Review Category: Books

BOOK REVIEW: ANDROMEDA’S CHOICE / AUTHOR: WILLIAM C. DIETZ / PUBLISHER: TITAN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Sprawling military sci-fi space opera can be a bit of a hit or miss genre. Get it right and you have an action movie in text format. Get it wrong and you have a tedious drudge that offends both those with military experience and fans of sci-fi.

Luckily, former US Army and Marine Corpsman William C. Dietz hasn’t gotten it wrong yet. Andromeda’s Choice is the sequel to Andromeda’s Fall and is part of Dietz’s broader Legion of the Damned series, though these books are very much a prequel to that range.

The titular Andromeda is an interesting central character. She’s clever, witty but bitter and pretty much able to do anything. She’s also a princess in exile who went into hiding when the current Empress took control. Years at the front have made her a battle-scarred veteran and it’s nice to see that Dietz doesn’t fall for the usual ‘kick-ass but beautiful’ trope, instead opting to depict a survivor whose main assets are her skill, intelligence and personal strength rather than the way others see her.

Much like its predecessor, Andromeda’s Choice is heavily focused on action. The character development and interaction is pretty much only there so you have some emotional investment in events and care when one of the heroes gets hurt. The space opera elements are pretty much scenery, what we have is a bit of backstory or angst, then some action, then some more story, then even more action. Formulaic it may be, but it certainly works and the book is entertaining and engaging throughout, gripping the reader and not really letting go.

This is not a complex novel, it slides neatly into the ongoing series and you don’t really need to have read any of the other books to understand what is going on. Dietz does a good job of summarising the key plot points early on and then gets into the action. If you like this sort of thing, then you may be advised to stock up, they’re very more-ish and perfect for lazy holiday reading.

BOOK REVIEW: ALIEN – SEA OF SORROWS / AUTHOR: JAMES A. MOORE / PUBLISHER: TITAN BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

The second in the new trilogy of books continuing the Alien mythos, Sea of Sorrows takes things in a fresh direction. In the far future, long after the events of the films, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation persists in its efforts to colonise new worlds. On the planet LV178, an accident brings Alan Decker into contact with the creatures that killed his ancestor during humanity’s first encounter. Strong-armed into accompanying a team of mercenaries to a forgotten dig site, he soon discovers that he has a far more personal connection with these monsters than he ever imagined.

The story’s biggest strength by far is its characterisation of the xenomorphs. Writing in a very crisp and detailed manner, Moore approaches them in exactly the right way. He creates a very otherworldly feeling around them, distancing them from the tropes that have made them seem overly familiar in recent times. He offers just enough to make sure the reader knows what is going on, but at the same time leaves much to the imagination. It’s easily one of the scariest depictions of the xenomorphs in decades, and helps the book significantly.

Unfortunately Sea of Sorrows lets itself down in other regards. It regurgitates a fair number of scenes from Aliens, and many human characters serve only as cannon fodder. It’s hard to develop any attachment to such stock figures. We get to see things from the xenomorphs’ own point of view, and while this is an effective storytelling tool at first, it rapidly opens up a vast number of plot holes and issues. Chief among these is that the xenomorphs are dominated by a universal consciousness, and that they consider Ripley (and anyone associated with her) to be the arch-foe of all their kind despite her only destroying a single hive.

While the novel tries to put a new spin on things, it proves in the end to be very hit or miss. It’s certainly worth a read, but it’s more interesting for its concepts and ideas than in its execution. Pick it up if you’re a fan of Alien, but don’t expect to reread it too many times.

REVIEW: THE RAIN-SOAKED BRIDE / AUTHOR: GUY ADAMS / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

After their successful first adventure in The Clown Service, Toby Greene and August Shining embark on their next case: diplomatic officials are being killed by a combination of mobile phones and really bad luck before an important peace conference (which sounds like the plot of a Doctor Who episode). Adams does an excellent job of using this to build the tension as more people die in increasingly contrived ways, and the identity of the culprit genuinely took us by surprise.

There are some books that STARBURST recommends to its readers on the basis that we read them and thought they were good, and then there are books that we’d go out and buy with folding money. This book definitely fits into the second category. Admittedly, we laughed more at the first one, but they’re both very accomplished pieces of work and we intend to read them again in the fullness of time if not sooner. Having only found out about the series when it hit paperback fairly recently, it was a thrill to discover another book was coming out so soon (and even more of a thrill to review it) and it did not disappoint.

In a way, we wish Adams had started writing these thirty years ago so there would be a rich vein of stories for the new fan to discover. As it is, we must be content with two very well written and funny books. At least there’s a third on the way, though it’s a shame we have to wait for it.

BOOK REVIEW: THE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM / AUTHOR: PAUL SMITH / PUBLISHER: WONDERFUL BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 4TH

For a certain kind of person, there’s no greater pastime than the building of a collection – and nothing worse than a collection that remains incomplete. In 1999, with the tentatively extras-light release of a ‘special edition’ of The Five Doctors (in other words, a version previously compiled for a VHS ‘remix’; and it’s a testament to how particular this volume is that this DVD issue is included in the appendices along with other non-broadcast and related material, rather than in the main body of the book), the BBC began a fifteen-year-long process of releasing the classic series of Doctor Who on the new Digital Versatile Disc format. The last – to date (and pending any further discoveries of missing episodes) – story to be issued was The Moonbase earlier this year, finally ‘completing’ the collection.

And whether your collection is complete or not, it’s often the cataloguing of these trophies that brings an even greater pleasure than the collection itself. Now that’s a genuinely nerdy thing to do! Fortunately for Doctor Who fans, Paul Smith has managed to create a directory of the entire classic series DVD range that is not only as comprehensive as anyone could ever wish, but that also serves as a brilliant sampler to the collection for any newcomers starting the journey. The only downside to this is that anyone who had already embarked upon creating such a catalogue of their own ,will now find their work obsolete before they’ve even completed it.

The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is then, perhaps the closest thing to a bible that the classic series Doctor Who fan will ever need.

It begins with a lengthy, informative and engagingly written account of the history behind the range, comprising short sub-chapters on all the things a self-respecting fan might need to know: the story behind the original recordings from which the masters for the discs were made; a brief profile of the ‘restoration team’ (those chaps responsible for making Doctor Who look so damned good on DVD; I’m quite sure there will be a lengthier volume telling their story in more detail at some point); a short history of the missing episodes (the Doctor Who nerd’s worst nightmare in terms of being a completist!); and much more in a similar vein. If you’re already aware of the story behind the Doctor Who DVDs, chances are you’ll still discover things you didn’t already know. And if you aren’t, then these 19 pages will bring you up to speed in a manner that’ll make you wish you’d developed an interest in all this much earlier.

We then arrive at the book’s main section, a 300+ pages alphabetically-listed guide to the DVDs themselves, including individual listings for each of the stories and shorter listings for any box sets that have been issued along the way. This section of the book performs two basic functions. Along with the obligatory dates and details, for the connoisseur, there’s an in-depth guide to the Value Added Material that provides an invaluable reminder of where everything is – and indeed what everything is. Then for the newcomer, there’s a lovely set of ‘connections’ alongside each item wherein the novice fan can discover not just what else in the range each of the main cast and crew have been involved in, but more importantly, in what other stories they can find similar elements should they have enjoyed the episodes they’ve just watched. In terms of reviewing the feature content, Smith has opted instead of an overtly subjective critique, to focus on those ingredients that make the serials worth watching, and the consequence of this is to give his book a much more optimistic perspective than is often the case in Doctor Who guidebooks. It’s a very refreshing choice.

And it isn’t only in this main section where the benefit of having Paul Smith as the author can be felt, for although the individual entries for each of the serials is thoughtfully put together and appealingly written (so much so that although I doubt many will sit down and actually work through the entire volume from front to back, any who do will be unlikely to find the experience a disappointment), Smith’s true vocation comes to the fore in the appendices. Those who are familiar with Wonderful Books’ Time & Space Visualiser, will be aware of Smith’s deftness with a graph and while he hasn’t undertaken the treatment of his Compendium in the same way, this book profits immeasurably from Smith’s clarity of vision and his ability to employ that to the best advantage. Among the appendices the reader will find an exacting guide to the location of each and every one of the range’s many easter eggs, along with the kind of cross-referenced lists of exactly where among the many discs almost anything of interest can be located. If you like commentaries which involve a certain member of the production team such as the writer or the producer, then Index ii will point you towards all the discs wherein further examples can be found. If you enjoy watching extracts from such programmes as Blue Peter or Saturday Superstore, then Index iii will point you in the right direction. Or if you simply enjoyed a certain monster or villain, there’s an Index for that too; there are indexes for almost anything the relatively sane person could ever want. It’s a virtual paradise for a particular kind of fan, and it’s what makes the book an absolute necessity for every kind of fan.

There are a handful of books that any self-respecting Doctor Who devotee cannot live without owning; The Television Guide, The Writer’s Tale, Who on Earth Is Tom Baker? and a copy of Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks (in whichever of its many editions) chief amongst them. The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium happily slots into that list, ideal for both the seasoned fan and for anyone who started with the new series and has half a mind on investigating the old. It is an utterly indispensable purchase.

 

BOOK REVIEW: JOSS WHEDON: GEEK KING OF THE UNIVERSE – A BIOGRAPHY / AUTHOR: AMY PASCALE / PUBLISHER: AURUM BOOKS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

We’re surely all in agreement that Joss Whedon is the most extraordinary and visionary storyteller of his generation. The man’s a unique and tireless talent who has created a string of classic TV shows which have redefined the genre and reshaped forever the way stories are told on television. His work through writing and directing the first Avengers movie took him up to the next level and 2015’s sequel, Age of Ultron, is already beyond highly anticipated. He’s on top of the world… but getting there has been one hell of a journey – and it hasn’t always been an easy one.

Amy Pascale’s exhaustive, fabulously readable biography takes us through Whedon’s liberal childhood with his artistic, free-thinking parents, his time as a shy, imaginative student at Winchester College in Hampshire (UK) and his faltering steps as a scriptwriter for a number of long-forgotten American sitcoms (and a stint on the legendary Roseanne). His early professional years are studded with glorious successes and soul-destroying failures; he worked regularly ‘punching up’ dialogue in struggling scripts such as Toy Story and Speed and he was devastated to see his work on Alien: Resurrection torn apart by an unsympathetic director. His film script for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was compromised by a creative team who saw his Slayer’s exploits as broad and comedic rather than dark and genre-defying. Years later of course, he was to get the chance to bring his vision of Buffy to the screen in a TV series which rewrote all the rules…

But for all his cult successes – Buffy, its spin-off Angel, the short-lived space western sci-fi Firefly – and all the industry acclaim and recognition they delivered; Whedon was still struggling to create a really big breakthrough hit. His shows tended to amble along on small US networks where their low ratings could be tolerated because they were expected; those which made it to the big networks were invariably scuppered by executives and bean-counters who didn’t really understand what he was doing and why more people weren’t watching.

It’s a fascinating, exhilarating story of a prodigious talent who just won’t give up because he’s got too many stories to tell, and he’ll tell them one way or another. Across one memorable eighteen-month period Whedon went from show-running three TV series for his Mutant Enemy production arm – Buffy, Angel and Firefly – to running none, his TV empire either coming to the end of its natural lifespan (Buffy), unexpectedly cancelled (Angel) or snuffed out just as it was finding its real creative feet (Firefly). But Whedon just carries on telling stories, whether in comic book form or as spec-scripts for horror movies and thrillers, most of which have never seen the light of day. His experiences writing an ultimately rejected script for Wonder Woman would surely have crushed a less determined/resilient writer.

Geek King of the Universe is largely a trawl through Joss Whedon’s career, its glorious highs and its dispiriting lows. It’s warts’n’all stuff too; the book doesn’t shy away from problems early in his career when he was an unpopular presence on set due to his boyish inexperience, tensions on set are regularly – if discreetly – referenced and perceived weaknesses in certain scripts and projects are never glossed over. This isn’t a book written in pure awe of Joss Whedon, it’s a book which clearly wants to look at the man behind the myths and as such it explores his strengths and his weaknesses, his foibles and his idiosyncrasies. He’s depicted as loyal to those he admires – mainly his devoted wife Kai Cole, their two children and the repertory company of actors who have populated his shows – but unflinchingly single-minded and ruthless when he needs to get the job done the way he knows it should be.

Amy Pascale has written a book which is almost unputdownable. It’s not just the story of one incredible man, his imagination and his battles to bring his irresistible characters and stories to the screen; it’s also a fascinating, cautionary and essential story for newcomers and industry wannabes wondering just how hard it is to make a name for yourself in the world of film and television. The answer seeps through every page of this wonderful book. It’s this hard, all the time.

BOOK REVIEW: BARRICADE / AUTHOR: JON WALLACE / PUBLISHER: GOLLANCZ / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Kentsibec is a taxi driver, ferrying a journalist from Edinburgh to London. Sounds pretty simple eh? Well, it isn’t; Kentisbec is a ficial – an artificially created life-form who can heal quickly and has the looks of a Gap underwear model – and the Ficials are at war with the Reals: the remaining dregs of British humans.

Kentsibec’s task is to transport his glamorous companion – who is more than a little fond of her luggage – from the Edinburgh barricade to Brixton via a twisty-turny route across two countries. This is a UK ravaged by flood water, environmental refugees and Reals intent on destroying the Ficials – their unnatural creation. Unfortunately, for Kentsibec, he also needs a guide to help him on his way – a wheezing, dying human who the Ficial is convinced will try to kill both of them.

Like the journey, the plot of the book is also twisty-turny with generous helpings of double-crossing, drug-addled action, and a wonderful colourful character in the shape of the vain, TV-obsessed King of Newcastle.

Yes, it’s violent. Yes, it’s pretty gruesome, but, to be fair, Jon Wallace’s imagined UK in the full throes of a nuclear winter would never end in a chippy tea and a couple of pints down the local. The details of the fights, the struggle for survival, radiation sickness and other maladies, are unflinching and gory.

Ultimately, the plot centres around what humanity, and being human, means. And sometimes, just sometimes, the Ficials seem the more human out of the two races.

If you like your dystopias cranked up to 11 you’ll love this book.

REVIEW: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY FOR CLASSIC FILM MONSTERS (MAGICIMAGE SERIES) / AUTHOR: PHILIP J. RILEY / PUBLISHER: BEARMANOR MEDIA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Very few film scholars have been admitted to the Universal Archive, the studio’s own collection of scripts, production files and marketing materials for their classic films, kept under lock and key on the Universal lot in Burbank, CA. Philip J. Riley has – former Universal boss, Lew Wasserman himself gave Riley the go-ahead, back in the 1970s, to nose through the vaults. And what a treasure trove Riley discovered back then; now rereleased as a complete series by BearManor Media. The MagicImage series presents An Alternate History for Classic Film Monsters: a collection of film scripts and treatments that never quite made it to the screen in their original versions, offering a tantalising glimpse of what might have been if history had happened differently.

James Whale’s Dracula’s Daughter showcases the unproduced sequel to Dracula that Universal wanted James Whale to direct in 1933; Whale didn’t want to do it and the project eventually languished, going through several writers, until Lambert Hillyer was assigned to direct it (in a much tamer version than that which Whale had prepared) in 1936. Riley’s book presents the original too-hot-to-handle treatment to the film written by John L. Balderston in 1933, an eye-opening take on the source material of Stoker’s short story Dracula’s Guest, that plays up the ‘SEX and CRUELTY’ of the story, with Dracula’s Daughter herself enjoying a bit of fladge with the local peasants, treating them to all sorts of whippings and torture. As well as this detailed treatment by Balderston, we also get the discarded first draft script by R.C. Sherriff which Whale deliberately made so outlandish that it had no chance of getting past the censor – no wonder it never got made. An archive interview with Carl Laemmle Jr, the producer of the film, gives some context to the doomed project’s development.

Another Whale project in the series is The Return of Frankenstein, an early version of the sequel to Frankenstein (which Whale made as The Bride of Frankenstein in 1935). Here we get an original story by Philip McDonald which sees Frankenstein tapping into New York City’s main electric power source to generate the power to create the monster’s mate. A second treatment by L.G. Blochman has Frankenstein hiding out in a gypsy caravan to avoid being caught and put on trial for the murders the monster had committed. Whale rejected both these ideas in favour of the script by John L. Balderston (included in the volume), which prefigures Bride very closely. Whale eventually engaged William Hurlbutt to write the final draft of what became Bride but Balderston’s draft shows just how much Balderston contributed (albeit uncredited) to Whale’s 1935 masterpiece.

These are but two of the books in the MagicImage series; others include: Boris Karloff as The Invisible Man; Lon Chaney as The Man Who Laughs; Robert Florey’s Frankenstein Starring Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney talks Dracula. All volumes in the series include unproduced scripts and treatments unearthed from the Universal vaults by Riley as well as fascinating behind the scenes accounts based on interviews that Riley conducted with the producers, directors, stars, cast and crew involved.

For classic horror fans and those curious to discover cinema’s hidden history, this series is essential reading.

 

REVIEW: YESTERDAY’S KIN / AUTHOR: NANCY KRESS / PUBLISHER: TACHYON / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 9^TH

After discovering an ancient mitochondrial subgroup, geneticist Marianne Jenner is whisked off to New York City with an assortment of the international science community’s greatest minds to meet the aliens who arrived there several months ago and only just revealed the purpose of their visit. An interstellar cloud of viral spores is heading towards the Earth, and unless a vaccine can be developed in the few months before its arrival, everyone on the planet will die.

Hard sci-fi is defined by its focus on the science aspect of the genre as much as the fiction, and as the science is such an integral part of Yesterday’s Kin the book approaches industrial diamond durability. The inherent problem of explaining the numerous biology and virology concepts to the reader without sloppy “as you know” declarations is neatly sidestepped by the relevant information being imparted “for the benefit of the astronomers” during several group meetings recounting the frustratingly slow pace of the virus research.

The story perspective alternates between Marianne’s work in the alien ship and suspicions of their hidden agenda, and that of her youngest son Noah, who from his feelings of isolation and lack of purpose is addicted to a drug that grants its users a temporary change in personality. From these two viewpoints we see the desperate search for a vaccine to the virus and exploration of the aliens’ culture along with its juxtaposition to humanity that comments on the state of our own existence. Marianne’s two other children, border guard Elizabeth and botanist Ryan, are representative of the diametric extremes of the US populace’s opinions on foreign policy, respectively cloistered isolationism or inclusive internationalism, and provide mutual counterpoints to arguments of how we can best develop as both a society and a species.

Although we are told of events in the world outside the ship and reactions to the encroaching apocalypse such as paranoia, rioting, terrorism, suicides and religious leaders declaring “told you so”, they largely occur during the timeskips between chapters and are recounted after the fact, as though their separation from the main plot renders them tertiary considerations.

Several twists and turns permeate the story such as the early revelation of the aliens’ origins and also exactly why the presence of a talented but unremarkable geneticist was requested along with all the biologists and virologists who could actually contribute to the production of a vaccine and the astronomers and physicists who could chart the cloud’s progress.

Yesterday’s Kin is a very short book – under 180 pages – and while its plot is recounted with deft efficiency and its primary goal of stimulating consideration of what it truly means to be human is attained, you can’t help but feel some expansion of its events and themes would have given it greater substance.

 

 

REVIEW: THE CLOWN SERVICE / AUTHOR: GUY ADAMS / PUBLISHER: DEL REY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Possibly the greatest compliment we can pay Guy Adams is that this ’40s-style spy novel set in the modern day reads like it was penned by a different Adams altogether. This is the spy thriller that Douglas Adams never wrote.

This book follows the misadventures of Toby Greene, a slightly incompetent spy who is transferred to Section 37. This is a section of the British Intelligence Service dedicated to fending off the paranormal. Fortunately, Greene spends just about the right amount of time not accepting this before realising what kind of novel he’s in and rolling with the punches. From there, it features time travel, astral projection (which leads to some very intriguing ideas) and a well-done zombie apocalypse.

The novel is not, strictly speaking, a comic spy story that features farcical situations played for laughs (that would be rather straying into Austin Powers territory). No, what makes it funny is the way Adams has with expressions, like the pub carpet that’s on 40 cigarettes a day or how the word ‘hello’ is transformed into ‘a useless, incomprehensible thing fat with vowels’ under the influence of alcohol. These and more just tickled us and lend an air of truth to a book in a genre renowned for its lies and, as we mentioned earlier, means that the book appropriately reads like the author is channelling Douglas Adams.

The book ends with something of a sequel hook (that’s not surprising because there is one coming soon), which is fine by us. We’re more than happy to read more adventures featuring this weird lot.

In the interview featured in the back of the paperback edition, Adams speaks of writing, how each book is a mad rush to the finish line and of being ‘quiet, sullen and convinced it’s all rubbish’. We hope that despite feeling that way during the writing process, he’s now proud of the finished product. He certainly should be, it’s hilarious and well worth your time.

 

BOOK REVIEW: GRUDGEBEARER / AUTHOR: J.F. LEWIS / PUBLISHER: PYR / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 2ND

One of the appeals of the fantasy genre is that it lends itself to world-building. Highly detailed settings are a common occurrence, but this can be a bit of a two-edged sword. Finely detailed worlds can often be inaccessible to casual readers and the harder one has to work to get immersed in a strange new place, the less likely it is that one will get any pleasure from the experience.

Grudgebearer falls into this trap almost straight away. The author can’t resist drip-feeding this or that piece of cultural information as the story unfolds and a great deal of the first half of the book feels like exposition. By the time we get to the actual meat of the intrigue and adventure, the reader is already overloaded with everything from the complex politics of this world to the courting and mating habits of the various races. Lewis’ writing style is quite light and the story is actually well paced, it’s just that on every other page there appears to be a new strange and alien word/concept to contend with.

The set-up for the story is rather involved, making an already dense work even harder to navigate. Ancient creatures called the Eldrennai long ago created beings called the Aern to fend off the incredibly hard-to-kill creatures known as the Zaur. The Aern were originally bound through a mystical oath and made slaves, however they aren’t anymore and a pact has been created. Wackiness ensues when an Eldrennai prince carelessly breaks this truce by messing with some rather formidable suits of mystical armour.

There are some really nice touches here; the main protagonist’s concerns about his family are well done and the over-arching theme of what it means to be free and what battles are worth fighting are interesting. Sadly the entire thing groans under overenthusiastic explanations of everything. If you like your fantasy slow, intricate and stuffed full of enough information to fill several fantasy RPG source books, then you will utterly adore this dense and painstakingly detailed world. Otherwise you may well give up before the story really gets started.