eCover Art | Footvote & The Demon Trap by Peter F Hamilton (Tor)

A while back Tor UK and SFX launched an art competition for the chance to cover two short stories from Peter F Hamilton's forthcoming collection, Manhattan in Reverse, that were to be released in ebook format. The winners were announced today and below are the final covers along with my thoughts:

The artist for Footvote is Ioan Dumitrescu, and I must say that I like it. While it isn't a scene from the story, it feels right and works well, especially with the two figures in the foreground. To be fair this cover is better than the recent re-covers of Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained, and on par with the cover for Manhattan in Reverse and the new Greg Mandel covers. If nothing else, this style is perfectly suited to Peter's work.

Andrew Parkes created this one for The Demon Trap. Again, not really related to the story but still good. I like the colours more than anything else, and the bold style is very different to anything previously seen covering Peter's books.

I was hoping to see some of the other entries, but as yet I can't seem to find anything. Anyway, your thoughts?

Review | The Walking Dead: No Way Out

Title:  The Walking Dead: No Way Out (Vol 14)
Author:  Robert Kirkman
Publisher: Image comics
Format:  Paperback
Release Date: June 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

As the Eisner Award-winning series continues, no one in The Community is safe from what happens within its walls!

This latest volume was a bit of a mixed bag for me and I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. We're still a couple of months away from the start of the second series of The Walking Dead on TV and I couldn't be more excited about that. I think it's a great TV show that actually appeals to a very wide audience without compromising the content or softening the story to make it family friendly and three generational TV. It's also different enough to the comic that I am not sat there with a tick list waiting for stuff to happen and marking it off. The TV show has reinvigorated my interest in the comic but unfortunately this volume felt a bit flat and lifeless.

This is a minor spoiler if you've not read the previous thirteen volumes, but the group has now arrived at a settlement. It's also the first sizeable one that they've come across which is normal. They've met groups of people in the past on the road and they even came across another large settlement at one point. However it was run by a very unstable character and the end result was very bloody and total carnage. This settlement is different as the people in it are ordinary and just want to have an approximation of a normal life. There are problems of course and people are still fractured and on edge, but that's understandable given the zombies shambling around outside the walls.

Previously, when the group was on the road, the writer, Robert Kirkman, would utilize the magician's trick of misdirection to catch you unawares. The story would be focused on an immediate issue or conflict and while you were caught up with that, a zombie would shamble up and attack. It wasn't always that simple, but what it did was constantly keep you on edge when reading and, like the characters, it stopped you getting comfortable. The second they do that is the second they are likely to be killed because they weren't paying attention. Now that they're inside a settlement almost all of the conflict comes from other people and the shocking moments felt forced. It seemed to me they were added to remind the reader that all was not well rather than being organic developments.

On the one hand the settlement stories are fascinating to read, because it suggests that any group of people in this new world cannot exist together for very long and settle in one place. The zombies are attracted to the noise and industry that a large group of people make on a daily basis. The community offers some protection, strength in numbers and a semblance of normality but it's all artificial. Eventually the inevitable will happen because no one is actively trying to tackle the problem, they are just trying to avoid it and get by as best they can.

I don't think the story in the comic book has run its course, but I do think it works much better when they are on the move. The stories are less predictable, every issue of the comic brings you something totally unexpected and they could encounter any number of relics from the old world that could help or hinder. When they're in a settlement I'm always waiting for the inevitable and for me it made the comic far less interesting.

The other thing that I think is missing, but perhaps this has been planned for further down the line, is an evolution of some kind. With any long running story there needs to be a progression of some sort to keep it interesting otherwise the stories start to recycle and you end up with 'The Transporter accident episode' to use a commonly used trope from the Star Trek franchise. It could be disaster with the death of the group or an end to the zombie plague, or something else entirely, but I would like to see hints of that larger picture to indicate the writer has his eye on the horizon as well as the day to day.

Overall the comic is entertaining and is still worth picking up but I think it needs an injection of something new, a larger plot, something that builds in the background, to make it a must read series again.

Review | Super 8

Title: Super 8
Writer: JJ Abrams 

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in small town in Ohio witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it as not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth - something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.

I don’t normally do film reviews or posts on films but I wanted to write about Super 8 for a few reasons. I saw it with a friend who is the same age as me and while I really enjoyed it, his comments were along the lines of - it was nothing special. This struck me as odd for a number of reasons. I’m in my 30s now and I’m as cynical as the next person (if not more so) and also not as easily shocked as I used to be. I’m also far more difficult to impress and am not easily excited by special effects in a film. But I can still remember the emotions ET stirred in me the first time I saw it when I was very young. It was a very special moment and one that doesn’t come along very often.

ET was an incredible film, a remarkable experience and as much as I now talk about some films being amazing, its rare, maybe a film every three or more years that is an actual experience. I’m talking about films like The Matrix and the first time you saw it (before we heard anything about the less than satisfying sequels). I’m talking about Twelve Monkeys when it made me think for a long time after about destiny. I’m talking about films like Seven, The Life of David Gale, The Green Mile and very recently Inception. With those films I came out of the cinema and I felt different. For some it was awed silence, or I was horrified or sickened, or the event horizon of my mind was expanding. As good and as enjoyable as Captain America was, it did not have the same effect as the those I’ve described. I don’t want to say these films were life changing, because they weren’t, but they did leave me with something that lasted longer than most movies.

I think Super8 is one of those movies. If I saw Super8 and somehow I was a small boy again I think it would stay with me for a long time after. For a small child I think this film would have all of the same effects as ET had on me. It has all the hallmarks of a Spielberg film, a summer blockbuster with lots of explosions and special effects, but it also has nothing to do with any of that and it’s just elaborate framing for a very personal story. Super8 is not really about the thing on the train, it’s about a young boy and his non-functioning family. It’s about Joe not fitting in and spending time with his weird group of friends over a long hot summer. It’s about growing up, meeting a girl you like and having them make you funny in that way for the first time. At this point I could be talking about ET or Super8.

I’ve heard Super8 described as Cloverfield meets ET which isn’t bad in terms of easy to touchstones, but I actually think Super8 is ET for the 21st century. There were so many familiar moments that you can draw a lot of parallels between the two like the music, the kids on bikes motif, the big problem which comes to small town America, there are dozens more but I won’t go into detail as it would spoil the film. Super8 was directed and written by JJ Abrams, and produced by him and Spielberg, but it almost feels like an updated homage to Spielberg’s ET. It also felt in some ways like a slightly autobiographical movie, and I can just imagine a young JJ writing and filming short movies with his friends from school like the kids in Super8.

If you can suspend or bury your cynicism for two hours, if you can mentally shed the last twenty or thirty years and try to go back in your mind to a time when going to the cinema was a very rare treat, when movies came out on video a year or two after they were released at the cinema, then you will enjoy this movie a lot more. There were a couple of times when the bubble burst and I thought the dialogue sounded a little cheesy, but I forced myself to stop thinking and just enjoy what I was seeing and feeling. The movie is set in 1979 and I think one of the reasons this was done is because the world felt a lot more innocent in those days and it’s designed to help the adult audience go back in time in their mind.

I think Super8 is a remarkable film for a number of reasons, a few of which I’ve outlined above. I’ve not even talked about some of the acting performances from the child actors who were incredible. However, I’m fully aware some people who have seen it will not share my sentiments and will think it was nothing special or perhaps not very good at all. Overall, in my opinion, it was a scary, exciting, brilliant and wonderful film that I would recommend to anyone over the age of about eight or ten years old. Super8 was a real movie experience.

Review | Locke and Key – Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill (IDW Publishing)

Title: Locke and Key –Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol 1)
Author: Joe Hill
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 2009

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them, and home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all! Acclaimed suspense novelist and New York Times best-selling author Joe Hill (Heart-Shaped Box) creates an all-new story of dark fantasy and wonder, with astounding artwork from Gabriel Rodriguez.

I’m pretty behind on Locke and Key as there are now four volumes out, but back when it first came out in single issues I read the first few issues and really enjoyed them. Somehow I lost track of the series but I’m now making up for lost time. Joe Hill is an accomplished author in his own right, stepping beyond the long shadow cast by his father, and this was his first ongoing comic book series. As you might expect given the genres and style of Hill’s novels, the comic does include horror elements but really the story is about the people.

The story begins with a tragedy and a family losing their father at the hands of two murderous and disturbed teenagers. The three children and their mother move away from the area and relocate to live with the uncle in Lovecraft, New England. The name of this fictional town set off alarm bells in my head and it was certainly with good reason. The house they move into, called the Keyhouse, is a very important character in the story as it is a place full of mysteries and secrets.

As the family try to cope with their loss we see in flashbacks the events that led up to the murder. We find out about the killers, one of who is still alive and in prison, and how the three children and their mother have been changed by recent events. Each has a very different coping mechanism and while the youngest, Bode, is upset he does what all small children do in a new place. He runs around the whole house, poking into corners, opening cupboards, trying to get antique swords down off the wall, and most importantly, opening all the doors. During his run around the Keyhouse he stumbles across a strange key with a skull on it. Eventually he finds the right door for the unusual key and when he steps through something very weird happens. If that’s not bad enough there’s someone stuck at the bottom of an old well on the property who talks to him and they claim they’ve been down there for a very long time.

As the level of creepy begins to rise, and Bode struggles to make any of the adults believe him, events outside the Keyhouse in Lovecraft are starting to get a little weird. One of the three children, Kinsey, is having some difficulties at school but it goes beyond being a local celebrity for all the wrong reasons. Their father grew up in the area and lived in the Keyhouse and a few other people seem to know that it’s not a normal house. To make matters worse the killer somehow manages to escape from jail and everyone fears the worst. They think he is coming to Lovecraft to finish the job, but of course it’s a lot more complicated than that. While the Keyhouse isn’t sentient, it does seem to have plans for everyone and this first volume only focuses on one of the many unusual doors.

Locke and Key is a brilliant mix of horror, drama and tragedy. Hill does a great job of fleshing out the characters while also moving the story forward and adding to the surrounding mystery of the Keyhouse and the family’s past. It’s not a spoiler, but the Keyhouse is not a new building, so they are not the first people to have encountered the strange doors and unusual keys. It’s difficult to say much more on this aspect but there are layers to the story and hints of other times, and we are given a few clues that will no doubt be explored in more detail at a later stage.

Overall I’m very glad I finally got around to reading this. Locke and Key is gripping, tense, weird, wonderful, exciting and very creepy. It’s full of remarkable ideas, great characterisation and the artwork is very fitting and in keeping with the style and setting for the story. If you’ve enjoyed Joe Hill’s novels and have not read this, then you’re missing out. Locke and Key was recently developed for TV, and a pilot was filmed, unfortunately it was not picked up for a full series which is a real shame. Locke and Key is also an Eisner winning series, the comic book equivalent of an Oscar, and with good reason because it’s an excellent read.

Review | Final Days by Gary Gibson (Tor)

Title: Final Days
Author: Gary Gibson
Publisher: Tor UK
Format: Hardback
Release Date: August 2011

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

It’s 2235 and through the advent of wormhole technology more than a dozen interstellar colonies have been linked to Earth.

But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He’s still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years.

Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears – they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding.

When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city.

Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor — and once he’s brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that’s coming?

Mark: After I read Angel Stations way back in 2008 I knew Gary Gibson was an author I would be reading more of. I followed that up by reading Stealing Light and that didn't change my opinion at all, rather it reinforced it. Nova War, the sequel to Stealing Light, was also a great read, but for reasons that still escape me I never got around to the final book in that series, Empire of Light. Final Days is his new book in a brand new setting and, as expected, reaffirms Gary's position as one of the top SF writers active today.

In the distant future a team from Earth has, through a network of alien wormholes, discovered the ruins left behind by another civilisation, codenamed Site 17. This is a future where the stars have died and the galaxies spread out so far that nothing is visible in the night sky. But there is much here that is of interest to those in power, and they want to find out the secrets of this place. During one of the excursions Mitchell Stone is trapped in a pit and swallowed by liquid that fills it from nowhere with great speed. But when the rest of the team find him minutes later out of his suit and in apparent disorientation the question is raised: what has happened to him? This is not the end of Mitchell Stone, for a human made wormhole has been into Earth's future and found a devastated and lifeless planet, all except for Mitchell Stone who is found in stasis on the lunar facilities that hold all wormholes to humanity's interstellar colonies.

Saul Dumont is a government operative, working in the upper echelons on undercover and secretive missions, his one goal to find out who was responsible for the termination of the Galileo wormhole that left him stranded light years from his family. But his investigations lead him to some interesting facts, facts that those in power would rather he not know. And then the alien growths start across the planet, growths that will signal the end of the Earth and all who live there...

Final Days is one of those novels that has a major hook in the first chapter, raising all sorts of questions and possibilities, but then seemingly goes off on a tangent. I must admit that this pulled me up a little to start with, but as the book progressed the pieces started falling into place. The puzzle that is thrown up at the start involves Mitchell Stone and the incident at Site 17, and then the discovery of a dead Earth mere years into the future - but with Mitchell Stone found in stasis in the lunar city. As the only person that knows what happened he's a tool the government use to glean these details. His colleague from Site 17, Jeff Cairns, has his suspicions too and he starts to make his own enquiries into the situation. Saul Dumont is the other part of the puzzle, seemingly unrelated at the start but becoming an increasingly bigger factor in the story as more and more information comes to light.

Admittedly, it took me a while to get my head around the time-travel aspect of Final Days, but to be honest I simply took what I was being told as fact and let the story carry me along. And that it did! Final Days is a little hard to pigeonhole - it's part time travel, part apocalyptic, part mystery, part action - but one thing that I found was how easy it was to get into and read. Gibson has managed to mix all of these aspects without relying too heavily on any one of them, but equally bringing them all into play to great effect.

One of the big things when writing a novel that involves time travel into the future is the fact that the ending is revealed pretty much straight away. What made Final Days stand out from the crowd was the way in which Gibson was able to give this information freely, but then keep the details hidden, dropping them here and there throughout the novel to allow the bigger picture time to fully reveal itself. It's quite an achievement and, by the end, very successful.

Final Days is a great novel, full of ideas and events that shows once again why science fiction is such a great genre. In the right hands SF can be wonderful, inventive, and hugely enjoyable - and Gary Gibson is just that sort of author. Highly recommended.

Steve: Final Days was the first novel I’ve read by Gary Gibson so I went in with no preconceived ideas or notions of his style or type of story. What I found was a novel that once again shows that the SF is merely a placeholder and that any number of other genres can exist and be used in an SF labelled book. Final Days is a combination of several genres; primarily it’s a crime thriller not too dissimilar to something like a Dean Koontz in terms of pace, or even a military thrillers with the invincible ex-SAS type hero. However, what differentiates Final Days from both of those types is the SF framework and the threat that gets the ball rolling is connected to space and time travel.

The danger is also one that cannot be ignored and must be tackled because everyone is at risk. It is also a sort of threat that if you posed the question to a total stranger in the street they would have an opinion and an answer of what they would do in their final days. This made characters reactions more understandable, relatable and at times I forgot I was reading and SF novel as it felt like a disaster story.

I was also very glad that even though there was a lot of invention in terms of technology, weapons, gadgets, etc all of it was relatively straightforward and there was no need to spend pages explaining when it was invented, what it was made from and how it worked. I could divine its purpose through the action and how the characters used it to help them or hinder others. The result was a very tight story that gave you more time devoted to the characters and the plot and less on stopping to describe the world. If that sounds like a criticism in any way it isn’t. Although I like some SF authors whose style is naturally longer, I also enjoy something that is a little quicker and streamlined like this.

With some novels you pretty much know where the story is going but that doesn’t stop your enjoyment of them. You like the characters, the world and you enjoy being in their company and it’s the experience and journey that counts. With Final Days I didn’t know how it was going to end, and even with scenes that would not be uncommon in a disaster movie, the plot twists kept me guessing.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel, it was inventive, clever, very entertaining and it kept me on my toes. The characters, good and bad, were realistically portrayed and as mentioned this was my first Gary Gibson novel and I’m positive it won’t be my last.

Review | The Passage by Justin Cronin (Orion Books)

Title: The Passage
Author: Justin Cronin
Publisher: Orion Books
Format: Paperback
Release Date: 24 June 2010

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE.

Deep in the jungles of eastern Colombia, Professor Jonas Lear has finally found what he's been searching for - and wishes to God he hadn't. In Memphis, Tennessee, a six-year-old girl called Amy is left at the convent of the Sisters of Mercy and wonders why her mother has abandoned her. In a maximum security jail in Nevada, a convicted murderer called Giles Babcock has the same strange nightmare, over and over again, while he waits for a lethal injection.

In a remote community in the California mountains, a young man called Peter waits for his beloved brother to return home, so he can kill him. Bound together in ways they cannot comprehend, for each of them a door is about to open into a future they could not have imagined. And a journey is about to begin. An epic journey that will take them through a world transformed by man's darkest dreams, to the very heart of what it means to be human.
And beyond.
THE PASSAGE.

The Passage is huge book, both in scope and imagination (it also has a hefty page count) and I believe it’s also the first in a trilogy. The marketing around this book was done in a very clever fashion. The book itself has an intriguing cover, but it doesn’t tell you much. The information on the back gives you an idea of what it’s about, but it doesn’t mention genre. So what is the book actually about? It’s a post-apocalyptic tale about a world that is shattered by a plague of vampires.

In parts Cronin’s style reminded me of Stephen King as there is a good balance between character, description and plot. King also gave a quote on the back cover, so that starts to give you a flavour of the book’s content. The first unusual feature is that The Passage feels like two separate books in one. The first part, perhaps the first third, is the build up to the event, it’s fairly dense in places, has lots of information on all of the characters and is set around the character of Amy. She is central to the plot and as Cronin has mentioned in interviews, she is the heart of the story and was developed after something his daughter said to him.  This part of the book feels like a Stephen King novel and the style was similar and I felt it was going somewhere.

The other part of the novel is very different in style and it’s more focused on developing characters through action and dialogue. The story is set almost a hundred years after the incident in a world that used to be ours, but has become something else entirely. Quick touchstones would be King’s The Stand and The Walking Dead. There’s a big cast of characters, a lot of new terms and politics connected to the First Colony, a human settlement, and you’re thrown in at the deep-end and have to just go along with it until it all starts to make sense. This isn’t a complaint, it’s just an warning of what to expect, but I would highly recommend persisting as it’s a good story.

During the second part of the story you have to really pay attention, even then you might find yourself flicking back a few times to check, but you didn’t miss something. The narration jumps around a bit as it starts with one character, Peter, quite often recalling something about his lost brother, only for us to then see his brother, and then we’re in a different time again. As events build in the second half , its becomes less confusing and events are more linear. One of the problems in the second half is because the cast is so huge, I struggled to keep track of who certain characters were and get a hold on them. It was only when the story focuses on a smaller group that I got a feel for who the characters are and they had space to be individuals rather than just one name in a hundred. When events begin to move, the book becomes difficult to put down, but at times I did struggle with it.

As is common in post apocalyptic books, some of the more horrific moments come not at the hands of the threat or the environment, but other human beings. Cronin does a good job of maintaining a balance, showing us humans at their absolute worst and best. I was also glad to see that the vampire threat was not just ignored thereafter, but at times they were relegated to the thing to fear in the night. There was some evolution and intriguing ideas ,but again it comes much later in the story.

I don’t want to keep banging on about this, and I’ve mentioned in other reviews about the size of a book being intimidating, especially when you aren’t familiar with the author, but I wanted to add something. After reading my first Peter F. Hamilton book I understand why his books are so big because there’s a lot going on. The story is always moving forward and his style is tight enough that I’m never bored wading through pages of exposition of technobabble that doesn’t add to the plot. He never just goes in circles or repeats himself to fill space. For me personally, Cronin’s book was just too long and at times it suffered from uneven narration and the characters didn’t have strong or distinct voices until towards the end.

One other small point, but I might be the only one who felt this, I think Cronin was too lenient with his characters. It’s not a spoiler to say there were plenty of deaths, and several chapters or sections ended in cliff-hangers, but after a while I stopped worrying because I knew certain characters wouldn’t die, no matter how dire the situation. This robbed the story of what could have been some incredibly gut wrenching moments where you just have to keep reading to find out what happens next.

Overall I think this is a good book which contains a lot of good ideas, but the execution needs work. I don’t want to come off sounding too negative because this was an enjoyable read, but it was difficult at times for some of the reasons I’ve mentioned. I also think the second book in the trilogy will actually be more exciting because by the end of the first, we have a good idea of where it’s going. Its not necessary requirement for me to enjoy a novel, but I think in this case it would motivate me to pick up the next one in the series.

Review | Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

Title: Retribution Falls
Author: Chris Wooding
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Release Date: April 2010

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay, leader of a small and highly dysfunctional band of layabouts. An inveterate womaniser and rogue, he and his gang make a living on the wrong side of the law, avoiding the heavily armed flying frigates of the Coalition Navy. With their trio of ragged fighter craft, they run contraband, rob airships and generally make a nuisance of themselves.

So a hot tip on a cargo freighter loaded with valuables seems like a great prospect for an easy heist and a fast buck. Until the heist goes wrong, and the freighter explodes. Suddenly Frey isn't just a nuisance anymore - he's public enemy number one, with the Coalition Navy on his tail and contractors hired to take him down.

But Frey knows something they don't. That freighter was rigged to blow, and Frey has been framed to take the fall. If he wants to prove it, he's going to have to catch the real culprit. He must face liars and lovers, dogfights and gunfights, Dukes and daemons.

It's going to take all his criminal talents to prove he's not the criminal they think he is . . .

When I first heard about this novel from a friend I asked him to sum it up and I was told it was very much like the TV show Firefly but with airships. I think that’s a fair assessment as the universe and some of the main characters have a lot in common with those from the TV show. Firefly didn’t invent the idea of space pirates, but it’s an easy touchstone if you want to shorthand this novel and it was enough to make me buy it. Even if it was used as a source of inspiration, Wooding takes the core idea and makes it his own, creating a unique and interesting universe that draws you in very quickly.

This was my first novel by Chris Wooding and it usually takes me a bit of time to adjust to a new writer and get used to their style. I didn’t have any such difficulties with this novel and was able to enjoy it from the first page. I was pulled into the world by the characters and swept along by the pace of the adventure that unfolds. If an author doesn’t provide enough detail to describe their universe it can feel barren, almost as if they haven’t thought it through properly. If they put in too much it can feel bloated, the page count swells and the exposition gets in the way of the story. It’s a difficult balance to maintain with SFF novels but I think Wooding does a great job with it. His writing style is very easy to read and straightforward, and yet it’s also detailed enough that it paints vivid pictures in the imagination.

Retribution Falls is a rollicking good adventure; a swords and lasers, airships and alien worlds science fiction tale about pirates getting into trouble. The captain takes on a job that seems simple enough, although perhaps a little too good to be true, but he just can’t help himself as the pay is so good. Soon enough he gets caught up in the middle of someone else’s plans and everything goes wrong very quickly. The ship is blamed for a disaster and its crew made public enemies and there is no one to help them as they’re outsiders who aren’t on good terms with the establishment. Someone with a lot of power and few morals has played them, using them as a pawn in a much bigger game. Unfortunately for them Captain Frey and his crew don’t just roll over and die, which would have tied everything up in a neat bow. They run and fight and work hard to dig themselves out of the hole because they’ve nothing to lose and giving up means getting executed.

The crew of the Ketty Jay are a diverse mix, each with their own secrets, and Wooding does an excellent job of keeping the story moving forward whilst also filling in the back story of each. By the end of the novel you have a very firm hold on exactly who everyone is and what motivates them.

Retribution Falls is a lot of fun and a really entertaining read and I’m very glad it’s the first in a series because I believe it only scratched the surface of the universe Wooding has created and I’m looking forward to reading further adventures in the future.

Review | A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan (Gollancz)

Title: A Long, Long Sleep
Author: Anna Sheehan
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 2011

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

Rosalinda Fitzroy had been asleep for 62 years when she was woken by a kiss.

Locked away in the chemically-induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten sub-basement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long dead, and Rose - hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire - is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.

Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes - or be left without any future at all.

A stunning love story, an ultimate betrayal, and a compelling new author.

A Long, Long Sleep is a book that I doubted I'd read when I looked at the cover, it just didn't look like my sort of thing at all. But I didn't ignore it just because of the cover - thankfully - and I read the blurb. Now, despite there not being much focus on the SF side of things I decided I'd give it a go - after all, it is a very sf-nal idea and I wanted to see what Sheehan could do with it. I'm actually very glad I did because A Long, Long Sleep really hit the mark and delivered much more than I expected, especially from the SF side that I enjoy so much!

Rose has been in stasis for 62 years and, after being discovered in an old abandoned basement by Brendan, is bought back to the world as the sole heiress to the biggest company in the solar system, UniCorp. This is a shock to many people who didn't realise that the Fitzroy's had a daughter, never mind one in stasis. As Rose tries to adjust to the present she learns of events during her time in stasis, the Dark Times and the effect that those years had on humanity and Earth, but doesn't look too deep into the details of those few people she knew in the past, scared of discovering their fates. But she is being hunted by a Plastine, a deadly and near-indestructible killer that will not stop until it achieves its objective...

A Long, Long Sleep is told in the first person from Rose's point of view, so as expected we know what she knows and see what she sees. There's a fine balance between keeping the story moving forward and giving enough details about the world in which Rose lives and the times she has missed, but Sheehan just about manages to get it right. I've mentioned before that I like worldbuilding in my sci-fi, so not seeing that much here felt, at the start, a little odd. However, as the story progresses the information is there, slowly trickling into the story so as not to overwhelm or info-dump. A good thing too, Rose's narrative voice just wouldn't suit that sort of thing. But then this isn't about the world in which Rose lives, or the wider picture of humanity - this is about Rose, her past and her coming to terms with various facts she becomes aware of during the story.

I think that's what I enjoyed so much about A Long, Long Sleep - Rose is a very interesting character. Aside from the fact that she's woken up after 62 years in stasis, she's got some serious issues going on. Her parents had put her in and out of stasis throughout her younger years resulting in a fragmented childhood that had little to do with the outside world. She changed schools constantly and never progressed as she should with her education, and all this adds depth and feeling to her actions once awakened. One of the more poignant aspects of this is her past boyfriend, Xavier, a boy whom she knew from when he was a baby and her many years his senior to both being the same age. The this is all portrayed is very good, and when the full story emerges the only word to describe it is heartbreaking.

There are only a handful of other characters, both from the past and present, that we spend more than a few moments with throughout the novel - Xavier, Brendan, Guillory, Otto - and it is the last of these that is by far my most favourite. Otto is a hybrid created using alien DNA found at Europa - out of a hundred originally genetically engineered he is only one of a handful remaining. He's a fascinating character with much about him I liked, especially his personality once Rose learns to talk with him. It's really nice to see the SF-nal side shine through, adding additional depth to an already multi-layered story.

The story in A Long, Long Sleep is not as straight forward as it may initially seem. Much of it focuses on Rose coming to terms with her re-awakening, but there are other aspects that are hinted at throughout the novel before coming to fruition. And then there is the Plastine that is after Rose and the questions that raises, much of which are once again spread throughout the story. I must admit to being very satisfied with the conclusion here, I thought that everything was done just right, Sheehan never giving too much away. That said, I'd be lying if I said I was surprised by the revelations and answers having figured out the main questions that were going around my head, but that doesn't take away from the story at all.

With A Long, Long Sleep Sheehan has managed to write a novel that is engrossing, emotional, entertaining and thrilling. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and desperate to read another chapter when I was. This is very much a surprise read for me and one that I am exceptionally glad to have picked up. Highly recommended.

Review | Absorption by John Meaney (Gollancz)

Title: Absorption
Author: John Meaney
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Release Date: July 2011

Reviewed by: Andy Venn

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

600 years from now on the world of Fulgor Roger Blackstone, son of two Pilots (long-time alien spies, masquerading as ordinary humans) aches to see the mythical Pilot's city of Labyrinth, in the fractal ur-continuum of mu-space.

In 8th century Norseland, a young carl called Wulf kills a man, watched by a mysterious warrior who bears the mark of Loki the Trickster God.

In 1920s Zurich, Gavriela Silberstein enters the long, baroque central hallway of the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule where Einstein so recently studied.

And on a nameless world, not knowing his human heritage, a silver-skinned youth tries to snatch back an Idea - but it floats away on gentle magnetic currents.

There are others across the ages, all with three things in common: they glimpse shards of darkness moving at the edge of their vision; they hear echoes of a dark, disturbing musical chord; and they will dream of joining a group called the Ragnarok Council.

ABSORPTION is the first novel of RAGNAROK, a new space opera trilogy of high-tech space warfare, unitary intelligences made up of millions of minds, the bizarre physics of dark energy, quantum mechanics and a mindblowing rationale for Norse mythology.

I bought this book for my Kindle on the strength of the cover art. Unfortunately this is a bad habit of mine and has led to me buying some really awful books, but this time I was lucky. I found that the book started very slowly and was wondering if I had done the right thing in buying it, but all of a sudden the story developed into something marvellous. I sat down and read the last 75% in one afternoon. I couldn’t put it down, I had to know what was coming next. What came next was the end, and it was like a car crash. All of a sudden there was no more story. I now have to wait for the next instalment.

The characters are varied, escaping from occupied Europe during the second world war with all the heartache and the fear that accompanied that time. A young Viking warrior developing in skill, and a race of Pilots living in another dimension. The characters have real depth, you feel for them in their losses and triumphs. The story dragged me in so that I was seeing it all unfold in my head. I felt the fear as Roger Blackstone sees the darkness that is spreading in people, sadness as his parents are killed.

Like Quantum Thief, which I read to review, there is a new vocabulary and new ideas but they are introduced slowly and do not affect the story if you do not understand them. You don’t need a dictionary or Google to understand this story. It all flows very easily from the page.

I have a new author to add to the top of my favourites list. John Meaney ranks alongside Peter F Hamilton and Neal Asher. He is an author that I will be keeping an eye on, and when the next instalment of this Ragnarok series comes out I will download it and my Amazon account will take another battering.

Go on. Read it. You know you want to.

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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.

Review | Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis (Angry Robot Books)

Title: Hard Spell
Author: Justin Gustainis
Publisher: Angry Robot
Format: Paperback
Release Date: July 2011

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

Meet Stan Markowski of the Scranton PD’s Occult Crimes Unit

“Like the rest of America, Scranton’s got an uneasy ‘live and let unlive’ relationship with the supernatural. But when a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim, or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell, that’s when they call me.

“My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge.

“Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.”

I'm a little bit of a Justin Gustainis fan, and considering he writes urban fantasy that should tell you something if you know my tastes. I really enjoyed his first two Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain books (Black Magic Woman and Evil Ways), and then I heard that he was starting a new series for Angry Robot - it went straight to the top of my to-read list. And here it is, Hard Spell, a brand new book full of occult goodiness - or evilness, depending on your view of it. And did it measure up? A resounding YES!

Stan Markowski is an officer in Scranton's Occult Crimes Unit, a unit that deals specifically with anything out of the norm and things that go bump in the night. In fact, the first pages of Hard Spell are a history lesson told by Markowski that brings you up to speed with the world as it is. This could easily fall into boring info-dumping, but Markowski's character shines through the words immediately, grabbing you and dragging you into this world where the strange co-exist with the not-so-strange. It works surprisingly well as an introduction to the novel, the history and to Stan himself.

As we join the action Stan is on a call out with his partner to a hold up at a store, by goblins. This scene takes up the first thirty or so pages and adds depth and character to that already established, gives us a good idea of the relationships between the OCU and regular police and also introduces a few characters we'll be seeing along the way. In all honesty, if you don't enjoy Hard Spell by the time this scene is over you probably won't come to like it, but if you do like what you read you're in for a treat as it goes from strength to strength.

There's all sorts on offer within the pages of Hard Spell, and it's all handled really well. I'm not a lover of urban fantasy and very, very rarely read it any more, but what Gustainis does is create core characters that are very likable and easy to read and puts them interesting situations. Above all that is a triumph, but he also includes all the occult stuff in such a way that is not off-putting, to me at least. It's accessible and has a fair amount of stuff grounded in reality, but also offer little treats and word-plays on conventional stuff - one example is SWAT, the Sacred Weapons and Tactics Unit (and they rock!).

Not all is spot on though, and I had one niggle while reading Hard Spell. One character, Rachel Proctor, plays a fairly significant role in the early stages and then (for reasons I won't go into here) disappears for a good chunk of the story. Now, this is all well and good considering the situation, but Markowski and his partner barely mention her for ages. It just feels slightly strange that considering the circumstances of her disappearance there is little acknowledgement of her or what happened. Ah well, a small bump in an otherwise smooth road.

I thoroughly enjoyed Hard Spell and it once again reaffirmed my trust in Justin Gustainis. I'll be reading anything and everything I can by him as and when it's published. Hard Spell is hugely entertaining, enjoyable and just downright awesome.

Review | Ghost Story by Jim Butcher (Orbit)

Title: Ghost Story
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Hardback
Release Date: July 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago's first (and only) Wizard PI. Turns out the 'everyday' world is full of strange and magical things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. But he's forgotten his own golden rule: magic - it can get a guy killed. Which didn't help when he clashed with unknown assailants with his murder in mind. And though Harry's continued existence is now in some doubt, this doesn't mean he can rest in peace. Trapped in a realm that's not quite here, yet not quite anywhere else, Harry learns that three of his loved ones are in danger. Only by discovering his assailant's identity can he save his friends, bring criminal elements to justice, and move on himself. It would just be easier if he knew who was at risk. And had a (working) crystal ball. And access to magic. Instead, he is unable to interact with the physical world - invisible to all but a select magical few. He's also not the only silent presence roaming Chicago's alleys. Hell, he put some there himself. Now, they're looking for payback.

As you might expect with a book that starts at the end of someone’s life, a portion of the story will revolve around what came before. The main part of the novel is focused on what recently happened to Harry, but what I wasn’t expecting and was delighted by was the call-backs to very early moments, characters and places that were scattered throughout the book. I’m a fairly big fan of the series and I spotted a few moments of serendipity, but I’m sure there are probably some less obvious Easter eggs for the super fans out there.

After 12 novels and an anthology, I have a fairly good idea of who Harry Dresden is. We already know a fair amount about his difficult and troubled childhood, but in Ghost Story we find out about an event that was an important crossroads from his past. This event shaped Harry, it put him on the path that led him to becoming the man we all know. It could have gone very differently and he could have given in to his darker nature and become the sort of pupil Justin DuMorne always wanted. It was perhaps one of the most important moments from his childhood that we didn’t know about, until now. This is just the first of many touches that make this a truly remarkable book and a fantastic series. In the last couple of books there have been lots of pay-offs for long time readers and there were a few more in Ghost Story.

Harry is gone, but the world has not stopped turning, the monsters have not packed up and gone away just because he is no longer in the fight. It was very satisfying to see the long-term effects Harry has had on those around him in the city. But his legacy goes far beyond the people he personally saved, and even though the story is still told from Harry’s perspective, there were some scenes where he was just an observer. People spoke about him without knowing he was there which often left Harry surprised by how others saw him. It was quite an eye opening experience that I think will affect him to a small degree in the future.

A good portion of time has elapsed since Harry’s sudden departure at the end of Changes. This means we, and Harry, are playing catch up and need to get up to speed on what’s happened to his city. His friends have been badly affected by his absence, some more so than others, but they’ve reached a place where they can still move forward together. Life is much harder without him around, some difficult choices and unsettling decisions have been made, but they were deemed necessary at the time. He might not agree but he has to accept them, because he can’t affect events anymore. As expected this makes it incredibly frustrating and painful for Harry to see his friends suffering and have no way of helping them. Once again this novel shows that creating realistic and well rounded characters, that you deeply care about, is one of Butcher’s greatest skills as a writer.

As much as Changes was a turning point for the series, Ghost Story is a turning point for Harry and many of the main cast. Events large and small have changed the characters over a dozen books and I loved seeing how they have grown up over the years and evolved. Some of these changes have been painful and irreversible, but it made the story all the more rewarding for the loyal reader.

The stories from this point forward in future novels will not be the same. The series could not have kept going in the same vein indefinitely without trying to top itself with every new book, and it would have become ridiculous. Ghost Story is a sort of interlude for reflection before we start a new chapter in the ongoing series.

The last three books before Ghost Story were building towards something epic, which we saw in Changes, where events came to a head and Ghost Story deals with the fallout, global and local. Over the last few books Harry has continued gaining power as well as acquiring new abilities and allies. One thing that became apparent in Ghost Story was that his approach to dealing with people and conflict has changed. He isn’t a shoot first, ask questions later guy, but he has moved a little more in that direction of late. Being rendered powerless brought this to light and I believe that in the future we will see a different Harry, one changed in his approach, because up to now he has always been fairly short sighted.

If he sees someone getting beaten up he will just wade in, no questions asked. That’s not enough anymore. Harry is playing a very different sort of game now. He’s been the fulcrum of too many events, he’s friendly or involved with too many significant powers to fade into the background. He’s a major player now, whether or not he likes it or wants to be. The stakes are much higher, the consequences much more far reaching and he’s now responsible for a lot of other people. He hates the Merlin for being a big picture guy, for being someone will sit and do nothing while a few people suffer because in the long run it may save hundreds. I don’t think Harry will quite be that cold and calculating, but I think he will be someone who treads more carefully and who thinks about the big picture and the long-term effects of his actions.

What all of this added up to for me was another extremely emotional and a very rich reading experience. Butcher rewards his readers, he trust them and doesn’t try to short change them, but he also doesn’t tie up everything in a neat bow at the end of any novel. Actions have consequences, characters die and don’t come back, good people turn bad, the bad can be redeemed and deals with devils don’t come cheap. The world is made of grey, but Harry is someone who does his best to see it in black and white. He doesn’t always succeed in his missions, despite his best attempt, as we see a few times in Ghost Story, but that will never stop him trying. That’s just who he is and that’s why he’s had such a huge impact on so many people.

The Dresden Files is a consistently gripping and extremely well written and addictive series. I think it is the best urban fantasy series being published and I am always desperate to read the next volume and just need to know what happens next. I’ve been living with these characters for over ten years, and have read more adventures about them than any other series of novels on my bookshelf. I keep coming back for so many reasons, the characters are fascinating and well rounded, the stories are amazing, pacy and gripping, they're incredibly inventive and Butcher does a great job of taking myths and folklore and turning them into something completely his over. These aspects and many others add up to make a great series.

Butcher’s success and loyal fan base is well deserved and the books have actually been getting better, richer and more rewarding. Changes was the end of one major chapter, and Ghost Story is the start of what comes next, but the story of Harry Dresden is far from over and I can’t wait to see happens next. If you’re not reading this series and you enjoy urban fantasy then you’re missing out on something brilliant.