see her like that.

“I can’t leave. I’m… I don’t even know if I want to. I just feel like I’m trapped in limbo. I can’t live properly here and I don’t feel like I can leave.”

“I don’t understand what’s forcing you to stay.” Sherdan continued to watch her cry. “I want you to stay and be my wife, but above that I want you to be happy, wherever you are. Will you let me try and make you happy here, at least?”

She wiped away her tears and shrugged. He got up, went to her and took her by the hands, pulling her to her feet. As soon as she was standing he embraced her in the biggest hug he had ever given anyone and didn’t let go for some minutes.

When they finally parted she appeared calm again and even gave him a small smile. He took her hand and led her to the sitting room. He went to the kitchens and got Anne to bring their dinner through to them there.

Having meals in the dining room was something he normally insisted upon but lately he had been slack. He wanted Anya to feel relaxed more than he cared about such concepts any more.

He kept conversation focused on small things, like up coming films, while they ate. By the time they’d finished dessert she seemed a lot brighter again. She evidently liked talking about films and actors. She knew much more about them than he did. He didn’t usually have time for them, although he enjoyed them when he did.

After dinner the topic progressed to books which had been made into films. Sherdan felt on more familiar ground. He often read, especially since purchasing a kindle.

They talked for ages, comparing their opinions. She preferred the Narnian books to the films. He preferred ‘Lord of The Rings’ as a book and she as the films. There wasn’t much they agreed on, as usual, but it was an amicable conversation.

The ended their evening together much happier than they had began it. Sherdan felt relief when Anya left him to sleep, although he still felt confused about her indecision. She acted like she didn’t want to be here but didn’t leave, even when offered the opportunity.

For the next few days Sherdan avoided all serious topics of conversation with Anya. He didn’t think it would do either of them any good. She allowed Sherdan to get closer to her again but if it felt like they might kiss she soon retreated. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get past that final wall she’d put up.

There were no more attacks on Utopia either and diplomatic relations were beginning with many countries. Although, the UK had not spoken up yet. Sherdan had called the Prime Minister again a couple of times but, just like Anya, the walls were still up. The army still patrolled all the borders and they still had an active arrest warrant out on him.

There was nothing Sherdan could do but wait and keep trying, hoping both Anya and the Uk would thaw soon.

I was given a free copy of the ebook version of Skid by Doug Solter in return for my review.

This is about a teenager called Samantha who has grown up spending a lot of time behind the wheel of a racing car. She’s got lots of experience and had an encouraging father.

In every other respect Samantha is a normal teenager. She’s a little naive about the world, easily angered and very affected by love, although oblivious to most interest in her.

I found myself enjoying this novel much more than I expected from the description and opening chapter. Samantha soon wormed her way into my heart and I found myself routing for her, both in love and in races. I could hardly put the book down and read it in less than two days.

Only one slight thing niggled at me. One particular character who also raced on the same team as Samantha kept saying ‘,yes?’ at the end of most of his sentences even when it didn’t quite seem to fit. I found this a little odd and couldn’t quite get my head around how sentences would be ended like this so often, but it could just be I’ve not met someone who speaks like that. It thankfully, only threw me for a few pages. The character only has a small part to play.

The romance was gorgeous and I actually really liked the rest of the results of the plot too. I completely felt Samantha’s struggle with her difficulties and appreciated her triumphs even more. I also very much loved the ending. It was a perfect ending to the book even though it wasn’t a perfectly happy ending, it still felt right.

I strongly urge readers to pick this book up. It’s one of the best I’ve read in a while.

Review writing is getting more and more common for the average person with sites like amazon and goodreads for books, imdb for films and lets not forget blogs and social networking but what kind of reviews actually help people?

For starters, reviews can actually be quite a subjective thing. We all have very differing opinions on what’s good or not. Reviews are most helpful when they look beyond our own personal tastes and look at whether the art, film or book was well executed and stylish, conveyed it’s message well etc. These are things we can evaluate that let everyone know something new about it.

For example, if you write ‘I hated this book because it was full of fluffy bunny rabbits and I hate rabbits, they scare me.’ All the people who read this review only learn two things, there were rabbits and you don’t like them. They don’t learn how the rabbits were used. They could have been a comical plot device meant for light relief and a way to move the book along and this could be something another reader really likes the sound of, likewise from the review they could have decided ‘oh I like rabbits’, picked up the book and read it, and then found they didn’t like how they were used as comic relief. The same goes for films, sometimes what we love others hate and we have to explain how things were used and why and then, if we want, say why we liked it.

Another common mistake reviews make is to criticize the creator. Often things like ‘this person can’t act’ or ‘so and so is the worst writer I’ve read in a long time’ is put into reviews, especially when the reviewer doesn’t like what they’ve seen or read. There are two reasons I don’t think reviews like this are helpful. Firstly, I actually think this is rather rude. The internet seems to give people the feeling of safety and anonymity to say things about people they would never normally say to their faces and to do so publicly. I tend to go with the concept don’t say things to people on the internet that you wouldn’t say to their face.

Secondly, you are only seeing one example of something they have created and it wouldn’t be in a finished film or a book if someone somewhere hadn’t said it was good. If you really don’t like something it’s good to think about why. I’ve seen someone say a person can’t act because they happen to have watched two films in a row with the same actor in and the roles were almost identical so the actor seemed samey. A good way to review it would have been ‘this was a very similar role to his role in film x, I didn’t like that one much so more of the same left me feeling dissapointed’. Anyone who reads that and loved film x for that character is now going to know they will love this new film and anyone who felt the same as you is going to stay away. Your review does the job.

It’s also good to remember to check your facts if you are criticising something for being inaccurate in a certain way. I’ve seen book reviews where an American reviewer has given an English authors book a 1 star review for bad spelling for having colour instead of color and having her main character eat a doughnut rather than a donut. Any American who looks it up will realise that colour is the English equivalent of color and the author hadn’t spelt anything wrong at all.

Anything Historical is another thing to be careful to criticise. I’ve actually received a review myself where the reviewer decided that in my 1805 set book, With Proud Humility, Marie’s mother couldn’t possibly have painted one wall of her room in a pretty garden scene because paint for walls hadn’t been invented yet. I have to humbly enquire how Michelangelo painted the Sistine chapel (1508-1512) if there was no paint to do so until after 1805?

With that in mind I’ll leave you with some ‘interesting’ reviews of some classics.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – Endless, pointless description. DESCRIPTION, DESCRIPTION, DESCRIPTION!!! The entire book is written in stupid metaphors. The few places where there is actually any dialogue bore the reader to tears. Honestly, i think that this is dubbed a classic simply because it is older than sand. Gee, maybe if I just go out and slop a few words down on a piece of paper, it’ll be a classic in 160 years! It’ll be required of every high school sophomore, like this idiotic “story.” Excuse me now, I’m off to begin my masterpiece. I’m sure it’ll be better than this.

The Diary of a Young girl by Anne Frank – I didn’t like this book because it was boring. That’s all that needs to be said. It was very very very very very very very very very very very boring. If you have to read this book shoot yourself first.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – it was so dumb and it is a waste of your time and i gave it 1 star because that the lowest nember you can give.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickins – after reading this book i think dickens would benifit from very low expectations. and by that i mean a lot of people will be returning this book and giving bad reviews. all the classics always in my opinion, are very bad

Yes those are all real reviews you can go find on Amazon.

I totally loved the trailor for this film, I mean fighting robots and Hugh Jackman, who wouldn’t? A friend love filmed the blu-ray so we watched it as a group one lazy Sunday afternoon.

It was really interesting watching Hugh Jackman play a really not so nice father and ex husband. The trailor didn’t imply he was anything but a down on his luck boxer but it turned out he was a complete jerk and it actually really worked. I found myself loving to hate him.

The plot was incredibly predictable. Ass gets beat up, loses everything and has to rebuild it all while realising it was his own fault things went south in the first place. He soon learnt some easy to figure out life lessons and got on with things though.

The robot fights were very robot wars esque and I kept hoping Craig Charles would pop up and say, ‘let the wars begin!’ at some point but unfortunately he didn’t.

I also didn’t really get from the trailor what role the kid would play and the kid was awesome! He provided 90% of the comedy in this film and boy was it good comedy. I really hope this little actor has a long career ahead of himself.

By far the best bits in the film were when they put the robot, Atom, in shadow mode. He would literally copy the moves of the person in front of him. It looked amazing and provided the rest of the laughs as people picked up drinks and the robot copied etc and all sorts of other cute things. And, finally the best scenes in the whole film, when the kid danced and the robot copied. Pure genius!

I definitely want to own this film and one day, hopefully, my very own boxing robot with shadow function!

The smile plastered on Sherdan’s face said everything as he waited for Anya to come back. He’d just told Anne and had a small picnic thrown together to put in his car. Mostly wine and nibbles. He’d also informed his security that they were going out.

He didn’t have to wait too long before Anya came back and he led her to his personal car. He had a two seated Jaguar that he used to drive for fun when his country wasn’t so blocked off. It had stood in his garage ever since. Finally it would get some use.

Sherdan opened the door for Anya to get in. The small picnic basket was already in the boot along with a blanket, for him to surprise her with later. As he thought of this his grin grew even wider.

Nathan activated the tunnel switch for them from the security desk and Sherdan drove them down his escape route and out into the heart of a Bristol suburb. Neither of them said anything until they were out on the road.

“Have we just illegally crossed a country border?” Anya asked.

“Yes. I suppose we have. Does it bother you?”

“I’m not sure. I know it ought to but it feels more… adventurous, than wrong.”

Sherdan nodded. He could hardly believe his luck with Anya the last two days.

Since he’d decided to try and convince her of his feelings the more traditional way she’d been increasingly more cooperative. It had been a very easy two days so far, although he hadn’t actually finished his work for the day. Once he’d had this idea, he had dropped everything and would need to return to it later.

He drove towards Bath and then slightly south into a quiet little village called Southstoke, before parking his car and helping her out. As he pulled the blanket and basket out of the boot Anya gasped.

“When did you get those?” she asked.

“While you were in your room. Now, I think it’s this way… I’ve got a torch. Here, do you want to light the way?” Anya took the torch Sherdan offered.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a little look out that’s very pretty, either night or day. It’s not far but well worth visiting.” She nodded and walked with Sherdan, lighting the path for both of them.

They walked through a kissing gate onto a farmyard track that led off and up hill. After less than five minutes walking, Sherdan veered off through an open metal gate.

The trees on that side had opened up, showing them that they were high up on the side of one of Bath’s hills, overlooking a valley.

He led her around a mound in the grass to a semicircular stone bench built into the hillside. Rather than sitting on the cold stone, he spread the blanket on the ground in front. After positioning the basket within his reach he sat down and lent against the bench.

Anya was staring out at the night in front of them. It was a clear night so a full set of stars could be seen. He waited for her to finish drinking in the view. When she turned to see where he was, he patted the blanket beside him. She smiled and sat down.

“What if someone comes and recognises you?” Anya asked.

“It shouldn’t be too busy here. The chances are slim even if anyone comes along.”

“Good. I’d hate for you to get arrested.” Sherdan didn’t know what to say and reached for the wine and glasses. He poured some for both of them without even asking if she wanted any. He made sure he only half filled his own glass. He didn’t want any accidents when he drove her later.

They sat drinking the wine and enjoying the food. They didn’t eat a lot but it was nice to pick at the grapes, cheese bites and chocolate covered strawberries.

“Thank you for not leaving yet. I think my life would be all work and no play if it wasn’t for you.”

“Then I am glad to be of assistance,” she replied. “You do work very hard.”

“I have citizens to look after. They’re counting on me to make their lives better.”

“You really want to help them?”

“Of course. I want to make the world better. I know you don’t like all my methods but I do have my reasons.”

“I know. I understand more than when I arrived. I’m sorry I was so awkward the first few weeks.” Sherdan almost choked on his wine in shock. An apology was totally unexpected.

He poured her some more wine to recover and looked out at the sky. It occurred to him that she didn’t know his power had disappeared roughly the same time as hers had appeared, but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

“Have you been practising your ability at all?” he asked, trying to lead them to the subject.

“A little. I can now mostly control switching between the two states, being just invisible and also being able to pass through things. I can’t keep it up for too long though; I have to concentrate.”

“Does that mean you can suddenly appear again?”

“Yes, usually just after an hour has passed.”

“That’s not bad. Many of the residents struggle to use their powers so long so soon into their training.”

“Really?” Sherdan nodded and noted the look of satisfaction on her face. “I’m also learning Karate. Nathan’s teaching me.”

“Good. With your ability that’s a useful thing to learn.”

“You approve?”

“Very much. It will help you keep safe, especially if you do leave.”

“Nathan says I’m picking it up quickly.” She beamed. He was pleased. She’d found something to amuse herself with while he was gone.

The more she did that she enjoyed, the more likely she would stay. It would take years for karate to be beneficial to her in a real situation, but he wasn’t going to burst her excited bubble.

Sherdan snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed her shivering. She’d finished her glass of wine so he swallowed the last gulp in his and began packing everything back up. He didn’t want her to catch a cold.

Anya lit the way back as soon as they were ready to leave and they were soon back at the car. He felt a little exhilarated from the danger of being out on British soil but they’d seen no one the entire time, not even a dog walker or two.

“Thank you,” Anya said as Sherdan started up the car. “I really liked that place.”

“You’re welcome. It’s one of my favourite. I almost considered setting up Utopia in Bath but it wasn’t practical enough. Bristol had so many more things in it’s favour.”

“Well hopefully soon you can have all this silly war stopped and be allowed back here.”

“We shall see. It may never be possible.” They lapsed into a silence which lasted all the way back to the house. Normally Sherdan didn’t like silence but it felt different with Anya. He felt comfortable being quiet in her presence. She said a lot with her body language and, at the moment, she was very smiley and content.

They walked back into the study and he found himself hugging her. He said goodnight as she yawned into her hand. She wished him the same then pattered off to leave him to his work.

It had only just gone eleven so he wouldn’t be as late to bed as he had been most of the nights recently. He would need to push his thoughts of Anya out of his head, however, as they would be very distracting. She’d made him a very happy man that evening and given him hope again.

When he picked his laptop up he found an email from Hitchin. He’d looked over Sherdan’s MRI and not found anything wrong. He wanted to do more tests, as Sherdan expected, but he was beginning to think it was just fatigue stunting the ability. At the least it was the most plausible explanation so far.

Sherdan spent the next few hours planning the growth of his country and how they would build bomb-shelters for the new homes. Not all the latest residents had somewhere safe to go if more soldiers were air-dropped in.

He also briefly looked at the new abilities. He had a small team working on coming up with some kind of air defence which kept planes out of his air space but didn’t harm anyone.

At two in the morning he went to bed. He had to be in the command room at an earlier time the following day. He really hoped he’d get some kind of lie-in at some point soon. He wouldn’t survive on five hours or less sleep each night for much longer.

The next two days were a blur for Sherdan. He’d contacted the UN again to try and get them to recognise his country. There still wasn’t anything which gave an indication either way. The European diplomats were still discussing things in their emergency meeting.

Sherdan hadn’t done any more tests yet, preferring to spend time with Anya and Antonio, who were now inseparable. The little kitten went with her from room to room and curled up with her or encouraged her to play whenever she was still.

He’d thanked Nathan for his ideas as well as teaching Anya the martial arts. So far the combination of time spent with both men and the kitten was having a good impact on her. She had been smiling a lot more and she’d told Sherdan she’d had two nights in a row without nightmares.

He hadn’t managed to tell her about his ability disappearing yet and he hadn’t wanted to bring up her faith since he’d called her closed. He didn’t want to argue with her now that everything had improved so much.

There hadn’t been any attacks on Utopia either, which was unexpected. He hoped it meant a step forward in his plan, but the Prime Minister hadn’t returned his last two phone calls so Sherdan couldn’t tell for sure yet.

Anya greeted him very enthusiastically on Thursday evening when he arrived back home, hugging him as he walked into the study. Neither of them had eaten yet, despite it being after seven so he led her through to the dining room before she could say anything to him about her day. He noticed Antonio got up and padded silently after them.

“There was lots about Utopia in the news today,” Anya blurted out, practically bouncing in her chair with excitement.

“What was said about us?”

“The European Union have decided we’re not a threat and have advised the United Kingdom to stand down and negotiate.” She beamed. Sherdan didn’t know whether to feel more pleased that the country was making progress or that Anya had said ‘we’ and included herself as part of the country.

“That’s brilliant news. That should make the Prime Minister think twice.”

“On top of that, UN members have started to speak out and say Utopia should be considered a country.”

“Good. Hopefully we’ll get official recognition soon then.”

Anya told Sherdan everything else she’d learnt that day while they ate. She’d spent most of the day on the net and had a whole wealth of information. He couldn’t help being impressed.

“When are you going to let the world know about your abilities?” she asked as they want back to the sitting room.

“Soon, but not until we’re established as a country.” He sat down at his usual end of the sofa and waited for Anya to join him. She picked up Antonio and plonked herself down right next to him instead of the opposite end of the sofa. He put his arm up on the back of the sofa behind her in response.

They watched some TV like that for the next hour or so. Sherdan didn’t want to do or say anything that might make Anya move away. He liked having her relaxed and so close to him.

When there wasn’t anything left on TV either of them wanted to watch, Anya flicked it off. His arm was still on the back of the sofa.

“What would you like to do, we still have a few hours?” Anya asked.

“I’d like to show you something, if you’re interested. I’ve got a particular opera I like on video. It’s not as good as seeing it performed but since I have to be careful going out it will have to do.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Sherdan didn’t hesitate to get up and find the relevant disc. He put it on and returned to his position beside her.

He’d picked another opera knowing how emotional it had made her seeing the last one. She’d been a delight to spend the evening with afterwards as well. Hopefully he could recreate the atmosphere this time too.

The opera was Madame Butterfly; very sad but hopefully easy for her to relate to. It had the desired effect and Anya’s eyes weren’t dry by the end. Sherdan handed her a tissue as he pulled his arm a little closer around her.

“I’m sorry, the music was just so moving,” she said once she had dried her eyes.

“Don’t apologise. That’s why it’s one of my favourites. It makes the very depths of a person respond.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“I’m very glad you liked it.” He looked down into her upturned face and held her gaze. They smiled at each other before she dipped her eyes down. He could sense her nervousness but she didn’t pull away or even turn her face from him. He hesitated. He wanted to kiss her and he thought in that moment she might finally be receptive but, now it came to it, he felt unsure of himself.

Anya got up and picked up Antonio again. It took all Sherdan’s self restraint not to swear out loud. He’d missed his chance.

“I should get some sleep, it’s late.” Anya smiled half-heartedly and quickly left the room. It had only just gone midnight and was about an hour before she had been going to bed recently.

He stayed sat where he was for a few minutes wondering what had gone wrong. Maybe he’d been too quick. It hadn’t been long since he’d first started trying to put the effort in with Anya again. He resolved to go a little slower but he definitely wasn’t giving up yet.

Sherdan sighed and fetched his laptop to carry on working. He had yet another email from Hitchin reminding him to come in for more tests and informing him of all the new abilities that had developed. As usual, he wrote all the new names in his book.

The list of enhanced people was growing nicely again and there hadn’t been a single death lately. Admittedly, they’d been a lot more careful about who they gave the enzyme too. Having a much larger pool of people to accept from they’d been able to reject any they thought might die.

Sherdan ignored the nag for tests and went about the rest of his work. He was doing a live TV broadcast the following day from his study.

He still didn’t intend to reveal the abilities and enzyme but lots of news teams wanted to interview him about taking more land and sneaking in so many more people. Utopia was completely unstoppable and not a single person had been harmed during the entire war.

There was also all the soldiers they had locked up. They still lived in the cells at the guard buildings he had dotted all over the land. The cells were almost full but, so far, no more soldiers had attacked.

Something would have to be done with them soon, however, several had started trying to escape. While none had succeeded, escapees would tarnish his otherwise perfect reputation.

Sherdan dealt with as much work as he could manage before his eyelids drooped and he caught himself falling asleep on the sofa. He shut down his laptop and got up. His thoughts automatically returned to Anya. He really felt a little lost concerning her and wasn’t used to feeling this way where women were concerned.

This is the third and final book in the Hunger Games series. I’ve reviewed the previous two books recently so here’s what I think of this one.

This book started almost exactly where the previous one left off rather than having a gap like the second did before it started. Katniss is the main focus again, as to be expected, and it follows her emotions and journey with all the turmoil caused in the first two books.

I found this the saddest of the three books by far. Although Katniss was hurt less and she didn’t do anyway near as much killing of innocent people in self defence as she had to in the previous too there was a lot of other pain and emotional crap thrown her way.

The effects of being the people’s icon and hero shows more on her in this book and she buckles under the pressure. A lot of the book she seems to spend trying to hide out of the way and not have to interact with society. While I know she’s been through a lot it really annoyed me. I wanted her to be actually thinking about what wa going on and trying to make a better life for the humans rather than allowing both governments to use her as a pawn.

I also really didn’t like that the new government trying to seize power were just as bad as the previous one. I know humanity can be that crap in reality but it did feel a bit like a kick in the teeth that after three books of epic struggles the people at the top were still just as nasty. And the worst part was that Katniss just didn’t seem to see it coming. I actually think her self absorbed actions cost her some of the things she held dear and badly effected the people around her and I lost respect for her because of it.

Over all it’s still a good book and well written I just didn’t like it as much as the first two and wished Katniss had grown more of a backbone outside of battle arenas so she was more believable in them.

It’s the 26th of November so time for update 2 (yes I know this was due two days ago and the really observant of you saw this go live as a blank post on Saturday. I forgot about it until too late to do anything about it on Sunday)

So far I’ve managed a total of 47,391 words, comprising of over 21 chapters and 67 A4 pages of text. In the second week of Nano novelling I managed to write 14,619 words, about 1k more than I wrote in the same week last year. As I expected my third week was a low week. I had hospital tests as well as a trip to Cornwall for a couple of days and it meant I took two of the seven days off from writing and had really low counts for two of them so I only got 6,127 words written, 3.5k less than the same week last year. According to the stat calculator on the main Nano website I’m due to finish tomorrow at my current average per day, but I think I can write the last 2.5k today if I really crack on.

I still feel really positive about the story as well. There’s even more good dialogue and the plot is moving along nicely. I’m going to need to do some editing of a few particular events and maybe swtich some chapters around but so far it’s still moving along the plot nicely and still looking like a reasonable 75k novel give or take a few k.

Originally I actually hoped to get 60-70k written this month but the low word count from week three has made that pretty much impossible now. If I feel inspired all week I might hit 60k but I think it’s looking more like 55k or so, meaning I won’t finish the book this year but I should manage to in January.

I’ve also finally decided on a title I like so this year’s NaNo Novel is Sherdan’s Legacy and as you’ve probably noticed there’s now a little progress bar on the right for it, along with all the other in progress books. I have a feeling most of next year is going to be devoted to finishing novels.

I really wanted to go see this film at the cinema after the amazingness of the first but I didn’t get the chance. I watched the blu-ray of this as soon as I could get ahold of a copy.

This has pink as the voice of Gloria from the first but otherwise the actors in the previous are all the same. There are also extra actors in this one, most notable, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as Bill and Will, although it could also be Will and Bill. I’ve still not quite worked out which way around those two are.

The film had a similar style to the first. Lots of music and quirkyness from the characters. The plot was not quite so fluid. I spent most of my time wondering where the krill came into things but they were great comedy so it wasn’t too much of a problem.

I laughed a lot and I know kids will love it but some of the magic in the first one just wasn’t in this one for some reason. I laughed and laughed a lot but I didn’t fall in love with it in quite the same way I did the first. I think that tends to be the problem with this kind of film though. All the perfect songs for the scenarios get used in the first film and the second and third etc don’t quite get the same music pool to draw from.

All things considered I am glad I watched it and would probably enjoy watching it again sometime. It’s not on the favourites list though.

Anya hadn’t known what to make of Sherdan that evening. Her heart had skipped a beat when he’d asked to see her artwork and two more when he’d requested a portrait. She’d almost said yes before it occurred to her that, with a possible case of Stockholm syndrome, incorporating him into her artwork would be bad for her

She hoped he accepted her excuse. It had only been half true. She wasn’t very practised at painting or drawing people. Practice would be good for her but she didn’t think Sherdan would appreciate it if it wasn’t really good. She didn’t like that kind of pressure.

She felt her muscles ache and complain as she climbed into bed. She’d had a second martial arts lesson with Nathan that morning. He’d insisted she was picking it up quickly. He went over all the blocking he’d taught her the day before and followed it with some new moves. Her fitness let her down, however.

The following day’s lesson was similar, although thankfully she ached less than the previous two days when she was released from her lesson. She put it mostly down to getting a better nights sleep than she had for a while. She’d been thinking of her art before bed, thanks to Sherdan, and it gave her the emotional release she needed.

She’d almost had to wake him again that morning as he’d overslept his alarm for the second day running. Something inside her knew that wasn’t like him. He had been working too hard lately and couldn’t keep it up. She felt sorry for him.

The second request he’d made of her bounced into her head. He’d been very interested in what she’d seen on the news. She could keep watching and reading to find him info. It would help him make informed decisions but it wasn’t helping enough to make her feel like she might be doing something wrong.

She took his laptop through to the sitting room and turned the TV on. She’d have the twenty-four hour news channel in the background while she read through the online news report. If she finished that she’d start reading relevant blogs by influential people.

Anya felt really good when she’d made several pages of notes a few hours later. The news was full of reports on the influx of residents to Utopia and Sherdan’s seemingly unstoppable progress. Even the retaliatory attacks were considered a waste of time by the news in general. All they did was provoke Sherdan.

At noon, Anya watched as Sherdan’s people expanded their territory again in response to the attempted invasion the night before. As the next few hours of events went by, the news team began interviewing people. Almost everyone was suggesting that the army stand down and negotiations should begin.

To Anya’s surprise, the European union were planning an emergency meeting for the following day. Sherdan hadn’t applied to them for recognition within Europe, just to the UN. So far they UN board had not given any indication either way.

It gave her a greater sense of purpose to be doing something with her time and she found the day passed much faster than they had been. She’d enjoyed finding out the public’s opinion on Sherdan. He had a lot of support among the general population but a lot of politicians didn’t like him.

She had to eat dinner alone, as she had often done recently, but she was heading back to the sitting room to continue her work when Sherdan arrived back.

“Good evening,” she said as she walked towards him. She stopped as she noticed he was carrying something small in his arms.

“Good evening. I have something for you, to help with the loneliness.” Sherdan held out the tiny little ginger kitten towards her. She gently took it from him as it mewled at her.

“I think this is the fluffiest kitten I have ever seen,” she said, unable to help but smile.

“You like it then?” She nodded, “Good. I hoped you would. When someone said this little fellow needed a home I immediately thought of you.”

“Thank you. He’s beautiful.” She kissed the top of the kitten’s head and stroked it. It elicited a second meow before it began to wriggle in her hands. She gently lowered him to the ground and let him go.

“There you go. Now you can explore your new home.” The kitten gently took a few steps forward, sniffing at the unfamiliar surroundings.

“What do you want to call him?” Sherdan asked as they watched him explore.

“I… I’m not sure…” she looked thoughtful. “Antonio. The guy who voiced ‘puss-in-boots’ was Antonio.”

“Very well. Antonio is your gift. If you leave at some point you’re also very welcome to take him with you. In the meantime, I have already let Anne know to put food and a litter tray out for him in the kitchen.”

She nodded still watching the kitten as it crawled around underneath one of the chairs. Suddenly she looked straight at him. He smiled at her as she hugged him. She wasn’t sure why, but she’d always wanted a cat. Now she had the cutest, fluffiest one she’d ever seen.

When she stopped hugging him she went straight back to watching Antonio explore. He’d now made his way to the doorway into the sitting room and she followed the little creature. Sherdan wasn’t far behind.

“Before I forget, I made notes today on what I saw, seeing as you were so interested yesterday.”

“Perhaps you can tell me about it all while I eat something. Have you already eaten?” Sherdan replied.

“I’ve already had food but I can sit with you in the dining room if you wish?”

“No that’s not necessary. I’ll have food in here with you and our latest arrival. That way we can watch him together as well.” Sherdan sent for Anne and sat down on the sofa beside Anya.

They laughed together at the kitten’s antics as he tried to get up beside them and play. He got his claws stuck in the side of the sofa and found he didn’t know how to fully retract them. As such he stuck to the side, unable to go up or down.

She lifted him off, set him down beside them both and stroked him as Sherdan reached out to do the same. Their hands brushed against each other until she pulled hers back. Anya blushed as she thought of all the film scenes where the same thing happened. She blushed and stared at the kitten.

Thankfully the awkward moment was relieved when Anne brought in dinner for Sherdan. He had to stop stroking Antonio to take the tray and place it on his lap, giving her a moment to compose herself.

She fetched her notebook from a nearby chair and skimmed through it to remind herself of some of the things she had read and heard that day. The notebook was fuller than she expected and she had take in a lot without realising. Sherdan had long finished eating by the time she’d told him everything.

“And what do you think of what I’m doing?” Sherdan said when he realised she’d finished.

“I… What do you mean?”

“You’ve told me what politicians think, governments and the general population. What do you think of my actions?”

“I think that what you’ve done is impressive. I’m just not sure whether it will work in the long term. People are often so far from perfect. I fear that even with the best of efforts to change governments that your country will be no better than everything that’s come before.”

“That’s no reason not to try.”

“Perhaps not, but there is also the enzyme you’ve all been taking. Eventually someone with less honourable intentions will take it and use the ability to gain for ill.”

“Perhaps, but I don’t think so. Hitchin’s vision says otherwise.”

“You already know my opinion on that.” Anya sighed. Sherdan couldn’t see the error of his ways and was so closed in terms of what he thought.

“You know we’re both as closed-minded as each other. Maybe we could both do with being more open?” Sherdan suggested as he got up.

He left the room to take his tray back to the kitchen, leaving Anya to feel indignant at his assertions. She felt tears sting her eyes and sat back, shocked at her own emotions.

She resolved to turn the subject back to more amiable conversation the second Sherdan came back but it was some time before he walked into the room again. When he did, he had two bowls of chocolate ice cream.

“Anne informed me you hadn’t eaten any dessert. I fancied ice cream. It’s got chocolate brownie chunks in it.” She took the peace offering gratefully and smiled. Chocolate went down well with most women and she was no exception.

They ate in silence until they were both finished and had put their bowls down. The kitten had provided enough of a distraction as it continued to get used to it’s new surroundings that the quiet wasn’t awkward. She’d never have expected someone like Sherdan, with all his antique furniture, to like the idea of a pet.

“Did you do any artwork today?” he asked, stirring her from her thoughts.

“No, I spent the day researching people’s opinions for you.”

“Thank you. It will help me going forward but please do draw… and anything else you’d normally do. Don’t feel you have to do what I ask. I’d rather you did whatever made you happiest.”

“Actually, it did make me happy. I really enjoyed researching.” Anya smiled in reassurance to Sherdan. She could hardly believe how nice he was being to her. A part of her expected him to change back to the controlling version of himself at any moment, however.

“I have some more work to do, but I’d appreciate some company while I did it, if you want to join me in the study?” Sherdan asked. She thought about it for a moment, considering saying no to stay and play with the cat, which had climbed up onto the coffee table.

“Yes, I can draw from in there as easily as here,” she replied instead. It had plagued her conscience that she’d not been kind enough. Being in the same room as him would do her no harm.

She followed him into the study and picked up her pad and pencils. When Sherdan had sat himself in his usual chair and put both his laptop and documents nearby, she sat somewhere so she could glance at him without him noticing too much.

A smile spread across her face when Antonio followed them. He evidently didn’t want to be left alone. He soon settled down by her feet and curled up against the leg of the chair.

She flicked to the next spare page in her sketch book and began to roughly sketch Sherdan’s outline. It took her quite a few minutes as she didn’t want Sherdan to notice her staring at him. Thankfully she managed to get his outline done before he looked up from the document he was reading.

“I’m sorry, I’m not talking much,” Sherdan said.

“That’s okay, I don’t talk much when drawing either, and the sooner you’re done working the sooner we can do something more fun.” Sherdan smiled at Anya before picking up his pen and going back to the document. He made notes while she slowly drew him.

Half an hour later she had a picture of him she wasn’t that impressed with. Sketching him from one side was helping in some ways but not in others. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get his mouth right.

He soon reached for his laptop and placed it on his lap, completely changing a lot of what she’d drawn anyway. Anya gave up, flinging her pencil and pad down. She sighed. Sherdan looked up at her but she avoided his gaze. She didn’t want to disturb him from his work.

Instead, she got up and went to the nearest bookshelf to read the covers of the many books Sherdan had. She wasn’t surprised to see ‘The Origin of Species’ by Darwin. It occurred to her that she’d never even flicked through it.

Anya went to pick the book up before remembering she’d been forbidden from touching his older paper books. Another sigh escaped her.

“You’re bored,” Sherdan said, making her jump.

“A little. I don’t really leave ever. The house I mean. I’m in these four walls daily.” Sherdan looked thoughtful.

“Give me a few minutes to finish this.” He went back to his laptop and tapped away at the keys. Anya patiently went to stroke her kitten. It mewled as she started running her hands over it’s very soft fur.

It made her heart feel a little lighter as she knelt, making a fuss of the gift he’d given her. She decided then and there to have Antonio up in her room when she went to bed. It could keep her company and might even provide enough of a calming presence that the frequency of her nightmares would reduce.

Suddenly, Sherdan got up. He paused for a moment, lost in thought, before snapping back and looking straight at Anya.

“Take Antonio through to Anne in the kitchen and ask her to look after him, then go up to your room and fetch some warm clothing and shoes.” Anya nodded and picked up her cat, snuggling it to her. It didn’t take her long to head through to Anne who seemed to be expecting the kitten. A litter tray and food was already laid out for him. She placed him down in the tray so he knew where it was and thanked Anne for being so prepared.

It took her a little longer to find warm clothes. She didn’t have much in the way of warm clothing and she couldn’t decide between two jumpers at first. When she realised she’d been gone over ten minutes she grabbed her coat and shoes, and rushed back to Sherdan’s study.

He still waited for her there and smiled as she walked into the room.

“So what are we doing?” she asked.

“You’ll see. Come on, get your shoes on.” She did as she was told, feeling unexpectedly excited. She’d been cooped up so long that whatever Sherdan was planning she thought she’d enjoy it.

As soon as she got to her feet again he took her hand and led her out of the study. He didn’t explain but she didn’t complain.

This is the second book in the hunger games trilogy

It starts a few months after the last one and goes through the after affects of the first and katniss’ reaction to everything that has happened. It follows a pretty similar plot formula to the first but thankfully doesn’t over describe anything already talked about in the first. I don’t mind a book that mentions a few things that readers of the first know but some feel they have to explain everything again. This sequel really doesn’t do that. You pretty much have to have read the previous one to understand exactly what’s going on.

It also started to grate on me that these have all been written in first person but that may be because I’m reading them in such a short space of time.

The new characters in this book are brilliant. They are funny quirky and endearing and thankfully more of them survive the events of this book. Something that was a defintie down side of the first book. It’s hard to stay attached to characters when you know they are going to die.

Just like the first I had to pick up the next book right away. I will be reviewing that shortly.