Review: Of Bone and Thunder

 Of Bone and Thunder by Chris Evans

From my brief investigations into the author (Chris Evans of The Iron Elves trilogy) it would seem that he’s a bit of a military historian and I definitely think that’s where this book stems from. It’s a story inspired by the Vietnam War (obviously with a fantasy twist) and you definitely get the impression straight away of confusing objectives coupled with oppressive heat. 

Of Bone and Thunder starts off in a slightly confusing manner, what with the prologue being from the perspective of a bird, but it very quickly drags you in and becomes a visceral, pumping tale that feels very real.

We start following normal soldiers doing a normal day’s work in heat that should only be experienced when you’re standing next to an industrial oven. We move on to a less normal soldier but still doing what amounts to a roughly normal day’s work. And finally we find ourselves following an airborne regiment doing a kind of normal day’s work.

We do see that the Kingdom back home is in turmoil and has almost exploded into open rebellion whilst conscripted soldiers fight in a searing hot jungle for a cause they don't know about.

I felt like, to start with, the plot meanders slightly with regards to the soldiers on the ground, rather than being propelled onwards into the maw of some great big bad evil end of the world nonsense. But I think that is also kind of the point with soldiers fighting a war that they see as pointless. That isn’t to say that the story isn’t compelling; we find ourselves sucked into the very real struggles of the soldiers on the ground (and air). 

One of my favourite parts of the story is the rags (read: dragons). Evans uses them to create dragon-based air squadrons. And it’s awesome. There’s something about the way Evans describes them that makes them feel heavy, hot, and oh so real and dangerous. And that’s before they even start breathing fire. I love it.

It’s compelling in its characters and every page reveals something deeper in each of the characters that makes you more interested in them. You become invested in the characters as you see their faults, their love for their comrades, and what they are willing to do to keep one another safe.

Evans does a great job of not pulling any punches or trying to glamorise warfare but at the same time the crescendo to the story will still get you cheering for the characters at their triumphs (I was smiling like a goon on the train). 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was a detailed exploration into the minds of soldiers on the ground, how social change affected them, and the stresses of dealing with a command structure unprepared for the environment they faced. 

It was well written, the characters were quite flawed but ultimately sympathetic and I found myself excited to get back to it. What more could you ask for?! Dragon? It has that too!

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Malazan series. This book is a dark exploration of war that still has also those features that make you want to read on and dig deeper into the world, the characters, and the conflicts.

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Review: Emperor of Thorns (Audiobook)

Once again this was an audiobook but I actually got a signed hardcopy as a gift (awesome gift!) and it turns out the new POV character's chapters were in a different font, which I thought was really cool! 

Anyway! 

As per usual Mark Lawrence does a wonderful job of throwing us right into the action and then folding in the back-story like a fine cake made of blood, death, and misery. This time we join Jorg as he is about to make his way to Congression (I’m not sure if that’s supposed to the capitalised but why not?) and again some backstory woven in that adds wonderful depth to the world, story, and character.

A brand new twist on this book in particular in another POV character! Say what!

This time we hear from … Chella’s perspective (Sorry I had to look that up, fantasy audiobooks mean I’m not sure how to spell things sometimes). It’s an interesting tale and gives us much more information about the world and a fresh perspective on things (although definitely not a fluffy happy one).

If there’s something that Lawrence can do, it is weave different levels of stories together. We also get lots of those throwaway sentences that Lawrence is so good at which are just beautifully put together and just make you stop to appreciate them. 

One thing I was slightly confused about was the foreshadowing that Lawrence included in his book. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of foreshadowing, especially if it means your second read through is completely different.  I’m not sure if I felt the foreshadowing was obvious, because it wasn’t very heavy handed at all, or perhaps more that Lawrence’s writing process is more of a (to use a term made famous by GRRM) gardener than an architect. Whatever the cause, reason, or rhyme I did find that I had seen ahead the twist long before it happened.

I don’t want you to take away that this is necessarily a bad thing, I’m not sure if it was supposed to remain a mystery until the big reveal or if Lawrence wanted us to guess it early on. With the story being in first person (for the most part) it added a tremendous amount of dramatic tension to the final chapters of the book and made those scenes all the more powerful. 

All in all this book was a very good close to the Broken Empire trilogy and I very much look forward to reading the next series that Lawrence has lined up for us (especially if he takes us beyond the end of Emperor of Thorns in his world's timeline to see what effects the finale had on it).

This was an excellent book of the same high calibre that Mark Lawrence has crafted before. In Jorg we get a philosopher, warrior, king, and broken thing. Mark Lawrence makes no apologies for Jorg but we don’t want to and we fall in love with him all the same (perhaps more so because of that). The story moves a little slower than the previous books but it is still quick and compelling. It will make you laugh, it will tear at you and make you cry and leave you wanting more stories from Lawrence’s world.

What more could you want?

 

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Book Review: Assail by Ian C Esslemont

Look at it! It's so awesome!

Hopefully I was not alone in my giddy excitement when I saw the title of this book.

Assail.

All Malazan fans will know the weight that sits on that continent. Throughout Erikson’s series we have seen some of the toughest characters be chewed up and spat out by Assail. And sometimes they even survive.

We enter the world of Malazan once again as we always do, with some new characters and some old faces, and I think by now with 15 books under most readers’ belts (I’m going to assume that you’ve read Esslemont’s series after you read Erikson’s) we have enough context that we are immediately drawn into the new stories. A young man from one of the tribes on Assail and a sea-captain on his way to the fabled continent are a couple.

Esslemont does a wonderful job of building tension and suspense in the first portion of the book. We are only given fleeting glimpses into what lies at the heart of the continent and what terrible things might happen. Further to this we are thrown a complete curve-ball with the prologue and only left with burning questions.

Esslemont builds on this consistently throughout the entire book and we are given hints, both great and small, about what is happening and important revelations about the world. I could barely put the book down in the first half for all of these hints and questions (I almost missed my stop a couple of times on the train) and then by the time the second half of the book comes around you’re caught up with the momentous plot you can’t put it down then either!

I will say that for some reason around Chapter Six there was this weird explosion of adverbs. As though Esslemont realised that adverbs can be okay sometimes and got a little carried away. It was a little off-putting once I realised he wasn’t doing it deliberately with one character to try and make a statement about their POV, but then after that chapter it dies down and all is well with the world.

Apart from the ‘Adverb Attack of Ch. 6’ Esslemont’s language is diverse and descriptive, and I did note at times how wonderfully creepy he could be (in all the right places). Esslemont’s voice really shines and I think that he has developed wonderfully since ‘The Night of Knives’ way back in 2004. He gives the proper weight and sadness to those characters and scenes that need it but is also a dab hand at cracking jokes. There was a wonderful moment in a climactic fight scene towards the end that did give me a mighty chuckle.

The Epilogue does a wonderful job of tying everything together in a neat little bow. I did wonder whether it was necessary and should have been a final chapter, but perhaps that’s just pedantic of me? Regardless, the Epilogue ties all of the threads of this book together and then shows us some of the paths the characters want to take next. So instead of leaving us with the unanswered questions that we were sometimes left with in Erikson’s work, Esslemont ties everything together and then scatters the seeds for the next round of storytelling. And each and every single one of those seeds should be an epic story in its own right.

By the time we reach the end of the book the world has been suitably threatened, our view on it has been suitably rocked, and we have had our hearts suitably broken. All in all, Esslemont continues to build and improve on his previous work. Every volume increases in complexity, skill, and epic scale.

I absolutely urge any fantasy fan to read the Malazan series, and if any Malazan fans are hesitant to pick up Esslemont’s series after what a good job Erikson did, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed. Esslemont has at least 3 more books to go and I for one cannot wait to read them. 


Assail is released on the 14th August and you can preorder it in hardback or ebook from Amazon, or from the publisher's website.

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Review: Shanghai Sparrow

I genuinely had no idea what I was in for with this book. I thought the cover art was awesome (steampunk dragon? Yes please) so I grabbed it and gave it a twirl, and then when I was done twirling I read it!

So what is Shanghai Sparrow? Well to start with it's written by Gaie Sebold!

The book is set in a steam punk British Empire, which also contains a Chinese Empire and a Russian Empire but they're only mentioned in passing, and the story follows Evvie Duchen a grubby street urchin, and Holmforth a dedicated a loyal servant of the British Empire. Throw in a pinch of fairy Folk and a dash of magic and you've got yourself a good setting.

Immediately I found myself drawn in to Sebold's story. She definitely has an excellent handle on giving the reader just enough information so that they know what's going on in the moment, but keep the reader asking questions and yearning for more information! Why is Evvie a thief? What's up with the weird Holmforth? What's this magical Etheric science I'm hearing so much about!? Suffice to say Sebold did a wonderful job of keeping me entertained but also keeping me yearning for more.

This, I think, lent itself to the pace very well. I found myself hungrily devouring the text and also wanting to find out that next tiny tit-bit of information that made the world so colourful. But Sebold avoids the pitfall that can be the trouble with a lot of fiction set in alternative universes, which is to talk too much about the world and too little about what's going on. Of course, I understand the want of authors to talk about their world, they've spent years meticulously crafting these intricate universes and only want to share them with you, to enrich your experience of the story! I get that, and at times I love it. Sebold, however, gives us the world with hints and throwaway lines that leave us asking questions.

 I understand that this could be a bad thing, but I don't think it is in this case. We are given just as much as we need to know and and it really highlights that we're being told about the characters.

And the characters are great. We mainly stay with the point-of-view Evvie with forays to Holmforth and the rare appearance of a mysterious Fox Spirit. None of the characters are just villainous because we need villains and neither do we get the most heinous of crimes and have characters performing actions that are against their nature purely to progress the plot. Each of the characters is developed and as we discover more about them and their motivations we come to understand each of them very well.

And as a side-note: I also very much enjoyed that there were many strong female characters, I am always pleased when this happens. There are no damsels in distress in this book, no sir (or madam)! All of the characters, regardless of gender, are intelligently crafted three-dimensional beings.

I was a little miffed when the story jumped to backstory for a chapter or so, after all, I wanted to know what was happening with the plot! But then you start finding out little things and the same level of storytelling is involved in the backstory so it rapidly becomes a non-issue. (And I have done this before with chapters of backstory, to be slightly miffed but also almost immediately engrossed, and this is no different!)

This is a great read, Sebold writes very well and drops colourful similes and imagery in to her work that give it that added spark. The way she has set up the plot and the world mean that the pacing is quick and well thought out, you don't find yourself rushing through the boring bits (what boring bits?) and Sebold knows how to ratchet up the tension.

I was pleased to find out that Solaris Books have commissioned a sequel as well! There is much more I wanted to see, especially of Evvie! So if you're up for a series then this is the book for you! But if you'd prefer self-contained story, then just pretend I didn't mention it!

All in all, I was very impressed with Shanghai Sparrow and would heartily recommend it. You'll find yourself devouring pages on the edge of your seat, whether you like it or not!

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A New Look!

We've been quiet on the ol' western front, and the eastern front come to think about it... But that's just because we've been investigating some exciting new opportunities to explore in the near future!

And for the mean time the blog(s) now have a dashing new look! Isn't that exciting?!

Yes. Yes it is.

So keep your eyes peeled and we'll have a review up later this week, I promise!

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Review: The Lost Castle (The Chronicles of Krangor)

I love a good fantasy book, and I love dinosaurs. So what's not to love when you mix them together? 

That's why I picked up The Lost Castle the first in a series called The Chronicles of Krangor written by Michael Pryor, which is a fantasy novel where all the characters are dinosaurs of one sort or another (bet you didn't see that coming?).

It is a children's book, so I wasn't expecting it to be super duper complicated and just really a bit of fun to break up the weeping muddy explosion that is the Malazan universe. 

The story centers around three young saurs who uncover the evil Queen's diabolical plan to rule the world using magic. Awesome. We've got dinosaurs, an evil queen, and world domination goin' on. Mainly we follow Adalon (on the cover, I assume) a young noble and promises to exact justice on the Queen for the death of his father. 

Look at him. Being all knight-y and prehistoric

One thing that always surprises me about children's books (although it says more about the caliber of book I read, I suspect, than the caliber of children's books) is how quickly the plot progresses. We are immediately thrown into the thick of things and the plot progresses at a compelling pace. 

However, I do think that this sacrifices something of the prose as a rather inordinate amount of the time (not all the time, but just enough that I noticed it) we are being told what is happening more often than not rather than being shown. I understand that this is also partly to do with tailoring to the audience, as much as I like to imagine I'm still a kid at heart, I know that I have grown up. (Damn you Peter Pan!)

One thing that I did find a bit odd was the description of the saurs themselves. The details were never thoroughly detailed and we are only offered snippets of the saurs in any one paragraph. I guess that a reason for this is that Michael Pryor has devised a world where the dinosaurs have evolved and moved away from the petty classification of us mere humans. Instead of (what I assumed to be a descendant of the iguanadon) we are told they are 'Clawed Ones', or instead of some sort of Tyrannosaurus Rex we hear of the 'Toothed One'. At its face I think this is a good way to try and show what the characters are without bogging the young readership down with too many details. But I did also find that it left a lot to the imagination, which sometimes left me thinking "Oh, maybe they don't look like I thought they did...". Although I should qualify this that I was a massive dinosaur nerd when I was a kid (who am I kidding, 'was'?) so maybe I shouldn't wait for Pryor to tell me if a character is a Stegasaurus or a Kentrosaurus....

But moving past that and my own geekery, the characters are interesting and there is danger abound and not just the danger of the Queen's guards that have been set on those she wants eliminated. The three friends we follow (each a different kind of saur) all have their own personalities and Pryor does well to bring them out and show the value of friendship and teamwork throughout. 

So if you like dinosaurs and fantastical stories and you fancy a quick read, or you know a suitable youngling (no, I don't know why I phrased it like that either) then I would recommend this book. The world is ripe for the picking and Pryor sets himself up for an adventurous romp over the trilogy. 

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Review: A Natural History of Dragons

I have some shocking news for you.

Are you sitting down?

Good.

I love books.

What? That didn't come as a shock to you? Well I suppose it is pretty obvious. But, why am I telling you this?! Because I'm hideously self-centered and I need you to know! Muhahah!

No, wait, that's not it. It's because I think that A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan is a fantastic book in truly every sense. And I specifically mean the hardback edition. Although of course the paperback is still a wonderful thing, as all paperbacks are. Compact, flexible, and delightfully colourful. In fact everything you could also want from a foldable-street-urchin.

Despite this the hardback is truly a wonder. A Natural History of Dragons, which has the subtitle; A Memoir by Lady Trent is a throwback to the time of intrepid scholar-adventurers, much like Indiana Jones now I come to think about it. The hardback really adds a whole extra dimension to make sure this book is definitely a memoir that would not feel out of place in an old library. You know the kinds of libraries I mean, the ones that have huge bookshelves brimming over with leather-bound tomes. The ones that have armchairs you fall into and can almost smell the pipe-smoke still lingering on the worn leather. That have books with epic titles like 'Popular Music of the Olden Times' in containing the music from all the way back to the Battle of Hastings! (Okay I am thinking of somewhere specific. Yes I'm looking at you Devon and Exeter Institute)

Getting back to the point, why is this hardback fitting in with this? Because it feels like one of those old books. It has a fantastic dust cover which I'll move on to, but remove that and you're left with a fairly unassuming brown volume (well unassuming for the word DRAGON emblazoned on the side) and the paper is really what got me. So this is really where the hardback comes into its own. Instead of the, perhaps reassuring, square-edged pages, A Natural History of Dragons has rough edges and varying lengths of paper. Of course, they all sit nicely inside the hardback, but it really adds something else to the whole memoir of a scholar turned adventurer, don't you think? If you ever wonder why people prefer buying hardbacks, this is it. (If you look carefully you can see the rough edges pages in this image)

But that's literally judging a book by the cover, and something tells me that's not such a good idea.

As the subtitle suggests, the book is in the first person and it is Lady Trent telling the story of her life and how her love (obsession?) with dragons fuels her daring adventures and how it ends up with her being the Lady of renown and respected intellect that we now know she is.

I like that, first of all, the assumed knowledge of the reader of Lady Trent as a national treasure and intellectual institute, really helped to set the work in its context and also helped to keep the book a relatively light read without too much suspense concerning our beloved lady (although plenty everywhere else).

The book does well in its writing and although there were never any sentences that caused me to pause and think 'wow, that's a superbly written sentence,' I read the whole thing in two or three sittings and it just flowed very easily. The story never juddered or felt forced in any way and you will find yourself smiling along with the ups of the book and at the very least casting your eyes down in dismay at the low points of the story. 

We meet Lady Trent before she was Lady Trent but merely Isabella, the child of a well to-do household and a bit of a tom-boy (or at least as far as the times were concerned). Marie Brennan really seems to want to engage with the inequality of the scientific community and how difficult it was for women to break through and be seen as equals rather than just airhead vehicles for gossip and children. 

I realise that I have spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the production of the book. But! Marie Brennan has clearly put in just as much effort as Tor did into her writing, and the story comes off as seamless. You find yourself easily rooting for Isabella as she tries to rise above the glass ceiling to the lofty heights of equality. The story glides easily for one moment to the next without making it appear like the plot is being forced merely to keep the story going. We are definitely driven here by Isabella's, almost mad, need to research dragons. 

If you pick up this book, I do have to say that I don't think you will be disappointed in any way. Only perhaps that the Memoirs of Lady Trent have not been published in their entirety. 

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Iron Druid Chronicles; Impressions

This week I want to talk about the Iron Druid Chronicles, which tell the story of Atticus O'Sullivan. I won't be giving a review of a specific book because I've been getting through the audiobooks and am already on the fourth book in the series (of a current six with the seventh to be released later this year).

Atticus is a 2,000 year old Druid, was born in Ireland, and now resides in Arizona in the USA.

The Iron Druid Chronicles is a nice urban fantasy that strays away from the somewhat common underdog trope. Sure, we all love an underdog, who doesn't? But sometimes it's nice to do some reading where the main character knows they can probably handle themselves, steps up to the plate, and knocks it right out of the park.

Sometimes, that's what Atticus does. Right in the opening of the first book we see him get attacked by fairies (vicious, murderous nobleman type fairies) and he beats them handily them summons something to eat them.

Suffer that woundikins you fairy scoundrel! 

Full disclosure, in my head I do end up comparing the Iron Druid Chronicles and the Dresden Files in my head quite a lot. I think they have a lot of similarities but also deliver differently on a lot of different things.

The underdog example being a prominent one, that's one of the reasons I liked the Dresden Files. Harry Dresden is usually, if not always, on the back foot and you really feel like the story is dragging him kicking and screaming through the mud. But Harry Dresden never gives up, and neither does Atticus O'Sullivan.

On the flip side, the Iron Druid Chronicles you get the impression that Atticus is over his head but in the same way that I can't breathe if I stand at the bottom of a swimming pool, but I can swim. I can breathe just fine if I use my noggin' and actually start swimming.

It's almost unfortunate that this relieves a lot of tension from the story, even when you're thrown into climactic battles at the end of the books. Atticus just isn't in trouble like we're used to. The books are still very enjoyable, I don't want to detract from that, but perhaps they could be executed a bit better.

The characters in the Iron Druid Chronicles are colourful, varied, and have their own goals and ambitions. One of the things I do love about this series is that it pulls on a mythology that gets less of a look in than the standard European medieval fantasy.

What with Atticus being 2,000 years old he's old school. Literally. He's an old Irish druid and he has connections. He personally knows a lot of gods and most of them hail from the Emerald Isle B.C.E.. And I think that's pretty darn cool.

(Sidenote - anyone want to suggest other fantasy that's based on Celtic mythology or Ireland? Artemis Fowl not withstanding. I am game for some more of that)

So along with seeing some pretty smart destruction of dangerous faeries very quickly we also see the wonderful entrance of the Celtic goddess of battle, Morrigan, also make a swift appearance. And this is the flip side of being a top dog, It's a pleasant change from the constant uphill battle, it's more of a 'tread carefully lest ye be throttled by a god' kind of battle.

Speaking of dogs and battle, what good is an age old druid if he doesn't have some sort of warhound? No good, that's who.

But never fear, we have Oberon, the Irish wolfhound (come on now, was it really going to be anything else?). Oberon is the comic relief, he has all the typical sensibilities and attention span that you would expect of a dog and comes across as lovable and playful scamp. There are some  flaws with Oberon, I think, though. For example, if there's a huge Irish wolfhound as the animal familiar of a kick-ass, 2,000 year old druid, I want to see him wreck the place up. You do occasionally see him helping out in some battles, but not being the avatar of doggy death and destruction that you would hope he would be.

Okay with all that I think I've rambled on at you enough for now!

To summarise; the Iron Druid Chronicles are quite an entertaining series but with a few flaws. Sometimes you get the feeling it tries too hard to make you laugh. I think this is probably a lot easier to deal with in the books where you can skim over bits, but when you're listening to the audiobook you're forced to hear every line of Atticus trying to speak as a lolcat to a vampire, and man is that awkward.

But the flaws shouldn't stop you. It is a lot of fun and it's nice to dive straight into the, pretty much non-stop, action. The world is interesting and the characters are fun. And even though there are a couple of bits that I found awkward, which were few and far between to be fair, I also found that I went through the first few books like nobody's business and that is always a very good sign. So definitely check it out if you enjoy urban fantasy

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Codex Alera: Furies Of Calderon

Audiobook Review

Being a big fan of The Dresden Files series, a classicist and fantasy nerd I was quite looking forward to the Roman Empire-esque series by Jim Butcher. I mean with all those things about me, how could I not love it?! 

Well, unfortunately, I couldn't. 

"In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies-elementals of earth, air, fire, water, and metal-fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos-when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war."

Sounds good enough, right? Some nice elemental magic with intrigue, war and your very home at stake! Even with all that, I never really felt like anything was properly at risk, maybe it's because I never connected all that well with the characters. 

Part of this lack of connection could potentially have been the audiobook reading, coupled with some of the characters within the book purely being there to provide a minute obstacle to wherever the plot needed to go. 

For example, there were a couple of soldiers stopping a couple of main characters from getting past them when they very dearly needed to. These soldiers were just unnecessarily rude, arrogant and ignorant. The point was to show that they were 'green' soldiers and not very disciplined at that.  But surely there are better ways to show that than refusing to let the leader of a town through the gates and making leering sexual comments at the girl with him? Perhaps if they were unsure of the procedures or unwilling to let strangers into the fort? 

These two weren't the only characters who I felt unreasonably infuriated by, and there were simply no redeeming features for those characters who were so. It seemed to me that they were in there purely to illicit reaction and show that the view of the soldiers and city-boys, that most of the protagonists were country bumpkins, was foolish. But then alongside that this contrast became a fallacy of itself, there were few people who were competent who didn't come from the wild outskirts. 

The story itself seems like it was sound, but then also got away from itself for a while and I found myself drifting away from why this was supposed to be a huge proble. 

This coupled itself with the fact that I found that I was guessing plot twists or just predicting where the story was going ahead of time, which left me feeling more like I was just going through the motions rather than sitting on the edge of my seat and waiting. So I also felt like I knew how they were going to solve the problems that were presented in it. "Oh, that huge big ol' problem X? Well obviously this character is going to do Y which means X won't be a problem." (And that's what happened) Again, this happened at the end of the book as well and I was just sat waiting for the timer to run out on what you knew was going to happen. 

I really am not sure if I'd like it any more if I had read it rather than listened to it, but there we are. A decent enough distraction, I think, but should probably be billed as YA fiction at the very least. I know that a lot of people have enjoyed this book greatly and the first couple of chapters are available on Jim Butcher's website, so do take a look and see if they're your thing. 

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The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

So with this book I decided to take a little bit of a break from my usual perusal fare, and went into some Young Adult fiction instead.

I was expecting to be a little put off by the fact it was written for a younger audience and would (I thought) just shove stuff in your face to make sure you got what the author was talking about. But I really wasn't, it's easy to forget that YA is just as exciting, thrilling and complex as any other genre that you care to name. 

The book is set in a vaguely post-apocalyptic world, but the details are sketchy and it's not like the world has radiation poisoning, everything is back to normal and everyone tries to preserve the Balance, so the world doesn't implode in on itself again. 

That's why I was worried it would be a bit in your face with the themes and some aspects of the story, but Kwaymullina uses those themes to accent and drive the story rather than use the themes as the mainstay and the story as a sideline. 

We follow the story of Ashala Wolf, one of the 'Illegals' who are shunned because of their supernatural powers. I'm not going to lie, I'm thinking of the X-Men, not a bad thing, but I'm a bit of a geek anyways so that's where my mind's going. 

These powers are central to the plot as they are the whole reason that Ashala has been captured, and ran away in the first place. Apart from the fact that these Illegals are being hunted by the government, we don't find out too much about why they have these powers, leaving us lots to be discovered in later books. 

As the story begins Ashala has been captured by agents of the government and, oddly enough, an interrogation is about to take place. To glean any information Ashala is willing (or not!) to give up about her group of Illegals. 

Placing Ashala in this weird and not so wonderful place gives her a chance to be just as out of place as we would be, so a consist mystery is present and we are given glimpses into Ashala's past and that of the post-apocalyptic world which she inhabits. 

I did find the romantic elements slightly odd at first, but the parts that I found a bit awkward and crow-barred in were eventually explained and my fears were once more allayed. This is a personal thing, as I was not overly keen on the romantic elements in Daughter of Smoke and Bone despite how much I enjoyed the book overall. 

The first person perspective reinforces the mystery that we see being presented in the book and, I think, helps to hammer home the confusion and lessons that Ashala finds as the story progresses. 

We see some very colourful characters along the way and they really bring Ashala's tribe to life. Although each of the members of Ashala's tribe are children of varying ages they have fully developed and varied personalities and I can still hear the giggles and laughter bursting from some of the characters. 

They contrast greatly against the grey and dreary parts of the book that are set in the government buildings. Kwaymullina does this rather well and even now looking back and thinking about the characters and the story there is a definite monochrome that hovers over the government buildings, compared to the bright and luminous colours of the setting outside the city. 

This isn't to say that the characters from the government are too dull or boring, just that the setting is nicely differentiated from that outside the city. The characters who come from the city are still diverse and have their own drives and emotions. 

Kwaymullina does a wonderful job of bringing her strong themes together in story, setting and characters. There are trials and tribulations, victories and jubilation. We follow Ashala from her confusing capture and the tale slowly unravels around her. The way that Kwaymullina shows us this unraveling delves us into a mysterious tale, leaving us wanting more at the end of the book. A thoroughly enjoyable read with a powerful message about the environment weaved in. 

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Review: The Gospel of Loki

Okay, first off, this isn't a bad thing, but a lot of the time sentences would jump out at me in Tom Hiddleston's voice. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, so what's this book! It's The Gospel of Loki by Joanne M. Harris, the first person retelling of Norse mythology, with Loki as the main character, straight from the horse's mouth (and that's not just a phrase in this case!).

Before we get onto the story, writings and characters themselves I just want to make a quick comment about how the book itself. I can be a bit of a nerd for how books look and feel, I think that can really bring a book together. Even if the writing is phenomenal but it looks like something a dolphin’s sat on when it was waiting for the bus then it’s going to put me off.

Thankfully, there was no dolphin. The title and look of this book work very well together. I very much like the juxtaposition of the title; The Gospel of Loki, as he is a well known fiendish liar, and yet here we have his gospel, his truthful word.

Just lovely

Equally the cover illustration is exquisite. The bold lines and solid colours of the illustration is reminiscent of a stained glass window. The illustration draws upon many elements of the story to provide a wonderfully diverse colour scheme across the cover. All in all a brilliant design for this book.

But anyway onto the actual work.

So we follow Loki all the way from his origins in the very heart of chaos right up until Ragnarok, with all the highs, lows and middle-y bits that go with it.

At first I found it slightly jarring at times that the language was quite colloquial, that sort of thing doesn't happen so often in an epic fantasy tale. It was slightly odd to read a sentence or a piece of dialogue with the gods talking to frost giants or something similar when the dialogue read; "Okay, just, like, calm down!" Alright it wasn't that colloquial, but you see where I'm coming from.

But thankfully that doesn't happen very often and once you've seen it happen a couple of times it actually fits in very well with the image of the cheeky and mischievous Loki with the silver tongue that I'm sure we've all come to know and love.

Cheeky devil

We start the story at the very beginning and get a nice overview of the characters, the setting and how everything generally works. Harris' writing immediately puts you at your ease and lets you gently settle into how the tale is going to be told.

Harris very much captures the essence of the Loki character; mischievous but altogether good. It's from the first person perspective of Loki and so comes across in pretty much all the aspects of her writing. There is never a word or phrase that doesn't weave this image further into the book.

The storyline also presents a side of the mythology that doesn't seem to get much of a look in nowadays. Odin is presented as a much more shady character than you would expect. This gives the book plenty of opportunity for twists and turns to keep you guessing and then keeps you guessing about guessing.

This book is very entertaining, it has all the right amounts of epic fantasy and tongue-in-cheek humour and an excellent mix of heroic and dastardly characters. Harris skillfully weaves the stereotypical evil Loki into a self-aware but misunderstood antihero with a heart of gold. Or at least a heart of fire that's covered in gold.

I hope that you check this book out, it’s a wonderful piece by a wonderful author. Well worth your time.

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Prince of Thorns Review

Before we start, one quick disclaimer. I listened to this book as an audiobook instead of just plain reading it. That's not a huge deal and I do make a point to always listen to unabridged audiobooks, but I thought it only fair to warn you ahead of time! 

Now, let's get to it! 

Prince of Thorns doesn't sound like a very bubbly title, so you don't go in expecting happy-fun-candy-times. And by Jove, it isn't. The protagonist is all of 14 years old and is already leading a  band of bloodthirsty bandits and has done things that make priests blush (literally). 

Down to its bones, it's a tale of revenge. The young prince gallivanting off with his bandits and seeking vengeance against the man who murdered his family. Sounds like fairly standard fare right? Although perhaps not pretty, revenge sounds straight forward enough. You killed my father (or in this case mother), prepare to die. Bad dubbing not mandatory. 

One of the things that I really loved about this was the setting. At first it seems like some fairly standard fantasy fare, maybe a bit grimy but that's not to be unexpected. Again, I think that this also helps with it being an audiobook because the map that I would usually take a look at, I didn't get a chance to, I just dove right in with the listenin'. It turns out that the world is ours but in a post-apocalyptic setting. I think one of the reasons that I loved it so much, is because I didn't look at the map and didn't realise. You just get hints here and there, the world already comes out strong and you get to put pieces together. It's wonderful. 

(Although, I'm sorry I've ruined the surprise there...)

The fact that it's an audiobook is a double edged sword for the writing (Not that I have a problem with the writing at all). You have to like the reader, and the reader for this audiobook had a weird thing that he'd put a downward inflection on every sentence. I got why he did it. It worked well the protagonist, but up to a point it takes away from some of the performance because there's only a distant irreverence with his reading. There are some parts that he does put a nice performance on and it's by no way monotonous, but take some getting used to. 

The flip side of the audibook is that you really look over every word, rather than perhaps skipping a section when you're reading because you think it might not be relevant. (I'm sure we've all done it) And there were several times that I had to think "wow that was an awesome sentence", and if it hadn't been already saying the next sentence I would have spent a bit of time just mulling it over. 

It runs the risk of becoming repetitive as the character is driven by a single goal and so the first person perspective might see the all consuming drive put off the readers. But this is not the case, the character, Prince Jorg, heads back to his father's castle and tries to prove himself and claim his rightful place as heir. This seemingly routine series of events spins the whole story off onto a fantastical journey and I loved every minute of it. 

Something about the world that Mark Lawrence has created, the way he presents it, and the characters he fills it with just clicks. It was so thoroughly enjoyable I listened to the whole thing in a couple of days. If you like your fantasy a little dark, I seriously recommend this book. It was pure and simple awesome.

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A Red Review of Red Seas Under Red Skies (The Most Expected Review...)

So in a recent blog post I hinted (badly) that a friend had mentioned to me that Red Seas Under Red Skies felt like it was just filler. But at the time I hadn't finished the book so I couldn't really comment.

Well, now I can. 

First off, let's deal with what was said about the book being filler. Now from what I can see about how the book went down, I think that the reason this has been said is because although there's a fair amount that happens in the book you get the feeling that a lot of it is build up to the climactic ending. And there is a climactic ending, but because the ending explodes and snaps rather suddenly you very much get the feeling when you're closing that 'There's not enough room to finish this'.

I definitely started wondering how Lynch was going to resolve the plot once I started getting to 150 pages left to go ... 100 pages left to go. And then boom. 

Another reason I think that it felt like a bit of filler is partly because of the setting. Even after the swashbuckling quote on the front of the first book and piratical adventures suiting the characters, the fact that they were gallivanting on a ship with a very strong captain made it feel like they were almost piggybacking on another story for a large part of the book. 

It's a strange feeling really, because I don't think this in any way detracted from the enjoyment that is to be had from the book. The writing is still good, the characters are still very entertaining and the world is still fascinating.

I think it's that because you felt like they were just hopping along with someone else's adventure you knew that they were going to leave those characters behind in the end so it almost felt inconsequential. This feels silly to say because Lynch does try and address this and he does that well, introducing characters and intertwining them with our protagonists with skill and consequence.But I guess, at least from my perspective, I'm always aware that they're the great con-artists and it's hard to forget that whatever might happen they're going to move on to the next big score at some point. Although that view point is probably not helped by the fact that I knew there was a third book, so maybe if I didn't know that I might have thought they could settle down at the end.... 

Anyway! 

The work itself is just like reading more of the first, so that's no bad thing. The characters retain their playfulness, intelligent and cunning ways. There's more baggage than you get with the first book, the ending of Lies of Locke Lamora clearly weighs on them and at times there is the feeling that there's a sword of Damacles dangling overhead waiting to split the group asunder. But that's not a bad thing, it just adds another dimension to the plot along with the usual tension from whatever score they're planning. The writing retains its wit, keeps its pacing and generally drags you along for the ride whether you want to put the book down or not.

I've touched on the setting. But the fact that the characters are out in the big wide ocean for a portion gives a good reason for Lynch to show you the characters weaknesses and expose their raw nerves. You definitely feel like the characters are being pushed to their limits and that they're finding out just as much about themselves as we are. 

I would definitely recommend this book, even more so if you've already enjoyed The Lies of Locke Lamora. I am glad that the next installment is already available for purchase as the ending almost felt too quick. You're just getting ready for a big climactic ending and you get one, but it's over almost before you know what's happening. 

So yes, read this, it's just as good as the first and you'll be hard pressed not to dive straight into the next one!

See you next time!

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Rivers of London Review

Okay, considering that I thoroughly enjoy The Dresden Files, I suppose it shouldn’t come as a shock that I enjoyed Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. Another first person urban fantasy, magical detective novel, but this time set in London. For anyone reading in American it’s possible that you’ve seen it under the guise of the title: Midnight Riot. (As a side note, I personally much prefer the British cover for Rivers of London, for some reason the Midnight Riot just strikes me as the kind of cover you’d find on a children’s magic spy novel. But maybe that’s just me!)

I mean, take a look at it. It's a superb cover

The story follows Peter Grant, a probationary constable as he finishes his two year probationary period and as he deftly avoids becoming a member of the Case Progression Unit (to quote Aaronovitch “we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to”) ends up being apprenticed to Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the only wizard in Britain.

I think I got an extra dimension of enjoyment out of this book because I work in London. So whenever there was mention of somewhere I recognised, have walked past, or even the tube line I got a little thrill of excitement (it’s silly I know). And also because it seems to have some nice self-deprecating humour in it, and what good British citizen doesn’t enjoy some of that?

Anyway, I know you’re here for one reason and one reason only, you dirty scoundrels, for a book review! So let’s get to it!

Firstly, I want to talk about what stood out to me for this book, and that’s the writing style. It’s a first person narrative and isn’t overly verbose, if anything it’s the opposite. Slightly jarring at first, Aaronovitch’s writing style doesn’t dwell on every little detail, it doesn’t take the reader by the hand and guide them through the story with exquisite detail and imagery. The writing style is closer to what you would get if someone were actually telling you a story. I would like to say now, this is definitely not a bad thing and very well suited to the character and the story, it just took a little getting used to.

What I mean by that is that occasionally you’ll read sentences or paragraphs that skip over a sizeable chunk of time filled with activity. In a lot of books the reader might feel that this is cheating them of the narrative, but I think that in this particular book Aaronovitch has used this technique in a rather dashing fashion. But why? Because being a police officer often isn’t fun, isn’t adventurous and is in fact rather dull. Of course I don’t want to belittle what people involved in law enforcement do in any way, but it’s just not the sort of thing you want to read about in a story. So instead of reading laborious passages in which Peter Grant, the main character, sifts through CCTV footage or logs in to computer systems or what have you, Aaronovitch just gives us what we need to know. We don’t need to know what video files he was looking at, or which folder he delved into, but we find out what he did and what he found.

As well as this, Aaronovitch scatters his writing with humour and it all comes off in a deliciously wicked way. There are definitely chuckles to be had along the way as we follow our main character through London, the underground and dealing with supernatural creatures of one sort or another. Aaronovitch, I think, manages to capture something of British humour, the kind of thing that makes you give everyone a wide, cautious berth whilst simultaneously having a sense of fierce camaraderie.

The London that we find ourselves exploring along with Peter Grant is a fascinating mix of almost forgotten London mythology along with the exciting or humdrum life of mundane London (and by mundane here I don’t mean boring, it’s definitely not boring, just not magic). But within Rivers of London we only really get a glimpse of the magical London that Aaronovitch has created. On the rounds with Nightingale, through Peter Grant’s eyes we see ghosts, trolls and other magical beings that can’t be cleanly categorised. And with Peter Grant’s feet firmly planted within both the magical and the mundane world by the end of the novel, I most certainly look forward to seeing how London transforms itself in the coming books.

Conflict is key to most stories, and Rivers of London is no different. We are thrown straight in with it as the story begins with Peter Grant as he looks after a particularly grisly crime scene when all the other coppers have left. And then almost before anything else has a chance to happen, Peter Grant is whisked away under the wing of Inspector Nightingale to embrace the strange and uphold the peace. Aaronovitch keeps the story rolling and definitely picks up the pace as the story comes to its conclusion.

Overall, I would say that Rivers of London is a thoroughly amusing and enjoyable read with a little adventure, lots of suspense and plenty of action. Although the writing style can jar a couple of times in the first few chapters it quickly and easily facilitates the story and is an apt style to portray British ambivalence in all its forms. Of course due to the first person perspective there is a lack of overt dealings with the other character’s motives, but Aaronovitch is skilled enough to throw us hints via body language and Peter Grant is clever enough to suss out how people are feeling.

You will immediately be drawn into this story as the strange and supernatural immediately jump out from the page and draw you to the next chapter. The pace is always increasing as storylines intertwine, jump free and twist and turn all over place. I would strongly recommend this book as it is a thoroughly enjoyable read with unique story and a witty approach. 

So that's it for now scribblers! I hope you enjoyed this review, and we'll be back with some more excellent content soon! I know that the blog has been review heavy of late so hopefully is the next week or two we'll be back to giving you a mix of tips, reviews and other thoughts!

In the meantime; good hunting!

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