book reviews

BEST OF 2014 – Books

December 29, 2014 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

My original plan, as threatened in last week’s podcast/film/music summary, was to dig into my favourite books and comics of the year in this single post. However, due to circumstances beyond my control (me banging on for too long), I am going to leave this one with just the books and return to the comics at a later date. Probably quite a soon later date, as I still harbour the ambition of getting these blog posts out before 2014 itself ends, and I still gotta do the TV as well.

If you want to see how my tastes have evolved, you can consult the 2013 equivalent of this blog post. For now, though, let’s dig into the best printed prose stories of the year, most of which I read digitally.

YA – Why, eh?

My major shift in books-direction this year was to start reading YA, because I’ve begun to socialise with a lot of YA-likers and also (inevitably) started to wonder if I could write it myself. So, if anyone else wants a good entry point, I’ll lay out the best of my mostly-scifi/fantasy sampling.

I’ve read The City’s Son and The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock, the first two in his Skyscraper Throne trilogy set in a fantastical London. Although the first one is a strong opening adventure that set out a potentially fascinating world, the second was a year-highlight, a genuinely excellent emotional journey through cool concepts that I’d recommend to anyone. Must track down the third one. (By which I mean: I’ll buy it when it gets cheaper on Kindle.)

Elsewhere in the YA exploration, Pantomime by Laura Lam is a lovely, fragile book about Micah Grey, a teen coming to terms with his own identity under confusing circumstances – and also set in a circus. Control by Kim Curran is the sequel to her alternate-reality-wrangling scifi book Shift, and in a similar way to the Tom Pollock series, the first one does some interesting world building, but the second is the one which really made me pay attention. Happily, the third and final part is coming soon.

Also read The Curse Workers trilogy by Holly Black, about magical con-men, and although they never quite top the excellent first book, it’s all an exciting adventure.

At the younger end of the target-age spectrum, but also among the most excellent: Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens is a mega-likable school detective story and Close Your Pretty Eyes by Sally Nicholls is beautifully characterised and creepy. Very creepy.

Aged To Perfection

I’m going to creep back towards adult novels now, via the bridging method of fantasy author Joe Abercrombie. I read the last two books in his adult trilogy The First Law, as well as his new YA book Half A King this year and all were great. The biting wit and intense adventure are strong across the board.

Tore through The Cormorant, the most recent in Chuck Wendig’s Miriam Black supernatural crime series too, and it’s the best one yet. The first two were fun adventures, but this third part was blow-me-away good, and I’m pleased to hear it should be continuing this year with Thunderbird. His urban fantasy book The Blue Blazes was fun too.

I also read Feed by Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) and although I’ve not read her work before, I did enjoy the combination of genuinely creepy horror plotting and someone writing about the internet/blogging in a way that suggests they actually understand it. All too rare.

Getting into sundry other territory now, I also liked:

The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, a sweet robot-romance by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Fight Or Flight by Chele Cooke, the second in her Out Of Orbit scifi adventure series
Deadlines, a weekly newspaper-crime serialised thriller by Chris Brosnahan
Gun Machine, a heavily armed crime novel by noted comic writer Warren Ellis
Mayhem, Jack-The-Ripper-esque gritty crime by Sarah Pinborough.

Phew. I read a lot of books this year, and that was just over a third of them.

I refrained from listing my own book, as that seemed like supreme arrogance, but if you want to see The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf on a similar list, you can head on over to Nimbus Space here. Just popping that in. Coming soon: the comics!

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) – Thoughts On A Book

August 26, 2014 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

Just finished reading The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first crime effort by J.K. Rowling, best known for being written under the pen name of Robert Galbraith and concealed for a short period. Eventually, of course, the truth emerged, and although the fun ended, sales went through the roof.

But plenty already written about that, and sequel The Silkworm was released recently with the unsecret identity still in place. I read The Cuckoo’s Calling as if it were a story (and in many ways, it is), how did it hold up? What thoughts did I have? (Some mild spoilers, though nothing explicit really.)

The Casual Cuckoo

First up, for anyone who found The Casual Vacancy a bit of a rambling polemic, this second adult effort is much more story-shaped. In fact, compared to her other work, it’s unusual how heavily it buys into and works within genre conventions.

Rowling/Galbraith does a good job of populating said story with strong characters and memorable personalities. With so many people under the Suspect category, each getting one or two scenes to shine, it helps having all be memorable and easy to define. Although, even with Rowling’s gift for the easy-to-place personality, I did feel a few tugs of “Wait, which one was that again?” by the end.

Because, yes, this book is very long. And I say this as someone who thought most of the Harry Potter books were a fair enough length. (Except Order of the Phoenix, that was ridiculous.)

The Doom Bar’s Calling

The mystery itself is a well-drawn, believable one, armed with fun twists and turns to keep us guessing. Maybe could’ve used a midway mega-twist to keep everyone excited through all that length, but the resolution remained satisfying.

Lead gumshoe Cormoran Strike gets plenty of depth and development, plus amusing drunk moments. He also drinks Doom Bar, a respectable ale.

Basically, it felt like many good origin-of-series stories (see also: the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and last weekend’s Doctor Who Capaldi debut) – focusing on introducing the lead character and putting them through a standard storyline, psyching us up for when they face a more terrifying threat next time.

And it did a decent job, although (again much like that Who episode), it probably didn’t need to be quite as long to achieve that. Definitely worth a look if you like J.K. Rowling or a good meat-and-potatoes murder mystery.

(And yes, I’m aware that this book does demonstrate a more-than-slight resemblance to my own Hobson & Choi books in the early chapters, although that does clear up in later days. The dangers of following the same genre-lines.)

The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie – A Recommendation

July 15, 2014 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

I am self-publishing a book soon, so will be talking about that quite a lot. You can see all the details of that venture here, but to mix things up, I thought I’d recommend someone else’s books in this post.

To be specific: The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, aka The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. It’s a fantasy trilogy, revolving around the politics, prejudices and (eventually) magic in a world not quite our own and it’s really good. I was recommended it whilst in the midst of Thrones-fever, fancying something else in the fantasy arena, and it really hit the spot – smart, character driven action with the fantastical elements playing around the edges, sometimes screaming into the forefront.

So since those who started reading the A Song Of Ice And Fire series with the TV show are probably finishing soon, I figured I’d point this out as a next step.

In fact, The First Law might even be a better bet for readers who enjoyed the Thrones TV series than the George R.R. Martin books themselves – it’s a short, accessible, witty read and with a conclusion that already exists.Although it is potentially even more depressing than Thrones at times – Abercrombie is LordGrimdark on Twitter, after all.

Anyway. It has a large, memorable cast tied together through clear threads, including the obligatory love-to-hate character in Inquisitor Glokta. He does all the worst things yet gets the best lines, as always. Although, to be honest, there are a few reluctant favourites to go around – I’d take another Logen Ninefingers book in a heartbeat.

There’s a little of the inevitable mid-trilogy sag in book two, but the big set-pieces in that book are so impressive that it hardly bothers you. Great work as a whole, hits the right balance of epic sweep whilst remaining rooted in character, and manages a three-dimensional universe without bogging down in detail. Abercrombie also writes a great fast, meaty fight scene.

And even better, there are three standalone books in the same setting to read next. Sadly, though, they seem to centre on characters outside of the primary ones from The First Law, and I loved those folks. Still be reading them though.

Oh, and Abercrombie also just released Half A King, the well-reviewed first chapter in a whole new series. Excellent.

Best of 2013 – Books and Comics Edition

December 23, 2013 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

I’m off home for Christmas tomorrow, I should be packing a bag, so it seemed an ideal time to type up the second installment of my 2013 cultural intake summary! This time: Books and Comics!

If you want to see my movies, music and podcasts of choice, that was last week. TV to follow next, once I’ve formed an opinion on the Doctor Who Christmas special.

But first, it’s time for stories told in page format. From a wide perspective, the big development this year was my moving entirely digital in both these areas. I can comfortably read digital comics on my widescreen monitor (though if anyone wants to buy me a tablet for Christmas, don’t let me stop you), and started properly using my Kindle all the time. It’s great, my room is much less drowning in paper. But what was I reading, exactly?

Books

A Dance With Dragons - George R.R. Martin

My biggest single reading project this year: consuming most of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin – the books being adapted as Game of Thrones on the telly. I finished the second book just after Christmas last year, and am coming to the end of the most recent volume now.

I’m not a huge epic fantasy person, but I have enough sci-fi/fantasy tolerance to deal with the tropes and detailed worldbuilding moments, and the the real hook of these books is the characterisation, the way everyone has a motivation and an angle. If you enjoy the sprawling scope of the TV show and want more, then believe it or not, there’s loads more characters in the books. Now, I can join in waiting for Martin to write the next one, which sounds like a damn good party.

Going way back in the past to established literary classic territory, I also read The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, which was short but perfectly formed, a nice balance between black humour and the genuinely disturbing. Also The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which is every bit the tearjerker you’ve heard. The trailer for the film still makes it look awful though.

Consumed A Serpent Uncoiled by Simon Spurrier and London Falling by Paul Cornell, both by comic authors whose work I’ve enjoyed, both great stuff with unique voices on the crime genre. London Falling has a sequel coming and has recently been optioned for TV, all good news.

Also: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, ultimately rewarding but very slow to get going. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie was an excellent action-heavy introduction to a fantasy universe and I’ll be continuing the trilogy very soon. Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig married a cool concept onto a memorable character with style.

That’ll probably do – and yes, I’m aware none of those books came out in 2013. If you want a complete list of my reading, complete with star ratings, I keep my Goodreads profile fairly up to date.

Comics

2013 saw me re-enter reading comics in the biggest way for a while. The biggest reason for this is probably the rise of digital, finally bringing new comics down to a price I was actually willing to pay. I was also put on to a few interesting new books – the best of these was probably Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, about a seemingly unkillable warrior in a future universe of warring families, struggling with herself both inside and out.

Just as reliably good was the longer running Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory, in which a detective investigates messed up crime and food-based superpowers. I finally caught up with that book this year, and although I’ve now fallen behind again, it remains a fun, surprising and blackly hilarious bundle of joy.

I also read the first volume of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra’s The Manhattan Projects – more overtly sci-fi than I often go, but a lot of ideas and clever plots being thrown around and I imagine I could get a lot of re-reads out of that. Imagine an aggressively adult Doctor Who.

I read a few bits by Kieron Gillen this year too – his Journey Into Mystery for Marvel and Phonogram for Image with Jamie McKelvie. JiM probably spoke more to me personally, but the craft on display in Phonogram is undeniable. Next stop: Young Avengers.

It never feels like I’m properly reading comics unless I’ve got something by Garth Ennis on the go, and currently it’s Hitman, his 90s series for DC about a superpowered contract killer in the superhero universe of Superman and Batman. Once again, a brilliantly executed black comedy with a real human heart. I always like those.

Superhero-wise, I’ve mostly been reading random snippits from Comixology sales, but Superior Spider-Man has been consistently great and I’ve also just checked out All-New X-Men and the current Wonder Woman, both of which make old icons seem impressively new and interesting.

Lastly, and as a reward for anyone who read this far, one of my favourite comics of the year is available free online (and in print, if you like paper books) – Crossed: Wish You Were Here is a free weekly webcomic which makes a zombie-esque Apocalypse seem tense, human and horrific in a way I’d almost forgotten they could. Written by the earlier-mentioned Simon Spurrier, it’s really good. His X-Men: Legacy run is worth a look too, and the firmly surreal mini-series Numbercruncher.

That blog post was way longer than I intended, but the list still seems frustratingly incomplete. Dammit. Still, I must pack those Christmas presents now. Take it easy, blog-readers. I might manage some kind of Christmas broadcast on here before the big day, but if not, hope it’s great.

Against A Dark Background & Cuckoo In The Nest – Some Book Reviews

June 11, 2013 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

Nowadays, there isn’t a huge amount of “original content” on this site. Yes, it’s good that other people want me to write for them, but I do feel bad having my own blog be nothing but links.

In the near future, I might try and ready a post or two about where I’m at (or something less horrific-sounding), although my actual process hasn’t changed much since I wrote this one, but for now – here are two books I’ve read recently and wanted to quickly get some thoughts down on. They have almost nothing in common with each other.

Against A Dark Background – Iain M. Banks

This one has ended up being accidentally topical since Banks sadly passed away last weekend, but I finished the book a week or two back. Fortunately, this is going to be a pretty positive review, otherwise I’d feel a tad guilty about posting it. Basically, Against A Dark Background is a sci-fi action-scavenger hunt adventure, with a lot of heisting, wisecracks and, at the end, a sudden tug into seriousness.

I read this as a rare experiment in “hard” science-fiction, and perhaps it wasn’t the best choice, as it’s actually quite breezy. Still, Banks throws some cool concepts around (especially the plant-planet in the middle segment, and the all-important “Lazy Gun”), and at least I didn’t feel alienated by it. The second half in particular really pulled everything together – after I’d started to worry this was a shallow book about people being snarky and running, we’re hit with a string of emotional sequences and reveals.

Really, I should’ve expected that an author this renowned would be pretty skilled. Banks toys with a constantly floating third-person perspective, very odd when I’m used to the standard close third, but it still works. Against A Dark Background is perhaps not a life-changer, but a fun, ultimately satisfying space-romp. As a first dip in the science-fiction pool, good stuff.

Cuckoo In The Nest – Nat Luurtsema

In my early twenties, I read a lot of “real-life” comedy books, by Danny Wallace, Dave Gorman and so on, where an author writes about their hilarious real life, while we laugh along and wonder how much of this crazy stuff was planned for the book. Cuckoo In The Nest has a similar chatty comedy style to those, but with added plausibility, which can only be a good thing.

Well, perhaps not for Nat Luurtsema herself, as she’s writing about being forced to live with her parents for six months, aged 28, due to chronic househunting disorder. It works, partly because Luurtsema is funny, but equally because she’s willing to be brutally frank about her life – or at least, honest enough to elevate this book beyond moany blogging. (It did, in fact, start off as a blog.)

It’s the right length, perhaps stabs a bit suddenly for pathos as the end approaches, but the scattershot sense of “Oh, um, yes, this is what I should do here” works with the voice, especially as Luurtsema proceeds to knowingly undercut her own conclusion anyway. As a creatively-aspiring late-twenty-something who lives in ongoing fear of boomeranging back home, maybe I’m rather squarely in the target demo, but still, enjoyed this book.

And now, for added multi-media content points, here’s a book trailer thingy I found for Cuckoo In The Nest whilst googling for the above cover image.

The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher – Book Review

May 8, 2013 by Nick Bryan Leave a Comment

If you enjoy novels that mash up their genres, smooshing a range of aesthetics together into a weird whole, then Adam Christopher’s The Age Atomic could be for you. At last count, it combines parallel universes, steampunk airships, superheroes, 50s nuclear paranoia and a noirish private dick together into one bizarre soup.

So, to really strain this metaphor to pieces, how tasty is that soup? Is it the same sickly green as the book cover?

Difficult Second Book?

The Age Atomic is actually the second book by Christopher in the world of the Empire State – the first one, simply entitled Empire State, sets up the premise and many characters. If you were lured in by Age Atomic’s lovely cover, I’d strongly recommend making a short detour to check out the previous book first. Don’t worry – its cover is equally lovely.

Not that The Age Atomic is new-reader unfriendly – I think you could get everything that happens easily enough, but it will have more resonance and interest if you’re familiar with everyone. Also, you’ll have appreciation for the improvement between the two: the second book worked a bit better for me.

The fun, runalong, comic-booky tone is the main strength here, and the quicker these books moved, the more I enjoyed them. Empire State has a whole first half which runs a bit slow, whereas The Age Atomic only has the spell in the middle where lead detective Rad Bradley is stuck in a warehouse for ages.

Look, I Just Love Comics, Okay?

“Comic-booky” doesn’t mean silly though – the sad journey of villain Evelyn McHale during the second book is one of the strong points, and her emotional finish brings a little grounding to a climax that might otherwise have been too broad and zappy.

Since the mysteries behind the universe are revealed in Empire State, this sequel is free to explore, flick between the two and show us some different sides to the worlds, especially the “real” New York. That was interesting, it felt more of a living, breathing place this time, like the range of influences fitted together more seamlessly.

I must admit though: after two books, I’m growing restless with Rad Bradley as lead character – his point of view and emotional range seem restrictive; I can detect my enjoyment rising when reading a chapter from someone else’s perspective. Is this intentional? Are the people in the “pocket” universe meant to feel more like fictional characters?

But yes, if you want to see all these genre ideas side to side, in a way that has clearly had thought put into it, these are two decent books and The Age Atomic is the best one. It’s seventy pages shorter than Empire State, and I’d be fine with the next one being shorter still – the more tense and fast-moving the scenes, the better this worked for me. Not life-changing, but enjoyable – if you like comics, they might particularly work for you.