Obsidian Razor

Reboot delayed

2011-01-05T13:04:00.000Z

As a bit of a film fan I had decided to do a reboot. It's the 'in' thing right now, but another film trait I've picked up is the delays. But I'm going to try and roll it out as soon as I can and resurrect this iteration of the blog.

Coming up are reviews for Moby Dick by Herman Melville, because New Years are a time to renew resolutions people have been chasing, and Watching the English by Kate Fox because I intend to infuse some non-fiction and have an interest in cultural behaviours.

So hopefully I'll be back on the book circuit for 2011!

Currently being repurposed

2010-09-07T16:21:00.000+01:00

Apologise to the readers of Obsidian Razor for the delay between posts, I am currently learning a few web magic tricks and making a plan for a re-launch which will be more in line with my original idea for the blog, which will still be a review site but will feature more of the other stuff I am interested in. I want to make sure I can keep content flowing even with a solo contributor. I'll still be posting reviews and then re-designing the blog (I hope)! I have learned a lot and would like to incorporate that into my next design so I have not stopped, but am looking at making output more consistent and re-evaluating the in-house style because I feel I can get better in the reviewing process.

Thank you for reading my ramblings!

David

Book Review: The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell

2010-07-22T15:32:00.000+01:00

Title: The Reapers are the Angels

Author: Alden Bell

Publisher: Tor

Date Published: 3 September 2010 (UK) | 3 August 2010 (US)
ARC: 304 Pages

8/10

Temple, who estimates her age at around 16, has never known the world before. Before the zombies spread and the world went dark. She is born into that world and still she sees the beauty despite the utter mess of it all. Or maybe she sees the beauty because of it. As her latest home is discovered, Temple goes back into the world where she runs into some hunters who have a sanctuary. One of them, Abraham, has lusty eyes on her and that doesn’t end well leading to his brother, Moses Todd, to hunt her across America while she tries to return a helpless Maury to his home.

I had the vaguest of ideas what this story was about when I won it. I knew it was about a post-apocalyptic world and perhaps what I described above. What I didn’t expect was the omission of speech marks usually seen in a Will Christopher Baer or Cormac McCarthy novel, perhaps because of this I became more engaged because they are some of my favourite writers, but too, the use of language evokes a western type of environment. It felt appropriate for what the world became: dissolute, dangerous, and calls to mind a frontier society. Never mind that there is no reasoning for everyone to talk like that after a relatively short time, it just fits. For a novel that will be considered genre, it has a lot of literary merit and experimentation with form and language stitched in amongst some messy violence.

The characters struggle with the notion of humanity— retaining it, losing it or remembering it— this is not to say everyone is going to struggle as with the case of some people who found a way of using the ‘slugs’ for other purposes. Temple and Moses are complex enough, even though I sometimes wondered where the religious or maybe I should say spiritual streak came from. Temple is worried about her humanity, although as far as I can tell it had not been defined to her so her affinity with violence and the death of people close to her is convinces Temple that she is evil. You get glimpses of the girl she might have been, but I could never be sure she’d have been that kind to Maury or people she meets had she been born into a world as we know it because we can seem more selfish or guarded than people in a zombie filled world.

Moses Todd knows his brother was a bad guy, and he’s not the best of people himself, but still he feels a need to square things and he’ll do it according to a code, he’ll do it ruthlessly. Moses is old enough to be of the time before, with a sense of justice and right that gets twisted into current context, so trying to kill Temple would seems to be his way of making sense of his brother’s death. They see the world in the same way, they look for the beauty and create a sense of right out of that, and he almost seems like a father figure to her.

The story is written with style and has delicious dialogue, as you get a tour of the world as it had become, and you see more of it than most of the characters ever will as Temple crosses the country with Maury, chased by Moses. The few things that bug me are when God entered into Temple’s mind as well as her lyrical use of language and the way people talk similarly but I also love it, so I’ll forgive that.

Overall, The Reapers are the Angels is a well executed, and lyrical in its violence and desolation, as with a great character at the core. I enjoyed the books and liked that it didn’t stick to conventions and found the characters fun to mull over, this is a book that will stalk the dark corners of my mind for a while.

|Author Website|

Book Review: The Reconstructionist by Nick Arvin

2010-07-21T14:00:00.001+01:00

Title: The Reconstructionist
Author: Nick Arvin
Publisher: Hutchinson (Random House)

Published: 3 June 2010

ARC: 260 pages

7/10

Ellis Barstow’s life is defined by accidents. Boggs, his boss, believes that accidents are inevitable meaning nothing is an accident. What brought them together could be proof. When Ellis was a teenager his half-brother Christopher died in a car accident. After college, Ellis drifted from jobs until he sees Christopher’s girlfriend at the time of the accident, Heather. She is married to Boggs and through her he got a job as a Reconstructionist.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Reconstructionist, sure, I have some lingering interest in forensic type things that flares like a rash once in a while. I enjoyed Mop Men by Alan Emmins so inevitably I had that type of chemistry in mind mind. It works because of Boggs’s love of literature in the form audiobooks, and his job, and Ellis’s apprentice status, which made it feel like a strange choice to skip a few years. Specifically the first five where Ellis would get to know Boggs, because of part of the plot when Ellis is by himself and thinking about other characters. I felt privy to these thoughts, but didn’t feel like I shared these feelings about the people that Ellis was missing. But I have a hard time deciding if this is preference because the plot is fine without knowledge of those years and what is needed is dropped into Ellis’s memory.

Nick Arvin is a Reconstructionist himself so I felt a little disappointed that most of the cases we hear about happened in the past and we don’t get to see them on the job together. But if the TV show that has been sold to Fox, according to my copy, is made I think we’d get to see Ellis and Boggs: the early years. I think it’ll be fun to slot those episodes between the timeline of the book. And although I felt elements were missing, I read this book pretty quickly as it presented a sort-of mystery as a connection to different times and different cases that drew me in and the fact that the prime case involves a few of the characters allows them to share hints of the past, and get to know them better giving the plot more emotion.

The interesting part of the story is Boggs’s theory that there are no accidents, reading a lot of novels this would seem true, especially so in this novel full of accidents in which brutal accidents are told in a cold and analytical style. As the plot moves we’re connected to the past and see how it has informed the future of these people, how their connection or their view on the world informs their actions as things echo and twist as the characters reconfigure. Until there is either hope, destruction, or maybe the next accident from which life and people will be reconstructed.

|Author Website|

Book Review: Horns by Joe Hill

2010-07-06T17:41:00.001+01:00

Title: Horns

Author: Joe Hill
Publisher: Gollancz (16^th March 2010)

Hardcover: 448 pages

8/10

Ignatius Perrish is the sun of a famous musician, the brother of a celebrity talk-show host, and had the love of Merrin Williams. He was blessed, and then he lost her. Merrin was raped and murdered and Ig was left as the only suspect because of a very public argument. He was never tried for the crime, but everyone thinks he did it. A year later he got drunk, did some bad thing, and then he woke up with horns at his temples and the ability to pry the most terrible secrets out of people. With this he decides to find out the truth.

Horns didn’t unfold in the way I expected, which made getting to know the characters an interesting process, it didn’t unfold like a thriller and parts of it are about growing up and childhood friends with only the slightest hints to the supernatural nature Ig would later acquire. The start of the story is the morning after Ig discovers his horns, so the first impressions you get from many of the characters is also the most terrible. This lends a pregnant texture to dialogue and character interactions that occur earlier in chronology. Although I sometimes grew impatient with the childhood or alternative viewpoints presented, I think it was more to do with the mood I was in when I chose to read, because they lend the story some important emotional textures and revelations and made the story about more than Ig’s quest and about the world he inhabits. A world where he seems to be the only strange thing although you know this isn’t true, not just because Jude from Heart-Shaped Box, Hill’s first novel is mentioned (and amusingly dismissed as a mediocre musician).

Ig changes throughout his quest, you wonder if this is because of the weight of being accused, the removal of comfort of the people he turned to, the influence of the horns, another entity or all of that. Eventually he begins to sympathise with the devil, seeing him as the first superhero, one who defied dictatorship and punished the wicked- a vast change from the boy who met Merrin in church. And learning of their relationship is bitter-sweet as we know how she ends, if not how or why, so that every moment is racing towards that end. I can see how there is a need to get away from the gravity of this, but it also becomes part of a whole as Hill explores other characters lives so that we the reader have context, so too does Ig as the horns grant him a psychic touch.

Overall, I found Horns pretty satisfying as there is just enough character exploration to give context to the main plot, even if it is overpowering at times. The flavour it gives the story is worth sometimes going off on a tangent as it slowly slots into place and what happens to Ig and Merrin is truly heartbreaking.

|Author Website|

Book Review: Who Is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee

2010-07-02T19:42:00.004+01:00

Title: Who Is Mr Satoshi?
Author: Jonathan Lee
Publisher: William Heinmann LTD (1 July 2010)

ARC: 298 Pages

7/10

Rob ‘Foss’ Fossick had been haunted by the death of his wife, Chloe, for years when his mother died. Shortly before her death she showed him a shoebox with a package she had meant to deliver to a Mr Satoshi. So he faces his fear of crowds and his anxiety and travels to Japan in search of Satoshi to deliver the package and to unravel the mysteries of his mother’s past.

Lately I've been reading a lot of stories based in Japan (both fictional and non-fictional), so I came at this story in a different way. I had more of a grasp of the food, but at the same time, I’m not sure I got a sense of location, so Foss never really felt in an odd place, maybe due to his informal tour guide Chiyoko, which is appropriate because I feel this story is more about the characters.

Foss tells the story in first person; he is a mass of nerves due to the accident in which his wife dies, and now he keeps himself in a chemical fog with pills. I felt this was handled well as he isn't supposed to be an expert on them and he has no reason to be, but more could have been made of this trait or the effects which seems to slide away without leaving much of a mark when he runs out as it coincides with his emotional development. The story is his arc as he re-discovers people, the wider-world, love, and the nature of longing by distancing himself and exploring things through proxies.

The wider cast of characters are distinct and colourfully brought to life, so much so that I found myself missing them. There is Freddie, his mother’s friend who sparks off the search for Satoshi and Perry, Foss’ Agent, who is loud, brash and very Agenty, but seems to care for Foss somewhere deep down. Chiyoko is sort of idealised – mid-twenties, beautiful, speaks English well, and has just the right sunny attitude to help Foss navigate the world, but there are some commonalities hidden under the surface, something that draws her to Foss. Her boss, Daisuke is an ex-sumo wrestler and owner of the Hotel Villa Dolly, named after Dolly Parton who he is a big fan of and is another atypical, yet familiar character.

I found the title is fitting as the reader and Foss wonder who that Satoshi is, and the absence of the character is handled well. The journey Foss goes on and the people he meets are entertaining, and to me the story is about resolving Foss’s conflicts and his fear of the world and I found that I was rooting for that to happen as much as finding Satoshi.

The New Arrivals #3

2010-06-28T21:18:00.001+01:00

Numero 3 is a mixed bag including a compact disc, and a PS3 game, books I bought and books for review. Phew, I am going to be busy with upcoming reviews for The Reconstructionist and Who is Mr Satoshi? coming up in a few days. (Transformers is a little repetitive, but I'm taking my time with the single-player campaigns and multi-player has fun incentives to level up classes).

Top Row: Lisse - Catching a Tiger (Sony Music), Maneater, Prey - Thomas Emson (Snow Books), Transformers: War for Cybertron (High Noon). Bottom Row: Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain (Pan), The White Queen, The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory (Simon & Schuster), The Passage - Justin Cronin (Orion Books)

With Thomas Emson, I decided to take a chance on buying the first and second books in a series without reading previous works, because I've been a life-long fan of werewolves. Don't let me down Emson!

Years ago I won a copy of Heartsick by Chelsea Cain. I liked it but wasn't rushing to keep track. Recently, I won Evil at Heart and so I bought Sweet Heart. Going to read them all from the start.

The Passage, I pre-ordered a while ago - it's a brick and about vampires.

And finally, thanks to Ally and marketing from Simon & Schuster for The White Queen and The Red Queen.

Book Review: Spellwright by Blake Charlton

2010-06-25T16:42:00.001+01:00

Title: Spellwright

Author: Blake Charlton

Publisher: Harper Voyager (27 May 2010)

ARC: 350

Rating: 7/10

Spellwright is the story of a twenty-five year old apprentice wizard, Nicodemus Weal, whose dyslexia corrupts any spell he touches as they are text based. The wizards at Starhaven call him a cacographer and there are others who think he is dangerous. Initially he seemed to fit the prophecy of the Halcyon but some now believe he is the Storm Petrel, the opposing force in the prophecy. On top of that he must survive a creature which is killing the cacographers from Starhaven.

Tales of overcoming your ‘limitations’ has a weird appeal to me, because it give you somebody or something to root for. So this book already had pluses in my eyes, I’m not going to lie. Spellwright is charming and very vivid, especially in the use of the magic systems, location, and variety of creatures. It gave me enough to let my imagination run, even with Shannon who is blinded to all except certain magical texts, you can see through his eyes.

As a first book in a series, Spellwright does a good job of establishing the world, the various factions and characters only to twist both beliefs and allegiances. I especially liked the artificial creatures like the gargoyles, the inclusion of avatars used in the classic sense and deities and demons as fact in this world.

Nicodemus is, perhaps, going through a quarter-life crisis –all his potential has appeared to have passed him by and he is making steps towards teaching simple magic, but the murder of your peers is certainly a way of stirring things up. As a character he is likeable, sometimes whiney, and passive or perhaps resigned to start with but that gives him an arc that is already gaining momentum at speed by the end of the book. It’ll be interesting to see if he crashes or is able to stop and assess things as he fights to forge his own destiny.

There is a lot of information to process, and while sometimes it seems implausible for it to be explained by stopping and conversing about certain points, Spellwright is a fun read, with good imagery and a clear world that is already expanding. The world and the words really come to life as I am still conjuring up imagery and associating it with this story. I look forward to reading more about it and the changes to certain characters and new configurations of the world in Spellbound and Disjunction.

Author’s Site | Video Interview

Trailer Thursday #4

2010-06-24T16:36:00.000+01:00

RED

Based on a comic by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, FreakAngels), this is a different animal from the book, but has an impressive cast: Bruce Willis, Helen Miren, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich.

Green Hornet

Really not sure about the modern setting, and Michel Gondry's style isn't evident, but I'd love to see if Seth Rogan can play the role, we'll see. I've seen Jay Chou in one film (Secret), but my brother is a huge fan of his music.

Bonus trailer: Secret

Book Review: Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

2010-06-22T18:40:00.003+01:00

Title: Under Heaven
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay

Publisher: Harper Voyager (29 April 2010)

ARC: 562

Rating: 5/10

As a recent inductee to the fantasy genre I was curious what it’d be like with Chinese characters. But while I read Under Heaven I realised I didn’t read much with Chinese characters in general and found myself wondering if any of the things I had problems with was trying to emulate to the style of the era and their writers, because I haven’t read previous works by Kay.

Under Heaven is set in an alternate 8^th century China and follows the trials of Shen Tai, who is not a man who follows a traditional path despite himself. Instead of spending the mourning period of two years at home, Tai spent it in a battle site, which his father survived in his youth, burying the dead of both sides- something which brings the favour of the former opposition. So when the Kitan Princess suggested a gift it was granted, but the gift could seem like a death sentence as it is a sum of two hundred and fifty Sardian horses, when one would seem a reward, more could spark jealousy and murderous tendencies.

While I enjoyed elements of the story, like some of the urgency created from knowing strands of the story and the political nature, the sense of location (of which there were many), nostalgia the characters displayed for these locations and in fact most of the characters remind me of many of the serials from my childhood. It was also fun to have such a wide range of characters, particularly enjoyable characters are the Kandlin warriors, who are like mercenaries and the most trustworthy people (a fun discord) and Meshag, who is one of the truly supernatural characters. Some of the characters some felt like they were there unnecessary and just to say the right kind of thing at the right moment or facilitate a plotline. Often we are told what the characters are supposed to be like, rather than being able to discover their personalities.

I suspect Kay’s writing is not for me. I often wondered if Kay was used to writing in longer serialised books and explaining everything, which is frustrating and makes for a passive reading experience, especially when it slips into future-history mode and explains almost every character’s future. This is highlighted by the contrast shown in the sections where it calls for the poet characters to recite poetry- these displayed an ability to be concise and abstract.

Ultimately, I liked parts of the story, I was struck by the notion it would have been better with a hundred less pages, it felt bloated and omitted things I would have like to have seen and tells of things that aren’t necessary to the narrative, although I concede that it could have been for emotional notes, it just felt odd having knowledge of the futures of the characters. Also, for a drinking game: Take a shot every time you’re told something could be considered ironic.

Author’s Site

You Are Here - Christopher Potter

2010-06-10T17:02:00.001+01:00

You Are Here is subtitled as "a portable history of the universe" and the look of it reminds me of many of those books I loved as a boy (one of which, I'm convinced my primary school stole) and the type of thing I still like as an adult. Here is a wonderful flash animation to celebrate the paperback release, which explores everything from your cells to the vast universe!

You Are Here is published by Hutchinson.
More information and interviews can be found here:
On Writing You Are Here | The Guardian Interview | Telegraph Review | Random House Books

A Walk Across the Universe with Christopher Potter from George Miller on Vimeo.

Trailer Thursday #3

2010-06-10T14:46:00.001+01:00

As a comic book fan I am interested to see how this turns out. Better than Heroes, I hope.

The Cape (NBC) - Officer Vince Faraday was a good cop trying to clean up a corrupt city when he was framed for murder, left for dead, separated from his wife and son and forced into hiding.

I was a huge fan of Alias (which is rumoured to have a reboot coming up), so I look forward to Undercovers also by J.J Abrams (Lost , Star Trek). I'm a little surprised to see Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Doctor Who, Bonekickers) in this and as an agent who quit five years ago.

Undercovers (NBC): For Steven and Samantha, lives hang in the balance when they rejoin the CIA to rekindle their relationship. This spy drama proves that marriage is still the world's most dangerous partnership.

Mortal Kombat gets a mysterious makeover which makes me question the removal of mystical elements, I mean is any of this any less of a suspension of disbelief? It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Winnebago Man looks like a fun documentary with no real purpose (NSFW)...

And finally [REC] 2, sequel to the original [REC] which had an American remake called Quarantine (Also NSFW).

The New Arrivals #2

2010-06-07T13:12:00.000+01:00

This week, I have received some exciting review copies from Windmill Books, who have my thanks, and the good news is that you don't have to wait for Forgetting Zoe or The Reconstructionist as they are already out. I can honestly say I am really looking forward to reading all of these (Although Remarque may have to wait a while).

The List:

The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell (TOR UK) - Won. Published in September.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Vintage) - £1 from ASDA.

Who Is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee (Windmill Books) - Review Copy. Published July 1st.
Forgetting Zoe by Ray Robinson (Windmill Books) - Review Copy. Out now.
The Reconstructionist by Nick Arvin (Windmill Books) - Review Copy. Out now.

Music Monday #1

2010-06-07T09:55:00.001+01:00

I've been playing around with content for a bit and while I'm introducing more the form will go through a few changes while I find a style for the blog, so for now this is a Monday Music post...

Name: Lissie Maurus
Known As: Lissie

EPs: Lissie EP (2007) | Why You Runnin’ (2009)
Albums: To Catch A Tiger (2010)

Lissie is gaining momentum in the UK right now; she had been touring for a while, she was on Jools Holland (all too briefly) and performed one of her songs with Ellie Goulding and has an upcoming album, To Catch A Tiger. A few years ago, when I used to DJ a few slots a week, one of Lissie’s songs was a regular feature for a while. It was a Morgan Page mix of one of her songs, On My Chest. It was a wistful song which showed signs of what she’d grow into.

While I remembered her voice, it took me a while to make the connection because while I enjoyed this song, it didn’t make me seek out more, and there were more collaborations with Morgan Page, opened for Lenny Kravitz, had an EP produced by Bill Reynolds from Band of Horses. All of this I had missed. I didn’t even recognise her singing Everywhere I Go at the end of the TV show, Dollhouse. That was how different she was from my first taste of her music, which I liked a lot. But a whole host of videos on Youtube finally made things click, as things seem to be done her way and it feels more honest. Her vocals and passion grind and slide and force you to listen to the lyrics, but most of all she’s one of the musicians where you can see their enjoyment, as well as their ease and that is infectious.

You can find more at:

http://www.youtube.com/user/lissiemusic | http://www.myspace.com/lissiemusic

Trailer Thursday #2

2010-06-03T01:58:00.000+01:00

It's a bit early, but it is still Thursday, I'm bored and my belly is full of food. So here we go with the trailers...

First up, I have a bit of Scott Pilgrim VS the World. Helmed by Edgar Wright of Shawn of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz frame. Also it stars Michael Cera as the titular squiggle guy (I say that because it is based on a comic, specifically volume 2 of the series).

Splice, is up next. It doesn't seem terribly original from the trailer, but I am a Guillermo del Toro fan, especially of his Spanish language films like The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth, and Hellboy was enjoyable, so we'll see.

Mr. Nice, hmm, it rhymes with Splice, so let's follow with this. Based on the life of Howard Marks (played by Rhys Ifans). I don't know a lot about this, but it looks good. Bernard Rose writes and directs.

Unless I think of more later, that's about it this week!

The New Arrivals #1

2010-05-27T19:42:00.000+01:00

Books. Some arrived yesterday, some were won, some were bought, either way they came along to brighten my day, today.

Top Row, left to right:
Kraken - China Mieville, Apartment 16 - Adam Nevil (both bought and signed from the Forbidden Planet event I couldn't make), The Quickening Maze - Adam Foulds (won from Facebook page of the Man Booker Prize), and Lord of the Flies - William Golding (£1 from ASDA, as were the bottom row, excluding Inkspill Magazine which you can get HERE.)

Bottom Row:
Dracula - Bram Stoker, Moby-Dick - Herman Melville, Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens, Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte, and Inkspill Magazine.

Trailer Thursday #1

2010-05-27T12:45:00.001+01:00

Trailer Thursday is a depot for random trailers that gained my attention over the last week.

From my first wishlist I mentioned a Jim Thompson novel- The Killer Inside Me. Well, there's a film now:

And a book trailer for The Passage, also a previous wishlist pick:

Film Friday #1: The Proposition

2010-05-21T15:26:00.004+01:00

Film: The Proposition
Year: 2005
Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt, David Wenhan, and Emily Watson
Screenplay: Nick Cave
Director: John Hilcoat

6/10

(Watch it for free on LOVEFiLM, link below)

I haven't seen this film in a while, but as a fan of Nick Cave's music and after hearing good things about And the Ass Saw the Angel , although I still haven't read Cave's first novel. Perhaps because of the way his second novel, The Death of Bunny Monroe deviated from my expectations after seeing this film.

The Proposition of the title is from Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) to the middle brother of the Burns gang, Charlie (Guy Pearce). It is this: If Charlie doesn't bring his older brother in by Christmas, the younger brother, Mikey, will be hung. If he does, the two younger brothers will go free. This brings about explosive reactions because of the nature of the crime the Burn's gang committed.

The setting of 1880s Australia makes this less action based than the synopses makes it sound, but The Proposal is full of atmosphere and beauty, helped by Nick Cave's music which is both in the film and is a part of the pacing in the script.

Even though there is very graphic violence; you'll know this film is positively restrained if you've heard the album Murder Ballads. Winstone and Pearce turn in some good performances as the wariest men ever and the film has some wonderful side characters, from John Hurt's drunken bounty hunter, to Samuel Stoat, whose soulful singing voice clashes with his disgusting nature.

The film is streaming for free on the LOVEFiLM website (courtesy of Rockstar games, due to today's release of Red Dead Redemption).

Click HERE to watch.

Wordless Wednesday #1

2010-05-19T13:09:00.003+01:00

(Click to top picture to enlarge)

Television Review: Luther #1 (Episodes 1 & 2)

2010-05-13T14:36:00.000+01:00

I haven’t read any Neil Cross, and I have not watched Spooks in a while. While some people say the premise isn’t too original, I say that is beside the point. Some shows try to be original, but Luther seems to be a show that’s meant to subvert by design. The prime indicator of this is that you know who committed the crime, but you watch to see how John Luther figures it out, but there are a few twisted relationships creating a series-wide narrative, which I find interesting.

(Spoilers ahead).

Episode 1

Show: Luther

Episode: 1

Writer: Neil Cross

Channel: BBC1

Time: 21:00

Original Air Date: 04/05/10

Rating: 7/10

So, while the rest of the team are looking for the kidnapped girl Luther (Idris Elba) chased the kidnapper to a warehouse until he’s hanging off the walkway. At this point, you’re not supposed to know John, so you get to watch him use this to his advantage. Then you get to see him struggling, but you don’t know if he the thing Luther’s struggling with is letting the kidnapper –who killed other children – fall or pulling him up. That makes for an interesting character.

His first case back is the murder of Alice Morgan’s (Ruth Jones) parents, and their dog. She acts like an innocent, but not too well and there is no evidence pointing to her, but Luther through some popular science suggests she is the evidence shaped hole. The most bizarre part is that the solidifier for him was that she didn’t yawn, but it is the there but not there nature of the crime he fixates on. That and the fact she is near genius level too. He gets to dance around subjects like dark matter and astrophysics, and subjects that he never seems to invoke with his colleagues. This intellectual playing field makes him flex a bit, which unfortunately makes gains Alice’s attention, making this the start of a destructive kinship.

The other destructive relationship is between Luther and his wife, Zoë (Indira Varma). They were separated after the incident with the kidnapper. I like the fact that as angry as he was to learn of her new man, he didn’t hit her or seem unreasonable with the guy later on. I mean, sure he could have left, but he hadn’t seen her since Alice threatened Zoë, which really gave him permission to go off the books again. Dealing with Alice, he let her go perhaps on the hunch that with Alice’s parents it was personal, with Zoë it’s about him. So he stands as the only person who knows for sure that she did murdered her parents and Alice gets her acknowledgement. Letting the killer go is a bit of a reversal to the opener, but this seems to be for Zoe. Like I said, these are twisted relationships.

As for how he gets on with his colleagues: I’m not too keen on the boss, she isn’t convincing as a person. The old friend is simply there for now, and I’m happy that the new guy is not useless or comic relief, he is just new.

Episode Two

Show: Luther

Episode: 2

Writer: Neil Cross

Channel: BBC1

Time: 21:00

Original Air Date: 11/05/10

Rating: 6/10

With introductions out of the way, we get to see the crime, and a few clues. As the episode unfurls we see the cop-killing ex-solider devolve with each new piece of information, and his motives get muddied by his imprisoned father, although he was coldly efficient at maximising the damage caused to the police. Because of the ‘Howcatchem’ formula, I found the way they discovered his identity rushed and of relying on the police behaving how you think they would in that many areas makes it more likely to fall apart, but isn’t that part of the fun? Because writing is also about playing the audience, or not also, but that should be the main thing. But you have to play fair, without being predictable. The concluding scene with the ex-soldier and the Russian roulette felt like it could have gone either way. We knew Luther wouldn’t get shot; it was unlikely anyone would save either of them.

Alice is continuing her investigation into Luther, employing wigs and disguises to visit the kidnapper from episode one, who has been in a coma since his fall. She calls Luther from the kidnapper’s bedside, stating interest in what he’d say about Luther if he wakes. Again, she threatens Zoë making Luther call to tell her to go. This causes her boyfriend, Mark to act like a bit of a prick. He may be jealous; Zoë had already made him go to the police to make it clear he threw the first punch, and now she listens to Luther, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable under the circumstances.

Alice later breaks into the house and questions them, apparently concluding her investigation.

Given that Alice puts Luther in a bad position, it seems odd that he and Alice can be amicable if not friends, which she considers them to be, but why not? He did let her get away with murder for now, and she gave him what he wanted to hear as well as the assurance that she likes Zoë. Speaking of, it seems quite possible Luther can learn to be just friends with her, but there is a way to go.

Conclusion

It is not just the Massive Attack title music, or the titular characters surname being the name of the show making me draw comparisons to House M.D, but the fact that I’ll probably watch Luther for him Alice implode, and the crime of the week is going to be secondary to the character development. One day I will learn to review without getting specific as I did here, but character is the primary draw for me even though a bit of work is required for his colleagues, the boss especially. Overall I find the main protagonist and antagonist interesting which will keep me around for a bit.

On My Wishlist #7

2010-04-17T14:35:00.000+01:00

Title: Bitter Seeds

Author: Ian Tregillis

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publisher: Tor (3 May 2010)

Description from Goodreads.com:

It’s 1939. The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in between

Raybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.

When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities—a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present—Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of

Britain

to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.

Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.

Reason: Alternative history is fun and this is supposed to be well researched. Plus… Nazi Superheroes VS British Magicians! To be the first in a trilogy.

Website: http://www.iantregillis.com/

(More below the cut)

Title: Stories of Your Life and Others

Author: Ted Chiang

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Tor (20 Feb 2004)

Description from Amazon.co.uk:

What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven - and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were inconsistent? What if there was a science of naming things which calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into Hell was a routine event on city streets?

These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Collected here for the first time are eight of his extraordinary stories - including one specially written for this volume.

Reason: No specific reason, it sounds like a solid and varied short story collection.

Title: Fugue State

Author: Brian Evenson

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Coffee House Press (July 2009)

Description from Goodreads.com:

“Hallucinatory and darkly comic, these tales of paranoia, pursuit, sensory deprivation, amnesia, and retribution rattle the cages of the psyches. And through the illustrations of graphic Zak Sally, this unsettling world is brought to life."

From sadistic bosses with secret fears to a woman trapped in a mime's imaginary box, and from a post-apocalyptic misidentified messiah to unwitting portraitists of the dead, Brian Evenson's mind-bending fiction peers fearlessly into the shadows.

Reason: What can I say? I have a craving for short stories. Brian Evenson comes highly recommended.

Website: http://www.brianevenson.com/

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On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.(Idea inspired by The Story Siren)

Harper's Voyager imprint is in its 15th year...

2010-04-13T10:25:00.003+01:00

...and to celebrate they have created this wonderful trailer featuring two of my upcoming reviews; Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay and Spellwright by Blake Charlton. Also featured is a previous review: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Later on in the year, I will be reviewing the first in George R R Martin's The Songs of Fire and Ice series, A Game of Thrones. Enjoy!

They are even running a competition: "For everyone that leaves a comment on the blog or on YouTube between now and the 10th May, we will enter you into a draw to win a copy of each of the published books from the trailer"

Book Review: Landed by Tim Pears

2010-04-12T22:13:00.001+01:00

Title: Landed

Author: Tim Pears

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (4 Mar 2010)

Rating: 6/10

The story starts cold and factual in the form a collision investigators report, then for the first part of the book alternates between alternate forms of storytelling, and Owen’s childhood in the Welsh countryside. These parts are easily my favourites for different reasons.

The forms for the way it allows you to fill in parts of the story leading up to the present, instead of – how it could easily be done –a narrative match of third person depicting the scenes. The alternate forms (report, an exceptionally long letter, first person direct address, and forum posting) told a story where you’re able to fill in the blanks. However, these were abandoned in the back-half of the novel, which left them feeling a little gimmicky. But like I said, I enjoyed them, but I wish there was more of a through-line to it.

Owen’s childhood is told in languid, quietly simmering but powerful flashbacks, evoking his grandfather’s manner. There is beauty in these sections, the way Owen grows to love the land also made you look forward to spending time in them, even as Owen starts drifting into his own separate and secretive projects and his grandfather deals badly with his problems by stubbornly refusing to lose one of his flock. Something Owen echoes later in the novel, when he kidnaps his children when refused visitation. Losing a hand, and losing his family damaged Owen.

The back-half was told with a little more whimsy despite the damage, and there are some details that seemed odd. This half is told in a fixed perspective. Owen is broken, not being formed or falling apart. Both these things immediately separate it from the rest of the novel. This is where a bit of sag starts showing. Owen has kidnapped his kids and they make their way to the hills of his childhood, where depending on your interpretation, where the emotional impact should be dissipated or heightened, but really there is a lot of confusion, for me at least.

There is skill, and poetry in the writing. The different sections at the beginning use different languages, including the mother of Owen’s children murdering the English language, some of her vocabulary bleeds into the kids so they sound like a mix of both parents when they speak. The odd details make sense in the end, but I am not sure what to make of the story. There is a lot I enjoy, it was a pleasant read, and I loved parts of it, parts where I got really drawn into the story, but I do feel like devices were either wasted or unnecessary even if I really enjoyed them. I think this is because an expectation of style and emotion which wasn’t carried through evenly. I found myself missing the book I was reading at the beginning.

Website: http://www.timpears.com/

On My Wishlist #6

2010-04-10T09:53:00.002+01:00

Title: Blueeyedboy

Author: Joanne Harris

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Doubleday (31 Mar 2010)

Description from Amazon.co.uk:

Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child, timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer'. "Blueeyedboy" is the brilliant new novel from Joanne Harris: a dark and intricately plotted tale of a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. Told through posts on a webjournal called badguysrock, this is a thriller that makes creative use of all the multiple personalities, disguise and mind

games that are offered by playing out a life on the internet.

Reason: I’m interested in different forms for fiction and reading a story told through blog posts, I find the idea funny in a wry way.

Website: http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/

Videos: About the book | First Chapter Extract

Title: Mobius Dick
Author: Andrew Crumey
Paperback: 356 pages

Publisher: Picador; New edition edition (3 Jun 2005)

Description from Goodreads.com:

In Mobius Dick, physicist John Ringer, receives a mysterious text message that triggers an investigation into the development of new mobile phone technology in a research facility outside a remote Scottish village. Already the world is becoming a very different place: amnesia, telepathy, false memory, and inexplicable coincidences all seem to be occurring more frequently with humorous, brain teasing results. Could quantum experiments have caused the collapse of our universes space-time continuum? Could the multi-layered text we are reading come from another world altogether?

Reason: A recommendation. I’m impressionable to certain types of stories and it sounds interesting!

Website: http://www.crumey.toucansurf.com/

Title: The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero

Authors: William Kalush & Larry Sloman

Paperback: 608 pages

Publisher: Pocket Books; New Ed edition (6 Aug 2007)

Description from Amazon.co.uk:

Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives, Kalush and Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British and Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation, the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments, such as his participation in early aerial surveillance and his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war, Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics, led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle, worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research, but as exciting and dramatic as a good thriller, THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magician's long and circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend.

Reason: Houdini’s interesting, you can’t believe everything you read about him, but interesting. A quick poke online reveals a planned movie, so now I have a fire under me to read it sooner.

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Television Review: Doctor Who #1

2010-04-04T22:55:00.001+01:00

Show: Doctor Who

Episode: The Eleventh Hour (S05E01)

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Adam Smith

Channel: BBC1

Time: 18:20

Original Air Date: 03/04/10

Rating: 8/10

(Clich HERE to see Writer Vision)

Doctor Who has always been about a Timelord who regenerates, I’m from the generation when the show was off-air for much of their childhood, so that was a fun concept to me. So I am not one of those who dread the new face or personalities of the Doctor, but my favourite parts are the in-between Doctors when they are not done yet, so seeing this was fun.

The new opening theme was distracting at first, it has a hint of the gothic, but I found I liked it better the second time round I saw it for the review. However, I don’t like the idea of seeing the poor TARDIS knocked around every week!

When they said the Doctor and Amy’s relationship is different, they weren’t kidding. Although it was something that could have came about with another Moffat scenario, with Madame De Pompadour; Amelia Pond, the first person he sees with his new eyes. The fact that she was a happy, imaginative child is an interesting contrast to what we see Amy becomes as a direct consequence of the Doctor not returning at the time he promised. This wasn’t an adult he let down, but a child, and I can’t help wondering if guilt is motivating his decision to bring her along as an adult. But we don’t know him well enough to know if he feels guilt.

Matt Smith’s Tennantisms seem deliberate, as he said: he wasn’t done cooking yet. An abrupt switch or too much change wouldn’t have worked, given how disorientating regeneration is meant to be. So the outfit doesn’t just give as a visual cue to when he was done, his voice and mannerisms shift the first time we see his full outfit. I like him, but now that I’ve seen a transitioning Doctor, I want to see the cooked Eleven.

The Eleventh hour acts as a pilot, firmly establishing the troupes that Moffat draws from. There is the every day things, the creeping feeling being more than they appear, and most importantly a personal level is injected right from the start.

The Prisoner Zero plot is a bit of a background, but an important part because it demonstrates the hearts of the Doctor and his companion. How do you show what a person is really like? Take everything away from them and see what they do.

On My Wishlist #5

2010-04-04T11:34:00.000+01:00

Title: Five Mile House (#1 in Leslie Stone Series)

Author: Karen Novak

Paperback: 240 pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (31 Dec 2004)

Description from Goodreads.com:

In 1889, Eleanor Bly murdered her six children and flung herself from the tower of Five Mile House. More than a hundred years later, her ghost, who narrates much of the novel, reaches out to Leslie Stone, a New York cop who has killed a child murderer and is haunted by her action. The house is their common ground. When Leslie's husband comes to Wellington to restore the house for a deep-pocketed local historical organization bent on marketing the town's local witch lore to the vacationing masses, Eleanor finds an audience and Leslie finds... what?

“Her fascination with the house was indeed connected to something else, and if she stared at Five Mile House long enough the image before her would rearrange itself into the form of what she really sought.”

Eleanor and Leslie (whose physical resemblance to the 19th-century Medea is uncanny) are, of course, on mirroring quests for redemption, a prize which, the madwoman's ghost realizes, carries a heavy price: "I do not crave the truth; I dread it.... Yet, without the opportunity to tell my story, all that is left me is the ephemeral, disjointed speculations of others. It is for this reason I protect Five Mile House, to hold my story safe. I protect it from the living who climb the hill to see the relic of a mad woman and pay no heed to the implications of madness in the house itself."

Title: The Diving Pool
Author: Yoko Agawa
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Vintage (2 April 2009)

Description from Goodreads.com:

From Akutagawa Award-winning author, Yoko Ogawa comes a haunting trio of novellas about love, motherhood, fertility, obsession, and how even the most innocent gestures contain a hairline crack of cruel intent. A lonely teenaged girl falls in love with her foster-brother as she watches him leap from a high diving board into a pool - a peculiar infatuation that sends unexpected ripples through her life. A young woman records the daily moods of her pregnant sister in a diary, taking meticulous note of a pregnancy which may or may not be a hallucination - but whose hallucination is it, hers or her sister's? A woman nostalgically visits her old college dormitory on the outskirts of Tokyo, a boarding house run by a mysterious triple amputee with one leg. Hauntingly spare, beautiful, and twisted, "The Diving Pool" is a disquieting and, at times, darkly humorous collection of novellas about normal people who suddenly discover their own dark possibilities.

Title: Sandman Slim (Sandman Slim #1)
Author: Richard Kadrey
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Eos (Aug 2009)

Description from Goodreads.com:

Supernatural fantasy has a new antihero

Life sucks, and then you die. Or, if you're James Stark, you spend eleven years in Hell as a hitman before finally escaping, only to land back in the hell-on-earth that is Los Angeles.

Now Stark's back, and ready for revenge. And absolution, and maybe even love. But when his first stop saddles him with an abusive talking head, Stark discovers that the road to absolution and revenge is much longer than you'd expect, and both Heaven and Hell have their own ideas for his future.

Resurrection sucks. Saving the world is worse.

Darkly twisted, irreverent, and completely hilarious, Sandman Slim is the breakthrough novel by an acclaimed author.
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On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.(Idea inspired by The Story Siren)

On My Wishlist #4

2010-03-27T11:51:00.001Z

Title: Apartment 16

Author: Adam Nevill

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: Pan (21 May 2010)

Description from Amazon.co.uk:

Some doors are better left closed...

In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.

A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She's been left an apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago.

Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying …

Title: Inherent Vice
Author: Thomas Pynchon
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (6 Aug 2009)

Description from Goodreads.com:

It’s been awhile since Doc Sportello has seen his ex-girlfriend. Suddenly out of nowhere she shows up with a story about a plot to kidnap a billionaire land developer whom she just happens to be in love with. Easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic sixties in L.A., and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” except that this one usually leads to trouble. Despite which he soon finds himself drawn into a bizarre tangle of motives and passions whose cast of characters includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, a tenor sax player working undercover, an ex-con with a swastika tattoo and a fondness for Ethel Merman, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists.

In this lively yarn, Thomas Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre, provides a classic illustration of the principle that if you can remember the sixties, you weren’t there… or… if you were there, then you… or, wait, is it…

Title: Sunshine
Author: Robin McKinley
Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Bantam Books; New edition edition (14 Aug 2008)

Description from Goodreads.com:

Rae Seddon, nicknamed Sunshine, lives a quiet life working at her stepfather's bakery. One night, she goes out to the lake for some peace and quiet. Big mistake. She is set upon by vampires, who take her to an old mansion. They chain her to the wall and leave her with another vampire, who is also chained. But the vampire, Constantine, doesn't try to eat her. Instead, he implores her to tell him stories to keep them both sane. Realizing she will have to save herself, Sunshine calls on the long-forgotten powers her grandmother began to cultivate in her when she was a child. She transforms her pocketknife into a key and unchains herself--and Constantine. Surprised, he agrees to flee with her when she offers to protect him from the sun with magic. They escape back to town, but Constantine knows his enemies won't be far behind, which means that he and Sunshine will have to face them together. A luminous, entrancing novel with an enthralling pair of characters at its heart.

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On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.(Idea inspired by The Story Siren)

Book Review: Gunpowder by Joe Hill

2010-03-22T21:15:00.000Z

Title: Gunpowder

Author: Joe Hill

Publisher: PS Publishing; Limited ed edition (Dec 2008)

Hardcover: 81 pages

Rating: 9/10

Welcome to R2, a hostile planet where the deserts where at least a third sulphur and sodium nitrate, the ingredients of Gunpowder. It is home to thirty special boys and Elaine, their handler, who they call Mom.

All the boys, apart from Charley, have a Talent for changing the world so it can provide food for worlds. It is what they’re created for, so what happens when they have ideas of their own, or the military want them to create a weapons supply planet because of a terror attack?

In Gunpowder, Joe Hill has created a lean, fat-free, entertaining story with themes that echoes the 9/11 attacks, and growing up with the notion that you can create anything with your life – an idea instilled from a young age –this time literally:

“Jackson said the skyboats had been hijacked by solar extremists… They had grievances. They said what had happened to Killian was holy and just and was only the beginning.”

“Their powers were engineered to burnout in their twenties, a harrowing passage that would kill several of them…”

There are more subtle musings on the nature of love, bonds between people, as well as cruelty, and destructiveness.

At age fourteen, the boys are starting to come into their own. Their creations are wondrous, but dangerous too. Jake has just created grass in the desert, with each blade literally being blades sharp enough to cut through leather.

If there is something I wonder about, it is how the boys learned swear words, or even think of dangerous things, but I suppose a full education is the best way to fuel imagination.

Verdict: The main cast of characters had distinct natures, and behaved believably like children, and their mother, and the novella has some of the best action sequences, and imagery I’ve imagined (probably helped along by the wonderful cover, even though the Gunpowder in my mind looked different). The length of the story ensured that it doesn’t have any excess, but runs a wide spectrum, and lives up to the maxim: Always leave them wanting more.

On My Wishlist #3

2010-03-21T10:49:00.009Z

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where I list all the books I desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too. I hope you will join in! If you want to know more click here.
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Title: Maneater
Author: Thomas Emson
Publisher: Snowbooks Ltd; paperback
(1 April 2008)
Paperback: 390 pages

Description (Goodreads.com):

She's not sweet. She's not nice. She doesn't fight evil. She doesn't protect the weak. She doesn't serve humanity. She doesn't work in an office by day and have a secret identity by night. She doesn't have friends and family who know nothing about her but when they find out they love her anyway. She's not cool. She's not clever. She's not kind to animals. She won't help children, the elderly, and those less fortunate than herself. In fact, she doesn't care. But if you hurt her, she will kill you. Actually, she'll do worse than that - Meet Laura. She'll eat you alive.

Title: Both Sides of the Fence: A Life Undercover
Author: David Corbett
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; New edition edition
(18 Sep 2003)
Paperback: 208 pages

Description (Goodreads.com):

As one of a handful of UK police officers trained in SAS deep-cover surveillance, David Corbett infiltrated the toughest communities, living among junkies, prostitutes, murderers, and firearm dealers, in order to gather evidence that would lead to dozens of convictions. He trained in urban and rural surveillance and invented a fictional past for himself. Like Donnie Brasco, the legendary US cop who won the trust of the Mafia, Corbett risked his life every day—one false move and his cover would have been blown. Corbett's work led to 31 convictions and commendations from the Chief Constable and a Crown Court judge but, without any form of counselling, the stress took its toll and he was forced into early retirement. Now, betrayed by the force that sent him out on these dangerous missions, Corbett reveals the gripping story of life in the perilous world of an undercover cop.

Title: Florence & Giles
Author: John Harding
Publisher: Blue Door (4 Mar 2010)
Hardcover: 272 pages

Description (Goodreads.com):

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of Usher 1891. In a remote and crumbling New England mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. Left to her own devices she devours books in secret and talks to herself - and narrates this, her story - in a unique language of her own invention. By night, she sleepwalks the corridors like one of the old house's many ghosts and is troubled by a recurrent dream in which a mysterious woman appears to threaten her younger brother Giles. Sometimes Florence doesn't sleepwalk at all, but simply pretends to so she can roam at will and search the house for clues to her own baffling past. After the sudden violent death of the children's first governess, a second teacher, Miss Taylor, arrives, and immediately strange phenomena begin to occur. Florence becomes convinced that the new governess is a vengeful and malevolent spirit who means to do Giles harm. Against this powerful supernatural enemy, and without any adult to whom she can turn for help, Florence must use all her intelligence and ingenuity to both protect her little brother and preserve her private world. Inspired by and in the tradition of Henry James' s The Turn of the Screw, Florence & Giles is a gripping gothic page-turner told in a startlingly different and wonderfully captivating narrative voice.

Book Review: Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

2010-03-18T11:04:00.001Z

Title: Shadow Prowler

Author: Alexey Pehov (Алексей Пехов)

Translator: Andrew Bromfield

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd (1 April 2010)

Limited Edition Proof: 400 pages

Rating: 7/10

(Sampler)

Shadow Harold is a master thief who has no intention of being a hero, but is drafted into a rag-tag group of men, elves, a gnome, a dwarf, and a goblin. He is kidnapped and taken to the King who tricks him into taking a commission – a sacred agreement to thieves –to find the rainbow horn, so it can be used against the returning threat of the Nameless One.

As someone who hasn’t read a lot of fantasy, I expected the characters to take off on this quest immediately, but I’m glad they didn’t. My favourite parts of this book are Harold’s solo adventures as he prepares for the mission. But even as he is in familiar territory the mission is encroaches on his life as he scrambles to get ready on time. It is my favourite because Harold is in his element, he knows Avendoom, and describes it with such familiarity and assurance that you can’t help but feel his love and sense of adventure, and his allergy to the death that seems to be dogging him.

At the time, I thought there was so many breaks in narrative to describe the specifics of the town, but that made richer world, and I loved Harold’s relationship with his new friend, the librarian called Bolt, his former teacher, For, or even the inn keeper, Gozmo. The religion of world, and the missing statue, perhaps all this spoiled me for the latter part of the book where he is out of his comfort zone because he doesn’t know what to do with this sort of people, where he fits into the party, and the danger is merely the looming sort, so Harold becomes a bit passive.

Part of the problem is the not many of the Wild Hearts aren’t as distinct as characters who pop-up in third person sequences. Maybe it’s the shift in perspective, or maybe it’s because we’re told about those people in defining moments of their lives, whereas our party is on a long, tiring, journey on desolate roads. I think the dragging writing in this part suits the mood of the people, and I think this is done on purpose as it picks up towards the end of the book when the plot requires it.

Kli- Kli, the King’s Jester, stands out because the fools in literature often have a keen eye, and are hiding behind the foolishness. This seems to be the case with the Goblin with the shaman ancestors. But the elfess, Miralissa also stands, if only because Harold thinks of her, a lot. Characters from the party do become distinct when given a plot, so because this is the first of a trilogy, I think there is a promise of things to come from the less defined ones.

Verdict:

I’m conflicted, but I have enough love for the heart in the start of the story to keep reading more of the books as I am convinced the travel sequences were meant to drag. I favoured the first half of the book, where the writing style, pacing, and Harold’s panache is fun, and slightly episodic. But the latter part has enough plot elements signposted to make me come back and hope for the pay-off and return to form when they reach a new city. There seems to be a few fantasy clichés here, but as I’ve said, I haven’t read enough to be aware of too many, but I like how the races are related. Shadow Prowler is by a Russian writer so I can forgive certain things; like Shadow’s tendency to refer to himself in the third person in his narration, which may be a result of translation. And I just looked at the travelling part of the book, and it was much shorter than I thought!

On My Wishlist #2

2010-03-13T12:19:00.003Z

Publisher: ibooks Inc; New edition edition (3 Dec 2002)
Paperback: 224 pages

Description (Goodreads.com):

During his heroic first encounter with an alien race, Dick Muller was permanently altered, hideously transformed in a way that left him repulsive to the entire human race. Alone and embittered, he exiled himself to Lemnos, an abandoned planet famed for its labyrinthine horrors both real and imagined.

But now, Earth trembles on the brink of extinction, threatened by another alien species, and only Muller can rescue the planet. Men must enter the murderous maze of Lemnos, find Muller, and convince him to come back.

Will the homeless alien, alone in the universe, risk his life to save his race the race that has utterly rejected him?

Title: Noir
Author: Olivier Pauvert
Translator: Adriana Hunter
Publisher: Counterpoint LLC (Dec 2008)
Paperback: 224 pages

Description (Amazon.co.uk):

This book is set in France, 2027. The National Party are in power. One man wanders the streets of Paris haunted by the recollection of a young woman's bloodied corpse and tormented by the possibility that he was her murderer. The man is bemused at changes to his neighbourhood and with no idea what has occurred in his absence, he stumbles into an unrecognizable brave new world, only to discover that he has not been away from the city for days but for twelve years. Driven to discover his own history he rushes 'home', but his wife recoils from him, the neighbourhood he loves is disturbingly hostile and when he looks in the mirror, he sees nothing. Frightened of even his own reflection and alarmed by his beloved nation's decline into extremism, he flees the secret state police in an attempt to unravel the terrible secrets of his own past and his country's history. Chilling and uncomfortably timely, "Noir" is an electrifying novel about political responsibility and moral choice.

Title: The Passage
Author: Justin Cronin
Publisher: Orion (24 Jun 2010)
Hardcover: 688 pages

Description (Waterstones.com):

Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE. Deep in the jungles of eastern Colombia, Professor Jonas Lear has finally found what he's been searching for - and wishes to God he hadn't. In Memphis, Tennessee, a six-year-old girl called Amy is left at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy and wonders why her mother has abandoned her. In a maximum security jail in Nevada, a convicted murderer called Giles Babcock has the same strange nightmare, over and over again, while he waits for a lethal injection. In a remote community in the California mountains, a young man called Peter waits for his beloved brother to return home, so he can kill him. Bound together in ways they cannot comprehend, for each of them a door is about to open into a future they could not have imagined. And a journey is about to begin. An epic journey that will take them through a world transformed by man's darkest dreams, to the very heart of what it means to be human. And beyond.

Backtracked Book Review: The Plague by Albert Camus

2010-03-12T21:22:00.000Z

Title: The Plague
Author: Albert Camus
Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (6 July 2006)
Paperback: 256 pages
Rating: 7.5/10

People often associate The Plague with the occupation of France by Germany in world war two, but to me the book has a wider message about people. The boundaries between them, the way people deal with those boundaries, and the distance between them.

I like how Camus made the cause of the quarantine faceless, it is not the Germans but a natural phenomenon in this reality. This makes the isolation of the people of Oran feel like an allegory for human nature. Additionally, the way people treat the infected despite being in a similar circumstance and splintering further into factions is terrible but honest.

Underpinning the drudgery and bleakness is hope. Dr Rieux is not a hero, but he and his team (including someone who wanted to escape, but decided to stay and help) shows the good side of humanity, but ultimately the book is ambiguous because of the (eventually revealed) identity of the narrator.

Verdict: Although at times it can be too slow or too abstract, I think in The Plague Camus captures an aspect of humanity and through words alone, recreated the slow moving uncertain nature of isolation and being powerless, yet there is enough of an undercurrent where enough of the characters take responsibility, that it stops the story from being completely without hope. I don't always understand the structuring, or pace of the story, but I enjoyed it.

On My Wishlist #1

2010-03-06T11:32:00.001Z

Title: Horns
Author: Joe Hill
Publisher: Gollancz (16 Mar 2010)
Hardcover: 448 pages

Description (Amazon.co.uk):

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more - he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone - raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances - with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty. Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge; it's time the devil had his due. HORNS: It's moving, sad, often funny, redemptive, and filled with hope.

Title: Tales of Protection
Author: Erik Fosnes Hansen
Publisher: Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd (15 Aug 2002)

Paperback: 480 pages

Description (Amazon.co.uk):

Tales of Protection is a novel about people in different places in different epochs - contemporary Norway, nineteenth-century Sweden, and Renaissance Italy - whose stories are bound together by the author's original and searching enquiry into why things happen the way they do. As the book opens, a dead man lies in his coffin reflecting on the past. Bolt was an eccentric scientist who devoted his old age to a vast research undertaking - collecting random incidents from the history of the species and finding the underlying pattern that connects them. This kind of hindsight, after all, must be a kind of heaven - or a kind of hell. His reveries lead him to tell two other tales - one of a doomed lighthouse keeper on a Swedish island and another of rivalry among Renassiance artists - and finally to tell a startling tale from his own early manhood. All of the tales, in his exquisitely suspenseful narration, demonstrate his theory of 'seriality', which is the opposite of causality. Erik Fosnes Hansen's Psalm at Journey's End was acclaimed as one of the most original works yet about the sinking of the Titanic. In Norway, Tales of Protection has been called a 'Blixenesque' masterpiece; it is a major new work of world literature, and a great leap forward for this gifted young writer.

Title: The Killer Inside Me
Author: Jim Thompson
Publisher: Vintage Books; 1st Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Ed edition (1 Jan 1994)
Paperback: 256 pages

Description (Goodreads.com)

Lou Ford is the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas. The worst thing most people can say against him is that he's a little slow and a little boring. But, then, most people don't know about the sickness--the sickness that almost got Lou put away when he was younger. The sickness that is about to surface again.

Backtracked Book Review: A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan

2010-03-04T18:45:00.001Z

Title: A Prayer for the Dying

Author: Stewart O’Nan

Publisher: Picador USA (26 May 2009)

Paperback: 208 pages

Rating: 8/10

Friendship is tested in A Prayer for the Dying.

Friendship is a town in Wisconsin, it is just after the civil war and diphtheria has the town in quarantine. Jacob Hansen is the town’s sheriff, undertaker, and pastor; if that sounds hard, tough, because you are Jacob in this second-person novel.

Jacob, a civil war vet, wants to be a good man. He wants to do what is right and that isn’t easy. On top of the quarantine, there is the fire heading towards Friendship. People are panicking, people are dying, and Jacob will go far to enforce the law, even if it goes against his spiritual side. He is a complex character, and is not always the most comfortable person to be inside of as he has make increasingly hard choices, and shoulder the responsibility for death in a way he tried to distance himself from, in order to keep others alive.

Written down, the circumstances seem unlikely: His jobs, the epidemic, and the fire. They serve to set the pace for this short novel, and the increasingly conflicting roles really test Jacob as he butts against the town as it falls into chaos.

Verdict: The story questions whether he is still good, does being good conflict with doing the right thing, and why was he so determined to be good anyway. Sometimes the second-person works better, but other times it draws attention to how different things are, but the writing is lyrical and as a character study it is effective and visceral as you often question yourself and what you did as Jacob.

Book Review: The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

2010-03-04T13:50:00.004Z

Title: The Demon King

Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: HarperVoyager
(4 Feb 2010)

Hardcover: 512 pages

Rating: 7/10

What gripped me most and what I hope is expanded on in the sequels is the consequences of a story. The world the author created is a result of the legend surrounding the Demon King and the warrior-queen Helena. He was a powerful wizard who almost destroyed the world and she defeated him, so to make sure this doesn’t happen again rules were put in place. Because of those rules certain political circumstances emerged: The queendoms royal line runs through the females, who can’t marry wizards. The clan people, who make the magical artefacts wizards rely on, began making shoddier amulets which have to be replaced. That’s not to say wizards are the under-class, in fact they can hold titles like Lord Bayar does.

He is a slimy character who is simultaneously sycophantic and manipulative, with the beliefs that the legend was made up and some old artefacts he slithers his way through the story. Micah Bayar shares the belief, but is more charming than his father and more openly defiant without being recklessly so, except when out of sight. Micah stole one of his father’s amulets which turned out to be one of the old artefacts, and it belonged to the Demon King. However, he is not the hero of this story.

Han Alister ends up with the amulet when he and his friend, Dancer, discover Micah and his cousins setting magical fires near the Vale—where wizards are forbidden, given the proximity to a clan camp—and takes it. The consequences are the backbone of the novel, but not the driving force as the rules the Fellsmarch people live under as fact and fiction.

As a young adult novel the characters have appropriate struggles or people that age:

Han is as torn as his many names suggest. He is Han to his sister and mother, his sister younger and can see no bad, but his mother doesn’t believe he left his identity of Cuffs behind. As the streetlord of the Raggers he was called Cuffs, so named because of his cuffs that have always been attached and grew with him. He can’t remove them, and he feels like he can’t really start again until they’re gone.

He is also known as Hunts Alone, by the clan. The Vale has always been a refuge for him. He puts on a cocky front, but is often plagued by a sense of indirection as his friends in the clan get to chose what they’ll be on their nameday (I love that storyteller is totally vital in the clan culture), but there is no such ceremony in his life. Despite his life as Cuffs, Han is shown to be smart and rather book-ish—which I liked—and that is a vital part of him when he investigates the Hanalea legend.

Princess Raisa, is also torn. She will one day be queen and her mother seems in a rush to marry her off. But she also has clan blood from her father and she longs to be a warrior and looks to Hanalea as an example. She knows what identity she wants but is powerless to act on it at first, but she isn’t one to follow rules as her secret romance with Micah demonstrates. But when her childhood friend Amon returns, she learns more about the world and decides to help. Her growing feelings for the changed yet familiar Amon, serves to complicate matters for the both of them in ways she can’t imagine.

Her journey echoes many princesses, and her romances are awkward as most would be, but she is on the way to changing, and I hope she does because she needs to come into her own.

Verdict: I enjoyed the story, although at times I felt we were told about the characters more than was necessary, the conflicts were familiar but that is a wonderful thing to explore for younger readers, or even some older ones if they hadn’t thought about it in a while. Sometimes I felt the adult characters needed a little more to them, but overall it was an entertaining read with a fully functioning world and a belief system that drives characters. At times the story felt padded, so I was glad I knew in advance it was part of a trilogy because while there was not a satisfactory ending, it did leave you wanting more and I hope some of my favourite themes are expanded upon!