After Sundown by Mark Morris - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

'This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. It is the first of what will hopefully become an annual, non-themed horror anthology of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer.'

Short story collections are good ways of finding new authors to try out, I've lost count of the number of times I've read an anthology book and ended up putting a load of new books onto my list of things to eventually get round to reading. After Sundown is a great example of this, as not only was there only the one writer in this book that I'd already known of, but with no connective theme, other than horror itself, to bring these stories together, there was a huge variety in the tone, style, and feel of all of them. 

The book features twenty stories in all, sixteen of which come from already established writers, and four from an open submission to the publisher. I honestly wouldn't have been able to pick out these four submitted stories, as all of them were of such high quality. There was also a great variety here, with stories that felt very modern and relevant to events going on in the world today, to stories with a science fiction bent to them, some traditional ghost stories, a Victorian chiller, and some very strange and 'trippy' entries too. What ever style appeals to you most, there's definitely going to be at least one story in this collection that appeals.

'Butterfly Island' by C.J. Tudor is the first book in the collection, and one feels very different to many of the others. It centres on characters in some kind of apocalypse like scenario. It's not clear what's happened to the world, but it seems like there aren't many people left around, and that life has become something of a cheap commodity. The lead character murders a couple of thugs at the start of the story, and this see,s to be something that no one bats an eyelid at. This narrator, along with a group of his friends and some other survivors, decide to head to Butterfly Island, a remote island that was shut off by a reclusive millionaire before the end of the world. However, once they arrive on this deserted island they find brutalised remains, and begin to be hunted through the jungle by more than one killer assailant. This story has a much more action adventure feel to it, and it's makes me think of brightly light movies of the early 2000's that seemed to love using tropical locations to film in. 

In contrast to this story 'Creeping Ivy' by Laura Purcell is much darker and more gothic in tone. Told in the form of a journal recovered from the ruins of Hindhead Manor, it tells the story of a man in the 1800's, the former master of Hindhead Manor. The story recounts the events following the death of his much older wife, a woman he describes as having hated, and who spent all her time in her greenhouse tending to her beloved plants. The author of the journal is happy with the passing of his wife, finally feeling free of her, yet also harbours guilt at being responsible for her death. Dismissing all of his staff, he chooses to be alone in the Manor, yet begins to sense that there is some other presence there with him, one that could be responsible for the sickness overtaking him. This story is much darker in tone and setting, and made me think of classic ghost stories like The Woman In Black, thanks to the creeping madness that seems to be setting into the lead, and the isolated setting of the story.

'Murder Board' by Grady Hendrix is in comparison a much more modern story, and one that feels a little comical in places. Following an aged rock star and his much younger wife in their isolated modern mansion, the two of them play a game during a torrential storm. They use a Ouija board. The older rock star claims that this board has advised him through important decisions throughout his life, and believes in it completely. However, when the board spells out 'i will kill u', this leads to a dangerous situation. Convinced his wife wants him dead, the rocker convinces his assistant to murder her, which leads to a domino event that just leads to worse and worse as the story unfolds. 'Murder Board' is one of those stories where things spiral out of control, and where you wish the characters would just talk to each other, but their misunderstanding and desperation are ultimately what leads to tragic events, rather than any obvious outside force.

My favourite story in the book has to be 'Branch Line' by Paul Finch, which sees a man recounting the story about the time he and a childhood friend walked up an abandoned train line during the 70's in order to get a load of porn mags (what else were kids in the 70's supposed to do?). During this journey one of the teens recounts a few stories about how the track is supposed to be haunted, one of which is particularly chilling. Thinking it's just the usual kind of local stories, they forget about the supposed ghost and focus instead on the prize awaiting them, but when they have their own horrific encounter the story takes a terrifying turn. The slowly building atmosphere of this story, along with the very normal, recognisable setting, made it incredibly creepy. I'm so glad I'm not able enough to walk along abandoned train lines, because this would have put me right off it.

This collection has some amazing stories in it, some that were a slow burn, others that had visceral fear. It had ghosts, monsters, and very human horror. It presented a range of stories that included the fantastical, and made the everyday into something that could inspire fear. 

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

The Book of Malachi by T.C. Farren - Book Review

 

'Malachi, a mute thirty-year-old man, has just received an extraordinary job offer. In exchange for six months as a warden on a top-secret organ-farming project, Raizier Pharmaceuticals will grant Malachi a new tongue. So Malachi finds himself on an oilrig among warlords and mass murderers. But are the prison-donors as evil as Raizier says? Do they deserve their fate? 

'As doubt starts to grow, the stories of the desperate will not be silenced - not even his own. Covertly, Malachi comes to know them, even the ones he fears, and he must make a choice - if he wants to save one, he must save them all. And risk everything, including himself.'

The Book of Malachi is a story set in some undefined near future, where science has advanced to a point to allow the growth of human organs in order to provide needed transplants, however, the practice seems to be less than legal, and as such leads to some shady and frightening practices. This is where Malachi comes into this story.

Malachi has spent years working in factories and on production lines, and has an impeccable work record. Thanks to his skills he seems like the ideal person to work for Raizier Pharmaceuticals, but the thing that makes him the perfect candidate is that he has no tongue. Raizier offers to give Malachi a new tongue if he comes to work for them for just six months, helping to take care of the prisoners on their off shore oilrig. Malachi agrees, believing that it's a good trade, that those people locked away in cages, used to grow new organs and go through rounds of surgery deserve their fate. They're murderers and rapists after all, why shouldn't they suffer if it means that they can save other people's lives?

However, Malachi quickly begins to discover that despite their pasts, the things that they have done, these people are still people; and they deserve basic compassion. Stripped naked, kept in cages, fed through tubes, their conditions are barely better than animals. And when they begin to tell Malachi their stories, the things that led them to this place he not only begins to see that they're in some cases victims of circumstance, people who have been forced into awful decisions, but some of them are just as much victims as he is.

One of the best things about The Book of Malachi is the surprising twists the narrative takes. I wasn't too surprised that Malachi comes to see the caged criminals as more than just incubators for organs, but it was the way their stories affected him, the parallels he saw to his own life that took me by surprise. We learn over the course of the book that Malachi wasn't born mute, but suffered something awful that led to him losing his tongue. Malachi eventually reveals the reasons for this to both the reader and the prisoners, and you see that this is not only the first time that he's ever shared this information, but just how much it affects him.

Malachi's journey through the book isn't just him learning to see the prisoners as people, but learning to see himself as one too. He's walked around with incredible guilt and self hatred for years, putting himself as the reason for the suffering he has been through, and lives that have been lost. It's through his interactions with these killers that he learns to let go of this pain, to start to see himself as a person worth loving, worth being proud of.

There are some characters amongst the prisoners that I don't think we're supposed to like, some whose crimes are completely unjustifiable, like the resident rapist, but with others it's not so clear cut. There's a character who admits to having killed his wife and her lover when he discovered them together, who lashed out in a moment of blind rage and deeply regrets what he's done. He's presented as a very clear headed and decent person, and one who's torn apart inside by the regret and grief over his past actions, and you can't help but feel a little sorry for him, acknowledging that this is a situation that you yourself could find yourself in. There are others who have more extreme stories, but who still manage to feel sympathetic, victims of circumstance.

Thanks to the duplicity and intentional harm being caused by some of the people working at Raizier, and the way they even treat some of their staff the people who think of themselves as being the 'good guys', as doing something shady in order to help others, it means that there's not really anyone in this book who can be seen as a good person. Every character here is a shade of grey, a victim or an offender in some way. They've all done bad things, or turn a blind eye to bad things. Because of this, the book ends up being an incredibly complex character study, even for the minor characters. It's a story where I don't know how I feel about the people involved, and at times don't know who to root for.

T.C. Farren has done a spectacular job at crafting a story that's going to test its readers. You're going to come away thinking about your own morals, about what you feel is good and bad, and how those ideas can easily be twisted to opposite means. Yes, some people have done awful things in their lives, and you might think there's nothing wrong in those people suffering a little if it leads to a good outcome, but does that make you a bad person if you allow that? The Book of Malachi asks if the ends justify the means, and if people are every truly evil or irredeemable. It's a book that will make you feel uncomfortable, but in a good way, in a way that will leave you stunned.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

Slay: Stories of Vampire Noire by Nicole Givens Kurtz - Book Review

'Mocha Memoirs Press is proud to present Slay: Stories of the Vampire Noire - a revolutionary anthology celebrating vampires of the African Diaspora. Slay is a groundbreaking, unique collection and will be a must-have for vampire lovers all over the world. Slay aims to be the first anthology of its kind. Few creatures in contemporary horror are as compelling as the vampire, who manages to captivate us in a simultaneous state of fear and desire.

'Drawing from a variety of cultural and mythological backgrounds, Slay dares to imagine a world of horror and wonder where Black protagonists take center stage - as vampires, as hunters, as heroes. From immortal African deities to resistance fighters; matriarchal vampire broods to monster hunting fathers; coming of age stories to end of life stories, Slay is a groundbreaking Afrocentric vampire anthology celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the African Diaspora.'

Slay: Stories of Vampire Noire presents readers with a collection of vampire stories that often get overlooked, stories that are important, diverse, and engaging; stories from Black voices.

One of the things that is made immediately clear with this anthology, from the very blurb on the back using the phrase Diaspora, is that even though the stories in this collection are united by their blackness, that there is a huge difference in how that plays out in these stories, and what it means to be Black for different people. Diaspora refers to the forced dispersal of a people from their homeland, in this case it would be of peoples from Africa during the Transatlantic Slave Trade that took place over hundreds of years. 

This seems to play out in the division of the stories within the book, with three main sections that inform and influence the stories within, those set in the United States and Britain, those set in Africa, and those that look to the future. These sections take some very different experiences of being Black, and the hopes for Black communities in the future, and uses them to inform the work within.

The very first story in this collection, 'Desiccant' by Craig Laurance Gidney, lets readers know right away that this book isn't going to have stories that you'd be instantly familiar with if you don't read diverse fiction, and that not every vampire in these stories will be the kind you recognise. The story follows Tituba, a young Black trans woman, who's been forced to move into the run down and forgotten Bellona Heights Apertments after being thrown out of her last place thanks to the transphobic views of her sister's boyfrind. 

Tituba is having to scrape by in a building where it's reinforced how little society thinks of her, a trans woman of colour. She receives scorn and muttered insults from the others who live in the building, and no one seems to take her seriously when she notices that she and other residents are getting sick. The cause of this sickness seems to be a strange rust-coloured powder that she finds coating many of the surfaces in the building, a powder that seems to sometimes move on its own, and comes out at night. Through her investigation she comes to believe that this dust is somehow draining the residents, leaving them sick and dying. Despite having figured out the cause of this sickness the story leaves Tituba facing this danger alone, knowing that no one will be coming to help her, because of who she is, and how little the world cares about Black bodies.

'The Retiree' by Steven Van Patten jumped out at me because it felt a lot like this was the kind of story that could both be the end of a longer series, and the start of something more to come. It follows Gideon Hastings as he is being taken to stay in a retirement home by his daughter Mona. Over the course of the story Gideon comes across as a grumpy, displeased man, one who isn't happy with where life has led him, or the choices his daughter has made. However, over the course of the story we learn that there is something more to Gideon than meets the eye.

It transpires that Gideon is an old demon hunter, one who has killed a lot of vampires and monsters over his younger years. However, he knows that one day the forces of darkness will be coming for him to enact revenge. Having made his home on consecrated ground he's been safe most of his life, but now that he's in a retirement home he's open to attack from these evil beings. Gideon's story here feels a lot like the final chapters of a series of monster hunting stories, one where readers finally get to find out what fate awaits a man who's never lost a battle against the forces of evil, but can't fight forever. It also feels a lot like this could be a great jumping on point to a series, a pilot episode for a show where a young Black woman discovers her father was a demon hunter and decides to take on his mantle and continue the fight following his passing. Either way, it's definitely a story where I found myself wanting to read more about Gideon and his family, and wanting to see more of the world that Steven Van Patten managed to craft in these few pages.

This kind of feeling was also present in 'Beautiful Monsters' by Valjeanne Jeffers, who's story felt like a small part of a much broader tapestry; and one that was instantly grabbing. In this story we follow Sanyu, a vampire living in the wild west style town of Passion, where monsters rule the streets. Passion is run by the Adze, a type of vampire from Ewe folklore, who oppress the other supernatural beings who live there. 

Sanyu is a member of the underground resistance, who are fighting against the Adze to gain better rights and free the other oppressed supernatural beings from their evil grip. The story follows her over the course of a night where her mission goes wrong, and she's forced into open conflict with these deadly creatures. As with the previous story I talked about, this one feels like it's taking a small step into a much bigger world, one that brings together a number of different folklore's and myths in new and interesting ways.

'His Destroyer' by Samantha Bryant is one of my favourite stories in the entire collection, despite being one of the shortest included. The story follows Dienihatiri, a woman who has been beaten to death following the birth of her daughter, for having displeased her husband by giving him another daughter instead of a son. The story opens with her suddenly regaining consciousness wrapped in a burial cloth, left for dead. Crawling from her grave, she finds the streets of her home city deserted, but it is in this city, on the bank of the Nile, that she discovers a bright pillar of light in the darkness, a pillar of light that calls her it's destroyer.

Walking through the sleeping city she thinks of how Pharoah has been given chances to do the right thing, been given warnings from a higher power, but chose to ignore them. It's then that she realises that she's the punishment that has been sent upon him. Walking through the city she is driven away from the homes with blood above their doors, made to feel sick. But those that don't, she is drawn to, to the sleeping first born sons within, whose blood could help sate her desperate hunger.

The idea of throwing a vampire into the myth of Moses and Ramses II, to have a vampire created by the powers of heaven stalking through the streets, killing the first born sons of Egypt, is a bold move. I would have never have thought to combine these two ideas, but it really, really works. The idea of blood being what drives her away from certain homes, yet her desire for the blood of others that drives her to her targets is brilliant, and makes it so that I'll never look at this story the same way again.

Steve Van Samson's story 'No God But Hunger' that's included in this collection actually fits into his Predator World series, and features his character Mirhèla Nanji as she travels across the African Savannah tracking down a leopard. She and her companion are hunting the big cat down for food, trying desperately to survive in a world more than two decades into a vampire plague that has all but eradicated the human race. However, when the hunt goes wrong, Mirhèla finds herself fighting off a swarm of deadly vampiric children.

Slay: Stories of Vampire Noire brings together a lot more stories than this, and I could have talkes about how good they all are all day; but I had to draw a line somewhere. The stories in this book feature new tales that stand on their own, as well as stories that tie into bigger series and other novels. The stories subvert traditional themes and tropes, they draw upon African culture and heritage, and focus on a group of people that often don't get given the chance to star in this genre. We have Black vampires, Black vampire hunters, and everyday people drawn into nightmare scenarios, who get to take the spotlight in a series of stories that will have you adding a load of new authors to your list of people whose work you need to check out. A brilliant, and much needed collection.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

The Driver – DVD Review

Originally published on Set The Tape 

Zombie plagues have become, ironically, a plague. TV shows, films, video games, comics, it seems like you can’t turn around without finding another zombie product coming over the horizon. In a world full of zombie entertainment you’ve got to do something different to stand out. So when I saw that The Driver was a Thai made film, and starring martial arts legend Mark Dacascos and his family, I thought this one might be worth taking a shot on. I was wrong.

If you took The Walking Dead and removed the quality of writing, took away the special effects, and hired people who can’t act well you’d have The Driver. That might sound quite harsh, but there was so little in this film to keep me interested that the 90 minute run time felt about twice as long, despite only really having enough content to fill about half that time.

The film follows The Driver (Dacascos), who is living with his family in a small compound with other survivors a number of years after civilisation fell due to a zombie apocalypse. When the compund comes under attack, The Driver’s wife (Julie Condra) is killed, leaving him to care for his daughter Bree (Noelani Dacascos) alone. The two of them set out on a journey together to try to reach Haven, a supposedly safe colony they’ve heard about in whispers.

The first half of the film focuses on the life The Driver and his family have within their community, one that he’s feeling less and less confident about. Despite the dangers outside their walls he feels that it would be safer to leave, and is proven right when they’re betrayed from within. Like I’d said earlier in the review, there are so many zombie stories around that the first half of the film follows a formula that I’m sure you’ll be familiar with. Sadly, this echoes the rest of the film, as everything that happens has been done before.

Unoriginality doesn’t have to be a bad thing, there are lots of stories that tread similar ground to others, yet manage to be engaging and entertaining, but one of the biggest problems with The Driver is that no one seems too interested. Considering how much Dacascos talks about how he loved the story in the making-of feature on the disc it’s surprising he didn’t bring any of that passion to the film itself. He seemed more excited to talk about the film than being in the film.

Probably the biggest let down, however, is the casting of Dacascos himself. He’s a good actor when used in the right projects, and I’ve seen some amazing fight scenes in film and TV that he’s been a part of, but here he feels wasted. Most of the action scenes have him shooting zombies from a distance, and the one sequence where he does get to use his fighting skills, fighting some raiders, is one of the worst fight scenes I’ve seen him do.

There was potential for The Driver to be something really different, to stand out from the crowded zombie market, but it let me down in every way. I wanted an exciting zombie martial arts film, something that didn’t have to be brilliant, but was fun; instead, I found myself desperate for the film to finish.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee – Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Gyen Jebi isn’t a fighter or a subversive. They just want to paint. One day they’re jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government’s automaton soldiers.

'But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government’s horrifying crimes—and the awful source of the magical pigments they use—they find they can no longer stay out of politics. What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry’s mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight…'

Phoenix Extravagant by Yoon Ha Lee is a story that instantly jumped out at me. Set in a fantasy land inspired by Korea under Japanese occupation, containing a mixture of magic and technology, and with a giant mechanical dragon on the front cover. I mean, what’s not exciting about that set up?

The story follows Jebi, a non-binary artist who lives in Hwaguk, a country that is living under the occupation of Razanei, a neighbouring nation who defeated their forces a decade before. Jebi has been living with their older sister, trying to find steady work as an artist, but failing despite their skills. Jebi isn’t a prodigy by any means, but still competent enough that they feel they can make a living from their craft. When Jebi discovers that the Ministry of Armour is looking for artists they find themselves recruited to help the forces occupying their nation.

Jebi thinks that they’re being recruited to help paint the magical symbols onto automata, artificial soldiers that patrol the city and guard Razanei facilities. However, they discover that they’ve been recruited to work on one very particular automata, a ferocious new war machine in the shape of a dragon.

One of the things that makes Phoenix Extravagant interesting is the fact that unlike other lead characters Jebi isn’t a fighter. They’re not a rebel, standing against an oppressive regime and fighting to free their home. They’ve accepted that this is the way things are now. They’ve begun to assimilate, even having adopted a Razanei name, to help with their art. Jebi is very much being swept into a story they don’t want to be a part of. They’re an ordinary person out of their depth, and this doesn’t really change much over the course of the story, and in the moments where they’re forced to take action it’s very clear that they’re not equipped for this, and they’re sometimes a little useless.

Thankfully, there are a few other characters around Jebi who do know what they’re doing, and they’re great. Vei is initially introduced as the a potential foe, a duellist working for the Razanei forces assigned to watch over Jebi. Deadly in ways that Jebi could never hope to emulate, the romance that begins to blossom between the two of them is one of the more interesting parts of the book. Whilst it’s not quite an enemies to lovers narrative, their opposing political standings make it a romance that definitely has its issues, and holds more risks than just a broken heart.

One of the best characters, however, is Arazi, the mechanical dragon. I won’t say much about them so as not to spoil the story, but they’re more than I first expected, and their journey through the novel was just as engaging as any of the human characters. They’re not just a machine, despite their origins, and are a being with its own thoughts and feelings, ones that I always wanted to learn more about.

Whilst Arazi is brilliant, they’re also one of the downsides of the book, or rather the lack of time we spend with them is. Jebi is the central character, and we spend so much time with them, and by the end of the book I had a good grasp of who they are and their personality, but I wanted more with Arazi. I wanted Jebi to just sit down and talk with Arazi, to have a whole chapter of the two of them just engaging so we could learn more about this amazing creation.

This would be something that I would hope for in a sequel, but it’s not clear by the end of the book if this is something that we might ever get. The book ends with the words ‘The End’, so it seems like this is it for this world and these characters, but it feels like there’s so much more left to tell. Yoon Ha Lee has left enough story threads dangling that they could easily return to this world, and I really hope that they do, because I wanted more.

Despite being left wanting more I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The setting and story felt new and unique, and I adored the amount of queer representation it had. Not only was the lead character non-binary, but we had same sex relationships, families where people had three parents in a polyamarous relationship, and none of these things were commented on as out of the ordinary or strange. It was a world where people didn’t get hung up on gender or sexuality, and it was amazing.

If you’re looking for an engaging fantasy story that isn’t just going to give you the kind of things you’ve read before this is a definite must read.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

The Omniscients: Phenomena by Dugomier - Book Review

 

'When five teenagers wake up one morning imbued with absolute knowledge, the news travels fast, and before long the young geniuses are taken into hiding by the FBI. What would you do if you were 15 and never had to set foot in school again? Our heroes won't have long to think about it, as a secret organization is hell-bent on capturing them. And they also have a puzzle to solve: where did this gift come from, and who are these mysterious beings seemingly playing with their destiny?'

The Omniscients begins with five teenagers suddenly waking up one morning with ringing in their ears. When this mysterious noise passes the five of them suddenly find themselves with access to all available public knowledge, making them close to omniscient. Four of these teens quickly come together, drawn to each other by a deep need to be together, but a fifth is fighting this urge, until she too has to give into this desire and sets out to join the others. However, the FBI are desperate to get their hands on one of these teens, and set their sights on stopping her reaching the others.

This book definitely feels like the first part in a bigger series, not just because there are so many mysteries left hanging come the end that things haven't even begun to feel explained, but because not much really happens here. 

The story begins with our five teens, Albert, Diego, Amber, James, and Jessica, all waking up one morning and discovering that they have access to a huge swath of knowledge. This access seems to be like being able to see into the internet inside their heads, and at one point one of the teens even 'accesses' a person's Wikipedia page in order to read up on them. This is never really explained in this first volume, and it's simply implied that the teens are somehow able to read the internet. They say more than once that they don't have access to hidden knowledge, and that they can only see public information, but then they'll be able to see into people's hidden records, and gather information that wouldn't be publicly available.

This lack of clarification of the teens powers is possibly one of the mysteries of the book, as it seems like each teen is able to do slightly different things, however, it also leads to the main conflict in this book. The FBI are convinced that if they are able to get their hands on these teens they'll be able to use them to gather information on the 'bad guys' and use them as espionage tools. This doesn't seem too unreasonable, as they're led to believe that the kids know 'everything', yet these undefined rules on their powers are definitely a problem here. Can the kids access information on databases on foreign powers computers? Maybe? It's not clear. Can they know what terrorists are up to? Probably not, unless they're keeping a blog on the dark web, but who knows?

I can't help but feel that an earlier clear description of these powers would not only help the reader, but would have helped the characters too. It would mean that the FBI might not try hunting down one of their number just to try and get an advantage that they might not even get if they do manage to capture on of the teens.

This conflict also seems to lead to nothing really happening. Early on in the book four of the teens come together and are placed inside a house in New York, somewhere where the four of them can be protected and studied, allowing the Health Authority to try to figure out what caused them to gain these amazing abilities. However, Jessica chose not to join them straight away, and its when she does try to get to them that the conflict with the FBI happens.

By the end of the book, however, this has been resolved. Jessica is now with the rest of the group, and those members of the FBI who were hunting her down have been removed. The five of them are now living happily together in their new home in New York, and the Health Department are still supporting them and trying to figure out what happened. If you'd have had Jessica just join them when the others came together a whole huge chunk could have been removed from this book and you wouldn't feel like you'd really missed out on anything.

This lack of anything really happening is a big drag on the quality of what should have been an exciting first volume of a new teen adventure series. There are definitely elements of great things here in this first volume, and the small snippets we see of the person behind everything, who seems to be connected to their strange powers, is intriguing and raises a lot of interesting questions; but it gets lost in the masses of stuff that feels very throw away.

With this being the first, and so far only, volume with which to judge the series I feel like it's hard to know if the rest is going to be great or not. This one volume is okay, but that's about it. I want to read the second volume not because this one got me hooked, but to see if the series will actually be worth sticking with. I hope it is, as there was a lot of stuff here to like, but if the story doesn't pick up in the next book I'm not sure if this will be a series that I'll be wanting to stick with.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

My Riot by Rick Spears - Book Review

 

'1991—Val, a teenager from a conservative family, has grown up dreaming of becoming a ballerina, but recently something has changed. She’s begun feeling pressure to conform to a specific idea of beauty, body type, and a personality that just doesn’t fit.

'Val meets Kat, a smart, witty girl that doesn’t take any crap off anyone. Kat introduces Val to punk rock. Along with Rudie, another new friend, the three form an all-girl punk band they ironically name The Proper Ladies.

'Soon Val and her friends find themselves caught up in a movement with other girls also starting bands—also finding their voice. Collectively, these “riot grrrls” discover that their songs ring out loud and powerful, and for Val, there’s no going back.'

My Riot is a coming of age story that puts female empowerment front and centre, and gives readers a lead character that you can not only identify with, but who you want to try and be. Val is a fairly average teenage girl, she's struggling to find a part time job, not wholly successful in relationships, and has a hot and cold relationship with her parents. In essence, she's a regular person.

At the beginning of the book Val seems to be going through the motions a little, just trying to carry on the way she always has and trying to find something in her life that sparks her joy. She's been doing ballet since she was a little girl, but seems to be in something of a slump with it, especially as her teacher is trying to get her to lose weight to be a 'better' dancer, even going so far as encouraging her to take up smoking to try to suppress her appetite. Her home life isn't much better, and she's been getting into arguments with her mother, especially when her mother finds condoms in Val's room, acting as if her seventeen year old daughter having safe sex is an awful thing.

It's in this slump where Val meets Kat. The two of them go to the same school, but Val hasn't really spoken to the outgoing Kat much before, but when the two of them shelter in the same ice-cream parlour together when a riot breaks out a bond quickly forms, and Kat introduces Val to the world of punk rock. The two of them decide to form a band together, and soon discover that they've got a talent for music, even convincing another friend, Rude, to join with them. 

Things happen pretty quickly throughout My Riot, due to the constraints of the length of the book and not being able to show everything, as such, the progress of Val and the band does seem to happen a bit quickly. But, you can easily overlook this as just being something that's been dictated by things outside of the creators control. I've seen some reviews complain that it makes their journey seem too easy or convenient, but who knows, their band might actually be really good and deserve the early breaks they get.

But the book isn't really about the band, or the music, it's about Val and her journey to discovering herself and finding a place of happiness. At the start of the book she's an awkward teen who doesn't know who she is, but by the end she's a successful and confident young woman. 

There are moments in the book where this journey makes some big leaps, where Val stands up and makes the decision not to back down or have her life dictated by others, and these are some of the best moments in the book. When her ballet teacher is encouraging her to smoke, to develop an eating disorder, and is telling her that she's failing as a dancer because of this Val stands up for herself. She tells her teacher to shove it, and quits dancing. It's a great moment of empowerment, and one that's really healthy. With eating disorders and body image being a hugely relevant thing to teenagers seeing a character breaking out of what could be a very dangerous situation is great. And it shows how strong of a person Val is.

Another moment that stands out is when her boyfriend finds out that Val had sex before they were together, as he'd just assumed they'd both been each other's first experience. He tries to make her feel guilty about this, to make her think that she's somehow the villain for having a sex life and normal desires. Rather than letting this be something that breaks her down she turns this into a moment that can inspire her music, that helps to make her a stronger person, whilst breaking out of a toxic relationship.

Val has these moments of wisdom and clarity that are needed to survive her teenage years, but never feels like she's older beyond her years, she's still clearly a teenager who says and does stupid things and makes mistakes. But that's what makes her so great. People reading this book after their teens will look at her and say 'yeah, I was a bit stupid as a teen too', whilst teenagers will be able to see themselves in her. 

The artwork throughout, provided by Emmett Helen, is really nice, and fits the tone well. It's minimalist, with nice smooth line-work that doesn't go into huge detail, but still manages to convey everything. I don't want to say that the art is simplistic, because that would sound too mean, as it's not, but it's not detail heavy. It provides readers with everything you need to be able to experience the story. The fairly minimalist style means that you always focus on the characters and what they're going through, rather than having your eye drawn to other things in the panel, or searching through the background for tiny details. The book is a great example of artist and writer coming together to tell a story about people, and making that the focus.

My Riot didn't take me long to read, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the characters and their journey, and the really positive message that the book tried to get across. Whilst I don't think we'll ever see more of Val again as her story's done, I'd love to see more from these creators working together in the future.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

The Man Who Shot Chris Kyle by Fabien Nury - Book Review

 

'A former Navy SEAL and Iraq War veteran, Chris Kyle is the most lethal sniper in American military history. His autobiography, American Sniper, was a best-seller in the US. On February 2, 2013, Chris Kyle is killed by another veteran, Eddie Ray Routh. The murder takes place on a shooting range in Stephenville, Texas. But that’s only the beginning of their story.'

The Man Who Shot Chris Kyle is a new graphic novel that takes the real life story of Chris Kyle, the man behind the book an film American Sniper and focuses on the events around his death.

I was aware of Chris Kyle in the absolute broadest sense when I first picked up this book, I knew that the man behind American Sniper was a real person, and that he was once a soldier; but that was all I knew. As such, I went into this book with little information to colour my opinion of him, or with ideas about what to expect.

The book skips over much of Chris' early life, as well as his military career, instead jumping into the narrative following his return from duty; at the point in which he found fame. Instead, the book focuses on the events leading directly up to his murder, and does so in a way that feels more like a documentary than a normal graphic novel. The book is full of detached narration, with some third person telling the reader the story of Chris, rather than it being told from the point of view of anyone present in the narrative.

This feeling of reading a documentary was further built upon when the book included pieces of interviews that Chris had attended to promote his book, small images of events that would have been recorded on camera, and even advertisements for different services and events. It's not hard to see how this would play out transplanted to a televised documentary, and I think that was the intention of writer Fabien Nury.

One of the things that let this down a little, personally, was the art. The art style of the book was incredibly simple and lacked any real depth of flare. Characters were often quite flat looking, and seemed to be basic approximations and caricatures rather than detailed drawings of real people, and backgrounds were hardly ever used; instead having blank, single colour panels behind people's heads. Whilst this didn't bother me most of the time as this seemed to have been a deliberate choice to allow readers to focus on the story over the art, there were times where it really jumped out at me. 

These moments tended to be in the interview segments of the book. There's a section of the book with quite a long interview between Chris Kyle and Bill O'Reilly where the two of them talk about American Sniper and Chris' time in combat. The scene consisted of switching between a close-up of the characters faces when each of them were talking. This wasn't bad in itself, but it quickly became clear that each panel was exactly the same. No variation in expression or pose was used a lot of the time, and it felt like the artist, Bruno, had simply copy/pasted the images. Once it became apparent here, there were other times that I began to notice a repetition of the images, where it looked like the artist had reused old panels without any variation. Whilst I understand that reusing artwork can save time and effort, it began to feel like it was laziness, and every time that I noticed it it would pull me out of the book.

The biggest issue I had with the book, however, was the choice to split it into two volumes. The book ends with the dramatic murder of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield, leaving readers wondering what happens next in the story. The book itself is only 80 pages long, so it's a very short read. The decision to split the story into two volumes doesn't seem to have been made because the events are so long that it would make a book too large to read in a single volume, and it strikes me that the choice was made by the publisher in order to try and sell a second book. The fact that the book ends with the murder of Kyle but no resolution as to what happens to his killer definitely seems like an engineered hook, something to frustrate readers and have them wanting to find out what happens next.

Whilst I would have liked to have read a complete story this first volume kind of lets me down. The fact that it stops halfway through the narrative for no apparent reason, coupled with repeated artwork and little variation in the panels featured leaves the book with an overall feel of a project where few people seemed too bothered. It feels unfinished, and instead of leaving me wanting the next volume and eager for more it left me feeling annoyed, almost like my time had been wasted a little. That's not to say the whole thing is bad, on the contrary, I learned a lot about a subject that I had no idea of before, so for that I'm grateful. However, ending the way it does, the book had me going to Wikipedia to read about the rest of the events, rather than willing to wait for a second volume to come out.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett - Book Review

 

'When Ekata's brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family's icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness.

'In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother's warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love...or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family's power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it.'

I enjoy YA books, they sometimes get classed as a genre itself, but there is such a huge variety within the category in tone and themes that it encompasses many genres; something that The Winter Duke does too. It's part fantasy story, with an amazing setting and magical creatures, part coming of age story where a young woman must find her place in the world, and it's part political thriller full of intrigue and mystery. It's also incredibly adult, it features a complex and layered story that doesn't talk down to its readers; and there were a few times I forgot that the protagonist was a teenager because of the level of maturity brought to the book.

The story follows the Avenko family, the rulers of the tiny kingdom of Kylma Above. Kylma Above is a frozen kingdom, with a palace made out of eternal ice on top of a frozen lake; beneath that lake lies Kylma Below, an underwater civilisation of fish people and magic. Residing above this mystical land, and having an accord with them, Kylma Above uses its position to trade magic with the outside world, granting it great prestige despite it's size.

The Avenko family, however, are a bit of a strange bunch. Raised to believe that power should be earned through cunning and strength it's perfectly normal for a new Grand Duke to take the throne by killing the previous one, along with any contenders. Despite this, other kingdoms are desperate for a better relationship with Kylma Above, and as such many have sent sons and daughters to attend a brideshow, where the next in line for the throne will be picking out his future consort. 

It's here that we meet Ekata, one of the middle daughters of the Grand Duke, and possibly the only member of the Avenko family who isn't a power hungry psychopath. More interested in getting away from her family and travelling south to study at university, she's more interested in science and medicine than politics. However, when on the night of the brideshow the entire Avenko family all fall into a deep coma, except for Ekata, she finds herself forced to assume the throne.

Acting as Grand Duke, Ekata must try to discover what has effected her family and try to save them. However, she soon learns that there are bigger threats than just this mysterious ailment, as she gets drawn into a web of political intrigue. Dealing with visiting dignitaries, a council of unhappy advisers pushing for democracy, and a challenge for the throne from a rival kingdom, Ekata will be lucky to survive herself, let alone awaken her family.

One of the best things about The Winter Duke is that we as the audience get dropped into things with little world building, being left to discover much of the culture of Kylma Above, and the surrounding politics, as they come up in the narrative. At first, I was a little put off because things were happening very fast, magic was introduced with no warning, and people were talking about other kingdoms and trade agreements without explanation. But after a while I began to suspect that this might have been the point. The readers aren't given explanations in the text and are left to discover things through the narrative because that's very much the same experience that Ekata has during the book.

Ekata has spent most of her life accepting that she's not going to rule Kylma Above. Even if she had desires to do so she would need to kill her father and several of her siblings, something that it becomes quite clear she would never do. As such she's poured her attentions into her studies, focusing on academia instead of political manoeuvring and policy. So when she's suddenly thrown into being the Grand Duke she's as unaware of the intricacies of the kingdom as the reader. 

Instead of us having things explained to us in large blocks of text that delve into the history of this world we have Ekata asking the questions for us, she turns to her advisers and asks them who diplomats are and what they're after because she genuinely doesn't know.She not only gets to be the protagonist, driving much of the narrative forward, but becomes an audience stand in at times, something that quickly endeared me to the character. We both got to be a little lost and unsure of this world together.

There are times when this doesn't quite work, as there are things that Ekata would definitely know, such as the society of Kylma Above, their history, and their traditions. But Claire Eliza Bartlett found another good way of avoiding just having to info dump in these moments; Inkar. Inkar is one of the perspective partners being offered up to Ekata's brother at the brideshow, but when Ekata has to take over the throne, and in order to avoid the political machinations of a rival, she picks Inkar out to be her royal consort. Inkar is thrown into being Ekata's wife (on a week's trial basis) and suddenly finds herself in the middle of a kingdom she's unfamiliar with. Inkar doesn't always know things that would be taken for granted by Ekata, and as such she can also act as an audience mouthpiece by asking questions about the city, their belief systems, and where they grow their food in an ice covered kingdom. 

That being said, Inkar isn't just there to ask questions, and is one of the more interesting characters in the narrative. The twenty-fifth daughter of the jarl of another kingdom, she's proven herself to be a hardened warrior and general for her people, and brings a degree of self assured cockiness with her. Where Ekata seems to be barely getting through things, often overwhelmed and close to exhaustion, Inkar always seems to be full of energy, and almost constantly has a sly grin on her face. I loved how the two of them complimented each other, and how the scenes between them would often play out. And my god, the sexual tension.

I loved that there was no heteronormativity in this book, and that a sapphic slow-burn romance was given centre stage. The relationship that built between the two of them was easily one of my favourite parts of the entire book, and I found myself desperately hoping that Ekata would throw her advisers plans away and not try to alienate Inkar out of breaking their marriage. I wanted the two of them to end up together, and craved more of these quite scenes of the two of them learning about each other and discovering that there was something real between the two of them.

This wasn't the only place where the book had good queer representation, however, and LGBTQ+ people seemed to be incorporated well into the narrative without any big fuss being made. All of the titles seemed to be gender neutral, with Duke being the rank of the ruler regardless of gender, and their being a mix of genders represented in the brideshow, both when it was for Ekata and her older brother. There were also characters with they/them pronouns in the story who weren't treated any differently from anyone else, and some even held high ranks within the political structure of Kylma Above. The simple ease at which these things were included, their lack of impact on the story, and how none of it was highlighted as being special or out of the ordinary was brilliant, and reinforces the point that representation and inclusion needn't be a hard thing, or something that writers should be afraid of having in their works.

Claire Eliza Bartlett also does an amazing job at world building with Kylma Below, and made the handful of segments of the book dealing with them some of the best. To begin with I wasn't sure what Kylma Below was, and some of the descriptions made it sound like a sub city of some kind; leading me to suspect it would be the trope of the rich and powerful living in luxury above whilst the poor lived in an 'under' city. When I discovered it was an actual underwater kingdom full of fish people and sea creatures I was hugely excited to find out more about it. 

The handful of times that we get to follow Ekata below the surface of the ice and see her discovering this alien world that had been below her feet her entire life were stunning. The world below the surface was something truly different from everything above, and I wanted to spend more time there exploring and learning more. I'd love to see Bartlett return to this world, not so much to continue with Ekata's story, but with a whole book set beneath the ice.

The Winter Duke was a book that I was unsure what to expect, the narrative and intriguing world constantly kept me on my toes, and meant that I never knew what would be coming next. The characters were diverse and had believable motivations and desires, some of whom I came to adore, and others I absolutely hated. Part of me wishes that the story could have been longer, that I could have had more time in this world and with these characters, but alas, all good things have to end. 

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram

Deep Space Nine: Too Long A Sacrifice #3 - Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Whilst the first two issues of new murder mystery focused comic Deep Space Nine – Too Long A Sacrifice have been enjoyable, they’ve kind of felt like they’ve been treading water, setting up the stakes of the central story, but not doing a huge amount to move things forward. Issue three finally feels like the place where things begin to move forward in much more important ways.

This issue sees Odo having to contend with Retlaw, the special investigator sent in by the Federation to assist him in getting to the bottom of these crimes. Retlaw definitely feels like a breath of fresh air, and kicks events into gear by being something of an antagonist for Odo to work around. This isn’t to say that he’s being a bad guy in any way, but anyone coming onto the station to take over one of his investigations will immediately be seen as an obstacle to Odo, and writers Scott and David Tipton seem to know this, and embrace it.

The two investigators butt heads more than once, and seem to enjoy pushing each other’s buttons. Odo, for his part, resents having to defer to another investigator, and any suggestion that he’s incapable of solving the case will get his hackles up; as such he seems to take a lot of joy in reminding Retlaw that DS9 is his station, and doesn’t mind making him look like he’s on the back foot if he can. Retlaw, in comparison, makes it clear from the start that he has some issues with Odo after his home world, Betazed, fell to Dominion forces, resulting in him and his daughter having to flee their home.

Not only does this flashback help to establish why Retlaw is so invested in getting to the bottom of things, wanting to make sure that the Federation doesn’t lose any allies it desperately needs in the war, but it also gives him a reason for butting heads with Odo. It’s also great to see the fall of Betazed depicted here, as it was an event that was only briefly mentioned in the television series.

The interplay between the two investigators is one of the better aspects of the comic, and it shows that if the two of them are able to stop trying to get a rise out of the other and actually work together they make a good team. They manage to find a number of new leads by working together, and a number of the unanswered questions begin to finally make sense, though there is still a good way to go to solve the entire case.

Issue three ends with the two of them working towards these final answers, answers that could help to save the war effort, but it still manages to pack a lot of story into its pages, moving the mystery on more than the first two issues combined. With only one issue left to wrap everything up I was initially worried that things might feel rushed, but seeing how things have played out here I’m eager to see what the two of them can do in the final part of the story.

Buy Amy A Coffee

Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Instagram