Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

97,504 pages read and 2,717 team points

Team members

vsw

10,725 pts

(9,474 pages read)

The Sailor of the Seas of Fate

By Michael Moorcock

3 stars

More traditional fantasy. This one explores multiple planes of existing, and (initially) a ship that sails between them. Again, groundbreaking for its time.
Elric of Melnibone

By Michael Moorcock

4 stars

The book is volume 1 of the Elric saga. It serves more as an extended introduction to Elric (and Stormbringer). It reads slightly differently to the other novels in the series. Beware, Elric is a bit of an anti-hero, and this is an old book (written from the 70s) so some things that were leading edge back then are slightly cliched now.
Can't Get There From Here

By Andre Brett

3 stars

This is a full history of NZ passenger rail in the 20th century. It covers its beginnings, development (and boom during the war) and ongoing subsequent decline.
Tarquin the Honest

By Gareth Ward

4 stars

I'm not normally a fan of humor-fantasy, which this definitely is. However, it is an entertaining read.
We Solve Murders

By Richard Osman

4 stars

A light-hearted and fast paced romp through exotic locations with a pleasant group of protagonists. Cosy Muder at its finest. Can the solve the murders in the Caribbean, Ireland, US and Dubai and still make it back to the pub in time for the weekly quiz on Wednesday evening?
The Proof of My Innocence

By Jonathan Coe

3 stars

This is a story that wants to be a Novel rather than just a fun murder mystery. It is somewhat self-referential which I might have found interesting if I didn't read it right after "All the people on this train are suspects".
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect

By Benjamin Stevenson

4 stars

A follow-up to the previous book, this one has a (slightly) lower body count than the first. A worthwhile sequel, that you really don't need to have read the previous book to enjoy. Set in Australia.
The Masquerades of Spring

By Ben Aaronovitch

4 stars

Nightinggale in the 1920s.. Swinging New York. Gangasters, fae, and high fashion. And a touch of magic. This is a short novella, easy read for a sunny afternoon.
All That We (Own) Know

By Shilo Kino

4 stars

This was quite a challenging read. The lead character's journey was based heavily on the authors own - in learning Te Reo as an adult. With a lot of other complications on the way.
Click Here for Murder

By Donna Andrews

3 stars

Second in the Turing (AI) series. This one has an obvious successor. Though I still find the style of writing without chapters irritating.
The Valley

By Chris Hammer

3 stars

Australian outback thriller. Jumps about in time, telling multiple parts of the slightly convoluted story. Part of a series, but I'd not read the earlier ones.
The Locksmith

By Barbara Howe

4 stars

A fantasy/romance crossover. Enough magic to be enjoyable, and apparently with a sequel.
You've Got Murder

By Donna Andrews

3 stars

A story with the protagonist being an AIP (Artificial Intelligence Personality). Interesting idea, but had a had time keeping my attention (or maybe I just read too much over Christmas). Structurally this was a bit odd as the book has no Chapters as such, which I found a bit disconcerting.
The Ministry of Time

By Kaliane Bradley

3 stars

A mystery novel centered around relocated time traveler "refugees" into the our current time. Of course as time goes one, it becomes a little more obvious that not everything is as it seems... This was an okay read, but some internal inconsistencies still feel odd. Were they plot holes, or clues as to what was going on. Or just poor editing. At the end I'm still not sure, so I'm going to put it down to poor editing.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

By Benjamin Stevenson

4 stars

A Christmas read... well, I read it over Christmas. If you don't mind a story told by a character within the story, and who is more than happy to break the fourth wall from time to time (continually) then this could be the book for you. Some of the deaths are a little gruesome, but - this is a murder mystery. And it is not like you were reading a book with a title like this and expected to get away with a single off-screen dead... or did you?
The Sanctuary Sparrow

By Ellis Peters

2 stars

A solid Cadfael novel. This one however I found hard going for some reason. Perhaps I've just been reading too many recently and need a break. The good end happily, the bad... well.. that would be telling.
The Fey and the Furious (Rivers of Londdon)

By Ben Aaronovitch

3 stars

#8 in the graphic novel series that interspaces the regular Rivers of London novels. This is all about magical car racing.
The Victorian Internet

By Tom Standage

5 stars

This is a history of the telegraph. A fascinating account of the development of early rapid communication technology. It's a story of the people and personalities that shaped what turned into the phone system and todays internet.
The Leper of Saint Giles

By Ellis Peters

4 stars

Everyone's favorite monk (maybe apart from Prior Robert) Brother Cadfael returns to save another star-crossed couple. This is a good read. I've been working through the Cadfael series in order - so certain recurring (or not!) characters that appear (or don't) in this book make a bit more sense than if you just read it as a stand alone novel. Still very worth while, especially if you are interested in dark ages England (well, 1139).
Black Holes

By Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

3 stars

The first half is a good overview of blackholes and introduces Penrose diagrams. Then the maths gets tough, and it gets heavily into quantum theory -and to be honest kind of lost me in the details. Nice overview of some aspects of quantum computing though.
Enchanters’ Endgame

By David Eddings

3 stars

The being of the series feels a bit rushed but it nicely wraps up most of the loose ends. Various bits of timeline are slightly stretched to make various groups meet up at the end. Enjoyable read.
Order of the stick: no Cure for the Paladin Blues

By Rich Burlew

4 stars

Longest Oots story yet. Rereading it I find myself no liking Miko as much as I did in earlier reads. But then we are not really supposed to like her. King of Nowhere sketch is istill a classic and very pythonic.
Rockin’ Around the Chickadee

By Donna Andrews

4 stars

A solid Christmas themed Meg story. I was about 2/3 of the way through when I worked out who did it. Though they were my top suspect from about half way.
Castle of wizrdry

By David Eddings

5 stars

One of my favourites in the series. It has everything, a leldorian disaster, a sorcererous tempter tantrum, witches messing with reality. I’m not sure it really stands on its own as a boook outside the series.
The order of the stick: Dungeon crawl in’ fools

By Rich Burlew

4 stars

The first major storyline for the order.
Magician’s gambit

By David eddings

4 stars

The story continues. New heroes join the group and old ones depart.
Order of the stick: good deeds gone unpunished

By Rich Burlew

5 stars

This is the best of the oots prequels. It contains back stories for a number of the oots allies. And O-Chul is one of my favourites and his story takes up more than half the book.
How big things get done

By Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

5 stars

A great read about why big projects fail and what can be done to make them succeed more often.
The order of the stick: On the Origin of PCs

By Rich Burlew

4 stars

The backstory of each OOTS hero, and how they became a team. Well, almost.
The order of the stick: start of darkness

By Rich Burlew

3 stars

A prequel with backstories of the main villains from the webcomic The Order of the Stick. Much darker than most of his stories but they are Team Evil.
Winter’s gifts

By Ben Aaronovitch

4 stars

Set in the world of the rivers of London, this is a novella about FBI agent Kimberly Reynolds rather than Peter Grant. It takes place in small town USA but still maintains a RoL vibe.
Queen of sorcery

By David Eddings

3 stars

Maybe it's because I'm unwell while reading this, but the second book in the series is not quite as good as I remember. Or maybe it is the small typeface. The story continues apace, but certain character catchphrases get reused a bit too often.
Pawn of Prophecy

By David Eddings

5 stars

One of my all-time favorite fantasy series. Definitely worth a read. Though there is some glossed over family violence involving one of the heroes that becomes a (questionable) catalyst for later character growth.
Between a Flock and a Hard Place

By Donna Andrews

4 stars

Home makeover programmes will never be the same again.
normal rules don't apply

By Kate Atkinson

2 stars

It is an odd series of semi-related short stories. Sometimes a bit too much back story and not enough actual story. Still worth a read.

40 - 0 - 1

Add pages read

Wellington High School and Com Ed Centre

97,504 pages read and 2,717 team points

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78