Graham
A fascinating tale of creepy dolls, witchcraft and mafia. The dolls give a certain Chucky vibe, although this story considerably predates that. In many ways the age of this is surprising - first published in 1933 a lot of features of this novel feel impressively contemporary. The language suffers less from the biases of the period than some other novels I have read from a similar time period. Yes, the prose is very much of its time but it does not hurt the story telling too much at all. The vaguely scientific style fits the main protagonist (a physician) very well really, although it does give it a somewhat stilted feel. Included in the edition I read was some clever promotional material in the form of a note from the author that alluded to Dr Lovell being a real person which was a fun touch. The creepiness of dolls is something that has always stood with me, and this novel riffs on that in a very nice way.
Intriguing that this novel, very popular in its time (and largely contemporaneous with Lovecraft - Lovecraft has even written approvingly of it) is largely forgotten. Whilst it is not as innovative as Lovecraft it is certainly more accessible.
I find myself deeply saddened that this series was never completed, as this is most definitely the first book in a larger story line. The focus here is almost entirely on world building, and what a world has been built! The basic conceit (a parallel universe where racoons have become the dominant intelligent animal) sounds a bit silly, but what Steven Boyett has managed to do is deliver an insightful ‘what if?' to how such a society might evolve with the natural differences in physiology. The central concept here is around communication and language. Having the characters communicate almost entirely by a form of sign language gives a strange depth of nuance to things. The characters themselves are intriguing, and whilst there is some initial character development here there are glimpses towards something much larger which unfortunately is unlikely to be completed (the author explains the situation in the afterword of the edition I have and I can understand revisiting something you wrote early in your career could definitely be a challenge!).
The fascinating potential here is amazing. I do hope the author does feel able to revisit it at some point and complete the series, giving the resolution that it so desperately needs
Let me state straight out: From the blurb I kind of suspected this book would not be for me. I received it as part of my GSFF subscription and I have a rule to read every book I receive through this so I gave it a go.
First off: I do not like lovey dovey vampires. They should be sleazy, yes, but the extremely sanitized version of vampires presented here was way too emotionally sensitive, way too twilightesque. I am also not a fan of love triangles - I find the teenage angst that tends to come through them just annoying. There seems to be a bit of renaissance on vampire novels recently, and vampires can make very entertaining protagonists. They can even work well as antiheroes, but I struggle with them as love interests as it tends to detract from their very base monstrous character. I can almost get the idea of wanting to subvert that, but that subversion has become such a cliché as to make it irrelevant and to me it just doesn't work.
My biggest peeve is the stupid weapon being used. I get that this is a fantasy setting and weaponry can be different, but fantasy weapons still need to be useable weapons. This just seemed like some ridiculous deus ex machina thing, and would in reality be completely impractical to wield. The ridiculous swiss army knife sword thing here was distracting and unnecessary and was used continuously just highlighting the entire dumbness of it.
Beneath all this cloyingly sweet angst and annoyingly dumb weaponry there was a story that had some interesting twists and politics. The conflict between the main character and his father was genuinely quite interesting and well worked, but there was so much in my face annoyance that I really struggled to enjoy this.
Unfortunately this did not work for me. The Rise and Fall has been marketed as a standalone series from Michael Sullivan but I get the impression that this really should have been read after reading his other works - I get the impression the characters and events are eluded to throughout his other series. My main issue was I just did not gel with the main characters here. They felt either a bit too aloof or a bit too helpless and irrational.
I will try re-entering this world through one of the other series as I do here good things about it, I am just hopeful that this was the wrong place to start
Grady Hendrix is very good at taking mundane everyday things and giving them a comical horror twist. My Best Friend's Exorcism takes a high school friendship where one of them undergoes a massive personality change, turning into a full on mean girl and trashing her relationships, after a skinny dipping incident goes wrong and she gets lost in some woods near a creepy house. The implication is that there is a possession, but there is actually still a fair amount of ambiguity in the way the story is told.
Hendrix has a lot of fun playing with the typical horror and high school friendship tropes. The result is an entertaining romp through a darkly comic high school horror. Very entertaining!
Undead nazi cults? Yeah, silly but fun. The Spear is a entertainingly silly in its concept, but it is a well written romp that as long as you are not expect something erudite can be easily enjoyed. Pulpy horror is just fun
Crime with a brutally dark twist. Like the best of this genre this is deeply psychological in nature - essentially following the search for closure regarding her stepfather who went to jail for murdering a series of girls who looked like her, this delves into some really bleak parts of the psyche. This hits hard!
The dank sense of decay in this empire continues to permeate the story as we continue into the second novel. The Bone Shard Daughter was one of my favourite debuts and this sophomore effort develops the story in satisfying ways. When an empire is built on a certain power trying to retain control whilst removing the oppression that that power was based on is certainly a challenge and the politicking is very satisfying in this entry in the story. All our main characters are flawed, hiding things from each other in dumb ways, but this acts as a humanizing element and works well in the story.
I am anxiously awaiting the final installment - this remains one of my favourite ongoing series!
Straight out going to say this: This is the best werewolf book I have read. Period.
Christopher Buehlman writes with a beautiful prose which really elevates this story telling. Those Across The River is an intriguing take on werewolves, taking a southern gothic bent to it. The Deep South setting gives a wonderful damp and squalid twist to the story, the rural and slightly isolated setting with its strange traditions playing into the overall mystery of the idea. Those Across The River is a subtle take on the werewolf concept - the monsters are very much hidden throughout the first half of the book with only vague allusions. The links to civil war, slavery and oppression are intriguing and add to the general miasma of the setting. There is a beauty to the way it is written which belies the ugliness at the heart of some of the key themes here.
This is werewolf horror of the highest calibre and a must read for those who like this genre!
This was fun. The Common is an interesting universe, and this is a fascinating glimpse at another part of it off the beaten path of the main storyline. Looking at drug smugglers and deals with the devil, it takes a look at the gritty cyberpunk world from a different angle. I really love it when authors expand their world in this way and this sort of novelette approach works really well giving the story enough space to breathe and stand independent of the main story line, but being self contained enough to give a story that can be read without knowing the ins and outs of The Common universe.
As a free ebook this is a nice little extra from the author too!
Bradbury does body horror! This was surprisingly well worked short story about a hypochondriac who becomes terrified of his own skeleton. A clever concept taken to a suitably grotesque conclusion. Worth a read!
First off, this is my favourite book in the series so far! The rise of Eska as a kind of Dark Queen has been eluded to throughout the first couple of books but this is where we see it happen. Rob Hayes has managed a brilliant balancing act of making the actions of Eska both sympathetic and horrific at the same time. It is quite easy to understand her drive for revenge, and the way she achieves it is brutal and uncaring about any knock on effects, any innocents caught in the crossfire. Her epithet of ‘The Corpse Queen' becomes apt in multiple ways.
There is also some clever series construction going on here. This is the final book in the initial trilogy, with a decent sense of closure at the end, but the arc is left open to continue into the final two books of the War Eternal series.
This is proper grimdark fantasy with character driven morally grey action. This is the rise of what many would consider to be a villain if put in a different perspective. Brutal, violent and brilliant.
This story was sent out free to subscribers of Patrick Samphire's newsletter.
First of all I realize that it is recommended to read this prequel short story after the first book, but I decided to jump in straight here to get a taste of Samphire's world. It is an intriguing one - this is part of the origin story for one of the characters that will appear later and she is fascinating. Reading this has hooked me enough that I will definitely have to get to reading some of the main sequence soon!
Not sure what to make of this one - it is mostly a rehash of ideas used in the first book in the duology (questing to save the world with a small band who are not necessarily all on the same page). The quest is a bit weirder - the location is some parallel reality with some infection spreading in rather than the icy waste, but the modified monster concept remains the same. We get a bit more backstory on what is happening back home this time, as Kell's wife provides one of the major POV characters. This story is often more interesting than the main quest story which kind of breaks the flow of the book sometimes. The characters remain as engaging as ever though and the companions of Kell provide an intriguing extra, with their own clever redemption arcs.
A nice questing novel, not breaking any new literary ground but well enough written to be enjoyable
Free Christmas story from Miles Cameron for 2022!
I loved Artifact Space and have been really looking forward to diving back into the Arcana Imperii. This story wetted my apatite even more. Set in the Arcana Imperii universe but a bit detached from the main story we take a look at one of the systems not delved into in Artifact Space, following an asteroid miner having an unexpected encounter.
A fun little aside and a bit of extra colour to the universe, which I always rate as an excellent use of short stories set in existing universes.
Can't wait until we get more from the series!
I can see why this is regarded as a classic. This is the quintessential haunted house story.
The prose is beautiful without being overly flowery. The mystery is kept suitably ambiguous - there is an apt truism to the idea that your own mind is the best conjuror of horror, and by keeping everything undefined Shirley Jackson manages to make most of this occur in our own minds. This ambiguity is what I search for in horror. When an author dives to specifically into something they are portraying their own fears rather than letting you play out yours.
The Haunting of Hill House has been subject of enough analysis that I wont dive into my own, suffice to say its golden reputation is well warranted.
Just a sidenote on the edition I own - I am lucky enough to have got a Centipede Press edition and these are stunning. The artwork is brilliantly creepy, the book materials are fantastic quality. These seminal works deserve good editions like this!
Dark Academia seems to be a very in subgenre right now. The Golden Enclaves is the final entry into the Scholomance trilogy that is firmly imbedded into this genre. This story is quite different in feel to the first two in many ways though. First, El has now graduated, so the ‘academia' side is somewhat reduced in this take. Now we have El and her friends jetting round the world, visiting various of the ‘enclaves' that had been alluded to in the earlier books. Whilst expanding the world like this is fascinating in its own way, it is a drastic change of pace and scope from the confined and claustrophobic feel present in the earlier novels. And whilst El has always been defined as a crazily powerful dark wizard (potentially) this book takes that Mary Sue type feeling to even further extremes, so the sense of jeopardy is somewhat reduced.
That being said, the dynamics of the characters remain as entertaining as before. The world and its rules are fascinating in their development. It is wonderful to see where Novik takes her imagination when descibing these amazing wizarding enclaves.
In the end this book suffers a little when compared to the first two books in that it is such a different scope and feel. I miss the tension and the trapped feeling that the first books generated. This is an entertaining and well written grand urban fantasy at this point, but I think its expansion in vision actually weakens it a bit compared to the earlier books. The finale does feel earnt and satisfyingly though, so it makes a fitting end to what is on the whole great Dark Academia series
What if the first quest you go on leaves you as the soul survivor? What if you are left emotional scarred? What if you then are forced into a second quest, retreading your first and reliving your fears?
A reluctant hero taking on a quest is a fairly standard Fantasy trope, but this story manages to twist it in an interesting way with this basic premise. Kell Kessia has no interest in being a hero. Having quested to the far North and returned successful, but the only survivor he is content to live out the rest of his life as an anonymous farmer. When the threat he encountered on his first quest re-emerges however, he is brought out of retirement by the King and manipulated into returning to the North. Along the way he picks up various companions who have their own motivations.
The Coward is a fun and lively read, and I devoured it easily. The characters are flawed but generally likeable. The stakes are high enough to keep you engaged. The monsters original enough as well. I am not sure if the side story of what was going on back home added hugely to the story but I kind of get the need to explain some of the quest conclusion. An enjoyable light fantasy read for the most part.
I genuinely admire RJ's vision. The Tide Child is such a refreshing fantasy trilogy and a good part of the reason for this is how different it feels from a lot of modern fantasy. First take the setting - Nautical Fantasy is definitely an interesting niche. There are other Nautical Fantasy series out there, but I have yet to encounter one as well realised as this. The boneships, constructed from the bones of ancient seamonsters in a land devoid of natural wood sources, are described with an eye to nautical detail giving them a brilliant sense of reality. The wildlife, formed of fantastical sea creatures, moves beyond the classic nautical tropes. Most fantasy settings cleave so close to land that they forget about the weird and wonderful creatures that can inhabit the oceans. The setting is certainly a star here!
But moving beyond that the relationships that form the core of tightknit crew are center stage. This is as much a character study for Joron Twiner as it is a world building exercise for a nautical world. The growth in this character over the series is just brilliant constructed. He goes from essentially a failure at the start of the series to this titanic heroic figure at the end. And through that the growth feels earnt. All that character development feels natural and deserved. This is no mean trick and shows the quality of RJs writing.
Modern fantasy is in safe hands with creative works like these. I cannot recommend the Tide Child enough!
A self-published debut novella from a relatively unknown author. I was introduced to Jed Herne via some twitter competitions, and on the back of that decided to try out some of his work. This novella is held together beautifully by a clever and unique magic system. The pyromancy that that forms centerpiece of the story involves mages bonding to fires with their blood and using that to power their magic.
The characters drawn together in the story are very gritty, with a good feeling for the relationships between them. This novella definitely borrows from the grimdark subgenre with the morally grey nature of its protagonists, and with its body count. The shifting POV as the gang is whittled down over the course of the story is also a clever structure.
An impressive debut. I look forward to trying more of his works. Based on what I have read so far he deserves more recognition.
A journey through Mexico in the 1920's in the company of an ancient Mesoamerican god of death. This is American Gods in the swinging 20s - similar vibes and as Neil Gaiman's master work. Silvia Moreno-Garcia conjures up the rapid change of the era in Mexico, and the dichotomy between the countryside and the city. She has a wonderful cast of godly and mythical entities that are met along the way, and the decidedly Mesoamerican twist to everything adds an intriguing difference from the usual gods in the real world type story.
There are some interesting theological questions asked around humanity versus gods and their relationships. Can gods become human, and what is the power of belief. How do gods die? Moreno-Garcia provides compelling characters and their relationships are intriguing.
Joe Abercrombie books are my happy place. They are pure comfort reading for me, albeit with a somewhat grim and dark theme. I think it is the character work he does. Every single one of his characters has there morals and manipulations going on - a seething web of different objectives and purposes tangled into delightful tale of pointless and bloody rebellion.
The Trouble with Peace takes up pretty close to where A Little Hatred left us. Savine is trying to reestablish herself in society, Orso is confused as hell but oddly likeable as a King. The Northerners are plotting and squabbling (like much of the rest of the union). It all comes to head in a glorious battle of rebellion against the crown. Very bloody and ultimately very pointless (like most war). It also sets up for an intriguing finale with plenty of foreshadowing of things to come (where are the Burners and the Breakers?).
Ultimately it is the array of tragi-heroic characters and their interactions that make this book, and there are few better in the business than Abercrombie at painting vivid characters. Beneath the blood and guts is a warmth of wit and wry cynicism that brings the characters he is gradually murdering off to life.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this one. My fiancée read it first but was quite dismissive of it - citing it as being generic and not especially creative. She is quite well read in the gothic genre so there may be some truth to that. A lot of other readers and reviewers have been raving about it online though. I have a lot less reading in this genre than she does so decided to give it ago and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. The Mexican aspect of this is not really there - you are taken to a creepy European family's house in Mexico - the Mexico location ends up being entirely incidental to the plot. This gothic story really could be set anywhere. However, Silvia's writing style is easy to engage with. She creates an interesting sense of being trapped with an overbearing and frightening set of characters with ambiguous motives. The central mystery of the story is well revealed, even if the mechanism has been used before. To me this is a well executed take on the gothic story. Is it especially ‘Mexican' feeling? No. Is it hugely original? Probably not. Is it fun and easy to read with a satisfying denouement? I certainly think so. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Deeply political maneuverings during a troubled dynastic succession. Don't be deceived by the somewhat dry elevator pitch, this is a gripping story. Part Machiavellian machinations, part murder mystery, part coming of age for a forgotten scion of a royal family. The world building is deeply impressive, with a complex hierarchy and political system which can be a bit overwhelming. Once you get your head around the terminology (which is vast and confusing) there is a rich tapestry of court life and the isolation of power. The confusing terminology in many ways serves to enhance the sense of confusion of the titular Goblin Emperor.
This is political fantasy at its best and highly recommended
Witches and women's suffrage. At first it sounds like a strange mix, but one reflection the persecution of women as witches and the initial rejection of suffrage have a lot in common. Alix does a very good job of putting forward the inequalities of society in a novel way, as we follow three sisters and their quest for both suffrage and acceptance as witches. A fascinating alt history with witchcraft as its basis until it was overthrown by a ‘dark' witch and repressed provides the backbone of the story. The concepts and prose are beautiful, haunting and important feeling.
My main problem is I failed to fall in love with the characters. I just found myself not really caring enough about them, the ideas they were portraying became more important than their likeability. I also find these period settings tend to encourage authors to use a more flowery prose, which whilst often pretty can be somewhat distracting. This novel falls into that trap on occasion.
Ultimately the theme and the message are very well executed, but I am not sure I enjoyed the stylings of the book. Enjoyable enough but not in the end quite living up to its promise