A Phoenix First Must Burn - Book Review

'Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic. With stories by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Amerie, Patrice Caldwell, Dhonielle Clayton, J. Marcelle Corrie, Somaiya Daud, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Danny Lore, L. L. McKinney, Danielle Paige, Rebecca Roanhorse, Karen Strong, Ashley Woodfolk, and Ibi Zoboi.

'Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs, have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that centres Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.'

Anthology books are a good way to explore new authors. Most of the time I read an anthology book I come away from the experience with a list of new authors I want to check out, and invariably several books on my wishlist that weren't there before. A Phoenix First Must Burn is probably one of the anthologies that has given me the most new writers I want to read more of. Every story in this collection was great, and most of the stories ended way too soon for me and left me wanting more.

Representation is such a hugely important thing. For those who don’t understand it, it can seem like a forcing of certain groups or minorities into narratives or roles. I’m sure we’ve all seen arguments made before along the lines of ‘these characters are only included to tick a box’, or ‘why make a character gay if it adds nothing to a story’. It’s easy to jump on the offensive when people say things like this, to condemn those kinds of views as homophobic, or racist, or transphobic. It’s easy to see condemnation of inclusion as hatred of minorities.

What might not immediately come to people’s minds is that to some this inclusion seems forced because they’ve never experienced it before. They’ve never has someone in their shows, films, or comics who wasn’t white, or straight, or cis, or able bodied. But the thing that might make them see inclusiveness as tokenism is that they’ve never had to look for people like themselves in the media before. They’ve never been starved of positive representation, so they don’t understand why it’s important.

A Phoenix First Must Burn is amazing in part for giving representation to a voices that are often ignored in the publishing world. Black female voices. It's not hard to see the difference that Black voices have to live with over white writers, the recent #PublishingPaidMe campaign really highlighted how little Black people get paid compared to their white colleagues, especially Black women. Publishers seem more than eager to print and promote work by white writers, but aren't always prepared to take that leap with Black creators. And the amount of reviews I've seen of Black fiction where it's described as being perfect for 'black audiences' instead of just perfect for all audiences is ridiculous. Black voices need to be shared far and wide, they need to be open for all to read and promoted no differently than white voices.

This book take some amazing women of colour and showcases their work. It gives you a small sampling of their styles. It shows you how rich and wonderful, and varied, Black voices can be. And importantly, it doesn't just rely on telling 'Black' stories, stories that are rooted in the history of violence and oppression that Black people have faced. The book gives you pieces that draw on that history yes, but it's also full of science fiction, fantasy, and magic. Giving young Black women a book where they can see people like them in so many wonderful and varied stories and genre's is amazing, and needs to be celebrated.

'Wherein Abigail Fields Recalls Her First Death And, Subsequently, Her Best Life' by Rebecca Roanhorse is a cool western story, one that deals with revenge and loss in a way that doesn't glorify the act, but still gives the lead character some kind of emotional resolution. 'Melie' by Justina Ireland is a great fantasy story that shows the ingenuity and intellect of its lead character, as well a giving readers a cool take on dragons. 'All The Time In The World' by Charlotte Nicole Davis is a fun tale about a young woman discovering amazing new powers to stop time, as well as her falling in love.

I picked these stories out of a hat, and could spend so much time gushing over them, and ever story in this collection, but don't want to spoil too much of the experience for anyone. But these examples help to show the range of stories on offer. One is a gritty western story, another is a fantastical story with magic and dragons, and another is a story about super powers and gay love. But despite being so different from each other all the stories in this book share the common thread of highlighting how amazing Black female writers and characters are.

The book also has a lot of queer representation in it too, and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself I adored how so many of the stories were about same sex attraction, and treated that as nothing different from heterosexual stories. They didn't try to make the queer content stand out or seem special, but treated it as a regular part of life. And I loved that.

A Phoenix First Must Burn is a wonderful book. It tells amazing stories, and brings together so many brilliant writers. If you're looking for new authors to check out please pick up this book, as I'm sure there's going to be several in here that will capture your heart. And if you want to help support Black voices in publishing buy a copy too. Let's all fight for more positive representation in our literature, and push for more diverse, amazing voices like these.

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The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey - Book Review

'Beauty Meets Beast in San Francisco. Accepting employment as a governess after hard times hit her family, medieval scholar Rosalind Hawkins is surprised when she learns that her mysterious employer has no children, no wife, and she is not to meet with him face to face. Instead, her duties are to read to him, through a speaking tube, from ancient manuscripts in obscure, nearly-forgotten dialects.

'A requirement for the job was skill in translating medieval French, and she now understands the reason for that requirement, and assumes her unseen employer’s interest in the descriptions of medieval spells and sorcery is that of an eccentric antiquary. What she does not realise is that his interest is anything but academic. He has a terrible secret and is desperately searching for something that can reverse the effects of the misfired spell which created his predicament.'

My first experience with Mercedes Lackey, and her Elemental Masters series, was when I was asked to review the fourteenth book in the series, The Spellbound Child, by Titan books. by any rational means jumping into a series so far in should be a silly decision, and I have to admit that I was only prepared to do so because of the inclusion of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, due in part to my love for Sherlock Holmes fiction. Despite this, I was able to get into the universe quite well, and the book was extremely entertaining.

The Fire Rose is the first in this series, and I thought it would be worth going back and seeing how it all began. I knew that some of the later books in the series continue on from each other, but was aware that many of the older books are more stand alone adventures, and often involved the re-imagining of classic stories. The Fire Rose takes inspiration from Beauty and the Beast, but despite seeing some parallels between the two tales it still very much stand up by itself.

The story begins in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. We're introduced to Rosalind (Rose) Hawkins. She's a young academic whose father has recently passed away, unfortunately for her, his death has resulted in a number of creditors appearing in her life, and caused her to lose almost everything. Facing the prospect of having to find a job as a maid or servant in order to survive Rose is approached by a friend of her fathers, who has received a letter trying to find a woman who would be willing to take on the job of governess for his children. Because of the required knowledge and education laid out in the letter Rose seems to be the perfect candidate. With little choices left Rose agrees to take the job, and moves west to San Francisco.

Once arriving at the palatial home of Jason Cameron she learns that not only does he not have children, but he's not even married. It turns out that Jason was in some kind of accident that has left him disfigured and unable to pursue his research. Rose is told that what Jason really wants is a research assistant, one who will be able to translate ancient texts for him, all whilst he stays locked away in his own private wing. Despite initially being nervous about this sudden change in the arrangement Rose agrees, and begins to assist Jason.

Over the course of the next several chapters Rose is slowly exposed to texts that seem to indicate that magic might be real. Thanks to a number of unusual things happening around the house and her own rational, scientific approach, Rose begins to accept that magic might actually be real.

I wasn't sure how much the book would mirror the narrative of Beauty and the Beast, and have to admit that my knowledge of that story is mainly down to the Disney movie. I didn't know if the house would be filled with enchanted furniture, or if Jason would have been cursed for being a horrible person and was trying to make Rose fall in love with him. I'm glad to say that the book didn't take this approach, especially with the love story.

There was always something about a woman being held against her will in order to fall in love with someone that at with me a problematic, even as a kid, and I'm glad that it's been removed for this story. Rose isn't a prisoner, she's living in the house because that's where she works. She has a job, and she can quit at any time. This also means that when she does start to develop feelings for Jason it feels a lot more natural.

The book takes its time, and lets you get to know the characters well. It spends its time with Rose as she begins to learn more about the world of magic, but also with smaller things like her walks through Jason's estate or her trip to San Francisco. Lackey could easily have skipped some of this as it doesn't add much to the main narrative, but it helps to build Rose and her world so well. You feel like you really get to know her, and I became a lot more invested in her and her story than I thought I would.

Jason is the same, though readers spend much less time with him. At first he's not a very endearing figure, and the fact that he's tricking Rose to begin with and lying to her feels awful; but after a while you begin to see the reasons why he's made certain decisions. Just like Rose, readers get to discover the kind and warmhearted man beneath the wolfish exterior, and come to really like him as a person.

The only real criticism of the book that I have is that because of the slower pace at the start, because of the long scenes where we get to really spend a good deal of time getting to know Rose it does feel like the conclusion happens quite quickly. I would have been happy to have the book continue on for another fifty or a hundred pages more so that the ending had time to breath a bit. Despite this, the conclusion still left me satisfied, and I was happy with how the story wrapped up Rose and Jason's stories.

I'm a little sad that the next book in the series won't be carrying on the stories of these characters, that I won't get to see more of Rose exploring her own magics, or that I won't get to see her life with Jason; but I do understand that sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad. Mercedes Lackey gave enough of this world to leave me intrigued, wanting to read the next book in the series.

A brilliant introduction to The Elemental Masters, and probably one of the better versions of the Beauty and the Beast style narrative that I've experienced.

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Descendant of the Crane by Joan He - Book Review

'Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago.

'Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?'


I don't know what category to even begin to place Descendant of the Crane in. A lot of the time it feels like a historical fiction, but then there's things that place it within fantasy. It's got some amazing courtroom drama moments, but it's also full of political intrigue. It's a mystery story, but also has some elements of romance in there too. There's so much going on in the book that it's hard to pin it down as anything other than wonderful to read. It kept me engaged throughout and I was always guessing as to what was going to happen next, or what twists the next next chapter would bring to the story.

The story follows Hesina, a young woman who is not only having to deal with the sudden death of her father, but also with the fact that she now has to become the new ruler of her kingdom. Rather than just make the story about her grief over her father and all of the new trials and tribulations she as to contend with as a ruler Joan He makes things so much more complicated for her. Not only is the kingdom on the verge of war with one of their neighbours, but an investigation into the kings death begins, an investigation that turns Hesina's carefully planned life upside down.

Hesina thinks she knows how the world works, she thinks that she has an understanding of her kingdom thanks to the teachings of The Eleven, a group of revolutionaries that changed her country three hundred years ago and built a fairer, better society. Well, unless you're a Sooth and have magical powers, then you'll be slowly murdered on sight. Hesina thinks she understands how searching for the truth about her father's death will play out because of the laws put in place by The Eleven. But when she begins to see that despite these teachings, despite people seeming to follow this way of life, their are corrupt people not just in the world, but within her own palace, who will use this investigation to further their own political and financial ends.

The trial that comes from the investigation is one of the best parts of the book. The various accused that are brought in, who are all being framed by corrupt officials, must be defended by Hesina and her investigator Akira. Akira is a hugely interesting character, and its fun to learn more about him over the course of the book and try an figure out what kind of person he is, but seeing him in court was hands down my favourite thing. He approaches the witnesses and the evidence with a calm detachment, pointing out holes in testimony, and revealing false evidence with logic and deduction that made me think about Sherlock Holmes and his methods. Akira becomes something larger than life in the court, trampling over the fakery to reveal the corruption beneath, acquitting the accused with the undeniable truth. He's simply brilliant.

The rest of the story seems to play out somewhat like these court scenes. The reader is given something as fact, that Yan is a kingdom built on fair rules and order, but then reasoned and logical investigation begins to reveal that this is a false veneer, that what we, and Hesina, are led to believe is nothing more than a convenient lie.

Over the course of the book there are so many twists and revelations that just when you think you've reached an understanding of what's really going on you're thrown completely again. There's something that happens right at the end of the book that will leave you thinking 'okay, so this is how it ends', but then the epilogue throws some new light onto that and you'll come away thinking something completely different about one of the characters.

I'm strugglinging to really describe the book in any real, meaningful way, because I'm still trying to figure out what I thought of it. Oh, I know it was excellent, and that I loved the journey, but there was so much crammed into the pages that I kind of feel like I'm still catching up. It's like thinking you're going for a nice stroll in a garden, only to realise you've wandered into a hedge maze part way through. Suddenly there's more their than you expected, and you have to navigate the twists and turns to reach the end.

Descendant of the Crane was written as a standalone story, though it does seem like there's more to come, and Joan He has said on Goodreads that she's considered a companion book or two to go with it. I really hope that more books come out that carry this story on, as I'm desperate for more answers, to see more mystery uncovered, and to find out what happens to these characters. If there is no more, and it's just this one book, then it's a hell of a book, and there being no followup won't detract from my enjoyment at all.

Whether returning to this world, or exploring something new, I'm excited to see what Joan He does next. This book showed quite clearly that she's an author worth watching, one that can craft interesting and layered characters, an imaginative world, and a plot that will keep you hooked throughout. An amazing debut work from a woman sure to become a household name.

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The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith - Book Review

'After a terrible political coup usurps their noble house, Hawke and Grayson flee to stay alive and assume new identities, Hanna and Grayce. Desperation and chance lead them to the Communion of Blue, an order of magical women who spin the threads of reality to their will.

'As the twins learn more about the Communion, and themselves, they begin to hatch a plan to avenge their family and retake their royal home.While Hawke wants to return to his old life, Grayce struggles to keep the threads of her new life from unravelling, and realises she wants to stay in the one place that will allow her to finally live as a girl.'

I'd been looking forward to reading The Deep & Dark Blue for a long while. Ever since I first heard the synopsis I was onboard with the story, I love a good fantasy story, but was also drawn to the trans narrative that the book had too. Though it might be obvious from the name of my blog, this review will also be posted elsewhere so it's worth saying now, I'm trans. As such, I'm always curious about stories that involve a trans story, especially where it's not just a regular coming out story or a romance story. Getting a cool fantasy story where one of the leads is trans is something that I've wanted for a long time.

The Deep & Dark Blue follows two young members of the noble house of Sunderlay, Hawke and Grayson. Following the assassination of their grandfather, the current Lord of the house, they're forced into hiding with the Communion of the Blue, a group of women with magical abilities.

The Communion of the Blue are kind of like nuns, they wear blue as a symbol of their group, live in a separate community, and perform certain rituals and tasks for the various lordly houses and city council. During the early stages of the book we get to see a little bit about them, but don't really get to learn much about them until Hawke and Grayson disguise themselves as girls to hide amongst them.

Taken in as initiates, the twins join a group of new girls taken into the order and disguise themselves to fit in. This is the point where the book starts to really get good, and we see the main differences between the wins, who are now going by the names Hanna and Grayce. Whilst Hawke is uncomfortable in this new position, and struggles to fit in, Gracye flourishes. She's comfortable being a girl, she's fascinated by the Communion of the Blue and their ways, and she seems to have a peace about her that wasn't there before.

During the early stages of the book, where the twins are living in their family home, we see that Grayce is often unhappy. Even when she's not the focus of the panel she's always looking depressed. This goes away once she reaches the Communion, and the transformation is startling. There's a moment where they get taken in, where they're called 'girls' that highlights this shift brilliantly; Hawke is looking downwards, uncomfortable at the position they're in, whilst Grayce is looking upwards for the first time, a look of surprise on her face. I think this is the moment where she figures out that she's a girl, where those feelings of discomfort and sadness melt away and she suddenly understands those longing looks she had when she was watching other girls before. She's just been called a girl, and it feels right to her.

There are a number of moments like this during the course of the narrative, where Hawke is trying his best to fit in, but remains uncomfortable and dreams of returning to their past life, but Grayce flourishes. She not only seems to be happy in herself, but excels with her studies in the Communion, even getting chosen to be a spinner. Throughout all of this though, there are moments where we see the sadness creeping back into Grayce, where she realises that she might not be able to stay with the Communion forever, but may have to return to her old life.

There's a scene during this section of the book where one of their childhood friends, Calia, is talking with Hawke. Calia know who the twins really are, and is keeping their secret, but when she and Hawke are talking in private she keeps using female pronouns when taking about Grayce, and reuses to use her old name. It's clear in this moment that Calia has figured out what's happening with Grayce, that she's finally found her real self, even when Hawke seems blind to this fact.

Calia proves to be important to the twins journey, not just in them getting to right the wrongs that have befallen their family, but in the personal journey that Grayce goes through. Calia is there when Grayce tells her brother who she really is, she's the rock for her to lean on in that awful, terrifying moment. Despite it being set within this big fantasy world, despite being centred in a discussion about taking down a corrupt regime, this is one moment that felt so very real to me.

Telling people I'm trans isn't something that bothers me now, but the first time you say it out loud, the first time that you have to tell someone is one of the hardest and most emotionally wrecking moments of your life. And I felt that reading this. The emotions are there on Grayce's face, she's fighting back tears as she lays herself bare before her only remaining family and waits to see if he disowns her. I'm not ashamed to say that this moment actually made me cry when reading it, and even now it's making me tear up having to write about it. Niki Smith managed to take such an emotional and frightening moment and capture it so incredibly well. The art and the writing come together perfectly. I imagine that even if you've never gone through this experience yourself you'll be hard pressed not to feel something here.

There's a similar moment at the end of the book, where Grayce finds acceptance and gets to live as her real self. Grayce is welcomed back to the Communion of the Blue, and the magical tapestry of her family changes, transforming her name from Grayson to Grayce. Despite having already been accepted as who she is by Calia and Hawke this is the real moment when Grayce realises that she doesn't have to give up on herself, that she gets to live her true self, and it's so amazingly wonderful. Like the earlier moment this part made me cry, though for different reasons. Being accepted for who you really are, realising that people will love and accept you, that you don't have to live in misery anymore is an emotional and lifesaving moment.

The Deep & Dark Blue has a great fantasy story, but that's not what made me love the book. It was the very real human story that did. I loved Grayce, I cared about her and her journey, and I wanted things to be okay for her. The book spoke to me on an incredibly deep level, and dragged up a lot of emotions I thought were in my past, but rather than being a bad thing it made me realise how lucky I am to get to be me and be happy. Yes, the world is hard for me as a trans person, and I have to deal with daily hate because of that, but I wouldn't give up on myself for anything, because the alternative is a life full of misery. I'm so happy that Grayce gets to live without that misery, that she gets to find a home for herself, and is loved.

If you're trans this book will mean a lot, it'll talk to you on a very personal level, and if you're not I think it will do a to help you understand a little about what it's like for a trans person, and why being accepted for who we are means so much. The fact that it's set in a great fantasy story is a brilliant bonus. The Deep & Dark Blue will stick with me for a long while, and I'll read it more than once for sure. A stunning and moving piece of art that meant so much to me.

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Witchborn by Nicholas Bowling - Book Review

'It's 1577. Queen Elizabeth I has imprisoned scheming Mary Queen of Scots, and Alyce's mother is burned at the stake for witchcraft. Alyce kills the witchfinder and flees to London - but the chase isn't over yet. As she discovers her own dark magic, powerful political forces are on her trail. She can't help but wonder: why is she so important? Soon she finds herself deep in a secret battle between rival queens, the fate of England resting on her shoulders.'

I enjoy a good historical book, though often stick to the Victorian era, so this trip back to the 1500's made a nice change for me, getting to experience a new setting and era for this magical young adult adventure story.

The book follows Alyce, a teenage girl whose mother has just been killed by Witchfinders, burned at the stake because she wouldn't give them Alyce's location. Having lost the only home and family that she's ever known Alyce is forced to kill one of these men, and flee to London. After this brief introduction the action jumps forwards a few months to find Alyce a prisoner in Bedlam insane asylum. From here she ends up on an adventure that sends her across London, into the heart of monarchy, and fighting against powerful supernatural forces.

Nicholas Bowling shows quite a bit of restraint with Witchborn, and for a good portion of the book it's not entirely clear if their is the supernatural in this world, or if what we're experiencing is something much more mundane. For example, Alyce's mother could have used magic to harm one of the Witchfinders, but it could have also been simply knowing about plants and herbal medicine. Equally, she doesn't use any kind of powers to try to escape or protect herself, and her whole capture and execution could be seen as simply a woman the local community didn't like getting targeted just because she was different.

Carrying on from this, Alyce seems to believe that certain charms and actions can help her and bring her luck, but we don't get told this isn't anything but superstition and the power of positive thinking. Add to this, she keeps getting told by adults who know a thing or two about herbal medicine and witchfinders that there's no such thing as witches. Whilst these doubts get completely squashed by the end of the book, and we learn that the supernatural and magic is a very real thing, it means that for a good while you're not left wondering about magic and powers, but instead concentrate on getting to know the characters and the world.

Readers get to know Alyce well, and you'll come to care about her very quickly. She's a girl that has lost everything, who's on the run for her life for the crime of her mother having been targeted by bigots. Her plight, and her constant worry of how to survive endears you to her quickly.

The other characters are pretty well fleshed out too. Solomon, a young man who saves Alyce more than once, and also has a mother who some would consider to be a witch, is an intriguing and engaging enough characters to be able to lead his own novel; and you find yourself wanting to spend more time with him and learning more. Whilst other characters don't get this level of treatment, the side characters still prove to be interesting, and even spending a little while with them lets you learn a lot about their personalities and motivations.

The plot follows a similar structure to the magic in the book, and for a while you'll be led to believe that it's simply about a lone girl trying to survive, and those out hunting her. You'll be given reasonable explanations for what's happening, and will even start to thing that the story is quite simple, but soon Bowling starts to lay the seeds for something more and more complex. After a while you get hints at something bigger happening behind the scenes, but even then there's still a sense of mystery as not all the answers are given to us, and there's a number of revelations come the climax that I genuinely found surprising and didn't expect.

Witchborn was a book that led me to believe one thing, but then delivered another. It build its world and characters well, and never felt boring or unoriginal in what it was doing. With so many young adult books set in contemporary times, or some apocalyptic future, it made a great change of pace to go back to another point in history, one that isn't explored too often in the genre. This setting not only added to the story, but made it so much better than it could have been. A great historical fiction mixed with magic and mystery.

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Day 21 by Kass Morgan - Book Review

'No one has set foot on Earth in centuries -- until now. It's been 21 days since the hundred landed on Earth. They're the only humans to set foot on the planet in centuries...or so they thought. Facing an unknown enemy, Wells attempts to keep the group together. Clarke strikes out for Mount Weather, in search of other Colonists, while Bellamy is determined to rescue his sister, no matter the cost. And back on the ship, Glass faces an unthinkable choice between the love of her life and life itself.'


The second book in The 100 continues on much like the first, splitting events between the teens on Earth and the rest of the survivors on the ailing space station, whilst also jumping between the present and flashbacks. To be fair, so much of this book felt like the first one that it doesn't really feel like a sequel at all. If you were to tell me that Kass Morgan wrote the two together, as one book, and was made to split it in half for easier marketing or something like that I wouldn't be shocked at all. It feels like one story; but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Like with the first book there isn't a huge amount of pace to Day 21. Events seem to unfold at a fairly lesisurely rate, and whilst there should feel like there's more tension and drive to the story it's kind of absent. This lack of speed was also present in the first book, and made it surprising to learn that twenty days had passed in that volume. I'm not even sure how much time passes during this book, and that bugs me a little.

Bellamy should be looking for his missing sister, trying to find her trail in the woods, or questioning their prisoner, Sasha, to get information. Instead, he waits around for a few days, moping at the camp, going hunting, and occasionally trying to get a few answers. He should be desperate to get his only family member back, but seems a little relaxed about the whole thing. Equally, the 100 don't seem too determined to find out from Sasha about her people, or those attacking and killing them. Instead she keeps getting tied up, untied, taking trips into the woods, tied up again, kisses Wells, then finally escapes and goes home. Whilst her introduction is definitely an interesting and welcome addition, it's a little like the characters and the author aren't too sure what to do with her.

The story on board the colony doesn't help with the pacing much either. Since the last book Glass has been trapped in one of the sections of the station with Luke, waiting for the air to run out and everyone die. The two of them hatch a plan to get her back in the 'rich' part of the station and unlock the doors so that everyone can get air again, and possibly escape. Okay, so this is definitely a tense story line, and has some great moments in it, like Glass spacewalking, but the pace is completely at odds with the rest of the book. Once Glass unlocks the doors people start pouring into the previously secure section of the station and it becomes a mad dash to the drop ships. This should be happening quickly, with it being a race for survival, but these chapters are inter spaced with the ones on Earth, and it really slows the pace of these sections down a lot.

Despite these issues with pacing, the second book in the series definitely builds more on the world, and introduces new elements and plot points that are sure to be big things going forward. We learn that there are two factions of people on Earth, one friendly, the other hostile. We discover how these people survived the apocalypse and see their underground facility. Clarke learns of another expedition to Earth that included her parents, who might still be alive. And we get hints that there might be a killer within the 100's camp.

These are all great moments that move the plot forwards and make it feel like a bigger world, but most of these come towards the end of the book, so don't expect to learn more until volume three at least.

Whilst the flashbacks in the first book were a great way of us learning more about the characters and getting a good sense of the kinds of people they are, as well as giving us a lot of information about the colony itself, this time they feel a little more redundant. This time round the information that they're giving the reader aren't as important, and some of them make vague hints to things the characters learn later in the book anyway, and all their inclusion does is tip the read off to things that would have otherwise been a surprise.

I'm hoping that these flashbacks will become more relevant in the next book, or will simply not be used. I'm a little worried that what was a great narrative device in the first book will be kept around and become overused, much like the increasingly harder to justify flashbacks in Lost.

Overall Day 21 was an improvement on the first book, simply because it moved the plot forward and introduced some interesting new elements. It still, however, felt like a smaller part of a much bigger narrative, and as such left me a bit dejected come the end. I'm glad I'm reading it now, when all the books are already out and waiting for me, rather than having to wait on long periods between books for their release.

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Darkness Shifting by Sarah L. Blair - Book Review

'Paranormal Investigator, Sidney Lake doesn’t jump at shadows. The weird stuff is her jurisdiction. When the mangled body of a supposedly extinct creature turns up in New York City’s subway system, she’s number one on the Medical Examiner’s speed dial.

'But this case hits too close to home when clues point her toward the truth about her parents’ brutal murder twelve years ago. Her boss Mitchell Harris, questions whether she should continue to investigate. However, Sidney insists on facing her greatest fears and putting her parents’ memory to rest once and for all.

'What she uncovers sheds a light on secrets that reach further into the darkness than she ever wanted to go… and leads her to a future she never imagined.'

I love a good bit of urban fantasy. A secret world of monsters and magics hidden beneath the real world is a set up for so many good stories and popular television shows. Whether it's Harry Potter, or Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or even The X-Files, the idea that there's more to the world than you can actually see is such an alluring concept that it's one people keep coming back to time and time again. Because of this there's a lot of books that fit into the genre, and sometimes it can be hard to stand out amongst the competition. Sarah L. Blair's Darkness Shifting is a book that I don't think a huge amount of people have heard of, but deserves to stand out amongst books in its genre.

The story follows Sidney Lake, a woman in her mid-twenties who works for a special organisation that investigates and polices paranormal beings and incidents around New York City. It's kind of like The X-Files, but without being seen as a fringe group that's made fun of. Whilst we don't get to see a huge amount of how the organisation works, we get to see Sidney and her colleagues called into police and federal incidents and be treated with respect. In some ways it made me think of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the early stages of the MCU, where you didn't quite know who they were, but they were walking in with special ID's and knew what they were doing so you made way for them because you're way out of your depth.

Joining Sidney is her partner Williams, who might be one of the nicest sidekick characters in one of these books. Sidney is definitely the lead here, it's not Mulder and Scully or Sam and Dean, so don't expect Williams to come into the spotlight too much. But when he is around he's the best kind of support for Sidney there is. He's kind and caring, sweet and funny, and loyal to a fault. And the fact that there isn't any kind of romance or sexual tension between a male and female partnership makes it so much better too. He's the sweet and goofy older brother that everyone would want. Plus his willingness to crack a joke at the most inappropriate moment, and being a wonderful father, made him a character that I not only wanted to see make it out alive, but would actively want to spend some time with.

The previously mentioned sexual tension is instead given over to Sidney's boss, Mitch. A man almost twice her age who recruited her into the organisation years before, he proves to be a good romantic foil. I have to be honest, I'm usually not comfortable with relationships with large age gaps, particularly with much older men. I think that they can sometimes seem slightly predatory, with older men preying on younger and less experienced women. This was not the case here, however. Sidney is such a strong and capable character that I never once got the indication that Mitch might be one of those creepy older guys. Sidney just wouldn't stand for that kind of thing. Instead he's the rock for her to lean on when things get tough.

There are a number of times during the book where Sidney goes through some serious physical and emotional trauma, and each time Mitch is there for her. He doesn't do this to make himself look like the good guy, or use it a pretence to get into her pants. He's doing it because he's a good person. He understands that Sidney is younger than him, and that she might not want to lock herself into a relationship with a man twice her age, so he gives her the space to be who she wants to be and do what she wants to do whilst being there for her the instant she needs him.

The relationship between the two of them is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book, mainly because it was treated in a very adult way. Often times books that involve romance will put me off a little, particularly if it's too over done. I don't like stories where people are soulmates three days after meeting each other and initially hating each other. This kind of relationship though, one that's evolved over years, where each person in it has thought long and hard about the kind of person they are and what they want out of life feels so much more grounded that I was able to get on board with it much easier.

I won't go into the story too much, as the twisting narrative that packs in the surprises and subverts expectations is one of the best things about the book. That being said, I will talk a little bit about the way that Blair presents the world that she's made.

Going into the book we know nothing about the kinds of creatures that inhabit it, or what the rules are regarding the supernatural. Instead of bombarding the reader with these kinds of facts they're given to us slowly, revealed if and when they become pertinent to the story. We learn werewolves exist when Sidney is called into a crime scene with one. Demons get mentioned when one causes some havoc, and we learn ghosts exist when it comes up in casual conversation.

When you're introducing readers to a new world there's really a few main ways to get them up to speed on how things work. One is to have a completely brand new character who's learning everything fresh and can act as the eyes of the audience. This is similar to Harry learning he's a wizard in the Harry Potter books, where we discover the word alongside him and every new experience for him is one for us. Another way of doing it is to have experienced characters who are used to the world, and the information is given to the readers outside of conversations. Whilst this method can mean that readers get a lot of useful information and background world building it can sometimes feel like an info dump and comes across very stale.

Then there's the approach that Blair took, where we're dropped into the middle of things. When this is done badly readers can feel lost, but in cases like this we're given enough respect to be able to keep up with things and to learn as we go. The characters don't explain the stuff they already know, and we're not given masses of encyclopedia entries on monsters, instead the story presents things to us. That's all. The story provides us with the world in such a way that we don't need the explanations and info dumps because the world just works. This not only speaks volumes for how well crafted the narrative is, but for Blair's ability as an author.

I read the book in one night. I picked it up in the afternoon, put it down once to eat, then kept reading through to the early hours of the morning to finish it. I probably shouldn't have done that, and was actively keeping myself awake to finish it; but the story was so good that I didn't want to wait even those few hours through sleep to find out what happened next.

I don't often use phrases like 'page turner' or 'impossible to put down' because often books aren't like that, even when they're some of the best you've read. But on this occasion I do have to use those words. I stormed through the book because I found it engrossing. I loved the world that Blair was building and the characters she was inhabiting it with. Part of me wishes I had taken longer, just so the experience wouldn't have ended so fast, but there was no way I was going to make myself stop reading and end the fun.

Darkness Shifting is not only a great entry into the Urban Fantasy genre, but an example of how to do the genre right. It excels in every area and left me wanting to read more the moment it was done. I really hope that the next book in the series comes soon, but more than that I really hope that more people discover this absolute gem. So if you've never read this but it sounds like something you'd like please pick it up and give it a chance. Then tell others about it. I'm sure that if hordes of eager fans come to Sarah Blair asking for the next instalment it'll help encourage her to write it, which means I get to read the next book even quicker.

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The 100 by Kass Morgan - Book Review

'Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents—considered expendable by society—are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonise the planet. It could be their second chance at life...or it could be a suicide mission.

'CLARKE was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. WELLS, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves—but will she ever forgive him? Reckless BELLAMY fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And GLASS managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.

'Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.'

The only experience I'd had of The 100 before reading the book was briefly watching parts of the first season of the television series when it first started airing several years ago, so I was aware of the basic premise, but that was about it. I didn't really remember much from the show, and knew that they'd have changed things anyway, so had no real expectations about what to expect when I sat down to read the book.

The main narrative of The 100 follows a society of humans that have survived the nuclear apocalypse by escaping to space. The ships that took them to safety now float in obit, connected together into a mismatched colony. The people on these three ships have spent centuries trying to maintain their technology and conserve their resources as best they can, sometimes to murderous ends, but now their resources are running low and the technology is failing, leaving returning to Earth as their only choice.

One hundred teenage delinquents are chosen to be sent to the potentially deadly planet below to see if it's safe for the rest of the survivors to return. Kind of like canaries in a coal mine. Now, if this sounds somewhat cruel to you, you're right. One of the first things that you learn about the society of survivors in The 100 is that its not a place you'd want to live. The ships have a big difference in social status and resources, with the citizens of one ship still acting like they're the upper class of society, engaging in fancy balls and classy events with gowns and wine, whilst others are living in abject poverty.

Even with this skewing of resources to favour one group over others there's still a shortage on supplies, meaning that intense measures are in place to keep the population under control. Death seems to be the main punishment within this society, with almost any adult stepping out of line seeming to end in execution. The teens that are in prison are only alive because they're waiting to reach eighteen, at which point the rulers seem to feel more comfortable in having them killed. With such tyrannical rule being sent to a potentially dangerous Earth almost seems like a nice escape from the horrors of their daily reality.

Over the course of the book we get to know a core cast of a few of these teens, not only following them during their attempts to survive, but getting to see flashbacks to their life before. We get to see a little more of how this society functioned, and the 'crimes' that led them to getting their death sentences at the same time. These sections were some of the most interesting in the book. They not only helped to build the characters, and show their motivations and personality in ways that their current circumstances couldn't, but also seemed to raise an interesting point; not everyone in prison deserves to be there.

This isn't a new idea in fiction, and a lot of stories have a hero falsely imprisoned. But whilst some of these stories involved characters framed for crimes they didn't commit The 100 takes a slightly different approach (though there is one character who does fall into that category as she was framed for something she didn't do), The 100 asks you the question of what if the crime isn't worthy of punishment?

The character of Glass, we learn, was sent to prison to await execution because she fell pregnant. This wasn't something that she planned. It just happened. Just like in the real world, sometimes you get pregnant when you never planned it. Even when she loses the baby she's condemned to death. Is that fair? Is it also fair that they want her to give up the father so that he can die too? They haven't added to the population, haven's put strain on these resources because the baby didn't survive, so is it still right to kill two people? The fact that some people are living in relative luxury when others are barely getting by highlights the hypocrisy of this sentence even more. There could be enough resources if they were distributed fairly, but instead people are being killed for relatively little just to maintain the status quo.

I don't know if Kass Morgan intended to create a work that demonised the prison system, but it certainly ended up that way. You come to hate the society that the survivors have created, and the heroes are 'criminals' that are death row inmates. Sadly there's not too much time to really think on this in the book, as events move so fast that we're not really allowed to focus on it. I do hope that this will be explored more later in the series, that perhaps when the other survivors come to Earth those who were victims of this awful regime rise up and get some kind of restitution.

What surprised me most about The 100 was the pace of the story. Kass Morgan manages to pack so much into the book, yet also does so little, that the book felt unfinished. Now, this isn't a criticism, so let me explain. By the end of the book the reader has been given a lot of information about the characters, shown so much of their backstories and gained such a sense of what they're like, that you feel like you've got to know them really well, yet so little has happened since the 100 arrived on Earth that it feels like there's so much more to happen. When I reached the end of the book I knew there was more to come, that this first book had barely touched upon the story, that I wanted to jump straight into the second book to read more. Very clever Kass, you hooked me.

The events on Earth don't cover a huge amount of time, and I think we only get to see a few days of the one hundred on the planet before the book ends on a dramatic moment that promises more to come. Whilst I hope that the story continues to use this exciting pace going forward I don't want to see the author keep using cliffhanger endings to ensure that readers come back for more. It works here, but more than once would get tiring. The story and characters are strong enough to maintain my interest.

The 100 was an interesting and engaging sci-fi story that had a lot more depth to it than I was expecting, and made me consider topics that I didn't really think it would. On the surface it's a story about teenagers being thrust into an exciting and dangerous adventure, but underneath that it raises some scary questions about the penal system and corruption that are still relevant to society even now.

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The Wall by John Lanchester - Book Review

'Ravaged by the Change, an island nation in a time very like our own has built the Wall―an enormous concrete barrier around its entire coastline. Joseph Kavanagh, a new Defender, has one task: to protect his section of the Wall from the Others, the desperate souls who are trapped amid the rising seas outside and are a constant threat. Failure will result in death or a fate perhaps worse: being put to sea and made an Other himself. Beset by cold, loneliness, and fear, Kavanagh tries to fulfil his duties to his demanding Captain and Sergeant, even as he grows closer to his fellow Defenders. A dark part of him wonders whether it would be interesting if something did happen, if they came, if he had to fight for his life.'

I'd seen some mixed reviews for The Wall before I started reading it, with some people saying that they found it to be dull because nothing much happened for large portions of the book. Once I really got into the story, I kind of had to agree, not a whole lot happened for a long while. But rather than this being boring John Lanchester managed to give these sections of the book a strange sort of beauty and quality to these large sections of nothing that I couldn't help but be drawn into the world he was creating.

The long sections where Kavanagh spends weeks on the wall, staring out at a vast expanse of sea, waiting for the Others to do something, are dull. It's a character sitting on a bench for hours at a time watching the sea. When he's not doing this he's either sleeping, training, or going back home for short breaks where he does nothing. It shouldn't be exciting. It shouldn't be hugely entertaining. But like Kavanagh staring out at the vast waters, after a while you begin to enjoy the routine. You start to see the small beauty in things because you've got no choice but to find them just to have something to do.

These quieter moments of the book should be some of the worst in the book, especially compared to later parts of the story where big events happen, but they might be some of the moments that I enjoyed the most. The story has to fill these quiet times with something, so instead of story it's character that takes centre stage here.

We get to know Kavanagh through his boredom, through the strange poems he makes to describe the vast nothingness of his daily routine. We get to see how his mind works, and what makes him tick. We get to see him develop these friendships with his fellow Defenders, discovering more and more about them in those brief moments of downtime.

I came to know these characters so much better than I would have if there was a frenetic story going on that by the time something does happen to drive the narrative forward I was fully invested in them. I cared if they got hurt, I wanted them to succeed. John Lanchester spent so long building these characters, slowly adding more and more to them during these long moments of nothing that I didn't even realise how much I cared about them until some of them began to leave the story.

The second half of the book shifts things, however, and begins to explore the wider world of The Wall, and puts the characters in moments of danger and peril. It takes on a more action oriented approach, and begins to feel a little more like the dystopia survival you'd expect from the premise; and this makes the book even better.

These sections were hugely entertaining, and I think a lot of people would really enjoy them, but am worried that some might not make it to this point, having given up during the 'boring' sections of the book. If that's you, I think you've done both yourself and the author a disservice. These long sections of nothing at the beginning of the book make the more frenetic parts in the second half mean so much more. You've come to care for the characters, and you kind of feel like you've earned the excitement you get given.

I don't think The Wall is for everyone, and from some of the divisive reviews I've seen that's pretty evident. But, if you're willing to hold on a little bit, to sit through things you think you might not be enjoying you'll soon find that actually, these parts of the book are good, that they have a purpose.

The Wall is a very different kind of dystopia novel. It's a very personal story. It's not about the world the story is set in. It's not about the events that led to this awful new world. And it's not about someone rising up to challenge society and make it a better place. It's a story about a regular person, someone who's just trying to survive in the harsh reality. We all like to think we'd be the hero in a story, that we'd be the one rising up against the awful regime and fighting for change, but the odds are we'd probably just be a regular person, trying to just get through life, and this is who Kavanagh is. Despite how dramatic some of the moments in the story are its a human story, about a regular person just trying to live. And that makes it so much more real and meaningful than another story about a revolutionary hero.

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Hope Island by Tim Major - Book Review

'Workaholic TV news producer Nina Scaife is determined to fight for her daughter, Laurie, after her partner Rob walks out on her. She takes Laurie to visit Rob's parents on the beautiful but remote Hope Island, to prove to her that they are still a family. But Rob's parents are wary of Nina, and the islanders are acting strangely. And as Nina struggles to reconnect with Laurie, the silent island children begin to lure her daughter away.

'Meanwhile, Nina tries to resist the scoop as she is drawn to a local artists' commune, the recently unearthed archaeological site on their land, and the dead body on the beach... '

I really enjoyed Tim Major's debut work Snakeskins, which came out last year. The mixture of  interesting science fiction, political conspiracy, and coming of age drama was wonderful to read, and made me very excited for Hope Island.

Hope Island was a much smaller story than I was expecting, in the sense that it was really the story of one family, and one woman in particular. Where Snakeskins had crafted a whole different world, this time Major focuses on a more personal level, as we see what happens when someone's world ends.

Nina Scaife has left her home and her all consuming job in the UK to travel to the US, visiting the parents of her partner Rob for the first time. Whilst she's never been to the remote Hope Island herself, her daughter Laurie has visited before, and Nina's hoping that her love of the island and her grandparents will make the news she has to break easier on them both. She plans to tell her teenage daughter, and Rob's parents, that Rob has walked out on them, leaving them for another woman that he's been seeing for years secretly.

We spend a good while with Nina as she struggles to find the right time to break this news. We see how much Rob leaving her has shaken a woman who seems to normally be a very strong and confident person. She's doubting herself, she' hurting. Add to that the fact that she's never really got on with her in-laws, and the fact that the island is remote and filled with strange people, it's a wonder Nina holds herself together so well.

Her whole life has been turned upside down, and she's having to face the possibility that she might not have been the best mother she could have, having put her career before her family for so many years. She's close to breaking.

I really enjoyed the switch from such a large scale story in Major's last book to this incredibly personal story, and so much of the first half of the book is given over to seeing Nina's reactions to these recent changes. She begins to lose herself a little, and it's a little like watching someone slip closer and closer to madness as you begin to realise she might be having something of an emotional breakdown.

Dotted throughout these early parts of the novel, however, are hints that something strange, and even sinister, might be happening on Hope Island. The children are weird. I don't just mean that they're into odd things or anything like that, you want to think Midwich Cuckoos type weird.

Whilst I did enjoy the personal drama that was happening in Hope Island that wasn't the thing I turned up for, I wanted the creepy horror that the blurb described. And whilst the book did get very creepy towards the end I couldn't help but feel that maybe we should have had some more stuff happen before to tease it out a little. Other than the kids acting very quite and a little off there wasn't much to remind me that this was supposed to be something of a horror, to the point where when things did become overtly horror I was almost taken by surprise as I was just reading a very real story about a woman whose relationship had just ended.

By the time things really started to happen we'd spent so long with Nina and her slipping emotions that there were a few things that happened where I was expecting it to be some kind of dream or hallucination. For some of these moments it was the case, but there was one particularly long and important sequence where I kept expecting Nina to wake up, so was thrown when she didn't. These kinds of feelings were exacerbated towards the end where the narrative kept flicking between the rel world and some kind of dreamscape.

I imagine this sense of confusion and paranoia were intentional on Major's part, to really put us in Nina's shoes, where you could never quite be sure if what was happening was real or not. It added to the sense of unease that permeated the book, but it also meant that I had to find myself concentrating hard on the narrative to keep track of things in my head; which did sadly take away a little of the enjoyment for me.

Overall, however, the book was very good, and Major was able to craft a slowly unfolding, creepy story that never gave you a moment to relax or feel at ease. The 'thing' that is behind the events (I won't really describe it in any way as to avoid spoiler) was something that I'd genuinely not seen before. It felt new and unique, something that almost couldn't work in any other format other than a written story. I was hugely impressed with the strange direction the book took towards the end, and how suddenly some of the weird little moments from earlier in the book all clicked into place and made perfect sense.

Hope Island subverted my expectations not only from the description, but also from what I was expecting based on Tim Major's other work. He's proven that he can craft a layered and intriguing personal story that will test the mind and push readers into bold new directions. A slow building and strange horror that's sure to stick out from the crowd.

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Predator Stalking Shadows by James A. Moore and Mark Morris - Book Review

'In the aftermath of the events of Predator 2, U.S. Marine Scott Devlin is assigned to the clean-up operation in Los Angeles. He is soon thrust into a world of secretive government agents, highly-advanced technology, and an unstoppable juggernaut lone agent, Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer.

As Devlin rises through the ranks, working in elite counter-terrorist units, he gathers evidence, slowly piecing together the shocking truth of what he saw that night. Fighting for freedom from the jungles of South America to the Scottish Highlands, Devlin learns who the real enemy is, and how to fight for survival.

'He’s not the only one fighting back against the Hunters. Dutch has been working in the shadows ever since his first encounter in Central America, gathering knowledge, weapons, and team mates. Fighting both the Hunters and shadowy government agencies, Dutch and Devlin must team up to take the fight to the aliens – to become the predators.'

The Predator franchise has it's highs and lows, but generally has some very good films. The first three films in the series are all good for various different reasons, and whilst 2018's The Predator was generally seen as a disappointment that's still only one of the four films that's really classed as bad. Over the years the franchise has tried to expand out into different mediums, such as novels, comics, and video games. Whilst it's received acclaim in comics and games, novels tends not to be a medium where people sing its praises as much.

I've found that this can sometimes come down to the fact that it an be hard to capture a lot of the tension and horror that the films have on the written page, and that Predator books can sometimes feel a little flat. This is most certainly not the case with Predator Stalking Shadows, as I found it to not only be incredibly engaging and character driven, but at times was genuinely scary too.

Predator Stalking Shadows doesn't focus on just one event, on a singular predator incursion, and this really works to its advantage. Instead we follow Scott Devlin, a member of the US Marines, over the course of a number of decades as he slowly begins to learn the truth about the existence of these extraterrestrial hunters, and becomes drawn into the fight against them. As such, the book becomes more about him than the titular monsters; and this is such a good thing.

We get to see Scott as a relatively young man, fresh onto a special unit and going out on top secret missions. We get to see him get to know the soldiers around him, and we get to come to care for them the same way that he does. This means that when Scott and his comrades eventually end up in positions where they're going up against the Yautja you are hoping that these people make it through these encounters, and become genuinely heartbroken when some of them don't.

Not only was this so refreshing a development, I genuinely shed a couple of tears during one particularly poignant funeral scene, but I think it's probably the first time that I've ever really cared about a character death in the entire Predator franchise. Yes, it's disappointing when the cool marines die in the first film, and I genuinely hoped that Danny Trejo would have lasted longer in Predators, but this was the first time that I found myself caring about them as people, upset that they were leaving wives and children behind when they passed away.

But this is what the book is really good at. It's not a book about the spectacle of the predators, or the horror of being in their hunting ground, it's a story about the people in these situations. It's one of the most grounded, human stories in the entire franchise.

The book also features the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch, and shows what he's been doing in the years since the first Predator film. He's the character that we occasionally see fighting the predators, and whilst these moments are fairly fleeting they do help to carry the story along, giving readers brief moments of action as the rest of the book works on character and world building. For as many times as we get to see Dutch in action against the creatures we also get second hand stories about what he's been doing and how his mission has been getting on. Rather than feeling cheated by these, hoping for a 'show don't tell' approach instead, they feel a lot more real. We're supposed to be following Scott and his particular journey, so it makes sense to stick with him and instead of seeing Dutch's moments seeing them through Scott's eyes; which is learning about them after the fact.

I don't know much about the game that this is setting up, Predator Hunting Grounds, and imagine that it's more laying some very background framework for the game and explaining why Dutch is still around, as I do know he appears in the game. But I have to be honest, I wouldn't have cared half as much about the game before reading this book. The book makes it feel like there's a more cohesive world inside the Predator franchise, it makes it feel like the films and this new game are connecting in more than just name and IP. And better yet, the book manages to stand on its own and stays a brilliant piece of work without needing to connect into the game.

Predator Stalking Shadows is easily one of the best Predator novels that I've read. It captures the feel and tension of the films without relying on it to make its story. It centres on realistic people, it makes you care about the characters and the world in ways the franchise hasn't before. A masterful piece of fiction.

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Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer - Book Review

'Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.'

I'd heard about the Artemis Fowl books for a while, but had never gotten around to reading them despite managing to acquire the entire series. This was largely due to having worked in a charity shop before becoming too ill to work and the set coming in one day. When the upcoming film was announced, and with the set sitting on a shelf in my library, I decided that it was probably about time that I got round to actually reading one.

To be honest, I'm not really sure what I was expecting going into it, I knew that Artemis is supposed to be some kind of super villain kid, and that their are fairies and magical creatures, but I wasn't expecting such a small story.

I've found that a lot of stories that involve younger people discovering about a hidden world of magic or the supernatural tend to take on a grand tone to it. Harry is the chosen one in Harry Potter, and whilst we don't learn the significance and importance of what Valkyrie Cain will become in Skulduggery Pleasant she does help defeat a powerful evil. These books throw the heroes into grand adventure and high stakes, but that's not the case with Artemis Fowl.

This could be because in essence Artemis isn't the hero of this particular story, but it the bad guy, but I think it also came down to the fact that despite involving fairies, trolls, and dwarfs, this story was about kidnapping and ransom. There was no grand adventure or any epic revelations, it's just about a group of police officers trying to get one of their colleagues back from a kidnapper.

I think that this might be part of the reason why I didn't really feel like the book clicked with me at any point. There was nothing overtly wrong with it, and it was entertaining enough, but it never really drew me in or made me care about anyone. There was a point in the book where it looked like one of the main characters was dead, and I didn't really care. There was no shock or disappointment, no cheer as it was revealed they were okay; I was reading it with a sense of detachment.

This was one of the biggest issues for me, that I felt detached for the whole book. I didn't learn enough about the fairy folk or their world to find them interesting, and the stuff I did learn seemed to only ever be related to the specific things happening their and then. Because of this I didn't really care that their world might become exposed, because I didn't know what their world was already. I didn't every learn enough about Artemis to care about his plots either. Yes, he wants money to try and continue to get by with his rich lifestyle, and to perhaps find his father; but he came across as a device to start the plot rather than a real person.

The characters that felt the most real were the non-human ones, but thanks to the pace at which the story progressed we never got to spend enough time with them to see what they were really like. They were always reacting to things, and the readers never got a chance to see what they were like in anything but a 'work' scenario. I get that these characters are fairy cops, but they're also people. Show that a bit more. Show what Holly's thinking, about how being taken prisoner is effecting her; then I'll start to care if she makes it out or not.

There are a lot of books aimed at younger readers that are able to keep adults entertained too, many of which have gone on to become globally successful franchises. I have to be honest though, I don't see much of that on offer in Artemis Fowl. The book is fine, and it will certainly appeal to the intended age group, but I don't think it's got enough to it to grab people who come to it later in life. I understand that this might be something that changes with the series over time, as a lot of books seem to mature as they progress through a series, growing with their fans, so I'll probably give the second book a go and see if this is the case here.

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In The Graveyard Antemortem by Stephen Stromp - Book Review

'Seventeen-year-old Lisa Jacobs is determined to solve her father's gruesome murder. But before she can investigate in her own small town, she is forced to spend the summer with her Uncle Clayton, the owner of Grand Hallow--a massive funeral and mortuary operation the size of a small city. Her move to Grand Hallow only deepens the mystery as she begins to suspect the strange and chilling occurrences there are linked to her father's death. With the help of her acid-tongued best friend and deadbeat brother, Lisa must unravel the secrets of Grand Hallow--before it's too late.'

I have to admit, I was initially drawn to this book by its cover. I liked hoe simple, yet pretty the design was, and how it seemed to be two pieces cut together. Plus, it used the word antemortem in the title; a word that's kind of pretty yet rarely used. It seems to be a word that's so often forgotten that my computer's spell checker is telling me it's not real.

Sadly, the cover and the title seemed to be the best thing about this book. Now I'm not saying it's a bad book, not at all. But it wasn't the book that I was expecting it to be. This is probably my fault, and I shouldn't place blame on anyone else for this, but I came away from the book at the end feeling a little flat.

It begins well enough, with the initial mystery of the murder of Lisa's father at his gas station. The scene in which Lisa finds him is quite creepy, and it's interesting how Stephen Stromp chooses to have her go somewhat numb in her reaction, rather than to become hysterical or upset as a lot of writers would. After a while, though, this numbness seems to translate into coldness. Lisa becomes obsessed with tracking down her father's killer and getting to the bottom of things that it wasn't until I reached the very end of the book that I realised that I don't remember Lisa crying about events even once.

I understand the desire to want a strong protagonist, one that wants to tackle the mystery presented here rather than to wallow in grief, but after a while it ends up with Lisa feeling a little emotionless. This is genuinely quite sad, as Lisa seemed to be a pretty good lead character otherwise. She has some good ideas for how to get to the bottom of things, and seems to have a level of maturity that most teenage girls wouldn't have.

After the initial chapters where Lisa loses her father and makes the decision to track down the killer herself, she gets shipped off to live with her uncle Clayton for the next few months until she reaches 18, at which point she will be an adult and can do what she wants. Lisa is sent to stay at Grand Hallow, a huge funeral home, with hundreds of acres of graveyard, and it's own mortuary and crematorium facilities. She essentially becomes one of only a handful of living people in a town of the dead.

Instead of this hampering her investigations it seems to lead to more mysteries, mysteries that include deranged morticians, cannibalism, and ghostly little girls.

I have to be honest, once Lisa travels to Grand Hallow things started to get a little stranger. The almost casual way that Lisa begins to interact with two creepy young girls that claim to live in the graveyard, girls that appear at her window in the middle of the night asking her to come play is a little infuriating. Did Lisa never watch a horror film? I honestly can't think of many people who'd causally go off into the graveyard at night to play with the children, but seem to just shrug away the fact that they turn out to be ghost. Or at least that's what she's led to think.

About half way through the book the story seems to get something of a resolution. The person who killed Lisa's father is found, and she gets to leave Grand Hallow. It's not until you realise there's still about half the book left, that there's been no explanation about the dead girls, and no reason given why Lisa can apparently read people's memories from drinking their blood (that happens very early in the book with almost no attention given to it), that you realise there's still a lot left to wrap up.

Unfortunately, this second half of the book seemed to go a little too crazy for me. The story shifted, a lot. New plot points and weird revelations kept being added that it felt like two very different stories got smashed together into one. Yes, there are hints at some of these things earlier on in the book, such as Lisa's blood memory abilities, but they're so quickly mentioned and glossed over then that it feels like a big shock when they become the least crazy thing happening in the final act. I'm not going to say too much about what happens towards the end so as not to spoil too much, but it'll be stuff that you're not expecting.

In The Graveyard Antemortem is a book that goes places you don't expect, and will definitely read better if you go into it suspending your disbelief. It's not especially realistic, people act weirdly and things that just wouldn't happen in real life happen here in order to service the plot. If you go into the book knowing this, you could probably have a good time with it. There's mystery, there's horror, and there's twists that will take you by surprise. An odd, yet entertaining YA novel.

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