Bloodlust and Bonnets by Emily McGovern

 Welcome to Day 5 of the Bloodlust and Bonnets Blogtour.

I don't often read graphic novels, solely because I find they are over too quickly. This tale of vampire slaying in early 19th century England intrigued me though.

Our heroes in this tale are Lucy, a young lady who wants more from life than the prim and properness expected at that time, Sham, an androgynous person and Lord Byron (yes, THAT Lord Byron). Between them they traipse the length and breadth of the country killing vampires, raising mayhem at society events while flirting and winding each other up. It felt very much like Buffy written by the Brontes

The banter between Lucy, Byron and Sham is good fun but what really makes this is the artwork. The character drawings seem fairly basic at first glance but the colouring makes it look gorgeous.

As I said earlier, I don't often do graphic novels but in this case I'm glad I did

 Thank you, as always, to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and I hope you can make time to have a look at the blog posts by the other lovely people on the tour.

The Story of John Nightly by Tot Taylor

 Welcome to Day 1 of the Blogtour for The Story of John Nightly. Before we start let me just say, I have not finished this book yet so I'm only commenting on what I have read so far. The only reason I haven't finished it though is time. I recieved the book a week ago and it is a big one. 800+ pages big.

Right, down to the important stuff...

The Story of John Nightly is a biography of a non-existent musical genius featuring real people and made up characters. Confused? Don't worry, it all becomes clear early on.

John Nightly comes to us as a shy chap when we first meet him but he has musical talents that rank him as a genius. As his talents are recognised and fame beckons so too does the high life and then he disappears from the limelight to live a reclusive life in Devon with his friend/carer John (believe me there are a lot of Johns in this book, and I do mean A LOT! I don't know if this is just a running joke by the author or something that will be explained later on)

The story slips between the Swinging Sixties and The Noughties and a lot of it is made up of interviews, newspaper and magazine articles etc. which makes it all seem as if John Nightly was real. The different sides of JN, the slightly obnoxious wunderkind of the 60's, the reclusive character of the 00's are well defined and relatable.

It's very obvious from reading this that the author knows a lot about music and the recording industry but this adds to the story rather than baffle the reader with 'industry-speak.

As I said earlier this is a huge book but it flows really well and I found myself doing the '1 more page' thing many times over.

This was a book like no other I've read before and I highly recommend it.

Thank you, as always, to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and I hope you will try and find time to read the posts by the rest of the bloggers on the tour

Jaffle Inc. by Heide Goody and Iain Grant

Welcome to Day 2 of the Blogtour for Heide Goody and Iain Grant's latest novel Jaffle Inc. 

Set in the near(ish) future this is a world where 97% of the population are fitted with a Jaffle port. This is a device which allows each person to give the unused capacity of their brain power to the upkeep of the infrastructure of the country. It feels very much like the next step from mobile phone obsession really.

Our protagonist, Alice, works for Jaffle Tech Inc. and is on one of the lower level Jaffle packages. Due to a series of events Alice accidentally ends up doing a 'favour' for the head of Jaffle Tech which results in her getting all her brain capacity back. This results in her seeing the world in a much better light...but how long can she keep her secret.

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Goody and Grant, their madcap sense of humour makes their books a must read for me, but with Jaffle Inc. the humour isn't as much 'front and centre'. This isn't of any detriment to the story. What we have here is a top-notch near future sci-fi thriller with a dash of humour. There are moments that really stand out, such as when Alice discovers real food and music (before she had been eating beans and watching bland TV).

Throw in corporate espionage and what you have here is Grant and Goody's best work to date and something that deserves to be noticed.

Thanks, as always, to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the tour and please, if you can find time, have a look at the posts by the other bloggers on the tour

The Nursery by Asia Mackay

Welcome to Day 6 of the Blogtour for Asia Mackay's The Nursery.

This starts off as an espionage/thriller tale, all guns and high speed chases but once the initial action is over our hero, Lex Tyler, is off across London on a second, equally important mission - to pick her daughter, Givi, up from daycare. And that, more or less, sets the standard for the rest of the book.

Assassination attempts, the Dark Web, keeping your career secret from your husband and managing your little one's love of biting - all in a day's work for Lex.

This is the second book in the series (I haven't read the first yet but I will) and with it's mix of edge of your seat action and the more humorous family side of  things this was a very entertaining read. I could see this being televised soon.

As always, please try and find a few spare moments to have a look at the other blogs on this tour

A River Of Bodies by Kevin Doyle

Welcome to the 1st day of the Blogtour for Kevin Doyle's A River of Bodies (#2 in The Solidarity Books trilogy)

Right, first things first, this is, as I said, the second in a series so, although you can probably get away with it, you would benefit more from reading #1 To Keep A Bird Singing first.

Right, onto the book. The setting is Cork, Republic of Ireland in 2010. These are dark times, austerity is kicking in hard and revelations about Ireland's past make for uncomfortable reading.

Noelie Sullivan 'disaffected ex-punk and grassroots activist' has been investigating missing boys from an Industrial School and his enquiries have made him and his friends some dangerous enemies.

Dodgy priests (that's putting it mildly!), abuse of children in care, bodies buried in ruins it's all here and over it all lies a sense of impending threat for our heroes. The recent Irish scandals feature strongly and it feels unsettling at times. But that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a good story that will keep you (WARNING!!! CLICHÉ ALERT! ) on the edge of your seat throughout.

The only real issues I had with this are personal ones - I really didn't like the name Noelie (picky I know but there you go) and there is a character known as Black Gary who is always referred to as such. It's always 'Black Gary this, Black Gary that' nobody ever calls him just plain Gary.

The setting of Cork and the Irish Republic meant I had to look up a few things I didn't know but that only added to the sense of place.

There was a lot of rehashing of 'what's gone before' in River but as a middle book that's to be expected I guess. Middle books are often mainly about setting things up for the big finish in book 3. That said, I got through this in 2 days.

The real test then is will I read book 3 when it comes out and that's a resounding yes.

As always, thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour and now you've read my thoughts on the book please try and find some time to look at the blog posts from the other reviewers (above) on the tour

The End of Magic by Mark Stay

This was a whole lot of fun and full of interesting ideas. As you can guess from the title it revolves around what happens when magic disappears from the world and those with, if you like, power become powerless. It was interesting to see how quickly those now bereft of their magical abilities become the 'underclass', how quickly those that once needed them and their skills turn on them.
What caught me most was what happened with those classed as 'Moon Children'. Those with magic got there power from a moon whereas Moon Children were 'blocked' by it and kept in a state of childlike ability. Unable to think well, communicate etc they are seen as low and only capable of menial tasks. When the moon is destroyed and magic fails then the 'block' fails and they reach their true ability.
The ending of the story was not what I was expecting but was one to make you think

The Song of the Sycamore by Edward Cox

Welcome to day 2 of the Blog Tour for Edward Cox's new novel. 

'On the broken world of Urdezha, Wendal Finn died on the hostile plains of the wasteland, one more casualty in the endless war between the city-dwellers and the clansfolk. But now Wendal has returned to his home city of Old Castle, possessed by something he brought back from the wasteland, something old and best left forgotten. The spirits are calling it Sycamore, an ancient entity out to avenge all victims of murder. And in a city like Old Castle, no one is innocent.'

I'll be honest, I didn't really know what kind of story to expect when I picked this one up (except that it would be a good one, Ed Cox has never let me down before). What it turned out to be was a sci-fi/fantasy mash-up with a healthy dose of mystery thrown into the mix. 

When it starts we are with Wendal Finn in Old Castle, he is already 'dead' and possessed by an entity. Other recently dead are wanting him to avenge their murders, which the entity is happy to do until Finn's body wears out, at which point it will just find another host. 

When one of the recently dead (ghouls) leads Finn/The Entity into a trap Finn gets a second chance and, maybe the opportunity to find out why his wife died while he was at war. 

As always with Cox the world-building is top notch. This is a world at war where Scientists and Magicians vie for supremacy, where the clans are rising and a supernatural storm is coming. The magic here is pretty brutal, with spells being etched into people's bodies but that really gives the story an extra edge. What really impressed me though was The Song of Always (you'll understand when you pick up the book, I'm not giving anything away here except to say it is a cracking concept) 

This reminded me a lot of the works of Ed Mcdonald and Peter Newman and I thoroughly enjoyed it

4.5/5*

Many thanks to Kate Moreton and Gollancz for inviting me onto this tour, Netgalley for providing the review file, and please try and find a bit of time to check out the posts by the other wonderful bloggers below