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Andy Graham Author

Author of dark fiction and fantasy, dystopia, horror.

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Interviews/ Views/ Reviews

Stranger Things (Seasons 1 – 3)

March 9, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

My review of The King was short. This is going to be shorter still.

I avoided watching Stranger Things for ages. Just as I avoided reading Harry Potter and ASoIaF for years as well. Why? Because everyone was reading them I arrogantly decided that I wouldn’t. Because the general public’s taste in art can’t be trusted.

With JK Rowling’s and GRRM’s books I was forced to eat a lot of humble pie. They are great. The latter twists and turns like a snake on a dance floor. And the Potter books got millions of kids reading and gave us unforgettable characters like Snape and Umbridge, whose sadistic pettiness is so much worse because it is so commonplace. But… Enough padding, back to my short review of Stranger Things.

I gave in. I watched it. I loved it. It has the right balance of humour and horror. There are characters to love and hate, laugh at and rage at. There are the stack of 80’s references and pop music classics to ring all kinds of shoulder-padded bells. The acting was superb. And the big death scenes at the ends of Seasons 2 & 3? Goosebumps.

It’s one of the best things I’ve seen and cannot wait for season 4.

Here ends my considered, thoughtful, highly critical review.*

And in future, I’m not going to be quite so snobbish about the general public’s opinions.

*(Maybe I should stick to book reviews.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Witcher (Netflix Season One)

March 6, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

OK. Now the dust has settled from the tsunami of words I hit you with in my last post*, I thought I’d follow up The World’ Shortest Film review with a slightly longer one.

The Witcher.

I haven’t read the books so was coming at this cold.**

Short version: I’m glad I stuck with it.

Long version:

It started badly. I was prepared to quit after the first episode. The dialogue was clunky. There were too many manly grunts. Too many sections of ‘and now I will tell you my back story’. There were jumps in the plot that made no sense. More cliches than you could shake a magic stick at. I had the feeling I was being asked to care about people I knew nothing about. The scenery felt cheap. And the eyes! Seriously, what was going on with all those random eye colours?

The highlight of the episode was a great tweet about the episode by Joe Abercrombie: ‘the incel mage and his garden of boobies’. But otherwise, apart from the fight at the end (and I got the feeling that we were building up to that for almost an hour), I didn’t enjoy it.

I didn’t enjoy episodes 2 or 3, either.

I was encouraged to stick with it, so I did. (I didn’t need much encouragement, to be fair. It’s an affliction of mine, I rarely don’t finish books, either.) And, part-way through episode 4, things seemed to click.

The time lines converged. The people I felt I was being asked to care about in episode one I now cared about. Some of the monsters were suitably horrible. Some of the choices facing the protagonists also. The fight scenes were enjoyable. There were still moments when I found myself thinking: ‘what just happened?’ or ‘why did he/she/it do that?’ or ‘that makes no sense’. But, by then, I could roll with it.

Why the change? Mark Lawrence may explain it better. He made a good point in that The Witcher is almost like a fairy tale and in fairy tales somethings ‘just are’. If you can accept that the reason behind an action is ‘because’, then it makes sense. It took me a while to get there with this series.

As for those Hunting for a New Game of Thrones. This is not the show you’re looking for.

To paraphrase Mark Lawrence again – the shows are different beasts. GoT is essentially dirty politics (Would sir like a side-serving of cynicism to go with his tautology?) with some magic and dragons thrown in to spice it up, The Witcher reverses it. Maybe this will change in future series, but so far one is fantastical, the other fantastic. (At least until the last season, but that’s another post)

I’ll get round to reading the books at some point but for now I’ll stick with the show. And after a slow start, I’m actually looking forwards to seeing where it goes.

 

*That was ironical.**

**If you are one of the people who thinks not having read the books invalidates an opinion of the show, why? Shouldn’t the Netflix series stand on its own? Or do you believe that you can only have an opinion on something if you have read/ watched/ encountered the source material? Not read the James Bond books? Can’t comment on the films. Same applies for The Godfather, Jason Bourne series, Clockwork Orange, Fight Club, Trainspotting, Harry Potter, Twilight, LOTR etc etc I’m not looking for a fight, this is a genuine question.

***So was that. 🙂

Filed Under: Reviews, Uncategorized

The King (The world’s Shortest Film Review)

March 2, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

I don’t watch much TV or film. I’d rather read. But I found time recently to watch a few things on Netflix. So I thought I’d write the World’s Shortest Film Review.

The King follows the transformation of a young Henry V from a lazy kid more interested in women and alcohol than anything else to his role as king. It’s dark. The politics are dirty*. The fight scenes are muddy and bloody. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

That’s it.

Told you it was short.

 

*who said tautologies were dead?

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

February 28, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

This is going to be a quick one so I’ll come straight out and say it. I didn’t get the book. The Haunting of Hill House is a classic, I know that. It’s highly recommended by some big-name authors. It’s been adapted several times and used as inspiration for numerous books. But it didn’t do much for me. I didn’t find it scary. I found the characters flat and the ending a let down. There are some great descriptions and the overall premise is good, but it never really took off. Given how highly regarded it is, though, I may let the dust settle and give it another go. I get the feeling I’ve missed out on something, but maybe this is just one of those things.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Faithful and The Fallen by John Gwynne

February 25, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

This is going to be a short review of a huge series. By huge, I mean huge. Long. Very long.

Each book is long. (Have I said that?) With lots of characters. I felt that in Book One I was being introduced to every person in the Banished Lands. I’m guessing it’s the same sort of size as Western Europe (with/ without the UK…) and that’s a lot of people to get to know (+/- c. 66 million people) including several thousand giants and some talking birds. And that, was the first issue I had with the books. Until around the ¾ mark of Book One, I couldn’t remember who was who. Not helping that were the jumps in time and scenes. I had the same issue with David Gemmell’s Rigante series, which this series is similar to. (I’m sure I caught a blue and green cloak in The Faithful and the Fallen. If deliberate or not, it’s still a nice tip of the hat to Gemmell.) In both series, the story can seem to flip ahead and around. As a result of these two points, I almost quit at the halfway mark of Malice (Book One).

Before I get to the reason why I kept reading, a little more about the books.


It’s classic epic fantasy. You’ve got a vast cast: a reluctant chosen one, meddlesome gods and devious rulers, hardworking gentlefolk, esoteric master swordsmen & women, honourable warriors whose oath is their bond, feisty women, students who outstrip their masters, royal bastards, loving parents who would die for their kids, intelligent animals and a cantankerous crone. There are monsters and non-humans, traitors and bad people who are secretly good. There’s even a soldier who becomes a gladiator/ folk hero and rallies his fellow slaves in the arena. I missed the whore with a heart of gold and the hard-bitten alcoholic with marital problems but who is good at his job (sorry, wrong genre trope) but you kind of get the picture. Maybe I’m coming across too hard. There is nothing wrong with this mix of ingredients – they are a staple of this genre. But they sometimes grated. There are two main reasons:

MINI SPOILER ALERT.

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1 – they are essentially good or bad. There is some greyness. e.g. I can think of one ‘baddie’ who is secretly a ‘goodie’ (Camlin), and a couple of characters who are morally ambiguous (Conal and Meical). But what you see is what you get. The characters arrive fully formed.

2 – when it became apparent that there weren’t going to be any deaths of any of the main characters, it took the tension away from the numerous fights. I was reasonably confident that most people would survive except those that ‘shouldn’t’.

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.

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MINI SPOILER ALERT OVER!

The action is relentless. There are more fights and battles than you can shake a starstone stick at. That in itself is great. But almost every chapter finished with some kind of twist or reversal, a ‘you’ll never guess what happens next…’ moment. It makes for a great page-turner of a book but it gets wearing after a while. Knowing that each chapter is going to have some kind of sting in the tail, means that each sting doesn’t hurt as much. I would have liked some variety of pace.

But, despite this, I finished the series quickly. Having made this long list of issues, why would I do so?

Because I really enjoyed it. Yes, I’ve been critical about it but it was refreshing to read something I was familiar with: a classic good vs evil story line, familiar themes and characters, and, despite my gripe about the constant twists, it makes for compelling reading. And the tropes? They were part of the attraction. It’s been a long time since I read something with such a simple divide between right and wrong.

Some other points.

  • I liked the book not having a wide range of non-human races. I find this more of an issue these days than I used to.
  • The names were pronounceable. (Some fantasy authors get carried away with their consonants.)
  • There was enough gore to evoke a realism to a brutal world.
  • A special shout out (howl out?) for the dogs. They were realistically portrayed and amusing.
  • And, finally, there are enough reversals and twists to keep the story interesting. I particularly liked the revelation about the prophecy.

So yes, there were things that didn’t always sit right but I enjoyed The Faithful and the Fallen and will definitely read more by John Gwynne. That, essentially, is all that matters.

PS The covers? Loved them.

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.

Filed Under: Reviews, Uncategorized

Watchers by Dean Koontz

February 10, 2020 by andygraham Leave a Comment

This is a good book – a classic slow-burn thriller that combines elements of sci-fi (genetic engineering), horror (characters include the Outsider and ‘Vince’), romance (ahhhh…), and a relentless increase in tension (ohhhh….).

If you’re unfamiliar with the story, it essentially follows four main characters: a socially-repressed young woman (who goes on the biggest personal ‘journey’ throughout the pages), a professional assassin, an ex-special forces soldier struggling to find a reason in life, and a government agent. Their stories seem unconnected at first but slowly coalesce around the hunt for two genetically engineered creatures: a dog (good) with human-level intelligence and something else: the Outsider (bad). On that level, it has shades of a classic good vs evil fairy tale but it is not that simplistic.

Most of the individuals sit comfortably in their pigeonholes of right or wrong. But, without giving away too much, the true monster in the story is not the Outsider (as horrific as ‘it’ can be) but the professional killer. Vince is one of the most loathsome individuals I have come across on the page: evil wrapped up in a twisted belief that what he does is almost a divine right. He is superbly written. As are all the others. So to, the locations and scenes.

The prose is beautiful. Evocative. It switches between the simplicity that I see as the hallmark of many great writers, then throws in some sublime descriptions that take their time over a scene or a moment. That brings me to my first gripe. Some of the latter got a little too long-winded for me. There were some instances when I thought the author was going to describe each plant and flower in one of the protagonist’s gardens.

My second gripe relates to the main villain of the story: Vince. As despicably wonderful he is as a character, his fate was a let down.

MINI-SPOILER ALERT!

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He is so proficient at what he does, is always well-prepared, that what happens to him in the end felt rushed. Yes, he was facing opponents that knew what they were doing, but it seemed too easy. That said, I’m glad what happened happened. The guy was vile.

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MINI-SPOILER ALERT OVER!

As for the non-human characters: Einstein and the Outsider. They are wonderful. There is a depth to both of them, more so to the latter (the ‘baddie’) that makes them worthy of their own sequels. The idea of having a dog with enhanced intelligence and a Mickey Mouse obsession is utterly endearing. But as mentioned in the novel, such a creature would undoubtedly be used by the powers that be for nefarious ends. (I’ll stop that line of thought here before it gets too bleak…)

All in all, Watchers is a book to take your time over.

Highly recommended.

[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_PLUS]

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.

Filed Under: English, Reviews

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The Archives

  • One Book Interview #58 – Martin Owton May 12, 2021
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  • Along the Razor’s Edge by Rob J. Hayes April 21, 2021
  • Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir April 14, 2021
  • A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie April 7, 2021
  • The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow March 31, 2021
  • The Bone Ships by RJ Barker March 24, 2021
  • The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan March 17, 2021
  • The Raven’s Mark by Ed McDonald March 10, 2021
  • The Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence March 3, 2021
  • The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell February 24, 2021
  • The Rise of Sigurd series by Giles Kristian February 17, 2021
  • The Raven Series by Giles Kristian February 11, 2021
  • I Am Legend by Richard Matheson July 27, 2020
  • Camelot by Giles Kristian July 24, 2020
  • Lancelot by Giles Kristian March 31, 2020
  • The Whisper Man by Alex North March 18, 2020
  • A Ring to Rule Them All by Luke Scull March 13, 2020
  • Stranger Things (Seasons 1 – 3) March 9, 2020
  • The Witcher (Netflix Season One) March 6, 2020
  • The King (The world’s Shortest Film Review) March 2, 2020
  • The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson February 28, 2020
  • The Faithful and The Fallen by John Gwynne February 25, 2020
  • Watchers by Dean Koontz February 10, 2020
  • War of the God Queen by David Hambling February 3, 2020
  • The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin November 22, 2019
  • The Twelve by Justin Cronin November 15, 2019
  • The Passage by Justin Cronin November 1, 2019
  • The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French October 25, 2019
  • ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King October 17, 2019
  • Kormak – The Short Stories by William King October 5, 2019
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy September 28, 2019
  • The Elder Ice by David Hambling January 25, 2019
  • I Was a Teenage Weredeer by C.T. Phipps and M. Suttkus June 26, 2018
  • One Book Interview #56 – The Return of CJ Harter (Author) June 7, 2018
  • One Book Interview #55 – Allan Batchelder (Author) May 17, 2018
  • One Book Interview #54 – Guy Bennett (Songwriter) May 3, 2018
  • One Book Interview #53 – Richard Writhen (Author) April 26, 2018
  • One Book Interview #52 – Anna Smith Spark (Author) March 2, 2018
  • One Book Interview #51 – Andy Peloquin (Author) February 22, 2018
  • Fitful Head by CJ Harter February 12, 2018
  • One Book Interview #50 – David Hambling (Author) February 5, 2018
  • One Book Interview #49 – Jesse Teller (Author) January 29, 2018
  • One Book Interview #48 – A.M. Justice (Author) January 20, 2018
  • One Book Interview #47 – David J. West (Author) January 15, 2018
  • One Book Interview #46 – Frank Dorrian (Author) January 6, 2018
  • One Book Interview #45 – Ty Arthur (Author) December 30, 2017
  • One Book Interview #44 – JR Rice (Author) December 22, 2017
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  • One Book Interview #42 – Rob Hayes (Author) December 8, 2017
  • One Book Interview #41 – Matt Hickman (Author) December 1, 2017
  • One Book Interview #40 – A Birthday November 24, 2017
  • Turner by Karl Drinkwater November 16, 2017
  • The Rest Will Come by Christina Bergling November 14, 2017
  • One Book Interview #39 – Christina Bergling (Author) November 13, 2017
  • One Book Interview #38 – Paul Flewitt (Author) November 2, 2017
  • One Book Interview #37 – CM Saunders (Author) October 26, 2017
  • One Book Interview #36 – Pippa Bailey (Author) October 19, 2017
  • One Book Interview #35 – Kevin Kennedy (Author) October 12, 2017
  • One Book Interview #34 – Brea Behn (Author) October 5, 2017
  • One Book Interview #33 – Jenifer Ruff (Author) September 28, 2017
  • One Book Interview #32 – Mike Poeltl (Author) September 21, 2017
  • One Book Interview #31 – Duncan Bradshaw (Author) September 14, 2017
  • One Book Interview #30 – CW Hawes (Author) September 7, 2017
  • One Book Interview #29 – Kevin Potter (Author) August 31, 2017
  • One Book Interview #28 – Steve Van Samson (Author) August 24, 2017
  • One Book Interview #27 – Amber Bird (Author) August 18, 2017
  • One Book Interview #26 – CJ Harter (Author) August 11, 2017
  • One Book Interview #25 – Leo Nix (Author) August 4, 2017
  • One Book Interview #24 – Jon Cronshaw (Author) July 27, 2017
  • One Book Interview #23 – Pamela Crane (Author) July 20, 2017
  • One Book Interview #22 – Rachael Dixon (Author) July 13, 2017
  • One Book Interview #21 – Israel Finn (Author) July 6, 2017
  • Hell Cat of the Holt by Mark Cassell June 26, 2017
  • One Book Interview #20 – Mark Cassell (Author) June 25, 2017
  • A Life Removed by Jason Parent June 20, 2017
  • One Book Interview #19 – Jason Parent (Author) June 19, 2017
  • One Book Interview #18 – A Birthday June 16, 2017
  • One Book Interview #17 – Kenneth Cain (Author) June 9, 2017
  • One Book Interview #16 – Ken Preston (Author) June 1, 2017
  • One Book Interview #15 – Graham Watkins (Author) May 25, 2017
  • One Book Interview #14 – Mike Watson (Author) May 18, 2017
  • One Book Interview #13 – William King (Author) May 11, 2017
  • One Book Interview #12 – Garry Rodgers (Author) May 4, 2017
  • One Book Interview #11 – Elicia Hyder (Author) April 27, 2017
  • One Book Interview #10 – Will Patching (Author) April 19, 2017
  • One Book Interview #9 – M. Black (Author) April 13, 2017
  • One Book Interview #8 – J.L. Hendricks (Author) April 6, 2017
  • One Book Interview #7 – Casey Hays (Author) March 30, 2017
  • One Book Interview #6 – Fiona Cooke Hogan (Author) March 23, 2017
  • One Book Interview #5 – Michael Bolan (Author) March 16, 2017
  • One Book Interview #4 – Jim Marquis (Author) March 9, 2017
  • One Book Interview #3 – Autumn Birt (Author) March 2, 2017
  • One Book Interview #2 – Karl Drinkwater (Author) February 23, 2017
  • One Book Interview #1 – Nicole Ayers (Editor) February 16, 2017
  • The big red button of doom. August 22, 2016
  • A New Cover. March 23, 2016
  • Stripping DRM from my Amazon published ebook January 2, 2016
  • It’s done. November 21, 2015
  • So, you’ve hurt your back . . . July 29, 2015
  • The definitive top 5 kids films. Ever. At the moment. July 28, 2015
  • Just squat, bro’. July 21, 2015
  • The WOT Challenge July 10, 2015
  • It’s my house! July 6, 2015
  • The great word cull May 4, 2015
  • Writing pain May 1, 2015
  • Mop-bots March 24, 2015
  • NaNoWriMoNoMo February 23, 2015
  • NaNoWriMo February 6, 2015
  • A confession February 3, 2015
  • The January Gym Syndrome January 21, 2015
  • Start here. January 15, 2015

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