Dan
The monkey is back, and this time with a touch of added pathos as Ack Ack Macaque tries to come to terms with the inevitability of ageing, and the prospect of impending fatherhood. It's not all touchy feely though, there's still plenty of shit getting blown up. As much fun as the previous three books. Hang on, you say, I thought this was the third book. Mmmmm. Read it and find out what I mean!
Greg Bear wrote Eon, one of the great SF novels of the last thirty years. This isn't in that league, but it is a decent novel that has perhaps been done a disservice by its publishers. From the jacket and blurb, you would think it is a piece of bog standard military SF, a genre I have no interest in, but it turns out to be the kind of alien archaeology that is right up my street. A group of marines make a combat landing on Mars, it goes wrong, and they are left struggling to survive in the harsh Martian conditions, until they encounter a lone colonist with her own agenda. It's a good read, but very short and with an abrupt ending that is only forgivable if it turns out there's a second book on the way - but when this one is less than 300 pages of large type, I suspect the whole story could have been told in one volume. We'll have to see what Bear has planned.
Another take on Chinese history from Kay, a few hundred years further on from Under Heaven. This one views the Mongol invasions through a fantasy lens, with plenty of action and epic battles to go alongside the stately court intrigues. GGK is my favourite fantasy writer, and although this may not be quite his best book (try The Lions Of Al-Rassan for that), it is still head and shoulders above almost everything else on the shelves of your local bookshop.
This book seriously has it all. From start to end I was gripped and the author wrote it so well. It really does feel like you're Aventurine's best friend or twin and can feel her thoughts - amazingly amazing.
I've enjoyed the first two volumes in this (very)post-apocalyptic trilogy. The books are set long after the fall of our world, in a society that has grown up amongst our ruins, without quite knowing what they are. They sit firmly in a classic tradition of British SF - think Richard Cowper's Road To Corlay books, John Christopher or the subset of writers encompassed by Junot Diaz' memorable line about the “British doomguys” - but bought right up to date. If that sounds appealing, go back and read the first one, The Book Of Koli, because there is no point starting here!
Those of us who have been on the ride with Koli and his ramshackle crew through the last two books however will find lots to enjoy. Stakes are raised, circles are completed, character arcs reach their ends, and there's a great big fight. The rising tension in the latter half of the book is expertly handled, as Carey marshals several separate storylines together and brings them to an exciting and satisfying climax.
My 13 year old daughter will handle this one:
I really enjoyed this book. It was very relatable and it showed what school is really like. It is a very well written book. I love the character of Paige, and the ending was very satisfying. The description was kind of misleading because only a small portion of the book was dedicated to Paige standing up to the bullies, however it was still a really good book and I enjoyed it a lot. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that shows what secondary school is actually like.
OMG this book is crazy good! Every step of the way I was with Rosalind. At the end it was especially heartbreaking as Seb took a turn for the worse. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ story x
Thanks for the advanced copy of this one. Over to my ten year old daughter to tell us what she thought...
This is a story about a princess called Eugenie who absolutely hates her royal life. She loves gardening, and although the royal court objects, she spends most of her free time in the palace grounds with the gardener. When visiting a nearby village, Eugenie comes across a young girl - called Alyssa - who is exactly like her: not just in personality, but in looks. Eugenie discovers that Alyssa wants to be a princess, like she wants to be a gardener. In a fit of excitement, they daringly switch places. One tragic day, the kingdom falls ill and after the girls discover a cure, they must work together to prove it....
I love this book because after the first page or so, I felt like Eugenie was my best friend and I'd known her all my life. The storyline is intriguing and once the action had started, I couldn't put the book down. If I had to rewrite the book, I would not change a thing! I would 100% recommend the book to anyone who likes adventure and fantasy. I feel like this book will be a bestseller!
A little too obvious attempt to write about the plight of the homeless through a fantastical prism. Smith always writes smoothly but these thrillers of his are getting boring. I'd love to see a return to the imaginative leaps of his MMS stuff
Grady Hendrix' My Best Friend's Exorcism was one of my favourite horror novels of recent years. It was funny, scary, and touching. For his new book he's swerved into the world of heavy metal and legends of musicians selling their souls in exchange for success. The emotional core of the previous novel has been scaled right back (but it's not gone entirely) and been replaced with MASSIVE RIFFS PLAYED VERY LOUDLY. If MFBE was a sensitive singer songwriter who gets under your skin and speaks to your inner melancholy, then this is Slayer and things being set on fire and exploding. There's some excellent pulpy violence and gore, along with cosmic horror of the kind Stephen King occasionally dabbles in. It's also very good on being a jobbing musician, playing dive bar after dive bar and spending hours and hours in a cramped and shabby van. It is also important to acknowledge the shoutouts to various excellent bands (Wolves In The Throne Room! Earthless!). Ultimately, it's a story of redemption and winning against untold odds, the kind of internal fantasy played out on a hundred metal album covers.
Like all the best metal, this is deadly serious and completely daft at the same time. I'm looking at you, Manowar bandana. Hendrix' last book before this one was a nonfiction work celebrating the covers of horror paperback originals, and this one fits firmly in that lineage. Make no mistake, this is a trashy horror novel. But you know what? I love trashy horror novels, and I'm happy for Grady Hendrix to keep providing my fix.
It was very good - though not really a book you'd read from start to finish in one go (like me). But being perfectly honest, I was totally IN WONDER while reading.
I think this was around from a small press a year or so ago, and has now been picked up by a bigger publisher (in the UK, at least). With good reason, as it's a very strong SF novel that deserves a lot of recognition. The set up is superficially similar to Ian MacDonald's Chaga, but spins out in a very different direction (not least being set in a different country!). It wins points for having a pleasingly unpleasant yet sympathetic protagonist, a new take on the alien invasion genre, and a believable romance subplot. There's plenty of exciting action on the surface but there's also a political subtext there as well if you want it. I look forward to Mr Thompson's next book.
Hines seems to have a reputation as one of the liberal good guys in SFF. Which is odd, because every female character here is a dreadful adolescent male wank fantasy.
Not Priest's best. The multiple viewpoints all have the same voice, as dry and dull as a DIY manual, and the whole alternate reality / parallel dimension thing has been done better elsewhere
Joyce is maybe Britain's best fantasy writer. This is a marvellously evocative tale of coming of age in the late 70s