Trey Stone's Blog, page 34

Book Review: Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Second book in the PC Grant series, and I loved it as much as the first. You can read the review for that here, but the short of it is that PC Peter Grant discovers there’s magic in the world, and Peter becomes the first apprentice in ages.

Aaronovitch writes with a lot of British snark, humor, and a lot of culture. I used to live in the UK, and reading these books make me miss London (even though that wasn’t where I actually lived). The writing is fun, light, but serious and dark where it matters. When I reviewed book 1 I think I called it Harry Potter for adults, and that analogy still stands.

I love that the magic system is rooted in science (like, really rooted in science), and there’s so much history and culture throughout these books. You’ll learn a lot, and I enjoy learning, particularly history. Also, this book has more than it’s fair share of jazz, and though that’s not my genre of choice, I love that it revolved around music.

This book is both better and worse than the first one. It’s darker, doesn’t take as long to build up (’cause duh, it’s the second book), and there’s more stuff going on in general. The ‘case’ is more interesting overall, and I love that we get to learn more about the magic system and see PC Grant develop as a magician. At the same time, I didn’t care for the romance. Or well, let me rephrase: the romance is fine, I don’t mind that PC Grant has relationships, and it’s fun to see the character being fleshed out. (No pun intended). But I didn’t care for all the sex scenes. There’s a lot of them considering book 1 had none, so that’s a 100% influx in sex. Really felt like a very different kind of book, as if Aaronovitch suddenly decided he wanted to pull in a whole different kind of readers. I’m sure lots of people love it, I just felt like it was out of place.

The ending is really good, really, really good. Much better than book 1, and I can see me reading more of these books, but for the moment I don’t have any of them. Maybe when I have spare room on my TBR, in say… 40 years?

Highly recommended if you enjoy snappy British urban fantasy. … God I miss the UK.

Book Review: Dead Petals by Alan I’Anson

Gary and Fiona live a seemingly perfect life. Happy marriage, great home, wonderful jobs, they have it all, topped off with their perfect little daughter Charlotte, or Charley for short. With the only downside being that work is sometimes stressful, their lives are pretty great, and their biggest worry is Charley’s upcoming twelfth birthday. Everything is perfect.

Until the day Charley disappears from the park, possibly taken by a serial kidnapper and becoming the next in line of a string of missing girls. Gary and Fiona’s lives fall apart without their little girl, their social lives crumbling and their marriage rocked to the core with how their struggling to cope. No body is discovered as time moves on, and Gary’s life becomes reduced to sleepless nights and drunken days. But weird things start happening at the house, weird things that Gary can’t explain. Are they somehow related to Charley’s disappearance, and can they help Gary and Fiona to figure out what has happened?

First things first, absolutely excellent book. The cover is fantastic and I was hooked by that and the blurb from the beginning. I’m very happy to say that I wasn’t disappointed, and that this is one of the best thrillers/mysteries I’ve read in ages.

I’Anson writing is beautiful, strong, and captivating, if at sometimes a bit slow-paced and long-winded for my taste. But it has that slow burn, that delicately placed hint of something more that constantly strings you along, not giving you time to breathe. The setting and characters are elegantly crafted and I became so invested in these people’s lives that I couldn’t keep myself from wanting to figure out what the hell was going on.

It’s a family drama, gripping thriller, a tiny hint of romance, and a haunting mystery all at the same time. And it delivers, not pulling any punches.

I’ll say it again, an absolutely fantastic book, well worth a read.

Kudos to I’Anson for such a wonderful story. You can check out the author and his book here, and FYI, this is released for the first time today, so go get yourself a copy! You won’t be disappointed.

Book Review: The Dark Tower (VII) by Stephen King

And there we finally have it. The end. It’s over. Good bye.

I know there are two more books that were added later (one that comes before the first, and one between the fourth and fifth), but I haven’t read those yet. I might, at some point, but so far I’m happy with these.

For those of you who’ve been paying attention, I’ve read all the books now, (read reviews for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, here) and these are the first King books I’ve actually read. I feel like I’ve always been a fan of King though, through movies and reputation, but now I’ve actually read his words. And I… I don’t know what to say.

I love the series, I love the dark tower. Sometimes I’ve been more than frustrated with King’s writing, it’s sometimes slow, it’s definitely too long, and the whole of book 4 felt like a waste. (Book 1 and 4 are definitely my least favorite, but I did thoroughly enjoy the series.) At the same time, it’s kind of sad that it’s over, in a sense. Maybe because of the series and the books length, I was half-expecting it all to never end, but now it has, and I almost wish I’d never finished it just so they wouldn’t end. At least I have those two other books to read, right?

Book 7:

I don’t know how much I can tell you about book 7, other than that the Ka-tet comes together again finally, and we’re off to the tower. We’re finally heading to the tower. It’s a very good ending, even though I didn’t like (but we’ll get to that), and everything is finally answered. All the treads followed, all the problems solved. It’s all dealt with. At first I didn’t like the ending, because I didn’t think about it properly. I saw it as an end of a story instead of seeing it as the end of the road. Because it’s all about the road. The journey Roland, Eddie, Jake, and Susannah have traveled together is finally over, and I look back at it with a smile.

I wrote a post a while back about how I very seldomly re-read stuff. You can check that out here if you’d like, but I realized as I was finishing this book that I wanted to go back and start again. I’m not going to anytime soon, but I really am looking forward to going back, to going through it all again, together with them. Now that I’ve seen the end, now that I’ve been there, I want to walk down that road another time, trying not to take it for granted. I want to smell the roses again.

Stephen King:

I try to learn, when I read. I know a lot of authors say that they don’t read when they write because they don’t want to be influenced or lose their voice and style, but that’s not me. I’m not going to end up sounding like Stephen King over night, but I sure as hell want to pick up some tips and tricks here and there. In one sense we’re completely opposite. He writes extremely long, and I write very short (I try, I’m sorry). But we’re also similar (at least in my opinion), in that we both focus very much on our characters. It’s not really about the big action scenes, the massive battles, or the big hurrah, it’s the things that happen in between. That’s something I’ve noticed now that I’ve gotten very familiar with King’s writing, those long passages that drag the book out, it’s not the big scenes. It’s not the fight at the end, it’s the small stuff. He writes very much, about very little, and I think that’s why I keep up with it. That’s why I like it. Watching characters grow together, watching them bond, fight, break apart, and make up, that’s what’s so interesting.

I feel like I could keep going, wishing it wasn’t over but it is. I’m glad I started with this story when I decided to read King, and what a story it is. I highly recommend it, it’s not for nothing he calls it his Magnus Opus, and it’s very worth reading.

Looking forward to my next King adventure, which I think will be ‘IT’.

My First Guest Blog!

Instead of my usual stunts, this week I’ve been so lucky to be invited to guest blog with Gillian Barnes!

She’s doing a thing for the whole of April, where she has different authors come in every day, to write about their writing and talk about… well, whatever they want!

In my piece, I talk about why I write, how I write, and a bit about what I write. I think you should totally go check it out.

Find Gillian Barnes and my guest blog here, follow Gillian on Twitter @JustGBarnes, and be sure to check out her hashtag for the whole event: GBWritesWithOthers.

Book Review: Maderia’s Eclipse by Peter Woodrow

After the death of King Grifo and the fall of the Avaelian kingdom, former solider Elstan now makes his living as a mercenary. Accompanied by his friend Venutius, they rack up coin by taking care of the occasional Minotaur, ogre, wolf, troll, or vampire. But when a stranger in a small town gives Elstan a gold coin to meet with an elven noble for a secret mission, Elstan’s life is turned upside down.

Straight out the gate I was really gripped by this book. The writing is intricate and beautiful, but concise and to the point. The best of both worlds. Woodrow’s writing will excite you, but never bore. The pacing is also really good, I hate drawn-out books, but this moves with purpose and intent, while still stopping long enough to smell the flowers. Immediately I was reminded of The Witcher series, the lone mercenary, wandering around living off killing monsters and sharing adventures.

The plot is really good, the secret mission Elstan goes to do, how it plays out, how it connects to Elstan’s previous life and the bigger picture of the world we find ourselves in. It becomes bigger and bigger as we move through the book, at the same time becoming more serious and dangerous. I loved it, and the ending is terrific, if maybe a bit slow.

I really enjoyed the world-building, because it leaves a lot to be explained and desired. You don’t get a complete rundown, you don’t get everything served to you. You learn it. Through stories by today’s inhabitants of the world, by how they talk, what they wear. This makes it become much more alive, at least to me, because it’s so organic. No one is stopping in their tracks to tell you the great histories of this place, from A to Z, you have to pay attention and pick it up yourself.

I already mentioned The Witcher, but if I was to compare it to anything else, it’s a mix between The Hobbit and A Song of Ice and Fire; with the beautiful adventure of the first and the intricate, political thrills of the second. It is really one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a while, and I highly recommend it. Even with a few easily overlooked errors, it’s amazing.

Go check out Maderia’s Eclipse and Peter Woodrow.

 

 

Book Review: Reasons to Kill God by I.V. Olokita

Reasons to kill God follows war criminal and thought-to-be-dead Nazi, Klaus Hermann as he is taken to court after being caught by the authorities in South America. He is allowed, as a last meal kind of deal, to write down his life story before he is executed, and off we go.

We start with his escape from Germany before we arrive in South America, and from there we get insight into the rest of his adult life, the women he courts, the children he sires, how he lives, what he thinks and how he ends up being caught. It’s a good book, there’s definitely an exciting story here, but it’s not without issues.

The book has been translated to English and though I’m happy to forgive issues that arise during translation, I can’t really attribute them all to just that. The writing is often elegant and almost beautiful, but at times this falls completely through. It felt like there was a sudden change in style, almost as if there are two different authors.

There are far too many exclamation points as well as ones doubled with question marks which make the dialogue seem unnatural. I can deal with angry, shouting characters, but not constantly and not when asking normal, everyday questions. There’s also often a jump from scenes that are separate in time and space, without any paragraph or indication that these should be separate. There’s also no stylistic difference between dialogue and thought, which made it difficult to discern that some things are internal, until you get to the “he thought” at the end of a sentence. This often made me confused, having to backtrack.

Whole sequences of the book are about Klaus’ son when he’s off on his own, but the book is written in first-person from Klaus’ perspective so how does he know what happened to his son if he wasn’t there? It’s obviously written from an omniscient point of view, but this confused me for a while because I still thought we were seeing the story from Klaus’ perspective.

There’s a thrilling story to be found here and I quite liked the way it came together by the end. It makes you think, makes you wonder, as well as just entertaining you along the way. But it was at times a struggle to grasp it.

You can check out I.V. Olokita and Reasons To Kill God here.

Getting Feedback From My Editor

A week ago I got my work back from my editor (finally!) after three-four weeks of waiting. I could have kept my work for longer myself, but I sent it to them as soon as I was ready, happy to have it off my hands for a while. I spent the time reading and relaxing, writing casually on some other projects, and that time has been absolutely gold. But I knew I was getting close to my editor getting back to me, so I was getting anxious.

Let me just say this: I’m an indie author, meaning I’m self-published and that I pay for my editor out of my own pocket. I know a lot of indie authors don’t work with editors, and many people can’t afford it which I understand, but I absolutely recommend it.

So I get the email. At this point I’ve already decided that I’m going to look at the edits, do a once-over and then leave it for a while.

So I open the email. I’m pretty anxious at this point, feeling like I’m waiting for bad news. There are some initial comments in the body of the email. And… it’s not too bad. All very reasonable, all very manageable. Sweet, this is fine. I go to open the document. I’m ready for pain, punishment, whatever. But at the same time I’m hating this.

I open the document. I start scrolling. There’s thousands of notes in here, I can tell by using the editing tool, but there’s also thousands of words so that not really a big issue. I get through the first page, the first chapter. I keep going. I’m just looking them over, reading the notes, seeing what suggestions have been made, what the comments are saying. I start scrolling faster and faster.

It’s not bad. It’s not bad at all.

At first I’m super excited about this. Like, this is amazing, why was I worried? This is absolutely great! At the same time I’m questioning myself: why aren’t there more comments? There has to be something wrong with this?! It’s my writing after all, and it sucks.

I do what I promised myself. I close the document, send an email to my editor saying thanks, and then I leave it for a few days.

Those days have passed now, and I’ve started doing the editing. From top to bottom, I’m going through everything, considering every comment and alteration carefully. This isn’t going to be very difficult. I’m impressed, first with my editor, then with myself. It’s not too bad.

It’s not too bad.

I suppose that’s why I wanted to write this post. I’m highly skilled at bringing myself down and seeing the worst in myself. I was expecting my manuscript to be torn apart by hands more professional than my own. But I’ve looked them over, I’ve seen that most of it is minor things, grammatical things, small mistakes here and there, and easy ways to fix it. And that feeling of know that my writing isn’t too bad, has given me all the confidence I needed to carry on with this.

Book Review: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Harry Potter for adults.

I was recommended this book by a colleague, in fact I was given this and the next book in the series by them to read. I had never heard of these books before so I went in completely blind. And I loved it.

The book follows Probationary Constable Peter Grant who when taking witness statements after a murder in the streets of London, accidentally interviews a ghost. At first he doesn’t know what to believe, but then again, he talked to the ghost himself and eventually Peter is dragged in to a world of ghosts, magic, and the unbelievable. He meets Thomas Nightingale and quickly become and apprentice wizard.

Aaronovitch’s writing is fun, light, intelligent, and highly entertaining, and this has to be the most British thing I’ve ever read. I lived in the UK in 5 years and though I wouldn’t say I know London by heart, I loved picking up all the little pieces of culture, geography and references I recognized. It took me back.

At first I was a bit annoyed at how chatty the book is. It often goes out on a tangent, rambling about something before getting back to the point and continuing on with the story and it was draining at first. Until I got really into it, then it was just hilarious.

The book is very serious, even though it’s light and fun, and I really liked the way the magic system was created. I won’t say too much, but there’s no waving of wands, instead it’s deeply rooted in history, science, and Latin. It’s not without reason I say that this is Harry Potter for adults. There’s an amazing sense of wonder in discovering a new layer of a city, a hidden world that you haven’t seen before but has always been there right before your eyes. I love that kind of stuff.

The ending fell a bit short I thought, feeling like the build up and the development of the characters was much more interesting than what actually happened plot-wise by the end. But that might just be me.

I’ve already started the second book in the series and if you’re looking for a funny, grown-up urban fantasy book that will take you on a magical tour through London and the heart of England, you’ll absolutely love this.

 

Book Review: Cold Betrayal by A.J. McCarthy

A woman lost in Quebec, taken in by a mysterious owner of a cabin in the woods, followed by strange people.

It’s obvious that Tori is in trouble, and when she stumbles onto Ben in the woods outside Quebec she’s very thankful for his help but she refuses to tell him anything. In the same way, Ben is reserved about himself and his past; is he really as helpful as Tori thinks?

Why is Tori in Quebec, who’s after her, and who are going to reveal themselves to be on Tori’s side?

First of all, this is an absolutely amazing mystery thriller and especially the beginning is so strong. I usually don’t care very much whether a book pulls me in straight away or not; I’ll keep reading until it becomes good and I very rarely don’t finish books, but I’m happy to say this really caught me early on. There’s so much going on but we know so very little about it and it’s so incredible captivating.

But it’s not just the beginning that’s good, the whole book is, and the way it’s built up with slow drips of information, twisting and turning constantly got me hooked. I finished the last 75% of the book in one sitting; it got to the point where I was reading it in the gym.

McCarthy as made a brilliant effort setting the scene, as I’ve mentioned above the book is set in Quebec and I’ve been there, and there’s so many things I recognized and remembered from my trip after reading this book. It’s beautiful.

As is McCarthy’s writing. Her use of language is poetic and visual but not to the point where it becomes tedious or dull and you want to jump ahead. That’s probably my biggest pet peeve in books, they either get too slow or too long  or both, and it kills them. Not this book though. This is just on the edge of perfect.

There’s a romantic subplot and romantic undertones for those who like that. It certainly helps build the characters, upping the risk, the stakes, and the danger.

I was maybe a bit disappointed with the end, because I was fairly sure I guessed it from almost the beginning and it turned out that I was right. Not that it mattered much in the big scheme of things, but I liked to be surprised.

Regardless, this books is amazing judging by how fast I read it, and I’d recommend it to anyone who was looking for a great Canadian mystery thriller.

Give it a go.

Plantsing My Way Through Books

Some people plot, meaning they plan their novels before they write them (also called outlining). On the other hand, some people (like me), don’t. We pants (meaning someone who ‘flies by the seat of their pants’) and have no plan at all, or at least not to the same degree as a plotter. This is also called discovery writing, (which is what I used to call it long before I heard of the pantsing term).

So I don’t plot. Or well I do. I don’t make an outline though. Or well kind of. I make an overview. One single document, detailing the basic plot, some of the characters, what’s going to happen and maybe why. This document might have notes to myself, ideas about names for characters, or big underlined warnings (DON’T DO THIS!). I hesitate to call it an outline because I don’t really use it when I write. It just an overview I create before I start pantsing. When I’m ready for the story, I’ve been adding so many bits and pieces to my overview that I know where to take it in a sense – even though I don’t.

If I get stuck, and I mean really stuck, I’ll have a look at the overview. Try and figure out what I was thinking, where I was going with something. It doesn’t always help, so most of the time I just pants myself out of it.

I should mention that even though I pants, I have plans to outline a future novel. Like properly outline, and I’ve been looking at the snowflake method. But I haven’t tried it yet, not properly.

The great thing about my overview approach is that I can slowly build a pretty huge “outline” for a future book. I currently have 24 books planned, and I intend to write them all in order, (even though I’ve already written a first draft for no. 14). So whenever I get a new idea that could suit one of the stories, I write it down in my phone, take it home, and fill in the relevant overview. When I eventually get around to starting that particular story, I’ll have a big stack of ideas and plans for it ready to go.

In one sense, I’ll automatically become more and more of a plotter. Because the books I write first will have less time to stew compared to those coming after, the later books will be more outlined and the first ones will be more pantsed. (Yes, it’s a word.)

I’m looking forward to see what this will do to my writing. I know that I’m very excited to write some of the books that have begun to accumulate lots of ideas, so as far as I know, this method works well for me.