Category Archives: Fiction

Review: The City’s Son: Book 1 of the Skyscraper Throne

Tom Pollock

Jo Fletcher Books (Quercus)

2012

I picked this up in the library about two weeks ago and it’s taken me a while to get through it. I think it’s meant to be a YA fantasy, but I had trouble deciding who the target audience were. The main characters were certainly adolescent, but it could as easily be read by adults.

Set in contemporary London the story follows the adventures of teenage graffiti artist Beth Bradley and her best friend and poet of the streets Pen (Parva Khan) as they get drawn into the war between the Urchin Prince, Filius Viae, and Reach, the Crane King.

Switching between the viewpoints of Beth and Filius the story tells of the midnight encounter with a railwraith by Beth and her involvement with Filius, as Pen is fighting her own battles. Betraying her only friend after one particular night of artistic revenge on a bullying teacher, Pen loses Beth to the hidden London. Beth’s father goes in search of her and Pen comes along to help. Unfortunately they are ambushed by Reach’s minion ‘The Wire Mistress’ who takes Pen as her avatar.

Meanwhile Beth and Filius are trying to build an army while waiting for his Mother, the Goddess of the Streets to return and help them; an army of statues, and lamp people, and one homeless Russian. Plus a person made of rubbish.

In fighting the war many battles are won and lost, lives lost and choices made. Sometimes you have to make a deal, and pay the price in the end. But the price of victory might not be worth paying. Beth has to decide as she becomes Filia Viae to Filius’s Filius Viae.

Although it took me a while to read this, I enjoyed it and will probably read the next one. The book feels allegorical; do we allow skyscrapers and things of glass and steel to destroy the life found in old city streets, is it progress or the killing of a place to change it? Renewal or ripping away of life? These are clearly pressing matters to think on and a balance or compromise has to be found, as Beth does. We have decisions to make, will we choose right, strike the right bargains and are we willing to pay the price for our choices?

Bye, for now

Rose

Review: A Place of Confinement by Miss Anna Dean

A Place of Confinement or, The examinations of Miss Dido Kent

By Miss Anna Dean

Allison and Busby
2012

The forth book in The Dido Kent Series finds Dido, the 36 year old spinster, sent off to be companion to her Aunt Manners, for the crime of refusing to marry a widowed rector and his pew and a half of children. Aunt Manners is very wealthy and her nieces and nephews are desperate for her good will.

Arriving at Mrs. Manners family home, Charcombe Manor, they find that another guest, the wealthy Miss Verney, has disappeared. Mr Tom Lomax, an acquaintance of Dido’s is considered the guilty party but swears he is not. For the sake of his father, Mr Lomax, a dear friend who would be more if he could persuade Dido to it, she undertakes to investigate the matter. When a man is murdered it becomes imperative that the truth is known, for more that Tom Lomax’s life is in the balance.

Everyone has their secrets and Miss Dido Kent will know them, in the pursuit of truth and justice, and to find the missing young lady. What emerges from the investigations of the active, intelligent and argumentative Miss Kent, will upset all around her, dig up a secret thirty years forgotten, bring a proposal and an engagement and a massive reconsideration of the characters of those Dido believes she knows well.

I do like the Dido Kent books. She is an engaging, intelligent character who has flaws and admits to them. She is aware of her lack of ‘femininity’ and her lack of freedom in her position as a dependant sister; she is ashamed of being a pawn in her sister-in-laws manoeuvres to gain a fortune but independent enough not to be bullied in to a loveless marriage by her.

Anna Dean is an amusing writer, her plots are well constructed and characters believable. Her understanding of human nature is exquisite, as is her understanding of the structure of a good regency novel and how to mess with it. I do like a good mystery, and a regency novel. So, of course I like this book. And I sympathise with Dido; no one likes being a poor, dependant middle-aged spinster, now or 200 years ago.

Bye for now,

Rose

Review: Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Susannah Fullerton

Review: Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Susannah Fullerton

Frances Lincoln Limited Publishers

2013

 

While I was in the British Library on Monday I saw a few books about Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice, and being a little bit of a Janeite I couldn’t resist buying this book for the train journey home. It is a fairly substantial hardback of 225 pages illustrated with drawings and photographs from the various editions of the book and film/tv adaptations that have been made. It took me a bit longer than the train journey to read, but certainly made the time pass agreeably.

The contents cover everything from the writing of Pride and Prejudice to the characters and various adaptations in books and films, and the ‘selling’ of Pride and Prejudice. Who knew you could get skateboards with quotes on them?

It is fairly obvious that the book was published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. The writer is clearly enamoured of her subject and holds definite opinions about it. It is enjoyable to read, and covers many interesting topics. The book is informative and would probably have been useful to my younger self when I was studying Pride and Prejudice for my GCSE English Literature. I particularly found the discussion of translating P&P interesting. The fine irony of Jane Austen, her wicked wit, cannot be easy to translate, although anyone who gives it a go deserves a medal for trying.

However, there is a slight feeling of snobbery and prejudice against anyone who dares to adapt the original (personally I like ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ – it’s funny) and the authoress also becomes repetitive at times. We all know P&P is a great book; you don’t need to tell us a dozen times a chapter.

Borrow it from the library if you’re studying Pride and Prejudice, only buy this book if you really can’t resist.

As ever, that’s just my opinion. Happy reading,

Rose

‘Sense and Sensibility’, or, Jane Austen has a wicked sense of humour

I’ve just finished reading ‘Sense and Sensibility’ for the first time in about 15 years. It struck me as I finished reading it how funny Jane Austen was. I’d heard that her letters to her sister Cassandra were full of wit, but I didn’t know how witty she was until I read the last few pages of the book. Her closing paragraphs discussing the ‘happiness’ of Mr and Mrs John Dashwood, Mr and Mrs Robert Ferrers and Mrs Ferrers struck me especially. She could have said the same things more bluntly but the eloquence and wry tone only added to the reader’s impression that they all ended less than happily.

I’ve read many of Austen’s novels, but most of them I haven’t read in a very long time. Going back to them I have found humour that I missed in the past, either because I was too young to understand the joke when I last read them or because I read them too quickly and didn’t pay enough attention. There are many good reasons to re-read books one has only read in youth, or where a number of years has passed. New appreciation of the same words, coloured by greater age and experience, and finding a new perspective on the same, is one of the best. Along with, ‘I like that book, so I’m reading it again’.

That being said, sometimes it is disappointing to go back to a book much loved as a teenager and realise that it’s shallow or badly written. The image it throws upon your younger self, in choosing to read something like that, can be painful.

Best be off, things to do and all that,

Rose

Review: The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland

I finally finished reading this book a few days ago, and then eventually managed to get a decent internet connection, so at last I can post this review.

‘The Falcons of Fire and Ice’ interweaves the lives of a cast of Icelandic and Portuguese characters in a supernatural adventure.

Isabela must save her father from the machinations of the Inquisition, or risk losing everything. After the king’s prized gyrfalcons are discovered dead she is given a year and a day to replace them. She must travel to Iceland alone.

Cruz is a crook, but the Inquisition have a job for him, a job he can not refuse. He must prevent Isabela from acquiring the falcons. She must die or he will.

Eyedis and Valdis are twins condemned to life chained in a cave, dispensing healing and advice to the people of Iceland. Eyedis must help Isabela find her gyrfalcons, but she needs Isabela’s help in return – to defeat the spirit lurking in Valdis.

Set in a time of religious upheaval and intolerance, the live of these people are inextricably linked. They must defeat monsters out of myth, human monstrosity and save hundreds of innocent lives. But the mountains are stirring and time is running out.

 

It took me a while to get in to this book, but once the characters make it to Iceland the momentum builds and it becomes a thoroughly enjoyable adventure though early modern Europe. The glossary at the end is also very interesting, and helps to fill in any gaps in understanding that exist.

 

 

Review: ‘Blackout’ by Mira Grant (Seanan McQuire)

The third and final instalment of the ‘Newsflesh’ trilogy leads the reader further in to the conspiracy that the ‘After the End Times’ team have been chasing since Georgia’s murder.

Shaun and his team are back out on the road, seeking help, and the truth – as always. The team must complete Dr. Abbey’s tasks if they want to get what they need.
After a narrow escape or two, and meeting a zombie bear, the team regroups in Seattle. Re-united with more than just the living they find that there are more ways than one to bring back the dead. The Conspiracy reaches all the way to the White House, but with new allies they break the story open and do what they do best – get it out on the internet.

A thoroughly enjoyable tale, with a plot that keeps the reader enthralled throughout. Alternating the point of view, changing narrator, only adds to this and makes the novel more interesting. This is an excellent finale, intelligent and well written.

5/5

Review: ‘Kiss the dead’ by Laurell K Hamilton

Anita Blake returns in this, the 21st novel in the ‘Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter’ series.

A fifteen year old girl is missing, presumed kidnapped by vampires. Anita is the Marshal on the case. Working with RPIT, St.Louis police’s specialist preternatural crime branch, she must interrogate a witness/suspect and find the girl. There is little time, and when their suspect finally answers the questions they realise there is no time at all.

Going to the rescue Anita and the team find that the problem is much worse. With two officers dead and a potentially volatile group of ‘Free’ vampires holding the girl hostage violence is the most likely outcome. A conspiracy is uncovered that will cause Anita personal pain, unless it can be stopped.
The investigation continues and things take a turn for the worse when bomb making materials are discovered. Who and what are the targets?

Then a ray of hope arrives, in the form of Weiskopf, the human servant of Benjamin, the vampire nominally in charge of the ‘free’ vampires. Shocked at the news of potential explosive devises Weiskopf reveals how little control over the other vampires Benjamin truly has. Unfortunately it’s too late.

A phone call from Nicky (Anita’s bodyguard and lover) let’s them know the conspiracy has taken hostages. Going to the rescue once again, this time of people so much closer to Anita than a stranger, Anita has to prevent bloodshed and end the violence once and for all.

Through all this Anita has been questioning herself, but so have her colleagues and superiors within the police force who are questioning her loyalties and integrity. A one-time friend believes she has become a monster, her newest boyfriend has problems with her job and the women in the office are getting terribly jealous. And should she trust the new Marshal she has to work with?

Laurell K Hamilton has written another steady instalment in her Anita Blake series. I’ve read all but ‘Hit list’, the novel preceding ‘Kiss the dead’, and mostly I’ve enjoyed them. Unfortunately I’ve found the recent novels repetitive. Ms Hamilton’s formula of ‘criminal investigation/sex/ metaphysics/Anita’s messed up personal life’ has produced some good stories but now its getting boring. The plots are underdeveloped, the writing repetitive and lazy, and editing for continuity lax – I found an instance of an entire paragraph repeated two chapters apart and a characters name changes half way through a scene before changing back again at the end. On a couple of occasions I lost track of events because the writing was unclear.

Yes, on occasion the wry humour that makes the earlier books so enjoyable makes an appearance and the development of some of the newer characters are positive points, but they are outweighed by the problems of the writing and the underdeveloped plot lines.

2/5 – sorry but it just wasn’t that good.

As much as it pains me to admit it I probably won’t read any more of these books, and I’ll only re-read the first dozen. Its such a shame because its a good concept.

That’s the first of the three new books reviewed. I’ll be back in a few days with more.

Bye

Rose

Review: ‘Deadline’ by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire)

The second book in the ‘Newsflesh Trilogy’ throws the reader straight back in to the story, several months after Georgia ‘George’ Mason’s untimely death while reporting on Senator Ryman’s campaign (Feed).

Shaun Mason, her adopted brother and the man who pulled the trigger, now takes up the tale in Georgia’s place in charge of ‘After the End Times’ and not coping at all well with his sister’s death. Life just isn’t any fun anymore. It doesn’t help that she’s the voice he hears in his head now.

One bright day an old acquaintance, Dr. Kelly Connolly, arrives at their door. As well as being officially dead she’s carrying evidence that the conspiracy that put George in her grave is alive and well – and the CDC is at the centre of it. Unfortunately her arrival signals the end of normality for the team. As chaos descends the bloggers and their new associate barely escape with their lives. Disaster follows after as they go back out on the road. Chasing the story. Searching for the truth. Seeking revenge.

But the story is chasing them. And so are the zombies.

As the extent of the conspiracy is unveiled the team get further in to danger; soon it gets worse as the virus that’s causing the dead to rise and eat their friends finds a new vector of infection.

Teaming up with the heiress to a pharmaceutical fortune with her own private army (and lots of miniature dogs), and a certified mad scientist with a viral resistant English mastiff named after her murdered ex-husband, the team continue to hunt down the truth.

A good read, with interesting character development, especially the increasingly unstable Shaun, and an engaging plot-line that keeps the reader hooked with a brilliant twist. ‘Mira Grant’ doesn’t disappoint once again.

4/5

 

 

I’m already halfway through ‘Blackout’ – review coming soon.