23 posts tagged “52 in '08”

Some good, old-fashioned pulp fantasy next.  I picked this up for 20p in a second-hand shop, so I wasn't too concerned that it would be a waste of money.  Which, given most books retail over here for £7 and up, it would have been.

It is pulp.  But well written, page-turning pulp at that.  Which is pretty much how I read it, in two sittings.  He has written more, but I shall not be getting them full price - they will have to fall into my lap like this one did.

From the Cover:  Captains Hawk and Fisher ar the only honest cops in the down and dirty magical city of Haven.  In a place where anything can be bought, stolen or fought for, they’ve stoop up for decency and right; together, they have taken on everything from vampires and werewolves to conniving politicians.  But now it’s their last case as members of Haven’s City Guard and all hell is breaking loose - because they’re not leaving town without doing a little cleaning up first.  The bad guys are going down, whatever it takes.

Meanwhile, back in the Forest Kingdom, King Harald has been assassinated and the call has gone out to Prince Rupert and Princess Julia, to return to the Land they once called home, to bring a murderer to justice.

Two legends, two sets of heroes, bound together at last: by a crime that threatens all reality, and by the terrible truth that lies beyond the Blue Moon.

Rattling good stuff - British Fantasy Newsletter

A skillful pulp fiction writer - SFX

And I am in serious catch-up now.  Got at least three more books to review, plus the one I threw in the bin (seriously, the bin!) and the two I am currently half-way through.  This keeping track shit is hard work!

OK.  Technically this is one book.  But it is the omnibus edition (apparently unavailable in the US) which contains the first three books of Elizabeth Moon's 7 book series.

These three books are based on the life of a military officer who is cashiered for disobeying a direct order, even though she won the battle. She then becomes a private captain to Cecelia, rich and old.

The female characters are strong and well drawn, the military aspect is not obtrusive, and the rich are - well, rich!

This edition contains Hunting Party, Sporting Chance and Winning Colours.  Yes, they do sound like Dick Francis books and that is because the other preoccupation of the owner of Sweet Delight, Cecelia, is a famous horsewoman.

From the back:  The Serrano Legacy - An action-packed SF epic, now available in one volume.

Heris Serrano was an officer born of a long line of officers.  A life serving in the ranks of the Regular space service was all she had ever known or wanted - until a treacherous superior officer forced her to resign her commission.  This was not just the end of a career path; it was the end of everything that gave her life meaning.

Heris find employment as Captain of an interstellar luxury yacht.  Being a rich old woman’s chauffeur isn't quite the same as captaining a Fleet Cruiser, but nothing Heris will ever do again could compare with that.  Or so she thinks.  For all is not as it seems aboard the Sweet Delight…

I thoroughly enjoyed this SF romp - it has an unusual take on society, the rich and the military - including some very ferocious Aunts...

I was strangely disappointed with this book.  Benford & Brin are two of the greats of late 20th century science fiction, yet this read poorly.

I got about a third through it before I checked the copyright.  1986 - which explained a lot!  (I bought this second hand and it looked pristine - I thought it was a new book, not one that was older than my daughter).

With that in mind, I enjoyed the rest much more.  It is dated in attitude and science.  But it does rattle along at a good pace, with the people aboard Halley's Comet fighting vigorous Halley lifeforms, with a sub-plot of Purcells against Normals (Purcells are people whose DNA was adjusted to remove genetic defects such as lupus and who ended up being "superior"). 

From the cover:  It is 2061, and Halley’s Comet is starting its long journey out to the far reaches of the solar system.  Only this time it is not alone.

Harnessing the mighty ball of ice is the greatest challenge mankind has undertaken - and in a century of ecological disasters and social fragmentation on Earth,  it is also mankind’s greatest hope.  So when a series of startling discoveries threatens to jeopardise the mission, the small group of scientist and engineers hurtling further away from their home world find themselves fighting not only for their lives but for the future of humanity.

Heart of the Comet is a breathtaking tale of scientific endeavour and human courage by two of the most formidable talents in science fiction.

This story of a life-changing blood transfusion did not grab me quite as much as A Place Called Here - it's still a pretty good read though.  Her characters shine, though I found the way the main character deals with the break up of her marriage a bit off.

From the cover:  How can you know someone you’ve never met?

Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn’t.  she knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited.  And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless.  He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood.  It’s the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time.

When Joyce leaves hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father.  All the while, a strong sense of deja vu is overwhelming her, and she can’t figure out why…

Having been terribly disappointed with both The Cell and Lisey’s Story (both of which I sold as soon as I had read them), I was very reluctant to spend £19.00 on the hardback edition of this book.

Then I went to the library.

And whadda you know?  The Stephen King I love, the one who wrote The Shining and It, is back.  Bigger and badder than before.

Only nit-pick - too many glimpses into the future of the story, too many If he knew it would be the last time’s for my liking.

From the cover:  Edgar Freemantle reached a T-junction in his life’s journey when a freak accident cost him his arm… and his marriage.  He takes the turning marked Florida - home, as they say, of the newly wed, or nearly dead.

But rather than choosing a typical holiday location, Freemantle is drawn to a beautiful, eerily remote stretch of land off Florida’s West Coast: Duma Key, a tangle of banyans, palms and pines next to a deserted beach - uninhabited bar a few houses owned by an old lady named Elizabeth, once a famous patron of the arts.

Encouraged by his youngest daughter, Freemantle discovers a unique talent for painting, starting with the fabulous sunsets. But soon he finds himself experiencing weird phantom pains in his missing arm.  And something strange and disturbing is happening to his pictures: they are becoming predictive, even dangerous to those who buy them.

Duma Key is a mesmerising and compelling story about friendship, and the bond between a father and his daughter.  It is also about the power of memory and truth, art and nature.

It goes best if you read this as a Novel, not a Crime Thriller.  I bought it thinking it was a Crime Thriller and it wasn't until about half-way through I thought Nope, not the right genre.

That said, I enjoyed this.  It is evocative, thought-provoking and, although I quite wanted to get a hold of Joe and give him a good shake, you cannot help but feel for the protagonist.

I found the last section of the book too much in terms of plot - why was Joe being picked on in this fashion - otherwise this is a perfect slice of life.


From the Cover:  1939.  In the small, rural community of Augusta Falls, twelve-year-old Joseph Vaughan hears of the brutal assault and murder of a young girl, the first in a series of killings that will blight the community over the next decade.  Joseph and his friends are determined to protect August Falls against the evil in their midst and form The Guardians. But the murderer evades them and they watch helplessly as one child after another is taken. 

Even when the killings cease, a shadow of fear follows Joseph for the rest of his life.  The past won't stay buried and, fifty years later, Joseph must confront he nightmare that has overshadowed his entire life...

Recommended.

After finishing The Skinner a little while ago, and really liking that, I was heartily pleased to discover a second book set on Spatterjay.  It's not a sequel, as such, though it does have most of the same major characters in.

From the cover:  Sable Keech was a walking dead man, the only one successfully to have been resurrected by nanochanger.  Did he succeed because he was infected by the Spatterjay virus, or because he came late to resurrection in a tank of seawater?  Tracing the man’s last know seaborne journey, Taylor Bloc wants to know the truth.  He also wants so much else - adulation, power, control - and will go to any lengths to get them.

An ancient hive mind, almost incomprehensible to the human race, has sent an agent to Spatterjay.  Does it simply want to obtain the lethal poison, sprine?  If so, Janer must find it and stop it.

Meanwhile, still faced with the ennui of immortality, Erlin has her solitude rudely interrupted by a very angry whelkus titanicus, and begins the strangest of journeys.

Deep in the ocean the Spatterjay virus has wrought a terrible change that will affect them all.  Something dormant for ten years is breaking free, and once again the aftershocks of an ancient war will focus on this watery world.

And Sniper, for ten years the Warden of Spatterjay, finally takes delivery of his new drone shell.  It’s much better than his old one: powerful engines, more lethal weapons, thicker armour.  He’s going to need them.

Highly recommended but read The Skinner first - this could be stand-alone, but why deprive yourself of the knowledge the characters are operating with?

I had to buy this on Amazon Marketplace, seeing as how I stupidly bought the second book to feature Dogg the Data Detective first and, three pages into that, decided I wanted to read Book One first.

From the cover:  How much do you want to know?

Every move you take, every payment you make, creates data.  Personal data about you.  Facts that exist in a timeless present, because nothing can ever be truly erased.

Maybe it seems like individually, facts don’t matter.  It’s just a set of unrelated data, right?  Dream on.  Someone’s looking through it.  Sifting.  Data mining.  Discovering your secrets..

Someone like Dogg.  Data Detective.  The best there is.  Give him someone’s name and he’ll sell you a life story.  That’s what happens.  With one little fact, Dogg can unravel a hidden world.  What appears to start as an innocent investigation becomes an intimate intrigue of drugs, sex and suspicious deaths.

All Dogg had to do was start looking.  You could be his next client - or his next victim.  That indiscreet little office e-mail you penned last week - you think it has disappeared?  Not a chance.

Welcome to the end of privacy.

Frighteningly good… terrifying, not least because much of it is believable -Arena
A remote control love story with a sting in the tail…  A clever little classic - The Times

Highly recommended.  And scary.

This is the book behind the BAFTA award-winning film. 
The true story of a mountaineering adventure which went horribly wrong, this is mostly written from Joe's perspective, with elucidation from Simon Yates, this is the tale of two men who went to climb a mountain and their separate struggles to survive the return journey.

I bought this because I had seen the film.  And even though I knew the end, and a lot of the middle and some of the beginning, I still thoroughly enjoyed this.

Gripping and honest.  Painful and glorious.  Highly recommended.

(I would have put an extract from the back cover, as I normally do, but all it says is WOW!  This is a classic" and other such praise)

Another yummy Tepper book to read.  Last week was a good reading week...

This is the story of The Margarets, who have to save Earth, both from itself and from predation.  Written with Tepper's customary flowing style and weaving plot, this story goes from planet to planet, from bondslave to servant to Queen to warrior to shaman to healer - to Margaret.

From the Cover:  The myriad alien civilisations populating far, far distant worlds have many good reasons to detest the blight called 'humankind'...

Margaret Bain is the only child on Phobos, a human colony working on a doomed project to transform Mars into a garden planet.  To keep away the suffocating demons of loneliness and boredom, she invents imaginary companions, her own alter egos - a queen, a spy, a tough boy, a healer...

When the Phobos project is shut down, Margaret is forced to return to Earth with her parents, but mankind's birthplace is impoverished, reduced to trading the only viable product the planet has left to offer: human slaves.  Now no longer a little girl, Margaret's imaginary selves are refining their own personae, acquiring their own histories, living their own lives.

And as the Margarets scatter off across the universe, unaware of their other selves, each has to struggle to survive by her (or his) wits - until the discovery of a threat to Earth and to the whole of humanity.  It's time for the Margarets to return home, for the survival of the human race depends on them...  all of them.

Tepper has lodged firmly upon the pinnacle of excellence - Kirkus
Her novels are the old-fashioned kind, despite their futuristic setting, the kind that wrap you up in their embrace, that take over your life, that make the world disappear - Village Voice

Highly recommended

This arrived via Daughter's ex-boyfriend's mother.  And, having read it, very glad I am.

Andrea Levy is young, funny and south London black.  I could not put this book, the tale of a young woman's journey to adulthood, down.  It was gripping and funny and sad and moving... all the things I like in a book. 

Chick lit?  Possibly.  Black fiction?  Not solely.  A good read - definitely! 

From the cover:  Faith Jackson has set herself up with a great job and a brilliant flat share.  But life is not that perfect...

Her relations with her overbearing, though always loving, family leave a lot to be desired, especially when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica.  Perplexed, even furious, Faith makes her own journey there, where she is immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history.  Her aunt's compelling storytelling unfurls a wonderful cast of characters from Cuba, Panama, Harlem and Scotland in a story that passes through London and sweeps over continents.

Recommended.

Not counting this one - I got to Page 97 and decided Enough already!  No more homicidal maniac stories for me.  Perhaps it's a sigh of aging, or just of getting fed up with more and more gore for gore's sake.  I dunno.  But this, although compared to The Silence of the Lambs, was boring, and predictable. 

Not recommended. 

Whew!

From the Cover:

When Daily Telegraph correspondent Tim Butcher was sent to Africa in 2000 he quickly became obsessed with the legendary Congo River, and the idea of recreating  M Stanley’s famous expedition.  Despite warnings that his plan was suicidal, Butcher set out for the Congo’s eastern border with just a rucksack and a few thousand dollars hidden I his boots.  Making his way in an assortment of vehicles, including a motorbike and dug out canoe, helped along by a cast of characters from UN aid workers to a campaigning pygmy, he followed in the footsteps of the great Victorian adventurers.  Butcher’s journey was a remarkable feat, but the story of the Congo, told expertly and vividly in this book, is more remarkable still..

Butcher weaves the history of Stanley with the tale of his journey, while narrating the history of the Congo throughout.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  The writing flows effortlessly, making it a joy to read.  The history is fascinating, and his interactions with modern-day Africa are startling.

Highly, highly recommended - 9/10.  19/20 even - just read it!

Recommended - 8/10.