When Heaven, Hell and Birmingham collide.........
Clovenhoof is the first in a series of books (four so far with a fifth in the works) and if this is anything to go by it will be a very enjoyable series indeed. The main idea for the story is that Satan has been fired from his job in Hell for Gross Incompetence and exiled to the suburbs of Birmingham where he is expected to live as a mere mortal .......oh, if only things were that simple.
As you would expect from the Prince of Darkness, he isn't going to take this lying down. He has tricks up his sleeve and ruses a plenty and with the help of his neighbours, the bookish, slightly nerdy - actually, lets be fair, very nerdy - Ben and the man-hungry Nerys he plans to get back to where he belongs.
Clovenhoof (which is the new name given to Satan on his exile - Jeremy Clovenhoof) works well as a character. He struggles to adapt to his new life where nobody (apart from the barman at his local) recognises him. He needs his new friends to guide him in his new life and tries to be a friend himself but is still the sneaky, crafty type you would expect but he never really comes across as Evil Incarnate - just ........a bit naughty.
Add to this an overcrowding problem in heaven, generally shown through scenes from a series of committee meetings and there is a good little backstory to keep you thinking.
As a story this reminded me very much of Tom Holt in its' style and craziness. There is a lot going on and just when you think you may have read the daftest thing ever the next scene will come along and prove you wrong. There are 410 pages and sometimes a story of this ilk can feel stretched over this length but with Clovenhoof that is certainly not the case. I got through this in three days solely because once I put it down I was itching to get back to it. Just one small point to finish on - for a book written by two people I couldn't see the seam. There was no point where it felt like 'this was written by one person and this by another' so bravo to both for a job well done.
Jeremy Clovenhoof - rogue, rascal, sneak, untrustworthy, former Prince of Hell - and one of the best damn comic leads in a long time.
4.7/5stars
Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Friday, 10 July 2015
Abendau's Heir by Jo Zebedee -a review
Abendau's Heir is the first in a trilogy (The Inheritance Trilogy) by first time author Jo Zebedee, although you wouldn't believe it to be a first time effort. The general gist of the story is that there is an 'Evil Empire' vs 'Rebels' war in progress. Our hero, Kare, is the key to the future, to victory for one side over the other. His Mother is The Empress, his Father the leader of The Rebellion. They both want Kale on their side but what Kale really wants is to survive.
Just from that synopsis you will get the idea that this is very Star Wars like in concept so you know what you are getting but the characters and story are much deeper than you would expect, so, certainly not a Star Wars clone. One aspect of the story I really appreciated was that the characters are not all cut and dried Good Guys and Bad Guys. Prepare yourself to be wrong footed every now and again is all I will say on that matter ;-)
This is Space Opera done right, in my opinion, plenty of action, entertaining story and not too much deep science. I do sometimes find that some Space Opera novels leave you wishing you had a degree in the sciences so you could understand just what is going on - with Abendau's Heir this is not the case. It isn't Space Opera Lite but neither is it brain boggling stuff, just a well told space romp.
As for the book itself - I ordered a copy from Waterstones and have to say, this is a really well produced, high quality book. Tickety Boo Press, the publishers have made something that is a pleasure to own.
I've been torn as to what score to give Abendau's Heir ( it kept me well entertained on a recent beach holiday). Everything about it worked for me so I was going to give it 5* but, I just have a feeling that the next in the series is going to up the ante even more so I've decided to split the score (don't worry, it'll all make sense)
Story - 4/5* (just because I need to be able to go upwards with the next volume)
The Physical Copy - 5/5* (a really well put together book)
Abendau's Heir total -9/10*
Just from that synopsis you will get the idea that this is very Star Wars like in concept so you know what you are getting but the characters and story are much deeper than you would expect, so, certainly not a Star Wars clone. One aspect of the story I really appreciated was that the characters are not all cut and dried Good Guys and Bad Guys. Prepare yourself to be wrong footed every now and again is all I will say on that matter ;-)
This is Space Opera done right, in my opinion, plenty of action, entertaining story and not too much deep science. I do sometimes find that some Space Opera novels leave you wishing you had a degree in the sciences so you could understand just what is going on - with Abendau's Heir this is not the case. It isn't Space Opera Lite but neither is it brain boggling stuff, just a well told space romp.
As for the book itself - I ordered a copy from Waterstones and have to say, this is a really well produced, high quality book. Tickety Boo Press, the publishers have made something that is a pleasure to own.
I've been torn as to what score to give Abendau's Heir ( it kept me well entertained on a recent beach holiday). Everything about it worked for me so I was going to give it 5* but, I just have a feeling that the next in the series is going to up the ante even more so I've decided to split the score (don't worry, it'll all make sense)
Story - 4/5* (just because I need to be able to go upwards with the next volume)
The Physical Copy - 5/5* (a really well put together book)
Abendau's Heir total -9/10*
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Black Mountain by Simon Bestwick - a review
Charles Dickens used to do it, Stephen King did it with The Green Mile and now Simon Bestwick and Spectral Press are doing it with 'Black Mountain'. The 'it' in question is the serialised chap book - a story released in parts at regular intervals. When done right this idea can work really well and thankfully Mr Bestwick seems to have got it spot on.
The story itself (in 11 parts) is an interesting blend, and possibly not something I have come across before (and I like things that up the ante a little), the best way I can think of to describe it would be 'Blair Witch Project in book form' I guess but maybe that doesn't quite do it justice.
The general gist of the story is that Simon Bestwick (the author tells the tale as a real document) is called to a psychiatric hospital on behalf of an old colleague Rob Markland, now a patient there. Markland has been studying events and occurrences in an area of Wales known as 'The Bala Triangle' and centring on The Black Mountain itself. Whatever he discovered has led him to either a breakdown or madness but before things got too bad he put all his documents together and now it is up to Simon to go through them and find out what happened and what if anything can be done to help his old friend. The following episodes cover the items in the documents from back in Roman times right up to the final expedition by Markland himself. Each part of the tale is by turn creepy, suspenseful and horrific, just the thing to keep you watching eagerly for the next episode to appear on Amazon.
I said at the beginning it was similar in style to something like The Blair Witch Project, that reference was mainly because the bulk of the story is told from the documents read, video files watched etc. but I am going to go a step further and say The Blair Witch Project written by H P Lovecraft. Horror as it should be - the kind that sticks in your mind and keeps you coming back for more. The only real disappointment is that, now, the story is over. But oh, what a story it was. Simon Bestwick could well be one of the best British horror writers around today and Spectral Press have done a grand job on putting his story out. Keep an eye on both.......I know I will
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
The story itself (in 11 parts) is an interesting blend, and possibly not something I have come across before (and I like things that up the ante a little), the best way I can think of to describe it would be 'Blair Witch Project in book form' I guess but maybe that doesn't quite do it justice.
The general gist of the story is that Simon Bestwick (the author tells the tale as a real document) is called to a psychiatric hospital on behalf of an old colleague Rob Markland, now a patient there. Markland has been studying events and occurrences in an area of Wales known as 'The Bala Triangle' and centring on The Black Mountain itself. Whatever he discovered has led him to either a breakdown or madness but before things got too bad he put all his documents together and now it is up to Simon to go through them and find out what happened and what if anything can be done to help his old friend. The following episodes cover the items in the documents from back in Roman times right up to the final expedition by Markland himself. Each part of the tale is by turn creepy, suspenseful and horrific, just the thing to keep you watching eagerly for the next episode to appear on Amazon.
I said at the beginning it was similar in style to something like The Blair Witch Project, that reference was mainly because the bulk of the story is told from the documents read, video files watched etc. but I am going to go a step further and say The Blair Witch Project written by H P Lovecraft. Horror as it should be - the kind that sticks in your mind and keeps you coming back for more. The only real disappointment is that, now, the story is over. But oh, what a story it was. Simon Bestwick could well be one of the best British horror writers around today and Spectral Press have done a grand job on putting his story out. Keep an eye on both.......I know I will
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
Monday, 29 June 2015
Wye by Jack Croxall - a review
Wye is a Young Adult Dystopian Novel, set in The U K in the time following The Sickness and The Spread. The Sickness was a virus type thing that hit a lot of the population and The Spread - well, that kind of speaks for itself.
The story is told in journal form, by the titular Wye (not her real name) and tells of her attempt to get to safety with her small group of friends and their pursuit by 'a monster' (type unknown). Chuck into the mix that The Sickness/Spread leaves a trail of the walking dead and it's so far, so yeah, yeah, all been done before.
But here's the twist, right from the very first line you are left in no doubt that not everything is maybe what it seems to be. There are little clues and hints that make the reader skip back a sentence or two just to check what they've just read. Putting it all together bit by bit is all part of the fun with this story and I enjoyed it immensely.
If you have a Young Adult reader in your family I would highly recommend this for them (and for yourselves too). Personally I can see this being Jack Croxall's break out book, the one that gets him the notice I believe he deserves so remember the name and keep an eye out for him
4.5/5 stars
The story is told in journal form, by the titular Wye (not her real name) and tells of her attempt to get to safety with her small group of friends and their pursuit by 'a monster' (type unknown). Chuck into the mix that The Sickness/Spread leaves a trail of the walking dead and it's so far, so yeah, yeah, all been done before.
But here's the twist, right from the very first line you are left in no doubt that not everything is maybe what it seems to be. There are little clues and hints that make the reader skip back a sentence or two just to check what they've just read. Putting it all together bit by bit is all part of the fun with this story and I enjoyed it immensely.
If you have a Young Adult reader in your family I would highly recommend this for them (and for yourselves too). Personally I can see this being Jack Croxall's break out book, the one that gets him the notice I believe he deserves so remember the name and keep an eye out for him
4.5/5 stars
Sunday, 28 June 2015
The Mall by S L Grey - A Review
S L Grey is a collaboration of Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenburg and The Mall is, in its' own way, a book of two halves. The chapters are told from two different character perspectives (I'm guessing the authors took a character each and wrote alternate chapters). The story itself can also be put into two parts - 'during' and 'after', but we'll get to that later.
The two lead characters are Dan, an emo type who works in a shopping mall near his South African home and Rhoda, a junkie who is at the mall to score her next fix - accompanied by the young boy she is babysitting. Neither are nice people but as characters they work well together.
Dan and Rhoda are put together when her babysitting charge runs off into the back corridors of the mall. Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her look for him, they themselves head off into the back corridors and enter an alternate mall, deep in the bowels underneath the 'original' mall. And that alternate mall is like nothing you would expect (and certainly not somewhere you would want to find yourself. As they continue in their search they get messages on their mobile phones, even when those phones batteries have stopped working.
The alternate mall is very much reminiscent of computer game environments, most especially Silent Hill. There are people in the alternate mall whose sole reason for existing is to shop, shop, shop and others who are their solely to work in the shop, chained to their work counter for hour after hour. The first part of The Mall, the part set in the alternate mall, is some of the best horror I have read in a long time, there are scenes that will have you (forgive the cliché) on the edge of your seat and scenes that are so grotesque they are proper stomach turners. When it becomes clear they are not going to find the young boy the focus turns to trying to escape. The alternate mall is Hell on Earth, all they want is to get out but it seems no-one ever gets back to the surface.
So far, a cracking horror and if we were finishing here 5/5 stars........
But we aren't done yet.
It won't be too much of a spoiler to say Dan and Rhoda manage to escape, the young boy she Rhoda was babysitting is back home safe and sound and all is well with the world. This for me is where The Mall fell down a bit. Dan and Rhoda get on with their lives, with Rhoda moving in temporarily with Dan and his mother.
The thing is, they were terrified while they were in the alternate mall, all they wanted was to get away from the horror but by the end of the story they decide life is boring 'up top' so decide they have to head back to the mall and find their way back into the alternate mall - you know, the one they spent the first two thirds of the book desperately trying to get away from.
Don't get me wrong, the alternate view point chapters worked well, the story telling is tight for the most part and the alternate mall environment is truly one of the scariest in a long time. It's just the end that felt off to me, that I didn't really 'get'. The alternate mall is a horrible, disgusting, terrifying place and I can't imagine any situation that would be so bad that it would make anyone want to go back once they had escaped
So, for the alternate mall section - 5/5 stars
for the 'after' section - 3/5 stars
Final rating - 4/5 stars
There are two more in the series 'The Ward' and 'The New Girl' and the nasty, visceral horror of The Mall means I will be reading those soon....I just hope I enjoy their respective endings a bit more.
The two lead characters are Dan, an emo type who works in a shopping mall near his South African home and Rhoda, a junkie who is at the mall to score her next fix - accompanied by the young boy she is babysitting. Neither are nice people but as characters they work well together.
Dan and Rhoda are put together when her babysitting charge runs off into the back corridors of the mall. Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her look for him, they themselves head off into the back corridors and enter an alternate mall, deep in the bowels underneath the 'original' mall. And that alternate mall is like nothing you would expect (and certainly not somewhere you would want to find yourself. As they continue in their search they get messages on their mobile phones, even when those phones batteries have stopped working.
The alternate mall is very much reminiscent of computer game environments, most especially Silent Hill. There are people in the alternate mall whose sole reason for existing is to shop, shop, shop and others who are their solely to work in the shop, chained to their work counter for hour after hour. The first part of The Mall, the part set in the alternate mall, is some of the best horror I have read in a long time, there are scenes that will have you (forgive the cliché) on the edge of your seat and scenes that are so grotesque they are proper stomach turners. When it becomes clear they are not going to find the young boy the focus turns to trying to escape. The alternate mall is Hell on Earth, all they want is to get out but it seems no-one ever gets back to the surface.
So far, a cracking horror and if we were finishing here 5/5 stars........
But we aren't done yet.
It won't be too much of a spoiler to say Dan and Rhoda manage to escape, the young boy she Rhoda was babysitting is back home safe and sound and all is well with the world. This for me is where The Mall fell down a bit. Dan and Rhoda get on with their lives, with Rhoda moving in temporarily with Dan and his mother.
The thing is, they were terrified while they were in the alternate mall, all they wanted was to get away from the horror but by the end of the story they decide life is boring 'up top' so decide they have to head back to the mall and find their way back into the alternate mall - you know, the one they spent the first two thirds of the book desperately trying to get away from.
Don't get me wrong, the alternate view point chapters worked well, the story telling is tight for the most part and the alternate mall environment is truly one of the scariest in a long time. It's just the end that felt off to me, that I didn't really 'get'. The alternate mall is a horrible, disgusting, terrifying place and I can't imagine any situation that would be so bad that it would make anyone want to go back once they had escaped
So, for the alternate mall section - 5/5 stars
for the 'after' section - 3/5 stars
Final rating - 4/5 stars
There are two more in the series 'The Ward' and 'The New Girl' and the nasty, visceral horror of The Mall means I will be reading those soon....I just hope I enjoy their respective endings a bit more.
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Monsters by Paul Kane - a review
First things first, just for purposes of clarity, I received an electronic pre publication copy of this from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Question: What is the first thing you think of when the word 'monster' is used? Is it the old black and white hammer films? Video nasties of the 80's? Or something else completely? Whatever it may be there will be something in this collection for you.
There are 18 stories here, 17 reprinted from other sources and one original to this collection, covering 1999 to the present. Some I have read before but most are new to me - and each one I enjoyed for it's own reasons.
The thing I find with anthologies (and this is just a personal view) is that sometimes the stories can run into one another, especially if the focus is just the one author. Thankfully this is not the case here. There is enough diversity to keep you hooked for "just one more" and you can't always be sure where that "just one more" will be taking you. There is humour here, in places, but the darkness is never far away. A prime example being 'Guilty Pleasures' which tells of a Guilt Demon visiting people with, as you might expect, guilty secrets, whispering in their ears. The demon itself came across, to me, as a more of a cheeky rascal type than an evil hellspawn but the ending certainly dried up the chuckles. 'Guilty Pleasures' is followed by 'Speaking in Tongues' which, again, had a vein of humour in the way the lead character interacts, unwillingly, with people but the reasoning behind it all is Body Horror at its' best (see what I mean about diversity).
There is 'old school' horror here (Nightlife, Dracula in Love), Body Horror (the aforementioned Speaking in Tongues, The Disease), and all points in-between. Plenty for everyone - and cover art by Clive Barker!
If I were to have one complaint it is that there is one story of Mr Kane's that I would have included in this collection that is not here, but that is just my opinion. I think it is safe to say Paul Kane is one of my 'go to' guys for horror shorts and this is a worthy addition to his oeuvre. If you've read his works before you will want to own this and if you are new to him this is as good a starting point as any.
5/5 stars
Enjoy ;-)
Question: What is the first thing you think of when the word 'monster' is used? Is it the old black and white hammer films? Video nasties of the 80's? Or something else completely? Whatever it may be there will be something in this collection for you.
There are 18 stories here, 17 reprinted from other sources and one original to this collection, covering 1999 to the present. Some I have read before but most are new to me - and each one I enjoyed for it's own reasons.
The thing I find with anthologies (and this is just a personal view) is that sometimes the stories can run into one another, especially if the focus is just the one author. Thankfully this is not the case here. There is enough diversity to keep you hooked for "just one more" and you can't always be sure where that "just one more" will be taking you. There is humour here, in places, but the darkness is never far away. A prime example being 'Guilty Pleasures' which tells of a Guilt Demon visiting people with, as you might expect, guilty secrets, whispering in their ears. The demon itself came across, to me, as a more of a cheeky rascal type than an evil hellspawn but the ending certainly dried up the chuckles. 'Guilty Pleasures' is followed by 'Speaking in Tongues' which, again, had a vein of humour in the way the lead character interacts, unwillingly, with people but the reasoning behind it all is Body Horror at its' best (see what I mean about diversity).
There is 'old school' horror here (Nightlife, Dracula in Love), Body Horror (the aforementioned Speaking in Tongues, The Disease), and all points in-between. Plenty for everyone - and cover art by Clive Barker!
If I were to have one complaint it is that there is one story of Mr Kane's that I would have included in this collection that is not here, but that is just my opinion. I think it is safe to say Paul Kane is one of my 'go to' guys for horror shorts and this is a worthy addition to his oeuvre. If you've read his works before you will want to own this and if you are new to him this is as good a starting point as any.
5/5 stars
Enjoy ;-)
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
John Dies At The End by David Wong - a review
Here's the thing with reviewing books (or anything else for that matter) - most times you are able to say "I really enjoyed it", "I disliked it" or maybe "Meh, it was okay". On finishing John Dies At The End the overlying thought I was left with was "What in the 17 holy hells have I just read!!!"
John Dies is not an easy book to review but I'll do my best. The general gist of the story is that our 'heroes' are two slacker types Dave and the titular John are in the middle of a whole world of weird. There are parallel universes, monsters made of joints of meat, a dog that dies and reappears again, horrific creatures that almost defy description and all is told in a mainly humorous style that leaves it seeming like it is Bill and Ted's Awesome B Movie . The horror is all at the top end of the gross out scale and there are a lot of poo and knob jokes that can become a bit trying after a while but if those are your 'thing' you'll probably enjoy it. Maybe I'm just not the audience age group it's aimed at.
For the story I would have given it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars but there were other issues.....
I read this on my kindle and, to be frank, found the text layout to be very poor in places. On one page alone, for instance, there was,
1) two el der ly (three separate words) security guards
2) En glish (two words!)
3) Notthe (one word)
4) house hold (two words)
You get the idea! This looks like it has not been proof read or, if it has, then whoever did it only did a half arsed job. There are similar occurrences all through the book and it really does detract from the narrative flow at times. Just because the kindle isn't seen as a 'real book' it doesn't mean there is any excuse for this poor level of presentation and for this I have to take an extra mark so .......
John Dies At The End - 2 1/2 out of 5
John Dies is not an easy book to review but I'll do my best. The general gist of the story is that our 'heroes' are two slacker types Dave and the titular John are in the middle of a whole world of weird. There are parallel universes, monsters made of joints of meat, a dog that dies and reappears again, horrific creatures that almost defy description and all is told in a mainly humorous style that leaves it seeming like it is Bill and Ted's Awesome B Movie . The horror is all at the top end of the gross out scale and there are a lot of poo and knob jokes that can become a bit trying after a while but if those are your 'thing' you'll probably enjoy it. Maybe I'm just not the audience age group it's aimed at.
For the story I would have given it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars but there were other issues.....
I read this on my kindle and, to be frank, found the text layout to be very poor in places. On one page alone, for instance, there was,
1) two el der ly (three separate words) security guards
2) En glish (two words!)
3) Notthe (one word)
4) house hold (two words)
You get the idea! This looks like it has not been proof read or, if it has, then whoever did it only did a half arsed job. There are similar occurrences all through the book and it really does detract from the narrative flow at times. Just because the kindle isn't seen as a 'real book' it doesn't mean there is any excuse for this poor level of presentation and for this I have to take an extra mark so .......
John Dies At The End - 2 1/2 out of 5
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