Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Giveaway! 'Salamander' - Nick Kyme

2009-07-11T00:30:00.000+01:00

To mark the latest Space Marine series, from the Black Library, I have five copies of Nick Kyme's 'Salamander' to give away to five lucky readers. By the way, this competition is open to everyone. It doesnt matter where you live!If you fancy reading an extract from 'Salamander' before you enter then click right Here...Did you like it? Or are you going to enter this competition without reading the

‘The Goon #32, Tenth Anniversary Issue!’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse Comics)

2009-07-10T12:05:00.000+01:00

Jasper Kent’s ‘Twelve’ is starting to get really good but it’s such a heavy going read (more on that next week when I post my review) that there was no way I was going to finish it in time to get a review up today. I think what I’d say right now is that ‘Twelve’ is a good read but I haven’t found it as enjoyable as everyone else...I was at a bit of a loss for what to post today until I popped

‘The Hunger Games’ – Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)

2009-07-09T15:00:00.002+01:00

If you’re looking for a decent read (or to find out which books to stay well away from) then this blog, amongst many others, is a good place to start looking :o) One of the other places where I go to pick up tips is the Westeros forum where people are incredibly well read and really know what they are talking about. If they like a book then you can bet it will be a good one!It was this that made

Robert Dunbar - Featured Author on 'Horror Bound Online'

2009-07-09T10:20:00.000+01:00

Ok, I caught this a couple of days late but it's still cool :o) Having really enjoyed Robert Dunbar's 'The Shore' it was very interesting to see what Robert had to say about the book itself as well as the Jersey Devil, folklore in general and the horror genre itself. Check it out!

‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ – Max Allan Collins (Del Rey)

2009-07-08T16:30:00.002+01:00

As a kid I used to love movie novelizations, I couldn’t get to the cinema that much and ‘the book of the film’ was a great way to make up for what I was missing out on. In some ways, reading the book was even better than seeing the film; especially during the long wait for the film to show up on TV so you could videotape it for future viewing. In the hands of a decent writer the movie tie-in

‘Through Violet Eyes’ – Stephen Woodworth (Piatkus)

2009-07-07T18:00:00.001+01:00

Something I’ve realised recently, after reading Diana Rowland’s ‘Mark of the Demon’, is that I’m a bit of a fan of urban fantasy with a police procedural edge to it. This is quite strange as I’ve never felt the urge to pick up a straight police procedural novel (the closest I’ve come is Raymond Chandler’s ‘Phillip Marlowe’ books) but found myself wanting ‘Mark of the Demons’ to downplay its urban

‘Complete Zombies vs. Robots’ – Chris Ryall & Ashley Wood (IDW)

2009-07-06T15:58:00.001+01:00

Sometimes a comic book comes along that I just have to get my hands on. Anything with zombies in it will at least be picked up, off the shelf, for a read but this book pretty much got my cash card out of my pocket and bought itself! Why? Just read the title... Are you done? Read it again. Cool isn’t it? Zombies are cool enough on their own but facing them off against robots... Can it get any

Competition Winners! 'Midnight Never Come' and 'In Ashes Lie'

2009-07-06T09:25:00.004+01:00

Thanks to everyone who entered this competition, there could only be two winners though and these lucky folks were...Erin Hartshorn, Pennsylvania, USJoakim Elovsson, SwedenWell done guys, your copies of 'Midnight Never Come' and 'In Ashes Lie' will be heading your way very soon! :o)Better luck next time everyone else...

July Reading...

2009-07-05T10:46:00.000+01:00

Here's a quick look at some of the books that I hope to get round to reading this month (courtesy of the Mos Eisley Cantina Band!) Notice that I said 'hope', there's a few books here that have been waiting to be read for a long time now... (apologies for the slightly dodgy photo, my camera phone isn't great...)'Viriconium' and 'The Best of Michael Moorcock' are books that I've been dipping in and

Giveaway! 'Claudius' (Douglas Jackson)

2009-07-04T08:38:00.002+01:00

Although Douglas Jackson's 'Caligula' was sometimes a 'stop/start' affair I still had a good time reading it and will be looking to read the follow up, 'Claudius', sooner rather than later. Do you guys fancy reading 'Claudius' too? Here's the blurb from Amazon...The year is 43AD ...In Southern England, Caratacus, war chief of the Britons, watches from a hilltop as the scarlet cloaks of the Roman

‘Way of the Barefoot Zombie’ – Jasper Bark (Abaddon Books)

2009-07-03T16:15:00.001+01:00

As much as I love zombie fiction, I wasn’t sure whether to pick this book up or not... I really didn’t enjoy Jasper Bark’s ‘Dawn over Doomsday’, it barely worked for me and I have to admit to being a little apprehensive over his latest offering. I went for it in the end though. It’s not as if I had a lot of choice in the matter; there were zombies in the book so I pretty much had to read it!

‘Bauchelain and Korbal Broach (Three Short Novels of the Malazan Empire)’ – Steven Erikson (Tor)

2009-07-02T15:57:00.003+01:00

There are times when I have to ask myself why I can’t just wait for a bit instead of having to have something straight away... Don’t get me wrong; I love my PS Publishing editions of the three ‘Bauchelain and Korbal Broach’ novellas which look absolutely gorgeous on the bookshelf. They didn’t come cheap though and if I’d known that Tor would be releasing all three books in one collection... well.

‘Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Manga’ (Tokyopop)

2009-07-01T16:31:00.001+01:00

If the cover is anything to go by then it’s a hard life being a Starfleet Captain... The burden of command is such that you never have a moment to yourself and you never get a chance to do all the things that you like doing. One day Captain Jean Luc Picard found that he needed to get away from it all and get back into one of his favourite hobbies. Beaming down to the nearest deserted planet, he

China Mieville - More Talks & Signings...

2009-07-01T14:31:00.004+01:00

China Mieville is still floating around London doing bits and pieces to promote his new book 'The City & The City' (read my review Here). He won't be doing it for much longer though according to the email that has just turned up in my inbox... If you're in London this month (or at the Edinburgh Book Festival next month), and fancy seeing China Mieville, here's where you can catch up with him..

‘Olympus #1 & #2’ – Nathan Edmondson and Christian Ward (Image Comics)

2009-07-01T12:53:00.003+01:00

It took me a little while to track down copies of these issues but I got there in the end! Fantasy has always been my ‘thing’ and I’ve been looking for comics that reflect this, I haven’t been lucky, so far, in terms of typical sword and sorcery fare with ‘Conan the Cimmerian’ and ‘Bone’ being the only two long running series that I’ve been able to find (although I will check out ‘Kull the

‘Lords of Misrule’ & ‘Strange Great Sins’ – M. John Harrison

2009-06-30T16:46:00.002+01:00

It was at this point, when I last read the ‘Viriconium’ collection, that I came pretty much unstuck. I was expecting something a little out of the ordinary but these two stories seemed to have no link to the preceding ones at all! Even though I eventually finished the book I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had missed something important and that cast a pall over the whole affair...I’m back

Competition Winners! 'Burning Skies' & 'The House of Lost Souls'...

2009-06-30T09:48:00.002+01:00

This post was a little late in coming but I got there in the end! :o)Thanks to everyone who entered these two competitions! The winners were...'Burning Skies'Jeanette Jackson, Ontario, CanadaMaarten Bouwman, Milan, ItalyJosephine Marie, San Francisco, USA'The House of Lost Souls'Pat Neal, Florida, USAEdithanne Fritz, North Carolina, USABen Stanley, North Carolina, USAWell done guys, your books

‘The Goon: A Place of Heartache and Grief’ – Eric Powell (Dark Horse Comics)

2009-06-29T16:22:00.001+01:00

You know how life can be; sometimes it’s not just content to knock you over, it has to rub your face in the dirt as well... It’s not like that all the time though. Sometimes life will knock you off your feet but will then proceed to not only help you back up but also send you on your way with a nice ice cream to make you feel better :o)It’s not as if life has been particularly harsh, to me, just

Updates...

2009-06-29T10:30:00.003+01:00

No competition winners today I'm afraid, the weekend was filled up drinking with mates and reading comic books. Always good :o) When I got back home last night, most of the evening was spent trying to figure out why Blogger hadn't posted the stuff that I had scheduled (the only problem I've had with Blogger so far, fingers crossed there won't be any more and this issue gets sorted before I go on

A Reminder for Myself...

2009-06-28T22:30:00.004+01:00

In the midst of all the books I have on the go, some fall through the cracks. This is my attempt to remind myself of some of the stuff I should be reading (the miracle of post scheduling means not only am I writing this on Friday afternoon but it will also be waiting for me when I get home on Sunday morning)...I'm always on the lookout for new comics to try and 'Olympus' looks like it's worth a

Giveaway! 'Midnight Never Come' & 'In Ashes Lie' (Marie Brennan)

2009-06-28T22:25:00.001+01:00

To mark the release of Marie Brennan's 'In Ashes Lie', Orbit have very kindly offered two sets of 'Midnight Never Come' and 'In Ashes Lie' for me to give away to two lucky readers. Here's the Amazon blurb for 'In Ashes Lie'...September, 1666 - The mortal civil war is over. But the war among the fae is still raging, and London is its battleground. There are forces that despise the Onyx Court, and

‘Orphan’s Triumph’ – Robert Buettner (Orbit)

2009-06-26T14:08:00.001+01:00

I have been so forgetful over last couple of weeks that it’s a wonder I made it into work this morning! The only reason that I’ve remembered to write this review is that I’ve got the book sat on my desk staring me right in the face...Talking of which, I was really pleased when my copy of ‘Orphan’s Triumph’ arrived in the post. While ‘Orphanage’ was a touch too similar to ‘Starship Troopers’, for

‘Bring Down the Sun’ – Judith Tarr (Tor)

2009-06-25T16:06:00.002+01:00

Every so often I go through phases where, as much as I want to read something, nothing on the shelves inspires me to pick it up and give it a go. Do you get this? How do you work through it? What I’ve been trying to do recently (when I have this problem) is to pick something up that I wouldn’t normally read otherwise. This approach gets me out of a rut (or out of my comfort zone, are they both

‘Nekropolis’ – Tim Waggoner (Angry Robot)

2009-06-24T16:16:00.001+01:00

Whether it’s an urban fantasy or hard boiled crime thriller, there’s something about the concept of the ‘world weary detective’ that means I keep coming back each time no matter how similar the plot is. There’s something inherently noble about these guys, the world is constantly weighing heavy on them but they keep on putting one foot in front of the other in a quest to do the right thing.

‘Retribution Falls’ – Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

2009-06-23T16:37:00.002+01:00

If you’re anything like me then sometimes all it takes is some gorgeous cover art to make you want to pick up a book and give it a go. ‘Retribution Falls’ is one of the books. Have a look at that cover; don’t you think it’s great? Anyway… It wasn’t just the cover that had me interested though; a blurb crammed full of pirates, airships and bounty hunters was just what I was looking for in my next