Review | Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher (Orbit)

Title: Proven Guilty
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Orbit Books
Format: Paperback
Release Date: April 2007

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Harry Dresden is the only wizard in the Chicago phone book and consults for the police department on those so-called unusual' cases. But there's no love lost between Harry and the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined. Yet now the vampire wars have thinned the ranks of wizards, the White Council needs Harry, like it or not. He's drafted as a Warden, and assigned to look into rumours of black magic in the Windy City. And, if that isn't enough, another problem arrives for Harry in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend was the only one in the room when an old man was attacked, but in spite of this, he insists he didn't do it. What looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film turns out to be well, something quite close to that, as Harry discovers that malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago. All in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob.

Proven Guilty is the eight book in the Dresden series, so I’m going to assume that if you are reading this you’ve read the previous seven. So there will be some spoilers about the series up to that point, but I won’t spoil this book for those yet to pick it up.

By this point in the series, Harry Dresden is a bit of a mess, physically and psychologically. He is effectively holding onto his sanity and his position as a wizard by the skin of his teeth. The war with the Red Court is not going well and he is still at odds with his mentor and surrogate father, Ebenezer McCoy. As such he has lost a powerful ally on the White Council, which he really needs given how much the Merlin hates him. His former girlfriend Susan is still out there somewhere trying not to kill people, so he is on his own in that way, despite the ongoing tension with Murphy. He does have his close friend Thomas living with him, but their bond is not really explored much further in this book, and it’s not the kind of closeness he craves. Harry is also still actively avoiding his friend Michael, the Knight of God because of his previous dealings with a fallen angel who is still trying to tempt him down a dark path. So, on the whole Harry is alone, desperately so, and he is incredibly lonely. He doesn’t have anyone he can just turn to and completely relax, take off all of his physical and mental armour and be himself, which is really really tragic. He is a good man, painfully so at times, and I appreciate a tortured character makes for a more interesting protagonist than a happy smiley one, but man, I wish the guy got a break sometimes!

There aren’t that many overt references to his state of mind until later in the book, but there a couple of very poignant scenes that change his relationship with two people. To me it was obvious in the way Harry reacts in various situations that he is hurting badly and struggling to cope. Unfortunately for me this book isn’t about Harry finding some female companionship and a modicum of peace, but it is a bit of a game changer. With each book Harry is growing and becoming a better wizard, but at the same time we are always aware he is not the strongest, or the smartest, and yet he is one of the best because he is a survivor.

Things will never be the same again. It’s a tired and worn out catchphrase, but after reading Proven Guilty there have been some dramatic shifts both with the War, and Harry’s relationships with his friends and allies. So, it was a bit of a crossroads book and things can’t go back to how they were before. The next few books might involve the familiar cornerstone of Harry investigating a case with the help of Bob, but the other elements of the book are growing in prominence and at some point they will become the main plot of a book. Maybe it’s book 12, which is called Changes. I’m also glad to hear that it is not the last book in the series.

This book was very enjoyable and the main plot revolves around Harry’s attempts to uncover who is behind a series of horrific attacks from physical manifestations of horror movie icons. It involves the Faerie world and some familiar faces from previous books, but once again, there has been a progression and a passage of time. The story never stands still and for me this is a good thing as the characters live and breathe in the spaces between the books. They don’t stand around waiting for you to pick up the next book.

However, despite the mystery surrounding the attacks of the main plot, I actually enjoyed the sub plots more, as there is a lot of cloak and dagger stuff going on and we get a small peek behind the curtain. A few more clues are dropped and also more layers added to the complexity of the unseen adversary he is facing, but there are also implications that there is a long term plan in operation. There is a suggestion that Harry and a number of other characters are being manipulated as part of a master plan, and that they are merely pawns, being moved around on a giant chess board they can’t see. There is a brief appearance by one of my favourite characters in the whole series, Rashid the Gatekeeper. He is the most mysterious member of the White Council, and as ever I get the feeling he is someone who operates on a different level to Harry. Perhaps on the same level as this unseen adversary where the games being played involve much higher stakes than a few lives or the fate of a city or even the fate of the war. I think the Gatekeeper cares about the present, but he actually cares more about what happens to wizards and magic in general in the long term. Butcher has done a very good job of keeping him mysterious, and perhaps that is why I am so intrigued by him, because we are told only tiny snippets of information compared to most.

There are definitely a few ominous echoes in this book, but Harry is a man who knows his limits, and he knows sorting out the shadowy conspiracy is something well above his pay grade. It can’t be unravelled alone and I got the feeling this book was the start of him realising that and starting to pull together his own version of the Dirty Dozen for when they are needed.

Proven Guilty has echoes that go right back to Storm Front, to the core of who Harry is and where he came from. At the start of this book a young wizard is executed for dabbling with dark magic and making a terrible mistake. This haunts Harry and will continue to do so for a long time after because that could have been him if he had not been given a second chance. To me it served as a reminder of how far he has come since then, but also how unforgiving some people are as they still expect him to go crazy and slaughter people with dark magic. Harry is a wizard, but he is also human and prone to making. And yet he is still being punished for one mistake he made a long time ago. This is another common theme which runs throughout this book and it is perhaps the source of his conflict with some people.

This book is very much about redemption, forgiveness, family, and making choices. By the end of it Harry, and the audience, are still very much in the dark about what is really going on. Most of his relationships have now changed irreparably, some for the better and some for the worse, and overall he is no better off. There is a lot to be resolved in the next few books and not all of it revolves around the war with the Red Court. Signs and portents are abound and dark magic and unpleasant characters are going to crawl out of the woodwork at the most inopportune moment because he is just that unlucky. Plus there are a few more personal mysteries that need to be solved. The books are growing in complexity and at the moment I am not too bogged down by all of the detail, but I would like to see a few of them resolved so that we can focus and keep our eye on fewer balls in the air. This is just a personal thing for me, but if there were less, it might give them more space to breathe and give us, and Harry, more space to explore them. Overall I am still thoroughly addicted to this series and I really can’t wait to read the next four.

Review | Preacher Re-Read - Volume 1 - Gone to Texas (Vertigo comics)

Title: Preacher - Volume 1 - Gone to Texas

Author: Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

Publisher: Vertigo

Format: Paperback

Release Date: March 1996

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan and Liz de Jegar

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Here's a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it's the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can't watch but you can't turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God's abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind.

Intro: This monthly feature is a re-read of the Vertigo comic series, Preacher, by Steve Aryan of Walker of Worlds and Liz de Jager from My Favourite Books.

Liz: I've only come to comics recently, say maybe the past five, six years or so but I've been a lifelong reader of fantasy and science fiction, crime and thrillers and oh, westerns.

I was handed the first Preacher graphic novel by my partner who looked at me and said: read this, it's about this priest in Texas who accidentally gets god-like powers and goes in search of God. Also, John Wayne talks to him.

And I was all…what???

That's the thing about Preacher. Garth Ennis's writing is clever, gritty, violent and off the wall. He expects the reader to keep up. There are no explanations or molly coddling here. Pay attention or get out. It's a pretty in your face graphic novel too. A lot of swearing and both the author and artists love the gore and grimness of some of the situations they put the characters in.

The first volume of Preacher: Gone to Texas we are told Jesse's story retrospectively, how it came about that he has the Voice of God in him. As well as memories that do not belong to him. We also learn that the being inside of Jesse is generally known as Genesis and that he is the progeny of a demon and angel…and that he's been locked up since the dawn at time but he's now broken free and he's found the perfect vessel in Jesse Custer.

Part of Jesse's support group in this first volume is Cassidy - a vampire with a filthy mouth but who knows more about things than he's letting on. And then there is Tulip, an erstwhile girlfriend of Jesse who has fallen on some bad times.

Gone to Texas is a peculiar book as it has a lot happening, but also very little happening. It is mainly because we are getting various characters turning up and the sense of menace starts trickling through as The Saint of Killers is introduced (the Bad Guy trying to track down Jesse to kill him on behalf of Heaven - or Hell) and you have a bit of backstory being sorted out, as well as the current situation they are finding themselves in needs to be carried forward.

The characters of Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy are deftly and solidly established quite early on but as the layers are added, the story slows down just a bit, speeding up occasionally for a few more explosions, before slowing down again for a bit of exposition. All in all, it's a good first volume that gives you some of the background you need to continue on to Volume 2.

I would also like to mention the artwork here - as well as the palette chosen to do this volume in. I am a big fan of Glen Fabry's work so the chapter covers in Volume 1 are definite favourites. Steve Dillon's hard work is a treat to look through as he does not shy away from the nasty. The colours are almost Technicolour in their vividness and it draws a lot of attention. A lot of deep oranges and browns are used with splashes of other colours so it really does jar the eye and ties in well with the overall narrative.

A really strong and very interesting first volume that's set up enough of a storyline for the reader to want to read on. Garth Ennis's Hellblazer roots are definitely showing so if you've read the Constantine / Hellblazer graphic novels and Mike Carey's Lucifer GNs and you've not had the chance to pick up Preacher, well pardner, I reckon it's about time you did.

Steve: This is my third reread of Preacher and the first time was a few years ago. In this first volume there are a lot of ideas thrown up against the wall. This time around I found, personally, that some of the ideas worked and others didn’t. Overall there was a lot that still appealed and I wanted to keep reading, but the start was rockier than I remembered.

The meat of the story is about Jesse Custer, the set up of how he inherited Genesis, an unrivalled power that is effectively the Word of God. There are also a number of mysteries set up around his girlfriend Tulip, an unstoppable cowboy called the Saint of Killers and Cassidy, an Irish vampire they run into. These mysteries are unravelled in later volumes and reading it this time I wanted to get to those stories sooner.

If you are not upset by carnage, swearing, fighting, puking and drinking, something that is a cross between a Tarantino and a Kevin Smith movie, then Preacher is the right comic book for you. This first volume kicks off Jesse’s search for God who is AWOL, and while the concept itself is not new, there is nothing me-too about Ennis’ approach to the ultimate quest.

None of the characters in this story are white hats really. Cassidy is a vampire, so you just know he is going to have a lot of skeletons in his cupboard. Jesse is mean SOB preacher who was losing his way and his faith in God long before Genesis ran into him, which is probably what made him the perfect vessel. We all ask “why?” and now Jesse has been given the power to find answers because both he and his new passenger want to know why God left his post. And Tulip, well, she is harbouring secrets of her own as the last time Jesse saw her she was not carrying a big gun in her purse and shooting people in the face. So it’s safe to say things have changed in the last five years which was when she and Jesse saw each other.

The running joke of the arse-face character irked me then and just annoys me now and unfortunately I know it continues for a long time. The origin of the character was amusing and a nice poke at moronic kids who are stupid enough to copy their idols, but the unreadable dialogue just got on my nerves. Others might find it funnier than me, so maybe it was a lot more amusing when I was younger and read it the first time.

As ever in his writing, Ennis doesn’t pull any punches. The story is full of blasphemy, foul language, dirty jokes, sexism, racism and lots of blood. But he’s not doing it in an attempt to be cool or to show off. It’s just part of the landscape. The characters are rough, tough, mean and driven people who are all being chased by demons, figurative and literal. Although this volume does have some set up and it leaves many mysteries dangling to be explored later, a few B plots are wrapped up nicely, including a story about a serial killer and the most unlucky cop in the world.

This comic has received a lot of Hollywood attention and there have been a few attempts to bring it to TV or the big screen, but because it is so close to the knuckle it would take a very brave person to invest, which is why it has bounced around in development hell for a number of years. It might get developed into something else, but that could be in another five, ten or twenty years. Maybe never.

So, in the meantime if you enjoy a visceral road trip story across modern America that is packed full of violence, blasphemy, angels and demons, plus characters you’d probably cross the street to avoid if you met them in real life, check out the first volume of Preacher – Gone to Texas.

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We'll be back towards the end of next month where we'll share our thoughts on Volume 2 - Until the End of the World.

Review | Storm Front by Jim Butcher (Orbit)

Title: Storm Front
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Orbit Books
Format: Paperback
Release Date: September 2005

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Reasonable rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment. Harry Dresden is the best and technically the 'only' at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they come to him for answers. For the 'everyday' world is actually full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever. The first six Dresden files novels will be published over three months - a great introduction to Harry Dresden, a modern-day wizard who manages to get into some seriously tricky situations.

I don’t think there are many people who haven’t heard of Harry Potter. The Dresden books by Jim Butcher, starting with Storm Front, are quite dissimilar to those by JK Rowling, but they put you in the right frame of mind, one where the magical and mystical interact with the real world, and one where most people are totally unaware, despite the apparent abundance. Harry Dresden is a wizard, but unlike Harry Potter he isn’t the chosen one, and there isn’t an evil overlord to overcome, unless it’s his landlord as he has a rent cheque to pay. Dresden is just a regular guy, as far as being the only wizard in the Chicago phone book goes, trying to make a living and get along.

In some ways it is difficult to talk about this book and indeed the series without spoiling it, but I will do my best because many of the joys come from the unexpected twists and turns Butcher delivers. I think it’s on his website there is a story about how he became an author and it was a very long and difficult journey. Perhaps as a result of this there is very little waste in his stories. His style is tight and punchy for the most part, but also deliciously descriptive, but only when there is a need for it and not otherwise. So the stories always rattle along at a fast pace, chapters are short when the tension ratchets up and you could literally devour the whole book in one sitting as you just need to know what happens next. The stories are very tense and full of surprises, making them part thriller and part urban fantasy.

Dresden is a much more likeable character than Felix Castor, who I previously mentioned in The Devil You Know by Mike Carey. Butcher’s books are less crime based and more fantastical than Carey’s in some ways. There is a wider plethora of creatures and other realms, some of them vaguely familiar and others his own creation. Dresden is funny, quick with the banter, and quite self-deprecating, but there is a lot going on beneath the surface. He is actually a lot more complicated than he seems at first. Each book in the series is a self contained story, showing us a slice of Harry’s life, and in between or around the books, other events take place. There is a passage of time and reference to other places as if he lives in the space between. In this first book we don’t know much about him or his history, but with each new book, Butcher peels back a layer, or pokes something he has already told us, unravelling it and destabilising the status quo. Harry just wants a quiet life and to earn an honest buck, but he rarely gets that.

Despite the life-threatening situations and obvious danger to characters in the Dresden books, they are much lighter in general than Carey’s. Perhaps it’s not a fair comparison as one is set in Chicago and the other in London, one is focused around ghosts and the occasional demon, and Dresden is more magical overall. Carey’s are darker, grimier and closer to Chandler crime novel, whereas Butcher’s are a twisted and more accomplished version of Rowling’s books, where the main character finished wizarding school and grew up to realise the world wasn’t going to hand him a living on a silver platter. In fact, there is no wizarding school as such, although by necessity there is an organisation (the White Council) that controls and mandates the Laws about who can practice magic and who cannot. In this regard, and with other organisations and factions, the Dresden bible that contains all the background information must be enormous.

So, in Storm Front, the first adventure of Harry Dresden, he is working on a job for Lt. Karrin Murphy, who runs a Special Investigation Division that occasionally calls him in to consult. Most people still think he is a charlatan and just stringing her along, but Karrin has seen enough to know there is something there, although she isn’t exactly sure what. The other cops are less welcoming, but Harry is quick with the banter and can fend for himself. As a result he isn’t that popular because of his attitude, but then he isn’t there to make friends. A double homicide leads him down a dangerous road where he gets involved with Gentleman Johnny Marcone, the local crime boss, dark wizards and a new street drug with mystical properties. I’m being a little vague on purpose, giving an overall flavour of what to expect without too many plot details, because I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises in this book.

Two areas where Butcher excels are his ability to create characters with real depth, and his ability to avoid clichés and well worn and predictable plots. Karrin Murphy, despite being quite petite, is not a damsel in distress that constantly needs saving by Dresden, but nor is she a Ripley-like Amazonian warrior who never cries and hates all men. Sometimes she does get in over her head and Harry helps her out, and at other times she saves his life because he is only human and not invulnerable despite being a wizard. Karrin is complicated, has a history that is gradually trickled in throughout the series like Dresden’s, but I also don’t take her for granted, because no one is really safe. Tragedies do occur, characters are injured and die, and everyone who survives does their best to carry on, because that’s life. For all the magic and monsters, for all the chaos and destruction, the stories contain an element of realism. People die, they need to pay the rent, and Dresden can’t just conjure up some gold or pay a visit to the wizarding bank run by goblins when he’s a bit short. For every action in the books, good or bad, there are repercussions and consequences that last. And despite being standalone novels, the story always builds on the last and Harry changes and adapts to his new life and new circumstances.

The Dresden books by Jim Butcher were my first forage into Urban Fantasy. Since then I’ve read a number of others in this genre but these, along with Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels, remain my absolute favourite. Some of the other urban fantasy novels were absolutely not written for me, they contain tired, and now much copied elements (limp monsters and a half-human, half otherworldly hero/heroine), and in one case I struggled to finish the book, which is incredibly rare for me. I always want to at least see how it ends, but this one irritated and annoyed me so much that quite often I threw it across the room in disgust. This book was not from a new author either, but by one that sells incredibly well, and as such I expected it to be good but was continually let down by the story, the characters and the author. If you require an element of romance in your urban fantasy novels, then you will not find it here. It is not one of the key elements written into the DNA of each and every book. That is not to say there are no relationships and it is all business, but if that is why you are thinking of picking it up, then you will be disappointed. They are adult stories written for an adult audience. If you expect whinging monsters that mope around, fawning after teenage girls in the shadows and peering into their bedroom windows on moonlit nights, then look elsewhere. Butcher takes monsters and creatures we know (and some you might not be as familiar with) and then puts his own spin on them with disturbing and horrifying consequences, which includes vampires and werewolves. The modern fad in some popular novels of making monsters cuddly and just misunderstood is thankfully not present in this series of books.

So if you want a fast paced supernatural, investigative thriller, with creativity and originality, check out Storm Front, the first of the Dresden books. It is a great read, and like so many others, you will quickly become addicted to this fantastic series.

Review | Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (Tor)

Title: Warbreaker
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor
Format: Paperback
Pages: 688
Release Date: March 2010

Reviewed by: Francesco Paonessa

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

After bursting onto the fantasy scene with his acclaimed debut novel,Elantris, and following up with his blockbuster Mistborn trilogy, Brandon Sanderson proves again that he is today’s leading master of what Tolkien called “secondary creation,” the invention of whole worlds, complete with magics and myths all their own.

Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

Warbreaker is that rarity among fantasy novels: a standalone. Uncommon in a genre built on the success of books and series of such length that they threaten the survival of rainforests everywhere, the standalone gives readers the rare opportunity to start and finish a story without having to wait for publication or purchase of further volumes. It is only a little ironic that Brandon Sanderson was chosen to write the final volumes for Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, one of fantasy’s longest book series.

Warbreaker is not Sanderson’s first standalone novel—that would be Elantris, also his first published novel. What Warbreaker lacks in length—and at almost 600 pages in the hardcover edition it doesn’t exactly qualify for quick reading—it makes up for with overall content. The scale is smaller, but the stakes are high, and the fates of gods and humans hang in the balance. This is a case of quality over quantity.

Vivenna and Siri are princesses of Idris, a small nation of reserved people. Vivenna has spent all her years preparing for the agreed-upon marriage between her and Susebron, the God King of Hallandren. Siri has spent all her years as the ignored youngest princess. Both sisters are fine with their arrangement until their father decides to switch which daughter he sends off for marriage. A stunned Siri finds herself a stranger in a strange land, married to a god—no, a king among gods—and completely out of her depth. Vivenna, meanwhile, will not let all her training go to waste. She runs away to Hallandren, determined to save her sister.

That’s the crux of the matter. Everything else unspools from there. Sanderson lets readers see how each sister handles difficulties that neither one was really trained for. How the sisters handle their challenges depends on their characters, and reflects their growth as characters. Nothing is really what it seems in the politics of Hallandren, and there’s plenty of second- and third-guessing when it comes to trust. Sometimes the good guys are bad guys, and vice versa. Sometimes the bad guys just continue being bad guys. In that sense, Warbreaker reads like a mystery or a thriller, leaving you looking at all the characters sideways until the final act is played out.

So the plot has its twists, but it’s the characters who bring emotional depth to the tale. As mentioned, the princesses get ample time to shine. But just as important are two of the male characters that lend their perspectives. The first is Vasher, the less visible of the two. He is the first character we meet, a capable killer, and a mystery for much of the book. He also carries a sword that can think for itself, making the sentient object a chilling and sometimes comical character of a sort.

The other major character—and the one who steals the show—is Lightsong, the god of bravery. Like all the gods, he is a Returned, meaning he came back to life as a god after dying as a regular mortal. Unlike the other gods, he does not believe in his own divinity. He loafs. He whines. He mocks the other gods and the people who serve them. He saddles his own high priest with the nickname Scoot, and does just about everything to exasperate the man. His life is one of comfort and privilege, and he refuses to take his godly duties seriously. He goes out of his way to be a disgrace, except that, at the heart of things, Lightsong is a much better god than almost anyone gives him credit for. He spouts philosophy and questions theology. He cares about others. Irreverent as he is, Lightsong is the feather in Brandon Sanderson’s cap; where the other characters are well-crafted, Lightsong is the one that transcends the standards of fantasy, helping to turn a clever story into a brilliant one.

That is almost all anyone needs to know about the story. Some people might ask about the magic and the culture of Sanderson’s world. Cultural differences are rich, especially considering that almost all the action takes place in one city. The magic system of colours and BioChromatic Breath is nothing if not innovative. There is no mystical hand-waving here; the system is so well-detailed that it is almost a science. The originality is refreshing, but with such an intriguing plot and such a cast of characters, the magic can take a back seat. Brandon Sanderson can rest easy knowing that his efforts turned out more than an original magic system. Warbreaker is a beautiful, highly recommended read.

Bonus: To see the creation of the beautiful cover for Warbreaker, watch this fascinating time-lapse video of artist Dan Dos Santos at work, set to the song Gettysburg by Ratatat.

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About Francesco Paonessa
I am an avid reader, writer, and lover of books in general. By a happy coincidence, I also happen to work in book publishing, doing things like marketing and publicity for authors young and old. I'll read anything, but my favourite genre is fantasy. The possibilities in fantasy are endless, and it is so rewarding to discover authors who take chances within the genre and create something with resonance. I also enjoy short stories, and I encourage anyone to send me recommendations for new authors.
In 2010 I began re-reading and recapping George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy, A Game of Thrones. With the first book completed, I'm considering starting a re-read of Book 2, A Clash of Kings.
I also go by the moniker Errant Knave, and you can find out more over at my blog, or by shooting me a comment on Twitter.

Review | Firefly Rain by Richard Dansky (Gallery Books)

Title: Firefly Rain
 Author: Richard Dansky
Publisher: Gallery Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Release Date: June 2010

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

When Jacob left home for a new life, he pretty much forgot all about Maryfield, North Carolina. But Maryfield never forgot him. Or forgave him.

After a failed business venture in Boston, Jacob Logan comes back to the small Southern town of his childhood and takes up residence in the isolated house he grew up in. Here, the air is still. The nights are black. And his parents are buried close by. It should feel like home—but something is terribly wrong.

Jacob loses all his belongings in a highway accident. His car is stolen from his driveway, yet he never hears a sound. The townspeople seem guarded and suspicious. And Carl, the property caretaker with so many secrets, is unnervingly accommodating. Then there are the fireflies that light the night skies . . . and die as they come near Jacob's home. If it weren't for the creaking sounds after dark, or the feeling that he is being watched, Jacob would feel so alone. He shouldn't worry. He's not.

And whatever's with him isn't going to let him leave home ever again.

I'm not usually a reader of this sort of book, sci-fi being my main genre of reading, but I picked this up while browsing one of my local shops. I couldn't tell you what drew me to it - maybe the title, maybe the cover, maybe even the synopsis - but I just wanted to read it once I saw it. It's nice to have a change every now and then, and Firefly Rain hit that craving I needed for something a little different, and made Richard Dansky an author I'll be reading again.

Jacob Logan returns to Maryland, his home town, after a failed business attempt in Boston. He's not been back since his mother's funeral, and the out-of-town family house is just as it was left. With all his belongings disappearing en route from Boston he's left with nothing but his car, and that isn't around for too long before it's stolen from the drive outside the house. Carl, the man left to look after the house since Jacob's mother passed on, brings supplies to him and swiftly departs, acting strange and appearing to hide something. With his car gone Jacob is stuck in the house with only occasional visits to town, but the people he meets and talks to seem strange, but that is nothing to what is going on in the house...

The first thing that struck me when I started reading Firefly Rain was the relative constrained feeling of the novel. After Jacob arrives at the old family home the story is very much set in that one house and surrounding land, with only a few excursions out of this place. What this does is give you a sense of the place where Jacob grew up and Dansky manages to convey a real feeling of isolation and something not quite right. There are strange going-ons, from items appearing after Jacob put them away to the way that he can't always get into his parents old room. It's the little things that build the atmosphere, but it's the characterisation that brings the story to life.

With the story following Jacob and his return to his home town it's his story, and through his actions in returning to Maryland we learn more and more about him. He's an interesting character and one that I can certainly relate to with regards to his situation. Carl is the silent type, but through Jacob's observations and rare talks with him it's obvious there is more to him than meets the eye. With the lack of understanding on Jacob's part and relative stubbornness of Carl it's a strange dynamic, but one that I was eager to know more about. I wanted to find out about these characters and what the underlying problem was. There are, of course, other characters, and while they have some impact it's these two that I thought the main focus was on, more for the progression and explanation of story.

While this book is described as a horror, it didn't contain many shock elements to it. There were one or two, but it's the atmosphere that really gives the chills. The little things that go on really make this book, not the big stuff. It's hard to say too much without giving away too many details about the plot and what is actually going on, but suffice to say that Dansky writes a solid story and manages to tie everything up without reverting to shock tactics. It works well throughout and kept me turning the pages late into the night. I haven't enjoyed anything like this for a long time, but Dansky has given me reason to search out more in this genre. Great stuff.

Review | Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Gollancz/William Morrow)

Title: Heart-Shaped Box
Author: Joe Hill
Publisher: Gollancz/William Morrow
Format: Hardback
Pages: 384
Release Date: March 2007

Reviewed by: Ankush Trakru

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com
It would seem extraneously silly to review Heart-Shaped Box. The book came out in 2007. It’s won the Bram Stoker award. The reviews are staggering; 397 aggregated voices have declared it 4/5. The gold standard for bestsellers; the NYT has done it. It’s got blurbs from Harlan Coben & Scott Smith. Heck, even old grandpa Google is no slouch.

In part this is my fiendish plot; I really want you to read Horns, released in 2010, by the very same guy. But before you do that, I want you to feel your skin crawling up your back. I want you to whimper, caught between reading & not reading. That feeling of when you were a kid and watched horror movies with one eye shut & the body firmly ensconced in the embrace of the comforter or your mummy. Remember the time when the dark corridors of your house were the dreaded pathways for vengeful spirits.

Joe Hill is just that good

Heart-shaped box is a ghost story. That’s probably just the way The Exorcist is a horror movie. No reviewer can convey the trapped visceral sense of terror that both evoke. They’re both simple horror stories, the hand of God lies light on both plots except that the movie is more of a Church & Demon story while the book is more of the traditional chase between quarry & hunter.

I think this much shadowplay should be enough :) No spoilers (either in text or links) follow

For such a rock-star book, the protagonist of Heart-shaped box is unsurprisingly, a rock star himself; Judas Coyne. For the trivia hobbyists, that’s like three Hard/Alt Rock references in one sentence; Nirvana Single from 1993-94 (Heart-shaped box), Judas from Judas Priest & Coyne from Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips (the last one’s a wiki reference). Throughout the book there are several references to Alt/Hard/Punk/Country/Metal music. More music references can be found here.

Our fictional Mr. Coyne is quite a morbid collector of things; part of which is his play at his image of being a Metal artist and part of which is the usual eccentric hobbies that famous people tend to pick up. So when he gets an option to buy a dead man’s suit with a guaranteed poltergeist, he takes it up. This suit arrives in a heart-shaped box. Handling the suit, his girlfriend pricks herself on the finger, drawing blood, and with that little incident, the misfortunes begin. Turns out that the suit is haunted by the ghost of the father of a dead ex-girlfriend whose family is blaming her suicide on guess who. This clearly cannot go well from here and it doesn’t.

It starts from little things. Little nudges and cuts. The poltergeist was a hypnotist when alive. He’s a better hypnotist when dead. And from the time he wakes up, Judas’ days are numbered. From what we’re told in the beginning, the ghost wants Judas to suffer in just the same way that his daughter suffered just before killing herself. So, there are incidents that start happening; Incidents which involve him, his newest girlfriend and his two dogs. To get away from it all, these 2 people decide to go to the place where the box came from, and the ghost follows.

That is perilously close to admitting as much as I can, before revealing the entire plot. Needless to add, there’s is more than what meets the eye and in spite of the fact that Judas does not seem to be a character one can relate to at first sight, you’ll be happy you persevered with him, but then that’s why you need to read the book, right? ;)

Reading the book is a wringer. Back when you think Judas is an emotionless jerk, you feel bad for what is happening. Later when the music comes through and you feel more warmly towards him, you wish for it all to stop. Towards the end, you’re genuinely rooting for a happy ending even though none seems forthcoming. There is a moral play involved, but hey, this is high fantasy (horror?) not high literature. There’s enough plotting & talking in there for this to be enjoyable, but not enough if you’re looking for a deep discussion on what is evil and how does good work. The ending is neat and tidy and you’re happy at the end that the ordeal is over.

I remember starting the discussion on the note that you really should read Horns, and Heart-shaped box is just an entrée’ into Joe Hill’s work. While those two books are NOT related at all, what will be familiar to readers is that suffocating feeling of helplessness, being at the mercy of the author while watching terrible things being done to characters that we love so much. What will also be familiar will be the cloying feeling of oppression, that fluttering of heartstrings and that absolute sense of opprobrium.

Damn that Joe Hill, he can give me a coronary pretty much anytime he wants

Highly recommended.

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About Ankush TrakruThe Reviewer is a multi-skilled multi-cellular biped macro-organism & the blood descendant of the triumphant race of Cro-Magnon man. Alas, while he’s just as intelligent, he hasn't inherited the ability to create frescoes in dim-lit caves. Apart from this, he also works & blogs like any other monkey and generally loves operating slightly on the right of being obfuscatious. Sometimes he fiddles around with a tightly wound 6-string instrument as well.

Review | Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor)

Title: Dragonfly Falling
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Publisher: Tor UK
Format: Paperback
Release Date: February 2009

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Two young companions, Totho and Salma, arrive at Tark to spy on the menacing Wasp army, but are there mistakenly apprehended as enemy agents. By the time they are freed, the city is already under siege. Over in the imperial capital the young emperor, Alvdan, is becoming captivated by a remarkable slave, the vampiric Uctebri, who claims he knows of magic that can grant eternal life. In Collegium, meanwhile, Stenwold is still trying to persuade the city magnates to take seriously the Wasp Empire’s imminent threat to their survival. In a colourful drama involving mass warfare and personal combat, a small group of heroes must stand up against what seems like an unstoppable force. This volume continues the story that so brilliantly unfolded in Empire in Black and Gold – and the action is still non-stop.

The action in Dragonfly Falling picks up right where Empire in Black and Gold left off. And for those who haven’t read Empire yet, this review will contain some spoilers about what has gone on before, so you were warned. The Wasp Empire has suffered its first major setback but they are unrelenting and press ever onwards, intent on dominating the Lowlands. In this book we are introduced to some new characters, including the much talked about Emperor of the Wasp Empire, a paranoid and bored man who wants to carve out a destiny for himself unlike any ruler before him in Wasp history. He is also willing to work with anyone and do almost anything to avoid what he sees must happen. Whilst juggling the politicking and press of the army, he pursues his own dark ambition which introduces us to a new mysterious Kinden and the hint of a dark, old and very dangerous power. Magic, in the main, is regarded as nothing more than superstition and sleight of hand. Kinden’s Art is the only real reflection of power outside of what we would consider normal, but once again Tchaikovsky makes us question what we think we know.

Stenwold Maker has been talking for decades about the threat of the Empire, and sadly, his words have not been heeded. Long ago he witnessed the fall of one city, and now the Wasps lay siege to the Ant city of Tark. Ants are some of the best soldiers in the world. Their hive mind makes them implacable, a unified fighting force that is incomparable to anyone and yet as a race they are not able to adjust quickly and adapt to new ways. The Wasps have many artificers from many conquered Kinden, who bring deadly war machines the Ants have not faced before. Facing new tactics and a new way to wage war, the result is a messy conflict to put it mildly.

Dragged into this maelstrom of blood and destruction is Totho and Salma. The former goes through quite an epic journey in this book, starting out from a dark place internally and by the end of the book he is actually in a worse position, stuck between a rock and a hard place. He make some difficult decisions, he effectively sells his soul, and yet finds joy and happiness in some unexpected places. Once again, Tchaikovsky offers no easy answers. Nothing is black and white, no characters are truly good or evil, and even those we may previously have disliked or have been encouraged to hate, are now objects of pity, respect and in some cases admiration.

There are a lot of other characters in what is an ever growing cast, who also move through important phases in their lives, so it is difficult to cover them all. Put briefly, Tynisa and her father, the amazing Tisamon, embark on a personal journey that will dramatically change both of them, but also our understanding of the Mantis Kinden. Salma follows his heart but the end of his journey is not what he or I was expecting. Stenwold must defend his home and rely on those, who at first, seem like some of the weakest allies he could ask for in a deadly conflict.

Strength, heroism and sacrifice for the greater good is found in some remarkable places. A couple of other favourites of mine from this book were a new character called Parops who is a Tarkish Ant, and the slightly terrifying, Balkus, a Sarnish Ant and ally of Scuto, the Thorn Bug. Che and Archaeos seek new and old allies to stem the tide, as no one can ignore the Wasps anymore, and the story Stenwold has been telling is finally coming true. There are others I have not mentioned, but all our favourites are there, plus a couple of new faces.

Summarising this book is incredibly difficult as there is a lot going on and it is very much one chunk of a much larger story. Despite being a hefty tome I clawed my way through it in less than a week because I was just desperate to know what happened next to characters that I had grown to care about. Relationships are complex and realistic and all of the characters are very well drawn and unique. This is epic fantasy on a grand scale and I can see why Tchaikovsky mentioned in a recent interview it is likely the series will run to ten books.

New Kinden are introduced in each book, but we are never forced to read pages and pages of background, choking the plot and bringing the pace to a grinding halt. The information is introduced subtly, hinting at parts of the world we might never see, but Tchaikovsky has clearly thought about and planned out. If the story were to suddenly veer off in one unexpected direction, and sometimes it does, we do not fall off the map into a place marked only with a skull and crossbones. The history of the world is also introduced in a similar manner, carefully and when important to the story, and we have glimpses of what went before the current story.

For me, this is how world building should be done, with care for the reader and with an eye on the pace of the story. This is a real page turner as the story grows more complicated and also more unpredictable, the lines between friend and enemy become blurred, and the future for the characters is uncertain. Terrible costs have been paid while others are well past due and it is very likely that some of our favourite characters will not make it. An excellent second chapter in a unique fantasy epic.

Review | Brass Man by Neal Asher (Tor)

Title: Brass Man
Author: Neal Asher
Publisher: Tor UK
Format: Hardback
Pages: 432
Release Date: April 2005

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Another broiling, sprawling, witty, hard-SF adventure, filled with the truly alien

On the primitive world Cull, a knight errant called Anderson hunts a dragon, not knowing that elsewhere is a resurrected brass killing machine, Mr Crane, assisting in a similar hunt. Learning that this old enemy still lives, agent Cormac pursues, while scientist Mika begins discovering the horrifying truth about an ancient alien technology.

Each day is a survival struggle for the people of Cull. Ferocious insectile monsters roam their planet, as they try to escape to their forefathers’ starship still orbiting far above them. But an entity with questionable motives, calling itself Dragon, assists them with genetic by-blows created out of humans and the hideous local monsters. And now the supposedly geologically inactive planet itself is increasingly suffering earthquakes . . .

Brass Man continues my reading (and catch-up) of Neal Asher's Ian Cormac series. I'm a big fan of Neal's work and my one reading resolution for this year was to get up-to-date on his releases. I'm in the fortunate position of having the whole series sitting on my shelf ready for back-to-back reads so I can fully appreciate the overall story he's telling, and after recently reading both the second in the series, The Line of Polity, and now Brass Man I'm still gobsmacked that I haven't read them sooner. Brass Man is the third book in the series and picks up the characters following the conclusion of the previous book, with all the headaches that entails for Cormac and company!

After the events of The Line of Polity and the apparent destruction of Skellor and the deadly Jain technology he discovered and used, Masada and all those that were in contact with the technology are quarantined. Jerusalem, the vast AI starship whose sole job it is to monitor, study and restrict Jain technology, is now involved in the clean up from the fall out, but not all is back to normal. When a salvage ship discovers the bridge of the Occam Razor it's clear that Skellor and the Jain tech were not destroyed, and this one find leads events to Cull, to Dragon, and the resurecction of a dangerous brass Golem known as Mr Crane.

Brass Man is very much the second half of the story started in The Line of Polity, and while this is part of a five book series, tLoP and BM feel like a self-contained duology. This is good as there were some interesting things left over from the previous book that cried out for further development. The whole idea of the Jain tech is a deep rooted part of the story, and something that is so advanced really needed more exploration on how it works, what it can do and just how much a danger it poses. Asher does a good job of taking these details forward, looking at the possibilities of Jain technology and adding some new and dangerous aspects to it. As not too much has been discussed about the Jain tech in previous novels it works well to further explore it and show just how lethal it is, while also adding more to the worldbuilding of the Polity universe and its history.

The plot threads we follow range from the continuation of Cormac, Mika and Thorn's story from The Line of Polity, and also that of Skellor in his quest to track down Dragon. We also follow Anderson and Tergal on the planet of Cull, new characters who introduce us to the planet that houses one of the two remaining Dragon spheres. Each of the characters, both new and returning, help drive this story forward and allows Asher to dig deeper into the various aspects he's introduced in past novels: Dragon, Jain tech, and the way that AI rule the Polity. While we also meet Jerusalem, the huge AI ship dedicated to Jain tech study (and a really good addition to the story for all the information we learn through these threads), it was the re-introduction of Mr Crane that was my highlight.

Mr Crane is, essentially, a psychotic Golem. Destroyed at the end of Gridlinked, Skellor tracks down his remains and uses Jain tech to brng him back to life stronger than before with the use of Jain technology. Asher adds further depth to this character by showing us flashbacks of how Mr Crane became what he is. He also explores this to great effect, slowly but surely bringing the character from the one-minded killing machine to something.... more.

What is most enjoyable about Brass Man is the sheer feeling of threat that faces the Polity. While we only see this through the events on and around Cull, the implications of these events have far reaching effects. The story unfolds well, not too quickly and not with too much detail at the start, but once various aspects are in place it turns into a rollicking adventure, with action and exposition equally pushing the story forward. I knew Asher could write some of the best action sequences in the genre from all the previous novels I've read, but the building blocks he's put in place in previous novels are now unfolding nicely, adding to a large canvas in ways that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

Bottom line: if you've read anything by Neal Asher before then you're in for a treat with Brass Man, and if you haven't I can't recommend him highly enough. It's worth pushing through the two early novels just to see the pay off that is starting to come into play. For sheer entertainment value you'd be hard pushed to find another author writing in the genre that can match Neal Asher.

Review | The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Tor)

Title: The Way of Kings
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Tor
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1008
Release Date: August 2010

Reviewed by: Daniel Burton

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

I long for the days before the Last Desolation.

The age before the Heralds abandoned us and the Knights Radiant turned against us. A time when there was still magic in the world and honor in the hearts of men.
The world became ours, and we lost it. Nothing, it appears, is more challenging to the souls of men than victory itself.

Or was that victory an illusion all along? Did our enemies realize that the harder they fought, the stronger we resisted? Perhaps they saw that the heat and the hammer only make for a better grade of sword. But ignore the steel long enough, and it will eventually rust away.

There are four whom we watch. The first is the surgeon, forced to put aside healing to become a soldier in the most brutal war of our time. The second is the assassin, a murderer who weeps as he kills. The third is the liar, a young woman who wears a scholar's mantle over the heart of a thief. The last is the highprince, a warlord whose eyes have opened to the past as his thirst for battle wanes.

The world can change. Surgebinding and Shardwielding can return; the magics of ancient days can become ours again. These four people are key.

Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings is his most anticipated novel yet, in large part due to the success of The Gathering Storm. While novels in the fantasy genre are often driven by dual elements of “sword and sorcery,” Sanderson seems to be trying to transcend the stereotypes. His a world that is less and less fantasy and more and science fiction, where the magical has been stripped of much of the mysterious and brought down to earth by quantification and explanation that might better be attributed to science than to fantasy. And yet, it just makes the world more magical and exciting.

That said, don’t get me wrong—The Way of Kings still contains the classic elements of epic fantasy. It is a world full of powerful lords in unearthly armor, magical swords that cut through steel, flesh and rock, deadly assassins that kill with magic and steel, and mysterious omens, prophecies, and visions, and the battle is very much between good and evil for the destiny, if not survival, of all. But the world Sanderson creates is so alive and vibrant, suffused with the fantastical, if explainable, that one can’t help but sense echoes of science fiction in his descriptions. He creates a world ravaged by storms so powerful that even grass hides in the rocks, animals have evolved to some form or another of crustacean, and only the condemned are left outside during a storm. Rather than dragons, basilisks, and gorgons, we see creatures that might better follow Darwin’s theories and observations. They fit the environment, are a product of the environment, rather than of fanciful daydreams.

The plot of The Way of Kings is just as full and developed. Opening at a breakneck pace, Sanderson cuts to the chase with almost textbook efficiency, and within pages we find ourselves at the center of a mystery. Sanderson builds his characters in careful balance with the action, pushing both together for a well balanced combination of both heart and action. We feel for the characters as much as we enjoy the plot. There is scheming, double-crossing, revenge, redemption, and pain, as well as triumph. Further, his pacing is generally good. Just as we begin to see the threads of plot coming together, new clues, events, and hints are beginning to appear, and we realize that we have only begun to crack the surface. He does tend to jump around a lot, utilizing extensive flashbacks for one character, and this distracted me quite a bit. One or two, would have been ok, or just one to develop the back story, but it was repeated and extensive, and it was distracting.

Despite attention to a thorough and wide reaching plot, it is this thoroughness that brings me to my one gripe, minor though it may be. Even when compared to other epic fantasy novels, Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of King’s clocks in at above average page length at over a thousand pages. While Sanderson is effective at writing both action driven and character driven scenes, the middle of the book seems to drag, if only for a short time. This would not be so much of a problem, except that the novel is a thousand pages long. Sanderson tells a good story, but I can’t help but wonder if it would have been possible to tell it a little better if he had shortened some of the back stories of his characters. And The Way of Kings is just the first in a ten novel series. I look forward to the next, with the anticipated title of The Highprince of War, but I hope that they are more tightly written than this first.

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About Daniel Burton
Dan Burton lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he practices law by day and practices everything else by night. You can follow him on his blog lawafterthebar.wordpress.com where he muses on the law, current events, books, and ideas. He can be contacted at dan.burton@gmail.com.

Cover Art & Synopsis | The Departure by Neal Asher (Tor)

Visible in the night sky, the Argus Station - its twin smelting plants like glowing eyes - looks down on the nightmare that is Earth. From Argus the Committee maintain an oppressive control: citizens are watched by cams systems and political officers. It's a world inhabited by shepherds, reader guns, razor birds and the brutal inspectorate with its white-tiled cells and pain inducers.

Soon the Committee will have the power to edit human minds, but not yet; twelve billion human beings need to die before Earth can be stabilized. But, by turning large portions of Earth into concentration camps, this is achievable, especially when the Argus satellite laser network comes fully online...

This is the world Alan Saul wakes to in his crate on the conveyor to the Calais incinerator. How he got there he does not know, but he does remember the pain and the face of his interrogator. Informed by Janus, through the hardware implanted in his skull, about the world as it is now Saul is determined that, just as soon as he has found out who he was, and killed his interrogator, he'll bring this corrupt world crashing down.

Finally, my most anticipated novel of the year has a cover! The Departure is the first novel in Neal Asher's new series, focusing on the origins of The Owner, a figure from some short stories he's written in the past. These stories of his (Proctors, The Owner, Tiger, Tiger and Owner Space) are among my favourite short stories I've read, and I know I've not been alone in hoping and praying that Neal would expand these stories into a complete novel or series.

The cover itself is nice and certainly stand out, and is another excellent Jon Sullivan creation (the artist responsible for all Neal's rejacketed covers). The only amendment needed is the removal of 'A Polity novel' from the front, simply because it isn't! The Departure is due in September this year and it just can't come soon enough for me. Head over to Neal's blog to see the full wrap-around cover and some more blurbs for it, but I expect this novel to be far and away the best thing I read this year.

Review | Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny

Title: Nine Princes in Amber
Author: Roger Zelazny
Publisher: Doubleday
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 188
Release Date: 1970

Reviewed by: Jim Black

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me.

I attempted to wriggle my toes, succeeded. I was sprawled there in a hospital bed and my legs were done up in plaster casts, but they were still mine.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened them three times.

The room grew steady.

Where the hell was I?

And so begins “Nine Princes in Amber”, the first book in Roger Zelazny’s classic Chronicles of Amber series.

The Chronicles of Amber introduced me to reading not only Roger Zelazny but also fantasy. I remember being fascinated by “Sign of the Unicorn” when it appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine (it was the first science fiction magazine I subscribed to). It is the third book in the series. As soon as I found out about two earlier books in the same series, I rushed out, bought, and read them. Since then I have been hooked on Zelazny.

From the first page when Corwin wakes up in a hospital with no memories, the author keeps the story moving at a furious pace. The way he combines the classic film noir stylized main character with the fantasy/science fiction world is amazing. Due to his situation, Corwin does not trust anyone. He manages to escape, track down one of his sisters, and begin his journey to return home and claim the throne. Corwin’s father is believed to be dead and Corwin’s brother Eric (one of the nine princes of the title) is ready to take over as the new king. The odds are very much in Eric’s favor. Corwin makes alliances and fights his way to Eric. The climax and epilogue are surprising. Corwin’s battle in this book does not end in the traditional way.

Zelazny introduces numerous concepts in this novel.

Amber-Corwin’s home is the “one true world”. All other worlds are but Shadows of Amber. Earth is but another one of the Shadows.

The Trumps-painted cards based on the Tarot deck. When one of the royal family uses the Trumps, they can contact and communicate with other family members. They can also be used to transport a person to your location.

Shadow walking-the vivid descriptions of how the royal family travels from Shadow to Shadow is haunting. The family uses their will to add or subtract details from the location they are traveling through. Eventually, they are able to transport themselves to another Shadow or to Amber. As the author likes to remind us, “all roads lead to Amber”.

The Pattern-it exists in Amber and in the city of Rebma (a reflection of Amber that is under water). A true blood of Amber can survive walking the Pattern. Once they are done, it gives them the ability to walk through Shadows. If the person does not have the blood of Amber in their veins, the Pattern will kill them.

In addition to the fascinating concepts, Zelazny adds the internal battles of a family who does not trust anyone. Alliances are made, family is betrayed, and failure results in banishment if you are lucky. The unfortunate ones suffer a worse fate.

Even though the reader knows that Corwin will pay for his act of rebellion, you can’t help but cheer for one of his victories. I will not go into details because it would give away the outcome. Let me just say that sometimes the only victory you can achieve is an act of defiance.

Zelazny once again displays his love of combining poetic language with pulp style plotting. “Nine Princes in Amber” is a modern pulp story. What elevates it to classic status is Zelazny’s skill at writing. Some of his passages will captivate you. The way he combined language, fantastic settings, and conflict in a short novel is rare. His descriptions of walking through Shadows, Rebma, Amber, and the battle scenes are outstanding.

Is this a perfect book by today’s standards? No. The sisters of the royal family are relegated to the background. In most cases the treatment of women is a carryover from the pulp era. The only strong woman in the book was the queen of Rebma. Her role is a passive one. In later books, the women take a bigger role.

The other shortcoming of this book is that it is just the first part of the story. Zelazny does bring about a resolution but it does not finish the main story. If you have not tried his work before, read this book. The short length will not take long to read. If you are like me, you will be rushing out to get the rest of the series. It will be worth your time.

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About Jim Black
Jim Black's interest in science fiction began in the early 70s when he read a copy of Lester Del Rey’s “The Runaway Robot”. Little did he know that it would be the start of a life time of reading science fiction and fantasy. Hundreds of books later he still enjoys reading everything from the classic through the modern authors. You can follow what he's reading on Goodreads, can be emailed on jimsftimes@gmail.com and blogs at Science Fiction Times.

Review | The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Gollancz)

Title: The Name of the Wind
Author: Patrick Rothfuss
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 2008

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

'I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me' So begins the tale of Kvothe - currently known as Kote, the unassuming innkeepter - from his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, through his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a difficult and dangerous school of magic. In these pages you will come to know Kvothe the notorious magician, the accomplished thief, the masterful musician, the dragon-slayer, the legend-hunter, the lover, the thief and the infamous assassin. The Name of the Wind is fantasy at its very best, and an astounding must-read title.

Every now and then I hear on the grapevine about a new superstar of fantasy. Someone the critics rave about and say they are the next Tolkien, the next Gemmell, the next George RR Martin. This instantly makes me nervous. Patrick Rothfuss makes me nervous. Maybe it’s the beard, or the fact that he is a geek, like me. He just seems too nice! I read a couple of interviews about him and the book, but stayed away from those which gave away too much of the plot. Even then what I read sounded very good. Perhaps too good to be true. So I stayed away for a couple of years. The Name of the Wind came out in 2007 but I only read it in 2009. I should not have waited that long. The real reason Rothfuss makes me nervous is because, in my opinion, the hype is true and he is going to be a giant of the genre.

This is his first book and I am not going to say it is perfect in every single way, because that would be untrue. But it is one hell of a damn good debut and is miles better than some who have been at it a lot longer. Over the years Rothfuss will grow and improve, and as a relatively young man in his mid 30s, I hope he has many decades of writing ahead of him. By the time he is George RR Martin’s age, I expect him to have produced some of the most unforgettable fantasy books seen in the last 30 years. If not I will find him and shave off his beard in retribution. And that’s just for starters!

As it stands, The Name of the Wind is one of the most memorable fantasy books I’ve read in several years. There are some rough edges and it took me a little while to get into the story as it was slow at first. Also, at first glance it bears all the familiar hallmarks of a fantasy story that would normally send me running for the hills as if pursued by an angry mob. The book is the first of three that chronicles the life of the main character, Kvothe, and it focuses on his early and teenage years. A few posts ago I reviewed The Painted Man by Peter Brett, which also has a young boy growing into a man and going out to challenge the world. There is one other similarity between the books, because in each the main character has suffered a tragedy and seeks to better understand who or what was responsible and why it happened. But that is where the likeness ends. Saying the two books are the same story because of that would be a lie and utterly unfair. They are very different books and hopefully you will see why as I go along and why I think Rothfuss has created something unique.

In Rothfuss’ novel, which is told in first person by an adult Kvothe to a scribe known as the Chronicler, I see glimpses of an epic story and epic character. Kvothe comes from humble beginnings and even by the end of the first book he is not a master wizard, warrior, or a great leader of men inspiring people to greatness. But, you get the impression that one day he will be one or all of these things. There are also no familiar archetypes in this book, no labels for people such as warrior or wizard, everything is fresh and there are only people just going about their lives. I get the impression that the older Kvothe is a true Renaissance man, someone who has delved into many areas, learned many secrets and has become a master of many arts, both scientific and magical. His name is known throughout the many lands that are hinted at, but we don’t really know too much about what his reputation is or what he achieved. Which makes sense, as the bulk of the story in the first book retells events in his life as a young boy, and as such he hasn’t saved nations from a demon plague or killed conquering armies with a quiver of his eyebrow.

As a boy Kvothe is talented, not just a good musician and storyteller, which he learned from his parents who are performing artists, but by today’s standards he would be called a prodigy or gifted. His parents recognise his thirst for knowledge and growing intellect and try their best to meet his expectations, whilst also keeping him firmly grounded. Without giving away too many spoilers, the story moves to a very harsh period in Kvothe’s life where he is living rough in the city of Tarbean. One of Rothfuss’ talents is his ability to create characters that are unique and interesting, but he also has the knack of describing the situations so vividly, and also without heavy detail or florid prose, that you really care about his characters. You can almost feel the cold pavement under Kvothe’s bare feet and we see the darker side of a city, the street urchins and poverty, small crimes and small minds just trying to exist. These aren’t tiny events that will eventually create an avalanche that changes the course of a nation, it’s just daily life in a thronging city. Rothfuss doesn’t shy away from difficult situations and Kvothe doesn’t always come away without a scratch or emerge the victor, because after all he’s just a boy.

Later in the story Kvothe manages to enrol at the university and he finally starts to come back to life after being on the streets. His vast intellect is challenged, he delves into new mysteries and Sympathy, a unique system of magic that has some very scientific principles underlying it. Now at this point it might sound too much like a certain boy wizard’s story, but again rest assured this is not the case. There is not one ‘big bad’ for Kvothe to vanquish each year at the university, but his constants are abject poverty, difficult relationships with friends, and his attempt to find out who is responsible for the most tragic event in his life.

Rothfuss tightly focuses his world building on wherever Kvothe is at that time, but we do occasionally hear news from other places and some secondary characters are from abroad. So there is a trickle effect that fills in some gaps and we get small tastes of other cultures and countries. However, this is not a sprawling fantasy quest story about a band of plucky heroes. It is both a local story about a boy who will become a legend, and also a much bigger story. Perhaps it is also there so that we will be able to better understand why he made certain choices later in life. I also get the impression that in the present, when Kvothe is grown up, the world is in a bit of a mess and there are hints that somehow he is responsible, perhaps indirectly. We just don’t know at this point and I won’t speculate any further as there is a lot more meat in the book, so I won’t spoil it.

The book is a hefty tome, coming in at about 700 pages, but to be honest when I got to the end I wanted more. His style is not overly descriptive, it’s almost straight forward but not nearly so blunt and gritty as say Gemmell or Abercrombie. I was captivated by Rothfuss’ writing, his imagination and how he adds in small details, and creates myths, folk songs and nursery rhymes that make his world feel realistic and not just slapped together so he can press on with the adventure. It gives me the impression that a lot of care has been taken to help the reader fully immerse themselves and I was drawn into the story. Despite the length of the book I read it pretty quickly as I was keen to know what happened next. But now that I’ve finished it, I want to go back and read it again because I’m sure there are clues and hints at the bigger picture I missed the first time.

The second book in the series, The Wise Man’s Fear, is due out in March this year and I know there are literally thousands and thousands of fans chomping at the bit to know what happened next to Kvothe, and I am now one of them.

Review | The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and other Unnatural Attractions by Robert Rankin (Gollancz)

Title: The Japanese Devil Fish Girl and other Unnatural Attractions
Author: Robert Rankin
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Hardback
Pages: 384
Release Date: September 2010

Reviewed by: Andy Venn

Buy from: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

A decade after the events portrayed by Mr H G Wells in “ The War of the Worlds” we again meet the Martians. Professor Cagliostro Coffin and his able assistant, George Fox, travel the country with their travelling show, the main attraction of which is a Martian preserved in formaldehyde.

Word reaches them of the Japanese Devilfish girl, and the Professor decides that if he can obtain it it will give his show a boost. Things haven’t been going too well, it seems that maybe the age of the travelling show is coming to an end. The Professor and George set out to track down this unnatural attraction and add it to the show.

This is a time when the sun has not set on the British Empire. The arm of the Empress reaches to Mars itself, with the aid of the Electric Fusiliers and their spaceships. Emissaries from Venus and Jupiter send delegations to Britain and woe betide Johnny foreigner if he falls foul of the heroic Brits!

The pinnacle of British engineering is the “Empress of Mars”, a mighty airship. Launched from the London spaceport, she is heading out on her maiden flight for a grand tour of the countries of the Earth. The Professor and George have managed to wangle their way on board so that they can take their search to the far corners of the globe. But in America disaster strikes. Forced to flee mainland America by rebels who fire upon the mighty craft, they are caught in a storm on their way to Hawaii and craft is damaged and lost.

George awakes on an island and meets up with Ada, a stowaway, and Darwin the monkey butler of a deceased passenger. They discover that the Martians were not all killed by the earthly bacteria that freed Britain ten years before. There is a colony deep underground on this island of Lemuria. They are captured and released due to the resemblance of Ada to their goddess and escape in a Martian craft.

Meanwhile, the professor has discovered the statue of the Devilfish Girl and has spirited her away to Blighty where he is displaying her in St Pauls. Of course the Martians want her back. So do the Venusians and the Jovians.

There then follows a battle over Britain masterminded by Mr Winston Churchill, with the help of Darwin the monkey butler and some large cigars. They are helped by the ingenuity of Mr Charles Babbage, Mr Nickola Tesla and various other historical figures.

Does the British Empire triumph? Does George marry Ada? And does the professor get his just desserts? Read the book and find out.

To be completely honest with you, I have never been a big fan of Robert Rankin. The few books that I have read have not made me chuckle to myself in quite the same way that Pratchett or Holt books have. But I have been intrigued by the steampunk genre since reading Michael Moorcocks stories some years ago, which hint at the genre.

But I must say I did enjoy this book. I enjoyed it in the same way that I enjoy watching the Indiana Jones films or The Mummy. It is a rollicking good adventure that moves with quite a pace, although at times it seems to trip over itself while it’s trying to find the path it was travelling. Sometimes it felt a bit disjointed, almost like an old record with a jumping needle. Robert takes some liberties with history, having various people alive and dead meeting and collaborating in the battle for the goddess, but at the end of the day it is a story and, mostly, you have to suspend reality while you read any novel, let alone this one.

I find that Roberts writing style does not suit my eye, so to speak, and I couldn’t read it as fast as I would have liked to. After a couple of chapters I would have to put it down and surf the net or read the paper. And as I said earlier, it still doesn’t make me laugh as such. The humour is good, and quite obvious in places, with the monkey butler and the other characters, but also too subtle in places, almost as if Robert couldn’t decide whether to make it funny or not.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed it and would read it again, eventually, and I may be tempted to try some of his other books.

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About Andy Venn
I'm Andy Venn, aka Giant68 due to being 6'8" tall. I have been reading science fiction for 35 years since picking up the Lensman series. And fantasy since I pinched "Lost Worlds" by Clarke Ashton Smith from my uncle. I read both in, pretty much, equal measures. I write a blog occasionally, containing the whimsical, or bad tempered, meanderings of my mind at http://giant68.blogspot.com. Go and have a look, you'll find out all about me, and Lord knows I need the followers! Or email me at andy.venn@gmail.com.