Iain Bertram
Sweaty McSwearface and his fearsome band of Australian neerdowells pretending to be people of different nationalities rampage through space simultaneously fighting nazis and the class war. Great beach read with foul mouthed and competent heroines kicking armour played arse. Like Neal Asher but with a sense of humour.
OK, I am biased. A friend wrote this book and just before it was released died suddenly and far too young.
It's mostly well written with decent pacing (not too long) and shows real promise. Definitely worth a try if you can cope with the strong horror elements and war related violence. To increase the chaotic nature of the book it is set during the English Civil war and posits that real witches (of both sexes) existed and were evil.
The book moves along well and the protagonist is well rounded. My main criticisms are that the villains motivations are very sketchy and that some scenes did not ring true using maggots to heal wounds and some of the weapons).
I enjoyed reading about places in Lancaster set where I lived (back when Lancaster was the major north western trading port in England where initial trade with the North American colonies occurred. I have walked through Aldcliffe many timed over the years as well as Sunderland point.
It is a shame we will not have a chance to see Paul improve his writing and have the chance to develop.
In memory of Paul and Jen.
This is the grand finale of the extended story by Genevieve Cogman (who lives in the Northwest of England where I lived for 21 years and got to hear talk at a Literary festival in Lancaster).
The world and characters have been well established by now and all act within character. the denouement is driven by the various sub plots and interactions that have gone before and is in keeping with the powers displayed in the book so far (Dragons must be lawful, Far are narrative driven chaos demons and Librarians will do anything to get a hold of that one book). A nice narrative driven story with appropriate pay off for all of our characters.
It seemed a bit flat but I think that is mostly due to the gap in my reading between this and the previous instalment. This episode doesn't really introduce any new plot elements, just ties up everything that has gone before.
My one nit pick is that Spoilereveryone is far to cavalier about the destruction of multiple worlds with I assume billions of people dying, although that is in keeping with stories usually not caring about the background population.
Reviewed in memory of Jenny Colvin
Another powerful and visceral depiction of African fantasy from Marlon James. I listened to the audio book with a very strong performance by Bahni Turpin who does a stupendous job of bringing Sogolon to life. In this story we follow the life story of Sogolon (the Moon Witch in [b:Black Leopard, Red Wolf 50608676 Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy #1) Marlon James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579618622l/50608676.SX50.jpg 48215793]) and here ongoing struggle with the Aesi (one half of the Spider King). While technically a sequel to [b:Black Leopard, Red Wolf 50608676 Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy #1) Marlon James https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579618622l/50608676.SX50.jpg 48215793] the book goes back further in time and neatly swallows it whole. The change in point of view from a gay man to a woman dramatically changes the context of the book and the themes the book explores . Moon Witch's story is the struggle for self determination and the freedom to make her own decisions and the slow realisation of her power and agency. She is a power and often unlikeable character. I enjoyed the book in spite of its profanity and challenging scenes. There are a lot of situations that are hard to read (sexual and non-sexual violence and coercion, slavery). The story does a good job of dealing with difficult topics without being exploitative (in my opinion).
I learnt a lot about the contributions women made to the Manhatten Project which was great. Unfortunately the second half was too sketchy and there was just not enough detail. Maybe concentrating on a few stories and noting the interactions would have led to a more developed read.
Delighted to have learnt a lot on a topic I have read a lot of in the past.
This book has two things going for it. A great premise and CERn (the protagonist was on D0 + 1 star).
Unfortunately the writing is poor. Far too much time is spent exploring the philosophy and cod physics of the flash forward and not enough exploring the characters and the impact on their lives. As for the ending. Bleachh.
Slightly astonished to see Lovegrove being compared to Ballard.
This book has some good ideas. Unfortunately the plotting is formulaic and the dialogue is abysmal. The characters are stereo types of the worst sort.
Avoid.