Chris James

I thoroughly enjoyed this book – it’s a dark gothic tale with a twist and is an absolutely stunning debut from Chris James. It’s a veritable who’s who of the Victorian era with many famous faces making an appearance, including the grand old lady herself.

Jacob is such a tortured character and being an artist as well as an alchemist, it is little wonder that we are encouraged to question his sanity. Jacob is standing trial for murder and the circus of the courtroom is described show more wonderfully. In between chapters of the trial, we find out about Jacob’s life and I soon found myself questioning whether some things were real or imagined.

Whilst reading, I felt fully immersed in the late 19th century and could feel Jacob’s sanity slipping away as his painting became darker and he became more addicted to his potions. Was he living alone, or with the people with whom he claimed to be living? My mind was a-whirl as the story progressed and as the end of the trial approached, I could see only one outcome…but what an ending! There’s an amazing revelation and cliff-hanger at the end, ensuring that the reader will be hot-footing it over to Amazon to pick up Alchemy: turning Silver into Gold as soon as it is released.

It’s such an atmospheric, dark and brilliant book; I was reminded of Jekyll and Hyde, The Picture of Dorian Gray and even Harry Potter, ultimately causing my mind to run into overdrive as it pushed my eyes to read faster. I really can’t wait to read book 2.

I received this e-book from Booklover Catlady publicity in exchange for an honest review. show less

Alchemy: turning silver to gold takes us on another trip to Victorian London, following the sensational hanging of Jacob Silver. This definitely needs to be read in conjunction with Alchemy: a story of perfect murder as it won’t make much sense as a stand-a-lone novel and it follows on directly from the first book.

Where the first Alchemy book was about the quest for immortality, this second book in the series examines whether immortality has actually been achieved, thanks to the elixir show more that Jacob gave to his friend Lizzie Weston. Lizzie emerges unscathed from some life-threatening events and she begins to believe she is immortal, all the while you feel that all of these strange happenings are being orchestrated by the legendary Nicolas Flamel.

Although Jacob doesn't appear until halfway through the book, Lizzie is a main character who had me enthralled. She has an air of the supernatural about her, having miraculously survived consumption and an explosion, and I felt she almost glowed from within the pages of this book.

I did really enjoy this but not as much as the first book as some parts were a bit too fantastical for my liking; I was okay with the chattering evil decapitated heads in jars but Lizzie's effect on them was a bit puzzling. Perhaps it will become clearer in the third book, for which I can't wait, thanks to the amazing cliffhanger at the end of this book. Chris James has certainly mastered the art of making the reader eager for more! As with the first book, I thought the spectacle of the trial was described brilliantly; the writing is so vivid that I felt I could have been sat in the public gallery myself.

As with the first book, there are some famous faces making an appearance in the story and this all adds to the authentic flavour of the book. Chris James has managed to completely immerse the reader in the Victorian era, although I did question whether the ‘f’ word was in use back then. I can see this being a series of books I will re-read over the years, they are very entertaining and I'm such a greedy reader as I'm already looking forward to the next one.

I received this e-book from Booklover Catlady Publicity in exchange for an honest review. show less

In 2068, Lucas Hunter realized his lifelong dream. After years of training, he finally qualifies as a dimension researcher; one of an elite corps of time/dimension travelers who explore the many alternate realities that have diverged from their own, on behalf of the European Government’s Second Internet Café, the world’s most advanced scientific research facility.
Hunter’s dream quickly turns into a nightmare. Some nations, led by the Americans who destroyed the first Internet before show more he was born, are seeking to shut the Second Internet Café down, and seemingly will stop at nothing in order to achieve that aim. Worse, on his first ‘jump,’ Hunter encounters a mysterious ‘American’ who also seems to be a dimension jumper, but from another dimension, and the stage is set for the worst of all situations, a time paradox and the potential for a trans-dimensional war.
Hunter finds himself fighting not only the ‘aliens’ who seem to be following him from dimension to dimension, but the betrayals of his own superiors at the Second Internet Café, who are playing a game, the rules of which Hunter must understand if he is to survive.
In The Second Internet Café, Part 1: The Dimensional Researcher, author Chris James has described a future ‘reality’ with such astonishing detail, both technological and social, it is vividly authentic, and all too ‘real.’ There’s a tendency, when encountering a new writer with James’ skill, to compare him or her to some luminary of the past. Well, Chris James is no Heinlein, he’s no Asimov; he’s Chris James. The man has a style that is uniquely his, and someday, people will be saying of young writers, ‘they write in the style of Chris James.’ show less

"A group of international idealists, led by a Cornish teacher, strap themselves to some barges, land on an emerging land mass in the Bay of Biscay, and create Utopia." That quote from a character, explaining who they are and what they are attempting to do neatly summarizes the book.

The notion of an emerging island, and its symbolism as a staging arena for a total redirecting of human culture, is fascinating, but in the end it just isn't very well written. The scope of what is being show more attempted is simply too unwieldy to be swallowed in one gulp, and the likelihood of humanity actually accepting the solutions proposed is infinitesimal. show less