This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I had a great time with this book. After listening to the first three books in the Broken World series, I wanted more. I just had to know what would happen next to this group of characters. Unfortunately, only the first three books in the series have audiobooks available at this time. I didn't let that stop me and downloading the ebook for the next installment and enjoyed the experience just as much.

This is the fourth book in the Broken World series which really does need to be read in order since each build builds on the events of the previous installment. It has been quite the journey with this group of characters at this point so I don't want to miss a second of what might happen next. In this book, the story is told through both Vivian's and Hadley's point of view. This was the first chance to see things from Hadley's point of view and I really found that I appreciate her perspective.

Things were not looking good for the group at the start of this book. They need to find shelter and only have a very limited amount of supplies. They have learned not to trust others and are always on alert for the dead. They find a temporary shelter that seems to be the answers to their immediate problems but it becomes a nightmare before everything is over.

The best thing about these books are the characters. Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to several characters in this installment but there are a lot of other important developments including the addition of a few new characters. It was great getting the chance to see things from Hadley's point of view. She is really struggling after the events from the previous book. Her relationship with Jon makes a lot of progress in this book. I really didn't have much of an opinion of Jon before this book but he has quickly become a favorite.

This book was really exciting. I thought that it moved very quickly and I think that the dual points of view helped make it feel like a very quick read. This book was also quite emotional and I loved the way that each character's emotions came through across the page. I found this book almost impossible to put down once I got started and I love that there were some pretty big surprised worked into the story.

I would recommend this series to others. This series has been filled with strong characters who are faced with an almost impossible situation. I cannot wait to see what will happen to everyone in the next book!

Initial Thoughts
Really enjoyed this one! It was nice to get a chance to see things from Hadley's perspective. I really liked her take on things and liked getting to know her a bit better. There were some fairly exciting scenes and a few things that really surprised me. Can't wait to start with the next book!

Book source: Kindle Unlimited

An entertianing collection of all the Professor Challenger stories. The Lost World was the best story in the collection.

DESCRIPTION:

"These lively, varied and thought-provoking science-fiction stories (from the era of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells) are linked by their imposing central character, the pugnaciously adventurous and outrageous Professor Challenger.

The Lost World (forebear of Jurassic Park) vividly depicts a perilous region in which the explorers confront creatures from the prehistoric era. The Poison Belt presents an eerie doomsday scenario, while 'The Disintegration Machine' satirically comments on scientific cynicism. In 'When the World Screamed', the planet responds violently to an experimental incursion. The strangest item is The Land of Mist, which seeks to reconcile science with spiritualism."

An entertaining romp in a lost world.

Illustrations from the abridged Ladybird Children's Classic.

illustrations

There is something appealingly basic about Victoria Mitchell's second contribution to the Pocket Books series of Star Trek novels. In it the Enterprise takes a team of archaeologists to a deserted planet. There they uncover evidence of an even older civilization than the one they were sent to investigate, one that left behind mysterious "windows" that are still active and were subsequently buried by their successors. An accident sends Kirk, Chekov, and one of the archaeologists into the window, where they vanish . . . and the Enterprise suddenly detects alien life on a previously uninhabited world.

What struck me about Mitchell's novel as I was reading it was how well her book captures the essential framework of an episode of an original series: the Enterprise explores something, encounters a problem that jeopardizes some of the crew, and then the rest of the crew works together to unravel the mystery and save the crew members in jeopardy. For this comfortingly familiar structure Mitchell provides a story that would have been impossible with the budget and effects of the series, with a refreshingly original alien species unlike any that had been envisioned beforehand. And even if the the the character traits and skill sets of her new characters are a bit too convenient for the story, overall the combination makes for one of the better Original Series novels, one that synthesizes well the best elements of the show and the possibilities of the written page.

Now this is what I look for in a Star Trek novel! The premise is pretty standard — while exploring a new planet, the Enterprise crew encounter an alien artifact that jeopardizes the lives of several of the crew members — but the particulars are unique and the plot moves forward in a way that has kept me engaged. It's the sort of reading experience I had envisioned when I began the project, and the fact that this is the latest of the novels that I picked up has me thinking that I can broaden my parameters of what to read for it.