Good theatre suspends you in reality. Good theatre captures a moment in time that could be now. And The Pillowman does this superbly. This is, indeed,Good theatre suspends you in reality. Good theatre captures a moment in time that could be now. And The Pillowman does this superbly. This is, indeed, a deeply disturbing play, chiefly because it could be real.
It all begins with some dark stories. A writer has written some brutal pieces about child murder and butchery. Someone has read his work and has decided to carry out the deeds within them. The writer, Katurian, has been brought in for questioning. The opening scene is reminiscent of Kafka’s The Trial. The protagonist is being investigated and put on trial for events he has no understanding of. Kafkaesque is a word that is on the tip of the performers tongue all through the scene, but it never is actually spoken despite the blatant allusions: it doesn’t quite need to be said. This effect is later removed as the situation becomes clearer.
What replaces it is a relationship straight out of Of Mice and Men. Katurian has a younger brother, one who is strikingly similar to Lenny. His concept of right and wrong is vague, though pure of heart; he will do anything he is told to do. The two brothers have a darker past, an abusive childhood that has bound them together out of survival and mutual affection. The investigators of the crime are certain it was one, or perhaps both, of them that carried out the killings. The questions begin as does the torture, though central to Katurian’s mind is what’s going to happen to his writing if he is found guilty.
“It isn't about being or not being dead, it's about what you leave behind�
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So the play questions the legacy of writing, and the responsibly of its content. Who is to blame in such a situation? Can the writer be held accountable for someone else’s obsessions and misconceptions over his work? This play may all sound terribly bleak, but running through it is a string of irony and self-reflexive moments. The characters draw attention to their own stupidity and the limitedness from the position in which they operate; thus, tragedy is infused with dark comedy making the play a true enjoyment to watch.
If you get the chance, I highly recommend watching a version of this after reading it.
Merged review:
Good theatre suspends you in reality. Good theatre captures a moment in time that could be now. And The Pillowman does this superbly. This is, indeed, a deeply disturbing play, chiefly because it could be real.
It all begins with some dark stories. A writer has written some brutal pieces about child murder and butchery. Someone has read his work and has decided to carry out the deeds within them. The writer, Katurian, has been brought in for questioning. The opening scene is reminiscent of Kafka’s The Trial. The protagonist is being investigated and put on trial for events he has no understanding of. Kafkaesque is a word that is on the tip of the performers tongue all through the scene, but it never is actually spoken despite the blatant allusions: it doesn’t quite need to be said. This effect is later removed as the situation becomes clearer.
What replaces it is a relationship straight out of Of Mice and Men. Katurian has a younger brother, one who is strikingly similar to Lenny. His concept of right and wrong is vague, though pure of heart; he will do anything he is told to do. The two brothers have a darker past, an abusive childhood that has bound them together out of survival and mutual affection. The investigators of the crime are certain it was one, or perhaps both, of them that carried out the killings. The questions begin as does the torture, though central to Katurian’s mind is what’s going to happen to his writing if he is found guilty.
“It isn't about being or not being dead, it's about what you leave behind�
[image]
So the play questions the legacy of writing, and the responsibly of its content. Who is to blame in such a situation? Can the writer be held accountable for someone else’s obsessions and misconceptions over his work? This play may all sound terribly bleak, but running through it is a string of irony and self-reflexive moments. The characters draw attention to their own stupidity and the limitedness from the position in which they operate; thus, tragedy is infused with dark comedy making the play a true enjoyment to watch.
If you get the chance, I highly recommend watching a version of this after reading it....more
The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
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Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here.
Merged review:
The visuals in this comic are great; it’s dark and steam punk themed. It’s all rather cool and the action scenes are illustrated brilliantly. It even has a special race of fighting cats that are so ridiculously bad ass; yet, for all that, I found the whole thing quite confusing.
There’s a lot of history with this comic book, which is fine, but I don’t feel like its very well established. There are brief mentions of past events, but not enough details to establish their significance. I feel like the world building is a little too complex for a graphic novel. It’s trying to squeeze so much information in, but it can’t quite cope with the amount it has. And that’s why it all seems brief.
Monstress is trying to be too many things at once far too early on in the series.
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Look at Saga. With each volume more story is added and it becomes increasingly complex. It doesn’t begin so. I was lost for most of this. It’s like I’m starting with the second volume, where everything is already clear and the characters and locations make sense. I had no clue who half of these people were supposed to be. I really think the author needed to take a step (or two) back and slow down. I don’t need everything thrown at me at once.
Other than the confusing world building, I think the story is rather solid. The central plot is very strong, it follows a young girl who is inhabited by an evil tentacle monster that feeds of the living and can take possession of her body whenever it chooses. So she’s quite dangerous and she’s trying to discover/remember how she came to be so powerful. Her family have the answers and she’s attempting to find them in this labyrinth of a world that doesn’t yet make sense to me.
However, I won’t be reading the next volume. I don’t think the author quite knows how to write a balanced story, I can’t see this improving. I’m happy to leave it here....more
This book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now letThis book is so insanely popular, and whilst it is not without merit, I think it’s totally underserving of the amount of hype it has received.
Now let me explain: the idea of combining words and photographs to tell a story is undeniably original and clever, and here the distorted black and white snaps fit the eery gothic vibe of the narrative. They work well together but ultimately become a little problematic. At times, it felt like the story was pushed to breaking point as the narrative was twisted around the photographs. It’s almost like the photo dictated where the story was going, and the events were stretched around it. There were a few instances where this was particularly bad, and it gave the direction of the writing a totally random feel. It was bizarre.
If you take the photographs out of the book, and leave the writing as it is, ultimately, we are left with an average young adult story about escapism with very poor characterisation. There are other books that deal with this theme much better; thus, this would no doubt become a little lost in the saturated market. The photographs are the unique selling point, and without them the book would flounder. My point here is that the writing is quite weak and by itself would not be strong enough to carry the story. I find this a little problematic: the writing should be enhanced by the photographs, not become completely reliant on them.
I do think this is a creative and remarkable way to tell a story but ultimately the execution was a little poor. I don’t think Riggs� prose was quite up to scratch nor his ability to give his characters any real depth. It felt amateurish, difficult to get into and the story did not work for me. For me this book is a curiosity, nothing more.
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This deceptively simple dark fantasy fairy tale will appeal directly to readers of The Chronicles of Narnia,The Golden Compass and Coraline. It's a sThis deceptively simple dark fantasy fairy tale will appeal directly to readers of The Chronicles of Narnia,The Golden Compass and Coraline. It's a story that has a lot more going for it than the surface level of the writing suggests.
What makes The Book of Lost Things so special is the way in which in interacts and adapts a multitude of fairy tales from various sources and blends them all into one big adventure. There’s a lot of ideas here and it’s all brought together in a warped world as a young boy (David) attempts to navigate his way home. The world he has found himself in is an amalgamation of stories and characters and his own dreams. This idea works fantastically well and it’s something a lot of readers will really appreciate. Who doesn't want to ditch reality and escape into a fantasy world?
So central to the novel is the importance of reading and the strong sense of escapism books can bring us. Whilst David, essentially, gets lost in his own world of books and ideas, it’s the act of reading that helped him come to terms with the loss of his mother. His adventure, enacted through stories and the characters he has read about, becomes a means for him to grow as a person and to learn about decency. Fairy tales are often moralistic, and David’s tale is no different.
It’s worth mentioning just how dark this book is. For the first part of the story, it appears to be very much a book for children. Moreover, it’s marketed and published as one too, which I find a little odd considering just how disturbing some of the sections are. There are often creepy undertones to fairy tales, but here it is much more blatant. There are brutal death scenes and there are graphic descriptions of surgery and creating human-animal hybrids by sowing corpses together. It’s dark and creepy. This isn’t by any means a criticism of mine, but just a warning for those who think this is a children’s book: it’s not one.
Now back to the importance of reading. I’ve always found books that cement a love of literature within their own stories to be quite special. I guess it’s a case of knowing your audience and writing to them, letting them know exactly how significant books can be in our lives. There’s a lot to be said here and in some ways this book is deceptively simple. It follows a basic quest like narrative, hopping from story to story, after some initial set-up in the real world, but what it’s actually doing is a bit more complex: it weaves together unconnected fairy tales to establish the transformative power of books. And I loved it. It’s such a clever device and the delivery was excellent.
So I really recommend this one to those who enjoy fantasy and to those that appreciate the escapism that books can bring.
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The Romance of the Forest is a fine gothic novel; it has so many qualities that make the genre so appealing to me.
There’s the usual dark and spooky sThe Romance of the Forest is a fine gothic novel; it has so many qualities that make the genre so appealing to me.
There’s the usual dark and spooky setting (an abbey in a remote forest) and there’s a strong atmosphere of mystery and suspense surrounding the location. It’s also not very clear what the characters motives are and who exactly may be out to abuse the heroine, Adeline. She seems isolated in a world full of tyrannical males that pursue and entrap her. There are multiple men with villainous behaviour, each of which has their own dark secret. This uncertainty pushed the story into an impressive conclusion with a surprising plot reveal. I really did not see it coming, I was impressed!
The gothic elements are what make the story and, yes, some of it is very typical of other gothic stories but that’s not always a bad thing because Radcliffe was a pioneer of the genre. She helped kickstart it. She was one of the first to use these tropes. And it is clear how strongly she has influenced other writers. Her novels may be a little samey but, then again, so were Austen’s despite their individual brilliance. I particularly liked the way Radcliffe described the forest and the eeriness of it.
However, despite the terrific amount of narrative tension and uncertainty created through the plot and its mysterious characters, the structure of the novel suffers. I think this is mainly because at this time writing novels was still quite experimental. The novel was quite new, and it hadn’t quite been perfected. Here there are a few blunders that affect the storytelling quality. Its not as refined as it could be and there are large sections at the end that add little to the work. The last third of the story could have been reduced down quite considerably as the focus was lost a little.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and it certainly won’t be the last Radcliffe novel I pick up. There's just something special about early gothic novels like this.
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There is something special about libraries. They are full of possibilities, knowledge and adventure. For Murakami, they could also be full of danger, There is something special about libraries. They are full of possibilities, knowledge and adventure. For Murakami, they could also be full of danger, weirdness and the unexplainable.
Murakami turns the expected on its head. In The Strange Library he channels the spirit of Kafka, creating a nightmarish situation of entrapment, despair and freakishness. A boy goes to the library. He wishes to learn more about the Ottaman Empire but instead finds himself trapped by an unusual old man. He forces the boy to read three books and will only allow him to leave if he can recite them word for word. No easy task.
Although it’s marketed as a children’s story, and there are strong elements of the bizarre and absurd running through it, I consider this more horror than anything else. And I think Murakami does this very well. The horror lies in the unexplainable nature of it, of its seemingly randomness and unjustness. Like Kafka, the bizarre lies under a thin layer of normality and mundanity: it’s right there under the surface of our own reality.
'Why did something like this have to happen to me? All I did was go to the library to borrow some books.�
However, it’s not that simple. There are also hallucinogenic suggestions and questions over narrator reliability. Is it magic or is it a dream? Either way, I don’t consider this story suitable for children. It’s about a child but it is undeniably dark and adult in its theme and complex in its construction and delivery. There's much more here than the surface suggests.
In terms of the afterlife of the story, of its ability to linger over your mind and stay with you, this is quite potent. I read this last night and it has played on my mind ever since because it leaves you with questions. Again, like the writing of Kafka, nothing is particularly clear. It challenges you to imagine and fill in the gaps: it makes you wonder what the situation actually is beyond the surface of the writing.
Despite its shortness, this is a very clever and engaging story. It demonstrates how great a writer Murakami can be.
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Blood of Elves sets the stage; it pulls back the curtain and begins to tell a story that is clearly going to develop into something quite grand.�
 M²¹°ì±ðBlood of Elves sets the stage; it pulls back the curtain and begins to tell a story that is clearly going to develop into something quite grand.â€�
 M²¹°ì±ð no mistake this is Ciri's novel, and this is very much the start of her story. Breaking the mould of the episodic short stories of The Last Wish and The Sword of Destiny, which follow the adventures and monster killing contracts carried out by Geralt of Rivia, this is about the growth of Ciri and the trials she faces as she attempts to discover exactly who (and what) she is. After seeing Geralt in action, she wants to be a Witcher too; however, she has the potential to be something much more. Learning exactly what this and why she is so important drives the story forward.
 I really like how well described the magic systems are and how each character has their own limitations. Although Ciri is still learning, Geralt and Yennefer are very much aware that she has the potential to be greater than both of them in terms of magic skill and fighting prowess. Geralt trains her with the sword and Yennefer with magic. Again, we are just beginning to see the possibilities of what she can do. Her elder blood has determined her destiny, she just needs to discover it once she has finished learning.
  “Remember,� she repeated, “magic is Chaos, Art and Science. It is a curse, a blessing and progress. It all depends on who uses magic, how they use it, and to what purpose. And magic is everywhere. All around us. Easily accessible.�
Because of the political power Ciri possesses, the world is out to remove her from the existence because she is too powerful a pawn if the wrong hands got hold of her. She is the heir to the mighty kingdom of Cintra, and it is a prize many seek to conquer. As such, Ciri finds herself much sought after for not only the political advantages her hand possesses but also because of her innate abilities. Although the plot is slow moving in this regard, focused only on the perusal of Ciri, I feel like the ground has been laid for some interesting developments over the next few books.
So, this is a very good start to a series that I am very excited to read more of. I particularly like how it has built upon the foundations the short stories laid, adding depth to a world that was already very intricate with a large amount of careful world building established. The monsters in all their variety gives the world a bit of a unique feel and when combined with the magic, factions and guilds it has a very strong sense of identity. And this is important because I’ve found that the genre, for all its brilliance, can start to feel very samey when you a read a lot of it.
To conclude here though, I'm expecting great things from this series and from Ciri.
Short Story Collections 1. The Last Wish - 4.25 stars 2. The Sword of Destiny - C/R
The Witcher Series 1. The Blood of Elves - 4.0 stars __________________________________
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“That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.�
I have been reading this for five years, reading one volume every six months or “That which is dreamed can never be lost, can never be undreamed.�
I have been reading this for five years, reading one volume every six months or so. I have paced my reading out, staggered it, delayed it and put it off completely at times. Why? Because I never wanted the story to finish, so I tried to hold back the inevitable. For me this says a great deal: The Sandman was so good that I did not want to read it because I would never be able to read it for the first time again.
I can think of only a handful of times that a story has affected me so. The first time I watched Lost and when I found out the sequel To Kill a Mocking Bird was to be released are the only comparisons that come to mind. Sometimes when greatness is established very early on, there is a worry that as you continue to read (or watch) it will begin to lose its spark and crumble as it falls short of the potential it originally established. I have seen it happen so many times in books, films and even music.
Gaiman is one of my favourite writers and this is Gaiman at his absolute best; he retains the brilliance here to the very last page, to the final act: to the closing of the curtain. I do not want to talk about the plot here or even the characters. I do however want to remark how powerful the concepts that drive it are, concepts that have captured my imagination for many years.
How everything ends here is pure poetry because it's not really an ending, it is just the finalisation of a point of view. I imagine Gaiman laughed as he wrote, knowing just how clever he had been. I shall say no more other than finishing this was extremely difficult.
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Matilda is a rather neglected little novella. Mary Shelley never saw it published in her lifetime because her father kept the manuscript. He refused Matilda is a rather neglected little novella. Mary Shelley never saw it published in her lifetime because her father kept the manuscript. He refused to return it because he was horrified at the suggestions of incest in the relationship between Matilda and her father which echoed some of their own real-life relationship.
That is not to say William Godwin actually had incestuous feelings for his daughter, but much of their own separation and anxiety is here along with some parallels in the historical details. And it is understandable why he would not want this work to be out there. It portrays him (or his likeness) as a man tortured and in pain; he mourns the tragic loss of his wife (Mary Wollstonecraft) and becomes consumed with a burning passion for his daughter, and these feelings torment him as he tries to repress them. In the end, he has to abandon his daughter for fear that he may act on them. Had this been published, there would have been far too many incorrect and damaging rumours circulating about Godwin. He had to keep it. He had to hide it.
So this will always be a first draft. And it falls short of its (potential) greatness. Given enough time and a chance to actually see it again, Mary could have made this into something much better. I do wonder why Mary wrote it and had the gall to send it to her father. He must have been so confused. Maybe it was a dark fantasy of Mary’s. Maybe it was a way for her to try to comprehend the death of her real-life mother and the possessive behaviour her father manifested in its aftermath. Maybe she was trying to explore loneliness and grief, and the extremities of it and how it can drive an otherwise rational mind mad. If you could take the themes away from the details of the plot, it could have proven to be a successful piece of writing in its era.
Indeed, it sits firmly within the romantic movement, displaying a large amount of sentiment towards animals and the natural world. The likeness of Mary’s husband (Percy Shelley) appears (again) as philanthropic poet who desires to improve human society with his ideas and dreams. Like Caleb Williams, her father’s most successful work, it is a novel of pursuit and tyranny.
The problem with a lot of Mary’s fiction is that it is overly auto biographical and as reader I can not help but place her directly into it. She draws on the details of her own experiences too much. The more I research her life, the more I see suggestions of it within her fiction; it is a little bit limiting to constantly recreate elements of your own life in fiction over and over: the same characters (slightly different versions of the real people she knew) repeat themselves across her work.
And whilst it can be an effective tool, once used too much it demonstrates an over preoccupation with certain themes. She begins to seem obsessive about them and this says a lot I think.
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This is a hard book for me to rate. On one hand it’s a gritty and harrowing exploration into the mentality of extreme loneliness and isolation but on This is a hard book for me to rate. On one hand it’s a gritty and harrowing exploration into the mentality of extreme loneliness and isolation but on the other it’s an almost cartoonish horror that actually made me laugh when it was supposed to be haunting.
Now let me try to explain a little: there’s just something overwhelmingly ridiculous about naked vampires lurking outside Robert Neville’s house trying to lure him outside with the prospect of sex. They try to tempt him with their bodies, so they can drink his blood when he has left the safety of his home. It just seemed too comical. And to be honest, it is quite a clever move on behalf of the otherwise moronic vampires. It shows that they are cunning and manipulative; yet they still cannot figure out how to get into his house by force. It makes little sense.
Realistically it is not that hard to break into someone’s home. So, this did not sit well with me considering how ordinary and dull Neville is. His house is not fortified with any real defences. He frequently goes outside to tackle a mob of vampires with nothing but a basic pistol and somehow survives some insanely close encounters. It just took way some of the realism. And that is one of the key concepts behind the book: it is supposed to feel real.
This is not some Hollywood blockbuster. It is not about the action. It is about survival. And it’s about a degrading and miserable mind faced with the complete annihilation of society. These elements were powerful and even moving. I felt for Neville because he was so ordinary. He’s just a normal guy in a terrible situation and his skillset is very limited. He has somehow managed to survive like this for months when everyone else seems to be dead. As the book begins it is clear he is unhinged and this only gets worse, but the vampires themselves let the story down.
For me, this is one of those books made popular because it has a fantastic concept behind it, but for the horror elements need a bit of work. ___________________________________
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Storytelling is such a fundamental aspect of human nature; it is how we connect with each other and how we make sense of the world and the people in iStorytelling is such a fundamental aspect of human nature; it is how we connect with each other and how we make sense of the world and the people in it. Stories can tell us so much and the right one, the right one can totally change your life.
Gaiman touches on that here; he touches on the transformative power of stories: he celebrates them in there many varieties. Some stories are similar, told differently by different people across different times and cultures. And, for me, this is the most important aspect of this volume: the realisation that stories, for all their power, are destined to repeat themselves in some way or some form.
Kurt Vonnegut once said that there are only eight types of stories, and each tale we might try to tell will always fit into one of these story shapes somehow. It is unavoidable. The narrative arc will always adhere to this basic idea. And I saw that here. The same stories told in a different way in alien cultures. Even our dreams follow a pattern. And I love the way Gaiman interacts with classic literature, engaging with old ideas to tell his own stories. I feel like he is one of the few writers to truly acknowledge this sense of literary debt.
So this was another interesting volume, one that showed the scope of Dream's power across many different worlds. The fundamental idea behind the Endless will be the same wherever it is felt or believed in.
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None of us know our path in life. We never know where we may end up despite how much we try to forge a direction for our"Destiny is blind"
None of us know our path in life. We never know where we may end up despite how much we try to forge a direction for ourselves. We try to give ourselves purpose and meaning but, in all honesty, we truly could end up anywhere and doing anything.
Life is an endless possibility. And destiny, destiny is blind.
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Dreams are made real if only we believe in them. Reading this makes me want to stop, to stop under the starry night sky and imagine the possibilities of life and the universe. The concepts this series grapples with are hugely conceptual and imaginative. I am in awe as I read because I’ve never seen anything on such a large scale dealt with in a comic book. The idea that such beings, beings that are themselves concepts formed into caricatures called the Endless, reside behind everything that has ever been is simply phenomenal.
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As I read this volume, I started to see early echoes of Gaiman’s American Gods. There are hints to where his thoughts are going and what he would one day eventually write. I’m not a massive fan of that book because I don’t think the delivery of it matched the scope of the storytelling, though here it works perfectly.
And for me this has been the strongest volume in a while. I feel like the series has finally found some momentum and is finally heading somewhere big and beautiful.
First things first, if you don’t like violence and gore stop reading. This book won’t be for you. Don’t waste your time with it or my review. I will nFirst things first, if you don’t like violence and gore stop reading. This book won’t be for you. Don’t waste your time with it or my review. I will never try to convince you to read it because you won’t like it.
However, if you do like violence this book might appeal to you. It’s basically about zombies in a fantasy setting. And it’s cool. It’s a simple idea done well. As expected, it’s dark and brutal, layered with graphic descriptions of mutilations and death. There’s cannibalism and there’s murder and there’s lots and lots of blood. Zombies do get hungry after all.
The opening is strong and quickly sets the tone for the story. There’s lots of horror elements within the first chapter as an unknown presence lurks in the trees watching the Apprentice. He and his master are working on the bone ritual, necromantic magic that brings back the dead. And, of course, with such potent and dark magic come numerous unsought for consequences. And what developed was a suspense filled story that worked its way into an interesting dilemma delivered across multiple point of view characters.
Bjorn was my favourite. He just seemed to be a relatively normal guy, an honest and hardworking man of the land, shoved into a situation he was completely bewildered by. He spent most of the story trying to convince everyone of the approaching horrors. But he wasn’t without his own skills as he managed to bring a few down in some great action scenes. The novel takes me back to my teenage years and the countless hours I spent playing Skyrim. Around halfway through the book I even started playing the soundtrack by Jeremy Soule. And that’s a good thing. The warriors fighting the undead amongst the trees and the moonlight had a sort of Nordic feel to it. It had a great atmosphere to it.
Plot wise, character wise and structure wise this is all put together well. The pacing is solid too. My only criticism is with the prose itself. Some of the wording and sentences fell into similar patterns of expression and became repetitive. Lots of authors do this, Robert Jordan is the biggest culprit in fantasy, though here it was particularly noticeable. Some edits were needed but considering this is the author’s first novel and it is entirely self-published without a professional editor behind it, the overall quality of the writing is very high. Work is needed in places, but not so much that it drastically affected my enjoyment of it. It would be remiss of me not to mention it though.
If you like The Walking Dead and the Elder scrolls franchise, then I’d certainly give this book a shot. It’s sort of a mix between the two in places. There’s no shortage of surprises and it’s pretty much action from the start. Plenty of monster killing too. It’s worth giving a go if you’re not squeamish.
Thanks to the author for sending me a copy to review at Fantasy Book Review.
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Let me start by saying that this isn’t a book I’d buy. It’s currently free over on audible and it’s the reason I didn’t sleep much last night. The audLet me start by saying that this isn’t a book I’d buy. It’s currently free over on audible and it’s the reason I didn’t sleep much last night. The audio-book is more of a dramatization rather than a simple reading, and it added so much suspense, with the chilling sound effects and creepy music: it took this to the next level entirely and made me realise that it certainly is worth buying.
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would! It slots perfectly into the Alien time lime, between the first and second Alien films. The antagonist is, once again, Ash (the android from the first film.) His body was destroyed but he managed to upload his consciousness to the ship’s computer, and he has lingered there ever since, slowly growing stronger until he dominated all the systems. He’s like a virus, infecting the ships mainframe, and he is ready to complete his original mission: bringing alien life back to Earth no matter the cost in human life.
Ripley doesn’t remember anything that happened from this book in subsequent films, and the explanation as to why at the end of this book worked quite well. It was a little forced, but still plausible. And that’s kind of important because the story does not fuck with the timeline, but instead provides a dark and disturbing story that really could have happened. It’s typical of what you’d expect from the franchise, an Alien loose on the ship systematically killing of all the crew as Ash aided it’s attempts.
Despite the formulaic approach, it was still quite exciting. It’s obvious that everybody (apart from Ripley) would die. Waiting in the shadows was the dark and fearsome creature fans have come to love in all its viciousness, and seeing it pick off the crew one by one was really quite satisfying. I sound like a sadist, but as far as horror goes this was right on the money.
It’s a solid piece of storytelling and could quite easily have been a film in the series; it would have been better than both Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection without a doubt.
"Death was a little older than Dream. Things had the potential to die before they had the potential to dream."
The brilliance of this series resid"Death was a little older than Dream. Things had the potential to die before they had the potential to dream."
The brilliance of this series resides in the fact that it can go anywhere and be almost anything. We all have dreams, and across the ages there has been a huge variety of hopes and wishes and visions of a better world.
And to capture the vastness of dreaming this volume takes on the form of a collection of short stories, each with a different dream and a different idea. Naturally, my favourite was the one that involved Dream’s older sister, Death. There's just something fascinating about the way Gaiman has envisioned her. She is so happy and welcoming which bespeaks the idea that all must meet her in the end. Even dreams die.
"Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly."
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The collection sits somewhat aside from the main Sandman story arc (if you can call it an arc) and it includes a real eclectic bunch of stories and characters. I just love seeing how the Endless interact with the world and the people in it because despite their immortality and their ever-influencing presence on man, they are still surprised by his actions. They don’t ever seem to fully understand that their existence depends on each other. Dream understands and I think Death does too, but the others are yet to get there.
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So this was another strong volume in the series, I’m really looking forward to finally finishing it this year � on to volume 7!
If a horror book makes you laugh this much then it's a failure. Simple as.
Sure, the rats might have been selectively bred to be giant and vicious, buIf a horror book makes you laugh this much then it's a failure. Simple as.
Sure, the rats might have been selectively bred to be giant and vicious, but they are still rats: they are still little bundles of loveliness with their little ears and cute noses. They are not scary. Don’t demonise rats James, it’s not cool!
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I happen to be very fond of rats, and they are often very misrepresented in fiction and media. Sure, you might say they are disease carriers and pests, but in reality who pesters who? As with all animals in the modern world, their natural environment has been drastically reduced so they flock to our cities and our streets. They adapt (or try to) to the world we have altered and then we blame then for it.
In the UK there is a similar debate regarding foxes (it's not really any different.) We destroy their environment (sometimes building our homes directly in it) and get all defensive when they end up on our doorstep. We do not accommodate for them and label them as pests. Wild animals will always be dangerous and aggressive, if they have no food and are clinging to life, if they are forced into our space then it's not their fault. Rather than looking to destroy such animals, more humane alternatives should be perused.
I'm going on a political rant here about ecology, but the point is rats aren't scary and this book is shit. That's all....more
I’m not going to mess around with this one: me and King are completely through.
I’m going to keep my review short and simply say that he doesn’t work I’m not going to mess around with this one: me and King are completely through.
I’m going to keep my review short and simply say that he doesn’t work for me. I hate the way he writes. I hate the way he puts sentences together and I hate the way he forms characters. I don’t get on with him. After a few chapters of this I remembered exactly why I avoid him. It’s not this book, it’s just King in general. He’s not my cup of tea.
(Postscript � if you recommend a book of King’s in the comments section I won’t listen. I’ve tried five of his novels now. I will not try anymore, life’s too short to read authors you don’t like.)...more
I am so impressed with this trilogy. It’s so hard to make fantasy stand out these days because the market is so over crowded; yet, this is so unique aI am so impressed with this trilogy. It’s so hard to make fantasy stand out these days because the market is so over crowded; yet, this is so unique and creative.
It’s one of the most original fantasy trilogies I’ve read in the last ten years because it brings so many different elements together with such effectiveness. It’s post-apocalyptic with fantasy and horror elements thrown in. And it’s by far the best example of it I’ve ever seen because all the fantasy is explained through the pre-apocalyptic tech and magic.
Excellent stuff! I can’t recommend it more highly.
I loved the ideas behind it all, and I loved seeing how the world became shaped into a war torn barren waste land. Though what really stole the show for me was the gods: the Seven. They have been asleep for centuries and they were meant to protect humanity from the tainted. They failed. They slumbered in their own grief and now that they are ready to wake and pick up their swords, nobody wants them because the world has changed.
The tainted have bred. They have mixed with humans and created half breeds. They are not inherently evil (like humans aren’t.) Yet some of them appear grotesque and monstrous so The Seven orchestrate a mass purging, which essentially involves a mass slaughtering of their own people in order to save the purist. It’s extermination, plain and simple. And they must be stopped, though the human follow them out of fear and love. They have spent centuries waiting to be saved, and now they are being betrayed and they don’t even realise it.
The characters are fantastic and fully fleshed out. Vesper, the shinning beacon of hope for the tainted, demonstrates the moral greyness that defines this world. In fantasy fiction, orcs are often represented as a sub-species and barbarous. As a race, they are treated with neglect and it’s rare to see them treated with fairness. This is a similar concept, but instead of orcs Newman deals in infernal monsters that can take on any shape flesh will allow. Evil is not in appearances; it’s in action and consequences. The complexity of this made the conclusion so fantastically compelling.
Newman turned everything on itself, effectively reversing who the good guys and bad guys are. And he brought all the characters together into a great action packed conclusion. And I was glad to see the Vagrant take a more active role in the fighting. I missed him a little in The Malice so it was great to see him stand by Vespers side, sword in hand, ready to face down the immortal Seven and right the wrongs of the world.
So this is a rather grand trilogy and I think you should go and read it.
This is an awesome mash up of fantasy, science-fiction and postapocalyptic fiction. It builds on the first book, establishing a world that is far moreThis is an awesome mash up of fantasy, science-fiction and postapocalyptic fiction. It builds on the first book, establishing a world that is far more complex and morally grey. And, in all honesty, I wish I’d read it sooner.
I first read The Vagrant back in 2015 and was mesmerised by the use of a protagonist that never utters a word. Such a thing didn’t seem possible, but Newman pulled it off (somehow.) In doing so, he clearly established how sharp a writer he is. So I was surprised to see the Vagrant pushed to the background, and Vesper, his daughter, become the bearer of Gamma’s sword (known only to her enemies as The Malice.) That much so, I didn’t read this book until two years after I originally bought it.
It’s always risky changing a protagonist. It’s a bold move, and a completely necessary one to push this story forward though it may not seem that way in the beginning. Vesper is thrust into a situation she is completely unprepared for in order to protect her father. She doesn’t want him to carry the burden of the sword any longer, so she steals it and quickly finds herself in charge of a small army heading towards the frontlines. Her mission is to close the breach, a gaping hole in the earth that allows Infernals (shapeless nightmares seeking a body to inhabit) to pour forth and taint the land. She has no idea what she’s doing. She is not ready for it. And she fucks up, big time.
She spends the rest of the book running for her life from some terribly dangerous foes not realising how potent the weapon she carries sheathed on her back is. And the anticipation building up to the point where she actually drew it was incredible. Readers of The Vagrant will remember how powerful it is and exactly what it can do to Infernals. But Vesper is reluctant to kill, and such reluctance makes her a far more interesting character than her silent father. I loved the journey she went on, she is experiencing this world for the first time and it changes her (in surprising ways.)
She learns that there is more to her enemy, that they are not entirely evil despite how horrific they may appear to the eye. And they are truly horrific. The monsters are that grotesque and twisted, that it becomes very hard to actually visualise them in their contortedness. Newman does wonders though with his vivid prose to conjure up the unimaginable. Their master is dead and now the Infernals seek purpose in a world alien to them. They no longer inherently possess a desire to conquer and kill, but instead seek their own directions (whether good, bad or plain weird.) Vesper makes her own judgments based upon the things she sees, not the horror stories told to her. A such I found myself quite invested in her character.
Told alongside the story is the history of the breach and the build up to it. And this made the novel so much more compelling. There are often big gaps in postapocalyptic fantasy, so it’s great to see Newman build so strongly on the foundations and clearly define everything that has caused this big mess of a situation. It’s not a simple case of light verses dark, knights verses demons anymore. The world that deals with the aftermath of such a conflict could not be quite as linear and simple. It’s such a clever idea, the story flowed out of it.
I never read fantasy books in the same series in succession, though right now, as I finish writing this review, I find myself looking at my copy of The Seven, ready, eager and hungry for the rest of this fantastic story.
Creative, witty, and philosophical, The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick is a rather unusual book, but, nevertheless, it’s rather brilliant.
ThiCreative, witty, and philosophical, The Monsters We Deserve by Marcus Sedgwick is a rather unusual book, but, nevertheless, it’s rather brilliant.
This is a novel, and it isn’t a novel. This is a literary essay, and it isn’t a literary essay. It’s a book about how books are written (and how monsters are born.) It sounds like a odd combination doesn’t it? It works though, strangely enough.
It’s about a horror writer who is undertaking some soul searching. He’s fed up of writing stories that simply scare people and has reached the conclusion that such dark writing gives nothing decent to society. He now wants to write something good and beneficial for his readers. He wants to talk about the natural world and monsters and people and everything in between.
So he does.
The book questions the act of writing, itself a form of creation. It questions the rigid nature of publishing and how writers are forced to shape their project according to reader expectation instead of letting the writing be what its wants to be. It’s a book that celebrates the natural world with its sharp descriptions and emphasis on the beauty of life. My point is, this book is lots of things at once. It’s fragmented and experimental, though it is also very perceptive and extraordinarily clever.
The element that will appeal to most readers is the way the book talks to a dead writer and her characters. Mary Shelley haunts the steps of the writer. She visits him as does her pompous (not my words) protagonist Victor. They discuss monsters and how our books come to shape us, establishing and defining us as a certain type of person: a writer of horror, for example. Through the interaction this slates Frankenstein heavily; yet, for all that, it made me laugh. All the criticism are fair (albeit a little petty and playful) and in a way, they add to the original work because they firmly establish how the book was a product of its time. Any narrative weakness only highlights how naïve and young the novel was during the early nineteenth century. Frankenstein is far from perfection, though it will always remain a literary marvel because of the themes it tackles head on. And, at the route of things, I think this annoyed writer knows this.
I don’t know how much of this embodies the real author’s opinions and experiences and how much of it is a product of the fictional author’s (ignoring the fantastical events, of course.) We’re not meant to know. It seeks to blur the lines between fiction and reality, creator and creation, writer and monster. Either way, it’s not overly important to the ideas this book discusses in such clear terms.
I stand by what I have already stated, The Monsters We Deserve is an unusual book. And I think many readers won’t quite connect with it. But for those that do, they will become beguiled by the playful nature of the writing that questions why we write (like I myself was.)
Postscript- I’m in love with the book design � it’s so simple and so precise, full of illustrations that accentuate what’s being said. More book covers should be this exact rather than attempting to be too flashy and intricate: it’s crisp, clean and effective.
Sean Barrs
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Books:
darkness-horror-gothic
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