tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50094025524558725692024-02-07T06:24:01.122+00:00Weirdmage's ReviewsBook blog focusing on Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror.Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.comBlogger222125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-50948865907119379772014-08-05T21:32:00.000+01:002014-08-07T16:03:21.574+01:00REVIEW: DOCTOR WHO: ENGINES OF WAR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/DoctorWho-EnginesofWar_zps324bd3fd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/DoctorWho-EnginesofWar_zps324bd3fd.jpg" height="400" width="247" /></a></div>
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Cover: Lee Binding/Woodlands Books Ltd<br />
<br />
<b>DOCTOR WHO:<br /><span style="font-size: large;">ENGINES OF WAR</span></b><br />
BY<br />
<b>GEORGE MANN</b><br />
<br />
ISBN: 978-1-84990-848-1<br />
Pages: 320<br />
Publisher: BBC Books/Ebury Publishing<br />
Published: 31 July 2014<br />
<br />
On the cover:<br />
(From the publisher's website.)<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The death of billions is as nothing to us Doctor, if it helps defeat the Daleks.”</i><br />
<br />
The
Great Time War has raged for centuries, ravaging the universe. Scores
of human colony planets are now overrun by Dalek occupation forces. A
weary, angry Doctor leads a flotilla of Battle TARDISes against the
Dalek stronghold but in the midst of the carnage, the Doctor’s TARDIS
crashes to a planet below: Moldox.<br />
<br />
As the Doctor is trapped in an
apocalyptic landscape, Dalek patrols roam amongst the wreckage,
rounding up the remaining civilians. But why haven’t the Daleks simply
killed the humans?<br />
<br />
<br />
Searching for answers the Doctor meets
'Cinder', a young Dalek hunter. Their struggles to discover the Dalek
plan take them from the ruins of Moldox to the halls of Gallifrey, and
set in motion a chain of events that will change everything. And
everyone.</div>
</blockquote>
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This book isn't just a <i>Doctor Who</i> novel. This is our second ever look at the <i>War Doctor</i>. And there is no mistaking this for anything other than a war story. Although not so much a set battle one, more a small special forces engagement in a huge war. That's not to say there aren't any large engagements in this story, there is in fact some major battle action going on in these pages. The word <b>Battle Tardis</b> is used several times and it signals a quite different side of the Time Lords than the one we have been used to seeing. This is a glimpse into the much talked about Time War, and also our first look at how the <i>War Doctor</i> functions as the only <i>Doctor Who</i> in a story.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
I say only Doctor, because the <i>War Doctor</i> doesn't work on his own here. As you can see from the above cover cope he meets a young woman, Cinder. She's not a standard <i>Doctor Who</i> companion, but more of a battle comrade. Actually she does more fighting than the Doctor himself does in the course of this story. Cinder is an interesting person to get acquainted with, and she is a needed human insight into the story of the war between the Time Lords and their enemy the Daleks. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mann avoids making Cinder a standard female <i>Science Fiction</i> warrior although she at times seems like she is about be one. There are some parts of her backstory that feels like it lacks a bit of originality. But let's be honest here, she really exists in this story as a companion rather than a totally separate character, and she is a very good companion. She can more than hold her own, and you feel that she really does have an effect on the Doctor.</div>
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For me it isn't a completely new experience to read about a Doctor I hardly know anything about, but in this instance I share that with everyone else. We are actually getting a completely new Doctor here, at least in a solo adventure. It's sort of a strange experience meeting someone who is so familiar, and yet not quite the same as you are used to. This feeling struck me more than in the regenerations I have seen on TV. The lack of visual aids means that this incarnation of the Doctor is to a much larger degree dependant on how he acts rather than how he looks. </div>
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In my opinion, Mann has managed to give us a great second look at the <i>War Doctor</i>. We are only watching a short event in a long war here, but we get a good glimpse into what it is with this regeneration that formed those that came after it. It's not a hundred percent fully formed character we are presented with, but we still see enough that at the end of he novel you have a quite good idea of who the <i>War Doctor</i> is, and what makes him tick. It's a glimpse that whets the appetite, and I hope we will get to see more of this Doctor in the book universe in the years to come.</div>
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The story is of course also important. There's no ignoring that it incorporates some elements that will be familiar to someone who is familiar with <i>Doctor Who</i>. I've already mentioned a new companion, in the shape of Cinder, and that the Daleks are the enemy is evident by a quick glance at the book's cover. There is however many elements that are not such a staple of a story about the Doctor. The immediately obvious one, and one that I have already mentioned, is that this is a war story. The Doctor starts out this story on a war footing, and we have no time spent of him figuring out his exact whereabouts, or what he is supposed to/can do where he is.<br />
From the above you'll probably gather that the "discover phase" of a <i>Doctor Who</i> story is absent. For me that felt a bit strange, the finding out what is going on is a prologue I have become used to in the Doctor's stories. It does however become clear that this does not detract from the story at all. Being thrown into the action in the way we are makes for a plot that is action-loaded from the start, and it continues in that vein for most of its length.<br />
There is certainly some passages here that are more sedate in pace than a battlefield story, but they add more to the dread of war than anything else. We get to see what the Time Lords are like at war, and we see some sides to them that are very interesting.<br />
I won't go into what the Doctor ultimately ends up doing, but the way there is a good one. There is plenty of tension in what we are presented with. And there are some twists that keeps the level of suspense up throughout the novel.<br />
<br />
All in all this is a great first look at the <i>War Doctor</i> solo. Mann tells a really good story that has plenty to offer both <i>Doctor Who</i> fans and <i>Science Fiction</i> fans in general. I thought this was a great read, and would recommend it as a good starting point for anyone who hasn't <b>read</b> any <i>Doctor Who</i>. And if you ever have wondered about the Time War, there is no getting away from going out and getting this book.<br />
<br />
NOTE: A US edition will be out 9 September 2014 from Broadway Books/Crown Publishing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />ANOTHER NOTE: I was provided an e-ARC of this book by the publisher through NetGalley.<br />
<br />
REVIEWS: You can find my other <i>Doctor Who</i> reviews <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
LINKS: <a href="http://georgemann.wordpress.com/">George Mann</a> <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/">Ebury Publishing</a></div>
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-86535978385388852252014-06-30T20:54:00.000+01:002014-06-30T21:03:41.203+01:00REVIEW: SAVAGE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Savage_zps0dba3ba7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Savage_zps0dba3ba7.jpg" height="400" width="251" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>SAVAGE</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>GARY FRY</b></div>
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Pages: 66</div>
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Publisher: DarkFuse</div>
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Published: 10 June 2014</div>
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On the cover:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(From the publisher's website.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
Driving home one day from a conference, Daryl seeks a shortcut through a
barren countryside. He chances upon a mysterious village whose
residents seem rather odd. But they have something to show him—a
creature so strange he can hardly believe it exists.<br />
<br />
And that's only the beginning of Daryl's problems, as he seeks to escape something far worse than he can ever imagine.<br />
<br />
Something utterly horrific and extremely savage.</div>
</blockquote>
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This novella begins with an established Horror trope. You know, the one where someone gets lost and finds themselves in a place that is both surreal and eerie. Interestingly enough, to me at least, this happens in Yorkshire, where I moved four months ago. Although I live a little bit from where this is happening, I am familiar with the type of location this is set in.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Tropes aren't something that are inherently bad, although for some reason they are often talked about as if that was the case, and in this case Fry does use it to good effect. It doesn't really transcend the trope it starts out with though, although it does tweak the story such that it moves in a slightly unfamiliar direction.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Fry does a very good job at building the atmosphere of the novella. Mostly he does so through the main character, Daryl, a character we learn a lot about in a short timespan. Daryl is an excellent protagonist for a story like this, and the author has made a very good choice in who he lets us see what unfolds through. It's unclear whether Daryl is shaped by the story, or the story shaped by Daryl, he is just a so good fit that the distinction between the two gets pointless to me. I'll leave it with the character and story perfectly complement each other.</div>
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I already mentioned that the story makes some tweaks to the trope it uses. I found those to be both refreshing and unsettling. Unsettling in the way that it does somewhat mess with your preconceptions. The way it doesn't quite turn how you expect it to makes the story a bit unreal. It just feels like it is not quite <b>right</b>, it just doesn't do what you thought it would.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Of course that feeling of unease is a plus for a <i>Horror</i> story, and it heightens the feeling of unease and suspense that the story conveys. but it was a little bit distracting at times for me. Not the fault of the author, but a disconnect between the story and my preconceptions about how this trope will move.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The only slightly weak point in this story is the ending. It felt a little unsatisfying to me. It is not a bad ending, it was just that the rest of the story gave me expectations of something a little bit more than what I got.</div>
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Overall, this is a good read. It accomplishes both creating a great atmosphere and letting us get very close to the main character in a very short time. It does also tell a nice little <i>Rural Horror</i> story that manages to be unsettling in both its familiarity and unfamiliarity. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
If you want a quick <i>Horror</i> read that makes good use of a familiar trope, I can recommend picking this up. It is a tale that is well worth spending a little time with.</div>
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NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley</div>
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LINKS: <a href="http://www.gary-fry.com/">Gary Fry</a> <a href="http://www.darkfuse.com/">DarkFuse</a></div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-79172716391563303912014-06-26T16:22:00.001+01:002014-06-26T16:22:13.337+01:00REVIEW: Mr MERCEDES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MrMercedesUK-Resize_zps4910950f.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MrMercedesUK-Resize_zps4910950f.png" height="400" width="260" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Cover photo* by Caras Ionut</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Mr MERCEDES</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>STEPHEN KING</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
ISBN: 978-1-444-78862-4</div>
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Pages: 405</div>
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Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Published: 3 June 2014</div>
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On the cover:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="ff1 fsl mbot1 mtop1 intro-cat3">
<b>A riveting cat-and-mouse suspense thriller about a retired cop and a couple of unlikely allies who race against
time to stop a lone killer intent on blowing up thousands.</b></div>
<br />
Retired homicide detective Bill Hodges is haunted by the few cases he left open,
and by one in particular: in the pre-dawn hours
hundreds of desperate people were lined up for a spot at a jobs fair in the distressed Midwestern city were he worked. Without warning, a lone driver ploughed
through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes. Eight people were killed, fifteen wounded. The Killer escaped.<br />
<br />
Months later, on the other side of the city, Bill Hodges gets a taunting letter in the mail, from a man claiming to
be the perpetrator. Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing that from happening. <br />
<br />
Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. And he is preparing to kill again. <br />
<br />
Hodges, with a couple of misfit friends, must apprehend the killer in a high-stakes race against time. Because Brady's next mission, if it
succeeds, will kill or maim hundreds, even thousands.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
This novel has more in common with King's <i>Hard Case Crime</i> novel <i><a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/review-joyland.html">Joyland</a></i> than with most of his other novels. That is to say it is a <i>Crime</i> novel, unashamedly so. (Although it is easy at this point to argue that <i>Stephen King Novel</i> is really it's own literary subgenre.) If you have read Joyland, you will be well aware that King can pull of an excellent Crime novel when he tries. He certainly makes an effort to do so here.<br />
<br />
At first glance there is not much that is new here. The detective coming out of retirement to solve a large case is not exactly a new invention when it comes to <i>Crime</i>. There are some fresh elements in this novel though, mostly his two helpers. The first one, Jerome, seems at first to be a token <i>Computer Whiz Kid</i>, but he turns out to have a much larger part in what is to enfold than what can be suspected from our first meeting with him. The second one, Holly, -well- it's hard to say much about her without giving anything away. It will have to suffice to say that she is hardly a typical character, she has greater complexity than most "sidekicks".<br />
Bill himself is perhaps closer to the faulty <i>Noir Crime</i> detective, but he has something extra to him too. And his role in the final showdown is certainly a novel one, and it comes with its own share of suspense as to where we will see the character end up.<br />
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There is one point at which this novel is much the same as other King novels, it has King's trademark build-up. We really get to know the characters and their situations. Here that includes Brady, the titular character - and the story's villain. In some ways it is Brady that we come closest too, it is him that we get the most intimate details about. He is never sympathetic though, King tells his story without making you feel sorry for him.<br />
This means that there is absolutely no suspense in who the killer is, but there doesn't need to be any either. It is not what the narrative is going for, and I can't see that this story would be improved by not knowing who the heroes are looking for.<br />
<br />
The paragraphs above makes for four main characters, which could be a bit much if every character got the same space. There is however a focus on Brady and Bill. We do not get to see much from other viewpoints, and neither do we have to. Aside from these four there are several other characters in supporting roles, they are all well realised. King once again shows us he can do very good characters, and let us get really close to them as we follow their story.<br />
One character did however cause a problem for me, that character is Janey. She is absolutely a good character, and she does come off as someone you would like to spend time with. However there is a part of her story that I felt was a bit cheap. Too easy, and not really up to the standard of the rest of the book. (It will be obvious what I mean if you read the book.) I don't really know if what I am talking about could be done differently without changing other events around, but what happened did feel like a bit of a letdown. This did not majorly effect my experience though, it just made it a little less of a perfect novel.<br />
<br />
When it comes to the level of suspense, King is masterful as always. The novel starts out with a tense and eerie prologue. After that the tension soon starts to build gradually. By the time you get towards the end of the book you'll most likely be on tenterhooks. The last one hundred pages almost left me breathless. At that point the level of suspense is off the charts. This might not be Horror, but it doesn't really hold back in creating the feeling the constant reader will be familiar with from king's other work.<br />
<br />
To sum up, I found this to be an excellent King novel. Apart from the small flaw mentioned above, there is nothing wrong here in my opinion. This should be excellent reading for any Crime fan, and I will also recommend this highly to King's <i>SFF</i> fans. It is simply a wonderfully told story that should appeal to anyone who wants some suspense when they sit down to read.<br />
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* The cover of the edition I have is actually a special cover only available in-store at UK's WH Smith High Street stores. It has a colour difference, and looks like this: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmpcJDEb8EOEkkE5NVNBQHCiA6hH8K1_qAh9Zt0JhorL8IdnSwulTOR1XdQfFG7tyPGcA4wr4q3CbITUaK8IfFzPQOPWH0aXBqXBb0JYViB0833RTrlIykaitHGx2CsgOA90Q4ESENMxY/s1600/Mr+Mercedes+-+WH+Smith+030614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmpcJDEb8EOEkkE5NVNBQHCiA6hH8K1_qAh9Zt0JhorL8IdnSwulTOR1XdQfFG7tyPGcA4wr4q3CbITUaK8IfFzPQOPWH0aXBqXBb0JYViB0833RTrlIykaitHGx2CsgOA90Q4ESENMxY/s1600/Mr+Mercedes+-+WH+Smith+030614.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/stephen-king-reviews.html">STEPHEN KING REVIEW INDEX.</a><br />
<br />
LINKS: <a href="http://stephenking.com/">Stephen King</a> <a href="https://www.hodder.co.uk/">Hodder & Stoughton</a> <a href="http://www.hodderscape.co.uk/">Hodderscape</a>Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-68327418697421349332014-06-18T18:33:00.002+01:002014-06-18T18:34:51.203+01:00GIVEAWAY WINNER. The <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/giveaway-amok-asia-pacific-speculative.html">giveaway</a> is over. I took the entries and assigned them each a number, and then put it through a random number generator. The winner is:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>MIHAI</b></div>
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I have been in contact with him on e-mail, and the book will be on its way to him this week.</div>
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I've been a bit quiet lately. The reason is that I haven't had much time lately. And what I have had has been flying past. I'll have some reviews up starting tomorrow. For those that have been waiting for reviews; I am sorry for the delay. They will be coming up shortly.</div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-13611784807870615412014-06-06T08:20:00.001+01:002014-06-06T08:20:02.150+01:00A QUICK REMINDER: GIVEAWAY Since I haven't gotten many entries, I thought it would be a good time to remind everyone that I have a giveaway going. You can read all about it <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/giveaway-amok-asia-pacific-speculative.html">here</a>. It will be going until midnight 14 April. I'm afraid it is open for Europe only, but if you live in Europe, please enter!<br /><br /> I've been a bit quiet on the blog the last two weeks, but will have more stuff up from Tuesday. Upcoming reviews include: Mr Mercedes by Stephen King, The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem, and Best British Horror 2014 edited by Johnny Mains.<br />
<br />
Have a good weekend everyone! Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-76523386341289417382014-06-03T17:51:00.001+01:002014-06-03T17:51:46.783+01:00REVIEW: BANISHED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Banished-395x600_zpsf20bf8a6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Banished-395x600_zpsf20bf8a6.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
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Cover design by Jo Thomson using Shutterstock images.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>BANISHED</b></span></div>
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<b>THE BLACKHART LEGACY: BOOK ONE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>LIZ DE JAGER</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
ISBN: 978-4472-4765-4</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pages: 387</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Publisher: Tor UK</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Published: 27 February 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the cover:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Blackhart's Calling:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>to banish evil and hold back the night</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-top: 0;">
Kit is proud to be a Blackhart, now she's
living with her unorthodox cousins and sharing their strange lives.
Especially since their home-schooling includes spells, fighting enemy
fae and using ancient weapons.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0;">
But
it's not until she rescues a rather handsome fae prince, fighting for
his life on the edge of Blackhart Manor, that her training really kicks
in. With her family away on various missions, Kit must protect Prince
Thorn, rely on new friends and use her own unfamiliar magic to stay
ahead of Thorn's enemies.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 0;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0;">
As
things go from bad to apocalyptic, fae battle fae in a war that
threatens to spill into the human world. Then Kit pits herself against
the Elder Gods themselves - it's that or lose everyone she's learnt to
love.</div>
</blockquote>
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What do you get if you cross <i>Urban Fantasy</i>, <i>Fairy Tale</i> retelling, Lovecraftian Elder Gods, and add a bit of romance? Well, if you are Liz de Jager you'd have the mix necessary to write a great book. <br />
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After a very nice introduction to our main character, Kit Blackheart, we quickly learn about how special she is. This may give you a moments pause, it did for me, there are a lot of characters that have something special about them or who outright are the chosen one in modern <i>Urban Fantasy/Portal Fantasy</i>. (Harry Potter arguably belongs to that "slash"-genre.) Actually, that is an unnecessary worry. It didn't take long before I completely forgot about it, and it doesn't come into play in that sense in the story.<br />
Kit is nowhere near a carbon copy chosen one, she comes across as a fully formed person that isn't necessarily the brightest, strongest, fastest, etc. in the room. And that made her all the better in my opinion. Even though she is not an average young woman, she is very relateable. She seems like the sort of person you will meet at some point in your life, someone who despite what makes her special is not too far removed from someone you might meet in your local bookshop.<br />
This is the type of Fantasy that demands good characters, and de Jager handles characters very well. Kit isn't the only one that feels very real, all of them comes vividly to life on the page. Even the villains of this story are really fleshed out, and although their motives are definitely otherworldly they make perfect sense in context. Something I feel is a necessity for immersion into Fantasy, and something de Jager delivers on.<br />
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Characters aren't everything in <i>Urban Fantasy/Portal Fantasy</i>, and once you are satisfied they are up to scratch (, which they certainly are here), what you usually look at is the setting. The Fae world as a setting predates Fantasy as a genre, and it takes a deft touch to use it without it feeling stale. De Jager manages it with aplomb though. It's clear that she has done her research, but she has made her own spin on the source material, the myths and <i>Fairy Tales</i>, and made a world of her own that feels fresh to the reader.<br />
Infodumping can sometimes be a problem in <i>Fantasy</i>, de Jager manages to avoid it by integrating it very well into the text. A lot of information is passed to the reader in conversations and other character interactions, but it always flows very well and never feels like showing off the structural supports of the story. Some extra bits are left for chapter introductions, and I really liked those. They give lots of interesting little snippets of information that feels like garnish on a good meal.<br />
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So far I've spent a lot of time on the framework the story is built on, the characters and their world, time to move on to the story itself. It's a really fast-paced one. Not that it always moves along at break-neck pace, because it doesn't. There are some passages where we get to know the characters, and discover what is really going on. Those passages are however far from boring. However de Jager has a tendency to drip feed things, and I did get impatient at times. Although I have to stress that it wasn't the bad impatience, but the good type where you just have to keep reading to see what will happen next.<br />
I said above that this was fast-paced, and there is a lot going on. At times there is so much happening that it leaves you almost breathless. Fortunately de Jager manages to steer the reader through events with a deft hand. Even when there is a multitude of things happening at once the author manages to keep it focused so that it never gets confusing. Tension levels are high throughout, and there are some cliff-hangers that does not make stopping reading a real option. The last quarter of the book is not a good place to take a break from reading, you'll probably need to know how it will end at that point - I did. <br />
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This is an excellent <i>Urban Fantasy</i> novel, especially for those that like a helping of <i>Fairy Tale</i> in their <i>Fantasy</i>. Kit Blackhart is an excellent main character, and the supporting cast are also a joy to get to know. Add in great worldbuilding and a fast-paced story that refuses to let the reader go, and you have the ingredients for what is in my opinion a must-read for fans of both Contemporary Fantasy and Fairy Tale retellings.<br />
De Jager's debut leaves you with an appetite for more. I am certainly looking forward to the next volume in <i>The Blackhart Legacy</i>.<br />
<br />
LINKS: <a href="http://www.lizdejager.co.uk/">Liz de Jager</a> <a href="http://www.panmacmillan.com/Home">PanMacmillan (Tor UK)</a> <a href="http://torbooks.co.uk/">Tor UK Blog</a><br />
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-58466255976948966532014-05-28T18:33:00.000+01:002014-06-21T16:52:43.112+01:00NO AMAZON BUY-LINKS IN 2015. Well, this isn't an idea that came to me during the latest incidence of Amazon behaving like a fucktard. It is something I have been thinking about for a long time, since Amazon bought Goodreads. I was planning to write this post last year, with a call to remove all Amazon buy links in 2014. But for several reasons I was delayed, and I wanted to give people time to remove their links.<br />
This is an experiment, or a challenge if you will, to show that Amazon is dependent upon people linking directly to their buy-pages. I honestly think that the biggest convenience with shopping at Amazon is that you get a constant barrage of direct links to buy-pages. Consumers are fickle creatures, and I think that it will not take very long for them to get used to shopping elsewhere. And I have myself witnessed things online that make me think that quite a lot of people shop at Amazon out of laziness, and I think those people would be happy to shop anywhere as long as they get a direct link to a buy page.<br />
<br />
First, I'll tell you what I have observed. The events that made me think that the buy-links put out there by readers, reviewers, and others are what gives Amazon its convenience.* I said I started thinking about this when Amazon bought Goodreads. Actually that was just the catalyst for thoughts that started some time earlier.<br />
My first real experience with Amazon buy-buttons came in late 2010-early 2011. At that time quite a lot of people in the <i>SFF</i> blogosphere were removing their Amazon buy-links in favour of ones linking to The Book Depository. It seemed at the time to be a real popular movement, and it looked like it could make The Book Depository a real competitor to Amazon. That didn't happen of course, in July 2011 Amazon announced they were buying The Book Depository.**<br />
Let's skip forwards about two years, to late 2012-early 2013.*** Goodreads had some disagreement with Amazon. As far as I could tell at the time it was about Amazon wanting them to be the first link showing up on the books's pages. Goodreads disagreed, and Amazon forced Goodreads to remove all data sourced from them.****Goodreads went on without Amazon being the first linked store on a book's pages. And then in April 2013 Goodreads announced that Amazon had bought them.*****<br />
<br />
When it was announced that Goodreads had had a disagreement with Amazon, a lot of people on Goodreads where very happy they didn't back down when Amazon started making demands. There was however a quite vocal group that were pissed at Goodreads. This group were Amazon customers, mostly Kindle owners from what I saw.<br />
Incredibly, some of them were complaining that they had to scroll down to find the Amazon link. And that is when the thought that had been forming in the back of my mind since Amazon bought The Book Depository leaped out: People find it easy to shop at Amazon because they get direct links.<br />
Once I'd had that thought, I couldn't really help going to the next step: The loss of buy-links was part of Amazon's decision to buy both The Book Depository and Goodreads. I have absolutely no evidence for that though, and the only way to prove I am right is to remove all Amazon buy-links. Which is what I am suggesting.<br />
<br />
Yes, you got it right, I want there to be no direct links to buy pages on Amazon. I suggest it now so everyone has time to remove them before 1 January 2015. And if people start removing the links now, and talking about why, I think most readers will be used to it come the New Year.<br />
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I am aware of how people think they are dependent on Amazon to sell books, but as said above, I think Amazon's convenience is its buy-links. I do not think the average reader who shops online will take long to adjust to links leading elsewhere. And as an extension of that, shopping for books elsewhere. There might be a small short-time loss, but I think it will be survivable for everyone. With the blow back Amazon's behavior is getting, it might even turn out that those who want to shop elsewhere if it is made easy by having links to other stores outnumber those that will only shop at Amazon. And let's face it, with tablets making dedicated e-readers more or less obsolete, few reader are really locked into Amazon's e-book format.<br />
<br />
I'll end with making this challenge to everyone in the SFF community. Do not link directly to Amazon buy-pages in 2015. Link to other stores, or if you are an author/publisher to where the book is available to buy on your own site. <br />
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P.S You might notice that there are no buy-links at all on my blog. There is two reasons for that. The first is I want to be a neutral reporter, to have what is referred to as journalistic integrity. ****** Linking to a single store can be construed as "textual advertising" (, or whatever the English expression is), you are sending your readers to a market. At its most basic it is advertising.<br />
The second is that to have buy-links and be neutral, you'd have to link to all sellers. One minute of thinking gave me ten online shops <b>in Norway</b>. How many thousand there is around the world I don't know, but more than enough that it is very impractical to link to them all.<br />
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* I will be focusing on books, since that is what I have been observing for the past six years online.<br />
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** I think that allowing that purchase to go through was a <b>huge</b> mistake by the regulatory authorities. Ideally they should make amends by forcing Amazon to sell it.<br />
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*** Sorry for not giving accurate dates on everything. I simply do not have the time to spend on as much research as I would like to do.<br />
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**** I am a Goodreads Librarian, and a call went out to manually add all the lost data. A lot of people put in a lot of work to do that. -Interestingly, most of my activity as a Goodreads Librarian was correcting erroneous information that people had gotten from Amazon...<br />
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***** Apparently the purchase of The Book Depository was announced on 4 July, while the Goodreads announcement cam 1 April. Not exactly dates you'd chose if you wanted attention to what you were saying.<br />
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****** My father just retired after being a journalist in Norway since before I was born. So I know how a journalist is supposed to behave. Granted, less and less journalists behave that way these days, but that's no excuse not to keep to those ideals.Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-3547836295518606012014-05-23T16:24:00.000+01:002014-05-23T16:24:51.835+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXVII)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/25WaysFront72ppi_zps76d074ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/25WaysFront72ppi_zps76d074ed.jpg" height="400" width="258" /></a></div>
This is a special cover for me. It is the cover for my girlfriend's debut novel. it will be out from Fox Spirit in July 2014, at EdgeLit in Derby. I've seen earlier incarnations of this cover,. Not much has changed, but I think the final version is the best one. I might be a bit biased this time, but I think it is a great cover. You can see the full wraparound underneath.<br />
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This is the final book in the trilogy, and it will be out 10 February 2015 from Orbit. I think it is a very good cover. It does somewhat evoke <i>Historical Fiction</i>, but as the period is so late that only makes it stand out more in the <i>SFF</i> section of the bookstore. I actually bought the first book in the trilogy because the cover made me take a closer look at the book, and this nicely fits in with that. (Which makes me think that this cover is also designed by Lauren Panepinto with illustration by Michael Frost and Gene Mollica.)<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Endsinger_zps0982d9c0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Endsinger_zps0982d9c0.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
Another third book, this one coming 23 September 2014 from Thomas Dunne Books. The design here screams "East Asia", while the art says "Anime". I think this is an interesting one, and one that is likely to divide people's opinion. I've not read any of the books, but from what I have read about them this seems to be a good cover. Personally I like the art, it is a nice image.<br />
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Art by Alejandro Colucci adorns this book, coming from Solaris in August 2015. I've had a few of Colucci's covers in these posts earlier, and they are always excellent. There's really nothing else to say, it is a great piece of art.<br />
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This is the cover for Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks edition of this famous Fantasy novel. It will be out in November 2014. The design is by Graeme Langorne and the art by Grzegorz Donaradzki. I think it is a lovely cover, both the art and design are great. It makes me want to re-read the book, and maybe I'll get this edition to do so as mine is still in storage back in Norway.<br />
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Another re-issue from Gollancz, this time in their SF Masterworks series. From what I could see online this is collection that had its only publication in 1990. The cover is a really eyecatching and intriguing one. I think it is a very good piece of cover art. Certainly makes me want to get hold of this when it comes out 10 July 2014.<br />
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This book will be out 25 February 2015 from Tor. The cover is by Will Staehle, and you can read about how it was made <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/05/cover-reveal-ve-schwab-a-darker-shade-of-magic">here</a>. I quite like Staehle's covers, and I also like maps. So it should then come as no great surprise that I really like this cover.<br />
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This will be out 16 September 2014 from Mullholland Books. I usually only do <i>SFF</i> books here, but I thought I'd me a rare exception for this <i>Crime </i>novel because the author is most known for his <i>SFF</i>. It's actually a strangely simple cover. I have trouble deciding what I think of it. I'm not sure if it is good because it is cut down to basic, or if its basicness makes it look cheap.<br />
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And finally a book that will be out 14 October 2014 from Orbit. This really screams <i>Military SF</i>, booth in image and title. What you think of it will probably be dependent on what you think of that <i>SFF</i> subgenre. Apart from feeling that I have seen this cover on a Military SF book at some earlier point I don't think there is anything wrong with this.Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-76025497635057071492014-05-22T20:11:00.000+01:002014-05-22T20:11:24.216+01:00REVIEW: MYTHS AND LEGENDS: WIZARDS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Cover illustration: Mark Stacey</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>MYTHS AND LEGENDS:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>WIZARDS</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>FROM MERLIN TO FAUST</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>DAVID & LESLEY McINTEE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Illustrated by</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Mark Stacey</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
ISBN: <b> </b>978-1-47280-339-9</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Pages: 80</div>
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Publisher: Osprey</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Published: 20 May 2014</div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
On the cover:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(From the publisher's website.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="bookText">From the wise and mysterious soothsayer with his
long grey beard to the deathless necromancer practicing his dark magics
in a forgotten dungeon, wizards have captured our imaginations since the
earliest days of human storytelling, presenting us with some of our
greatest heroes and villains. This book collects the tales of the most
interesting, popular, and important spell-casters, including such
legendary figures as Merlin, Simon Magus, Zhang Guo Lao, Nicolas Flamel,
Dr John Dee, and Johann Georg Faust, and examines their place in
history and legend. Written in modern language, each tale captures the
drama, the tragedy, and the wonderment that has ensured that these
stories have survived the passing centuries.</span></div>
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</blockquote>
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<span class="bookText"> Despite what you might think at first glance, this book is neither <i>Fantasy</i> or about <i>Fantasy</i>. It is a short introduction to people who have been called wizards through history. That by no means that it is not of interest to fans of <i>Fantasy</i> though, they'll find some stories in this book that will be right up their alley.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="bookText"> This book starts early, with Ancient Egypt and moves through history before ending with famous names John Dee and Johann Georg Faust. At the length it is it is more of a series of snapshot than a comprehensive guide to wizards, but this is very fulfilling as it is. There are some famous names among those covered, Merlin being the most obvious but I think Nicolas Flamel might not be far behind in the fame stakes because of his association with a certain fictional boy wizard.</span><br />
<span class="bookText"> I am actually more interested in the names I have not heard, or have heard just mentioned, and most people will find those here. I was especially pleased to see that there is several non-Europeans mentioned.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="bookText"> Above I pointed out that Harry Potter is a fictional wizard, and I have said that this is a book about history. It is, this is a Non-Fiction book. Everything in here is fact, or have at least at one point been considered facts. We may look at the stories in here as myths and legends, but it is that they were believed to be true that fascinates me. And who knows, some of them might be, I wasn't there when the events they tell of happened.</span><br />
<span class="bookText"> The stories are really interesting in themselves, and they give a fascinating insight into belief through the ages. But the stories don't really fall apart when the authors presents the factual accounts of the people in them. (Or the facts as we understand them. New evidence changes how we look at history all the time.) That some of these characters are important historical figures is something that will never cease to fascinate me.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="bookText"> Lesley and David McIntee writes a compelling Non-Fictional narrative. This book is written in an easily accessible style, and the text flows nicely. There's no disconnect with the retelling of old myths and legends and the factual pieces that end each persons part. As far as Non-Fiction goes, this is one of those short volumes that are easy to pick up, and get through.</span><br />
<span class="bookText"> This book is illustrated throughout, not only by the credited Mark Stacey, who has done some excellent work but also with different historical images, and even some pictures. The illustrations complement the text very well, and they make for an even more enjoyable reading experience.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="bookText"> I don't really have any complaints about this book. It does what it sets out to do in a very good way. I came away with some new knowledge, something I always see as a good thing, and I read some fascinating stories. This could be used as pure entertainment for those that are so inclined, <i>Fantasy</i> fans is advised to take a look. But what it is, and what it works best as, is a short introduction to the historical figures that have been known as wizards. This is an excellent starting point for those that want to find out about where Gandalf and Dumbledore have their roots. And it will be an excellent read for all ages.</span><br />
<br />
If I was to make a couple of wishes (, that don't reflect in any way on this book) , it would be that Osprey does another volume that covers the modern Mages, like Waite and Crowley, and it would be nice to have a volume similar to this about witches.<br />
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REVIEW: <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/review-myths-and-legends-robin-hood.html">Myths and Legends: Robin Hood</a><br />
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LINKS: <a href="http://lonemagpie.livejournal.com/">David McIntee</a> <a href="http://www.ospreypublishing.com/">Osprey</a> </div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-82039672337567023542014-05-20T16:52:00.001+01:002014-05-20T16:52:48.273+01:00REVIEW: REAPING THE DARK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/reaping_the_dark_zpsf063d8ea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/reaping_the_dark_zpsf063d8ea.jpg" height="400" width="251" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>REAPING THE DARK</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>GARY McMAHON</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Pages: 74</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Publisher: DarkFuse</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Published: 20 May 2014</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
On the cover:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
(From the publisher's website.)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: left;">
A streetwise getaway driver…<br />
<br />
A drug raid that ends in bloodshed…<br />
<br />
A violent criminal hell-bent on revenge…<br />
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A secret order of occultists…<br />
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And something summoned from the darkest depths of nightmare.<br />
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Who will survive this long, dark night, and how will it change them?
And what kind of horror will be born from the chaos left behind?<br />
<br />
If the old adage is true and we reap what we sow, then only evil can be unleashed by Reaping the Dark.</div>
</blockquote>
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The prologue is your clue here. After that it seems like just another <i>Heist Gone Wrong</i> story for well over half the story's length. So let's deal with that part of the novella first.<br />
McMahon introduces us to Clarke, a getaway driver for a small gang robbing a drug deal. Things inevitably go wrong, this is how the story starts. We get an excellent <i>Noir</i> tale of the aftermath of the botched robbery in the opening of part one. This is <i>Crime</i> <i>Noir</i> fiction at its best. The dark underbelly of a modern city is given us without any polishing, and the protagonist shows himself to be considerably less than an angel himself. The atmosphere is excellent, you can see a vivid picture of the grimy locations and really get a sense of unease as we learn what kind of life Clarke is leading.<br />
<br />
The tension is high in the first part of the novella, but when everything shifts to a <i>Horror</i> direction it is cranked up several notches. The tension from the Horror aspect doesn't completely overshadow that from the <i>Crime Noir</i>. Instead they feed off each other and amplify it to an almost unbearable level. This is simply a very tense read.<br />
When the story "switches tracks" it is almost disappointing that the game is given away by the prologue. But only almost. It struck me a little bit after finishing that some of the tension of the first half or so is actually created by what we learn in the prologue. McMahon has given us a little teaser, and then he makes us wau\it for a long time to see what is coming. Seen in retrospect it is excellently done, and it makes the <i>Horror</i> payoff all the more satisfying when it comes.<br />
<br />
I won't say much about the ending except that it does play on a familiar (, to me at least,) <i>Urban Myth</i> in a way that does not feel cheap. It does in some way make for an easy explanation, but when it comes it simply feels like it was the natural explanation.<br />
The very end of the story, before the epilogue, is excellent and chilling. It is not wholly unexpected, but it still packs a powerful punch.<br />
<br />
Overall this is an excellent novella that manages to create a near perfect blend of <i>Crime Noir</i> and <i>Horror</i>. It is not a very short story, but it comes with all the fat trimmed off. At no point do you feel like words are wasted.<br />
I will say that I think this is a novella that can be picked up by fans of both <i>Horror</i> and <i>Crime Noir</i>, and they will get a satisfying read. It is also a story I would not hesitate to recommend to any fan of <i>SFF</i> or <i>Crime</i>. McMahon has simply written a great novella that will give you a tension-filled and satisfying hour or two.<br />
<br />
NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley<br />
<br />
LINKS: <a href="http://www.garymcmahon.com/">Gary McMahon</a> <a href="http://www.darkfuse.com/">DarkFuse</a></div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-3649775773729814812014-05-16T14:27:00.003+01:002014-05-16T14:27:41.038+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXVI)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheMirrorEmpire_zps4c32c2a4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheMirrorEmpire_zps4c32c2a4.jpg" height="400" width="263" /></a></div>
First up, this cover has art by Richard Anderson. The book is the first in the series, and it is coming from Angry Robot 2 September 2014 in North America and E-book/ 4 September 2014 in the UK. I really like this image. It is a style I like, and it is really eye catching. It is somewhat reminiscent of 1990s Heavy Metal. I mean that in a good way, because this makes me want to get hold of the book.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheLady_zps243165b8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheLady_zps243165b8.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
<a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/cover-reveal-round-up-xxv.html">Last time</a> I did the cover to the first book in the <i>Marakand</i>, this is the cover to the second one ( ,it's a two book series,) - also with art by Raymond Swanland. It will be out in December 2014 from PYR. I said last time that I was a fan the cover to the first volume, but I actually think this is even better. This is simply an excellent image.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/RobotOverlords_zpsb1500f72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/RobotOverlords_zpsb1500f72.jpg" height="400" width="260" /></a></div>
This is the cover for a movie novelisation, out in early 2015 from Gollancz. You can read a lot more about the book, and the movie, on <a href="http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2014/05/robot-overlords-the-novel/">Gollancz's blog</a>. This cover drew me in immediately. To be frank though, I'm not sure I am as excited about the novelisation is I am about the movie, but this looks really good.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/NyctophobiaFB_zps90bc698d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/NyctophobiaFB_zps90bc698d.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
This <i>Horror</i> novel will be out from Solaris in October 2014. It is done by Pye Parr, and you can read the author's thoughts about the book, accompanied by a slightly earlier draft of the cover, <a href="http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/2013/12/04/nyctophobia-a-first-look/">here</a>. I like this. It's one of those pared down and stylish covers that work very well. Nice 3-D effect with the lightbulb too.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/SpeciesImperative_zps6ccb961c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/SpeciesImperative_zps6ccb961c.jpg" height="400" width="263" /></a></div>
Artwork by Kenn Brown adorns this omnibus coming from DAW, coming 2 September 2014. The author talks about the cover (, and you can see the original individual ones, ) <a href="http://www.jimchines.com/2014/05/species-imperative-czerneda/">here</a>. I liked this cover immediately, even before I had any clue as to what the book was about (, other than it being <i>SFF</i>). It's an interesting image that compels you to take a closer look at the book behind it.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/AncestralMachines-Resize_zps7d1f97ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/AncestralMachines-Resize_zps7d1f97ba.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
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10 March 2015 is the release date for this novel from Orbit. I've confessed earlier in these posts that I like the traditional style <i>Science Fiction</i> covers. There is absolutely no reason to make any exception for this one. It's a <i>Science Fiction</i> novel with a spaceship on the cover. I like that.</div>
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/FearsomeMagics-Resize_zps77cfc971.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/FearsomeMagics-Resize_zps77cfc971.jpg" height="400" width="260" /></a></div>
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Out from Solaris 9 October 2014 we have this anthology. That is some great dragons. Anthology covers are usually pretty generic for what the anthology is supposed to cover. This one differs somewhat from many of those it could be compared to, and I think that will make it stand out. I also like this image a lot, there's enough detail here to keep you looking for more than a few seconds.</div>
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/BulletCatchersDaughter-Resize_zps44643197.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/BulletCatchersDaughter-Resize_zps44643197.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
Will Staehle made this cover for a 26 August 2014 North America and E-book/ 4 September 2014 UK release from Angry Robot. The artist talks about the cover <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/05/will-staehles-cover-art-for-the-bullet-catchers-daughter">over on Tor.com</a>. The image is a very nice one, cleverly done. I like the effect with the bullets and casings. It is a bit too bright though for my tastes, a little bit too much white.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/NoReturn-Paperback_zps299d0c1d.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/NoReturn-Paperback_zps299d0c1d.jpeg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
Robbie Trevino is the artist behind this one. The image has been reworked from last years Hardcover release for a paperback release from Night Shade Books 1 July 2014. The author talks about his thought about the changes <a href="http://zacharyjernigan.com/blog/whitewashed-no-more">here</a>. This is an action-snapshot cover, and a very good one. The image comes more into its own here than on the HC, and I also like the design a bit better. I also can't help wondering what happens in the next second or two after what we can see here...<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Drakenfeld-PB_zps58cb2dc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Drakenfeld-PB_zps58cb2dc2.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
Finally, we have another paperback edition. This one is coming July 2014 from Tor UK. According to the author this will be gold foiled and supermatt finished. (Do ask Mark about his feelings on supermatt finish <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkCN">on Twitter</a>.) I seriously doubt it's a coincidence that we can see the name C.J. Sansom on this cover. It does resemble Pan Macmillan's Sansom covers. For me that is absolutely not a minus. I would definitely pick this up if I saw this cover, I think it's a great one.Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-75841195608103585472014-05-15T16:39:00.000+01:002014-05-15T16:39:22.893+01:00GIVEAWAY: AMOK: ASIA-PACIFIC SPECULATIVE FICTION<br />
Time for the first giveaway on this blog. The reason I'm having this giveaway is pretty simple, <a href="http://journeymouse.net/wp/">my girlfriend </a>is one of the authors in the anthology. So, I have one copy of the book available for a giveaway. Because of postage costs it's restricted to the EU and EFTA (EEA + Switzerland). The way to enter is pretty simple, just send me an e-mail at the address on the top of the right-hand sidebar of this page, with the subject "Amok Giveaway"*.<br />
The giveaway is open until 23.59.59 BST (British Summer Time) 14 June. After that I will use a random number selector to choose a winner. Only one entry per person. (You can however enter the giveaway <a href="http://journeymouse.net/wp/?p=3305">over on Jo's blog</a> if you want to double your chance of winning.<br />
<br />
Since you may be a bit curious as to what you have a chance of winning if you enter, here is the cover and full cover copy of the anthology:<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Amok-Asia-PacificSpeculativeFiction_zps48b1fac1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Amok-Asia-PacificSpeculativeFiction_zps48b1fac1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<b><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">In an anthology that
spans from India in the west to Hawai‘i in the east, and as far south as
Australia and New Zealand, 24 authors bring you an exciting range of
tales set in the past, present, and future.<br /><br />Discover characters
like the Moon Rabbit from Chinese mythology, a kitsune from Japanese
mythology, and the aswang from Filipino </span></b><br />
<b><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">mythology.<br /><br />Find out what
arises when a struggling Malaysian student seeks help for her studies in
Chinatown, and what happens when the garbage in the Pacific Ocean is
seen as a valuable treasure.<br /><br />Futures imagined stretch from amazing advances in technology to depressing dystopias.<br /></span></b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">Read these stories and so many more in Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction.</span></b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<span id="freeText5776129494210813594"><br />You can find a full list of the authors, and links to where to buy the book </span><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20741911-amok">its Goodreads page</a>. The publisher's website is <a href="http://solarwyrm.com/">here</a>.</span><br />
<span id="freeText5776129494210813594"><br /></span>
<span id="freeText5776129494210813594">*</span><span id="freeText5776129494210813594"><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">The winner will be
contacted via the e-mail they used to enter the giveaway for an address
to send the book to. If the winner does not answer a new draw will be made. </span>E-mails will be saved until a draw is made and the winner has given me an address to send the book to, after that all the e-mails will be deleted. The e-mail addresses of any who enter will not be shared with anyone, and I will not send any e-mail to anyone but the winner. </span><span id="freeText5776129494210813594">Should you wish to
subscribe to this site's posts via e-mail, you can do that in the right-hand
sidebar. You can contact me (Ole/Weirdmage) at the same e-mail address
as used for the competition entries.</span>Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-34319564386268966742014-05-15T09:49:00.001+01:002014-05-22T19:30:34.982+01:00REVIEW: MYTHS AND LEGENDS: ROBIN HOOD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MythsandLegends-RobinHood_zps85b42276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MythsandLegends-RobinHood_zps85b42276.jpg" height="400" width="296" /></a></div>
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Cover illustration: Peter Dennis<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>MYTHS AND LEGENDS:</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>ROBIN HOOD</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
BY</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>NEIL SMITH</b></div>
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Illustrated by:</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Peter Dennis</b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-47280-125-8</div>
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Pages: 80</div>
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Publisher: Osprey</div>
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Published: 21 January 2014</div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="bookText">He robbed from the rich to give to the poor, or
so the legend goes. But who was the outlaw known as Robin Hood? How
did his legend develop, and how has it changed over the passing
centuries? This new title in the Osprey Myths and Legends series takes a
detailed look at the famous outlaw, beginning with a retelling of the
early ballads that established his stories. From there, the book
explores how the legend grew and how famous names such as Little John,
Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and Alan-a-Dale became associated with Robin
Hood. It also enters the perilous world of Robin Hood scholarship with a
critical analysis of the case for a ‘historical’ Robin Hood and a
review of the mostly likely candidates. A perfect primer for young and
old alike, this book covers both the fact and the fiction of Britain’s
most famous outlaw.</span></div>
</blockquote>
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<span class="bookText"> </span> </div>
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The last book about Robin Hood I read was fiction. (<a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/5346595">This</a> is one of twelve books in that series.) That was about 25 years ago. I've read articles about Robin Hood since then, and of course seen films. (The best film is still <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029843/?ref_=nm_knf_t1">the one with Errol Flynn</a>.)</div>
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This book is divided into four sections; The Legend of Robin Hood, The Myth of Robin Hood, Robin Hood's World, and The Modern Myth. The first one is the earliest legends, while the second one deals with what has been added since then. The Third section is about the historical evidence, and we end with Robin Hood in films and TV.<br />
It became obvious early on that I knew very little about the origins of the stories about Robin Hood. (Part of that has without a doubt to do with me being Norwegian.) I found the look into how the legends looked at the beginning absolutely fascinating.<br />
<br />
When you get into the myths, the terrain became more familiar but it was clear that I still had massive holes in my knowledge. It was very interesting to me to get a look at how the story of Robin Hood has evolved over the centuries. And you can certainly understand why Disney opted to not use the original material when they made their animated movie. I think most people will be surprised when they look at how Robin Hood acted in the early tales told about him.<br />
What I really found fascinating, and I think that others will too, is how recent much of what we take for granted when it comes to Robin Hood really is. We get a clear picture here of how popular culture can form our view of traditional stories.<br />
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The writing is excellent throughout. Smith writes in a very clear, and manages to be very informative without ever getting dry. This is something that can easily be read by the younger generations, as well as their parents and grandparents.<br />
We get excellent illustrations throughout. Both from the credited Peter Dennis, and earlier examples. Dennis also has a few essays accompanying some of the illustrations, and I found those to be a great addition to the book.<br />
<br />
This may not be a very thick book, but it is pretty comprehensive. It covers a lot of material in few pages, and is great for quick reference. While it may not offer anything new to those who want an in-depth look at the myths and legends surrounding Robin Hood, it offers a lot to people like me who have an interest in Robin Hood but who have never taken the time to look any deeper. There's also a good bibliography at the back, with mostly newer works that should be easy to find for those that want to look further after reading this.<br />
I highly recommend this to those who want to look at Robin Hood a bit deeper than just popular culture. And it will also be well worth a look for those that are interested in how legends evolve.<br />
<br />
NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley. <br />
<br />
LINKS: <a href="http://www.ospreypublishing.com/">Osprey</a></div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-58462073614090824952014-05-13T11:57:00.001+01:002014-05-13T11:57:54.078+01:00JURY DUTY: I AM ON A BRITISH FANTASY AWARDS JURY The list of jurors for this years <a href="http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/british-fantasy-awards/the-british-fantasy-awards-a-short-history/">British Fantasy Awards</a> <a href="http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/british-fantasy-awards/the-juries-of-the-british-fantasy-awards-2014/">is out</a>, and my name is on it. I will be one of three people on the jury for the Best Collection Award. That means that I will have to read for the award, specifically the collections that have been voted to be on the awards shortlist. (This should not affect my blogging. But I will refrain from reviewing anything that is on the shortlist, at least in the foreseeable future.)<br />
<br />
I see some familiar names on the juries of the other categories, among them <a href="http://journeymouse.net/wp/">Jo Thomas</a> - who is my girlfriend. (We do not talk about the awards. I have no idea who is nominated for best novella, and I haven't told her who is nominated for best collection.) Below is the full list of jurors, as presented <a href="http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/british-fantasy-awards/the-juries-of-the-british-fantasy-awards-2014/">here</a>: <br />
<br />
<strong>Best Fantasy Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award)</strong><br />
Gary Couzens<br />
Laurel Sills<br />
Matthew Hughes<br />
Neil Williamson<br />
Selina Lock<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Horror Novel (the August Derleth Award)</strong><br />
Cate Gardner<br />
Jim McLeod<br />
Mark West<br />
Pauline Morgan<br />
Thana Niveau<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Novella</strong><br />
Aleksandra Kesek<br />
Jo Thomas<br />
Paul Holmes<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Short Story</strong><br />
David Tallerman<br />
Matthew Hughes<br />
Pauline Morgan<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Anthology</strong><br />
Carole Johnstone<br />
Gary Couzens<br />
Matthew Hughes<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Collection</strong><br />
Matthew Hughes<br />
Ole Andreas Imsen<br />
Pauline Morgan<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Small Press</strong><br />
Dave Brzeski<br />
Elaine Hillson<br />
Elloise Hopkins<br />
Rachel Kendall<br />
Rhian Bowley<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Comic/Graphic Novel</strong><br />
Jay Eales<br />
Jennie Gyllblad<br />
P.M. Buchan<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Artist</strong><br />
Jennie Gyllblad<br />
P.M. Buchan<br />
Rachel Kendall<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Non-Fiction</strong><br />
Djibril al-Ayad<br />
Emma Newman<br />
Jason Arnopp<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Magazine/Periodical</strong><br />
Aleksandra Kesek<br />
Donna Bond<br />
Jim McLeod<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Film/Television Episode</strong><br />
Adrian Faulkner<br />
Catherine Hill<br />
Gary Couzens<br />
<br />
<strong>Best Newcomer (the Sydney J. Bounds Award)</strong><br />
Douglas Thompson<br />
Ian Hunter<br />
Lizzie BarrettWeirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-12063741420907392552014-05-12T20:15:00.000+01:002014-05-12T20:15:08.573+01:00REVIEW: THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE</b></span></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>PHILIP K. DICK</b></div>
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ISBN: <span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">978-0-57508-205-2*</span></span></div>
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Pages: 248</div>
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Publisher: Gollancz</div>
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First published: October 1962</div>
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This edition published: [2001]*</div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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It is 1962 and the Second World War has been over for seventeen years:
people have now had a chance to adjust to the new order. But it's not
been easy. The Mediterranean has been drained to make farmland, the
population of Africa has virtually been wiped out and America has been
divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. In the neutral buffer zone
that divides the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the
author of an underground bestseller, a work of fiction that offers an
alternative theory of world history in which the Axis powers didn't win
the war. The novel is a rallying cry for all those who dream of
overthrowing the occupiers. But could it be more than that?</blockquote>
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To start this review I have to address something that I haven't seen anybody else do, namely the racism of the text. I am not talking about the racism of the story, I am talking about the racism displayed by the author's choices in how he represents the Japanese in the book.<br />
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I first read this book about 15 years ago, and at the time I found some passages of the text annoying. It's actually what stood out for me when I thought about the book later. The passages in question is when the Japanese speak. They do so in halting, stilted, English that is obviously meant to be directly translated from Japanese. I am very familiar with that from doing I-Ching myself, so I just found it annoying because it is totally unnecessary. However when I re-read the book late last year, leading to this review, I was on the lookout for this. I was also reading in a far more analytical manner than I did when I read it for fun the first time I read it.<br />
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Like I said above, I am familiar with the way Japanese speech is presented in the book through I-Ching. If you see a US movie where someone is mimicking an Asian character's speech to poke fun of them you'll have an idea of how it is presented.<br />
To be honest I tried to come up with a reason for this <b>not</b> to be racist. I loved the book the first time I read it, and didn't really want to deal with it being a racist text. But no matter how I tried to excuse it, I couldn't escape the racism.<br />
First I tried seeing it as a way of highlighting how different the Japanese are to the occupied USAians**. That falls apart very quickly. The way the Japanese are described is more than enough to paint them as from a culture alien to the US characters, quite a lot of time is spent othering the Japanese. In fact the inclusion of the I-Ching would be over the top if it wasn't so central to the novel. The way they talk adds absolutely nothing to the book's differentiating of Japanese culture (, as different to the default US culture). It just paints the Japanese as being stereotypically incapable of speaking English properly.<br />
The real nail in the coffin when it comes to the way the Japanese language is presented though is how the Germans are presented. All the Germans are presented as talking in perfect English, even when they talk amongst themselves. Interestingly enough when looking for any mention of racism in connection with this novel I found that Dick read German. So he should be aware of, and capable of, presenting the sentences said by Germans in the way it would be said in German. Dick's proficiency in German also paints his choice of singling out the Japanese for the halting English depiction in a less than flattering light. Having had German at school, I am also aware of how directly translated German sounds, and when reading analytically the lack of it makes the way the Japanese speak stand out even more.<br />
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So, does this mean that I think Philip K. Dick was a racist? Well, the text of this book is certainly racist, so in that sense the answer is yes. I will however assume that if he was a blatant racist that it would be something that the <i>SFF</i> community was aware of, and talked about. So I look at it as a typical USAian attitude of the time that people don't think twice about.<br />
The book is said to have been written in 1961. That is 16 years after the end of World War II, and eight years after the end of the Korean War. (It's also during the lead-up to the Vietnam War, the US already had military advisers there.) So it is understandable that any USAian would have a less than favourable view of the Japanese. I remember this kind of representation of Japanese being pretty much par for the course in US movies in the 1980s.<br />
To answer again whether Dick was a racist... He is displaying racism towards the Japanese in this book. (Although as can be seem from my description, it isn't very blatant.) So I can only conclude that he was racist against the Japanese, maybe because of ignorance, when he wrote this novel in 1961. I have not done any research into whether Dick displayed any racism anywhere else, or if he ever acknowledged the problems with this text, so I can only comment on it in the context of this book. And as I have outlined above, I can't escape the fact that this text is racist.<br />
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I could go on a bit about this subject, but I'll go on to the review of the rest of the novel. I will leave any further talk about racism for the summation, but I would be dishonest if I didn't admit it was something that was in the back of my mind as I read the book and that it affected my reading experience.</div>
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The first thing to mention is that this is a novel with a base in <b>the</b> Alternate History trope, i.e. that the Germans won World War II. (Although this time along with the Japanese.) The worldbuilding around this is very well done, you really get a good feel for how history turned out in this world. Dick is perhaps at his best when it comes to his way of infodumping. It's not really subtle, but he makes it flow in a way that doesn't set it apart from the rest of the text. You very rarely get to read a novel where the infodumping is this well done.<br />
I have previously stated that I am a fan of <i>Alternate History</i>, and I can say that this is a very good example of it. It is one of the books in the genre that you should be reading. To say that it is the best work <i>Alternate History</i>, like some do, is however wrong in my opinion. The reason for that is that the <i>Alternate History</i> isn't really the main point of this novel.<br />
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This novel does explore the <i>Alternate History</i> aspect, but it's clear that Dick is more interested in exploring the unreality of the subgenre. It's this aspect that takes over as the novel progresses, and it gets outright metatextual as we come towards the end.<br />
Putting aside everything that has a deeper meaning, this is still a full novel. Although one that is somewhat disjointed. The characters do connect up, but it doesn't really feel like their stories do. Dick uses the novel-within-a-novel to connect up the disparate parts of this, but it never feel wholly natural. That the character who is furthest removed from the larger part of the narrative in the end is the one given most importance feels like a bit of a cheap trick. And I can't escape the feeling that these different narratives would work a little bit better if they were in separate stories.<br />
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The level of intricacy in the narrative is high throughout, Dick is definitely on the "literary" side of <i>SFF</i>. There is also plenty of interesting events throughout this novel, and an understanding of the deeper levels of this is by no means necessary. But it will of course give you a more complete experience if you can spot the many instances where Dick goes deeper than the story strictly needs.<br />
We do get an interesting story about living in an occupied USA (, though this is very the objectionable bits mentioned above come into play), and a quite action- filled political bit. Actually, the action is a bit of a problem. It comes out of the blue, so much that it was jarring.<br />
Jarring could very well be the descriptive word for Dick's writing style. Very little is done smoothly when it comes to changes in PoVs, or indeed in endings. The changes from one thing to another, both in location and plot, often comes of as abrupt. I quite like the way Dick writes, and manage to follow his changes of thought quite easily, but your mileage may vary when it comes to this. I have absolutely no problem understanding those that have problems with Dick's style of writing, and I see no reason why anyone should force themselves through his prose.<br />
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Overall this is a very good <i>Alternate History</i> book, where the focus is more alternate than history. It is dragged down by all the time spent on othering the Japanese. It is hard to see anything redeeming in the author's description of the Japanese here, and if you have trouble with this sort of casual racism you would do best to stay away from this book.<br />
As a work of <i>Alternate History</i> this is without doubt something that deserves to be read. The worldbuilding isn't so detailed that it doesn't leave a desire to know more of this world, but it is still a very interesting glimpse into a different reality.<br />
Despite my problems with the racism I still like this book, although realising how the text treats Japanese has lessened my esteem of it considerably.So while I still would advise anyone interested in Philip K. Dick, or Alternate History to read this, I can't really condone it being called essential because of its problems.<br />
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* My edition of this, with the cover featured, is still in storage in Norway. The ISBN number is from the later hardcover Gollancz SF Masterworks edition (2009) that is still available. The publishing year is from the earlier hardcover Gollancz SF Masterworks edition with a different cover.<br />
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** I have made a choice to avoid using the word Americans when I talk of just one country in America. It annoys me as a Norwegian when people say Scandinavian when they mean Swedish, and I'm sure there's lots of Americans who don't want to be lumped in with USAians.<br />
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LINKS: <a href="https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Gollancz/Index.page">Gollancz</a> <a href="http://www.gollancz.co.uk/">Gollancz Blog</a> </div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-90321387210698915842014-05-09T10:09:00.001+01:002014-05-09T10:13:16.447+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXV)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This book will be out 27 May 2014 from Open Road Media/Mondadori. It is a translation from Italian, and was originally published there in 2004. It is the first of four books in this series.<br />
The cover immediately caught my eye on NetGalley, and a was lucky enough to be approved for an e-ARC. I think it is a great cover, the character intrigues me with her violet eyes, pointed ears, and blue hair. And the weapon she holds is an interesting one. I am really looking forward to reading this, and it was the cover that made me look at the novel.<br />
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This one is coming from BBC Books/Ebury Publishing 31 July 2014. Really not much to say here, apart from: It's a book about <i>The War Doctor</i>! I mean, what's not to like? There's even Daleks there. I am really exited about this one. (You can read the cover copy <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/editions/doctor-who-engines-of-war/9781849908481">here</a>, and if this looks at all interesting you should.)<br />
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This book is actually already out. It came out in the US on 6 May (2014), two days ago. I still wanted to feature it, since it is nice to see this in contrast to the UK one that I <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/cover-reveal-round-up-xxi.html">featured earlier</a>. Like the UK cover, this does look interesting. However this catches my eye more and that is because it reminds me of Stephen King. Not entirely sure he's had a cover like this, but I seem to recall something not dissimilar. (Too lazy to check.) It doesn't really matter though, it is a very good cover that catches my interest.<br />
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This cover, by Alan Brooks, is for the tenth and final book in the <i>Shadows of the Apt</i> series. It will be coming from Tor UK 3 July 2014. I really like these covers for this series. I've been meaning to start reading it, but want to wait until I can get all of the books (including this one). Every time I see these covers I feel bad for not having read any of it, so they are definitely very good covers.<br />
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This anthology from Solaris will be out 27 May 2014 in North America, and 5 June 2014 in the UK. The list of authors is a really interesting one. I like this cover a lot. It pulls me in, and I am interested in seeing what is behind it. (And I have an e-ARC, so I plan to have this read before release day.)<br />
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This is a book that will be out in August 2014, it is the first in the <i>Children Trilogy</i>. The top from Tor UK, with a cover by Alejandro Colucci, and the bottom from the US publisher Thomas Dunne Books, with design by Ervin Serrano. The US cover is the more stylish one, but although I like it there seems to be quite a few covers with just a sword lately, so I feel a bit meh about it. The UK one also has the sword on it. (Not the same one on the cover, but the same sword in the book from what I gather.) However this one also has a character featured, and that makes it more interesting to me. The US isn't bad, but the UK one is a clear winner here.<br />
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Coming from Tor, 27 May. It is the first one in a new series, and you can read an excerpt <a href="http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/artemis-awakening-excerpt-jane-lindskold">here</a>. [A little side note here is that I have trouble not reading the authors name as Janne Lindsköld, like it was Swedish.] The cover is really interesting, and the face/star effect is very well done. I like this kind of cover, and it made me look into what the book is about. Think this would look nice on my shelf.<br />
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From PYR, coming 10 June 2014, we have this cover with art by Raymond Swanland. The art is just stunning. This is a piece of art that would do very well on a wall in a gallery, or perhaps in the library/office room I am writing this in. I am a huge fan of art like this on covers, and I think I may have to get hold of this book just so I can have that cover.<br />
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This cover is designed by James Annal, with design agency Crush. For an e-book release 22 May 2014 from Tor UK. It is an interesting cover. It is enough <i>SFF</i> that I would look closer at the book even had I not known who Sanderson is. Other than that, it doesn't really do it for me. But that is a personal preference, and not a fault with the cover.Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-69903216116486422962014-05-08T11:53:00.003+01:002014-05-08T13:10:42.403+01:00REVIEW: DOCTOR WHO: THE BOG WARRIOR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Cover by Two Associates/Woodlands Books</div>
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<b>DOCTOR WHO:</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE BOG WARRIOR</b></span></div>
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<b>TIME TRIPS BOOK 6</b></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>CECELIA AHERN</b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-44814-237-8</div>
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Pages: 33</div>
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Publisher: BBC Books/Ebury Publishing</div>
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Published: 8 May 2014</div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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Arriving on the planet Cashel, the Tenth Doctor witnesses a strange
masked ball. To guarantee peace, Prince Zircon has to choose a bride
from the Bog People – dead men and women who have been resurrected as
slaves. Or as warriors. But Zircon is in love with the enslaved
Princess Ash, whose parents were deposed and executed by the current
Queen. As usual, the Doctor has walked right into trouble, and it's up
to him to sort it out.</div>
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I am a big fan of <i>Doctor Who</i>. I am also a big fan of <i>Fairy Tales</i>, both traditional and modern. This story satisfies my enjoyment of both of those things.<br />
No attempt is made here to hide that this is inspired by <i>Fairy Tales</i>. There are lots of small details, and some larger plotpoints, that are clearly taken straight out of the <i>Fairy Tales</i> that have been adapted by Disney. If you have read a bit of <i>Fairy Tales</i>, you can have fun spotting where the influence comes from.<br />
That is not meant to suggest that this is unoriginal, or just a straight retelling, it is far from either of those. There are some delicious twists on what you'd expect from a Fairy Tale, and this story definitely takes its own paths.<br />
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This is not a long story by any means, but Ahern has still managed to get some complexity into it. She is showing she is very good at tight plotting, there is nothing here that is wasted. What is here though is a story that feels like it should take up more pages than it actually does. It is actually bigger on the inside. (Sorry for the pun...)<br />
The structure is pretty classic <i>Doctor Who</i>. The Doctor arrives at a planet, notices something strange, and meddles. But it doesn't feel like this is something that have been done many times before.<br />
The way Ahern draws us into the events at the same time as The Doctor works very well. We get to discover what is going on with <i>The Doctor</i>. There is a feeling that we are there with him, even though we don't have a companion that can take our place in the story. Some of this is because the <i>Fairy Tale</i> setting is so familiar. I think everyone will be aware of at least some of the references made. But the most important element that pulls the reader in is Ahern's writing. She gets us on an intimate footing with the characters, and that she does it by playing on familiar emotional tropes does not detract from how well she does it.<br />
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As mentioned above there is some interesting twists to the familiar in this story. A big one has to do with the nature of some of the characters. I really liked that, it is an excellent twist and it makes for a much more complex world than the black & white that some <i>Fairy Tale</i> retellings descend into.<br />
There is plenty of tension here, it's not a given that the story turns out the way it does. The pacing is also on the faster side of things, which is good when the story is this short. There are no unnecessary breaks here, and this is definitely something to read in one go. It would be hard not to.<br />
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I found this to be really enjoyable. It has absolutely everything you could want from a <i>Fairy Tale</i>, and it is a great <i>Doctor Who</i> story. Ahern is without doubt a very good writer, and she tells a tale that I don't hesitate to call essential for anyone who enjoys a good <i>Fairy Tale</i> retelling. There is also plenty to enjoy here for the <i>Doctor Who</i> fan who wants a strong standalone story with the <i>Tenth Doctor</i>.<br />
This is simply an excellent <i>Fairy Tale</i> and <i>Doctor Who</i> crossover.<br />
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NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley.<br />
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REVIEWS: You can find a full list of my <i>Doctor Who</i> reviews <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html">here</a>. (Including the first five <i>Time Trips</i> stories.) <br />
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LINKS: <a href="http://uk.cecelia-ahern.com/">Cecelia Ahern</a> <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/">Ebury Publishing</a></div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-48669790785533348182014-05-07T17:20:00.000+01:002014-05-07T17:20:05.817+01:00MY DOCTOR WHO<br />
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Well, my <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/doctor-who-week.html">Doctor Who Week</a> didn't exactly go to plan. I had not counted on lurgy and computer problems. I have however reviewed the Doctor Who stories I was planning to, and you can find them either in the April 2014 blog archive in the sidebar, or in the <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html">Tie-In/Shared World Index</a> ( ,tab at top of page). I will read and review more Doctor Who books in the future. I have another review of a <i>Time Trips</i> story coming up tomorrow, and the picture at the top is of the Doctor Who books in my TBR* pile.<br />
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What I also wanted to do is post that I planned to end my Doctor Who Week with:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>MY DOCTOR WHO</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© BBC Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/gallery/fourthdoctor/13.shtml</span></div>
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My first experience with <i>Doctor Who</i> was on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Europe">Super Channel</a>. Considering how few channels we had back then in Norway (, I think it was five,) I probably watched it when it was first shown, which according to <a href="http://gallifreybase.com/w/index.php/Main_Page">BroaDWcast</a> on the Gallifrey Base website would make it late March 1987. I distinctly remember watching the regeneration at the start of <i>Robot</i>. I am also pretty sure I watched the death of the <i>Fourth Doctor</i>, but if <a href="http://gallifreybase.com/w/index.php/Super_Channel">this</a> is correct, I couldn't have. I think it is correct, looking at <a href="http://gallifreybase.com/w/index.php/Airdates_in_the_UK_%28Superchannel%29">this list</a>, and thinking back, it looks correct from what I remember, but it was a while ago... What I am certain of is that I watched Doctor Who on Super Channel every time I could. I rewatched it when I could too.</div>
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Anyway, this lead to me buying an issue of Doctor Who Magazine when I was in London in 1988. I think I still have that among my stuff in storage in Norway (, waiting to be brought over to the UK at a later date).</div>
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So, Tom Baker, the <i>Fourth Doctor</i>, is my <i>Doctor Who</i> in the sense that most people count those things. And he does have a special place for me because he was the first one I saw as The Doctor.</div>
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It would take about ten years until my next encounter with <i>Doctor Who</i>, that was on BBC Prime and also on Norwegian cable. At the time they were showing episodes of the <i>Fifth Doctor</i>. This time I was taping the episodes on my VCR. They only showed one or two at a time, and for some reason that is lost in the mists of time I never really managed to get a whole story on tape. There was one exception to that, but I can't for the life of me remember which one it was.<br /> I can still remember how annoying it was not getting all the episodes in a series on tape, and to this day I have still to watch more than that one full story of Peter Davidson's Doctor.</div>
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And then we are up to 2006 or 2007. NRK, the Norwegian BBC, started sending episodes of the <i>Ninth Doctor</i> on their NRK 3 channel. (Coincidentally, this channel is a children's channel during the day whose name is NRK Super.) The first one I caught was The Empty Child.</div>
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I was of course hooked at once. And although NRK was erratic with sending Doctor Who, and I think they stopped after season three, I later got some BBC channels that have allowed me to catch up with all of new Who.</div>
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Earlier this year I moved to the UK to live with Jo, and I am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to watch <i>Doctor Who</i> on BBC with the rest of the UK.</div>
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*TBR - To Be Read</div>
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-19924178911030288982014-05-06T13:55:00.000+01:002014-05-06T13:55:43.683+01:00REVIEW: CATCHING FIRE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CatchingFire_zps865d4534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CatchingFire_zps865d4534.jpg" height="400" width="257" /></a></div>
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Cover image adapted by Scholastic UK from an original by Tim O'Brien</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>CATCHING FIRE</b></span></div>
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<b>THE HUNGER GAMES BOOK TWO</b></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>SUZANNE COLLINS</b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-407-13209-9</div>
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Pages: 439</div>
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Publisher: Scholastic UK</div>
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First published: 1 September 2009</div>
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This edition published: 1 December 2011</div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Katniss survived the Hunger Games. Now the Capitol wants revenge.
It’s payback time, and her chance of survival is even slimmer than ever…<br />
<br />
After winning the brutal Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta have
returned to District 12, hoping for a peaceful future. But their victory
has caused rebellion to break out – and the Capitol has decided that
someone must pay. As Katniss and Peeta are forced to visit the other
districts on the Capitol’s Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than
ever. Unless they can convince the world that they are still lost in
their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. Then
comes the cruellest twist: the contestants for the next Hunger Games are
announced, and Katniss and Peeta are forced into the arena once more…</blockquote>
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<br />
This picks up where book one ended. Some time has passed, but nothing mayor has happened. Well, not that the main character, Katniss, knows of anyway. <br />
Collins doesn't waste any time at all, and more or less throws the reader in at the deep end at the beginning. It does calm down pretty quickly though, and we get a look at the aftermath of the previous novel. This is very much a middle novel in a trilogy, it doesn't have a real beginning and its end is just the lead up to the concluding volume. That's not a bad thing, but it makes it impossible to read this story on its own.<br />
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Like in the first book, I have some problems relating to Katniss. She is becoming more of a complete person, but I still think she lacks personality. It doesn't help that despite everything she is still extremely naive, I'd have liked her to show a little bit more cynicism after what she went through in the previous book. Peeta, on the other hand, is blindingly clever for the son of a baker who lives in a place with very limited opportunity to learn about the rest of the world.<br />
To me the characters feel a bit to shallow, more defined by their place in the plot than by any real personality. But despite that Katniss is quite fascinating. The situation she is in does give her some good moments to shine, and Collins write her in such a way that you have to empathise with her.<br />
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The plot is mostly fast paced, more happens at times than in your average <i>Science Fiction</i> novel. There are passages that are more quiet though, and these are used to great effect to give the readers at least some insight into people, places, and events. <br />
It is without doubt the action, and the suspense that comes with it, that is the main driving force of this novel. Collins writes really good action, and you are compelled to read on every time she ends the chapter on a cliffhanger. <br />
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The plot isn't anywhere near groundbraking, there is so much here that is pretty common in <i>Dystopic Science Fiction</i>, Collins does manage to leave her own distinct mark of it though. Where the originality falls through most is in the way this book follows in the footsteps of the previous volume. There is a lot here that feels like repetition, with just some details changed, and in some ways that is exactly what this is. Much is familiar here, but the stakes are turned up a notch from what we saw the last time.<br />
Where this novel deviates from its predecessor, it does so in very predictable ways. The extra stakes are there from the beginning, and for me it was just a matter of waiting for it to bear fruit. Unfortunately I never got the feeling of how it turned out the way it did. The worldbuilding is too slight for me to get a grip on how things took the turn they do here. And what details I do know doesn't really seem to hang quite together. The setting/worldbuilding is definitely this series's weakest point.<br />
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I've been mostly critical above, highlighting the flaws of this novel. But even with its flaws this is a very entertaining read. It's light reading, in most ways but especially in the worldbuilding, but the plot itself is a very engaging one. <br />
I said of the first novel that it was a good introduction to this subgenre of <i>Science Fiction</i>, and that still holds true. The lack of depth is more pronounced here than in the predecessor, but the basic story is an engaging one and Collins writes it well.<br />
Even for someone as well-read in <i>SFF</i> as me this holds up as light entertainment. Your enjoyment of it will most probably depend of how much you care about the lack of details and depth, and how much you just let go and come along for a quite entertaining ride. Despite being flawed, I can absolutely recommend this for those that are after an uncomplicated and enjoyable read.<br />
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REVIEW: <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/review-hunger-games.html">The Hunger Games</a><br />
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LINKS: <a href="http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/">Suzanne Collins </a> <a href="http://www.scholastic.co.uk/">Scholastic UK</a>Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-78923274151282606342014-05-02T14:37:00.000+01:002014-05-02T14:37:30.001+01:00REVIEW: A DANCE WITH DRAGONS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/ADanceWithDragons_zps9968a1be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/ADanceWithDragons_zps9968a1be.jpg" height="400" width="258" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A DANCE WITH DRAGONS</b></span></div>
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<b>BOOK FIVE OF A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE</b></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>GEORGE R.R. MARTIN</b></div>
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ISBN: <span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">978-0-006-48611-4</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">Pages: 1117 (+appendix)</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">Publisher: Harper Voyager (UK)</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">First published: 12 July 2011</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">This edition published: 15 March 2012</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">On the cover:</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">(From the publisher's website.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="isbn" itemprop="ISBN"><b>WARNING</b>: THIS COVER COPY CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM PREVIOUS BOOKS.</span></div>
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<span class="isbn" itemprop="ISBN">The review is however spoiler-free. (Apart from naming characters who have survived.)</span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">The future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance.<br /><br />In the
east, Daenerys, last scion of House Targaryen, her dragons grown to
terrifying maturity, rules as queen of a city built on dust and death,
beset by enemies.<br /><br />Now that her whereabouts are known many are
seeking Daenerys and her dragons. Among them the dwarf, Tyrion
Lannister, who has escaped King’s Landing with a price on his head,
wrongfully condemned to death for the murder of his nephew, King
Joffrey. But not before killing his hated father, Lord Tywin.<br /><br />To
the north lies the great Wall of ice and stone – a structure only as
strong as those guarding it. Eddard Stark’s bastard son Jon Snow has
been elected the 998th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, but he has
enemies both in the Watch and beyond the Wall, where the wildling armies
are massing for an assault.<br /><br />On all sides bitter conflicts are
reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers
and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will
inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all…</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> It is becoming more and more clear with each of these books that the point of view (PoV) characters have little or no agency of their own. They are not the ones instigating what is happening, they just react to events set in motion by others. Or to put it bluntly, there is no real protagonists here, only antagonists who we do not get to see the motives of.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> This makes for rather dull reading, passive characters aren't really much fun to follow. It also makes for some really lazy plotting. By depriving us of PoVs from people who have plans, and are getting things to happen, Martin can pull revelations out of the blue whenever he feels like it. This comes off as desperate rather than clever to me. They crop up whenever the story has gotten stuck in a rut, and seem to take the place of planning ahead of time where the story is going. Additionally, they reveal how much of a mess the story has become at this stage.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> There are some really good chapters in this novel. Mostly they are lead-up chapters, and foreshadow coming events, but there is a lack of follow up to them. Instead of refreshing a stale narrative, they quickly stall and their storyline gets stuck in the same rut as the other threads of the tale.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> It really is starting to get disheartening. Every time a new PoV is introduced it feels fresh, and it gives the impression that it will help the story move forward. But after a few initial chapters, where we usually gets a new perspective and even some movement in the story, things stop moving. We get page after page after page, etc, of intrigue. In itself there is absolutely nothing wrong with intrigue, it gets us closer to the characters and adds depth to a story. However, when it gets to be like it is here, where the intrigue seems to be the story, it makes for a story that is just running on empty.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> Not only that, but here there is an abundance of settings that should, and sometimes do, bring variation to the narrative. Instead we get the same type of intrigue in a different location. What should be diverse storylines giving us a different flavour of this world becomes a parade of slight variations on the same theme. Court intrigue is pretty much the same wherever it happens. The end result of this is that the different storylines becomes so similar that they melt together in the readers mind.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> I mentioned new PoV characters, and there are some in here. They are however not as important as characters that are introduced in the story but don't have a PoV. Revealing who the newcomers are would be rather massive spoilers, so I will constrain myself to saying that it makes it feel a bit like we are following the wrong characters at times. Almost everyone we follows react, instead of act.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> For the most part though there is nothing wrong with the characters in themselves. They are interesting people, but they can be very annoying. This has mostly to do with their lack of agency, it gets frustrating reading about someone who does little or nothing without being forced to do so by events set in motion by someone else.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> There are one, or possibly three, characters that stand out from this though. Arya has a journey all of her own, one that hardly seems connected to the rest of the story. It is always refreshing when one of her chapters come up. The lack of connection to other events makes it feel out of place, although I'm sure she'll get drawn back in the main story at some later point.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> Daenerys's storyline has been bogged down for a while, but events here suggests that may be changing. I really liked the direction her journey seemingly is taking her at the end of this novel, and I hope she'll continue on that path.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> The last story thread that takes off in a new direction is one that is introduced here. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but I will say that although it felt a bit like cheating to introduce it at this late point it still gives some hope that this long slog will come to an end that will at least make it feel worth it.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> I feel that this review is a bit unfocused. Unfortunately that is unavoidable when the novel it is reviewing mostly seems to lack any focus at all. There are too many storylines, and they are too similar. Added to that there is the sense that we still haven't gotten any idea of where this is heading. Yes, the ultimate prize is the throne of Westeros, but there is so much else going on that it doesn't seem to matter much.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn"> Way too many pages are devoted to chapters that don't move the storyline forward. I can still see a good story inside this, but it is a series that is becoming so bloated that it gets harder and harder to see. I am invested by now, so I will follow this to the end. But with each volume Martin makes it harder for me to believe that end will be a good one.</span></span></div>
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<span class="greyText"><span itemprop="isbn">REVIEWS: </span></span><a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/review-game-of-thrones.html">A Game of Thrones</a> <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/review-clash-of-kings.html">A Clash of Kings</a> <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/review-storm-of-swords.html">A Storm of Swords</a> <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/review-feast-for-crows.html">A Feast for Crows</a></div>
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LINKS: <a href="http://www.georgerrmartin.com/">George R.R. Martin</a> <a href="http://harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk/">Harper Voyager</a></div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-43669412612048020032014-05-01T17:08:00.001+01:002014-05-01T17:10:38.036+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXIV)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/InheritanceTrilogy_zps46a08afb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/InheritanceTrilogy_zps46a08afb.jpg" height="400" width="275" /></a></div>
<i>The Inheritance Trilogy</i> from N.K. Jemisin gets an omnibus edition from Orbit. It will be out 9 December 2014. You can get more information, including the author talking about the included new novella <a href="http://nkjemisin.com/2014/04/so-about-that-seekrit-project-ive-been-working-on/">here</a>. I really liked the original covers for the three books (, and <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Inheritance%20Trilogy">the books</a>). But I really like this one too. It's more pared down than the originals, but it still evokes the feeling of the novels. Looking forward to seeing this in real life.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Firefight-Resize_zps7b08455a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Firefight-Resize_zps7b08455a.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
From Delacorte Press comes the cover for the second book in <i>The Reckoners</i>, it has a publishing date of 6 January 2015. (This is the US edition.) I have not read the first book, Steelheart, so I can't speak to how the cover represents the book. But it looks kind of strange for an <i>SFF</i> book to me, more like a typical <i>Action Thriller</i>. It is eyecatching, and that is what a cover is supposed to do.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Robogenesis-large_zps6b1ab712.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/Robogenesis-large_zps6b1ab712.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
Another sequel, this is the follow up to <i>Robocalypse</i>. This one will be out 10 June 2014 from Doubleday. I think this is a great cover. I've had it on my computer for a while, and it always draws the eye when I look at the folder of book covers. It's not just the green eyes, but they do accentuate the a face that is just a little bit too smooth.<br />
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Following up, <i>Ancillary Justice</i>, and being the second book in the <i>Imperial Radch</i>, this book is out from Orbit 7 October 2014. The art is by John Harris, with design by Kirk Benshoff. As with the previous book, this is traditional <i>Space Opera</i> art. You can find examples of books all the way from the middle of the last century that have similar looking covers. I think that is its strength. I like those types of covers, so I think this is a very good cover.<br />
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Art by Steven Meyer-Rassow is on this follow up to <i>Skulk</i> from Strange Chemistry. It will be released 2 September 2014 in North America and as an e-book, and 4 September 2014 in the UK. As with the <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/cover-reveal-round-up-x.html">first book's cover</a>, I really like the symbol on this one. And I find the building very intriguing. This is absolutely a very good cover.<br />
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This, the fifth <i>Laundry Files</i> novel, will be out from Orbit 3 July 2014. The design is by Crush Creative. This book at first looks cluttered, but a closer look reveals some heavy symbolism in the "blob". I've said before that I like symbols, and this is not an exception. Interesting and intriguing.<br />
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Then we move on to a trilogy of new <i>Star Wars</i> covers on books <a href="http://starwars.com/news/disney-publishing-worldwide-and-random-house-announce-relaunch-of-star-wars-adult-fiction-line.html">coming from Del Rey Books</a>.</div>
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The top one is pretty awesome for <i>Original Trilogy</i> fans like me, in that it has Darth Vader and the Emperor on it. You can read more about that one on the <a href="http://paulskemp.com/blog/my-next-star-wars-novel-announced-lords-of-the-sith/">author's website</a>.</div>
The second on is a pretty generic <i>Luke Skywalker in Hero Pose</i> image that anyone who read the comics in the 1980s will be familiar with.<br />
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At the bottom we also have a pretty standard <i>Star Wars</i> image. The interesting thing is of course that it has two new characters on it.</div>
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I am a fan of Star Wars, and I really like all three of these covers. </div>
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Coming 7 August 2014, with covers by Joe McLaren, the release of these two will complete Gollancz's Collector's Library editions of <i>Discworld</i> books. When I <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/cover-reveal-round-up-xv.html">wrote about these releases initially</a>, I said I liked them, and that still holds true. I just need to get hold of £199.80 to get these books.</div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-67486223161206208212014-04-30T18:56:00.000+01:002014-04-30T18:56:10.781+01:00DOCTOR WHO: TALES OF TRENZALORE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>DOCTOR WHO:</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>TALES OF TRENZALORE</b></span></div>
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<b>THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR'S LAST STAND</b></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>JUSTIN RICHARDS</b></div>
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<b>GEORGE MANN</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>PAUL FINCH</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>MARK MORRIS</b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-44814-260-6</div>
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Pages: 123</div>
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Publisher: BBC Books/Ebury Publishing</div>
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Published: 27 February 2014</div>
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Paperback edition published: 3 July 2014 </div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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As it had been foretold, the armies of the Universe gathered at
Trenzalore. Only one thing stood between the planet and destruction –
the Doctor. For nine hundred years, he defended the planet, and the
tiny town of Christmas, against the forces that would destroy it. <br />
<br />
He
never knew how long he could keep the peace. He never knew what
creatures would emerge from the snowy night to threaten him next. He
knew only that at the end he would die on Trenzalore.<br />
<br />
Some of what happened during those terrible years is well documented. But most of it remains shrouded in mystery and darkness.<br />
<br />
Until now. <br />
<br />
This is a glimpse of just <i>some</i> of the terrors the people faced, the monstrous threats the Doctor
defeated. These are the tales of the monsters who found themselves
afraid - and of the one man who was not.</div>
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This is an anthology of four stories by four different authors. I will give a review of each individual story before giving my overall impression.</div>
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<u><b>LET IT SNOW</b> by Justin Richards</u></div>
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In this story we meet some of the Doctor's most prominent enemies. And they make for very interesting antagonists in this setting. I must say I quite liked how Richards did not try to make a mystery out of who they are. That choice worked out very well, and being the first to know works to heighten the tension in the rest of the tale.<br />
This isn't a long story and it doesn't try to go for something grand either, it embraces the short length and instead goes for something a little bit different. The difference being that it is The Doctor's enemy that is the focus here. We get up-close to them, and even inside their heads. I found that to be both effectful and really interesting. Richards shows that there is still ways to do a story of the Doctor that feels fresh and original.<br />
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Because of the short length there isn't a very complicated resolution to the peril that the story introduces. But to me that wasn't a problem at all. The aforementioned insight into the antagonists is the important bit here, and that is something that was pulled off very well, and something that makes this an interesting <i>Science Fiction</i> story in its own right.<br />
This is an excellent Doctor Who story, and a very nice <i>Science Fiction</i> story belonging to the <i>Base Under Siege</i> tradition.<br />
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<u><b>AN APPLE A DAY</b>... by George Mann</u></div>
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This story is more of a <i>Horror</i> story, than a <i>Base Under Siege</i> one, and since it is a Doctor Who story that means it is a monster story. In this instance there is not really much humanisation of the monster, it is an entity that has one target that it goes for relentlessly. Of course it is up to The Doctor to make sure that the monster does not succeed, and he's got help her from a boy named Theol.</div>
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Theol is a new acquaintance it is quite a pleasure to meet. He has more going for him than many of The Doctor's one episode characters. Even though this is only a short story, Mann manages to give him both a personality that is realistic, and as a bonus he comes with some "baggage" that relates to The Doctor's previous experience on Trenzalore. but perhaps the best thing about Theol is what he does at the very end of the story.</div>
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I really liked the monster here, and I felt that there was real peril. The story is very well written, and Mann is great at giving Theol a real presence despite not having much space to do so in. This is a great Doctor Who story, and for anyone who has an affinity for Matt Smith's Doctor, this is an absolute must.</div>
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<u><b>STRANGERS IN THE OUTLAND</b> by Paul Finch</u></div>
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I try to avoid comparing stories/novels I review with others, but I feel my hand is in many ways forced here. This story has some of the same feel, and is set in a comparable place to, <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i>. Granted, it is the Polar milieu that evokes that comparison, but it was hard to escape it. A comparison like that won't help anyone that has not read <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i>, so an alternative comparison would be to any (hi)story of the polar expeditions of the early 20th century.<br />
Finch manages to get across very well the feeling of the cold wastes of winter. I say that as someone who lived the first four decades of his life in Norway, and has plenty of experience with temperatures below -30C.<br />
<br />
So, the setting is excellently done, but that doesn't make a story on its own. Fortunately the author has more for the reader than that. There is a really tense narrative set in the frozen landscape of this story, which is what reminded me of <i>At the Mountains of Madness</i> to begin with. Apart from the beginning, this is centered almost exclusively on The Doctor, everyone else are really only bit-players. But that helps enhance the tension, and it is palpable throughout. Even as the story ends you get the feeling that there is still some travails to come.<br />
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Finch's story is an excellent one. The Doctor gets to shine, as he should in a story with his name on, and we get another visit from a past enemy. Who the enemy is is not really important, the essence of this is a well written <i>Psychological Thriller</i> story that in itself is satisfying enough, and that makes for an excellent Doctor Who story.<br />
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<u><b>THE DREAMING</b> by Mark Morris</u></div>
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This is another very interesting story, and this time we also go into <i>Horror</i> territory. The type of <i>Horror</i> story used will be familiar to most people, it is not an uncommon one. The story is however not suffering from the familiarity, and it won't matter if it is a new type of story to the reader, it is simply too good a story for that.</div>
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Although this is a story firmly rooted in the <i>Horror</i> tradition, it is also the most light-hearted of the stories in this anthology. It is not a comedy piece though, it is just that there is some glimpses of humour here that got a couple of laughs out of me.<br /> Morris does not follow Horror conventions slavishly, but lets the story go in the directions it needs to do. There is no mistaking that this is a Doctor Who story, and the Horror element even comes from one of The Doctor's old enemies. The Doctor does what he does best here, and Morris has really gotten the Eleventh Doctor to come alive on the page. It's easier to hear the voice of Matt Smith than it is to avoid doing so.</div>
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I found this to be a great Doctor who story, and a very good <i>Horror</i> story. It is a nice glimpse into an older Doctor, and it is almost bittersweet to see him like he is in this story. I do think that fans of the Eleventh Doctor will like to see this side of him. An excellent end to the anthology.</div>
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<u>OVERALL IMPRESSION</u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
There is no doubt that the TV series did a rather short version of The Doctor's centuries long stay on Trenzalore, so it is a part of The Doctor's history that is obviously a rich vein to mine for those that write prose about him. One of the obvious dangers of mining quiet periods in any fictional story is that it feels like the expansion is shoehorned in to a period where nothing did really happen. Having presented that possibility, I want to immediately make it clear that it is absolutely not the case here. What we get here are some very interesting glimpses into what is actually a huge part of The Doctor's life.</div>
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Despite being constrained by the setting, and the aforementioned <i>Base Under Siege</i> element that has to be there to keep this canon, these stories are very different. Sure, there are similarities related to the setting and type of threat available, but the four writers are represented by four stories that does not flow into each other in your memory. It is clear that there is an editor that has done a very good job of giving the reader four different slices of The Doctor's time on Trenzalore at work here.<br /> The nature of these tales means that they do veer into <i>Horror</i> or monsters as it is usually called in Doctor Who. They are not overly scary though, so even those that cannot normally stomach <i>Horror</i> stories should be fine with these.</div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
This is a great anthology, and a very good addition to the lore of the Eleventh Doctor. Everyone who loves Matt Smith's Doctor would do themselves a great disservice if they don't get their hands on this. If you haven't tried written Doctor Who yourself this would be a very good starting point.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Simply put, this is an excellent little book of Doctor Who stories that is well worth getting your hands on.<br /><br />NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley.</div>
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REVIEWS: Click <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html">here</a> for a full list of Doctor Who reviews.<br /><br />LINKS: <a href="http://www.justinrichardswriter.com/">Justin Richards</a> <a href="http://georgemann.wordpress.com/">George Mann</a> <a href="http://paulfinch-writer.blogspot.co.uk/">Paul Finch</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkMorris10">Mark Morris</a> <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/">Ebury Publishing</a></div>
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-83677914283119270052014-04-24T11:29:00.005+01:002014-04-24T11:29:46.192+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXIII)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CompanyTown_zps196bd64f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CompanyTown_zps196bd64f.jpg" height="400" width="263" /></a></div>
The art is by Erik Mohr on this novel from Angry Robot. It will be out 30 September 2014 in North America and E-book, and 2 October 2014 in the UK. More info about this one can be found <a href="http://io9.com/brace-yourself-madeline-ashby-is-writing-about-the-sin-1566319086/all">here</a>. I really like Ashby's writing, and I would be looking forward to this book no matter what the cover was. That being said, this is an awesome cover. And it fits what the book is described as perfectly<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MammothBookofSFStoriesByWomen_zps96df8804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/MammothBookofSFStoriesByWomen_zps96df8804.jpg" height="400" width="262" /></a></div>
This is an anthology coming from Robinson 16 October 2014. The art is by Joe Roberts. Judging by the names of the authors included in this (, there's a few more <a href="http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=the_mammoth_book_of_sf_stories_by_women_9781472111661_paperback">here</a>,) this will be an absolute must-buy. It does of course not hurt this book that it has gotten a great <i>Science Fiction</i> cover. ETA: While writing this blogpost, <a href="http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/04/table-of-contents-and-cover-the-mammoth-book-of-sf-stories-by-women-edited-by-alex-daily-macfarlane/">this</a> came to my attention. It gives the whole table of contents, and a US release date of 2 December from Running Press. With the whole TOC, this is definitely an anthology that can't be missed.<br />
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Hang on, didn't I do this already? ...Nope that was <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/cover-reveal-round-up-xviii.html">the first Shadow Watch novel</a>. (Doing these posts and getting ARCs really make you confused about release dates. Sometimes I ask people that doesn't blog, or work in publishing, if they've read a book that isn't out yet.) This one also has a cover by Amazing 15, and it will be out from Angry Robot. The release date is 28 October in E-book/North America and 6 November in the UK. Like the first novel, I am really intrigued by this cover, and I think it is a great one.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CitiesThrones-Resize_zps24168f44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/CitiesThrones-Resize_zps24168f44.jpg" height="400" width="263" /></a></div>
OK...deja vu... The cover for this books predecessor is <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/cover-reveal-round-up-xxii.html">here</a>. Also from Angry Robot, this cover is by John Coulthart. It will be out 27 January 2015 in North America/E-book, and UK 5 February 2015. I am actually going to be incredibly lazy, and copy/paste what I wrote on the previous cover: "There is really a lot of detail in this,
and the art makes for a quite intriguing visual. Not only is the art
itself something I wouldn't mind having on my wall, but as a cover it
makes me want to check out the book." -Both of the covers are great, and together they are absolutely excellent. They would make for great posters side by side on a wall.<br />
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<a href="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheIronTrial_zps07617a45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac41/Weirdmage/Book%20Covers/TheIronTrial_zps07617a45.jpg" height="400" width="265" /></a></div>
This is the first book in a new series called <i>Magisterium</i>. Book design by Whitney Lyle. Out 9 September 2014 from Scholastic US. The target audience is 8-12 year-olds (, or Middle Grade). You can get an excerpt of the book <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/03/27/exclusive-excerpt-the-iron-trial-cover-reveal/6908419/">here</a>. The comic book/cartoon look of this cover more or less screams "for kids", which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think it is a very good cover, and I would take another look at this book because of it. (I already did. I found this cover on a Google image search.)<br />
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This is a re-issue, coming 7 August 2014 from Corsair (Constable & Robinson). It is the authorised sequel to John Wyndham's <i>The Day of the Triffids</i>. It was originally published back in 2002, and it won the British Fantasy Award for best novel. This cover is pretty pared down, almost symbolic. Since I have read Wyndham's original, I will say that this cover fits very well. I certainly like it a lot, and I will try to get my hands on the book.<br />
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This is the first book in <i>The Nightbirds</i> trilogy, coming 1 July 2014 from Tor. It's kind of a strange cover. It looks more like something one would expect from a <i>Romance</i> cover, until you notice the moths...and the death-like pose of the woman. It's those details that drew my eye to this cover, it's a bit intriguing.<br />
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This is the first in a new series, coming November 2014 from Harlequin Teen. It's about dragons in the contemporary world. According to the write up I saw, the film rights have already been sold. It was the dragonscale effect that drew me to this cover, I really like how that is done. Very nice and uncluttered.<br />
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This one is coming 1 July 2014 in North America/E-book, 3 July UK, from Strange Chemistry. This is one of the most pared down <i>SFF</i> covers I have seen for a book that is not by a big name. It's an eye...it's looking at you...you kind of have to look back don't you? And maybe turn it around and see what the book is all about...<br />
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This is coming 18 September 2014 from Robinson. I'll be honest and say that I find the cover a bit boring, and bland. This could very well have been a <i>Historical Romance</i> cover, it lacks that little bit that identifies it as <i>SFF</i>. Not that the cover really matters, it's what is inside anthologies like this that matter. And apart from what you can see on the cover, the <a href="http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=the_mammoth_book_of_warriors_and_wizardry_9781472110626_paperback&tab=about">publisher's website</a> gives us the names Jay Lake, Carrie Vaughn, and K.J. Parker. I look forward to seeing the whole TOC.<br />
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-38812533158513383602014-04-22T16:43:00.005+01:002014-04-22T16:43:56.242+01:00REVIEW: DOCTOR WHO: A HANDFUL OF STARDUST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>DOCTOR WHO:</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A HANDFUL OF STARDUST</b></span></div>
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<b>TIME TRIPS BOOK 5</b></div>
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BY</div>
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<b>JAKE ARNOTT</b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-44814-185-2</div>
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Pages: 34</div>
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Publisher: BBC Books/Ebury Publishing</div>
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Published: 3 April 2014</div>
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On the cover:</div>
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(From the publisher's website.)</div>
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The TARDIS is diverted to England in 1572, and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sixth Doctor</b> and Peri meet John Dee – ‘mathematician, astrologer, alchemist, magician, and the greatest mind of our time’. (‘Only of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">your</i>
time?’, the Doctor asks, unimpressed.) But what brought them here?
When the Doctor discovers that Dee and his assistant have come across a
‘great disturbance in the cosmos, in the constellation of Cassiopeia,’
he realizes that they are all in terrible danger.</div>
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From the cover copy above it is easy to draw the conclusion that this will be a pretty much straight forward Doctor Who adventure where the Doctor encounters something wrong in the past that needs fixing. It is however a little bit misleading, and I don't mean that in any bad way. There is just that there is quite a bit more to it than that, and that bit gives this story a little extra. I don't want to give anyone any spoilers, but I think many will get a kick out of discovering who turns up here.</div>
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I immediately took interest in this novella from the moment I saw John Dee's name attached to it. Dee's appearance is much more than just a gimmick, the story actually centres around the alchemist, and his assistant. Interestingly, there is a feeling that this time what the Doctor does actually has a real impact in our history. I found that a nice touch. (No, not saying any more: Spoilers!)</div>
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However the above mentioned isn't the main part of the story, that is left for another character. And it is nice to see that character again, even if it is just briefly. This briefness is something that should be mentioned. The story is very short, and that makes it feel a bit rushed. It isn't really though, there is nothing missing from the narrative as such, and I can't say that I felt that more was needed to make the story complete. It was more of a feeling that this was over too quickly, compliment to the authors skill actually.</div>
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Arnott is without doubt a skilled writer. He manages to create a lot of suspense and adventure in few pages here. There is plenty happening in a short space here, without, as previously mentioned, the story feeling rushed. For someone who has limited knowledge of the classic incarnations of the Doctor, (that's me - more about that at a later date,) this worked very well. The Sixth Doctor doesn't get that much description, but I still felt that I got a sense of how he is.<br /> There is more that could be said about this story, but I want to stick with having spoiler free reviews on the blog, so there isn't really anything left that I feel needs commenting on. </div>
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Overall this is a very good, and quite short story. It is a full Doctor Who adventure though, there is nothing missing from it. The things I haven't mentioned in my review, because of the "no spoilers" policy, is something I think will be very welcome to both new and old Doctor Who fans. Anyone with interest in John Dee and his doings should also find this interesting. Even with its short length I have no doubts about recommending anyone who likes Doctor Who getting this story. And those that enjoy short Science Fiction should also find this satisfying.</div>
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NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this from the publisher/NetGalley.</div>
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REVIEWS: Click <a href="http://weirdmage.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html">here</a> for a full list of Doctor Who reviews.</div>
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LINKS: Jake Arnott <a href="http://www.eburypublishing.co.uk/">Ebury Publishing</a> </div>
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Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5009402552455872569.post-72932249716744348472014-04-18T20:48:00.000+01:002014-04-18T20:48:23.482+01:00COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXII)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This cover is by Todd Lockwood, and it will grace this follow up to <i>A Natural History of Dragons </i>when it comes out from Tor in March 2015. You can read a bit more about it <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/04/todd-lockwood-cover-reveal-for-marie-brennans-the-voyage-of-the-basilisk">here</a>. I think this is a really great cover, but this doesn't really do the art full justice, so here you have the full cover:<br />
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(Clicking on this should give you a better look at it.)</div>
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Coming from Angry Robot 29 July this year, with art by John Coulthart, we have this interesting cover. There is really a lot of detail in this, and the art makes for a quite intriguing visual. Not only is the art itself something I wouldn't mind having on my wall, but as a cover it makes me want to check out the book.</div>
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This cover is for the concluding volume in the <i>Hellhole Trilogy</i>. It will be out 12 August 2014 from Tor, and the art is by Stephen Youll. I <b>really</b> like this art. It's pretty surreal as an image, and that appeals to me. I'm interested in what is behind this, and I now have plans to check out the Hellhole books at some point.</div>
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This one is from Tor Books, and is for the semi-sequel (author's words) to <i>Mainline</i>. When it comes to the release date...that is a little unclear. When I first saw the cover late last year (, apparently long after it was first revealed,) it had a 12 August 2014 release date attached. When putting this post together I have seen two different dates, 1 April 2015 and 1 August 2015. It doesn't really matter for the cover though; I like it a lot. It's a really striking piece of art, and I will be on the lookout for this whenever it is out.</div>
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Joey Hi-Fi art is what we have gotten on the sequel to Blue Blazes, coming from Angry Robot 30 December 2014. There is a lot of details here, and <b>a lot</b> going on in those details. But even so, the black & white and red cover gives a bit of a subdued feeling. I like this one, and by the look of it I should try to get the first book read before this one's out.</div>
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From Strange Chemistry, we have this Dominic Harman cover. It is for the follow up to Cracked, and this will be out in August 2014. I think I have mentioned earlier in one of these posts that I like the image of a skull, and as images of skulls go this is a really good one. I actually think this would work very well as a full sized poster.</div>
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This anthology will be out 18 September 2014 from Robinson. You can see more of the authors involved at the <a href="http://www.constablerobinson.com/?section=books&book=mammoth_book_of_steampunk_adventures_9781472110619_paperback">publisher's page</a> for it. The art is serviceable, in fact it is a pretty good <i>Steampunk</i> cover. But what excites me about this anthology is the authors involved. I think I need to get my hands on this.</div>
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Also from Robinson, this one coming 16 October 2014. As it says on the cover, this is the 25th anniversary for these, and you can see traces of the earlier books in this cover. It's a good cover for a Horror Anthology, and it is one I like.</div>
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From Tor/Seven Seas, we have this graphic novel of the famous novel. It will be out 8 July 2014. I have read the novel, and I liked that quite a lot. This cover is fitting for the story I know, so that makes me like this. But of course the interior art will be pretty crucial, and I am curious to see that.</div>
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A double bill to end this post. The top cover is the US one, coming 7 October 2014 from Del Rey. The bottom one is the UK one from Gollancz, coming 20 November 2014. I think both of these are good covers, and I like them both. They are different though, so which one you like will probably depend of personal cover art preference. The UK cover is more to my taste, but I have absolutely nothing against the US cover.</div>
Weirdmagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10999326013335351617noreply@blogger.com2