Adrian Collins's Blog, page 125

REVIEW: Fearless by Allen Stroud

The search and rescue ship, the Khidr, is in distress. Of all her years in space, Captain Shann has never seen such a gruesome incident like this. Her crew is thrown into turmoil; one of their own is dead. While Captain Shann launches an investigation for suspected sabotage, a strange freighter signals for help. Fearless is a murder mystery without a grand detective. It is a maritime-esque adventure with improved tech and higher stakes. Fearless by Allen Stroud shatters the traditional essence of space opera.

Fearless depicts a cumbersome time for humanity’s scientific advancements. The Moon, Mars, Ceres, and Europa have been colonized, but space travel remains costly and selective. Corporate greed and its interest, not science, furthers progress. Medical technology can engineer DNA matching limbs and organs but remains far from perfected. How flawed technology influences Allen Stroud’s characters is a significant element throughout his novel.

Fearless is a character-driven novel told through three perspectives, but primarily through Captain Shann. As we discover clues to the crew member’s death and the mysterious freighter, we are also given insight to these characters’ pasts. While Fearless is void of alien-species, the novel makes up for with inclusivity. Seven of the twenty-five member crew onboard Khidr use prosthetic limbs, including its captain. How Stroud wrote Captain Shann’s experience is the best highlight of this novel.

“Growing up, I was surrounded by a well-meaning family. They wanted the best they could imagine for me, but what they envisioned was a limited experience, trapped by walls and defined by my differences.”

Due to the emphasis on the events happening on Khidr and the intimate struggles of its crewmembers, Fearless has a claustrophobic quality. The intimate struggles of those onboard the Khidr shadows Earth’s political battles for a good portion of the novel. It makes certain key moments less impactful and some revelations too abrupt. For me, this novel isn’t a perfect blend of murder mystery and sci fi but I enjoyed the concept.

Allen Stroud gives grandiose ideas of space exploration a breath of realism. Space colonization may not be humanity’s salvation. For once, a sci fi novel didn’t invoke my sense of wonder for space. Stroud presents a somber view of our future; a spaceship flying to Europa is still chained to the problems on Earth. Yet, Stroud reimagines the appearance of a space captain and the qualities needed to travel across the stars. Fearless is a gamechanger for modern sci fi.

Read Fearless by Allen Stroud

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Grim Games from UK Games Expo 2022

Board and tabletop gaming has seen a rise in popularity over the past ten years or so, with more people coming into the hobby and greater numbers of projects finding their way to the table through crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Gamefound. Tabletop gaming has a great breadth of styles, themes, mechanics, and genres to satisfy all sorts of tastes and experience levels. Every year there are conventions and expos across the globe attracting 1000s of visitors a day; one such event is the UK Games Expo, held in Birmingham, UK (pandemics permitting), over the first weekend after Whitsun (or the Late May Bank Holiday). I attended and kept my eye out for games on the darker end of the spectrum so that I could draw together five grim games to tempt you with, in no particular order.

Book of Skulls: Slayers of Eragoth

Described by our very own Matt Davis as “HeroQuest got all growed up and went metal”, Book of Skulls: Slayers of Eragoth is an ambitious dungeon crawler with its own soundtrack of, you guessed it, heavy metal. Soon to be looking for crowdfunding, this is a big game with lots to do and investigate. Besides the soundtrack, the game also features interesting mechanics, brilliant art, and one of the heroes is called Rei (OK, it’s spelled differently, but it’s pronounced the same: I can dream, can’t I?).

Each time your party fights the forces of evil the other player(s) are controlling the enemy and, when it’s their turn to slay through the hoards, it swaps, and you control the enemy forces. This is a nice little mechanic to minimise downtime between your turns. With 120 demons in the Book of Skulls and over 150 character cards, you’re going to see a lot of replayability over the 10 possible maps.

Book of Skulls: Slayers of Eragoth is currently in Prelaunch on Kickstarter and you can listen to some of the soundtrack already on their website: https://www.bookofskulls.co.uk/

Last Night on Earth

Coming from Ex Stasis Games, Last Night on Earth is an RPG “about making every moment count” as you live through your last night as a human. You are becoming a monster, literally, and you have unfinished business to attend to before you can no longer recognise yourself. It’s a tough balancing act as you try to settle your burden before its too late; if you push yourself, you embrace your monstrous nature and your time runs out faster, but if you don’t push it, you won’t lay your burden to rest.

Characters will die. Betrayal is part of the game. Violence and corruption are rife in a decaying world. This is a horror RPG in which you/your character is, put simply, “going to confront some shit”.  These characters are living their last night and trying to make sure their lives had meaning. There’s not going to be some handily placed MacGuffin to stop the impending doom; no cures, or magic reverso spells, just the last few hours before you succumb to your curse.

Last Night on Earth is available digitally through itch.io and their website: https://exstasisgames.com/

Psychobabble

Psychobabble from Cheatwell Games presents itself as a card game – how grim could that be? If we look a little closer at the context though, it’s plenty dark enough. In Psychobabble, you are in an institution, you’re all having shared dreams, and the psychotherapist is analysing you closely to see who can be released as sane and who is being kept behind. The dream cards are laid out on a grid on the table, one ‘patient’ isn’t having the same dream as everyone else, the psychotherapist needs to figure out what the shared dream card is, whereas other patients need to figure out who is the odd one out.

It feels a little sinister and the images on the dream cards are all black and white and a bit nightmarish in their artwork. Lots of eyes, skulls, monsters, and tentacles. If you realise you’re the odd one out and are trying to convince the others you aren’t, you can’t lie (unfortunately), so you may be doomed back to more of this quack therapy in the creepy institution of shared dreamers.

More information at: https://cheatwell.com/products/psychobabble

Blackwell Games

Blackwell Games is the creator of three solo RPG games that have deliciously dark vibes: Delve, Rise, and Umbra. In Delve, you are exploring your Dwarven hold and the underground world to find the Void Crystal, as you do you are as likely to encounter success as you are destruction. As you dig you can come across monsters, natural obstacles, and loot. There’s no guarantee you’ll find the crystal before your hold is destroyed by rampaging nightmares, gas-clouds and lava so proceed with caution.

Rise and Umbra are sister games of Delve. In Rise (the evil sister), you are spreading evil as you take charge of a dungeon and try to reach the surface and conquer those puny mortals. Providing your minions don’t mutiny along the way. Umbra, on the other hand, take a sci-fi setting and puts you in charge of a colony struggling against starvation, the void of space and the many terrors that surround you.

All available through itch.io and at Blackwell Games’ website: https://www.blackwellwriter.com/

Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood

Oathsworn: Into the Deepwood is a dark fantasy RPG miniatures dungeon crawler that comes with a novel-length interactive book to guide you, which you can either read in hardback or utilise the audiobook function in the companion app. The setting finds humanity collapsed in the face of the Deepwood, a corruption that has long covered the land with a thick twisted forest. The King has pledged, “if you can hold it, you can keep it” but few have ever survived. Creatures of the Deepwood are constantly trying to breach humanity’s last defences and it is the Oathsworn who keep hope alive.

The game focusses on Encounters, like boss battles, that you – as Oathsworn – will work through the story towards as the only force brave enough to face the Deepwood’s hoards. Replete with miniatures up to 100mm large, Oathsworn is a big, chunky box, that is wrapping up all your favourite elements of epic fantasy, minis gaming and RPGs.

Already planning a second printing via Kickstarter, more information can be found on Shadowborne Games’ website: https://www.shadowborne-games.com/

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REVIEW: August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White

August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White is a kaleidoscope of a space opera story mixed with music notes and cinematic worldbuilding that takes the reader on a wild robot-fueled ride. If I had a visual comparison, think Speed Racer by the Wachowski sisters, mixed with Pacific Rim by Guillermo Del Toro. It is a whole vibe and one in which Alex White revels. You know he had to be cheering on the characters as he was writing this.

The plot starts with August Kitko staring at his demise on the cliff’s edge. August, Gus for short, is one of our protagonists, and he is a lover and player of jazz who truly feels music in his soul. But like his fellow humans, Gus has resigned himself to the fate of imminent death. He is at a party at the estate of Lord Elisa Yamazaki. The last party of humanity is a literal “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” affair.

“These are Gods, and they speak with infinite choris.”

Humans are dying, not with a bang but with a single discordant note. An army of AI sentient Mechas from space are slowly destroying humanity by downloading each person’s consciousness and killing their bodies. Some of these killer robots break off, join the humans, and fight for humanity. The only caveat is that these robots need humans to pilot them, a prospect that would fundamentally change the human pilot forever.

Alongside Gus, we have our other protagonist Ardent Violet, a mega-pop star who shines with an inner light all their own. Again, in the same way music sings for Gus on his piano, music sings for Ardent on their guitar. Unlike Gus, Ardent is super famous. Both Gus and Ardent’s lives become intertwined. They have undeniable chemistry with one each other.

The Vanguard arrives on Earth in the form of a mecha named Juliette. A giant sleek purple robot set to start the maiming and destroying of bodies and reaping of consciousnesses. Then with an explosion of a “colorful Borealis of solar particles rippling across Earth’s atmosphere,” a sleek black Vanguard streaks across the sky. It is Greymalkin, the destroyer of seventeen worlds. The humans stare in stunned silence at the display of power, much like ants would stare in horror at an oncoming boot. The titans crash into each other in a thunderous cacophony. The Vanguards speak to each other in musical ululations, and above it all, Gus picks out F Dorian the favorite of jazz musicians everywhere.

Instead of gawking with the multitude of slack-jawed humans, Gus wants his true solace at the piano. “He taps the F-zero key, and it’s like heaven under his fingertips.” Gus lays in an effortless sound that “shifts modes to keep in sync with his new playmates,” the Vanguards crashing into each other outside. Gus dances over the sound of the robots outside as if they are playing for him. “If they want to end the world, fuck them. At least he can make it catchy.” Gus plays for the lost dead, his friends, his family, and the last vestiges of humanity.

Then ardent, whom he connected with earlier, come in like a ray of sunshine; they brandish a red metal flake strat. And they prepare to play to the end of humanity until a black metal fist punches the wall in and grabs Gus.

One of the particular thrills of August Kitko and the Mechas from Space is the love of music and art. The story itself ebbs and flows like a symphony. I am not sure if that was a purposeful stroke by the author or me reading into it from being swept away by the descriptions of music. But the descriptions speak to the universal connections music gives us that are not bound by language or creed. Outside of the main characters, Gus and Ardent, the supporting characters we meet later in the novel also have a deep love for music, but with different instruments. I love that White is touching on how music is culturally boundless.

If you have giant robots, we have to talk about the fights. Firstly, we get descriptions of every Vanguard that comes in swinging. The descriptions and names are fantastic because it is akin to cheering the home team on. You have a much greater connection to these giants than them being a nameless horde. Every punch and kick is choreographed to have the most effective mental image. The swings are enormous, the slams are massive, and machine parts fly. In the belly of the gigantic beasts are pilots controlling it all.

Why does this story work? I think in lesser hands, this story could be a mess. There are a lot of working pieces. However, White helps us keep our eye on the ball. We care about the protagonists, probably more so than the fate of humanity in general. Gus and Ardent are not perfect in any way. Ardent can be narcicistic, and Gus can be melodramatic. But both characters rise above through pain, terror, failure, and heroism. They reach inside themselves to be more than they ever thought possible. Someone has to step up and do it, so why not them?

Is this book for everyone? Absolutely not. As I said earlier, this book is a kaleidoscope—a crazy fast, moving, loud story with brilliant lights and massive highs and lows. It isn’t for someone who enjoys subtle prose. It is intense from the first page to the last. So if you enjoy stories like Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen and Far From the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson, this story is for you.

Read August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White

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REVIEW: Mech Armada

I’ve always appreciated the Early Access program for gaming, even if it has some problems attached to it. Sure, people may not like the idea of paying for an incomplete, in-development product, but I enjoy the process. I’ve previously worked in the gaming industry as a writer as well as a QA tester, so I’ve seen things on both sides of the coin. I get to try games out as they are in progress and offer feedback, and I’ve very rarely been burned by it. It’s always a good idea to do some solid research into the game in question. My tip? Buy the game for what it is now, rather than what might come in the future.

While the stigma for the Early Access program remains, there have been incredible successes in recent years. Satisfactory, Rimworld, Kenshi, Factorio, Kerbal Space Program, and Stardew Valley are just a few, and I’m barely scratching the surface. I wanted to discuss another one that recently left Early Access: Mech Armada. From humble beginnings, it’s rapidly become one of my favorite games. Hopefully, by the end of this, you guys might be willing to try it out!

Introduction

Launching August 2021 in Early Access, Mech Armada grew strength to strength. In an apocalyptic world where monsters threaten to destroy humanity, you command the last bastion of resistance with help from a weird scientist, building an army of mechs to fight them. It’s a little like Pacific Rim, I suppose. It’s a turn-based roguelike with a torrent of customization. The number of options available to the player is staggering.

I’ve always loved the idea of creating combat units from scratch. There was an amazing RTS game in the 2000s called Impossible Creatures which allowed you to mix combat animals with thousands of combinations, and Mech Armada is the closest game to scratch that itch. There are plenty of mech parts to unlock and swap, and there is so much to dig into it can be overwhelming.

The Basics

It’s a simple game to look at. The visuals and battlefields aren’t anything special, but they get the job done. I have no complaints, and the interface is solid. I never got confused about what I needed to do. Despite how many options are available, the game can get pretty difficult. I struggled at first, especially with the varied enemies because they really test the player. Got a load of mechs that specialize in long-range combat? The Dodger insects will ruin their day with their immunity to anything that isn’t close combat. There are tons of different enemy types and big boss battles during its significant campaign mode, which provides a lot of content from the beginning. While I admit I’m not particularly good at the game, it’s satisfying to play, and I never got frustrated.

The diverse number of enemy types make for puzzles. Which unit will perform the best?

Over its development, Mech Armada saw several improvements in optimization as well. At launch, the game was a little unstable and I experienced plenty of bugs, crashes, and a high laptop temperature, despite its small graphical footprint. This has mostly been fixed as of the full release, with CPU temps lowered significantly too. This isn’t a game that will push a system very hard, so most systems will run it! There was a game mechanic originally in the game involving a black fog that kills instantly: designed to encourage the player to attack aggressively. While this was good in theory, the small map sizes at launch made this frustrating rather than an additional strategic layer. The launch version has removed this mechanic for the first Act of the game, providing more story to it.

The progression of Mech Armada is always entertaining. Every run will unlock more points, which provide new parts and tools to bring into the game. Building mechs and swapping out different parts will bring plenty of strategy into the game, especially with the free building mode that’s recently available: You can now change your mechs whenever at the cost of energy. Oh yeah, energy siphons are used to build and summon the units. The more they cost, the harder they are to replace. Upgrading parts with machine pieces brings plenty of diversity.

One of my favorite units was a double minigun teleport boat: it did a massive amount of damage on the battlefield, but it was very expensive and couldn’t take a hit. Recent economy upgrades have balanced the game and made it more dynamic. In the past, mech parts were unlimited so it was easy to min-max a group for a campaign, but now, parts have limited uses to encourage a greater diversity of designs. I prefer that.

My giant army of mechs, ready to take on the world.

Recent Updates

Mech Armada also contains a powerful sandbox mode, a major update around Christmas time which greatly improves the game. In this run, there’s access to every single part unlocked so far: being able to start at any part of the game, customize starting resources, and just have a blast with greatly increased limits. Games need more sandbox modes, and sometimes it’s nice to kick back and relax. This is my most enjoyable game mode in Mech Armada. It’s always worth keeping a sandbox save around to experiment with builds and designs.

One of the largest updates Mech Armada received was in February. While I was having plenty of fun with the game before, the gameplay loop felt fairly linear. It was a collection of monster battles with a boss battle at the end of every stage, but it could use more variety. The new Campaign map fixed all of these issues, with different paths available to the player! There is now a choice of two boss fights per stage, and different paths provide different challenges and additional bonuses. For example, one path may provide more parts and weapons, or another path may give the player extra energy. That can sometimes mean more dangerous fights, but the added dynamics of choosing your own path greatly improve the experience.

The Campaign map grants plenty of different paths to take.

Conclusion

Overall, there’s a lot to recommend in Mech Armada. With its 1.0 release, I’m happy to see success for the developer. For its price point, it’s almost asking too little money for what it offers. I would love to see mod support included at some time in the future: the ability to create enemies, weapon parts, and maps would add unlimited potential.

Mech Armada is available on Steam, and you can pick it up here for around 20USD/£17.99/19 EUR https://store.steampowered.com/app/1389360/Mech_Armada/

Score: 4 Stars (Highly Recommended and a solid tactical roguelike game)

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REVIEW: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin’s epic second volume of A Song of Ice and Fire, is a masterclass in grimdark fantasy, somehow improving upon the already excellent first volume, A Game of Thrones, in every respect. Having already established the key characters in A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings jumps right into the action and never lets up.

The scope of A Clash of Kings is enormous: six warring families, all vying for power following the deaths of King Robert Baratheon and Lord Eddard Stark. The battles and strategic maneuvering among the six families are accompanied by a healthy dose of intrafamily drama and betrayal.

Although the storylines are sprawling, they work so effectively because they are presented from the eyes of a vibrant cast of well-realized characters. All the same point-of-view characters from A Game of Thrones are retained in A Clash of Kings, except for Eddard Stark. There are also two additions: Theon Greyjoy and Ser Davos Seaworth. Theon is the more interesting of the two, and his sister, Asha Greyjoy, is a delight.

Davos serves more as a vehicle for learning about King Robert’s brother, Lord Stannis Baratheon, who declares himself to be the rightful King of Westeros. These chapters also introduce us to Melisandre, a red priestess and powerful shadowbinder in the service of Lord Stannis. She is one of the most fascinating new characters in A Clash of Kings, bringing additional elements of magic to the story.

The real star of A Clash of Kings is Tyrion Lannister, who has been appointed by his father to serve as Hand for King Joffrey. Over the course of fifteen chapters, Tyrion becomes the most fully realized character in the series so far. Ever witty and insightful, Tyrion is a cunning master at political maneuvering, especially in the face of his sister, Queen Cersei. Tyrion also has a warm heart. His love for Shae is especially touching, as are his attempts to protect Sansa Stark.

Poor Sansa. She is betrothed to the temperamental boy-king Joffrey, who abuses her both physically and psychologically. Sansa is essentially a hostage and used as a bargaining chip for the Lannister family in trying to free Jaime Lannister. Although presented as a rather superficial character in A Game of Thrones, Sansa grows a lot during A Clash of Kings and starts to see how she is being manipulated by the Lannisters.

Sansa’s younger sister, Arya, is given significantly more focus in A Clash of Kings compared to the previous book. Arya has escaped the clutches of the Lannister family and now assumes various false identities as she attempts to find her way back to her own family. Arya spends much of the book disguised as a peasant boy, Arry, trying to survive in the cruel world of Westeros.

Meanwhile, Bran Stark oversees Winterfell while his brother Robb, now King of the North, is leading their military campaign. Bran has developed a mental bond with his direwolf, Summer, giving him unusually realistic dreams from the direwolf’s perspective. He soon learns that the bond with Summer is much deeper than originally thought.

Further north, Jon Snow helps lead the Night Watch’s exploration beyond the Wall to investigate the disappearance of several rangers, including Benjen Stark. Like Bran, Jon develops a powerful bond with his direwolf, Ghost, enabling him to control the direwolf’s actions.

Of the main characters established in A Game of Thrones, Daenerys Targaryen is the only one given significantly less page time in A Clash of Kings. Daenerys has named her baby dragons after her deceased husband and brothers and spends most of A Clash of Kings laying the groundwork for an eventual return to power in Westeros.

A Clash of Kings is a feast for grimdark fans, masterfully building upon the already strong foundation of A Game of Thrones while taking the story and characters to new heights.

5/5

Read A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

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REVIEW: The Tyrant’s Law by Daniel Abraham

The Tyrant’s Law, the 3rd entry in Abraham’s The Dagger and the Coin series, is another steady and enjoyable epic fantasy read. It increases the stakes and drama, adding layers to the flourishing world-building whilst not quite being up to the same high standards as The King’s Blood. The events of The King’s Blood were wrapped up neatly so – in The Tyrant’s Law – it seems like new tales are beginning or critical next steps in a character’s journey are taking place.

The titular “tyrant” Geder Palliako is still, arguably, my favourite character, and when I started this read, I thought that was a rather unflattering word for him. He’s a highly complex individual, and as his insecurities and frailties are revealed to us, his reputation, renown, and awe-inspiring skill for thwarting conspiracies grow to the observing characters. The “tyrant” title does become more understandable as the narrative progresses, however; due to us seeing his precarious uncertainties – as we’re sharing his thoughts – I can’t help but sympathise with him. He’s overwhelmed, paranoid, and has the blessing of the Spider Goddess all to contemplate. As the novel progresses so does Geder’s instability.

Marcus Wester and Master Kit’s tale – although taking a backseat in The King’s Blood – is driven to the forefront of the focus in The Tyrant’s Law, and I had so much time for that! Their adventures and escapades take them across half the world, with a fair amount of memorable and cinematic moments happening to them. Their overall importance and knowledge regarding which side they may be fighting for during this war become more apparent, and I couldn’t help chuckling to myself thinking that much of their actions were alike quests from The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Their screentime was often unlike, and a pleasant change in pace from, the more political undertakings of Geder, Clara, and the financial and political happenings of Cithrin bel Sarcour’s point of view perspectives.

“The world disappoints us all, and the ways we change our own stories to survive that disappointment are beautiful and tragic and hilarious. On balance, I find much more to admire about humanity than to despise.”

There are no weak point of view perspectives in The Tyrant’s Law. As you can see, I’ve already written about half a review just discussing two of them. Cithrin is still an amazing character and the reason I said “arguably” when I described Geder as my favourite, as, at some instances, it could be her too. Clara’s chapters show a side of the Capital that we weren’t privy to in the first two books, reflecting her fall from grace. War and horrid happenings feature throughout this novel but I felt that Clara’s chapters had a dark, high-stakes edge, where any page could ooze either violence, degradation, disruption, manipulation, or stark loyalty. Hers is another arc that weaves a complex and multifaceted presentation that just feels pretty special.

“Find competent, trustworthy servants, treat them with respect, and let them do their work. Listen when spoken to. Remember everybody’s name and something about the peculiarities of their lives. Forgive any mistake once, and none twice.”

In my previous reviews, I haven’t really talked too much about The Dagger and the Coin’s world-building. Before this novel, the series’ world-building seemed like interesting sprinkles and sparkles of information here and there, either through dialogues, plays, or historical texts, which tended to make it seem a fantasy tale rather than a political intrigue set of books. In The Tyrant’s Law, it’s as if these sprinkles and sparkles have finally settled, with more solid knowledge about The Dragon’s War given, enough information presented about the 13 races of humanity, and as some of the mysteries surrounding The Spider Goddess have become unshrouded. These neat moments and nuances have now been artfully fabricated to be of the utmost importance to the characters we follow in their current happenings.

There is a lot to admire in Abraham’s work. As mentioned, I didn’t enjoy this as much as the previous novel, but the author has moved the overall story forwards dramatically and multiplied the complexities and the stakes, again. This read was sitting at a steady and well-respected 3/5 stars but the fantastic endings move it up to 3.5/5. The Dagger and the Coin is bulging with potential and many wonderful elements. The series could be about to transcend and become something truly spectacular. I’m hopeful that The Widow’s House carries on doing what this series has done so well so far, and directs it to an engaging and breathtaking next level.

“Gifts create a sense of obligation,” she said. “Not debt, exactly, because it can’t be measured. And because it can’t be measured, it can’t be definitively repaid. If instead you’d given me the coin you spent to buy that, I’d know what I owed, and I could give it back and be done. By giving me a gift instead, you build the sense of owing without a path to repayment, and so I’m more likely, for example, to grant you a favor or make some concession that I’d never have agreed to if I’d been given an explicit price.”

Read The Tyrant’s Law by Daniel Abraham

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REVIEW: Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane is a hard book to review. It is a book that it is more than the sum of its parts – a retelling of the Illiad featuring Achilles as a trans woman, written by a trans woman author. It is a first, certainly for traditional publishing. It also departs from the story as we know it from Homer in many ways, some more recognizable than others, making Wrath Goddess Sing not always easy to situate. While I thoroughly enjoyed the book as a whole, especially the gorgeous, evocative writing, taking it apart into individual elements and considering those made me feel a lot more ambiguous about the book. And that really is one of the biggest challenges as a reviewer. Do we reward taking risks, do we look at the whole and the impact that the publication will have on the landscape and push the ideas behind the book perhaps more than the sum of its part, the execution as it may be? Does reviewer behaviour affect how willing these same editors and publishers may be to take similar risks in the future, as a part of the industry who care about its development or should we be the ultimate impartial instance, treating all books exactly the same, no matter their context? I have to admit, I do lean towards the former, wanting to support traditional publishing branching out of their safe spaces, taking risks, publishing books that will garner discussion and may not be immediate bestsellers.

Wrath Goddess Sing takes the infamous part of the Illiad where Achilles hides among the Kallai, dressed up as one of the maidens, and asks the question: What if it’s not a costume? And for me, that was such a lightbulb moment. I had always felt uncomfortable with this part of the story, as I have with many narratives that feature characters dressing up as a different gender, but not interrogating gender identity. From there, we are taken on a mostly familiar journey – though this isn’t a straight retelling. Maya Deane takes the stories from the Iliad and weaves them into a new tapestry, which is both intriguing and at the same time slightly irritating to the reader. Given that the story, as a retelling, already has a hook that makes it a new tale, I found that especially the changed names of familiar characters and places threw me off. For example, Paris was named Aleksandu here, and Troy Wilusa. This often made me feel like Wrath Goddess Sing may have been better off – and possibly received better – as a fully self-contained fantasy novel, rather than as one based on earlier mythology.

On social media, this novel has been called out for including depictions of slavery, specifically of a trans man depicted as dark-skinned. While I have to admit that I missed this when I read the book (I’m afraid that I don’t always pay attention to visual descriptions as someone with aphantasia), the way in which the story departs from what the reader might expect from the period and known stories, makes me wonder whether this is not an element that could have been avoided. But then, slavery was a part of society within the context of the time, and as that, is not something that we should be considering under modern morals, but rather those of the period.

I found the varying dynamics among the trans women in the story fascinating – and while some parts made me deeply uncomfortable (while I’m queer, I’m not a trans woman), I do defer to Maya Deane, who is writing informed by her own perspective. I am looking forward to the book being out for a while and hearing nuanced takes on these parts from the trans community specifically, as while these experiences are not universal, I think there are valuable points to be made and taken from here.

As a whole, the book is utterly bonkers, full of godly intrusions and strong characters who are determined to shape the world along their will. It is, in many ways, a great book, and one that will – and already has, in my communities – start discussions. The writing stands out and draws the reader in, creating a unique book and one I will think about for a long time to come.

Read Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane

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Grimdark Magazine Issue #31 is here!

In Grimdark Magazine Issue #31, I am very proud to bring you what I hope is a range of new voices you’ve yet to read before amongst new ideas from authors you already know and love. Inside, you’ll find grim and gritty stories from new points of view, plot twists that leave your jaw dangling against your sternum, and articles and interviews that hopefully get your thinking skullcaps warmed up.

But first, as always, let’s glory in another Carlos Diaz cover, this time based on Richard Swan’s Empire of the Wolf story, A Reputation for Prudence.

The cover for Grimdark Magazine Issue #31

I’m not going to lie, since day one I’ve been wanting to have a character launched out of a window. A tip of the pint glass to Richard Swan for giving me that opportunity!

Author line up for Issue #31

Grimdark Magazine presents the darker, grittier side of fantasy and science fiction. Each quarterly issue features established and new authors to take you through their hard-bitten worlds alongside articles, reviews and interviews. Our stories are grim, our worlds are dark and our morally grey protagonists and anti-heroes light the way with bloody stories of war, betrayal and action.

FictionAnd Sneer of Cold Command by Premee MohamedThe First Bar at the End of the Day by Ken ScholesHead Games by Cameron JohnstonAdramelech by Sean Patrick HazlettA Reputation for Prudence by Richard SwanNon-fictionAn Interview with Foz Meadows (interviewed by Beth Tabler)Royalty and Power in Fantasy: Heavy is the head that wears the crown by Aaron S. JonesAn Interview with Chris Panatier (interviewed by Beth Tabler)Associating with Antiheroes by Deborah A WolfReview: August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White (review by Beth Tabler)Writing Good Tie-in Fiction by Alex WhiteRead Grimdark Magazine Issue #31

Grab your copy from our online store, or using the links below. For our Patreon subscribers, your issue awaits you in your Patreon inbox! Please also add our Goodreads entry for this issue to your shelves.

Beth Tabler taking the reigns of Issue #32, onwards!

After 31 issues of Grimdark Magazine over eight years I am also very proud to have Beth Tabler taking over the reins for fiction and article procurement for Issue #32 onwards. Over the last year and a half, Beth has been getting more and more involved in issue publication. You’ll see her name against pretty much every interview, she’s been procuring more and more stories and articles, and she’s been learning the nuts and bolts that go into creating every quarterly issue of this ezine. Please join me in giving her a crisp shield clash and some appreciative side-eye (with only a minor side of intention-to-betray) as she continues to deliver what you love to read.

And what will this lazy old goat be doing? While I’m supporting Beth and the online content team, I’ll be focussing on larger publishing projects like Evil is a Matter of Perspective, The King Must Fall, and In the Shadow of their Dying. What does that mean for you? More grimdark fiction and content, of course!

For now, happy reading, and as always, thank you for your support.

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REVIEW: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Book three in Tamsyn Muir’s brilliantly strange The Locked Tomb series was originally supposed to be Alecto the Ninth but somewhere along the way plans changed, the trilogy became a series, and Nona the Ninth came into being – another mind-bending but deeply compelling tale of necromancers, cavaliers, the Nine Houses…and a sweet-natured girl with golden eyes. Set six months after the events of Harrow the Ninth, it sees Muir double down on what now feels like her standard practice of confounding expectations and delivering something nobody expected. In this case that means Nona, who may only be six months old but inhabits a nineteen year-old body that probably doesn’t belong to her, living in a war-torn city with three people who share two bodies, and working as a Teacher’s Aide in a school full of strangely-named children (and Noodle the dog). Got all of that?

As you might expect, this isn’t a straightforward, easy book. It starts off pretty slow, contrasting Nona’s point of view with strange, revelatory dream segments, and it quickly becomes clear that while this definitely feels like a natural continuation of the series, it very much has its own tone. Nona’s voice is utterly different to Gideon’s or Harrow’s – she’s wonderfully sweet and innocent, but also strangely intense, which is unsurprising given that she’s essentially a child living in a borrowed body, who’s grown (and is in fact still growing) up in a warzone, remarkably comfortable with the violence and poverty all around her. There are, of course, rather uncomfortable parallels to be drawn with the real world in this respect, and as the book progresses it explores the history of the Locked Tomb setting in a way that links it to reality in an unexpected, but very effective fashion.

While Nona is quietly content with her life, her companions – Camilla, Palamedes and Pyrrha (it all makes sense … eventually, I promise) – have a different view of things. As the book is written from Nona’s perspective, we as readers only get to see what Nona sees, all of which is filtered through her strange level of knowledge and understanding. Muir takes her time letting details trickle through and along the way raises a lot of questions – what these characters are actually doing, where other important characters from previous books are at this point in the narrative, what that big blue light in the sky is, why Noodle (the dog) has six legs, and – most importantly – what the hell is actually going on. Much like Harrow, while not every question gets an obvious answer, it does all come together in time.

You might consider this something of a setup book, laying the groundwork for the dramatic series finale still to come, but that would be unkind to Nona the Ninth and would ignore the depth and context that Nona’s story offers to the setting and the ongoing narrative. It expands the scope of the series in a way we haven’t seen before, not only giving us a new perspective into the world, but offering an unexpected origin story of sorts – on the Nine Houses, on the Lyctors, on God/John Gaius, and more –  and providing a fair few “wait, what?!” moments that are bound to provide considerable talking points for fans. Crucially, Muir finds an effective balance between helping readers understand what’s going on and allowing the story to retain a degree of mystique.

What Nona the Ninth won’t do is change anyone’s mind on the series as a whole; readers who struggled with Harrow, for example, may not find this much easier, and Muir is unapologetic in her determination to tell this story in her own fashion. It is, in its own way, a strange and confusing book which demands trust from the reader, requiring the reader to process a lot of new names and take a lot on faith, with very little in the way of obvious narrative signposting.

Those who have loved both Gideon and Harrow will likely find a lot to enjoy in Nona though, from Nona’s weird but brilliantly drawn friends to some intriguing observations on identity, purpose, loss and sadness. Almost every character here has lost something or someone, and the different ways in which they deal with that provide a powerful emotional kick to the story alongside the eventual implications of its twisty, unexpected plot. Nona the Ninth may not be what you expected, but it might just be what you need. Just … make sure you’re really clear on what’s happened so far in the series (a re-read of the first two books is well worth it), and don’t expect any easy answers!

Huge thanks to Tordotcom and Tamsyn Muir for sending me an advance copy of Nona the Ninth in exchange for my honest opinions.

Read Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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REVIEW: The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

Dot Hutchison’s The Butterfly Garden is a dark masterpiece, a disturbing psychological thriller and gruesome crime novel overlaid with a relentless sense of horror. All these elements come together fluidly in this exceptionally well-written book that is full of suspense and unnervingly dark plot twists.

The plot of The Butterfly Garden involves a group of girls who are kidnapped and held captive by a deranged wannabe lepidopterist known only as the Gardener. The Gardener tattoos giant butterfly wings onto the backs of the unwilling girls and rechristens them with new names as they are imprisoned in his secret butterfly garden.

This is only the beginning of the horrors that the girls will encounter at the hands of the Gardener and his even more sadistic firstborn son in The Butterfly Garden. There is a glimmer of hope in the Gardener’s younger son, but will he have the courage to stand up to his elder brother and tyrannical father?

The story alternates between the first-person narration of Maya, one of the kidnapped girls and the main character of the novel, and Maya’s third-person interview with the FBI agents who are investigating the case. Dot Hutchison effectively uses these alternating first- and third-person narrative styles to maintain a heightened level of suspense throughout the novel, keeping the reader guessing until the very end.

Maya is an outstanding narrator, full of dark wit and keen insights. There is also a specter of potential Stockholm syndrome hanging over her narration as the true horrors of the butterfly garden are gradually revealed.

Maya’s account of the events in the butterfly garden are interspersed with stories of her troubled family background. It is especially interesting to see how Maya’s experiences as a child shaped her approach for surviving abduction and caring for the other imprisoned girls.

The Butterfly Garden is the first volume of Dot Hutchison’s series, The Collector. Rather than continuing with Maya, the subsequent books in the series follow the same set of FBI agents as they investigate new cases. While Maya is a very well-developed character, I didn’t feel any particular attachment to the FBI agents in The Butterfly Garden, since they are basically vehicles allowing Maya to tell her story. Given this choice, I’m curious to see how Dot Hutchison takes this series forward.

Overall, The Butterfly Garden is top-notch horror that explores the depths of human cruelty, especially at the hands of an exceptionally disturbed and sadistic man who bestializes young women. After reading this novel, I will never look at butterfly gardens the same way.

5/5

Read The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

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