Adrian Collins's Blog, page 30

REVIEW: The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang

M.L. Wang’s The Sword of Kaigen features on Mark Lawrence’s scales of grimdark list (‘Grimdark. We’re nailing it down’) with a ‘grimdark score’ of 2.34, and for context, Malice by John Gwynne is currently on 2.23 and Michael R. Fletcher’s Beyond Redemption tops the list at 4.66. Here at GdM, we’re hoping to make our way through that list and ensure a review for all of them. Kaigen has been on my TBR for years and sitting on my e-reader for nearly as long, to my shame. The Great GdM Backlist gave me a prod in the right direction, and I found a handy online book club planning to read it this January. Now here we are.

I mention all the above because upon starting The Sword of Kaigen, I was expecting a similar level of head-first, unrelenting grimness that I have encountered in other books from Lawrence’s list. On the contrary, Kaigen starts out much slower than that. The first third is careful worldbuilding and character introduction; showing us the day-to-day way of life in the quiet village of Takayubi and the lives of mother and son duo of Misaki and Mamoru Matsuda.

Mamoru attends a school in the mountains that trains boys from the warrior class of Kaigenese society. As the eldest son of the famous Matsuda family, he has a unique pressure on his shoulders as he tries to live up to his extraordinary father’s legacy. He begins to struggle with the ideals of duty and honour after a well-travelled transfer student challenges what Mamoru takes for granted as truth.

Misaki hides a crime-fighting past overseas as she tries to fulfil the role of the shy, retiring, dutiful wife and mother to four young boys. As she tries to help Mamoru, and build on their relationship, a powerful invading force arrives to destroy Takayubi and all who reside there. The fight for Takayubi is brutal, destruction is widespread, and no-one is left untouched by tragedy.

The second half of the book follows the recovery and rebuilding in the wake of this disaster and the immediate aftermath can definitely be described as grimsad. Throughout the book Misaki holds onto a lot of self-loathing and blames herself repeatedly for varying tragedies that have befallen her, her loved ones and the village. As we progress through the latter parts of The Sword of Kaigen, Misaki grows considerably and there are multiple points of satisfying closure that she achieves.

For the steadfast grimdarkers, The Sword of Kaigen is not an all-out onslaught of blood, guts and battle (though there are some intense moments); it is an in depth character study that explores the enduring power of love and provides a commentary on how outdated ideals upheld as “tradition” can cause so much damage. If martial arts mixed with elemental magics, desperate fights for survival (both in sword and in mind), and a close-knit cast appeals then I certainly recommend The Sword of Kaigen.

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REVIEW: Your Blood and Bones by J. Patricia Anderson

One of the best corners of the internet, and one of the main reasons I still have a Facebook account, is the Grimdark Fiction Readers & Writers group. Nearly 10K of likeminded bookish folks are up for discussion and recommendations, with a high chance that you will like many of the books they share. This wonderful group is how I discovered J. Patricia Anderson’s thought-provoking novella Your Blood and Bones. A review post was shared with the cover image, and I went ‘OH pretty’ and bought it. I admit it: I judged the book by its cover, and sometimes I am easily influenced. But in the case of Your Blood and Bones, it was worth it, and the novella was an excellent read.

In a world where monsters are killed on sight, no matter who they are, a girl growing feathers and new bones under her skin resigns herself to a brutal and bloody death when her people discover her deformities. But she is unexpectedly rescued from the baying mob by a boy. A boy she has always looked over before. Together, they frantically escape the hoard and set their sights on finding a cure. The world is against them, and their physical changes are accelerating. But is there a cure for them to find?

Anderson packs a whole lot into this bitesize book. I am amazed that I can feel so much for the two main characters in a story of only 151 pages without ever learning their names. I have a relatively low tolerance for body horror, and I went into Your Blood and Bones utterly blind to the plot, so in the first ‘chapter’ when the carcasses of hundreds of animals (and one corpse) magically created a raft, I did wonder if I had made a mistake in picking this novella up.

However, although that and other body horror elements occur in Your Blood and Bones, they did not ever go beyond my level of comfortably disturbed. It should be noted, though, that the tale does include some gory bits and depictions of self-harm as well as body horror. In Anderson’s defence, she states this as a content warning just after the dedication at the start of the novel, so all readers should be forewarned. I had just skipped it and gone straight to the main text.

Your Blood and Bones is a small book, and I read it easily in a day around other commitments, so this is great to pick up if you need a smaller read. Anderson’s fast past opening ‘chapter’ (I’m calling the sections of the book chapters for ease; there are symbols in the text to break up each section) completely immersed me into her melancholic world, and I was hooked with the girl and boy’s urgent need to escape. Your Blood and Bones makes you question what makes a monster and see the impact of a single spark of hope, even when the odds seem insurmountable.

This is my first read of J. Patricia Anderson’s work, and I found Your Blood and Bones fantastic. It might not have taken me very long to read, but it is one of those books I won’t forget in a hurry. It is dark, powerful, and a perfect read for dark fantasy fans after something new.

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REVIEW: SKALD: Against the Black Priory

While SKALD: Against the Black Priory came out in the middle of 2024, playing it feels like playing an artifact from the 80s. SKALD, developed by High North Studios AS and published by Raw Fury, is an immersive turn-based tactical roleplaying game set in a grimdark fantasy world with heavy cosmic horror influences. It’s a  wonderful little game that tries to recapture the look and feel of retro 8-bit roleplaying games like early Ultima, but manages to do so in a way that feels modern and accessible. You play as a mercenary, whose appearance, background, and class you choose, that has been summoned to a count’s estate for a desperate mission: his daughter Embla – and your childhood friend – has gone missing, and has been spotted taking a ship to the Outer Isles. You are tasked with finding her and bringing her home. When a large, kraken-like monster attacks your ship, you wind up shipwrecked on the isle of Idra. With no way off the island and the group of mercenaries you brought with you dead or lost, you must find Embla and leave the Outer Isles before its horrors can claim you.

Mechanically, it’s a simple roleplaying system to get into, but SKALD’s more complex systems, such as positioning and strategic ability use, are complex and take time to master. Like the more recent Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll be rolling dice in order to settle certain checks, but unlike that game, SKALD has a more focused system. There isn’t a lot of choice when it comes to the narrative or how your character responds to situations, outside of the rather binary “talk your way out of a situation” or “fight your way out”. While this limited toolset may turn some people off, I found the focused narrative to be a refreshing reprieve from endless amounts of choice. Combat is tactical: you move each unit in your party in a grid-like battlefield, attacking and casting spells as needed. I found the party composition of story characters to be balanced (trust me, party composition matters, especially on the higher difficulties), though you don’t get access to a healer until a few hours into the game. Unless you chose that class for your protagonist, or made a player-created hireling into one, you may be forced to stick to resting and gulping down healing potions for a while.

The game isn’t just all combat. There’s lots of exploring to be done. There were even moments when, while trying to solve a maze, I had to break out pen-and-paper just to map out where I was going, or to remember the directions another character gave me to find an underground black market. “Classic” and “retro” certainly fit this game’s bill.

The world of SKALD itself is fascinating to explore. While the player only explores a small bit of the world, the lore and history that High North Studios AS has created is rich and deep. I’d be interested to see more of this world in other games or books.

Graphically, SKALD: Against the Black Priory has beautiful and horrific pixel art and atmospheric music. That being said, the game is dark, and I don’t just mean aesthetically. There were many moments where I walked into walls that I couldn’t tell were there, simply because I didn’t quite register them as walls or areas that were marked out of bounds. It made exploring a little frustrating at times. A few of the battlefields can get a little cramped once you have a full six-person party. Many times I found myself unable to see where my teammates were because they were behind another character or monster. And when fights get like that, sometimes I found that some characters couldn’t do anything except defend or pass their turn because I had another group of characters ganging up on one monster and didn’t have the room.

My gripes with the combat aside, SKALD: Against the Black Priory is an excellent, short game (I clocked in at a little over fifteen hours) with interesting mechanics and a juicy grimdark world that I can’t get enough of. I hope to see more from High North Studios AS and this series as a whole.

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Review: The Watchers by A.M. Shine

Existential dread soaks through A.M. Shine’s debut horror novel, The Watchers. It brings with it terrors of the unseen. Set in Western Ireland, the story follows Mina, a cynical artist with a certain disregard for her liver. On an errand one evening, Mina is left stranded after her car mysteriously breaks down at the edge of a dense forest. Forced into the dark woodland in search of help, Mina discovers a concrete house in the clearing and an old woman shouting at her to get inside. As the door is locked furiously behind her, screams descend on them from all corners. Mina finds herself trapped with three strangers – Daniel, Madeline and Ciara – who stand reluctantly in front of a wall of glass and under a lightbulb that clicks on routinely at nightfall every day. Mina’s pleas for help soon turn into a desperate search for answers and a way out as she learns of the Watchers and the horrors that wait for those stranded outside after nightfall.

The novel starts slowly, introducing the main characters and how their lack of luck landed them in the woodland. It’s also established early on what their survival depended on – “As long as they can see us, then they leave us alone. It’s that simple.” This begs to question; how does one gather items for survival or plot an escape without any rest? For the first book in the trilogy, The Watchers successfully sets up the stakes and terror that come with being hunted by unseen monsters. The book has loss, longing and desperation which pairs well with its spine-chilling gothic horror genre. I do not scare easily, but The Watchers had my gooseflesh on steroids for its entirety – something that I truly appreciate.

That being said, something that I was sceptical about at first was that this was written in multiple POVs. There were quite a few characters and so little time. However, after reading a few chapters, I found that the multiple POVs helped with the suspense and mystery of unearthing the existence of their unseen captors. The slow burn aspects made the atmosphere and fear very palpable. It is also worth noting that I am a sucker for dark fae folklore – a refreshing alternative to the romance genre. The Watchers pays tribute to chilling Celtic legends, a rich and underexplored area within the horror genre, if I may say so.

The chill of the woodland seeps perfectly into the paranoia of the main characters as they struggle with trust. One other thing I enjoyed (besides the horror) was the relationships between the four main characters. Shine writes of trust, betrayal and heartache with a skilful hand, keeping interactions between Mina and her makeshift family very genuine.

 The Watchers will most definitely appeal to slow-burn horror fans, especially those who enjoyed films like Get Out, The Ritual and The Descent – nail-biting and creeping throughout. Reading The Watchers actively felt like Shine was handing me a mug of hot chocolate and then stabbing me in the eye – not that I minded at all.

Shine returns to The Burren with his terrifying sequel Stay in the Light.

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REVIEW: Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros

Onyx Storm is the third instalment out of five expected novels in Rebecca Yarros’ The Empyrean Series. It has taken the world by storm (if you’ll pardon the pun) with midnight releases, special editions reselling for massive amounts, and flying into the top spot on almost every book-selling chart. While I love dragons, and I probably would have got to this series eventually because of that, it wasn’t very high on my books-to-buy list. I only bought Fourth Wing after GdM team member Sally reviewed it. In her words, ‘high literature it is not, but it’s still the best book I’ve read all year.’ So, I started the first of The Empyrean Series over the Christmas Break of 2023 with no expectations other than there being dragons and a bit of fun – and promptly read both Fourth Wing and the second in the series Iron Flame in less than a week.

Here we are just over a year later, and with the release of Onyx Storm, I probably should have done a reread or at least found a summary because I did spend the first 100 pages of Onyx Storm trying to reacquaint myself with Yarros’ world. There are a lot of minor characters, their dragons, and the rider’s magical signets to remember, let alone recall everything that happened in the first two books. I was lost, and that somewhat hampered my reading enjoyment. Although there is a brief dramatis personae at the novel’s start, it’s frustrating to have to refer to it constantly, and there is no summary of previous events. Although authors do not have to provide a ‘story so far,’ it did feel like Yarros’ is relying on the obsession of a lot of her readers to carry this novel, and if you’re a reader not at that level, it gets a little muddled.

But having said that, once I had settled back in, my reading pace quickened, and I did enjoy reading Onyx Storm. It’s not the most highbrow of literature out there, but it is a fun read with many elements I enjoy. Firstly, the dragons. Dragons and bonded riders are a great combination with any military fantasy. These dragons, particularly the grumpy versus sunshine trope of elder dragon Tairn and the adolescent Andarna, are easily one of the best parts of this series. These dragons are deadly and have their own society of which their riders form a small part, so it was fascinating to learn more about them as Onyx Storm progressed.

Also, Yarros has created an intriguing setting with Basgiath War College and the training system dragons and riders must undergo. Although Onyx Storm focuses less on this and more on draconic warfare, certain elements shine through. In particular, the camaraderie between the squad members, even in hard times, is evident, and reminiscent of the bond that appears between those who go through military training together. It makes me wish that Yarros made The Empyrean Series more of an ensemble cast rather than focusing for the majority on the female and male main characters, shadow wielding Xaden and lightning wielding Violet. Much of the comic relief in Onyx Storm comes from their fellow dragon rider, Ridoc, and I would have preferred to see more from him and some of the other supporting characters.

Another aspect I liked is the balancing of the romance elements of Onyx Storm. “Romantasy” is a label chucked on so many books, and it is a sub-genre of fantasy that covers a range of very different novels. I won’t yuck on anyone’s yum, but I prefer more fantasy than romance in my books. This series is Yarros’ first foray into the world of fantasy, and I did worry that her wealth of experience as a romance writer would tip the scales towards this being more of a romance series. Even though Onyx Storm has some romantic elements, there are a few sex scenes, and the relationship between the two main characters is a key part of the plot – it is not the only part, and maybe not even the most critical plot element. Yarros even says in the novel that a rider’s ‘first priority – their first love – is their dragon.’ In my opinion, Onyx Storm and the other books in The Empyrean Series are firmly in the fantasy genre, with a bit of romance, making them much more enjoyable.

There is a shift in tone in Onyx Storm, and although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it grimdark or even dark fantasy, it is darker in its content than the previous novels in the series. This development is probably due to the series moving from focusing on training future combatants to Onyx Storm having much more “active duty” elements. Some of my most memorable parts of the books are good combat scenes and brutal moments. I also really like that Yarros’ as an author remembers that her characters need time to heal; she shows rehabilitation, grief, old wounds still causing problems, and Violet’s chronic pain is often referenced.

However, my favourite part of Onyx Storm has nothing to do with the content of Yarros’ novel. I love books; they’re my hobby. Fantasy books have always been my escape, bringing me much joy. Onyx Storm is one of those books that so many people are picking up, that it feels like I can share my hobby with others rather than my reading being a solo sport. There have been conversations about it in the GdM group chat, and I’ve had multiple friends and family members picking it up. If I were to draw a Ven diagram of the different circles of my life and the overlap that Onyx Storm has bought, it would be a spirograph. This doesn’t occur regularly, but it has been lovely to share this reading experience with them all.

Onyx Storm might not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I doubt it will end up being my best read of the year, but if you go into it expecting great dragons and some escapism, you won’t be disappointed. Plus, the intense following of an epic military dragon fantasy will hopefully allow other fantasy authors to break out, preferably with more dragons, which can only be a good thing for fantasy fans.

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INTERVIEW: Adrian Collins

Last Updated on January 29, 2025

With the first ten years of Grimdark Magazine behind us, years of evolution of what grimdark is under our belt, and exciting new things coming for our little publication, we sat down with the founder of Grimdark Magazine, Adrian Collins, to discuss what has come, what is, and what may be.

[GdM] Adrian, I think the best place to start is at the beginning. You are a lover of the written word, can you tell us how you came to love stories and which books inspired you growing up?

[AC] I’ve loved fantasy, science fiction, and history since I can remember being alive. Dad always had a little library of modern history books at home, which I devoured very young, and in that little library of books was a copy of The Hobbit, that, if memory serves, that cheeky bugger stole from his school library back when he was a little tacker. I still have it somewhere on my bookshelf, held together with masking tape, pages yellowed with use, and read more times than I can remember.

In my teens, I allowed myself to be made fun of by people I trusted in regard to my love of reading and writing fantasy stories, and for years I didn’t pick up a single book. When I was waiting at an airport to fly home bored out of my brain after a funeral one year in my early twenties, I spotted a book I loved the cover of. I picked it up on a whim. That book was The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. The rest, thereafter, is history.

[GdM] Aside from your love of books, what else do you spend time on? Do you have any hobbies?

[AC] Apart from GdM, reading, the ever-demanding day job, and spending time with Fiona and my little toothless doofus of a cat, there’s a few things I sink my time into.

I love training Muay Thai and have done so for over six years now. There’s just something about removing all thought about anything else than the form of your side kick, the snap of a well delivered elbow against a pad, and the one-on-one, tunnel-vision nature of sparring that helps me settle inside mentally and drown out the noise that is my BAU brain.

I also really enjoy collecting, ageing, and drinking barrel aged stouts and barley wines. If importing them from the States wasn’t such an expense, I’d need a much bigger apartment to live in! In general, I’m a big fan of the craft beer scene, and love hitting up a brewery for a couple of frothies and a chin wag with the people I enjoy hanging around.

Having grown up on a beach, I am also a mad-keen bodysurfer. One of the memories I hope I re-live on my death bed is carving across the 6-8ft faces of massive shore breakers at Waimea Bay in Hawaii, hearing the sound of the world cut out as the wave barrelled over, and that momentary sense of peace I got to have each time the wave closed out right before the hiss of spray shot up the barrel.

[GdM] Not many people know this, but you have also written stories. What made you want to transition from being a writer to being an editor?

[AC] In ln all honesty, my own hubris. I thought I was good enough to be published (I wasn’t) and I had convinced myself that the gatekeepers were holding me back (they weren’t). I started GdM because I wanted there to be a place where people who wrote stuff like I did would have a home for their stories.

I am also a major, major fan of origin stories, and often sought out the origin short stories of the characters from the books I loved to get to read more about them.

Merge the two together, and then mix with my career working as a mixture of a project manager, copywriter, and subject matter expert engager, and you have the foundation of this publication.

[GdM] Who are some of your heroes in the publishing industry, and what were some of the important lessons that you learned from them?

[AC] I have a few:

Shawn Speakman: For somebody who has gone through the horror of cancer—and within the US medical system—and made it out the other side, Shawn is an inspiration for the small publisher community. He’s built a cult-like following for Grim Oak Press. They’ve been around as long as I can remember being in this community, have showcased what impact Kickstarter can have on small publishing businesses, and produce gorgeous special editions.

Matt Holland: owner of The Broken Binding. If you’re chasing a better case study in branding, growth, and economy of scale to meet the price-point needs of the market, I think you’ll struggle to find one. The books Matt’s team are producing border on the ridiculous. The authors and publishers they partner with crossed with the investment in art and skill in production, all delivered at easily the most affordable special edition price point in the market—it’s really
hard to go wrong with them.

Ellen Datlow: In my eyes, Ellen is the premier anthologist on the planet, and I am fortunate to have met her three times, and to have been on a panel with her once (Conflux in Canberra Australia). Whenever I’m around her—especially while on a panel—I just want to get out my phone and record what she’s saying so I can spend time later properly deconstructing her knowledge and years of experience.

Geoff Brown: You may know the Australian-owned Cohesion Press from their world-famous SNAFU military horror / SF anthology series. You may also know them from the stories from those anthologies that Tim Miller (Deadpool, Secret Level) turned into episodes of Netflix’s Love, Death, and Robots. Again, another small business owner who has managed to bootstrap his small publisher to success—sometimes dragging the operation kicking and screaming to survival. Geoff’s story is a small business inspiration.

[GdM] How have you seen the grimdark scene evolve over the past decade? Did any of these changes surprise you?

[AC] The grimdark scene has been such an amazing community from day one. If you want a prime example of the way it has been since I joined it over a decade ago, just head to the Grimdark Fiction Readers and Writers Facebook group. On a platform where the greater majority of book groups seem to descend so quickly into anger and spam and trash, it remains a beacon of what those communities could be. Founded by Rob Matheny and now helmed by Phil Overby, it’s a welcoming, supportive, informative, and chill group that perfectly exemplifies the community I love being a part of.

Something I’ve enjoyed so much over the last decade is the diversification of stories. When I started GdM, I wanted grim and bloody stories, and my views on what I wanted, if we’re being reflectively honest about it, were probably quite narrow. Over the last 40 issues and ten years, the authors have sent my reading boundaries to the horizon in all the best ways, and the community who reads our work and buys our books have made their demands for more different stories quite clear.

[GdM] Are there stylistic differences and needs between the Australian, and the UK/US/Canada writing scene?

[AC] I think the Australian scene is a lot smaller than the UK and NA scenes. There are far less people here, so our communitie—irrespective of whatever you’re interested in—are always going to be a smaller scene. The benefit of that is that you get to spend lots of time with those people at Cons (something I really enjoy about the local Cons I attend). The negative side of that is that sometimes the Con runners sometimes struggle to get the volume of people (and revenue) required to get the international guests that you hope for (like you would at a WorldCon or FantasyCon).

I have mostly not gotten involved in the Con scene here, but there are two that I swear by as exemplars of what small Cons should be.  The first is ConFlux, held in Canberra, Australia. The community there is just bloody amazing, and I am looking at supporting them next year as a sponsor. AsylumFest in Beechworth Victoria is the other one. A horror-focussed Con, it is held in Australia’s most haunted location (Beechworth Asylum) in one of the coolest little country towns Australia has to offer.

I highly recommend both of them to anyone looking for an awesome little bookish getaway.

[GdM] What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the publishing industry today?

[AC] AI would be my first thing, but I have a bit of a left-of-field take on this. I think the reading community—the part of the market that rabidly follows authors and artists and publishers—have made a pretty strong statement on AI artistic creation. The Hollywood elite have thrown their weight behind it. Large authors are fighting for small authors. I think that, comparatively, the artistic creators are going to have a reasonable amount of safety in the coming years.

Where I worry for the publishing industry is everything around the art. The procurement and line editors. The designers. The publicists and marketers. The warehouse floor workers. The procurement managers. The distribution managers. The lawyers and accountants. All of those people behind the scene—in both a FT/PT employment and freelance manner—who make this industry work by taking relatively average pay (compared to what they could get elsewhere working similar roles) to work in an industry they love.

In the white-collar field, AI is going to have a devastating effect on people. The workers who refuse to work with AI will be the first to fall out of favour with employers. Then, when AI has learned to do the job of those who worked with AI to remain in employment, those workers will be the next to go. It’s just going to be far more economically viable to have a licence for a 24/7 worker than it is to deal with people. Less creative. Less innovative. But more reliable and certainly faster. I worry about what will happen to the publishing industry then, and I pray to the publishing gods that owners of publishers big and small focus on retaining people in all facets of this artistic industry over the coming years.

Without people—both the artists and the network of those who collaborate to help bring their creations to life—I think this industry dies a slow, horrible, stifling death.

[GdM] Could you tell us the origin story of Grimdark Magazine? When did the idea first nucleate in your mind, and how did you decide to take that idea and turn it into reality?

[AC] This magazine was born in my mate’s back room over a six pack of beer. He was working on a start-up consulting business and needed to practice running discovery sessions to help people set up businesses and brands. He asked me if I’d ever had an idea we could play with. That idea was Grimdark Magazine.

After that session I went home and started a costing spreadsheet to see how much money I’d need to put in to make this work for a year. I costed out a website, art costs, author fees, some marketing, etc. The number meant I’d be making financial sacrifices in mine and my (now) wife’s personal lives, but after some discussion, I decided to try it for 12 months to see what happened.

12 months in, I figured I may as well give it a second year. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Ten years down the track, here we are.

[GdM] Looking back over the past decade, what are some of your proudest achievements as Editor-in-Chief of Grimdark Magazine?

[AC] Firstly, the team we’ve built. I am so, so bloody fortunate that you and the wider team dedicate your time to GdM, and have done so for a decade. This place doesn’t exist without our leaders, our review team, our freelancers, and our fans. I just keep pinching myself that this is real.

Evil is a Matter of Perspective was a massive achievement for us, and really put us on the map. That was an experience—good and bad—that helped me understand publishing better while also getting to create something amazing.

I am also so excited about GdM#40 and #41. You’ve created something amazing, Beth. At the publishing of this interview, that issue #40 has outsold our previous most popular issues by a significant margin, and I can’t wait to see how #41 goes.

[GdM] What excites you the most about the future of Grimdark Magazine?

[AC] I am really excited about our novella line at the moment. With the success of In the Shadow of their Dying by Anna Smith Spark and Michael R. Fletcher, and the recent signings of Richard Swan (The Scour, October 2025) and Essa Hansen (Casthen Gain, July 2025), I am hoping that this is the product line that helps kick GdM to the next level of business, allowing me to facilitate the creation of more amazing books and magazines, and to pay more people more money.

This interview with Adrian Collins was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #41

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REVIEW: Discovery by J.A.J. Minton

It’s not often that I find myself lost for words when I come to write a review, but what J.A.J. Minton pulled off in their stupendously ambitious debut novel Discovery has honestly left me speechless. It’s an utterly captivating story with balls, teeth and tentacles that seamlessly blends post-apocalyptic mystery, cosmic horror, dystopian sci-fi, historical fiction, and dark folkloric urban fantasy into a tour de force of cutting-edge speculative fiction. 

Now, Discovery is one of those wonderfully weird and experimental novels that is quite simply unlike anything I have ever read before. What starts out in Tonga, 1992 as a deep-sea mystery broadcast gone wrong quickly escalates into a brutal and fungal-infused cosmic chess game that spans continents, eons, realms, and space. Throughout a masterfully crafted kaleidoscopic narrative spanning five distinct acts, which are broken up by the diary entries of a revolutionary computer scientist, we are introduced to a diverse cast of colourful and unforgettable characters who not only hold the fate of Earth, but the pure fabric of reality in their hands, whether they realise it or not; in other words, cue the Chaos.

And as crazy as that neat little one-paragraph summary might sound, it doesn’t even come close to conveying the brilliant madness that Minton (a.k.a. The Talking Story family) delivers in Discovery. This story doesn’t just push boundaries, but it boldly dances with the legacy of all that came before to create an altogether more mind-bending narrative. If you’ll indulge me in giving a weird metaphorical vibe-check for this book: imagine if you took all the best elements of Vandermeer’s Annihilation, Cixin Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past, David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Gaiman’s American Gods, and Lavalle’s The Ballad of Black Tom, put those in a blender, sprinkled some deliciously dark King vibes over it all, and then served this uniquely stomach-churning sundae of sublime storytelling with a few horrific Lovecraftian cherries on top; that’s the taste of Discovery for you.

If all that didn’t give it away, Discovery is a story that refuses to play by the rules and which isn’t afraid to make you feel uncomfortable. And I am not going to lie, there were moments during the first half of the novel that challenged me more than I was anticipating. Partly because the unconventional structure required quite a bit of blind trust in the process, partly because there’s quite a bit of esoteric big brain energy going on in some chapters (though never to the point of becoming pretentious), but most of all because I honestly don’t think I was prepared for the weight and impact of the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual journeys that these characters pulled me into.

See, Discovery is not just a character study, it’s a study of humanity and the narratives that connect us all and make up the threads of our existence. It unflinchingly examines what happens when faith, science, conspiracy theories, folklore, and the extra-terrestrial clash, and how humanity reacts when it is faced with their fear of the unknown. Seriously, Discovery contains layers of thematic depth that go deeper than the Mariana Trench, and its brutal yet effortlessly graceful exploration of mental health, cultural identity, evolution, artificial intelligence/life, generational trauma, parenthood, morality, and ethics just spoke to my soul in ways I was not ready for; this is a book with a pulse, and my heart was beating right along with it.

Though as weighty and heady and heavy as that all sounds, Discovery is also just a wickedly fun and entertaining wild ride. There’s a playfulness to Minton’s storytelling that kept me grounded and engaged throughout the increasingly complex and crazy plot, and I found myself chuckling at all the ludicrous events, funny character interactions, and killer lines of whip-smart dialogue more times than I’d like to admit. I mean, when you have a cast of characters including (but not limited to) an absolute ass-hat of a disgraced ex-game show host with a god complex, an enigmatic nun without faith, a snarky assistant with some addiction problems (my personal favourite), an ex(?)-Nazi with a foul mouth, and an interdimensional being with a flair for drama, you can expect some hysterical shenanigans to ensue.

In the hands of a lesser author, this challenging and slightly unhinged narrative could have easily crashed and burned so many times along the way, and I honestly think it all would not have worked so well if it wasn’t for the Minton family’s background in film and theatre. See, they are uniquely talented at vividly setting every scene, and the way that they distinguish between character voices and then breathe these vibrant characters to life just made the entire story unfold like a scarily realistic movie in my mind. As someone who heavily struggles to visualise while reading, Discovery offered a level of immersion that I have rarely had the pleasure of experiencing before, making this a reading journey that I will treasure forever more.

So yes, I may have struggled at some points, but if there was ever a book that rewards you a thousand fold if you give it the attention, patience, and trust that it deserves, it’s Discovery. This story just continued to zig whenever I expected it to zag, and the meticulous way that the narrative built and unravelled made me fall in love more and more with each new turn of the page. The entire final act was pure revelatory madness, pulling together all the previously assumed separate threads and giving answers to questions I didn’t even know I had, while also roping me in for the rest of the Strange Eons series in the most enticingly ominous way possible; forget the Sanderlanche, the Talking Story Tsunami is here to wipe you off your feet.

I will be the first to admit that this review is quite the hyperbolic gush fest, and yet my praise can never properly do justice to this marvellous masterpiece. The transcendental power of J.A.J. Minton’s imagination, prose and storytelling simply cannot be overstated, and the fact that this is only their debut leaves me with no doubt that their author journey is going to be legendary. So, if you like the sound of a wildly imaginative genre blending gem of a book that somehow manages to be extraordinarily alien yet deeply and relatable human at the same time, then I highly recommend diving into Discovery to discover its ground breaking storytelling genius on your own.

Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Discovery is scheduled for release on 15 May, 2025.

 

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REVIEW: A Pack of Wolves by P. L. Stuart

P.L. Stuart establishes himself as the heir apparent to George R.R. Martin with A Pack of Wolves, the fifth entry in his planned seven volume epic fantasy series, the Drowned Kingdom Saga. Inspired by the legend of Atlantis, the Drowned Kingdom Saga follows Prince Othrun as he establishes a new empire on foreign soil after losing his island kingdom to the depths of the sea. Othrun’s conquests are driven by more than personal glory: he considers himself on a divine mission to convert his new subjects to the monotheistic worship of his Single God.

The comparison to George R.R. Martin is not something I offer lightly. With his expansive and intricate worldbuilding, nuanced character development, and unputdownable story, the Drowned Kingdom Saga is a worthy successor to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.

Stuart includes a direct allusion to A Game of Thrones near the beginning of A Pack of Wolves: “True winter was coming. It was in the air. The kind of winter that froze one’s bones to the point they were afire.”

The contradiction inherent in this quote also serves as an appropriate metaphor for Othrun himself. Although he is a cold, despicable character in many ways, Othrun also burns with a fiery passion and surprising level of self-awareness.

Othrun is proving to be one of the most complex and well-realized protagonists in modern fantasy. He is adamant yet self-reflective, impulsive yet introspective. With a spectrum of morality encompassing every shade of gray, Othrun is a grimdark anti-hero on par with Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire and Jorg Ancrath from Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire series. Like Jorg, Othrun combines deeply evil tendencies with a glimmer of hope that points to an ultimate redemption arc. Othrun’s character has developed remarkably over the first five books. Despite his many persistent faults, I found Othrun to be a genuinely likeable and sympathetic character for much of A Pack of Wolves. 

Returning to my George R.R. Martin comparison: the publication of A Game of Thrones in 1996 set the template for epic grimdark fantasy with its innovative worldbuilding, complex political machinations, and deeply flawed yet well-realized cast of characters. P.L. Stuart embraces everything that made A Game of Thrones great while also putting his own innovative stamp on the subgenre. One of the qualities that strikes me most about the Drowned Kingdom Saga is that it doesn’t rely on violence for creating a genuine grimdark experience. Yes, there is plenty of action, and some of it is violent. But overall, Stuart opts for a more nuanced form of grimdark, focusing on Othrun’s moral dilemmas as elucidated through his inner monologue. Stuart’s portrayal of Othrun is a psychological tour de force that would make Fyodor Dostoevsky proud.

A Pack of Wolves has plenty of surprises in store for readers, especially in the latter part of the novel. Stuart kept me on the edge of my seat throughout, with several major revelations that completely transformed my view of Othrun and helped me to understand some of the more confounding plot elements from the previous volume, A Lion’s Pride. By the end, A Pack of Wolves builds up to the most epic and consequential battle thus far in the Drowned Kingdom Saga, a battle that will pit brother against brother and freedom against slavery.

Another highlight of A Pack of Wolves is Othrun’s son, Othrun the Younger, prince of Eastrealm and first in line to the throne. Othrun the Younger serves as narrator for much of the first part of the novel. I enjoyed getting to know him as he struggled with self doubt, viewing himself to be a poor replica of his father. A Pack of Wolves truly shines in showing both the contrast between the two Othruns and, ultimately, the love and respect they have for each other.

Altogether, A Pack of Wolves is P.L. Stuart’s finest literary achievement to date. The Drowned Kingdom Saga reminds me of why I first fell in love with epic fantasy, and I can think of no higher compliment than that.

This review of A Pack of Wolves was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #41

 

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INTERVIEW: Richard Swan

Last Updated on January 26, 2025

Richard Swan is the Sunday Times best-selling author of the Empire of the Wolf dark fantasy trilogy (The Justice of Kings, The Tyranny of Faith, and The Trials of Empire) and The Art of War space opera trilogy (Reclamation, The Ascendancy War, and Empire of the Fallen). He’s one of our favourite authors, creating dark worlds and incredible stories at a rather prolific rate, with characters and themes that grimdark fans love.

With the first book in his next trilogy, Grave Empire, set for release from Orbit next month, we sat down with Swan to better understand what has made him the author he is today.

[GdM] What novel helped you become who you are? And how?

[RS] The Ring of Five Dragons by Eric van Lustbader. It was the first proper adult fantasy I read. I came across it in our local bookshop when I was about 12 or so, a hefty tome six or seven hundred pages long. I think I understood about half of what was going on, but it was an electrifying experience. It was my first introduction to proper adult secondary world fantasy and a turning point / sliding doors moment in my life. A lot of my subsequent writing, and eventual writing career, can be traced back to that nexus.

[GdM] Do you recall anything in particular around how the introduction to that first proper adult secondary world fantasy created that sliding doors moment to change the course of who you would become as an author and a person? And what did that book lead you to read in the following years?

[RS] It was the marriage of science fiction and fantasy. From memory it’s about a secondary fantasy world that’s invaded by an interstellar empire, and the invaded are waiting for the return of their messiah. There’s a lot of different genre elements in play, including religion / mysticism; I’d read fantasy before then (Narnia, The Hobbit, other kids-oriented fantasy like Redwall) but the breadth of this world—to say nothing of the adult themes (violence, sex, profanity, etc), rewired my brain. After this it was straight on to Peter F. Hamilton’s the Night’s Dawn trilogy, which would probably lay the blueprint for how I approached writing forever—not just space opera, but the actual fundamentals of planning and writing a novel. For the rest of my teenage years it really was as much sci fi as I could get my hands on—Iain M Banks, more Hamilton, Dan Abnett, tons from the SF Masterworks series, tons of ALIENS expanded universe books and comics—the list is endless.

[GdM] Beyond the SF Masterworks collection, Both Banks and Hamiliton are now universally known as being some of the greatest and most influential writers that SFF has ever had. You mentioned Night’s Dawn, and the Culture series—what is it about the books that taught you how to approach writing?

[RS] For both of them it was all about structure. For PFH it was that classic multi-POV (sometimes multi-multi POV) epic space opera which I used to try and copy entirely when planning and writing my own sci fi in my teens. Something I’ve also always loved about Hamilton’s writing is that he never loses that dramatic human side to his writing; there’s as much almost telenovela drama in the Night’s Dawn Trilogy—lovers clashing, salacious goings-on, etc—as there is epic space combat and high tech, highly kinetic space warfare. For Banks it was both thematic and structural. I took a lot of cues from the GWOT paranoia that was so evident in Banks’ later Culture novels—good guys secretly doing bad things—but also the way he played with structure. Books like Walking on Glass, The Bridge, and Use of Weapons were absolutely crucial in showing me what it was possible to do with novel structure; things like parallel, inverted chronologies, ends that are beginnings that recontextualise everything you’ve read before, books that are essentially puzzles to be solved. The man really was a genius.

This interview with Richard Swan was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #41

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REVIEW: The Diplomacy of the Knife by C.M. Caplan

Lord have Mercy, I don’t know what type of dark alchemy happened in C.M. Caplan’s mind while writing The Diplomacy of the Knife, but this second instalment in the Four of Mercies series is absolutely batshit crazy in the best way possible. It’s bigger, better, darker, filthier, more complex, more gut wrenching, more deliciously deranged, and it just bleeds with a manic ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ energy that is honestly unparalleled; in other words, this is how you write one hell of a satisfying sequel!

“Sometimes an instant overhaul of the life you knew can feel like you’ve slipped into a world that runs on dream logic. You know what I mean? Like – how are you supposed to live with such a monumental shift? Sure, you want to hope for the best, but real solace usually lies in the comfort of despair.”

From the very first second back in Petre’s mind, I was utterly hooked and dangerously invested again. He hasn’t exactly been thriving since he reluctantly returned to his family estate at the start of The Fall Is All There Is, and with his new dangerous role in the royal household during an escalating war, life is not about to give our favourite autistic as fuck chaos queer a break any time soon. Get ready for a wild adventure full of danger, death, consequences, schemes, revelations, court intrigue, family drama, tenuous alliances, and all the most brutal back stabbings and betrayals. 

Now, I personally adored how Caplan captured Petre’s chaotic voice in book one through the intensely intimate first person narration, but I think they really stepped up their game in The Diplomacy of the Knife. Don’t get me wrong, Petre is still his quintessentially messy, dramatic, unreliable, neuro-spicy, and stupidly loud-mouthed self, but I personally felt like it was slightly less overwhelming to be in his headspace this time around. He starts to gain agency as he refuses to be a mere pawn in everyone else’s game of wits and schemes any longer, and soon we see a much more ruthlessly cunning and lethally sharp-witted side of him come out, even if he is still so, so disastrously far in over his head.

And it’s not just Petre’s stronger characterization and the sharper authorial voice that showcase how Caplan has honed their skills, but the plotting, pacing, and insane post-post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy world building (hello cyborg body horror madness and ships getting a heart attack) all got even better as well. Which is saying a lot, because the bar was set stupendously HIGH in The Fall Is All There Is, in my humble opinion. To me, the three-part structure of The Diplomacy of the Knife was executed to perfection, with each distinct part having its own intense climax (and some delicious climaxes of a different kind along the way, if you get my meaning) that brilliantly built the tension and stakes to a level that was honestly dangerous for my emotional wellbeing.

“It’s hard to believe you can win at something this huge – because if you commit to your belief there’s always a chance you’ll wind up holding the tatters of your dreams, wondering why you had ever been so sure.”

But maybe the biggest testament to Caplan’s skill as a storyteller is the fact that Petre’s strong voice somehow never even comes close to overshadowing the countless other colourful characters that make up the dynamic cast of this dramatic masterpiece. At its heart, this is a story about family and (childhood) trauma, and seeing just how far every single one of these unpredictable master manipulators was willing to go to protect or intentionally hurt the ones they (are supposed to) love constantly had me gasping in shock. Especially Anoïse, Mercedes, Lerane, and Avram really stole the show for me in The Diplomacy of the Knife, and I absolutely loved that we got so much time to dig even deeper into all the insanely complex interpersonal relationships that drive this narrative forward.

Seriously, this story rivals ASOIAF in its cutthroat political machinations and toxic family drama, and if you thought Tyrion Lannister’s trial in A Storm of Swords was iconic, then you better brace yourself for what Caplan has in store at the end of The Diplomacy of the Knife. And just between you and me, I think the Four of Mercies series is a thousand times more enjoyable to read than GRRM’s storytelling, because the level of snark, sarcasm, gallows humour, razor-sharp (sibling) banter, and the countless inappropriate thoughts/reactions had me snort-laughing the entire way through this unhinged trainwreck of a story.

“Great. Now I wanted to hit him, too. Where did he get the audacity to say things that were correct?”

What did not make me laugh, though, was that absolutely brutal gut punch of a cliffhanger that had me just about ready to throw the book across the room and hunt down Caplan for answers… the audacity! No but really, The Diplomacy of the Knife gave me everything I didn’t even know I needed from this sequel, and it’s just about as perfect as a book is going to get for my dark and twisted soul. So, if you are ready for an exceptionally inventive, diverse and genre-blendy feat of storytelling madness that will excite, delight, and freak you the fuck out with each new turn of the page, then I simply can’t recommend the Four of Mercies series highly enough.

Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Diplomacy of the Knife is scheduled for release on February 20th, 2025.

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