Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary Special – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Since its release in 1977, Star Wars has been a staple of the science fiction genre, beloved by millions, and making creator George Lucas both a rich man and a household name. Whilst Star Wars: A New Hope was a massive success it was not the most popular of the original trilogy, with that accolade (for many at least) going to the sequel, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, a film that reaches its 40th anniversary this year. To celebrate this, Titan Comics have released a beautiful new book to take a look back at what many consider to be the best film in the franchise.

Starting with a brief summary of the original film, the new book delves deep into the development of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, providing readers with insight into how long and laborious the project was to even get off the ground to begin with. Soon after the release of the original film, when it became clear it was a huge success, George Lucas had to negotiate with 20th Century Fox to be able to make the new film, and to also secure creative control and much of the rights; something that would be a huge financial success for Lucas personally, as well as allowing him the freedom to later go on to create things such as the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars series.

With the rights and creative control secured, Lucas set out to bring a lot of the crew from the previous movie back together, including such names as concept artist Ralph McQuarrie, who would create much of the look and feel of the entire Star Wars universe, and director of visual photography Dennis Muren. The book also goes into detail on how the film came together in regards to the story, giving insight into how brief, scribbled notes by Lucas would be expanded upon by the first writer for the film, Leigh Brackett, who would unfortunately die from cancer after submitting the first draft of the film. With help from Lawrence Kasdan Lucas himself worked on the script, and the story for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was finalised.

After this, the book is split into sections that takes a look into different parts of the production, focusing on key sequences and locations from the story. We get insight into how the production not only went about designing the frozen, snowy planet of Hoth, but the difficulties they faced filming in Norway. We get some amazing behind the scenes photographs of the puppeteers and special effects wizards bringing the iconic battle against the AT-AT walkers to life. And we see the design process and development that went into even the tiniest background detail for the dramatic opening. A good portion of the book is spent covering the start of the film, but it provides excellent insight into how the cast and crew made the planet come to life, how it produced the epic battle scenes, and it even shows the cast having fun behind the scenes.

This treatment gets repeated with other important parts of the film, including the introduction of Jedi Master Yoda and the swamp planet of Degobah, the first appearance of the Emperor himself, and everyone’s favourite bounty hunter Boba Fett. These insights make it clear just how much Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back actually added to the Star Wars universe. It was giving viewers deeper insights into the ways of the Jedi, showing the insides of Imperial ships for the first time, bringing to life the criminal underbelly of the galaxy, and actually showing what the guerrilla war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance was actually like for those involved. The book snaps you out of the magic and wonder of the film and makes you realise that whilst Star Wars: A New Hope might have started it all, it was actually this film that made the universe feel more real, more alive, and more detailed.

This is why this book is so good, it shows you why its considered to be the best by many, many fans. You get to see how much of the heavy lifting this instalment did for the entire franchise, and the level of dedication and skill that went into it from the writers, the set designers, the costumers, and the model makers. You might think that you’d know everything you need to about a film that’s forty years old, that this book couldn’t possibly add anything new, but you’d be surprised how much insight they cram into the pages here. Whether you’re a casual watcher of the films, or a hard-core fan who knows every Clone Trooper’s serial number, there’s going to be something in this book to enjoy.

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The Ghastling no. 13 - Book Review

 

'The Ghastling’s thirteenth issue features tales of strange visitors, unnatural children, canny and uncanny animals and lost souls trapped between our world and the next.

'Includes stories from William Burton McCormick, Kaitlynn McShea, Lena Ng, Damien B. Raphael, Megan Stannard, Emily Ruth Verona, Beanie Aurora White, Nick Ryle Wright and Ann Wuehler.'

I received a copy of book thirteen of The Ghastling as part of my subscription to the horror themed book box The Abominable Book Club, and was instantly drawn to its bold, eye catching cover. I'd never picked up a short story magazine before, but a quick flick through the pages of this book instantly had my interest, as it's variety of contents and punchy interior design made it something I knew I was going to be reading very, very soon.

The Ghastling was created back in the much cheerier and more hopeful days of 2014 by Rebecca Parfitt. A biannual short story magazine with a bent towards the creepy and the classical, it captures the feel and style of the Penny-Dreadful's.

This issue is packed with a host of interesting stories, and begins with 'Grubble' by Damien B. Raphael, which tells the story of a young woman discovering a doll made of straw in the woods. This living doll feeds on fabric and clothing, and begins to grow; but when the young woman tells her mother about her new friend she's faced with a truly horrifying reaction.

'The King of the Rats' by Lena Ng is a story that I definitely wished I'd read in another room of the house, as my own pet rats were watching me at the time and made me feel a little uneasy. It tells the story of William Hughes, a doctor who receives a letter from an uncle he's never met, asking him to travel out to his country home so that they can discuss some important paperwork and secure an inheritance for William. But once he arrives at his uncles home he discovers something sinister lurking within.

Readers are transported to the small town of San Miguel E Grande in Mexico in 'Mojigamgas' by Kaitlynn McShea. Artist Alonso works hard to create his giants for the local festival, creating some of the best around, and is overjoyed to discover that his wife is expecting their first child; but their lives take a dark and tragic turn when the next festival comes around.

'Slack Water' by Megan Stannard follows the spirits of two young women who've lost their lives to tragic circumstances, whose bodies now reside deep in the canal, waiting to be discovered. Despite never knowing each other in life, these two women have become friends in death, and their darkly comedic tale will have you wanting to spend more time with these two young women.

Ann Wuehler's 'Jimmy's Jar Collection' sees bored teen Park spending time with her cousin Jimmy in the local cemetery, where the young lad has a collection of jars filled with strange concoctions. Jimmy claims that these are his ghost lures, and that with just a bit of patience and luck he's able to draw ghosts into the jars and trap them. At first Park doesn't believe a word of what he's saying, but then she begins to notice that they might not be completely alone in the graveyard after-all. 

If you ever wonder what your pets are looking at when you catch them just staring at nothing, or barking at something that isn't there 'The Dog Lives In This One' by Emily Ruth Verona answers these questions. We even get the story from the point of view of a good doggy who protects their owner from the things that inhabit their home with them.

'Unlucky For Some' by Nick Ryle Wright tells the story of Charles, a bingo caller who used to be the fun, much loved host of the local bingo hall, but things have changed. The hall has been taken over by a big firm that doesn't like his way of doing things, the personal touch is gone and he doesn't enjoy the work anymore, and his partner has moved on without him when he doesn't want to do something with his life. Charles sets out to try and do something better with himself, but sometimes that's easier said than done.

'1000 Rabbits' by Beanie Aurora White takes readers to a small town where the Father Yakob sets out to bring good luck to the people by killing and skinning 1000 rabbits before the end of the year. However, once the 1000th rabbit has been skinned his daughter begins to see a strange boy appearing round town, and bad things start to happen. Perhaps Yakob has brought his town the exact opposite of good luck with his bloodthirsty goal.

The final story in the collection, 'The Bell Keeper's Tale' by William Burton McCormick takes readers to the port town of Riga, where a bell keep tells us about the strange hauntings that take place within the walls of his old church, and the strange things that happen to those that try to stay within its walls overnight. When strange figures appear in the church he suspects they may be supernatural beings.

One of the things that's absolutely wonderful about this book is the sheer variety to the types of stories on offer here. Some feel like Gothic stories, things from hundreds of years ago, whilst others feel incredibly modern, and take a new approach to their narrative. Some show us the less frightening side to the supernatural, whilst others are designed to chill.

I was deeply impressed with not just the quality of the words within the book, but the entire design. The editorial team have done a wonderful job of creating something that feels a bit special. The illustrations and artwork throughout not only compliment the stories, but help to evoke the pulpy, newspaper-like Penny Dreadful's, complete with mock advertisements. 

If you've never picked up a short story magazine before, but are considering doing so, I'd definitely say that The Ghastling is well worth a consideration.

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Be Nice To Aunt Emma by Anne Fine - Book Review

 

'There are many reasons why Tansy dreads Aunt Emma coming to visit. She's rude, she's boring, and Tansy has to give up her room so Aunt Emma can sleep there. And every year Dad makes Tansy promise to be nice - even when Aunt Emma is awful. But this year, when Tansy is left alone with Aunt Emma, she decides she's going to be the nicest she's every been - so sickly sweet that it'll drive Aunt Emma crazy! Let the games begin ...'

Having family members you don't get on with can be hard, and this can be especially true for children, young people who don't know how to navigate the difficulties of family drama. This is something that young Tansy has to deal with whenever her aunt Emma comes to visit. Even though she only passes through their home on her way to holiday once a year Tansy dreads Emma's visits, the nasty comments she makes, and having to sleep on the floor as Emma gets her bed.

This year she's hoping that things might be a bit better, but as soon as she arrives aunt Emma is making her feel bad. She's even picking on the dog. So when she has to be left alone with aunt Emma she's expecting the worst, but comes up with a new plan on how to deal with this troublesome family member. Tansy decides to be nice to her. Not just nice, but super nice. Nice enough to drive her aunt mad.

Anne Fine crafts a rather fun and endearing story across the relatively short space of Be Nice To Aunt Emma, and you quickly get a good sense of what the characters are like. Even before she arrives on the scene you have a pretty clear picture of what to expect from aunt Emma's visit. As soon as she enters the fun really starts, with Tansy having to navigate her way through snarky comments, trying her best to not upset anyone and to earn a reward for her good behaviour from her dad.

The interplay between Tansy and Emma is definitely the highlight of the book, and the moments where Tansy is trying to annoy her aunt with how sweet she is are particularly stand out. However, this being a children's book no one is every really bad, and eventually Tansy and her aunt come to an understanding, and Tansy even comes to really like Emma, being disappointed that she's having to leave so quickly come the end.

The relatively quick change in tone, and the alteration to the relationship the two of them have doesn't feel rushed, however, and it actually leaves you wanting to read more, wishing that the book went on longer. 

The story is also accompanied by some frankly brilliant artwork by Gareth Conway, who really helps to bring the book to life. Not only has he illustrated some of the key scenes from the narrative, but he's managed to make even the most ordinary moments look dynamic and full of fun.

Be Nice To Aunt Emma is a fun and engaging children's read, one that readers of any age are sure to enjoy. It shows kids ways in which to deal with those annoying and nasty relatives, and that just because you might think someone is nasty it doesn't always mean that they're a bad person.

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Vanquish – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Vanquish feels like it should be a good film. It’s got a snappy one-word title; there’s a popular female lead in Ruby Rose; Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman plays the main antagonist; and the premise of the plot guarantees action and a race against time. Sadly, Vanquish proves to be incredibly dull, barely going through the motions, and seems to be a very questionable choice in roles for Mr Freeman.

The story begins with a credits sequence that sets up the plot: a very long, seven minute credit sequence that feels almost twice as long. Freeman plays Damon, a former dirty cop who was injured and had to leave the force, yet still runs his corrupt operation from his home. When it seems like his plot to make money off the various criminals across the city is about to be exposed, he kidnaps the daughter of his carer Victoria (Ruby Rose) and forces her to make five money collections in order to get her back.

Whilst this sounds a bit ridiculous at first glance (why make your carer go into dangerous places to get huge quantities of cash?), it’s revealed through some clunky dialogue that Victoria used to run drugs ‘for the Russians’, and Damon wants her to employ her old skills. This unfortunately descends into violence, as it seems that every criminal in the city has a past with Victoria and her brother (who’s not in the film, nor explained) and Victoria needs to murder her way across the city. The plot to make her have to fight every gangster and crooked cop is already thin enough, but when you discover that Damon literally just put Victoria’s daughter in his spare room and all she had to do was look around the house to find her it gets even more ridiculous.

Equipped with a pair of guns and a body-cam Rose makes her way around the city on the back of a motorcycle with sound effects that make it seem more like a Star Wars speeder than a real vehicle. The action sequences are so brief and spread out that they feel forgettable, and even the high speed chases fall flat largely due to her spending much of them arguing with Freeman, who’s chatting in her ear like a glorified sat-nav.

Vanquish feels like it is the first draft of a story, the basic framework over which you’d build the rest of the movie. There are moments where we get huge info dumps, like the previously mentioned seven minute long credits sequence, yet I never felt like I knew enough to actually know what was happening. What was Damon doing with the various gangs around town? Who knows. What happened with Victoria and her brother, and why does every criminal know her? I don’t know. What’s wrong with Victoria’s ‘sick’ daughter who only says she’s ‘tired’? Haven’t a clue. Did anyone making this film even care? It doesn’t seem like it.

The performances seem to be phoned in at best, almost literally in Morgan Freeman’s case as he spends the majority of the film talking to Rose on the phone. Despite being an actor of amazing calibre Freeman delivers his lines like he’s either bored or falling asleep. Ruby Rose stumbles through action sequences giving head tilts to show her annoyance, or possibly to look tough. It felt so flat that the 90 minute run time felt incredibly bloated and left me bored throughout.

With action thriller films being a dime a dozen, and there being some truly good ones around, I’d be hard pressed to recommend Vanquish as one that’s worth your time. With a poor script, dull performances, and forgettable action there’s nothing here that would translate into a good time.

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Tea Party Parade by Nick Sharratt - Book Review

 

'Today's the day - it's the tea party parade! The kids are in their costumes and the teachers are marching too. Teacups are twirling, cake slices are spinning, and the big finale is going to be the best show of all! Join in with all the fun of the parade in Nick Sharratt's beautiful new Little Gem.

'Bursting with lots of rhyme, rhythm and energy for little ones to enjoy, it's the perfect book for a young reader's first steps on the path to reading independence.'

Tea Party Parade is the latest Little Gems release from publisher Barrignton Stoke, and follows Class One's preparations for their special Children's Parade, which this year features a tea party as their theme. The children don their costumes and practice their moves, all under the supervision of their teachers so that they're perfect for the actual parade day.

Writer and artist Nick Sharratt is the sole contributor to this book, providing all of the bold and brightly coloured illustrations that fill the pages. These illustrations accompany the text, and show every stage of the preparations for the parade. Sharratt's style works perfectly for this kind of book, and his clear and easy to follow text works well with his easy to understand artwork.

One of the things that I really liked about the artwork was the amount of diversity and inclusion within the pages. Not only was there an even split between boys and girls, but we have children from different racial backgrounds, as well as a student with a hearing aid, and one in a wheelchair. With so many other children's books doing the bare minimum of representation it's wonderful to have one that includes a wide range of children, that doesn't exclude, and shows a diverse school; like many children in the real world would experience.

Whilst it's not a long read Tea Party Parade is one that I'm sure kids are going to enjoy. The easy to follow story, the wonderful illustrations, and the feeling of fun that's baked into every page means that it's a book that will definitely entertain.

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The Small Things by Lisa Thompson - Book Review

 

'Anna’s anxious when she’s picked to befriend the new girl in her class. For a start, Ellie is ill and can’t come to school herself. So Anna has to communicate with her through a new kind of robot. But Anna is also worried that her life’s too small and boring to be of interest to her new friend. Compared to the other girls, she doesn’t have anything exciting to talk about and so when Ellie asks her a question, a little white lie pops out. Then another and another. When Ellie finds out the truth, can their friendship survive ...?

'Inspired by a true story, a groundbreaking robot helps friendship blossom in this poignant and uplifting novella from bestseller Lisa Thompson.'

The Small Things is the story of Anna, a kid who feels like she's on the outside at school. Despite having friends in her class Anna is constantly worried about fitting in with them because her family can't afford for her to be involved in out of school activities like her friends are. Instead of being able to attend football, horse riding, or ice skating, she spends her evenings at home alone.

When a new girl, Ellie, joins her class things start to change. The thing that makes Ellie stand out from other kids, she's not actually in the class. It turns out that Ellie is quite sick, and isn't able to come to class in person. As such, there's a new addition in the form of an interactive robot that allows Ellie to see and hear everything from her home; and even interact with her fellow classmates. When Anna is picked to pair up with Ellie she's at first excited, but when Ellie begins to ask her what she does outside of school Anna panics. She doesn't want her new friend to think that she's boring. So she starts to make up some stuff.

What begins as one little lie about what she did the night before becomes an entire series of lies, ones where Anna is able to do all of the activities that she's always wanted to. The problem is, she's now lying to her new friend; and the lies can't be kept up forever.

The Small Things is, at its heart, a book about being true to yourself. Over the course of the book Anna feels like she needs to make up things about herself to seem interesting, stories about learning to ice skate or going on trips to the ice cream parlour with her family. At first it's tiny things, things that don't mean much, but eventually it begins to consume Anna and she's having to try and keep Ellie from asking her about things in front of other people, so that her lies don't get exposed. Not only is this tiring for her, having to remember all of her lies and stopping Ellie from finding out the truth, but it makes her feel like a bad friend too.

Not only does Anna have to learn that lying is bad, a good moral for any kids book, but that the things Ellie liked about her weren't the things that she was lying about. Ellie liked Anna's friendliness, her outgoing personality, and the small things she does to be kind to others. She shows Anna that it's not the big, exciting lies that made the two of them friends, but the little things that make her who she is that did. The book is telling kids that even if they don't feel like they're exciting people, they don't have to be, that just being themselves is good enough.

The book also covers the topic of disabled children pretty well, and I never once felt like Ellie was simply being used as a plot device, or was only included to make Anna feel guilty. Disabled people are so often used as plot devices where people are told that they should feel sorry for them, or used to make characters feel bad, it was so refreshing for Ellie to be just treated like a regular kid, albeit one who we interacted with via a robot. The integration of the robot into the story was well done too, and was my introduction to this technology. With remote learning being so widespread and accessible thanks to Covid I was hoping it was something that was being offered to disabled students before, but learning that it's not, and that robots like this are being used instead was something of an eyeopener. 

I think that there's a lot of good morals in The Small Things and that it's got some incredibly positive messages in its pages about being inclusive and accepting of others, but also of yourself. We would all be happier if like Anna we learned to love the small things that make us who we are, and realise that we don't need exciting hobbies to make us wonderful people.

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Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm by Yan Leisheng - Book Review

 

'The Ming dynasty becomes a battleground for the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Order of the Templars in this blockbuster action novel from a previously unexplored part of the beloved Assassin’s Creed universe.

'China, 16th century. The Assassins are gone. Zhang Yong, the relentless leader of the Eight Tigers, took advantage of the emperor's death to eliminate all his opponents, and now the Templars hold all the power. Shao Jun, the last representative of her clan, barely escapes death and has no choice but to flee her homeland. Vowing to avenge her former brothers in arms, she travels to Europe to train with the legendary Ezio Auditore. When she returns to the Middle Kingdom, her saber and her determination alone will not be enough to eliminate Zhang Yong: she will have to surround herself with allies and walk in the shadows to defeat the Eight Tigers.'

I enjoy the Assassin's Creed series, despite having really fallen behind in the games. I've played several, and those that I have played I've really enjoyed, especially Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (seriously, set anything in Victorian era London I'm going to fall in love with it). But, I've not really experienced all that this ever expanding universe has to offer, so when I saw that Aconyte Books were going to be bringing out a novel set in this universe I was very, very excited.

Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm follows the events of the side scrolling spin-off game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, and sees the assassin Shao Jun returning to her homeland after spending time learning from master assassin Ezio Auditore following the destruction of her brotherhood. Having been taught by the best assassin in the world Shao Jun feels that she's finally ready to take on the members of the Eight Tigers, a group of eunuchs that control the Chinese imperial court.

I'm actually quite glad that I haven't played this game, as it means that I get to come to the book completely fresh, without any preconceptions of what to expect. Though I do expect that there will be moments in this book that directly reference parts of the game, and those will be completely lost on me. However, the book very much feels like a regular novel, and there were never any times where anything felt odd or out of place, like Yan Leisheng was having to put something in just because it was in the game.

Instead of feeling like an adaptation, books that sometimes struggle to have their own voice, or where the parts of the story that the author has added feel tonally very different from those in the original material, Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm felt like a cohesive and tonally unique book. If I didn't know it was telling the story of the game I'd have believed it was a completely original new story within that universe.

I was also very impressed that Aconyte employed a Chinese author to work on the book. I know this might seem like a really obvious thing to do, but not every publisher would think to do that. Not only does this decision show a great deal of respect on the publisher's part, but it also makes the book feel very different. You can always tell when an author knows the subjects that they're writing about, and when people are writing about places and people that they know over things they've simply researched.

Yan Leisheng wrote in a way I wasn't expecting too, and it took me a while to learn his writing style. This was partially down to myself, and the fact that I was expecting the book to have a certain pace and tone because of the source material it's based upon. I was expecting the novel to move quickly, to be full of action, and to have faced paced dialogue. Instead, it's a book that takes it's time. It spends a good deal of its text going into depth about the people and places, and making sure the reader has a good understanding of things. There are sometimes moments where Leicheng will spend a page or two giving you detail about the history of a person in the middle of dialogue, where the response to what they've just said takes a page or two to come because of the details we're being given.

I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing or not, whether it's a writing style that's more favoured by Chinese authors like Leisheng, or if it's his own personal style. Either way, it made the book a very different type of experience, though if I had to compare his style to another author I'd have to say it reads like Stephen King. Much like King Leisheng goes into depth, provides heaps of context, and doesn't race towards a conclusion, instead allowing the reader to meander through this world he's creating.

Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm might be based upon a video game, but it felt like a book that was purely its own creation. It's a book that cares more about crafting a living breathing world, filled with characters that have a lot of depth, who the readers can come to understand. Even if you're not normally interested in video game books, or even action books, I'd say it's worth reading because it's a lot more than either of those, and is a book that explores the history and culture of China with care and attention.

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Dreams of Fire by Nathaniel Wayne - Book Review

 

'Farris has the misfortune of being an elemental: born human but host to barely contained primal energies. He wants what any young person wants—the chance to live his own life. Yet the fiery forces within him make him a danger to those around him and a target for capture and study by the Science Guild. On the Lone Continent, humans thrive in their cities through the Guild's revolutionary technology while the forests are home to powerful wild magic. Farris must confront his fears—fear of capture, fear of the wild Fey in the woods, and above all, fear of his abilities—if he's to remain free.'

Dreams of Fire is the first novel to be produced by YouTube content creator Nathniel Wayne, also known as Vera Wylde, who runs the Council of Geeks channel. As their channel deals with geek culture such as Doctor Who, the MCU, and She-Ra it was to be expected that their book would be one that would appeal to fans of fantasy and science fiction, and it doesn't disappoint in that regards.

The story follows Farris, a young man on the run who possesses elemental powers, specifically those that relate to fire. Over time the energies inside Farris build and need to be expelled, though this can be dangerous to Farris and those around him. When the book begins he's making his way across The Lone Continent towards the lakeside city of Torvec. Whilst staying in a small outpost for the night, away from the dangers of the surrounding forests, the fires within Farris swell and he accidentally injures another traveller, forcing him to flee into the forest before he can be captured and detained by the guards.

The introduction very much drops readers into the middle of things, and it doesn't spend a huge amount of time setting up the world or the rules before we get tied into the story. This is something that becomes a pattern for the book, and instead of getting encyclopedia entries that explain the history of The Lone Continent, or the rules that govern magic, we learn this through the reactions of the people that inhabit it, and the direction the story takes. For example, there was no warning that the magics within Farris made him a target for fear and hate until we saw people either running from him or trying to hurt him, and we didn't know why the forests were dangerous until we're in them and we were seeing characters dealing with the dangerous beings that lived there. We don't get our hand held, and instead we're trusted to be able to figure out a lot of this and learn it as we go; and it works really well. We're not bogged down by long explanations or boring descriptions, and simply get to enjoy the story instead.

The story itself is an interesting one, and it's one where you think you know the kind of story it's going to tell a few times before your expectations are suddenly altered. The reader is given just enough information to think that it's going to go a certain direction before it shifts and takes you by surprise in delightful ways. More than once I ended up thinking that Farris would stick with certain characters, only for them to go away in different subplots, and I thought the main thrust of the story was going to be something completely different than it was. That all being said, the book isn't really a mystery story, and whilst there are twists and turns in the narrative you're not expected to try and figure out what they're going to be, and you shouldn't feel bad that you didn't see certain things coming.

One of the things I really liked about the book was these little subversion. I loved how the reader is led to believe that Farris is going to recruit a band of reluctant friends around him, other elementals that want nothing to do with each other at first but eventually come to see each other as friends and stick together; except that doesn't really happen and these people have their own stories and their own goals and don't just give that up to follow Farris around. I also liked how the main threat in the book is building in the background the whole time, and whilst it does involve Farris, it's only in a tangential way, and that he's nothing more than a pawn in the plans of the antagonists and not the centre of their goals.

With so many fantasy stories centring the entire plot on their lead, usually a young person who's barely more than an inexperienced child, to see a story where this doesn't happen, where our central character isn't a chose one, isn't going to have to save the day because some powerful villain is targeting them, is a really nice change of pace. There are certain parts of the plot where you could remove Farris altogether and things would still happen, and this makes it feel like a more realised and broader world, one where not everything revolves around one special teen.

Dreams of Fire also features a number of full colour illustrations. It has the fairly standard and expected world map and even a map of the city of Tovec, but it also has a number of illustrations scattered throughout the book, depicting some of the key moments from the story. The copy of the book I received didn't list any artist names for people working on the book other than Nathaniel Wayne, so I don't know who to credit for the work on the book, but they definitely make the project stand out as something a little different. There also seems to be more than one artist working on the book, or at least an artist working with a couple of different styles, as there's a variety to the artwork and how it looks; with some of the images looking like rougher illustrations that you'd expect to find within a fantasy world itself, whilst some of the others are a lot cleaner and bolder.

Overall I really enjoyed reading Dreams of Fire. I liked how it was a relatively small story in what felt like a big world. It focused on a couple of characters and their journeys and managed to avoid some of the expected tropes of the genre. It's the kind of book where you could easily see it being a one-off stand-alone adventure, or the beginning of a series, or even one of many completely different stories set within the same world and setting. I don't know if this is a world that Nathaniel Wayne intends to come back to in the future, but if they do I'd certainly be interested in seeing what they do next.

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Arctic Star by Tom Palmer - Book Review

 

'Winter 1943. Teenagers Frank, Joseph and Stephen are Royal Navy recruits on their first mission at sea during the Second World War. Their ship is part of an Arctic Convoy sailing to Russia to deliver supplies to the Soviets. The convoys have to navigate treacherous waters, sailing through a narrow channel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases on the Norwegian coast. Faced with terrifying enemy attacks from both air and sea, as well as life-threatening cold and storms, will all three boys make it home again?'

Arctic Star is the latest World War Two set release from publishers Barrington Stoke, and much like their previous books set during this period the novel presents a pretty stark and honest look at the realities of the war for younger readers; refusing to sugar coat the horrors that people had to endure.

Set during the winter of 1943, the story follows three young men from Plymouth, Frank, Joseph, and Stephen, who after growing up watching the Royal Navy ships come in and out of Plymouth decide that they want a life in the Navy too, serving king and country against the threat of the Nazi forces. Luckily for the three of them, they get assigned to the same ship, unfortunately though, they end up as part of a convoy taking much needed supplies to Russian allied forces through treacherous and freezing oceans.

The book begins dramatically, showing the harsh conditions that the three friends, and other real life sailors, would have to deal with as part of the Arctic convoys. Sub-zero winds, massive waves, and water that freezes on the decks of the ship into huge blocks of ice are a daily reality for the crew, and it's whilst trying to chisel these frozen hazards off the ship that Frank is thrown overboard, into the freezing waters below. Though Frank is quickly saved, this moment manages to show not only how dangerous these conditions are, but that our three leads aren't guaranteed to stay safe across the course of the story.

Without giving away too many details of the book, one of the three friends doesn't survive the story, and a good portion of the book is given over to showing the effects that the war had on young people like Frank, Joseph, and Stephen, how losing close friends could lead them to doubt their conviction for the cause, and how their own near death experiences would leave them deeply emotionally scarred. The book is written for readers of all ages, so you're not going to be seeing sailors blow to pieces or burnt in fires on board ships, but it does have people die in it. It doesn't pretend that war was some grand adventure where no one got hurt and young men became heroes.

In fact, there's not much heroic in this book. Even when the end of the book deals with the real life Battle of North Cape, which saw Royal Navy ships engaging with the Scharnhorst, a huge battleship responsible for destroying numerous ships, those sailors on the British ships don't celebrate the destruction of their enemy; even though their enemy was just trying to kill them. Tom Palmer looked at the reports from sailors present at the battle, saw how the huge loss of life, even of their enemies, affected them, and put that in the book. He shows younger readers that you can feel sorry for the loss of life on the other side of the battle lines, and that there's no joy in celebrating death.

Tom Palmer is brutally honest in his book, and as such it makes for an effective and engaging read; one that some younger readers might find surprising, and could result in some shocks and tears. But I think it's important that children be shown that violence and war isn't as heroic as it's been made out to be, that loss of any life is a terrible, sad thing, and this book does that in spades. 

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Marvel Action: Spider-Man #2 – Comic Review

 

After something of a lacklustre start to this third version of Marvel Action: Spider-Man, things finally seem to be moving in an interesting direction as our wall crawling hero comes up against the villain Scorpion.

The issue begins with Peter starting his first day as part of the Oscot Tombstone, the school newspaper, whilst also dealing with the news that the TV are blaming Spider-Man for a series of robberies because the person responsible was able to climb walls. Even though the footage shows someone dressed in green and wearing a mechanical tail it seems like Spidey is getting the blame for it. So now Peter’s having to juggle reporting the news whilst being the news himself.

This story makes for some interesting moments, though it does seem a little bit ridiculous that Spider-Man is being blamed when it’s clearly not him committing the crimes; though this is something the book itself does acknowledge. The main focus, however, is the investigation that Peter and one of his friends make into the secret areas of the school, something that comes back later in the issue to tie into the ‘surprise’ revelation that his teacher Mr Gargan is the Scorpion.

Whilst this is treated as a big moment in the book it’s something long time fans will see coming a mile away, and it was foreshadowed in the very first issue. Thankfully the book doesn’t really linger on this too much and makes the fight between Spider-Man and Scorpion the main focus of the back half of the issue. The fight is fun, and makes some interesting use of the location to give Spidey the edge that he needs to best the bad guy.

I didn’t enjoy the first issue of this series that much, but it definitely seems like things have improved with this one. The script felt snappier, and writers Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins seem to be having a better time telling the story now that the new groundwork of the first issue is done with. They kept things fairly interesting, and began setting up teases for upcoming villains pretty well in the final moments of the issue. That being said, the book is still pretty light on characterisation, and it still feels like most of the characters have yet to be given much beyond a basic personality, though I’m hoping this is something that will change as the series goes on and we get to spend more time with the characters.

The issue also has some really nice artwork from Arianna Florean and Valentina Pinto. It often feels less like a comic, and more like you’re looking at screenshots from an animated show, due in large part to the minimalist line work and colour choices; two things that come together to make the action sequences in particular look pretty good.

Whilst the changes the title has gone through since the last volume feel less exciting than what came before, the book is certainly becoming more interesting, and the cover reveal for issue three at the back of the book, and the villain that’s going to be coming with that one certainly makes me interested in seeing what new things this relaunch is going to bring to the table.

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