Review Category: Books

DANGEROUS WOMEN 2

BOOK REVIEW: DANGEROUS WOMEN 2 / AUTHOR: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: TOR BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Dangerous Women 2 is the second of three books featuring a selection of seven short stories written by some of today’s bestselling authors. Commissioned by George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones, and Gardner Dozois, editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies, it includes stories by Megan Lindholm (aka Robin Hobb), Lev Grossman, Sharon Kay Penman, S. M. Stirling, Caroline Spector, Sam Sykes, and Diana Gabaldon.

For a book that is supposed to focus on dangerous women it featured very few. The introduction by Gardner Dozois raised expectations of the stories following it to a very high standard, which most did not manage to live up to. The characters are often unrelatable, making it difficult to empathise with them, and some of the narratives are difficult to follow. In particular, Name the Beast by Sam Sykes was confusing from the start. While some of the others start off cryptically – they gradually feed you the information you need to know to understand the narrative – this does not happen in Name the Beast. Neighbors (sic) also didn’t fit into the title of the book too, as, with the exception of a matriarch appearing at the end, there aren’t any “dangerous women” in it. And does being a matriarch actually make you a dangerous woman? If it did it would suggest that matriarchal women in general are dangerous and promotes a patriarchal ideology, which is not the ideology this book is supposed to represent.

That being said, the novel isn’t without some enjoyable stories. Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector is an interesting twist on the superhero subgenre. It tears down traditional expectations of women as mothers and lovers, as the narrative features lesbianism as the norm, which makes it a refreshing read given the other stories all feature heterosexual heroines. Similarly, A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman provided a powerful woman in a medieval sense of the word. The main character, Constance, is admirable and leads a fascinating tale of war, courage, and the importance of fertility to women of the medieval era.

Dangerous Women Part 2 offers a variety of stories fitting into the science-fiction/fantasy genre, from mediaeval Queens to modern-day superheroes, from ghosts to the apocalypse, there is a story for everyone. But for a book that is supposed to focus on dangerous women it leaves you disillusioned; while all the narratives revolve around women and their actions there are few instances where these could be described as dangerous. This book should be treated as a trial for someone who is looking for new authors to try within the fantasy/science-fiction genre as it offers a vast array of different stories and writers of which everyone should be able to find one that they appreciate. While it didn’t deliver on what it promised on the cover, the narratives were still enjoyable to read and therefore it is a recommended read.

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THE BLOOD RED CITY

BOOK REVIEW: BLOOD RED CITY / AUTHOR: JUSTIN RICHARDS / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (HARDBACK), MAY 7TH (PAPERBACK)

If for whatever reason you haven’t read The Suicide Exhibition, the first book in Justin Richards’ The Never War series, you’ll probably want to do that before you read Blood Red City. When you do get to this one, you can look forward to reading a book that includes superb action scenes, well-researched historical nuggets of truth hidden within the fiction, and a brief explanation of where the name Bovril comes from.

Speaking of names, it’s rather appropriate that the book is called Blood Red City as Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons was one of the things that came strongly to mind when we were reading it. We suspect that we might be reading too much into it, but nonetheless it’s a good way to convey the plot of this book in broad strokes: an alien menace sends people who look like humans to infiltrate us and carry out dastardly schemes. The enemy can be found by photographing them in a certain way. One of the people attempting to stop them is a man with an excellent healing factor. See what we mean?

But Captain Scarlet isn’t the only influence here. This genre-spanning alternate history book, like its predecessor, goes from the Greek myths to alien invasion by way of the occult. In fact, our favourite moment of the book comes from one of the sections that dealt explicitly with Greek myth. Not to spoil things too much, but it occurs when our heroes find their way into a mythical location. There is something about the way the chapter ends that absolutely captures the wonder and magic of such a scenario, and reminds us of why we read these kinds of books in the first place.

In our review of the first book, we noted that the book ended on a cliffhanger and that we were looking forward to the next one. Both those things are true of this book as well, and it was absolutely worth the wait.

THE MADNESS OF CTHULHU

BOOK REVIEW: THE MADNESS OF CTHULHU / AUTHOR: VARIOUS / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

There is something wonderfully reverential about The Madness of Cthulhu, an anthology of fourteen new and two rare (including one from Arthur C. Clarke) short stories that take H. P. Lovecraft’s novella At the Mountains of Madness as their inspiration. While reading, it is apparent that all of the contributing authors have a deep, respectful admiration for the source text but one question is as unavoidable as a persistent Shoggoth; who is this book for?

With a foreword by Jonathan Marberry and edited by S. T. Joshi, one thing is clear from the beginning; this is a compilation of weird tales by the fans, for the fans. If approaching from a position of no knowledge at all there is a degree of impenetrability to the stories, with the majority demanding and assuming some understanding of Lovecraft’s text. There are references a plenty to Elder Ones and their malevolent former slaves, the indescribably evil Shoggoths, that the casual reader may not fully appreciate. Perhaps the inclusion of the original novella, or even a synopsis might have proved beneficial?

That said, this is a collection of highly interesting, fantastical works of horror fiction that perfectly channel the macabre soul of Lovecraft’s tale of ill-fated expeditions, and his entire mythos for that matter. The sheer variety on offer is enough to satisfy, with some tales taking a first-person narrative style so common in Lovecraft’s own work while others directly include the dark abominations he created, unleashing them on an unsuspecting, modern world.

Each story is as cosmically dark as the rest, with Diana of the Hundred Breasts by Robert Silverberg and Heather Graham’s Cthulhu Rising leading the way, but the aforementioned question still remains. Perhaps its future lies as a gift for the uninitiated, a companion piece to the original masterpiece that has inspired so many. Whatever the case, this is an anthology that deserves to be read and is worth taking the time to seek out regardless of your knowledge of Lovecraft’s work.

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ON SET WITH JOHN CARPENTER

BOOK REVIEW: ON SET WITH JOHN CARPENTER: THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF KIM GOTTLIEB-WALKER / AUTHOR: KIM GOTTLIEB-WALKER / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker worked as a photographer for John Carpenter on four of his early (and arguably two of his most iconic) films as a director, starting on Halloween and subsequently working on The Fog, Escape From New York and finally Christine. This book collects her work from those films and 1981’s Halloween II (which Carpenter wrote and produced).

Gottlieb-Walker’s work on the films consisted of on-set photos, production stills and character portraits that make up the contents of the book, along with commentary from herself, Carpenter and key people involved in the various films (some especially for the book and others taken from other sources like DVD commentaries). It’s a fine collection of images that includes, as the books inlay tells us, some rare and previously unseen images as well as some of the more iconic images we’ve seen many times before.

The book is mostly made up of black and white photos (which are also the photos that work best) and, as you’d probably expect, Escape from New York is given the most pages, followed by Halloween, with the rest of the films averaging around 20-30 pages each. Unlike other similar books, though, you never feel like the other films in the book are largely brushed over or treated like lesser works. In fact many of the books most striking images come from the pages covering The Fog.

This is definitely a book for Carpenter fans, although there probably isn’t much in the commentary blurbs that fans won’t already know and it’s probably a safe bet that the majority of the photos will be familiar to them as well. That said, the book does offer an interesting look into a great period in Carpenter’s filmmaking life, telling the story through a selection of beautifully-shot images, that any film fan would happily pour over for an hour or so.

The key to the success in a book like this is in the re-pick-up value. I spent a couple of hours looking at the pictures in the book and loved every minute of it, but must confess that I’ve not felt that compelled to pick it up again to go back through it yet (aside from having to do so for this review), but I think this is the kind of film book that you will go back to after each viewing of one of the films featured in it.

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STAR WARS: TARKIN

BOOK REVIEW: TARKIN / AUTHOR: JAMES LUCENO / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Peter Cushing’s portrayal of Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars movie lent an air of menace and gravitas to the character of Darth Vader; it was Cushing’s presence and acting that contrasted against Darth Vader’s rather wooden presence. As such, the character of Grand Moff Tarkin is regarded as one of the great villains of the franchise, despite the fact that we barely got to know him.

Star Wars: Tarkin is the story of Willhuff Tarkin, born from a backwater world into a family that had great privilege but also had a brutal, almost sociopathic regard for other people. The plot is split between two events; the incident of sedition that brought Tarkin, the Emperor and Vader into a close working relationship, and the coming-of-age rites that his parents put him through. Of these, the sedition is most interesting; the book swiftly becomes a tale of Imperial forces attempting to apprehend a gang of cunning renegades, and Luceno gives this element a lot of pace and excitement; it’s a fun tale of starship combat and cunning, and it is quite gripping. The deep character background-based tale that makes up the rest of the book is less exciting and it humanises Tarkin a little too much.

Luceno does take the time to deliver an awful lot of fine detail about the Star Wars universe. This book taught me more than I ever actually wanted to know about Tarkin’s ship, the Carrion Spike, with the pages filled with fine detail. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a turn-off; I don’t really care which dockyard built which system for whichever ship. If I wanted to know that, I’d have looked it up in one of the great many Star Wars sourcebooks. This slavish attention to detail makes the whole thing read more like a standard spin-off book for a roleplaying game or some other hyper-detailed franchise, rather than a tribute to a fine actor who played an excellent role in one of the most popular movies ever made.

Star Wars: Tarkin is a treat for diehard Star Wars fans and for the most part works as a tightly written adventure thriller, and the sort of person who is desperate to learn Emperor Palpatine’s first name will get a big kick out of this. The novel does meander in places and the cinematic menace of Cushing’s performance is rather lost in translation; Tarkin is just not as sinister on the page as he is on the screen. Over all, this is a good page-turner detailing on of the most underrated villains of the Star Wars setting. It would be nice to see more of this character’s exploits, even though we all know how his story ends.

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YOUNG BOND: SHOOT TO KILL

BOOK REVIEW: YOUNG BOND: SHOOT TO KILL / AUTHOR: STEVE COLE / PUBLISHER: DOUBLEDAY CHILDRENS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The truly dedicated reader of our fine mag may remember our short feature in issue #381 about the Young James Bond series, written at the time by Fast Show writer Charlie Higson. At the time that the feature was published, the series had died for about a year or two, although it’s has now been revived by Steve Cole, author of Astrosaurs and certain Doctor Who books. With a new author comes a new design for the book; the cover design is phenomenal and is like an embossed version of a Fleming novel.

Shoot to Kill sees the 16 year old spy-to-be go on a trip to Hollywood with some of his school mates, stumbling upon a snuff film conspiracy along the way. At their best, young adult adventure novels such as these educate the reader while serving up a slice of excitement that the reader just cannot get in their daily life. If the main character has skills that the reader could also acquire, then all the better. In this aspect, the novel succeeds without a doubt. The portrayal of Bond as a young boy is superb; he is appropriately sullen but willing to ask questions at the right moments. This is very much a character who is still learning his way around the world and still makes the mistake of trusting people occasionally.

Throughout the book, Bond is faced with numerous near-death situations, but he only escapes many of them with help from his friends or contacts. This, much more so than previous Bond books, is an ensemble piece. Most of his friends get their little moments in the sun and contribute much to help resolve the story.

While there’s no getting away from the fact that these books aren’t really aimed at adults (and if you read them thinking that they are, they will be found wanting), Cole captures the feel of previous Young Bond books very well and the audience that they are aimed at will appreciate them a great deal. Hopefully they will be inspired to look beyond these books to those which spawned one of Britain’s most enduring heroes.

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NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE

BOOK REVIEW: NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE / AUTHOR: ADAM NEVILL / PUBLISHER: PAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Adam Nevill’s sixth novel is a powerful descent into one woman’s personal hell, and looks certain to cement Nevill’s growing reputation as one of Britain’s foremost horror novelists. Nevill first made his mark with Apartment 16 back in 2010; since then he has combined terror with potent social commentary in books like The Ritual and Last Days. Nevill returns to similar themes in No One Gets Out Alive and the result is every bit as disturbing – and plausible.

After a break-up with her boyfriend, cash-strapped Stephanie takes a cheap room in a shared house owned by the Rachman-like Knacker McGuire. Pretty soon, Stephanie realises that something is badly amiss: voices whisper from behind the fireplace, scratching noises can be heard under Stephanie’s bed, and the girl in the room opposite is the victim of a shadowy sexual predator who haunts Stephanie’s dreams night after night. Things go from bad to worse when Knacker McGuire’s degenerate cousin, Fergal, arrives at the house and starts to takes a sordid interest in Stephanie.

Is Stephanie genuinely experiencing the paranormal? Or is she having some kind of psychotic episode brought on by her increasing sense of isolation and desperation? Or is there an even more disturbing explanation for the strange events taking place at 82 Edgehill Road. In No One Gets Out Alive, Nevill keeps you guessing, loading his story with essential ambiguities – supernatural and psychological horror is combined to unsettling effect. Ultimately, Nevill shows us that grim reality may well be the greatest horror of all.

Apartment 16 was the break-out chiller that showed as much an au fait with Argento and Fulci as it did with Lovecraft and Stephen King. Nevill revealed the social inequalities of contemporary London as a kind of hell that opens its gates to swallow up the nation’s unsuspecting young. Likewise, No One Gets Out Alive underlines the current economic precarity that makes victims of the young and desperate. Reminiscent of films like Mum and Dad and The Seasoning House, and drawing on the true life crimes of Josef Fritzl, but with a supernatural twist, No One Gets Out Alive is all the more unsettling precisely because the kind of “horror house” that Stephanie finds herself trapped inside might just exist. It’s a bleak novel, for sure, but one that’s frighteningly relevant and all the more compelling for it.

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INSIDE HBO’S GAME OF THRONES: SEASON 3 & 4

BOOK REVIEW: INSIDE HBO’S GAME OF THRONES: SEASON 3 & 4 / AUTHOR: C.A. TAYLOR / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

As the television version of Game of Thrones goes from strength to strength, so to do the accompanying behind-the-scenes books which remain far too lavish to be described as mere souvenirs. This volume, which collects material from Seasons 3 and 4, offers a fan-pleasing array of anecdotes, stories and information about one of the largest television productions on earth.

The dizzying scale of the show is revealed by a chart outlining the three concurrent production schedules, organised into crews labelled as ‘Wolf,’ ‘Dragon,’ and ‘Raven,’ while interviews with members of the crew, including producers, directors, armourers, production designers, and VFX technicians explain the thinking behind their approaches. This is a fascinating insight for anyone who doesn’t mind peering behind the curtain to see how the magic is made.

Their explanations are supported by hundreds of photographs, rich in beautiful detail, that show the inventive set-ups that bring George R.R. Martin’s fictional world to life. They include behind-the-scenes pictures of the sets, shots taken from the show itself, with the lead actors in-character, and the designers’ illustrations that show how they developed the strong visuals that add so much to the characters. The thinking behind the portrayals of figures such as Oberyn Martell are presented thoroughly with contributions from everyone who collaborated to realise him on screen, while in-depth interviews with key individuals, such as writer Bryan Cogman and composer Ramin Djawadi, illuminate the different aspects of the show.

Thrones’ story and mythos is examined through intelligent analysis of the worldview of key groupings, such as the Wildlings, and the complicated dynastic politics is illustrated by handy family trees that render complex relationships into simple hierarchies of power. The cast, many of whom are interviewed for the book, reveal their devoted involvement and thrill at taking part and the smart choices that they make in portraying their characters. The result is a lovingly-produced companion to a much admired landmark TV series that skilfully blends the cold facts of its production with the emotionally=charged fictional lives (and deaths) that have kept viewers enthralled for the past few years.

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THE CITY STAINED RED

BOOK REVIEW: THE CITY STAINED RED / AUTHOR: SAM SYKES / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Welcome to Cier’Djaal, the City of Silk, jewel of the civilized world, where precious fabric is manufactured by giant spiders, and an object has more value than a soul. As thieves battle cultists for control of the underworld, the tension between the classes and humanoid races is simmering to boiling point, and it is said that demons are rising from their dark pits. A team of adventurers, led by the slightly incompetent Lenk, have arrived at Cier’Djaal in search of a man who owes them money. Lenk seeks to use this coin to create a new life for himself, one that doesn’t involve constant killing, but the city and its inhabitants have different ideas.

The City Stained Red is Sam Sykes’s fourth novel, book one of the Bring Down Heaven series. Lenk and his companions have featured in Sykes’s previous trilogy, yet no familiarity with them is needed for this book. It’s clear they’ve had many adventures together, yet they’re sufficiently described and developed in this novel to feel like fresh characters. Initially, they come across as a Dungeons and Dragons-style team – fighter, ranger, rogue, wizard, and priest are all present – but Sykes imbues each with a unique personality, making them people in their own right rather than simple embodiments of character classes. We’re given points of view from all of them, access to their flaws and fears, wants and needs; some are more damaged than others, but all are vibrant and have a purpose in life, however twisted it becomes.

Sykes is an ebullient storyteller, one who mixes the old-fashioned fantasy adventure with the more-recent Grimdark attitude. His characters are placed in difficult situations, yet there’s always a sense of light within the darkness, a feeling that – despite overwhelming odds – they will succeed, albeit at some cost. Sykes has a wicked sense of humour that comes across in the banter between Lenk and his team of adventurers, as well as some of the situations they get themselves in. He possesses an uncanny knack of knowing how to disturb his readers, too – the first reveal of a demon is stomach-churning, a scene that will take a long time to forget.

It’s a big story, grand on scale and packed with themes that range from the rich/poor divide to racial intolerance and simple greed. It’s also a rollicking read, a ripping yarn spent in the company of desperate, damaged, yet ultimately sympathetic individuals. Sykes’s love of his characters shines through in his writing, making The City Stained Red his finest book yet.

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ON THE STEEL BREEZE

BOOK REVIEW: ON THE STEEL BREEZE / AUTHOR: ALASTAIR REYNOLDS / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Alastair Reynolds’s trilogy, known as Poseidon’s Children, continues with On the Steel Breeze. Although set following Blue Remembered Earth, it is not a sequel in the sense that the reader needs to know much if anything about the first book. There may be a build to a grand conclusion but this book may be safely read in isolation.

The central character, Chiku, is a woman from the well-connected Akinya family. She lives in Portugal with Pedro some time in our future, when some of the human race have started to move to space whilst others have evolved themselves to live in the seas. This being an Alastair Reynolds novel, Chiku is one of three copies of the original woman who had herself copied and memories shared across three people called Chiku Green, Red, and Yellow. To add to the mix, Chiku’s son has mutated himself and joined the mer-people living under the sea. Chiku Green joined a fleet of spaceships on a 150-year expedition to a new world called the Crucible; Chiku Red went into near space to seek a drifting hulk called the Winter Queen and gain its secrets; Chiku Yellow would stay behind and it is this Chiko that opens the story.

Alastair Reynolds tends to write what is often labelled hard science-fiction, in which nothing currently viewed as impossible is used as a plot device. This means that spaceships are bound by Einstein, technology is evolved but still recognisable, and Chiku’s future world may be strange but is recognisably derived from ours. Within these parameters, the story unfolds and Chiku Yellow’s story slowly intertwines with that of her alternates, and this provides a means of storytelling from differing perspectives that grabs the reader’s attention once the concept becomes clear.

Although a science-fiction tale of space travel, the possibilities of human technology and warnings about our own future, On the Steel Breeze can also be viewed as a rich tale of relationships. There is Chiku’s relationship with Pedro, the connection to her forebears and wider family, the relationship with her son and, ultimately, the relationship with her own identity, fragmented as it is by science into three parts. It is also a tale of mankind’s relationship with technology (particularly the web and smart technology) and a warning about becoming over-dependent.

Reynolds has crafted a fascinating book that rewards the reader who takes the time to go with the journey in the first few chapters then enjoy the many puzzles that he unfolds with his usual skill.

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