Giveaway! 'The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart' (Jesse Bullington)

This is a scheduled post so I'll admit that I've got no idea what book I'm reading while you're reading this. It could be anything but I'm hoping that I've finally got round to reading 'The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart' by Jesse Bullington, a book that has generated some positive online buzz and has whetted my appetite for a good read. You'll have to wait until next week to see if a review appears!

In the meantime, how would you like to win a copy of 'The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart'? Here's the blurb,

In the plague-wracked and devil-haunted darkness of Medieval Europe, an elite few enjoy opulent lives while the majority eke out a miserable existence in abject poverty. Hungry creatures stalk the deep woods and desolate mountains, and both sea and sky teem with unspeakable horrors. For those ill-fated masses not born into wealth, life is but a vicious trial to be endured before the end of days. Hegel and Manfried Grossbart could give a toss. Being of low birth means little, after all, when the riches of the mighty wait just inside the next crypt. The grave-robbing twins know enough about crusading to realise that if one is to make a living from the dead, what better destination than the fabled tomb-cities of Egypt? But the Brothers Grossbart are about to discover that all legends have their truths, and worse fates than death await those who would take the red road of villainy ...

Does this sound like your kind of thing? Are you living in the UK or Europe? (This one is only open to residents of the UK and Europe, come back tomorrow for one that everyone can enter...) If you're still here then keep reading...

Thanks to Orbit I have three copies of 'The Sad Tale...' to give away to three lucky winners. To enter, simply drop me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen) telling me who you are and where you live. I'll do the rest...

I'll let this one run until the 18th of October and announce the winners on the 19th...

Good Luck!

‘Fire’ – Kristin Cashore (Gollancz/Dial)

I picked up Kristin Cashore’s ‘Graceling’ way back in September last year and found myself faced with a book that kept me turning the pages even though it was chock full of everything I hate in fantasy. I could go into the reasons all over again but my review is still here and that will do the job just as well. Have a click Here to read it, this review won’t be going anywhere in the meantime!
You’re back? Great :o) Despite my issues with ‘Graceling’, I still found myself wanting to know what would happen next with ‘Fire’. As it turned out, I ended up finding out what happened ‘before’ as ‘Fire’ has been written as a prequel to ‘Graceling’. ‘Fire’ ended up being a superior read to ‘Graceling’ and I’m glad that I gave it a go. It still managed to fall foul of a few things that I really can’t stand though...

Marked out by her vivid red hair, Fire is a beautiful young woman whose beauty has an unexpected (and unwanted) side affect. With this beauty comes great influence and power; men and women will do anything for her attention and affection, nothing is too much and Fire is rightly afraid of the consequences. A quiet existence, to protect herself as well as others, seems to be the only life that Fire can enjoy but the world moves on regardless and her power will soon be in great demand.
Fire now has a chance to undo the wrongs of the past as well as fight for the sanctuary that she has come to call home. Will she take this chance though and what will be left after she is done...?

‘Fire’ is one of those books that I find myself reading almost despite myself. You know the ones I mean, you know you shouldn’t like it but you can’t help turning the pages to see what happens next...



The premise behind ‘Fire’ is a good one and fits in well with what has already been laid out in ‘Graceling’, promising an interesting confrontation to come in future books. This is a land where danger comes at you from more than one direction, even in the safest of places, gradually creeping into your mind as well as coming at you. The people of the Dells have learnt to halt the mental attacks but are totally unprepared for both Fire and another character that you will have already met if you’ve read ‘Graceling’. It’s interesting to see how the reaction that these two cause, in the society of the Dells, in more ways than one as Fire carries a degree of baggage that will impede her own progress. It’s also interesting to see how Fire circumnavigates these obstacles despite my reservations about her character (more on that in a bit).

At the same time, the reader has a land full of political intrigue, mystery and full on warfare to contend with and this is where I had the most fun. Cashore’s writing is a little darker this time round with the horrors of war being explored in a number of settings. I liked the way that although the reader never really sees a battle take place, descriptions of Fire’s work in military hospitals leaves us in no doubt that war is a brutal and bloody affair.
The intricacies of the plot are conveyed through a group of thoroughly engaging supporting characters who I had a great time following. Cashore is a little more willing, this time, to explore the shades of grey (between good and evil) and this comes across in characters such as Archer, Brigan and Brocker. What we get as a result is a book that is more than capable of springing surprises and turning the plot on its head a little bit. Some of these moments are a little easier to see coming, than others, but the overall affect is still a good one.

With such a great supporting cast, it’s a shame then that the character of Fire herself was a bit of a let down as far as I was concerned. While Fire does everything that the others do, she is a little too good to be true (despite a twist near the end that I never saw coming) and this was of detriment to the plot. Her mixture of perfection and vulnerability loads the plot with pathos, and makes her life seem that little more tragic. Anyone who feels alone and different will find a lot in common with Fire and maybe that was the point of her being written the way she is.
What I found though was that it all felt laid on a little too thick. I didn’t need to be told more than once that Fire has a rotten life and every time it happened I found myself skimming pages a little more readily. I also found that this approach signposted the direction that Fire would take a little too obviously, her interactions with certain characters blatantly hinted at resolutions which then came to pass (I’m trying not to give away too much here!). While this didn’t affect the rest of the plot, in terms of what happened to the kingdom itself, it did rob Fire’s personal journey of a lot of the tension needed to maintain interest. If you already know what’s going to happen then what’s the point of continuing the read?

Despite my issues with the main character, ‘Fire’ has a lot going for it in other areas and that’s why I had to finish the book (even when it felt like a slog to read). ‘Fire’ is a definite improvement on ‘Graceling’; the series itself hasn’t become an essential read for me but I’m now that little bit more interested in seeing what comes next.

Seven and a Half out of Ten

‘Triumff: Her Majesty’s Hero’ – Dan Abnett (Angry Robot)

Whether it’s in a book or on TV, there’s nothing I like more than a good old fashioned swashbuckle. Dazzling sword fights, witty repartee, a chandelier to swing from and lots of confrontations with either pirates or the City Guard. It doesn’t get much better than that! Recently, I’ve been getting my ‘swashbuckling fix’ from Jonathan Green and his dashing character Ulysses Quicksilver; a set of books that you really should check out if you like the aforementioned dazzling sword fights etc. I’m always on the look out for more of these kind of books though so when Dan Abnett asked me if I’d like to try out ‘Triumff’ I jumped at the chance. I’ve read a couple of Dan’s books before and they’ve never failed to hit the spot.
As it turned out, ‘Triumff’ was completely the swashbuckler that I thought it would be and I couldn’t help but enjoy this one immensely. Any sequels will be more than welcome in my house!

It’s the year 2010 and her Divine Majesty Queen Elizabeth XXX rules over the Anglo-Hispanic Unity; an empire that is technologically stagnant but rules over the globe through it’s utilisation of the ‘arte’ (‘magic’ to the likes of you and I). While the general populace is content with this state of affairs, elements of the ruling class are anything but content and plot to relieve the Queen of her throne. Sir Rupert Triumff (renowned explorer and dashing swordsman) is more than happy for the Queen to stay right where she is but is in the middle of a plot of his own. Both Triumff’s plans and those of a shadowy cabal are about to collide in a series of events that are set to have the streets of London ringing with the sounds of combat and magic...

Once I got into it, ‘Triumff’ was an absolute pleasure to read. There is that ‘once I got into it...’ to bear in mind though... The interview, at the back of the book, tells the reader that the character of Sir Rupert Triumff is a favourite of Dan Abnett’s going back almost twenty years and this affection on the author’s part is clear in both positive and negative ways. Abnett comes across as being extremely happy to finally get the adventures of Triumff down on paper as is shown in his waxing at length about the background setting (and its history) that this drama plays against. This background information paints a bright and vivid picture, as well providing the reader with a constant flow of humorous asides (that were more ‘hit’ than ‘miss’ as far as I was concerned); the only problem I found was that there was a little too much of it...
At times I felt that I was reading more about the background setting than I was the story itself and that wasn’t what I came to the book to do. The same kind of thing happened with the jokes although this didn’t feel as bad somehow; the jokes come thick and fast but at least they are keeping things moving forwards at a fast rate of knots. I wasn’t expecting ‘Triumff’ to be as funny as it was and it was a more than pleasant surprise to find myself laughing as much as I was.

When the story does get going it does so in great style and once again you get the feeling that Dan Abnett had a great time writing this book. The descriptive padding serves to hide a plot that is tightly drawn and has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing the outcome and turning the pages to get there as soon as possible. Running gags, such as the ‘Swiss Army sword’, maintain the humorous tone whilst also adding a delicious hint of uncertainty to the proceedings. How can Triumff possibly hope to win through if he doesn’t know whether he’ll be fighting with a cutlass or a tin opener...? The real fun lies in the moments where everything kicks off with lashings of hot pursuit and swordplay. This is where Abnett really lets loose and has a great time; throwing friend and foe together with great gusto and shaking the mixture up to see what happens. As far as I was concerned Abnett carried it off almost perfectly. My eyes were pretty much glued to these pages the whole way through and Abnett still manages to find the time and space to throw more jokes in as well.

I got the feeling that Dan Abnett indulged himself a little too much in the scene setting but this was more than balanced out by the rest of ‘Triumff’; a book that never did anything less than be gripping and a thoroughly entertaining read. As I said earlier, any sequels will be very welcome!

Nine out of Ten

Gamesfest 4 - 24th October 2009

It doesn't look as if I'm going to be able to make this one (the weekends are really starting to fill up before Christmas...) but we shall see. It'll be a real shame if I can't though as it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun (especially the Black Library panels) and that's why I'm posting about here :o) If you're at a loose end on the 24th then think about giving this a go...

GamesFest is a one-day convention encompassing RPG’s, Board Games, CCG’s War Games, Comics, Books, Film, Video and PC Gaming. Our aim is for an informal event that enables the enthusiast and casual gamer to sample the best the hobby has to offer.
Industry leaders such as Games Workshop, Mongoose publishing, Warlord Games, FOW and Triple Ace Games, will be attending. Celebrities from the world of Gaming and Sci-Fi / Fantasy literature such as Graham McNeill, Gav Thorpe and Jervis Johnson will also be attending, with two Black library Seminars on the day.

The event is on Saturday 24th October 2009 and being held Watford Colosseum Rickmansworth Road ,Watford WD17 3JN.The nearest station is Watford junction and is well connected to the M1 and the M25 motorways.

We are running a WH40K Doubles Tournament , Space Hulk tournament and much much more.

The Black Library will also be present at this year’s Gamesfest, taking place on the 24th October at the Watford Colosseum. We’ll have a number of authors present, who will be signing throughout the day, plus two panels taking place at the event. It’s a great chance to meet your favourite authors and find out more about the Black Library, so come and join us there!

Black Library authors attending:
Nick Kyme
Graham McNeill
Sandy Mitchell
James Swallow
Gav Thorpe
Richard Williams

Panels:
11am-11:45am
The Black Library
With Nick Kyme, Sandy Mitchell, Gav Thorpe and Richard Williams
Your chance to find out more about the Black Library, Games Workshop’s fiction publishing division. Whether you’re interested in writing for the worlds of Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000, want to know about upcoming releases or are just curious about how a Black Library book gets to the shelves, then this is the session for you.

1pm-1:45pm
The Horus Heresy
With Graham McNeill and James Swallow
The Horus Heresy is the Black Library’s premium line, an epic tale of the time when Space Marine turned on Space Marine and the Imperium was nearly torn apart. Eleven books into the series and it’s still going strong with a fantastic string of best-selling titles. Graham McNeill (False Gods, Mechanicum, Fulgrim) and James Swallow (Flight of the Eisenstein) will be talking about writing for the Horus Heresy and telling us about their forthcoming titles A Thousand Sons and Nemesis.'

Neil Roberts will also be attending Gamesfest with the Black Library!



Neil Roberts is the artist on the Horus Heresy books, which is the Black library’s biggest-selling series, and he's also worked on the artwork for Warhammer Online

• ‘Horus Heresy: Flight of the Eisenstein’: Cover Artist.
• ‘Horus Heresy: Galaxy in Flames’: Cover Artist.
• ‘Horus Heresy: Horus Rising’: Cover Artist.
• ‘Dawn of War: Ascension’: Cover Artist.
• ‘Bringers of Death’: Cover Artist.


Tickets are £5.50 / £4.50(GCN rate) each with a family ticket and concessions available.

For more info check out the website Here.

‘Hungry Hearts’ – Gary McMahon (Abaddon Books)

One of the things that I love about Abaddon Books is their ‘It could have almost been designed with me in mind ‘Tomes of the Dead’ series of zombie books. I’ll be the first to admit that the quality can vary. For every ‘Tide of Souls’ or ‘I, Zombie’ there is an ‘Anno Mortis’ or ‘Death Hulk’... For anyone looking for a regular fix of zombie fiction though I don’t think you can go too far wrong with what’s on offer here.
I’m always excited when books come through the door but I was even more excited when a copy of ‘Hungry Hearts’ (due for a November release) turned up. ‘Tide of Souls’ was a definite step in the right direction, for the ‘Tomes of the Dead’ line, and I was eager to see if ‘Hungry Hearts’ kept things going in the same manner. It did...

When the undead rise up in the city of Leeds, rookie policeman Rick Nutman is more interested in getting home to his new wife than he is in upholding the law in a city gone mad. It’s a real shame then that someone else got there first... Daryl has always wanted to be a serial killer and now he has the perfect opportunity to get started... on Rick’s wife.
A zombie invasion is a time for new beginnings and second chances. When Rick’s wife returns as a zombie his immediate thoughts are to go looking for an elusive cure that might not be anything more than a rumour. When Rick’s wife returns as a zombie, Daryl has a chance to gain the immortality that he craves. Daryl is looking to become the only serial killer to kill the same person twice.
The chase for answers, and satisfaction, is on...

The best zombie fiction isn’t about the zombies themselves as it is the journey of survivors, through this new landscape, and how they adapt. ‘Hungry Hearts’ takes to this approach whole heartedly, not only charting the character’s physical progress but also charting their progress across a gradually deteriorating mental landscape. It’s interesting to not the contrast here, while Nick sinks lower and lower into despair Daryl seizes the moment and rides a wave of manic energy while everything disintegrates around him. The resolutions for each character don’t come as too much of a surprise but do not lack in intensity or horror (we also get a zombie’s perspective, from Rick’s wife, and this is where the real twist lies...) Not only are these hard times but our ‘heroes’ are evolving in new and unexpected ways to deal with them. As a result, ‘Hungry Hearts’ is not a book for the squeamish or easily shocked! Whilst Daryl is a fairly run of the mill serial killer (the real shocks coming from the torture of his mother); Rick has the best character exploration, not surprising seeing as he is still trying to maintain a relationship with his zombie wife! McMahon explores what this actually means, in all practicality, and also draws a fine picture of a man clinging on to his love (bordering on obsession) while slowly breaking down. Again, be warned as McMahon translates all aspects of a normal relationship across to this zombie setting (definitely not for the squeamish!). While he doesn’t go the whole way, the fact that it could have done illustrates perfectly the pressure that Rick is under...

Stepping back from the character studies... McMahon sets his story against a horrifying backdrop of the dead returning from the grave. Humans still have the capacity for most evil but McMahon doesn’t pull any punches when describing the undead onslaught! Civilisation is crumbling and the nervous energy this generates in the characters drives the story along at a tremendous rate. It’s very easy to keep the pages turning here!
Even when the initial terror dies down, we are still left with a group of people struggling to survive and this creates pressures of its own which keeps things moving nicely.

The only thing I wasn’t too sure about were the nods to ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and ‘Day of the Dead’ at the beginning and end of the book. I’m all for a bit of homage but if it’s laid on too thick then it detracts from the story itself. The beginning sequence in particular came across as a ‘nod’ so emphatically that I found myself having to work hard to get back into the story after that realisation. I was looking for more hints and that meant I wasn’t reading the book for the story itself...

Any niggles, such as these, are very minor ones though. ‘Hungry Hearts’ is another strong addition to the ‘Tomes of the Dead’ line and well worth any zombie fan’s time...

Nine and a Quarter out of Ten

‘God of Clocks’ – Alan Campbell (Tor UK)

Alan Campbell’s ‘Deepgate Codex’ has been a rather ‘stop start’ read so far, at least as far as I’m concerned. ‘Scar Night’ (which I read long before starting up the blog) married a brilliant visual concept to an evocative brooding atmosphere but fell down for me when not a lot seemed to actually happen. There was enough there for me to want to pick up the sequel, ‘Iron Angel’ and this is where things really kicked off. Everything that I thought was missing, in ‘Scar Night’, turned up in ‘Iron Angel’ to add to the original mixture and result in a storming read. The only problem I had with ‘Iron Angel’ was that I felt the characters didn’t develop as much as they could have done (not surprising, given what they were going through, but even so...)

I was left in the position of looking forward to the final instalment, ‘God of Clocks’ but not really knowing what to expect from it. For me, this series varied in quality and could go either way at a moment’s notice. Was I in for more of ‘Iron Angel’ or was I looking at an ending more along the lines of ‘Scar Night’?
As it turned out, ‘God of Clocks’ picked up right where ‘Iron Angel’ left off (in more ways than one but I’m talking overall quality here) but I was still left with a couple of reservations...

The portal to Hell is now open and the world is fast becoming a killing field that no mortal war could ever hope to match. Warring Gods square off against fallen Angels and other unnatural creatures; humanity is caught squarely in the middle and is being pushed ever closer to extinction...
The only hope is a two pronged attack on Hell itself. The former assassin Rachel Hael must travel to the stronghold of the God of Clocks but time is of the essence in more ways than one. The Angel carrying her is no match against the twelve who follow...
Heading in the other direction is the giant John Anchor, dragging the God Cospinol’s skyship into Hell to face the Lord of the Maze on his own ground. Before he can accomplish anything though, Anchor must face down an infant deity that is unlike any other.
And then time itself starts to unravel...

Being the third book in a trilogy, ‘God of Clocks’ isn’t a book that you can just pick up and get into straight away. Even if you’ve already read the first two books, you might want to pick them up again for a quick refresher (or read the Wikipedia page if there is one). I read this a year after having read ‘Iron Angel’ and, for the first few pages, didn’t have much of a clue what was going on. The reader is swiftly brought up to speed but only after being dropped in at the deep end to start off with. This creates a pacing issue right at the start and makes ‘God of Clocks’ a tiny bit less accessible than perhaps it could have been.

Keep on at it though! I did and the payoff is well worth the effort. Campbell takes everything that he did in ‘Iron Angel’ and ramps it up a notch or two, giving us a final chapter where the stakes are appropriately high and the characters are pushed to their absolute limits in order to win through (or, at the very least, survive).
Campbell writes a mean battle scene as it is, plunging the reader ankle deep in the mud and taking them through every slash and stab. He’s also the only writer I’ve ever seen who can make the ‘slow motion combat’ sequences look fresh and original (after having been horribly overdone by everyone who thought it looked good in ‘Matrix’). Not only does it look incredibly cool but there are clear consequences to using this ability which make it anything but a ‘get out of jail free’ card! If all this wasn’t enough, Campbell adds the Arconites to the mix. These are fifty foot high metal angels that can stomp the hell out of any battlefield as well as adding an otherworldly touch and an appropriately ‘hell like’ contrast to the proceedings. They do have a weakness though and I think it’s a pretty clever one that Campbell came up with...

The background setting is very much a continuation of what has gone before in ‘Scar Night’ and ‘Iron Angel’; Campbell doesn’t really do much else to it here but to be honest he doesn’t really need to. The setting and its inhabitants are left to get on with it and they work best for being left alone. Campbell’s world is dark and gloomy, just right for the tale that needs to be told but not a place where you’d want to live...
As far as the characters go, I got the feeling (again) that they weren’t being allowed to develop as much as they could. Part of this is down to the frenetic pace of the plot and what faces them; survival is far more important than character development! I did get the impression though that the plot was driving the characters to the point where they couldn’t do much else other than travel down the paths they were aimed at.

I also wasn’t too sure about the time travel sub-plot that appeared to be tacked on at the end. While everything seemed to fit together and work I couldn’t help but feel that it came to the surface a little too late in the day to be really cohesive, both in terms of this book and the series as a whole (unless it was there to tie up a particular loose end, one that I’m not sure needed tying off). A re-read might make a little more sense of it (in terms of anything being flagged up earlier on) but, for now, I’m left wondering why it was there...

‘God of Clocks’ does it’s job very well but the issues I had with the way it was put together stopped it from being the excellent book that it very clearly could have been. I still enjoyed it though and would pick the series up for another read.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

‘I Am Scrooge (A Zombie Story for Christmas)’ – Adam Roberts (Gollancz)

There seems to be a conspiracy to make me read more of the classics by cleverly inserting zombies into the mix. I say, bring it on! We’ve already had ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ and in a minute I’ll tell you what I thought of ‘I am Scrooge’. What next though? Instead of ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ we could have ‘Sitting in the Greenwood Tree, grateful that Zombies cannot climb’. ‘Treasure Island’ would become ‘Zombie Island’. ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ would become... actually, maybe we had better leave ‘Lady Chatterley’ as it is!
Is the market about to be overloaded with zombie adaptations? It could well be but it’s a wave of zombie fiction that I’m going to be surfing! ‘I Am Scrooge’ is a great place to start, a Halloween treat and Christmas stocking present all rolled into one...

It’s the night before Christmas, a time when you might expect people of a miserly nature to be taken on a metaphysical trip, to realise the error of their ways, not facing off against their undead business partner. Scrooge has no time to set his life straight and give the Cratchits the Christmas they deserve; Marley’s dead (again), just a whole city full of zombies to go...
The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future are on hand to guide Scrooge through the zombie hordes but will they be enough? Especially when the true (and tiny) threat is finally revealed...

‘I Am Scrooge’ is a mere slip of a book, weighing in at an almost anaemic one hundred and fifty three pages long. This is certainly one of the reasons why I finished it off so quickly but it could have been five times the length and I still would have gone through it in one sitting. ‘I Am Scrooge’ is nothing less than great fun from start to finish.

The feeling I got from the book was that Adam Roberts really enjoyed himself pitting Ebeneezer Scrooge against zombie hordes across the gulf of time. The book flies along at an exuberant pace and while this may cover over the fact that explanatory pieces are pretty thin on the ground (as well as authors and fictional characters mixing together), you’ll be enjoying yourself too much to care. ‘I Am Scrooge’ isn’t so much about why things are happening as it is about shooting zombies, name dropping everyone within arms reach and having fun with the English language. If you find this book in your stocking on Christmas morning then it will get you through to Christmas Lunch rather nicely :o)

I’m a fan of books (especially re-imaginings of established works) where the villain is the last person you would ever expect; ‘I Am Scrooge’ takes one of Dickens’ cutest characters and turns them into an evil mastermind. I never really got much of an idea behind this character’s motivations but, again, that’s not really the point. The point is that Roberts did this for the simple reason that he could and who else would be better for this villainy than... that would be telling.

A short book never equates to a long review here so this is where I’ll be tying things up. ‘I Am Scrooge’ is never going to stand up to a more in depth read but if that’s the kind of read you’re after then you’ve picked up the wrong book! If you’re after something irreverent and good old honest fun then pick up ‘I Am Scrooge’. You’ll be glad you did.

Eight and Three Quarters out of Ten

'Legend' Competition - The Winners!

Good Morning Everyone!

Are we all glad that it's Monday once again? I didn't think so... Hang on though, there are at least two people who are glad, that it's Monday, because they're about to find out that they won copies of the 25th Anniversary edition of David Gemmell's 'Legend'. The two lucky winners were...

Don van Rens, The Netherlands
Iain Coull, Runcorn, UK

Well done guys! Your books are on their way ;o)
Better luck next time everyone else...

Giveaway! 'My Dead Body' (Charlie Huston)

Thanks to those very kind people at Del Rey, I have two copies of Charlie Huston's excellent 'My Dead Body' (scroll down to see just how excellent I thought it was) to give away on the blog. This competition is only open to US and Canadian residents though, sorry about that everyone else...

Still here? Brilliant! All you need to do to enter is just 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. You also need to make it clear which competition you are entering. That's all you need to do! I'll do the rest...

I'll be letting this one run until October 11th and will announce the winners on the 12th...

Good Luck!

Giveaway! 'The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld' and 'The Folklore of Discworld'

Now is a great time to be a Terry Pratchett fan! As well as 'Unseen Academicals', Corgi have re-released 'The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld' (a collection of all the funniest quotes from the books, although my favourite isn't there...) and 'The Folklore of Discworld' (now with extra added bits about 'Unseen Academicals'). And, thanks to Corgi, I have three sets of each to give away... (but only if you live in the UK or Europe though, sorry about that!)



To be in with any chance at all of winning what you need to do is send me an email (address at the top right hand side of the screen telling me who you are and where you live. I'll do everything else ;o)

I'll be letting this one run until October 11th and will announce the winners on the 12th...

Good Luck!

‘Unseen Academicals’ – Terry Pratchett (Doubleday)

It has been years since I picked up a Terry Pratchett book. I used to love the ‘Discworld’ books and Christmas Mornings were always about getting the latest books and reading it to the exclusion of everything else (about the only thing a Terry Pratchett book couldn’t do was get me out of the annual game of Monopoly...) As time went on though I found myself laughing less and less at the jokes. The books themselves stopped being ‘comedic fantasy’ and became ‘comedic fantasy with a message about the real world’; I wasn’t interested in hearing about the real world (I lived in it so didn’t want to read about as well!) and the more the ‘Discworld’ books came across like this the more I ceased to care about them. And then I stopped reading them altogether. Until the last couple of days...
Sometimes you just have to go back and give something another go, just to see if your feelings are still justified. I always loved reading about the Wizards of Unseen University and anything with the Luggage in it was guaranteed to make me laugh out loud. One look at the front cover of ‘Unseen Academicals’ and I just knew I was going to make the trip back into Ankh-Morpork. I still had the same misgivings though so it was great to be proved wrong and be presented with a book that I ended up really enjoying. I might even go back and pick up the other ones...

Football has come to the streets of Ankh-Morpork and nothing is ever going to be the same again. How could things possibly remain the same when the Wizards of Unseen University must get a team together and play an exhibition match (the future of the cheese board depends on it...) where the use of magic has been expressly forbidden? There are other ways of cheating and Arch-Chancellor Ridcully is determined to find at least one of them...
Factor in Ankh-Morpork’s first supermodel, a maker of extremely good pies, an urchin who’s handy with a tin can and the enigmatic Mr Nutt and set them against the cream of Ankh-Morpork’s hooligan fraternity (or whatever else has floated to the top) and match day is guaranteed to go with a bang. Or a ‘gloing’...

Before I even get to the story I always find that the indicator of a good Terry Pratchett story is whether or not it makes me laugh (and if it does, how much and how loudly). After all, that’s one of the main points of his books isn’t it? Humour’s a subjective thing but as far as I was concerned Pratchett filled ‘Unseen Academicals’ with plenty to grin, chuckle and laugh out loud at. Not all of it hits the mark but a lot of it did when I was reading. If you were sharing a train carriage, this morning, with a bearded guy who kept chuckling to himself... well, that was me. Sorry about that.

‘I agree with the Senior Wrangler,’ said the Lecturer in Recent Runes. ‘Under College Statute we are specifically forbidden to engage, other than within College Precincts, in any magic above level four, unless specifically asked to do so by the civil power or, under clause three, we really want to...’

In ‘Unseen Academicals’, Pratchett proves that he hasn’t lost his touch at raising a smile in his readers. Whether it’s a build up to a running gag or something that’s sneaked into a paragraph, to catch you by surprise, Pratchett has all bases covered.

It’s not just the jokes that move things forward though, although I found myself laughing so much that I wanted to get to the next punch line (nice way to pace a novel). Pratchett also tells a pretty mean tale here, he’s never struck me as a guy who’s into football but he nails what it is all about for the players on the pitch as well as the people in the crowd (I’ve been one myself a couple of times). He doesn’t pass judgment, just lays it all on the line for you to see and tells it how it is. I liked this approach as it’s clear that the story’s the important thing to him. There was a feeling that things weren’t quite as balanced as they could be however. Was this a story about the lives of the four main characters or was it about football? The two didn’t quite gel for me; it didn’t feel like a story of how these characters were affected by the beautiful game...

‘Unseen Academicals’ was a chance for me to get reacquainted with old characters as well as meet some of the new. In some ways it felt like I’d never been away (catching up with Ridcully, Rincewind, the Patrician and even ‘Cut Me Own Throat’ Dibbler) and it was also interesting to see how things had changed as well. Could Glenda be the new Granny Weatherwax? I think she could be...
Despite the fantastical (and occasionally surreal) surroundings, Pratchett never loses sight of the fact that his characters are real people and that real people will always surprise you. Some elements of the story are almost a foregone conclusion but the journey to that conclusion is one worth making. Other elements (and I can’t go into detail here) really threw me. You can see how they should happen but you don’t think it actually will, and then it does... That little hint of the unexpected kept things fresh and kept me reading.

Despite my issue with the balance of the book, ‘Unseen Academicals’ ended up being a welcome return to the Discworld for this reader. Makes me wonder why I stayed away for so long...

Nine and a Half out of Ten

‘Bitter Angels’ – C.L. Anderson (Spectra)

You’ve probably noticed already but just recently I’ve been going through a phase of reading nothing but fantasy. Well, all things come to an end (especially as it’s now October, you can expect to see a lot more horror this month for a start!) and I figured that it was time to get some science fiction on here! It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve read any... C.L. Anderson’s ‘Bitter Angels’ seemed as good a place as any to start, a space opera style detective story that’s had good things said about it by one of my favourite new sci-fi writers (David J. Williams, ‘The Mirrored Heavens’ and ‘The Burning Skies’, check them out if you haven’t already).
As it turned out, maybe I should have picked something else to start on. Every so often I find myself reading a book that I’m not really enjoying but still feel compelled to finish. ‘Bitter Angels’ was one of those books...

The Erasmus System is dying on its feet. It’s infrastructure of indentured servitude has the populace muttering rebelliously but still living in fear that the ruling elite will stop the flow of water going into the poorer planets. The economy has nosedived (due to new technology coming out of the Sol System) and is currently being propped up by the machinations of smugglers and spies. Could this system really be the flashpoint for a galaxy spanning war? The Erasmus System can barely keep itself afloat but the Guardians (a branch of the United World Government for Earth) seem to believe that it’s a ‘hot spot’ and should be treated accordingly; diplomacy with the option of swift action if required...
Former Field Commander Terese Drajeske has been recalled to active service and sent to the Erasmus System to investigate the death of a former colleague, an incident that may be linked to the ominous signs emanating from the System. Terese’s last mission, as a Guardian, left her scarred but alive; what she is about to uncover in the Erasmus System may not leave her alive to tell the tale...

Initially, ‘Bitter Angels’ has a lot of good things going for it which piqued my interest and made me decide to carry on reading. The Erasmus System is beautifully realised, if the word ‘beautiful’ can be used to describe a place labouring under extreme poverty and a cruel regime. You can feel the oppression in every word and through characters such as Amerand the reader gets a real in depth look at just what it means to have to survive in a place like this. At the heart of all this there’s a mystery to be solved and it’s so mysterious that we don’t even know what it is, only that a Guardian’s death may somehow be linked to something even bigger. A mystery is always a great hook for a story and this one certainly did the job as far as I was concerned. Anderson’s portrayal of Terese’s recall to service also helps to draw the reader in. We’re left in no doubt as to what Terese went through previously and just what it means to her to give up her family and go on the mission. This accentuates the importance of solving the Erasmus mystery and just what is at stake if it isn’t resolved. I knew that I had to keep reading.

And then it all went off the boil...

All of the characters involved are dropped into a situation that is far larger than they can comprehend and with no idea of how to begin unravelling things. It all comes together eventually but it doesn’t half drag in the meantime! On one level this is to be expected, if you don’t know what’s going on then you’re more than likely to flail around a bit until it all comes together. Be that as it may though, it does interfere with the pacing of the novel; things were set up to speed along and what we get instead is a crawl...

I found myself in a position where the initial promise of ‘Bitter Angels’ kept me going but it was steadily diluted more and more by the feeling of being bogged down in a story that was going nowhere. When I find myself skim reading, missing stuff and having to go back and re-read then something is wrong (quite apart from the fact that doing this interrupted the pace of the book even more!) Things dragged to the point where the ending felt (to me) like a bit of a damp squib, even though it’s pretty powerful stuff! To have characters spend ages searching for clues etc and to then have the answers suddenly become apparent in the last couple of chapters made it feel like a bit of a rush job and robbed the ending of the impact that it deserved. This may be the way it goes in real life but that didn’t come across in the book.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the ‘dragging effect’ robbed Terese of the chance to really develop (as a character) throughout the book. Terese hit so many dead ends that she had no chance to move forwards until right at the very end of the book. Terese’s frustration echoed mine and this ‘reflection’ made it even more difficult to get into the book...

‘Bitter Angels’ is a great idea that is spoiled by what felt like it’s glacial pace. I’d give Anderson’s work another go but probably won’t pick this one up again.

Six and a Half out of Ten

‘No Doors. No Windows’ – Joe Schreiber (Del Rey)

According to my local supermarket it’s pretty much Christmas time already (you should see the stuff they are stocking) which means that, despite the fact that it’s still September, I’m already woefully behind with my Halloween reading! :o) I decided to take care of that straight away and first up is Joe Schreiber’s ‘No Doors, No Windows’ (due to be released in the next couple of weeks by Del Rey). Ever since I saw the cover art for Schreiber’s ‘Deathtroopers’ I’ve been looking forward to picking it up, not long to go now... ‘No Doors, No Windows’ seemed like a good book to tide me over in the meantime; sometimes the best way to find out about a forthcoming book is to read the author’s books that have preceded it.
I finished ‘No Doors, No Windows’ on the way into work this morning. I’m hoping for a little more from ‘Deathtroopers’ but the initial signs are that we could be in for a bit of a treat. ‘No Doors, No Windows’ is a scary read...

Scott Mast is back in his New England hometown helping clean out the family home after his father’s funeral; he doesn’t expect to be around for too long but events are about to conspire to keep him town for a lot longer than he thought. If he’s not careful, Scott will never leave...
An unfinished manuscript, of his father’s, leads Scott to the house the story was set in and a decision to finish the book that his father began. It’s not entirely Scott’s own decision though... There’s more to this house than meets the eye; dark parts of the Mast family history is tied up in the house’s secret passageways and so is the curse that is even now wrapping it’s fingers around Scott’s fragile mind... Will he be able to withstand it or will Scott be driven to the same acts of madness that have claimed the minds of generations of men in the Mast family?

I’m a bit of a sucker for ghost stories especially when I’m on my own in the house... Or am I? What was that noise I just heard..? A good ghost story wraps you up in its plot and smacks you with something so scary (that you never saw coming) that you just have to go and check all the doors to make sure that nothing else is in the house with you. ‘No Doors, No Windows’ does this very well but I was left thinking that there was room for a little more...

Schreiber weaves an impressive tale right from the start. The reader knows that there’s something a little odd right from the start and Schreiber doles out little snippets of information that keep the plot moving forward (and kept my interest) and point towards something ominous on the horizon. You don’t get the whole picture until right at the end but what Schreiber feeds us in the meantime is tantalising enough to keep us turning those pages. The setting is appropriately bleak as well, a New England town (why does all the scary stuff seem to happen in New England towns?) that’s brimming over with secrets that no-one wants to let out. If that wasn’t enough there’s a monster snow storm on the way and it’s just the kind of storm that’s apt to trap people just when they’re trying to get away from their worst nightmare...

I enjoyed Schreiber’s characterisation as well; love em’ or hate em’, all of the main players are well rounded out with enough secrets about them to make you want to find out more and see how these make them develop. Scott and Owen in particular are characters that I wanted to invest my time in and this involvement made the ‘scary bits’ even scarier when they jumped out of the page and grabbed me.

Schreiber writes some mean passages that made me shudder as well as, on one occasion, say ‘What the f...’ Don’t underestimate this man; Schreiber switches effortlessly from writing scenes that seem perfectly normal, until you realise just what has happened, to hitting his reader with the full horror of what lies within the Round House. He’s also not afraid to leave his reader hanging, at the end of a chapter, and this approach had me racing through the pages to find out what happened next.

What I found though is that for every time Schreiber got the timing just right he also had a habit of building up to climatic events a little too much. When this happened there was so much detail that the payoff came across as almost an afterthought and this really interrupted the flow of the plot. The abundance of detail didn’t leave a lot room for the ending either. Sometimes events are rushed, in real life, and there is an argument for having the book end in this way. I couldn’t help thinking though that a little more detail in the right place (instead of having to cram explanations in at the death) would have made all the difference.

While I had issues with the structure of ‘No Doors, No Windows’, the story itself is very entertaining and kept me reading throughout. I’m even more excited about reading ‘Deathtroopers’ (look out for the little mention in the book!) now...

Eight and a Half out of Ten

‘My Dead Body’ – Charlie Huston (Del Rey/Orbit)

I’ve recently got into the habit of waking up far too early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep again; this morning saw me wake up at half past three... Yep, this morning I actually managed to wake up before the sparrows that live in our front garden (who will be getting a bucket of water thrown over them if they carry on with this dawn chorus lark) and today feels like it’s been going on for a week already.
That’s cool though, I may not have got much sleep but what I did get to do is finish off the final instalment in Charlie Huston’s ‘Joe Pitt Casebooks’ series. I’ve been waiting for ‘My Dead Body’ for just over a year now and it turned out to be well worth the wait. Joe Pitt can take a beating that would leave most hard men crying for their mothers and still get up to... well, you’re just going to have to read the book and find out. It’s worth it.

The last time we saw Joe Pitt he was making his way into the New York sewers after having kicked the legs out from under the infrastructure of the Vampyre network and lost his girlfriend to the Enclave. There’s always a little further for a man like Pitt to fall but now it looks like he’s got one more chance to have a shot at... well, everything that’s ever pissed him off. Girls go missing, in New York, every day but only one of them has a Vampyre boyfriend and is carrying his baby. All the clans want the baby; the girl’s father just wants her back and Joe has agreed to find her for him. However, if finding this girl gives Joe a chance to settle some scores of his own then you just know he’ll grab that opportunity with both hands...

Some very good books indeed have laid the groundwork for the finale of ‘My Dead Body’ and there was no way that I was going to miss how it all turned out. On the whole, I wasn’t disappointed.
Huston has written another taut tale set on streets that you can almost feel underfoot as Pitt runs (or more often that not, crawls...) down them. Everyone is on the take and alliances shift and change as quickly as Pitt gets through his cigarettes. The resulting dialogue crackles with attitude and tension although it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of who is saying what (Huston focuses on what is said to the exclusion of who is saying it). There’s an underlying nervous energy to the proceedings as well which drives the plot along at a frantic pace. When you’re living on your nerves, on the very fringes of ‘normal’ society, you end up being driven by them. Now multiply that feeling by the number of players in this piece (and what they are going through) and you’ve got an idea of just what is powering this book along as well as why I found it impossible to put down. This is what ‘Urban Fantasy’ is really all about. I’ve said before that Huston is writing to a formula, and shows no signs of changing, but when it works so well is there any need to fix it?

‘My Dead Body’ takes all of it’s strands and weaves them together in such a way that everything fits together but you’re left with a picture that you were never expecting. You think you know what Pitt is up to but that is just he wants everyone to think. Watching it all come together, at the end, is a joy and the constant feeling that there’s more to this than meets the eye keeps things fresh and gives the reader plenty to think about. However, I found myself questioning the way in which Huston chose to tie certain things off...

The Vampyre ‘Vyrus’ has been a mystery throughout the series and Huston gives us a possible explanation of its origins; it’s not set in stone though (as least not as far as I could tell) and we’re left to make up our own minds as to the truth. I liked this approach; Huston is almost telling us that what’s going on for Pitt and co. is the really important stuff; the Vyrus is just a fact of life and is almost incidental to the story itself.
What I wasn’t so sure of was the way that Huston took Pitt on a journey to meet all his old friends/enemies before the end of the book. Loose ends need to be tied up but the way Huston went about it (sort out business with Person A and then onto Person B etc) ended up feeling a little repetitive and more like an author saying goodbye to his story rather than telling the story itself...

This is only a small niggle though when placed against an otherwise excellent book and a series that I’ve always enjoyed reading. It’s a real shame that it’s ended but Huston has another book (‘Sleepless’) coming out next year...
‘My Dead Body’ is an October release from Del Rey, I’m not sure exactly when Orbit will be publishing it in the UK (Edited To Add: I do now! It'll be published on the 3rd of December).

Nine and a Quarter out of Ten.

News for a Tuesday Morning...

I'm posting these bits now before I totally forget (I've been awake since half three this morning and things are a little fuzzy around the edges)...

Following my review of 'Dead City', a couple of weeks ago, it was a very nice surprise to receive an email from the man himself! We had a little chat and I can tell you that 2010 is going to be a great time to get into Joe McKinney's work if you haven't already. 'Dead City' is set to be re-released in September 2010 and will be accompanied by two short stories that fill in the gaps (in 'Dead City') as well as linking to the sequel, 'Cataclysm', which will be released in the October. 'The Land of Sand and Thorns' will be released six months after that.
If that's not enough for you (it's not enough for me!) then you might want to keep an eye open for John Joseph Adams' 'Living Dead 2' anthology where McKinney's 'Dating in the Dead World' will feature. My list of reads for 2010 just got bigger...

If you're a fan of Terry Brooks and/or Christopher Paolini then you might be interested in advance warning of the live online chat these authors will be doing over at Suvudu on October 14th. If either of these two authors are your thing then you need to be around between 7-8pm EDT for the chat.

Finally, are there any Sherrilyn Kenyon fans out there? I've never read any of her books but 'Born of Night' came through the door the other day and I'll be giving that a go real soon. If you fancy checking the book out, before you buy it, then click either Here or Here to read the first nine chapters. Sherrilyn Kenyon's official site is over Here and her website for 'The League' is right Here...

Dinosaurs and Barbarians!

Not in the same comic! At least not this time... (Are there any comics that feature dinosaurs fighting barbarians? I’d read them). I’ve only just got round to spending my birthday money and you’ll be seeing the results of that, here, over the next few weeks. First up is...



‘Flesh’ – Pat Mills, Kelvin Gosnell, Massimo Belardinelli & Ramon Sola (Rebellion Books)

Dinosaurs fighting cowboys, does it get any cooler than that? I don’t think so... If you’re still doubtful then take a look at this and see if it changes your mind (you might need to click on the picture to enlarge),



I told you! (Although I’m still not sure about furry Tyrannosaurs...) If you’ve ever wondered why the dinosaurs died out then their being farmed to provide meat, for the people of twenty third century earth, is as good an explanation as any other. An asteroid striking the earth and wiping out the dinosaurs? Pah! Give me time travelling cowboys every time! This trade paperback collects ‘Flesh’ books one and two, not only do you get rampaging Tyrannosaurs (book one) but you also get giant scorpions and sea monsters for your money as well. All of this is drawn with real power and verve by Ramon Sola and Massimo Belardinelli (already a favourite artist of mine from his work on ‘Slaine’ and doing himself every favour here).
There’s a great pulp feel to the storyline (it’s dinosaurs fighting cowboys, what do you expect?) but Mills has also got a cautionary tale going on under the surface. There are some things mankind just isn’t meant to meddle with and nature will always find a way to tip the balance in its favour (even when it has been dead for sixty five million years, I loved that bit!) ‘Flesh’ is a storming read that hit the spot on every level and was heading for top marks... until I realised that one of the pages had been printed twice, at the expense of another page entirely. The flow of the tale came to a crashing halt and I had to get my head together before continuing. It’s not the story’s fault it was published incorrectly but the bottom line was that it was incomplete. Check this out before you buy your copy! I’ll be keeping my eye open for a corrected version that I can buy in the future (and it will more than likely get full marks then).



‘Conan the Cimmerian #14’

So there I was in Forbidden Planet (returning my copy of ‘Flesh’) and a quick glance over the shelves showed me that the latest issue of ‘Conan the Cimmerian’ was available for my reading pleasure. I didn’t hang around, buying a copy and reading it on the train back to work. It’s been a while since I’ve read them but Robert E. Howard’s ‘Conan’ tales (as enjoyable as they were) always felt a little heavy on the ‘Conan’ focus and subsequently a little light on the world building. The comics, that I’ve read, make up for this by fleshing everything out and giving Conan more of a backdrop to work against. Everything is well rounded and #15 is no exception to the rule; Conan’s stay in Khoraja (after the events of the ‘Black Colossus’ storyline) is examined in more depth and we also get to see the ramifications of last year’s ‘Cimmeria’ storyline play out in Conan’s home village.

I was a little taken aback by the sudden change in artists, I’d become used to Giorello’s work. Joe Kubert and Tim Truman (artist as well as writer!) are worth sticking with though and I liked the way that each artist took on half of the story to draw; this really set the two storylines apart from each other. If I had to choose right now I would say that Truman’s art did it for me, on a first read, but Kubert’s work ran a close second! We’ll see if I feel the same after a re-read...

As far as the storytelling goes, both Ben and Tim Truman show that the series is in safe hands for as long as they decide to take it forwards. It’s another highly entertaining read, roll on next month!

Nine out of Ten

The Monday Morning Competition Winners Post!

Happy Monday everyone! :o) (Unless you're sat at work right now in which case... it's only four more days until the weekend!) Several people are going to be happier than the rest, this morning, as they won last week's set of competitions. The lucky winners were...

'Bite Marks' - Terence Taylor

Aimee Given, Pennsylvania, US
Jeanette Jackson, Ontario, Canada
Shalayna Woodly, Cincinnati, US

'Shamanslayer' - Nathan Long

Davis Sandefur, Kentucky, US
Alberto Ablanedo, Oviedo, Spain
Emma Cella, Eaton Bray, UK
Neil Molyneux, Bootle, UK
Anders Lindh, Helsingborg, Sweden

Well done everyone! Your books will be with you soon :o)

Better luck next time everyone else (and there's always a 'next time')...

Giveaway! 'Legend' (25th Anniversary Edition)

Is there anyone out there who hasn't read David Gemmell's 'Legend'? If you are one of these people (or if your old copy has fallen to pieces) then this post could well be for you! To mark the October release of the 25th Anniversary edition of 'Legend', and thanks to the folk at Orbit, I have two copies to give away (UK and Europe only though, sorry everyone else!)

All you need to do to enter is 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 do everything else.

I'll be letting this one run until October 4th and will announce the winners on the 5th.

Good Luck!

‘Almost The End Of The Year’ Reading Resolutions…

It’s getting to that time of the year when I look at the reading pile and think thoughts like, ‘How long has Book X been sat there?’ and ‘Book Y? I’d completely forgotten that was even in the pile at all!’ A healthily sized reading pile is pretty much essential, if you enjoy reading, but it can also be a thorn that pricks your conscience…

I never really made any New Years Resolutions (apart from the one about cake… yeah, that really worked out…) and the sight of the reading pile made me decide to make my resolutions now instead. I’m going to see what I can do to work my way through certain longstanding residents, of the pile, before the end of the year. And here they are…

‘Dust of Dreams’ and ‘Return of the Crimson Guard’



I’ve only had ‘Dust of Dreams’ a little while but do not want to fall into the same trap that I did with ‘Toll the Hounds’; I’m going to read it before the end of the year dammit! ‘Return of the Crimson Guard’ has been around a little while longer, much to my shame (call myself a Malazan fan…?) The excuse has always been that they’re a little too bulky for the tube but that’s not going to put me off any longer!

‘The Grave Thief’ – Tom Lloyd



Do you find yourself really enjoying a series and then, for no reason whatsoever, end up ignoring the latest instalment? That’s what has happened here and I couldn’t tell you why; like I said, I really enjoyed the first two books. What I am going to tell you though is that this book will be well and truly read by the end of the year (I hope…)

‘Viriconium’ – M. John Harrison



I know exactly why I put this book to one side (I ended up getting really depressed at its bleak vision of the end of the world. Having said that though, can the end of the world be anything other than bleak…?) The plan was to go for the re-read though and that’s still the aim. Look for more mini-reviews in the near future!

‘The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard’



And here’s the book that has been on the pile such a long time that I’ve forgotten how long it’s been there. I took a break from it, to read something else, and the next thing I know it’s buried under… well, pretty much everything else! I’m going to finish it though. I am…

More books may be added to the list depending on how I go with these ones…

How about you though? Are there any books on your pile that you want to finish by the end of the year? Could this post be the start of an on line support group where we help each other get through our reading piles? Comments please! :o)

‘Kell’s Legend’ – Andy Remic (Angry Robot)

What with one thing and another, life has been pretty full on right now and I’ve been finding myself wanting to get into some comfort reading. You know the stuff I mean, a book that doesn’t ask too much of you other than to sit back and enjoy the ride. Fantasy is my thing and comfort reading here generally tends to involve guys bashing the hell out of each other with big swords. Think Robert E. Howard’s ‘Conan’ tales or Gemmell’s ‘Drenai’ books and you won’t go too far wrong :o) Comfort reads are re-reads more often than not; at least that’s what I thought until I came across Andy Remic’s ‘Kell’s Legend’. Here’s an author who’s acknowledged Gemmell’s influence on his work and he’s just gone and written a book crammed full of guys bashing the hell out of each other with big swords... ‘Kell’s Legend’ sounded like just the book I was after.
Having finished ‘Kell’s Legend’ last night, I’m not sure that it was the comfort read that I was after but it was still a lot of fun to read...

‘They came from the North, and the city fell...’

The land of Falanor has been invaded by the Army of Iron, brutal albinos doing the bidding of their Vachine masters (vampires augmented by clockwork) in the far north. The King must be warned and Kell (a hero of the empire) and a small group of people are tasked with the job. The way south is blocked by the Army of Iron, the monstrous Harvesters and hybrid Cankers; Kell and his friends must fight their way past them all if the invasion stands any chance of being turned back. The true darkness though is that which lies within the soul of Kell himself. His travelling companions will come to discover that Kell is no hero at all...

‘Kell’s Legend’ is a roller coaster ride of a book that grabbed me right from the first page and tore off at a rate of knots like I hadn’t seen in a long time. The only chance anyone gets to take a breather is when Kell removes his axe from a corpse that hasn’t had the time to realise that it’s dead! Before you’ve had a chance to take a proper breath, it’s back into the fray again. A lot rides on Kell’s mission and Remic stacks the odds accordingly. The outcome of each encounter is never in doubt and this can make these situations come across as a little cartoonish; Kell is very much the ‘ultimate warrior’ and this is well established early on, maybe the reader doesn’t need to be told quite so often...

To be fair though, I was never short of a tense moment or exciting scene whilst reading ‘Kell’s Legend’; the book is set up to deliver these one after the other and it does this in style! The pages turn easily and it’s definitely one of those books where you’ll be surprised at how many pages you read in a sitting. It isn’t a comfort read though; Remic sets out to shock his readers with his language and the amount of sheer gore that his characters must wade through. It’s laid on a little too thick though and is very obviously there to shock. It does little for the story itself other than to get in the way at the wrong times...

Before ‘Kell’s Legend’ even begins, Remic dedicates his work to David Gemmell and Gemmell’s influence is obvious as the story progresses. Maybe this influence is a little too obvious. Kell’s axe is possessed, in the same way as Druss’, and I couldn’t quite believe that Remic would go so far as to have Kell address people as ‘laddie’... Saark is also cast very much in the same mould as Druss’ companion Sieben. Paying homage is cool but not to point where it smothers the story itself...

When Remic moves away from his homage to Gemmell, Kell becomes a far more interesting character. Here is a man who has become a hero yet knows full well that he has done nothing to deserve such accolades. In fact, he has done entirely the opposite and is ready to commit the worst atrocities to protect what he loves. Life has eaten all the best bits of this man and left nothing but bitterness behind. Again, Kell’s less salubrious qualities are laid on so thick as to render him almost cartoonish but he remains an interesting character to follow and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for him.

You may feel that you’ve read ‘Kell’s Legend’ before (with a different title) but it’s still a lot of fun to read, one that has made my morning commutes go a lot faster. I’ll be around to see what happens next.

Eight out of Ten