Review: Descent of Angels

Descent of Angels by Mitchel Scanlon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well here we are volume six of the Horus Heresy and the introduction of the Dark Angels Legio Astartes (or Space Marines to the rest of us). Descent of Angels deals with the childhood of Lion El'Johnson the genetically engineered Primarch of the Dark Angels Legion from his finding, lost, on the medival style planet of Caliban to the first signs of cracks in the Legion's loyalty.

What can I say that others haven't already said about this (at time of writing) thirteen year old novel. Well firstly I think I'm going to be forced to echo the complaint laid by so many at its door. This novel is poor... really poor... Where we should have a swashbuckling, rip-roaring, sci-fi adventure featuring warrior monks fighting eldritch horrors from the darkest recesses of the human mind we get... exposition followed by some more exposition only interrupted by a little exposition and dialogue an eight year old would call "a bit forced". Even Gareth Armstrong's narration feels sleepy and uninterested. I'm really not sure how you can take a story from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe and make it so dammed boring, in fact this is the first time I've almost nodded off while listening to a story since I was a toddler. Luckily for you, dear reader, this adds nothing to the story so far, and if I recall my 40k lore, nothing to the continuing tale.

Do yourself a favour and just *skip this novel

*Skip in this case means miss out but the option to throw in a skip is still there...

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Review: What Abigail Did That Summer

What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker.

 It is the summer of 2013, and Abigail Kamara has been left to her own devices. This might, by those who know her, be considered a mistake. While her cousin, police constable and apprentice wizard Peter Grant, is off in the sticks chasing unicorns Abigail is chasing her own mystery. Teenagers around Hampstead Heath have been going missing but before the police can get fully engaged the teens return home—unharmed but vague about where they've been. Aided only by her friend Simon, her knowledge that magic is real and a posse of talking foxes that think they're spies, Abigail must venture into the wilds of Hampstead to discover who is luring the teenagers and importantly—why?

Set during Peter's sojourn to Herefordshire (see Foxglove Summer) we find that while the furore of the missing children there is ongoing there's a lesser mystery occurring in Hampstead. Children are going missing only to return with no memory of where they've been... Abigail is intrigued to say the least.

I found What Abigail Did That Summer to be a lovely if a little short jump into the life of one of the more interesting side characters of the series. Abigail is presented as a smart, caring and, most of all, capable protagonist. Possibly a little too capable for a very inexperienced teenager... mind you the arrogance of youth and all that. Abigail is aided in this adventure by Simon, who I think won't be much of a recurring character and one of the wonderful talking foxes first seen in the graphic novel Cry Fox. I really enjoyed this Audible version of the story although I found Shvorne Marks' the tiniest bit off-putting with her not using Abigail's dialect (know what I mean bruv innit) as written by Aaronovitch, not a deal breaker by any means but a touch off.

The story is, as you'd expect, much less police procedural and more Famous Five meets Sapphire and Steel which i found to be very refreshing.

I think we'll be seeing Abigail and her foxy friends a lot more in the future and that's no bad thing.

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Review: Artemis

Artemis by Andy Weir

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Ever had a bad day?

Try having one on the moon...

WELCOME TO ARTEMIS. The first city on the moon. Population 2,000. Mostly tourists. Some criminals.

Jazz Bashara is one of the criminals. She lives in a poor area of Artemis and subsidises her work as a porter with smuggling contraband onto the moon. But it's not enough. So when she's offered the chance to make a lot of money she jumps at it.

But though planning a crime in 1/6th gravity may be more fun, it's a lot more dangerous.

So, where to start? Well firstly Artemis does have a good plot, piss poorly executed, but good. The main problem for me is that our protagonist, Jazz Bashara, is supposed to be a Saudi, Muslim woman brought up in Artemis who works as a part-time porter and full time smuggler yet her inner voice (and outer voice for that matter) sound exactly like Mark Watney the white, American, male, science dude from Weir's previous novel, The Martian. Secondly the story is written in the same manner as The Martian, understandable as it's the same author, but it really doesn't work for what is at its essence a heist story.

Anyway enough about the story, Rosario Dawson, (Ahsoka Tano in The Madalorian and Claire Temple/Night Nurse in the Netflix Marvel series) narrates the story. As far as I can tell this is her first outing as an audiobook narrator and to some extent it shows. Her reading of the story is competent enough but a little dry for some of the high octane action scenes. It's the dialogue where she shines as is only to be expected of an actress of her quality.

Honestly I didn't enjoy this book but looking at the reviews on Goodreads many others have. If my opinion is important to you I'd say give it a miss but I'll let you decide.

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Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

You can’t stop the future.

You can’t rewind the past.

The only way to learn the secret... is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush, who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

Like many I first became aware of the novel through the Netflix series and being of a curious mind I decided to give it a read. Firstly I'd like to point out that I really don't think I'm the target audience for this story which to my mind can only be a good thing... more on this later...

I'd like to address the two central characters first, Clay Jensen and Hannah Baker. Well as I said I'm not the desired audience for this and found one to be a super earnest, weight of the world on my sixteen year old shoulders type while the other is a everything is awful and someone else's fault type. Neither of these characters is much more than a vehicle for a "woe is me" narrative. Am I being unfair? Yeah, probably but it's my review and if you don't like it click away dear friend.

Now on to the story itself; while competently written I feel that it while not glorifying suicide per se doesn't make any effort at all to say that there just may be different options. If just one of the characters given a voice said anything, anything at all, about this I might feel differently about the story... but they don't. I was actually a little surprised to find that the author, Jay Asher is a middle-aged guy and not an angst ridden tween.

The only ray of light I can offer in this negative review is that the narrators on the Audible version are very good and both give a sterling performance

So, there you have it, my review. As you may be able to discern from my oh so subtle hints I didn't like this book, not one little bit. Read it if you want to, I'm not your Mum, but I really do not recommend it.

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Review: Chalk

Chalk by Paul Cornell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paul Cornell plumbs the depths of magic and despair in Chalk, a brutal exploration of bullying in 80s England.

Andrew Waggoner has always hung around with his fellow losers at school, desperately hoping each day that the school bullies, led by Drake, will pass him by in search of other prey. But one day they force him into the woods, and the bullying escalates into something more; something unforgivable; something unthinkable.

Broken, both physically and emotionally, something dies in Waggoner, and something else is born in its place.

In the hills of the West Country a chalk horse stands vigil over a site of ancient power, and there Waggoner finds in himself a reflection of rage and vengeance, a power and persona to topple those who would bring him low.

From Tom Brown's School Days to Carrie via Lord of the Flies children casually inflicting horrors on each other has been a mainstay of literature for a long, long, time. Chalk takes this and weave a gripping tale of magic and vengeance. Our protagonist is Andrew Waggoner, one of those kids destined to be seen as a punching bag by the school's bullies, who after a particularly terrible attack leaves him disfigured finds he can't go to the ineffective adults of the story... after all snitches get stitches as the saying goes.

In pain, fear, and desperation Waggoner calls out to a much older, darker power who surprisingly answers. It's from here that Chalk really hits its stride.

The calm, almost matter of fact way Johnathan Broadbent narrates the story only makes Cornell's horror the more riveting. For me it was this dry, emotionless delivery that really made the story hit home. This isn't a mile a minute kind of story so when the action does ramp up and get a bit frenetic it makes it all the more effective. Anyway I'm finding it tough to put into words exactly what I liked about this so I'll wrap up. Read this book, better yet get the audio version like I did and have a man with a mellow Wiltshire accent tell you one of the most horrific stories I've ever heard.

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Review: Half a War

Half a War by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half a War is the final instalment of the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Words are weapons

Princess Skara has seen all she loved made blood and ashes. She is left with only words. But the right words can be as deadly as any blade. She must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge if she is to reclaim her birthright.

Only half a war is fought with swords

The deep-cunning Father Yarvi has walked a long road from crippled slave to king’s minister. He has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God, and put Bright Yilling at its head – a man who worships no god but Death.

Sometimes one must fight evil with evil

Some – like Thorn Bathu and the sword-bearer Raith – are born to fight, perhaps to die. Others – like Brand the smith and Koll the wood-carver – would rather stand in the light. But when Mother War spreads her iron wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness.

Abercrombie follows his established method for the Shattered Sea and introduces us to new point of view characters for this third volume. To my mind this time they're not quite as strong as in previous entries. The almost caricatured naivety of Skara is just plain annoying but she does develop thankfully. This is only exacerbated by the the stereotypes that are Raith (cock sure warrior) and Koll (cocky minister in training). Again they do receive development but for me it was too late as I'd already made my decision on them. Maybe I'm being unfair to Abercrombie and these characters because the protagonists in the other books were, and are, so strong but hey-ho.

Right, on to the story, as the title and synopsis say "only half a war is fought with swords". The other half is fought with politics, so much politics, all the politics. Don't misunderstand it wasn't boring, there was just so much of it. Mind you there was enough fighting for even the most blood thirsty reader to get their fill.

I particularly enjoyed that the grey rather than black and white morality was explored more in this book. Decisions were made and outcomes were unexpected to both the reader and the characters. Plans are made that do not go as expected, outcomes once seen as a win become more dubious as time goes on. There's a quite a bit of talk about the greater good (and by extension the lesser evil) in this book and you just know anyone who talks like that is in for a world of pain when the dust settles.

I think this is probably the weakest of the three novels in the trilogy but it is by no means a bad book. Over all I would say it's the best ending any of the characters could expect even if it's not what they deserve. Read the whole trilogy you won't be disappointed.

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Review: Ready Player Two

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Ready Player Two is the sequel to the popular Ready Player One

Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday's contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything.

Hidden within Halliday's vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous... and addictive... than even Wade dreamed possible.

With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest, a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize.

And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who'll kill millions to get what he wants.

Wade's life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance.

So... it turns out Halliday added another stupid treasure hunt competition to his OASIS. One that only "An heir of Halliday" can unlock (I hope JK Rowling is listening to this bit). Also there's now an evil AI Halliday loose in the OASIS (I hope Avengers: Age of Ultron is listening to this bit). So it's now two years after the original story and Earnest Cline has managed to walk back every bit of character development he could. In fact the only things he didn't walk back are Aech turning out to be a woman and Daito being dead and I'm sure if he could've worked them in he would have. The new characters aren't anything to write home about either; they're either written so one dimensionally they may as well be a straight line or they are so utterly forgettable you need to constantly go back to remember who the hell they are.

The story isn't anything to write home about either...

It's not only predictable it's boring to boot. There is zero originality in this story... zero... and as Cline said himself back in 2017 he only wrote it as a cash in on the movie. So, yeah it ain't good peeps.

The only redeeming feature of this is Wil Wheaton's performance as narrator.

Do not buy this book.

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Review: The Devil All the Time

The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.” There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.

Bleak does not begin to describe this book. Full of awful people doing despicable things to each other this book destroys the usual cutesy, American dream, we are so used to seeing in book set in this era. I would say that with the exception of Arvin and one or two other minor characters there is not one single person in the whole book with a redeeming quality. This book is vicious and unrelenting in its violence and setting with crimes being committed with the casualness of ordering coffee. I loved it by the way...

That's not all it is though. there's small town desperation and the frustration of being "stuck". There's the grim smallness of absent ambition. Best illustrated by the character who feels eating a hot dog at a baseball stadium would be life changing.

Now I suppose we need to talk about the darkness, the murder, the animal sacrifice, the rape, the suicide, the prostitution, the sheer awfulness of people. Like I said this book is bleak, real bleak, and desperate. There are no excuses presented for the character's actions beyond the terrible grimness of crappy lives and desperation.

But that's The Devil all the Time, grim desperation occasionally illuminated by fleeting acts of kindness.

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Review: Half the World

Half the World by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Half the World is volume two of the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Sometimes a girl is touched by mother war

Thorn is such a girl. Desperate to avenge her dead father, she lives to fight. But she has been named murderer by the very man who trained her to kill.

Sometimes a woman becomes a warrior

Fate traps her in the schemes – and on the ship – of the deep-cunning minister Father Yarvi. Crossing half the world to find allies against the ruthless High King, she learns harsh lessons of blood and deceit.

Sometimes a warrior becomes a weapon

Beside her on her gruelling journey is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. A failure in his eyes and hers, he has one chance at redemption.

And weapons are made for one purpose

Will Thorn forever be a tool in the hands of the powerful or can she carve her own path? Is there a place beyond legend for a woman with a blade?

Continuing on from where Half a King left off Half a World, but not really, introduces us to two new point of view characters, Thorn Bathu, a woman born to fight who but is denied, and Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. I think you cold probably jump straight into this book without ever reading Half a King but what kind of crazy person would deny themselves reading the works of Joe Abercrombie, Lord Grimdark himself.

I enjoyed this book a lot, the characters and story were again detailed and interesting with Abercrombie's usual unpredictability, savagery and humour helping to instil a feeling they were real. While I did enjoy the story it was a little, not much just the tiniest bit, jarring to have brand new point of view character take the lead (or in this case two characters) bur overall I think it worked, mainly due to their likeability.

Beyond giving this book my highest recommendation there's not a great deal left to say here so I'll let you go find a copy and read it yourself.

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