In the Company of Thieves by Kage Baker
6 January 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Dr Zeus Inc, In the Company of Thieves, Kage Baker, The Company
In the Company of Thieves is a book containing six short stories written by Kage Baker (the final story being completed by Kage’s sister, Kathleen Bartholomew, using notes).
I’ve only read one book of KB’s – The Anvil of the World – which is a brilliant story, imaginative and full of quirky humour which I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to this collection of stories very much and they certainly don’t disappoint.
Apparently the Company, or Dr Zeus Inc as it is sometimes known, is a series of time travelling science fiction stories involving a company whose employees, as well as being immortal can travel back into time – although they are not, apparently, permitted to change the course of history. The stories in this particular book include:
- The Carpet Beds of Sutro Park
- The Unfortunate Gytt
- The Women of Nell Gwynne’s
- Mother Aegypt
- Rude Mechanicals
- Hollywood Ikons
I haven’t read any of the other Company series but having now been introduced I’m definitely interested in making a start – I just need to find the best starting place!
Without question my favourite of the stories was The Women of Nell Gwynne’s. I loved the character Lady Beatrice and her story was fascinating to read. Nell’s house of prostitution isn’t all that it at first seems – Nell’s place is used by The Company to gather information from some of it’s more distinguished visitors whilst they’re in the throes of passion. Run by Nell – a blind woman – who can see now see everything thanks to one of the inventions that she enjoys courtesy of the Company. This particular story involves the girls wangling themselves an invitation to a mansion where a lucrative deal is about to be made with some high rollers bidding for a piece of equipment of great significance. The stakes are high and there’s definitely plenty of danger! This is just a great story. I mean, what happened to Lady Bea is no bundle of laughs but the way she turns her world around is such a treat to read. In my opinion this book is worth reading for this story alone – it’s fantastic. I loved it and I want so much to return to this world.
Mother Aegypt is also a cracking little story that I found really compelling – the main character being a con man called Golesco who becomes involved with an immortal. This is a strange, dark and funny story – with giant chickens! Try to pretend you’re not fascinated if you can.
Rude Mechanicals – involving a great team – Joseph and Lewis. Apparently these are Company story favourite characters and this particular story is a big mash up involving a theatre production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream by a famous theatre producer. The scene Italy – the actual location – Hollywood, the props – virtually a full forest, uprooted and replanted! This staging of Shakespeare’s play has become a Company mission – at the same time however another Company employee is out on another mission involving a rather special treasure. The two missions will of course cross with quite hilarious results. The brilliant part of this story is that it reads like a madcap caper. Things go from one crazy situation to another and it has this totally black-and-white-movie-slapstick-feel – which is quite fitting given it’s set in the 1930’s and Harold Lloyd puts in an appearance. Another great addition to the collection.
Okay. That’s it. I’m not reviewing all the stories here – I need to leave something for you to go and discover yourselves. Take my word for it – they’re good. They’re all different. The writing is ace. There’s humour. There’s sadness. There’s steampunk gadgets and, did I mention, the giant chickens. Go and read them for yourself.
This book was loaned to me by somebody rather lovely – I will return it – I promise!!
I’m submitting this as part of my sci fi reading experience at Stainless Steel Droppings. Check it out here.
I was also approved a copy by Netgalley.
Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells (Book No.1 of Prospero’s War)
5 January 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: book No.1, Dirty Magic, Jaye Wells, Prospero's War
Dirty Magic is one of my December reviews that I’m catching up to posting a review about.
I really enjoyed Dirty Magic, I think it’s a good first book in what promises to be a very entertaining series of urban fantasy books. The main character of the story is Kate Prospero. Kate is a cop working the beat. She actually really loves her job and longs to make a difference on the streets where dirty magic has become a major problem. Unfortunately Kate’s attempts at promotion are mostly overlooked due to prejudices. Kate used to be an adept herself and was being raised as the next in line to take over one of the major districts from her Uncle Abe. Abe Prospero was a main player in the field of dirty magic but is now behind bars and Kate has since sworn off all magic cooking and left her family, and former love interest, behind. She spends her time working and trying to make ends meet and bringing up her brother Danny in a safe environment away from the temptations her family are famous for!
At the start of the story Kate chases down a bad guy through the narrow streets which lead to the cauldron – a bit of a boiling pot of badness and quite appropriately named. During the chase the two end up in a fight resulting in the assailant being shot. It turns out that the now dead guy had taken some sort of dirty magic called Grey Wolf that gave him great strength coupled with an uncontrollable blood lust. It also seems that this drug may shortly be more widely available on the market and to say this will give the police a major headache is something of an understatement.
Coupled with this we are introduced to a local businessman, formally part of the dirty magic business, but now supposedly doing good deeds for the community. John Volos – he’s definitely got the attention of the police and Kate certainly suspects him of being less than squeaky clean and has started giving him more attention than she is entirely comfortable with – given that he was the former love interest that she left behind.
I really enjoyed this to be honest. I think the world building is enough to get you into the frame but not enough to bog you down. Kate is likable and easy to read about. She’s your typical cynical, comes from the wrong side of the tracks cop – hardass and capable of looking after herself. She has a pretty tough life complicated by the fact that most people, including herself, can’t get over her background and family connections.
Following the initial opening scene, where it turns out the junkie that Kate killed during her chase was actually an informant, she finds herself coming to the attention of a new magic investigations team. It seems like somebody has finally realised that they can use Kate’s inside knowledge of the cauldrons and that she might finally have her break to become a detective.
Anyway, I’m going to keep this review short – I enjoyed this book. I thought Kate was interesting to read about with all her internal conflict and I will definitely read more. The supporting cast are also an interesting bunch. We have her brother Danny who is desperately trying to find out more about his family and tentatively wondering if he could be an adept – something that Kate is strongly set against. We have her new colleagues, including the rather dishy Agent Morales, and Mez – who is also an adept who uses his skills to aid his forensics. It was interesting to read about Mez and I did like his character – it gives you an opportunity to see somebody using magic and cooking potions for good reasons. We are also introduced to a rather unusual character in Kate’s informant. This is my first introduction to an homonculous – a fully formed, small man who is attached, literally, to his sister – very unusual and the only thing I could think of by comparison was Kuato from Total Recall.
In terms of criticisms – I haven’t really got any. I suppose you could say this is just one more urban fantasy series and does it bring anything new to what seems to be an already quite busy genre? In answer I think it has it’s own uniqueness, it’s interesting to read about dirty magic and the obvious comparisons to drugs and I think I will enjoy reading about Kate’s struggles. Plus Jaye Wells is a writer who has already written quite a number of well liked books and her writing experience clearly shows in this book. Definitely a series that I will continue to read.
This review is based on an Arc that I was gifted.
Shift by Hugh Howey
3 January 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Hugh Howey, Sci Fi Experience, Shift, Stainless Steel Droppings, Wool
Shift is one of my December reads that I’m just catching up to reviewing. I enjoyed this book – very much actually, but not as much as Wool I have to admit. It is a good book. It’s intriguing and thought provoking but for me it suffers a terrible case of ‘excellent first book syndrome’. That being said I really do think you need to read this book.
Shift takes us back to a different time frame. It has a number of different elements to the story but primarily it’s about answering the whys and wherefores about the silos that we were all gagging to know about after Wool. The problem of course is that Wool built up an incredible amount of tension, I hadn’t anticipated where it was going and so the reveal was shocking and original. Now, to go back to the beginning, when all has already been revealed – well, it’s difficult to match that impact, it’s a bit like watching the Star Wars movies – the later three. They’re prequels and they show you about Darth Vader’s beginnings but they don’t tell you anything new in terms of the story. The fact is, you already know what’s what at this point and everything before is all very nice, but, well, it’s simply not as gripping, is it? However, having given this some thought, I don’t think that Howie could have written this series the other way around, in a traditional linear fashion, I don’t think it would have had anywhere near the impact if he’d started with Shift and then released Wool. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
So, we go back in time. We look at how the silos came to exist – and frankly, it’s a bit of a scary story. We also have a story of Troy, the Chief Controller (sometimes) of Silo No.1. Silo No.1 doesn’t operate like the others where families, lives out their lives with jobs, school, growing food, etc. Silo 1 is the HQ. The Big Brother. It’s watching the other silos and it has the ability to pull the plug! Be afraid people. You may have survived up to now, but, well, don’t let that make you develop a sense of complacency – there is no ‘you made’ it badge, not yet anyway.
On top of this we meet up with Solo. Actually, if you read Wool you’ve already met him but what you get to see now is a silo in panic and a young boy being hidden away by his parents. Only his parents don’t return for him and he lives in his hidey hole, in complete isolation. This does dovetail very nicely with Wool and I enjoyed reading about Solo and his trials and tribulations. In reality I think it’s difficult to believe that he kept such a grip on normality, but, that being said, did he really keep a grip – just thinking of Wool here!
So, we have Troy who is a conundrum. Part of the drugged type of workforce created by the new ‘all powerful forgetfulness wonderdrug’. Except the drug isn’t working quite so effectively on Troy and he’s starting to remember things – remember things that probably should be best left forgotten. This particular storyline is quite sombre to read. All the people in the silo live a strange existence, being brought in and out of deep freeze as and when required to work their shift. There are no women or families in Silo 1 (apparently to stop the men from fighting??)
Basically, there are three timeframes with the three storylines. In the first, it’s totally scary to watch somebody who seems to be in control and trusted to be the caretaker of the future of humanity. In the second, we watch a man breaking down as he starts to realise what he’s actually in control of and with the third scenario we get to see the actual effect on one of the innocent bystanders. For me, this is the beauty of the novel – the differing levels. It’s not just about jumping backwards and forwards in time but more a display of the effects on the survivors.
In terms of criticisms I personally think it would have been difficult to top the first book. The Characterisation in Wool is just amazing and you can’t help loving the people and feeling for them with what they’re going through. You don’t really come to the same point with Shift – it’s literally quite difficult to care about some of these characters – and yet, that’s almost the beauty of the writing. It’s like Howey is proving what he can do as an author. In book one he sucked us in and made us love the majority of the people. I mean I really cared about some of those characters and in a strange way was ever so slightly gutted that we weren’t returning to their storyline in the second book! In this novel it’s difficult to really feel an affinity for any of the characters. You just don’t care about them in the same way, in fact they almost feel like part of the problem. Apart from Solo – whilst you might not think he’s a wonderful character, it is interesting to learn his story and you obviously can’t help feeling sorry for him.
I think the most compelling part of this novel and its predecessor, is, could this really happen? Are we really at the whim of a man who is so out of control?
Read these books – but read them in order!
I’m submitting this for one of my reads of Carl at Stainless Steel Dropping’s Sci Fi event.
Also I received this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review. This is my own opinion.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, Week 1
1 January 2014
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Brandon Sanderson, Dab of Darkness, readalong week 1, The Way of Kings
Welcome to week 1 of the Way of Kings readalong this week being hosted by Dab of Darkness. A readalong that is going to be pretty awesome by the way so you might want to take a peek at the schedule here and throw yourself into this event! It’s not too late. Week 1 covers the Prelude through the end of Chapter 6. If you haven’t read the book you should probably stop reading now for fear of spoilers – unless of course you’re a bit of a glutton for spoilers in which case dive right on in:
1) Is this your first Brandon Sanderson experience? Any expectations going into this read along?
No, I’ve read The Mistborn books (also a readalong which was very enjoyable) and also The Emperor’s Soul which was actually on my best of 2013 list – so based on those you could say I’ve got fairly high expectations. I have faith in Sanderson though, I fully expect that my expectations will be met, or probably exceeded! Also, I know that Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings read this some time ago and loved it and he doesn’t steer me wrong with books!
2) In the Prelude to the Stormlight Archive, we see that Talenel (Taln) died and his sword is unaccounted for. Jerzien and company have decided it is best for 1 to suffer instead of 10. What do you make of this scene?
My first impression was wtf – they’re just leaving Taln in a pretty horrible situation right there. Doesn’t feel very honorable – and also I was a bit puzzled about why they were breaking the pact – but I’m sure all of this will be revealed eventually, they seem to be holding their own? Can’t help thinking that Taln has been greatly wronged – won’t he seek some sort of revenge? Maybe he’ll just turn the other cheek but then again.. maybe not.
3) What did you think of Szeth’s fighting abilities and the fight scenes? Any thoughts on the crystalline sphere and King Gavilar Kholin’s last words?
Sanderson can certainly write a gripping fight scene. He just manages to make the scene come alive for me personally. I can find some fight scenes a little tedious or more to the point difficult to envision but never the scenes he writes. I haven’t got a clue about the sphere to be honest or the last words from King Kholin – I don’t imagine that Sanderson just put that scene in on a whim so something must come from it. In terms of Szeth’s fighting abilities – he was a bit of an unstoppable force wasn’t he – not to mention that sword did give him a massive advantage. Couldn’t help feeling sorry for the King – and at least he didn’t try to run and hide – I thought that was a good twist that he stayed behind to fight.
4) Each chapter proper starts with a few words from a dying person, their station, and status in life. Any thoughts on what these portend?
Mistborn had similar chapter starters and they turned out to be another story in themselves. Not sure if that’s happening here or not but I certainly feel like I need to pay proper attention to them. I wonder whether they relate to some sort of reincarnation type of situation – just wondering why the need to show the status??
5) Kaladin went from warrior to slave in a matter of the first 2 chapters. Care to speculate on the details of how his life changed so drastically?
One minute in the midst of battle then next in a caged truck. For one moment there I thought I’d accidentally flipped ahead on my Kindle by accident. I had to sort of flip back and have a little look just to reassure myself to be honest. I find this development really intriguing (or perplexing) – he’s a great soldier, his men respect him, he tries to help them, he wants to be promoted to fight in a bigger war – why would he be accused of deserting – I mean, obviously, he didn’t desert, that much is evident and equally clearly he’s a strong asset in battle. Part of me thinks perhaps he went missing in action and his men all died? But then that’s clearly not the case – he’s been set up for some reason. Whoever set him up better make damned sure he’s looking over his shoulder though – Kaladin doesn’t seem like the kind of foe that you want to betray and leave alive.
6) Sylphrena (Syl) the Windspren seems attached to Kaladin. Are you enjoying her character? Do you like the Spren in general in the worldbuilding so far?
I love the Spren. Mischievous, curious little sprites that they are – they sort of remind me of Tinkerbell (although they’re not little fairies). I think Syl is a really good addition. The fact that she’s so curious about Kaladin makes me believe that there is something out of the ordinary about him. Time will tell I suppose.
7) Shallan Davar has finally caught up to Brightness Jasnah Kholin and her soulcaster. Jasnah and the jeweled fabril can change stone to smoke; what else do you think it can do?
I wondered whether Jasnah could change her appearance maybe. I read ahead – only by one chapter (so this next thought could be spoilery – although I’m usually quite wrong with my speculation), where Shallan was waiting for Jasnah- the scene with the adept – I couldn’t help thinking it was maybe another challenge?? The way the adept wasn’t bothered about all the respect that Shallan was giving him, also he was fascinated with the picture. And remembering that Jasnah didn’t believe in religion I couldn’t help wondering if it was really her?? But I’ve probably just put two and two together and come out with 4.7!
Great start. Just what I would expect from this author, he doesn’t beat about the bushes or go round the houses just gets straight into things. There’s no major info dumps but there is still plenty of detail to reflect upon. Loving it so far.
My best reads for 2013
So 2013 is winding down to it’s conclusion and it’s time to review my year of books. This is always so difficult to actually choose 10 books that you’ve enjoyed more than everything else you’ve read and I admit that I’ve revised this list a few times. I started out highlighting my favourites then realised I had more than 10. Then I decided if I split this by male and female I could have 10 in each category which is a nice way of cheating and being able to choose 20 books – happy face to that. Then I realised I’m not going to cheat but keep this as I usually do with a list of 10 so some whittling had to take place. From the 20 these are my 10 choices that I absolutely loved without reservation:
- The Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence – I love this series. Unfortunately this is the last one but we are going to return to this world with a new series in 2014 – I’m so excited that I could have an accident! (Probably too much info).
- The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch – this is an amazing series, plus Jean Tannen!
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Neil Gaiman is a legend – if you’ve not read his books then please do so as you’re missing such fine work.
- Cormorant by Chuck Wendig – really dark and gritty, incredibly compelling-can’t-put-down-and-continue-with-normal-life until you’ve finished. Miriam is fantastic to read about – not for the faint hearted mind!
- Zoo City by Lauren Beukes – this was such an original piece of work, I love the world created, also recommend The Shining Girls by this author.
- The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson – only a short piece of work but for me a personal favourite of Sanderson’s.
- Beauty by Sarah Pinborough – I love this series and it was difficult to choose just one – the others being Poison and Charm.
- Miserere by Teresa Frohock – I loved this book, such an unusual world created, very gripping indeed.
- Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb – my first book by this author and now I’ve read it I can’t believe I’ve not read more!! Must rectify that immediately.
- American Elsewhere by Robert Bennett – I worry about this author! Very twisted. Seriously though, his books are amazing!
On top of that my challenges:
100 books in a year hosted by Book Chick City – complete (by the skin of my teeth)
Worlds Without End – Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge complete to December (think we all have a book chosen for us now).
Plus, took part in Vintage Sci Fi by Little Red Reviewer, the Sci Fi Experience by Stainless Steel Droppings, Once Upon a Time and Readers Imbibing Peril by Stainless Steel Droppings. Completed 4 books out of my Classics Club list. Took part in readalongs for The Wee Free Men, Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham and Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch.
To start off 2014 I will be taking part in a readalong of Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings – the details are here – and I believe there may be goodies so come on over (to the dark side) and sign yourself up now – really, it’s going to be awesome!
That’s it for me.
Happy New Year
