Book review: The Book of Sand by Theo Clare.

An odd book, this one. It was written by one of my favourite authors under a pseudonym, and unfortunately, it was the last thing she wrote before succumbing to complications from motor neurone disease.

I’ve read (and reviewed) one or two of her books from the excellent Jack Caffrey series, and I’ve found her an author who write brilliantly, and never shied away from the tough subjects like child abuse and genocide. The Book of Sand was very different:

The Book of Sand

The story is set (mostly) in a desert, the location of which doesn’t appear to make geographical sense. (There is a reason for this). In this desert, a group of families are searching for an artifact called the Sarkpont, which gives them the way out. But if that wasn’t enough, the families are being pursued by a fast-moving carnivorous creatures known as the Djinni.

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Film review: The Flash

Well, it’s taken them literally years, but they’ve finally done it. After many many complete failures and near misses, the DC stable have managed to release a movie that’s a near match for a Marvel flick. I say “near” as in “almost, but not quite.”

The Flash is DC comics resident speeder. Following a lab accident involving lightning and shelf full of chemicals, our hero gains access the Speed Force: an extra dimensional energy field that allows him to move at superhuman speed.

The Flash

So how fast is he? Faster than Wonder Woman? Why, yes. Faster than Superman? Hell, yes. In fact (and, yes, I know it’s not an actual fact), he can run faster than the speed of light … and this is where the trouble starts. Young Barry (his real name is Barry Allen) discovers that when he breaks the light barrier, he can travel back through time. So, ignoring Bruce Wayne’s sage advice, Barry travels back to the day of his mother’s murder and tries to prevent it.

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