andygraham

I’m not really sure where to start with this book.

It’s monstrous. In the best possibly way.

Did I like it?

Yes, absolutely. I’m half-way through the sequel already.

Is it easy to follow?

Yes & no.

The plot is the yes. Essentially, the military create ‘vampires’ by unearthing a long-lost disease. (I’m not sure if paleovirology is a thing but it sounds cool.) The army think they can control their subjects and the disease. Yeah. You got it. Guess what happens…

The no? That’s twofold: the cast of characters & the massive time jump about a third in.

I mentioned in a recent review of ‘Salem’s Lot how I was struggling to keep track of a town’s worth of people. (I’ll leave the comparison of Justin Cronin’s style to Stephen King to other people.*) I have the same numbers issue here. Except a lot of the people in The Passage are related and have similar names. There came a point where I had to roll with it and think that maybe character X was Y or possibly Z or actually Q’s sister in disguise as TBWJzjsi7aaQ’s brother. Kind of. And that’s before we add in first names and surnames and nicknames…

And the time jump? Did I mention that?

The book is essentially a long prequel and main story. The prequel sets the scene – where the virus is from, how it’s released into the wild and so on. The story then skips approx. 100 years into the future to a band of survivors in the ‘Colony’. It was a big break and left a lot of questions about certain initial characters unanswered, people I was ‘invested’ in. There were moments when I felt almost cheated by not knowing what had happened to them. As I struggled with the vast secondary cast, I occasionally felt I was reading purely to see what happened to the original people. Some of my questions are kind of addressed later on, but there’s a long wait for those half-answers.

Otherwise…

The story is incredibly well-written. There are moments of poetic prose interspersed with sections that are brutally simple. The nastiness within the novel was the latter: it’s clean. There were no lengthy descriptions of monsters dripping in adjectives and doing things adverbily to their overly-described victims. The scare was all the more powerful for that.

Partly because of the quality of the writing, there were a few places were the story seemed to jump, almost like a stylus on a record. A motive that I didn’t get. An action that made no sense. A monster’s inability to do something which I thought they could. I’d be hard pressed to tell you what those moments were now, but I remember them jarring.

To wrap up…

For those interested in apocalyptic thrillers, there are a lot of staples here: the hunt for food/ weapons/ safety & surviving government f**k ups. (We’re due a major one at the moment, surely…) Then there’s the banding together of the people who have fled the relative safety of their home and the resourcefulness they need to survive. It’s well done and there’s enough realism, hard luck and fortune to keep it interesting.

For those interested in ‘vampires’ (‘virals’). You’ve got it all. With a twist. References to crosses, mirrors (reflections), hanging upside down, blood and so on.

Would I have changed anything? Yes. Filling in the gap between section one & two. Book two addresses some of that time lag (brilliantly) and it’s nice to see some of the pieces slotting into places, but I think I’d still have preferred the story in order. By the time I get to the end of the trilogy, I may have different view.

All in all – a great read.

You can pick up a copy of The Passage here.

Andy

*They’re right.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

I read this book exactly a year ago. I wrote a review then, too. ‘Bout time I posted it…

Heard of The Grey Bastards (TGB)? Nope? Well, here’s a bullet-point review.

• Don’t like frequent swearing? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like violence? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like books where nasty things happen? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like books with multiple characters? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like plots that twist and turn but somehow come out making sense? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like sex scenes and/ or sexual references? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like a sense of humour which ranges from clever to crude to banter to juvenile? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like magic? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like disturbing, skin-crawling (literally in some cases) events? Don’t read this book.
• Don’t like orcs or whores or shaven-headed elves or mad centaurs or devious humans and power-crazed wizards? Don’t read this book.
• Do like all this stuff? Go read this book.

Now for the wordy version…

The Grey Bastards is nice twist on the classic coming-of-age tale. In this case our protagonist is not a human but a half-orc. The book follows Jackal and his friends as they struggle to deal with the fate of their home and their ‘hoof’ against a multitude of enemies and, in some cases, friends.

The novel has plenty of twists and mashes up dark fantasy/ epic fantasy/ cowboy stories (cow-orcs?) and murder-mystery-suspense tropes. Friendships become enemies and enemies become allies. Those partnerships are made and broken seemingly from page to page. This, plus short chapters, makes for a fast-paced novel which is very easy to keep reading.

That pace, paradoxically, was one of the things that I found a little wearing at around the three-quarter mark. Ending each chapter on a cliff-hanger is a very effective way to keep people reading but I find it grates if used too much.

The other thing that niggled was the main character: Jackal. He’s nice. There were some utter reprobates amongst the ‘mongrels’, but Jackal and his friends are the half-orcish equivalent of whores with a heart of gold (who also crop up in this book). Jackal always strives to do the right thing and is always prepared to make the required sacrifice. I would have preferred him to be a bit more, well, orcish I guess. (Or human, depending on your view of humanity…) Jackal almost always gets the lucky escape, too – something else that I would have liked to vary a little more. Despite that, he is a solid main character and develops well, as evident by his role in his own fate.

My last mini-gripe would be to tone down the descriptions. Most of the prose is great and suits the book perfectly, but there are a few places where it felt forced.

I feel churlish pointing a lot of this stuff out as it is a very good book. Any fans of grimdark or dark fantasy will enjoy TGB. There are a lot of genre staples here dealt with in a refreshing way e.g. flipping the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ from human to orc, the centaurs, elves and wizards, etc. I particularly like the way the author manages the half-orc world: from the reason for the hoofs and their existence (that’s a great plot twist), their hierarchy and names, the hogs (I want one!), to their levels of orcishness: frailing/ half-orc/ thrice/ thick.

The other impressive feature is how it all comes together at the end. There are so many reversals of fortunes and loyalties and reasonings along the way, that I wondered at one point how the author would tie it all in. He does, and the book ends with a satisfying conclusion. It also leaves enough teasers dangling for book two – which has recently been released and looks as good as the first.

In conclusion, The Grey Bastards is well worth your time. But this recommendation comes with one final warning…

• Don’t like the word c**t? DON’T READ THIS BOOK!

You can pick up a copy here.

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

There’s a belief amongst some musicians that the notes that you don’t play are as important as the ones you do. It might be fun to play more more more (with your amp cranked to 11), but space is important. You have to let the music breath. The same thing applies to books: what’s left off the page is important as what finds its way onto it.

This collection of short stories is a classic example of that principle. There are no wallowing descriptions that suck the life out of the plot. Kormak, his friends and enemies, and the world they live and die in are not served up with lashings of adjectives and adverbs. The text is clean.

It’s an approach to writing common to a lot of great books I have read recently: Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, The Road. It’s a stark contrast to some less experienced authors (*coughs and looks at feet*) who have a tendency to choke their story with words. (Even if some of those words do go up to 11.) I don’t want an author to spoon feed me their imagination, I’d rather fill in the gaps myself.

From that perspective, these short stories are worth reading. The sparse descriptions are effective and a good reference for authors looking to improve what they do.

One of the stories that features.

But what’s the book about?

It’s a collection of old school sword-and-sorcery stories featuring a world-weary protagonist, Kormak, who fights and thinks his way through a series of ever more fantastic encounters. There are a few unpleasant twists; there’s a dash of humour. The setting is well-fleshed out with a rich history, which stands to reason given the author’s experience and the amount of time he has been writing in this world. They’re a good read. They’re an easy read, too. (I mean that positively.) But, one of the things I really liked about these stories is that they’re short.

I love a good epic as much as the next reader but I also enjoy shorter formats. Especially for a slow(ish) reader such as me, there’s something satisfying about finishing a book in an evening or two. And in fantasy (AKA The Genre of Escalating Page Counts), quality short stories are a rare beast.

In summary, if you’re into dark fiction & fantasy, the stories are worth your time. They work on their own and also serve as a good introduction to the longer Kormak books.

Here’s the catch.

I’m not sure where to get hold of this collection online.

I got my copy as a subscriber to Bill King’s newsletter. I’m not sure if this particular offer will come around again. At present, he is offering a free omnibus of full-length Kormak novels on his website.

You’ll need to sign up to his readers’ group to claim it (here), but he writes great newsletters, too. Descriptive and to the point. Like Kormak.

To finish, I’ll quote Mr King himself:

‘As always, thanks for your time.’

Andy

You can read more about the man behind the words here.

One Book Interview #13 – William King (Author)

Please note I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon sites.

I keep promising more reviews. I rarely live up to that promise. (They seem to take me so long to write.) This week, however, is different…

A classic 1920s science fiction novella — with a 21st century twist. Ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is on the trail of a mysterious legacy in South London. A polar explorer has died, leaving huge debts and hints of a priceless find. Harry’s informants seem to be talking in riddles, he finds that isn’t the only one on the trail — and what he’s looking for is as lethal as it is valuable, leaving a trail of oddly-mutilated bodies. The key to the enigma lies in an ancient Arabian book, leading to something more alien and more horrifying than Harry could ever imagine. Harry is not be an educated man, but he has an open mind, bulldog persistence and piledriver fists — important assets when you’re boxing the darkest of shadows.

The story of mystery and horror draws on HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and is inspired by Ernest Shackleton’s incredible real-life Antarctic adventures.

My thoughts?

Short version:

The Elder Ice is an enjoyable book – quick to read, well written and entertaining. If you’re interested in a London mystery set in the early 20^thcentury, with a supernatural twist, a dash of gore, and a few left hooks dropped into the mix, this one’s for you.

Long version:

What starts out as a straightforward mystery novel, complete with a cast of chancers and lovable rogues, becomes something a whole lot stranger. (Think ‘From Dusk til Dawn’ but with bowler hats, fist fights, antique dealers and ‘fug.’) Not everyone will appreciate the transition from ‘normal’ to ‘odd’, but for others not enough will be made of that final weirdness.

There were a few things that stood out.

The opening is fantastic. It grips you, sets the scene and the ending of it leaves a nice chill.

The main protagonist. Harry is the classic pugilistic gentleman, the type of fellow to give you a broken-nosed grin while reminding you ‘not to confuse kindness with weakness’. (He may even crack his knuckles as he does so.) His back story, his hopes and dreams, his good nature and stolidly reliable presence. I like Harry. It’s also refreshing to have a character who doesn’t have a Dark Secret (normally alcoholism) crowbarred into the pages.

The boxing! Love it. Just the right amount of detail. Some books get too technical in their fight scenes, this was nicely done. The street fight cut a fine line between genteel and the Hollywood style of ‘let’s all politely line up to get clobbered one at a time’, but that’s a minor gripe on my part. Using ‘round’ instead of ‘chapter’ is also a nice touch.

The highlight was the language. The author’s prose and dialogue is very evocative. Combined with historical details and a smattering of unobtrusive facts, it captures the period of the drama superbly and makes for a great setting.

The length (all 100 pages of it) makes this a quick read. As a result, some of the sections feel rushed and some of the characters a little underdeveloped. E.g. I would have liked more made of Harry’s legal employer and the scientists who study the little critters that underpin the plot. These people were there. And then gone.

There were a few moments which didn’t add up. The first was when Harry seemed to go from being under potentially-lethal suspicion to innocence in a matter of heart beats. I know this can happen, but the manner in which it happened didn’t quite make sense. Similarly, when Harry finds out who has been pulling the strings, the nature of the reveal and Harry’s reactions were underplayed & under-described. (The person who has been pulling the strings was a nice twist, though. I didn’t see that one coming.)

A few moments made me feel like I was Being Explained To. Some action (or more of that evocative prose) to balance out the dialogue would have been welcome.

The big scene at the end of the novel was, unfortunately, the weakest section. Personally, I would have preferred a lot more ‘mortal peril.’ I realise that in doing so the book could quite easily have slid too far into flat-out horror. Maybe this is why the author didn’t go that way, but the tension never really grabbed me when I really wanted it to. The survivor of this scene seemed to get through with good, old-fashioned grit and gumption and not much else. I would have preferred the author to bring in some of the drama found on the other pages (e.g. earlier in the same scene, in the derelict shed) to up the ante.

Harry’s ultimate fate in this short novel, however, is nicely done.

All in all, this is a good book but one which may have benefitted by simmering for a little longer and boiling a little harder. I would happily read more by the same author.

One Book Interview #50 – David Hambling (Author)