Sunday 24 September 2017

Age of Assassins by RJ Barker

As a long time reader of fantasy fiction I am often looking for someone to do something a little bit different, to stir the pot a little. With this fantasy/whodunnit RJ Barker has done just that.

Throw in a protagonist with a disability (but not a disability that is dwelt on overly long) and a well realised locale and you have something a bit special.

Our hero is Girton Clubfoot, a trainee assassin who, with his master Merela Karn we first meet sneaking into Castle Maniyadoc through the sewage gate. Inevitably they are caught but it turns out they are there for a reason - somebody has murder in mind and our assassins are to find out who.

The story is very character driven and, thankfully, Barker does a great job here. I cared about Girton and an event later on in the story, which could have gone either way for his future development was handled really well. Sometimes young characters can be a tad annoying, all full of angst and hormones but not so much here.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks that fill in Girton and Karn's backstory, which again works well as we see that Karn is not what might often be expected.

So, did I enjoy this? I don't think there's any real doubt about that is there?

A cross between Robin Hobb's Farseer novels and tv's Merlin this is a fine start to a series I eagerly await more of. A very strong debut in a year of strong debuts - 5/5*

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Bank Holiday All-Dayer (A Short Story) by Andrew David Barker

It is the summer of 1996 and Anthony Parker is on an all day Bank Holiday bender, a session fuelled by alcohol, drugs and girls. As the tag-line says, things are bout to get messy.

I very much enjoyed Barker's earlier stories (The Electric, Dead Leaves) so I was looking forward to this. I wasn't disappointed.

Parker, the lead character of this story isn't a particularly likable person but he tells an interesting story. Other than going from pub to pub, drinking Red Stripe, dropping tabs and a random sexual encounter in the pub toilets not a lot happens. But what the author does do is give a more or less perfect snapshot of the time. I remember 1996 well and Bank Holiday All-Dayer absolutely nails it.

Another plus is the 'soundtrack'. As Porter goes through his parade of excesses there is an accompaniment of music mentioned either in tunes played by bands in the pub or tracks on the Jukebox, tunes that take you back to the crazy, hazy summer of 96 - and every one is a corker. A well curated choice indeed.

The minus side - at only 32 pages it is over too soon (although, paradoxically, it is just the right length). I would have loved to have spent more time with these characters, but that has always been the case with Andrew David Barker's books.

A very enjoyable 4/5* read