Review Category: Books

Quinn and Piper are twins, although – until they meet at their mother’s funeral – neither of them knew about the others existence. Apparently.

Quinn was the exiled one. She has lived with her grandmother in the wilds of Dartmoor ever since she was born, and has always believed there is something evil inside her. That can only be the reason why, on the few occasions her mother visited, she treated Quinn with such disdain. Her grandmother, who earns money as a fortune teller and is seemingly feared by everybody, didn’t treat Quinn any better.

Piper, on the other hand, was the chosen one. She was raised by her mother and father in a comfortable house, she has everything she wants and takes it all for granted, including her boyfriend Zak.

Why did their mother and grandmother work so diligently at keeping Quinn and Piper apart and what will happen, now that they are united? What is the inheritance that only one of the twins will be able to claim, and why do they share dreams of running with a pack of hellhounds across the moors, ripping apart any unfortunates who stray into their path? Are the hellhounds related to the pack of dogs that killed their mother and will they ever be able to defeat the curse that has plagued their family for centuries?

Teri Terry, who previously authored the bestselling Slated trilogy, has pulled a rare trick – a Young Adult fiction that can not only be read and enjoyed by people much older than its target demographic, but which manages to tell a complete and compelling story in a single volume, without making us wait for an unnecessarily drawn-out part two and three. But that’s not to say that Book of Lies is limited in scope, it’s actually a deftly written character study of two siblings trying desperately to come to terms with each other and the different griefs they feel about the death of their mother, while also uncovering the secret of where they actually came from. The supernatural elements of the story don’t truly kick in until the second half of the novel, and when they do the characters of Quinn and Piper have been so well defined that the inclusion of the hellhounds and the family curse feel totally realistic. Terry’s interweaving of ‘Black Shuck’ folklore into the main plot is also impressively well handled. Highly recommended, especially for those who like their fantasy subtle but chillingly effective, and populated by characters they can believe in.

BOOK OF LIES / AUTHOR: TERI TERRY / PUBLISHER: ORCHARD BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 24TH

Brandon Sanderson has become known for creating and working on multiple series at the same time. He has just recently published two new novels in the Mistborn series, and now he returns to another of his successful series with Calamity. This novel brings the Reckoners series to a satisfying end.

The novel returns to the story of David. After the last book, in which Firefight stole his heart and frightening betrayals, David now wants to end war. The plot then follows David, as shocking twists and turns lead him to battle Prof. Everything leads to the final confrontation with Calamity and It is difficult to discuss this novel without giving away spoilers, but rest assured this novel delivers in every front.

As this novel is the third and final instalment of the series, readers will be expecting many answers to the questions that have gone unanswered. Brandon Sanderson has always been an author that has left mysteries and clues throughout his stories, then bombarding the reader with many revelations in the final novel. Especially with the Reckoners series, there were many unanswered questions left open and Sanderson delivers the answers.

One of the great things about Sanderson’s books is the sense of humour. In Reckoners particularly, David’s strange persona can often come across as hilarious to the reader. Reckoners has always been a series focused on developing characters with a few dramatic fights to up the tension. However, Sanderson creates a well-balanced novel of character development, frightening revelations and dramatic fights to ensure the reader is hooked into the storyline and creates a satisfying conclusion to the series.

However, it seems that there could be more to this story. We have hope that Sanderson will one day return to this story, even just for a short novella, focusing on one of the other characters. Sanderson is known for his frequent short stories and experiments with novels, so we have hope that this will not be the end of the Reckoners series. For now though, this created an excellent and tense conclusion to a remarkable fantasy series.

CALAMITY / AUTHOR: BRANDON SANDERSON / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Black Wings of Cthulhu has returned with its fourth instalment. S.T Joshi, who many people see as the leading modern authority on H.P Lovecraft, edits this series. He is known for editing and contributing to Lovecraft inspired horror anthologies, as well as writing essays on the importance of Lovecraft. However, with the Black Wings of Cthulhu series, S.T Joshi has been able to bring together different short tales of cosmic horror, inspired by Lovecraft, and collect them into a beautiful series of books.

The book starts with an introduction by Joshi, which discusses the importance of the setting in a Lovecraft story as well as the suitability of applying the Lovecraft mythology to wider genres. This introduction especially shows how much Joshi respects Lovecraft’s work, whilst also building further on the Lovecraftian mythos.

There are many highlights within this collection. Our personal favourites have to include Artifact by Fred Chappell. This short story explores a key theme in Lovecraft’s novels, by focusing on an object discovered by explorers and building up the tension over a series of pages. The Black Wings of Cthulhu series is able to capture key things in Lovecraft’s stories and turn them into short condensed tales, and this is made evidently clear in this particular short story.

Another key favourite of ours was W.H Pugmire’s Half Lost in Shadow. This story returns to Kingsport, where a phantom mysteriously watches a man. This short story was especially great to read as it captured the feel of Kingsport in Lovecraft’s tales. Lovecraft always focused on creating stories concentrating on a specific location and developing characters from that. Half Lost in Shadow focuses on many themes central to a Lovecraft story.

The Black Wings of Cthulhu series seems to get stronger with every new book in the series. This fourth edition especially creates a sense of tension and suspense that allows readers to grow slightly more apprehensive when reading the next story in the collection. This is not just a series of collected fan fiction, rather its accomplished authors showing what they can add to the Lovecraftian Mythos. The Black Wings of Cthulhu series has some of the best neo-Lovecraftian tales and S.T Joshi has been able to create the most popular short story collections inspired by Lovecraft. A truly special addition to this fourth collection is Charles Lovecraft’s Fear Lurks Atop Tempest Mount, a creepily eerie poem and a weird read which captures the meaning of Lovecraft in a few pages.

BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU VOLUME 4 / EDITOR: S.T. JOSHI / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: 18TH MARCH

Martin Handford’s Where’s Wally series is, of course, an instantly recognisable classic. Countless children have spent many rainy days trying to hunt the red and white striped tourist and he’s brought joy to many, so much so that we’ll forgive Wally for being an obvious supporter of Sunderland AFC. Children’s puzzle books aren’t anything new, but let’s be honest, the only way to improve Where’s Wally would be to set it in a galaxy far far away.

Which is exactly what publisher Egmont has done. Star Wars: Where’s The Wookiee challenges children and adults alike to hunt down Chewbacca in 15 key locations from the Star Wars movies. One of these happens to be Kashyyyk, Chewie’s Star Wars homeworld, but others include Mos Eisley, The Death Star, Cloud City and Hoth. Ulises Farinas takes on the duties as artist, and is well chosen. Ulises is best known for his work on comics such as Judge Dredd and Iron Man, so he’s well used to drawing all sorts of science fiction style locations. His busy art style means that there are loads of tiny details to pick out amongst the crowds. While you’re looking for the Wookiee, there are plenty of little scenes that will bring a smile to your face. Ryan Hill has done a splendid job colouring the whole thing so you can pick out the subtle differences in tone, giving everyone a chance to find the bits they’re looking for.

They are also other Star Wars characters to pick out, including a full team of Bounty Hunters (including Boba Fett) and handy guide at the back, to look for the various funny bits. As ways of keeping the kids occupied during long car trips, our researchers can confirm that it’s good for a sizeable chunk of the M6, providing the child in question is a Star Wars fan. Adults in need of a visual distraction will find it equally fun.

STAR WARS: WHERE’S THE WOOKIE / AUTHORS & ARTISTS: ULISES FARINAS, RYAN HILL / PUBLISHER: EGMONT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Many people call Ken Liu a science fiction writer but, on the basis of this remarkable collection of short stories, his work isn’t that easily categorised. Even when Liu discusses alien races – and he covers quite a few of them in the opening story alone – it is as a metaphor, to dissect not only what it means to be human but to consider being human in an exciting new light. In fact, our search to understand ourselves and to come to terms with our past and our possible futures (as well as our perception of memory), are all major themes in this collection – the title story is a case in point.

It is easy to see why the brief fifteen-page tale The Paper Menagerie has won so much acclaim, sweeping the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. In it, a young Asian-American boy struggles to make sense of his relationship with his mother, who speaks hardly any English but communicates her love for him by constructing a small zoo of origami animals out of wrapping paper, each of which comes to life when she breathes into the folds. It is an exquisite, touching story. And then there is the man who invented a projector that turns an image into a ‘living’ simulacrum, and when his relationship with his daughter fails, he makes the simulacrum stand in for her because it is the only way they are able to communicate, even as his living daughter grows older and the simulacrum remains a child. In State Change, a young woman believes her soul is an ice cube and she neurotically looks after it day and night, even taking it to work with her, afraid that If it melts she will die, and, in a discussion upon the nature of books, we learn about a race of aliens so small that they can live inside another species’ writing and build houses and businesses, entire communities, amongst that other race’s discarded words. But An Advanced Readers’ Picture Book of Comparative Cognition is one of the best, combining speculative fiction and science-fact with an achingly sad love story.

Each of the fifteen stories in this collection is a jewel of fantastical storytelling, written by a man who not only knows how to convey complex and fascinating scientific and philosophical ideas but who is also able to transform those ideas, and use them to highlight the beauty and fragility of the human condition. It is a genuine work of art, a complete joy to read, and very very highly recommended 

THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER STORIES / AUTHOR: KEN LIU / PUBLISHER: SAGA PRESS / RELEASE DATE: 8TH MARCH

One of the more common pieces of writing advice is the notion that new writers shouldn’t try and write a novel straight away, but rather practice their art through writing short fiction. It’s good advice, but also means that there are loads of people out in the world vying for your attention, by writing quick to read tales. As most of these are new authors, it’s often tricky to work out if it’s worth your time.

Fortunately, award-winning small press publisher Fox Spirit knows all about this problem and produces the Fox Pockets series to help you find something new. Things in the Dark is one of their more recent short story anthologies and, as the title suggests, it’s all about scary things.

As you may expect, the quality and tone is pretty variable. This is a sampler of sorts, a look into exciting talent that you may miss, so not everything is going to be to your taste. The theme is a fun one though, and the stories run the full spectrum from the hilarious to the deeply disturbing.

The collection begins with Chloe Yates wonderfully wacky tale, The Devil’s Haemorrhoids. It’s a totally crazy tale of why you should always listen to professionals when it comes to strange cuisine.  Another strong story is the arachnophobia causing Shelob Headlines the Ox, which show’s off W.P. Johnson’s skills at classic gothic punk horror. Other highlights include Andrew Reid’s Rise of the Huntress, which feels like the prelude to a larger fantasy novel and Stephen Poore’s Junior Twilight Stock Replacer, a rather creepy tale about mundane matters and grim omens combining to make one person’s life much more focused than they ever hoped. James Fadeley’s tale of a vengeful marine biologist is also unique thing that marks him out as a writer worth watching out for. Jennifer L Barnes tale of The Evil Dead and even nastier vampires, A Boomstick and Some Popcorn Seasoning, is truly geektastic and Danie Ware’s Smile reminds us just how skilled the Ecko Rising author is.

In total, this small yet sweet collection is well worth your time and you never know who you might find between the pages of an anthology like this.

THINGS IN THE DARK (FOX POCKETS: VOLUME 6) / AUTHORS: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: FOX SPIRIT BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

When Sax Rohmer began writing his Fu-Manchu stories in the early years of the twentieth century, his diabolical Asian genius was, at the same time, one of fiction’s first truly exciting world domination obsessed supervillains and, also, one of pop culture’s most powerful stereotypes, the epitome of the ‘Yellow Peril’, created many decades before political correctness went nuts. Fu was a character who inspired countless Saturday morning picture-show bad guys, Flash Gordon’s nemesis Ming the Merciless, Ian Fleming’s ‘Dr No’, and one of the scariest and best loved of Dr Who’s enemies, Li H’sen Chang (from The Talons of Weng Chiang) But the Fu-Manchu most people know is courtesy of the big screen, when he was played by Christopher Lee in a series of pretty forgettable movies. For the record, the best Fu-Manchu film is easily the Boris Karloff starrer The Mask of Fu-Manchu (1932) but not even the great Karloff’s interpretation can compare to the charismatically evil mastermind depicted in Sax Rohmer’s novels.

The Wrath of Fu-Manchu is the final book in the long-running series and, untypically, is a collection of short stories. The insidious Doctor only appears in four of the episodes and the title story, about Fu-Manchu’s plot to attack the gold reserves in Fort Knox, is by far the best of the bunch (originally published in 1952, it predated a similar plot in Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger by seven years.)

But the real revelation are the non Fu-Manchu entries, a superb genre-defying smorgasbord, which includes stolen jewels, a horrific family curse, a castle haunted by the Devil and a couple of terrific stories loosely centred around Egyptology, which are fantastic flights of the imagination. Yes, the melodrama is turned up as high as it will go, with Rohmer’s seemingly endless parade of square jawed heroes and exotic femme fatales, mysterious deaths and dastardly double crosses, but this is a serious shot across the bows for anyone who ever dismissed Sax Rohmer as nothing more than a pulp author. Rohmer was actually a very fine writer indeed, with a masterful command of pacing, tension and atmosphere, a knack for creating larger-than-life but still strangely believable characters, and casually introducing plot twists that are usually quite superb (our favourite is the ending of The Mystery of the Fabulous Lamp, a nicely understated little tale, although Nightmare House is a story that ranks with the best of Lovecraft or Poe.) Absolutely wonderful.

THE WRATH OF FU MANCHU / AUTHOR: SAX ROHMER / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Ship is a dystopian novel set 20 minutes into the future. Civilisation as we know it, has pretty much ended. Global warming has taken away much of the world’s viable land, with pollution and disease seeing to the rest. With Britain becoming a military dictatorship and violence becoming a commonplace hazard, there seems to be little hope.

Former collaborator and revolutionary Michael Paul has a plan however; he intends to rescue some of what’s left by bundling five hundred good people (including his wife and daughter) onto a very well supplied ship headed away from the UK.

The story is told from the perspective of Lalla Paul, a spoilt and sheltered sixteen-year-old girl, who seems incapable of understanding the changing world around her or coping with any level of grief and strife. Her world-view is honest, refreshing and also rather sad. The main problem is a protagonist incapable of accepting change makes for a rather dull central character, if the world around them is also stagnant.

Despite what the excited quotes from other reviews say on the cover, this is nothing like The Hunger Games or its ilk. Those books typically feature a spunky female hero, who discovers that they have the power to affect change in a world that becomes increasingly complex. The Ship reverses this trope; the main character is a powerless figure in a world caught in an inevitable decline. Or to put it another way, The Ship goes nowhere. A better comparison would be to the novel Station Eleven, though without the joy of discovery that makes that book so compelling.

Thoughtful, provocative and plodding, The Ship seems to be one of those books specifically written to encourage people to talk about it at book clubs and in English literature classes and you will either love it or hate it depending on how easily you relate with the central character. Reading The Ship is certainly a journey, though whether or not it takes you anywhere is up to you.

THE SHIP / AUTHOR: ANTONIA HONEYWELL / PUBLISHER: W&N / RELEASE DATE: 10TH MARCH

Spiders Know These Things is a collection of work from horror film enthusiast Darrell Buxton. His third publication of this type, this one includes reviews, lectures, reports, interviews and the like, all revolving around fringe cinema and popular culture.

Opening with his reports on the annual Manchester Festival of Fantastic Films; an event featuring screenings and interviews of a wide variety of horror, science-fiction and fantasy films, it goes on to include reviews, articles and interviews from publications of Samhain, Giallo Pages, From Beyond, Offbeat: British Cinema’s Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Gems, We Belong Dead, Revealed/An Alternative Derby, and Shivers. In addition to websites like The Spinning Image, Hysteria Lives!, and Shite and Sound, all written by Darrell (bar one interview which is an interview of the author himself about a previous book he has written). The book also includes lectures from the Derby QUAD sessions, run by Darrell and a guest lecture on censorship at Derby University.

Being a compilation work, Spiders Know These Things is an easy read, giving the reader the opportunity to skip and return to features at his or her own will. It offers a niche look at British horror films, as well as some better-known features like The Hateful Eight and Scream. The lecture on censorship provides an interesting look at the restrictions it imposes on film and other texts as an art form, and the Derby QUAD introductions and festival reviews will make you want to attend the events for the atmosphere and great debate after the film screenings. While there is no doubt that Darrell knows his films, and the amount and variety of features clearly show this, but as many of them are opinion pieces, you will find yourself either agreeing or disagreeing with his comment. The book should be considered a reference point for those who are not familiar with the British horror films, and there are plenty included here. And for anyone wanting to explore the genre, the comprehensive list of films included is more than a good enough starting point. A good addition to any British horror film fans collection. 

SPIDERS KNOW THESE THINGS / AUTHOR: DARRELL BUXTON / PUBLISHER: RAMPAGE PRESS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Better known to Starburst readers for her work of the Torchwood novelizations and Young Adult series The London Stone, Sarah Pinborough is highly sought after at the moment thanks to the success of her deliciously dark dystopian novel The Death House. If you enjoyed that book, you’re going to be delighted with what she did next.

Her latest work, 13 Minutes, eschews the trappings of genre to deliver a rather straightforward but skilfully woven thriller. The novel begins with a man walking his dog, only to notice a girl lying face down in the water. Quick thinking and a spot of heroism saves young Tasha’s life, but doctors say that she was dead for 13 minutes.

Was she pushed? Did she fall in? Tasha can’t remember. All of this adds to the young woman’s mystique; Tasha was already part of the prettiest yet bitchiest clique in school and with the added air of death defying mystery, things seem set to spiral out of control. Has coming back from the dead changed Tasha, and is that why she’s spending time with her long abandoned childhood chum Becca?

Pinborough uses multiple perspectives and techniques to pull the reader into the story. Diary entries, text messages and the usual unreliable narrators are all employed to keep the reader on their toes, as this all-human drama of self-loathing and manipulation unfolds.

From the rebellious but insecure rock-chick Becca to the pretty-yet-desperate Jenny, Pinborough has created a cast of extremely believable teenagers, their stories compelling right to the end. Truly gripping thrillers are quite rare. Despite the name, usually there’s some point where the pace slows down, but Pinborough is relentless throughout. This is an addictive read, a true page-turner. The story is so cleverly presented and superbly done that we expect this book to be talked about for a very long time.

13 MINUTES / AUTHOR: SARAH PINBOROUGH / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW