Review Category: Books

SHIPSTAR

BOOK REVIEW: SHIPSTAR / AUTHOR: LARRY NIVEN, GREGORY BENFORD / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 2ND

Gregory Benford and Larry Niven have followed up their novel Bowl of Heaven with the equally lengthy Shipstar, coming in at over 400 pages in paperback. The previous book ended abruptly once it set up a range of characters and the technological wonder that is the Bowl, a massive (i.e. bigger than a star) habitation tethered to a star and using it for propulsion. It is the Shipstar of the title. There is lots of technical explanation and science and this is one of the flaws with the book.

Where Bowl of Heaven was poorly edited and fragmented, this book does at least read more consistently. It still manages to either confuse the reader (the Bowl ship seems to change size and characters appear to know things before they happen) or spend too much time repeating information to make sure readers are following the plot (such as it is).

The characters are still not well realised and the science does dominate the many pages of this novel. There are chunks of action but these are subservient to the continual need to expose the magnificence of the authors’ creation. There are attempts at setting up subplots and making the human (and alien) characters more two-dimensional. The ship in which the humans arrived at the Shipstar acts a pivot point around some of the action on the surface (the human explorers have been split up and made contact with various alien groups). The crew that remain on the ship go through the motions but are at times left in the shadow of the on-board AI running the ships ram-scoop drives for interest.

It isn’t all doom and gloom; the story unfolds and does progress towards a conclusion of sorts. There is a lot of creativity shown in the description of the Shipstar and some of the aliens, and it is obvious the authors have thought a lot about how something like this environment might work. Where it fails is in trying to write an interesting story on the top. Try as it might, this is no match for Niven’s classic Ringworld – despite any niggles, that book is a good story well told.

Both authors have turned out amazing works of imagination and have nothing to prove in the genre. Sadly Shipstar is far less than the sum of its parts and is a laborious read. Unless engineering on a gigantic scale genuinely fascinates you, there are other books to read that might be more rewarding.

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EDGAR ALLAN POE STORIES & POEMS

BOOK REVIEW: EDGAR ALLAN POE STORIES & POEMS / AUTHOR: EDGAR ALLAN POE / ARTIST: DAVID PLUNKERT / PUBLISHER: ROCKPORT / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Anything which collates stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe isn’t going to be negatively received. In fact, it might be a greater challenge to bring together his life works in the most disastrous way possible; typed out in Comic Sans font and dressed in a summer beach house theme, with offered audio readings from the vocal talents of Christopher Biggins.

Another nightmare for another time. For now, we have a new home for Edgar Allan Poe’s timeless work of the haunting and twisted variety. Lovingly produced by illustrator David Plunkert, this book sees Poe’s greatest hits from The Telltale Heart to The Fall of the House of Usher collected and adorned with fresh dastardly visuals to give these classics some extra sting.

They’re pretty fantastic too. Each of the twelve stories in this collection come with one or two suitably dark and trippy page-size illustrations, while the twelve poems are lined with smaller works relevant to each piece. Thankfully neither drown the excellent stories on offer, letting Poe’s magnificent creations take centre stage without becoming bogged by tribute overkill.

The book also has some great minor details. Gothic art laces the edges when closed and every page has a cracked, worn aesthetic underneath the gloss to match the atmosphere of the stories themselves. Everything here simply bleeds with admiration and respect for the man himself.

While some may prefer to own these classic tales in a more ragged frame, this collection is a pristinely crafted introduction to Poe. It doesn’t include all his work, but if you’re looking to spread the gift of madness to an uninitiated friend or family member, this is a brilliant place to start.

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THE LADY

BOOK REVIEW: THE LADY / AUTHOR: K.V. JOHANSEN / PUBLISHER: RANDOM HOUSE INTERNATIONAL / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

We enjoyed K.V. Johansen’s previous novel, the rather old-fashioned action adventure fantasy book, The Leopard. In a genre filled with terribly worthy and shockingly meta storytelling, it’s nice to have a straightforward story every once in a while. The Leopard now has a companion piece (and sequel): The Lady.

The plot is as over-involved and bogged down in world-building as you’d expect. The previous book had left our heroes, Deya, Ajhvar and Ghu, in an absolute state and up against the dreaded Red Masks and The Lady herself. In order to keep the reader in suspense, Johansen focusses on some of the minor characters we met in the first book, carefully using the points of view of these heroes to expand the world and story. We get to see more of the city of Marakand and learn more about the entombed gods Gurhan and Ilbialla. It’s also nice to see Grasslander wizard Ivah, the shapeshifting Blackdog, and the bear-demon Mikki as they are fairly well-formed characters. A further explanation of the plot beyond ‘swords and sorcery adventure fun’ will pretty much ruin the early surprises. Suffice to say, don’t read this unless you’ve read The Leopard first, otherwise you will be quite lost.

Johansen’s relentless style becomes more of a hindrance as the book goes on. It starts at a frantic pace and keeps that up all the way throughout. Though this is great for combat and magic scenes, it’s less good for the quieter world-building moments and this saps away all the value. The Lady is a constant banging drum, a high speed beat that does not stop. Alas, this approach strips away all nuance and leaves with something that is rather one dimensional. By the time we hit the conclusion, there are no surprises left.

If you’re looking for high speed and compulsive holiday reading, then pair The Lady with The Leopard and lock the world away for a while, though be warned, they won’t last long.

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GOODHOUSE

BOOK REVIEW: GOODHOUSE / AUTHOR: PEYTON MARSHALL / PUBLISHER: FARRAR, STRAUS AND GIROUX / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

As bloody as it is bland, Peyton Marshall’s debut novel, Goodhouse, concerns James, a seventeen year old born with possible criminal genes which results in his permanent residence in the deadly correction facility known as Goodhouse. On the day he and several other inmates have their ‘community day out’ into the real world, his once static life turns to turmoil when he accidently steals a barrette.

Escape from Goodhouse becomes inevitable in the story’s context, but what with the Mule Creek State Prison standing right next door to Goodhouse, and the maniacal religious order called the Zeros ready to pounce and purify anyone emerging from Goodhouse, James may have more on his plate than he bargained for…

If only Goodhouse was written as well as its plot sounds. Marshall’s manner of storytelling has a murky yet rather plain flavour to it. Arguably, the simple moodiness of the storytelling (Goodhouse is told from James’ perspective) enhances the mollycoddled nature of its central character, yet it does make for some occasional uninspired reading. Marshall’s manner of depicting descriptions and feelings have touches of grave and originality, but it’s rarely consistent.

The story itself, split into four sections, makes for some immensely slow-burning reading, but it’s strange then that such a novel can combine some rather careful pacing with almost non-stop action and adventure that manages to delight, no matter how gritty.

Goodhouse is still a highly entertaining and grizzly read – its set-up of plot and characters feels most movie-worthy – but in this world of post-Hunger Games fiction, one can argue that Goodhouse takes more than a few cues from that franchise. For anyone expecting the next big thing in young adult fiction, you may be wise to move along the bookshelf. But for anyone wanting an intriguing take on how we control our youth, as well as an action-packed story to go with such takes, Goodhouse is highly recommended.

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DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE FIFTH EDITION

BOOK REVIEW: DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: DUNGEON MASTER’S GUIDE FIFTH EDITION / AUTHOR: WIZARDS OF THE COAST / PUBLISHER: WIZARDS OF THE CAST / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) is the final book in the Fifth Edition trilogy. Though the essential rules are contained in the first book, The Players Handbook, and the most essential elements for play are covered with The Monster Manual, it’s the DMG that’s most needed if you actually want to run games of D&D yourself.

With the release of the final core book, it’s safe to say that Fifth Edition is a success. Unlike the previous attempt, this new edition has refined and built on all the things that have worked throughout the history of D&D. The result is a solid, accessible game. Dungeon Master’s Guide truly contains every single thing that people who want to run D&D need. It’s a solid guidebook into the game, packed with advice and useful (and useable) information.

It’s split into three sections. Part one, Master of Worlds, is all about world building and world design. Not only is this handy advice for storytellers in any medium, it’s also beautifully illustrated and very clearly stated. Advice on playstyle and flavour are also present, as well as exercises into creating your own worlds.

Part Two, Master of Adventure, is dedicated to actually writing your own adventures; how to keep the pace going, how to keep the players engaged, and how to keep it all balanced and fair. The final section, Master of Rules, has all the snacky magic items and advice on how to fine tune the existing rules to make the game run the way you need.

They are a few minor niggles: all measurements are imperial, and temperature is Fahrenheit. D&D may be an American invention but it is played internationally, and providing metric and Celsius data alongside the archaic information would have required very little effort. In addition, the dungeon-creating appendices could be a little better and easier to work with, the generic maps being a triumph of style over actual substance. We are perhaps a little spoiled by modern dungeon-creating software, but still, it does feel rushed. That said, Appendix B (the list of monsters) is very handy and well placed.

If you’ve fond memories of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or D&D 3.5, and are looking to get back into the game, then you should pick up all three books, safe in the knowledge that they have consistent quality, formed from years of experience. D&D is now the best it’s ever been.

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THE SEVENTH DOCTOR SOURCEBOOK

BOOK REVIEW: THE SEVENTH DOCTOR SOURCEBOOK / AUTHOR: ANDREW PEREGRINE / PUBLISHER: WIZARDS OF THE COAST / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (DIGITAL), EARLY 2015 (HARDCOVER)

Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game concentrates on the current TV series. This makes sense; if you’re shopping for a new Doctor Who game, you probably want one with the newer Doctor on the cover. This doesn’t mean that the previous incarnations don’t deserve the love and The Seventh Doctor Sourcebook attempts to redress the balance by being all about Sylvester McCoy’s sneaky Time Lord.

The Seventh Doctor Sourcebook can be seen as a very specific sort of series guide in a way. Author Andrew Peregrine takes apart the themes and ideas behind one the most controversial runs of Doctor Who in the shows history, but does so with one goal in mind. Peregrine takes the show apart in order to allow you, the gamer, to run your own stories all about the Seventh Doctor.

We get a breakdown of the Seventh Doctor’s set-up, from his lack of TARDIS use to his relationship with UNIT, all the way to a section called ‘Games Mastering The Magician’, that provides suggestions for working the most duplicitous and subtle incarnation of The Doctor into an evening’s worth of table-top roleplaying. His companions and enemies are given full stats and also plenty of story seeds for the potential games masters to work from.

The main attraction, of course, is the series guide. The book dissects each episode in order to see what makes them tick, and doesn’t back away from a hard task. Ever wanted to see Remembrance of The Daleks from the side of one of the Dalek factions? An extensive list is available. Do you want to make the Dragon from Dragonfire a little less lame, or make Sabalom Glitz a companion? Done. Of course, the biggest challenge is making Ghost Light playable, and an admirable effort is made at unpicking this particular story and making it into a game. Each episode of McCoy’s run is covered, and all the elements (and people) from the show are given space. The book does not replace familiarity with the core material, but it’s a very good companion and is filled with pretty photos from the show.

It does miss the mark on occasion. For example, it strongly discourages use of Ace’s trademark Nitro 9 rather than using it as the storytelling device it really is, and the book leans more toward simulation than narrative-style play than perhaps most people who play Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game would like. Still, it’s a solid book and a good companion to a frequently discussed era of the show.

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THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY

BOOK REVIEW: THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY / AUTHOR: GENEVIEVE COGMAN / PUBLISHER: TOR / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 15TH

The Invisible Library is one of those debut novels that begins with a really cool idea and then continues to batter the reader with detail until you have no option but to either stop reading or surrender to the sheer volume of fun that appears on every page. This novel begins with Irene, our protagonist, sneaking her way into the library of a rather posh school in order to steal a precious book on Necromancy. This sets of an alarm which results in a pleasing chase scene involving the main character, a small army of school boys, and several gargoyles, before our hero escapes via an extra-dimensional portal.

It turns out that Irene is an agent of the titular Invisible Library, a pan-dimensional structure that has the most comprehensive collection of books from across the multiverse. The library itself sits in a nexus between alternate realities. Those who live and work there, the Librarians, not only tend to the books but also ensure that key books are rescued from realities that are endangered by chaos.

Obviously, Irene’s next mission takes her to a world with too much chaos and this means fairies. Even more interestingly, this Victorian era world is resisting the infection by wrapping pseudo-science around everything. The result is an intriguing steampunk world, filled with fantastic creatures, cyborg alligators and, of course, a version of Sherlock Holmes.

Steampunk novels have a tendency to take an ‘everything and the kitchen sink’ approach to storytelling, but the appropriately named Cogman has carefully avoided her story from being too cluttered by creating a fun and inclusive backstory to the world. We care about Irene and her companions despite their flaws, and though the various character interactions are a little clumsy at times, the story makes up for it by throwing another fun idea at the reader.

The Invisible Library is an interesting mix; Sapphire and Steel meets The Unseen University by way of The Parasol Protectorate, which makes it a thoroughly entertaining mis-match and great fantasy romp.

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THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST

BOOK REVIEW: THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST / AUTHOR: HOLLY BLACK / PUBLISHER: INDIGO / RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 15TH

Holly Black is better known for her work on The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of novels that talk about the secret world of fairies. Despite also being a story that features the fey, The Darkest Part of the Forest is an entirely different sort of story, one of looming adulthood and that terror unique to small towns; the notion that one is never going to escape the legacy of their parents.

Black’s new novel is set in the town of Fairfold, a modern American town with a deadly twist. Whereas some small American towns have large balls of twine or hat museums to attract tourists, Fairfold has a genuine incursion from the land of Fairy going on. In the middle of the forest is a glass coffin, and a young man, fair of face with tiny horns, lies sleeping and has done so for a very long time. The locals scorn the tourists who come to see the coffin, gawk, get photos taken and then occasionally wander off into the forest never to be seen again.

The locals know how to deal with the Fair Folk. They carry cold iron, they know the charms to say. None of them talk about the horrors that the magical creatures bring, treating these unique circumstances the way most people would regard natural hazards or a local nuclear power station. The book focuses on the story of Hazel and Ben. Hazel regards herself as more than savvy in the ways of the fairy, but her own hubris has wrapped her into the curse that the town suffers. Things only get worse when the boy in the glass coffin suddenly vanishes.

On one level, The Darkest Part of the Forest is a rollicking young adult fantasy adventure filled with magic and intrigue, detailing the trials of young mortals trying to survive in a world that has literally fallen to chaos. On another level, this is a story about growing up, about escaping the ties that bind, and understanding the price of adulthood. Either way, it’s a gripping read, and if you like stories that feature the darker sort of elf, then you should check it out.

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STRANGERS

BOOK REVIEW: STRANGERS / AUTHOR: DAVID MOODY / PUBLISHER: INFECTED BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

After the underwhelming success of his debut novel, author David Moody took the self-publishing route. Years later, after setting up his own publishing company, he’s enjoyed multiple successes. 2014 sees the release of his latest novel, Strangers. Moody, a literary punk, is well and truly gobbing on the old guard.

Strangers follows a family moving up from Redditch to Thussock, in Northern Scotland, a town caught between antiquity and the modern. Moody captures a side of Scotland with all the grim fascination of Ian Rankin, and the frustration of living in a deprived area.

Moody has fun with audience expectation, with Strangers biding its time as a crime novel before revealing its true colours: a nasty, well-crafted body horror. While functioning as a zombie story, there’s plenty of soap opera and parts feeling like they’ve been nicked from The Bill. This isn’t one for the faint-hearted, with feverish and pornographic descriptions of dead bodies and genital mutilation.

The irritating frequency of ellipses marks Moody out as an amateur, which couldn’t be further from the truth, but a ruthless editor might be in order for the next novel. Aside from the frequent use of the words ‘bloody’ and ‘bugger’ the speech is well crafted, capturing the Scottish accent and the Midlands flourishes. His description is sparse, often as haunting as the mountains in Thussock’s distance.

The pacing is commendable, with the plot unfolding in speech rather than whacking you round the head with exposition. The story is pushed along by the large crop of characters, with Michelle being a particular highlight. Drenched in all the touchstones of family intricacies, and while it often touches on the farcical, you can’t say that you haven’t thought the same thing gathered around your own table at Christmas.

Moody has his ear to the ground, with an up-to-the-minute plot capturing the crippling social problems of Scotland, the judicial system, and the impact of fracking. His own social and political leanings can be gleaned between the lines, though subtle.

Despite being under 300 pages, it’s a slow-burner, hitting its stride by the last third, with the unfurling of the supernatural. Moody’s love of all things horror is obvious, proudly displaying his influences, with The Wicker Man, The Thing and Shivers all namechecked, and by mixing those three up you get a pretty decent picture of Strangers.

With plenty in common with his acclaimed Autumn series, Moody fans old and new will be chalking this one up as one of their favourite reads of 2014. For all its flaws, Strangers is a well-paced, well-constructed slice of modern British horror. It might well be one for The Bad Sex Award, but for the discerning reader of nasty novels, this is a must.

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ALIEN THE ARCHIVE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE CLASSIC MOVIES

BOOK REVIEW: ALIEN THE ARCHIVE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE CLASSIC MOVIES / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The Alien saga has had its fair share of books and articles written about it. There was even one of those ‘Vault’ efforts with all manner of paraphernalia included. Now comes this enormous (really – it’s over a foot tall) book from Titan that covers the quadrilogy through a series of interviews, insights and an awful lot of photographs.

One would be forgiven for thinking that everything that could be seen has already been seen – particularly when it comes to Ridley Scott’s first film, but the selection of behind the scenes photos and production sketches presented here is astonishing. There’s whole sections on every aspect of the making of the film, from the design of the alien (with some incredible shots of H.R. Giger working on prototypes to the Nostromo and the smaller vessels. In lieu of a preface, there’s an enlightening – if not particularly in-depth – interview with iconic star Sigourney Weaver.

The later films are given just as much as attention as the original, with some incredible design sketches of the initial design for Alien³’s penal colony; meant to be a wooden planet, much akin to a lo-fi Death Star. There’s so much to devour and absorb that it’s a book you’ll keep coming back to. The oversized nature of it may not make it incredibly practical, but it certainly is a joy to behold.

What’s surprising (more so than no author being credited) is the absence of both the Alien vs Predator films and the spiritual ‘prequel’ Prometheus. We say surprising, but it’s actually a pleasant one since those films really don’t sit right with the saga as it stands, and by focussing on the four original films (even taking into account the fact the last two leave a lot to be desired) the book is much better balanced and the scope for including more material is greater.