Adrian Collins's Blog, page 206

REVIEW: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

I made a deal with the devil in order to get my hands on a review copy of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. Except this devil’s name is Adrian and he is our editor-in-chief, and rather than taking souls he just solicits reviews in exchange, thankfully. Many thanks to Tor for sending us an eArc via NetGalley and not asking for any souls in exchange either.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is one of the most wonderful, thought-provoking and heartbreaking books I have ever read, I am fully in love with it, and still processing my absolute race through what has immediately become one of my all-time favourites. It is no secret that I love most of what V. E. Schwab has written, but The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is in a whole other class from Vengeful and A Conjuring of Light again. The prose is beautiful and immersive, full of haunting quotes such as these:

“She has the sense that they would have been friends. If he’d remembered. She tries not to think about that – she swears sometimes her memory runs forward as well as back, unspooling to show the roads she’ll never get to travel.”

“Time – how often has she heard it described as sand within a glass, steady, constant. But that is a lie, because she can feel it quicken, crashing toward her.”

This is a character-driven story, focused on Addie and her life through the centuries. Born in France in the 1700s, she was afraid of living a life that was not her own and ended up making a deal with a mysterious creature, bargaining away more than she thought. While her life was her own for as long as she wanted it, no one would remember her. Not her family, not landlords or store clerks, and certainly not the people she slept with. Until she meets Henry, a bookseller, who seems to remember her when she steals a book from his store – oops.

Through these two characters, V.E. Schwab manages to explore nuances of loneliness in human society in a poignant way, re-evaluating what it means to be seen and remembered, and how it affects the way we perceive ourselves and move through life. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a slow story, taking its time to explore the repercussions of events and the impact of small moments on the characters more than most books we tend to review on here. But that doesn’t mean it is any less compelling and dark – you have your looming antagonist, your morally grey characters and your world working against the heroes.

I do think this is one of those books that have a kind of universal appeal, that people who only read the bitterest of Grimdark will find something in just as much as people who don’t really read any fantasy at all. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a very special book about what it means to be human and to grow.

Read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab

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REVIEW: Red Rising by Pierce Brown

For years my friends have been recommending I read Red Rising by Pierce Brown. For years I looked at it, and looked at it again, and it just never caught my interest enough to actually pick it up. It took those same friends battering me over the head with the recommendation again—to the point of sending me an Audible credit—for me to pick it up and realise that I have been such an epic, colossal, unforgivable fool.

This is one of the best book experiences I’ve ever had.

Darrrow is a hell diver, the miner who goes deepest into Mars’ crust to drill Helium3 to help oxygenate Mars’ atmosphere through terraforming—the riskiest and most revered job of his people. One wrong move and he could kill his entire 200 person crew. But the risk is for a worthy cause, helping humanity leave earth and spread to the stars.

Society is broken down into colours, with each colour playing a particular role. Darrow is a red, the very bottom of the social ladder, sitting under the boots of the golds who rule using the greys as a policing force. Good things like fruit and sugar are scarce for reds, and earned for the only when they win quarterly mining contests. Right from the start, Red Rising is a story of class struggle intersecting with personal struggle—Darrow wanting a better life for his red crew so he can earn a better life for his wife Eo. An entire system has been built to enslave the reds and thrive off their backs.

When Darrow’s world comes cruelly crashing down around him there is only one thing left for him—vengeance. Not on a person. Not on a group. Vengeance on an entire galaxy-wide system led by demi-godlike post-humans. The journey he must attempt is suicidal, and so, so damned good.

Brown’s story is relentless and well put together, with plenty of circles within circles and moral ambiguity to consider. The first 50 pages may come off as borderline YA, but I can confidently assure grimdark fans there is plenty for us to like in here. There are plenty of bad people to like and understand, brutality and hard unfair choices everywhere, and the bombshells just keep dropping throughout the book. The amount of times I just sat there and went, “Holy. Shit.” And then immediately texted Pen Astridge (the most fervent recommender of this book and generous gifter of said Audible credit) and Jeremy Szal to talk about it was ridiculous.

The ending is both epic, enjoyable, and closed enough that you are satisfied, but open enough that the first thing I did after finishing book 1 is buy book 2.

Special mention also needs to be made for the narrator. I’m a really hard sell on an audio book. They’ve just never worked for me before. I get distracted or sidetracked or fall asleep and then have to go back and figure out where I was, only for the same thing to happen five minutes later. Eventually I’ll give up. Not this time. Tim Gerard Reynolds is magnificent. Utterly magnificent. His clear, exciting, engaging narration is just spectacular. I’d just lie there listening–on the couch staring out the window before work, or on the walk home from the gym, or actually enjoy a sleepless night just enraptured by his performance. He’s completely changed my view on Audio books. I need more, starting with Golden Son.

I can’t recommend this book enough to fans of this page. It’s brilliant, nail biting stuff. A non-stop thrill ride with magnificent, well thought out characters and story arcs that will set your imagination afire.

Read Red Rising by Pierce Brown

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REVIEW: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

“The day I heard I have a brother is the day I lost a brother. The day I learned I had a father is the day I lost a father. The day I heard I had a grandfather was the day I heard he was a coward who fucks my mother.”

So says Tracker, the lead in Marlon James Black Leopard, Red Wolf, the first of an intended trilogy that has been described as an African Game of Thrones.

This is a story about things lost and searched for: identity, purpose, humanity, innocence, love, trust, family, memory, sanity, childhood. The list is long and James tackles them all, even though the finding rarely brings happiness; deception and betrayal are constant companions. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is set in a lightly reimagined pre-colonial Africa that is densely populated with a cacophony of African myths and fables; witches, fairies, giants, vampires, flesh-eating trolls, devils and shape-shifting humans all inhabit this world.

Tracker is the Wolf of the title, so-named because of his dog-like sense of smell that he uses to track what is lost, and his wolf’s eye, the result of a particularly unpleasant episode in the book. His companion is the shape-shifting mercenary called Leopard and the ostensible plot a dysfunctional and damaged fellowship searching for a kidnapped child. Using the plot device of an episodic testimony told by Tracker to an unknown inquisitor, the first-person narrative slowly unpeels a bleak story strikingly lacking redemption.

James takes full opportunity to challenge the conventions of African tradition. Slavery, the role of women and sexuality, particularly homosexuality, all fall to his pen and Tracker, a very masculine male, is openly homosexual. James, who has been open about his sexuality, uses Tracker as a tool to challenge the prejudice he had to overcome. In a book that is consciously a reclamation of fantasy for Africa, James must address race and colour. He does not hold back. The peoples of his world have as much hatred for and prejudice against others as sadly do our own. James inverts traditional colour tropes by making white the colour of evil, of nothingness. This inversion is brilliantly brought to ultimate manifestation in the form of the chilling “white scientists”.

The jungle, literal and metaphoric, dominates this novel and James draws us into a world of bestial passions and appetites, awash with blood, violence and sexual – although rarely explicit – imagery. It is a brutal book that at its core has a grim and bloody folkloric belief system that uses the body parts of murdered babies for their magical properties. There are no heroes here and this is not a book for the fainthearted. Most of all this is a book of discombobulating sensation.

For me though, the comparison to Game of Thrones does not work. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is in part about Empire-building and the corruption of power is a constant backdrop, but its purpose is not (it seems to me) to describe a dynastic struggle. Black Leopard, Red Wolf owes more to Robert E Howard than to GRR Martin; don’t read this if an African Game of Thrones is what you’re after.

At over 600 pages it is also long. Reading this book takes commitment. James’s writing style has been described as “a stream of consciousness.” When it works it drenches the reader in a poetic wash of sensory imagery. When it doesn’t it drowns the reader in a messy quicksand of unstructured thought. It just about works more often than it doesn’t but James can be a fussy chef adding one ingredient too many and spoiling the taste of the dish.

In all honesty, I almost gave up in the first third of the book. Then I realised that I didn’t have to understand the individual parts to appreciate the whole and I carried on. I’m glad that I did. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is in equal parts well-conceived and flawed. It will reward your investment if you care to make it, but don’t do so lightly.

Read Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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REVIEW: Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

From the kinden of the Shadows of the Apt series to the spiders of Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky is well known for using the concept of animal analogues for human experience. Dogs of War is no different, dealing with the use of bio-forms – created beings that merge human, animal and technological aspects.

Our main protagonist is Rex – a dog/human bioform who is the leader of a multi-form pack which includes Honey – a bear form, Dragon – a snake form, and Bees – a ‘distributed intelligence’ of augmented bees. The pack is run by the Redmark corporation who are called in to suppress an anarchist revolt in southern Mexico.

Of course, things don’t go smoothly and when the pack loses communications and has to make their own decision for a short while, things eventuate from there.

Rex isn’t the only point of view character but his arc from loyal wardog who wants to be nothing more than to be told he’s a Good Dog by his Master to a fully realised personality that makes independent moral choices is the one which is really important.

All the other characters are well realised, with varied levels of inscrutability and even those who get limited or no point of view segments like Hartnell or Murray are developed and compelling in their own way.

As ever, Tchaikovsky writes beautifully with his changes in tone between characters really helping to show the different mindsets of the varied bioforms and humans.

The core theme here is one which science fiction comes back to time and again – what counts as a person – and it spreads this question out into dealing with the concept of personal agency. If Rex is a Good Dog who was just following orders, is he really a Good Dog if the orders were bad? Does that responsibility lie with Rex, or his Master?

Tchaikovsky’s renowned ability to make non-human protagonists both compelling to us as humans yet also distinct in their way of thinking is in full effect here, as Rex’s desire to be a Good Dog conflicts with his growing awareness. The concept of Bees as an intelligence spread across multiple tiny (and to a degree, expendable) bodies is simply delicious.

The first section of the book is all action and almost reads like a Michael Bay film, full of explosions and combat too quick for the unaugmented humans to follow as the pack tear into the anarchist rebels. However, the sections where the pack are discussing what to do and Hartnell’s concerns about how they are used and their eventual fate lends emotional weight to this hot start and sets up the moral conflict for the rest of the book.

After this, the story becomes more cerebral, dealing with more abstract concepts and things as exciting as courtroom settings and corporate responsibility. It does feel like the story loses a little steam here and I actually expected it to finish at least twice before it eventually did, even if we do get back to more physical action towards the end.

The moral of the story is stated pretty clearly, indeed it’s almost too stark – not that books having a political message is a bad thing (and I agree with the message) but sometimes it’s better inferred rather than outright stated.

The drop of pace in the middle of the book and the slightly heavy handedness of the theme are two very minor detractions from an otherwise well written, conceptually interesting and thought provoking book.

Read Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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10 Authors to Follow on Twitter

When you are perusing Twitter’s hellscape and are looking for a beacon of good to follow, it can be a demoralizing and challenging task. There is an abundance of opinions, advertisements, and memes, but actual good, content is few and far between. Follow these ten writers to help make Twitter worth trudging through all the shit: 

Gabino Iglesias 

@Gabino_Iglesias  – A horror writer, societal commentator, and the book review editor at Pank Magazine. He is made up of equal parts of snark and guidance counselor while he tweets about the important, the silly, the dark, and the real. Love him or hate him, Gabino is going to be real with you. That authenticity flows out of him and into his writing and reviewing and, by extension, tweeting. Follow him because of the brilliance of Zero Saints and Coyote Songs, but stay because you want to be like him.

“Take your age, multiply it by two, divide it by four, add the duration of your favorite movie in minutes, and then multiply that number by zero. Now you have the amount of fucks you should give about what other people think of you.”

Follow @Gabino_Iglesias

Josiah Bancroft 

@BancroftJosiah – Josiah is the author of The Books of Babel trilogy. He is brilliant and in the face of the twitter hellscape, wholesome. A lot of what he talks about is the quirkiness of being a dad and writer, and I am here for it. 

“You know what this section of my fantasy adventure really needs? A plot point about logarithms! And you know who had to take remedial math four times at university? This guy! D is for Diploma and also Dummy Dumb Dum Don’t Do Dis.”

Follow @BancroftJosiah

Neil Gaiman

@neilhimself – Uber famous Neil is the author of American Gods, Sandman series, and with Terry Pratchett, he wrote Good Omens. And, aside from his writerly credentials, Neil does a lot of good. He is very connected with his fanbase and frequently chats with them on twitter and is hugely supportive of the writing community, which is saying a lot because he has 2.8 million followers. 

“Morning has broken. But we’ve glued it back together again and are confident no one will notice.”

Follow @neilhimself

Stephen King 

@StephenKing – King is arguably the greatest horror writer of the twentieth century. King is huge. Huge in personality, skill, stories, and opinions. Lately, much of King’s tweets have a political angle to them. But most of what I follow King for is the Bon Mots. King uses that razor-sharp wit and shanks the deserving with it. It is truly a masterful thing to behold. Plus, sometimes he tweets out funny takes on things like this tweet here:

“How about a movie where Mary Poppins turns out to be a serial killer? Think how exciting that would be. The umbrella could have, like, a machete inside.”

Follow @StephenKing

Joe Abercrombie 

@LordGrimdark – If you are looking for some dark, snarky wit to help you get through your day, look no further than Lord Grimdark. Joe is the author of the Shattered Sea and the First Law books. If you are new to the dark fantasy genre, you will do well to check out his work. 

“I often describe myself as the very god of humility.”

Follow @LordGrimdark

Rob J. Hayes

@RoboftheHayes – Rob is a fixture in the self-published fantasy world. His books have consistently finished in the semi-final round or higher in Mark Lawrence’s SPFBO. He also posts lists of upcoming self-published releases if you are looking to spice up your TBR with some self-published fantasy.

“The enforced time off continues. Splitting my time between saving feudal Japan from the Mongols, and finding out how Fi and Zeke will save all the world’s from the apocalypse.”

Follow @RoboftheHayes

Mark Lawrence 

@Mark__Lawrence – Mark Lawrence is one of the most famous Grimdark writers out there. His books are synonymous with dark fantasy and kick-ass characters. He is also a massive supporter of self-published fantasy and has run the Self Published Fantasy Blog-Off for the last six years. He is not one to quip; instead, his feed is a useful resource for learning about other authors as he is very supportive of the writing community. 

“Cat butler. Also author of trilogies: The Broken Empire, The Red Queen’s War, The Book of the Ancestor, Impossible Times, & (in 2020) The Book of the Ice.”

Follow @Mark__Lawrence

R.F Kuang

@kuangrf– Rebecca does all sorts of cool giveaways and content. If you are a fan of her story, The Poppy War, or the follow up The Dragon Republic, you should follow her feed. 

“my publisher: so u can basically put anything you want in the deleted scenes preorder incentive as long as it’s done by november me: ponderin whether to write all the most crucial scenes of Rin and Nezha’s relationship from Nezha’s perspective ponderin real hard”

Follow @kuangrf

Anna Smith Spark

@queenofgrimdark – Anna is the author of the Empire of Dust series. In a world full of peasants, Anna Smith Spark reigns as queen. Anna is a huge supporter of the writing community as well as influential world events. 

“I love running and doing aerobics. Only happy times I’ve had during lockdown are when I’m doing hi-impact exercise and can’t think about anything. Also I think all the Batman films suck. Quick, they’d better revoke my diagnosis or something.”

Follow @queenofgrimdark

Gareth Powell

@garethlpowell – I once tweeted that Gareth Powell was one of the shiny beacons of light on twitter. I don’t say that lightly. He is kind, smart, and wants to be a helper in the world of writing. He cheers his fellow writers, offers his advice, connects with his fans, and says almost daily, “what can I do for you?” With so much hate and discontent thrown around Twitter, Gareth tries to make it a slightly better place every day. I appreciate this as a writer, reader, and human being. 

“We should never take books and literacy for granted. There is a reason dictators target intellectuals, smash presses, close libraries and burn books – because reading fosters empathy, understanding and freedom of thought. A well-read population is one that can think for itself.”

Follow @garethlpowell

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Interview With Raymond E. Feist, Author of The Firemane Saga and Riftwar Cycle

New York Times bestselling author Raymond E. Feist’s novels have been must-reads in fantasy since he started with his first book in 1982. Since then, Feist has written 30+ novels, most in the world of The Riftwar Cycle. However, since finishing The Riftwar Cycle story, Feist has created a new world with The Firemane Saga. Book 1, The King of Ashes, and book 2, The Queen of Storms have been released already and the series will be concluded in the novel King of Flames. I had the immense honor of interviewing him about this new world and writing in general. 

You have been a fixture of the fantasy community for a long time. What changes have you seen to fantasy as a genre since your first book?

RF: I’ve never been called a fixture before. Feels a bit odd. Anyway, my view of changes is subjectively distorted by being inside the process, rather than an observer. Being raised in an entertainment household—my father was in film/TV—and knowing artists and musicians my entire life, I took a lot of things for granted on the business side of things as well. I’d say the biggest changes were fantasy entering the mainstream of publishing with Tolkien, and while the literati for years looked down their noses at “genre” titles like fantasy, romance, westerns, etc., the business didn’t look down its nose at categories hitting the bestseller lists. With that entrance into the mainstream of publishing, we saw the rise of big-budget films when for decades fantasy had mostly been low-rent, bad B-movies. The first Conan film springs to mind, and now we see things like Harry Potter having enormous success and Game of Thrones dominating television for years. In large part that’s because the decision makers in the entertainment business were kids 40 years ago reading fantasy and science fiction. Marvel’s film success is because the creators and audience grew up reading those comics. So, that’s the biggest change. The other changes are more diversity in theme and the finer granularity of tropes and memes, so you have six different flavors of vampires, a brilliantly silly TV show like Supernatural lasting fifteen years, cults for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Babylon-5, Firefly, and massive attendance at the San Diego Comic-Con, and at huge conventions around the world. Fantasy in all its variations is here to stay.

Do you have a set writing schedule?

RF: More or less. I vary from time to time, but usually I am up early and these days have the news going while I shave, bathe, etc. Once coffee is ready, I’m in front of the computer. Unless I have business calls (time difference to London means morning calls if I need to chat), then it’s try to work and keep at it until I’m done. Some days that’s noon, while others it’s until dinner time. I take breaks to get off my backside—writing is a sedentary racket—and try to get in a one-hour break at midday to walk for a couple of miles. I do not always keep this schedule, but I try.

In the creation of the new Firemane Saga series, were there any specific things that influenced the world-building or character creation?

RF: That’s actually a hard one to answer. I usually don’t fully understand what I’ve done until it’s over. In general all my work has common themes, military and political, relationships and how they function under stress, and mostly is character driven. So often my approach is “toss the guy or gal into the soup and see what happens.” I knew King of Ashes was going to be about the last surviving member of a powerful family with secrets, and that’s where I tossed Hatushaly into the soup, so to speak. I knew I was going to place him in a culture that was a cross between Iga assassins and Capone’s Chicago Outfit, and after that I sort of surprised myself.

In terms of plot creation, do you start with a single scene and build outwards, or is your process linear?

RF: Neither, really. I have a starting point and a rough idea of how things will end, and getting there is often as surprising to me as it is to the reader, and that’s most of the fun. If you don’t know where you’re going, you can wander like Moses in the wilderness, but often my characters take off in unexpected directions before I get back to where I thought I was going to be.

The Riftwar Saga is a massive world; I have read that you called it “a 30-book trilogy.” The Firemane Saga is slated as a trilogy. However, are there plans to continue telling stories in the Firemane universe? Or is that something that happens organically in the future because there are more stories to tell?

RF: The Riftwar Cycle was something of a trap in that regard. When I wrote Magician I had no idea if I’d ever sell it, let alone 29 following stories. Originally, Darkness at Sethanon was a single book, but when it started getting massive, my editor suggested we split it and that’s how Silverthorn came into being. I was doing Faerie Tale to change things up, but Prince of the Blood was “So, what happens next, after Darkness?” And as I write to pay the rent and eat, I quickly turned to that, as well as the Empire series—I had always planned on doing “the other side of the Riftwar.” As the popularity grew and titles kept hitting bestseller lists, “what happened next?” became a constant. I was about halfway through Rage of a Demon King, when realized I was going to have to do all five Riftwars. As for my current project, I have no plans beyond Master of Furies.

Reading Queen of Storms, I was surprised by the twists and turns of some of the characters. When you are writing characters, do you get surprised at the paths and choices that they take?

RF: Often. I just think I know what they’re going to do, until they go through the left door instead of the right one. I actually find that’s a big part of the fun of storytelling. When I don’t know what’s coming next it’s exciting. As I said, I know where they end up, but how they get there is often a surprise.

After The Firemane Saga wraps with Master of Furies, any new projects you can talk about?

RF: Not really. My editor and I have a few things we’ve kicked around, but nothing definitive. It’s possible I’ll finish Master of Furies, and the question will arise, “OK, what happened next?” Or I might do another one-off, like Faerie Tale, not necessarily a dark fantasy but just another stand alone novel.

The world is pretty chaotic right now, to put it mildly. As a writer, do you channel anxieties and uncertainties from the world we live in into your work? Or do you try to keep world events and influences out of your writing?

RF: Keep them out? I can’t, entirely, and every writer, artist, musician I’ve spoken with has the same reaction. We may self-isolate as a lifestyle, more or less, but we worry about others, especially if you have loved ones at risk, and the world in general, and that keeps a constant anxiety bubbling below the surface. There’s no conscious influence on my dramatic choices, unless I find myself writing, “When they landed at the dock, a pandemic had broken out!” at which point I start hitting the delete key. As anyone who has read the first two books knows—or any of the Riftwar knows—widespread disaster is sort of a constant in my work, so I don’t need to go looking for additional inspiration there. I’ve been doing this for forty years now, and have written while breaking up with sweethearts, falling in love, getting married, parents and friends dying, sick kids, a nasty divorce, all the normal experiences for many people of my advancing years. The one thing that has changed is the ability to concentrate for long hours. It’s “what’s on the news now?” in the hope things are changing for the better, and lastly, thank heaven sports are back so I can get my mind off things that are live (TV shows and movies only distract so long). In the end, we’ll all get through this, which includes me, and this next book will get finished.

What was the hardest scene to write from The Firemane Saga thus far?

RF: Not a single scene, but rather a whole lot of them during King of Ashes as I tried to figure out who Hava was. I tried creating her at first as a “woman of mystery” who Hatu admired from afar and that was a disaster. I probably threw away more pages of that book than any previous five combined. Once I finally got that straight, and made her his childhood companion, the story got going. I wasted a lot of time before I got there, though.

Declan is my favorite character from Firemane. What made you decide to make him a smith versus other professions?

RF: I’d used the profession before with Eric, and I think it’s because of a couple of things, historic and fictional. Historically, the smith was one of the two most important commoners in the village. He (as a rule, male, though there were a few female smiths of note) was the guy who could fix the nobles’ armor or shoe their horses. The other was the miller, because he turned the farmers’ grain into flour. So, it’s why the most common English name is Smith, because if you were in trouble, being “the Smith,” or “Son of the Smith,” or “Aunt of the Smith,” or even “Jack, who lives around the corner from his good friend the Smith,” might have saved you some trouble with the local nobility. Dramatically, smiths give an air of solidity, down-to-earth, basic. I’ve picked troubadours and minstrels to show the opposite, for example. I think I had just seen a show examining the creation of Muramasa steel, and a huge part of the finding the right carbon/silicate mix to get the exact quality of steel you wanted, along with the differences between how hard/flexible you make various parts of the sword, the edge, the fuller, creating the forte and foible parts of the blade, all that fascinated me, so I went deep with Declan, with the start of his story making his masterpiece sword. With Eric, we saw little of him actually working as a smith. This also sets him up to come to the Baron’s attention with good justification, and that will play out through the series.

Read King of Ashes by Raymond E. Feist

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REVIEW: Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

A hard-hitting, heartbreaking second novel of The Firemane Saga. In Queen of Storms, Raymond E. Feist takes us on a wild and perilous ride with his characters.

Cover of Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

I once tried to explain where Raymond E. Feist fit into fantasy as a genre. I was talking to a gamer at the time, and the only comparison I could come up with at the time was that Raymond E. Feist is to fantasy what Final Fantasy is to gaming. Feist has been around a long time. To some, his novels are the bedrock for their love of fantasy books, much like The Final Fantasy series to gamers. To those who read fantasy and have been reading fantasy for decades, Feist is enormous. His Riftwar Cycle is 30+ books long and defines what epic fantasy can be. Not to say that Feist is the end all be all of fantasy. There are many types and flavors of fantasy out there, but if you enjoy high fantasies, he is a must-read. 

The Queen of Storms picks up right where we left off in King of Ashes. A lot is going on with the four main characters and tone-wise The Queen of Storms immediately has a darker and more intense tone. The four main characters: Hatu, Hava, Declan, and Donte, are the leading players. We also have the perspective of Baron Dumarch, who will play a pivotal role in the upcoming final book of the trilogy. Although he is crucial, I don’t think he is as important as the other four characters. Hatu, however, is an incredibly important character.

You do not see much personal growth with him personality-wise in Queen of Storms as he is still very much a bratty and slightly slow to pick up on things lead character. He doesn’t engender much sympathy or interest from me as a reader. But one change we do see in Queen of Storms is that his circumstances change quickly and with finality. He finally starts to understand that he has responsibilities that he cannot shrug off. He was living a comfortable and normal life at the beginning of Queen of Storms as an innkeeper. Although he had never run an inn with Gwen, Declan’s future wife, he was getting the hang of it and rebuilding his inn. But we all know that comfort and stability is not in the future of a Sicari trained spy and the missing Firemane child. 

Hava, who, along with Declan, has the most exciting narratives in Queen of Storms grows as a character. Or at least she lets out her lethality. There is a desperate and absolutism to her moral values. Whether this is an innate part of her personality or something learned from her years trained as a Sicari trained spy, she will do anything it takes to achieve her goals. You see that in spades on Queen of Storms. Nothing will stop her. 

Declan, master smith and would be family man has a lot to contend with in Queen of Storms. The least of which is the loss of his forge. What is a blacksmith if they have no forge? Declan has a strong compartmentalism in his mind and personality. It is the antithesis of Hatu. Where Hatu burns with fire and rage that can consume him entirely, Declan is cold and hard. Much like the iron he forges. As a reader, it is evident that Feist is purposefully putting these two players in the plot who are entirely different but whose lives intertangle with each other. There will come a moment in the next book; I suspect where Declan’s cold fire, and Hatu’s rage will work in tandem. 

Last but not certainly least is Donte. His arc in this book is confusing and slightly bewildered. He floats on a collision course with Hatu and Hava like a balloon, he bounces and drifts from one thing to the next. But without and seriousness or steadfastness. He will be an essential character in the next book, for sure. If only because of the thread of his attachment to the witches from the first story. He has the niggling mind worm of an idea planted in his mind from them, and he is seemingly okay with it. Even though it goes against everything, he values. It is strange; I feel like his mind is going to crack under the load of this idea. 

In the first book of this trilogy, King of Ashes, there were quite a few moments of celebration and happiness. It wasn’t always doom and gloom. The theme and tone of the Queen of Storms are quite different. This story is a transitional novel. It did not have it’s mini-arc, but rather a series of plot beats that funneled the characters to an epic conclusion. This book felt like Feist was taking a deep breath like he was the wolf and was going to blow down the proverbial pig’s house. And that deep breath will be the third book, where everything will come crashing down in fire and ash and be rebuilt anew.

This transitionality of the second book of the trilogy made it at some points feel slow. As a reader, I had no idea where I was going, so I was blindly crashing from moment to moment. These moments were exciting, but I did not get the same epic feeling I had after reading the first book. 

The antagonist of The Queen of Storms is veiled. Who you thought was the bad guy in the first book, was a pawn. The characters’ political machinations: the baron, the Sicari, the Azhante, and the protectors of the Firemane line all swirl together in a maelstrom. I had no idea who the big baddie is. That is exciting, and I loved that Feist continually surprised me during this story. 

Prevalent things in Feist’s novels are tragedies. Tragic events that shape the characters and send them on their narrative paths. Feist’s books are never stories of sunshine and rainbows. They are always epic and lustrous. They are bold and exciting, but frequently tragic, and they pull on your heart. This series is going to be like that. Although Feist says that this series is a trilogy, I could see it going for ten books. There is a lot to cover in this world—the epic tale of returning the Firemane child to his kingdom and the political machinations thereof is huge in scope. But this book is explicitly a book of transitions; if you are a fan of epic stories or are fans of Feist, you will enjoy this.

But take care and be forewarned; there are no conclusions to be found in this book.  

Read Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

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REVIEW: The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie

I received an uncorrected proof copy of The Trouble with Peace in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank both Joe Abercrombie and Gollancz.

Following on from the dramatic events that concluded A Little Hatred, we return to the First Law world whilst it is enjoying a period of relative peace. Although Abercrombie is the master of defying our expectations and misleading the reader, even for him, everything remaining peaceful for a whole book would have been a step too far. Orso with his newfound power and responsibilities has to now deal with the Union’s politics and becomes aware that not all is rosy on his advising councils. The Breakers and Burners are still rubbing their wounds but their need for change and revolution is still a flame that has not been extinguished. Also, with characters such as the Young Lion, the Great Wolf, Gunnar Broad, Vick dan Teufel, Clover, Savine dan Glokta, and Caul Shivers frequenting the pages the drama was inevitable.

There are so many standout moments throughout The Trouble with Peace that it is incredible that Abercrombie was able to fit them all within a 500-page book. The only negative thing about receiving an early copy of this novel is that I can’t discuss these scenes with anyone yet, and I’m not mean-spirited enough to spoil these awesome events. Calling them spectacular is not an over-exaggeration. Furthermore, when I believed that it couldn’t get any better, the last three chapters deliver. Abercrombie really knows how to end a novel. In The Trouble with Peace, he absolutely nails it.

For me, Abercrombie’s greatest gift to his readers is his characters. We follow the same point of views as A Little Hatred. All flawed, all likeable, often frustratingly so as many shouldn’t be at all. My favourite perspective to follow was that of Orso. Throughout The Trouble with Peace, he is really developing into something special. Rikke’s sections deserve a special mention too, especially the dreamlike Long Eye segments when they occur. If I force myself to be overtly critical then I would say my least favourite viewpoint was that of Vick’s. Truthfully though, that isn’t really a negative in a company so fine as her perspective presents some great moments too, including one with an assassin. In addition to the 7-or so points of view, which sometimes change mid-chapter, certain extremely important events are presented through the eyes of many different side characters or very minor players to give a fully 360-degree immersive experience of these happenings. It’s deftly done.

The author writes war and battle scenes unlike anyone else I’ve read. They are marvellous, intense, sometimes tragic, and extremely gritty. Often injected with completely unheroic actions, hopelessness, and humour, too. The Trouble with Peace has many humorous scenes in general but to find something that happens amusing when it’s shadowed by chaos and death definitely plays with the emotions. I even chuckled when reading the kindly included Dramatis Personae. An example is as follows:

Downside – one of Clover’s warriors, with a bad habit of killing men on his own side.

The cover of my copy of The Trouble with Peace features the words conspiracy, betrayal, and rebellion and this is a great summary of what the book is about. The story completely exceeded my high expectations and I enjoyed it even more than A Little Hatred. It features stunning dialogue and wit and has memorable characters who leap off the page to attack your emotions. It’s a story that I know will stay with me for a long time. To conclude, I’ll simply say that The Trouble with Peace is a masterwork of grimdark fantasy by an author who is one of the finest the genre has to offer.

Read The Trouble With Peace

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REVIEW: The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell

In The Burning Land, the fifth entry in The Saxon Stories, we follow the escapades of a 35 or 36-year-old Uhtred of Bebbanburg. He’s still Alfred’s oathman and has been residing in Lundune. The Danish warrior, and Uhtred’s ex-servant Haesten is an everpresent nuisance, but in this novel, we are introduced to the leader and lover of another force of Danes who are being problematic and threatening Alfred’s peace. Harald Bloodhair and Skade. Haesten informs Uhtred that Skade is Bloodhair’s woman, bitch, lover, and sorceress. He also kindly warns Uhtred that “if you see her, my friend, you’ll want her. But she’ll nail your skull to her hall gable if she can.” The Burning Land is about these Danish threats to Wessex and Mercia and the importance of oaths.

Recently The Saxon Stories series has been my go-to choice when I couldn’t decide between other books to read next. I find myself drifting back to them every 3rd or 4th book. My experiences with all of the stories so far have been 4 or 5-star reads and at approximately 300-pages I tend to race through these in under a week. The chapters here take about half an hour to read and I tended to devour 2 or 3 in a sitting. The Burning Land is more of the same of what has come before yet the series is nowhere near becoming stale, in fact, I’d say that as Uhtred is ageing his life experience and intelligence lead to really clever moments that are great to read. Such as a moment including bees and another with ships’ sails.

We still have battles, war councils, friendships, loyalty, and omens but, however much I have enjoyed the previous novels, I think this entry has been the perfect example of Cornwell’s strengths as a writer put on display. There is still humour featured in The Burning Land when the scenarios permit it, as there is dread, fear, and hatred. Uhtred’s utter loathing of Christianity is known throughout at least three nations and he doesn’t let that up in this entry either, as can be seen in quotes such as the below:

Folk tell their children that success lies in working hard and being thrifty, but that is as much nonsense as supposing that a badger, a fox and a wolf could build a church. The way to wealth is to become a Christian bishop or a monastery’s abbot and thus be imbued with heaven’s permission to lie, cheat and steal your way to luxury.

Another highlight of The Saxon Stories is the rich and diverse cast of characters. Uhtred’s first-person perspective presents a wide plethora of emotions dependant on who he is discussing. Love for someone like Gisela, respect for someone like Steapa, loyalty for someone like Finan, admiration for someone like Æthelflæd, and detest for someone like Æthelred or any number of the gaggle of religious influencers.

‘Æthelflæd remains your wife,’ I told him quietly, ‘but if she dies mysteriously, or if she sickens, or if I hear rumours of a spell cast against her, then I shall find you, cousin, and I shall suck the eyeballs out of your skull and spit them down your throat so you choke to death.’ I smiled. ‘Send your men to Lundene and keep your country.’

If I hadn’t received a review copy of one of my most anticipated reads of the year (R. F. Kuang’s The Burning God) then I more than likely would have just carried on with this series. At this rate, I will have finished the books that are already out before the release of the final novel, Wolf Lord, on the 15th of October. My fellow reviewer Edward Gwynne‘s reviews of the later novels remain extremely positive so it looks like I am in for more fine reading experiences with Uhtred, Finan, Osferth et al. Uhtred is 35-36 during this novel, not much older than me, and he is still in the front row of the shield wall or the first over the palisades. I’m intrigued to see if, and how, that changes as he ages further, yet I predict his importance will not be diminished. I really can’t wait to continue with Uhtred’s adventure and know for sure that I will be back very soon.

Read The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell

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REVIEW: Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe’s Interlibrary Loan is a sequel to his 2015 A Borrowed Man. The premise of both is that in a future Earth, libraries not only offer books to be loaned, but also authors – clones of long-dead writers, housed by the library and put at the disposal of the borrowers.

It’s a fascinating conceit – the only comparison I can bring to mind is one of the constituent tales of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion, but Wolfe has much more room to work in a full novel.

Both A Borrowed Man and Interlibrary Loan deal are told from the perspective of Ernest A. Smithe, an author of thrillers and detective stories largely forgotten in the present day. The trope of calling upon a crime author to help solve murders is fairly well established, but this treads new ground. Smithe is firstly a man out of his own time – even if he is fairly familiar with the machinery of the future, he is always asking questions about it. We expect the detective to be an outsider – not himself a criminal or a suspect. Smithe makes that rather more literal.

Secondly, he is bound to a system that keeps him in servitude. As a book is the property of a library, so too is a reclone. At best, they might be cherished as a racehorse is cherished. What is more, Smithe is expected to speak and act as the narrator of his own books. His speech patterns tend to the formal and systematic, but as we move through the plot with him, it is clear that he would instinctively prefer a different style in person than he would for his crime fiction. There is no tortured speculation about the question of a reclone’s identity, but the question remains.

Smithe has been transferred by the titular inter-library loan from Spice Grove to Port Cove, where he is asked to look for the disappeared husband of a local woman, Mrs Fevre. While the events of A Borrowed Man are referenced, they do not as such influence the plot. Smithe’s actions in pursuit of Dr Fevre will lead him away from the rural, sparsely populated but technologically active future America that characterised A Borrowed Man, to the harbour of Port Cove and the island of Lichholm.

Interlibrary Loan is more discursive than A Borrowed Man, and may suffer somewhat from the greater number of settings and characters. However, the tale of Smithe’s struggles and discoveries remains arresting.

Gene Wolfe died in April 2019; Interlibrary Loan is his last book. In such cases, it is tempting to wonder how much of an author is really in such a work. Nothing I have read suggests that Interlibrary Loan was completed by another hand. We may say that it is no reclone, but a genuine Wolfe.

I would give Interlibrary Loan Three Stars. A familiarity with the works of Gene Wolfe (not least A Borrowed Man) would be good before going in.

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