NextRead

Title: No Dominion
Author: Charlie Huston
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 5 Jul 07
Price: £6.99
Review Copy

You gotta feel sorry for Joe Pitt. He can’t seem to help finding himself in serious trouble. Out of blood and out of cash and being behind on the rent Pitt needs a job. Though being a Vampyre and a Rogue it can’t be a 9-5 gig. Unfortunately he’s in the wrong place and the wrong time and a job finds him and it involves a trip Uptown.

Carrying on from the sucked dry Already Dead Charlie Huston delves deeper into the Vampyre Clans on Manhattan.  Huston keeps it simple. We see it all from inside Joe’s head as follows the trail set out in front of him.  But Huston isn’t a simple storyteller not by a long shot. He’s created a deep, dangerous and moral man in Pitt and throws that up against the different Clans who are more establishment than Pitt likes getting close to. And Huston plays on this tension, as well as tensions from the hunger for blood and from his girlfriend who needs him a lot right now.

Huston is a master of set-up and pay-off even if the payoff isn’t what it first appears and in most cases isn’t a pay-off at all but another set-up.  Something is about to go down.

I can’t wait to get my teeth into Half the Blood of Brooklyn, which happens to be out now from Orbit.

9/10

Tags: 9/10, Charlie Huston, Orbit, review

Well we are into the second month of 2008 and it’s that time again. So here are some books that I like the look of that are appearing on the UK shelves this month either as brand new releases or paperback re-releases plus some books that I think that for some other reason are worth mentioning.

Lets start with the paperback release of one of novels of the year in 2007, Heart Sick by Chelsea Cain from Pan Books. In my review last year I said,

‘It’s just one more chapter reading until you come to the twisted end, which isn’t even where the ending should be. You need to know what comes next. Cain is a perfect poker player laying out the right cards at the right time but giving nothing away.’

It focuses on the investigators as well as the victims. I like this style of crime investigation. I wonder when the next one is out?

Then we have the next in the Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston from Orbit. Half the Blood of Brooklyn is the third book in the series. The first book I reviewed a little time ago and loved. The sequel No Dominion has been floating about the top of the TBR pile, though not quite making it to the top for quite a while (there’s a review of that at The Gravel Pitt). There is a series review over at Fantasy Book Critic. I think they call it Vampire Noir. If they don’t they should.

There’s a bad vibe in the air. Every Vampyre in Manhattan feels it in their bones …and in their blood. The mother of all gang rumbles is brewing between the divided Clans of the city’s undead. A battle royal for more turf that will tear the island from stem to stern. And just his luck, Joe Pitt is smack in the middle of it. A rogue Vampyre who shunned Clan life, Joe’s his own man. Kind of. Thing is, there’s certain people have a claim on his talents. When they need someone who’s …expendable, they call on Joe Pitt. They’re calling now. With war drums beating from the Hudson to the Harlem River, Joe’s been dispatched into the uncharted territory of Brooklyn to seal an alliance with the Freaks - a Clan who more than live up to their name. But across the bridge, things go south with savage swiftness, as Joe gets swept into a murderous family feud between crazed Clans that will paint the borough scarlet from Gravesend to Coney Island.

Changing from Brooklyn to UnLondon not to be confused with London as UnLondon is where all the lost and broken things of London end up and some of it’s people too. China Mieville has been on the radar for a long time. But he tends to write very thick novels; Perdido Street Station (880 pages), The Scar (624) and The Iron Council (400 pages). OK, they get shorter as you move along but the first one at over 800 pages is a little scary. He’s also been nominated for and won various awards so it’s got to a good 800-plus pages. Anyway, Un Lun Dun is his first Young Adult novel, which btw he also illustrated. Two girls called Zanna and Deeba enter the strange wonderland that is UnLondon, but they arrive at a dangerous time. It’s a frightened city looking for a hero. Look for a review soon thanks to Pan.

Speaking of Pan. Pan/Tor were kind enough to send me this month’s paperback releases. As well as Un Lun Dun. First is Bloodmind by Liz Williams, SFX gave it a 4/5 review. And it looks interesting:

If its set-up is pure pulp fiction, Williams also throws in elements of horror, hard SF, fantasy and the techno thriller as we follow Vali’s quest to find Idhunn’s murderer. It’s an investigation of shifting allegiances and brittle alliances. Jonathan Wright, SFX.

It’s got to be tried, surely? It’s a sequel to Darkland though I don’t think you need to have read it first. At least I hope not. It’s sci-fi just in case that’s not’s clear.

I’m not sure the other two are quite me but you never know. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi explores using DNA of the dead and turning it into prefect soldiers for the Colonial Defence Force. It seems that three alien races have joined forces to hinder Earth’s expansion into space. But a turncoat scientist knows the biggest military secrets who’s helping the alliance. I think that’s right. Actually, it’s probably clearer to see the entry on Amazon.co.uk, where it also has 3 high star reviews. Here’s an extract:

The Ghost Brigades seems to wrap up the personal storyline of the series’ main protagonists, but it sets up some huge events for the galaxy at large for the next book. There are certainly no major flaws to hinder the enjoyment of this wonderful book. Unless you have a huge aversion to any kind of military SF, pick this one up.

And lastly moving from Military Sci-Fi to paranormal romance with Dark Moon by Lori Handeland. The Romance Reader had this to say:

Handeland does an excellent job of showing us how this kind of conditional approval aimed at a child can scar an adult. Therefore, we understand why Elise is what she is, how she can rip a bad guy’s throat out with no remorse. Handeland doesn’t sugarcoat Elise’s childhood or the violent world in which she lives.

You can read the rest of the review here. So if you have an interest in paranormal romance this look like a good one to go for.

The big release of the month has to be Iain M. Bank’s return to Culture with Matter from Orbit. I’ve said before that I’ve only read one Bank’s novel, his first Culture novel, and didn’t get into it. But as Matt pointed out I really should. I’m going to read The Player of the Games at some point and see how I go. The other interesting thing about this release is the audio version is getting pre-released on iTunes. If I travelled more I’m sure I’d listen to more audio books. What do you think audio books good idea?

We also have The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes from Gollancz, a sequel to The Somnambulist. Barnes brings the Victorian events of The Somnambulist bang up to date with a tale that brings together every conspiracy theory you’ve ever heard about the royal family and the true story about where the power of Number 10 really lies. Look for a review of The Somnambulist very soon. If you can’t wait Fantasy Book Critic has one already

And finally two translations. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski from Gollancz is seven interlinked short stories and follows;

Geralt a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

Sounds like my sort of book. You can find reviews at The Gravel Pit and The Wertzone.

Finally, we have a retelling of the vampire myth in Let The Right On In by John Ajvide Lindqvist by Quercus.

Oskar and Eli: In very different ways, they were both victims. Which is why, against the odds, they became friends. And how they came to depend on one another, for life itself. Oskar is a 12 year old boy living with his mother on a dreary housing estate at the city’s edge. He dreams about his absentee father, gets bullied at school, and wets himself when he’s frightened. Eli is the young girl who moves in next door. She doesn’t go to school and never leaves the flat by day. She is a 200 year old vampire, forever frozen in childhood, and condemned to live on a diet of fresh blood.

For a comprehensive and alternative take on February releases have a look at The Fantasy Book Critic.

Tags: Charlie Huston, debut, Gollancz, New Releases, Orbit, Orion, Pan Books, Quercus, Re-releases, Tor