Now and then I
review a book or two that I’ve particularly enjoyed and it’s been a while since
I’ve done so. That’s not to say I haven’t read any books that haven’t been
worth reviewing lately, more so it’s an indication that I’ve been too lazy busy
to blog about them. However, that ends now, as here are a few books I wouldn’t
hesitate to recommend you read, they are all extremely good – and they are not
in any order of preference or anything, but perhaps just in order of being
read.
Joe Abercrombie’s
– The Red Country
I picked up this
hard-back book at BristolCon on Sat 20/10/2012 after stalking Joe in the bar
and he forced me (at banister-leg-point) to go and buy a copy so he could sign
it for me. I did so on the understanding that he would take a signed copy of my
‘The Empathy Effect’ off me. After much tears and gnashing of teeth, he agreed.
Here’s the review:
Joe Abercrombie must
do the best characterizations that I’ve ever read. They leap off the page, grab
you around the throat and, when you gasp in wonderment, slip down your open
mouth and lodge in your brain and I’m sure will remain there until the last
little grey cells you have wink out. The characters in The Red Country continue
this throughout the book, both new characters, and some very recognisable ones
too. Shy South is one of the new
characters and is the heroine of the story, a bloody and unwilling heroine much
like her stepfather Lamb, a giant of a man who has always been a quiet, perhaps
even a cowardly man in her eyes. However, when marauders raid Shy’s farm and
kidnap her younger brother and sister she and Lamb set off to The Far Country in
pursuit, and as they voyage together begin to realise that both have a dark
past that will have to be dragged into the light and utilized if they are ever
to liberate the two youngsters and return safely home.
The Red Country
takes place in the world that Joe’s created in his First Law Trilogy and many
of the characters that populated those stories pop up in this one, however, the
countryside and people of this part of his world seems more
western/frontier-like and it is a change from the fantasy world setting more usually
found in his stories. This was a book I’d
been waiting for in fevered anticipation and wasn’t disappointed with it. Great
stuff as usual.
Neal Asher’s –
Zero Point
Well, let me
come clean straight away, I’m an Asherite and proud of it. I must have read the
first book I picked up of Neal’s, ‘Gridlinked’, back in the early part of 2002
and got hooked by his world-building and giant space battles immediately. He’s
one of the few authors who’ll take the time to correspond with his fan base and
he and I have chewed the fat electronically for a number of years. He’s even
given me a tip or two when I’ve been stuck on my own writing and did a back-of-book
blurb for me on ‘Flames of Herakleitos’. Nevertheless that wouldn’t stop me from
being truthful about a book of his even if I thought it was rubbish (knowing
Neal he wouldn’t want it any other way) but I’ve yet to read anything of his
that I wouldn’t recommend to any aficionado of science fiction and Zero Point
is yet another that gets the brain matter working, the adrenaline pumping and
anticipation of his next book gnawing away at you.
Zero Point is
the second book of his Owner Trilogy and the follow up to The Departure and
really needs to be read after you’ve read the first book in the series. The
hero of the story is Alan Saul who, as the story progresses, becomes more and
more removed from humanity as his augments take him closer to an intelligence that
even he wonders could lead to madness, or strangely enough, perhaps to even a
god-like existence. The body count in Zero Point has to surpass everything else
Neal has written as the main bad guy (well, gal really) Serene Galahad, who
becomes the self-appointed ‘leader-of-the-world’, kills billions of Earth’s
Zero Asset citizens without blinking an eye. This is yet another of Neal’s
space opera action-fests, albeit set in another universe to his Polity series,
and I can’t wait to find out whether Earth will survive his vision of a
Margaret Thatcher taken to the nth degree of utter madness. Scary, fast,
fantastic!
Tim Lebbon’s –
Coldbrook
Coldbrook is
only the second novel I’ve read by Tim, the first being Echo City which I
thoroughly enjoyed. Coldbrook interested me as it is a tale of m-brane worlds
and zombies, and I’ve dabbled in both myself and was curious to see what he
would come up with and if I would enjoy his take on things. Well, his take on
things were hugely different to mine in his ideas of how zombies pass on the
affliction and the results thereof, and I was surprised and thrilled with how
he handled it. His idea of m-brane worlds however was very similar to what I
envisaged (and what seems to be the standard thinking on this principal) and
felt very familiar (and even possible) and got me thinking of a potential
zombie outbreak starting at the large hadron collider in CERN and how much time
we’d have before the first walking corpses got as far as Wales. It was great to
see Welsh protagonists and Welsh locations, even though the book is primarily
set in the USA. Tim, like me, lives in Wales and I think it’s his way of
tipping-the-hat to the principality.
Coldbrook is
both the facility in the USA and the name of the inventor, Bill Coldbrook, of
the ‘breach’ which is a gateway between branes that allows the protagonists of
the story to step through into an alternative Earth that is both one step, and
an infinity, away. However, it isn’t just a one-way system and not only can we
go through to the other side but things can come through into our reality and
no matter how many fail-safes are set in place to guard against contamination
it only takes one person to circumvent them to cause a catastrophe on a
world-wide scale. As you watch that one person you can’t help but shout at the
book, ‘don’t do it!’
Coldbrook can be
read as a standalone novel but I have a feeling Tim might be writing a sequel
to this, I hope he does, I’ll be buying it!
Ernest Cline’s –
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
was recommended to me by my nephew, Gary Harwood who is a computer games
designer and knowing that I am an MMORPG geek (albeit an ancient one) I would
probably enjoy this story, and boy was he right.
RPO is set in a
near-ruined world of 2044 when, after The Great Recession, the majority of
Earth’s population live lives online through a game called OASIS that is both immersive
and addictive, better-than-life.
The
owner/inventor of the game, James Halliday dies and in his will decides to leave
all his money (billions and billions) plus a controlling stake in Gregarious
Simulation Systems, his company, to whoever discovers an ‘easter-egg’ hidden
within the vast game itself. A group of like-minded players discover the first
of many clues and combine to solve the quest but discover that a huge
corporation, Innovative Online Industries, have employed thousands of employees
to play and find the prize for them first. The corporation has no scruples and
will do anything to win, will even commit murder, both in virtual reality and
in real life to achieve their goals. A fantastic, and highly page-turning
story. The only thing that lets it down is too much exposition in the beginning
but once past that you are in for a treat.
And that’s my
reviewing for a while. My next book to read will be Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Fractal Prince which is his follow up to his
excellent The Quantum Thief.
