Have been a bit busy of late and am catching up on reviews. There are three today, varying widely in subject matter and genre. Kraken Bake by Karen DudleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars Dudley absolutely captivated me with the first in this series: Food for the Gods, and the sequel Kraken Bake follows the wit, humour, whimsy and galloping good narrative of the first. Our hero, Pelops, celebrity chef to Athens’ elite populace and…

The Door in the Mountain by Caitlin SweetMy rating: 3 of 5 stars Caitlin Sweet approaches ancient Greek mythology from the YA market with a dark retelling of Ariadne and the minotaur’s labyrinth at Crete. Sweet’s world shudders with the power of the gods. It seems near everyone but Ariadne has some eldritch and scintillating ability, mostly misdirected and excessive. Therein lies the undercurrent of Sweet’s story: Ariadne’s envy of the gods-given powers bestowed on…

Feet of Clay by Terry PratchettMy rating: 3 of 5 stars What one might expect from Terry Pratchett: whacky humour, intimately realized world, twists, turns and nefarious deeds. In short, another installment of escapism at its best. In this Discworld edition, Pratchett returns to our stalwart policing crew, The Watch, who become embroiled in a series of dastardly murders, the question of what makes a thing a thing with rights, or just a machine, and…