Synopsis
A skeleton is exposed in a drying out lake. The skeleton has an old Russian listening device tied to it. This leads detective Erledur with Elinborg and Siguraur Oli into an investigation into the cold war and what happens to those that are left behind.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I really should read more crime stories, especially if they are anything like The Draining Lake. Indridason mixes the past and present easily and the effect is quite powerful as you trace the story of the murderer from the events that led to the crime and the solving of the crime itself. This isn’t a fast paced thriller. It’s more reflective and lives up to its tag line of, ‘What Happens to those Left Behind?’ especially when we visit the relatives left behind when people go missing.
The process of detection keeps you reading as Erledur’s obsessions with small details leads to some interesting places. We get to find out about Erledur’s complicated relationships with his son and daughter, his work colleagues, and a woman who hasn’t left her husband.
I enjoyed the mix of flashbacks and present day. In some ways the flashbacks were more insightful as they explored the characters involved in more detail as Erledur is left a bit more of a mystery from beginning to end. Though this could be that this is a part of series and more would be revealed in reading the other books. Not that this spoiled anything as it seems part of his character to be aloof.
It was a bit of a slow read as I’m show more a little rusty when reading books in translation especially when it came to the names of characters and it took a while to grasp who was who and if they were male or female. The other quirk is some of the more emotional angry scenes that had swearing in them didn’t quite ring true though this is more a quirk in the language/translation rather than something that ruins the scene.
The strongest point for me was not only seeing another country, Iceland, but also getting a small insight into the cold war and its affect.
Summary
The Draining Lake is a reflective and strong crime novel with a clever and thought provoking use of flashbacks, which takes the reader on a journey of a crime from both sides. It also keeps you guessing about who the person in the lake actually is and who killed them. Highly recommended. I’m looking forward to catching up with Erledur’s next investigation. show less
A skeleton is exposed in a drying out lake. The skeleton has an old Russian listening device tied to it. This leads detective Erledur with Elinborg and Siguraur Oli into an investigation into the cold war and what happens to those that are left behind.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I really should read more crime stories, especially if they are anything like The Draining Lake. Indridason mixes the past and present easily and the effect is quite powerful as you trace the story of the murderer from the events that led to the crime and the solving of the crime itself. This isn’t a fast paced thriller. It’s more reflective and lives up to its tag line of, ‘What Happens to those Left Behind?’ especially when we visit the relatives left behind when people go missing.
The process of detection keeps you reading as Erledur’s obsessions with small details leads to some interesting places. We get to find out about Erledur’s complicated relationships with his son and daughter, his work colleagues, and a woman who hasn’t left her husband.
I enjoyed the mix of flashbacks and present day. In some ways the flashbacks were more insightful as they explored the characters involved in more detail as Erledur is left a bit more of a mystery from beginning to end. Though this could be that this is a part of series and more would be revealed in reading the other books. Not that this spoiled anything as it seems part of his character to be aloof.
It was a bit of a slow read as I’m show more a little rusty when reading books in translation especially when it came to the names of characters and it took a while to grasp who was who and if they were male or female. The other quirk is some of the more emotional angry scenes that had swearing in them didn’t quite ring true though this is more a quirk in the language/translation rather than something that ruins the scene.
The strongest point for me was not only seeing another country, Iceland, but also getting a small insight into the cold war and its affect.
Summary
The Draining Lake is a reflective and strong crime novel with a clever and thought provoking use of flashbacks, which takes the reader on a journey of a crime from both sides. It also keeps you guessing about who the person in the lake actually is and who killed them. Highly recommended. I’m looking forward to catching up with Erledur’s next investigation. show less
Synopsis
Jack, Annie and Davey have to go back in time to save their parents who’ve been arrested as alchemists and spies in Prague when their mum and dad set off to find more about the family tree.
There they get separated, have to cope with new and extreme circumstances, and then find each other again as well as meeting a few magical creatures along the way before trying to get home.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I have to say up front that I am not the target audience for The Hundred-Towered City as it’s more a children’s title. Not that I read it any differently but I’m seeing it from a fantasy fan’s rather than children’s point of view.
Anyway, Kilworth mixes a bit of sci-fi (time travel) with a lot of fantasy with his re-imagined version of Prague, unless Prague of 1903 actually did have a very large Golem roaming about.
The thing that mostly sticks out is the strength of characterisation. The personality of each of the children is different. How they act, react and talk is individual. Their personalities comes to the fore when the novel kicks up a gear when they are separated from each other and put to work in three different but insightful ways, solider, a maid and a puppet.
And one of its strengths especially for younger teenagers is showing them that children didn’t always have it so easy especially if they were orphans as Davey and co. find out.
I did find the first section of the book a bit slow going as even though a lot happens it didn’t raise my show more emotions. The children cope perhaps a little too well, are a bit too accepting of their new circumstances and seem to easily change from being protected modern day children to being in a foreign land speaking fluent German. And perhaps Kilworth makes it a bit too convenient for them to find help.
But when they get split up the pace, the emotions, and the story get going. Jack perhaps transforms the most as he has the hardest journey, but each of them get a time on the stage even Davey who’s the youngest gets his five minutes. The story though is between Jack and Annie and what actions they take.
Summary
Kilworth’s writing subtly mixes with myth with reality so everything seems normal even Gollum and he give a history and morality lesson that isn’t too obvious but a nice touch in a children’s story. He also manages to throw in Arthur C. Clark and Kafka for good measure.
It’s all about showing not telling.
Kilworth’s time-machine and how time travel was achieved is a great invention and I’m going see if I can do something similar in my car next time I have a clear road. show less
Jack, Annie and Davey have to go back in time to save their parents who’ve been arrested as alchemists and spies in Prague when their mum and dad set off to find more about the family tree.
There they get separated, have to cope with new and extreme circumstances, and then find each other again as well as meeting a few magical creatures along the way before trying to get home.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I have to say up front that I am not the target audience for The Hundred-Towered City as it’s more a children’s title. Not that I read it any differently but I’m seeing it from a fantasy fan’s rather than children’s point of view.
Anyway, Kilworth mixes a bit of sci-fi (time travel) with a lot of fantasy with his re-imagined version of Prague, unless Prague of 1903 actually did have a very large Golem roaming about.
The thing that mostly sticks out is the strength of characterisation. The personality of each of the children is different. How they act, react and talk is individual. Their personalities comes to the fore when the novel kicks up a gear when they are separated from each other and put to work in three different but insightful ways, solider, a maid and a puppet.
And one of its strengths especially for younger teenagers is showing them that children didn’t always have it so easy especially if they were orphans as Davey and co. find out.
I did find the first section of the book a bit slow going as even though a lot happens it didn’t raise my show more emotions. The children cope perhaps a little too well, are a bit too accepting of their new circumstances and seem to easily change from being protected modern day children to being in a foreign land speaking fluent German. And perhaps Kilworth makes it a bit too convenient for them to find help.
But when they get split up the pace, the emotions, and the story get going. Jack perhaps transforms the most as he has the hardest journey, but each of them get a time on the stage even Davey who’s the youngest gets his five minutes. The story though is between Jack and Annie and what actions they take.
Summary
Kilworth’s writing subtly mixes with myth with reality so everything seems normal even Gollum and he give a history and morality lesson that isn’t too obvious but a nice touch in a children’s story. He also manages to throw in Arthur C. Clark and Kafka for good measure.
It’s all about showing not telling.
Kilworth’s time-machine and how time travel was achieved is a great invention and I’m going see if I can do something similar in my car next time I have a clear road. show less
Synopsis
If you’re a rockstar who already has a collection of the macabre what is the harm of buying a dead man’s suit, with ghost attached, off the internet? For Jude Coyne it’s going to drag him to hell. Literally.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Jude Coyne is a descendent of the Prince of Darkness with rock and roll hell raising lyrics and all that entails and maybe at some time he was. He still goes for young girls who stay for 9 months or there about and seem to all have names of states but now his past comes back to haunt him.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I don’t like gore and guts. I won’t watch films that aim to shock by visuals alone. I need to get inside someone’s head and feel what they feel and see what they see. And this book is very much about what Jude Coyne sees and feels.
The strength Heart-Shaped Box is seeing beyond the act that the public see and seeing the consequences of actions and repeating cycles. The ghost is here to make him pay. But along the way we get an insight into what we see might not be what we get.
Sure it’s a horror tale but it’s more haunting that horrific. That is, it’s not about shock value. It lingers much like the ghost itself who gains control of Jude like a hypnotist and has him more than once about to kill Georgia until he’s snapped out of it by things that he holds dear.
One of the most memorable scenes takes place in a public place and breaks the illusion that these things happen in isolated places where there show more are no witnesses.
I suppose I should mention that Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King and all I’m going to say is that he’s inherited his father’s talent for people and he’s got his own way of telling a tale. Which are both great things.
I would have liked a few more confrontations between the ghost and Jude just to heighten my heart rate a little more than it was already.
But I’ve said before that the best stories are the ones that take the character and readers on journeys and change us both. And I enjoyed it all the way. I kept reading even when I should have been doing other things. I was sad when some things happened and happy at others. I’m eager to see where Joe Hill can take me next.
Summary
A striking, insightful and strong debut from a writer who if at the start of their career is playing with emotions and building characters like this then I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do when as he goes from apprentice to master.
Joe Hill is a new and striking voice in haunting fiction who can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the masters of the genre. show less
If you’re a rockstar who already has a collection of the macabre what is the harm of buying a dead man’s suit, with ghost attached, off the internet? For Jude Coyne it’s going to drag him to hell. Literally.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Jude Coyne is a descendent of the Prince of Darkness with rock and roll hell raising lyrics and all that entails and maybe at some time he was. He still goes for young girls who stay for 9 months or there about and seem to all have names of states but now his past comes back to haunt him.
Analyse/Comments/Thoughts
I don’t like gore and guts. I won’t watch films that aim to shock by visuals alone. I need to get inside someone’s head and feel what they feel and see what they see. And this book is very much about what Jude Coyne sees and feels.
The strength Heart-Shaped Box is seeing beyond the act that the public see and seeing the consequences of actions and repeating cycles. The ghost is here to make him pay. But along the way we get an insight into what we see might not be what we get.
Sure it’s a horror tale but it’s more haunting that horrific. That is, it’s not about shock value. It lingers much like the ghost itself who gains control of Jude like a hypnotist and has him more than once about to kill Georgia until he’s snapped out of it by things that he holds dear.
One of the most memorable scenes takes place in a public place and breaks the illusion that these things happen in isolated places where there show more are no witnesses.
I suppose I should mention that Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King and all I’m going to say is that he’s inherited his father’s talent for people and he’s got his own way of telling a tale. Which are both great things.
I would have liked a few more confrontations between the ghost and Jude just to heighten my heart rate a little more than it was already.
But I’ve said before that the best stories are the ones that take the character and readers on journeys and change us both. And I enjoyed it all the way. I kept reading even when I should have been doing other things. I was sad when some things happened and happy at others. I’m eager to see where Joe Hill can take me next.
Summary
A striking, insightful and strong debut from a writer who if at the start of their career is playing with emotions and building characters like this then I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do when as he goes from apprentice to master.
Joe Hill is a new and striking voice in haunting fiction who can stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the masters of the genre. show less
If you have the mind of a traitor but not the body and want to know what he, Charles Boutin, knows what do you do? If you’re the Colonial Defence Forces (CDF) you make a body for the job. And the good news is if the mind doesn’t take you have a genetically enhanced new solider. It’s a win/win situation or so you’d think.
The opening description has got to be one of the best and most misleading openings to novel ever. If it’s designed to drag you in then well it did it for me.
It’s misleading as it uses a level of poetic and flowery language that doesn’t appear from then on in, which is actually a good thing. It shows that Scalzi can write but also shows that he’s using it for effect. The rest of the novel is told more functional but no less effective prose.
I tend to think of military sci-fi as grand and sweeping but the battle in The Ghost Brigades is more internal as Jared Dirac, the solider created from the seemingly failed attempt to join mind and body, has memories that aren’t his start to surface, that changes everything.
There are so many good things about this novel. The world building and the alien races. The hidden conspiracy. The evolution of Jared Dirac. The relationships between Jared and everyone around him. The technology. I could go on.
Suffice to say The Ghost Brigades is amongst the best sci-fi novels I’ve read in ages and Scalzi deserves a lot of success.
*This review doesn’t have a rating. I’m putting ratings on hold as I’m going to show more try to let the review speak for itself and you can decide whether you should read it or not. show less
The opening description has got to be one of the best and most misleading openings to novel ever. If it’s designed to drag you in then well it did it for me.
It’s misleading as it uses a level of poetic and flowery language that doesn’t appear from then on in, which is actually a good thing. It shows that Scalzi can write but also shows that he’s using it for effect. The rest of the novel is told more functional but no less effective prose.
I tend to think of military sci-fi as grand and sweeping but the battle in The Ghost Brigades is more internal as Jared Dirac, the solider created from the seemingly failed attempt to join mind and body, has memories that aren’t his start to surface, that changes everything.
There are so many good things about this novel. The world building and the alien races. The hidden conspiracy. The evolution of Jared Dirac. The relationships between Jared and everyone around him. The technology. I could go on.
Suffice to say The Ghost Brigades is amongst the best sci-fi novels I’ve read in ages and Scalzi deserves a lot of success.
*This review doesn’t have a rating. I’m putting ratings on hold as I’m going to show more try to let the review speak for itself and you can decide whether you should read it or not. show less
After reading The Draining Lake I thought I’d go back to the beginning of the series, well the beginning from what’s been published in the UK. Tainted Blood lives up to its title. Detective Erlendur is called to the murder of a man of about 70. As he delves into the man’s past it seems that this case is more than a random act.
The strength of the character of Erlendur is that he follows his nose. He finds clues and connections that aren’t obvious, and most of the time even tangible, but he follows them regardless of the reservations of his colleagues.
This isn’t a fast paced thriller. It’s an unfolding of family and how connections that are hidden have come to the surface by the strangest of means.
Indridason it seems likes to let us follow the train of thought even if we don’t understand where it’s leading until the threads slowly nit together.
It might not be the neatest or best plotted crime novel I’ve read but its stregnths are that it gets to the heart of people and their relationships.
I’ll definitely be reading the next one, Silence of the Grave.
The strength of the character of Erlendur is that he follows his nose. He finds clues and connections that aren’t obvious, and most of the time even tangible, but he follows them regardless of the reservations of his colleagues.
This isn’t a fast paced thriller. It’s an unfolding of family and how connections that are hidden have come to the surface by the strangest of means.
Indridason it seems likes to let us follow the train of thought even if we don’t understand where it’s leading until the threads slowly nit together.
It might not be the neatest or best plotted crime novel I’ve read but its stregnths are that it gets to the heart of people and their relationships.
I’ll definitely be reading the next one, Silence of the Grave.
The Man With The Golden Torc: Secret Histories Book 1: Man with the Golden Torc Bk. 1 (Gollancz S.F.) by Simon R. Green
There’s no way getting around it. You’re going to see this as James Bond with Daemons, which is probably the point, especially if the cover and the pun-riddled title are anything to go by. That isn’t to say that is a pale pastiche. Green has created a hero and an adventure in its own right.
Bond, Shaman Bond is in fact Eddie Drood a protector, along with the rest of the Drood family, of humanity from the forces of darkness and through him Green shows an alternative world where all the things that you thought were just myth and mystery are in fact real.
Green does takes this idea slightly too far in places but overall he gets the tone and mix and reality about right. So that the creatures he introduces fit quite well. Ironically it was the aliens that didn’t quite fit in as they seemed, well alien, and out of place.
What at first annoyed me about Eddie Drood turned out to be his greatest weakness - his golden armour. It makes him, super-strong, invincible and arrogant. That is until he’s shown that he isn’t as invincible as he’s always thought. It’s also a lesson he teaches a few others along the way.
Green keeps the pressure on Eddie and the reader and doesn’t stop for breath as the action takes us from a Harvey Street Hospital, to a devastating chase along the M4 and the hidden areas of London amongst many other places. It isn’t just the solving of a mystery. It’s the journey of Eddie as he learns more about himself and gets closer to someone he’s show more tried to kill on more than one occasion.
Green keeps up the laughs so it’s closer to Austin Powers than 007. The ideas flow from an imagination that seems far from running dry. I’m looking forward to where Green takes Eddie Drood after he’s built up and destroyed so much in The Man with the Golden Torc. show less
Bond, Shaman Bond is in fact Eddie Drood a protector, along with the rest of the Drood family, of humanity from the forces of darkness and through him Green shows an alternative world where all the things that you thought were just myth and mystery are in fact real.
Green does takes this idea slightly too far in places but overall he gets the tone and mix and reality about right. So that the creatures he introduces fit quite well. Ironically it was the aliens that didn’t quite fit in as they seemed, well alien, and out of place.
What at first annoyed me about Eddie Drood turned out to be his greatest weakness - his golden armour. It makes him, super-strong, invincible and arrogant. That is until he’s shown that he isn’t as invincible as he’s always thought. It’s also a lesson he teaches a few others along the way.
Green keeps the pressure on Eddie and the reader and doesn’t stop for breath as the action takes us from a Harvey Street Hospital, to a devastating chase along the M4 and the hidden areas of London amongst many other places. It isn’t just the solving of a mystery. It’s the journey of Eddie as he learns more about himself and gets closer to someone he’s show more tried to kill on more than one occasion.
Green keeps up the laughs so it’s closer to Austin Powers than 007. The ideas flow from an imagination that seems far from running dry. I’m looking forward to where Green takes Eddie Drood after he’s built up and destroyed so much in The Man with the Golden Torc. show less