‘I’m just going to stay here, in the darkness under the arch. I can hear you all out there, trip-trapping, trip-trapping over my bridge..’
21 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Benedict Jacka, Books by Proxy, Bridges, Friday Face off
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below. This week’s theme:
Bridge “I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to push forward”
This week I’ve gone for a series. The Alex Verus series by Benedict Jack. Lots of bridges sprinkled around both sets of covers. A good series that I do need to catch up with:
vs
I like both sets to be honest but something just screams out at me to pick these covers with the stylised fonts:
Which is your favourite?
Next week – Beach/Seaside
Future themes:
28/04/2017 – Beach/Seaside”Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!”
05/05/2017 – Lion “If you place your head in a lion’s mouth, then you cannot complain one day if he happens to bite it off”
12/05/2017 – Phone “Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it”
19/05/2017 – Plane “When everything seem to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ….”
26/05/2017 – Mice “Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘it might have been’…”
02/06/2017 – Moon “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”
09/06/2017 – Mummy “It shuffles through the dry, dusty darkness”
16/06/2017 – Guitar “You couldn’t not like someone who liked the guitar”
23/06/2017 – Cat “In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this”
30/06/2017 – Hat “It is always cruel to laugh at people, of course, although sometimes if they are wearing an ugly hat it is hard to control yourself “
07/07/2017 – Gold “All that is gold does not glitter”
14/07/2017 – Boats “The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea, in a beautiful pea green boat…”
21/07/2017 – Planet “Any planet is ‘Earth’ to those who live on it”
Friday Firsts : The Moonlight War by SKS Perry
21 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Friday Firsts, SKS Perry, tenacious reader, The Moonlight
Friday Firsts is a new meme that runs every Friday over on Tenacious Reader. The idea is to feature the first few sentences/paragraph of your current book and try and outline your first impressions as a result. This is a quick and easy way to share a snippet of information about your current read and to perhaps tempt others. Stop on by and link up with Tenacious Reader. This Friday I’m reading : The Moonlight War by SKS Perry (one of my SPFBO books).
Tasha eyed the stone causeway that connected the mainland to the city of Vietor. Night was fast approaching. The street lamps were lit and the watch would soon shut the city gates for the evening. He bent forward and vigorously brushed the sand from his long, matted hair, then wiped the grit from his eyes with the tattered sleeve of his robe. A month in the wastelands had left him with sand in places it had no right to be. With luck he had enough money for a room and a bath, and maybe a new pair of boots, but first he had to make the city. Maybe five minutes to cross the bridge, another five to the city gates; he could just make it if he hurried.
He was less than halfway across when he saw the soldiers make their way onto the causeway. A mounted warrior, a Daesho in red lacquered armour, led a line of spearmen spread out across the width of the crossing, arms at the ready as they advanced. A palanquin and its bearers trailed behind, a minor lord, if the only twenty or so retainers were any indication.
Tasha knew he should retreat. Just turn around and clear the bridge until after the procession had passed. The arrogant bastards meant to clear the way, allowing no one to pass until they’d made the far side.
What was one more night spent out of doors? He closed his eyes and shuddered at the thought of the thin sleeping roll slung at his hip. There was still one last bit of dried horsemeat left in his food pouch. He could make do.
My First Impressions
But, does he want to ‘make do’? That is the question. I thought this was a good opening and I was keen to find out more about Tasha and what action he would take. What do you think – did he turn back? Or not??
What you reading this Friday?? What are your first impressions??
*The above excerpt was taken from an advanced reader copy and it is possible that the final version may have further changes.
Game of Shadows by Erika Lewis
Game of Shadows is a tale of adventure, a coming of age story that focuses on a teenage boy called Ethan Makkai. The abridged version of this review is that whilst I don’t think this book worked for me personally, I can certainly see the appeal for the target audience. This is undoubtedly a fun and fast paced read, maybe a little too young for my tastes but still very easy to read and with plenty of imagination.
As the story begins we make the acquaintance of Ethan. He lives in Los Angeles in a cramped apartment with his mother. We immediately learn that his mother is very protective – a tad over protective really, in fact it becomes apparent that Ethan very rarely has a moment of freedom, he is literally shepherded from A to B and back again and whilst he handles this with a good deal more grace than I would be able to muster he’s beginning to push at the boundaries. On the morning of his birthday he finally makes a bold dash to escape his mother’s clutches and scarpers off to school by himself whilst her back is turned. His little moment of liberation however is going to cost him a lot more than he ever expected and within minutes of leaving home it seems that everything goes to hell in a handcart.
Ethan sees dead people – okay, he sees spirits of dead people. They’re drawn to him and maybe this is the source of his mother’s paranoia concerning his safety. On top of this Ethan seems to have attracted the attention of the school bully who seems to take great delight in singling him out for special attention. Ethan’s life may not sound ideal but as he heads to school that morning, accompanied by his friend Skylar, who he secretly harbours a crush on, he really has no idea how lucky he’s been up to this point. Pretty soon he finds himself accosted by the local bully, a number of ghosts and an old sea faring fellow claiming to be his grandfather. He discovers his mother has been kidnapped and in order to find her he must sail the seas and cross over into a completely different world. From hereon in the rules are completely different, the impossible is probable and Ethan begins to discover that his mother has been keeping secrets from him.
I’ll start out with the parts of the book that I liked. I thought the story got off to a very good start, I was intrigued about Ethan, why was his mother so protective, what was the low down with his ability to see spirits. The author really did intrigue me with her suggestion of mystery, ravens that seemed to spy on the small family and a general sense that something was lurking just ready to pounce. I thought the pacing was great – I mean there’s no shortage of action, the author has tried to inject a good dose of humour and frankly I found this a very quick read.
However, my niggles. And these are the areas that I think single me out as not being the target audience. These are just the little things that don’t sit well for me, where once I’ve thought them I can’t leave them alone and they eventually just annoy the hell out of me. Now, I understand that tropes are only tropes because we enjoy them when all is said and done. However, there is a slight feeling that the tropes here are a little too much in abundance (which is another reason why I think a younger reader might enjoy this more, somebody just stepping onto the fantasy ladder where everything feels fresh). For example, Ethan and his mum. Many cliches right here. A mother who, having run away and gone into hiding, completely hides her son’s heritage. Tells him nothing thereby leaving him a good deal more vulnerable than needs be. A young boy who it turns out is not only the heir to the throne but on top of that it seems he has some sort of magical ability (hence the ghosts above).
If we take a closer look at Ethan. I actually started out really quite liking him but that changed a little when he reached the magical continent of Tara. For me, his character seemed in conflict with itself, sometimes he seemed to be downright broody and sulky, petulant almost, and yet at the same time he managed to calmly accept everything that was thrown at him from this strange new world. So, you can sulk because your newly found father shows somebody else more attention than you but a monster chasing you through the woods is nothing to get excited about. Maybe that’s just his terrible teens kicking in.
Then we have the adventure. There’s plenty going on and the author encompasses lots of ideas here as our little band of travellers go on their way. Basically, Ethan has run away from the relative safety of the castle to go in search of his mother. Along the way he manages to acquire the help of his cousin Christian and a young woman, the daughter of one of the generals – who turns out to be a sorceress. The three of them set off to find Ethan’s father, a man who he believed to be dead – and who it seems is something of a rough and ready character who lives a fairly wild existence and will be just the sort that you need on this sort of quest – if you want to know which direction to go in that is. Again, I quite like the idea of the whole adventure and there’s plenty that takes place along the way, but, I had a number of occasions where events were far too easily resolved or where assistance was offered from the strangest quarter. For me, it felt like the plot became a little bit too much of a certainty. Somehow it just drained the story of the tension that should have existed and made me second guess everything along the way.
Overall, yes, I admit that this book wasn’t really for me. I didn’t dislike it by any means, it was a quick read and the pages flew by but I think it’s an adventure story for a younger audience.
I received a copy courtesy of the publisher for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
The Path of Flames by Phil Tucker #SPFBO
19 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: #SPFBO 2016, Phil Tucker, The Path of Flames
My most recent book for the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off was Phil Tucker’s Path of Flames. To be honest, I expected to like this one before I started. The glowing review of the blogger who submitted this book to Stage 2 was so convincing that I actually went and bought book No.2 simply with the expectation that I would be in love and would want to continue on. Thankfully that very much proved to be the case. This was both compelling and fast paced. To be honest I was captivated by the characters and found myself driven to keep on reading even into the early hours of the morning making this a speedy read indeed.
The book gets off to a great start, literally bursting out of the gates with a dramatic battle sequence. From there we quickly build up a picture of the world and it’s inhabitants as the author weaves together a rich story with protagonists that I really cared for and great world building that really helps to set the scene.
I don’t want to really elaborate on the plot as I think that way lies the path of spoilers. It’s probably easier to expand on the story simply by discussing the world building and characters.
Obviously when you read quite a few fantasy novels it’s easy to start to make comparisons and this book is no exception. For me this had elements of Tolkien, Martin Feist and Sanderson thrown into the mix. Not that the story was the same just that there were elements that put me in mind of certain books – but in a way that made me smile and that brought out my inner youngster – the one who first feel in love with fantasy after reading Lord of the Rings. This is well done and has a definite 80s type feel, there is strong world building and the author sets the scene well.
The story is told through a number of POVs.
We start with Asho. Squire to Lord Kyferin he may be but it isn’t a position that brings him any joy. All his peers despise him and his Lord and master, having raised him from the life of a slave on a whim, would like nothing more than to see him fail. Asho is stubborn though and although he’s set up to fail he’s determined to succeed. Asho is from Bythian – which, in a world where the religion is based on caste, placed him at the very bottom of the ladder. His life should have been one of slavery and therefore his elevation in life is greatly begrudged by many.
Lady Iskra. *Slight spoiler ahead*. Finds out fairly early on in the story that her husband has died in battle thereby releasing her from a very unhappy marriage. To say Lord Kyferin was not overly popular with most people is something of an understatement although among his knights he seemed to be well liked. I liked Lady Iskra, or more to the point I felt terrible for her – or just terribly annoyed on her behalf. she lives in a world where women are chattels and although she is quite a steely character she finds herself being mistreated and betrayed in a way that leaves her virtually stranded, in a dangerous world, with few belongings and a scant few friends to aid her.
Kethe – daughter of Lord and Lady Kyferin. Longs to be a knight! She spends all her free time, training in secret and when the time finally comes to prove herself she enters and is given permission to take part by her mother, a tournament. I confess that I loved this section of the story. Up until this point I think Kethe came across a little spoiled – yes, she wanted to break the mould but if she didn’t have such a privileged upbringing she would hardly have had the opportunity to scarper off to the forest to practice swordsplay at every opportunity now would she – a fact that she seems blissfully unaware of. But, her participation in the tournament was so well done. She doesn’t just rush onto the field and kick everyone’s butt – which is the one thing I was scared of, in fact she finds herself unceremoniously knocked to the ground.
Audsley is the bookish character of the piece. He’s a magister and his one aim in life is to be well read. He carries along a bag of tools of his trade and is followed by his faithful and fiery firecat. He’s not the most courageous of the book, at the start anyway, but he pretty soon finds himself pulled into the adventure, probably against his own better advice, and soon becomes rather fundamental to the survival of the group.
Ser Tirón is the dark character of the piece. Well, he has good right to be so. For the last few years he has spent his time imprisoned for trying to kill Lord Kyferin’s wife and daughter. Of course he didn’t simply wake up one morning with that notion. Rather it was brought out of him as a need to avenge himself for the death of his own wife, at the hand of Kyferin – a murder that was carried out simply as a result of petty jealousy. Tiron is released from prison by Lady Iskra because she basically needs all the help she can muster. Whether she can trust him remains to be seen but he is an interesting character.
The final character who we follow is Tharok. Tharok is some kind of Orc (I think). His is an interesting story that sees him, after a long pursuit and a fight to survive, discover a sword and headband that seem to imbue him with strength and power of thought. From here we see Tharok as his plans and ambitions start to take shape. I must admit that I was puzzled about his involvement until much later in his story when he buys, and then frees a human slave – a woman with a connection to one of our other POV characters. It will be really interesting to see how the two stories come together.
I really did have fun with Path of Flames. Admittedly, it’s not particularly ground breaking but even so it is very entertaining and kept me quite riveted. Gates that are used to travel between different realms, battles, tournaments, dark magic, and all sorts of critters.
I certainly recommend Path of Flames without hesitation and I shall be moving onto book No.2 shortly.
Waiting on Wednesday : The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden
19 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Breaking the Spine, Nicky Drayden, The Prey of Gods, Waiting on Wednesday
In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes—the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:
A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .
An emerging AI uprising . . .
And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.
It’s up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there’s a future left to worry about.
First off – check out that awesome cover – it’s bloody brilliant.
Secondly – I read this described as ‘A new voice in the tradition of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor’ – now, obviously you have to be wary of these comparisons and these are big shoes to fill, but even so – it still makes me want to read this!
Thirdly – not long to wait. This is due out 13th June.
Books and travelling with Lynn 