The ‘Big Fat End of the Year’ Post!

It doesn’t seem like all that long ago that I was thinking to myself, “how’s about doing a book review blog…” All of a sudden it’s the end of the year and loads of cool stuff has happened. Whether you’re a first time viewer or a family member who has been coerced (into reading every single post I’ve ever written) into paying the site a visit I’d like to say thanks for stopping by, it was good to see you ;o) I hope you liked it, the aim for next year is to do the same thing all over again but even better this time!
Without turning this into some weird ‘awards acceptance speech’ (which it isn’t!) I just want to say a quick thanks to Pat and Robert for all the advice they gave me when I was getting started, cheers guys! ;o)

Anyway…

2007 has been a great year for sci-fi and fantasy, hasn’t it? I think it has, I’ve read some real rubbish but I’ve also read some great stuff that has really stayed with me afterwards. What’s that? You want to know what my ten favourite books have been from this year? Well… alright then! There’s a list below but you can also head over to the SFFWorld forums, for their end of year review, where I offered up a similar list. This one will be a bit different, purely because the SFFWorld lists were split up into sci-fi and fantasy so I had to choose from these genres. Fantasy was more my thing this year so you’ll see a bit more of that in this list! Also, this is a list of books I read this year so I’m not being picky about whether or not a book has been published.

Here goes…
Before They are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie (More of the same, but twice as good: just what I wanted and my Fantasy novel of the Year)

Acacia – David Anthony Durham (There was a lot of hype about this and having read the book I’d fully agree with it although I didn’t get on with all of the characters… My pick for Debut of the Year, Patrick Rothfuss may have something to say about that but I never got around to reading ‘The Name of the Wind’)

Dark Hollow – Brian Keene (I can’t say enough good stuff about Brian Keene, quite simply my favourite horror writer right now. I think this is the best book he has written, look out for it in 2008)

Auralia’s Colours– Jeffrey Overstreet (This was a real surprise find and a magical read, keep an eye open for this one as well)

Reaper’s Gale – Steven Erikson (Because I’m a big Malazan fan and this book had almost the level of emotional resonance as Memories of Ice. A book that leaves you gasping at the end.)

Black Man – Richard Morgan (I’d really gone off Richard Morgan’s more recent stuff but this book grabbed me by the throat and pulled me back in. I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of Morgan’s foray into fantasy…)

Inside Straight – George RR. Martin (I’d never read any Wild Cards books before and Inside Straight is forcing me to think again about this. Nine authors writing like one ‘uber-author’ is a real treat to read and I don’t think I’ve ever been so engrossed in the outcome of a reality TV show… Recommended reading, it’s that simple)

No Dominion/Half the Blood of Brooklyn - Charlie Huston (I couldn’t pick between these two books so I picked them both! This is how a vampire novel should be…)

The Lees of Laughter’s End – Steven Erikson (Another entry for Mr Erikson. He doesn’t just write epic fantasy, he does comedy too and it’s bloody funny)

The Ivory and the Horn – Charles de Lint (I don’t read a lot of urban fantasy but I will be looking for more books by Charles de Lint. Stunning stuff)

So there you have it, my list for 2007. What will 2008 bring? I’ll be sporting a rather fine hangover and frostbite from standing in Trafalgar Square tonight… Have a good one, whatever you’re doing, and I’ll see you next year!

‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ – Charlie Huston (Del Rey Books)

Like Pat, I’ve read a few books recently that were below par and I decided that I wanted to finish off the year on a high with something that I knew I’d enjoy. I wasn’t up for a ‘re-read’ though so I was a happy chap when Charlie Huston’s latest ‘Joe Pitt’ novel came through the door just after Christmas Day. The ‘Joe Pitt’ books have been a real find for me this year so what better way to round the year off?
The series is set in a Manhattan divided into areas owned by various Vampyre clans. There’s only so much room (and blood) to go round though so when Vampyres from the outer boroughs start arriving on the island there’s a big problem straight away. Enter Joe Pitt, former Vampyre private investigator and now security chief for the Society. A trip into Brooklyn, to meet up with a clan of freak show Vampyres, wouldn’t be such a big deal for Joe if the cause of the troubles weren’t waiting outside the carnival tent in an ambush. Even this kind of development is all in a night’s work for Joe but he has other troubles to take care of. Evie, his girlfriend, is seriously ill and this is forcing him to consider actions that he never wanted to take. Not only this but the clan structure in Manhattan is starting to crumble. It’s going to be another busy night for Joe…
Having read all of that you’d be excused for thinking that ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ is one of those monster reads that weigh you down. Think again, this baby is a mere two hundred and twenty three pages long. Make that two hundred and twenty three pages of gangster Vampyres being very cool (in a New York way) while double crossing and kicking the crap out of each other. No-one can be trusted, even if you known them all your life, and it’s this uncertainty that kept me reading just to see how things panned out in the end. As well as this, the dilemma that Joe faces regarding Evie makes for compelling reading. He could cure her but then she would be a Vampyre too, does he even have the right to do this? This sub-plot does reach a conclusion of sorts but it was definitely anything that I’d seen coming, I really felt for Joe when he saw what went down in the Enclave warehouse…
When I reviewed ‘No Dominion’ (Book Two); I said that Huston didn’t really deliver anything new, not that he needed to… ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ sees Huston shake everything up and take things to a new level, there’s a real sense of progression to the overall story and the final paragraphs suggest that the next instalment could be apocalyptic to say the least… One cautionary note though would be that even though Huston does fill in the gaps you'll get more out of this book if you've already read the first two.
Some people have mentioned excessive swearing in these books. Apart from one exception I never really noticed this as an issue, all part of the atmosphere as far as I was concerned.
Having finished ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ all I can say is that (in my opinion) Charlie Huston has done it again and written a book that kept me hooked right from the opening line. It’s a real close call between Huston and Mike Carey as to who’s writing the best supernatural fiction right now.
I couldn’t fault this book but I have to say that I am a pretty big fan ;o) I will now start waiting for the next instalment…

Ten out of Ten


PS Larry beat me to it with his review, if you fancy another viewpoint then have a click Here

‘Savage’ – Richard Laymon

Everyone likes an unsolved mystery and perhaps one of the most mysterious unsolved mysteries is the case of Jack the Ripper. Everyone knows what Jack got up to (so I’m not going to go into detail here) and the circumstances surrounding his activities have somehow struck a chord in the imagination of many people across the world. This killer is the subject of books, films and various conspiracy theories (he even appears in an episode of ‘Babylon 5’). Was Jack a psychotic member of royalty (hence his murders remaining unsolved)? Was he an alien trying, unsuccessfully, to make contact with humans? (Ok, I made that one up but I bet it had you thinking!) One of the theories as to why the murders suddenly stopped is that Jack left Britain for a new life in America. This is where Richard Laymon steps in and offers the reader a tale of what might have happened…
Fifteen year old Trevor Bentley really should have made his way home when he was told to. Instead, circumstance result in him cowering underneath Mary Kelly’s bed as the Ripper kills her. Instead of counting himself lucky not to have been noticed, Trevor sets out to stop the Ripper once and for all on a journey that will take him out of London and finish in a cave just outside Tombstone Arizona.
‘Savage’ initially began with a lot of promise. With foggy London streets, an evil killer and a plucky young hero the stage seemed set for a real atmospheric tale of horror. I was completely sucked in and ready for more. The journey to America was handled well with lots of tension about the outcome but when the action finally switched to America things started to go downhill rapidly. You see, Jack got such a head start on our hero (can’t really blame Trevor for this, he fell in love…) that it took most of the book to finally catch up with him. When we finally get to the showdown it’s over and done with within a few pages and that left me feeling kinda cheated. The greater part of the story then is a rite of passage tale as Trevor adapts to life in America. It makes for an interesting read although Laymon has a habit of killing anyone who looks like they might be holding back Trevor from his quest, sometimes people just go their separate ways you know…
As good a ‘western’ tale as this was (and it worked pretty well in this vein) I couldn’t escape the feeling that ‘Savage’ was meant to be a tale of horror and it just wasn’t working like this. Maybe this was just me judging the book on the author’s reputation and getting it wrong but I was still left feeling disappointed when I reached the end. A book that oozed potential but failed to deliver.

Four out of Ten

Movie! ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’

Everyone I’ve spoken to seems to have read Diana Wynne Jones’ ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ at a very young age. In fact, I suspect that I may be the only person in the world who has never read the book at all (please leave a comment if you haven’t read the book either and ease my feelings of loneliness!) However, thanks to the great present buying skills of my wife I can now move firmly into the camp of ‘people who have seen Hayao Miyazaki’s anime version’. Not to put too fine a point on it, it was great.
For those of you who don’t know the story, Sophie is a hat maker who is transformed into a 90 year old woman after getting involved in an ongoing dispute between the Wizard Howl and the wicked Witch of the Waste. Sophie is not the sort to take this lying down and sets out to have her youth restored to her; she finds refuge in Howl’s moving castle and her journey begins. A tale of warfare, love and redemption awaits the viewer…
The first thing you notice about ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ is the absolutely stunning artwork that goes into pretty much every frame of the film. There is so much to see I actually got lost in the amount of detail on the screen and every so often had to remind myself that these were only pictures on my TV screen. I don’t know much about animation but it’s really good to see that in the days of CGI animation there’s still someone somewhere who’s really gone for broke using more traditional methods. I loved the steampunk imagery in particular.
Having watched all the pretty pictures for a while I suddenly realised that there was also a story underpinning all this and that was really good as well. Any character of note (and one character that you wouldn’t have expected) appears to have had a curse placed on them and the story follows their efforts to achieve some measure of peace. Howl also has issues of cowardice to deal with and even the wicked Witch of the Waste elicited a measure of sympathy once I got to know her better. In short, I ended up really getting behind everyone and wanting things to end happily (especially when it became apparent that the rulers of the kingdom had ulterior motives that crossed purposes with our heroes). As well as this, some of the imagery from the ongoing war does tug on the heartstrings…
Like I said, I’ve never read the book but there were points in the film where things felt glossed over and not explained fully. The ending was a bit rushed as well and I’m pretty sure that the circumstances behind one ‘revelation’ were not mentioned earlier on. These are really tiny niggles though when set against a film that I fell in love with when I saw it. I’ll be watching ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ again and I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with it. I may even have to go out and buy the book…


Nine out of Ten

‘Doctor Who – The Clockwise Man’ – Justin Richards (BBC Books)

If there’s one thing I’ll always remember about Saturday nights, as a kid, it was getting my regular fix of Dr. Who on BBC1. When the BBC finally took it off the air way back in 1989 (I think) I was sad to see it go but at least I still had all the books and ready access to a friend’s video collection… ;o) Now the BBC have seen the error of the ways and Saturday nights is all about Dr. Who again. This time however I have no access to a television but Father Christmas very kindly dropped off a stack of new Dr. Who books!
‘The Clockwise Man’ sees the Doctor (in his ninth incarnation) travel, with Rose Tyler, to see the Great Exhibition in London 1924. The fallout from the Russian Revolution can still be felt but it is another revolution (a lot further away) that will have the Dr and Rose struggling to solve the mystery of a mysterious painted lady and a cat that cannot be killed. The fate of London itself is at stake…
The original Dr. Who books were aimed at younger readers and ‘The Clockwise Man’ is no different. It is short and sweet as well as being fairly simple to get to grips with. Having said that though, this was just what I was after on Boxing Day! Despite the style that it’s written in I think it has something to offer an older reader, even if it’s just someone looking to rediscover a hint of their childhood (I’ll shamefacedly put my hand up here…). It’s an entertaining read that had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing as the overall plot was gradually revealed. As is the case with pretty much all Dr. Who stories, there’s a truly evil villain and a monstrous scheme to be foiled. The Ninth Doctor was one of my favourites (in the TV) so it’s good to see him portrayed so accurately in the book.
The year is winding down and I’m doing the same with my reading (it will start all over again next year though!). I’m after simple stuff that will keep me entertained and ‘The Clockwise Man’ is a great way to while away a couple of hours. It’s also a nice way to get back in touch with the nine year old part of me that gets bored doing grown up stuff ;o)

Seven out of Ten

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Hope you all had a good one, I certainly did ;o) Good food, great company and a veritable stack of DVDs to get through before I go back to work. Life is good right now and I hope you all feel the same.
Happy Holidays everyone!

‘The Devil’s Plague’ – Mark Beynon (Abaddon Books)

Christmas is with us once again and seeing as I have two weeks off work I feel like I’ve drunk far too much already… What I’m after then is a book where it doesn’t matter if I fall asleep halfway through. Something that I don’t have to think about too much, a little bit of fun that I can put down if called upon to do a last minute dash to the supermarket to pick up milk. Step forward Mark Beynon and Abaddon Books’ latest offering in the ‘Tomes of the Dead’ series…
‘The Devil’s Plague’ is an alternate history of the English Civil War but with a supernatural twist. Cromwell’s army is victorious but the devilish Kryfangan cavalry are bought at the cost of Cromwell’s soul. And it doesn’t stop there; every soldier that dies under the hellish onslaught comes back as a ravenous zombie! War is brewing between the two armies of the undead and only a King in exile and a troupe of actors stand any chance of stopping them...
‘The Devil’s Plague’ is another great offering from Abaddon and a good example of how much story you can pack into just over two hundred pages. Although there are some ‘flashbacks’ that repeat stuff the reader has already been told what you mostly get is a liberal dose of action, suspense and gore. The story is mostly linear in plot although there are a couple of twists here and there; certainly enough to keep me interested. There’s also a real ‘gothic’ feel to the horror that seems to be in keeping with that point in history. Talking of the history, it’s mentioned a few too many times that it’s the aftermath of the English Civil War (at least it was for me anyway). We only need telling once…
Despite these minor niggles though, ‘The Devil’s Plague’ is a very entertaining read and would probably do nicely as a stocking filler. It’s not one to generate hours of intense discussion but it is one for whiling away a few hours in between gaps in the Christmas TV schedule ;o) The teaser for ‘I, Zombie’ (due June 2008) look interesting as well…

Seven and a Half out of Ten

'The Doomsday Machine' - Catherine Webb (Atom Books)

After finishing 'The Metatemporal Detective' I was in the mood for more tales of nefarious goings on in dank alleyways being solved by heroic detectives. I was also in the mood for something that had a little hint of the supernatural and it seemed that Catherine Webb's new book had it all there for me. Unfortunately it wasn't to be...
As fans will already know, Horatio Lyle is a man of science in the London of 1865. He is also an occasional special constable of the sort that is known to save the world from all sorts of menaces and 'The Doomsday Machine' sees him fight to save the magical Tseiqin (a race of people with green eyes) from an act of genocide...
I got this much from the blurb and the first couple of chapters, a crafty look at the last couple of pages shows that everyone appears to live happily ever after. I didn't read the big bit in between though.
Why's this? Well, I never got into Sherlock Holmes and 'The Doomsday Machine' seemed to be turning out to be much the same kind of thing (with added mystical bits). I'm not interested in a detective smugly explaining why he's right all the time and I'm certainly not after a gradual meander through suspects and clues leading up to a final conclusion. I'm after something a bit more (well, much more) snappy than that, especially now it's Christmas and I've got a lot more time to really get into what I'm reading. I want gunfights, car chases and cackling villains but I wasn't interested in seeing if I could get far enough to find any. The last thing I wanted to find was another 'pick pocket with a heart of gold' as Lyle's companion...
Don't get me wrong, I think there's a lot here to recommend this book to anyone who's either a fan of Webb or into this type of book. The subject matter wasn't interesting me so I stopped reading, simple as that ;o)

‘The Metatemporal Detective’ – Michael Moorcock (Pyr Books)

It’s always a big deal when Michael Moorcock has a new book published. I don’t know enough to name all the big hitters who have influenced the development of the fantasy genre but you can bet anything you like that Moorcock’s name will be in there somewhere. His latest offering hearkens back to the labyrinthine ‘moonbeam roads’ of the Multiverse and at the same time is a homage to the pulp fiction he used to read as a child.
Seaton Begg and his assistant ‘Taffy Sinclair’ work for the Metatemporal Investigation Department, a top secret British Home Office section that investigates crime across the dimensions. ‘The Metatemporal Detective’ recounts some of Begg and Sinclair’s exploits across dozens of alternate worlds where they meet people whose names will sound strangely familiar… At the bottom of each case however is the notorious albino Zenith, a master criminal with an ulterior motive behind everything that he does…
‘The Metatemporal Detective’ manages to capture perfectly the ‘pulp feel’ of the authors that Moorcock has affection for. Hard-bitten detectives, beautiful women, gun fights and car chases sit within these pages and some of the double crossing kept me guessing right up until the end of each story. Some of the conclusions that Begg comes to aren’t fully explained but this seems to enhance his character rather than detract from the story. I thought there was also a real sense of the ‘old British colonial supremacy’ running throughout and this made an interesting counterpoint to some of the more hard-bitten elements. It seems that those ‘pesky foreigners’ can’t get anything right without British help, this is in keeping with the tone that Moorcock is aiming for but I think people would have to bear this in mind when reading otherwise it could come across as faintly patronising.
What is also special about ‘The Metatemporal Detective’ is the way that Moorcock interweaves figures from our history into his mythos, grounding the reader in the idea of ‘alternate realities’and also using these names as a means of passing some kind of social commentary or judgement. When this works it works really well, introducing characters such as Einstein (and even Hitler) shows the reader that this is an alternate reality of Earth and gives them something to hold onto. However I found that a couple of the characters Moorcock chose to make ‘comments’ about were a little too ‘recent’, in our history, and the stories almost came across as being merely vehicles for Moorcock to have his say. On the whole the stories were all of a similar quality (good) but personal preference took control and there were some I enjoyed more than others. ‘The Mystery of the Texas Twister’ was perhaps my least favourite but I really enjoyed ‘The Pleasure Garden of Felipe Sagittarius’ and ‘The Girl who killed Sylvia Blade’.
All in all, a very entertaining read that made my daily commute go very quickly. A good one for fans, who are looking for their favourites, as well as the casual reader who may be looking to try Moorcock for the first time.

Eight out of Ten

Movie! ‘Flight of the Living Dead’ (2007)

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that one of my favourite things is the humble zombie. Generally to be found in many places, it’s not often (if at all) that you come across one, or more, in an aeroplane. Until now that is… Knowing how much I love zombie films my wife bought me this as an early Christmas present (I love early Christmas presents!), she was out last night so I settled down with a big plate of chips for an hour and a half of zombie gore!
The plot is pretty simple; a plane load of passengers must fight for their lives when a zombie (locked up in the cargo hold by a criminal scientist) escapes and starts to eat/infect people. If this wasn’t bad enough, the survivors must somehow stop the plane being shot down (the US government know what’s on board and don’t want it to escape)…
Does this sound more than a little like another film involving people trapped on a plane with scary stuff going on? Funny that… I’m actually having trouble finding out which of these two films came first so it may just be a coincidence…
Having watched ‘Flight of the Living Dead’ it’s plain to see why this went straight to DVD and never made it into the cinemas. Once you get past the gore effects the rest of the special effects are ropey to say the least and I really don’t know why the film makers felt the need to do ‘freeze frame’ shots of the zombie attacks. Onto the story itself… Being a fan of sci-fi, fantasy etc I really appreciate how important it is to be able to suspend disbelief while I’m watching or reading something. However, when a zombie survives being sucked into a jet engine (potentially one of the greatest ‘zombie deaths’ ever) then a little part of me thinks ‘hang on…’ And how is a group of renegade scientists able to evade the CIA while lugging a dirty great ‘crate of zombie’ about? And how did they manage to get it onto the plane? And why did no-one wonder why an armed guard was needed in the cargo hold? Too many loose ends are never good…
But you know what? I ended up really enjoying this film. It was almost as if ‘Flight of the Living Dead’ acknowledged its weaknesses and played to them instead of trying to cover them up. Coupled with lashings of death and gore it becomes surprisingly good. You know what’s going to happen but the fun lies in getting to that point and there are lots of tense moments along the way that made me jump. Plenty of ‘amusing zombie deaths’ are a staple for any zombie film and ‘Flight’ is no exception, look for the ‘death by golf club’ and ‘death by umbrella’ scenes! :o) You also get to find out how one zombie can take out an F-15 jet…
‘Flight of the Living Dead’ makes no apologies for what it is and benefits as a result. Give it a go if you like zombie films…

Eight out of Ten

'Twelve Books of Christmas!' - The Final Chapter...

Well, we're getting to that time of December where the mail slows down to an absolute crawl so I reckon it's about time to announce the final four winners in my 'Twelve Books of Christmas' competition...
Without further ado, the lucky folks are...

Neville Thompson, Gauteng, South Africa
James Long, Lancashire, UK
Rachel Dunne, Holmen, US
Mark Chitty, Caernarfon, Wales

Guys, your books are sat in my desk drawer right now and will be on their way this afternoon. Happy reading!
Thanks as well to everyone who took part this time round, I've really enjoyed doing this particular competition and it's safe to say that will be more 'Mystery Book Giveaways' in the future!

‘A Sword From Red Ice’ – J.V.Jones (Orbit Books)

It’s been a few years since the last instalment of ‘The Sword of Shadows’ series and it’s felt like it’s taken more than a few years to read ‘A Sword from Red Ice’! There’s a lot of catching up to do which means that there’s a lot of story to be retold and many familiar faces to revisit…
The first two books set up some pretty elaborate plot threads and these are continued with varying degrees of closure. Ash March continues to discover her powers, as the ‘Reach’, but must break free of a trap that is sprung around her. While this is happening, our ‘hero’ Raif Severance fights long and hard to prove to himself that he is capable of keeping true to just oath (having broken all others). His journey will take him in search of a sword that will help protect his people and fight against the menace from the Rift… It’s not just all about Raif and Ash though; we get to meet Vaylo Bludd, Raina BlackHail and Marafice Eye amongst others.
While this book was, on the whole, an enjoyable read it was also hard going and a real chore in places. In fact I almost gave up on it in several places, which was a shame as I’d really been looking forward to it. The ‘Sword of Shadows’ books are one of those series that demands your full attention and does an exceptional job of placing the reader right in the middle of the story. ‘A Sword from Red Ice’ is no exception. I really felt that I was there questing with Raif or sharing Vaylo Bludd’s struggle to protect his grandchildren. Some of the battles are visually stunning (the Siege of Ganmiddich for starters) and it makes for great reading that a skirmish between small groups receives the same level of attention as a fight between thousands. For such a large book there is a strong sense of progression and Jones is not afraid to send her story down dark paths in order to get the results she desires. I’m looking forward to the next chapter on the strength of this book.
So why did I have such trouble finishing this book? Two reasons. As I’ve already said, this is a thick book with plenty to get through and take on board. It felt at times as if Jones felt the need to tell everyone’s story to make up for the time it took to publish this book. There were times when I got lost trying to keep track of everyone, especially when you don’t see them for a couple of hundred pages. One character only appeared in the second and final chapters and I completely forgot about him for the rest of the time. It was almost like he had been placed there just to remind us he was still around. Because of things like this, the story sometimes felt unwieldy and difficult to get into. The other reason is more down to my personal tastes. In a book containing multiple points of view you’re never going to like every single one. I couldn’t stand the chapters about Effie Severance, they didn’t serve any purpose for me and just felt like they were markers so we wouldn’t forget about her. These chapters were the main reason why I kept putting the book down and reading other stuff.
I think ‘A Sword from Red Ice’ is a transitional novel that bridges a lot of gaps and will feel like a more cohesive read when the next book in the series is released. I enjoyed it but there were some particularly frustrating elements that, on occasion, spoilt it for me. Like I said though, I’m still looking forward to the next book in the series.

Seven out of Ten (just that little bit too good to be a ‘Six’)

New 'Wild Cards' Website!

I read 'Inside Straight' a couple of weeks ago and would rank it as one of my favourite books this year (and one to look out for in 2008). I'm completely new to the series and want to find out more, so where do I go? There are loads of 'Wild Cards' sites to be found on the net but only one official one where the series contributors are getting involved.
Want to know more? Have a click Here... Want to know even more? There's a newsletter that you can sign up for as well ;o)

Just got back from Plymouth and I've been catching up on...

These amazing links from my favourite bloggers...

Pat has given us his top ten speculative fiction reads that were published in 2007. He also shows us the cover art for the PS Publishing edition of 'Return of the Crimson Guard'...

The Book Swede wraps up two of his competitions in a blaze of bribery and pictures of Will Smith...

Fantasy Book Critic is off on his holidays but has left a little message and promises to update when he can...

Adam also has an update but doesn't seem to be going on holiday anytime soon!

The Deckled Edge is in the middle of a house move but still finds time to tell us what's what on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Remy has the trailer for 'Lost' (Season 4). I still need to watch seasons 1-3...

Tia is reading one of my personal favourites from this year...

But what am I doing? Well, I've sworn a mighty oath that I must finish 'A Sword from Red Ice' before I read anything else. I'm just over halfway through at the moment... I've also got a pretty cool looking zombie film that will be blogged about in the next couple of days...
Have a great week guys!

What's your breaking point?

If you've seen me posting in various 'Whats the last book you read' threads then you'll know that I've been reading 'A Sword from Red Ice' (J.V.Jones) for what seems like an interminably long time. It's a book that's infuriating because although it's a good read (and worth the wait) it seems to be designed with the specific intention of sporadically boring me to tears... It's a problem with 'multiple point of view' books that the reader will find at least a couple of characters that they just can't stand, I've found mine and they keep popping up to annoy me. I find these particular chapters pointless, and doing nothing to advance the plot, and I get to the point where I think 'why am I reading this?' Just as I've decided to put the book down though, along comes a chapter about someone I'm interested in reading more on. I'm back into the book but even then part of me is dreading turning over the page for fear that the next chapter will be about someone I hate... I feel like a yo-yo with all this swinging backwards and forwards between good and bad!
This got me thinking about the point where I just snap and put a book down never to be picked up again, I'm talking about books in general not just 'A Sword from Red Ice'. Normally I'll read anything pretty much the whole way through but there are occasions when I decide that life is too short and stop reading something that I just know is never going to get any better. My recent foray into 'The Charon Covenant' is a good example of this, I'm never going to finish a book where it just looks as if the editor never bothered to get involved. Certain of Laurell K. Hamilton's books have also shown me that I'm never going to get far with a book where plot is almost incidental and sex is prominent...
What about you though? Do you always read a book the whole way through or is there a point where you just think, "The hell with this!" and throw it in the bin? What's your breaking point?

‘Martin Martin’s on the Other Side’ – Mark Wernham (Random House)

I’ve been manfully struggling to get through ‘A Sword from Red Ice’ these past couple of weeks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a good read overall (about halfway through now) but every so often a chapter pops up where I read a couple of pages and suddenly start compiling a list of all the housework that needs doing… To counteract this I’ve been taking a break, from ‘A Sword from Red Ice’, to read other stuff as well and one of these other books was ‘Martin Martin’s on the Other Side’. A sure-fire contender for ‘most cumbersome book title’ it’s also a pretty cumbersome read that poses more questions than it answers but, surprisingly, it’s pretty good fun as well.
Jensen Interceptor, ‘ace government spy’, is tasked with infiltrating the cult of the ‘Martin Martinists’, a group dedicated to exulting the life of a dead twentieth century TV psychic. Through his investigation Jensen will discover that Martin Martins may be dead but he’s still very active... It’s not often that I’m able to paraphrase a novel quite so succinctly. In this case it’s partly because the plot is so convoluted that it’s impossible to say too much without giving the game away. Given how intricate the plot was I was impressed at the way Wernham had tied almost everything together by the end (I say ‘almost’ as there were things were never fully explained). The character of Jensen isn’t particularly bright and is manipulated by all and sundry; by the end he isn’t entirely sure what just happened and (as a result) neither are we. This makes the story infuriating to follow but at the same time intrigued me enough to want to re-read this at some point in the future.
The main reason that the plot can be so easily outlined is that, for most of the book, it takes second place to Wernham’s musings on government and what it must do to stay in control of it’s people. There’s some pretty shrewd comments made in this vein, perhaps nothing that we didn't already know but worthwhile nonetheless. Given how stupid Jensen can be, much has to be explained to him and some people may find that they’re being spoon fed information when they don’t need to be. Other people (and I was one of them) will be grateful that things are made clear. Wernham also has a lot of fun with the language that Jensen uses, a method of speech that anyone from London will recognise although there are a few extras thrown in. Initially it’s hard to follow but it does get easier as the story progresses. It’s a useful way to get inside Jensen’s head but sometimes proves to be a bit of a distraction from the story itself.
The blurb compares ‘Martin Martin’s’ style to that of classics like ‘1984’. I don’t think it’s quite at that stage but the final chapter does have Orwellian overtones…
‘Martin Martin’s on the Other Side’ was a difficult book to stick with but I ended up getting quite a lot out of it. I think this is a promising debut from Wernham and I’d be interested to see what he comes up with next.

Seven out of Ten

In the words of the man himself, "An Embuggerance"

Terry Pratchett has left a note on paulkidby.com saying that the 'phantom stroke' that he suffered earlier this year was in fact a very rare form of Alzheimers that he has since been diagnosed with.
Blogger is refusing to let me add links today so I'm including the main body of the text below,

"Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".
We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry."

Alzheimers is a horrible thing to happen to anyone so fair play to Terry for keeping a little perspective on it at the moment. Good luck to both him and his family.

The Return of… ‘Mystery Book Giveaway!’

Another week and four more people have books headed their way, these lucky folks are…

Peta Banks, Norwich, UK
Sarah Heacox, Los Angeles, USA
Lindsey DeLallo, Plymouth (MN), USA
Nazma Bhaijee, London, UK

Happy Reading and Happy Christmas you guys! :o)
For those of you who missed out this time, don’t worry. There’s still one more batch of books to be sent out to four lucky winners… That goes for anyone else who’s only just heard of this competition. Want in? Just drop me an email with your mailing address and the sort of stuff that you’re into. I’ll be announcing the final set of winners next Wednesday…

‘House Infernal’ – Edward Lee

I always have trouble remembering that the ‘author endorsements’, on other author’s books, are as subjective as what I’m writing here. So when the front cover of ‘House Infernal’ told me that Edward Lee was ‘The living legend of literary mayhem’ and that I should ‘read him if [I] dare’ I was really up for reading this book. After all, if Richard Laymon says Lee is a good author then he must be, surely?
Well, ‘House Infernal’ isn’t a thick book and I finished it over the course of a day, which says good things about the content. However, I was left feeling strangely let down by the end of it…
The old Priory was originally built as a retreat for clergymen but harbours some vile occult secrets in it’s past. Venetia Barlow is about to find all this out for herself over the course of one summer spent renovating the Priory. There are ghosts, there is depravity but there is a lot more going on and not all of it within the Priory. Venetia will gradually learn more from a long dead priest who has made contact with her from the very streets of Hell itself. He has his own part to play and the consequences of this will have a great bearing on the futures of both Hell and Earth…
Like I said, I flew through this book and enjoyed the time that I spent reading it. Lee lets events unfold at a pace slow enough not to give too much away but fast enough (at the same time) to keep the pages turning nicely. As the reader, it was good to see things, and events, click together gradually and the overall picture build up. Although I had a pretty good idea about how this was going to end, the specifics were hidden from me and I was surprised at how this one turned out.
All of the characters were drawn well and were people that I wanted to read more about, either because I liked them or because they were pivotal to the plot. Lee’s greatest achievement in ‘House Infernal’ however is the creation of an intricate and fully functioning society in Hell. The detail is minute and everything consistently works to a set of rules laid out right at the beginning. I was certainly impressed by the thought that had gone into this.
So what went wrong? It’s simple. I enjoyed the book but it didn’t scare me and it wasn’t particularly horrifying. For a work of ‘Horror Fiction’ this is a pretty awkward failing. For all the fact that it was well written I just didn’t feel any tension at all. This may just be me; my expectations may be different to yours and ‘House Infernal’ may give you nightmares. Hopefully it will as it’s not a bad book and I think horror fans will enjoy it, it just didn’t work for me.

Six out of Ten

Monday 'Linky' Extravaganza!

After having vented my spleen at 'The Charon Covenant', yesterday, I find myself with not an awful lot to talk about. However, these people have lots to say (and it's all good)...

Remy's back and has a few things to say about the
Malazan books. Welcome back Remy!

If you head on over to the Wertzone, you will see the first review of Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings to make it onto the net. Adam loved it, I'm spending a lot of time waiting for a copy to come through the letterbox...

Lawrence has already put 2007 behind him and is looking forward to his 14 most anticipated titles of 2008. I'm looking forward to these as well...

Alice didn't get her review up as fast as Adam but she loved Last Argument of Kings as well.

The Book Swede is giving away some of his favourite books of the last year...

Larry's got a Gene Wolfe thing going on and gives us his thoughts on The Sword of the Lictor

Pat enjoyed 'Acacia' but didn't think it was as good as the hype suggests...

Tia has Janet Lorimer's Master of Shadows as her featured debut.

I reckon that's enough linky goodness for you all to be going on with! ;o) If you still want more then click on the blogs at the side, they're great as well!