‘Moon over Soho’ – Ben Aaronovitch (Del Rey/Gollancz)

Way back in January (and yes, it does feel like a long time ago now) I decided to give Urban Fantasy yet another chance to prove itself to be more than the regular dose of ‘girl meets hot werewolf/vampire etc’ that seems to come my way. I got very lucky here as the book I chose to pick up was Ben Aaronovitch’s ‘Rivers of London’ (‘Midnight Riot’ if you’re in the US), first in a series of adventures of Peter Grant, the only policeman in London who happens to be a wizard’s apprentice at the same time. I could wax all lyrical about how much I enjoyed this book but I already did over Here. Suffice it to say that Urban Fantasy got another chance to show me what it could do; I love it when this sub-genre actually concentrates on living up to its name rather then being a soap opera... Funnily enough, the next Urban Fantasy I picked up happened to be the sequel to ‘Rivers of London. No confusion with different names this time round, wherever you pick this book up it will still be ‘Moon over Soho’. Not only that, Aaronovitch very smoothly picks up from where he left off and proceeds to give us more along the same lines of ‘Rivers of London’. That’s no bad thing as far as I’m concerned.

It’s a sad fact of life that not only do people die but this is an occurrence that happens all too regularly. When the body of a heart attack victim has the notes of the old jazz song ‘Body and Soul’ rising from it though... That doesn’t happen regularly at all and is a sure sign that the involvement of Peter Grant is required. A number of jazz musicians have died in Soho over the years and there’s something supernatural going on here that only Peter can tease out. Something deadly haunts the streets of Soho and if that wasn’t enough, it will soon be joined by something even deadlier. Pete must use all the resources at his disposal to solve this puzzle and they may not be enough. Especially when the trail leads him straight to the doorstep of his own father...

‘Rivers of London’ was a lot of fun but wasn’t without it’s flaws (at least as far I was concerned) and I was interested to see if these were addressed over the course of ‘Moon over Soho’. The good news is that the issue that bugged me in the first book isn’t a problem this time round. The not so good news though is that another issue came to the fore because of this. The end result though is pretty much what you got in ‘Rivers of London’ so you can’t really complain. I certainly couldn’t and I’m too busy looking forward to the next book to even try.

‘Rivers of London’ suffered from a big old case of overindulgence in the police procedural side of the plot. Not everything needs to be explained but Aaronovitch clearly delighted in taking his reader right into the minutiae of every single element of a policeman’s job. Not only was there not enough room left to tell the actual story at times but the pacing also suffered as a result of this approach. That is not the case this time as Aaronovitch seems to have decided that his readers have enough background knowledge from the first book to be going on with. This time round, there are small ‘info-dumps’ that keep the ‘police procedural element’ at the forefront but these don’t come at the expense of the story and you can see the difference almost straight away. It all feels a lot smoother and the plot is allowed to flow at its own pace for the most part; generally very fast with enough questions thrown up to provide fresh impetus and keep the reader guessing. I saw the ‘big reveal’ coming but all credit to Aaronovitch for clouding it with enough uncertainty to maintain interest.

However, this new approach did throw up another issue that stopped me engaging with the book as much as I would have liked. ‘Moon over Soho’ has a little more room to breathe than it’s predecessor and some of this extra room is devoted to throwing an extra case into the mix for Peter to solve that appears to be connected to the original case. Or is it? I couldn’t really tell and that bugged me. It felt like a little too much effort was being made to get these two cases to dovetail when the only thing they had in common was that they were both based in Soho. Now I could be entirely wrong and these cases were not connected at all (only at the end where everything gets solved all at once) but that was the way it felt like it was meant to be and it didn’t feel quite right. This sense of things ‘grinding together’ threw me out of the flow and it took a while for it all to get going again.

This was an issue for me but the rest of the book more than made up for it, just like it did last time round. There are questions to be asked and the answers come ready supplied with either a dose of action or chills. The chills are especially chilling and make for a unique vision of a London where magic collects in forgotten corners, poor Lennie the Lark... There’s an image that stayed in my head far too long after I’d finished reading!

Aaronovitch also gives us a little more insight into certain of the main characters who make up the plot, not too much though and it’s a clever way of whetting the reader’s appetite for more to come in the future. Peter Grant is the obvious choice for this treatment and we get to see a little more of his family life as well as how he is coping with his magical training. Peter’s inquisitive nature in this regard promises good things to come as he starts to look at the rules of magic and see what he can really do with them...
Other characters are gradually fleshed out as well such as Leslie and Molly. Aaronovitch is slowly building up a detailed picture of his London and it’s done in such a way that you enjoy what you see while wanting to find out more.

‘Moon over Soho’ swaps one set of issues for another but still does a more than admirable job of popping you right in the middle of a magical London (that is far more than you ever thought it was) and then giving you a mystery to solve. We’ll be waiting a little longer for the next instalment but if the first two books are anything to go by it’ll be worth it. ‘Moon over Soho’ is published by Del Rey in the US (and I think you can get it right now) and by Gollancz over here in the UK (look for it at the end of April).

Eight and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘The Falling Machine (The Society of Steam Book One)’ – Andrew P. Mayer (Pyr)

You all know this already but I’m a real sucker for well done cover art. If you’re an author and your cover artist has done a good job on your cover then you’ve more than likely already won half the battle in getting me to pick your book up and give it a go. Shallow? Probably but that’s just the way it seems to go sometimes. The other half of the battle lies in the blurb, the very next thing I look at after your cover art has caught my art (sometimes it goes the other way round but you get the general meaning here). If the story looks interesting then I’m in, no question about it!

On first glance, ‘The Falling Machine’ looked like it had things covered on both fronts. Check out that cover art for a start. A giant robot with a Gatling gun for an arm always gets me interested but look at the detail and effort that must have gone into it; lovely stuff. The blurb on the back caught my eye as well so I made sure that I got round to this one a lot quicker than I normally would.
It was a real shame then that I felt more than a bit let down by the time I’d finished reading...
It’s the eighteen eighties and New York’s foremost band of gentlemen adventurers (The Society of Paragons) are powered by the discovery of ‘fortified steam’ in their never ending fight against crime. Sarah Stanton is the daughter of one of the Paragons but has been deliberately kept at arms length from what is a very dangerous world. Her dreams of being a hero have only been dreams, until now...

When the leader of the Paragons is killed before her eyes, a chain of events unfolds that will reveal the lie beneath the surface of the Paragons as well as having Sarah running for her life from some particularly sinister villains of Manhattan’s underworld. Her only ally is the mechanical man known as the Automaton but with the hand of every Paragon set firmly against the Automaton is there any hope that Sarah will be able to bring the truth to light and thwart the plans of Lord Eschaton...?
So... Steam powered superheroes and villains, a feisty heroine and a self aware automaton with a dirty great gun as an arm. These should have been the ingredients for an amazing tale of adventure and for you they might be. Not for me though...
I’ve got to be fair at this point and say that a lot of groundwork is obviously taking place in ‘The Falling Machine’ in preparation for the next book(s) in the series. That’s fair enough I guess, the groundwork has to happen somewhere and I’m sure it’ll make all the difference when the series is complete and the big picture revealed. What I found ‘The Falling Machine’ to be though was a book that was all about setting the scene and not really about telling a story in its own right. Again, all well and good in terms of the big picture at the end but what good is that if the approach taken at the beginning leaves you not wanting to read the rest of the series (that’s where I’m at right now)? There is a lot of info-dumping going on here and I do mean a lot. Everything has to be explained and the story itself doesn’t get to breathe as a result (there is a neat little mystery lurking somewhere underneath all this...). Things move very slowly for the most part and when they did speed up I was left wondering why the rest of the book hadn’t been like this. Mayer can do it but for some reason it felt like he chose not to. I did enjoy his depictions of a gloomy, poverty stricken Manhattan though.

A lot of this could have been bypassed easily if I’d been able to get on with the lead character Sarah Stanton but I was denied even this. This is a little more subjective as Sarah Stanton may well be your cup of tea but she didn’t work for me, especially when she came out with the line, ‘I think I’ve been falling in love with you Professor, perhaps for quite some time.’ That really grated.

While Sarah does do a lot throughout the course of the book I never really got a feel for exactly why she was doing what she did. The best I got was that it was all because her father had told her not to... I’m sure things will pick up in future instalments but what I was left with in the meantime was a very shallow character that almost didn’t want to be engaged with. There were certainly others who were worth my time, the Automaton for example. Watching all of his well intended actions fall apart was sad to see.

‘The Falling Machine’ may work for you (if you can get past the info-dumps then the plot does have the potential to be very interesting with lots of questions asked) but I personally can’t see myself picking up the next book in the series.
Six out of Ten

‘Killraven’ – Alan Davis & Mark Farmer (Marvel)

The reason I’ve been mostly concentrating on comics from Dark Horse and Image (ok, mostly Dark Horse) is that not only do my favourite comic books come from these publishers but I’ve also found that their stories are a hell of a lot easier to get into than those from Marvel and DC. I mentioned it before but it feels like there’s just too much back story to get caught up in sometimes. At least that’s what I thought until Sue came home from the library with a couple of comic books for me (thanks Sue!) It always seems to escape my notice but Marvel’s output isn’t just limited to the big superheroes and mutants that we all know and love (even if the size of the back catalogue scares us to death!) There’s a whole load of lesser known characters out there to be checked out. Take ‘Killraven’ for instance...
In the near future, Martians have invaded the Earth once more and this time the humble germ has totally failed to stop them gaining a foothold on the planet and settling in for good. This time it’s the turn of humanity to stand up and take their planet back but how can they do this when the Martians hold the upper hand in terms of technology? One man is prepared to try regardless of this and the advantage he holds is that he was trained as a gladiator by the very people he will take the war to. Enter Killraven...

The original ‘Killraven’ was actually published way back in the seventies and what I’ve been reading instead is Alan Davis’ 2002 rewrite of the original series (collecting issues one to six). According to Wikipedia it’s an alternate version of the original that’s set in one of the many alternate Earths of the Marvel universe. I’m not going to go too deeply into that because not only is something that I don’t know much about, I also know that going down that route will make my head hurt...

‘Killraven’ is heavy on spectacle and action and this made the whole thing a guaranteed page turner as far as I was concerned. There is so much going on that I had to keep reading so that I could take it all in. One thing that I’ve realised though is that I like my comic art to stand out from the pack a little; just so I feel like I reading something that’s different and had a little effort put into it (I’m thinking Eric Powell and Kyle Hotz in particular). I didn’t get that feeling from Davis’ art which left me feeling that I may as well have just dived into any one of the other Marvel comics that I’ve read in the past. There’s nothing wrong with it but it didn’t really do anything different... Does all Marvel artwork have to be the same? Gregory Wright’s colours did rescue things though, injecting a sense of vibrancy and urgency into the proceedings that kept things moving nicely.

As far as the story goes, well... I guess if I had to sum it up in four words it would be ‘entertaining but somehow flat’. Can something even be entertaining but flat at the same time? I think so, it definitely was here.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that these first six issues are setting things up for events to come as well as trying to swiftly get readers up to speed regarding what has gone before. It felt to me that too much attention had been paid to these two areas and as a result we only get brief glimpses of what is happening right now. This imbalance meant that ‘Killraven’ has a lot of potential that went unrealised. What you do get is entertaining enough but it felt like it could have been a lot more.

The characters we get to spend time with don’t really help matters either as their circumstances have led them all to be in serious need of development in one way or another. On the one hand you can’t really blame the opening issues of a series for having under-developed characters as you’re expecting them to be built up over the course of a long series. On the other hand though, you can quite reasonably expect your characters to be a little more developed than they were here. Killraven and his team may have only known killing in the arena but they come across as unwilling to connect with their new surroundings in anything but the most stereotypical ways. If they don’t want to connect then why should we...? The story may be an exciting one but that sense of detachment makes it a tough one to get into.

I could see myself digging out the old ‘Killraven’ comics on the basis of what I read here but felt like this version could have done a lot more to impress me. Like Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ movies, Alan Davis’ ‘Killraven’ is entertaining enough on the surface but has nothing going on underneath...

Six and Three Quarters out of Ten

David Weber Signing at Forbidden Planet

From the press release,

Forbidden Planet is pleased to announce a special, PRE-EASTERCON signing by DAVID WEBER for his astounding novel A Mighty Fortress at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday 21st April 6 – 7pm.


The fourth book in the Safehold series, and not due for publication in the UK until early May, Mighty Fortress takes us to Charis, now a place of refuge for all who treasure freedom. But The Group of Four, the clique that controls most of Safehold, has decreed Charis’ destruction and they will not rest until it has been erased forever. Their juggernaut rumbles down, but Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in its path. The Group of Four is about to discover just how potent the power of human freedom truly is.

David Weber is one of the greats of space opera and military science fiction. An American author and a rare visitor to the UK, he’s noted for his consistent and rationally explained technology and society – even when dealing with the fantasy genre. Often compared to C.S Forester, he’s also known for his gender-neutral military – and for frequently placing female leading characters in traditionally male roles. Previously the owner of a small advertising and public relations agency, Weber now writes science fiction full time - and is the recipient of the sort of critical praise once reserved for a Heinlein or an Asimov.

I've still got a couple of Weber's books on the pile that I really need to pick up at some point; not sure when that will happen though. If you're a fan though, and you're in the area on the 21st, this could be worth a trip :o)

The 'Calamity Jane!' Competition Winner's Post!

I did the maths over the weekend and worked out that, for the last two or three months, we've been watching this film at least twice (and sometimes even three times) a day. Why can't Hope chill out to a film like 'Dawn of the Dead'? Even 'Hard Rock Zombies' would be a big improvement to Doris Day singing 'A Woman's Touch' over and over and over again. And thus the name of this post was born... If I can't get the song 'Whip Crack Away' out of my head then I'm taking you all down with me dammit!

Sorry about that... had to get it off my chest :o)

Hope you all had a great weekend that didn't involve nineteen fifties musicals worming their way into your head and latching onto your brain... And a belated Happy Mother's Day to any Mums reading this! Hope you had a good one yesterday :o)

Thanks as well to everyone who entered the 'Brooklyn Knight' competition that I ran last week. There could only be a couple of winners though and they were...

Kimberley Kiker, Missouri, US

Sam Hall, Ohio, US

Well done guys, your books should be with you soon. Better luck next time everyone else...

That's me for today, I'm off to try and dislodge 'Calamity Jane' from my poor abused head... Stick around this week though as I try and polish off books that I promised to read weeks ago while I get stuck into another book that I've been looking forward to for a long time. No, it's not that one. It's not that one either...

Giveaway! 'Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter' (Seth Grahame-Smith)

Here's another book that is sat on the reading pile, waiting to be read. If you haven't read 'Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter' already, how do you fancy getting your hands on a copy (probably before I get round to reading it myself the way things are going...)? Here's the blurb,

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness". "My baby boy..." she whispers before dying. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an axe, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House. While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years...

Thanks to the people at Constable Robinson, I have five copies of 'Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter' to give away to readers of the blog. What's more... This competition is open to everyone, everywhere! It doesn't matter where you live this time round.

Entering is simple, just drop me an email telling me who you are and what your postal address is. The subject header needs to be 'Vampire Hunter'. I'll do everything else.

I'll leave this one open until the 10th of April and will aim to announce winners as soon as possible afterwards.

Good Luck!

Giveaway! 'Elric: Swords & Roses' (Michael Moorcock)

I've promised myself that I'll read 'Conan' before picking this one up so don't expect to see a review just yet... What I've got for you instead is the chance to win a copy of 'Swords & Roses' (containing 'The Revenge of the Rose' and 'Black Petals' amongst essays and so on) courtesy of Del Rey. This competition is only open to people living in the US though (sorry about that everyone else...)

If you're still with me then you probably already know what you need to do to enter this competition. Simply drop me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and what your postal address is. The subject header needs to be 'Swords & Roses'.

I'll leave this one open until the 10th of April and will aim to announce the winner as soon as possible afterwards (bear with me on that one though)...

Good Luck!

‘Dark Jenny’ – Alex Bledsoe (Tor)

These days, I wouldn’t say that there is any one author writing for whom I would drop everything and start reading their latest book. The simple fact is that I’m holding far too much stuff to drop it all at once, it would hurt... There are authors though where I will definitely find the time to read a new book of theirs. It may take me a little time to get round to it but they are on my radar and their books will be read sooner or later; Alex Bledsoe is very firmly on that list. Whether it’s his vampire tales set in the nineteen seventies or the tales of ‘sword jockey’ Eddie LaCrosse, I know that I’m in for an entertaining time with a story that will bet me thinking as well. If you haven’t read these books yet then I think you really should. (You’ve probably guessed by this point that I’m a fan so you might want to take that into account when we get onto the review itself...)
It took slightly longer than I would have wanted but I finally got round to cracking open my copy of ‘Dark Jenny’ a couple of days ago. It took a while to really get going for me but once it did there was no way I could put it down until I’d finished...

Eddie LaCrosse is whiling away the colder parts of winter drinking in his favourite tavern... until a coffin is delivered to him in the dead of night and forces him to take a reluctant look back into his past. The island kingdom of Grand Bruan is ruled over by Marcus Drake, a King who has spared no small effort to make sure that his realm embodies all that is fair and just in a world that is anything but. Someone wants to change all of this and not for the better. Queen Jennifer is not only accused of adultery but murder as well and Eddie has the misfortune to be there when the deed itself happens...

Eddie has a very good reason for solving this crime; he has been accused of committing the murder. As the case plays out though, Eddie finds more and more reasons to stick around. Grand Bruan is anything but the peaceful nation it appears to be. This kingdom is built on lies and Eddie must unravel every single one of them if he is to save not only his own skin but also stop an entire kingdom from collapsing into chaos...

An issue that I’ve had with the last two ‘Eddie La Crosse’ books is that Alex Bledsoe comes across as wearing his influences a little too heavily on his sleeve. The ‘hard bitten detective’ angle is cool, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that a couple of times I found myself wondering whether I was reading a detective novel or a fantasy novel; the line perhaps needed to be blurred a little more.

It’s the same kind of deal in ‘Dark Jenny’ although the ‘detective’ side of things blends much better with the rest of the plot this time round. What I’m talking about now is the ‘King Arthur’ influence that the book is based around. Bledsoe’s spin on this myth took a while to get going and really find its place in Eddie’s tale. Until it did, what I found was a story where this spin on an established tale was at odds with the tale it was meant to be supporting. In these early stages, ‘Dark Jenny’ is ‘too King Arthur’ to be its own story but ‘not King Arthur enough’ to be a King Arthur tale in its own right. It’s all a bit confusing and an obstacle to enjoying the book on its own terms.

Stick with it though. I did and found that not only does this issue smooth itself out but Bledsoe more than delivers in the areas that have made the last two ‘Eddie LaCrosse’ novels such entertaining reads.

The mystery itself appears deceptively simple to begin with. A man has died and all Eddie has to do is find out who is behind the crime. Simple, isn’t it?

Things turn out to be far from simple as Bledsoe gradually reveals more questions for Eddie to answer in such a way that I didn’t even notice the pages turning. It’s all done very smoothly with an injection of action at just the right times to give proceedings some fresh impetus. Surprises at certain moments also provide the same result (in terms of moving the plot along) and turn things on their head when you’re least expecting it. I enjoyed these action scenes in particular as we get to see that Eddie is more than capable of backing up his tough guy talk with a bit of muscle.

Everything fits together nicely at the very end and you don’t just get a picture of the crime and why it was carried out. Bledsoe also provides us with a compelling picture of the hidden depths of court life in the ‘perfect kingdom’ and had me wondering whether the end result was really worth all the lies it took to build things up.

The last two books have given us glimpses of Eddie’s past and offered clues as to why he is the man he is today. ‘Dark Jenny’ gives us far more than just a glimpse of this past and really lets us know just why he can be a little world weary and cynical in the present day. I don’t want to give too much away but I had to feel a little sorry for Eddie after everything Bledsoe threw in his path. All of this serves to show just how strong a character Eddie is and just what it will take for him to snap; when he does snap you know there’s a damn good reason for it and the impact of these scenes is all the more powerful for it.

Bledsoe has built Eddie’s character up gradually over the first two books and with ‘Dark Jenny’ Eddie has finally become more than just a collection of ‘private eye mannerisms and wisecracks’. He’s a fully rounded and fleshed out character whom it’s a pleasure to spend time with.
‘Dark Jenny’ is a tough one to get into at first but I was glad I stuck with it (even though there was never any question of that not happening). If you’re already a fan then you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. If you haven’t picked up these books up yet, do yourself a big favour and get on it right now.
Nine and a Quarter out of Ten

'Cradle of the Scar (Part Four)' - Peter Orullian

I'm working my way through Peter Orullian's 'The Unremembered' right now and hope to have a review up at some point soon. In the meantime though, Peter has also been releasing a series of 'webisodes' called 'The Cradle of the Scar'. In Peter's own words,

“I get excited about telling stories in different media. And I wrote this six-part webisode series entitled “Cradle of the Scar” with a particular idea in mind. I wanted to write more about the Scarred Lands in the world of The Vault of Heaven. And I also wanted to try my hand at pivoting several unique points of view around the same event, much like the film Vantage Point.”

I've never seen 'Vantage Point' (is it any good?) but that hasn't stopped me enjoying 'Cradle of the Scar'. Have a click Here to see the first two episodes and these Youtube clips should have a little thingy on them that will point you in the direction of episode three. Once you've done all that, I was lucky enough to be asked if I'd like to host episode four here. Of course I said yes! Check it out...

The 'Picked the wrong day to be staring at a computer monitor' Competition Winner's Post!

If anyone sees a tiny little man with a dirty great big hammer, please could you tell him to lay off my eyeballs? I'm pretty sure this wasn't what today was meant to be about... :o(

Sorry for the slight delay in announcing competition winners this time round, real life refused to wait its turn this time round. Apologies as well for the longer delay in getting 'Gods of Manhattan' out to the winners of that particular competition; It will happen, I promise! Basically, I've got to wait until I get paid before anything can happen on that front so hopefully you guys have something good to read in the meantime.

Before I really start going off on some headache induced ramble, the winners of the 'Retribution Falls' competition were...

Amber Young, Idaho, US

Charles Fraker, Virginia, US

Tom Adams, New York, US

Well done guys, your books should be on their way very soon. Better luck next time everyone else, I'm always trying to line up more of these giveaways so stick around and see what I'm able to come up with :o)

What am I reading in the meantime? I'm basically trying to polish off all those books that I'm only half way through before I start reading anything right from the beginning. So why did I start reading Sam Sykes' 'Black Halo' this morning then (after it arrived last night)? Just plain contrary I guess :o)

Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to hide somewhere dark and wait for my headache to go away...



‘Fall of Damnos’ – Nick Kyme (Black Library)

I’ve had a bit of a problem with a couple of the ‘Space Marine Battles’ novels for the reason that, well... they’re just about fighting and stuff. I know that sounds a bit silly and I suppose it is to an extent. If you’re reading a series called ‘Space Marine Battles’ then what the hell do you expect it to be about? I mean, seriously... Well, there is that but I generally find that some story wrapped around the edges generally gives the battle a little bit more resonance. If you know about the people fighting then the battle is going to mean a little bit more; at least that’s the way I see it.

I’m after a little more from my reading than mindless stand up violence without a plot but every so often I find that’s exactly what I’m after. Like last week for example. Several disturbed nights sleep (teething baby) left my brain feeling like mush and in need of something mindless to read to wake me up if nothing else. The perfect time then to read the latest ‘Space Marine Battles’ novel and ‘Fall of Damnos’ certainly delivered on that front. Surprisingly though, there was a story as well and ‘Fall of Damnos’ was all the better for it.

The planet of Damnos is being invaded from its very core. Imperial mining operations have awoken the Necrons, a robotic race from the dawn of time that have slept for millennia. Now they are awake, the Necrons want to take Damnos back and their implacable advance will not stop until every last human on the planet is dead. The call for help goes out and, as luck would have it, a detachment of Ultramarines is close enough to come and lend their assistance. Will it be enough though? How can a Necron be truly destroyed when their regenerative abilities knit them back together as they are being torn apart? And can the seemingly peerless Ultramarines deal with their own internal quandaries to take a stand against this foe? If things aren’t bad enough, the attending Librarian has a vision that the Ultramarine’s beloved Captain will die on Damnos...

Before I get started, just a couple of things... Can anyone explain the Imperial Calendar to me? The prologue kicks off in 274.973.M41 but by the first chapter we’re already in 779.973.M41. It seems like a lot of time has passed here, or has it? I haven’t really come across this calendar very much so if anyone can shed some light things would make a lot more sense. As it was, the whole ‘date thing’ made it difficult to get into the flow of the book at just the wrong time...

Also, this must be the fourth story I’ve read now (from the Black Library) where mining operations have disturbed slumbering Necrons and bloodshed has ensued. As waking up Necrons seems to be a regular occurrence in the Imperium I couldn’t help but wonder why no-one seems to have learnt a lesson from this... How about ‘If you come across an unexplained artefact whilst mining, please dig round it and carry on; it’s probably full of Necrons...’ It does make you wonder how much of a threat these Necrons really are if people are still prepared to run the risk of waking them. Something else that made it a little difficult for me to get into the book.

All that to one side though, once those first few pages are out of the way ‘Fall of Damnos’ becomes as compelling a read as any of the Black Library’s better works. Here is a story that gets its hooks into you and won’t release you until it’s done.

It’s not all easy going though. Apart from the bits I’ve just mentioned, ‘Fall of Damnos’ is very much a book aimed squarely at Warhammer 40K gamers and this means that it might not be quite so accessible to those readers who aren’t used to the ways in which the Ultramarines Chapter works. There’s a lot made of tactics here and passages devoted to how the Marines respond to particular threats. I think this is great for those people who game with Ultramarines, they’re going to get a lot out of it and might even come away with new ideas for tactics. For the rest of us though, these particular passages break up the ebb and flow of the battle with a little too much detail at precisely the wrong time...

I fell into this second camp but what I did find was that this shortcoming was balanced out by all the stuff going on when the battle sequences really find their groove. There’s plenty of pyrotechnics on display (and Kyme proves more than adept at ramping up the tension beforehand) but the real attention is paid to the people caught up in the middle of it all and that’s just the way it should be. It’s individuals who make up the overall conflict and Kyme’s ‘Fall of Damnos’ is a very personal conflict as a result.

Whether it’s the Space Marines struggling to overcome possible internal conflicts (and their own self doubts) or non-augmented troopers and civilians struggling to stay out of the crossfire (in a battle that they cannot hope to win) everyone has their own story to tell and equal footing is given to all. Even the Necrons themselves have a story to tell and you can’t help but feel a little sorry for one of them at least. The end result is a conflict that is extremely well fleshed out and rounded.
I think what I liked most about Kyme’s approach here was the attention he paid to all the individual plot strands. Everything is resolved by the end and no-one is left hanging. The only thing left open ended is the battle itself and that lends a delicious air of uncertainty to the whole thing. I don’t think there will be a sequel but I wouldn’t mind seeing one if this book is anything to go by

‘Fall of Damnos’ does suffer some of the flaws of earlier books in this particular series but rises above these to become a book that I ended up enjoying far more than I thought I would. Recommended for long time fans, possibly not so accessible for the casual reader though and this is more about the book’s structure than the actual content.

Eight and Three Quarters out of Ten.

Genre for Japan - Bidding Open!

Limited access to the internet last week meant that I missed the chance to post about this when it all began. You've probably read everyone else's posts already but this is something really important and, as such, will be posted about again right here. I'm pretty sure you're all cool with that :o)

Genre for Japan is a science fiction and fantasy themed auction raising money for the Red Cross earthquake appeal in Japan. You've all seen what's going on over there and why our help is needed... Well, not only do you get to support a really good cause but you also stand the chance of coming out of it with some cool sci-fi and fantasy stuff. There's all sorts of stuff on offer (signed books, editing services and chances to appear in a book are only the tip of the iceberg) and there really is something for everyone. If you don't win what you're after then you can still donate via the 'Just Giving' page.

Bidding is open right now but only until the 3rd of April. Click Here to see what's on offer and other ways to make a donation. Kudos to Amanda and the gang for getting this going in such a short space of time as well; what you guys have done is amazing.

‘Conan: The Hall of the Dead and other Stories’ – Kurt Busiek, Mike Mignola, Timothy Truman & Cary Nord (Dark Horse Books)

I’ll come straight out and say that my plans to read the Fantasy Masterworks editions of ‘Conan’ have rather hit a brick wall in the last few weeks (ok, ever since I said I was going to read them...) You’re not interested in all the details, trust me on this, lets just say that the whole ‘Conan’ reading project is still very much a work in progress... Thank Crom then for the Dark Horse collections! They may only be based on the original works but I’ve always thought that Conan was well suited to the comic book format and I’ve seen nothing to disprove that yet.

‘The Hall of the Dead’ made for some delicious holiday reading last week and will tide me over nicely until I get my act together and crack open the books themselves...

As a young man, Conan proved his worth as a thief in the narrow alleyways and tall towers of the City of Thieves. The one thing that he never learnt though was to curb his excesses and this led to him bringing unwanted attention both upon himself and the other thieves looking to make a living without being noticed...

Now Conan must escape the attentions of the City Guard as well as his fellow thieves. It looks like sanctuary might lie within a ruined temple just outside the city but Conan will find that this is where the true danger really lies...

Dark Horse have built up a more than decent reputation as purveyors of some gorgeous looking ‘Conan’ comics and ‘The Hall of the Dead’ does nothing but ensure that this reputation remains intact. Cary Nord’s artwork is such that I could spend ages looking at it before I remembered that there was a story to go with it. His backdrops are superb, carrying a dreamlike quality that cements this fantasy setting. When things kick off though, Nord shows that he is more than able to keep up with the pace, delivering action scenes that really capture what Conan is all about – derring do and a willingness to take on superior numbers armed with nothing but a sword and a whole load of attitude.

This all looks good on the page but what you can’t get away from is how simplistic the plot is. Conan constantly bounces from one danger to another and doesn’t do much else than that. In one sense that is the whole point of Conan I guess, the guy is a force of nature and will solve his problems in that manner. It’s worth mentioning though that while you can really immerse yourself in the setting, Conan himself doesn’t have that same depth to him. Depends what you want out of the story as a whole I guess.

earing this in mind then, how do the writers rise to the challenge of telling a story where the main character perhaps doesn’t carry the plot in all the ways that would really benefit the book as a whole? In the words of Mike Mignola (from the introduction)...

‘Robert E. Howard wrote only a two-page outline for ‘The Hall of the Dead’ but all the big stuff (ambush, lost city, living skeletons, snake in a bag) was already there. I just had to fill in the weird atmosphere and throw in some frogs.’

Howard has given the contributing writers the bones upon which to flesh the story out and they all do a fine job of filling in the gaps. Mignola’s take on ‘The Hall of the Dead’ is the stand out effort here; a great exercise in weirdness with a fearsome frog monster for Conan to take on. Nord’s artwork shows off the fight in the best possible way but it was Mignola who took Conan right into the belly of the beast and going off on that kind of tangent is what makes the story work so well.

Busiek’s opening chapters capture the spirit of Conan without necessarily expanding on it.; it’s all in keeping with the character himself but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more tale to be told. Truman, on the other hand, delivers an exciting dose of action by taking the simple approach of filling in any gaps with more foes for Conan to vanquish. It may be a simple approach but is certainly effective.

Despite the odd niggle ‘The Hall of the Dead’ has a lot going for it and was a great way to idle away a few hours last week. Now, onto the books themselves...
Eight and a Half out of Ten

Review Policy.

It seems a bit weird to be writing this now after more than a few years of blogging but I do get a lot of review query emails which I don’t have the time to reply to now so... I thought a proper ‘Review Policy Post’ would be better than a whole bunch of people wondering why that rude blogger never replies to his emails :o) I’ll link to this (at the side of the blog) when I’m able. This policy isn’t set in stone at all and may change at any time; hopefully it should reflect what I do and do not accept in terms of review material. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I’ll reply.

So, here goes...

Publishers who already send me books and comics to review.
There’ll be no change here, everything will carry on just the way it always has.

Other genre publishers (mainstream or independent) who want to send me books and comics to review.
It may take me a while to get back to you but drop me an email and I will reply as soon as I can. Just be sure to include the name of the publisher you’re representing (in the subject header) so I know. I can only accept physical copies of review material though as I do not have an e-reader and do not have the time to read from a computer monitor.

Authors published by the above.
It’s very likely that I’ve got a copy of your book already and am looking for the time to read it. Have a look at the blog though and if your publisher doesn’t feature amongst all the others then drop me an email. Alternatively, save yourself some postage and ask your publisher to get in touch with me.

People who would like me to review their e-book.
You probably missed the bit just above this where I said I do not review digital review material. That’s cool, the headers are in bold so you probably skipped straight to this bit :o) The fact is though, I don’t have an e-reader or the time to read from a screen. I might just buy myself a Kindle one day though and I’ll update this part accordingly.

People who would like me to review their self published novel.
I may well be missing out on some great books here but I do not accept self published material (Lulu and so on). I don’t read digital copies and cannot guarantee that I will be able to read a hard copy either – loads of books on the pile and only so much time in the day... If I can’t guarantee that I will read your book then I don’t want you to pay cash to send it to me just on the off chance...

I’m hoping this should cover most of the queries I get but if I’ve missed anything out here leave a comment next to this post and I’ll get on it.

Why do Publishers do things like this?

It's Monday morning and I'm catching up with work stuff after a week off so I'm not going to repeat a whole load of stuff that has been said elsewhere (especially when my morning cups of coffee aren't doing their normal job...). Instead, just click right Here for tales of Dorchester Books royally shafting their writers as well as shafting writers who aren't even with them anymore...

Now, Nightshade Books did something similar a while back but people kind of let them off as it all appeared to be a case of the publisher not being able to keep up with the demands of the business. Things got out of control but Nightshade appear to have made a real concerted effort to adjust to these new demands and treat their writers with the respect they deserve. Dorchester on the other hand... Well, follow that link (and then click on some of the other links there) and you'll see that Dorchester appear to have no intention of solving problems regarding late payment of royalties and making money off e-books that they no longer hold the rights to. There's a lot of 'oh, we'll get this sorted for you' which appears to be nothing more than a stalling tactic while they sell a few more books that they don't hold the rights to. I've been introduced to some great horror writers through Dorchester's 'Leisure' imprint and I feel really sorry for these guys who take the time to write great horror fiction and then get screwed over by their own publisher.

If you're a fan of these writers then you probably feel the same way as I do (you might not care and just be interested in getting hold of the books, that's cool but you need to know that these writers will not see a penny of what you are paying for their books). Follow that link again and you'll see any number of ways of boycotting Dorchester while they are treating their authors (amongst others) in this shabby manner. I don't use Twitter, or follow Dorchester on Facebook, but what I will be doing when I have a spare second is removing any mention of Leisure or Dorchester from my reviews of their books (cover art and all). Celebrate great horror fiction, sure. Lets just pretend though that these guys didn't have the misfortune to be associated with this particular publisher...

Giveaway! 'Brooklyn Knight' (C.J. Henderson)

Thanks to those lovely people at Tor Books I have two copies of C.J.Henderson's 'Brooklyn Knight' to give away on the blog (to mark the forthcoming publication of the sequel 'Central Park Knight'). Only people in the US can enter though so sorry about that everyone else... Here's the blurb,

Professor Piers Knight is an esteemed curator at the Brooklyn Museum and is regarded by many on the staff as a revered institution of his own if not an outright curiosity. Knight’s portfolio includes lost civilizations; arcane cultures, languages, and belief; and more than a little bit of the history of magic and mysticism.What his contemporaries don't know is that in addition to being a scholar of all things ancient he is schooled in the uses of magical artifacts, the teachings of forgotten deities, and the threats of unseen dangers.I never got round to reading this when it was first published, don't really have the time right now but it doesn't look bad at all... How about you, do you fancy a copy to read?


If a mysterious object surfaces, Professor Knight makes it his job to figure it out--and make sure it stays out of dangerous hands.

A contemporary on an expedition in the Middle East calls Knight's attention to a mysterious object in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum … just before it becomes the target of a sorcerous attack that leads to a siege on a local precinct house by a fire elemental.

What looks like an ordinary inscribed stone may unlock an otherworldly Armageddon that certain dark powers are all too eager to bring about--and only Piers Knight stands in their way.


If you do then entering couldn't be easier, simply send me an email (address at the top of the screen) telling me who you are and what your postal address is. I'll do everything else.

I'll leave this one open until April 3rd and will announce winners as soon as possible afterwards.

Good Luck!

‘Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1’ – Ethan Nicolle & Malachai Nicolle (Dark Horse Comics)

Every so often I find myself reading something that just completely leaves me lost for words. On the bus home yesterday I was left speechless (too busy giggling) by ‘Bad Guy Earth’, the Axe Cop mini-series that sprang from the imagination of a six year old boy and has been drawn by his thirty year old big brother. I wish I had a big brother like that…


I could tell you what the story is all about but I reckon you’ll have a lot more fun going to the website (scroll down the page for the link) and finding out for yourself. I’m not even sure that I can sum it up so I’m just going to give you a quick quote so you get a flavour of what it’s all about…

‘Meanwhile, on a chicken farm. All the chicken’s brains popped out. The brains turned into bad guys. They had robotic body parts and swords. They killed the farmer and then chased a cow.’

What I’ll also say is that my wife (who hates most comics) insisted on reading this one with me on the way home; she even got to hold it and turn the pages. When I get issue two she’ll probably get to hold that as well while we read it.

Ethan Nicolle’s art does the story justice but it’s Malachai’s six year old logic that really makes the story work and that’s just the way it should be. Anything can happen to Axe Cop and it invariably does. I’ve got a new favourite comic and I’m having trouble waiting for the next issue to come out in the next couple of weeks. If you like your comics a little more sophisticated then ‘Axe Cop’ might not be for you but if you wish you were still six years old then get the next best thing and check this comic out.

'Pride and Prejudice & Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After' - Book Trailer

I know that review content has been particularly thin on the ground this week, sorry about that! If anyone knows a cure for teething (Hope, not me!) that doesn't involve forcefeeding alcohol to a ten month old baby then I'd be really grateful if you could tell me!

Reviews will kick off again next week (hopefully, I've got a big old stack of unfinished books at the moment) but in the meantime here's the book trailer for 'Dreadfully Ever After', the latest in the 'Pride and Prejudice & Zombies' series - another book that I will hopefully pick up soon. Check it out, I liked it :o)



Edited to add: Youtube clips always seem to either go over the edge of the border or have bits chopped off. Can anyone help?

What Cover Would You Go For? 'Among Thieves' - Douglas Hulick

Here's a book that has been generating more than a few positive comments on the internet in the weeks leading up to it's release. Like this one, this one and this one as well. My copy is in the post so it'll be a little while before I get to tell you what I think, shouldn't be too long though :o) Here's the blurb in the meantime...

Drothe is a Nose, an informant who finds and takes care of trouble inside the criminal organization he’s a part of. He also smuggles imperial relics on the side.

When his boss sends him to Ten Ways to track down who’s been leaning on his organization’s people, Drothe discovers hints of a much bigger mystery. Someone is trying to stir up trouble between lower-level criminal organizations, including the one Drothe belongs to. And there’s a book rumored to contain imperial glimmer (or magic) that a lot of very dangerous people seem to be looking for - including two crime bosses known as the Gray Princes.
When Drothe discovers the book, he finds himself holding a bit of swag that can bring down emperors, shatter the criminal underworld, and unlock forbidden magic…that's if he can survive long enough to use it.

I had a quick look on Amazon to see what the US and UK covers looked like, here's what I found...

Here's the UK Cover,

And here's the US cover,

If I had to choose between the two covers? Well, there's no contest this time. The UK cover looks all dark and brooding; a little dangerous in fact. The US cover has a man who obviously takes a little too much time over his beard in the morning to be much of a thief... There is a cool swashbuckling vibe going on but the UK cover wins this round, for me anyway (although you could argue that the whole ' dangerous silhouette' thing has been done a little too much...)

That's what I think anyway, how about you? Comments please! :o)

Extracts from 'Embassytown', 'Stands a Shadow' & 'Sea of Ghosts'...

I can't remember signing up for the Tor UK newsletter (I do the strangest things when I'm drunk it would appear...) but every month a shiny new email newsletter lands in my inbox, eager to tell me all about itself and the books that I could be reading. It's a good deal if you're wondering, just click a button to register and you get to find out about all sorts of new books that are on the horizon.

If you have registered then you probably know all this already but for those of you who haven't I thought I'd do you a favour and point you at some extracts (from forthcoming Tor books) just in case you were wondering if a certain book was for you or not. This month's newsletter has links to extracts from China Mieville's 'Embassytown', Col Buchanan's 'Stands a Shadow' and Alan Campbell's 'Sea of Ghosts'. I have 'Embassytown' and 'Sea of Ghosts' waiting to be read but I have to say that the one I'm most looking forward to getting my hands on is 'Stands a Shadow' (although that won't be out until September), I loved 'Farlander' and I really want to know what happens next...