The Luminaries - Book Review

The Luminaries
by Eleanor Catton

Winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize and Canada's Governor General's Literary Award, a breathtaking feat of storytelling where everything is connected, but nothing is as it seems....

It is 1866, and young Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have men in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely ornate as the night sky. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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This is an intimidating book. Weighty in terms of themes, the prestigious prizes it has won, and the clever structuring and style that reflects the planets and the phases of the moon, it is also literally an extremely large book. It’s also a book that seems to have divided opinions considerably, so I was very interested to see what I would make of it.

The story begins with the arrival of Walter Moody in Hokitika, New Zealand, in 1866. He walks in on a meeting of twelve men at the Crown Hotel, and is soon pulled into their discussion of a series of events, and of the sinister man who seems to be behind it all somehow: Francis Carver.

This section of the novel immediately drew me in; mysterious events, a group of such different characters all driven together by fate, a historical setting and a fascinating look into a New Zealand Gold Rush town – all great elements! The events themselves are related in a slightly odd way; each person describes what they experienced to Moody. This isn’t related in direct speech from the person telling their tale, but described in third person as a summary of the events they have just told to Moody. Within these stories, other characters might tell their own story, sometimes also related in third person rather than direct speech. This can become quite confusing, particularly if listening to the audiobook, as it is harder to flick back to find out whose point of view we are seeing events from, and because events are often told in the narrator’s voice rather than a recognisable character’s voice. This isn’t a fault with the audiobook, but is a result of the slightly odd way that the story is related in the beginning section. There are also moments where the reader appears to have been given more information than Moody has been told – for example, would a man describing to another man something that happened to him really break off mid story to deeply analyse another person’s character?

After the meeting of the men at the Crown Hotel, the story continues and slowly little things begin to be revealed as the chain of events is unravelled. It becomes clear that every detail mentioned in the story is significant, that everything ties in to the greater story that’s being told. This is extremely well planned and executed, and I really enjoyed seeing all the different threads pulling together. This doesn’t happen all at once, at the end of the book, but steadily and surely throughout the story. It’s carefully and brilliantly done.

The sheer amount of characters in this book is a little confusing to begin with. I had a hard time keeping track of who was who, something that is a bigger problem in the audiobook because you can’t flip to the front for the cast of characters. Thankfully, the narrator is very skilled at giving each character a distinct voice, so though I couldn’t always remember at first what a specific person’s background and profession was, I always knew exactly who was speaking. The large cast of characters becomes a strength later on in the story once the reader has wrapped their head around who is who, much like in something like Game of Thrones, where the interactions and connections between different people, the little co-incidences, and being able to see a situation from all sides, really brings the whole thing to life. Unfortunately, some characters were more rounded out than others, and some who were explored deeply at the beginning were almost forgotten later. In the end, perhaps there simply were too many people for one book to deal with.

The main characters are each connected to a celestial body, astrology being an important theme running through the novel. This was clever, but I do wish the author had let the reader assess each character for themselves through the characters’ actions, rather than suddenly breaking the story each time a new person was introduced in order to describe their disposition, hopes and dreams and character traits in extensive detail.

The structure of the novel was another aspect that reflected the movements of the heavens, in this case the phases of the moon. The early chapters start off very long, becoming shorter and shorter in proportion to the waning of the moon until the final chapters are mere slivers of the beginning sections. This structure is alluded to on the front cover of the book. I really liked this and thought it was a clever touch, but there were some points where the story perhaps suffered a bit from the need to stick to this structure. Most notably this was in the middle, where the story began to drag a bit, for me, and at the very end, where the chapters were so short the introductory sentences at the beginning of each one had to sum up all the events, telling us rather than showing us what happened.

However, what I did love about this approach was the strong fatalistic feeling that this connection with the heavens gave to the story. There are also many references to the paranormal – ghosts, séances, astrology, visions, weird connections between people. Even the name ‘Crown Hotel’ has associations with Dracula. I loved these aspects, and I particularly liked how many of the stranger happenings were explained logically, but not in a way that entirely convinced, or that wrapped up everything. For example, the strange connection between two characters was still a little mysterious, and I don’t think Moody’s vision at the beginning was ever really explained. This leaves the reader with the feeling that there are still mysteries in the world, and forces that move us beyond our control.

The Luminaries is an interesting book, different in many ways from things I’ve read before. I appreciated the clever structure reflecting the themes and ideas in the story, as well as the possible supernatural elements and the feeling of fate guiding the characters’ interactions. I do think the book was too long and that the story would have benefited from some cuts, especially in the middle section, and in some places the book was perhaps a little too clever for its own good. But overall this is a fascinating and impressive read in which everything is connected and all events pull together into a satisfying ending. The narrator reads the audiobook extremely well and I really enjoyed listening to it!


I received a review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Shadows Over Innsmouth - Book Review

Shadows Over Innsmouth
edited by Stephen Jones

Innsmouth, that isolated New England fishing village where “the vast huddle of sagging gambrel roofs and peaked gables conveyed with offensive clearness the idea of wormy decay.” A desolate place where the bulging, watery eyes of the residents stared from misshapen skulls, and a musty stench blended hideously with the town’s fishy odour. This is the setting of one of H. P. Lovecraft’s most famous tales, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, where hideous chants echo from Devil Reef and the Hall of Dagon.

Under the unblinking eye of World Fantasy Award-winning editor Stephen Jones, sixteen of the finest modern authors contribute stories to the canon of Cthulu. (Synopsis from back of book)

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I’ve read so many Lovecraftian stories now, enjoyed Cthulu mythos based books, movies and games, and am very familiar with the ideas and iconic elements of Lovecraft’s creation, but oddly, until this collection, I’d never actually read one of the original Lovecraft stories. This collection begins with The Shadow Over Innsmouth, which was pretty much exactly what I expected. The story is a slow starter, perhaps a little rambling in places, but with a great sense of atmosphere and, of course, a fantastically realised setting.

The other stories in the collection are all the works of other authors, all within the Cthulu mythos and with a connection to Innsmouth and to the events of the original Lovecraft story. The modern writers here are all men and all British, the former fact a bit disappointing and the latter just odd. Innsmouth itself is in America, and these stories are mostly set in America too, many in the Innsmouth area, and a few in Britain and Ireland (with one very notable exception set in Romania). The stories that break away from Innsmouth add a bit of variety, but it’s a shame that we don’t see the effect of these sinister events on more different places and cultures, and the arms of the cult of Dagon creeping over the world. There are only so many identical sleepy American towns and seaside British villages that a reader can take...

These stories, on the whole, offer exactly what you might expect from a collection of Lovecraftian stories. This is one of the strengths of the collection, but, unfortunately, I think for me it was also the main problem. I wanted to see a bit more of the unexpected. After a while, the horror and the creepy aspect of the stories begins to wear very thin as you realise that the plots and the tone of the stories mirror each other very strongly. The book continues at the same semi-religiously-paranoid pitch for large chunks, which is perfectly spot-on-Lovecraftian, but to the extent that I began to feel a little sorry for the fish-creatures and found myself taking their side a bit. Probably not the intended reaction, and not the fault of any one story, but the effect of the anthology as a whole. I understand that this collection is supposed to celebrate the original story, but I do think it’s possible to do that without having so many stories that are so similar to it. I wanted to be surprised and amazed. I wanted to see the authors really make the Lovecraftian elements their own.

This is why certain stories really stood out for me, the ones that take the familiar ideas and play with them, twist them a little, or use the atmosphere of the original story in a very different setting. These stories were Only the End of the World Again, by Neil Gaiman, and A Quarter to Three, by Kim Newman, which use a more playful attitude to give us a fresh look at Innsmouth and the kinds of people involved in the weirdness there, Down to the Boots, by D. F. Lewis, which offers a different perspective from the other stories, and The Homecoming, by Nicholas Royle, which I thought was a fantastic story and very clever in its use of the same paranoid atmosphere of the original, but applied to very different circumstances. Part of the horror for the narrator in A Shadow Over Innsmouth seems to come from a Victorian-like fear of the foreign ‘infiltrating’ society, having something of a similar feel to certain chapters in Dracula. The Homecoming uses this idea in very interesting ways, as we see citizens of a post-dictatorship Romania in constant fear of each other, and of what kinds of people may have infiltrated their world, and of a form of evil that appears to be immortal – one wave of fish-things may be defeated, but paranoia and cruelty never die. This story was so unexpected and yet made so much sense, and it was definitely my favourite of the anthology.

None of the stories in the collection were bad. To See the Sea, by Michael Marshall Smith, and Daoine Domhain, by Peter Tremayne, were, for me, particularly good examples of that heavy sense of foreboding and lurking evil that are so iconic to the Cthulu mythos. It’s just that I did get a little tired of reading one after another. I’d recommend reading a story every now and then, when you’re in the mood for something Cthulicious, rather than reading it all in one go like I did. There is plenty to enjoy here for the hardcore Lovecraft fans, but, ultimately, a little disappointing for me.


Thank you to Titan Books for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Best Served Cold - Book Review

Best Served Cold
by Joe Abercrombie

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers and priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employers' taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Barbarian who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I’ve been curious about Joe Abercrombie’s books for a while, and this one in particular has been recommended to me many times, so I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did! This is such a fantastic book – a great story, some amazing characters, and pretty much perfect plotting and pacing. This is definitely a new addition to my favourites shelf!

The story really centres around Monza and Shivers, two characters who are caught up in Monza’s revenge quest. There are other characters involved too (fantastic ones – I particularly loved the poisoner’s assistant Day, and Cosca, the drunken ex-mercenary), but Monza and Shivers are the two that most felt like this is their story. Monza is obsessed with revenge; she is set on killing the men responsible for her brother’s murder and her attempted murder. Shivers has moved to Styria from the north in order to be a better man. He doesn’t have a fixed idea how to go about this, just a vague notion that he needs to change his life, to get away from killing, and to have more faith in people. Ironically, he is almost immediately pulled into Monza’s revenge schemes, and he quickly becomes too attached to her to be able to back out.

I found both Monza and Shivers to be fascinating characters. Shivers begins with such high hopes about being a ‘better man’, and Monza scoffs at the sentiment. Monza has built such a thick wall around her that it is hard for anyone to see the real person and the real feelings beneath. As a mercenary leader, she has had to be tough, and has learned to rationalise any violent behaviour and to treat mercy as weakness. Through her cold pursuit of revenge, Shivers is sucked into this way of thinking and ‘good’ and ‘bad’ begin to lose meaning for him. On first reading, this could easily seem like Monza has ruined him, but I don’t think it is that simple at all. Shivers, underneath the surface, is a violent man. I think he is attempting to be a better person more out of an idea that this is what he should want to do, rather than out of genuine feelings of remorse or concerns about his choices. He seems very quick to accept Monza’s work, all too willing to continue on with her, and her protestations that mercy is a weakness seem to make a lot of sense to him. I got the feeling that he has been pretending, and that when Monza gives him an excuse to stop pretending, he is relieved.

Monza is also pretending. She is a better person than she believes herself to be, better than Shivers, but she has become so used to hiding this that she has begun to believe her own lies. In her quest for revenge, she still shows mercy and regret, and wants to avoid as much innocent suffering as possible. The gulf between her character and that of the poisoner Morveer, for example, is huge. When the inevitable collateral damage begins to escalate, she uses this pretence as a shield so that she doesn’t have to think about the consequences of her actions. It is therefore very interesting to see where both Monza and Shivers end up by the final chapter of the book. You could say that both have changed considerably, being led in completely different directions by Monza’s obsession with revenge. However, I believe that neither of them has really changed at all, but rather they have been shown their true selves, and come to realise who they really are and what they really want.

This is so cleverly written, turning what could have been a simple but enjoyable tale of revenge into something much deeper and quite fascinating. In amongst the fights and the schemes and the action scenes (very well written action scenes, which I can find a bit boring in some fantasy, but not here!) were comments on war, violence, power, addiction and obsession. Revenge is shown to be a never ending cycle that sucks in everyone around it, in a similar way to war and betrayal. Monza’s quest is going on against a backdrop of war and shifting loyalties that feels as inevitable as her own actions. Both seem doomed – fail or succeed, there’s no victory in either, not really.

If that sounds a bit depressing, remember that this is ‘grimdark’. Except that... well, I actually don’t think that it is. Weirdly, this is a very hopeful book, with an ending that suggests there is a certain amount of goodness in people. Yes, there is violence (a lot of it - this is quite a gory book), but there is also life and hope, and plenty of humour. I think Joe Abercrombie strikes the perfect balance here, actually. His story is realistic, brutally so, but also cheeringly so. In the real world, there is a lot of good swirling around with the bad; it’s messy, and it’s life.

Another thing the author manages to get spot on is the pacing and plotting. There were several times that I didn’t know how he was ever going to resolve something, or where he could go at a particular point in the narrative, and every time he surprised me, and every time it felt exactly right. The twists and turns, the betrayals, the character changes, the reactions, and the weird quirks of fate, are all perfectly handled.

Have I gushed about this enough? :-) I enjoyed this book immensely, and will certainly be reading more of Joe Abercrombie’s books in future. Highly recommended!

Book Review - The Universe Versus Alex Woods

The Universe Versus Alex Woods
by Gavin Extence

A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn't had the easiest childhood.

But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count.

So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing...

Introducing a bright young voice destined to charm the world, The Universe Versus Alex Woods is a celebration of curious incidents, astronomy and astrology, the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the unexpected connections that form our world. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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This was another of the books I’m reading for the Richard and Judy Book Club Challenge, hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. I enjoyed the first book I read as part of the challenge, so I had high hopes for this one too, and I did really like it.

The book starts with the end of the story, when Alex suffers an epileptic attack while stopped at customs, with marijuana in the glovebox and an urn full of ashes on the front seat. Alex is in big trouble, with the whole country in uproar about something he has done, but we don’t know what yet. The story is then propelled into the past as Alex decides to explain exactly what happened to him that led him to this moment.

I’m not often a fan of the ‘start at the end’ kind of story. Sometimes it works very well, but if it’s not used for a story that really needs to be told that way, or if the events leading up to that moment are actually more boring than the event itself, then it can just be frustrating. Here, it largely works well. Alex begins by telling us about an unlikely but true event in which he was struck by a meteorite. This has a large impact on his life, and leads him down certain paths, which eventually causes him to meet an old American man, Mr. Peterson, who lives in his village. They strike up an odd but funny and heart-warming friendship. I loved the character of Mr. Peterson and really enjoyed the parts of the book where he and Alex interacted and discussed life and literature.

I did feel, however, that the ‘middle section’ of the novel dragged a bit. For me, this book was too long, and I would have preferred things to move more quickly towards the events that we saw at the beginning, and to the resolution. Alex sometimes takes too long to explain things to the reader that, while it makes sense that Alex finds them interesting, to the reader might be less so, and might not seem so relevant to his overall story. I think the book would have been more enjoyable, and the messages and emotional impact much stronger, if it had moved just a little quicker, focussing more on Alex and Mr. Peterson and less on some of the other things that happened. Having said that, it does have a very strong end, and I was quite surprised when I finally realised what Alex’s mysterious, controversial actions (which were hinted at the beginning of the book) were going to be.

Alex is written convincingly and has a compelling voice, and though I sometimes found him a little hard to relate to, I did really like him as a narrator and main character. This is a very thoughtful book with a lot to say about the world and the assumptions and rules people make for themselves, and Alex’s very simple, matter-of-fact way of telling the story really worked well for this. The book left me with lots to think about, and there were some very moving moments.

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky - Book Review

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky
by Simon Mawer

Barely out of school and doing her bit for the war effort, Marian Sutro has one quality that marks her out from all the others - she is a native French speaker. It is this that attracts the attention of the curious Mr Potter who calls her to an interview in an anonymous office in London. Potter is a recruiting officer for the Special Operations Executive, which trains agents to operate in occupied Europe. So it is that Marian finds herself undergoing commando training, attending a school for spies, and ultimately, parachuting from an RAF bomber into the South-West of France to join the WORDSMITH resistance network.

However, there is more to Marian's mission than meets even the all-seeing eyes of the SOE. Before long a friend from the past returns and it soon seems that Marian could hold the key to the future of the whole war effort. A fascinating blend of fact and fiction, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is an old-fashioned adventure about a woman who did the most extraordinary things when the ordinary was not enough. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I picked this book up as part of the Richard and Judy Book Club reading challenge. It started off very well, with Marian being dropped from a plane into occupied France, and then moving back to show how she was recruited to be a spy. I found myself grabbed by the book straight away. However, at this point it began to slow down a lot, and it took a long time to get back to France. Marian’s spy training was summarised and breezed over, which I found disappointing, and the way it was written made me feel disconnected from the story in a similar way to how Marian seemed to be disconnected from it, as if she were never really taking things seriously. This was portrayed well, but I did find it a little frustrating, and I thought some of Marian’s motives and feelings were hard to fathom at this point.

When the story finally winds itself back round to Marian being dropped in France, it immediately drew me in again. Marian’s missions in rural France almost feel a little like a game, tinged all the time with a sense of vague menace, which is in sharp contrast to the extreme tension and heavy, serious atmosphere when she is in Paris. I thought the author did an excellent job of capturing the fears and despair of a city under occupation, of the constant suspicion and anxiety. These sections were also paced perfectly, and Marian’s double mission within the city was interesting. The author writes very well, with little details that really set the scene.

Marian herself I found a sometimes wonderful and sometimes baffling character. She never seems to quite know what she wants, and the frivolity with which she makes major decisions is frustrating at first. However, we see her grow up a lot and really begin to understand just what’s at stake. We see her begin to connect with things and people in a way that she didn’t seem to in England. She’s confused about her place in life, and about her feelings for two different men, and there are points where this takes over the novel too much. Marian’s choice at the end of the book, though a little maddening, felt exactly right for her character. She had finally chosen something, firmly, for herself. In the end it wasn’t a choice of which man, or even what was practical, but what kind of person she wanted to be. I’m still not sure how I feel about the very end itself, but it did suit the themes and mood of the novel.

A slow first half that left me feeling disconnected, followed by a much stronger second half with some tense and gripping sections. Characters that were frustrating but also genuine, and a main character who grew a lot in interesting ways throughout the novel. A couple of almost-romances that sometimes dominated the plot too much, but a fantastic sense of setting and some lovely writing. This book often hopped between extremes for me, but overall I enjoyed it, and I loved the sections set in Paris.

Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane - Book Review

Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane
edited by Jonathan Oliver

Amazon (UK) (USA)

They gather in darkness, sharing ancient and arcane knowledge as they manipulate the very matter of reality itself. Spells and conjuration; legerdemain and prestidigitation – these are the mistresses and masters of the esoteric arts. Magic comes alive in their hands. British Fantasy Award nominee, Jonathan Oliver, gathers together sixteen stories of magic, featuring some of today’s finest practitioners, including Audrey Niffenegger, Christopher Fowler, Gemma Files, Thana Niveau, Robert Shearman, Will Hill, Sarah Lotz, Storm Constantine, Dan Abnett, Sophia McDougall, Alison Littlewood, Lou Morgan, Gail Z. Martin and others. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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Magic is my absolute favourite subject matter in fiction, and so a whole anthology of stories based on this theme definitely grabbed my attention. Most of the stories in the collection lean towards the darker side of the subject, exploring more sinister uses and sources of magic. There are stories about demons, magic used to kill and hurt others, dark energy, obsession, curses and more. The cover really does a great job of capturing the mood of the collection; it’s definitely dark fantasy, and many of the images and atmosphere of the stories will linger with you.

As with all short story collections, there are going to be some stories that are a hit and some that are a miss, and this is likely to be very subjective. Personally, I found this quite a strong anthology, with plenty of stories that kept me interested, and I think there will certainly be something here for everyone. The majority of stories were enjoyable, many very gripping or moving, a few forgettable ones (and one I would really like to forget), and some that I would happily read if they were to be turned into longer novels or series. In general the stories are quite short and well paced. I found myself reading through the whole collection very quickly.

Although I really enjoyed the collection, I did feel like it might have been nicer to have a bit more variety in the settings and type of magic used. The majority were set in modern day or more recent past, and the magic tied to the supernatural, giving the collection an urban fantasy feel. I would have liked to see a little more mysterious, unfamiliar, traditional fantasy, and fairytale magic explored as well, and it would have been interesting to see how the authors might have given that a dark twist and their own original spin.

My favourites in the collection were The Wrong Fairy, by Audrey Niffenegger, a wonderfully atmospheric story involving fairies, addiction and madness; Do As Thou Wilt, by Storm Constantine, a unique and clever look at modern witches and the power people have, with some very subtle magic; MailerDaemon, by Sophia McDougall, a very creepy, and at the same time surprisingly beautiful story; Buttons, by Gail Z. Martin, a great little urban fantasy; The Art of Escapology, by Alison Littlewood, another creepy story in a very different way, well told; and Shuffle, by Will Hill, which managed to tell a lot of story with so little revealed, as if the story itself is a magic trick.

I enjoyed this collection, and I think those who like stories about magic, urban fantasy, or dark fantasy involving the supernatural, will easily find something to like here.

Zenn Scarlett - Book Review

Zenn Scarlett
by Christian Schoon

When you're studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school... is a different kind of animal.

Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and she's feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can't deny what she's feeling.

Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year... (synopsis from Goodreads)

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This is an interesting book to review, as it had many high points but also quite a few small lows for me. Because of this, the review might seem as though it’s leaning towards the negative, but it’s important to establish first that I actually really loved this book. It held my interest all the way through, and despite some problems I found it a fascinating and well-executed idea. I’m definitely looking forward to more books set in this universe.

So, first off, this isn’t really a story so much as a collection of episodes, like one of those TV series that follows around the local country doctor or vet. Which is funny, because this book actually is about a vet. Or rather, about exo-vets, a clinic on Mars that cares for and treats alien animals. I know, what a fantastic concept, right? The book follows Zenn Scarlett, a young exo-vet in training, as she goes through her duties at the cloister (clinic), attempts to pass her tests, and treats all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures. Almost all children want to be a vet at some point when they’re growing up so that they can work with animals, and I can really see this appealing to a younger reader. The characters, story and themes also seemed suited to the younger YA reader. Zenn can be rather naive, and a lot of the moral messages are stated very simply, repeated often, and pushed quite heavily.

This can get a little frustrating at points, as I do in fact agree with the main message, but also felt very sympathetic towards the ‘towners’. After all, the exo-vet cloister is keeping some animals that would kill humans if they were to escape, despite Zenn’s protestations otherwise. In fact, there is an incident that kinda revolves around this very point. Clearly hostility and sabotage are not the answers, but at the same time, the cloister could reach out a little better to the locals, as Otha himself realises later in the book. I felt like there was some subtlety missing from the moral messages and particularly from the reactions of the characters (particularly at the end – would this one incident be enough to overcome so much fear and suspicion?).

The book is mainly made up of episodes involving the treatment or care of different creatures, and in a sense this is quite repetitive. The animals are interesting, but many of them are similar (a lot seem to be giant versions or mixes of Earth animals), and I had hoped for a few really alien aliens. There is a mystery tying the whole thing together – who is trying to sabotage the clinic and why? – and a threat to the cloister in the upcoming council’s vote. This is kept in the background until near the end, and the larger mysteries of the novel – Zenn’s mother, Zenn’s father, the Indra incidents, Zenn’s weird mind communication with animals – are all left for future books to explore. This is a little disappointing, as the greater story doesn’t really kick in until very close to the end, meaning that the pace suddenly picks up and the drama really gets going, and then... it ends.

However, although this sounds like a major flaw, it actually really isn’t. I enjoyed this story a lot, simply following Zenn around and learning about all the animals. This first book could be seen almost entirely as a worldbuilding book, setting the scene for later novels, and yet, the worldbuilding is so good that it doesn’t matter at all. The atmosphere and setting are perfect; Mars really feels like a backroads, almost cowboy-ish world, and the societies and people felt so real. There are hints about what’s happening on Earth, and hints about other worlds and cultures beyond Mars, and a fantastic solution to FTL travel that involves alien animals, which is extremely appropriate to the story. This isn’t just a story about space vets, which is itself an interesting enough idea; it’s clearly a well thought-out universe in which exo-vets are actually completely vital, due to the method of space travel employed. This is really well done.

The characters themselves are largely good too, though Liam is somewhat bland and Zenn can be a little whiny at times and preachy at others. I also think Zenn must have flunked her dice roll when it came to assigning wisdom. High intelligence, low common sense. Most readers will probably see who has been sabotaging the cloister very early on, and then begin to second guess because it’s just so obvious. However, Zenn is mostly a very likeable and sympathetic character, and many of the side-characters, such as the sheriff and Vic, are fantastic. Hamish was my favourite, and I so desperately wish rikkasets were real. I want my own Katie!

Overall, Zenn Scarlett is a very fun and enjoyable book, quite slow moving and episodic, but with enough in it that kept me engaged and interested throughout. I’m looking forward to reading more set in this fantastic universe, especially as it seems as though the plot is about to really pick up steam in the next book.


Thank you to Strange Chemistry and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Stars My Destination - Book Review

Gully Foyle, Mechanic's Mate 3rd Class.

EDUCATION: none
SKILLS: none
MERITS: none
RECOMMENDATIONS: none

That's the official verdict on Gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman.

But right now he is the only survivor on his drifting, wrecked spaceship, and when another space vessel, the Vorga, ignores his distress flares and sails by, Gully becomes obsessed with revenge. He endures 170 days alone in deep space before finding refuge on the Sargasso Asteroid and returning to Earth to track down the crew and owners of the Vorga. But, as he works out his murderous grudge, Gully Foyle also uncovers a secret of momentous proportions... (Synopsis from Amazon UK. Click here for The Stars My Destination on Goodreads.)

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This is one of those sci-fi classics that you hear a lot about, that everyone says you should read, but that you never really get around to buying because there are so many new books coming out all the time. But thankfully my husband bought me this one for Christmas, and I’m so glad he did. This book is fantastic, packed full of ideas and such a gripping story; I can certainly understand why it’s considered a masterwork of science fiction.

At its most basic level, The Stars My Destination is a revenge story. Gully Foyle, left to die out in space, wants revenge on the ship that abandoned him to his fate. At first his revenge mission is basic and not very well thought through; he attacks the physical ship itself in its shipyard. But Gully soon learns patience and forces himself to get into a much longer game, determined to find the person responsible for the order to leave him. This not-so-simple mission of revenge pushes him to his limits, forcing him to learn and adapt, and to discover skills that seemed impossible.

I found the revenge mission itself interesting and compelling; when I thought about it, it’s actually quite a rare kind of revenge story. Most stories based on revenge involve a person trying to gain justice for what was done to another person – a wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, brother or sister, mother or father (so many revenge stories are based on the death of parents) etc. It was fun to read about a victim trying to get some payback for himself, for once.

Having said that, Gully Foyle doesn’t stay a victim for long. He’s definitely an anti-hero, and he does enough things in the book to make him unlikeable, and yet, I couldn’t help wanting him to succeed. It also helped that while Gully started off a brute, he gradually began to grow a conscience and to see the bigger picture beyond his own petty quest. Though I’m sure reactions to him will vary (for some, he might have gone too far to ever be forgiven), his character arc is a very interesting and believable one. The author also does a great job of showing the collateral damage of Gully’s mission, unexpectedly reintroducing characters who had the misfortune to be brought into his circle of destruction, and showing how he has affected their lives for the worse. With sometimes surprising compassion, the collision of Gully’s story with others’ also explores how certain science fictional advances have disempowered various members of society.

Despite having a strong main character, the book isn’t simply character-driven, and it’s also about a lot more than revenge. Gully is more important than he realises, and soon there are several groups of people trying to find him, with intergalactic peace and perhaps even the fate of humanity at stake. There are so many ideas in this book, and so much happens, that it’s hard to believe it’s so short. There really isn’t any padding; the story shoots through years and space, exploring a number of different societies and people. It also explores how one development in human evolution – the ability to teleport large distances with the power of the mind (called ‘jaunting’) – has had incredible ramifications, and how this has affected all levels of society. The author really thinks this through, and the universe he has created is fascinating.

You also have to give it to the author for managing to begin the story with an entire chapter of infodump that is completely absorbing. This is pretty much Rule No.1 on the List of Writing Don’ts, and yet here it really works. This is probably due to the entertaining and conversational way that the information is given, avoiding the feeling of simply being presented with a history textbook.

This book was surprising and unexpected in many ways – in the depth of the worldbuilding and the author’s observations on human behaviour and society, in the compelling anti-hero main character, in his simple yet exciting mission, and in the sheer amount of ideas and events in this short, fast-paced book. I didn’t always agree with the messages that I think the author was trying to get across, but I did find it an entertaining and thought-provoking read. This certainly deserves to be considered a science fiction masterwork, and has convinced me that I need to pick up more of sci-fi and fantasy’s older classics.

Artificial Evil - Book Review

Three hackers. A deadly plot. One chance to save humanity.

2153. Post-cataclysm. The last city exists beneath a dome where the mysterious benefactors 'The Family' tightly control the population with a death lottery and a semi-autonomous network.

All is well until the day family man Gerry Cardle, head of the death lottery, inexplicably finds himself the no.1 target of a malicious Artificial Intelligence. Gerry's numbers are up, and he has just 7 days to save himself, find the source of the AI, and keep the last stronghold of humanity safe.

Gerry finds help in the shadows of the city from two rogue hackers: Petal - a teenage girl with a penchant for violence, hacking systems and general anarchy, and: Gabriel - a burnt-out programmer-turned-priest with highly augmented cybernetics.

With his new team, Gerry discovers there is more beyond the dome than The Family had let on, and his journey to find the source of the AI leads him through a world of violence, danger, and startling revelations.

Everything is not as it seems. Gerry is not who he thinks he is. Evil can be coded…. Can Gerry and his friends stop it before it destroys humanity? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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Artificial Evil combines cyberpunk with a post-apocalyptic world. Many, if not all, cyberpunks tend to take place in some kind of dystopian future, but this felt quite unique to me, merging computer speak, hackers and high levels of tech with a desert-wasteland landscape where much of civilisation has been destroyed.

These two sub-genres actually seem slightly incongruous together – how is it possible for the kind of sleek, high-tech gadgetry and virtual reality of cyberpunk, not to mention its themes of militant capitalism and evil corporations, to exist in a world that has been decimated and where physical resources are scarce? Post-apocalyptic stories tend to feature bands of humans fighting for their lives, perhaps re-building civilisation, not hacking elite security networks and constructing artificial life.

However, the author does pull this off extremely well. There’s City Earth, a domed super-city more reminiscent of cyberpunk settings, protected from the ravaged outside world. Inside, the populace is controlled by The Family, a mysterious and powerful organisation. Outside the city the world is a wasteland, but survivors cling to their old way of life, with machinery and gadgets and even robots. There are computers left from before the Cataclysm, and life-forms that are part-human, part-A.I., as well as some intelligent individuals with their own mysterious agendas. Add to this the idea that evil can be programmed, and viruses infiltrating the city and its people like demons. Gerry and his friends are techxorcists, hackers skilled enough to be able to ‘exorcise’ the demons from the network.

There are so many ideas swirling around in this book, and the author keeps them under control at all times, so that they seem to slide naturally together. The overall feeling is of something between Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Mad Max and The Exorcist. It’s kinda crazy, but it works.

While the world feels convincing, at the same time it seems slightly deceptive or false, like a high-def TV screen showing one, polished version of reality, as if we can never be quite sure what’s real and what’s not. The latter element complements the story perfectly, as everything Gerry has known collapses around him and he’s left struggling for answers as well as having to question his own humanity. Gerry is a very easy character to like; he’s confused but quick to adapt, is compassionate and skilled, he’s been cruelly torn from his old life, and despite everything that’s happened to him he manages to be sympathetic without being angsty. The book did remind me a few too many times just how special Gerry is, which got slightly annoying at points, but the revelation of who (or what) he is was very interesting.

The story is exciting and races forward from beginning to end without any bits that drag. There’s enough mystery to really intrigue the reader, but plenty of action and character development to keep all the unanswered questions from dominating the plot. Most of these are addressed at the end (in a great finale), with some cliffhangers for the second book. There’s also a satisfying revelation about The Family, turning them from what could have been a clichéd ‘bad guy’ into something much more ambiguous. I really liked this; it took the concepts and themes of cyberpunk but played around with the typical all-out-evil corporation-villain of the genre, while also exploring the more post-apocalyptic focus on normal humans' mistakes and immorality, and the fight to survive. I thought the book raised some interesting questions about evil (appropriately enough considering the title): where does evil come from? Can it be programmed? I would have liked the concept of artificial evil to have been explored even further, but I’m hoping that will be touched on more in the sequels.

An exciting story, good characters, a really well-written world, and quite a unique vision of a future setting – I really enjoyed Artificial Evil and I'm looking forward to book two!


Thank you to Colin F. Barnes for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Geek Girl - Book Review

Harriet Manners knows a lot of things. She knows that a cat has 32 muscles in each ear, a "jiffy" lasts 1/100th of a second, and the average person laughs 15 times per day. What she isn't quite so sure about is why nobody at school seems to like her very much. So when she's spotted by a top model agent, Harriet grabs the chance to reinvent herself. Even if it means stealing her Best Friend's dream, incurring the wrath of her arch enemy Alexa, and repeatedly humiliating herself in front of the impossibly handsome supermodel Nick. Even if it means lying to the people she loves.

As Harriet veers from one couture disaster to the next with the help of her overly enthusiastic father and her uber-geeky stalker, Toby, she begins to realise that the world of fashion doesn't seem to like her any more than the real world did.

And as her old life starts to fall apart, the question is: will Harriet be able to transform herself before she ruins everything? (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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I can’t remember the last time I laughed out loud so much while reading a book. The kind of nostalgic ‘I have been that person’ laugh. Only, I think I was more like the person you get when Harriet and Nat meet in the middle. A general appreciation for clothes and glitter and pretty things but accompanied by a slight bemusement with fashion and a whole heap of geekiness on top. Yep, that was me.

This book is fun. Really fun. It’s light-hearted and easy to read, but it also has some deeper messages too. Harriet is a wonderful main character, quite clueless in a lot of ways, but not frustratingly so, and although she is very clever about geeky things, this never feels forced. For example, when she tells the reader various facts, compiles lists or makes equations, it always seems to complement whatever is happening in the story at that point, or it serves to tell us more about Harriet’s character, rather than feeling stuck in for the sake of it. The geekiness to girliness ratio is also just right. I think Harriet is a character everyone can love.

I absolutely loved Holly Smale’s writing. This book has so many well-observed details about people and life, and small moments that are described perfectly. For example, when Harriet tells her dad that she’s been spotted by a model agency, his delight is compared to the shining of a million smug fairies. This just sums up parental pride (confirmation that their child is The Best Child) so beautifully. When something happens that puts a strain on best friends Harriet and Nat’s relationship, a rather tactless boy compares the tension between them to the Cold War. He observes that Harriet is like America, trying to act as loudly as possible in the hope that it will all just go away, whereas Nat is Russia, cold and quiet and frosty.

Those are just two examples of the wonderful way in which everyday moments are captured. You know the writing in a book is good if you keep getting the urge to quote bits at whoever happens to be around you (don’t read this book at the doctor’s surgery – a room full of sick people doesn’t appreciate constant giggling).

The story itself is thoroughly enjoyable, and I was hooked. I read this book extremely quickly because I simply couldn’t stop. Harriet and Nat attend the Clothes Show in Birmingham (been there several times on school trips, and the descriptions/atmosphere were spot on), and Harriet is spotted by a modelling agency. From there, the plot races quickly through Harriet’s first modelling experience and her desperate attempts to control all the tumbling pieces of her life. From the moment her picture is taken at the Clothes Show, it’s pretty obvious what’s going to happen, and at each stage the story is fairly predictable. However, I didn’t mind this at all, as it’s the way the story is told that makes it so good – with little unexpected moments (hiding under the table and meeting Nick - and I love Nick!), humour, and a knowing twinkle.

This book also had a great bunch of supporting characters and they were all written as well as Harriet, which can be rare in novels told in first-person. Annabel, Harriet’s dad and Wilbur were all wonderful, and each had a very distinct voice. Nick was the perfect accompaniment to Harriet, and very funny, and Toby cracked me up many times (while also really creeping me out). I loved Nat, and I was so pleased with the way she was written. This was one way in which the story absolutely did not do what I expected, and I was really grateful for that. Nat was a very believable character – of course she was upset about her dream being so rudely snatched away, seeing her best friend stumble into what Nat had always wanted, but at the same time she was truly supportive. Nat is the kind of friend we all want, and I liked that Harriet’s big mistake was not trusting her enough.

And finally, the book ends on exactly the right note. Harriet has come to understand that accepting who she is, and just being herself, is the most important thing. She sees that fashion and modelling were never the cause of her problems – the problem was her attitude. But this isn’t a ‘Geeks are great and girly stuff sucks’ message. It’s ‘like what you like and don’t let others tell you that you can’t’ message. Be geeky and girly if that’s who you are.

This is a great book – funny, well-written and observant, and with a lot of heart and some wonderful moments. And I now have the urge to refer to my other half as ‘my little pot of bean paste’, just once, to see his reaction!


Thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.