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Playing in the Dark
Neil Gaiman at the Barbican was quite magical. The concert opened with the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing The Sourcerer’s Apprentice and I can think of no better way to set the tone for an evening. Neil then appeared and read short stories and poems and sections from his novels. Amanda Palmer read a poem of his called the Mushroom hunters which was one of the highlights of the evening as far as I am concerned we were also treated to the Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song from Iolanthe which is a real treat if you have never heard it before. The second half opened with one of my favourite pieces of…
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Review: The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman
The Mortal Word was marvellous. Genevieve Cogman does it again and if I thought I couldn’t love Irene, Kai and Vale anymore then I was seriously mistaken. The Mortal Word is the fifth title in this series and once again the world is shaken up this time with a peace treaty between the Dragons and the Fae with the Library acting as Arbiters in the middle. The world-building has become richer as the series has progressed, I love the concept of the Language and maintaining the balance between order and chaos. Beyond this point, there may be spoilers for previous books in the series. I really feel for Irene she…
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Review: Cult of Chaos by Shweta Taneja
I feel very privileged to have read this book as it currently is not available in the UK it is published by Harper Collins India but I think there is a place for this voice in the Urban Fantasy market in the UK and beyond. Anantya is a Tantrist she is a good one too, a bit maverick and an outcast she helps the Dehli Police with their investigations whenever something a bit supernatural happens. The books feel a lot like the Urban fantasy I was reading a little bit Anita Blake and a little bit Patricia Briggs however, what stops it being the Urban Fantasy cliche is the fact…
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Review: I Still Dream by James Smythe
This novel is incredible. No, I mean it this novel blew me away. I am a sucker for books that hit me where I live and James Smythe grabbed me within that first chapter and just refused to let me go. Laura Bow is the protagonist, we meet her at age 16 in 1997. The internet is in its infancy and Laura has to sneak on the dial-up. This was felt so real it could have been me twenty-odd years ago. The novel is about AI Laura is a teenager who yearns to have someone to open up to, her absent father was a programmer and Laura cobbles together a programme…
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Review: The Fairy’s Tale by F D Lee
This a novel with a lot of heart, a good dollop of humour, a sprinkling of politics and an anti-establishment message and it really did me good to read something that didn’t take itself too seriously. Bea is a cabbage fairy, but a cabbage fairy with ambition. She wants to be a Fairy Godmother but this is not the land of fairy tales that we grew up with. There’s a sinister organisation that controls the stories and the denizens of Fairyland are being repressed. The threat of redaction hangs heavy over everyone. This is a wonderfully subversive look at Fairy Tales and it questions the notions of free will, true…
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Review: Witchsign by Den Patrick
This is a powerhouse of an opening to a trilogy. It has everything that I look for in a novel. An Empire that is corrupt and that seeks to illuminate those who are different. It feels so very relevant at the moment with a lot of countries becoming more inward-looking and exclusionary not least the UK and it’s a picture of what life could be like and indeed has been like for those who are do stand out. Steiner is a good lad, he works in the Smithy with his father and he fancies the innkeeper’s daughter. He’s probably dyslexic and he feels like he’s being judged most of the…
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Selecting Next Reads
Selecting books to read, how do you do it? My pile of unread books teeters in various places around the very small London house in which we live. My partner sighs with exasperation at me and not a little fondness as I amass more books than I can get through. I absolutely have the intention to read them, but I never have the time to get through as many as I think I should. There are also many books languishing on my kindle that I need to read too. This can lead to me being overwhelmed by choice when I finish a book. I need to know what I should…
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Review: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Trail of Lightning defies being neatly boxed into one genre. Its post-apocalyptic urban fantasy and is written by a Native American about Navajo characters and concepts. This was new ground for me as a reader and whilst I’ve read a lot of Urban Fantasy set in the US the vast majority has been written by caucasian writers and The Sixth World feels fresh and different. The world-building is superlative, evocative and immediate and a reason why we need more own voices out there for readers to engage with. The main characters are drawn well and are both compelling and flawed. Maggie is a tracker and a Dinetah monster hunter trained…
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The Resurrectionist of Caligo by Wendy Trimboli & Alicia Zaloga
This debut novel collaboration started life as a letter-writing exercise between two friends who assumed the characters that we find in the novel and what grew out of this pastime. Roger is a struggling student of surgery being somewhat disgraced and most certainly impoverished he has turned to graverobbing to fund his surgical studies. His childhood sweetheart is Sybilla princess of the Royal family and well out of his league. The world that the authors have created feels like a romanticised Dickensian London with added magic and intrigue and as it so happens right up my alley as a reader. The kingdom has fairy magic which makes for some inventive…
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Book Club Reads: The Anubis Gates Tim Powers
This what not a great read for me. It was originally published in 1983 and I felt it hasn’t aged well. Brendan Doyle is the protagonist but I couldn’t like the character at all. A Gary Stu a male wish fulfilment character who yes had a lot of crap thrown at him but also bounces back implausibly to everything. It felt like it relied on racial stereotypes and this made me uncomfortable as a reader. I understand that this was published over 35 years ago but the portrayal of ‘gypsies’ really wasn’t great. There was a grand total of one female character of any importance and she was underserved particularly…
