Review: Locke & Key

Locke & Key by Joe Hill

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Based on the best-selling, award-winning graphic novel series Locke & Key - written by acclaimed suspense novelist Joe Hill (NOS4A2, Horns) and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez - this multi-cast, fully dramatized audio production brings the images and words to life.

A brutal and tragic event drives the Locke family from their home in California to the relative safety of their ancestral estate in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, an old house with powerful keys and fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them. As siblings Tyler, Kinsey, and Bode Locke discover the secrets of the old house, they also find that it's home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all....

Featuring performances by Haley Joel Osment (Entourage, The Sixth Sense), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Kate Mulgrew (Orange Is the New Black, Star Trek: Voyager), Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, and Stephen King (The Stand, 11-22-63), as well as a cast of more than 50 voice actors, this audio production preserves the heart-stopping impact of the graphic novel's astounding artwork through the use of richly imagined sound design and a powerful original score.

Well this book was a real slog for me. I've never read Joe Hills' original comic books but I did find the Netflix adaptation engaging and so decided to give this a try.

It's not that the story is bad, it isn't, it's way more that the characters are bad and their portrayal in this full-cast audiobook is dire to say the least.

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Review: The Sandman

The Sandman by Dirk Maggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Sandman is a full cast adaptation of the comic book / graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman. This Audible Original edition covers the events of the first three volumes: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll House, and Dream Country

Torn from his realm, The Sandman - Morpheus, the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination – was imprisoned on earth for decades. On escaping he must restore his power, descend into hell to face Lucifer, chase rogue nightmares, visit a serial killer convention and cross paths with characters from DC comic books, ancient myths, and real-world history.

Audible and DC present the first in a series of audio adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s best-selling graphic novels, adapted and directed by multi-award-winner Dirk Maggs, performed by an ensemble cast with James McAvoy in the title role, and accompanied by an original score by James Hannigan. As narrator, Neil Gaiman will lead you through this dark, literary world in a twisting fantasy journey of myth, imagination and terror.

I really liked this, like a lot. After that I'm not sure there's much to say so gimmie a minute...

...right I've had a bit of a think and I've come up with some specific things I liked and one that took me out of the narrative for a second but really isn't a big deal.

First off I liked just how little had been changed for the audio play. As far as I can recall there wasn't a single thing (except that thing I alluded to before). Not one of the cast sounded like they were phoning it in or just there for the cheque and each voice was spot on. The effort each and everyone one of them put in for an audio play speaks volumes for their talent and dedication. The soundtrack and incidental music were just right though a small number of the louder, higher pitched sounds were distinctly unfriendly to headphones users.

Now on to that one teeny, tiny, niggle...

...they gender swapped Lucien. I'm only raising it as an issue because otherwise I just come off as a frothing fanboy and I'll admit it did take me out of the story in a "huh, Lucien as a woman. Never thought of that" kind of way.

If you're a fan of The Sandman, Gaiman in general or just like good quality listening materiel I cannot recommend this enough. If on the other hand you're a philistine give it a miss.

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Review: Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious

Rivers of London Volume 8: The Fey and the Furious by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: The Fey and the Furious is the eighth collected volume of the Rivers of London comic book. This volume is made up of four issues of the comic book.

Set immediately after Lies Sleeping, The Fey and the Furious begins with DC Peter Grant still on suspension from the Met and a young Essex boy racer found dead in a Dutch dyke (No... stop it! Filthy mind you have!) with cargo of illicit produce in his boot. Peter and the Muslim Ninja, Sahra Guleed, are despatched off to Essex to infiltrate local street racing rings. Things soon take a turn for the "weird bollocks" when the race route goes through fairyland...

I want to start this review with my congratulations on the pun title, great work, now stop it or I'm calling the police. This story only missing a Vin Diesel character to be The Fast and the Furious with fairies and I love it. This one has just the right balance of call backs and returning characters to give the new thing a place to breathe. Beverley Brook is also given more to do in this than just being Peter's girlfriend (I know she gets more of a role in the main series) which is good.

I know I've said this before for others in the series but this one really is the best one so far. Read it, read it now!

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Review: Rivers of London: Action at a Distance

Rivers of London Volume 7: Action at a Distance by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: Action at a Distance is the seventh collected volume of the Rivers of London comic book. This volume is made up of four issues of the comic book.

In a Harry Dresden meets Springheel Jack tale Nightingale mourns the loss of a friend while Peter reads of them pursuing the nefarious Fischer from Windscale to London and back again.

At last a story where Nightingale is the protagonist! I've been waiting for this for a while now and was not disappointed. Nightingale as a protagonist is witty, charming, ruthless and has more tricks up his sleeve than Paul Daniels.

I liked this a lot, in fact it's fair to say this is probably my favourite RoL graphic novel so far. We're also treated to a new artist for this volume with Brian Williamson doing the honours.

Like the others this isn't essential reading but it is a ripping good yarn.

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Review: Rivers of London: Water Weed

Rivers of London Volume 6: Water Weed by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: Water Weed is the sixth collected volume of the Rivers of London comic book taking place between The Hanging Tree and Lies Sleeping. This volume comprises of four issues of the comic book.

After two of the less well-behaved River goddesses, Chelsea and Olympia, decide to "tax" a drugs mule using the Thames as a highway, Peter Grant and Beverley Brook find themselves drawn into a cannabis smuggling operation with weird magical connotations.

While I liked the story I found the sexualisation of the younger goddesses a bit off putting and the sex scene was just unnecessary. That being said the "police procedural" aspects of the story were as good as any you'll see on TV with and interesting and unexpected antagonist.

If you can look past the parts mentioned this is a good story but I'm afraid they're there and pretty in your face.

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Review: Rivers of London: Cry Fox

Rivers of London: Cry Fox: Volume 5 by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: Cry Fox is the fifth collected volume of the Rivers of London comic book. This volume carries on the trend of consisting of four collected issues of the comic book.

Following on from the story in Night Witch vengeful Russian mobsters are looking to hire members of London's demi-monde (the umofficial society consisting of minor magic users and supernatural creatures) to bring bloody retribution down on the witch Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina. However, the ex-Soviet sorcerer is under the protective wing of London's own wizarding cop, DC Peter Grant, and to get the attention of Grant and his colleagues, the the daughter of a prominent Russian oligarch is kidnapped by parties unknown but possibly fox-like. What makes it worse is that Peter is going to have to leave his beloved London and go out into the countryside.

Cry Fox features one of slimiest gits to ever grace the page, Reynard Fossman, as the main antagonist. What with his sociopathic tendencies and serious paedo vibes I just can't abide this character... but then again I'm not supposed to. I was expecting Abigail to be a little more present in the story, possibly even the protagonist, after all the hints in the main novel series but alas she was somewhat relegated to a secondary character. I did like the not very well hidden twist but it was so obviously flagged as to be none existent as a twist.

Again with these graphic novels it adds to the mythos without being essential reading. Do you need to read it? No, as I've said it's not essential. Should you read it if you like RoL? Bloody right you should.

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Review: Rivers of London: Detective Stories

Rivers of London, Volume 4: Detective Stories by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: Detective Stories is the fourth collected volume of the Rivers of London comic book. This volume collects four issues unlike the previous three that were five issues each.

The framing device for this volume is PC Peter Grant's detective exam with each comic book detailing a different story... so a volume of one shots if you will.

Do these stories add to the Rivers of London mythos / lore? Well... yeah they do.

Are they any good? they're ok... and that's the rub. They're only ok, not great, not bad, just ok. Still we can't expect earthshattering genius in every story right? Right?

The art work remains of the highest quality and as I've skimmed through the other volumes where the quality doesn't change I don't think I'll mention it again... unless there's a dip...

Knowing there's a small dip in story quality would I recommend this volume to a friend? All in all I think I would, if only for completionist reasons. Is it essential reading? No, but none of these graphic novel / comic book adventures are.

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Review: Rivers of London: Black Mould

Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rivers of London Black Mould is the third volume of the collected Rivers of London comic book. This volume consists of five collected issues of the comic book.

Set between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree Black Mould tells the tale of Peter's colleague, Muslim ninja and possible trusty sidekick, Sahra Guleed, discovering a mould problem in the house of a friend. But what at first seems just a virulent fungus takes a far darker turn when the mould attacks Guleed, piquing Peter's interest and suggesting something far more dangerous...

Now this is more like it! Black Mould is probably the first of these graphic novels to really capture the feel of the main novels. Aaronovitch and Cartmel seem to have hit their stride here and I for one could not be happier. With echoes of Marvel's Venom this is the best of the graphic novels so far.. miss this one at your peril.

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Review: Rivers of London: Night Witch

Rivers of London: Night Witch by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rivers of London: Night Witch is the second of seven (at time of writing) collected volumes of the Rivers of London comic book. This time we're treated to some fleshing out of one of the more interesting side-characters, Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina, the Russian magic user first seen in Whispers Under Ground.

The plot of the volume covers the daughter of Russian tycoon Nestor Yakunin being kidnapped, apparently by a Leshy, a creature from the forests of his homeland - a long way from Kent where the kidnapping occurred.

Aaronovitch and Cartmel have succeeded in their endeavour to flesh out the world of PC Peter Grant with an engaging tale enhanced by the art work from Lee Sullivan.

As before it's not necessary to read this volume but it will make your experience of the River of London somewhat deeper.

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Review: Rivers of London: Body Work

Rivers of London: Body Work by Ben Aaronovitch

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever wonder what would happen if Christine ended up in a breakers yard?

Ever wondered just how Constable Guleed got involved with the Folly (or "weird bollocks" as our friend DCI Alexander Seawoll would say)?

Well wonder no longer for all this and more is in Rivers of London: Body Work

Rivers of London: Body Work is the collected volume of the five part comic series and fills in some (oh I hate this word) lore or background in a short side story.

The art work in this volume is delightful as is the main story. I particularly liked the Tales From the Folly shorts at the end where we're treated to some very funny stuff

I think the comic book / graphic novel format suits Rivers of London very well for these shorter tales and as I've mentioned the art style here is perfect for the tone. All in all this (and I'm assuming the other volumes) are maybe not essential to fans of Peter Grant but they are a delightful addition filling in a few gaps.

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