Review | Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages by Tom Holt (Orbit)

Title: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of SausagesAuthor: Tom Holt
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 2011

Reviewed by: Andy Venn

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

Polly, an average, completely ordinary property lawyer, is convinced she's losing her mind. Someone keeps drinking her coffee. And talking to her clients. And doing her job. And when she goes to the dry cleaner's to pick up her dress for the party, it's not there. Not the dress - the dry cleaner's.

And then there are the chickens who think they are people. Something strange is definitely going on - and it's going to take more than a magical ring to sort it out.

Polly is starting to think that she is going round the bend. She works as a solicitor for a big company, marvellous job, good opportunities, what more could she want? Someone is drinking her coffee. Someone has written in her diary. Someone is doing her work. Brilliant, you would think. But there is a sense that something here is very wrong. She gets calls from people who say that they have spoken to her before, even though she knows that she hasn’t. Then she gets invited to play darts with the company team. This is where things start to get really weird. The dry-cleaner that she took her dress to has vanished. The building does not exist, has never existed, no one in the vicinity knows of it. Calling on her musician brother to help her there now follows a tale of magic and chickens. A tale of twisted reality and mixed dimensions. It turns out that Polly's boss has been employing people from alternate dimensions, saves on the wage bill apparently. There is also a competition that has been running for centuries with a £500 prize. And Douglas Adams idea of compound interest does not apply, it is still £500 after hundreds of years.

You may also find the answer to the great question that has haunted philosophers for many hundreds of years; which came first? The chicken or the egg? I bet that you can’t wait now, can you? Well you will have to, at least until the end of the book, anyway.

I have only read a couple of Tom Holt books, and they were his early ones, Flying Dutchman etc. The early books were very obvious in their humour, and this is what I was expecting. But I was wrong, the humour was quite intelligent and subtle in its delivery. More Douglas Adams than Terry Pratchett. There are some clever ideas, the whole interdimensional employment contract is a Godsend for employers (let’s hope that employers never discover how to make it work!)

The characters seem very real, and there is a lovely feeling of slight panic in Polly and Don as they try to figure out what is going on. The sudden realisation by Don of what he has done when he makes a neighbour disappear, you can sense that hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach as the panic starts to build. The resignation of Mr and Mrs Williams in the Dry-Cleaners as they hop through time and space, remembering that they mustn’t use the downstairs toilet mid-morning.

Not a book that I was disappointed to finish, but I did enjoy reading it. I will now try and fit in some more of Tom's books into my busy reading schedule.

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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 | Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis (Solaris)

Title: Black Magic Woman

Author: Justin Gustainis

Publisher: Solaris

Format: Paperback

Release Date: Jan 2009

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his "consultant", white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself - and the very heart of darkness. Black Magic Woman marks the start of an electrifying news series of supernatural thrillers following the exploits of occult investigators Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain, as they search out evil in the darkest corners of America.

I'm a big fan of urban fantasy novels and by that I specifically mean those stories where one of the main plot elements is not the romantic wrangling of the main character. To me, that very firmly would make such a novel paranormal romance and I've no interest in reading that kind of a story. Thankfully Black Magic Woman is not one of those books. It's a real urban fantasy novel, the sort of book I would put in the same category as Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Mike Carey's Felix Castor books
and Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series. It’s an supernatural investigation where the emphasis is on story and character, not getting a sparkly boyfriend.

It was only recently that I heard about Justin Gustainis from a friend who mentioned the third Quincey Morris novel and the recently released Hard Spell novel from Angry Robot books. I'm always keen to read a decent urban fantasy novel, one where there is lots of invention and the author doesn't just rely on existing tropes, and this is exactly what I found with this.

Black Magic Woman is a solid debut that really begins with a bang. Quincey Morris is the hero of the novel but despite being a professional hunter of creepy things in the night, he is not invulnerable. He comes from a famous family but that doesn't make him faster or smarter than anyone else, so he's not always one step ahead of the bad guys. It makes him feel more realistic and there is always the nagging possibility in the back of your mind that while he might not die, he could get seriously injured. He has experience and knowledge, and both of those help a great deal, but sometimes it just comes down to good old fashioned luck and gradually working your way through an investigation. He’s a good guy trying to help out other people and overall is a thoroughly likeable sort of character. His history is fascinating and without spoiling it, he has quite a lot to live up to in terms of his ancestors.

Quincey doesn't possess any magic of his own but he is used to dealing with various supernatural beings and is well versed in the lore which comes in very handy. He sometimes works with a partner, Libby Chastain, a white witch and she lends him an expert hand from time to time. This partnership has obviously proven successful in the past and once again they team up to tackle something that involves black magic, a curse, ritual sacrifice and Salem.

Another difference from some of the other urban fantasy novels I've mentioned is that Black Magic Woman is not written in the first person. We follow the story with Quincey and Libby, but also see it from the perspective of two agents on the ritual murder case and those involved in causing all of the trouble. This approach allows us to see other parts of the story for ourselves and not hear about them after the fact or through a filter of someone else’s perception.

All of the characters in the story are well rounded individuals and even the villains are believable in their motivation and not one dimensional caricatures. You might not sympathise or even like them but they are all fascinating. One of my favourite characters was actually someone who only appeared for a few chapters and I was sad to see him go, which tells you something about Gustainis’s characters. The different parts of the story fit together very well and the threads pull tighter as it goes along into a real cohesive whole. Some authors are gardeners, those who write from their gut, and others are architects, working to a well-constructed plan. I might be wrong but it felt to me that Gustainis was the latter as nothing felt forced or inserted at the last minute and any plot twists felt natural in their evolution. Jim Butcher is well renowned for his planning and all of his books have a certain rhythm and it was the same with Black Magic Woman.

The book is well paced and the short punchy chapters with cliff-hangers meant I whipped through it in a few days. It was very easy to read, it wasn’t exposition heavy and overall it was a really enjoyable and exciting read. Based on the strength of this novel I will definitely be picking up both the next two Morris and Chastain books and also Hard Spell which follows a different character that has a very minor cameo in this novel. Gustainis is an exciting new voice in urban fantasy and is definitely worth watching.

Review | DC Comics – Week 2 (Sept 14) – Quick Reviews (DC Comics)

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Title: Resurrection Man
Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
Artists: Fernando Dagnino

This first issue kicks off with a bang. There's very little exposition, you are just thrown it at the deep in and have to swim which is a refreshing change compared to some of the very exposition heavy first issues I've read since the relaunch. Some writers feel the need to cram in every bit of info into that first issue because, perhaps in their mind, the more they put in there and explain about the character and the set-up, the more interesting it will be for the audience. It's the old adage of showing versus telling. There's a lot more showing here and we quickly discover Mitch is someone who can die, but every time he does, he comes back to life after with a new superpower and now someone has come to collect his long overdue soul. I read the original series in the 1990s, so perhaps I'm bias, but I really liked this first issue. It's definitely a darker title, one of the Edge books, as DC have called them, those aimed at a slightly older audience which suits me. Without being spoon fed the information, there are lots of hooks, unanswered questions and intriguing ideas raised and I'm definitely on board with this title.

Title: Red Lanterns
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artists: Ed Benes and Rob Hunter

I've written a much longer and fairly spoiler-free first review of Red Lanterns, which you can read over at The Sidekickcast blog, but in short I will say this was a great comic that was as good as I'd hoped it would be. Only a handful of the new 52 have met with my fairly high expectations and this was one of the five. Red Lanterns has excellent and gorgeous artwork, lots of stuff to sink your teeth into, clues for the future, and a lot of room to manoeuvre and plenty of material to explore in the future.

Title: Batwoman
Writers: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
Artists: J.H Williams III and W. Haden Blackman

This was another of the five books that I was really looking forward to and I was both relieved and delighted that it was everything I had hoped for. The artwork is simply gorgeous. It's something you could put on your wall and stare at for a long time. The writers/ artists know exactly what they are doing and how to create something spectacular to look at. Thankfully it doesn't rely on good artwork to make it interesting as J.H Williams III essentially co-created Batwoman with Greg Rucka, who now writes for Marvel. It has the same feel and storytelling rhythm as Batwoman: Elegy which I previously reviewed and you can read about here. However, if you've not read Elegy then this first issue covers all of the basics of what went on before and it introduces new material for older readers, so it is not just a recap issue. Batwoman is not just another Batman knock-off. The character is very much her own woman and she wears his symbol out of respect which he echoes as he trusts her abilities and judgement. There again, this is definitely a superhero crime comic with a darker tone and it also has touches of the supernatural, giving it a real spooky and creepy feeling. A visually stunning and very satisfying first issue.

Title: Demon Knights
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artists: Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert

A longer review was posted yesterday, but overall this was a vibrant and entertaining comic that maintained a good balance between action and introducing new characters and a new world. Some of the characters will be familiar to veteran DC comic fans, and some of them are totally new or based on historic figures, so it will be a bit of a learning curve whatever the audience. There weren't too many story threads in this issue and I didn't feel as if the writer was throwing everything up against the wall in the hope that the audience found some of it interesting. It was well paced and there was enough room for the art to breathe.

Title: Grifter
Writer: Nathan Edmondson
Artist: Cafu

This is one of the DC Edge books so it is targeted at a slightly older audience. The main character is being painted as a villain as he kills an innocent woman on a plane and attempts to crash it, or at least that is how it appears. So people believe he is a terrorist, when in fact the people he is fighting and chasing demon type creatures that are clothed in human bodies. I don't want to use the word anti-hero, because I don't really think there is such a thing, but Grifter is definitely not a protagonist that everyone will enjoy reading about. He might be doing the right thing for the right reasons in his mind, but when viewed at a distance he apparently starts fights with and seemingly kills innocent people for no apparent reason. It could be that all of it is in his head and is the result of a brain tumour or severe illness, but I don't think that's a likely twist given how the book has been set up. Grifter is a character that has existed for a long time and this is a new incarnation, but you don't need to be aware of his history to enjoy this first issue. The artwork was really solid and the issue well paced, apart from one totally unnecessary recap. An interesting book with a murderous and possibly mentally disturbed protagonist.

Review | Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell (DC Comics)

Title: Demon Knights
Writer: Paul Cornell
Artists: Diogenes Neves, Oclair Albert
Publisher: DC Comics
Format: Paperback
Release Date: 14 September 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Set in the Dark Ages of the DC Universe, a barbarian horde is massing to crush civilization. It's fallen to Madame Xanadu and Jason Blood, the man with a monster inside him, to stand in their way – though the demon Etrigan has no interest in protecting anyone or anything other than himself. It'll take more than their own power to stop an army fuelled by bloodlust and dark sorcery, and some very surprising heroes – and villains – will have no choice but to join the fray.

The first issue of Demon Knights is an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable comic. I’ve seen in various press releases and interviews with the writer, Paul Cornell, that he’s said if people enjoy Game of Thrones and Dragon Age, then this is the sort of story they will enjoy, and he’s absolutely right. The story is set in a world thriving with magic, monsters, men on quests, magical artefacts and legendary items from history. There is more overt magic than Game of Thrones, but there is also a lot of hearty violence, men with swords and the odd slaughter or two. There are plenty of ruthless characters, people who will do whatever they feel is necessary and if that includes murdering innocents, then so be it. This is not going to be a book where the characters can be easily divided into two camps with white and black hats. I suspect even those we follow in the story will not be noble and selfless heroes, but rather less unpleasant people than the rest, or merely those in the wrong place at the wrong time who get caught up in world events.

Even if you’ve never heard of any of the main characters before it doesn’t matter as the first issue gives you plenty to chew on. If you are familiar with the DC comics universe then there are lots of nice Easter eggs in there, plus plenty of tantalising clues for new readers. The first issue gives you a brief version of the origin of the main character, Etrigan, and it briefly introduces some of who I suspect will become part of the main band of characters that we will follow in future adventures. It’s hard to do all of that, give each of them a moment in the spotlight, and pack in action, adventure and a meaty plot, but Cornell manages it.

In the story an evil woman called the Questing Queen and her horde is marching across the land, conquering all and slaughtering those who get in the way. Unfortunately some of her people stumble into the wrong inn and they encounter Etrigan and a few old friends of his who are infamous and also incredibly dangerous. The result of this encounter will be seen in issue 2, but I expect it to be fairly bloody and very violent.

It might not seem like it, but this comic is a bit of a long-shot for DC comics. The mainstream arm of DC comics are most well known for producing superhero titles. Of the new 52 titles being launched some of them are obviously outside that traditional bracket (Men of War, All Star Western) and others are on the cusp and cross several genres. Then there are those that look like superhero comics but really aren’t, like Swamp Thing and Animal Man, which for me, are supernatural horror comics. Demon Knights is absolutely a fantasy comic. Superhero comics featuring magic based characters are not a new thing, not even for DC comics, but a fantasy comic set in a different era is relatively uncommon for them. Dynamite Entertainment and other comic book publishers have had success with series like Conan and Red Sonja for many years. With the recent popularity of Game of Thrones because of the TV series I can see why DC comics has done it. I just hope that enough readers, perhaps brand new readers, and existing readers willing to try a non-superhero comic, continue to pick up Demon Knights because we need that diversity and variety.

You can find a wide variety of comics in a hundred genres from different publishers, including fantasy, but it would be a real shame if DC comics became known only for producing superhero titles. They have some of the best artists and writers working for them and they have a brand that will pull in a lot more readers into a comic shop which is a good thing for everyone, businesses and other publishers alike.

I strayed off the point a little, but overall Demon Knights was a fun and entertaining comic with lots of potential and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Review | DC Comics – Week 1 (Sept 7) – Quick Reviews (DC Comics)

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Title: Batgirl

Writer: Gail Simone

Artists: Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes

I was looking forward to this title because I like the character and because I’m a fan of Gail Simone after enjoying her work on comics including Secret Six and Birds of Prey. However, for me, I thought this was just an average first issue. I know that others have really enjoyed it and thought it was excellent, so I could be in the minority. For me there wasn’t anything that really gripped me, although there was plenty going on. There is a nod to the past and the slate has not been completely wiped clean, so Barbara is not a whole person because of an incident that has left a mental scar, if not a physical one. I’m dodging around it a little because if you are new to comics I don’t want to spoil that part of this first issue. On the one hand I can see that this could make for more interesting stories, but on the other hand I think it robbed the character of some of her strength and ability to be a strong female character. I’m still in two minds, but given the pedigree of the writer, and her love of the character, plus the gorgeous artwork, this is one I will look at again in trade.

Title: Batwing

Writer: Judd Winnick

Artist: Ben Oliver

This series was a real unknown for me. I’m a big fan of Batman, but there’s no way I was going to pick up all twelve or thirteen Batman related books. Also I didn’t read the setup in the Batman Incorporated comic before the relaunch which is what led to this worldwide franchising of Batman with various people essentially being sponsored by him to fight crime. Batwing is the Batman for Africa, so first of all he has a lot of ground to cover, an entire continent by himself in fact, but ignoring that part, I actually quite enjoyed it. The artwork is great and almost cinematic, the writing is fairly tight and it focuses on introducing the main character, showing off some of his abilities and then it ends on a powerful cliffhanger. I don’t know if it will be strong enough to get me to pick up the second issue, but it was a good solid read that is trying to create a superhero mythology for Africa, so it’s definitely doing something new and is only tenuously connected to Batman himself.

Title: Detective Comics

Writer: Tony S. Daniel

Artists: Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn

First this title gets an immediate thumbs up for the artwork which is also done by the writer Tony S. Daniel. Fantastic and really gorgeous, dynamic, kinetic, colourful stuff. This was very well written because in one issue the writer has managed to show how devious and evil, but also how incredibly clever and dangerous, the Joker is. The story is early in Batman’s career so the two of them have not been battling each other for years and right at the end, the issue takes a very strange twist. Everyone I know who has read this issue has been left scratching their head which is not bad thing. It’s got people talking about it and to be honest a Batman title needs something special to make it stand out amongst the other Batman connected books. There are 4 main Batman books, all of them look amazing, all of them have great artists and writers, so something really unusual can only work in its favour. Definitely worth checking out, an intriguing first issue and one I will probably get in trade.

Title: Justice League International

Written by: Dan Jurgens

Artists: Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan

Just as the Batman office could be accused of overkill because there are so many of them, it might look as if three Justice League books could be one too many. Much to my surprise I’ve not found that to be true so far. I thought Justice League was a good first issue but more targeted towards the new reader, those not familiar with the DC Universe and the founding of the Justice League. This title is about a carefully chosen group of superheroes from various nations around the world who are working together to save the planet. The second goal of this group is to foster better international relations, however, the team-mates did not choose each other. They are not friends who came together to fight a common cause, who eventually become a family of sorts, like the Justice League. They are people who are on the team because they’ve been told to be by the leader of their country, or they genuinely want to help, or because they think it might help them with their career and standing in the superhero community. There are no doubt several other reasons we’ve not been told, but the end result is the same, a team that is not working together harmoniously. JLI was funny, sinister in places and overall I think it has a lot of potential for the future. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first issue and it’s definitely one comic I will revisit.

Title: Men of War

Writer: Ivan Brandon

Artists: Tom Derenick, Victor Kalvachev

This is an origin story about a guy named Sergeant Rock. If the name isn’t familiar that’s fine, but if you’ve heard of him before it means you’ve probably read some of DC’s other war comics in the past. Men of War is a solid war comic, but my only complaint is that it features a nameless superhero who causes all sorts of trouble for Rock and his squad. I now realise the story is set in the same universe as the rest of the other DC characters (Superman, Batman etc) but I sort of wish it was its own entity, or it was in its own corner away from all of that, and could just be about normal soldiers doing heroic and amazing things on missions. Seeing them have to deal with the aftermath of a violent and irresponsible superhero is an intriguing idea, but I don’t think it will hold my interest for long. This is definitely a wait and see title for me. I’m interested but will read a bit more about how the story develops before I revisit.

Title: Animal Man

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Travel Foreman

A great first issue. See my full review here.

Review | Swamp Thing #1 (DC Comics)

Title: Swamp Thing #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Yanick Paquette
Publisher: DC Comics
Release: 7 September 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

One of the world's most iconic characters has returned to the heart of the DC Universe, and every step he takes will shake the foundations of the Earth!

Alec Holland has his life back…but the Green has plans for it. A monstrous evil is rising in the desert, and it'll take a monster of another kind to defend life as we know it!

Swamp Thing is another of those unusual comics in the new 52 from DC. I do enjoy some of the more traditional superhero comics and I am planning to pick up and review some of them (Batwoman, Green Lantern, Detective etc) but I also enjoy the darker, more adult titles. These are comics that are technically Vertigo comics without being Vertigo (DC comics mature imprint). The ones that are targeted towards a more adult audience and may have been printed by Vertigo at some point, like Animal Man and Swamp Thing. There again, this character has a fairly complex history but you can pretty much ignore all of it and start with this first issue. All you really need to know is Alec Holland is a scientist and at one point in the past he was Swamp Thing, a creature of nature that was part of The Green. Swamp Thing is a sort of plant elemental, a living embodiment of Mother Earth with a conscience and powers that are terrifying and amazing. This was very firmly a horror comic in the past and it seems to be heading in that direction again, despite the appearance of a costumed superhero in issue 1.

As with many of the first issues so far, Swamp Thing 1 introduces the character to new readers and the current status quo, although it's not as clear what is going on compared to some of the others. The reason is not the fault of the writer, it's more that explaining what Swamp Thing is and what he can do, and what his 'mission' is, cannot be explained in an elevator pitch or catchphrase such as 'Truth and Justice' or 'An endless war on crime'. There is more of a mystery around Alec's relationship to Swamp Thing and it's not completely clear at this stage if he is still connected to and part of it. But that's fine. I didn't expect or want all of the answers in this first issue, otherwise it would end up being 22 pages of tedious exposition, which is exactly what the new 52 was set up to avoid. You shouldn't need to read an encyclopaedia before you can pick up a comic and so far I think the new titles have done very well and steered clear of this. There has to be plenty of hooks and mysteries in a first issue to interest new readers and make them want to come back, but you also need to give some a solid grounding.

There again, like Animal Man, I can see this will not appeal to everyone, but that's fine. It's not a traditional superhero comic and was never meant to be. There is no obvious villain and it's not going to be a fast paced punch up or a crime comic, nor will it feature teams of brightly dressed heroesin spandex fighting each other. That's not a criticism of thoes sorts of comics, I'm just trying to make it very clear what this is and what it isn't. Personally I quite enjoyed this comic and it is one I will look to continue picking up in trade. The issues may end on a cliffhanger, but I don't think they are likely to be gut-punching stories where you are biting your nails and just need to know what happens as soon as possible and have to race out to the comic shop next month. I could be wrong, but for me, this will read better in long form in a collected trade paperback.

I also hope that DC will give some comics a while to build an audience and they don't pull them too soon because they are not performing as expected when compared to say a comic like Justice League. That title was always going to do well because it features some of the most well known comic book characters in the world, together, in one comic. Expecting Swamp Thing to sell the same quantity (currently 200,000 copies were pre-ordered of Justice League issue 1 in the US) is not sensible. The real test for all of the new 52 will to be see how many of them are still available in a year, or after 12 issues. By then I expect some of them will have fallen to the side of the road, but other new titles are already in the pipeline, so there could easily be more than 52 ongoing comics available from DC by then. It's definitely a case of watch this space.

Review | Field of Dishonor by David Weber (Baen)

Title: Field of Dishonor
Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen
Format: Paperback
Release Date: September 2002

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

The People's Republic of Haven's sneak attack on the Kingdom of Manticore has failed. The Peeps are in disarray, their leaders fighting for power in bloody revolution, and the Royal Manticoran Navy stands victorious.

But Manticore has domestic problems of its own, and success can be more treacherous than defeat for Honor Harrington. Now, trapped at the core of a political crisis she never sought, betrayed by an old and vicious enemy she'd thought vanquished forever, she stands alone.

She must fight for justice on a battlefield she never trained for in a private war that offers just two choices: death . . . or a "victory" that can end only in dishonor and the loss of all she loves.

Field of Dishonor is the fourth Honor Harrington novel, following on from On Basilisk Station, The Honor of the Queen and The Short Victorious War. I have been thoroughly enjoying these books (as you can see from my previous reviews) and I've got to the point where I am actively looking to read an Honor Harrington book before other ones I have sitting on the reading stack at home. That's quite a statement as far as I'm concerned, especially looking at some of the other books waiting to be read!

After the events of The Short Victorious War Honor Harrington and the Nike are on their way back to the Manticore home system for repairs, reassignment and the court martial of one Lord Pavel Young for cowardice in the face of the enemy for his actions during the final minutes of the battle at Hancock Station. A mere formality, or so it seems. However, the political situation in the Manticore government is at a critical point with no clear majority able to vote in favour of the war, and with Young's father a prominent figure in the groups opposing all-out war against the People's Republic of Haven, this court martial couldn't have come at a worse time. Add to that the history between Honor and Young and the media are having a field day, while the politicians using it as leverage in the current crisis.

What seems like a certain death sentence for Young turns into something nobody could have guessed. Disgracefully dismissed from the Navy and left with his life, his father dies and he inherits the North Hollow estate and a seat in Lords. Armed with his fathers file of dirty secrets on other Lords, Young manoeuvres himself into a prime position, backing the Navy's request to declare war and forcing others allied to him to follow suit. It takes everyone by surprise, but Young is full of anger and rage towards Honor Harrington and this is merely his first step in a larger plan to see her get what he believes she deserves...

Now, I really have enjoyed the previous Honor Harrington novels. I liked the setting, the characters and the military aspect of it. The space battles were great, the descriptions and terminology bringing them to life. Field of Dishonor has no space battles at all. I did suspect this would be the case early on and worried where things would be going. Well, the place they went was even better than the previous novels - Field of Dishonor is a character focused story that does more to flesh out Honor Harrington than the three previous novels combined.

What we have here is a clearly political novel that looks at how certain actions during war time can have completely different results simply because of the tension and situation. While it is made clear during all the meetings and court sessions regarding Pavel Young that it must be dealt with evenly and without prejudice, it is clearly not going to be the case and the repercussions of the history between Young and Harrington are a small, but very vital, part of the trail.

It's this history and subsequent actions throughout Field of Dishonor that made this book such a hugely enjoyable read, allowing the small threads and build up over the past three novels to fully develop here. Pavel Young is not a character I like at all, but I fully appreciate how he contributes to the novel and overall storyline. Harrington, on the other hand, is a character I very much enjoy reading, and this novel is all about her. It brings her to life more than the previous novels have done, put her in a personal situation that makes her question everything she knows and prepares to give it all up for personal vengeance.

I really don't want to talk about the story in great detail here, or the characters for that matter, because a lot of what I'd talk about revolves around an aspect of the novel that I think is a pretty large spoiler. Suffice to say that this is a very good book - the strongest Honor Harrington one so far - and leaves the ending open to plenty of possibilities. It's also one that has changed my expectations for the next in the series, and the series as a whole. This is some truly great stuff.

Review | Animal Man #1 (DC Comics)

Title: Animal Man #1
Author: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Travel Foreman, Dan Green
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: September 7^th 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

Buddy Baker has gone from "super" man to family man – but is he strong enough to hold his family together when Maxine, his young daughter, starts to manifest her own dangerous powers? Find out in this dramatic new series from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Travel Foreman.

Animal Man is not a typical superhero comic. The character itself has always been quite an odd one. A sort of cross between Manimal, without actually changing into the animals, Bravestarr (the space cop from the SF cartoon in the 1980s) and Vixen (another DC comic book character who can inherit the strengths of animals from a morphogenic field). Animal Man has been reinvented several times, and was at one time an eco-warrior fighting for animal rights, but one of the more recent incarnations made Animal Man much darker and it became almost a horror comic. 

This new version borrows bits from all of his history, but this is definitely a supernatural horror comic that follows a superhero. He’s not someone who is new to the superhero game and from the first page intro, where the character is reading an article about himself and his varied career, even a new reader would appreciate his long and unusual history. What follows in issue 1 is a quick run through that shows you his family life, his powers and how they work, as well as setting up a mystery and ending on a creepy plot twist. There’s a lot packed in but it’s handled very well by the writer and anyone who is totally new to the character will be able to follow it. You don't have to read anything else to know what's going on.

I appreciate this comic will not be for everyone, because although it is a superhero comic, it doesn’t really fit into the mainstream and you can appreciate why Animal Man was a Vertigo comic at one time. I think it’s going to be a dark, creepy, edgy book, so I don’t see it being for kids really and although there might be some punching of crooks and he might stop a few crimes, that will not be the core of this book. It’s not Superman or Batman or Green Lantern. He wears a costume, but really he doesn’t need to and it's not a vital part of the character’s makeup.

The artist is an odd choice for me, because sometimes it looks stark and edgy and it works perfectly with the story, and at other times I just couldn’t get along with it at all. Overall this is a very unusual and dark superhero comic book and I am very keen to see where it goes next.

Review | Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (Orbit)

Title: Leviathan Wakes
Author: James S.A. Corey
Publisher: Orbit
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 2011

Reviewed by: Daniel Burton

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

Welcome to the future. Humanity has colonized the solar system – Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond – but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, The Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for – and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to The Scopuli and rebel sympathizer, Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations – and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.

Straddling the gulf between noir and sci-fi, with pretensions towards the epic, and a promise of dramatic, Leviathan Wakes filled a much needed hole in my reading schedule this summer—that of the best read of the season, if not the year.

Miller and Holden, each with their human qualms and quirks, more grey than heroic, are just as interesting as the plot they are unraveling and the events they are, however unintentionally, subject to and at the same time causing. They are unwilling actors thrust into the center of the future of intelligent life in the solar system, and they act on the small and personal, for revenge and for vengeance, for justice and for escape. Their personalities are flawed, but the flaws only make them more empathetic.

Leviatan Wakes ranges across the entire spectrum. We meet characters on every level of innocence, power, or peculiarity. From sociopathic scientists concerned with power to military commandos afraid of it, to giant engineering projects that move moons and build city size space ships aimed for generation long trips to distant stars, Leviathan Wakes is full of colorful and credible characters (from powerful megalomaniacs to bottom feeding asteroid dwellers, Mormons headed to stellar colonization, Martian marines, and families that boast several mothers, multiple fathers, but only one off-spring), exotic locations, imaginatively rendered space battles and a plot that never lets up until the final page. Oh, and Corey (which is actually the nom de plume for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) even comes up with a whole version of pidgin English spoken after generations of dwelling in the asteroid belt.

It’s incredibly creative, and I had a ton of fun reading it.

Leviathan Wakes fulfilled the promises it made, proving to be just as epic as the name sounds, putting just enough emphasis on the science, but never forgetting that it is, first and foremost, a story about people. In the end, it provides what every good space opera should—a sense of wonder. Not only at the vastness of space, of how big it all is, at the immense distances between planets and stars, but also at just how small, weak and amazing life is in all that vastness. It provides a backdrop for both the petty and violent politics of nations, as well as the gallant and noble acts of the individual, a place where great acts can shift the movements of nations, even civilizations.

Not one page loses focus on the story, the real struggles—human and fantastic—of the protagonists. It’s a great tale, and I can’t wait to pick up its sequel.

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About Daniel Burton
Dan Burton lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he practices law during the day and everything else during the night. You can follow him on his blog lawafterthebar.wordpress.com where muses on politics, the law, current events, books, and ideas. You can contact him at dan.burton@gmail.com, and yes, he’d be glad to read your ARC (with some caveats).

Review | Batwoman Elegy by Greg Rucka (DC Comics)

 

Title: Batwoman: Elegy

Author: Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III

Publisher: DC Comics

Format: Paperback

Release Date: June 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

Batwoman battles a madwoman known only as Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable extras. Batwoman must stop Alice from unleashing a toxic death cloud over all of Gotham City but Alice has more up her sleeve than just poison, and Batwoman’s life will never ever be the same.

This is the first collected edition of Batwoman, a new Batman-related character that appeared a few years ago. To begin with she had the odd cameo in other comics but this was the first time the character had her own storyline which appeared in Detective Comics. In preparation for the new ongoing Batwoman title as part of DC Comics new 52, I thought I should read this again and refresh my memory of who Kate Kane is.

A common complaint about mainstream superhero comics is that their long history makes it difficult for new readers to jump on board. Not only because they don’t know what has happened before and how it effects the present, but also because they don’t know who the characters are. I also think this is a fair comment for the most. So, having said that, if you intend to pick up the new Batwoman title, then Batwoman: Elegy has everything you need to know about the character in one volume. It’s very likely there will be some sort of a recap in the new series, but Elegy tells you in detail who the character is, how she was trained, what motivated her to become a crime fighter and what drives her. It’s the origin story of a modern superhero and by that I mean in the old days, toxic waste or an irradiated spider was all you needed to have superpowers. Nowadays we expect more from an origin story, especially for the more grounded street level superheroes, and Elegy has it in spades. There is no vague hand waving, magic or technobabble to explain away something the writer didn’t think of, everything is there. We know who trained her, how long it took and where the technology and money comes from to fund such an operation. Not everyone is a billionaire playboy with a corporation behind them to provide the means to develop the next generation in non-lethal weaponry and vehicles.

The other thing worth mentioning is that the new ongoing series will be written by J.H Williams III and he will be doing some art duties on the new book along with W. Haden Blackman. JHW is the artist on Elegy so he knows the character intimately since he and Rucka worked very closely to create her, so the new ongoing series is in excellent hands.

Elegy begins with a new insane villain who thinks she is Alice from Alice in Wonderland. She talks in riddles and sees the world around her in a way that doesn’t seem to make much sense. Also for an unknown reason, she has been given leadership of a major crime organisation and Batwoman is there to stop her from day one. As the story unfolds we’re told a little about previous events not seen in Elegy, but there’s enough information so that you are not left scratching your head and wondering what you missed. You could go back and find the other issues to get more info, but I don’t think you need to.

It’s also clear very early on that Kate is not doing well juggling her crime fighting with finding time to have a social life. She sleeps through a major portion of the day and this takes a toll on her relationships. But she is not a lonely brooder, she has a family and friends and Kate is a real person not the mask. There is some debate in comic circles if Bruce Wayne is just a mask for his real personality, the Batman, but Kate is a real person. Batwoman is just a costume she puts on but she is still Kate even when wearing the mask.

There are lots of parallels between Bruce Wayne and Kate Kane, but there are also a number of major differences. She wasn’t driven by the death of her parents to become a spectre that scares the criminal element. She had a plan and despite some tragedies which we see in flashback, she was not deterred and went after them with passion and dedication. Becoming a crime fighter is not something she planned or thought about until fairly recently. Kate is a fully rounded character with flaws like every human and we see her at her best and worst moments. But like Bruce she won’t be turned aside or distracted and she is dedicated to stopping mad Alice before she can unleash something horrific on Gotham.

There’s another aspect of the character I’ve not touched on until now because when Batwoman was first announced by DC a couple of years ago, the press latched onto this aspect and the story became about it and nothing else. It didn’t matter to them that this was a very well written and interesting comic, it was just a juicy headline to catch the eye. Kate is gay and while it is part of her story, this is still a crime comic and it’s not the whole story. Unfortunately that didn't matter to some people and they took offence, which is a real shame, as they're missing out on a great read. It reminded me of when some people burned the Harry Potter books because they claimed the novels promoted witchcraft.

Overall Batwoman: Elegy is a beautifully drawn and gripping comic that gives you a solid grounding in the character. After reading I think I understand Kate and what drives her to put herself in danger fighting criminals and I can’t wait to see the new ongoing Batwoman series. Highly recommended.

Review | The Short Victorious War by David Weber (Baen)

Title: The Short Victorious War
Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 2002

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

The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.

But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power: a "short victorious war" to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare allies: enemies in the past who have always backed down.

Only this time the Peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short—or victorious.

Here I am on to the third book in the Honor Harrington Series, The Short Victorious War. The first two books, On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen, were instant favourites of mine and made the series (one that runs to over 20 volumes including the anthologies and spin-offs) a must-read for me. David Weber had created a vivid and thoroughly realised setting and I was wondering how events would play out in this third offering, hoping they would live up to my expectations...

After the events of The Honor of the Queen, Honor Harrington has been on sabbatical while her face is reconstructed, a procedure that has taken close to a year to finally complete and heal. Back on her home planet of Sphinx, Honor is passing the time relaxing and enjoying herself, that is until her new orders come in giving her command of a new ship. This is not just any new ship, but the Nike, the one ship that everyone wants, and her position as its captain shows just how much faith those in command have in her.

Under the direct command of Admiral Sarnow and acting as his flagship, the Nike, her captain and crew take delivery of the new-build and make their way to Hancock Station to join the task force there. But there is a problem with one of her reactors that requires a complete re-fit when they reach there, leaving the crew dockside while the repairs take place. And then the People's Republic of Haven start their strange visits into Manticoran space, visits that build and build until it is clear they are trying to goad the Manticoran Navy into battle...

The Short Victorious War starts with all the right ingredients - Honor Harrington is back to full health, given command of the brand new Nike with a new exec that she knows all too well, her best friend from Saganami Island, Mike Henke, and assigned to a new fleet as Admiral Sarnow's flagship. Once at Hancock Station Honor once again meets Paul Tankersley, Pavel Young's old exec and one of Henke's relatives. Things fall into place and what starts as a friendship becomes something more. But then there is the problem of Nike's reactor that needs to be completely replaced and forces the ship to stay in dock until work is complete. Honor herself has not been invited to any of the meetings by Admiral Parks, the one in overall charge of all divisions at Hancock Station, a snub that Nike's crew and her Admiral are all too aware of. With all of this going on it becomes clear that PRH are planning attacks and Admiral Parks splits all forces to take up places in other systems to help defence, but leaves Hancock Station woefully under prepared for an attack.

The Short Victorious War yet again expands the setting David Weber has created, showing us a little more of the wider galaxy and, more specifically, a much closer look at the People's Republic of Haven. It's nice to finally see more about them and what exactly they're up to, and even better that it's a solid part of the story. While the Royal Manticoran Navy are the main focus (at least Honor's fleet, anyway) having the sections looking at the PRH really does raise the novel and gives a good look at the bigger picture, not just what Honor Harrington sees.

The characters once again shine through, and with honour meeting and becoming involved with Paul Tankersley, it's a nice change from the strictly duty-bound Honor we've known from the previous books. Speaking of Paul, I wasn't quite sure how to take him at first, but he grew nicely on me and by the end of the novel he was cemented as a firm favourite of mine. Mike Henke is also another new character I very much enjoyed, she's a great addition to the cast and the scenes with her and Honor work incredibly well. Mac, Honor's steward, is back again and, while still in the background, the little things he does gives him a personality I like, and one that cares very much for Honor. I even enjoyed the scenes with the incredibly arrogant and totally slimy Pavel Young, but seeing his constant anger, rage and disgust at Honor did start to grow a little tiresome, but it worked within his character.

The Short Victorious War did everything it needed to do - it moves the story onward while adding more depth and information to the setting. While there are a couple of ends tied up it feels very much like the first part of an epic war story. It'll be very interesting to see where it goes from here, and I can't wait for the ride!

Review | Wolfsangel by MD Lachlan (Gollancz)

Title: Wolfsangel
Author: MD Lachlan
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Paperback
Release Date: May 2010

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

The Viking King Authun leads his men on a raid against an Anglo-Saxon village. Men and women are killed indiscriminately but Authun demands that no child be touched. He is acting on prophecy. A prophecy that tells him that the Saxons have stolen a child from the Gods. If Authun, in turn, takes the child and raises him as an heir, the child will lead his people to glory. But Authun discovers not one child, but twin baby boys. Ensuring that his faithful warriors, witness to what has happened, die during the raid Authun takes the children and their mother home, back to the witches who live on the troll wall. And he places his destiny in their hands. And so begins a stunning multi-volume fantasy epic that will take a werewolf from his beginnings as the heir to a brutal viking king, down through the ages. It is a journey that will see him hunt for his lost love through centuries and lives, and see the endless battle between the wolf, Odin and Loki - the eternal trickster - spill over into countless bloody conflicts from our history, and over into our lives. This is the myth of the werewolf as it has never been told before and marks the beginning of an extraordinary new fantasy series from Gollancz.

This is the first fantasy novel by MD Lachlan and although I’ve said this a few times recently, he also has a very unique voice in the fantasy genre, and this is certainly not a me-too product in any way. I can’t point to any other fantasy book that I have read and say, Wolfsangel is a bit like that, because it’s a very distinct and disturbing creation.

The story has a strange dream like quality to it, and is an unusual mix of elements including horror, fantasy, Norse mythology, original creative concepts and twisted variations of ideas which I can’t detail without spoiling. King Authun is a man without an heir and following the words of prophecy given to him by the witches of the Troll Wall, mystical overseers who speak to the Gods, he plans to steals a baby boy and raise him as his own. Unfortunately during the raid on a Saxon village he finds two babies, not one, and at this point I realised the story was not going to be predictable. What unfolds is a dark and twisted tale that often seems bleak and brutal, but at the end I was not left feeling disheartened, rather I was enthralled by the events which had unfolded and eager to find out what happened next in the next book.

Prince Vali is raised to become king under the watch of one of King Authun’s chiefs, but he wants nothing to do with power or glory and has no desire to carve up the enemy. He would rather forgo the throne and spend a quite life living in peace with Adisla, a local girl. Unknown to him, his brother Feilig is raised by strangers and then by wolves and a wolf shaman, leaving him feral and half human. The story revolves around these three characters and their fate which each does their utmost to escape. The witch queen of the Troll Wall is a twisted and weird creature, barely human in some regards who manipulates people at a distant with her power and torturous magic. Nothing comes easy to any of the characters. Every bit of happiness is hard won and also every bit of magic is unlike any you’ve probably read about before. There are no scrolls, no incantations or waving of hands. To tap into the runic power the witches brutalise themselves and put their bodies through physical trials until they skirt the edge of madness or plunge into it fully. Some of the most disturbing scenes are not the battles, which are gory and to the point, but rather how the witches and other characters ask the gods for their favour.

The characters are not always likeable, especially Vali, who thinks he is hard done by, but when compared to the life his brother has led it puts his complaints into perspective. After a while I warmed to Vali and felt some sympathy for him because he is trapped by fate and birth into a life he doesn’t want. Most men in the story would jump at the chance to be a leader, receive great wealth and fight in epic battles, but he is actually happy to settle for less. By the time he realises he can’t do whatever he wants it’s too late, his inaction has repercussions as several other people have ideas about what he should be doing and he is pulled in several directions at once. Overall the characterisation is very effective and all of the characters are unique with distinct voices and patterns of dialogue.

Odin, the All-Father and Loki, the Trickster are the most prominent of Gods at play here, but they are not openly walking across the land in human guise as we’ve seen in other books, such as American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Here people pray to them, drown and torture themselves to tap into a small bit of their power and the results are never everything they hoped for. The Gods work from the shadows, manipulating people, unknowingly most of the time, and using them for their own ends and playing a game on a scale we can’t fathom. The world is a giant game of chess to them and we’re all pawns to be used and then discarded.

It’s very clear that MD Lachlan has done his research and if you know your Norse mythology then you will get more out of this as there are signs and portents that point to what is going on. Events are foreshadowed and these are interwoven with mythology into a complex, and what is essentially, an adventure story in some regards.

The book has received a lot of high praise and rightly so. It is a stark, bold and gripping tale about life, love, fate, myths and dark magic. It is also the first in a planned series and I am very curious to see where the author takes it next. The second book in the series, Fenrir, is due out in May this year, so there isn't that long to wait.

Review | Halcyon by Mark Guggenheim (Image)

Title: Halcyon
Author: Mark Guggenheim
Publisher: Image Comics
Format: Paperback
Release Date: August 2011

Reviewed by: Steve Aryan

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

What happens when the never ending battle for truth and justice... ends? With crime and violence nonexistent, and the human race seemingly neutered of all aggressive tendencies, the superheroes of Halcyon appear to have completed their mission. But one member of the team isn't pleased with this new development, and will stop at nothing to uncover the catalyst for this global phenomenon.

I’ve been reading comics for a long time. It started with superhero comics and although I still read some today, the majority are in different genres. So with that being said, finding a new spin, or doing something clever and unique with the superhero genre, which has decades of stories, is not an easy thing to achieve. There are a few good examples, such as Invincible from Robert Kirkman at Image comics, Irredeemable from Mark Waid over at Boom Studios, The Boys from Garth Ennis at Dynamite and so on. Halcyon was something I’d heard about, missed the start of it and then promised myself I would catch up with it at some point in trade, and here we are.

Halcyon is a fascinating comic book for both those deeply invested and interested in the superhero genre and for those interested in a story about free will. In the story crime and aggression have been wiped out on a global scale. It started about a year before the events in the story with a steady decline in all forms of violence and crime and then it suddenly escalated to zero. The superheroes are left with little to do except try and combat natural disasters, such as fires, floods, earthquakes etc, but even those are not common enough to keep everyone busy all the time. So what do they do now?

Some superheroes started fighting crime because they wanted to protect ordinary people and some did it because they want to see justice handed out to all. There are a hundred other reasons someone might decide to put on a cape and cowl, revenge, fear, pride, ambition, but suddenly none of that means anything anymore. Halcyon focuses on the superheroes in this peaceful world and the question of, what do they do when the world no longer needs them?

Some are happy about it and for the first time in memory they are free from the obligation they feel their powers put upon them. Others can’t cope and don’t know what to do next with varied results, and others finally have time to focus their energy on other pursuits, such as using their advanced brainpower to help with advances in science and medicine. But then there’s Sabre. He’s an analogue of Batman essentially, or Rorschach from Watchmen, as all three characters share a certain level of mental instability and walk the line between sane and fruitcake like a tightrope. So, here we have someone without any real powers except for his unyielding sense of right and wrong, a thirst for justice, and with nothing to hit and no villains to fight.

However, as mentioned earlier, the move to worldwide utopia happened quickly and there have been no changes in government policy, the environment, religion or any other widespread forces that affect billions to explain it. People just stopped being aggressive. That bothers Sabre. A lot. The core of this book is should it bother him? Should he care? Or should he just be happy that human beings are now living in a relatively peaceful and carefree world? But people all around the world don’t change their mind overnight for no reason. So someone did this. Someone took away our free will and our right to choose. Sure, it’s only part of our free will, and the ability to choose to be violent in some way. But does that make it right? It’s a very grey area and that is what Halcyon explores.

I love Star Trek, in all of its incarnations, but part of Roddenberry’s vision of the future with the Federation was an Earth where money no longer existed and all humans were working together. I’ve always found that part of his vision naïve and difficult to swallow, maybe it’s the cynic in me or my inner Batman. Suddenly in Halcyon, Sabre is facing a world like that, and while others are happy to embrace it and see where the world goes, he just can’t let it go. So he digs and keeps digging. It’s not a situation I’ll ever find myself in, but like the best comics Halcyon did raise a lot of interesting questions and make me think about where I would draw the line and how far I would go.

Overall I thought this was a great comic which took the components and archetypes of the superhero genre and did something new, interesting and thought-provoking with them, which as I mentioned is increasingly difficult these days. A great standalone superhero comic book and a recommended read.

Review | Robopocalypse by Daniel H Wilson (Doubleday)

Title: Robopocalypse
Author: Daniel H Wilson
Publisher: Doubleday
Format: Hardback
Release Date: June 2011

Reviewed by: Daniel Burton

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

They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they’re coming for you.

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

Daniel Wilson has imagined a world, our world, just a few years further down the road. Technology is not too far removed from the present day. For all intents and purposes, it is our world. It feels like our world. And one day, the machines of our world—the cars, computers, missiles, tanks, and toys—wake up.

It’s a little bit scary.

No, strike that. It’s very scary. While in many ways reminiscent of a zombie outbreak – albeit instantaneously worldwide and with zombies that look like cars, tanks, robots, and elevators—Robopocalypse is, well, not a zombie book. Rather than the messy destruction of the brain seeking undead, the uprising I surprisingly clean, considering the destruction involved. The robotic slaves of humanity clean up after themselves, leaving a tidy wake as they hunt, kill, and destroy mankind. Scenes of a silent and orderly New York City, where the silence is only broken by roving toy helicopters seeking the living, are spooky and eerie. The sudden and inexplicable head-on collision of cars destroying their drivers, or diving headlong into lakes with living occupants is horrifying as any attack of the undead. Perhaps even more so because of the sheer alien feel to the uprising by our own machines.

It’s not a new premise. Both the Terminator series of movies and I, Robot (both book and the movie) are both examples of artificial intelligence run amok. In Robopocalypse, we again see machines take on awareness, but with a descriptiveness and reality set much closer to our own.

With a degree in computer science and another in robotics, Wilson has written several books on robot uprisings and including robots. In Robopocalypse, he creates a story told in an almost documentary style, not unlike the format of World War Z. While using this gimmick might seem to hurt the flow of story or disconnect the reader from any one character, Wilson chooses to focus on just a few individuals and does a wonderful job of quickly building them up without the need for extended page time.

The documentary style also prevents the story from becoming bogged down with transitions and lulls. Instead, the plot jumps to the center of the action, horrific and human, as protagonists survive, die, and fight against their own cars, tools, toys, and machines.

It is vivid, fast paced, and each chapter finishes on a cliff hanger that makes Robopocalypse a page-flipping whirlwind. I picked it up on Friday night and finished it before I returned to my day job on Monday morning. When I did, I was just a little more wary of technology, but regretful that the story had ended.

It’s a fun, fast, and exciting read, if, at moments, horrifying, and I count it as one of my top five reads this year. However, you don’t need to take my word for it. Steven Spielberg agrees, and the word is that he’s making Robopocalypse into a movie for release in 2013. Count me in for opening night tickets.

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About Daniel Burton
Dan Burton lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he practices law during the day and everything else during the night. You can follow him on his blog lawafterthebar.wordpress.com where muses on politics, the law, current events, books, and ideas. You can contact him at dan.burton@gmail.com, and yes, he’d be glad to read your ARC (with some caveats).

Review | Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper (Gollancz)

Title: Songs of the Earth
Author: Elspeth Cooper
Publisher: Gollancz
Format: Hardback
Release Date: 16 June 2011

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

Gair is under a death sentence.

He can hear music - music with power - and in the Holy City that means only one thing: he's a witch, and he's going to be burnt at the stake. Even if he could escape, the Church Knights and their witchfinder would be hot on his heels while his burgeoning power threatens to tear him apart from within.

There is no hope . . . none, but a secretive order, themselves persecuted almost to destruction. If Gair can escape, if he can master his own growing, dangerous abilities, if he can find the Guardians of the Veil, then maybe he will be safe. Or maybe he'll discover that his fight has only just begun.

Mark:
I've never hid the fact that I am a sci-fi reader before a fantasy reader, but every now and then a fantasy book comes along that I look at and just want to read. Songs of the Earth is just such a book, not as hefty as some other novels in the genre but the blurb makes it sound interesting, the fact that it's the first part of a planned trilogy even better. I won't lie, this one has a lot to live up to even before opening the page, the publisher declaring it as the fantasy debut of 2011. However, for me Songs of the Earth hit the spot and delivered the kind of story that makes me want to read more fantasy - a rare thing indeed!

Gair is a witch, awaiting execution at the hands of the Church. For many years he has hid the truth about his magical skills while learning about the religion and fighting methods from the scholars at the Church, and he knows full well what they do with magic users. However, at his trial the Preceptor, an old and frail man, grants him a lifeline in the form of exile rather than the death he - and everyone else - was expecting. But not everyone is willing to accept this and a witchfinder is quickly dispatched by opposing members within the Church to carry out the execution as intended. Fortunately for Gair he falls into the company of Alderan, a wise old man who hides more than he lets on, but the offer he makes Gair is irresistible: travel with him to a place where he can improve and master his talents among others like him. And his journey begins...

Songs of the Earth may be a fantasy tale with magic, strange creatures and a hidden world beyond ours, but it's the characters that drive it forward. Gair is, of course, the hero of the tale, and one that is exceptionally strong at what he can do. However, he's got the recognisable background of orphan who doesn't know his parents - a sure sign that he's destined for greatness. But Gair is an interesting character, one that has never had a home and has had to hide his magical powers from everyone around him, keeping a secret that could (and does) cause great problems for him. He's not the only character I liked either: you've got Alderan, the wise mentor; Ansel, the old and determined Preceptor of the Eadorian faith; Aysha, the crippled shape-shifter. There are many more I could go on about, but that would just ruin it for you. The bad guys are also interesting, although we don't get quite as much depth to them as we do the good guys, something that I hope is improved on in the next novel.

The world building is also a good aspect of Songs of the Earth, but not one that is deeply explored. Cooper manages to create a very real world for the story to take place, and done so without much info-dumping, but I would have liked to have found out a little bit more. There is a fine line between not enough details and too much, and while the balance isn't quite right, it's pretty close. But then again I do like a good bit of world building in my stories, so this is very much personal taste talking.

The magic is also another aspect of Songs of the Earth that I very much enjoyed, the way that a person uses song to create the magic, hearing the different tunes and managing to craft them into different things. It's not a system that is precisely laid out either, but one that you get a feel for as the story progresses and you see more of it in use. It's interesting and adds a good element to the story, another aspect that I hope to see further explored in the next two books.

Above all else Songs of the Earth is a damned fine novel. It tells the story in an interesting way, and while it may not be bringing new groundbreaking stuff to the genre, for me it's exactly the sort of book I want to read. It manages to shy away from some typical fantasy elements, but it also incorporates much of what I expect from a novel in this genre.

Debut of the year? Hard to tell at the moment, but boy is it one hell of an entertaining read!

Steve:
Songs of the Earth is not your typical fantasy novel by any stretch of the imagination. There are a number of unique qualities about it that make it stand apart from others in the genre, including a much lighter tone compared to authors such as Richard Morgan, Joe Abercrombie or Sam Sykes.

Cooper is a storyteller who takes time where it is needed to flesh out her characters and the world they live in without the need for big chunks of unwieldy exposition. The reader learns about far off lands through encounters with natives from those areas, as well as through dialogue that doesn’t feel forced and is not designed just to pass on information. The description of the world is done well without it being heavy handed and it is the little details that made it easier for me to picture in my head. I had a real sense of history, culture and an idea about the landscape via snippets of information.

Coming to any new fantasy series can be daunting because quite often they are long running series and the books are weighty tomes which will put off casual readers. This is the first of a trilogy and because Cooper has found a good balance between pace and detail, it is a reasonably sized novel.

For the most part her characters are fairly straightforward individuals and their aims easily defined, although as the story continues more grey begins to drift in. That is not to say the characters are simple, far from it, but there is no ambivalence and few surprises for the reader. Gair, the main character, is a troubled young man who has a good heart despite everything that has been done to him, and he always tries to do the right thing. Although there are plot twists, a character is never turned on their head from hero to villain or anti-hero and the rug is not pulled out from under the reader’s feet.

Cooper spends time on the main character and his relationships with everyone else, perhaps more so than some authors, so this is not popcorn fantasy that puts pace and action ahead of depth. It is a rich read that takes the time to develop characters without overdoing it.

Although Cooper mentioned on her blog that she had no desire to write a novel that featured some of familiar racial archetypes found in fantasy, or some of the epic fantasy furniture such as prophecies and magic swords, there are some familiar elements for those familiar with the genre. An orphaned main character with a special gift beyond others is a regularly used archetype, but even though Gair is stronger than some of the others, he is one of many and is not the chosen one. There is, however, the possibility that his unknown heritage will later be revealed to be significant and in some ways I hope not. I would prefer it if he was simply the son of an ordinary man, rather than the long lost heir to a great king or similar. I could be wrong but only time will tell.

The story has a strong connection to nature as the magic system used, the Song, is linked to balance, restoration, and the maintenance of a Veil that keeps different worlds separate from one another. The lighter story with a dark undercurrent, the well thought out world-building, the connection to nature and a stronger focus on relationships reminds me of Freda Warrington’s Jewelfire Trilogy of fantasy novels. Songs of the Earth is a fascinating and thoughtful fantasy debut quite unlike many others in the genre and the author has a unique voice that separates her from the competition.