‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ – Scott Lynch

Another story that can be found in the GRRM/Dozois ‘Rogues’ collection which I am loving so far (based on the stories I’ve dipped into).

I miss being able to sit down with a big, fat epic fantasy novel and get lost in it for hours at a time. Actually, no I don’t, not really. Reading a big fat epic fantasy novel usually means that I’m doing something horribly tedious, like a long commute, that I want to escape from and my life seems to be refreshingly free of things like that at the moment; that’s always a good thing and never to be sniffed at.

Having said all that though, I do miss the feeling of being able to get lost in that world, within the pages of a book, and have no idea where the time went when I surface. It’s a good job then that are short stories out there like ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’. While it’s by no means a story that will grip you for hours (it’s only forty pages long…) there is more than enough depth to the background to have the reader enthralled by life in Old Theradane. I read this story on the way to work, this morning, and there were stations that I literally didn’t notice the train stop at as I was too busy scoping out Prosperity Street with Amarelle Parathis, and her gang of rogues, or drinking in ‘The Sign of the Fallen Fire’. What an amazing pub by the way (made from the skeleton of a fallen dragon), just the description of a ‘Rise and Fall of Empires’ makes me wish that I drank in establishments like this rather than… well, the ones that I drink in (my living room, in front of the TV) This kind of detail, more than ably supplied by Lynch, is only a part of what makes ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ such an enjoyable read but it’s an incredibly important part. Lynch eases you into the story so smoothly that before you know, you’re caught up in the plot itself.

I’m not going to lie, if I was Amarelle I’d have gone for the last option first. If I was Amarelle however, ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ would have been about five pages long and incredibly dull so… It’s a good job that things worked out the way they did really :o) Amarelle and her gang are complete and utter rogues (definitely a good fit for this collection) and there’s enough humour here (in both the gang and the story itself) to get you behind the characters and rooting for a successful conclusion. It’s a foregone conclusion but that’s beside the point. The fun lies in getting there and there is a lot of fun to be had, take my word for it.

If you hadn’t guessed already, I came away from ‘A Year and a Day in Old Theradane’ with a real urge to tell everyone just how good it is and that you should all read it. I was also really glad that I chose to read it instead of  

Neil Gaiman’s ‘How the Marquis Got His Coat Back’ (one for another time perhaps). I noticed that Lynch has (or is developing) a habit of leaving his short stories open-ended so he can write more if they prove popular. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Amarelle and her friends. GRRM and Gardner Dozois – Any chance of a ‘Rogues 2’?

‘The Princess and the Queen’ – George R.R. Martin

A brief update from yesterday, I didn't get the job after all. Oh well, next time is the charm :o)

‘The Princess and the Queen’ can be found in the GRRM & Gardner Dozois collection ‘Dangerous Women’ and follows on from the events of ‘The Rogue Prince’ (which was reviewed over Here). Proof then that not getting round to reading things when they are published can actually work out very well indeed. Go me :o)

While I attempt to clear the decks for a big ol’ ‘ASOIAF’ re-read (looking very unlikely right now but stranger things have happened) it’s been nice to catch up on the world of Westeros by reading some of the shorter pieces. ‘The Princess and the Queen’ is one of the longer shorter pieces, weighing in at around eighty pages long which makes it a novella according to the front of the book. It recounts a Targaryen war of succession, a couple of hundred years before 'ASOIAF' and GRRM being GRRM, the story actually feels like it’s four or five times that many pages (at least); not only is there a lot happening but it’s all carried by a cast so long that (yet again) I developed a small headache, behind my left eye, trying to keep track of who was who. They pretty much all die by the end which made the headache even less worthwhile, I should have expected it really.

Find your way past the overpoweringly large cast though and ‘The Princess and the Queen’ becomes a treat of a read for fans who are starting to get itchy feet about ‘The Winds of Winter’. It has everything to it that the main series has, just condensed into a much smaller space. This can work for and against the plot; you don’t get much in the way of character development, for example, but they all seem to do a lot more. There isn’t that constant politicking (which you may or may not appreciate) but the story itself moves along at a brisk pace which, for me, really made up for it. Basically, have a think about what you like best about ‘ASOIAF’ and then be aware that there may not be enough room in ‘The Princess and the Queen’ for GRRM to go with it like he normally would. There is still a lot to get out of it though (the sheer scale of events depicted in such a short space is astonishing), not least of which is full on dragon warfare across Westeros.

To go from a world where there are only three half grown dragons to a world where the Dragon Pit in Kings Landing is full… It’s an amazing experience, especially when the dragons on both sides go at it in the skies above Westeros. We all knew that GRRM could write a mean battle sequence but what he does with the dragon fights is something else; you really get a feel for the brute impact of battles fought with tooth, claw and fire. GRRM doesn’t treat his dragons any better than his human characters; big players die when you least expect it and by the end of the tale you’re in no doubt that the ‘Dance of Dragons’ marks the passing of an age.

Definitely one for fans then but ‘The Princess and the Queen’ also feels like a good jumping on point for anyone who just watches ‘Game of Thrones’ and wants to know what GRRMs writing is like without getting into a multi-volume epic. Of course, that would currently mean you buying a massive anthology but, you know what I mean… ;o)

‘Promise of Blood’ – Brian McClellan (Orbit)

It's a bloody business overthrowing a king...
Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.

But when gods are involved...
Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should...

I read a lot of books in a lot of (sub)genres and love them all for the most part. You’ll soon hear about it if I don’t… Despite this, I’m still more than a little old school with my fantasy. Swords, spears and shields are all good but the second we move on to muskets and pistols then I’m not into it as much. If you’re wondering, I can just about put up with cannons ;o) I think this is the reason why the whole ‘flintlock fantasy’ thing passed me by; part of fantasy for me is people getting up close when fighting and you just don’t get that when your hero can pick someone off, from hundreds of yards away, with a rifle. So I didn’t read ‘Promise of Blood’ when it came out back in April last year (I didn’t read Django Wexler’s ‘The Thousand Names’ either so there you go) but the recent publication of ‘The Crimson Campaign’ prompted me to go back and give it a read (that and the fact that I still think Tamas looks like George Lucas, I really need to let that one go now).

The long and short of it? ‘Promise of Blood’ is the reason is why blog content here has been a bit spotty recently, when I haven’t been reading ‘Promise of Blood’ I’ve been thinking about what is going to happen next. Now I’ve finished ‘Promise of Blood’, I can’t wait to get home so I can pick up ‘The Crimson Campaign’ and get going all over again. Can you tell that I really enjoyed this book? I really did…?

How often have you read a fantasy novel where the plot to overthrow the King is foiled at the last minute? ‘Promise of Blood’ starts just after the point where that coup was successful. The King is about a day away from being executed; long live the reign of Field Marshal Tamas, a man doing the right thing but for reasons all his own… What you get then is a story where you can almost smell the blood right from the first page, a book where the risk of counter-revolution means that the stakes are high right from the first sentence. ‘Promise of Blood’ is a book that throws you right into the thick of a messy coup and leaves you wondering just how Tamas and his committee are going to sort it all out. That’s what kept me reading, the problems, that were laid up even more problems, that had to be solved in order to keep the country just ticking over; McClellan piles it all into the laps of several characters who may not be entirely likeable (I’m looking at you Tamas) but who believe in their convictions enough to make you want to get behind them.

Problems, and their solutions, frequently come in the form of pitched battles and gunfights which swept me up in a hail of bullets and blood; just the kind of battles that I like to read about. I still have a preference for swordplay in fantasy but the blend of magic here made for a refreshing change for me. McClellan pitches his battles just right and it’s all too easy to keep reading. And if that wasn’t enough there are two Gods in play as well; one is wrathful and wants to destroy Tamas’ country, the other… is an amazing cook… I’m looking forward to seeing how that particular confrontation plays out in future books.

‘Promise of Blood’ does suffer slightly from being the opening book in a trilogy; a lot of the sub-plots are relatively self-contained but I couldn’t get away from the feeling that events weren’t flowing into book two so much as they were being left hanging so you would have to read book two.  With everything else going on though, it’s incredibly easy to forget that and just be carried along on a wave of intrigue, magic and blood. ‘Promise of Blood’ is ultimately an awesome read and I’m looking forward to continuing with the trilogy.

‘Poison’ – Sarah Pinborough (Gollancz)

‘Take a wicked queen, a handsome prince, a beautiful princess and a poisoned apple…

and now read the true story of Snow White, told the way it always should have been…’

These days I’m a little loathe to pick up books promising to re-tell older tales, simply because I can never get away from the fact that I’ve already read it somewhere else. If I really want to re-read a book then I’ll go back to the original instead of reading a copy, a slight variation on the same theme. If it’s Sarah Pinborough telling the tale though, that’s a different matter entirely. I’ve read a few of Pinborough’s books now and have enjoyed the lot (just feel a bit sad that will be no more giant spider books…) so it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I’d read ‘Poison’. Now I want the next two books to hurry up and get themselves re-issued; partly because I want to find out what happened to the mouse and see whether Aladdin makes another appearance but mostly because Pinborough tells an enthralling tale and I want more of that. Right now, I’m really hard pressed to remember a time when I tore through two hundred pages of book so quickly.

Pinborough takes the original tale of Snow White and, well… doesn’t actually make any changes to the main plot for the most part. The game changer comes right at the end (and completely blew me away) but the rest of the plot is as you would expect to find it. Where Pinborough really shines though is in her treatment of the source material. ‘Poison’ isn’t so much a re-telling of ‘Snow White’ as it is a piece with a lot more depth and feeling than the original tale ever had. And a lot more darkness too; Pinborough clearly knows that there is a strong edge of darkness to the classic fairy tales and uses that here to good effect. I know I keep going on about Aladdin but he is a seriously scary and messed up little boy who I would hate to come across and that is what partly what ‘Poison’ is all about, that darkness in our lives which can lead us down some very strange paths.

‘Poison’ isn’t just about that though, it’s about why the Snow White tale happened the way that it did and Pinborough adds real emotion and depth to the relationship between Lilith and Snow White; a relationship based on misunderstandings and jealousy from both parties as well as Lilith trying to make herself feel secure as Queen by imposing order on Snow White. You can’t help but feel sorry for both women, both of whom have their faults but are stopped from making it work by being totally incompatible. The way it all plays out makes for a compelling yet bittersweet read.

Oh yes and there’s a lot of sex, emphasising the raw humanity of our characters (it’s the only way that they can connect with each other) whilst ensuring that I will never again be able to watch the final scenes of the Disney ‘Snow White’ without keeping a straight face.  And that damn Prince, I really hope he gets his in a book to come…

‘Poison’ has been on the shelves for a little while now and I suspect I must be one of the last people to read it. If you haven’t read it yet, don’t wait as long as I did. Read ‘Poison’ now and find out what ‘Snow White’ was really all about.

‘The Last Enchantment (Jesting with Chaos)’ – Michael Moorcock

I’m taking my own sweet time with ‘A Promise of Blood’, for the simple reason that is proving to be an awesome read and therefore to be savoured on the morning and evening commutes. Take it from me, if you haven’t read ‘A Promise of Blood’ then you need to do something about that sharpish. As far as the blog goes then, expect to see a few more short stories covered here in the meantime. Stories like Michael Moorcock’s ‘The Last Enchantment’ for instance.

Anyone looking to read ‘The Last Enchantment’ can find it in those old battered ‘Elric at the end of Time’ paperbacks, that can be found wherever there is an old second hand bookshop, or you can pick it up as part of the ‘To Rescue Tanelorn’ collection that Del Rey released a few years ago (2008, has it really been that long?) Either book will guarantee some good reading with the other stories sitting alongside ‘The Last Enchantment’.

The premise of ‘The Last Enchantment’ is simple; Elric is sent into a realm of Chaos (he really should have helped Slorg out instead of sending him to a horrible death) and must solve a seemingly impossible task if he is to escape the fate of being ‘forever conscious’. It’s no surprise that he does, we all know that a worse fate awaits Elric, but there is a clever twist to it that completely eluded me on first reading (it was my first couple of weeks at high school, I was more concerned with trying to find where my next class was) but really struck me with its elegance and simplicity this time round. What I really liked about ‘The Last Enchantment’ though wasn’t just the cruel atmosphere of Elric’s world, and the creatures that lurk within it (the Hungry Whisperers still make me shiver even now) but the fact that Elric immediately comes across as a bit of a bastard and unlike any other hero that you’re likely to meet. He’ll stand up to the Lords of Chaos but only if it suits him; Elric’s reaction to Slorg’s plight is to basically say, “sorry mate, this is nothing to do with me” and then ride on. A hero when the stakes are high but not someone to place your faith in concerning more mundane matters such as being chased by creatures that are going to eat you… Slightly uncomfortable reading then, if you like your heroes to be a bit more heroic, but I like characters that are open about who they are and the honesty here appealed to me.

‘The Last Enchantment’ isn’t an action filled piece (and the horror is only hinted at); what the reader has instead is a more thoughtful piece on the nature of Chaos and its limitations. Elric’s slightly mournful final words here hint at what humanity might just be capable of if it only realised. All of this is set against one of Moorcock’s surreal landscapes that are easy to get lost in yet has a cruel undertone to it, reminding the reader that perhaps the characters behave the way they do for a very good reason. A very slight read (only about eleven pages long) and very much to the point but as good a place as any other to start finding out what Elric is all about and why fate is so cruel to him…

‘The Hedge Knight’ – George R.R. Martin

While I’m catching up with the HBO series (two and a bit more seasons and I’ll be with you guys) and pondering whether to go for a ‘big ol’ re-read’ of ‘ASOIAF’ (will more than likely happen when I next have a long train journey to make) I’m mooching around my bookshelves, trying to get a little caught up some of the shorter pieces of Westeros fiction that GRRM has written. My thoughts on ‘The Rogue Prince’ went up at the end of April and at some point that will be followed by what I thought ‘The Princess and the Queen’ (still to be read). Today then is all about what lies in the middle and that is ‘The Hedge Knight’, first of the tales of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg.

I’m pretty sure the plan is that, eventually, you will be able to find all of Dunk and Egg’s adventures in one collection but that day is a way off yet (seeing that there’s at one novella, that I know of, still to be written). I found ‘The Hedge Knight’ in the Robert Silverberg edited ‘Legends’ collection, I don’t think it’s anywhere else.

Anyway… What is a lowly squire to do when his hedge knight master falls ill in the middle of nowhere, knights him and then promptly dies? If you’re Dunk, The first thing you do (after burying your master of course) is to head for the tourney you were going to originally. This time though, instead of supplying his master with fresh lances, Dunk plans to tilt a few lances himself and make enough prize money to find his own way (as a hedge knight) in the world. Simple, right? Not if you’re Dunk and have a habit of accidentally involving yourself in the affairs of the high and mighty…

It’s really interesting to read ‘The Hedge Knight’, after having read the ‘ASOIAF’ books, as you can’t help but ask yourself if Dunk’s actions indirectly lead to Robert Baratheon’s rebellion, a hundred years later, and everything that followed afterwards. I don’t want to give any spoilers away but that was all I could think of once I’d read the last page. Great foreshadowing by GRRM if that is the case, erm… a case of my reading too much into things if it isn’t!

Something to chew on then but what I really enjoyed about ‘The Hedge Knight’ was seeing Dunk (I’ll call him ‘Ser Duncan’ from hereon in) find his way in the world and how his efforts to stay true to an ideal of knighthood is not only tested but impacts on the lives of all around him. While politics, and plain old fashioned violence (as skilfully and brutally drawn as ever), play out during the course of the tourney, GRRM shows us that actually there is nothing more deadly than a naïve and virtuous man trying to do the right thing. It’s like ‘A Game of Thrones’ played out on a much smaller scale and by the end, Ser Duncan is faced with the choice of either continuing to forge his own path or to essentially become another piece in the game. Those of you who have read ‘The Hedge Knight’ already will know the decision that Ser Duncan takes and I think he made the right one, for him anyway.

I really enjoyed ‘The Hedge Knight’ (despite trying to get my head round what felt like a conveyor belt constantly churning out new knights, and where were the Starks?), a tale that initially felt like  a great way to dip my toes into the world of Westeros but then grew into something more; a very promising opening tale in the life of a man whom I hear has great things ahead of him.  

‘Sword in the Storm’ – David Gemmell (Corgi)

Born in the storm that doomed his father, Connavar grows to manhood among the mist-covered mountains of Caer Druagh, where the Rigante tribe dwell in harmony with the land and its gods.

But beyond the border, across the water, an evil force is gathering strength, an unstoppable force that will change the world beyond all recognition.

Haunted by malevolent spirits and hunted by evil men, Connavar sets out on a spectacular mission to save his people.

You know those times when all you want is a good story? Those times when you don’t want to think that hard, just to be entertained? We all have a ‘go-to’ author during those lean, comfort reading, times and my ‘go-to’ guy is David Gemmell. Often imitated but never bettered, in my opinion, as far as epic fantasy goes.

There are a few of his books that I still haven’t read and a lucky scratch card win (I have them, occasionally) meant that I could finally give ‘Sword in the Storm’ a go. And what an amazing read it was; I do a lot of my reading (okay, all of it) on the train these days and while reading ‘Sword in the Storm’ it felt like I wasn’t on the train at all, I was sharing Connovar’s personal journey through a land where everything is black or white (no shades of grey here, not really) yet richly coloured at the same time. ‘Sword in the Storm’ is the first book in Gemmell’s ‘Rigante’ series and I’d only read ‘Midnight Falcon’ up to this point; I can now see myself picking up the other two books in the series.

Gemmell’s trick, as a writer, is that he has one trick and he plays it damn well in every book he writes. The main character who becomes a hero to his people despite the internal (sometimes external) conflict that almost cripples him. There is a huge fight at the end of the book and our main lead becomes the man that he was always meant to be, someone very close to him will die during the final pages though and teach him that glory does not come without pain. That’s the way it goes in just about all of Gemmell’s books (the ones that I have read anyway) and you’d be forgiven for wondering why anyone would read essentially the same book over and over again.

The thing is, Gemmell believes what he is saying so much that you can’t help but get caught up in the joy he clearly feels when a character makes a perilous personal journey and ends up coming down on the right side of the moral line (no matter how many of his other characters have done exactly the same thin). This is very much the case with ‘Sword in the Storm’ and Connovar himself who is really put through the wringer by Gemmell. While the outcome is never in any doubt, you still can’t help but root for Connovar in the meantime; a charismatic young man whose worst enemy is the anger that lurks inside him. The reader feels his pain and shares his joy (tinged with a little sadness) when it eventually works out. It’s simple stuff yet incredibly effective when you’re the reader in the middle of it all.

Gemmell doesn’t just stop there though, giving us a beautiful backdrop where it’s all too easy to stop and stare at it. The lands of the Rigante are gorgeously drawn and not only does it give us something nice to look at (Gemmell perhaps dwells on the scenery for a little too long sometimes), it makes it very clear why Connovar feels that need to fight against his enemies and prepare for the coming of the Stone soldiers. When those fights inevitably happen Gemmell does the other thing that he is renowned for, giving his readers scenes that don’t shy away at all from the violence and horror of war. There is glory to be had but the cost is a heavy one to bear, it always is. Again though, it is incredibly easy to get lost in the crash of sword and shield; Gemmell writes a battle scene that flows easily, carrying the reader through the ebbs and flows of war.

‘Midnight Falcon’ used to be my favourite Gemmell novel but ‘Sword in the Storm’ is running it close after just one read. It’s a glorious, rousing read and just what I was after in my reading, not sure what to read next that could possibly come close.

‘The City’ – Stella Gemmell (Corgi)

Reading fiction should be fun, whatever the reason you’re doing it. If you’re not having fun then either you or the writer has gone seriously wrong somewhere down the line. There, I said it.

What reading fiction shouldn’t be like is having a tooth pulled out; a necessary evil that you have to endure for the promise of a positive outcome. You can tell that I’ve had a few teeth out in my time can’t you…? But yeah, reading any book should never be like having a tooth extracted, no matter how good it feels to finally reach the end of the process. You have probably guessed by now that my experience of ‘The City’ wasn’t an entirely positive one. Cast your eye over the blurb for a moment and then we’ll get into that experience a little more…

The City is ancient and vast and has been waging almost constant war for centuries. At its heart resides the emperor. Few have ever seen him. Those who have remember a man in his prime - and yet he should be very old. Some speculate that he is no longer human, others wonder if indeed he ever truly was. And a few have come to a desperate conclusion: that the only way to halt the emperor's unslakeable thirst for war is to end his unnaturally long life.
From the crumbling catacombs beneath the City where the poor struggle to stay alive to the blood-soaked fields of battle where so few heroes survive, these rebels emerge. Their hopes rest on one man. A man who was once the emperor's foremost general - a revered soldier who could lead an uprising and liberate a city, a man who was betrayed, imprisoned, tortured and is now believed to be dead...

On the face of it, ‘The City’ looks like it has everything it needs to be an engrossing fantasy novel. It’s clear that this is the target that it sets itself with a tale of intrigue and revenge that hovers around the edges of a wider war. Plenty of scope then for heroism and action, all set against the looming backdrop of a vast and ancient city. It all looks good and Gemmell clearly shows that she is control of her surroundings here, taking the reader through labyrinthine alleyways and sewers that almost literally ooze with atmosphere and intent. I’ve always been a sucker for a good fantasy cityscape and ‘The City’ certainly provides that with a backdrop that you can get lost in. That’s not all though, Gemmell populates the city with a cast of strong characters that are very easy to follow, even if you (and they) don’t know what is going on most of the time.

And that’s where ‘The City’ ultimately fell down for me because what we have here is a book where the reader, and the characters, don’t find out what’s going on until just over halfway through a seven hundred page book. That’s a lot of time to tag along on the promise that something good might happen but Gemmell had laid enough groundwork for me to assume that this would be the case. It was heavy going though with characters that are very readable but bogged down in a lot of unnecessary background history that you feel you have to wade through in order to get to the good stuff (hence the whole tooth pulling thing earlier).
What really got me though is that once you find out what is going on, you then have to wait almost half the rest of the book while things are built up for the finale; a finale that is over before you know it. While I could appreciate the irony of people ultimately fighting to preserve the status quo that they want to destroy, I wasn’t keen at all on having to wait almost seven hundred pages for something that was over so quickly. Imagine having that tooth pulled only to find out that you didn’t need it done after all… Yep, that’s how I was left feeling after reading ‘The City’.


‘The City’ has a lot of good things going for it but the execution of these ultimately fell short and left a lot to be desired (the pacing of the plot needs some serious work). It’s a real shame because the potential you can feel at the beginning is something else.

‘Tough Times All Over’ – Joe Abercrombie

Another day, another short story having its moment here on the blog. Joe Abercrombie is an author that I really need to be reading more of (well, start/finish ‘The Heroes’ anyway) and ‘Tough Times All Over’ seemed like as a good a place as any to find my way back in. In case you’re wondering; this is another story taken from the ‘Rogues’ anthology, a book that is already proving to be a handy book to dip in and out of on the daily commute. Seriously, if I didn't already have a copy I would buy ‘Rogues’ when it is published but any way…

‘Tough Times All Over’ tells the tale of the courier Carcolf and the somewhat circuitous route that one of her packages takes through the city of Sipani. I got into this story right away as, unlike GRRM’s contribution (reviewed further down the page), Abercrombie stuffs ‘Tough Times All Over’ chock full of rogues; you literally cannot read a single paragraph without tripping over a rogue up to something nefarious. It was because of this approach that I became well and truly absorbed in a tale full of thievery, daring escapades, well known characters making a return and at least one character that I would really love to see appear again. ‘Tough Times All Over’ is a glorious romp (with loads of surprises and twists, the story ends just before the flow of these becomes overly repetitious) and Abercrombie adds a human touch to the proceedings which means that the tale isn’t just a Technicolor piece of fluff. Rogues are roguish but there is always a very good reason, whether it’s because they’re in debt up to their eyeballs or they just like the thrill of being the best. A little bit of motive can go a long way and here it certainly does a fine job of fleshing characters and providing a hard edge to a fun tale.

On a day when London commuters are going through hell again (thanks for nothing RMT and TFL…) a story like ‘Tough Times All Over’ is a bit of a godsend. Thanks for that Mr Abercrombie!

‘The Rogue Prince, or, a King’s Brother’ – George R.R. Martin

A consideration of the early life, adventures, misdeeds, and marriages of Prince Daemon Targaryen, as set down by Archmaester Gyldayn of the Citadel of Oldtown.

  

Anyone looking to get a little extra fix of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ could do a lot worse than pick up the anthologies that GRRM edits with Gardner Dozois. I've still to read some (OK, most) of them but I know that GRRM has a rather welcome habit of popping ‘ASOIAF’ stories in these collections; usually right at the end.

With the forthcoming ‘Rogues’ anthology (I would have loved to have seen a ‘Rogue Squadron’ story here but can totally see why that didn't happen…) GRRM has given us a tale of the ‘Rogue Prince’ Daemon Targaryen and how his actions helped contribute to the tragic ‘Dance of Dragons’. I've got to say that Daemon doesn’t come across as particularly roguish in my eyes; sure there is a large amount of whoring and general dallying with royal cousins etc but the staid tones that GRRM has his narrator adopt rob Daemon’s actions of the kind of vibrancy that you would expect from a rogue. This isn't a story so much as it is a recounting of events and while there is a lot to recommend ‘The Rogue Prince’ the energy that it really needed to thrive just isn't there. GRRM also doesn't do himself any favours having Gyldayn question the veracity of the sources and introduce contradiction to the tales. Not only does Daemon come across as not particularly roguish but the reader is left wondering if certain things actually happened at all…

I get why GRRM took this approach and, when you look at the tale from its perspective as a historical text it’s an approach that works very well (posing the kind of questions that such a text would ask). It just doesn’t seem to work in the context of the collection that the story is a part of. Oh well…

That’s not to say that ‘The Rogue Prince’ doesn't work at all though. As a tale of dragons, courtly intrigue, a king who just wants a quiet life and knights hitting each other with big swords it’s an awesome read that I found myself really getting into. What I love most of all are the little details that open up GRRM’s world and leave you wanting to find out more. This time round it was mention of the Black Swan, a courtesan who rose to rule the city of Lys in all but name. Martin has a lot to finish off first but I’m hoping that one day, little asides like these will blossom into much longer works.

‘The Rogue Prince’ is an odd one then. While it has everything that makes GRRM’s work compelling reading it feels like it doesn't quite work as part of this anthology. Enjoy it for what it is though and I reckon you’ll be fine.

‘A Game of Thrones, The Graphic Novel – Vol. 2’ – Daniel Abraham, Tommy Patterson (Bantam)

After a long time away from this series, I find myself coming back to ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ with fresh interest. If it’s not the TV series, that I still need to get round to watching (buying the box set is only the first step) it’s the books on the shelf that are gently reminding me that it has been a while since I picked them up.

Given that I’ve developed a habit of falling asleep in the bath most evenings and I have other books that I’d like to read first, reading the graphic novels seemed like a good compromise. If you scroll down a bit, you’ll see what I thought of the first book; I read the second volume over Easter and it was as engaging a read as the first one. We all know the story already but here’s the blurb anyway, just in case you need to jog your memory a little. It was amazing how all the plot came flooding back to me, even though it’s been a long time (years) since I picked the first book up. But yeah, sorry, blurb…

The sweeping action moves from the icy north, where the bastard Jon Snow seeks to carve out a place for himself among bitter outcasts and hardened criminals sworn to service upon the Wall . . . to the decadent south and the capital city of King’s Landing, where Jon’s father, Lord Eddard Stark, serves as the Hand of King Robert Baratheon amid a nest of courtly vipers . . . to the barbarian lands across the Narrow Sea, where the young princess Daenerys Targaryen has found the unexpected in her forced marriage to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo: love—and with it, for the first time in her life, power.

Meanwhile, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister, accused by Lady Catelyn Stark of the attempted murder of her now-crippled youngest son, must call upon all his cunning and wit to survive when he is captured and imprisoned in the lofty dungeons of the Eyrie, where Lady Stark’s sister—a woman obsessed with vengeance against all Lannisters—rules. But Catelyn’s impulsive arrest of the Imp will set in motion a series of violent events whose outcome is fated to shake the world at the worst possible moment. For now is not the time for private feuds and bloodthirsty ambitions.

Winter is coming . . . and with it, terrors beyond imagining.

So, counting volume one that’s four hundred and eighty pages of graphic novel to get through two thirds of one book (although it could end up being more, I haven’t read the third volume yet). Not only am I interested to see how Abraham tackles later books (‘A Feast for Crows’ and ‘A Dance with Dragons’ in particular), if that is the intention, but I also find myself wondering how long a graphic novel adaptation of a series can be dragged out at this pace. Three, maybe four, graphic novels to a book; it will look great on the bookshelf but will people remain interested for that long? I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that score.

That’s one for the future though. Right now, we have a story that Daniel Abraham is handling with customary aplomb. He has a very good feel for what needs to stay in the book and what can be merely hinted at; the end result being a tightly plotted tale that takes in the original book as a whole. It could have been a rambling mess if Abraham had stuck to the book but he clearly appreciates the limitations of the graphic novel format and it really pays off.

All I wanted from Tommy Patterson, after reading volume one, was a little more variety in character’s facial expressions (he does everything else superbly). This is ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ after all, no-one really smiles here. I’m pleased to say that Patterson delivers here and captures just what events mean for the characters with some really touching expressions. If I can have more of that in volume three then I’ll be a happy man.

It’s hard to write anything about the actual story that hasn’t been said already but as far as the adaptation goes, Abraham and Patterson have got it spot on here with a book that really draws you into Martin’s world. The more I read these books, the more I want to go back and read the originals and that can’t be a bad thing at all.

‘A Game of Thrones, The Graphic Novel – Vol. 1’ – Daniel Abraham, Tommy Patterson (Bantam)

Every so often I come up against a review that is incredibly difficult to write and for any number of reasons;  a negative reading experience, trying to temper my positive feelings and be objective, really should be doing something far more productive… You know how it is.

I’d actually read this volume a couple of years ago but wanted to go back and revisit it before I got started on the next two volumes which have only come out fairly recently. And here’s the thing, I found that my opinions on the book hadn’t actually changed at all in those two years. Not one little bit. See what I mean about this being a hard one to write?

I wanted something posted here though (because I’m a bit of a completist at heart when it comes to reviewing series all in one place, that is going to come back and haunt me…) so I’m going to sum up what I thought with a few handy quotes from my review way back in 2012. The whole review is Here if you want it. This post isn't so much a review as it is confirmation of what I already thought in the first place, a placeholder if you like… ;o)

What Abraham does then is to take the more important moments in the book, dress these up with some of the minor details and present this to the reader as a fait accompli. It’s an approach that worked very well as far as I was concerned. I felt like I was getting a clearly defined tale that worked very well within the parameters of the format. There may have been plenty missing but it didn’t feel like there was anything missing out and that was the main thing for me.

It was also interesting to see that Abraham was able to do this by taking the focus off individual characters and merging everything into one ongoing tale rather than the approach that Martin himself takes (with each chapter devoted to one particular character). Maybe I’ve been out of the ‘Reading ASOIAF Game’ a little too long but things seemed to flow much more smoothly here with a story that gradually unfolds rather than jumping to and fro across continents and even timelines.

I suspect that Tommy Patterson’s artwork will come to grow on me more as the series progresses. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, Patterson really brings the world of Westeros to life (aided and abetted by Ivan Nunes’ colours) but the facial expressions he lends to his characters don’t seem to back up the whole ‘gritty, harsh and Machiavellian’ thing that Martin wants his reader to be a part of. It feels like they’re all smiling at the most inopportune times!  It’s a small complaint though and I think that, as the story progresses, Patterson should be more than up to conveying some of the darker moments to come.

I was up for the long haul two years ago and that’s still very much the case now, look for proper reviews of the next two volumes soon.

‘The Shapechanger’ – Robert Holdstock

I’m trying to ‘de-clutter’ my bookshelves at the moment. Don’t get me wrong; there is absolutely nothing wrong with bookshelves jammed full of books waiting to be discovered but my shelves feel a little bit daunting at the moment and I’m not down with that. I want my shelves to be welcoming places, with the promise of a good read to be had, and that’s not the case – hence the de-clutter. This means another trip to the micro-library up the road, tonight, but a happier consequence (in the meantime) is that I’ve started to find books that I had totally forgotten about; books like ‘The Bone Forest’, a collection of short stories by Robert Holdstock. By the way, isn't that a lovely cover? Grafton Books really used to put the effort in as far as that went, shame there isn't more like it these days...

I’d found this book in Plymouth a few years ago, just  after I’d read ‘Mythago Wood’ and was on a mission to read more of Holdstock’s stuff. As is the way with my reading intentions, this morning was the first time I’d actually opened the book… Better late than never and all that :o) I'll be revisiting this book every now and then; for today I thought I'd kick things off with 'The Shapechanger'...

On the surface, ‘The Shapechanger’ is about a case of demonic possession in 8^th century England, one that has transformed an entire village and trapped the sons of the village chief. The Wolfhead (some kind of Druid I’m thinking, maybe a little bit more as he claims to have been around for a few centuries) and his apprentice must do what they can to free the trapped men. As you read on though, ‘The Shapechanger’ becomes a whole lot more as it ties in to Holdstock’s wider ‘Mythago Wood’ cycle in a very interesting way. Without giving too much away, the whole concept behind ‘Mythago Wood’ is given a twist and we see how it might work in a different time entirely. I’d say it’s very well handled here; it’s not given away all at once (little clues are dropped here and there for the reader to reach their own conclusion) and it leaves you not only with a fresh look at the world of ‘Mythago Wood’ but you can’t help but wonder if the setting here was real at all. It’s thought provoking stuff in that respect. I couldn’t help but wish though that I’d re-read ‘Mythago World’ a little more recently as revisiting it would have helped me understand why certain characters were able to do what they did. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to have a re-read (maybe in time for when the new Fantasy Masterworks edition is published?), that’s not exactly a huge chore is it?

The other thing I liked was how much of a sense of history (going back into pre-history I think) Holdstock has managed to cram into just under thirty pages, mostly through the Wolfhead and his recounting of events that he has lived through. It really fleshes out the world and gives the reader a sense of having chanced upon something much bigger than a short story.

‘The Shapechanger’ has a sense of depth then that drew me in almost effortlessly. Not only that though, it has left me really thinking about what happened and what it might all mean. I wish more short stories could be like that. 

‘The Art of Ian Miller’ – Ian Miller & Tom Wyte (Titan Books)

I first came across Ian Miller’s work on the covers of Michael Scott-Rohan’s ‘The Winter of the World’ series back in the late eighties. Actually, that’s not quite true; the first time I came across Ian Miller’s work (although I didn’t realise it at the time) was on the front of the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook ‘The Citadel of Chaos’ (which I still need to read but anyway…) I guess what I’m trying to say here is that Ian Miller is one of those fantasy artists who has done a lot more work than you think; you’ve probably even seen his work and not realised it – like all that work he did for Games Workshop back in the day (late eighties again) that I didn’t realise was him until I read the back of this book.

‘The Art of Ian Miller’ has over three hundred pieces of artwork, spanning a career that is decades long, and is a book that I got lost in for what felt like hours the other night. Every single piece of artwork is full of detail that demands your full attention and is also full of ominous undertones that really capture the darkness in the worlds that Miller portrays; be it Gormenghast (I saw little hints of the ‘Winter of the World’ covers there), Lovecraft’s mythos or just the strange stuff that apparently goes on inside Miller’s head.

These are dark and dangerous worlds that Miller gives us a window into and he gives us some commentary on each piece at the same time. I got a lot out of the history of each piece but got a little lost when he started to explain the process of how each piece was created. If you’re really into your art then you’ll get a lot out of this; I on the other hand just like to look at the pictures and there is plenty of scope in this book to do just that.

For those who didn’t know it already, ‘The Art of Ian Miller’ clearly shows that Ian Miller has the imagination and skill to capture iconic moments of fantasy in just the way they were intended to be. Not only this though; Miller has more than a few dark visions of his own (those trees…) and it all makes for disturbing yet compelling viewing. If you get a chance, have a look for yourself.

'Heroes Die' - Matthew Woodring Stover (Del Rey, Orbit)

So that’s another book I can cross off the ‘Really Should Have Read Years Ago…’ list and about time too because ‘Heroes Die’ could easily be the best book I read  this year; right now I don’t see anything else coming close even though we’re only at the end of March. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Readers of my old blog will know that I've been reading the ‘Caine’ series entirely out of order; starting from book three and going on from there. In my defence, these books are difficult to come by over here so I figured that I’d pick up where I could and see where it went from there. I’d heard enough good things not to want to hang around… It’s fair to say that the results were mixed; ‘Caine Black Knife’ and ‘Caine’s Law’ are great books but it’s clear that you really need to have read from the beginning of the series to get the most out of them. So the other day then, I took ‘Heroes Die’ to work with me on the train and completely got lost in the world of Caine. Seriously, when I get home tonight I might just end up ignoring a whole load of jobs around the house (that really need doing…) and dive straight into ‘Blade of Tyshalle’ (I’m a firm believer in making up for lost time with books).  Have some blurb to kick things off…

Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana as the Blade of Tyshalle, Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, simply the best there is at what he does.

At home on Earth, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he is shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet--and bound to keep his rage in check.

But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife, Pallas Rill, has mysteriously disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her, he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds . . .

 Where do I start with ‘Heroes Die’? I’m still getting over the rush of five hundred odd pages of Caine’s controlled rage and desire to beat the system on two worlds so he can save his estranged wife… ‘Heroes Die’ is a book that will leave you gasping by the end (and at several points before that) with just how Caine does this. Caine is ferociously violent and has no compunctions about killing or destroying anything that comes between him and his goal (including a god-emperor who is actually trying to rule fairly and well). Caine is also ferociously intelligent though and ‘Heroes Die’ is about him realising this and using it to blindside everyone in a gripping finale. Stover has a habit of meandering with his prose at times (although you could argue this is a necessary approach given how important Caine’s perspective is to the plot) but it all comes together superbly right at the end, making you realise that the whole book is a lot leaner and tighter than you thought at first. There is a point to everything and, more often than not, there is also a point in everything as the body count rises. Stover generally focuses on the supporting cast here (I can think of dozens of soldiers, gang members and a torturers apprentice who wish that they’d stayed in bed instead of coming in to work) but that’s only so the death of a main player has even more impact when it happens. I was absolutely heartbroken (really, I was) when a certain character died.

In keeping with the theme of the book, Stover plays the Ankhanan scenes like a blockbuster film and so ‘Heroes Die’ is full of running battles and spectacular set pieces all tied together by Caine’s laconic commentary. It’s a little bit more than that though as the ‘Earth’ strand of the plot is also a commentary on capitalism gone mad and where it could ultimately lead our society. Hari Michaelson (Caine when he’s back on Earth) occupies quite a privileged position in this society, as an Actor who quests in Ankhana for the entertainment of the masses on Earth, so it’s interesting to see him rebel against it in the way that he does. A gilded cage is still a prison for some people I guess.

‘Heroes Die’ is a dark and brooding affair that explodes into bloody action at all the right moments. Quite frankly, it’s an awesome read that I would recommend to anyone who likes their fantasy dark and very grim (see what I did?)

Orbit publish all the ‘Caine’ books in the UK but only as eBooks so UK readers after a physical copy will have trawl Abebooks and places like that. It’s worth it though, it really is.

Graeme Is Comfort Reading (Again!), ‘The Briar King’ – Greg Keyes (Tor UK/Del Rey)

Because as awesome as 'Heroes Die' is... Bloody hell it's dark! :o) Anyway...

Has it really been almost ten years since I first read ‘The Briar King’? That’s a rhetorical question by the way so don’t feel like you have to answer that one ;o) Time always moves on but a good book will last forever; ‘The Briar King’ is very much one of those for me and has become a book that has a permanent home on my shelves, a book that I will come back and dip into every year or so (the first book that I went to after ‘reading burn out’ killed the old blog). An excellent series opener which makes it more of a shame that the series didn’t end well at all; more on that another time as and when I get round to reading the other three books. Let’s just say that I’ve always said that Keyes can’t end a series…

Here’s some blurb to get you started,

In the kingdom of Crotheny, two young girls play in the tangled gardens of the sacred city of the dead where, fleeing an imaginary attacker, they discover the unknown crypt of a legendary, ancestral queen. In the wilds of the forest, while investigating the mass slaughter of an innocent family, the king's forester comes face-to-face with a monstrous beast found only in folk tales and nightmares.

Meanwhile, travelling the same road, a scholarly young priest begins his education in the nature of the evil that festers just beneath the surface of a seemingly peaceful realm. For the royal family is facing a betrayal that only sorcery can accomplish. And now, for three beautiful sisters, for a young man elevated to knighthood, and for countless others, a darkness is emerging to shatter all that once seemed certain, familiar, and good.

Numerous separate destinies will become entangled as malevolent forces stalk the land -- and the Briar King, that primeval harbinger of death, has awakened from his slumber.

‘The Briar King’ is a book that has detailed world-building leaking from every paragraph; a little bit Fae but touching our own world just enough to give readers enough of a hook to get into it. The fact that this hook eventually amounts to nothing does nothing to lessen the impact of ‘The Briar King’ overall. You’re already in the middle of a world where humanity thinks it has won the war but is living on borrowed time, down to its own politicking as much as an ancient curse hanging over the land. It’s a world rich in detail that I still find myself getting lost in (Keyes’ descriptions of the kingdom of Crotheny are lush) and it’s also a world where the shadows under the trees not only have teeth but can hurt you just by looking at you. There is plenty to see here and that’s before the story itself kicks off.

The plot, it has to be said, is nothing new with an ancient prophecy steadily coming to fruition while rival kingdoms bicker and a young princess starts to slowly move towards her destiny. Heard it before? Yep me too. Keyes lays it all out very well with moments of action acting as dramatic punctuation to the politicking, and setting up tense cliff-hangers , but it’s nothing new. Where Keyes does shine though is with the characters acting all of this out. They’re quite simply a pleasure to spend time with (Cazio and z’Acatto in particular), being drawn so well that even after several re-reads I still find myself with heart in mouth reading about Aspar White and Winna being chased through the forest by… Well, you’ll have to read that for yourself.

It’s funny then that while ‘The Briar King’ is a long term comfort read (and highly recommended by me) the same cannot be said for the three books that follow it. Maybe the rot set into the series a little earlier than I’m prepared to admit; I suspect the cause is the world building lessening over time and the reader just being left with the plot to contend with. I don’t know, I’ll have to read on and find out all over again, it’s a good journey to take.

‘Half a King’ – Joe Abercrombie (Harper Voyager/Del Rey)

‘I swore an oath to be avenged on the killers of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath’
Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand.
Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.
Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.
But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy…

Joe Abercrombie must be the only writer I know who takes a sabbatical and ends up using it to write three more books; me must be approaching the same level of output as Brandon Sanderson, albeit with a hell of a lot more grit and (for my money) ultimately better written tales. Genre circles online have been all abuzz with talk of this new series; mostly because it’s by Joe Abercrombie but also because the series is aimed at the Young Adult market and that’s a departure from his fantasy novels which are most definitely adult in tone.
It’s been so long since I read a YA book that I couldn’t even tell you what the genre does anymore; I’ll admit to half formed ideas of Yarvi going to a new school and possibly falling in love with a vampire while his parents separate. See? I told you it had been a while. Despite this complete lack of knowledge, I was anticipating changes in Abercrombie’s plot delivery and was interested to see how it all ended up. Plus it’s a Joe Abercrombie book, of course I was going to read it.

Reading ‘Half a King’ then, I was surprised to see just how little of the delivery actually changes. The swearing isn’t there (no ‘shit’ here, it’s ‘soil’) but that’s about it; Abercrombie does pretty much the same thing he always does and the end result is pretty much the same as it always is (if it ain’t broke and all that..) ‘Half a King’ is a very engaging opening to a trilogy that is promising good things already.

‘Half a King’ is another ‘rites of passage/coming of age’ tale and what better place to test all those themes than in one of Abercrombie’s settings; a typically brutal world where might takes right and a relative will happily have you thrown out of a castle (shades of ‘Best Served Cold’ there) if he thinks it will advance his own ambitions. That’s Yarvi’s world and he has to make his way in it so he can fulfil his oath without dying first. You can see the ending coming (Yarvi is clearly going to be around for the next book at least) but what Abercrombie does with Yarvi in the meantime is what you end up staying to see.
Abercrombie strikes a fine balance with Yarvi, a young man up against it from the very start but with the brains to win through if he can think quicker than an axe swing. Yarvi is clearly quick on his feet but is also clearly a short term thinker; in a sense he has to be (his life depends on it) but Abercrombie also uses this to paint a vivid picture of a slightly bewildered teenager coming to grips with the fact that actions, and rashly sworn oaths, always have consequences. These consequences are what you would expect from a Joe Abercrombie novel, a very solid foundation then to build on what already looks like a very interesting character (and likeable too, not what I was expecting at all).

The story itself sometimes feels as linear as the route Yarvi and his friends take around the Shattered Sea (Abercrombie isn’t one for maps but does like to show readers his creation here) but it has enough twists and little cliff hangers for you not to worry about that too much. What I particularly enjoyed were the little clues that Abercrombie hides in plain sight which cast new light on the plot at just the right moment. Add in some brutal close combat and you have yourself a tale that I couldn’t get enough of. I couldn’t and now I’m eagerly anticipating ‘Half the World’, if only to see if Yarvi has learnt some lessons or not. Maybe he has but I suspect he will be learning some new ones.

‘Half a King’ is published at the beginning of July by Harper Voyager over here and Del Rey in the US. You’ve been looking at the US cover, by the way, as I couldn’t find a UK cover anywhere…

'Blood Song' - Anthony Ryan (Orbit)

We have fought battles that left more than a hundred corpses on the ground and not a word of it has ever been set down. The Order fights, but often it fights in shadow, without glory or reward. We have no banners.
Vaelin Al Sorna is the Sixth Order's newest recruit. Under their brutal training regime, he learns how to forge a blade, survive the wilds and kill a man quickly and quietly - all in the name of protecting the Realm and the Faith.
Now his skills will be put to the test. War is coming. Vaelin must draw upon the very essence of his strength and cunning if he is to survive the coming conflict. Yet as the world teeters on the edge of chaos, Vaelin will learn that the truth can cut deeper than any sword.

Maybe it’s the demands of an increasingly busy life; maybe it’s just the fact that hardbacks are cumbersome and I have never liked trade paperbacks (a pointless format if ever there was one), I am resigned to the fact that I will never be on top of the big releases in genre fiction. That’s the way it goes sometimes and it’s not as if there aren’t great bloggers out there with time to do just that (I read them all the time and get very jealous).
Anthony Ryan’s ‘Blood Song’ was a bit of a big deal, in blogging circles, when it was first self-published and then when Orbit took it on, repackaged it and then sent it out into the world again. I’m still interested to see how many extra copies of a book can be sold after it has done so well first time round (self-published) but that’s another story… ‘Blood Song’ passed me by in its first and second incarnations and I was determined not to miss out this time round. I spent the larger part of last week reading ‘Blood Song’ and it was time well spent to say the least. If you’re like me and haven’t got round to reading ‘Blood Song’ yet then I would totally recommend that you go and do just that.

At first glance, ‘Blood Song’ really didn’t look like it was going to last the pace with me. A boy taken in at a young age and trained to be a bad-ass killer by warrior monks who aren’t all that bad once you get to know them. I’ve read enough ‘rites of passage’ fantasy fiction to know when I see it and it was clear that ‘Blood Song’ wasn’t going to break any new ground.
It does though, at least a little bit. While most other authors will opt for playing safe with a young protagonist (let them get into a little bit of trouble but be on hand to bail them out) Ryan doesn’t do this with Vaelin at all. While Vaelin might well be a little too good to be true in terms of his physical prowess, never really threatened, Ryan is fully prepared to let Vaelin have his head and face the consequences of his decisions in future books. There’s an element of uncertainty then that has piqued my interest and the potential for more tough decisions to be faced, down the line, that I will be there for. Vaelin’s advancement follows all too familiar paths but it’s what you see Ryan doing behind the scenes that makes it work so well. I found Vaelin himself to be a very engaging character that I was rooting for throughout. A young man stuck in a situation not of his choosing and trying to do the right thing by himself and his Order, even when he has the opportunity to go back to his old life. Vaelin may have his darker moments, which also send the book off in new directions, but you can’t help but get behind a guy who has been abandoned and is trying to make his way in the world, no matter where it takes him…

I found that Ryan doesn’t really play with his tropes for the rest of the book but he does the familiar stuff so well that it’s a real pleasure to read. Vaelin’s world is one defined by warfare in all its forms and Ryan uses this to deliver a story where the politicking is as furious as what happens on the field of combat. If that wasn’t enough, there’s stuff brewing in the background that threatens to turn everything upside down… This is only the first book people! Ryan builds a strong sense of anticipation for what is to come and does it with an assured confidence in his own ability to deliver (that’s another reason why I will be back to see what happens next).

A fully realised world that doesn’t overshadow the actual plot, a plot that does its job admirably (whilst promising more to come) and action that stirs the blood whilst leaving you in no doubt about the brutal nature of the Sixth Order. There is nothing not to like about ‘Blood Song’ and I’m left hoping for more of the same from ‘The Tower Lord’(which isn't too ar away I think).

‘The Nights of Dreadful Silence’ – Glen Cook

I think I have all the Nightshade Books ‘Dread Empire’ series now (although I’ve been thinking that for a while now and new ones keep popping up…); I just need to work out the order that they go in. I’ll get back to you on that one…
While I steel myself for what looks like an absolutely massive series (seriously, have a look at these books on the shelf) I like to dip in and out of ‘An Empire Unacquainted With Defeat’; a collection of ‘Dread Empire’ tales that give you a pretty good idea of what the setting is all about. I’m growing to love short stories more and more by the way; a great way to get my reading ‘fix’ when my head isn’t up to something longer.

‘Nights of Dreadful Silence’ was the first ‘Dread Empire’ story published (way back in 1973, in the September issue of ‘Fantastic Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories’; you can read it Here if you like) and naturally seemed like the best place to start reading in this setting. The fact that it’s only eight pages long was also appealing. Like I said, my head isn’t quite up to longer books.

When Glen Cook writes fantasy he doesn’t mess around, preferring to just tell it how it is, and that’s ‘Nights of Dreadful Silence’ in a nutshell. A wizard is cheated out of his dues and enlists the help of an adventurer to get what is owed. That’s it and Cook clearly sees no need to embroider his tale at all, hence the brevity. It ends pretty much the way you would expect as well although there are hints that Bragi and Arisitithorn are not done yet. I’ll have to read more to find out as they bounced off each pretty well and I reckon they could easily do the same again.

What I found though is that this straightforward approach brings out a lot of humour that I don’t think you would notice otherwise. It’s not like Cook is cracking jokes either; it’s more the offhand remarks that a man on the battlefield might make to someone else. There is more than one kind of battlefield and Cook uses this to good effect with laconic observations that both Bragi and Arisitithorn come out with.
Not only that though, Cook’s observations of how people deal with the silence, cast on the city, are cause for a few wry chuckles at the very least.

‘From there, he watched amazedly as refugees dismally came out Itaskia’s gates and marched toward the boundaries of silence. He saw many a stout wife dragging her man toward where she could catch up on her backlog of nagging. Compulsive talkers shouted with glee when they were free of the curse and could once more bore their neighbors with tales of themselves.’

‘The Nights of Dreadful Silence’ is a little too short, and to the point, to be really engrossing but those little chuckles you find yourself having while reading make up for that to an extent. I for one wouldn’t mind more of that in Cook’s longer work…

‘Wolf of Sigmar’ – C.L. Werner (Black Library)

While ‘Blighted Empire’ had its flaws (scroll down a bit for my review or click Here if that seems too much like work for a Friday…) I had a lot of fun reading it and there was no doubt at all that I would be back for the final instalment. The series so far had been a good combination of an engaging storyline and a well realised world that is very easy to spend time. I have a feeling that if there were more Warhammer Fantasy books, I wouldn’t have time to read much else! Anyway, back to the book at hand.

It’s always a funny feeling to finish a series isn’t it? Something that you’ve invested a lot of your time in is suddenly gone and you’re left thinking, ‘oh, what now?’ There’s also that wrench where you have to leave that fictional setting for the last time (I know you can re-read but sometimes it isn’t quite the same second time round). I had all of that after I finished ‘Wolf of Sigmar’. Again, it’s not a perfect read but what it does do right is done very well and ‘Wolf of Sigmar’ is a fitting way to round off what has been a surprisingly good series.

Blurb you say? Here’s the blurb…

The Black Plague has done its work, and the ravaged Empire is ripe for the picking. As the dread armies of the skaven sweep across Sigmar's realm, each of the great cities looks to its own defence - except Middenheim. As he gathers warriors to his banner and liberates towns and villages from the verminous menace, Graf Mandred begins to embrace his destiny as the future leader of a united Empire - if he can survive the trials to come.

To be honest, ‘Wolf of Sigmar’ doesn’t do an awful lot that is different from ‘Blighted Empire’ and that isn’t such a bad thing in itself (if it works then you don’t really need to fix it do you?) He does make the same mistakes as he did in ‘Blighted Empire’ but the good stuff still balances things out. The main thing is that we’re approaching the finish line and Werner does a very good job of tying up all the loose ends. Where he leaves something hanging, you get the impression that it’s for dramatic affect and also because sometimes things don’t just come together all neatly; they drift until they’re so far away that there’s no point in recounting them. It’s an approach that works very well here as it really fleshes out the Old World setting and leaves you with the feeling that there are far reaching ramifications still to be seen. I like that and can’t help but hope, a little, that Werner revisits certain characters somewhere down the line.

The conflict with the Skaven is drawn as well as ever and the resulting battles are spectacular with Werner really making good use of the fiendish inventions that the rat men come up with. It’s stirring stuff but what I found to be more interesting though were the politics between the human factions and the journeys that several of the characters take. It’s a hard old world and Werner really puts his characters through the wringer if they are to have any chance to come out ahead of the game (and most of them don’t). Clergymen (albeit really brutal ones who you don’t want to mess with) will got to any lengths to ensure that no-one holds any power over them. Murder for political gain is commonplace and the villainous Kreyssig looks positively reasonable sometimes when you see what others are capable of. Werner is full of surprises here, the kind of surprises that make you wince and think, ‘did that really just happen…?’

Mandred’s journey is predictable but at the same time compelling to follow. Werner paints a really detailed picture of a self-aware young ruler tortured by his own base motives for pursuing a war that is righteous on the surface. The reader ends up really rooting for Mandred, a character for whom Werner saves some of the cruellest cuts of all.

If there’s one issue that I had with ‘Wolf of Sigmar’ it’s that Werner perhaps tries to tie up too much for one book; namely the pacification of an entire Empire. I get that it had to be done but Werner does it by dividing the book into two timelines which can be a little confusing at times and also robs the book of a little uncertainty that is needed to make sure that the reader’s attention is gripped solidly. Pay attention to those dates at the start of each chapter is all I’m saying here, learn from my mistakes! ;o)

It’s a small niggle though and ‘Wolf of Sigmar’ is ultimately a very solid ending to the trilogy. Warhammer fans will love it but I think there’s a lot here for the casual reader as well. I’m well behind with all the Gemmell Award business (should really pay more attention) but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if ‘Wolf of Sigmar’ was a nomination at some point; I reckon it would do well.