Review Category: Books

Review: The Doctor – His Lives and Times / Author: James Goss, Steve Tribe / Publisher: BBC Books / Release Date: September 26th

Another day, another Doctor Who tie-in book. It’s the fiftieth anniversary year, and the BBC are pulling out all the stops to get their flagship sci-fi drama onto bookshelves. This latest offering comes from James Goss and Steve Tribe, with contributions from an impressive array of actors, writers, and other personalities associated with the show. Billed as “the ultimate guide to the last Time Lord”, The Doctor – His Lives and Times takes us through each of the Doc’s eleven incarnations thus far, with each Doctor’s section divided into two sub-sections: one giving new in-universe material, and the other following the behind-the-scenes story of that era.

The in-universe sections are compiled in the style of River Song’s scrapbook as she researches the Doctor’s history for Madame Kovarian – leaving aside the argument of whether fans want to be reminded of that particular storyline, it’s a nice concept to bind these sections together. Each Doctor’s chapter follows a similar format: one long feature which sums up many of that Doctor’s adventures – such as the Time Lord’s 500 Year diary, a transcripted interview between Sarah Jane and K9, and Mickey Smith’s blog – accompanied by an assortment of clippings, notes and photographs. This all amounts to a lot of diegetic titbits relating to the Doctor’s history, but the real problem is that all a lot of it seems to do is recap the TV stories. As a point of comparison, the recent Brilliant Book series used similar in-universe documents to expand the worlds of Eleventh Doctor episodes in new and substantial ways – Churchill’s diaries detailing unseen adventures with the Doctor, for example. Here, nothing new is added to the stories, and it really feels like a wasted opportunity. On the plus side, there are a few gems from guest contributors – an enjoyable Neil Gaiman-scripted prelude to Nightmare in Silver, and an extract from John Smith’s Journal of Impossible Things courtesy of Paul Cornell.

The behind-the-scenes sections feel like a different book entirely. Using quotes from writers, cast and crew (pilfered from contemporary interviews and other sources), these sections construct a chronological narrative, detailing what was going on from a number of different perspectives. These sections flow well, are very well researched, and are full of fascinating facts you probably didn’t know.

As far as Doctor Who guidebooks go, His Lives and Times is an odd one. It tries to be two very different books that don’t really fit together. While the in-universe sections offer nothing new, the behind-the-scenes material is considerably more engaging. The book looks pretty and has an impressive array of contributors, but, though a nice coffee table book, “the ultimate guide” it is not – there are better choices out there.

Review: Flesh / Author: Philip José Farmer / Publisher: Titan Books / Release Date: Out now

One gets the feeling that when working out what PJF titles to reissue, perhaps Titan should’ve skipped this one as it’s hardly representative of Farmer’s best work and is unlikely to get readers coming back for more.

Don’t get us wrong, a story with a concept like this definitely got our interest. Thanks to the breed of science fiction that skips over the details, Captain Peter Stagg and his men return from a space mission to a post-apocalyptic Earth. Think Buck Rogers but with a matriarchal society. Anyway, the leader of the astronauts is christened the ‘Sunhero’ and roped into an ongoing fertility rite (having sex with hordes of screaming women before dying a horrible death).

It turns out that the ladies have made significant advances in biological wizardry and are able to graft the antlers of a stag onto Stagg’s head. This gives him the virility and ability to make a good go of impregnating every woman he can. (Incidentally, while the importance of ‘Stagg’ as the lead’s name is surely obvious, we found it interesting that the character’s first name was ‘Peter’, derived from the Latin for rock…)

Of course, this book is one that’s bound to polarise people. One of the afterwords claims that “it is likely that Farmer was parodying the then-prevalent attitudes towards homosexuality”. Though we’re open to correction, we can’t help but feel that this is a bit of historical revisionism. And since Farmer passed away in 2009, we can’t ask him how he felt about homosexuals 40 years ago. We suspect that this will be a question for the ages.

The book isn’t all bad (there are many entertaining scenes and Nephi Sarvant’s plot-line makes for fascinating reading) but the main thing we just can’t get past is that this is a reissue of a work published more than 40 years ago, which means that stuff that was considered taboo and exciting back then is somewhat tamer by the standards of today. And once you strip this novel of its power to shock, there’s not much else left.

Review: The Glass Republic (The Skyscraper Throne, Book II) / Author: Tom Pollock / Publisher: Quercus / Release Date: Out Now

The urban fantasy genre is incredibly crowded right now, especially with stories about major cities being somehow warped or different. There is such a broad selection out there that you may have missed last year’s The City’s Son, Tom Pollock’s striking and distinctive debut novel. The Glass Republic follows on from there. It is very firmly a sequel and should not be read out of order; not only would you be shortchanging yourself, you’ll ruin the first book for yourself as well.

The plot sees one of the supporting cast from the last novel, Pen, attempting to come to terms with the massive life changes the events of the last novel brought on her. It’s not long before things overtake her and her sister goes missing, meaning that she has to leave the mundane behind and dive into the (literal) mirror world of London-Under-Glass. Pen is very different from the protagonist of the last book, and this also helps add extra layers to the tale. Whereas the bravado-filled Beth seemed to charge in, Pen is understandably more cautious, though still believable and interesting enough to make the reader yell at the page when she does something ill-advised.

Adding magic and mystery to the city of London has been done many times before, but Pollock’s easy to follow narrative and gentle yet steady world-building neatly avoids stereotypical pitfalls such as simply listing street names and giving them a pun-like twist. Instead, the mirror-universe of London-Under-Glass is a cleverly measured reflection of the world that retains enough uniqueness to remain fascinating throughout. This is a world filled with Pavement Priests, Masonry Men and Gutterglass, and is a much welcome relief from the usual ghosts, werewolves and vampires that litter the genre. Tom Pollock is absolutely one to watch, and not only do we look forward to the final book in this series, we are also eager to see what else he has planned.

Review: Saxon’s Bane / Author: Geoffrey Gudgion / Publisher: Solaris Books / Release Date: Out Now

There is a uniquely British subgenre of horror – which really isn’t as common as it should be – that mixes the aspirations of clean-living middle England with the darkness of the country’s deeply pagan past. Saxon’s Bane is a worthy addition to this all too short a list, and stylistically, seems to hit the sweet spot that comes somewhere between Nigel Kneale and Alan Garner.

The plot is the classic sort of arrangement; a young man has a near-fatal car crash and finds himself living the good life in the quaint English village of Allingley. Meanwhile, a young lady makes an amazing archaeological discovery of an ancient Saxon warrior preserved in a peat bog, and begins to have nightmares. Things get steadily stranger, and of course, the Beltaine/May Day festival is on its way. This is a mystery thriller with more than its share of creeping horror.

Geoffrey Gudgion’s style is gentle and flows relatively easily; he builds a picture of the village slowly and his skills are very suited to this sort of thriller. It is a little rocky in places, however. The main protagonists seem a little lacking in sympathetic characteristics and on occasion it’s hard to relate to them as they just feel somewhat wooden at points. The author attempts to give the setting a heavily rural feel, but tries a little too hard, making the place feel surreal and forced. Though this adds to the atmosphere slightly, it tips the ambiance from spooky to corny on occasion. There are little factors here that don’t quite mesh; for example, in an attempt to give one of the characters a modern pagan feel, they come out with a popular fallacy about Easter and Ēostre that jars with the rest of the character.

Saxon’s Bane is a strong example of its genre, let down only slightly with some poor moments of characterisation. It’s one of the those novels that really does pay off towards the last third or so and if you enjoy books like Some Kind of Very Tale and movies like The Wicker Man, you’ll love this.

Review: Feast and Famine / Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky / Publisher: New Con Publishing / Release Date: Out Now (available as eBook only)

Feast and Famine is a short story collection by Adrian Tchaikovsky, who is better known for his epic and highly original fantasy sequence Shadows of the Apt. This collection shows that there is more to his writing skills than a long running, fantasy novel series and displays Tchaikovsky’s less well known short form work as well as his flexibility and cleverness.

The anthology begins with the titular Feast and Famine, a solid piece of science fiction about mankind’s sense of adventure and what the quest to seek out new life might actually mean. This slides in nicely to the next tale, The Artificial Man, a fantasy story that examines a similar theme though in a different way. It is written in a slightly looser style than Tchaikovsky’s other work, but this is not a bad thing and makes it a rapid and engaging read.

Next up is The Roar of the Crowd, which is a high point of the collection. This is a rich and deep fantasy story about a troupe of traveling players who bring more than entertainment to the quiet towns they visit. The tale flows effortlessly and stays with the reader long after it has finished. It is skilfully done and quite haunting. Good Taste is a sharply observed modern tale with a delightfully sarcastic title that will appeal to anyone who has struggled with a diet, and it has a particularly dry wit. This same sense of dark humour comes out in The Dissipation Club, a riff on British crime fiction. Rapture is a neatly Fortean tale of weird things becoming the new normal, and Care is a well-done scary story that makes us wish Tchaikovsky would stop with the huge fantasy novels and start writing more horror. Both 2144 and All That and The God Shark are too short to really get your teeth into, but they are fun nonetheless.

The collection ends with The Sun in the Morning, which is set in the world of Shadows of the Apt. It’s a clever little piece that also works as a nice introduction to Tchaikovsky’s larger body of work. Overall, this is a nifty little collection. None of the short stories are over-long, and it is a diverse and entertaining set which happens to be perfect for anyone who needs some fiction that they can easily dive in and out of.

Review: Infographic Guide to the Movies / Author: Karen Krizanovich / Publisher: Octopus Books / Release Date: September 20th

There’s a current trend in books that the sharp-eyed among us can’t help but notice. It first came to our attention here at Starburst with the Time and Space Visualiser, which gave us a whole new way of looking at the minutiae of Doctor Who. Since then, a few more of this type of book have come our way, the most recent being the Infographic Guide to the Movies.

As film and TV fans, it goes without saying that collectively, we love our trivia. Our facts and figures. The more obscure and esoteric, the better. So, in our never-ending quest for that vital piece of information, the one that can stop a conversation dead in its tracks, anything that will enable us to track it down without the need for spending hours online (or, if you’re old-school, delving through your own body weight in back issues if Starburst) should definitely be of interest.

An infographic is exactly what the name implies. It’s basically a graph, showing trends, and imparting information visually. Here, that principle is applied to movie trivia – our lifeblood. Only we’re not talking about mere pie and Gantt charts, though they form the basis of some of the graphics.

Naturally, there are all the types of information you’d expect to find in a book like this – facts and figures about the Oscars, which is the highest grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation (some of the films on that list are surprising). But there’s a whole lot more than that on offer here.

This is a book you can dip into to discover, for example, how Bruce Willis is killed most often in his films. Who, based on a simple mathematical formula, is the best Bond. (No spoilers, but it isn’t George Lazenby.) Which of Sylvester Stallone’s iconic characters has been most successful both at the box office AND in battle – Rocky or Rambo? Which everyday items found in homes are most often used as murder weapons in film? Which five remakes have earned double or more their production cost and infinitely more than the original film? Budding scriptwriters can also see a graphic breakdown of how Hollywood screenwriting guru Syd Field’s overarching three act format (set-up, confrontation and resolution) is applied to Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

But what’s in it for Starburst readers who specialise in horror and sci-fi? Oh, plenty. Does Inception confuse you? Well, there’s a helpful guide to characters’ journeys as they move through the four levels of dream time. For Matrix fans you can track Neo’s route through the first film (which, let’s face it, is the only one that really counts) and examine the key interactions in the three zones of existence. Want to know which decade from the seventies to the twenty tens saw the most slasher movie victims, or whether is was Michael Myers, Pinhead, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface or that charming Mr Krueger who killed the most people during their cinematic reigns of terror, or where in the world, according to the movies, are you most likely to be attacked by a zombie? It’s all here.

It’s not a book to sit down with and read cover to cover – that was never its purpose. But it’s absorbing to delve into and explore. And it will certainly give you the conversational edge next time you talk films with your friends.

 

Review: Orion – Tears of Isha / Author: Darius Hinks / Publisher: Black Library / Release Date: Out Now

One of the nice things about the Warhammer fantasy setting is that the elvish races have been incredibly well detailed. Most fantasy worlds tend to be light on information when it comes to these mysterious and magical beings, but in order to sell toy soldiers, Games Workshop have been fleshing out and chronicling the various flavours of elf in their franchise for decades, and the forest-dwelling Wood Elves are perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, and also the focus of Darius Hinks’ latest novel.

Orion: Tears of Isha is the sequel to Vault of Winter, and details the aftermath of the events in that first book. Being a Warhammer novel, the first book was full of action and intricately woven plot lines, with the promise of at least some explanation in the next book. However, part two is even messier and over-involved. Hinks’ style can be haphazard at best; his work rarely flows easily but it is usually full of little gems that keep the reader engaged. Sadly, Tears of Isha is so disjointed that it’s distracting. This is partially because the protagonists are under so much pressure, but also because several of the characters are so incredibly unlikable that they become impenetrable.

There is still plenty of fantasy action to be had, and the elves, though aloof and annoying, do make the tale distinctive and engaging. None of this is enough, though, to distract you from the narrative’s flaws. The encroaching evil that is slowly destroying the woodland feels as if it should be an urgent and pressing problem, but this element is instead sidelined in favour of a plot involving beating up lots of humans. There is also a plodding subplot about human wizardry that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

Orion: Tears of Isha suffers from a lot of middle book issues, and feels very much like the bridging part of a series. Too many story strands are left hanging throughout the narrative, making the tale seem forced and stale. If it wasn’t for the author’s ability to deliver well put-together action sequences, this wouldn’t be worth the effort. As it is, it’s a mediocre adventure tale that fails to deliver on the huge amount of potential the first book promised. We can only hope that the final instalment of this series is a vast improvement.

Review: Scars, Parts III – V / Author: Chris Wraight / Publisher: Black Library / Release Date: Out Now (and every Wednesday)

Scars is a serialised novel from the Black Library. We covered the first two parts of this Horus Heresy drama a little while ago, and now that we have gotten to the approximate halfway point of the series, it’s time for another look at this tale of galactic civil war and Space Marines.

Part Three introduces the Space Wolves into the mix. Wraight is on familiar ground here, as one of his previous novels, Battle of the Fang, proved that he has a real flair for these extremely popular genetically engineered space Viking warriors, though the dialogue does sometimes make them appear to be Viking Klingons, rather than Space Wolves. The episode also sets out the political difficulties behind the ongoing conflict, and layers on the doubt as to the loyalty of the White Scars Legion, who are meant to be the stars of this series.

The next episode is pretty much more of the same; space Vikings in power armour beating up heretics on a spaceship. This is nicely spiced up with the appearance of everybody’s favourite two-faced sneaks, the Alpha Legion, and hammers home how mysterious these villains actually are. We also begin to get a real feel for the star of the show, Jaghatai Khan, the demi-god like hero, and Wraight’s fast-paced prose style gives us a strong insight into the cunning and might of a character who should be a legend.

It all sets the scene up nicely for Part Five, which focuses on the Stormseers; the mystic warriors of the White Scars who use their psychic powers for the good of the legion. It’s a welcome addition to the growing mythos that is the Horus Heresy, and slots in smoothly with the events of previous novels, explaining (at least partially) why we haven’t seen this major faction up until this point. Wraight’s characterisation is strong and the characters are interesting, if not likeable.

All of these individual chapters feel much more like a regular novel presented in parts rather than an actual serial, and at this point it’s clear that the opportunities unique to serialisation won’t be exploited within the series. The weekly requirement to stop and wait actually damages the narrative flow here; many readers will find themselves re-reading previous episodes simply to get up to speed. Overall, however, Scars continues to impress, and it is clear it will be a great addition to the Horus Heresy books when it is complete.

Review: Johnny Alucard / Author: Kim Newman / Publisher: Titan Books / Release Date: Out Now

Despite all the pre-publicity, it still feels slightly odd to be holding a new Anno Dracula book in one’s hands, and not just because it’s been 15 years since the last one. There’s also the small matter that Dracula Cha Cha Cha ended with an ageing Prince of Darkness experiencing the true death and being cremated on an Italian resort beach. That said, Dracula has never been known to take death lying down.

This instalment passes on the baton to a young disciple of the big D who goes by different names through the late ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s. He’s a harmless bumpkin called Ion Popescu when Francis Ford Coppola encounters him on location in Romania while shooting a version of Dracula which bears a striking resemblance to Apocalypse Now; then he’s the slick, disco-dancing Johnny Pop as he inveigles his way into Andy Warhol’s inner circle in New York; and finally he’s big time movie producer Johnny Alucard in LA. Johnny finances his climb to the top by pedalling “drak”, powdered vampire blood, but the money is only a means to an end as he sets about trying to usher in a new era of undead domination.

Lapel-grabbing stuff, but then the Anno Dracula books have never lacked for a striking premise. Where they tend to come unstuck is in delivering a sustained and compelling narrative. So it proves here: it soon becomes apparent that Alucard’s dizzying ascent is little more than an excuse for Newman to do what he loves best, namely, rope all kinds of fictional and historical personages into a brightly hued alt version of popular culture. So it’s quite normal to get Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Columbo, Orson Welles and Leatherface all turning up within a chapter of each other, but none of this busy name-dropping ever amounts to much. Throw in a curious stop-start rhythm to the storyline, the result of the fact that parts of the text has been stitched together from what were originally separate short stories, and it’s like watching a kid repeatedly getting out all of his toys, only to sweep them back into their box again before any kind of game can be played.

What is also clear, in retrospect, is how important the sense of a particular period and locale was to the success of the earlier books – the 1880s Whitechapel of Anno Dracula, with its gaslight and shadowy figures in opera cloaks, the 1950s Rome of Dracula Cha Cha Cha, all whizzing Vespas and bustling cafe life. Stretched thin over a sprawling time frame, Johnny Alucard can’t hope to replicate this. But none of this will worry Newman’s fans too much. The qualities that make his writing such a pleasure are present in abundance – the sharp, witty prose, the flights of fancy underpinned by enormous erudition. It’s just a shame that, as a story, Johnny Alucard never rises above blood temperature.

Review: Damnos / Author: Nick Kyme / Publisher: Black Library / Release Date: Out Now

Damnos is a hardback relaunch of a previous novel, The Fall of Damnos, with a new novella, The Spear of Macragge and a collection of rather pretty full colour illustrations.

The plot of The Fall of Damnos is quite straightforward; ancient mechanical horrors rise from the depths of the densely populated mining world Damnos, and the galaxy’s finest warriors, the Ultramarines, turn up to punch said antediluvian menace in the face. The bad guys in question are the spooky robotic skeleton monsters known as the Necrons, and they work well as full-on manic bad guys. This is a rip-roaring tale of adventure starring lantern-jawed heroes smacking villainous villains, peppered with gritty darkness.

The trick to a good action story is to make the reader care about characters involved, and The Fall of Damnos does this by giving us an insight into the daily routine of the main characters: we see Ultramarines politicking in a ‘Greco-Romans in Space’ sort of way, we see the inhabitants of the doomed planet getting on with their lives and most interesting of all, we see the Necrons vying for favour and power within their own ranks. Given that Necrons are basically Gothic Terminator-style robots, this is a bit of a treat. It’s nice to see the evil robot monsters get a chance to actually be theatrical

The novel is not without its flaws; Kyme spices up the Ultramarines by giving them a bit more of political bent, and this isn’t explored strongly enough to be compelling. (However, this did parallel nicely with the struggles of the ordinary mortals from the plucky resistance fighters to the despair-driven commander – poor, doomed normal people who bring a level of depth and meaning to a mostly action-driven narrative.) Also, the Ultramarines suffer from being a little bit too interchangeable, and though this paralleled nicely with the robotic hordes, this element didn’t engage me strongly enough to work.

The novella, Spear of Macragge, follows directly on from the events of The Fall of Damnos, quite dramatically so in fact. It is a much faster paced story and relies heavily on the momentum generated from the previous story to make the reader care about the characters. This mostly works, though one of the key protagonists is still quite wooden. It is the violence that carries this tale forward, and though it’s a nice bonus, it’s not as strong as the main feature. This is a treat for fans of Necrons and Ultramarines, and a reasonable introduction for those looking to get into the world of Warhammer 40,000.