NextRead

I’ve been reading the round-ups of the best of 2007 and it reminds me how many books I’ve missed.

Starting with one that slipped past me even though I was looking for it’s UK release. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari has had some fantastic reviews from Fantasy Book Critic, A Dribble of Ink, The Book Swede, Fantasy Debut to name a few. And the contents is right up my street with God and Lucifer betting on the Virtue of mankind.

‘ “The Book of Joby” is an epic fantasy complete in one large volume. Lucifer and God have entered, yet again, into a wager they’ve made before, but this time, the existence of creation itself is balanced on the outcome. Born in California during the twilight years of a weary millennium, nine-year-old Joby Peterson dreams of blazing like a bonfire against the gathering darkness of his time. Instead, he is subjected to a life of crippling self-doubt and relentless mediocrity inflicted by an enemy he did nothing to earn and cannot begin to comprehend. The angels watch Lucifer work virtually unhindered to turn Joby’s heart of gold into ash and stone. And so when he is grown to manhood, Joby’s once luminous love of life seems altogether lost, and Lucifer’s victory assured. What hope remains lies hidden in the beauty, warmth, and innocence of a forgotten seaside village whose odd inhabitants seem to defy the modern world’s most inflexible assumptions, and in the hearts of Joby’s lost youthful love and her emotionally wounded son. As the final struggle unfolds, one question occupies every mind in heaven and in hell. Which will prove stronger, love or rage? ‘

I’m going to have to catch it in paperback!

Tags: debut, Tor