The Books I'm Reading This Week

1. The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

I was introduced to the Watch series when I saw the movie adaptation of the first book - The Night Watch. The film was sufficiently interesting to make me buy the book and I've been hooked ever since.

I really enjoyed Night Watch, Day Watch not so much and Twilight Watch became my favourite of the first three books because of its strong plot, magical scenarios and devious twists and turns.

The latest book - The Last Watch - has not disappointed. It is as strong, if not stronger than Twilight Watch and is full of magic, fast paced action, occasional humour and a very satisfying end.

It is nice to catch up with Anton, the hero of the series. He is still working in the Moscow Night Watch and is now a Higher Other. A young Russian has been killed in Edinburgh and a vampire is suspected. Geser sends Anton to Scotland to investigate - unofficially. However, Anton realises that a lot more is at stake than one murdered student and a potential rogue vampire. In fact, the existence of the Twilight - essential to Others - might be in jeopardy thanks to an object hidden hundreds of years ago by the wizard Merlin.

If you like fantasy and haven't read these books yet, then you should start reading them immediately! I would advise you start with Night Watch, however, to get to know the characters when it all started.

Random story - I read Day Watch while on set for a short film, while waiting for the cameras to be set up. One of my fellow background support approached me and asked if the book I was reading was Russian, which then sparked off a conversation. It turned out she was Russian and working in IT in Ireland. We got on really well and had a very fun day on set together.

2.Doctor Who: Ghosts of India by Mark Morris
Pinky very kindly gave me this book last Saturday. It is a Dr Who novel set during the days of the Dr as played by David Tennant with Donna as his companion. I have read a few Dr Who novels and adaptations before and found them to vary in quality. So far, Ghosts of India is good.

Donna has a craving for a curry, so the Dr takes her to Calcutta to sample the real thing. He means to arrive in 1937, but the unpredictable TARDIS deposits them a decade later, when the country is on the brink of civil unrest. Even more worrying, a strange illness is spreading through the city. Could the god Shiva be responsible?

Morris captures the characters of the Dr and Donna well, and creates a nice atmosphere for Calcutta. There is an ever so slight feel of a creaky BBC set about the action, but that actually endears the book to me. What does concern me, however, is that the blurb mentions the Dr meeting up with Gandhi. That makes me groan. Why does the new Dr ALWAYS have to meet up with a famous person from Earth history? Why does he never visit alien planets anymore? I can understand that budget might limit the tv series somewhat, but it would be nice to see more imaginative locals in the books.

Ghosts of India has given me little to complain about so far and it is produced in a very attractive A5 hardcover that makes me want to touch it and read it no matter what lies inside. I haven't got far enough yet to give a thorough review, but I'm enjoying it.

Now, what I want to know is - how do I get me one of these tv series tie in deals (or a movie novelisation for that matter?). Firefly or X Files books anyone? A Labyrinth novelisation perhaps? (apparently one was written, you can buy it here. Isn't it time for an update?)