Review Category: Books

The Pagan Night is the first book in The Hallowed War epic fantasy series. It is being marked to fans of Robin Hobb and Peter v. Brett. The novel focuses on character development whilst the plot moves forward, setting up the series for an epic story.

Tim Akers is a well-established author, having published most notably the steampunk series, The Burn Cycle. However, fans of high fantasy may be unknown to this author. This novel can be seen as Tim Akers first novel into the world of epic fantasy. Whilst writing his other novels, Tim focused on this series, developing it over a decade, and it shows in the extent of the story.

The story follows Malcom Blakely when a war breaks out and his struggle to contain the violence. Whilst most stories of epic fantasy may go down a different route, Akers has created a story central to religion. Whilst this is seen in many modern epic fantasies, Akers makes it a central and interesting part of the story. The novel features all the normal characters that seem essential to epic fantasy. The novel takes a political approach, much Like Robin Hobbs’s novels, as well as focusing on characterisation.

The novel develops some interesting plot threads throughout, and the contrast between the northern religion and the south is explored in detail. It is a complex tale, which fans of epic fantasy will be grateful for. Among the epic fantasies entering the genre, this one is set to be a standout of the year. A tale of religious conflicts and cleverly drafted characters, a must for all epic fantasy fans.

THE PAGAN NIGHT / AUTHOR: TIM AKERS / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There’s a line credited to Harrison Ford when he was working on the first Star Wars picture. If you’re a bit of an anorak you probably know what the line is already but we’re going to just tell the story quickly. When reading George Lucas’ dialogue about schematics and strategies, he told the director ‘you can type this shit, George, but you can’t say it’. This book feels at times like it hasn’t had that chat yet. 

It seems pretty evident that either Foster was working from an earlier draft of the script, or he had a low word count and needed to sex it up a little. The main offender is Finn by a country mile. It’s a testament to how well the character is sketched out on screen that the reader can look at the page and realise how jarring some of his dialogue is. For example, ‘any kind of internal defense, much less something as nebulous as a gas counterattack, would be the last thing a squad sent to take its crew into custody would expect’. We can’t remember every line of dialogue from the film, but if that’s something he actually said then we will gladly eat a crow. In nearly every instance the dialogue is longer and somehow clumsier than its on-screen counterpart.

The best novelisations expand on what’s on screen and can help to make a good film even better. They provide more depth to the characters and backstory. This time around, that approach doesn’t really work. The main reason for this is the inescapable sense that really, Foster doesn’t really know what’s going on any more than we do. Without the ability to really get into the meat of the story, we are left with a novelisation that reads like a mere embellished transcript of the film.

Foster writes well, but the fact that he didn’t have a lot to work with really harms the book. We’ll certainly be re-reading it in future, but if you’ve already seen the film you’re not missing out on much.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS NOVELISATION / AUTHOR: ALAN DEAN FOSTER / PUBLISHER: LUCASBOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

When You Give An Imp A Penny by Henry, Josh and Harrison Herz is a short children’s story book about…, well the title pretty much tells you what the story is about.

As with the majority of children’s storybooks the narrative is straightforward. An imp borrows a spade to bury his penny in a garden and it makes such a mess carrying out this most simple of tasks that the gardens owner asks the imp to tidy up after itself. The imp borrows a broom to sweep up the mess and accidentally sets it on fire, and the more he tries to tidy his mess the more havoc and calamity ensues, until he leaves the owner of the messy house and garden with a bag of gold coins. Which begs the question, why did the imp need to bury the penny if he can conjure riches at will. As charming as the story is, this is one of two stumbling blocks in this tale, the fact that there seems to be no discernible logic with regard to the conjuring of riches. The other being that the text, whilst being serviceable, is somewhat flat.

Gruffalo and Stick Man creator Julia Donaldson is renowned for her children’s tales. That’s because her narrative, whilst gently rhyming, comes alive and is instantly memorable to the child that is reading the story, or, as is often the case with this reviewer, reading the story to their child. This didn’t prove to be the case with When You Give An Imp A Penny.

However, Abigail Larson’s artwork is a feast for the eyes. Her illustrations have the quality of 90’s era Disney animation. It’s such a shame that the story, as charming as it is, doesn’t match the sumptuous art. Still, very young children will no doubt find the story briefly delightful.

WHEN YOU GIVE AN IMP A PENNY / AUTHORS: HENRY HERZ, JOSH HERZ, HARRISON HERZ / ILLUSTRATOR: ABIGAIL LARSON / PUBLISHER: PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY / RELEASE DATE: 1ST FEBRUARY

To capitalise on the new miniseries of the sci-fi hit, Titan Comics have meticulously put together original X-Files Magazine articles and published them altogether in this new book; The X-Files: The Official Collection Volume One.

Focusing on the agents, the bureau and the Syndicate, the book consists mainly of interviews, behind-the-scenes titbits and in-depth features. It has a plethora of different subjects, ranging from interviews with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, to the history of the FBI (including real accounts from former agents).

Thankfully, Titan Comics haven’t just haphazardly thrown a whole bunch of articles together for a quick buck. Here they have carefully managed to pick out some of the standout features originally published in the magazine, and presented them on glossy paper, gloriously showing off the photos of the cast and show.

The interviews in the book are decently sized, and there’s almost enough range for avid fans of The X-Files. The book doesn’t showcase only the main characters, but it has entire pages devoted to lesser-known individuals in the series, such as Agent Dogget’s second-in-command, Agent Crane (who appeared in just 5 episodes).

Some readers may believe there are a few glaring omissions with the interviews though. There’s no sign of the Lone Gunmen throughout the book, which almost seems unforgivable considering their importance with the agents, and the same can be said for Mr X and Deep Throat. All had their fair share of exposure during the series, so it just feels a little odd that they’re not referenced.

There’s a much stronger focus towards characters that appear later on, but readers will at least be able to sneer at Krycek throughout the selection of pages. Also, there’s a great section devoted to one of the most important characters of the show – The Smoking Man. All in all, those features will still appease enthusiasts.

Towards the end of the volume, more articles reflect back on the series as a whole. Mulder and Scully’s relationship is touched upon in a neatly put together piece, along with the top 20 moments of the series and a rundown of every single episode.

Thankfully, The X-Files: The Official Collection Volume One is a welcome addition to the long list of X-Files books. Fans will be more than happy with the overall content, as it’s a carefully crafted publication. The second volume, focusing on the monsters and aliens, is set to be a great companion piece.

THE X-FILES: THE OFFICIAL COLLECTION VOLUME ONE / AUTHOR & PUBLISHER: TITAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Tales of exploration among the stars, discovering strange new worlds and old threats are certainly nothing new. They are a cornerstone in the space opera subgenre after all, and some of the most influential franchises have been built upon that theme. However, overdone as it often is, there are rare books that prove capable of putting a new spin on old ideas, such as today’s example: Starbound.

Set several years after the first book of the Lightship Chronicles ended in fire, Starbound follows up on the story of Peter Cochrane. Now serving as a third officer on a new lightship, he has returned to assisting the Federation’s efforts to reunite humanity. However, when a relic of a lost age emerges on their ship’s sensors, spectres of the past soon come back to haunt him…

The book retains many core strengths, which ultimately made the first one great, blending together many traditional sci-fi tropes while putting a new spin on them. In this case, it moves away from Star Trek somewhat and more towards a few ray gun gothic themes, especially in terms of the main villain and shadow games, with figures scheming behind closed doors. It’s very Dan Dare-esque in the best way, tempering in inherent cheesiness of some of those influences while retaining their essential charm. It certainly helps from this angle that there’s far more action to be had this time around, and events play out on a much grander scale than before. Starbound ultimately presents a deep, complex and engaging universe, but it never forgets to have some old fashioned fun once in a while.

A further development, and a definite improvement over the past book, is the characters themselves. While still carrying out the traditional tropes and roles, Cochrane, Wesley and the crew have more of a human edge to their actions, and seem less like archetypes than true characters.

Unfortunately, a few flaws do remain here despite all of this. Bara’s writing style still seems to skimp on details and descriptions, meaning it’s a light read but can seem insubstantial at times. While it tackles big ideas, there’s few times where the worlds truly seem alien, and it can be difficult to get into the sense of mystery. Furthermore, the characters perform some rather head-scratching actions at times, for the sake of the plot rather than real sense. This was true of Impulse as well, but it’s far more evident here, especially towards the end.

Whatever its problems, Starbound nevertheless remains solidly entertaining and an engaging read. Space opera fans should most definitely give this one a look.

STARBOUND: LIGHTSHIP CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO / AUTHOR: DAVE BARA / PUBLISHER: DEL RAY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS has pretty much conquered the world at this point. The eagerly anticipated movie turned out to be as good as we hoped. Fans being fans, the search began in earnest to find out more about the central characters from the movie- Finn, Rey and Poe.

Fortunately for us, this isn’t Disney’s first time dealing with the eager hordes. They have prepared the way with a clever (and rather) short prequel novel dealing with the back-stories of the various heroes. STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS: BEFORE THE AWAKENING is an anthology that gives us an insight to the heroes of the movie.

Finn’s story is the one that received the most interest. Partially this is because we don’t know anything about the character before the movie starts; he doesn’t even have a proper name when the film begins. Rucka’s short introduction to what Finn did before he became Finn sets out what the life of a First Order Stormtrooper is like.  This tantalising set-up for Finn has also lead some to read further into scenes from the movie, which is entirely what this book is for. Like all of the stories here, it cleverly integrates with the movie as a whole.

Rey’s story is pretty much designed to underline her key qualities; she’s brilliant, brave, clever and incredibly lonely. It’s the longest story in the book (almost a novella in length), and gives us a really good idea what liFe on the desert world of Jakku is like. It’s also the most somber story and the most engaging throughout. Much like the movie, it’s impossible not to really like this version of Rey.

The final tale focuses on Poe Dameron. He’s a pilot first and foremost, and BEFORE THE AWAKENING delivers us a full on tale of fighter pilot fury. Not only do we get a cracking little story about Dameron’s youth, we also get to learn just how good he is when piloting any sort of space ship. Fans of the ships of Star Wars may get a thrill out some of the craft Poe gets to use in this story, the rest of us will simply be thrilled by the action.

Overall, a cracking read. A little simplistic, and older readers may find themselves wanting more, but worth your time.

STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS: BEFORE THE AWAKENING / AUTHOR: GREG RUCKA / PUBLISHER: DISNEY LUCASFILM PRESS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

When an enigmatic little Chinaman called Dr Lao visits the sleepy dustbowl town of Abalone, Arizona, and announces he is opening a circus, it immediately stirs up interest in the depressed population. When the townsfolk watch Dr Lao lead a parade of three carriages through the Main Street they can’t believe their eyes – there’s a sphinx, a gigantic snake, a satyr and… is that a bear in the cage or a Russian? It seems as if no-one can agree upon what they just saw. But stranger is to come – there’s also a chimera, a snake-haired Medusa hungry to turn the unwary to stone, a mythical fortune teller condemned to speak only the truth, and – for the finale – a cast of thousands primed to sacrifice a beautiful young woman to a vengeful pagan God.

The Circus of Dr Lao was first published in 1935, but reads as if it was written yesterday and moves at an exhilarating pace. Finney’s writing is superb. Dr Lao, his incredible mythological menagerie and an impressive cross-section of Abalone’s residents are all perfectly rendered in a tale which combines fantasy, mystery and – in one particular sequence – weird eroticism underpinned by some vicious satire and black humour. In fact, much of the dialogue – particularly from Dr Lao – is delivered in such a nonsensical and hypnotically sing-song style that the effect is rather like reading a Dr Seuss story for adults. Overly sensitive readers might pick up on one or two expressions Finney uses which – let’s say – were commonplace in 1935 but aren’t very PC today, but that’s no reason to pass this by.

The novel was adapted into a terrific 1964 movie called The 7 Faces of Dr Lao (why isn’t this on DVD in the UK?) and inspired – among many others – Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. It’s easy to understand why. Although its story (what there is of it) is deceptively slight (a whole new subplot had to be added to bulk out the film adaptation), The Circus of Dr Lao is an experience you shouldn’t miss and a trip into the dark heart of a Big Top you will never forget.

THE CIRCUS OF DR LAO / AUTHOR: CHARLES G. FINNEY / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

 

Back in the 80s, soon after Ronnie Reagan became president, Christian fundamentalist types in America started to look around at the ungodly Heavy Metal music, D&D games, VHS horror movies, pulp paperbacks and even children’s Saturday morning cartoons, and saw in them the work of the Devil. Pretty soon the media began to spread the word that evil was being fed into the hearts and minds (and souls) of America’s youth. A ‘Satanic Panic’ of extraordinary magnitude seized hold, first in the USA, then in England and other countries. Pop culture of all types was blamed for the evils of society, fingers were pointed, and lives were ruined as a widespread hysteria took hold.

Co-edited by Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe, Satanic Panic is a collection of twenty essays by writers on pop culture that tells how the media in all its forms fed into the furor. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas remembers Michelle Remembers, the lurid memoir of Satanic Ritual Abuse that kick-started the whole panic on its publication in 1980. Honorary Church of Satan member (and respected author of numerous books on the history of occultism) Gavin Baddely investigates the crusade against Role Play Games by various religious lobbies; Alison Lang provides an account of the Geraldo Rivera Devil Worship TV special that fanned the flames of the whole damned thing in America in 1988; Stacy Rusnak surveys the demonisation of MTV and the music video; Samm Deighan essays Heavy Metal and Devil worship in 1980s cult cinema, while David Bertrand examines the antidotal rise of Christian metal and punk (does anyone actually remember Stryper?); Kevin L. Ferguson looks at how films like Evilspeak (1981) and 976-EVIL (1988) contributed to the home video panic. David Flint, meanwhile, investigates the strange case of occultist and ex-Throbbing Gristle front man, Genesis P. Orridge, falsely accused of child abuse in 1992. Finally, Kurt Halford eases us out of the brouhaha with a look at Joe Dante’s 1989 satirical comedy The ‘Burbs. Considerations of space prevent further writers from being mentioned here, but all offer informative, insightful pieces.

By the end of the 1990s when Satanic Panic had died down and sociologists had reached the conclusion that Satanic Ritual Abuse had little or no factual basis, uncomfortable truths nevertheless began to emerge. In their eagerness to find a satanic cult connection, social workers often missed real cases of child abuse and pedophile rings, as events of recent years have made depressingly clear. Superstition and prejudice can blind the public to genuine social evils, as this fascinating book reveals, when really the only devils at work are folk ones.

SATANIC PANIC / EDITOR: KIER-LA JANISSE, PAUL CORUPE / PUBLISHER: SPECTACULAR OPTICAL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Ernest Cline’s debut novel, Ready Player One, shot the author to stardom. Not only did the book do very well indeed, it’s now being turned into a Hollywood blockbuster, helmed by Steven Spielberg. Part of the book’s appeal is that it’s peppered with pop-culture references and has a fast-paced, easy-to-get-into style. His second book, Armada, follows this seemingly winning formula very closely.

The plot follows the misadventures of Zack Lightman, a troubled teenager who is very good at video games. His father, also a gaming geek, died in a sewage explosion when he was very young, and Zack has inherited his dad’s full collection of ’80s and ’90s VHS tapes. He also owns his father’s pile of crazy-seeming notes about a Government conspiracy involving games. When Zack starts seeing video game-style spaceships in the sky, he begins to worry for his own sanity.

Armada is not the tense thriller you may suspect it is from the first 40 pages or so. It quickly moves into action movie territory, and this is slightly disappointing. It reads very much like an incredibly detailed movie pitch in places. The story structure follows the style of your typical popcorn-munching blockbuster, and it’s punctuated with the sort of big action sequences that would translate well into a big budget CGI-fest. The novel’s various heroes are also described in a way that would make them very easy to cast. It’s a good job that they’re easy to visualise as apart from that they’re pretty two-dimensional. For example, if Armada ever gets turned into a movie, it will fail the Bechdel test.

Cline has also filled Armada with video game and movie references. Every major character is some sort of geek, and most of them are quite happy to talk in a language composed of pop culture slang and movie quotes. This lends an air of fun to the story, but it gets quite tired quite quickly. Cline also feels the need to constantly point out various plot holes in the story. This is both foreshadowing and an attempt at maintaining the readers suspension of disbelief. This builds up reader expectations to an unmanageable level at times.

Armada is a solid sci-fi romp, written in a very relaxed style and is filled with lots of video game-style violence and crammed with pop-culture ideas and notes. If you’re looking for the  novel equivalent of bubblegum, then you’ll lap this up. Otherwise, just wait for the inevitable movie to come out.

ARMADA / AUTHOR: ERNEST CLINE / PUBLISHER: ARROW / RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 11TH