‘The Sword of Albion’ – Mark Chadbourn (Bantam Press)

If you’re living in the US (or couldn’t be bothered to wait for the UK edition) then you may have already seen this book, courtesy of Pyr, going by the name of ‘The Silver Skull’. I never got round to reading this last year but heard lots of good things about it and resolved to wait until its UK release before grabbing myself a copy. It won’t actually be published until May but I was lucky enough to get hold of an advance copy to take a look at. I still haven’t got round to reading the ‘Age of Misrule’ series but I did enjoy Mark Chadbourn’s ‘Lord of Silence’ (still ‘not so secretly’ hoping for more to come from this series, will another publisher pick it up?) and was hoping for more of the same from ‘The Sword of Albion’.
Being an historical fantasy (as opposed to a fantasy in an imagined world), ‘The Sword of Albion’ is very different to ‘Lord of Silence’. Having said that though, ‘The Sword of Albion’ is very much Mark Chadbourn doing what he does best. I’m hoping for more books in this setting as well…

What use is a spy when everyone knows his face and who he is? Such a spy is of great use when he’s being employed for entirely different reasons to those that everyone else thinks. Such is the case with Will Swyfte, swordsman, scholar, rake… and England’s last hope against an enemy that has stalked humanity since time began. It’s 1588 and while the Spanish Armada gathers sail in Lisbon, Swyfte’s mission is to counter the otherworldly forces that lend their support to Philip of Spain. A weapon of deadly force has been stolen from the Tower of London and is in the hands of the Faerie. Swyfte must steal this weapon back before it is put to use in the worst possible way and England’s green and pleasant land become a festering charnel pit…

I don’t know about you but whenever I read any kind of spy novel (which isn’t very often, I’ll admit) I always find myself looking out for the ‘James Bond Moments’. You know the ones I mean, those moments where the author decides to tip their cap in the direction of film and literature’s greatest spy. Sometimes this works very well but sometimes these moments can come across as a little forced and they detract from the story itself. Unfortunately this proved to be the case with ‘The Sword of Albion’. The scenes with Swyfte being kitted out for his mission (by the alchemist Dr John Dee) were a little too reminiscent of Bond being kitted out by ‘Q’, right down to having Swyfte poke fun at Dee’s inventions in much the same way that Bond would have done.
The dialogue was quite humorous but didn’t provide the comic relief that it was aiming to, at least as far as I was concerned. Instead, it seemed totally at odds with Swyfte’s ability to fully focus on the job at hand (especially when the stakes were so high) and made the pace falter at a time when it really needed to be building up a good head of steam. It really didn’t work for me…

It’s a good job then that this came very near the beginning and was got out of the way relatively early. The rest of the book is more than a little bit special.

‘The Sword of Albion’ is an unashamed swashbuckling romp through a time when England stands firm against invaders both without and within. If there is a rope to be swung from, a dark alley to be chased down or a burning ship to have a sword fight on then you can bet that Will Swyfte and his friends will be doing just that. This makes for some glorious spectacles that punctuate a generally fast moving plot with scenes of real action and adventure. These moments are worth the price of admission alone! Chadbourn occasionally gets a little too involved in the world that he is painting, describing the scenery when the story needs to be moving along. Balancing this out though is the fact that he proves to be a dab hand at setting dark and gloomy scenes for the inhabitants of Faery to make themselves known in. The streets of Alsatia and Edinburgh were among my favourite moments, simply through how very murky they were. Also, Chadbourn sets the stakes so high for Swyfte (both personally and professionally) that the story can never stay still for long… When this happens, you can expect Chadbourn to raise the tension and let it explode in a flurry of action.

Swyfte is fighting a war on three fronts and this makes for some gripping characterisation that I found to be very engaging indeed. If fighting the Spanish and the Faery Realm wasn’t enough, Swyfte must find his own way through the ensuing politics to satisfy his own ends. Here is a man who will stop at nothing in order to defend that which he loves, his country and his friends. This results in a character that is unscrupulous and prepared to sacrifice his soul for ends that justify the means. Swyfte is not a clear-cut hero but he is a hero nevertheless and one whom the reader will have fun following. Swyfte may take centre stage but Chadbourn takes care to make his supporting cast just as enjoyable to read about. Characters such as Carpenter and Launceston add some real depth to what is going on in the background, making the whole experience one that you can really sink yourself into.

Chadbourn’s swashbuckling plot is full of the twists and turns that are needed in order to bring the action scenes to fruition. Betrayal is rife and it’s all credit to Chadbourn that he manages to surprise you with this every time. The way that it all comes together at the end is pretty special too, this is a picture where all the gaps have been filled in and there is still room for more to come.

If ‘The Sword of Albion’ is anything to go by then I’m very much looking forward to the continuing tales of Will Swyfte. While I found that the book faltered very early on, this proved to be a trifling matter and I’m glad that I stuck around for the rest of the ride. Bring on the sequel!

Nine and a Half out of Ten

‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ – Pierre Pevel (Gollancz)

When you’re off for a weekend in Paris and a book arrives promising a mixture of Cardinal Richelieu. Musketeers and dragons... Well, there’s really no choice but to take it with you! As it turned out, ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ ended up playing second fiddle to Jeff Vandermeer’s ‘Finch’ but I still managed to find the time to get stuck in (both in Paris and throughout the commute this week). Readers of the blog will know that I am always up for anything with a hint of swashbuckling about it but ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ also offered me the chance to start filling in a gap in the blog that I’ve never been aware of until now. I’ve never really read outside my own language, more than likely due to the fact that high school was a long time ago now and I’ve totally forgotten the little I’ve learnt in the way of foreign languages (French and German, I wasn’t particularly good at either of them). ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ is a translated work (Tom Clegg did the honours here) but I figured that it was a start at least in terms of redressing the balance on the blog.
‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ isn’t without its issues but the bottom line is that I couldn’t put it down until I was finished. Are there any more books about the Cardinal’s Blades? I hope so...

The year is 1633 in a France totally different to that which you may have read about. The big difference is the proliferation of tame dragonets and wyverns that are made use of by the populace and the shadowy Black Claw sect that looks on France, with covetous eyes, from Spain. Louis XIII may reign over France but it is Cardinal Richelieu that rules the country; working constantly to thwart assassination attempts, espionage and other threats to the throne. The threat from the Black Claw is great and there is only one way to counter it; Captain La Fargue must reform the ‘Cardinal’s Blades’, an elite band of swashbucklers who were once ready to risk all for France. Are they ready to take up the fight once more? Will their best be enough, even if they are...?

‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ is one of those books where I find myself really wishing that I spoke the original language that it was written in (French) so I could get a proper feel for this book and what it’s all about. Not that there’s anything majorly wrong with the translation. Clegg takes the original text and reworks it into an English version that doesn’t seem to spare any of the detail. Or does it? An overabundance of descriptive pieces (about the history of certain locations or simply what they look like) has the unfortunate effect of slowing the book down to a crawl when it really needs to be gearing up for a sprint. I also found that the relative shortness of each chapter (and the constant switching back and forth between characters) lent a choppy air to the pace which made it difficult to stay with the story. I was left wondering if translating ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ into English robbed the piece of the more natural flow that it may have enjoyed as a book written in French. Has anyone here read the original French version? If you have, how did it work for you?

Luckily, ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ is one of those books where a little persistence over the flaws uncovers a book that is well worth sticking with. Any book where I get to the end and am left wanting a sequel has to be doing something right!

When it gets going, ‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ is a rip roaring mixture of sword fights, spies, evil schemes and (best of all) dragons. While the dragons are very much present in the book, Pevel doesn’t hang the whole story on this concept and things work all the better for it. The ‘matter of fact reference’ to dragons (and the Black Claw sect) makes their presence all the more plausible whilst giving the ‘spy plotline’ a chance to shine. And shine it does! Big cities have ever been a breeding ground for labyrinthine schemes and seventeenth century Paris is no exception! Everyone has something going on and all credit to Pevel for bringing such a large number of schemes together to form a plot that’s driven forward by answers that spawn yet more questions. Anything can happen and Pevel’s deliberate vagueness about his characters ensures that it invariably does. Pevel also has some real surprises for his readers, especially regarding the Blades themselves. Here’s a group that’s proof that no matter how close knit a team is, self interest will always undermine a common aim... Pevel saves some real surprises up for the very end and their impact is intensified by the amount of time that the reader has had to get used to certain people. I’ll admit to getting a little lost with it at times but it certainly all came together at the end!

Pevel adds colour to all of this by including sword fights and rooftop chases that I thought were the very definition of ‘swashbuckling’. Our heroes are cool under pressure, capable of delivering witty one liners whilst fighting off multiple foes and considering whether or not to jump through the nearest window. Swordfights are brutal yet delivered with a certain flourish; I wouldn’t mind seeing this on the screen...

‘The Cardinal’s Blades’ may have lost a little something in the translation (although I’ll never know for sure until I learn to read French!) but it remains a thoroughly entertaining read that I had a lot of fun with. The final pages hint at further developments and more adventures, I hope this is the case.

Eight and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘The Sad Tale of the Brother’s Grossbart’ – Jesse Bullington (Orbit)

A great philosopher once wrote ‘shit happens’. Or was it something that I saw on a t-shirt somewhere? Not that there’s anything wrong with t-shirt philosophy...
The bottom line is that shit happens everywhere and every day, not least of all in books. I don’t know about you but this is one of the main reasons why I read, to see bad stuff happen and then see how it’s dealt with. There’s nothing like a rotten turn of events to really drive a plot forward in terms of urgency. You also get to see how your favourite characters rise to the challenge and/or cheer when it all rebounds on the villain of the piece (if you’re that kind of person). When I saw the title for this book I just knew that things weren’t going to end well and that’s what piqued my interest. Glowing words from Larry and none other than Jeff Vandermeer himself also made ‘The Sad Tale’ a book that I had to check out. I’m glad I did, I’d have no reservations in making this one of my ‘reads of the year’...

Welcome to Medieval Europe, a time of plague and poverty for all but the elite few. If this wasn’t bad enough dark creatures lurk everywhere, making the simplest trek an exercise in terror. Death is everywhere and that’s just how Hegel and Manfried Grossbart like it. After all, the dead don’t need those earthly treasures they’re buried with. A couple of enterprising grave robbers can make themselves very rich indeed...
Life in their village is about to get too hot to handle and the ancient tombs of Egypt promise riches beyond measure, the Grossbarts are on the road and in pursuit of the score of a lifetime. They’re not the only ones in pursuit though; evil begets evil and the brother’s villainy means that there is plenty of evil on the road behind them...

In all my years of reading, I don’t think I’ve ever met any character that is as black hearted, murderous, cold blooded and downright vicious as a single Grossbart. The fact that there are two Grossbarts means that the ‘evil quotient’ is doubled and, as a result, the reader is in for a bit of a treat if they’re after a ‘road trip of destruction’ that spans Medieval Europe and heads into Africa.
There is nothing that the brothers won’t stoop to in their quest for ill gotten gold and, more often than not, simply to stay alive. The opening scenes bring this home to the reader in no short order! You know what these guys are capable of but what I found was that it pushed the point home so hard (and so early) that I wasn’t surprised when they came up with more of the same as the book progressed. The constant dialogue, between the two brothers, kept things entertaining but the book ended up always running the risk of giving the reader ‘more of the same’ in terms of how the Grossbarts reacted when certain situations arose. Sometimes I couldn’t help thinking that I’d seen things dealt with in a similar way several chapters ago... I also had a little issue with the pacing of the plot, long journeys followed by short sharp bursts of action. While I can see why the novel is paced thus, it did come across as rather ‘stop/start’ and this made it a little difficult for me to get into the story and stay there...

It’s a good job then that ‘The Sad Tale...’ isn’t just about how evil the Brother’s Grossbart are. The situations that befall the brothers are as much about their reputation preceding them, or just them simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as it is about the control they have over their destiny and the choices they make. I found myself chuckling along at some of the scrapes they found themselves in, either in a ‘serves you right’ way or simply because it was really funny.
‘The Sad Tale’ is all about random occurrences combining to form something that fits together perfectly even though you wouldn’t expect it; not just with the brothers themselves but also with what follows them. Sometimes everything just slots together and this is just what happened here; Bullington clearly displays a firm control over his plot.

It was also really interesting to get into the running dialogue between the two brothers over the course of their journey. While they may not be the intellectual match of most people that they meet, their animal cunning is invaluable in getting them out of trouble and their ruminative discussions show that there is a lot more going on here than their just being a pair of grave robbing thugs. Their discussions about Catholicism may be misguided but make a strange kind of sense and paint their activities in a new light; it’s up to the reader to decide which vision of the Grossbarts they want to go with... (I’m going for grave robbing thugs with far too much time on their hands)
On the subject of dialogue... Swear words can be found in abundance here and anyone who isn’t keen on one particular word (you know what it is...) should know that the Grossbart’s aren’t afraid to use it. Personally, I found it to be in keeping with their character.

If all this wasn’t enough, Bullington paints a world appropriately dark and sinister with a confidence that makes you wonder if he knew someone who lived there. Just the right setting for such a tale and with elements of the fantastic that creep up on you when you least expect them (enhancing the plot even more).

The title pretty much tells you how it’s all going to end but the fun is definitely in getting there. A couple of minor flaws stopped this being the perfect read but it really wasn’t all that far off.

Nine and a Half out of Ten

‘In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over The Wide River’ – Naomi Novik (Del Rey)

I don’t know if you can find this short story anywhere else but one place where I know you can definitely pick it up is ‘In His Majesty’s Service’; Del Rey’s collection of the first three ‘Temeraire’ books that is due to be released on the 27th of this month (if it isn’t in shops already, everything seems to be released earlier these days…)
I’m bang up to date with my ‘Temeraire’ reading, I reviewed ‘Victory of Eagles’ on the blog and am planning on reading and reviewing future books in the series before filling in the gaps with a re-read. However, I thought it would be worth mentioning ‘In Autumn…’ so fans can get a little taster. If you’re a fan then it’s worth it.

‘In Autumn…’ follows the path that Celestial Dragon Lien takes as she allies herself with the forces of Napoleon in her quest to be revenged upon Temeraire for the death of her master. It fills the gap between ‘Throne of Jade’ and ‘Black Powder War’. As part of the three-book collection this story does sit nicely but it is only ten pages long so (unless it’s up anywhere else) you’re going to have to be a real completist to fork out for the book and get the first three books all over again…

After the events of ‘Throne of Jade’ I always felt that we never really saw enough of Lien and what she was going through. ‘In Autumn…’ concentrates solely on the Imperial Dragon and the reader gets an opportunity to observe this character in a way that the Temeraire centred books cannot offer. Lien’s culture shock offers an interesting way into the story, the Imperial Courts of China are nothing like France at all! The French Court does have it’s own advantages though… Once this is negotiated however, Lien doesn’t have an awful lot to offer us over than an obsession with revenge. To be fair, that is the point of Lien’s character and a ten-page short story doesn’t offer a lot of room for a more in depth exploration of her character. It would have been nice to see her rounded out a little more though, especially as it’s clear that Lien is a major player in the series…

What is good though is that we have the opportunity to get up close with Napoleon and see how he runs things. My knowledge of history is appalling (I’m more familiar with Napoleon Bonaparte’s appearance in ‘Bill and Ted’…) but what is clear is that Novik’s Napoleon is a man bent on achieving his goals and is not afraid to do what needs to be done. I’m not sure if we’ll see any more of him in the series but I found myself hoping that it happens…

‘In Autumn…’ is a fun read that fills in a gap for long term readers of the series as well as newcomers. For the sake of established fans though, I’m hoping that this short story appears in a future book (in the series) as well as this collection…

Eight out of Ten

‘Wolfbreed’ – S.A. Swann (Spectra)

I’ll confess straight away to not being as widely read as I sometimes think I am. It’s practically impossible with all the great looking new stuff on the shelves as well as all the other great stuff that has been around for a while that I haven’t had a chance to read as yet. All I can do is to keep on trying! :o) This is really a roundabout way of saying that it has felt to me recently that werewolves have been the sole property of the Urban Fantasy sub-genre; I know that I’m more than likely wrong here so please feel free to leave a comment directing me towards werewolves in sci-fi or fantasy fiction!
It was the way I felt though so it felt like a real change to see ‘Wolfbreed’ come along and offer a slice of werewolf action that takes place far away from the typical urban locale. The premise sounded like an interesting one but it was the story itself that kept me turning the pages and resulted in one of those ‘surprise finds’ that are always great to come across...

When a Teutonic knight unwittingly discovers a nest of werewolf young the Church comes into possession of a devastating weapon in its northern crusade against pagan Prussia. As instruments of God, these creatures are trained to break sieges by infiltrating strongholds and causing havoc. Lilly is the most cunning of them all and now she has escaped...
Udolf isn’t thinking much beyond helping his adopted family make it through the winter; then he discovers a beautiful young woman cowering terrified in the woods. Hiding her from the knights hunting for her seems like the only proper thing to do but what Udolf and his family can’t possibly know is that they have taken an even greater danger right into their very midst. Will Lilly turn on them too...?

You just know that a book is doing something right when you’re reading it on the train and you find yourself at your stop before you know it. This was very much the case with ‘Wolfbreed’; one of the few books that has made me break my own self imposed ‘don’t read while you’re walking’ rule (don’t knock the rule; it has got me out of trouble on more than one occasion!) There’s a blurb, at the back of the book, for the sequel ‘Wolf’s Cross’ and I’m definitely keen to see if Swann maintains the standard that he has set here.

On the face of things there isn’t an awful lot to ‘Wolfbreed’; a werewolf is in hiding and the plot deals with both this and it’s inevitable consequences. Once you dig down a bit however, it becomes a whole lot more...

‘Wolfbreed’ is a surprisingly thoughtful piece about what makes a person human and whether any trace of an animal nature can mean that they don’t have a soul. There’s plenty to ponder here when you see Lilly’s treatment at the hands of the Order and her rehabilitation with Udolf’s family. Swann makes his views on the matter a little too obvious here and this means that the reader can be left thinking purely about what he is saying rather than coming to it completely fresh and making their own mind up. Despite that though, it still had me thinking things over long after I had put the book down.

As I mentioned, the plot itself is simple but Swann infuses it with rich characterisation and tension to make it far more than the sum of its parts. Udolf and Lilly’s growing friendship flows naturally and can be really poignant, especially when you see the twist coming and the hammer start to fall. The twist in the tale felt entirely natural (especially when taken in the context of the novel as a whole) but it felt to me as if it was signposted perhaps a little too heavily. That might just be me though. What matters though is the intensity of emotion that arises from it and where the plot heads as a result. I was hooked already but I found myself hooked a whole lot more, all the way through to fiery climax.

‘Wolfbreed’ is a story about love and redemption that kept reminding me of ‘White Fang’ in a way (the whole ‘wild animal being tamed’ thing). Swann doesn’t let the story run purely on this though and he mixes action, tension and spectacle to come up with a tale to make the heart pump as well make manly types (like me!) suddenly say that their eyes are watering because of all the dust around the place. I know...
The ‘cat and mouse’ element (where Lilly must hide from the knights looking for her) makes for some tense moments and the ingenuity of Udolf’s family, hiding her, in plain sight is very clever indeed. When the chips are down though, Swann is certainly not afraid to get visceral and show his readers exactly what Lilly is capable of. Make no mistake; this is definitely a novel about werewolves!

‘Wolfbreed’ is definitely up there for my ‘surprise find of the year’. If you’re after an engrossing slice of historical fantasy, or if you just like werewolves, then I don’t think you’ll go wrong with this one...

Nine and a Quarter out of Ten

‘Twelve’ – Jasper Kent (Bantam Press)

For the past couple of years my resolution has been to work my way through all the books, on the pile, that have sat there unread. I think we all know how that one has worked out! I’m a like a magpie who’s continually attracted to the shiny books on the doorstep instead of the ones I should be reading... A lot of potentially very good books have fallen by the wayside in the meantime...
But no more! The plan is to now read the shiny new books and the older (but just as shiny) books on the pile at the same time. We’ll see how that one goes (‘Toll the Hounds’ is going to be my holiday book and I’m not going back to work until I’ve finished it)...
First up then is a book that has been sat on the pile since October last year; it’s one that I’ve been meaning to read and various glowing reports around the internet finally encouraged me to pick it up and give it a go. I had a couple of reservations but, on the whole, it was certainly a very good read indeed...

It’s 1812 and Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov and his men are on the receiving end of Napoleon’s march into Russia. City after city has fallen and it looks like Moscow will be next... However, hope has taken new form in the shape of the Oprichniki; mercenaries from the Turkish border who claim that the twelve of them can turn the tide of the war. Their shows of extreme violence do the job but unnerve Danilov to the point where he feels that further investigation into the Oprichniki is needed. What Danilov is about to find will have him wondering if winning a war is worth the risks of introducing certain things onto the battle field...

‘Twelve’ has been on the shelves for a while now (and has been reviewed extensively elsewhere) so it’s not a huge spoiler to say that vampires make an appearance as the main villains in the book. Having felt like I’d overdosed on ‘urban fantasy style’ vampires it was certainly refreshing to see them in a Napoleonic War setting. I also loved the way that Kent deliberately understates their presence on the page, placing greater emphasis on their capabilities by keeping their more violent tendencies ‘off screen’ (for the most part) and only giving us the dying screams of French soldiers... Not only did this make for scenes that stayed with me for a long time afterwards (because I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened) but when we’re finally allowed to see the vampires in action it’s all the more hard hitting. The scene at the crossroads really made me jump!

The story itself is an intriguing blend of mystery, horror and historical fact. My history isn’t up to much these days, so I can’t really vouch for how well it is done here, but the horror and mystery elements were spot on as far as I was concerned. As I said, there were bits that made me jump and the mystery of the Oprichniki (and the mystery within the mystery) was paced in such a way that there was plenty to mull over without everything being revealed at once.

With all this good stuff going on it was a shame then that the book itself was so hard to get into. My perseverance paid off but it felt like a shame that I had to make that effort. Sometimes I feel that if a book is good then it shouldn’t be an effort to read...

It was the way in which Danilov’s character was handled that slowed the book down, considering that he is the main character perhaps a little more attention could have been paid to how he was used... Danilov is a character given to much introspection and this can work for the reader in that his introspection can flesh out both his background and that of the book itself. However, I was sometimes left wondering if certain introspective thoughts really hit the mark here. People’s thought’s can sometimes meander, and have nothing to do with the matters at hand, but I’m not sure if this is the right approach for a book where things need to be a lot tighter if they are to keep the reader’s interest. The concept underpinning the book kept me going but Danilov’s flights of fancy did their level best to derail me...

‘Twelve’ was a gripping read that could have been a lot more Kent didn’t come across as being prone to letting his characters go off on tangents and not stick to the matters at hand. There are more books to come in this series and I’m interested to see what happens next...

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten.

‘Bring Down the Sun’ – Judith Tarr (Tor)

Every so often I go through phases where, as much as I want to read something, nothing on the shelves inspires me to pick it up and give it a go. Do you get this? How do you work through it? What I’ve been trying to do recently (when I have this problem) is to pick something up that I wouldn’t normally read otherwise. This approach gets me out of a rut (or out of my comfort zone, are they both the same thing?) and I’m always bound to discover at least one hidden gem for every five or six books that don’t work out.
You all know by now that I’m no fan of books where the plot is left to one side in favour of plenty of sex, this just doesn’t work for me at all. I still pick these books up though in the hope that I will find a story where sex and plot live together in perfect harmony. That was the plan when ‘Bring Down the Sun’ arrived in the post and I’m pleased to say that, for once, things worked out just the way I wanted them to...

A young priestess serves in the temple of the Goddess but, deep down, knows that she is destined for greater things. Her feelings (and portentous dreams) are proved to be correct when a trip to the Mysteries of Samothrace leads her to meet Philip, King of Macedon. They are soon married but this is only the start of a journey for our former priestess who will find that there is more to prophecy than sitting there and waiting for it to happen. Not only must the Queen’s throne be won but shadowy powers watch and wait for a child to be conceived. If a son is born then the world may never be the same...

I’ll be honest and admit that the other reason I picked up ‘Bring Down the Sun’ is that it’s a short read (only two hundred and twenty pages long) that looked just the right length for a commute to and from work. Appearances can be deceptive as this proved to be a book that I got lost in for hours, even staying up late last night to finish it.

If you know the story of Alexander the Great then you will know how the tale of Polyxena (our priestess) will end. That’s the problem with works of a historical nature, you know how they will end and that certainly robs ‘Bring Down the Sun’ of some of its tension. The stakes are high but at times I was left wondering what the point was of making them out to be so high when the ending is never in doubt. It also makes the story feel linear; our main character starts at the beginning and whatever obstacles are thrown in her path are not enough to prevent her reaching the end. Tarr gets round this in a couple of ways...

‘Bring Down the Sun’ is a historical novel with a vein of fantasy running through it, magic exists and is fully utilised by priestesses and witches alike. Although the outcome of the story is never in doubt, this element of the unknown was enough to give the story the uncertainty that it needed for events to carry on flowing.
Tarr also gives the reader a captivating main character (Polyxena) for the story, and history itself, to hinge upon. Although Polyxena’s single-mindedness can make her come across as being as one dimensional as the plot; Tarr’s thorough exploration of her psyche more than makes up for this. You come away with a really clear picture of why Polyxena is who she is...

Sex is a really big deal in ‘Bring Down the Sun’ but the beautiful thing (for me!) is that it has a definite part to play other than decoration. Sex is a weapon and it also has its links to the magic that runs throughout the book. Above all though, I found that it complemented the romantic element of the novel in just the right way. There is romance here but it doesn’t get in the way of the fact that both Polyxena and Philip are both individuals with their own agenda for their relationship (just like real life) and this makes it all the more interesting to follow.

I found that although ‘Bring Down the Sun’ had its fair share of problems it more than made up for this through its strong characters and liberal use of magic to keep the ball rolling. I didn’t expect to enjoy this one as much as I did.

Eight and a half out of Ten

‘The Patriot Witch’ – C.C. Finlay (Del Rey)

It’s funny how the little things can put you off picking a book up. Not just little things either, I’m talking ‘completely out the blue’ random things that make no sense whatsoever. Take ‘The Patriot Witch’ for instance, the word ‘patriot’ always gets me thinking of the film ‘Patriot Games’ and I can’t stand the character of Jack Ryan. I also got a mental image of Harrison Ford casting spells during the War of Independence which didn’t encourage me to pick the book up at all! Does this kind of completely irrational behaviour ever happen to you?
I worked through this though and finally gave ‘The Patriot Witch’ a go this week. I’m really glad I did; one of the marks of a good book (I find) is whether it takes my mind off the daily commute and ‘The Patriot Witch’ passed the test with flying colours...

Proctor Brown works on the family farm in the New England of 1775 and is also a minuteman, one of the local militia who aim to protect the rights of the colonies by standing up to the strong arm tactics of the British army. Proctor is a lot more than he appears though, magic flows in his blood and he must constantly hide this or risk the hangman’s rope...
There is a wider world of magic that Proctor is unaware of but a chance encounter with a British officer (with magic of his own) is about to propel him right into the heart of a secret war between witches. Whilst the battle for independence rages, another war is happening that could decide far more...

Despite a few ‘bumpy bits’ here and there, I pretty much flew through ‘The Patriot Witch’ and am looking forward to seeing what it’s sequel (‘A Spell for the Revolution’) has to offer. ‘The Patriot Witch’ is the first in the ‘Traitor to the Crown’ series and promises good things to come, being a good blend of action and examination of the characters being put through their paces.

My degree was in American Studies but the passing of time (and the fact that I didn’t attend very many lectures) has led me to forget most of what I learned. ‘The Patriot Witch’ is steeped in the history of that period and a better knowledge of American history (than mine) is useful if you’re going to get the most out of this book. I can remember roughly what happened but the abundance of names, militia movements etc left me in no doubt that I was missing out on a lot more than I was reading.
The plot carries you along at such a pace that, to an extent, that a detailed knowledge of the background history isn’t essential. It does help though :o)

Without going into the story too much (don’t want to give anything away), ‘The Patriot Witch’ did leave me wondering whether Finlay should have made certain of Proctor’s actions pivotal to historical events, especially as he seemed to get over his guilt fairly quickly. I get all the reasons for taking this approach but I was left wondering how necessary it was considering it didn’t seem to go anywhere afterwards. Maybe these ramifications will be explored in a later book...

The plot speeds along at a fair pace that is only derailed slightly when the focus shifts onto interactions between characters. With this being the first book in a series there’s obviously a lot of setting things up to do (as is always the case) but I was left wondering if some of it couldn’t have waited until another book. The characters are all good to spend time with but sometimes things went into a level of detail that detracted from the urgency of the plot...

Having said that though the plot is a great one to follow in terms of mysteries to be solved and problems overcome. The magic on display is simple yet very effective and Finlay writes these passages in such a way that the magic really stands out against an otherwise ordinary background. Finally, any book featuring the undead will always get my vote and Finlay’s undead are particularly nasty!

The pacing can be a bit choppy at times but this didn’t really detract too much from my enjoyment of ‘The Patriot Witch’. There’s no question of whether or not I’m in for the long haul with the ‘Traitor to the Crown’ series, I just am. It’s that simple.

Nine out of Ten

‘The Secret War’ – M.F.W. Curran (Tor UK)

Due to the fact that I snore really badly (apparently I sound like someone trying to get their car started on a very cold morning...) I found myself in the spare room a few nights ago. This isn’t normally so bad but by the time I got there I found I couldn’t get back to sleep again... This isn’t normally so bad as I tend to read until I go to sleep but, this time, the book that I was really into was in the other room. I’d already woken Sue up once, I couldn’t do it again. Could I?
Luckily for me, there’s always a spare book ready to be picked up and I thought I’d give M.F.W. Curran’s ‘The Secret War’ a go. I’m not really that keen on historical fantasies but this book had been sat on the pile for quite some time and I was feeling guilty... :o)
As it turned out, I’m very glad that I gave ‘The Secret War’ a go...

The Battle of Waterloo held plenty of horrors for Captain William Saxon and Lieutenant Kieran Harte but it’s the aftermath of the battle that will uncover the true horrors lurking underneath a world that’s blissfully unaware of their existence. An encounter with something unholy, in the town of Gembloux, will throw William and Kieran into an ages old battle between Heaven and Hell. A mysterious bronze pyramid lies at the centre of their sudden change in fortunes, an artefact that brings everlasting damnation to those that touch it.
This pyramid must be destroyed and William and Kieran are in too deep to do anything else but take responsibility for this task. Ranged against them are not only the forces of evil but also the forces of good with schemes and ambitions of their own...

As I’ve already mentioned I’m not a big fan of historical fantasy. If I want to read a history book then I’ll pick one up, same deal with fantasy. Naomi Novik’s books changed my mind a little bit but the point for me (when I’m reading) is to escape the real world, not be stuck in it’s past with a little bit of fantasy tacked on for good measure. Luckily for me, Curran made this a complete non-issue by emphasising the fantasy elements and keeping the historical aspects firmly in the background. What we get, as a result, are some chilling moments that wouldn’t be out of place in a game of ‘Doom’ (the daemons are particularly brutal and take some putting down!). There were a couple of moments where I found myself saying things like, “he’s behind you!” or, “don’t go out there!” When a book makes me come out with stuff like that then it’s definitely doing something right!

Curran’s approach to the plot is basically not to let the action slow down for a second and the result is a very fast paced affair full of lots of intrigue (betrayals where you least expect it...) and warfare. The warfare aspect is predominant as the forces of evil are very much cast in the ‘victory through overwhelming force’ mould and the spectacles that arise from this are worth the read if you like your warfare bloody and brutal. Be warned that Curran doesn’t leave much to the imagination in his descriptions of combat. I personally think that this is how it should be but those with a weak stomach might want to think twice before reading...

A negative side to the plot is that it concentrates on the spectacle rather than the characters themselves. We do get to find out stuff about William, Kieran etc but I was left thinking that we could have learnt so much more. Perhaps in another book...? The plot also had a real ‘Lord of the Rings’ feel about it (evil artefact must be destroyed, friends go off on a quest to do just that) even down to the mysterious ‘Gandalf’ figure who knows more than he is letting on. The constant barrage of things happening negated this, to an extent, but I still found that it jarred with the nineteenth century setting...

Fair play to Curran though for finding his way through the potential pitfalls of a plot where all powerful creatures (angels and daemons) could very easily end up as deus ex machina handily placed to get characters out of a sticky spot. I never got this feeling at all throughout the entire book and I’m looking forward to more of the same in the sequel (‘The Hoard of Mhorrer’).

‘The Secret War’ ended up being one of those books that I pick up, on a whim, and find myself really enjoying. There’s nothing too deep here but there is plenty to keep you hooked and involved. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel very soon.

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

‘Midnight Never Come’ – Marie Brennan (Orbit Books)

I’m not sure whether to call this book ‘historical fantasy’ or ‘urban fantasy’. The story takes place in an urban setting but it’s historical context sets it apart from the contemporary theme normally found in Urban Fantasy.
Hmmm… *Tosses Coin* Ok, I’m calling this one ‘historical fantasy’ but if anyone has a convincing argument otherwise just leave a comment ;o)

England flourishes under the rule of Elizabeth, last of the Tudor monarchs, but only a few people realise that England owes it fortune to more than just the efforts of its Queen… In the thirty years since Elizabeth struck a bargain with the ruler of faerie England, Invidiana, mortal and fey politics have become inextricably entwined as each ruler seeks to better both themselves and each other. Two courtiers, from the mortal and fey courts, are about to find out how closely the two thrones are linked as their separate tasks bring them together. Michael Deven seeks to discover who the mysterious power behind Elizabeth’s reign really is while the Lady Lune seeks to curry favour with various factions, of the faerie court, by spying on Elizabeth’s own spymaster. Both of them will find that their machinations are only scratching the tip of something much larger…

Over the last couple of days I have raced through ‘Midnight Never Come’ for reasons that have varied almost from page to page. ‘Midnight Never Come’ is an enthralling read but one that I also found more than a little infuriating at the same time…
I’m in awe of Marie Brennan; not only has she created an intricately realised world of faerie but she has also joined it seamlessly to the world of sixteenth century England, both in terms of history (we get to find out what really happened to the Spanish Armada) and the way in which characters and story are able move from one setting to another. While Brennan’s faerie characters are familiar to anyone who’s ever heard a fairy tale they have a real alien streak at the same time, acting in completely different ways (to their human counterparts) for reasons entirely their own. It’s this kind of behaviour that really marks them out as different to the reader and adds a little bit of emphasis to the magic that is employed.

Sixteenth century England is also skilfully drawn and Brennan shows that she has obviously done a lot of research around the subject with a blend of everyday life and historical events. However, this was also the main area where things fell down a little bit for me. It sometimes felt like the book had been so heavily researched that the story didn’t have a chance to breathe. Everything was authentic to the time but the overabundance of information slowed things down the point where I sometimes found myself skipping pages and then having to go back when I realised that I’d missed something important.

This was a real shame because when the story got going (which it did, in fits and starts) it was good fun to read and really made me think about what was going on. The transition from ‘we’re dealing with this…’ to ‘actually no, we need to deal with this instead’ was smoothly done and made a lot of sense. In the tradition of all the best fairy stories ‘Midnight Never Come’ is a love story at heart and perhaps not the one that you will be expecting…

There’s room at the end for a sequel and I’m sure there’s one in the works, if the pacing improves then this could become a series worth keeping an eye on.

Eight out of Ten