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This is just awful. I tolerated the first two being both derivative and badly written and put it down to a young author finding his feet. But this is the worse of the three.

The book is predictable in extreme as the young hero lives out the author's adolescent Dungeons and Dragons adventures.

I tried. I really really tried but half way through I abandoned it. I was sick of falling out of the world he almost creates when he insists on using a 'big' word trying to impress the reader with word knowledge instead of doing his best to retaining the readers immersion. This will become one of three books I have ever started and never finished out of the hundreds I've read.

I can only say go read some more and see how the real writers do it.

If your older than 9 and looking for something to read, buy something else!!

Do I really have to give it a star?

Pratchett's books for young people have a tendency to reach beyond the intended age group and are just as enjoyable and relevant for adults. His latest novel, "Nation", is no exception. Anybody who has read his Tiffany Aching books will also know that Pratchett also has a fondness for headstrong young girls, delighting in exemplifying how they grow more or less smoothly into maturity. In this delightful novel Daphne, or Ermintrude as she was named by her family, is another example. Just for the pleasure of meeting her, the book would be worth reading... but there is so much more to explore here.

Thirteen-year-old Daphne is pretty, smart and well-educated, and loved by her aristocratic father. After the death of her mother, she was brought up by her strict grandmother, who instils in her a sense of values and responsibility but also, unintentionally, inquisitiveness and independence of mind. She is the counter part to Mau, also thirteen, and the actual hero of the story. His Nation, a small island in the South Pelagic Ocean is a traditional, pre-industrial society where gods reign and the spirits of the grandfathers maintain the ritualistic order by communicating their instructions to the selected few. While on "Boy's island", where he had been preparing for the rites of passage into manhood ceremony, Mau was oblivious to the tsunami of unheard of proportion that swept over lands and islands. The village had assembled on the beach for his return and celebration when the wave swept them away, leaving a trail of destruction. He reaches Nation in the aftermath of the disaster and discovers that he is all alone. Well, not quite... The ship that was to bring Daphne to her father in Port Mercia stranded on Mau's island leaving her with only a talkative parrot for company.

The story follows the two young people from worlds apart - without a common language and even gestures - who have to overcome their mutual suspicion and distrust and grow individually and together to become the centre of a new community as survivors from surrounding islands and from further afield seeking refuge with them. With great sensitivity and imagination, Pratchett explores the coming of age process in both. He exquisitely tackles the conflicts in Mau's mind between his old society steeped in mythology and hierarchy and the new reality where beliefs and rituals have to be questioned and new codes of morality be established. Daphne also has to develop a new understanding of society where class and privilege have no meaning. There are any number of challenges the young people have to face, starting with finding food and milk for a baby. There are pirates and renegades to deal with and much more... Can they, together with the diverse collections of refugees build a better and more hopeful Nation?

Pratchett's style is as always fluid and smooth, his imagery perceptive and innovative. His sense of humour, mostly subtle, shines through many sections. There are a few slow sections that a young person might skim over searching for the action on the next page. For adults the novel has many layers of narrative, food for thought on our perceptions of cultures, traditions and communication. [Friederike Knabe]

Twilight left us knowing that Edward and Bella were together and in love, and all that malarky. New Moon starts off with more of the same. But as their relationship deepens, and they begin to consider their future together, things start to fall apart. They realise that things between them will never be simple. They have more than just themselves to think about.

Things start to kick off when Edward and the rest of the Cullens leave Forks, rendering Bella completely heartbroken. Having told her he no longer wants to be with her, he disappears. Bella completely falls to pieces, much to the despair of her father, Charlie. She sinks deeper and deeper into her own little world, and feels she can't go on without Edward. Things eventually start to look up when Jacob Black, the son of Charlie's good friend Billy Black, arrives back in Bella's life. They strike up a friendship, and Bella slowly starts to realise that life can go on without Edward. She is still heartbroken, but she is starting to have a life again, instead of mourning for her loss.

However, things start to become complicated again when Jacob develops feelings for her. Bella likes Jacob immensely, but he isn't Edward. After telling him straight that she only wants to be friends with him, Bella and Jacob have a fun and fulfilling friendship, which delights both of their fathers. But as always with Bella, things are never straightforward. After a series of death defying stunts, she finds herself in the company of vampires once more...

New Moon is good and bad. It's a fabulous follow on from Twilight, but I started to get really irritated by Bella's behaviour. I know it was there to demonstrate how empty she felt without Edward and the Cullens but I often felt myself wanting to shout at her to pull herself together. Jacob is a great character because he helps Bella becomes a person again, and start living life. But I started to feel really sorry for him as it was obvious that Bella would never see him as any more than a friend. Then as the plot thickened, I felt myself becoming hopeful for him once again as the pair grew closer.

It improved for me once Bella got over the main part of her moping around, because that was drawn out a bit much for me. But I suppose given that this book is just a small part of a much longer story, it needed to have its own time scale.

Basically, this book is a no-brainer. If you've read Twilight and enjoyed it, you need to read this, and all the others that follow on. It's compulsive enough to want to know the rest of the story. I should know; as soon as I put this one down, I found myself reaching for the next one in the series...

Eclipse is my favourite of the three so far. It has the most action, and the most struggle. Bella is still being stalked by a deadly vampire intent on revenge, and there are many people wanting to protect her. All of the Cullens, and the werewolf pack over at La Push. Most people would be flattered and relieved by this, but not Bella. She cares about these people so much that she is terrified of them getting hurt, especially on her account. But it doesn't seem to stop any of them. Edward loves Bella dearly and would rather die than see her hurt. Jacob Black feels the same. Bella is torn between the two men - she's desperately in love with Edward and can't see her life without him, but she is incredibly close to Jacob, and doesn't want to lose her friendship with him because Edward's back in town, and the two hate each other.

It's deadlock. Edward doesn't want Bella seeing Jacob, and Jacob won't be friends with Bella because she's with Edward, and he knows that she wants to become 'one of them.' It doesn't help matters that the vampires and werewolves have an ancient treaty not to hurt one another, and Bella's existence and the feelings she ignites in the two groups could potentially holes in the treaty and start a war.

As well as worrying about the dangerous vampire stalking her, Edward and Jacob, and her dad, graduation is approaching. And graduation is the date Bella has set for her to end her mortal life and become a vampire. And it's crept up on her so fast that she's made no arrangements, not said goodbye to anyone, and is now questionning if it's what she really wants.

Could things be any more complicated? Well, for Bella, yes of course. Things continue to pile up until they eventually comes to a head. Bella has lots of decisions to make, but you'll just have to read Eclipse to discover the outcome...

I loved this book. It's the most action-packed so far, with emotions running high, love, hate, fear, and more. There are also lots of new characters brought in, but the story still centres around the triangle of Bella, Edward and Jacob - all of whom you'll love and loathe in equal measure by the time you finish this book.

If you've read the first two, again, you need to read Eclipse. I'm now going to dive right into Breaking Dawn and find out what the finale is!

My son aged 10 is heavily into Dr Who and was dying to get this annual. He was impressed by this new one and found it both interesting and entertaining. Although a cheap gift he rated it above some of the PS2 games he was given!!! Would recommend this annual for any Dr Who fan.

This is a really good book for anyone who finds themself needing to face up to changing their spending habits. I found myself in this position a few years ago when I had to change careers because of deteriorating health and even with my experience there are new tips to be picked up here.

The blurb says it's "heart-warming and inspirational", and that it's about a man, Mack, striving to understand why God allows pain and suffering in the world. Well, it wasn't my choice to read the book, it was given to me, and I was determined I would find it smug and irritating.

Right from the start there were surprises: after a few pages I realised it was funny, down to earth, and was going to deliver some jolts. First page, the men in Mack's family are all addressed by their middle name - as in my family. That got my attention. Then the setting seemed eerily familiar and jolt 2, I realised it is set in Nez Perce Indian country, Oregon. I have just read and reviewed "Selling Your Father's Bones" about this place... it was like journeying over some very familiar ground. Jolt 3, whether I liked it or not, the deceptively simplistic language of the book contains some mind-blowingly huge theological concepts in the most accessible way. There is a lot that orthodoxy will frown at. (Good) - and a lot of answers that will make a lot of sense to a lot of people.

Many readers will immediately love this; (dare I say, it is more likely to appeal to less cynical Americans than British) others like myself will have to struggle past the initial "over-sickly-sentimental" doubts and hesitations. But...

..."Mack would like you to know that if you happen upon this story and hate it, he says "Sorry...but it wasn't primarily written for you"" (page 13).

My own final jolt was on page 147 as this has been the subject of much debate among some of my friends recently.

Finally, if addressing God as Papa sounds weird: Jesus uses the word "daddy" in Mark 14:36.

Yeah, I love Jaqueline Wilson, I've read all her books! She's a great author. But this, I have to say, was one of her worst books. It was just too childish, and uninteresting. If your an amature reader, with an average imagination then this book will be good for you, but for someone like me, an experienced reader, who likes a challenge to read, then this book might not be the best idea. It is very hard to get into, and far too basic. Also, something I found quite boring, Jaqueline Wilson is doing the kind of same book, for eg. Lola Rose, which is along the same lines, just a MUCH better book! I do recommend that one by the way. Just, 'Cookie' is a bit of a disappointment. :D Hope this helped

If you love reading to your child, do not miss this book.

It is a delightful, humourous,dream-like surreal book, with a repetitive, poetic, chanting story.

It is (deservedly) a children's classic. Many reviewers here have tried to break down the different elements of this book.

What I would like to convey is the whole experience of reading the book which teaches a simple life experience to a child - which is highly spiritual, particularly the last pages where a riot of colour is the world through the eyes of a butterfly.

The story has optimism and beauty at its very core.

It has limitless opportunities for teaching and conversation. There is a colouring book of the fantastic illustrations which can be bought - the video and CD features lovely music and a calm and peaceful narrator.

Tops my list for children and grown ups of all ages.

Fantastic recipes, nothing beyond the average cook and amazing value, best little cookery book I've seen in a long time, I will be buying the others in the series for me and sending some to my sons (even they could cook well using these recipes).