Writers' Echo

Rating: 8/10 Recommended for: Exciting Grimdark Fantasy series They who look for Adult, High/ Epic Fantasy Fans of Steven Erikson, Scott Lynch, Mark Lawrence A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness #1) Summary : The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever. On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles…

Rating: 8/10 Recommended for: 20th century French classic literature A study on psychology of crime through fiction Literature heavy on philosophy and social study Summary : Through the story of an ordinary man unwittingly drawn into a senseless murder on an Algerian beach, Camus explored what he termed “the nakedness of man faced with the absurd.” Thoughts : The Stranger is hard to pin…

Rating: 10/10 Recommended for: 19th century Russian classic literature A study on psychology of crime through fiction Literature heavy on philosophy and social study Summary : Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders through the slums of St Petersburg and commits a random murder without remorse or regret. He imagines himself to be a great man, a Napoleon: acting for a…

Rating: 9/10 Recommended for: Fans of Harry Potter, Inheritance series They who look for Children/YA Fantasy series Summary : In the third book of the series, Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty must test the limits of this world, question the deepest parts of themselves — and trust one another if they hope to survive. Thoughts : Ptolemy’s Gate is an excellent conclusion to this splendid…

Rating: 7/10 Recommended for: A classical self-help on scholarly life, the pursuit of truth and personal development A practical advices on the methods of studying, reading and writing Summary : Antonin-Gilbert Sertillanges, O.P. was a French Catholic philosopher and spiritual writer. His scholarly work was concerned with the moral theory of Thomas Aquinas. In the English-speaking world, he…

Rating: 9/10 Recommended for: Ancient mythology lovers Classic literature and epic poetry readers Summary : This revised edition (1972) provides a prose rendering of The Epic of Gilgamesh, the cycle of poems preserved on clay tablets surviving from ancient Mesopotamia of the third millennium B.C. One of the best and most important pieces of epic poetry from human history, predating even…

Rating: 7/10 Recommended for: A light-hearted fiction with family and human-animal friendship as central themes Fans of The Man Called Ove Summary : After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously…

Rating: 7/10 Recommended for: Science fiction that’s heavy in actions and technology, military element They who love robot aliens and adventurous SFF Summary : As a child, Rose Franklin made an astonishing discovery: a giant metallic hand, buried deep within the earth. As an adult, she’s dedicated her brilliant scientific career to solving the mystery that began that fateful day: Why was a…

Rating: 7/10 Recommended for: Fans of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis They who look for Young Adult Fantasy series Summary : Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the…

Rating: 8/10 Recommended for: A good Self-Help book on finance, money management and personal development They who want to study the psychology impact of money on people Summary : Doing well with money isn’t necessarily about what you know. It’s about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people. Money―investing, personal finance, and business decisions―is…