‘The Last Guardian’ – David Gemmell (Orbit)

Since I’ve started posting reviews on David Gemmell’s work, a couple of people have asked when I’m going to start reading outside the world of the Drenai. Hopefully this review should help a bit! Part of the reason I started to read Gemmell’s books again was not only to revisit some old favourites but also to pick up some of his books that I’ve never got round to reading. I’ve never read any of the ‘Jon Shannow’ books and Orbit were kind enough to send me a copy of ‘The Last Guardian’, any book that has a picture of a cowboy fighting off a lizard on the front will (more often that not) find it’s way to the top of the reading pile!

The Earth has tilted on its axis and life hasn’t been the same since. The landmasses of the world are covered in water from oceans that are now drained, providing new land for the survivors to settle on. This is a dangerous new world where strength rules (and who is quickest on the trigger) and dangerous technology lies waiting to fall into the wrong hands.

‘I can wear my white robes and pray in peace. The evil can dress in black. But there must always be the grey riders to patrol the border between good and evil...’

Jon Shannow is the Jerusalem Man, a man on a quest for meaning in the city of God. The two guns in his hands mean that no-one will stop that quest and he will also take time out if he feels that sin is in particular need of being rooted out and destroyed. When the gateway between past and present is opened, Shannow will find that he is the only one who can stand between two worlds and make the decision that will spell doom for either one or both...

Gemmell’s novels are books that like to proudly display their influences on their sleeve and ‘The Last Guardian’ is no different. The ‘Western’ influence is clearly apparent from the start and I also felt that Jon Shannow had an air of King’s ‘Roland of Gilead’ about him, especially when I found that Shannow is referred to by that name. A cowboy on a quest in an apocalyptic world/a world that has ‘moved on’...? Bearing in mind that the ‘original Roland’ was around long before King took up the name maybe it’s not such a big deal after all but it was still interesting to note...

‘The Last Guardian’s’ influences are plain to see but, once again, it is what Gemmell does with them that makes the book stand out in it’s own right. What looks very much like a retelling of the motivation behind John Lennon’s murder (at least that’s how it looked to me) is used to show the futility of killing someone to ensure that you are remembered. Gemmell likes to give his readers something to think on and the message here is that if you’re going to be remembered for something, make sure that it’s something worthwhile...

‘The Last Guardian’ is only two hundred and seventy five pages long and I picked it up, a couple of days ago, as I thought it would be a relatively quick read. I was totally wrong as Gemmell doesn’t waste any words; packing those pages with plenty of things going on and plenty of insight into the characters driving the plot forward. The plot is a little more thoughtful than others, of his, that I’ve read so far; concentrating on characters rather than events. As a result, things proceed at a slower pace than you would expect but when the guns start blazing the pace soon picks up and Gemmell writes with the intensity he is known for.

For such a short book, Gemmell is able to give the reader a lot of time to get inside the heads of all the main players. As the lead character, Jon Shannow gets the most time on the page and his ‘Clint Eastwood’ exterior hides a character who is becoming a victim of his own reputation. Even if Shannow wanted to settle down he couldn’t as he is aware that there will always be someone who will want to test themselves against him. Shannow is also starting to feel his age and, paradoxically, this means that he cannot settle down and stop.
Heroism is one of Gemmell’s favourite themes and ‘The Last Guardian’ shows that heroism can come in many guises, all of which are of equal importance (‘feel good’ reading if ever I saw it, which isn’t a bad thing). Speaking up when you don’t want to (although you know it’s right) can be just as important as facing down overwhelming odds armed only with a revolver.

By the end of ‘The Last Guardian’ I was left feeling that the book wore its influences a little too obviously for my tastes. On the other hand though ‘The Last Guardian’ was a book that I was completely engrossed in and I’ll be searching out the other two books, in the trilogy, in no short order. My first attempt at reading outside the ‘Drenai universe’ (for the blog) was a success.

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

Shameless Plug! 'Eagle Rising' - David Devereux (Gollancz)

This post was originally going to be a review but then I realised it would be impossible to be objective about a book that I've been giggling over due to the fact that not only do I make an appearance in 'Eagle Rising' but I also die in a particularly gruesome manner (seriously, I felt a little sick reading it)...

Bearing this in mind, I thought that I'd go down the 'shameless plug' route instead. I'm pretty sure that David won't mind ;o)
'Eagle Rising' has been on the shelves for a few days but the official launch date (and party, which I'll be going to) is today. I thoroughly enjoyed the continuing adventures of Jack and if you enjoyed 'Hunter's Moon' then I reckon you'll get a lot out of 'Eagle Rising'.
Here's the blurb,

Jack's back! And this time he must face a terrifying supernatural threat from Europe's recent past. Someone has been mad enough to revive the most terrifying evil of the last 60 years. And only one man is bad enough to stop them. Eagle Rising takes Jack to the rotten heart of big business and the dark secrets of a neo-nazi magical sect intent on giving the world back to a terror from the darkest days of the 1940s. Jack must infiltrate the closed corridors of big business and reach the core of a conspiracy amongst some of the most high-powered city executives in the country. A cabal of business men with occult interests and an insane hunger for the return of an old and dark order.

Like I said, well worth a look :o)

‘Evil Ways’ – Justin Gustainis (Solaris)

Or ‘how I found out a little more than I really needed to know about where a white witch keeps her wand in case of emergencies’... I won’t give the game away but it made me wince!
Justin Gustainis’ ‘Quincey Morris’ series is only a couple of books old but I’ve heard good things about it so far. Justin also got in touch to ask if I wouldn’t mind pointing people in the direction of a free excerpt on Fantasy Bookspot (which I did, here’s the post with the link) and I thought why don’t I give the book a go myself? One book through the post later...

White witches are being hunted down and killed and Quincey Morris finds himself in on the investigation by way of a series of murders where young children are having internal organs forcibly removed. Quincey’s partner, Liberty Chastain, is a white witch who’s just foiled an attempt on her life so this investigation has an added edge to it...
All the clues lead to one Walter Grobius, an eccentric billionaire questing for immortality with a wizard who will use black magic to ensure that Grobius gets his wish. Walpurgis Night is the night when all plans will come to fruition and Quincey and Liberty must be on top of their game to stop hell being unleashed on earth...

Gustainis takes a step away from regular urban fantasy fare to give his readers a world where fey creatures exist but it’s human magic users that make up the ‘otherworld’ that exists at the edges of daily life. As a result the ‘fey element’ makes up a very small part of the plot, leaving the reader with a story based very much around human motivations. I got a lot out of this approach as grounding the book in the real world made the ‘supernatural moments’ stand out all the more when they arrived. A book that features an appearance from the Devil himself needs moments like that to go with a bang and ‘Evil Ways’ certainly delivers on this score!

This approach also meant that it was refreshing to read an urban fantasy where the hero isn’t wrapped up in the middle of unresolved feelings for the local were-wolf pack leader/head vampire etc. That’s not to say that sex doesn’t play a part in ‘Evil Ways’ though, the difference here is that its role is found in certain black magic rituals and as a way for black magic practitioners to exert control over their victims. Gustainis doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination here and this wasn’t something that sat well with my reading of the book. There’s a difference between using sex to create an atmosphere, in a book, and using it to drive the plot forward. Gustainis was all about the atmosphere whereas I prefer to see it used to drive the plot. It’s purely a matter of taste but I think it’s still an important distinction to bear in mind. To be fair though, Gustainis does create an atmosphere that fits in well with the plot’s dark subject matter.

The plot itself doesn’t throw up an awful lot in the way of twists but there was still plenty that kept me interested and Gustainis does well in keeping the outcome shrouded in doubt (although I could guess what was going to happen) right up until the very end. Special mention has to go to Gustainis making reference to a certain Chicago wizard from another urban fantasy series. Two worlds collide and it’s done in such a way that you hardly notice... All of the characters playing a part are interesting to get to know but don’t offer much to the reader in terms of investing yourself in them. I got the impression that Gustainis’ writing style was more about recounting events rather than getting right inside the heads of his characters. While this works up to a point, it felt like there was a wall between me and Quincey/Liberty etc and this left me feeling a little detached from the book as a whole.

I had some issues with ‘Evil Ways’ but there is enough good there to make me want to give the next book a go and see if this is a series worth sticking with. The excerpt from ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, at the back of the book, looks pretty good as well...

Seven and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘Busted Flush’ – Edited by George R. R. Martin (Tor)

One of my News Year’s Resolutions is to finish reading all those books that I never got round to last year, I may have to take a leaf from Aidan’s book and do a ‘pile of shame’ post (I never got round to finishing ‘Toll the Hounds’, shame on me...) We’ll see how I get on...
First up is ‘Busted Flush’, the latest in the George R. R. Martin edited ‘Wild Cards’ series and one of those books that I’d been looking forward to for ages but hadn’t picked up until now. If you enjoyed ‘Inside Straight’ then I think you’ll get a lot out of this one...

Following the events of ‘Inside Straight’ (quick recap: a reality show for superheroes leads to super powered intervention in an international incident in Egypt) the UN have set up ‘The Committee’, a team of young ‘Aces’, to assist in trouble spots around the world. During the course of the book, ‘super powered UN intervention’ is required in stopping genocide in the Niger Delta, aiding a hurricane ravaged New Orleans (and where have all those zombies suddenly appeared from...?) and getting to the bottom of what caused a freak nuclear explosion in a small Texas town. The definition of ‘intervention’ will also be explored as Middle Eastern countries with-holding oil leads to armed confrontation.
While all this is happening, members of ‘The Committee’ will find out that life as a superhero isn’t as clear cut as it would first appear. Everyone is trying to use you for their own ends and this means that hard decisions will have to be made...

As a sequel to ‘Inside Straight’ it’s hard, in some respects, to judge ‘Busted Flush’ on its own merits and not to compare it to its predecessor. I found that I couldn’t avoid doing this and I ended up coming away with the feeling that ‘Busted Flush’ hadn’t quite met the high standards set by ‘Inside Straight’...
Whereas ‘Inside Straight’ came across as fairly tight plot wise (with one main plot and a couple of sub-plots driving the story), the plot for ‘Busted Flush’ branches out a lot more and I had problems with this. When several plot lines fit really tightly together it makes the one plot line that doesn’t stand out even more. This was very much the case with ‘Busted Flush’ where three plot lines worked really well together but one came across as only being in the book to introduce another ‘Ace’ for the next book. I can understand that not every mission is going to link with another but the fact that this one obviously didn’t at all made it feel a little... awkward when everything else dovetailed so perfectly.

There is no denying that super powers are a very cool thing, I’d be very surprised if anyone reading this wouldn’t want a superpower of their own (I know I would)! However, if you fill up a book with superheroes then you’ve got to be careful not to overdo it and end up with a book where the reader becomes blasé about all the amazing powers on display. I thought ‘Busted Flush’ fell down slightly here with what came across as a ‘How do we stop this super villain? Let’s introduce a hero who’s even more powerful!’ approach... Some of the tension was lost here as what we were left with were super powered confrontations so equally matched that they ended off in standoffs where not a lot actually happened... Thank goodness they tied off the ‘Little Fat Boy’ plotline when they did otherwise who knows what ultimately powerful Ace they would have had to introduce next!

Despite all this though, ‘Busted Flush’ is an enjoyable read where the plot races along and you are left with plenty to think about. Whereas ‘Inside Straight’ was all about the adrenaline burst and ‘feel good feeling’ of an impromptu mission successfully concluded, ‘Busted Flush’ is more about how repeated missions can become a ‘daily grind’ that gets you down. It’s interesting to see how certain Committee members react to the constant stress (Drummer Boy in particular) although perhaps certain others could have been examined a little more closely (Earth Witch who looked like she was in danger of burning out, it would have been interesting if the authors had decided to look at the dangers of overusing powers...)

Whereas ‘Inside Straight’ starts proceedings from a clean slate, ‘Busted Flush’ draws on the prior history of the ‘Wild Cards’ universe to flesh things out a bit. This is done gently, so as not to totally lose new readers, but I was left thinking that I would have got a bit more out of the book if I’d done some background reading beforehand...
The pace of the story doesn’t give you too much time to worry about this as the world seems to be in a constant state of crisis and ‘The Committee’ have their work cut out staying on top of it all. The machinations of various ‘covert agencies’ add an extra element of uncertainty to proceedings, especially when various characters don’t realise that they’re being used...
On top of all this, you have plenty of high octane ‘superhero smackdowns’ where things get very intense very quickly! The tension may not be there (as I mentioned earlier) but these events still make for one hell of a spectacle.

‘Busted Flush’ falls foul of the ‘difficult second album’ trap but still makes for a very entertaining read in the meantime. There’s plenty here for fans of the series to get into, I wasn’t so sure but there’s still enough here to leave me eager for the next book....

Eight and a Quarter out of Ten

Giveaway! 'Caligula' - Douglas Jackson

Thanks to me being audited, at work, I didn't have time to finish off my review of 'Busted Flush' (look out for it tomorrow instead) but hopefully this should do in the meantime... :o)

Thanks to Transworld Books I have three copies of Douglas Jackson's 'Caligula' to give to three lucky winners (it didn't make the 'Gizmo Reading Pile' yesterday but it's not far off!). Here's the blurb...

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence, cruelty and madness. His reign was marked by excess, huge building projects, the largest gladiatorial battles Rome was ever to see – men and animals killed in their hundreds – conspiracies, assassination attempts and sexual scandal.

Rufus as a young slave grows up far from the corruption of the imperial court. His master is a trainer of animals for the gladiatorial arena. Rufus discovers that he has a natural ability with animals, a talent for controlling and schooling them. It is at the arenas that Rufus meets his great friend Cupido, one of Rome’s greatest gladiators.

It is his growing reputation as an animal trainer and his friendship with Cupido that attracts the cruel gaze of the Emperor. Caligula wants a keeper for the imperial elephant and Rufus is bought from his master and taken to the imperial palace. Life here is dictated by Caligula’s ever shifting moods. Caligula is as generous as he is cruel, he is a megalomaniac who declares himself a living god and simultaneously lives in constant fear of the plots against his life. But his paranoia is not misplaced, intrigue permeates his court, and Rufus and Cupido find themselves unwittingly placed at the centre of a conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor.

Does it sound like your kind of thing? Are you a UK or European resident (they're the only people who can enter this one I'm afraid...)? If you've answered 'yes' to both of these questions then simply drop me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and what your mailing address is. I'll let this competition run until this coming Sunday (25th January) and announce the winners on the following Monday...

Good Luck!

The 'Where's the snow I was promised?' Link up spectacular

The weather forecast promised me snow, I'm looking out of the window right now and I can't see any (I like snow)... On the bright side though, a lack of snow should make heading off into town a little easier and we do have plenty to do while we're there.
Here's some links for you to be looking at in the meantime...

Ken reviews The Hero of Ages, a book that I've been having real trouble getting into. He's also got Questions Five for Hal Duncan...

Robert has been getting various authors to review 2008/preview 2009 and it's Jasper Kent's turn today...

Graham Joyce to write Doom 4? Apparently so... Thanks to Aidan for pointing this one out!

Kristen reviews Miles, Mystery and Mayhem by Lois McMaster Bujold.

The Book Smugglers have got a 'Manga Appreciation Week' going on right now. Just scroll down from the top, it's all good :o)

I'm reading Justin Gustainis' 'Evil Ways' right now, Mark has posted his review of Black Magic Woman.

The Deckled Edge has a review of The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox for your reading pleasure.

I'm one of what must be a very small group of people who have never watched 'The Sopranos', 'A Slight Apocalypse' Brings me up to speed.

And finally, James really didn't like Alien versus Predator 2... He also has some more News about the David Gemmell Legend Award (which I still need to cast my vote on...)

What am I doing? I finished 'Busted Flush' over the weekend so expect to see my review posted in the next few days. Here's a little look at the books I'm going to be reading next (Gizmo helped out)...



Thanks to Calibander for reminding me that 'A Madness of Angels' was lurking in the book pile. I've bumped it up and will be giving it a go soon ;o)
Have a great weekend everyone!

What I’ve been watching this week...

As you’ve probably gathered the last couple of weeks have been all about me going on a massive reading binge that shows no signs of abating just yet. I did manage to find time to watch a couple of films though (although my ‘Planet of the Apes’ marathon remains strictly in the planning stages, I’m trying to get Sue to withdraw her veto on the ‘Graeme gets a whole KFC bargain bucket to himself’ proposal...)
Here’s what I’ve been watching...

‘Iron Man’



‘Iron Man’ is one of those films where you come out of the cinema feeling like you’re ten feet tall and could take on anyone. Watching it on my TV at home though was an entirely different affair (with the best will in the world, my TV will never be able to do the same job as a cinema screen/sound system). ‘Ironman’ is still great fun to watch but it felt a little muted this time round. When the action is toned down (although it’s still great fun to watch) you realise that this is essentially a film where the main character spends most of his time building one of two robotic suits, the ‘robot action’ doesn’t take up as much time as you think... An upshot to this was that I realised just how cool Robert Downey Junior was as Tony Stark, he pretty much carries the whole thing as far as I’m concerned. The downside to this is that I realised just how annoying Gwyneth Paltrow was as Pepper Potts... I wanted her to get crushed by Obediah Stane...

Having said all that though, any film that has a jet powered man outracing fighter jets and a bone crushing showdown between men in robot suits is pretty damn cool as far as I’m concerned! :o) Bring on ‘Iron Man 2’! Actually, bring on the ‘Avengers’ film as well...

‘Day of the Dead’



For a long time, there has been a gaping hole in my ‘Romero Zombie Films’ collection... not any more! Thursday night was all about watching ‘Day of the Dead’ while Sue was out. I’d still rank ‘Dawn of the Dead’ as my personal favourite but ‘Day’ makes for compelling viewing. It got to the point where I was stopping the film to check on strange noises that I kept hearing outside. Zombies are tenacious creatures so you cannot be too careful!

The zombie uprising has gone way beyond the point where humanity can strike back; with around 400,000 zombies to each human the safest place to be is underground and that’s where our heroes are. An underground research facility houses scientists (looking for a cure to the zombie plague) and the soldiers assigned to guard them. Things are getting desperate though with supplies running low and the soldier’s new commander, Rhodes, deciding that he will take full control of the operation. In a George Romero film there is only one way that this can all end...

As with Romero’s other zombie films, ‘Day of the Dead’ explores the consequences of mankind’s inability to work together in the face of impending doom. Everyone has their own agenda, which they focus on to the exclusion of everyone else, and more often than not there is a dark element to this agenda. The soldiers revert to barbarism (and ‘might takes right’) in an attempt to cope with the demands of this new world while the scientists slip further away from reality by concentrating solely on their task. Dr. Logan, ‘Frankenstein’, is the best example of this (especially when you see inside his lab) but some of the work that he does with the zombie ‘Bub’ shows us that there is a lot more to these zombies than meets the eye.

The tension gets higher and higher, as the film goes on, until things reach their inevitable bloody climax. I’m not sure why Salazar let the zombies in though but it makes for some good viewing (definitely not for the squeamish!) Zombie films don’t get an awful lot better than this :o)

Have a great weekend!

‘Bone: The Great Cow Race’ – Jeff Smith

Last year saw me pick up ‘Bone’ for the first time and I absolutely loved it. ‘Out from Boneville’s’ mixture of ‘epic fantasy meets the real world’ (albeit a ‘real world’ inhabited by tiny people with huge noses...) had me in fits of laughter and when I wasn’t laughing I was left feeling really moved by some of the emotion on display. There was never any doubt that I’d be back to read the second book and the only surprise is that it took me so long to get around to it, I blame Christmas myself...
I got round to it in the end though and am very glad that I did, ‘The Great Cow Race’ is another great read and there is no way that I’ll be leaving it this long before checking out the next book...

The Bones are now settled in the valley with varying degrees of happiness; Fone Bone is still living with Thorn and Granma Ben while Phoney and Smiley are working at the Inn in Barrelhaven. Things aren’t going to remain quiet for long though. Phoney has a fool proof plan to rig the upcoming Cow Race (and get rich quick) and throw the whole village into disarray. If that wasn’t bad enough, there are ominous rumblings in the woods... the rat creatures are ready for war again...

‘The Great Cow Race’ is full of everything that made ‘Out from Boneville’ a real pleasure to read. The characters are as whimsical as ever and it’s fun to see how two of them in particular (Phoney and Smiley) remain blissfully unaware of their situation and seek to impose their personalities on their new surroundings. Smiley Bone doesn’t seem to have a care in the world and makes his mark by being infuriatingly happy at everyone. It’s Phoney Bone who makes for really entertaining reading though with his long running campaign of fraud and misinformation to get rich off the villagers. The way that Smith builds this up over the course of the book is very funny indeed. Not as funny as the sight of an elderly woman defending her title as ‘Cow Race Champion’ though and the totally serious way Smith goes about presenting this situation makes it even funnier. When you add a rat creature attack to the mix, the ‘Great Cow Race’ becomes an event truly worthy of your time!

The bits that really had me going, in all of this, though were the continuing musings and adventures of Fone Bone. There is something really touching about a little guy (with a big nose) who loves Moby Dick almost as much as he loves the heroine Thorn. How is he ever going to tell her though? Writing a love letter is never easy at the best of times and having your muse interrupted by rat creatures ends up making things even more complicated. Fone Bone never gives up though and this makes him even more endearing to the reader.

‘The Great Cow Race’ comes with even more hints of a larger story yet to be told and you’re left with the feeling that big events are just around the corner. I won’t be leaving it so long, this time, before I find out what happens next. ‘Bone’ seems to keep getting better and better, I’m really looking forward to seeing where the series goes next.

Ten out of Ten

A Friday Morning Question For You...

Because I haven't finished 'Busted Flush' in time to get a review up today/I really cannot be bothered to do the work that is piling up on the desk/I want to get to know my readers by getting them to answer geeky questions... :o)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, civil war erupted between the tyrannical Galactic Empire and the freedom fighters of the Rebel Alliance. Not so long ago, in a galaxy that was... well... this one..., millions of children around the world watched spellbound as the Imperial and Rebel forces duked it out for the fate of the galaxy. I was one of those kids and I bet you were too.

My question is this, if you were fighting in the galactic civil war which side would you choose? Imperials or Rebels? With my impeccable English accent, and my complete inability to shoot straight, a career in the Imperial Fleet beckons...
How about you? Comments please! :o)

‘Starship: Rebel’ – Mike Resnick (Pyr Books)

If you give me a science fiction novel that’s full of talk of ‘LaGrange points’, the effects of travelling at relativistic speeds and other highbrow concepts (to me anyway) I’ll give it a go, quite happily, but half of it will go straight over my head. I’ll spend that time waiting for the story to start.
Give me a science fiction novel where proper science gets a brief mention but is then pushed to one side in favour of aliens with weird names, space battles, galactic heroes and conversations via ‘sub-space radio’…? I’m in my element!
My name is Graeme and I’m a Space Opera fan…
Mike Resnick’s latest instalment, in the ‘Starship’ series falls firmly into the Space Opera camp (with a side helping of Military sci-fi) and I loved it…

Following the events of ‘Starship: Mercenary’, Captain Wilson Cole (with his ship the ‘Theodore Roosevelt’) now heads up the largest military force on the Inner Frontier. His collection of ships has actually grown so large now that he is beginning to find that prospective clients can no longer afford his mercenary services and some hard decisions are looming on the horizon…
Before Cole has to confront these decisions however, tragedy strikes and he finds that his focus has now shifted. Where he used to avoid the Republic (who has a price on his head) Wilson now finds himself declaring war on them. His fleet is outnumbered and outgunned by a Republic Fleet that is millions strong, not odds that Cole would choose but odds that he is happy to take on…

‘Starship: Rebel’ is unashamed space opera at its most entertaining. Right from the very beginning the reader is thrust into inter-planetary warfare and the machinations of the alien inhabitants of Singapore Station who are constantly scheming ways to make a quick buck. It helps if you’ve already read the preceding book in the series (‘Starship: Mercenary’) but Resnick layers his text with enough explanatory passages so that the first time reader should have little trouble getting into the story very quickly. This approach is a good thing as the pace of the tale shoots along like one of Resnick’s starships. There is always something happening, even in the quieter moments, and the stakes are high the whole way through. The climatic battle is epic in scale and Resnick takes a novel approach in describing some of its later stages. I’d never really stopped to consider what happened to all the wreckage in such a battle but Resnick obviously has with his depiction of a battle in space that descends into a war of attrition amidst floating piles of scrap.

Sometimes though, it felt like the pace of the novel was covering up deficiencies in the plot itself and, in this respect, ‘Starship: Rebel’ falls foul of the conventions it follows as an example of ‘pulp space opera’. While the journey is entertaining enough, I was never in any doubt that Wilson Cole and his crew would win through at the end of the day. They are obviously ‘good’ while the Republic that they are fighting is obviously ‘bad’ and we all know who will win a ‘pulp battle’ between good and evil... This meant that certain confrontations and ‘set piece moments’ became nothing more than vehicles to showcase Wilson’s heroism and did little else to add to the plot itself. To be fair, the payoff is that Resnick spends plenty of time fleshing out Cole’s character but the demands that the plot places upon Cole sees him depicted as a typical ‘square jawed heroic starship captain out for justice in a lawless galaxy’. This fits in well with ‘Starship: Rebel’s’ pulp roots but it would have been nice if Resnick had been able to get under Cole’s skin in other ways as well...

Despite these issues, if you accept ‘Starship: Rebel’ for what it is (fast paced and entertaining, but a light read...) then I think you’ll have just as much fun with it as I did. I’m looking forward to seeing where this series goes next.

Eight out of Ten.

‘The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend’ – David Gemmell (Orbit)

David Gemmell’s ‘Legend’ concentrated on the effect that one man’s legendary reputation had on a castle under siege whilst showing us how his fight to reconcile that reputation with the onset of age. What it didn’t do though (at least, not much) was to give the reader an insight into the history of Druss the Legend himself. There are references to the Battle of Skeln Pass, and the fact that he tracked his kidnapped wife halfway across the world to rescue her, but these references aren’t explored in any depth. That’s fair enough as they wouldn’t have added much to the story itself and the approach Gemmell takes shows Druss in the light that’s intended. It doesn’t matter where he came from, what matters is that he’s a hero right now.
Still, it would be nice if those gaps in Druss’ history were filled in. Wouldn’t it? This is what ‘The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend’ sets out to do and does very well...

Long before the events of ‘Legend’ (long before Druss gained the reputation that would follow him in ‘Legend’ in fact) Druss was nothing more than a simple woodsman; his unusually violent temper held in check by Rowena, Druss’ wife whom he loves more than anything else.
When Rowena is kidnapped by slavers, Druss becomes a man hell bent on her safe return. Half the world lies between him and his wife (and the obstacles he must face are innumerable) but none of this concerns him. A legend will be born from this journey and Druss’ life will never be the same again.

To begin with, ‘The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend’ comes across like a video game due to the repetitive nature of its sub-plots. Druss must overcome an obstacle to get to his wife, Druss overcomes obstacle but his wife has been taken away again, Druss proceeds to the ‘next level’ and starts again. Sometimes it left me wondering if Gemmell felt he had to drag this one out, a bit, to layer Druss with enough heroic deeds to merit Druss’ reputation in ‘Legend’. Was this book a victim of Druss’ ‘larger than life’ persona, was Gemmell left feeling that he had to justify the reputation that he had given Druss? Ultimately I don’t think so but that was how it came across to me at times...

There is also the fact that, by going back in time to fill in the gaps of Druss’ story, Gemmell robs Druss’ exploits of their tension. If you’ve read ‘Legend’ then you will know how ‘The First Chronicles’ has to end (although I shouldn’t assume that everyone has read ‘Legend’, if you haven’t then read ‘First Chronicles’ beforehand).
Having said all that though, I was also left wondering if Gemmell deliberately wrote ‘First Chronicles’ when he did because the end result was that he was able to devote the whole book to it’s intended purpose, a character study of his greatest creation.
In ‘Legend’, Druss can come across as a polarised character that sees things in black and white with no hint of the grey in between. By taking the character back to the very beginning, ‘First Chronicles’ charts Druss’ development and shows the reader that not only are there good reasons why Druss ended up as he did but that is also a moral ambiguity to his early actions. Druss wants his wife back and is prepared to do anything to achieve this, the only reason he agrees to adhere to the ‘Warrior’s Code’ is so he can get the help that he knows he needs. Druss’ battle with the darker side of his personality is illustrated vividly in his battle with the evil that lurks within the axe he carries, even more so as it is the final obstacle that he must face before he can be with his wife again.

On top of all this, ‘First Chronicles’ sees Gemmell giving his readers a hefty dose of what he does best; namely epic warfare that is soaked in heroism from both sides. Another aspect to Druss’ character is that he is pretty much an unstoppable force of nature and Gemmell shows this off to good effect by pitting Druss against awesome odds and having him club them into submission. You may know how a scene will end but you’re more than happy to stick around for the ride and the rush that it brings! It’s also interesting to see Gemmell poke a little bit of fun at the conventions that go to make up a hero through perceptive observations from the bard Sieben. Sometimes it’s not just deeds which go to make up a hero, it’s how they’re recounted (and embellished) afterwards...
Druss is also a charismatic leader and this is displayed in the course of the climatic Battle of Skeln Pass. There may be echoes of the battle that inspired ‘The 300’ (and I can’t remember its name, help?) but Gemmell makes Skeln Pass all his own through use of characters that we have come to know and love over the course of the book.

‘The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend’ overcomes some early obstacles to become a gripping read that fills in the background of an iconic figure in fantasy literature. If heroic fantasy is your thing, and you haven’t already given this book a go, then you could do worse than give it a go.

Eight and a Half out of Ten.

‘One More Bite’ – Jennifer Rardin (Orbit Books)

So there I was, all ready to write a lengthy introduction about how there’s something about the Jaz Parks series that keeps me coming back for more despite it being an urban fantasy series disturbingly similar to most of the other urban fantasy series that are doing the rounds. Then I looked at my review of Rardin’s ‘Bitten to Death’ and realised that I’d said everything that I wanted to say over there...
The bottom line is still the same though having finished Rardin’s latest. ‘One More Bite’ is a fun light read but didn’t really do it for me...

The death of a prominent vampire terrorist (not naming any names just in case you haven’t read the last book yet) leaves a power vacuum that his former allies will fight to fill. The CIA wants the balance to be maintained and this leads to a trip to Inverness, for Jaz and her team, to prevent the assassination of the local coven leader. Things are never as simple as that though and soon Jaz will find herself taking on ghosts and demon princes in a faceoff that is far more than it seems...

‘One More Bite’ was a book that only took me just over a day to read but not necessarily for all the right reasons. Over the course of the last four books, we have been treated to the main character (Jaz) agonising over whether she should go for it and embark on a relationship with her vampire boss. A dilemma that could be solved with a yes/no answer took four books to be worked out... ‘One More Bite’ is a book where things are resolved but it is also a book that introduces more dilemmas for Jaz to agonise over. While some people might say that this is inevitable (any relationship will throw up problems after all) I’m found myself firmly in the ‘angst is all well and good but how long can you realistically drag it out for’ camp. If a character does nothing but whine for several books then I’m eventually going to lose all sympathy for her... This is what ultimately led to my skim reading some of the more angst laden passages, that and the reading about precisely how Jaz feels when Vayl looks at her. You’ve told me once already, I don’t need to be told again (and again)...

It’s a real shame that the book came across in this manner as it detracts from what is a fun and fast paced plot. While the plot itself feels a little recycled (another special ops mission that’s more than it first appears) Rardin does well at bringing all these pieces together and injecting them with enough energy to keep the plot moving quickly and the reader asking questions. Rardin also subscribes to the theory that you can’t have too many explosions, double crossing and otherworldly creatures in an urban fantasy novel. I also subscribe to this theory and, as such, ‘One More Bite’ was a treat to read as far as spectacle was concerned.

If you’ve enjoyed the ride this far then ‘One More Bite’ will dose you up with more of the same though. For me though, ‘One More Bite’ suffered from an overdose of introspection and angst. A solid effort that could have been a lot more...

Seven out of Ten

‘The Birthing House’ – Christopher Ransom (Sphere)

‘The Birthing House’ came through the door just after Christmas and the blurb on the back piqued my interest right away. A ‘ghostly haunted house tale’ seemed like just the way to spend a cold, dark winter’s night but then the house underwent a dose of early Spring cleaning (very early!) and the reading pile ended up in several different rooms of the house... It wasn’t until I read a glowing review of ‘The Birthing House’, over at My Favourite Books, that I remembered I had a copy myself...
As soon as I remembered this I found my copy and got to reading straight away. I have to say that I’m glad I did as ‘The Birthing House’ is a seriously unsettling read...

I’m by no means the best husband in the world but even I know better than to just go out and buy a house without Sue being there to have her say. If I did then it would be fair to say that my life wouldn’t be worth living for the next few months/years...
Conrad is made of sterner stuff than that though and buys an old Wisconsin Birthing House, things aren’t working out in L.A and it’s time for a fresh start. For a short while everything is perfect but then things start to change. An old photo album turns up with an old photo of someone who looks very much like Conrad’s wife... then he starts seeing this strange woman around the house. Why does Conrad keep hearing a baby crying when there is no-one else there? Who left the strange doll in the bedroom and what made it chase Conrad down the stairs? Did Conrad’s wife have an affair, back in L.A, or is there something more sinister about her sudden pregnancy? After all, Conrad’s prized snake has laid a clutch of eggs without any males having been in the cage...
By the end of the book Conrad will find out the truth behind the Birthing House but it may already be too late.

‘The Birthing House’ was one of those creepy reads where I found my eyes glued to the page, knowing that the payoff to a chapter was going to make me jump out of my skin but still unable to stop reading. Ransom employs all the tricks in a horror writer’s repertoire to scare his readers and perhaps this works against him in that certain climatic moments are highlighted far in advance, robbing the reader of their impact at the crucial moment. If you’ve seen a film (or read a book) that is also set in a haunted house then you will know what is coming but Ransom’s writing is such that it is a treat to read anyway... (and certain climatic scenes are still very powerful and disturbing, especially right at the end)

What really made ‘The Birthing House’ stand out for me was Ransom’s approach to what leads to a haunting in an otherwise normal looking house. While there were traumatic events (long ago) which ultimately lead to a ghost taking up residence, it’s the experiences that Conrad brings to the house which unlock what’s inside. It turns out that events in Conrad’s past make him incredibly receptive to what has been lurking inside the house... This approach gives the reader a chance to get inside Conrad’s head and the glimpses we get (over the course of the book) reveal him as a character who’s probably in real need of therapy as events in his past influence the way he behaves towards his wife and the strange relationship that he embarks upon with the daughter of his neighbours. However, it’s hard not to feel a little sympathy for Conrad once you finally realise the root cause of his problem and that blind fate lead him to a house that wants the same thing... This makes the ending all the more poignant which, in turn, made reading it all the more unsettling as far as I was concerned.

You may think you’ve read ‘The Birthing House’ before and you would be half right, its tale of a haunted house and one man’s descent into madness did have me thinking ‘The Shining’... Once you get into it though, it’s clear that Ransom has taken the concept to a place where he has made it all his own. Very much recommended for fans of haunted house tales...

Eight and a Half out of Ten

The 'I can't believe the weekend went so quickly' link-up spectacular!

I've been out and about (doing all sorts) today and completely forgot to post anything here in the meantime... I'm in the middle of a few books right now (keep an eye open this week for what I've been reading) so here's a few links to what everyone else has been up to...

Adam takes it old school with his review of Brian Aldiss' Non Stop. You might also want to stop by his latest Shape of Things to Come article to see which computer games are worth looking out for this year...

Larry has some interesting looking Book Porn for us. I've had a couple of these come through the door and plan on getting to them soonish...

Tia has ambitious (and very cool) plans for a sci-fi/fantasy book blogger convention. Add your two cents worth over Here.

Blood of the Muse takes a Comic Break with the second part of Jim Butcher's 'Storm Front'.

Aidan showcases the absolutely gorgeous cover art for Jeff Vandermeer's Finch...

Dave Brendon has posted his Interview with Kate Elliott.

James has an update for us regarding the David Gemmell Award. Cheating is wrong people!

Gav has a promo post for one of my favourite authors. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on 'Thicker than Water'! :o)

Finally... The Book Swede is back and is kicking off 2009 with a review of 1984...

Hope you all had a great weekend! :o)

Multi-Author Signing Event! (Or, I'm going to spend far more money than I have and get myself into trouble...)

Just had this press release emailed to me this morning. I'm definitely going to be there and, if you're about in London on the 22nd of January, it would be great if you were too...

Nine Authors - One Massive Event
Thursday 22, January, 5:00PM - 7:00PM
Forbidden Planet London Megastore,
179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR

Come and discover a whole NEW kind of signing! At 5:00pm on January
22nd, Forbidden Planet 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London will be playing
host to: -

Joe Abercrombie
Alex Bell
Mark Chadbourn
David Devereux
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Tom Lloyd
Suzanne McLeod
Steven Savile
James Swallow

To celebrate the release of David’s new book EAGLE RISING, we welcome a host of science fiction and fantasy talent to one event – an event to bring writers and fans together and to promote interest in new and different kinds of fiction.

This is a NEW kind of signing, bringing the authors out from behind
their tables and giving their readers a chance to meet them and talk to them about their work. An array of fantastic books will be on hand to be picked up and signed – including works by every one of the writers present.

‘Shambling towards Hiroshima’ – James Morrow (Tachyon Press)

Hands up who liked the 1998 ‘Godzilla’ movie? Anyone? Oh… it looks like it’s just me then…
Despite film-makers seemingly trying to undermine their own creations (men in dodgy rubber suits, a lack of plot, Matthew Broderick…) there is still something ultimately cool about a Godzilla movie. When it boils down it the bottom line is that the guy in the rubber suit (or set of expertly rendered CGI imagery) is doing exactly what the cinema goers want to do themselves. Namely to stride out of the sea and lay waste to an entire city. I wouldn’t mind doing it…
Laws being what they are, rampaging through a city isn’t a wise move so we’re left living vicariously through film and books. ‘Shambling towards Hiroshima’ gives us a chance to sit in the protagonist’s head as he indulges in wanton destruction but it also gives us sobering food for thought once it’s over…

It’s 1945 and although the war is over in Europe there is no end to the battle in the Pacific Rim, the deadlock between American and Japanese forces comes at a cost of thousands of lives. B-Movie Star Syms Morley is well out of it, concentrating on his roles as the Frankenstein-esque Corpuscula and Kha-Ton-Ra the Living Mummy. Syms doesn’t realise it though but his acting talents will signal the direction of the war. The US military have come up with the ultimate biological weapon to turn the tide in the Pacific, gigantic mutant fire-breathing mutant iguanas that will flatten cities on the Japanese mainland. Morley’s role is to step into a rubber suit and become Gorgantis, starring in a film that shows the simulated destruction of a Japanese city. If the demonstration succeeds, the Japanese will surrender and thousands of lives will be spared. If the demonstration fails then the mutant lizards will be unleashed… Syms Morley must give the performance of his life.

‘Shambling towards Hiroshima’ is only a hundred and fifty eight pages long but still manages to find the time to be a comedy of errors (lesson: sex with a man in a rubber monster suit will always lead to the police being called), a commentary on the arms race and an insight into the mind of a man who ultimately finds that trying his best just isn’t good enough. One man cannot stop the march of history (even an alternate history such as this one) but his actions will affect the lives of many people.

Morrow cleverly fits the events of Project Knickerbocker around what was going on with the Manhattan Project and the war in the Pacific. You know that there are really no such thing as giant fire breathing lizards but… the military can be pretty secretive about what they get up can’t they? It’s a testament to Morrow’s concept, and his skill at blending fictional and real life events, that I was left thinking that something like this could have actually taken place during the war. I certainly wouldn’t have put it past the military to have had a go…

Most of the action takes place on a film set and the nature of things involved in shooting a film means that the pace of the book can sometimes drag a little. Not a good thing in such a short book. However, Morrow still manages to find time to give his reader plenty to think about.
The concept of ‘Iguanas of Mass Destruction’ is aired and a fledgling ‘Lizard Arms Race’ is born but dies relatively quickly (apparently, Hitler’s forces had their own ‘Lizard Programme’ but failed to breed them in time…) The nuclear arms race is parodied in the birth of the lizards Dagwood, Blondie and Mr Dithers. Other countries are breeding giant lizards so we need to as well. They can’t be controlled after they’re let loose but there’s a war to be won so by God we’ll use them!
As I mentioned, a lot is riding on Syms’ shoulders and Morrow shows us in stark detail what happens when the weight of history hangs heavy on a man’s shoulders. Syms’ gradual decline is sad to see, especially when you consider that there was nothing more that he could do.

A ‘Godzilla story’ wouldn’t be complete without some serious city bashing and we get to see plenty of this with Syms letting loose and discovering his inner monster (with a little bit a help from a gloriously over the top director). Syms gets to do what we all want to do and, for a moment, we get to see exactly what that means…

It’s early in the year to be saying things like this but I can see ‘Shambling towards Hiroshima’ being one of those books that’s in my thoughts for a long time to come. It’s a short read but it packs one hell of a punch. Keep an eye for it's release next month.

Nine and a Half out of Ten

P.S. Click Here for the publicity video on Youtube

‘The Ancient’ – R.A. Salvatore (Tor UK)

A few years ago, I started to hear lots of good things about R.A. Salvatore so I thought I’d give one of his books a go (not having read anything by him at the time). I can’t remember the name of the book, it was one of the ones with Drizzt in it, but I do remember that I put the book down (in fits of laughter) after coming across a dwarf named ‘Tred McKnuckles’. I didn’t pick the book up again, assuming that if all the character names were as bad as this then I wouldn’t be able to finish the book through the tears of laughter (and horror) running down my face.
It’s been a few years now since my last R.A. Salvatore ‘experiment’ and when I received a copy of ‘The Ancient’ I thought it was about time I gave him another go. I’m glad to say that ‘The Ancient’ shows an improvement in character names but there was one piece of dialogue, this time, which had me cringing. At least I finished the book this time round...

The events of ‘The Ancient’ take place in Salvatore’s world of Corona, a world where magic is found within certain gemstones and the established religion (a death cult) finds itself being pushed to the sidelines by a newer, gentler creed. This doesn’t sit well with the aforementioned death cult (the Samhaists) whose leader plots something truly awful in his palace of ice. Into this power struggle comes one Bransen Garibond; a highly skilled warrior who relies on gemstones to stop him falling prey to the affliction of ‘the Stork’. Bransen is tricked into fighting at the front lines of the Samhaist incursion but all he wants to do is return to his wife and continue his quest to free himself from his affliction. When the line is finally drawn, what will he do?

If you are really unlucky with a book you will come across things in the writing that do their level best to break the connection that you are trying to build with the story and, unfortunately, ‘The Ancient’ was one of these books for me. Salvatore’s insistence on describing Bransen’s sword as “fabulous”, at what felt like every opportunity, got boring very quickly and had me dreading coming across scenes where he featured. Come to think of it, there was something about Bransen that left me not looking forward to any of his scenes at all. As a character, he’s either too perfect or in the depths of a crippling illness so profound that we can’t see past it. These two polar opposites give us no idea if there’s any middle ground and what could be there.
Some of his dialogue also annoyed me, for this reason, but none more so then when he described himself (to a pirate captain) as an ‘independent rogue’... There isn’t enough time to go into all the reasons why I think this is an appalling piece of dialogue, suffice it to say that the world of Corona must be unique in it’s need to distinguish between ‘independent rogues’ and, erm... ‘retained rogues’? I don’t even know what the opposite of an ‘independent rogue’ is...

The story itself is a ‘stop/start’ affair which seems to involve a lot of getting characters all together before they can proceed with the finale. While some of the characters are fun to get to know (Cormack and the Powrie dwarves for example), the large distance that Bransen, and his family, has to travel really slows things down and left me with my attention wandering. There was enough there to keep me reading, and the promise of a climatic finale was delivered in some style, but I was left feeling that it had been too much of an effort to get there...

I’m glad I gave ‘The Ancient’ a go but only so I can say that I feel I’ve read enough Salvatore to know not to pick him up again (leave a comment if you think there’s a book of his that I would enjoy more...) This is one that’s maybe for fans only...

Five out of Ten

‘The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death’ – Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

When I first moved to London I took on a temp job updating, and closing down, files of people that had died in a particular London Borough and the local council were winding up their affairs. At least that’s what I thought at the time... It turned out that not only would I be looking at files but I would also be going into the houses of the (very) recently deceased to look for details of next of kin etc. One very hot July day, I was called upon to go into the house of a man who had been dead for about three weeks before anyone noticed the strange smell coming from his house, without a doubt the worst day of my working life... Reading ‘The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death’ gave me a real sense of déjà vu...

Charlie Huston has become one of a select group of authors where I will put down whatever I am currently reading to check out his latest book. This is primarily because of his excellent ‘Joe Pitt’ series but ‘The Shotgun Rule’ is also more than worth your time if you like crime fiction with a more than liberal dose of attitude. ‘Mystic Arts’ isn’t without its problems but its well worth a look...

A particularly traumatic event leads Webster Goodhue to quit his job as a teacher and swear never to ride the bus again. However, there’s only so much time anyone can reasonably get away with living rent free with your best friend and doing your level best to drive away all your other friends, it’s time Webster found himself a job. As luck would have it an opening suddenly appear with Clean Team, the people the police call if a stray dog has been hit by a train or a suicide ends up not being a clean cut as the victim intended. Soon enough, Webster finds himself knee deep in the excesses of humanity’s lowest moment but things are about to get worse still. Trauma cleaning is a booming industry and rival companies are not above a little sabotage in order to steal the trade. And then there’s the midnight call Webster gets from a client who has some ‘extra cleaning work’, in a motel, which she needs him to do for her. Where there’s a midnight rendezvous in a blood splattered motel room, gun toting cowboys will surely follow. What has Webster got himself into? And will he ever get himself out...?

‘The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death’ is one of those books that grabs you right from the first page and keeps a hold long after you’ve finished, that’s certainly what happened for me. The novel is brimming with a nervous energy that keeps the plot flowing and perfectly complements a cast of characters that are either on the wrong side of tracks or are teetering on the edge (numerous fire bombings, beatings and death by telephone should help you work out who’s who!) The story is told entirely from Webster’s perspective and Huston deftly treads a fine line between eliciting the reader’s sympathy, for a genuinely tortured soul, and making us wish that Webster would just shut the hell up and stop hurting the people who are trying to help him. As a result, Webster comes across as a well rounded character whose wisecracks very much maintain the reader’s interest over the course of the book.

‘The Mystic Arts’ sees Huston continue to write in that sparse (yet very intense) style where every word looks to have been carefully chosen for its place on the page. Not a word is wasted in a book that weighs in at a relatively slender three hundred and nineteen pages. However, as much as I enjoyed the book, I was left wishing that Huston had given himself a little more room to breathe and explore some of the supporting characters, showing us what makes them tick. We do get to find out more about Soledad, Webster’s midnight assignation, but only because the plot demands that everything be tied up satisfactorily (which it is, no doubt about that). The laconic Gabe is another character who is almost begging to have his story told. Sometimes it’s nice to find out more about certain characters (even if you don’t really need to) but, to be fair, Huston appears to be holding to the fact that you don’t always get the whole picture in real life...

‘Real life’ is certainly a term that can be applied to the events of ‘The Mystic Arts’. Shit happens and it often happens in a completely random way that no-one could have possibly foreseen. It’s like a comedy of errors but with the comedy taken out and replaced with the aforementioned fire bombings, beatings and death by telephone. I have to say though that I wasn’t too sure about what lay at the heart of the ‘Soledad plot’, people can place importance on the most unlikely things in real life but I was left wondering if perhaps Huston could have picked something better to smuggle than... I’ll leave you to find that out.

Despite this, ‘The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death’ is Huston staying firmly on top of his game. I reckon fans will love it and if you’re not a fan then this may be the book that converts you.

Nine out of Ten

Free Zombie Comics Online!

I've just noticed that Abaddon Books are offering up monthly free zombie comic strips on their website. They're only short pieces but they made me laugh (especially the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross one...) Click Here for a read...

‘The Mystery of Grace’ – Charles de Lint (Tor)

Have you ever picked up a book (by an author you’ve never read before) and found yourself thinking, “This is great! How is it that I’ve never given this author a go before?” That was me (way back in 2007) when I read ‘The Ivory and the Horn’, a collection of short stories set in de Lint’s fictional city of Newford. I won’t gush about it too much here (have a look at the Review to see what I thought) but it’s definitely worth a look. When ‘The Mystery of Grace’ came through the door, a couple of months ago, I pretty much dropped everything for a much anticipated dose of de Lint goodness. I was all set for a glowing review and then the nice people at Tor asked me if I wouldn’t mind holding off on that for a little while longer (what with the book not coming out until March this year, a fair point really...)
Well, it’s a little nearer the release date now so I had a quick re-read and my opinion hasn’t changed. ‘The Mystery of Grace’ is an excellent read that any fan of Charles de Lint should enjoy and is a great place for the first time reader to hop on and give the author a go.

Grace used to work at Sanchez Motor Works (customizing hot rods) but now her whole world consists of a few blocks around her small apartment building and John Burns, a man who loves her as much as she loves him. It’s a shame then that the timing of their meeting has made their relationship a whole lot more complicated than it should be. Both Grace and John have unfinished business that they must take care of before they can move on, whether it’s together or on their own...

‘The Mystery of Grace’ is a fairly short book (my advance copy is only two hundred and sixty nine pages long) and this was a good thing as I was so engrossed in what was going on that I can’t see myself ever surfacing from a longer version of the same story. Without giving too much away about the book the world that Grace inhabits is compelling to say the least, especially as de Lint begins to reveal little bits of the mystery that surrounds it. Grace’s world is full of familiar things but de Lint makes it clear that it’s a world that is also empty at the same time and this ‘background silence’ comes across in a powerful manner throughout the course of the book, leaving the reader in no doubt that there’s ‘otherworldly business’ going on.

This air of silence also serves to bring the characters to the fore and really makes them stand out from the page. In ‘The Mystery of Grace’, de Lint has taken the concept of ‘long distance relationships’ and put a spin on it that would defy the attempts of the most star crossed of lovers trying to get round it. Grace and John’s attitude towards this obstacle is remarkably pragmatic, maybe a little bit too much so given the nature of the problem they face. I wasn’t sure that this attitude was wholly plausible (although maybe I should wait and see how I would react in this situation before passing judgment...) but de Lint’s ‘everyday, down to earth’ portrayal of the two main characters negates this uncertainty. Instead we have two strong characters who know what they want and are prepared to do whatever is needed to get it. Their strength in the face of some truly tough obstacles makes for a love story that tugs on the heart strings.

Having finished the book it’s also interesting to look back and see how it is truly a ‘Mystery of Grace’. There’s some wordplay in the title which has ramifications for the story itself, adding an extra dimension that really had me thinking about it all after I put the book down. ‘The Mystery of Grace’ is a book that I’m sure I will come back to, in the future, to see what else I can find.

‘The Mystery of Grace’ is one of those books where I can quite honestly say that I’m really glad I took the time to give it a go. If this book is anything to go by then I can see myself finding more of de Lint’s work. One for all fans of urban fantasy.

Nine and a Quarter out of Ten

‘The King Beyond the Gate’ – David Gemmell (Orbit)

It’s that time of year again where I want to read something that will wake me up in the morning and take my mind off the fact that the weather is all grey and horrible. By a strange coincidence it’s also the time of year when voting in the David Gemmell awards is starting to gather pace (get over there now and vote!) and thus a ‘reading project’ was born... Over the course of the month I’ll be going back and re-reading/ reading for the first time some of David Gemmell’s impressively sized back catalogue. I won’t have time to read the whole lot, as there’s a lot of other good stuff to look at as well, but we’ll see how many books I can get through in the meantime.
First up is a ‘Christmas Present Book’ that I hadn’t got round to reading until now...

‘The King Beyond the Gate’ takes place one hundred years after the events of ‘Legend’ and it is a very different world that the reader is introduced to. The Drenai people are ruled by an insane emperor kept in power by ferocious were-beasts and a legion of sinister Dark Templars. The land is being bled dry by an ambitious (yet paranoid) emperor and any hint of rebellion is ruthlessly crushed.
One man’s quest for vengeance is about to become a lot more and will lead him to places where he thought his half-blood ancestry would never allow him to go, another man’s quest for spiritual meaning will lead him right back to the war that he sought to escape. One more man completes the group, he has lost everything but he will gain far more...

David Gemmell’s work is primarily concerned with notions of heroism, honour and redemption in his characters. As such, this approach can sometimes make his books feel a little repetitive and ‘The King Beyond the Gate’ fell into this trap as far as I was concerned. As far as these themes are concerned I felt like I’d read it all before in Gemmell’s other works but there is a strength of conviction behind the words that still makes it compelling reading. Reading ‘The King Beyond the Gate’ leaves the reader in no doubt that heroism isn’t about deeds but more about what’s going on for the person who does these deeds, honour is precious (and defines a person) and it is never too late to come back from the dark if you’ve got these first two things sorted. Things do become a bit polarised as a result (especially with the evil villains who have no hope of redemption) but there’s no doubting the strength of the message.

Where Gemmell really excels with ‘The King Beyond the Gate’, as far as I’m concerned, is his attention to his characters as well as what he puts them through over the course of the book. Each and every character has an equal amount of attention paid to them and Gemmell uses the little time he has (as there is a lot of other stuff happening at the same time) to really get inside their heads and show us why they act the way they do. This attention to detail made me appreciate all the more how important their goals actually were, the fate of a nation rides on their decisions but placing such decisions in the context of day to day survival makes it all the more poignant somehow.

Above all else though, Gemmell’s fight scenes are what really made this book for me. It doesn’t get any more serious than a matter of life and death and that is what ‘The King Beyond the Gate’ is right from the start. Gemmell’s attention to detail comes to the fore once again with no sword thrust or axe blow omitted from any of the bloody exchanges. And when a blow lands you feel it...

‘The King Beyond the Gate’ suffers slightly from ‘repetitive theme syndrome’ but still comes out fighting and gets more than a few hits in. Well worth a look and it’s ‘stand alone’ nature makes it a good one for the casual reader looking to give Gemmell a go.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

Competition Winners!

Thanks to everyone who entered the competitions that I ran over the course of Christmas Week. If the number of entries is anything to go by then some of the new releases should do very well!

Without further ado, the winners are...

'The Secret War' and 'The Horde of Mhorrer' (M.F.W Curran)

Stephen McNally, Limerick, Ireland

'Dragonfly Falling' (Adrian Tchaikovsky)

Daniel Miller, London, UK
Stephen Stewart, Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Chris Yearley, Heathcote, UK

'The Winter of the World Trilogy' (Michael Scott Rohan)

Jeff Timmers, Colorado, US

'Raven: Bloodeye' (Giles Kristian)

Belinda Yaxley, Tasmania, Australia
Judith Rachmani, Israel
Rahul Das, India

'The Ancient' (R.A. Salvatore)

Steven Kearney, Burnley, UK
Martien Siebers, Netherlands
Steven Van Bael, Belgium

'Twisted Metal' (Tony Ballantyne)

Yagiz Erkan, Cork, Ireland

'Twelve' (Jasper Kent)

Evangelos Evlogidis, Enfield, UK
Cecilia Goodfellow, Texas, US
Maria Crujo, Lisbon, Portugal

Well done guys, your books will be on their way very soon! :o)
Better luck next time everyone else, I've got a couple of ideas for competitions that I'd like to run so keep your eyes open... ;o)

The 'What books did you get for Christmas?' Post...

Over the next few days (or weeks) I'll be posting reviews of the books and DVDs that I found waiting for me under the Christmas tree and I thought that I'd use this post to turn the tables a little and find out what books etc you got and your thoughts so far...

So, what did you get? How far along are you with your Christmas reading? Are you reading something so cool that you think everyone should pick it up? On the other hand, did an elderly relative make a random purchase (because they know you like stuff with dragons in it) and you're now stuck reading something truly awful?

Tell me, and everyone else, right here! :o)

‘Star Wars, Jedi Academy: Leviathan’ – Kevin J. Anderson (Titan Books)

Kevin J. Anderson isn’t a name that has me rushing out to buy his latest book I have to say. However, way back in the day, I used to be a big fan of his ‘Jedi Academy’ trilogy. This was way back when I’d only just discovered that writers like Zahn and Anderson were continuing the Star Wars timeline; Zahn’s ‘Thrawn’ books have stood the test of time very well, Anderson’s work less so...
There was still enough of that nostalgia feeling however that when my Secret Santa gave me a copy of the ‘Jedi Academy: Leviathan’ graphic novel I was very interested to see what it was all about...

‘Leviathan’ collects the four issue mini-series (that’s what I’m assuming going by the number of pieces of original cover artwork at the back) telling the tale of apprentice Jedi, apparently they weren’t called Padawan back then, who are sent to the mining world of Corbos to investigate just exactly what has wiped out the colony there… The miners have woken something that should have stayed asleep and now the Jedi must deal with it…

And that is basically the plot in a nutshell. The length of the book (a mere 96 pages) doesn’t allow much else to happen other than a lot of scene setting about the state of the New Republic, which any Star Wars fan would know already, and an ‘evil threat’ that we don’t get time to find out about before it is dealt with. Anyone who has read the original ‘Jedi Academy’ trilogy will get to see some familiar faces but, again, there isn’t time or space for any of the characters to develop or grow. If you’re encountering these characters for the first time then you won’t have much time to find out what they’re all about…

On the bright side though, ‘Leviathan’ does offer up swashbuckling action in the best tradition of Star Wars (and Carascco’s artwork isn’t bad either) and is a fun read in that regard. It’s just a shame that there wasn’t more of it to flesh out aspects that come across as rather thin…

Six out of Ten

‘Ender’s Game’ – Orson Scott Card (Tor)

Orson Scott Card; author of a classic science fiction series, maker of comments that cause uproar on the net... or both? Up until now I couldn’t tell you one way or the other, regular visitors to the blog will know that my tastes swing more towards fantasy (with occasional excursions into horror) and, as such, science fiction generally takes a back seat in my reading. I’d never read anything by Orson Scott Card and, not knowing his work, never really felt compelled to get involved in discussion about the comments he is known to make. In the spirit of wanting to read outside my comfort zone however (and because I had been sent a copy of ‘Ender in Exile’ and I wanted to read ‘Ender’s Game’ first) I thought I’d give ‘Ender’s Game’ a go. This brings me back to my original question... I’m going to have to read a lot more of Card’s work before (and follow certain discussions online) before I can answer it one way or the other. What I can say though is that, if ‘Ender’s Game’ is anything to go by, this is a series that I might just have to keep a closer eye on... (Comments welcomed from anyone who has read more in this series!)

For anyone who hasn’t read this book already (and it feels like I am the only one who hasn’t) ‘Ender’s Game’ follows the fortunes of one Ender Wiggin latest entrant to ‘Battle School’, an institution where young children are taken at a very early age and trained to become the top military minds of the future. The need for these minds is urgent as the ominous shadow of an alien insect civilisation casts a shadow over the future of humanity...
Ender may be the perfect military genius everyone has been hoping for but he must make it through Battle School first. The students want to break him down so they can advance in his place and the military want to press him and find his breaking point. What (or who) is going to break first?

The long and short of it is that I had great fun reading ‘Ender’s Game’ and I’m glad I took the time to give it a go. The story itself is a fast paced yet strangely downbeat affair that accurately reflects the pressures of war and what people will do to make sure that they are on the winning side. As far as this goes, Card generally does a very good job of walking the fine line between condemning the military, for their treatment of Ender, and giving a ‘needs of the many outweigh those of the few’ justification for their actions. What Card effectively ends up doing is to sit firmly on the fence and present the facts for the readers to make their own minds up on the matter which I think is the way it should be.

Battle School, and what follows after graduation, is full of fast paced set pieces that show us what the children must go through on a daily basis as well as offering us a well placed look into Ender’s mind as he reacts to what is happening to him.
The battles themselves can be confusing at times (if the children don’t know which way is down then the reader can’t really be expected to know either) but carry the reader along so quickly that this isn’t too much of a problem. They’re also brimming with examples of innovation on the battlefield which show us just how gifted Ender is.
Ender is a gifted tactician but he is also only six when he first goes to Battle School and Card doesn’t let us forget this softer, more vulnerable side of his nature as Ender is put under increasing pressure. It is made clear that Ender is the ‘last great hope’ for humanity and, as such, it is easy to accept the things that he comes up with at such a young age. Strangely enough though, I found the side plot (involving Ender’s slightly older siblings) less believable, even though they share the same capabilities. I’m still not quite sure why I felt this way and will probably leave a comment below the post when I’ve figured this out...

Funnily enough, after having had a great time reading the book it was the ultimate payoff that left me feeling a bit deflated. Card spends the greater part of the book building up this relentless pressure on Ender only for the climax itself to pass with more of a whimper than a bang. While I can appreciate the way that Card leads us to expect something out of the ending, whilst planning to hit us with something completely different, it felt like he had lead us so far up the wrong path that the payoff was something of an anti-climax...

This wasn’t such a big deal though as I enjoyed enough of the book to let this one go as a small annoyance. ‘Ender’s Game’ is well worth a look and I’m hoping for more of the same from ‘Ender in Exile’...

Eight and a Half out of Ten

Forthcoming Releases in 2009

Click Here and then over Here for a more than comprehensive list of 2009 releases that are just what you are looking for.
Kudos to Adam and Larry for coming up with the goods! :o)

The Slightly Slimmer 'Happy New Year' Post!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2009 brings you everything that you want ;o)

You got the 'Big Fat Post' yesterday and seeing as the year is only a few hours old today's post will be a little shorter! ;o) There's lots to look forward to this year (for SFF fans) and my plan is to tell you all what I think about it right here. George R.R. Martin's 'A Dance with Dragons' is one to look forward to (I'm going to think positive and believe that it will be out this year) as is Rothfuss' 'The Wise Man's Fear'. Lynch's 'The Republic of Thieves', Joe Abercrombie's 'Best Served Cold' and R. Scott Bakker's 'The Judging Eye'. Will I be looking back, at the end of the year, all red faced that certain of these titles never made it onto the shelves? We'll have to wait and see...

Like I said, the plan is to be a voracious reader and share all my thoughts with you right here. One of my New Year's resolutions is to go back and re-read some of the older titles, on my book shelves, so keep an eye out for these. I'm also trying to get round to finishing some of the larger hardbacks from 2008 so we'll have to see how that goes...

In the meantime, what's coming up in January? I've got a couple of interviews outstanding that I'm going to chase up as well as some Christmas DVDs that I haven't watched yet. As far as reading goes, I've just finished 'Ender's Game' and will be posting a review tomorrow. I'm also going to be reading a few titles from David Gemmell's back catalogue seeing as the David Gemmell awards are now open for voting (which reminds me, I still need to vote...) After that, well... you'll have to wait and see :o)
I'm also working on a few competitions that will pop up when you least expect them, keep an eye out...

Have a great day!

Another Big Fat End of the Year Post...

Where did the year go? One minute it was there, I turn my back for a few seconds... and it's gone! And why doesn't a day spent at work go as quickly? Seriously, if anyone could tell me I'd be very grateful...

It's been a great year for the blog in terms of some of the stuff I got to have a look at as well as meeting new people (author interviews and readers who left comments next to the posts). Thanks to everyone who stopped by over the course of the year, I hope you liked what you saw and I'll do my level best to give you more of the same (and stuff that's even better hopefully!) in 2009.

Highlights? I love reading so in one sense the whole of 2008 has been a highlight as I've read so many cool books that I've really enjoyed. More on that in a bit... In terms of the blog itself though, I was very surprised (to say the least) when my review of 'Paul of Dune'(don't pick it up if you have any love at all for the original books) racked up an impressive 4,420 hits... That's almost enough to make me waver in my decision not to pick up another of these books! :o)

Anyway, back to those really cool books that I read. People have been posting their 'Best of 2008' lists and I've got in on the act over at The Book Smugglers and on the forums at SFFWorld. All of these books were great, as far as I was concerned, but I held a few back for inclusion here instead; mostly because these were the ones I enjoyed the most and wanted to gush about them here! :o)
Ready? Here goes...

I was hard pressed to choose a favourite read for 2008, R. Scott Bakker's The Judging Eye (look out for it next month) and Matthew Stover's Caine Black Knife came close but, in the end, it was this book that really did it for me...



Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings was nothing less than a superb ending to a superb trilogy, if you haven't read any of these books then that should be your first New Year's resolution for 2009 ;o) I'm looking forward to seeing what Joe comes up with next in 'Best Served Cold'.

As for the rest of them...

'Ravensoul' (James Barclay) - I didn't think I'd ever see the Raven again, after 'Demonstorm', but James brings them back in style. I couldn't put this one down.

'Shadowbridge' (Gregory Frost) - A gorgeously realised world of stories within stories within... you get the idea. This one had me gasping for the sequel 'Lord Tophet' before I had even finished it.

'The Tower of Fear' (Glen Cook) - A slightly older book than the rest but clear evidence of Cook writing at the top of his game.

'Bloodheir' (Brian Ruckley) - A worthy sequel to 'Winterbirth' that promises good things for the concluding volume 'Fall of Thanes'.

'Sly Mongoose' (Tobias Buckell) - It only needs three words to tell you why this particular book caught my eye (and is damn cool)... Zombies in Space! ;o)

'Iron Angel' (Alan Campbell) - I wasn't too keen on the first book, 'Scar Night', but 'Iron Angel' made me look at things in a completely new way. I'm looking forward to 'God of Clocks'.

'Order 66' (Karen Traviss) - If only George Lucas had got Karen Traviss involved when he was filming the prequels, that's all I'm saying...

'Agent to the Stars' (John Scalzi) - I don't think I read a bad book by Scalzi, this year, but this was the one that made me laugh the most.

That's all from me this year, work will be finishing soon and then I'll be off for dinner, drinks and fireworks with friends. Whatever you do, have a great one too :o)