Just a warning if anyone is considering buying Dread Ball. There are two versions - standard and deluxe. The standard version is £20 cheaper. However, stuff is missing such as the player cards, and the rule book is poor - it doesn't even explain what the different players are or what they are supposed to do. I have ended up buying the A4 rules off E-Bay as the small rules are so poor. I think they have a cheek doing this personally. I thought that the Deluxe just had better quality pieces, I didn't realise some of the game components had been taken out. Not impressed...

I downloaded this book for the Kindle, and as what is becoming an alarming feature, the story is littered with typographic errors. Seeing as we pay for the books, I think the publishers should take more care in the work they are selling. It's shoddy and uncacceptable to release Kindle books with so many errors.

Now onto the book itself... The book proclaims to be a Steampunk novel but it is clear the author has no real knowledge as to what Steampunk actually is. It's not as though it is difficult to research Steampunk in the days of the Internet.

My biggest gripe with this book however is the authors continued lack of scene setting. We get told the anti-hero is put out to a steam train mercenary crew, but there is no background information of how or why these mecenaries came to be. He claims most of Europe is laid down with railway tracks but doesn't actually mention anywhere why. As such the book is very shallow throughout.You never know what age this is set in, or what the rest of the world is doing whilst Europe is running around on rails.You don't even find out how old the main character is until something like chapter 3 or 4. Talking of the main character - she is unpleasant and psychotic and unless you enjoy getting into the mind of a psychotic and share the thrill when she maims or kills someone for no reason at all, you'll find some of this book hard to read. The supporting characters are one dimensional and offer little to the plot.

You have to just accept what you are given in this book - take it for what it is as it cannot stand up on its own. There is a battle sequence where a load of Diesel trains come down a hill towards the steam trains (already an unlikely scenario as they would need the exact correct rails going to the exact place they all were headed), and once they all come together we are expected to believe the big steam train sits in the middle whilst smaller once circle around it to protect it. The chances of rails being laid which enable this to happen at this exact point is just silly.

There are endless examples of silly and ill-conceived ideas throughout and I'd given up on it by the time my Kindle told me I was 54% of the way though. I just carried on with it as I had paid for it.

Publishers should take more care with quality control and I'm amazed this story ever got into print.

My advice is to change your points and steam down another book aisle as this won't make you whistle.

I got the impression that this book was written by a child with the nasty bits added after.

When you first hear SWR, you are drawn back to the time of the Psychedelic Furs in the 1980's. They have a eerie leaning towards 'The 'Furs' but they are so much more than that.

Fantastic lyrics of teenage angst, insecurities and love gone wrong thread through this band like home-made stitches after a self-op in the kitchen.

Beautiful delivery and equally powerful vocals in a semi-monotone style that just shouldn't work leave you reaching for the replay button before the last chord has ended.

Brilliant band.

I can't describe how essential this book is to any serious web designer.

This is not a book that you merely learn code from parrot-fashion. What it does is to explain the semantics of web structure and fully explains why you should do things as well as how.

The first read is a true revelation to how you have been building web sites in the past. I use this book every week and have had it now for at least a year I think.

Every so often a book comes out that you just must have in your collection, and without doubt this is one of them - miss this at your peril.

Being a devout Total War and Stronghold follower, I had high hopes for this game. I was left very disappointed.

I have two main gripes about Praetorians. Firstly it's 'arcade' feel, and secondly it's so laboured and unnecessarily fussy. Trying to build equipment is a nightmare. The manual is scant and unhelpful and it took me hours just to get a grip of the basics.

The graphics are nice, but the armies all walk in a robotic style and line themselves up using the same path giving the whole thing a very unrealistic kind of feel. The fighting is mechanical and unbeliveable.

The game demands far too much from the player and it forces you to do 20 things when 3 would have done.

I would not recommend this to anyone unless you can get it on the cheap. If you want a less realistic game then go for Stronghold as this knocks spots of Praetorians. If you want some real atmosphere and quality gameplay nothing comes close to Total War.

I bought Praetorians when it first came out, but have never got past the tutorials due to frustration.

It's not a bad game - it's just not very good either.

I bought this book thinking I would actually learn something. Don't be fooled by it's uber-designed cover, this book is a duff.

To say this book is 'basic' would be an understatement. Covering such pearls of wisdom such as how to colour text or place a picture, this book is surely only of use to halfwits and those who have an illegal copy and no manual.

At the hefty price tag, I expected to gleen some knowledge, but this offers nothing that the most novice of Dreamweaver users would need. Even towards the back of the book things get no better with the 'advanced' topics covering anchors!

Don't make the same mistake I did - go elsewhere for a decent book on Dreamweaver such as the Dremaweaver MX Bible.

A great book, and well written, obviously for the layman interested in codes and cyphers. Simon Singh is obviously passionate about his subject matter and this comes across very well.

The book covers the history of codes and cyphers and captivates from start to finish. It opens up a sad story of geniuses who have contributed so much to our lives, yet were so tragically taken away from us so young.

Later chapters in the book deal with more complicated cyphers and codes yet Simon ensures the explanations are clear. Sometimes this is just a little bit too much as two pages are taken repeating the same explanation again just in case you didn't get it the first time.

The last chapter on quantum cryptography is a good introduction into quantum theory without boring the pants off you.

there are some points of contention, such as Simon's story about how data lines were cut off the sea coasts of Germany during the war, when as everyone knows, Germany is land locked, but I'm being petty here.

The code challenge to win £10,000 is irrisistable even though we are now probably too late. I've cracked the first one anyway!

Get this book if you are interested in codes, and in hitory.

Thanks Simon, I got immense pleasure and knowledge form your work.

It's always difficult to live up to hype, and it's even more difficult to live up to everyone's imagination. And this proves to be the ultimate downfall of this DVD.

Anybody who has followed the books has already established a visual interpretation of the characters, the locations and the special effects and has become familiar with them throughout the series. When presented with the director's ideas on these, it is not what you envisaged and as such becomes almost alien to you.

The acting itself is OK but not really outstanding, personally I didn't identify Harry Potter with the character on the screen - I found him to be too cheesy. In an attempt to cram all the key elements of the books into the film, the director has merely dropped in these events and glued them lightly together with some irrelevant padding. As such, the film lacks the depth and subtlety of the books.

Detail was lacking such as Hagrid's undersized motorbike rather than the hulking mean machine we were fed in the literary version. Such small things make or break a film and sadly there are way too many intricacies missing.

Many of the characters make cameo appearances without really adding to the plot such as Nearly Headless Nick. The absence of Peeves, truly the only spirit with any bite, was unforgivable and whoever took the decision to leave Rik Mayal on the cutting room floor should be ashamed of themselves.

Special effects are up to standard but again, tend to be there through necessity rather than to enhance.

It's not a bad film, just that you come away with a slight empty feeling. A feeling that somehow it just could have been so much better.