The Olly Book Blog

  The periodic table was originally thought in the early 1860's, as a way of organising new elements found by scientists, the table was redesigned a number of times by different scientists to sort elements in different ways. Eventually, they came up with the system that we have today, which you will see in science when you learn it at school or college etc.     The book is a work of non-fiction and is designed to teach you about each singular element found in the modern periodic table, the book has a factfile of each substance accompanied with a very detailed overview of it. The book is full of wonderful ultra high definiton images which make the work seem fresh and gives it an extra sense of quality.   The book really does teach you an awful lot about the elements, from Carbon to Einsteinium. Any budding scientist would love to add this to their collection I'm sure, the book is really interesting and is good for reading through thouroughly, just flicking through now and t

  To begin with, this book is a work of non-fiction, this means that for any aspiring vets- or any animal lovers for that matter- this makes for a really engaging and interesting read. The book recounts stories from Hardy's career so far, much like many other veterniary books, take Herriot for example. However, one key difference is that Hardy is still a veterniary student at the Royal Veterniary College in London during the course of the book. Taking place during Hardy's final year in the RVC, the students go up and down the country on work placements, gaining valuable experience in the world of veterniary before they go on as qualified vets in the world.   As an aspiring veterniary surgeon myself, this book was amazing to read and I honestly couldn't put it down. The book may be non-fiction, but still transports you to another world- almost magically. The RVC in a funny sort of way ended up feeling a little like Hogwarts to me in my mind while I read this book and has

  Philip Reeve is highly acclaimed for his book, Mortal Engines which is a futuristic steam-punk book with moving cities and flying airships. This book is much the same however it takes place on the ground which is obviously less exciting, it also takes place in London, unlike Mortal Engines.       The book is set before Reeve's first steam-punk novel and is supposed to link to events in Mortal Engines however I can't see too many of these links and the only real one is at the end. (and it's not that great to be honest) The book seems to be quite historical because it seems as though we are in the past, but we are actually in the future which is a bit surreal and strange. Reading about carts being pulled around London and archaeologists trying to use 'old tech', things like vacuum cleaners for example is just plain weird.       The story often seems to have no real destination and somethings in the book are made out to be a bigger deal than they actually are

  This book is very unique and is written in an unusual but fun way. It follows the story of a girl called Sophie who really wants to know what her true identity is and what her story began like. The book is written from Sophie's perspective, however, the book is written in code which makes the story extra interesting and very engaging for the reader. Working out some of the more difficult words is actually quite fun and it does make the entire reading experience more interactive and also better as a whole.   I think that the book is very good although it can be fairly confusing to being with and at first you often ask questions that only get answered later on in the novel because unlike some books where you see the story from the outside, and therefore are privy to information before it is passed on to the main characters, you follow Sophie and get to know the facts when she does. 8 / 10 A good mysterious, unique, fun and very Belgian book. Add your thoughts in the comments if

  I read this novel quite a while ago but I've came back to it now so that I can review it here for you. The book is set in a dystopian future and is very, very similar to the novel and play 1984. However this book is for children rather than adults or older kids.   As you can tell from the blurb the story follows four young criminals, McGann is very good at creating the characters and we follow each individual separately or together throughout the whole story. That's probably the best part of the book, going through the characters, seeing what they do or how they feel which, is what the Government in the story is able to do with everyone.   I think that McGann has clearly taken a lot of elements from other stories to create this book particularly from 1984, however he does make it his own through his own characters and certain events. 7/10 - Analyse this book in the comments if you care to do so, remember: you have nothing to fear if you have come on this blog. (That was

  This book is the first in a new series and it is a really good introduction to what could become a truly great series of books. I enjoyed Holly Black's Spiderwick Chronicles and also Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angels trilogy so it was also going to be pretty likely that I liked this novel. To be completely honest the book isn't a whole lot like either of those books, it is probably more like The Clockwork Trilogy but that may just be to do with the style of writing and the books setting, obviously influenced heavily by Clare.   The book is quite typical of a lot of new modern stories with magic, it's about an ordinary boy who one day discovers that he has powers- you get the picture. The book does bring some new things in though, admittedly later on in the novel but it is quite original. After all we have two good authors who have wrote about magic before working together.  10 / 10 A fresh, new take on magic that I thoroughly enjoyed. Comment your opinions or em

  This book is quite surreal at times and is overall very good. Sometimes it is difficult to work out some things in the story but everything does become clear at the end of the novel. The book is set in Victorian times but it seems to be mostly timeless and it's time period didn't really affect the novel for me and it wasn't something that I thought about much whilst I read the book.   The plot is rather good and it is written very cleverly. One of Nobles' strong points is her ability to create very real characters. She does this so well that at the end of the book you can almost sense the characters reactions and emotions to different events before they come which makes the author very skilled at her craft. 8/10 I enjoyed this one, did you? Let me know in the comments below or email your thoughts / opinions to: info@theollybookblog.com

  Landy is back and Landy is good. He gets the story rolling quick off the mark begins to enthrall us in his new series. It's set away from Skulduggery Pleasant (Which did end quite 'unusually' remember?) and into the world of demons! (Hence the name)   Possibly like many teenagers, at times Amber Lamont thinks that her parents can be monsters. To rephrase it and say it how it is in the book, her parents are monsters. And they are chasing her all over the U.S. so that they can eat her. And they are very, very, evil. (Did I say very?) And her only means of getting out of this mess is a man who very well might be a mass murderer who really is on the highway to hell. Yep, as the cover suggests, she's having a hell of a time...   As the first book in a new collection of books, it can be difficult to see just how good a series  will turn out to be. We already know that Derek Landy can write a lot of books for one series, after all, he turned out 9 excellent novels

 Alice Hoffman is a brilliant wordsmith, you know that it's true from the first page to the last. It's a spellbinding read with a lot of detail and thought going into it.   The characters are imagined brilliantly and when you read the book you feel as though you have a strong connection to the characters in the book because they are presented to us so well from their physical descriptions to their emotions shown during the course of the novel.   The book has elements of adventure, fantasy and even romance which definitely create a truly captivating story. You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but my edition of it is really very good. It's mysterious and quite enchanting which definitely draws you in to the book. So overall a great novel from Hoffman, I hope that in the future she will write some offer books like this one for us to read because Nightbird is terrific. 10/10 I really enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. Leave your comments down bel

  Hi guys, today I have a different sort of post for you. Starting today I am going to be changing the overall look and design of The Olly Book Blog, for a while you might start seeing things on the site that don't quite seem right, do not worry, this is just part of the maintenance that I am doing!  I would also like to ask you for any ideas or suggestions of how I could edit the blog as I will always appreciate your feedback seeing as you guys are the ones who will be using and looking at the blog. So if you do have any feedback just go ahead and make it known in the comments. I would also like to share with you a new book blog that I think you will enjoy. You can find it at: Et's Best Books Blog. Please do check that blog out as it has some great content that I think you guys will enjoy. So that's all for now, I will update you when the maintenance is completed and then should be able to hopefully start posting new book reviews on a more regu

  Monty is a dog, Monty also happens to be a detective. After his master is murdered Monty decides that he should look for the killer and help his new owner (a detective working on the case) along the way. The chapters switch from detective to dog in this thrilling read giving you an insight into the lives of Police workers and how dogs feel, think and communicate. It is a really interesting book because it really makes you wonder about our canine friends and other animals as well, like ladybirds or rats for example who also make an appearance in the novel!   Readers should note that this book contains a fair amount of profanity / swearing and is definitely not suitable for readers of a younger age... 10/10 This was a fantastic book and I could not put it down, please remember to leave a comment below and to tweet me @TheOllyBookBlog

  Patterson has really hit top gear with this installment in the Daniel X series, it is action packed and fast paced but it also brings in new elements to the story. The human race is more involved here than ever before which makes the story seem more realistic but it also adds more depth and more of a backstory to this particular novel.  In every Daniel X story we see action and adventure, however sometimes it can get a bit repetitive, just like the last few books we see Patterson advance his story by adding more danger to his stories, every new chapter is meant to be more thrilling and quicker. This does make the story enthralling at times but personally I think that James Patterson really needs to slow his story down and add quality not just quantity to his books.   This is because if you make each new book appear like it's the most dangerous one then looking back through the series the first few books don't seem as relevant because hey have been surpassed by new reads.

  From the award winning author who wrote the well loved  Bartimaeus Series  we can now read a brand new set of books that promise to be spooky, but exciting. The book is a great introduction to a world where ghosts appear and agencies ran by children work hard to take back the night!   The book is written well and is very atmospheric, you can almost feel the cold of the night breeze around you. You can almost see that eerie glow through the shadows...   The novel is a great book to get into because the series is currently ongoing and there are already sequels ready for you to discover. So go on, what are you waiting for? The ghost hunt begins now... 9/10 Spectacularly spooky, If this book made your spine tingle then be sure to pay a visit to the comments section or tweet me @TheOllyBookBlog 

  The latest installment in the Young Sherlock Holmes series is very different to the rest of the books because of where it is set. It is a very interesting story because when you are so used to one specific climate like London where the books are usually set is is a nice change to find out so much about a very different place such as China. I think that this book was written at a very clever time because it allowed Sherlock to go through a lot in a short space of time. This means that the books that continue this read will have new content for Lane to work with which will create a bigger and better story. 8 / 10 An enjoyable read, tell me what you thought of it in the comments below...

  Hi everybody, I'm coming back to The Olly Book Blog! I've been away from the blog for quite a while, but after coming back to it I have discovered that the site has now accumulated well over 30,000 views. I'd like to thank everyone who looks at my blog and I'm going to do my best to keep it running and keep updating it from now on. Thanks again to all of you,                                                 -Olly