Mimo że pewnie jest to najlepsza odsłona podcyklu "Skyward Flight", to ciągle daleko jej do książek głównego nurtu pisanych bezpośrednio przez Sandersona. Styl Janci Patterson, choć trochę realniej przedstawia sylwetki młodych bohaterów, to jednak traci na ciągłych powtórzeniach i niedostatecznej umiejętności zwiększania napięcia przy zbliżaniu się do finału.

Dodatkowo, przez to, że nie są to części głównego nurtu, brakuje tu trochę elementów podbudowujących przyszłe wydarzenia. A u Sandersona zawsze fajnie się takie smaczki wyławia.

Z drugiej strony trochę się w tej trylogii wydarzyło i bez jej przeczytania można pewnie czuć się lekko zagubionym po powrocie do ostatniej części cyklu "Skyward" (nie czytałem jeszcze, więc nie wiem tego na pewno), co sprawia, że przeczytać to jednak należy. Tym bardziej szkoda, że poziom nie jest do końca zadowalający.

Wydaje się, że po dwóch książkach mogę już coś powiedzieć o stylu pani Janci Patterson. Z pewnością jest sprawną pisarką. Z pewnością też lepiej radzi sobie na polu relacji uczuciowo-emocjonalnych między bohaterami niż pan Sanderson (o którym możemy z kolei powiedzieć, że to jest jego najsłabsza strona). Podoba mi się też wyczuwalny w narracji lekki dystans i delikatna dawka ironii, ciągle jednak z zachowaniem sympatii do swoich bohaterów.

Całokształt psuje jednak trochę ta maniera nadmiernego tłumaczenia motywacji. No, naprawdę, jeżeli ktoś się zasmucił lub ucieszył, to wiedząc, co się wcześniej wydarzyło, zazwyczaj jesteśmy w stanie powiedzieć, z jakiego powodu – nie trzeba marnować kolejnego zdania lub dwóch, żeby to wyjaśniać. Trochę więcej wiary w czytelników, pani Patterson!

Co do samej książki, choć daje radość z poznawania dalszych zakątków świata i losów eskadry Skyward, to nie porwała mnie przez większość czasu. Dopiero koniec wydawał się żywszy i bardziej emocjonalny. Właściwie rzec mogę, że końcówka ratuję tę powieść. I zachęca, do sprawdzenia, co dalej...

Possibly the worlds best known thriller writer turns his penmanship to analysing the Kennedy dynasty. A very enjoyable, easy accessible, account of a family renowned as much for their abuse of privilege as their charasmatic leadership ability. To be a Kennedy seemed to imply that anything and everything was possible but history recorded a much more sombre account with death an uneasy bedfellow on many occasions.

by Rachel Patterson

As the title would suggest, this is a cookery book, but it focuses on working with practicality; getting the most out of your food supplies to minimise waste and working with the fruits and vegetables in season rather than shipping stuff all over the planet. It's written in a fairly engaging style with just a touch of woo and the recipes are clear and would be easy to follow.

The author states her love of baking in the introduction and that is shown in some very original baked goods. While a lot of these are too 'busy' for my personal taste (adding fruits, nuts, etc) there are some I will certainly give a try. She gives equal space to meat, vegetarian and vegan recipes and they are set out by the month for what is in season or suitable for the climate. For example, hot, filling foods in winter and lighter foods for summer.

My only issue is that I'm the world's fussiest eater and suggesting I would ever touch things like parsnips or chickpeas is optimistic and dependent on a serious famine, but I won't hold that against the author as I suspect I'm not her ideal target audience. For someone with broader taste and a desire to eat healthy, it's a great resource.

There is definite originality in the recipes and thinking outside the box. For example, Bubble and Squeak put in a soup. For the non-English, Bubble and Squeak is basically mashed potato mixed with leftover vegetables, usually cabbage, and fried as a pancake. The idea of putting it in a soup sounds soggy to me, but it might just work.

I enjoyed the segments at the beginning of each month, talking about the seasons. The majority of the recipes are too healthy for my blood, but I enjoyed reading the book and would definitely recommend it to those who want healthy recipes to fit the seasons.

by Rachel Patterson

It's refreshing to see a book of this nature start with warnings about allergies and toxicity when working with herbs or essential oils. This is so often missed out! It's the first book of a series that looks very interesting for beginners.

The tone is like one of those teenage witchcraft books, but there is some good information and from more modern paths included that you don't often see in Wicca/Witchcraft books, like a very basic explanation of sigil magic.

There were a few things I would disagree with, like being very specific when doing a spell to get a job. If you target just one application, you don't leave room for other opportunities to pop up out of nowhere! And some of the correspondences didn't sit quite right, though these will always bring disagreement. The lists looked more like examples and weren't extensive.

Overall I found it light on instruction. Someone wanting to construct a formal spell will have to look elsewhere for details, but there are a lot of books on the market for that. The one worrying thing is that although how to banish something from your life was mentioned, there was nothing about banishing residual energies after doing a spell.

What it was strong on was folk magic spells. There were a lot of examples for how to apply these to various purposes and a lot of definitions for forms of magic, if only partial information on how to do them. There was also a lot of "use your intuition" and plugs for the author's other books, as well as a story told about a candle flame gone wrong that could have been avoided by using a proper candle holder. This surprised me after the good advice at the beginning about toxicity safety.

Overall I think it would make a good first book for someone who wants to dip their toe into magic and see how it sits without getting into too much trouble. I'd still like to have seen more detailed information about how to clear unwanted energies, just in case.