NextRead

I must admit that at the moment this looks like it could be my literary book of the year. It might be the only literary book I’ve read so far, I could be wrong about that, but it’s going to be hard to beat.

At an English Boys Private School children are going missing, they are dreaming and then disapearing but no one knows where they’ve gone. Miller mixes in war, fantasy, violence and emotion into what is turning into a clever read. Though I’m reserving judgement until I’ve finished the second half.

Things I like so far are the narrative voice and way that Miller is telling his story. It wasn’t what I was expecting and it’s not going in the direction I thought it would. The focus has shifted from Timothy, the focus for the first section, to his father. Each is building a picture from different angles. I’m looking forward to how he’s going to mix them all together. The voice as in the tone and style is very accomplished that I’m surprised that this is a debut as it is confident as a pro.

Fingers crossed for the second half.

Tags: debut, first thoughts

The wonderful thing about running a book blog (when you haven’t just started a new job and you can’t seem to find a reading or blogging routine no matter how you try) is that you get to hear about and sometimes receive copies of lots of weird and wonderful titles. So here is a post mentioning some recent ones these are a little late but it’s better late than never

Digging Up The Dead by Druin Burch.

I don’t usually mention my non-fiction reading. This is because it’s computer and techie related like Adobe Photoshop though occasionally it does slip into photography but mostly I don’t think it’s compatible with most of the content of this blog.

I think that’s the reason why I don’t get offered many non-fiction titles. Though the nice people at Vintage thought I might like Digging Up The Dead, which was released last month.

It’s an examination of Astley Cooper 1768-1841 who, it seems, was a tearaway young man who became a fiery radical (taking his pregnant wife to Paris during the Revolution) and a brilliantly successful surgeon who was the first person to describe the function of the middle ear, and served three successive Kings, as well as Princes and Prime Ministers. But his passion was dissection and he ended up running a country-wide network of informers and body snatchers.

I’m a great fan of series like Bones and Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series (up to Blow Fly when she changed from first to third person) so I’m looking forward to reading beyond the prologue into a biography that is a form of ‘autopsy’, which means ‘to see for oneself’.

Reviews of Digging Up The Dead have appeared in Popular Science (*****/5), Fortean Times (****/5) and The Telegraph.

A publisher that I’ve seen a bit of (but not read anything from) is Abaddon Books. So I was pleasantly surprised when I took a closer look at them after two books, Twilight of Kerberos: Shadowmage by Matthew Sprange and Leviathan Rising by Jonathan Green, arrived through the door.

Abaddon Books describes itself as ‘We are an exciting genre imprint dedicated to publishing the best in high-action Science-Fiction, Horror and Fantasy.’ Sounds like my sort of thing. They also produce paperback size books rather than the slightly less pocket friendly larger format that is currently becoming popular but not so easy to read.

Twightof Kerberos: Shadowmage by Matthew Sprange

The blurb, ‘Forced onto the streets of Turnitia after the army destroys his home and murders his parents, Lucius Kane becomes an excellent thief, gaining notoriety in his new profession. Soon drawn into a war between rival thieves guilds, Kane fights for friends and profit but finds himself pulled into the darker and more mysterious world of the Shadowmage, a calling for which it seems he is ideally suited. Mercenary practitioners who combine stealth with magic, Shadowmages make the best scouts, infiltrators, spies. . . and assassins.’

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review has passed judgement already so there’s a review here.

Leviathan Rising by Jonathan Green

“Around the world in eighty days ­ in style!”
This proud claim, made by the Carcharodon Shipping Company, is about to be put to the test as its newest and most magnificent submersible cruise liner, the Neptune, sets sail on its maiden voyage around the world. Among the great and the good who have been invited to join this historic cruise is Ulysses Quicksilver, dandy adventurer and hero of Magna Britannia, enjoying a well-deserved sojourn after the traumatic events of Queen Victoria¹s 160th jubilee celebrations.

Again Graeme has read it and his review is here. As an aside Jonathan Green has a reaction to his review in SFX. Look for my own thoughts on both shorty.

Finally for this little batch is Iron Angel by Alan Campbell that arrived almost 4 weeks early thanks to Tor! This should, hopefully, after giving myself a good taking to about the importance of reading, give me time to digest Scar Night, its prequel and read Iron Angel before it’s published properly.

The blurb from Iron Angel:

In this stunning follow-up to his epic fantasy debut, Alan Campbell propels readers into a captivating city battling for its own survival—and that of humankind—in a world of deities and demons, fallen angels and killers.

And if the reviews from Scar Night (here, here, here, here and here) are anything to go by it should be good.

Tags: Abaddon Books, Tor, Vintage

Anyone who’s been following my blogging might notice that I go quiet occasionally and then have a burst of activity. If’ I’m clever enough I bottle this recharged energy and let it out slowing by pre-writing posts and if I’m not there’s a flurry of activity and then a bit of a recharge but rest assured I’m always around.

I’m on the last 70 pages of Jack of Ravens by Mark Chadbourn so look for a review of that tomorrow, hopefully. I’ve been wondering what to read next. I think I need a dose of science after all this fantasy so it’s likely to be Bloodmind by Liz Williams as I’m also in a British mood.

Anyway, enough of my blogging habits let’s see what everyone else has been doing:

One book that has been standing out for me, and it might be the cover, is The 13th Reality by James Dashner. It’s got good reviews from the SciFiChick and The Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Review. SciFiChick makes it sound very interesting:

Involving quantum physics and alternate realities, the plot is a unique one for youth. And my favorite part was trying to solve the clues in the letters along with Tick.

Plus I’m a big kid at heart.

UK SF Book News is one of my favourite sources of UK book news. I always like the books received posts as they point out all the interesting books I’ve missed or didn’t know about. The lastest one has books like The Ninth Circle by Alex Bell, which is described as, ‘Neil Gaimen writes The Bourne Identity’. A big promise on that one as I love the Bourne films and the imagination of Gaiman. There’s also mention of Procession of the Dead by D.B. Shan, which I think Chris, the book swede is going to review shortly.

World creation is always hard but the Fantasy Book Critic seems to have fallen for the victorian steampunk setting of Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peter. I’ve fallen for the cover

Another selection from the SciFiChick this time in the form of Grimspace by Ann Aguirre though it was a bit too mundane for OF Blog of the Fallen. Speaking of OF Blog this is a wonderful post on China Miéville. I’m soon to read his YA novel Un Lun Dun so it’s good to read a summery of a career so far.

Finally ending on books that seems to have come out of nowhere is Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry. Returning to The Fantsy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Book Review who has an interview and a review and says, ‘ I thought this was the funniest book I’ve read in a while, in a sick kind of way.’ and, ‘I get my paranormal fix and a lesson in fashion. I admit, sometimes the references were over my head. I’m a suburban mom for Pete’s sake. I don’t know Prada from Versace. I shop at The Gap. But I still appreciated the humor of it.’ Oh and it has zombies in it!