Adrian Collins's Blog, page 111

REVIEW: A Dance For The Dead by Nuzo Onoh

Nuzo Onoh lives up to her title of “Queen of African horror” with her latest novel, A Dance For The Dead. Stitched with powerful imageries of dark magics and secret rites, Onoh weaves a macabre tale of revenge.

A Dance For The Dead takes place in the Kingdom of Ukari and the ten villages. The world Onoh depicts is one of cruelty and raw beauty. I was mesmorized with the culture, from the famed festivals featuring dancing and drinking sweet palm-wine to ritual sacrificing and the nightmares plaquing the Ukari village every night.

The morality of the characters in A Dance For The Dead are complex as their culture demands of them. The Kingdom of Ukari has many enemies and scheming allies. Slavery is rampant and even those born into power can have their titles stripped all so easily. Learning the hidden secrets and traumatic pasts of these morally gray characters intensified the frightening moments of Onoh’s novel.

A Dance For The Dead is told from three points of view. Diké is the first-born son of King Ezeala and leader of Ogwumii, the deadly warrior cult. While he was asleep, traitors had moved his body into the forbidden Shrine of Ogu n’Udo. In a span of one night, the heir to the Ukari throne has become an Osu, a fate worse than death. To reclaim his name, he must risk his life and face horrors in the ancestral realm. Big-Bosom is a woman haunted by her late father’s dishonored legacy. While she is of marrying age, no man will ever wed into the clan of the traitor. She longs to escape her abusive brothers and to have the affection of Ife, the youngest son of the King.

Among the first introduced in A Dance For The Dead is Ife. He is titled “Feather-Feet” and famed as the reincarnation of Mgbada, the greatest dancer in the ten villages and beyond. He resists traditional expectations of marriage, preferring to spend his nights dancing and getting drunk on palm-wine. His merriment days end when his older brother Diké falls from grace. Now he must find his courage to save his brother.

A Dance For The Dead is fast paced and flushed with bone-chilling scenes. I love how Onoh uses horror to drive character development. Nothing is scary for the sake of jump scares, rather her horror elements give expression to past wrongs. I did wish certain parts were slowed down, especially relationships between certain characters. While the outcome felt natural, I wanted to see more of their development.

A Dance For The Dead is a celebration of nightmarish imagination. It is African-horror triumphant. I am eager to read more from Nuzo Onoh.

Read A Dance For The Dead by Nuzo Onoh

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REVIEW: Blade Runner: 2029 by Mike Johnson (W), Andres Guinaldo (A)

The world of Blade Runner: 2049 is, in a word, bleak. Somewhere on the outermost edges of dystopia, the grim bordermarches of a not-too-distant future that straddles the razor’s edge of horrifying and mystifying.

Blade Runner: 2029 at its core is a war story, a story of revolution and truths and how the truths of different peoples—however people are defined—can create uproarious conflict and drag the lives of everyone around them into it, even an entire city. Set, as most the Blade Runner franchise is, in Los Angeles, we follow the titular Blade Runner, Ash, as they pursue a revolutionary replicant across the city after the replicants have been outlawed. It’s a chase that takes more twists and turns than an apoplectic rattlesnake, tearing across, above, and below the sprawling, decaying metropolis. As is so often the case in stories of this nature, Blade Runner: 2029 has no clearly defined good guys or bad guys. There is a protagonist, sure, but the morals of all the characters throughout are ambiguous at best and for the most part everyone isn’t so much self-serving as desperate to fulfill their overarching goals. It creates a kind of amorphous tension, a dynamic that makes it almost impossible to truly root for one side or the other. The character who is ostensibly the antagonist is immensely sympathetic, in no small part due to their palpable charisma—oftentimes eclipsing Ash, who acts as the axis around which the entire story turns.

Ultimately, Blade Runner: 2029 is an extremely enjoyable series that is as immersive and entertaining as the rest of the Blade Runner comics that Titan has been pumping out and I recommend it just as highly as the others. The writing team is the same as Blade Runner: Origins, so the dialogue is just as well-written and crisp, the drama just as well thought out, but this time around we see Andres Guinaldo undertaking the art duties and their work is refreshing and a joy to behold. There’s something of the old Metal Hurlant magazine in the linework and compositions, in the character’s expressions and the action itself. There’s definitely something of the European comic scene’s flair in the art, and to be quite frank it’s lovely and full of character. More than once (more, probably, than a dozen times) I caught myself just staring at a page or a tableau for a few minutes before even bothering to read anything because of how impressive the art on display was.

Blade Runner: 2029 is a breathtaking read and a thrill-a-minute series that fans of the original franchise, the other comics, and the sci-fi genre alike can jump in and enjoy, and to make matters all the better: it’s not the end. Ash’s story will continue, much sooner rather than later, in the upcoming Blade Runner: 2039 and I can’t wait.

Read Blade Runner: 2029 by Mike Johnson (W), Andres Guinaldo (A)

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REVIEW: A Complete Guide to Middle Earth by Robert Foster, Illustrated by Ted Nansmith

The Lord of the Rings and the world created by JRR Tolkien have enchanted millions of readers over the years. His works of epic fantasy are often cited as some of the greatest works ever created and led to two hugely successful film trilogies (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit) and, more recently, an Amazon TV series (The Rings of Power). The world and history of Middle-earth are full of information and part of the joy of delving into the world of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and wizards, is that you can be led down various paths depending on your own interests. Perhaps it is the languages Tolkien created, the creation story of his world, or even just an interest in following a family line back towards another age, there is a complex and dense world just waiting to be discovered. Sometimes, it feels as though a guide is needed to fully explore the world and quickly find the piece of information needed: and that is where Robert Foster’s updated The Complete Guide to Middle-earth comes in.

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth updates earlier editions with a few more wonderful illustrations from Ted Nasmith and a stunning new cover that brings it in line with some of the latest versions of Tolkien’s works. It is a peerless guide that brings together names, places, and some of the major moments in Tolkien’s world as read in The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. The A- Z layout of the book makes it easy for readers to use this as a companion piece when reading Tolkien’s books, something that will enhance a repeated read for longtime lovers of Tolkien’s world or support a first read through by newcomers. With the recent The Rings of Power being released, it is a handy guide to use when being introduced to an age not previously seen on screen and coming across the lands of Numenor and Moria. Even JRR Tolkien’s son, Christopher has admitted to the use of Foster’s guide as a reference when compiling his late father’s Unfinished Tales.

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth is the definitive guide to the world of JRR Tolkien. Tolkien’s world is vast in scope and this guide will help older fans mesmerized by what is often viewed as the greatest fantasy story ever written, and new readers who may be daunted to dive into such a rich world. The illustrations are beautiful and the layout ensures the guide is easy to navigate. It really is a brilliant resource for anyone interested in the work of the father of fantasy.

Read The Complete Guide to Middle Earth by Robert Foster

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REVIEW: Shattered Fears by Ulff Lehmann

Shattered Fears is the third novel in the Light in the Dark series. Ulff Lehmann has created a fascinating Warhammer Fantasy-esque world of magic, elves, demonic possession, and other staples while not detracting from the gritty dark atmosphere. It is a world where steel, blood, and sweat are the primary tools of the heroes (as well as villains). It’s also a series that I strongly recommend for its excellent use of Medieval warfare tactics as well as brutal unsympathetic portrayal of life during feudal times.

Grimdark is an often misunderstood word that is sometimes used as a pejorative and other times used as a style of writing. For some people, it means nothing more (or less) than dark, gritty, fantasy. For others, it only applies when a book tries too hard to be dark and edgy at the expense of believability. The Light in the Dark series is definitely a series that is dark, edgy, gritty, and deals with harsh subject matter but never strays completely into nihilistic excess. The protagonists are generally lower class to mid-level nobility dealing with a brutal and unforgiving war that spares few of them.

The premise of the series is that the Chanastardhian is an invading force smashing through the defenses of Danastaer as if they aren’t even there. High General Urgraith Mireynh is a brutal Stannis Baratheon-esque figure who despises all foes who surrender or turn against their home nation, even when it is to his advantage.  They’ve managed to bring the fight to their enemies’ capital but are now faced with a threat they couldn’t anticipate: magic, gone for centuries and only recently returned. There is also Drangar Ralgon, a PTSD-suffering warrior (before they had a name for such a thing) who is also either demonically possessed or chosen by the gods or both.

I love how Ulff Lehmann handles the issue of magic in the world because it is very useful but only a few people in the world can use it. It is not a game-changer in terms of military power but its sheer strangeness has a horrible effect on Chanastardhian morale. Yet, the lone wizard who wields it in the war is also vulnerable to be killed. I’m a big fan of Low Fantasy stories and that’s the best way to describe this. Magic is a terrifying, invasive force to a place that is very used to everything being mud and blood. The protagonists can wield it but it’s playing with fire that can explode in their faces. It’s much more in the vein of A Song of Ice and Fire or The Witcher novels than high fantasy.

Part of what I like about the book is that Ulff Lehmann doesn’t go for, “a bunch of epic heroes turn the tide of the war by themselves.” The war is mostly settled by sheer numbers and logistics with multiple perspectives on the same events giving you a sense of the sheer scale of the conflict going on around the protagonists. One of my favorite parts of the book is an assault on the city walls where we get the orders being given, the soldiers doing the fighting, the defense, and a witch harnessing magic to try and buy a few more days. It makes the whole thing spring to life and that’s rare even in books I love.

While not a big fan of romance in fantasy, I do like the one developing between Drangar and Gwen as the two of them have good chemistry. I also like how she’s an enemy of his country but forced on his side by circumstances. I’m a bit iffy on how Drangar keeps accumulating “Chosen One” qualities but that’s inevitable in fantasy. My favorite character in the book probably remains Ealisaid, the wizardess, and the fact she is not someone who escapes permanent injury despite her awesome powers.

Shattered Fears brings a huge number of plots together from the previous books and forms numerous explosive scenes. Ulff Lehmann has an excellent grasp of Medieval tactics. He’s not afraid to exploit the chaotic, bloody, and brutal conditions of war as well as how injuries were things that could leave you crippled for life or kill you after the battle. The low realism is a big appeal of these books and why I’m glad to have picked them up.

Read Shattered Fears by Ulff Lehmann

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REVIEW: Flames of Mira by Clay Harmon

Flames of Mira is an exciting epic fantasy novel with a unique setting and interesting characters written by Clay Harmon. Set in a subterranean volcanic world beneath a frozen wasteland, we follow Ig, a powerful elemental enslaved by a ruthless ruler.

Flames of Mira is dark, tense, and full of action. It is perfect for readers who like their fantasy full of morally grey characters battling with moral dilemmas in a unique world that just seems to bring pain to both the powerful and the weak. Ig had undergone a life threatening trial binding chemical elements to his body and now works in secret as an enforcer for corrupt Magnate Sorrelo Adriann.

He is cursed with a flesh binding magic that will kill him if he disobeys the cruel ruler. When Sorrelo is overthrown in a coup, Ig is forced to make difficult choices and attempt to escape his flesh binding as a battle for the throne begins. It is a fascinating story in a unique world that at first took me a bit of time to understand. Once I was comfortable with the subterranean world and incredibly awesome magic system in the book, everything clicked into place and I was hooked. I loved following Ig and dealing with the themes of slavery, corruption, and the questions of how far desperate people would go to be free. Harmon writes each character so well and the story flies by at a fast pace with only rare moments available to catch your breath.

The writing of Flames of Mira is solid and thought provoking. Harmon writes from the minds of his characters well and readers will be sucked into the lives and backstories of the colourful cast and feel the same pain that characters like Ig feel when tasked with difficult and terrifying things. Harmon delivers a few kicks to the gut throughout the story and is able to convey the horrors of war and slavery as Ig and his companions make their way through the unique land following the coup. There are aspects of the world that I would have liked to have learnt more about but with this being just the first book in a series, I am looking forward to discovering more in the future.

Flames of Mira is a fast-paced fantasy series that leans into the dark side of epic. With a cool magic system, interesting world, and morally grey characters plagued by tough decisions, it is a story that fans of grimdark will devour. An excellent start to a new series and I can’t wait for more!

Read Flames for Mira by Clay Harmon

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REVIEW: Blade Runner: Origins

The 1982 Ridley Scott classic Blade Runner is a seminal piece of not just filmmaking but an integral block in the greater code that makes up modern science fiction’s DNA. The aesthetic, seamlessly blending hard-boiled noir with bleeding-edge futurism, would go on to inspire countless works across the decades that followed. But while the film would always be looked at as a groundbreaking work, it didn’t garner a sequel for another 35 years, and the history of the world Blade Runner inhabits would remain largely mysterious and unexplored, vaguely hinted at and referred to outside the bloated metropolis of Los Angeles. That is, it was unexplored. Until Blade Runner: Origins hit the stands.

Blade Runner: Origins took on the daunting task of further defining and expanding upon the setting, and it does a remarkable job. The writing team, comprised of K. Perkins, Mellow Brown, and Mie Johnson have all obviously done their homework on the source material as well as come up with some impressive concepts to lay into the world that help breathe life into it. Fernando Dagnino on art does a commendable, outstanding job of rendering that world. His art is lush and stylized, beautiful to look at and packed with details, his characters nuanced and emotive.

Taking place in the year 2009, Blade Runner: Origins tells the story of Cal Moreaux, the man who will become the first Blade Runner. It’s a story of mystery, action, and betrayal that explores an array of existential themes; identity, meaning, societal collapse and more are explored via the vehicle of mining the history of Blade Runner’s world. It all begins with a death, and as one character remarks, “death opens doors.” From there the story spins out and out and out, part noir detective rag and part non-stop action joint. The writing is top notch, the dialogue well-crafted, but it’s the art that really steals the show and draws the reader in. Gorgeously stylized, intricately rendered, every page is a tableau to pore over and the compositions are sometimes cleverly pieces together to impart an inspired sense of movement and flow.

For fans of the original movie who want to know more about the world, or even just lovers of hard-boiled science fiction with major doses of action and intrigue, Blade Runner: Origins is is perfect to scratch that itch. Once you dig into the series it’s hard to look away from, hard to set down, as the story draws you in and unfolds before you. The characters are interesting and diverse and include heroes with hard edges and sympathetic villains you still can’t wait to see get their come-uppance. All in all, Blade Runner: Origins is a tight, sharp series that I can’t recommend highly enough.

Read Blade Runner: Origins

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An interview with Mitriel Faywood

Mitriel Faywood’s genre-defying debut novel, A Gamble of Gods, releases on November 11, 2022. A Gamble of Gods is a highly entertaining and immersive experience, achieving a perfect balance between heart-pounding action and buoyant levity. The cinematic scope is complemented by the warmth and personality of the characters; it feels simultaneously like a personal story and a panoramic adventure. Read our complete review of A Gamble of Gods here.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Mitriel Faywood about her newly published novel, her literary and cinematic inspirations, her beta reading for Mark Lawrence, and more.

GdM: A Gamble of Gods features a unique blend of science fiction and fantasy where the sci-fi elements particularly come to the forefront. What was your inspiration for this multi-genre spanning worldbuilding?

MF: My plan was to have my three protagonists originate from different worlds. We start the story with Kristian, who’s from a futuristic world; hence the sci-fi elements appear early on, and later, through the way Kristian thinks, certain items he carries and a side character that accompanies him remain very much part of the story. I still think that overall the book leans toward fantasy more, however, with adventure and romance each also taking up a smaller slice of the whole. And why the multi-genre worldbuilding? I guess I wanted to explore something less traditional. To take a path less travelled.

GdM: From the movie poster-style cover art to the action-packed plot, A Gamble of Gods has the feel of a blockbuster movie. What were some of your cinematic influences in the writing of your debut?

MF: I’m old enough to have enjoyed the Mission Impossible tv-series as a child. Yes, there was such a thing once upon a time and while I don’t think the series aged particularly well, at least I don’t enjoy them the same way now when I re-watch a few episodes, back then it was magic. I love some of the more recent movies of the franchise, too, Fallout being my favourite, but I miss the teamwork which was a characteristic of the tv series. Everyone bringing something important to the table in equal measure. I wanted to try and create something like that in a fantasy setting. Kristian’s mentor in the book, James, while a slightly different character from the leader of the team in Mission Impossible, Jim Phelps, was a nod towards that childhood hero of mine.

Then Star Wars, obviously, I couldn’t deny it even if I wanted to. Classics of adventure entertainment, such as the Indiana Jones movies, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Mummy, and a bunch of romantic comedies.

GdM: A Gamble of Gods features three dynamic main characters, each with a unique narrative voice. Did the characters’ voices come naturally to you based on their personalities? Could you tell us about your rationale for choosing first-person narration for each of these characters?

MF: One reason was that I really enjoyed The Help by Kathryn Stockett some years back, who also used this technique, and I was hoping to do the same in my book. The other, that I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could create three unique voices carrying this story.

You see, I haven’t really written many stories before. You often read about other authors who started writing novellas, books at a very early age. I never had that urge. I had the talent which I used when it was needed for school assignments, I wrote a few articles, some poems, but beyond that, I didn’t really bother, to tell the truth. I always loved stories, but I didn’t want to become an author. It was the way Mark Lawrence’s writing inspired me much later that made me reconsider that decision.

I wrote a Conor Drew short story eight years ago, which was my first ever short story, and the reception was so flattering, I thought I should perhaps try writing a book next. Which is a considerably more difficult deed than it sounds, especially when you’re writing in your second language and your expectations of yourself are pretty high. I didn’t know if I could do it. So I wanted to challenge myself in every possible way to see for myself what I’m capable of. Like a singer testing their vocal range: how dark I can go, how fast, how violent, how twisty, how funny, how intriguing. Genre? Let’s just try everything I enjoy! Multiple first person? Bring it on!

After that short story, Conor’s voice came to me naturally and confidently as I was writing the book. With the other two I struggled more. How do you write an ultimately good protagonist without making him boring? I even researched that a little before finally getting somewhere with Kristian’s character that I considered good enough. Selena was the hardest and went through the most re-writes. In my admittedly limited fantasy reading experience, we traditionally have heroines needing to be saved and more recently, strong, kick-ass female characters, but often very little in between the two. I wanted a character that we can watch grow through the series and I also wanted Selena to have some humour to her that was different to Conor’s. It was surprisingly difficult to find a balance where she had those characteristics but didn’t come across as too naïve and silly to start with. The contrast of having two strong and confident male characters already in the story made this even trickier.

GdM: There are plenty of Easter eggs hidden in A Gamble of Gods. What is your favorite hidden reference that readers may have missed?

MF: Readers familiar with Mark Lawrence’s books might recognize one described in the story. There’s also a brief scene inspired by an iconic one in Grease.

GdM: In a world of self-serious fiction, A Gamble of Gods unabashedly embraces fun. I laughed so hard at one scene in your book that I nearly fell off my treadmill. What are your views on the role of entertainment in literature? Do you find that entertainment is also an effective means to make a serious point?

MF: I think that an upbeat story is more difficult to write well than a serious one, and perhaps that’s part of the reason why it’s less often done, especially in the SFF genre. Readers enjoy drama and want to be captured, moved by a plot where the stakes are high and the tension has them keep turning the pages. Too much fun can dampen that and make people lose interest in the story. You need to balance it just right with elements that carry a certain gravitas. But if done well, the contrast can increase the effect of both, just like a relieved laugh after a shock or an unexpected darker turn of a storyline can. 

GdM: Before publishing A Gamble of Gods, you were already well-known to the grimdark community for your work with Mark Lawrence. Could you tell us about how you met Mark and how you started working with him?

MF: It was completely by chance. Somehow I picked up Prince of Thorns as an audiobook in 2013. I didn’t know much about it, and had I been aware that the main character was inspired by Alex in A Clockwork Orange, we would not be having this conversation right now. As it was, it didn’t impress me straight away. I started it three times in an attempt to get into it. It wasn’t the brutality that made it hard for me. The beginning just didn’t hook me for some reason. By chapter five I was in absolute awe of the writing. I finished King of Thorns straight after and then went online searching for a fan site to find out when the third audiobook would be out. The UK narrator of the series, Joe Jameson, worked so perfectly for me as Jorg. I couldn’t imagine finishing the story without him.

There was no fan site back then. All I found was the author himself, who seemed very active on social media, so I messaged my thanks to him for writing these books. I was totally floored when he actually responded. I started taking part in his giveaways, I started blogging myself, and before I knew it, I was part of an online community. I went to see him at BristolCon that autumn, bringing a cake with me that didn’t just have Jorg on it as imagined by the late Kimberly Kincaid, but was coffee-walnut-rum flavoured and made by a Hungarian master pastry chef, who has a patisserie in West Byfleet, Surrey.

The next spring, I received two ARCs of Prince of Fools, one from Mark and one from his publisher, and I came up with the idea of a flash-fiction contest where Mark and five other authors would be the judges and one of these ARCs would be the prize. This was followed by many more contests, giveaways, and interviews I did for years to come on a Mark Lawrence unofficial website I put together myself (ThatThornGuy.com). At the same time, I was a keen reader of everything Mark wrote, and one day he approached me, asking for feedback on a Broken Empire short story. It was Bad Seed. This was followed by several other short stories and then The Wheel of Osheim. And then four more trilogies so far, and a standalone novel. His current WIP, with the working title of Silent Running, is actually also a humorous, entertaining story.

GdM: I especially enjoyed reading Conor Drew’s chapters in A Gamble of Gods, whose humor reminds me of that of Jalan Kendeth from Mark Lawrence’s Red Queen’s War trilogy. Was Jalan an influence in developing Conor as a character?

MF: They definitely share a kind of humour that might be a little too honest at times, no holding back for these guys! But apart from that, Jalan wasn’t really an influence as far as character work. Conor is closer to a mix of Indiana Jones and Sinbad from Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas animated film. I wanted someone who was cheeky, confident, a bit of a daredevil, a little selfish, but who also had a heart.

GdM: Who are some of your literary influences beyond Mark Lawrence?

MF: As a writer, I’m a sucker for good writing. Many genre readers read for the story or for the worldbuilding. I get bored of a description longer than three lines if it doesn’t serve some additional purpose (advances the plot, captures us with beauty or humour, makes us understand a character better etc.). Some of the books I particularly enjoyed in recent years and definitely inspired my writing style to some degree are the Greatcoats series by Sebastien De Castell and the Low Town trilogy by Daniel Polansky.

GdM: A Gamble of Gods is Book One in your series, The Order of the Dragon. What’s next for our friends in Book Two?

MF:The second book will be set in a city-state inspired by medieval Venice and the plot will centre around the disappearance of a painter with secret magical abilities. Its working title is Old Scores and I’m aiming for an action-packed, twisty plot with crime syndicates, assassins, and backstabbing members of aristocracy.

Read A Gamble of Gods by Mitriel Faywood

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Exclusive cover reveal for A Woman of the Sword by Anna Smith Spark

What feels like forever ago, Anna Smith Spark asked me if I would read her latest novel, A Woman of the Sword, in secret. Having absolutely gobbled up her Empires of Dust trilogy, I leapt at the chance.

A book that beats you emotionally senseless, A Woman of the Sword is an intense experience delivered in the way only Anna Smith Spark delivers fiction. It’s grimdark at its finest: a small but intense point of view of a mother struggling with motherhood, with sacrificing the things she wants to do with her life to be a mother, of feeling like she is a horrible parent, of life with PTSD, of fighting men and women and they way people treat each other, all scaled against the endless cycle of mass warfare that is the human condition.

Published by Luna Press A Woman of the Sword has a Stas Borodin cover. Stas has been a long term fan of Anna’s, and you can check out plenty of his artwork of her Empires of Dust world on Facebook. So without further ado: the reveal!

The Cover for A Woman of the Sword

The full wrap around is below.

About A Woman of the Sword by Anna Smith Spark

A Woman of the Sword is an epic fantasy seen through the eyes of an ordinary woman. Lidae is a daughter, a wife, a mother — and a great warrior born to fight.

Her sword is hungry for killing, her right hand is red with blood. War is very much a woman’s business. But war is not kind to women. And war is not kind to mothers and their sons.

“No other writer manages to combine such raw and visceral storytelling with so exquisite a style. A fierce and compelling story of love, life and loss.”

Adrian Tchaikovsky – Clarke Award Winner, Children of Time

“This is Anna Smith Spark at her heart-wrenching, mythic-feeling, storytelling best, and completely unmissable for anybody who enjoyed her Empires of Dust Trilogy.”

Adrian Collins – Editor in Chief Grimdark Magazine

“Epic fantasy from the victims’ viewpoint, as seen by someone used to being a victor. Uncompromising and unputdownable – prepare to be challenged.”

Juliet McKenn- The Green Man Series

“Warrior and mother, fierce and flawed – Lidae’s story portrays motherhood as you’ve never seen it before.”

Charlotte Bond – Breaking the Glass Slipper Podcast

When can you read A Woman of the Sword?

The book will be released April 4th, 2023 and Anna and her crew will be running a launch party at EasterCon 2023 in Birmingham, 7-10th April. The book will be released in paperback, hardback, and a special collectors edition signed and numbered, limited to 700 copies. The special edition will include some cool extra content: an essay, a short story, and a cover unique to this edition.

The pre-orders will go live later this year–so keep an eye out for them!

We’ve got a review of the book ready to go, and I can’t wait to tell you more about A Woman of the Sword!

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REVIEW: Little Eve by Catriona Ward

Gothic horror comes to northern Scotland in Little Eve, Catriona Ward’s terrifying second novel. Originally published in 2018, Little Eve is winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel and the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror. Little Eve has recently been republished by Tor Nightfire.

Catriona Ward chose the perfect setting for horror: the foreboding Isle of Altnaharra off the coast of the Scottish Highlands. Altnaharra is connected to the mainland only via a gated causeway which is exposed during low tide.

The novel opens in 1921 with the discovery of seven mutilated bodies arranged in a circle, heads radiating outward in the style of a compass. Even more disturbing, the right eyes of the victims have been gouged out, apparently as part of some occultist ritual.

Six of the seven victims are dead. But there is one survivor, Dinah, who points the finger of blame at fellow cult member Evelyn as the killer.

Most of the novel is told from the first-person perspectives of Dinah and Evelyn, allowing us to unravel the beliefs and rituals of their cult while understanding the events leading to this appalling mass murder. The cult members worship a snake deity known as the Adder, who will pass along its powers to one worthy follower as they prepare for the end of the world and its eventual rebirth. Young Evelyn will do anything to inherit these powers.

The chapters narrated by Evelyn are especially disturbing, detailing the cult’s snake-worship, blood sacrifices, and other horrific practices, as Evelyn learns the power of violence.

To help unravel the true workings of the cult, Catriona Ward also writes from the more objective perspective of Inspector Christopher Black, who is investigating the case and takes particular interest in Evelyn.

Underneath its layers of mystery and horror, Little Eve explores the meaning of belonging and family. The cult members—all girls separated from their biological families—are led by a charismatic, snake-handling patriarch whom they call Uncle. The novel spans from 1917 to 1946, covering the backstory of the cult members and the long-lasting impact of its violence.

Catriona Ward’s writing is dense but absorbing, with a hypnotic quality akin to staring in the unblinking eyes of a giant snake. I felt, at times, that the narrative was treading water. But everything came together at the end, with an immensely satisfying conclusion. All in all, Little Eve is a mesmerizing Gothic horror depicting the ease at which young minds can be steered toward insanity and violence.

4/5

READ LITTLE EVE BY CATRIONA WARD

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REVIEW: Resident Evil: Village-Winters’ Expansion

Resident Evil: Village was one of my favorite games in recent memory, continuing the story of Ethan Winters after the excellent soft continuity reboot of Resident Evil VII. That story brought the horror back into the franchise after more or less abandoning it to Resident Evil IV-style action. Resident Evil: Village is actually pretty close to Resident Evil IV but manages to maintain its own identity as well as mix the action with horror.

The Winter’s Expansion update comes with two basic elements: the first being Mercenaries mode where you can play three new characters, including Heisenberg and Lady Dimitrescu. I am not a fan of Mercenaries mode so I can’t really comment too much on this section. I do think it’s a good thing to add to these things and believe a lot of fans will have fun playing a towering giant vampire lady.

The second part of the expansion is something I know a bunch of people will like with third person mode for Ethan Winters. This makes the game play entirely different and while they didn’t update the first person cutscenes, I think a lot of people will really enjoy it. One thing that is flat-out ridiculous, though, is the fact that Ethan’s face is always hidden from the camera. That feels like a joke they’ve played up way too much.

But the real heart of the expansion is Shadow of Rose, which is a lengthy story-based DLC that is well-worth the twenty dollars despite some complaints on my behalf. It is a roughly two and a half to three hour, if you don’t rush it, game that follows the adventures of sixteen-year-old Rosemary Winters. It spoils the hell out of everything in the main game so you had best avoid this story if you want to game. In fact, SPOILER warning for the rest of this review.

You have been warned.

The premise is that Rose has been raised by Chris Redfield after the death of Ethan Winters at the ending of the previous game. There’s no word on what Mia has been up to but the implications is she either abandoned her daughter, is dead, or both. She’s also suffering from “X-men syndrome” and wants to get rid of her powers so she can live a normal life. Well, you know that I hate normalcy.

Rose is guided to one of the remnants of the village’s megamycete and psychically bonds with it, transporting her to a horrific wonderland based on the castle her father infiltrated. It is run by a sadistic and evil version of the Duke and is full of mold monsters similar to the ones from REVII. Oh and there’s a huge number of Rose clones that the Duke murders for fun, possibly numbering in the hundreds.

Rose is helped by a mysterious presence in the dreamworld and if you don’t guess it’s identity immediately, you’ve not read much fiction. However, “Michael’s” ability to affect things is limited to giving vague instructions to Rose as well as occasionally conjuring items. A more surprising guest star is who meets Rose in the 2nd half of the game where you are forced back to the Benevito House to face against utterly terrifying enemies.

Really, the best part of the game is definitely the revisit to House Benevito. Guns and other equipment is removed from Rose’s hands so that she is forced to only run as well as hide from the hands of the monsters inside. There’s also a decent puzzle element. There’s plenty of nods to Doctor Who’s “Blink” but things go absolutely insane, including another Alice in Wonderland nod that includes a kaiju-sized Mia Doll trying to eat Rose.

The castle section of Rose is decent but nothing exceptional and I was annoyed we didn’t get a boss fight with the Duke. The second half, though, is absolutely fantastic, though. The ending is also emotionally enjoyable even if the final boss is a bit of a let-down. It also felt like it was a little railroad-y with “Michael” providing one too many hints about what you should do next and lowering the difficulty as well as enjoyment of exploration.

Still, I really enjoyed Shadow of Rose and the House Benevito part of the game more or less justifies its purchase cost by itself. However, it actually is long enough that I think this was a mistake to release as pure DLC. I feel like this should have been a full-fledged, albeit lowered price game, ala Far Cry: Blood Dragon or Saints Row: Gat out of Hell.

With just a couple of extra hours of gameplay and areas, the Village or Moreau’s mines, then this could have been sold as its own story. It could also have been sold as two separate DLC to be played one after the other given the break between them. As is, it’s a bit long for DLC and a bit short for a full game. Another note is that Rose is in third person the entire game, which is a bit strange given the game is nominally 1st person.

In conclusion, the real reason to buy this DLC is Shadow of Rose. Is it worth twenty dollars? Oh, yes, I think so. Like I said, it’s within spitting distance of being a full, albeit, short game. It has a lot of Alice in Wonderland motifs and a decently-written story. The horror segments are genuinely scary and I wish they’d had more of them in the main game. Of the other features for the expansion, the third-person mode will also please fans who prefer it over first.

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