Book review – Page 62 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘The Boy who Led Them.’ by George Chittenden

2012

Austin & Macauley Publishers Ltd.

One night in 1792 the cutter that ‘The Boy’, Jacob Swift, Swifty, King of Smugglers, was on came under attack from a 70-gun warship in The Channel just off Deal, Kent. She sank and every man aboard died. But not before Swifty sent a message in a bottle telling his gang where the greatest treasure he ever got his hands on was hidden.

Two hundred years later, and an unhappy young boy called Stanley is contemplating how best to survive the school bully when he spots something odd on the beach. His discovery leads him to the town’s old maritime museum and the curator, Reg Cooper, who has a story to tell. Thus unfolds the tale of Jacob Swift, poor fisherman’s son who rises to lead the greatest smuggling gang in Kent. It is a story of loyalty to friends, adventures on the high seas, running from the law, and brandy.

The narrative is detailed and colourful, moving along fairly quickly, and the dénouement, the discovery by Stan of a major treasure, and resulting survival of the museum, is fulfilling. The tale of Jacob Swift’s rise and fall is entertaining, if ultimately sad.

The characters of Jacob Swift and his friends are well developed, but the modern day narrator, Reg, and Stan, are flat characters. Their purpose is to tell the story of their antecedents, rather than it being their story. They do not develop at all. There is very little plot; the plot that does exists is merely a vehicle for a more interesting tale. It works, but in a limited sense.

The author is a local historian and writer from Kent; he should know a fair bit about his own county’s history. What I wonder about is his general grasp of eighteenth century history. There are several anachronisms in his text; I don’t think, though I’m not certain, that balaclavas were in general circulation in the 1780’s or that English smugglers would have used litres to measure how much brandy they were importing. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. I mention these because I’d be trotting along happily reading this novel and then I’d be jarred out of the narrative. Also, there were errors of spelling and grammar, ‘along’ instead of ‘a long’ for instance, small things that an editor should have picked up on and corrected. These faults irritated me slightly but didn’t stop me enjoying the essential story.

Review: ‘The Woken Gods’ by Gwenda Bond

Not yet published – Publication date 3rd September 2013

Angry Robot Ltd

Recently I joined www.netgalley.com, as I mentioned in a previous post, and this is one of the first books I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing. It, like most of the books on Net Galley, is an ARC, or advance reader copy. Therefore I shall restrict this review to the plot and characters, and not discuss any perceived faults in the text, just as the author has asked. I’m nice like that.

‘The Woken Gods’ is set in Washington D.C. in the near future where all the gods have been woken from an eons long sleep. The Society of the Sun, which effectively rules the world now, as they were the ones who subdued the gods, keeps everything under control, with the help of magical relics.

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Review: ‘The Warring States: Book II of the Wave Trilogy’ by Aiden Harte

2013

Quercus

Not too long ago I read a book called Irenicon, the first book in the Wave Trilogy. The adventures of Sofia Scaligeri and the fractious city of Rasenna continue in ‘The Warring States’.

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Review: ‘Broken Homes’ by Ben Aaronovitch

2013
Gollancz

Book 4 of the ‘Peter Grant Series’

Peter, Lesley and their boss Thomas Nightingale (and Toby the dog) are back, continuing their search for the Faceless Man, while still dealing with all the weird stuff the rest of the Met would rather not admit existed. After several murders and the Spring Court, they track the Faceless Man and his organisation to a housing estate at Elephant and Castle.

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Review: ‘Tethers Book One of the Tethers Trilogy’ by Jack Croxall

5th February 2013

Karl and Esther live in a small village in Lincolnshire in the nineteenth century. Karl is the son of a German architect, dead for many years, and is brought up by his mother and aunt. Esther’s family runs the village pub. They are best friends. By sheer accident (and Karl’s inability to listen to his mother’s warning) they get drawn into the machinations of a secret organisation trying to find an artefact which will allow them to see the future. Travelling by yacht and narrow boat they make it to Nottingham and help interrupt the conspirator’s plans, gaining, and losing, several new friends along the way.

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Review: ‘Just one damned thing after another; Volume 1: The Chronicles of St. Mary’s’ By Jodi Taylor

2013

Madeleine Maxwell, an historian, is suggested for a position at St. Mary’s Priory, Institute of Historical Research, by her former school headmistress. She goes for the interview and finds that not all is as it seems at St. Mary’s Priory. Having taken the position she joins St Mary’s rigorous training programme at the end of which she gets the job, and a whole new life. And it is certainly eventful.

There are dinosaurs and explosions. And the great library at Alexandria burning down. With time-travel, adventure, gun fights, and a great dollop of humour the story starts slowly and picks up the pace until the aforesaid dinosaurs, explosions and burning libraries pull the story to its end at a great speed. I really liked this e-book. There were minor editing errors – misspellings mainly – but nothing to detract greatly from the plot.

Review: ‘Reading The Dead: The Sarah Milton Chronicles’ by J.B. Cameron

Sarah Milton is a criminal profiler with the LAPD’s Violent Crime Unit; she’s helped solve several serial killings, and when she was a child she had an imaginary friend called Anna Nigma. Anna disappeared when Sarah’s mother was murdered.

During a trip to get some dog food Sarah is shot; a trip to the afterlife provides a clue to her mother’s murder, and then, when miraculously Sarah survives, Anna has returned. Sarah believes she’s going mad, until an old friend, in the course of investigating another serial killer ‘Raithe’, sends her to an old Chinese mystic, who collects ancient books. There’s a surprise in store for Sarah, and Anna.

Sarah, with Anna’s assistance, tracks down Raithe and his incorporeal accomplices. She goes to investigate, alone. Which is a big mistake. Her colleagues arrive a little too late.

I quite enjoyed this novel; the characters are engaging and the plot kept my interest. I especially enjoyed the development of the relationship between Sarah and Anna. Anna is a great character; she pulls pranks, is gobby and obnoxious, prone to temper tantrums, loves Sarah unconditionally and likes to play Scrabble. There’s a lot of potential in this series of books, especially for the development of the damaged Sarah, and her relationship with Ryan (a colleague), and the solving of her mother’s murder. Hopefully, Anna will eventually find out who she is as well.

I try not to judge harshly, but I do have a couple of criticisms. I found some of the characters too convenient and predictable – Meghan the trust fund baby, who just so happens to be the owner of a rare and ancient book collection, just when Sarah needs such a friend. I hope she’s developed as more than just helpful scenery in the rest of the books. Sarah needs a friend. Sarah’s dad is also a bit of a caricature of the distant father/politician. Unfortunately I found myself guessing the plot about half way through. It was obvious that Anna’s a ghost and that Raithe is murdering people as revenge for the already dead. I was only mildly surprised when I discovered that the same already dead were pulling his strings – it’s in his name, after all.

It’s possible I’ve read far too many supernatural and crime novels and I’m being picky; it doesn’t matter that this means I can predict a plot with a decent amount of accuracy because I can still enjoy a new story. I look forward to reading the next in the Sarah Milton Chronicles ‘Fidelis In Æternum’.

Review: ‘A funny thing happened on the way to heaven’ by Corey Taylor

2013
Ebury Press

This second book by Stone Sour and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor follows on from Seven Deadly Sins in a round about way. He is again pondering the mysteries of life and death while sprinkling the whole with memories. This time it is his experiences with ghosts. Ever since he was young he has had encountered the paranormal and lived in various haunted buildings. People have told him their own ghost stories; they are gathered here with the express intention of starting a conversation.

Corey Taylor is an articulate and intelligent, if uneducated, man and has clearly thought his ideas through. Whether the reader believes the stories he tells or agrees with his hypothesis of ‘intelligent energy’ is up to them. He won’t tell you what to think, only to think.

I’m not sure whether I agree with much that he has written, except that people need to use their intelligence and not let ignorance and dogma control them. He clearly believes and feels strongly about the subject. It shines in his writing. The writing style is conversational, he goes off at a tangent regularly, but that is not necessarily to the detriment of the work.

An enjoyable and interestting look in to the mind of an important member of the Metal music fraternity.

Bye,

Rose

Review: ‘Bright Young Things; Life in the Roaring Twenties.’ By Alison Maloney

2012

Virgin Books

Described in the blurb as a ‘sweeping look at the changing world of the Jazz Age, as life below stairs vanished forever, loose morals ran riot, and new inventions made it seem anything was possible’, this book gives an entertaining glimpse in to the lives of the Bright Young People, the wealthy young Mayfair set who ran riot in London in the Nineteen Twenties. Presented in a gossipy tone, with first-hand accounts from those who were part of the group of friends dubbed the ‘Bright Young People’ by the popular press, and the generation of ‘Bright Young Things’ they led and inspired. The central cast of aristocrats and artists loom large in a playful narrative of all night dancing, freak parties, treasure hunts through London, immodest fashions and heavy drinking. The more staid members of their age group and class, the debs, and the attitudes of their parents to the antics of the hedonistic set are also covered.

The focus is primarily on London; however there is some reference to the United States and Paris. As Jazz was a large part of the lifestyle of the Bright Young Things, this isn’t surprising. The spread of this form of music from the southern United States across the Atlantic to London and the on into Europe is fascinating, although the author doesn’t go in to a great deal of detail.

Also covered in the book are references to changing sexual attitudes, and the growth of consumer ‘labour –saving’ goods as more people had access to electricity and servants became rarer.

While this book is subtitled ‘Life in the Roaring Twenties’ it doesn’t really give much of an insight in to life for those who weren’t wealthy and educated, and living in London. Bare mention is given to the lives and aspirations of working and lower middle class people, who presumably had ambitions and needs as well. It’s very gossipy in nature, relying on published diaries, letters and autobiographies/biographies for much of the detail. The ‘flapper’, her dress, attitudes and occupations are a recurring feature of the book.

I didn’t feel that the author really put meat on the bones of the subject, although the origin of certain terms originating in, or associated with, the decade are explained and there is a decent bibliography at the back. I’d say this was quite a good book for GCSE students wanting a bit more information about the Twenties, and those wanting an overview of the decade. At the very least it’ll get people started and then they can move on to more detailed studies of the decade.

Review: ‘Alexander At The World’s End’ by Tom Holt

Abacus 2000
This edition printed 2011

Originally published by Little, Brown and Company, 1999

This is one of the books I got from the library a couple if weeks ago. I’ve read a few of Tom Holt’s comic fantasy novels but I hadn’t known he’d also written historical novels. It was a pleasant surprise.

‘Alexander At The World’s End’ tells the tale of Euxenus son of Eutychides, who started life in Athens and ended up as governor if Alexandria-at-the-End-of-the-World, in Sogdiana (otherwise known as Iskander, 50 miles NE of Tashkent). When he was a youth his father arranged for him to be apprenticed to a philosopher so that he could learn a trade. Unfortunately he choose Diogenes, the Yapping Dog, the Cynic, the man who told Alexander the Great to get out of his light.

Under Diogenes’s tutelage Euxenus learnt Yapping Dog philosophy, and politics. He made a good living at it in Athens, the the assistance of an invisible snake in a jar. Unfortunately Phillip of Macedon is making a nuisance of himself, and Euxenus is one of the lucky, lucky ambassadors sent to Pella to discuss the matter. It went badly.

But not for Euxenus, who managed to make the acquaintence of young Prince Alexander while rounding up bees, gain Queen Olympias’s favour (her snake obsession came in handy for a change) and get a job tutoring the Prince and his Companions.

Completely ill equiped for such a position, Euxenus throws himself into his work with all his usual dedication until Philip decides to send Euxenus and a couple of thousand Illyrian mercenaries he no longer needs off to Olbia on the Black Sea to found a colony.

After many years and assorted adventures Euxenus returns to Athens and settles down on the old family farm. Time passes, Euxenus becoming the good farmer his family always assumed he’d never manage to be, until his once pupil, now king of the known world, sends a couple of soldiers for him.

Alexander needs a governor for his newest city, in Sogdiana, so Euxenus must once more go travelling, this time across Asia, because when Alexander wants something, Alexander gets. In his new home Euxenus once again tries to build the Perfect Society and write his History, which is very difficult for a man constantly looking the wrong way when important events are taking place.

Funny yet poignant, this novel explores the difference between who we really are, who we believe ourselves to be and how the world sees us. It’s really quite sadly beautiful. It’s also a grand history lesson and philosophy primer. Written with the deft touch of a great storyteller, gripping from first to last and full of detail, I would heartily recommend this novel.

Rose