The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison - Book Review

'This is not the story you think it is. These are not the characters you think they are. This is not the book you are expecting. In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. 

'A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.'

I think one of the first things I should say before getting too much into this review is that I love Sherlock Holmes fiction, so I was going into this book with some tough criteria for Katherine Addison to meet. I wanted a book that would pay homage to the original stories but would stand on its own and be great. Well, I got everything I wanted and more. This book is amazing.

The story follows Doctor J.H. Doyle, a military doctor who is injured by a fallen angel on the battlefields of Afghanistan and sent home to England with a pension. Doyle meets an old friend in London, Stamford, who helps him to find a place to stay, with the bizarre angel named Crow. Now, anyone familiar with Holmes fiction can already see what this set-up is, and yes, it works so, so well.

Crow is fascinated with humanity, and in particular, crime; and as he sees the entirety of London as his domain he wants to help those in need throughout the city and solve crimes. Together with Doyle, the two of them end up getting involved in a variety of mysteries, including the mystery of the Agra treasure, the disappearance of Euphemia Rucastle who appears to have returned home to The Copper Beeches, and the sudden death of Julia Stoner who mentioned something about a speckled band before her death. Amid all of these retelling of classic Holmes stories the pair also hunt for the mysterious killer known as Jack The Ripper.

The thing that really makes The Angel of the Crows stand out isn't just that it's putting a new spin on classic stories, but is making an entirely new world. The book is set in a world where the supernatural not only exists, but are a part of everyday life. Angels exist and look over public buildings. Vampires have treaties with the humans and no longer kill, instead operating the equivalent of opium dens. Werewolves run respectable businesses. And there's more that are only hinted at, such as ghosts, curses, and other spectral beings. Addison spends a lot of time laying out the rules of this world and explaining how things work, and it feels like a very lived in place that could actually exist; and this information is always presented in very natural ways and never feels like an info dump.

It's also a lot of fun trying to recognise certain Holmes characters, and seeing how they've been translated into this new world. Obviously Holmes and Watson are completely different people, but there are occasionally characters who don't seem to have changed, such as Inspector Lestrade. Whilst it's fun seeing these characters in this new environment, I liked trying to pick out the altered ones, like Moriarty or Mycroft Holmes.

The biggest character changes are the main two, and if I'm honest they're the most interesting versions of Holmes and Watson I've seen in years. Doyle has a few secrets, one of which is teased during the first half of the book, with another that comes out of nowhere and changes everything about how you read the character. I'm not going to say what these secrets are, because it would be horrible to spoil either, but I'm definitely going to be reading through the book again to see how it works knowing these hidden twists to the character.

Crow, the Holmes counterpart, is a brilliant piece of writing; mainly because almost nothing is done to change the character. Obviously at first glance this sounds strange, because he's an angel here, but his personality is mostly the same. Crow is just a uncomfortable around people as Holmes, he doesn't understand the complexities of human emotions, he's not always polite, he's obsessive with small things, and he sometimes doesn't know things that others take for granted. There have been some adaptations that try to explain away these quirks as him being a sociopath (silly idea Sherlock) or even having him on the autism spectrum, but these always felt a bit odd. However, him being an angel, a creature that doesn't work the same as humans, who didn't grow up learning human interaction, fits Holmes so well. Crow might end up being one of the best versions of the character ever.

I wish I had more space in this review to talk about how much I enjoyed this book, for the love it clearly has of the source material, how it's bold and brave with that material and makes it it's own thing. I could talk about this book for hours. I fell in love with this world and characters so quickly that I pre-ordered the hardback version of the book before I'd even finished, and would love to talk to the author about the story and characters. If you're a fan of Gothic horror, historical fiction, urban fantasy, or Sherlock Holmes, this book will not only satisfy, it'll blow you away.

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The Stars of History: Charlie Chaplin by Bernard Swysen - Book Review

 

'In creating The Little Tramp, Charlie Chaplin became a legend. Who remembers now that he was English, that he came up from nothing, that he made his fortune in the United States, that he had to flee the country under pressure from McCarthyism, or that he created the very first production house run by artists? Full of humour, the “Stars of History” collection offers a fresh new look at the legends of cinema.'

I knew a little about Charlie Chaplin going into this book, and by a little I mean the bare minimum, that he was from the UK, and was a silent movie actor. Which is a pretty basic understanding to say the least. So, a book that would provide an overview of his life in a clear and understandable way was something that definitely piqued my interest.

I've not read any of the Stars of History series before, so had no idea what to expect going in, and at first I was a little surprised at how quickly the book moved. Sometimes the narrative would jump by months or years, but I never felt lost because of it, and it quickly became clear that if the book didn't move through events quickly it would have to be five times as long.

There were occassions where I wished more time could have been spent establishing some of the people who appeared in the narrative, and exactly who they were, as some people appeared one page, has an effect on Chaplin's life, then is gone by the next page. I know that it's because of the limits of the format, rather than an issue with the writing, but it did leave me feeling lacking at times.

However, the book covers a lot of ground, and manages to include a huge amount of events that happened during Chaplin's life, events that I had no idea about. I didn't know that he made as many films as he did, that he played a part in founding United Artists, that he was chased out of the US because of McCarthyism, or that he has multiple sexual encounters with underage girls. 

Bernard Swysen doesn't hold back some of the less savoury aspects of Chaplin's life, he doesn't try to make him a saint or a villain, but simply allows the reader to make their own decisions based on the events as they were. It allows the reader to decide themselves how they think of him, whether they consider him a good person or not.

The book also made me want to learn more about the man, to go and find another biography about him, so that I can delve a little more into some of the details that the book is unable to cover in depth. I went into it not knowing anything about Chaplin, but came out fascinated by the man, eager to learn more, and feeling like I had a decent grasp of the broad strokes of his story, and all from a graphic novel that's only ninety pages long; I think that's pretty incredible.

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The Grémillet Sisters by Giovanni Di Gregorio - Book Review

'Being sisters is never easy. But when you’re as different as Sarah, Cassiopeia, and Lucille, it’s even harder! The first is haunted by recurring dreams, the second lives with her head in the clouds, and the last spends most of her time with her cat. Then one day they discover a mysterious photo of their mother pregnant. Where was it taken, and who is the baby? And most importantly, why was this photo hidden away in the depths of the attic? To find out, they’ll have to venture into the tangled forest of the Grémillet family secrets!'

The Grémillet Sisters is something a little different, and it immediately jumped out at me. With an Italian creative team, and a story set in Paris, the book has a feel that is already unique to itself, but when you add in the stunning imagery by artist Alessandro Barbucci it really pops.

The story follows three young sisters, Sarah, Cassiopeia, and Lucille. Sarah, the oldest of the siblings, feels like she needs to look after her younger siblings, and it seems like she sometimes forgets to slow down and just be a kid for a white. Cassiopeia loves princesses, sparkly things, and is just discovering boys. And Lucille, the youngest, is obsessed with cats, almost constantly wearing her cat onesie, she spends her time at home playing with her own kitty, and when out and about she frequently sneaks off to feed the local strays.

The book begins with Sarah having a dream, one that she's been having repeatedly for a while now. She's inside a strange, almost magical forest, following these weird floating jellyfish. Eventually, she comes to this huge tree that has a glass house built into its branches. Peeking inside, she sees a little jellyfish sitting alone on a bed. Unfortunately, her dream never goes beyond this point, so she's always left wondering just what this means. Desperate to find out, she gets her sisters to help her investigate.

Sarah asks her mother about the forest and the strange jellyfish she seems to avoid the subject, leaving as quickly as she can. Investigating through their mothers things in the attic, they discover a cashe of old photos, one of which shows their mum stanging in front of the tree from Sarah's dream.

There's something of a mystery to this book, and the questions as to why Sarah's having these strange dreams drives a lot of the narrative forward at the start of the book, but isn't the only focus of the book, as we also get to learn a lot about the sisters and their relationships to each other, complete with some personal conflict. Ultimately, though, these conflicts and the central mystery come together for a conclusion that's somewhat surprising, and a little moving too.

The story isn't hugely complex, and moves with a decent pace that it keeps you interested, but the art definitely helps to keep interest. Every single panel looks beautiful, and there's never a dull moment; even when it's just a mundane scene of the sisters hanging out together talking in their living room. Barbucci manages to cram so many little details into the backgrounds that I found myself stopping for a moment just to look through everything on the page more than once.

Overall, The Grémillet Sisters is a decent book, that manages to work an engaging little mystery into a very real family, one that loves each other, but has conflicts just like everyone else. Whilst I'm not sure what could come next, as this book is labelled as a first volume, I'd definitely be happy to read the next one to find out.

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Enola Holmes – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

As soon as the first trailer for Enola Holmes landed I was sure that I was going to like this film -that as a fan of Sherlock Holmes I’d find something here to enjoy. It takes a new approach to the source material, does some fun things, and has a great cast. I awaited the release with bated breath, hoping that this would be one of the better movie adaptations of a Holmes book; and I was not disappointed.

Based upon the Young Adult book series by Nancy Springer, which centres on Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin), the film sees Enola being raised by her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) in the countryside, away from the eyes of her brothers. When Mrs Holmes one day goes missing, Sherlock and Mycroft come home, but not to help Enola like she thinks. Instead, Mycroft tries to have Enola shipped off to a private finishing school to make her into a ‘proper’ lady. Enola has other plans, however, and finding clues left behind by her mother, sets out on a mission to find her.

I’m always wary of Sherlock Holmes fiction that tries to do something new with the original characters, especially adding new siblings into the mix. Enola never featured in the original stories, and I was worried this could end up being another Sherlock series four; but I was really pleasantly surprised. It’s clear very quickly that both Nancy Springer, and the screenwriter Jack Thorne, know a fair bit about the mythology, and wanted to create something that fits in with what fans like. As such, Enola is very much like Sherlock.

She’s a smart girl, raised to be an independent thinker, to see problems and try to use her mind to find a solution. She’s also trained to be physically fit, and even knows martial arts in order to protect herself. In a lot of ways, she’s very much her older brother. However, as a girl she faces a lot of issues. Very few people in the story take her seriously, and dismiss her out of hand most of the time. This isn’t just something for Enola to have to overcome over the course of the film, but something that proves to be important to the plot itself as the film deals with the developing suffrage movement.

This plot also leads into a secondary story that takes up a good amount of the runtime of the film, and helps to develop Enola into a star detective in her own right. Whilst escaping her brothers she meets a runaway teen, the young Lord Tewksbury (Louis Partridge), who is fleeing from a deadly assassin (Burn Gorman). Over the course of the film Enola comes to realise that in order to help her find herself, she has to help Tewksbury, and sets out on a journey that leads her into deadly danger.

The intertwining of the two stories works really well, and as the film goes on it becomes more and more obvious that the two mysteries are if not connected then thematically resonant of each other, and both vitally important to Enola growing into herself. It also means that you never get a moment to be bored, watching this brilliant young woman juggling two mysteries at the same time.

It’s not just Enola who gets a chance to shine, however, as her older brothers are both great, and have some truly stand out moments. Claflin really stands out as Mycroft, and there are times where you really hate him. He’s a character that’s always skirted the line between lovable and annoying, and you can understand that he truly believes he’s doing the right things here, but the way Claflin plays him just makes him seem like a dick. It’s also shocking to realise that he’s younger than Cavill, but completely sells being the older, more world weary sibling.

Cavill himself doesn’t do a huge amount, and plays a much more bored Holmes, but there are some hugely charming moments that really sell you on his version of the character, and one particular, small moment had me laughing out loud for how perfect he was as the character. Whilst I’m hoping we get more films in the franchise for Enola herself, I’d also love to see more of these two too.

Enola Holmes proved to be everything I was hoping it was. It delivered on the tone of the trailer, giving audiences a fun, fast paced mystery adventure story with a charming lead. Millie Bobby Brown really shone here, and it is easily my favourite of her performances.

Netflix Original Enola Holmes launches on Netflix on 23rd September 2020.

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Legendborn by Tracy Deonn - Book Review

 

'After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.

'A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin” and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

'The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

'She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.'

Legendborn follows Bree, a sixteen-year-old girl that's left home to go off to college as part of an early placement scheme. She's recently been through the loss of her mother, and the break away from home and a chance to dive into school is something that she feels she needs to help get through the trauma. However, she soon discovers more than she was expecting on the campus. After witnessing a group of students using magic to fight a demon, she discovers that there's a whole unknown world out there, and one that she's immediately drawn to.

When she realises that this group has tried to erase her memories of the incident from her mind she wants to find out how that's possible, especially when it begins to unlock memories of the night her mother died, of the first time she came across magic. Desperate to learn more, she tries to infiltrate a secret society on campus with the help of Nick, her student mentor who also happens to be a member of this group, though one who doesn't want any part of it anymore. The two of them decide to try to find answers, however, and to see if there was more than meets the eye to the death of Bree's mother.

At first glance there's not much that jumps out to make Legendborn too different from other YA Urban Fantasy books, it has a female protagonist who discovers a world of monsters and magic, she learns that there's a secret group dedicated to protecting regular people from monsters, the lead falls for the hot guy who's part of this society. But that's ignoring something really big that makes Legendborn stand out not only as something different, but something really important. It's lead character, Bree.

Bree, unlike a lot of other YA protagonists, is Black. Now, I'm sure there will be some people who will immediately jump in to say that this shouldn't make a difference, that the colour of her skin shouldn't impact a story like this. But that's not really true, because let's all be honest, the colour of someone's skin makes a hell of a difference to their life experience, especially in the US. Within the first few chapters we see this, when Bree is pulled into the back of a police car when all the white students are allowed to walk away. We see her being at college because of her academic excellence being disbelieved, with people thinking she somehow cheated her way in as 'affirmative action', and we see her worried that if she says or does the wrong thing she could end up as another young Black person dead at the hands of a cop.

I honestly can't think of another YA book where the lead has to deal with this kind of thing. All the other teen girl leads who sneak out of their house late at night only have to worry about getting in trouble with their parents, not worried about being murdered by police. White protagonists who have run-ins with the law usually get off with a warning or a stern talking to, Bree is in danger of never seeing her family again. This added pressure and danger makes Bree such a strong and amazing young woman before she even comes across anything unusual in the book. She, like so many Black people in the US, has to live under unimaginable pressure and a sense of danger, and it makes her so fucking strong.

Race plays into the book in other ways too. Instead of just being seen as an outsider by others trying to become accepted into the Order of the Round Table because she's new to this world of magic and monsters, she's looked down on my people because she's Black. Other initiates look at her presence in the competition as being down to her sleeping her way in, or tricking Nick in some way, not because she deserves it. In one scene one of the older white women assumes she's a member of staff and talks to her like dirt, simply because she's Black. And there's a moment later on in the book which I won't spoil too much, but Bree ends up on the receiving end of a torrent of racist abuse, because she dared to do something that no person of colour had done before.

These moments not only elevated Bree as a character, raising her up as an amazing example of a young female lead, but also challenged a lot of preconceptions I went into the book with. I was expecting the book to follow a lot of YA tropes and standard plot formula, and it does in places, but whenever these moments were challenged because of Bree's race it threw me off. These moments stopped me from becoming complacent and reminded me that there was something extra special here.

Legendborn also spends some time addressing colonialism, and the slave trade, both in very real and fantastical ways. Where other Urban Fantasy books with European centric mythologies will ignore other cultural ideas this book doesn't. It shows the readers that the ways of the Order of the Round Table aren't the only way, that other cultures have different understandings of, and connections to, magics. It addresses the fact that white people tore cultures apart in their attempt to bring them into their way of thinking, how it destroyed entire cultures and ways of life in order to stamp out practices and beliefs they considered evil. Yes, here it's talking about ways of using magic, but its something that happened in the real world, and has very real consequences that are felt even to this day.

Tracy Deonn does such a good job at intertwining important discussions on race into what you'd come to expect from a YA book. I honestly couldn't see this book working half as well without those elements, and am so eager to see what happens next in the story not to find out what evil plots the villains will come up with, or to see what new magic and adventures will happen, but to see how Bree will challenge this white centric group and their racist views. So much happens towards the end of the book that sets up for some amazing stuff to come, and I can't wait to see how it plays out.

Legendborn was so much better than I was expecting, it has more heart and more depth than other books in this genre. It has a hero who feels so much more realised than others like her, and who's engaging as a person. Other books could benefit from being more like Legendborn, and I can see this easily topping bestseller lists and being talked about in excited tones for years to come.

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I Made This For You – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I Made This For You is a film that’s not going to be easy for a lot of people to watch, but one that I can confidently say really matters, and deserves a lot of attention. The film deals with suicide, in a very up front way. It starts with the staggering statistic that 125 people in the UK lose their life to suicide every single week, and from there it takes a much more personal look at the issue.

The film is a piece of fiction, but it’s also very real, and it would be easy to believe that you’re watching something very real; and it may even be something very real for a lot of people. It follows Al (Gary Grant), a man who has already attempted suicide, and is becoming more and more isolated and withdrawn. His friend Danny, played by writer and director Christian Solimeno, tires to get Al to talk to him, but can’t get him on the phone, and isn’t let into his flat. Instead, he leaves him a DVD labelled ‘I Made This For You’.

Al eventually puts the film on, finding that Danny has gone and spoken to Al’s friends and family, some of whom Al hasn’t seen in years, and talked to them about what Al means to them, and how they feel about his recent suicide attempt.

The film is pretty basic, it’s Al sitting on his sofa watching a film, and the camera cuts between him and the talking heads, but the framing doesn’t really matter here, it’s the story and the message that matters. Over the course of an hour Al hears people telling him that he touched their lives, that they love him, that they’re there for him, and how much it would hurt them is he went away.

The film doesn’t judge, however, it doesn’t frame suicide as something that’s selfish or cruel to do to those you leave behind, like some works do. Instead, it acknowledges that for someone to take their own life they must be in such a dark and lonely place, must be in so much pain. It acknowledges that people often don’t get the help they need when they try reaching out, that mental health and depression isn’t taken seriously. But it also makes a point that suicide hurts others, that the loss of a loved one can really fucking hurt.

This is where the film really hits hard. I’ve lost a friend to suicide, someone who was still so young, had so much life ahead of them. I didn’t realise how much pain she was in, how much she needed someone to help her. Losing her hurt, it made me feel like a shit friend, that maybe I wasn’t there enough for her, and I think about our plans to meet up falling through just the month before she lost her life and think ‘Could I have done more?’; I question if I let her down and helped push her to that point. This is what suicide does to people.

It was this kind of thinking that stopped me from taking my life. I was ready to take my life on two occasions. I felt so alone, in so much pain. I didn’t know where to go or who I could turn to. I was ready to end everything. But it was the thought of what that would do to others that ultimately stopped me. I thought of my poor housemates who’d have to find my body. I thought about how my parents would feel having to bury their child. I thought about friends who would feel like they let me down. That stopped me. Realising that me taking my own life would hurt another is what stopped me.

That’s what this film does, that’s the message that it’s trying to put across, that Al learns. Not in a way to shame people into not taking their life, but to remind them that if even one person would be hurt by your passing then you have a person in your life that loves you, a person that you can reach out to. This is a film with a really important message, that’s trying to do something, and it deserves notice. It won’t end suicide – one of the cast members sadly took their life during the post production – it’s something that will never be eliminated completely; but it might help someone, it might save a life.

I Made This For You is free to watch online for one month from 10th September, World Suicide Prevention Day.

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The Ghost Tree by Christina Henry - Book Review

 

'When people go missing in the sleepy town of Smith's Hollow, the only clue to their fate comes when a teenager starts having terrifying visions, in a chilling horror novel from national bestselling author Christina Henry.

'When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won't find the killer. After all, the year before her father's body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids.

'So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can't just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realises that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the centre. And that if nobody else stands for the missing, she will.'

Before reading The Ghost Tree my only experience of Christina Henry was her work on Looking Glass, which was a collection of novella's set in her Alice in Wonderland inspired fantasy world, so I had no idea what to expect from her writing horror. But, I was so impressed by this book.

Set in the small town of Smiths Hollow, not far from Chicago, the story follows Lauren, a teenage girl whose father was found brutally murdered in the local forest almost a year ago. The forest, and the supposedly haunted Ghost Tree, has always been a refuge for Lauren, and she still goes there to this day, despite it being the place her father died. She's been getting on with her life as best she can, hanging out with her friend Miranda, and trying to survive the anger of her newly widowed mother. Things aren't perfect for her by any means, but she's been getting by.

However, when pieces of two out of town girls are left in the yard of one of her neighbours, Mrs Schneider, it kicks off a series of events that will not only change Lauren's life forever, but the fate of everyone who lives in Smiths Hollow.

The book is set in the early 1980's, and thanks to the principal lead being a teenager it immediately brought certain things to mind, and I found myself thinking a lot about Stranger Things and the new IT movie. Both of these were set in small towns in the 80's, with teens dealing with supernatural forces outside of their control. The Ghost Tree especially reminded me of IT because after a while it became clear that there was something bigger going on here that people in the town were somehow being forced to ignore or forget, and it reminded me of the ability that Pennywise had over the townspeople of Derry. 

But, where I found Stranger Things to be 'just okay', and get bored for long sections whenever I read IT, this book was never dull, was never leaving me bored, and I struggled to put it down, reading through all 500 pages in just over a day. It hooked me from the very beginning, and I was desperate to find out what was really going on in the town, and to just spend some more time with the characters too.

One of the strengths of The Ghost Tree are the interesting characters. Lauren is a great lead. She's having to deal with a lot following the death of her father, but she never feels like a spoilt or angry teen. Yes, she has some trouble getting on with her mother, but she's never hateful towards her, she understands that she's going through a lot too; and her relationship with her younger brother is so sweet an endearing. She's the kind of teenager who's had to grow up fast, and has a level of maturity that is sometimes lacking in books focusing on teen heroes. But this doesn't mean she's written like an adult either, and it's sometimes fun seeing her trying to deal with regular teenage girl issues, like her straining relationship with her oldest friend, and worrying about boys.

Her friend Miranda, on the other hand, is a bit of a nightmare, and is definitely the kind of teen that would give you a lot of sleepless nights as a parent. She's selfish, impulsive, obsessive, but she's still very real, and despite being written as a bit of a bitch for the most part you do understand her motivations a little, and feel sympathy for her at times.

That's one of the best things about this book, is that the characters are so layered and complex, and that no one (other than the exception of a couple) are really all bad, and they just feel like real people. The racist old Mrs Schneider, who hates that her new neighbours are Mexican can generate a level of sympathy when more of the mystery unfolds and you learn some of her backstory. You see that perhaps she's not all bad, but maybe just a victim of the events of Smiths Hollow, having been twisted into this hateful person.

The central mystery is really engaging too, and it's great seeing the characters trying to piece together what's really going on, especially Alex, one of the local police officers. He and his family have just moved to town from Chicago, and don't seem to have completely fallen under the sway of whatever's happening, so we get to see him fighting against this outside influence whilst trying to solve these grizzly murders. Even when a lot of these answers get given to us, fairly early on, there's still so much left unrevealed, and Christina Henry is able to tease out the answers at a pace that stops the reader from losing interest. She keeps you engaged right up to the very end, always wanting to know more.

This was my first experience of reading a horror novel penned by Christina Henry, but I sincerely hope that it's not the last. She's able to take an era that's so prevalent in the media right now and make it feel fresh and exciting. She's doing the small town mystery horror story in a way that it doesn't feel like it's retreading old ground, but comes across as something new and exciting. An absolutely phenomenal book that shows how to craft an amazing horror story.

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Graveyards of Honor – Blu-ray Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The latest release from Arrow Video is an interesting and intense double feature. This new set brings together both versions of Graveyard of Honor, the 1975 film by director Kinji Fukasaku, and the modernised re-imagining in the 2002 Takashi Miike version.

The Fukasaku version tells the true life story of Yakuza gangster Rikio Ishikawa (Tetsuya Watari). Set during the post World War Two years, the film follows Rikio as he and a number of his friends engage in fights against rival gangs. Rikio proves to be something of a loose cannon, and his actions eventually get the attention of those higher-up in his Yakuza family. Over the course of the film we see Rikio go from one extreme to another, attempting to kill his own godfather, getting addicted to drugs, and serving time in prison.

Rikio’s story is a shocking one, and at times it seems too crazy to be true, because you can’t believe that someone could be this violent and self destructive. The film doesn’t shy away from how brutal Rikio was either, and doesn’t attempt to paint him an a good light. There are some crime movies with protagonists that you can either empathise with, or enjoy watching, like Jordan Belfort in The Wolf Of Wall Street, or Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Rikio doesn’t come close to either of these two, however, and if anything you don’t want to spend any time with him, and watching the events of his life is a hard slog. Rikio is a killer, he rapes his wife, he brutally beats people. He’s an awful person, but you can’t help but be drawn into his story, his tale of self destruction and spiralling behaviour.

The 2002 remake by Takashi Miike is a very different film, though it does follow a similar narrative and themes. Updated to take place at the turn of the millennium, it follows Rikuo Imamura (Goro Kishitani), who comes to the attention of a Yakuza boss after saving his life. Brought into the crime family, Rikuo quickly rises through the ranks, despite spending time in prison. However, when Rikuo lets his anger get the better of him and mistakenly shoots his godfather his life begins to spiral out of control.

This film is easily much more violent than its predecessor, and Rikuo is a lot less sympathetic than Rikio (even though he generated little sympathy). Rikuo seems to revel in the violence that surrounds him, and gets genuine pleasure in killing and maiming. Whilst Rikio in the 1975 version used drugs, this version actively pushes them on others, and it leads to the destruction of his wife Chieko (Narimi Arimori).

This collection is an interesting thing, presenting what are two very similar films, but films that still feel very different. One is a true story of a man whose life falls apart because of his own anger and violence, a victim of his own upbringing and the world around him, whilst the other is a story about someone who can only be described as being a monster. The 1975 film often appears on top 50 lists of Japanese films, and it’s easy to see why. Yes, it’s unsettling, but it’s engaging, and it clearly went on to inspire other films in the genre. The 2002 version, in comparison, seems to push what should be done in this kind of story, wanting to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, and actively wanting Rikuo to be stopped, by whatever means.

The collection also comes with a number of great extras, including behind the scenes documentaries and information, and full length commentaries for both films. Each of these films and their extra features can easily stand on their own as great pieces of cinema, but together they make for an engaging and interesting set, allowing its audience to compare the two. A must have set for any fan of Japanese cinema, and crime dramas.

Graveyards of Honor is out now on Blu-ray from Arrow Video.

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Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) – Film Swap Challenge

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

I had a vague idea of what this film was about from hearing a little of it in passing over the years. I’d been told that it was some of Jim Carrey’s best work outside of comedy, and it involved the manipulation of memories. I suppose going in knowing that tiny bit of info could have coloured the experience slightly for me, as during the first scenes of the film I was wondering in this was the first time that Joel (Jim Carrey) and Clementine (Kate Winslet) were falling in love, or if this was them rediscovering each other. Whilst this turned out to be the latter, I don’t think that trying to figure this out really altered the film for me, as there wasn’t really a big mystery to uncover here.

A lot of times where films tell their stories in reverse, or mess with the characters’ perception of memory and reality, it’s often to withhold some piece of information from the audience too – to provide a big ‘aha’ moment at the conclusion. This, instead, was more about the journey and the characters than a central mystery. We get given all of the information about what’s happening fairly early on. In the scene in which Joel is telling his friends that Clementine is acting like she doesn’t know him following their most recent fight, it’s revealed to be because of her memory wipe in the very same scene. It’s not about figuring things out, it’s about seeing a love story play out.

Once Joel makes the decision to undergo a similar procedure to forget Clementine, the main thrust of the narrative takes over, and we spend a good deal of the runtime of the film inside Joel’s memories as he experiences them being erased one at a time. We start at the latest memories first, getting to see a relationship that’s turned toxic, where those involved can barely stand each other. This makes us sympathise with Joel, makes us understand why he’s choosing to forget. But as he moves backwards and gets to see some of the happier memories Joel begins to change his mind, and engages in a fight to hide some kind of memory of Clementine away where it won’t be erased.

In the outside world, during Joel’s procedure, we get to see two other stories that show some of the more negative sides of this memory wipe technique. In one we learn that one of the engineers who performs the wipes, Patrick (Elijah Wood), has stolen all of the things that Joel brought into the company and is using them to worm his way into Clementine’s life. He’s using Joel’s own past to try and fabricate love between him and Clementine. In addition to this we discover that the receptionist for Lacuna has had her memories wiped to do away with her affair with her boss.

Through these three interconnecting narratives the film seems to be making the point that your memories are important, and that if you get rid of them you’d just make things worse. Bad memories are often tied in with good ones, and that doing away with one can lose another. They help to make you who you are because you can learn from mistakes in your past, but without them you could be doomed to repeat your failures over again. It seems to be trying to send the message that good can come out of bad things, even if you don’t think so in the moment.

That being said, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about the relationship between the two leads. It’s very clear that they’d not just lost the love between themselves, but that they were quite toxic for each other. They seem to be very different people, and to bring out the worst in each other. By the end of the film they’ve reconnected, and know that they’ve been through this procedure and that they fell out of love, but they don’t remember it. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to want them to be back together or not because there’s nothing to say they won’t spiral into a destructive relationship all over again.

I guess that we’re not supposed to think about that, that the film is instead supposed to be considered optimistic, but I couldn’t help but get a sense of depression from the events too. I think different people will get different things from Joel and Clementine’s story, and that it will probably depend on your own experiences with love and relationships.

The film itself is very well put together, and despite playing with the chronology of events and jumping around inside Joel’s memories you don’t feel lost in the narrative at all, which is impressive. There are a number of great set pieces too that jump out as incredibly well produced. I particularly liked the scene where Joel walks out of the bookshop from his story and into his friend’s house in one shot, with the shop fading into the darkened room in the background. I don’t know if this was all done on a singular connected set or with special effects, but the result was very good, and there are a number of fun moments like this throughout.

Overall I was impressed with the film, though was left feeling somewhat emotionally drained by it. It might be a love story, but I’m not sure I could call it a positive story. I’m glad, however, that I’ve finally been able to see it.

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The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith by Loris Owen - Book Review

'Welcome to the dazzling new world of Quicksmiths, where you will encounter Strange Energy, the Mowl, Wormholes, Dark Forces and the tantalising riddle of the Ark of Ideas.

'When Kip Bramley receives a cryptic invitation, delivered by a beetle shaped drone which appears to be breathing, his world will change forever. Soon he finds himself chasing riddles and solving puzzles on a crazy treasure hunt set 400 years earlier by a mysterious genius. As things get dangerous, it seems much more is at stake for Kip and his family than winning top marks at his strange new school.'

There's a popular trend in middle-grade books that sees a young hero discover a world of magic and monsters, being whisked away on some kind of adventure, or even to a magical school, where they learn all about this new world. This has been a popular trend for years, even before Harry Potter came along and got famous doing it. In a plethora of books that follow this kind of 'chosen one going to a special school' genre it can take something special to make it feel new and interesting, and this is precisely what Loris Owen has managed to do with The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith.

The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith follows Kip, a young teen who's recently moved to a new school in London when his father relocates for work. It's been just the two of them for a few years, ever since Kips sister disappeared and his mother suffered a nervous breakdown that has left her in a care facility. Kip's a fairly bright young student, and loves solving puzzles and playing games, but is finding it difficult to make any friends. 

When he's suddenly approached by a mysterious drone and receives a strange coin he begins to discover a puzzle that leads him to Quicksmith's a hyper advanced school dedicated to Strange Energy, a branch of science that most of the world is unaware of, let alone unable to understand. Kip is told that he has an affinity for understanding Strange Energy, and is offered a place at the school.

Like I said, it's not a huge leap to see how this book is similar to things like The Worst Witch, but it being focused on science and technology rather than magic immediately gives the book a feel that's all its own. There's not teleportation spells, there's wormholes; there''s not broomsticks, but flying hover boards. Things that you come to expect from similar stories are given a fresh new coat of paint, and it feels so much more creative because of it. Okay, some of the science isn't fully explained, and is so far advanced and does some miraculous things that it might as well be magic, but I'm quicker to believe that someone with a different grasp of time can create a device that can temporarily freeze people over someone waving a wand or saying a magic word.

This refresh of the genre also play into the plot in ways that make it new and exciting. There's not some vague magical prophecy that sets Kip on an adventure, but a series of events set up centuries before by a scientist so smart she was able to bend space and time and see what was going to happen. It means that Kip isn't special because he's fulfilling some mystical role, but because he's a smart person, who thinks quickly on his feet, someone just saw him doing this by peering into the future.

Kip, and his schoolmates, are given a special task when a series of puzzles set up hundreds of years ago begin. Eartha Quicksmith, the school founder, was a scientist ahead of any of her peers, and has a hidden cashe of research and technology that was hidden away and never found. Now the school had just ten days to solve the ten riddles that will lead them to her ark, and her secret technology. Whilst some are searching for the ark for glory, others to be able to discover secrets that could advance humanity's understanding of Strange Energy; but Kip is different. He's hoping to find something inside that can help to make him mum better.

This selflessness and desire to heal his mother makes Kip an incredibly kind and sympathetic hero. So often we get characters who want to go and have an adventure, or are pushed into situations by events or forces outside of their control, but Kip is different. He doesn't really want to be putting himself and his friends at risk, but his desire to have his mother back outweighs that. There are times during the book where Kip thinks that his time at Quicksmiths might be over, or that something could happen to take him out of the quest, and his only thought in those moments is that he's letting his mother down. His drive to save someone he loves is so relatable and so pure that it makes him one of the noblest middle-grade heroes I've read in a long while.

The book manages to keep events moving at a really good pace, and keeps the reader interested throughout. It also packs in plenty of excitement and surprises, along with a host of supporting characters that are a load of fun in their own right. Thankfully, it seems that not everything is fully resolved by the end of the book, and there are plenty of threads left hanging for future instalments. I hope this is something that's going to happen, as I'd love to read more about Kip, and his mission to save his family.

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