Review Category: Books

Book Review: Besieged / Author: Rowena Cory Daniells / Publisher: Solaris / Release Date: Out Now

Besieged is the first book in a new fantasy series by Rowena Cory Daniells. Her previous series, The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin was a very well received set of action packed stories. Besieged is a change of pace, focusing more on a rich and complex world than getting straight into the action. It’s a slow burner, though there is plenty of intrigue and violence to get your teeth into.

It’s a tale of three races; the magical T’Enatuath, the normal and man-like True Men and the half-blooded people who are caught between the mystical and mundane. Each race also has its own political worries. The race of Man is caught up in power struggles for the throne, whereas the mystics are split along gender lines; male and female T’Enatuath form brotherhoods and sisterhoods which struggle amongst themselves for power and prestige, whilst the half-blood’s lot is one of survival, second-class citizens that they are. Thrown into this mix are two wildcards who will change everything, whether they want to or not. Daniels juggles these different societies in a direct yet skilful manner, giving the reader just enough insight into this intricate world to keep it interesting.

One should never judge a book by its cover, though Besieged does feature a rather marvellous illustration by digital artist Clint Langley, and the white haired girl on the front is rather evocative of A Game of Thrones. This is actually a fair comparison; Besieged’s different in many ways to Martin’s work, but matches it in scope, creativity and sprawling storytelling style. Rowena Cory Daniels builds compelling worlds out of the strangest ideas, and though Besieged is perhaps a little over long, it is also a page turner. Sadly, being the first in a three part series, it also feels incomplete and I do hope the sequel delivers on the promise of the first.

Book Review: Shadow’s Master / Author: Jon Sprunk / Publisher: Gollancz / Release Date: Out Now

Shadow’s Master is the concluding part of Jon Sprunk’s series of novels about Caim, an assassin who uses shadow magic to aid him in his role as a killer. As you may have guessed, this is an action fantasy series, aimed firmly at those who like fast paced adventure, weird magical powers and lots of violence. Caim is assisted by his invisible friend (and love interest) Kit, and loyal (if slightly grumpy) friends as he goes on a quest to save the world from dark forces. Meanwhile, Josey (the love interest from the previous books) has to keep the world from falling apart.

Sprunk spins great tales of heroism, and the main appeal of this series is the action adventure with a healthy dose of sinister magic for flavour. Though Shadow’s Master is decidedly the end of the trilogy there are still enough surprises left to keep the reader guessing all the way through. It is essentially two tales; one of a noble assassin kicking ass and the other about war and intrigue. Sprunk’s strength is in the former, and the massed battles and complex social interactions aren’t as polished as they could be. Sadly this means the scenes with Josey aren’t as strong as they could be.

Those new to Shadow Saga should begin with the first one, Shadow’s Son, whereas those who’ve already read the previous two books should find this an appropriate conclusion. Fans of straight forward, classic fantasy novels filled with northern wastelands and inherited weaponry will find this series a pleasing diversion, especially as it has a relaxed, flowing style that makes this the ideal read for the more casual reader. The author has improved with every novel, and I will definitely be looking out to see what he writes next.

Book Review: Such Wicked Intent / Author: Kenneth Oppel / Publisher: David Fickling Books / Release Date: Out Now

Young Victor Frankenstein takes a trip into Twilight territory in this sequel to Kenneth Oppel’s This Dark Endeavour and second prequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. With his beloved twin dead, Victor once again ventures into his magical toy box, hoping to resurrect poor deceased Konrad. Spoiler: it doesn’t end well.

The Twilight comparison is perhaps a tad facetious, since Such Wicked Intent is well-written, intelligent and atmospheric. To be sure, there’s a love triangle at its centre (the love of Victor’s life is still smitten with his brother) but Victor’s obsession with mastering the dark arts trump his love for poor, doomed Elizabeth (not a spoiler: Frankenstein is hundreds of years old) every time. His growing arrogance makes his love for Elizabeth seem second to his love of himself every time.

It isn’t essential to have read the previous book in the series (or Shelley’s classic) but it will enhance the series. The first chapter recaps events from the first book in a terribly unsubtle but helpful manner, ensuring that newcomers will be able to jump into the story easily enough. Victor’s twin brother is dead. His lover, Elizabeth, is so crippled by grief that she threatens to join a nunnery (the phrase “get thee to a nunnery” is actually used). Victor is missing three fingers and traumatised by a terrible experience caused by his flirtation with the Dark Arts. One book survives his purge (not the Necronomicon): a tome which tells him how to enter the spirit world and ultimately resurrect his dead brother. Since that same brother isn’t in Frankenstein, we can assume that it doesn’t go well. In a surprising touch, the action takes a turn for the Lovecraftian towards the end – this emphasis on supernatural over science makes the story less interesting than Shelley’s Promethean myth retold (it makes Victor’s achievements less impressive to say that “magic did it”) but is effective nevertheless.

Oppel’s prequel crafts a gripping story which, while not essential reading by any means, will hopefully bring Frankenstein to a whole new audience. It will probably be more enjoyable to those who have read This Dark Endeavour, but the book is worth reading on its own merits. Even the goofier scenes (silly little butterflies in the Spirit World are the book’s equivalent of Twilight’s sparkling) make sense within the context of the story. The characters are sympathetic but not likeable, spending far too much time bickering amongst themselves and acting like sulky teenagers. Best pal Henry Clerval emerges the hero of the story. He was my favourite character in Frankenstein too, perhaps because ‘Clerval’ is a great surname.

While not even approaching the same league as Mary Shelley’s seminal masterpiece, Such Wicked Intent is an intelligent, gripping piece of teenage literature that stands head and shoulders above the likes of Twilight to bear comparison with Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials. As with the latter (and maybe Harry Potter), it’s one of the few pieces of young literature that it’s perfectly acceptable for you to read on the bus. As long as you promise to read Frankenstein, if you haven’t already.

Book Review: Traitor’s Gate & London Stone / Author: Sarah Silverwood / Publisher: Indigo / Release Date: Out Now

Traitor’s Gate & London Stone are parts two and three of the Nowhere Chronicles, and as you may recall, we rather liked part one, The Double Edged Sword. This modern fantasy series, aimed at a younger readership, is a reality hopping adventure filled with secret orders and strange conspiracies.

Traitor’s Gate suffers from being the middle book in a trilogy; on the one hand, it’s perhaps the best book of the three, but on the other hand, it’s incomplete, being very much the middle story. Still, it is an action packed roller-coaster ride, filled with heroism and strangeness. The three main characters (who between them encompass every possible interpretation of the term “English Schoolboy”) continue to evolve and grow, developing interesting quirks along the way. The heroes have to deal with the elemental force of anger itself, and Silverwood pulls few punches here. (Which will come as no surprise to horror fans; Sarah Silverwood is a pen-name for horror novelist Sarah Pinborough.) It’s a well pitched tale filled with chills and revelations with a powerful cliff hanger at the end, and if you have the third book to hand, be prepared to start reading it as soon as you’ve finished this one.

London Stone is the darkest of the three; Silverwood captures the joys and the terrors of the capital city very well. There is, however, an awful lot of loose ends to tie up here, and it does feel very compressed at places, with a shopping list of conclusions appearing at points. This is not a book you can just dip into, but has such a compelling style that if you’ve enjoyed the previous two, you’ll simply tear through this. Silverwood writes novels that you’ll want to devour in one sitting, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone / Author: Laini Taylor / Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks / Release Date: Out Now

“Once upon a time, a little girl was raised by monsters” – that’s the premise of this novel, the first part of a trilogy which has potential to raise the bar for the paranormal romance genre. Karou is a 17 year old art student in Prague, and apart from her habit of scribbling strange creatures in her sketchbook, she seems pretty normal. But she has another life. An orphan, she’s been brought up by Brimstone, a monstrous demon sorcerer who, with the help of a colourful retinue which includes a snake woman, runs a shop situated in another dimension where he trades wishes for teeth.

Without having the faintest clue as to their significance, Karou runs errands – some dull, some dangerous – for this unlikely father figure. But tragedy strikes when angels destroy the portals that lead to Brimstone’s lair and Karou is stranded in our world away from the only family she has ever known.

The early pages weave a wonderful spell of mystery, beauty and bubbling wit. Laini Taylor writes with an intelligence, an exquisiteness of phrase and a feeling for opulently high romance that recalls the late, great Angela Carter. Prague, with its ancient snowy streets, its marionette theatres and violinists, makes for a glamorous setting, and there’s plenty of fun too as Karou gets back at an odious ex-boyfriend and swaps wisecracks with her bestie, Zuzana. The idea of wishes as a form of currency, as coins that can be bought, then cashed in at an appropriate moment, is elegant and cleverly extrapolated. Best of all, though, is Brimstone: daunting, mysterious but wise and sympathetic, and his dusty shop where he strings necklaces of teeth (what exactly he needs all these teeth for is a question that has been tormenting Karou all her young life). It’s only a shame he’s not in the novel a little more, but then again he gains much of his force from being presented in an oblique manner.

As a stand-alone work, Daughter of Smoke and Bone has one significant shortcoming. The last third is largely given over to a back-story which broadens our understanding of the world of demons and angels, and Karou’s part in it. Now, while this is very engaging, it’s not quite as special as what went before, and it’s also hard not to feel that the story is going backwards rather than forwards. But it’s reasonable to assume that this will seem like much less of an issue within the context of the trilogy as a whole. Even with that caveat, this novel’s combination of luminous prose, psychological depth and exhilarating flights of fancy should make it a must-read for lovers of fantasy with a heart.

Book Review: Sherlock Holmes – The Army of Doctor Moreau / Author: Guy Adams / Publisher: Titan Books / Release Date: August 24th

It’s funny how life is sometimes. Starburst was the first magazine to feature a review of one of Guy Adams’ books back in the day, and now we’re covering his latest work, The Army of Doctor Moreau.

As aficionados of Victorian literature may have guessed from the name, the latest offering from Adams draws on H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau for inspiration and world-building and plonks Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the middle of it all. The story concerns a potential return of Doctor Moreau to the streets of London, and this time he’s bringing hybrid-creatures with him. But is he actually back? That’s the question that troubles our heroes for a good portion of the novel.

Joining them on this adventure is a crack squad of scientists and big game hunters picked by Sherlock’s living sofa of a brother Mycroft. Professor’s Cavor, Challenger and Lindenbrook (rather than Lidenbrock; Adams is using a different translation of Jules Verne’s original French text to get his name) form the scientist part of the equation; while some characters from the Holmes canon make an appearance (namely Shinwell Johnson and Wiggins, their page-boy) and finally, big game hunter Carruthers comes from Adams’ series of original novels to complete the party.

Mercifully, all those characters are in there for a reason – they all have a part to play and we get to see events from the perspective of about 90% of them in little snippets (indeed, a humorous few statements from Mycroft serve as an ending to the book). This does lead to some overlap in the events that we see, lines that are repeated but that’s to be expected – it ensures that the reader doesn’t lose track of the characters.

Considering that it has 284 pages, it’s amazing how quickly that flies by. It’s not the longest book in the world (that honour belongs to Twilight when you’re forced to read it) but it still dips into the moral questions that must’ve plagued the scientists of the 19th century and anything that does that is well worth a read.

It’s not the best pastiche around but Adams is a natural fit for the world of Sherlock Holmes. He creates interesting stories with well-developed characters and brings a subtle sense of humour to the work (one line in particular was genius and fit the character of Holmes rather well). We can but hope that he gets the chance to visit the streets of Victorian London again, at least once more. One thing that Adams wanted to accomplish with these books is to have them read like novels of the time, and he has certainly succeeded in that.

Book Review: Mockingbird / Author: Chuck Wendig / Publisher: Angry Robot Books / Release Date: September 6th

Miriam Black is back and she is as terrible and vile as ever. The foul mouthed, bitter, American white trash has returned, and this time she’s on a mission of sorts. Mockingbird is the sequel to Blackbirds, and whereas the first book was a road movie with a smattering of supernatural terror and an exploration of America’s dark urges, the sequel is more a murder-mystery thriller mixed in with plenty of horror and gore. It’s not for the squeamish, especially when you consider the rather unique gift of the central character. When she touches a person for the first time, she gets a perfect vision of how that person dies. This has pretty much ruined Miriam’s life, especially when it seems that only the most dangerous and drastic of measures have a chance at altering someone’s fate. It doesn’t stop her from trying though.

Mockingbird is Chuck Wendig at his most cunning, most vile and most bombastic. He has an acrobatic skill with the English language and he warps and distorts meaning to serve his own twisted ends. Wendig has tapped into the vein of modern American mythology, ancient ideas and stories battered into modern relevance through an acerbic wit and a sharp look at what the words “American Mythology” actually mean.

This book is a treat for the horror fan, filled with cinematic moments and genuine spookiness, though some of the more popcorn munching moments are also the weakest; there’s only so much desperate struggle a narrative can hold before a tale crosses the line from thrilling to predictable. Mockingbird never disappoints however, and throws enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing almost all the way through. Fans of American Gothic and The Lost Room will find themselves on familiar ground and will lap this up.

Book Review: The Last Policeman / Author: Ben H. Winters / Publisher: Quirk Books / Release Date: August 5th

The Last Policeman is set in a world not too dissimilar from our own, with one major difference. A 6.5 km asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and within six months the vast majority of life on the planet will be wiped out, with the few human souls that survive the coming apocalypse living in permanent winter where the light of the sun will not penetrate the layers of debris thrown into the atmosphere by the impact.

The infrastructure that so many of us rely on is, slowly but surely, breaking down. People are quitting their jobs to spend time with their families, or to fill their last days with their ‘bucket list’ fantasies. Fuel and food are scarce. The electricity supply and mobile reception are sporadic, and getting worse as more people abandon their jobs and repairs to these core services are ignored. Suicide is so frequent that the police no longer bother investigating them.

Against this background, we are introduced to Detective Hank Palace. Hank has only been in the job for a few months, the resulting promotion because of an older colleague quitting to become a ‘bucket lister’. When Hank is called to a probable suicide in the toilet of a McDonalds, it seems like an open and shut case. But something about it does not sit well with Hank. He thinks that a murder has been committed and spends the book struggling against a tide of apathy to try and prove that his instincts were right.

The Last Policeman is a fascinating novel. The characters are all well drawn, and the sense of defeat for almost every person in this world, as they wait for their inevitable demise, is a palatable force that drives the narrative along.

While the main plot of the book is fairly standard police procedural fare, the descriptions of society in terminal decline are absolutely riveting. This novel is apparently the first of a trilogy, and in truth, we really cannot wait for the next instalment.

Book Review: Lord Tyger / Author: Philip José Farmer / Publisher: Titan / Release Date: July 27th

Lord Tyger (the latest in Titan’s reissuing of Philip José Farmer’s works) is perhaps one of the better books to start with, as it’s not part of any on-going series which makes it a lot easier to get into.

Submitted for your consideration is a man of great agility and strength, raised by apes and embodying the spirit of the jungle. That description could either be Tarzan or the book’s protagonist Ras Tyger, and that’s kind of the point. Lord Tyger is Farmer’s experiment in Tarzan; the lord of the jungle depicted as if he were an actual person. Ras Tyger puts the “savage” into “noble savage”, showing that when you raise a child in a vicious environment outside of man’s interference, his primal drives for lust and violence will take over. No family-friendly pack of apes or Disney musical numbers here (the closest he gets is bonding with a lion called Janhoy – let’s just say he doesn’t get ahead in life).

Make no mistake – this is not just a typical take on the Tarzan mythology that can be appreciated by those of all ages. It’s a tremendously violent and sexual take on the “feral jungle child” myth, showing that he would need subtle interference in his life not to turn out a mute moron. However, interference may have taught him to talk and to hunt and so on but it didn’t make him civilised. He takes whatever woman he wants and kills anyone who gets in his way.

Part of the book could be interpreted as an attack on religion, primitive superstitions and charlatans who use that to get what they want. It’s up to the individual reader to decide how okay they are with that, but it felt fitting as it lends the book the air of a “Boy’s Own” pulp novel, in which they would look at a tribe’s way of doing things and pass it off as “savage tribal rituals”. The writing can get a bit difficult to understand and a bit flowery but if you stick with it, there’s a gem in there.

It’s an intriguing work with a powerful and well executed premise, and Farmer is clearly an excellent writer, but if you’re looking for an easy read you will not find it here. Having not read the original Tarzan stories, it’s impossible to say if this is better or worse than those. However, if you can set aside the time to read it, it’s well worth a look.

Book Review: Shadow’s Fall / Author: Dianne Sylvan / Publisher: ACE / Release Date: Out Now

Shadow’s Fall by Dianne Sylvan forms part of the Shadow World series, in which the plot revolves around Miranda Grey-Solomon, who is a Grammy Award-winning music artist by day, but the widely respected vampire Queen of the South (residing in Austin, Texas) by night. Shadow World is a series which has capitalised on the commercial success of Twilight and what drew this writer to the book in the first place was to see the effects on a story told from the perspective of a female vampire protagonist.

So to get things underway, we join Miranda who is organising a gathering of the Signet Council (an organisational body for vampire society) which is made difficult as it coincides with the (human) Austin Live Music Festival. However, where Miranda and her consort David’s troubles begin lies with vampire Prime James Hart whose official return has (covertly) aroused suspicion following the disappearance of an operative assigned to monitor him. The complexities are expanded further when Miranda begins to struggle to hide her double lifestyle, meanwhile, Jonathon, the consort to the friendlier Prime Deven, is having more apparitions than usual which foresee the inevitable danger which is about to descend on Austin, Texas.

Shadow’s Fall isn’t usually a book that I would read myself, but I must applaud aspects of Sylvan’s work as a writer. She has a good knack for description; this doesn’t sound like a big deal but in a genre that is more character driven, Sylvan brings in other elements of description to feed the reader’s imagination. The best example of this is in Miranda’s own description, its use of reds and blacks gives her the aura of a classical vampire, as opposed to the puppy dog-eyed ‘vegetarian’ approach to vampires that have been popular in recent years. Meanwhile, one of Shadow’s Fall’s other successes is that it doesn’t feel the need to rush a story which is tempting to do when the novel is part of a series. By not rushing through the story telling, Sylvan develops a sense of elusiveness in her characters, particularly Miranda and Hart. They are talked about by other characters, and we even get to read about Miranda in her latest interview with Rolling Stone which I found charming in its own way. But what this elusiveness ultimately achieves is a sense of how important these characters are to the story and the series itself, but it doesn’t overwhelm the reader which is refreshing.

However, there are some elements which Sylvan gets wrong and sadly they are what I’m reminded of the most by Shadow’s Fall.  My first issue is the implications in the relationship of Deven and his consort Jonathon. Whilst in recent years, the sci-fi and fantasy genres have come on leaps and bounds with wonderful, positive portrayals of gay characters, Shadow’s Fall reinforces crude stereotypical portrayals of characters in the style of Lesbian Vampire Killers. Deven and Jonathon are set up as an average couple (well… as average as vampires can be) yet a matter of pages later Deven has his tongue down the throat of the character David with Jonathon’s permission! For me, it simply reinforced the stereotype that all gay characters just sleep with each other without consequence. This makes the book look as though it is trying to be outspoken and current but it fails miserably. Also, for every good description and strong use of pace, Shadow’s Fall has nuggets of dialogue and imagery that, like my experience of Dan Brown books, have been written purely because it feels that the author wants the film rights to this book to be bought ASAP! As a consequence, the book becomes so clichéd in parts that, where some fantasy and sci-fi lets you get away with a nod to the familiar, it lead this reader to predict what would happen down to the sentence in the final pages; I wouldn’t have finished the book had I not been reviewing it!

To conclude, Shadow’s Fall has elements of good writing, it transports elements of classic vampire tales into a modern setting very successfully and paces the story so that you can see who the major players are going to be in the book’s climax. However, the negative portrayal of gay characters is out of place in a fantasy genre that has moved on so much in the space of the last five years and the clichéd elements of the story telling mean that you end up finishing the story yourself before the final chapter.