A book grounded in the northeast, the sights, sounds and people, which adds a scope and feel to the novel. The characters feel right and hold your interest, while the plot moves along at a good pace, While it is not a genre I read often, that this novel held my interest in a genre that normally struggles to do so, speaks highly of it
This is not the easiest book I have ever read, stylistic I would even call it awkward. But when the world is full of simple formulaic books that are written in familiar patterns reading then something with interesting quirks that takes a different approach is both refreshing and engaging. Immortown is full of quirks, which seemed a little jarring at first but which drew me into them as I read further. Until the quirks became all the more appealing.
The narrative is a progression of first person memoirist viewpoints which slip between two characters.
The first narrative character is Freya an actress who plays her roles almost too well. Running from a tragedy on the set of her latest film and in search of answers to the earlier one of her brother’s death. She slips between the real world and the ghostly haunted world of Immortown. Confused and lost in this strange world she struggles to come to terms with what may have happened to her, and the first side of the narrative is in part driven by this confusion.
The second narrative character is Kai. In part his is the more interesting portrait of words, he is a dark and strange view point which belongs to one who knows all the secrets and so does not feel the need to share them. Leaving you feeling his narrative washes over you, alluding to possibilities as much by what he does not say as by what he does. His perspectives and insights in to the characters that inhabit Immortown all have a shaded twist to them that is at once show more creepy and gets under your skin. A fine trick of the writers narration.
The twin narration slipping between viewpoints offers a complex read, at times it can become confusing but only in the wonderfully artistic weaves of the words. Pictures painted by them owe much to your imagination, feeding it and playing with it all the same.
The character of Immortown itself helps set the story out from the average and mundane. It is spooky and yet real in the way only an imaginary place can be. The inhabitants of this strange ghostly town are at once both human and parodies of their living selves. As selfish, and self-absorbed as only humans can be. They exist in an afterlife they are both desperate to leave and yet desperately clinging to all the same.
The plot weaves its thread around the narratives, slipping behind you as things come to light that you don’t see coming more because the hints are so carefully crafted. A few words slipped here or there into the narratives take on more significance later in the book. The way a good plot should, without leading you by the nose.
In summery it is a less than simple tale, told less than simply, and all the more enjoyably for that. show less
The narrative is a progression of first person memoirist viewpoints which slip between two characters.
The first narrative character is Freya an actress who plays her roles almost too well. Running from a tragedy on the set of her latest film and in search of answers to the earlier one of her brother’s death. She slips between the real world and the ghostly haunted world of Immortown. Confused and lost in this strange world she struggles to come to terms with what may have happened to her, and the first side of the narrative is in part driven by this confusion.
The second narrative character is Kai. In part his is the more interesting portrait of words, he is a dark and strange view point which belongs to one who knows all the secrets and so does not feel the need to share them. Leaving you feeling his narrative washes over you, alluding to possibilities as much by what he does not say as by what he does. His perspectives and insights in to the characters that inhabit Immortown all have a shaded twist to them that is at once show more creepy and gets under your skin. A fine trick of the writers narration.
The twin narration slipping between viewpoints offers a complex read, at times it can become confusing but only in the wonderfully artistic weaves of the words. Pictures painted by them owe much to your imagination, feeding it and playing with it all the same.
The character of Immortown itself helps set the story out from the average and mundane. It is spooky and yet real in the way only an imaginary place can be. The inhabitants of this strange ghostly town are at once both human and parodies of their living selves. As selfish, and self-absorbed as only humans can be. They exist in an afterlife they are both desperate to leave and yet desperately clinging to all the same.
The plot weaves its thread around the narratives, slipping behind you as things come to light that you don’t see coming more because the hints are so carefully crafted. A few words slipped here or there into the narratives take on more significance later in the book. The way a good plot should, without leading you by the nose.
In summery it is a less than simple tale, told less than simply, and all the more enjoyably for that. show less
This is a novel about many things, but more than anything else it is a novel about stories. The ones we tell, the ones we here and the ones we all know. How they influence our lives and our perceptions of the world around us. How they teach us about ourselves.
Fantasy and sci-fiction collide with horror and the supernatural in a world where reality is a matter of perception...
Fantasy and sci-fiction collide with horror and the supernatural in a world where reality is a matter of perception...
Books come in many category's, many forms, and you never quite know what your going to be reading until you start turning the pages. This is perhaps even more true of independently publishes books which are free of the requirement to conform to particular genre's. The Waiting, first book of a series by the same name, is no exception to this rule. It is however a book which lends itself to a series, because the book itself is a series.
22915102It is probably best described as the novel equivalent of a soap opera. It holds all the elements of an american soap in the same vain as Dallas or Dynasty. I say this without criticism, because if you like the soap opera style then you will enjoy this series and it will draw you in to keep reading, not only to find out what happens to the characters you love, but to the characters that you love to hate as well, and there are undoubtedly a lot of characters in here.
You can think of the characters as the cast of the soap opera, and the action moves between them in much the way the action of a soap opera would as well. Strolling between scenes as one character interacts with another before the action is carry forward by that character to the next, like links in a chain which sweep you along as they progress. The narrative in this respect is the camera following one then the other, before panning over to follow the next character who wonders through the scene.
In other hands this technique of many voices each carrying there own story show more and there own desires forward as they weave in and out of other lives, would swiftly become confusing, if not indeed a mess. Burges and Hewes however manage to make the narrative seemly seamless. While a chapter may have one, two, five or even ten different point of view characters in scant few pages it never gets lost in itself or more importantly losses the reader in its intricate web. This in itself is something of an noteworthy achievement because there are a lot of characters in this book.
I am also a sucker for any novel that comes with a play list at the end. But every good soap opera has a theme tune.
Handily at the back there is a set of family trees that helps you sort it all out if you do get confused. though as I reviewed the kindle version I was not able to just flip to the back as easily as I would in a print copy to check just how two characters were related. Yet some who, again in testament to the narrative skills of the authors, I never need to. I was too busy enjoying the story, all be it with a scene of impending doom that is laid out in the first chapter. The narrative carry s you along and carefully remind you of al those connections when you need little reminders without over burdening them.
The first chapter is set around events at the end of the first book. So you know the tragic events you are moving towards. Then the action drops back thirty days and you learn how the tragic events came to pass. While as a narrative trick it is hardly original it is written well. Importantly by the time you get back towards the looming event your invested in the characters and care about them. You want to know who got shot at the beginning, and perhaps more importantly if they are going to survive. To use the Soap opera comparison this is who shot JR and a whole season devoted to finding out not only who but why.
No characters are all good, or all bad, there are shades of grey running through them all that even the ones which seem at first nothing but villains you come to care about. Which again is a well played hand by the authors. It is too easy to make a character all bad, and leave not even a glimmer of light about them. They do however play hard ball with there characters form the start. You'll love some and hate others like any good soap. and like any good soap the nastier the characters may be the more you end up loving them.
In short this is a book which should be 'Rivers' the soap opera. Named for the hospital which holds a central place in the lives of most if not all characters in the book. If it was a Soap it would be getting its second season after this marvellous opening year. And even a jaded old hack like me who doesn't much like soap operas and appreciate and enjoy a good one all the same, and this is a great one.
show less
22915102It is probably best described as the novel equivalent of a soap opera. It holds all the elements of an american soap in the same vain as Dallas or Dynasty. I say this without criticism, because if you like the soap opera style then you will enjoy this series and it will draw you in to keep reading, not only to find out what happens to the characters you love, but to the characters that you love to hate as well, and there are undoubtedly a lot of characters in here.
You can think of the characters as the cast of the soap opera, and the action moves between them in much the way the action of a soap opera would as well. Strolling between scenes as one character interacts with another before the action is carry forward by that character to the next, like links in a chain which sweep you along as they progress. The narrative in this respect is the camera following one then the other, before panning over to follow the next character who wonders through the scene.
In other hands this technique of many voices each carrying there own story show more and there own desires forward as they weave in and out of other lives, would swiftly become confusing, if not indeed a mess. Burges and Hewes however manage to make the narrative seemly seamless. While a chapter may have one, two, five or even ten different point of view characters in scant few pages it never gets lost in itself or more importantly losses the reader in its intricate web. This in itself is something of an noteworthy achievement because there are a lot of characters in this book.
I am also a sucker for any novel that comes with a play list at the end. But every good soap opera has a theme tune.
Handily at the back there is a set of family trees that helps you sort it all out if you do get confused. though as I reviewed the kindle version I was not able to just flip to the back as easily as I would in a print copy to check just how two characters were related. Yet some who, again in testament to the narrative skills of the authors, I never need to. I was too busy enjoying the story, all be it with a scene of impending doom that is laid out in the first chapter. The narrative carry s you along and carefully remind you of al those connections when you need little reminders without over burdening them.
The first chapter is set around events at the end of the first book. So you know the tragic events you are moving towards. Then the action drops back thirty days and you learn how the tragic events came to pass. While as a narrative trick it is hardly original it is written well. Importantly by the time you get back towards the looming event your invested in the characters and care about them. You want to know who got shot at the beginning, and perhaps more importantly if they are going to survive. To use the Soap opera comparison this is who shot JR and a whole season devoted to finding out not only who but why.
No characters are all good, or all bad, there are shades of grey running through them all that even the ones which seem at first nothing but villains you come to care about. Which again is a well played hand by the authors. It is too easy to make a character all bad, and leave not even a glimmer of light about them. They do however play hard ball with there characters form the start. You'll love some and hate others like any good soap. and like any good soap the nastier the characters may be the more you end up loving them.
In short this is a book which should be 'Rivers' the soap opera. Named for the hospital which holds a central place in the lives of most if not all characters in the book. If it was a Soap it would be getting its second season after this marvellous opening year. And even a jaded old hack like me who doesn't much like soap operas and appreciate and enjoy a good one all the same, and this is a great one.
show less
C.G.Hattons Thieves world series I came across at a sfi fair in Stockton and the title jumped out at me. The first of a four book series its starts out with the wonder premise of the shadowy thieves guild, operating in a human galaxy divided by the two power blocks of Earth, heart of the old empire, and Winter the frost bound world of cold hearted corporate separatists. With the between a no mans land, of semi independent planets which a cold war is fought over.
The thieves guild plays both sides of the line, under the direction of 'The Man' a shadow within a shadow. While the bulk of the action is around Zach Hilyer a guild operative who's last assignment went badly wrong, there is a wonderful prelude to each chapter which offers a window into the wider universe as the Man talks to NG the head of operations. C.G. uses this to great effect, giving out hints like bread crumbs of the wider plot of her universe. Ominous at times they draw you in, until your reading each chapter with anticipation not only for what is happening in the main characters POV but what is happening beyond and what the next slither of a clue will be from the Man.
The main action is well paced and involving. Reminiscent of Iain M Banks in how it moves along, letting the world take you in without explaining every detail as some hard sfi has been known to bog itself down in. Yet remaining coherent and well constructed through out. You get a great sense of the universe in which Hil lives and it revolving show more not around him but happening in the back ground. Characters come into the story and then depart but your left with the scene they are still in the universe doing things off screen. When they reappear in the later books you find out they definitely have been up to things and not sat idle waiting for the heroes to need them.
There is a great depth to the thieves guild universe that grows with the series but is there right at the start with hints in the shadows of the Mans conference table and walk on characters. You know there is more going on behind the scenes. Which feels like a whole universe the way good sfi should. While the main plot moves along with a fast and frantic pace that pulls you along and makes the books hard to put down. show less
The thieves guild plays both sides of the line, under the direction of 'The Man' a shadow within a shadow. While the bulk of the action is around Zach Hilyer a guild operative who's last assignment went badly wrong, there is a wonderful prelude to each chapter which offers a window into the wider universe as the Man talks to NG the head of operations. C.G. uses this to great effect, giving out hints like bread crumbs of the wider plot of her universe. Ominous at times they draw you in, until your reading each chapter with anticipation not only for what is happening in the main characters POV but what is happening beyond and what the next slither of a clue will be from the Man.
The main action is well paced and involving. Reminiscent of Iain M Banks in how it moves along, letting the world take you in without explaining every detail as some hard sfi has been known to bog itself down in. Yet remaining coherent and well constructed through out. You get a great sense of the universe in which Hil lives and it revolving show more not around him but happening in the back ground. Characters come into the story and then depart but your left with the scene they are still in the universe doing things off screen. When they reappear in the later books you find out they definitely have been up to things and not sat idle waiting for the heroes to need them.
There is a great depth to the thieves guild universe that grows with the series but is there right at the start with hints in the shadows of the Mans conference table and walk on characters. You know there is more going on behind the scenes. Which feels like a whole universe the way good sfi should. While the main plot moves along with a fast and frantic pace that pulls you along and makes the books hard to put down. show less
flew through this wonderful book, which at times was like reading my own childhood and teenage years ... wonderfully entertaining
a wonderful array of real charterers , neither good nor evil , just human with human frailties and passions . say one things for Logan Ninefingers , say he is realistic :)
The thing about Genre books is this, it’s very easy to write an average one. That is to say by their nature they often follow set simple patterns which are easy to detect and replicate. This is not to say they are simplistic or that there is no craft to them. Indeed the reverse is true, in order to write something which will hold the interest of its readers in a field crammed to the rafters, an author needs to craft his work carefully and with all his talent. That is if he hopes for his work to rise above the herd.
Harvey manages to accomplish this most difficult of tricks with an undeniable skill, while following a pattern well-trodden.
I normally avoid spoilers when it comes to plot but I will make a vague exception in this case because of the pattern it follows which is hard to talk about without doing so. Consider therefore this a mild warning.
We start with Amy, a woman of hidden skills, who returns home to the small town of her birth after her brother ceases to reply to her weekly phone calls. What she discovers on her arrival is that her home town had changed in the years she has been away, becoming a darker nastier place all round, and the returning girl is far from welcome.
The first third of the novel covers the first couple of days of her return and the growing sense of unease as Amy gets herself slowly in deeper and deeper to the mystery of her home town’s dark underside.
Then things get nasty in the second third when she is 'rescued' by a group of show more individuals planning to end the reign of terror being perpetrated on the town. Her rescuers are secretive and less than welcoming, even when Amy's skills seem to grow. All of which leaves Amy between a rock and a hard place, the Bad want her dead, the good side which is at best shades of grey don't all want her alive either, and she gets the blame when things start to go wrong.
Then everything goes wrong and all hell breaks loose in the final third. Amy's skills come to the fore but will she prevail...
In many ways it’s a reworking of so many other novels in the genre.
The important thing in all this is however the writing. Harvey manages to pull it together and make a simple genre story and make it seem fresh and initiative all the same. The action moves quickly and is well paced. The characters have a believable quality for all the unreal stuff surrounding them. They are well drawn and have individual qualities, while the setup of the plot has its own interesting quirks which help to draw the reader in.
In short Harvey takes what should be run of the mill average Genre fare and makes it riveting, involving and keeps you reading. Making this well-trodden path a fine adventure. show less
The Funeral
The Waiting series 1.5
I compared the first book of this series to a soap opera of a book. Which I consider a fair comparison, the style and pacing of the first book bares this out. As a follow up to the first book the funeral is perhaps therefore a feature length episode before the start of the second season. It is more Novella than novel, and bridges the gap between book 1 and book 2. While setting the scene for the next book by both trying up events at the end of book 1 and introducing some new characters to the mix.
To carry on with the soap opera analogy. One of the major 'stars' of the first season was Milli, the heart surgeon. She is perhaps the Joan Collins of 'Rivers' the soap opera. Sexy, sassy, and bitchy in ways Alexis would have been proud of. She is the bad girl you can't help but love, and route for even while you’re hoping all her plans to fail.
In the Funeral you get to meet those members of her family which were only mentioned in passing in the first season, as they run to the defence of their matriarchal queen after the events at the end of the first season leave her questioning her life and the continuance of it. This extended family are joined by other new characters that are slipped into the mix while the cast from the first season deal with the fall out of the final chapters.
As with the first book Burgess and Hewes manage to make the narrative flow between the different characters points of view. Slipping in the new members of the cast show more seamlessly, while giving you new perspectives on the cast from the first book. It slides along from one characters to the next with a beguiling ease that manages not to lose you in its wake. A neat trick when dealing with such a complex web of characters and inter relationships between them. While it manages to keep the same style and feel of the first book, it also manages to bring more genuine warmth and depth to some characters who had more minor roles in the previous instalment.
Indeed the novella exhibits a growth in the style and ability of the writers, there understanding of their characters and plots, which bodes well for further instalments to come. While the first novel as a soap opera of a book this is closer to a drama series, crafty and clever with characters that become more real on the page than in the first novel.
My review of the first book can be found here : writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk show less
The Waiting series 1.5
I compared the first book of this series to a soap opera of a book. Which I consider a fair comparison, the style and pacing of the first book bares this out. As a follow up to the first book the funeral is perhaps therefore a feature length episode before the start of the second season. It is more Novella than novel, and bridges the gap between book 1 and book 2. While setting the scene for the next book by both trying up events at the end of book 1 and introducing some new characters to the mix.
To carry on with the soap opera analogy. One of the major 'stars' of the first season was Milli, the heart surgeon. She is perhaps the Joan Collins of 'Rivers' the soap opera. Sexy, sassy, and bitchy in ways Alexis would have been proud of. She is the bad girl you can't help but love, and route for even while you’re hoping all her plans to fail.
In the Funeral you get to meet those members of her family which were only mentioned in passing in the first season, as they run to the defence of their matriarchal queen after the events at the end of the first season leave her questioning her life and the continuance of it. This extended family are joined by other new characters that are slipped into the mix while the cast from the first season deal with the fall out of the final chapters.
As with the first book Burgess and Hewes manage to make the narrative flow between the different characters points of view. Slipping in the new members of the cast show more seamlessly, while giving you new perspectives on the cast from the first book. It slides along from one characters to the next with a beguiling ease that manages not to lose you in its wake. A neat trick when dealing with such a complex web of characters and inter relationships between them. While it manages to keep the same style and feel of the first book, it also manages to bring more genuine warmth and depth to some characters who had more minor roles in the previous instalment.
Indeed the novella exhibits a growth in the style and ability of the writers, there understanding of their characters and plots, which bodes well for further instalments to come. While the first novel as a soap opera of a book this is closer to a drama series, crafty and clever with characters that become more real on the page than in the first novel.
My review of the first book can be found here : writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk show less
A tale with a delightful twist. As well told as the others and exhibiting the same craft. This is a haunting tale, of loves long lost and yet remembered. It is perhaps slightly weaker than the others but that is only when judges against the authors high standards.
writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk
writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk
I reviewed the first two books in this series earlier in the year and the first of these can be found here . This, the third book in the series picks up where the last two left off. If you have read the earlier reviews you will know I compare it to a glitzy American soap opera like Dallas in its hay day. A soap opera I named 'Rivers' after the hospital where most of the characters worked. So perhaps the best way to think of this novel is season 2, which follows on from the tragic ending of the previous season.
As with the first two books the back drop of Louisiana gives the books a setting which has an exotic flavour at times. While the complex lives and loves of the characters twist, turn and snake back on themselves. The real joy of this series is however the writing. Elizabeth and Marie manage to keep the action moving swiftly along from one character to another. The point of view moves from one section to the next like links in an elaborate chain, with scenes cutting each few pages. It would be easy to have the stories become lost and confused, carrying such a large cast and so many plot lines and yet they manage to weave it so well that you never lose track, and are held in a wrapping of anticipation for the next snippet of story.
The measure of any novel is whether you care about the characters and their lives. No matter how well written a story may be if you don't care about the characters then you will lose interest along the way. it is perhaps therefore an show more indictment to how much I cared about the characters that I was moved to tears in a couple of places. I worried about them, cared about them, shared there joys and there defeats. But importantly the characters also grew along the way. Characters who in the first novel were mired in a darkness stepped forward into the light. While they still carry the dark side of them that gave them anti hero status in the first books they are fleshed out with more back story and they change along the way. Events influence the actors in this drama and they develop in ways you don't expect yet seem natural all the same.
In short these novels are a joy, and indulgent joy of, occasionally like swimming through chocolate
http://writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk/ show less
As with the first two books the back drop of Louisiana gives the books a setting which has an exotic flavour at times. While the complex lives and loves of the characters twist, turn and snake back on themselves. The real joy of this series is however the writing. Elizabeth and Marie manage to keep the action moving swiftly along from one character to another. The point of view moves from one section to the next like links in an elaborate chain, with scenes cutting each few pages. It would be easy to have the stories become lost and confused, carrying such a large cast and so many plot lines and yet they manage to weave it so well that you never lose track, and are held in a wrapping of anticipation for the next snippet of story.
The measure of any novel is whether you care about the characters and their lives. No matter how well written a story may be if you don't care about the characters then you will lose interest along the way. it is perhaps therefore an show more indictment to how much I cared about the characters that I was moved to tears in a couple of places. I worried about them, cared about them, shared there joys and there defeats. But importantly the characters also grew along the way. Characters who in the first novel were mired in a darkness stepped forward into the light. While they still carry the dark side of them that gave them anti hero status in the first books they are fleshed out with more back story and they change along the way. Events influence the actors in this drama and they develop in ways you don't expect yet seem natural all the same.
In short these novels are a joy, and indulgent joy of, occasionally like swimming through chocolate
http://writesrightsrites.blogspot.co.uk/ show less
#Yourenext is written by an authoress who understands that humanity makes the best monsters, the same as King, Barker, Lovecraft and Shelly. It's a tale told of the modern world, indeed about that most modern and defining aspect of the modern world the internet. If anything defines and reveals the depravities that the humanity around us is capable of, its all those little ones and zeros bouncing around the WiFi. Spend ten minutes reading the bottom half of the internet, you know the comments, and you discover the very worst of people lurking there waiting to be spiteful, nasty and judgemental. Now imagine for a moment that all those nasty little words people so easily type were taken a stage further. That out there in the Twitterverse a killer lurks, and then #Titterkiller #Yourenext gets tweeted with your name, and by the time you read it, it's already too late ....
Its a simple idea, told with terrifying insight, of the world of #twitterkiller , a world so very like our own, inhabited by people so very like us, like our friends , our neighbours, the strangers on the street. So very like it because it is our world, with just one small insignificant step to the right.
Its a powerful story made all the more powerful for the telling, grounded in a simple idea and the knowledge that if you want real monsters that keep people awake at night its there fellow humans that truely fit the bill.
R, L, Weeks writing draws you in, to see the world as it could so easily be, and her show more real gift is that while you read, it is how the world is. When you finish, you might just want to delete your twitter account and keep the light on for a while ... show less
Its a simple idea, told with terrifying insight, of the world of #twitterkiller , a world so very like our own, inhabited by people so very like us, like our friends , our neighbours, the strangers on the street. So very like it because it is our world, with just one small insignificant step to the right.
Its a powerful story made all the more powerful for the telling, grounded in a simple idea and the knowledge that if you want real monsters that keep people awake at night its there fellow humans that truely fit the bill.
R, L, Weeks writing draws you in, to see the world as it could so easily be, and her show more real gift is that while you read, it is how the world is. When you finish, you might just want to delete your twitter account and keep the light on for a while ... show less
a ridiculously wonderful first book of a series that is my lunch time read at work , when i need to escape from the never ending emails of oblivion for a while
In a list of my favourite books... one of my all time favourites, out of a body of work that's staggering this is IMO the finest book Moorcock has ever written .. its short , fast and yet perfect, not an idea or a concept wasted, not a verb misplaced .
First read on a plain to Yugoslavia a couple of years before the war. I read it in the 4 hour flight , again on the beach , and again on the flight back .
I was 17, impressionable and you would think that in the years since with more cynical eyes it would lose that charm , but it never has. If you read one moorcock in your life this is the one to read
First read on a plain to Yugoslavia a couple of years before the war. I read it in the 4 hour flight , again on the beach , and again on the flight back .
I was 17, impressionable and you would think that in the years since with more cynical eyes it would lose that charm , but it never has. If you read one moorcock in your life this is the one to read