Affairs of State by Calvin James - Book Review

 

'In this sweeping story of high-stakes romance and cut-throat politics amongst the stars, dashing junior supply officer Levar Boylan finds himself unceremoniously pulled from the front lines to serve as a diplomat for abruptly arranged peace talks with the Empire. All because he once dated an Imperial baroness.

'Levar gets more than he bargained for when his former lover, Astrid, is revealed as the reigning Demon Emperor and despite the years, the war, and their difference in rank, their mutual attraction still burns bright.

'The re-ignited relationship with the towering, horned Emperor threatens to drown the lovelorn soldier in a whirlpool of conflicting agendas. Levar's superiors suspect his loyalty is waning, while Astrid hopes he will abandon the defeated Commonwealth to become an Imperial noble. As sinister schemes bubble to the surface, Levar must dodge assassins, outfox kidnappers, and battle militant insurgency to save his country, his love, and his life.'

Most of my life I would say I'm not into romance stories, I think because everyday life never really appealed to me as a setting, and so many romance stories felt too normal and boring to really satisfy me. Over the last year or two, however, I've been finding more and more romance stories set in fantasy or science fiction settings and have been questioning if perhaps I never really disliked the genre so much as people being unwilling to try fun things with it. Affairs of State by Calvin James continues in this trend of finding new and captivating romance stories, this time following a war weary soldier who's forced to confront the long lost love of his life who's now the Emperor in charge of the demon nation that's trying to wipe out his people.

Affairs of State is set in a distant future, several hundred years from now where humanity has long since left the solar system behind, colonising other worlds. We find the scattered, altered descendants of original humanity separated out into nation states that span multiple star systems, and locked in the middle of a deadly war that is quickly being won by the imposing and vicious Demon Empire. The Demons, a group of transhumans so altered over the centuries that they're closer to their namesake than humanity, halt their unwavering conquest to invite representatives from all of the various states to attend a summit to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the reign of their current Emperor.

Commonwealth solider Levar Boylan is surprised when he's pulled back from the front-line to Commonwealth high command, expecting some kind of court marital. However, his presence is requested due to the fact that he once dated a demon woman during his academy days; though not just because he has first hand experience with demon culture, but because the new Emperor is his former girlfriend, Astrid. Ordered to go along with the Commonwealth delegation, Levar finds himself in a world of court intrigue, secret plots, and unusual etiquette that he has no experience for. And whilst he does his best to try to find a way to help save his country he also finds himself being drawn back into the arms of the woman he loves.

Affairs of State often reads more like a historical novel or a fantasy book, largely due to the tiny details that Calvin James scatters throughout, such as the focus on blades instead of guns as weaponry, balls and galas that feel like they're from the 19th century, and elegant fashion that could have stepped off the page of a history book. The way that James combines these elements with the science fiction, such as sentient hover bikes instead of horses, and ten foot tall demon people, create this wonderful fusion of the familiar and brand new that makes stepping into this universe feel fairly easy to do whilst also leaving a huge amount of room to discover new things.

The book is fairly light on explanations, there's no pages of history that get dumped on the reader during the early chapters so that you get caught up and understand everything; instead readers are allowed to learn things as we go, to get pieces of history here and there that eventually lead to a fuller understanding. I appreciated being able to read the book this way, to learn what certain words meant organically, to find out about the complicated alliances and history between the nations. It made me want to learn more about this universe, to dive deeper into the elements that are only really briefly touched upon here. Whilst I have no idea if this is a world that James intends to visit again or not I hope that we get more books in this setting because it's got so much potential to tell interesting stories; even if they're following new characters or set in new parts of the galaxy.

Whilst the universe itself is rich and full of interesting things to discover the main focus of the novel are our two leads, Levar and Astrid. The book is told from Levar's point of view, and other than overtly queer focused romance stories I can't really remember many books I've read that have chosen to put the man both as the person we follow, but also the physically and socially weaker of the couple. Yes, there's confirmation that at least one of the couple are openly queer in some regard (never expressly stated which), and sexuality doesn't seem to be an issue in the book it is largely a straight presenting romance; but thanks to the dynamics of power and the physical dominance that Astrid has as a demon it does feel like gender roles are being played with to some degree.

Affairs of State also seems to do something a little less common in its portrayal of its core romance by having it as more of a second chance love story where the previous relationship is never shown. Yes, the characters talk about their past, but there are no flashback scenes showing how these two people from vastly different cultures end up falling in love, or how they were torn apart years before the events of the book. Instead, the focus is on whether they can find a way to make their love work when on opposing sides of a war. I largely enjoyed that we were able to skip over the 'will they, won't they?' part of the story and instead got to focus on the more important parts of their relationship and how it plays into the events of the war and the attempts to forge a peace.

Whilst this is a romance story it's also a book that deals with war, and as such there are things that happen that do see our characters put into dangerous situations. I won't say much about the what or why so as to avoid giving away spoilers, but there are enough scenes of humans having to match physical prowess with twelve foot tall demon warriors to keep any action fan happy, and the final third of the book was by far my favourite, and made me want to see more books in this setting that could continue to explore how these cultures engage each other in a violent setting, especially with the demons complex system of honour and strength.

Affairs of State is a fairly long read, though not one that will feel it. I read through a digital copy of the book and never once felt like it was dragging or dipping in quality, and the ending felt like it came along far too soon. However, it was when I picked up my physical copy to come write my review just in case I needed to check details I was surprised to see that the book was almost five hundred pages long. Not once did it feel that long, and Calvin James has managed to create a novel that's absolutely packed to the gills with enjoyable scenes and expansive world building, one that moves at such a wonderful pace that you'll find yourself coming to the end far quicker than you expect. It's a delightful read, one that I was sad to see end and cannot wait to read all over again some day.

Affairs of State is available now from Titan Books.

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Mockbuster - Film Review

 

As long as there have been popular movies there have been knock-off films, movies that make fast, cheap cash-in's on whatever the popular thing is at the time. Over the last few decades, especially with the advent of digital technology, this business has exploded as filmmakers no longer need big budgets or practical effects wizardry to put their vision on screen. One company that has dominated this mockbuster market is The Asylum, an American independent studio who has been making movies since the late 90's, and has been responsible for some of the more prolific mockbusters like Snakes on a Train, Transmorphers, and Paranormal Entity, as well as giant animal movies such as Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, and the Sharknado series. Somehow The Asylum has made dozens of films, and a lot of people will be aware of at least one of their films even if they've never watched them.

One of the main players at The Asylum says in Mockbuster that 'We make shitty movies for people with bad taste... and alcoholics.' It's perhaps a little unsurprising that a company with this kind of philosophy would be willing to try just about anything on one of their films; and that's what leads us to the documentary film Mockbuster which follows Australian filmmaker Anthony Frith, who's found himself stuck in a fairly boring life of making corporate training videos. However, when Anthony, who's something of a fan of The Asylum movies (hopefully not because he's an alcoholic) emails The Asylum and asks if he can direct one of their films. And of course, they say yes.

What follows is perhaps one of the wildest filmmaking journeys documented onto film as Anthony travels to Los Angeles to meet the studio heads, sign a contract, and get assigned a film... that he has six days to shoot. It turns out The Asylum make movies in the same way that an episode of South Park is made; and if you thought it wild that a 20 minute episode of animation can be knocked out in just a week wait until you see the absolute chaos of an Asylum shoot.

Over the course of Mockbuster we watch as Anthony returns to Australia and attempts to assemble a cast and crew, despite not having a script for the film, and then battles against studio oversight, filming difficulties, and a gruelling time constraint to somehow create something that can be assembled into some degree of a coherent 90 minute movie. 

Perhaps the most eye-opening thing about Mockbuster is that it completely changes the way that you'll look at these cheap knock-offs. Yes, they're still terrible quality filled with rambling incoherent scripts, bad acting, and terrible effects, but having now seen how they're made they kind of become miracle projects. No one is going to say they're any kind of high-brow art, or even middle-brow (The Asylum studio heads make it clear they dislike and discourage 'arthouse complexity'), but the fact that even something as mildly entertaining as The Asylum pictures can be made under such gruelling, impossible constraints is something of a testament to the people creating them. And I can't help but wonder just how much more the quality could increase if these creatives were given more time.

This is something that Mockbuster does touch upon when Anthony meets with former Asylum director Rachel Lee Goldenberg, who began her career making Sunday School Musical for The Asylum, but has gone on to win an Emmy, has worked with Hollywood stars such as Will Ferrell, and even worked as a White House liaison. Her example, and words of encouragement to Anthony seem to do little to lift his spirits as he fights to make his film, a loose adaptation of the public domain The Land That Time Forgot, as we see the stress mount over the course of the film. Whilst Anthony is able to salvage some degree of enjoyment out of the experience, on his last say according to his narration, it's clear that his initial statement of 'even a bad movie is better than no movie' may have wavered at times.

Despite the masses of stress and difficulties, including having to fly to the US for a day of reshoots to add entirely new story and characters into the film, Anthony makes his film and comes out the experience happy. The film ends with a screening at his local cinema, packed to the gills with friends and family who come to celebrate his bad film. Mockbuster shows the incredible lows of Anthony's experience, as well as his giddy highs, and it makes for an entertaining movie; more so than the film he actually made for The Asylum. 

Mockbuster is both encouraging people to pursue their dreams, to swing big and take those risks needed to do the things that they've always wanted, yet also acts as something of a warning that doing so won't be easy by any means. It offers an insight into the movies that you scroll past on streaming services or fail to pick up off the supermarket shelf because the terrible title and bad poster art screams 'terrible movie' and how they're made in a way that will probably change how you see them; even if it doesn't encourage you to actually watch them. 

Mockbuster is available now on digital services.

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The Mortuary Assistant - Blu-ray Review

 

Before watching The Mortuary Assistant I was somewhat aware of the game the film was based upon, having seen a couple of clips appear in places such as YouTube shorts and Instagram, usually showing a streamer reacting to some of the jump scare moments. It looked to be a fairly simple yet enjoyable game, one that had a fun concept of the titular mortuary assistant dealing with ghosts and demons whilst working alone at night. With relatively little about the game known to me, and as fairly decent trailer to go off, I was excited to get the chance to see if The Mortuary Assistant film would end up being one of those video game movie adaptations that people would rave about.

The Mortuary Assistant tells the story of Rebecca (Willa Holland), a recovering addict who's been working towards qualifying as a mortician. When we meet her she's being evaluated by a potential new employer, Raymond (Paul Sparks), in his old mortuary facility that's filled with unusual creepy character. We get hints that there might be something a bit more than the usual going on when Raymond stops Rebecca from going down into the basement, something he insists she'll never need to do, before the audience sees some kind of weird naked figure crawling around at the bottom of the stairs acting creepy. After satisfying her new boss that she's got the skills for the job Rebecca is hired. Unfortunately for her, she's barely signed on before she's getting called in late at night to work until dawn.

Things begin to get stranger as the night goes on, first with Rebecca being told to embalm a body before burning it, something she questions the reason for as why would they need to do both? Shortly after Rebecca begins to see a red eyed shadow figure around the building, as well as a few unusual hallucinations. Thinking that perhaps it's just the stress of the new job Rebecca is surprised to awake at home the next day as her sponsor bangs on her door. She claims that Rebecca has relapsed despite Rebecca having no memory of it. Things spiral out of control as Rebecca believes she loses control of herself and kills her sponsor before realising it's all a hallucination. Returning to work, Rebecca is told that a demonic force has latched itself onto her, and that she will need to face the dark forces trying to take her over alone in the mortuary if she has any hope to survive.

The premise of The Mortuary Assistant is fairly simple, push your way through ghostly visions and dangerous encounters with the spirits of the dead in order to find the pieces of the puzzle that you need in order to perform a ritual and save yourself. It definitely sounds like something that's the perfect set-up for a video-game that would encourage you to keep exploring a frightening environment. But when it comes to the film, there's just something missing in The Mortuary Assistant. I think it's that the film doesn't really explain what's happening in any really satisfying way. It's clear that demons are trying to get into Rebecca, but the how and why are barely discussed. How Raymond learned about demons, where he got the fancy demon decoder ring needed to burn them is left unspoken yet is an important piece of the plan to save Rebecca. I understood what the characters were doing, but had very little context or solid world building around it, and so was left feeling somewhat uninterested and bored; sentiments that were shared by the other people I was watching the film with.

The real lack of much plot isn't helped by the film having almost no scares. The film tries to build atmosphere, and whilst it works somewhat to begin with I found that this tension very quickly faded away when things began to get a bit campier. The red eyed shadow entity looked more like a tall Jawa watching Rebecca than some kind of spirit, the sudden eye opening corpses who'd squirm and shift on the table when Rebecca wasn't looking felt over used. And the moments when Rebecca became possessed, complete with yellow eyes, was more cheap Deadite than anything else. And whilst I don't like movies that rely on the over use of jump scares I can't help but think that The Mortuary Assistant really could have used some.

Lacklustre is perhaps the word that I'd have to settle on for The Mortuary Assistant. There was nothing egregiously wrong with it, the acting was competent, the set design was really nice, the script was unoriginal but not terrible, and the effects work was largely good. It just felt like the film lacked any real punch, innovation, or identity of its own. I did question if perhaps this was an issue I was experiencing because I wasn't familiar with the source material, so after the movie I went and checked out some streams of the game on YouTube; and I have to admit these were much more entertaining. Where the films lack of any real depth or explanation felt like a detriment in the game it allowed the player to explore and learn more on their own terms. I came to realise that without some substantial changes to the formula of the game the concept that worked so well in that format just didn't make the translation to film medium. Which is a huge shame.

The blu-ray release of the film is also fairly light when it comes to extra features, having only a short six minute behind the scenes feature that goes a little into the making of the movie. The new release feels more like it's been designed for those who want to watch the movie but don't have a subscription to Shudder's streaming service; so if you're someone who's already seen the movie or has Shudder and wanted to check out the blu-ray for the special features and to learn more about the film this is perhaps not the best investment. However, if you're a fan of the game and haven't yet had the chance to see the film this is probably a release that you're going to want to pick up.

The Mortuary Assistant attempts to capture the fun and frights of the game that it's based upon, and whilst it gets some of the details spot on it felt like it fell short of capturing the magic that has made The Mortuary Assistant a popular game. A movie that fans will want to see, but casual audiences might find a little lacking.

The Mortuary Assistant is available now on blu-ray.

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Strange Pictures: Volume 1 by Uketsu & Kikou Aiba - Blog Tour

 

'From Japan’s breakout horror sensation comes a chilling new manga experience. Strange Pictures is the spine-tingling manga adaptation of Uketsu’s bestselling novel, brought vividly to life by artist Kikou Aiba. Uketsu – the enigmatic masked writer who has become one of Japan’s most talked-about authors – first captivated readers with a novel that sold in the millions. Now, the terror unfolds panel by panel.

'At its core lie nine childlike sketches. A pregnant woman’s doodles on her blog conceal a dire warning. A boy’s simple drawing of his home hides a message no child should know. A murder victim’s final sketch becomes a clue that drags an amateur sleuth into a labyrinth of secrets. Each picture is innocent at first glance ­– yet when pieced together, they reveal a web of unsolved mysteries and shattered psyches.'

I wasn't aware of Strange Pictures, originally published as a prose novel in Japan in 2022 by surreal YouTuber Uketsu, or its new manga adaptation until I was offered a copy from Titan Manga. After having my interest grabbed by the blurb I went and did a little looking online and thought that it might be something that would interest me due to its surreal, horror, mystery vibes. With only a small part of the original novel adapted into the first manga volume I wasn't sure just how well it would draw me in; but I soon found myself trying to solve the mystery alongside our protagonist, and am now patiently awaiting the next instalment.

Strange Pictures begins by introducing us to Sasaki, a university student who we're introduced to during a lecture about art therapy. The lecturer talks her students, and the readers, through the significance of a drawing made by a ten-year-old girl who was arrested for killing her mother. We have the features of the drawing explained to us, how the smile that was erased and redrawn over and over reveals the girl's feelings of having to pretend to be happy around her abusive mother. The house with no doors tells us that the girl felt trapped in her home, unable to escape the cycles of abuse she was living through. And that the tiny bird sitting in the middle of the spiky, dangerous looking tree tells us that she has an instinct to protect others, showing us that she's not an evil killer, but a girl who killed her abusive mother to protect herself and other people. This lecture isn't just a throw-away scene, but introduces us to some key concepts for the book; that pictures hold hidden meanings, and that in order to understand things fully you'll need to delve deep into them.

Following his lecture Sasaki meets a friend of his, Kurihara, from the uni's paranormal club. Kurihara mentions a strange blog he's discovered, and passes the information on to Saski. That evening Sasaki checks it out, finding what first appears to be a very ordinary blog by a man named Ken who writes about his wife, Yuki, and their life together. After Yuki falls pregnant the young couple of excited for their first child, but some complications through pregnancy puts them through some difficult times. During this period Yuki draws five pictures, pictures that Ken believes shows their child, and their possible future selves. Unfortunately, Yuki dies during childbirth, and shortly after the blog comes to a close after a cryptic post in which Ken mentions how he finally realised what the strange pictures really mean, and how he can't forgive Yuki, but will never stop loving her. 

With Sasaki's interest in the blog piqued he discusses it with Kurihara, who reveals more strangeness within some of the blog entries. Believing that there is more to find within the blog, and knowing that the illustrations Yuki created holds some kind of key, the two of them set out to discover more and get to the bottom of the mystery.

Strange Pictures begins as something of a slow burn story, and I'm not entirely sure at what point I'd become invested in the narrative; something that is reflected in the story itself when Sasaki reads Ken's blog and starts off not thinking much of it but soon realises he's fully invested in the lives of these people he's never met before. The slow set-up works in the books favour, and I like how it gives you the mystery without you really knowing that's what's happening. The slow reveal of the five titular strange pictures definitely has a slightly unsettling edge to it, thanks in part to the somewhat unusual framing and the change in art style, but it's only when Kurihara reveals more that these pictures take on a different feel, becoming much darker.

I won't say much about what the pictures are, or how our protagonists use them to find the next piece of the puzzle, but it's definitely an interesting series of deductions that leads to a chilling twist in the tale. As I have no knowledge of the original story, beyond a small blurb describing it, I don't know if this is the end of Sasaki's part of the story, as the final chapter of the manga introduces a new protagonist and another strange picture with possible sinister implications, but I certainly hope that it's not as whilst a twist in the initial story presented in the blog posts certainly seems to have been presented it by no means feels conclusive or complete. If there is more of this mystery to come, along with the one introduced in the final pages, I'm more than happy to continue reading on and learning more; however, if this isn't the case it would certainly feel somewhat lacking and half finished. 

The art on the book, by Kikou Aiba, feels fairly standard, with nothing about the art seeming to set Strange Pictures apart from other books on the shelf. Characters and environments are drawn cleanly and crisply, with it being easy to tell who everyone is and what's going on in the panels. However, it's when Aiba draws the titular pictures that the book begins to stand out. The art in these pictures has a very different feel to it, with the clean, dark linework replaced by faded, light illustrations, appearing more messily hand drawn, created with pencils and other physical media that gives it a rougher, more tangible feel. Delightfully, Titan Manga sent along art cards of each of the pieces, presenting them in colour, which really emphasised this aesthetic as the grain and shading in the manga changed to show where some parts of the paper had more pressure applied when colouring, creating darker and lighter areas, picking up rough details from the surface beneath the paper in places. These illustrations are so different from what else is in the book that you can't help but find yourself drawn to them in a similar way to Sasaki.

Strange Pictures is one of those manga's where I wished I had the next volume already as just one wasn't enough to satisfy me. I want to find out more, to see just how far this mystery goes and how surreal things will get.

Strange Pictures is available now from Titan Manga.

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Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Illustrated Novelization by Liz Braswell & Andrea Guardino - Book Review

 

'Welcome to the realm of the Goblin King, where walls are doors, doors will lie to you, up is sometimes down, and left is rarely right. Join Sarah in her hero’s quest through the Labyrinth with her band of adventurous new friends as they make their way to the castle beyond the Goblin City in this illustrated movie adaptation the whole family can enjoy. This brand-new edition, adapted by New York Times bestselling author Liz Braswell, brings Jim Henson’s iconic story to life with vibrant art by Andrea Guardino featuring all the imaginative characters and creatures that call the Labyrinth home.'

I can't remember my first experience with Labyrinth, it was a film that I had on VHS, recorded off TV, that was played over and over again. Luckily I was happy to watch it repeatedly, and that it was also my mothers favourite film and so my very early obsession didn't end up driving her insane. Labyrinth was a comfort movie for me, one in which I knew every scene inside and out, knew every line of dialogue, and could happily have on as background noise whilst I did other things because I didn't have to look at the screen to see the film I loved, just hearing it brought those images to life in my head.

Over the years I've come to appreciate it more, thanks to learning that the Goblin King is in fact a very talented musician whose music I also came to adore, and by diving more into the making of the film and the incredible talents at the Jim Henson company who made the amazing creatures and effects; a love that would go on to see their sci-fi television series Farscape become one of my all time favourite shows. Even finding out small things like finding out that Gates McFadden, who played Doctor Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation was the dance choreographer for the film gave me further appreciation for it.

With Labyrinth as one of my all time favourite films I of course leapt at the chance to read the new illustrated novelisation of the film from Titan Books. Adapted by Liz Braswell, and accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Andrea Guardino, the book wonderfully captures the beauty, wonder, and terror of the film perfectly.

The book sticks close to the movie, which doesn't sound too surprising, but when many novelisations of films will include deleted scenes, new dialogue, or bridging scenes that weren't in the actual film it is something to note that this adaptation doesn't do that. It does include things that aren't in the movie, such as giving more focus to Sarah's inner workings, how she's processing the events around her, what she's feeling, as well as tiny details that were in the background of the film such as her mother and her new boyfriend being actors, but these are things that those familiar with the film will know well and will get a lot of enjoyment from their inclusion. 

It's also impressive how without having to give long paragraphs of text over to describing every detail of the scenes Braswell is able to translate the feel of the film onto the written page. She's able to make you feel the dreariness and glittery sticky quality of the first part of the labyrinth that Sarah walks through, the bubbling disgust of the Bog of Eternal Stench, or the mind bending physics of the staircase sequence. These moments are also brought to life brilliantly by the illustrations, some of which even get some truly magnificent double page spreads to really show of the scope and grandeur of the story. There are so many moments when reading the book that I found myself thinking that I'd happily frame this are to have on my wall because it so perfectly captures why I adore this film and these characters.

Perhaps the only downside of the book is that it doesn't include the songs, which is honestly completely fair because there's not really any way to make these moments even feel natural in the book, let alone making them as fun as they are in the movie. Then again, I'm happy to lose the fun of Magic Dance if it means I don't have to endure the Fireys singing Chill Down, a sequence that still makes me feel as uncomfortable now as an adult as I did as a kid. The moments where these musical numbers take place are written in a way, however, where they don't feel unusual by their absence, and if you came to the book before reading the film you wouldn't come away from these scenes feeling like there was something missing, or that you didn't understand those moments. 

This new novelisation makes for a great adaptation of the film, and it's extra-large size, hardcover, and the beautiful illustrations inside make it feel something special, like some big tome of magic lore that and myth that a parent would take off the shelf to read you to sleep with when you're a child. Whether you're a long time fan of Labyrinth, or if you're relatively unfamiliar with it this book is a perfect way to experience it.

Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Illustrated Novelization is available now from Titan Books.

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The Red Sacrament by Sarah Hinkley - Book Review

 

'Paris, 1869. The Théâtre Saint-Siméon is the place to be, if you can get in. The black slips of paper that guarantee entry are rare and highly desired, and given only to certain persons. The actors on stage are magnetic and ageless, performing only at midnight and never seen during the day…

'Arnault and his clan of vampires have survived for as long as they have by observing a rigid set of rules. At night, they perform on stage at the Théâtre Saint-Siméon, picking off just enough people in the audience to survive. But they understand the city, and how to live in it without being noticed.

'Their peace is shattered first with a visit from Béatrice, a witch who forms a strange connection to Arnault; then with the arrival of Victor de Rouvray and his sister Françoise, vampires from a very different world. And, as Arnault grows closer and closer to the beautiful, enigmatic Victor, he risks becoming distracted from the constant bickering of his immortal friends, from the daily running of the theatre, and worse, from the premonitions of blood, death and starvation that he receives at night.

'For a terrible change is on the horizon, revolt and revolution are brewing in the streets and soon, the city, and Arnault will never be the same again.'

The Red Sacrament is a debut novel that you'd be hard pressed to believe was a debut novel. With many first works you can see where the author is still trying to find their voice and style, you can feel which parts were likely added or changed later down the line in the editorial process, and you can come away satisfied, but sure that the authors next work will be better. The Red Sacrament reads like Sarah Hinkley has been writing for decades. Hinkley delivers a depth of detail and flowing quality to her work that is impressive to see, even if you end up not being a fan of the entire work.

Borrowing inspiration from Interview with the Vampire, The Red Sacrament takes readers to Paris in the 1860's where we discover a coven of vampires that has taken up residence within the tunnels and catacombs of the ancient city, masking their presence and hunting victims by establishing the Théâtre Saint-Siméon, a secretive and exclusive theatre experience. Rather than being open to the public, the vampires, led by the Arnault, invite prospective victims to their performances via black invites, which cannot be purchased, and must be received as gifts. 

The theatre isn't just a cover for the vampires, however, instead becoming an expression of them. Their performances are made for audiences soon to be fed upon, and so the plays and operas they pick to feature become a part of their hunts, an expression of who they are. These are vampires that live and breathe the theatre, and so the book heavily features references to works of the era that fill the early sections of the novel. These early parts of the book are crammed with tiny details and quotes from plays, and it's clear that Hinkley is either a huge theatre nerd, or did a ton of research into what a theatre of the time could have been putting on in order to present it here. And whilst other theatre lovers will probably get a lot out of this, these early parts of the book were some of the hardest to get through for me.

The first half of The Red Sacrament did relatively little for me. Long passages were given over to theatre talk, to discussions about what plays should be put on, who should perform what roles, how the shows went, what should be in the next show, and so on. Despite being filled with characters these moments were so packed with these extra details and long passages that I felt somewhat lost as to who every character was. It didn't help that many of them had little to nothing about their personalities to set them apart. I don't know if this was a deliberate choice, some form of commentary about how a community that's been together so long ends up losing individuality and becomes one homogenised whole, but even if it was it wasn't particularly enjoyable to slog through.

There are some hints at a larger plot scattered through these early few hundred pages, such as a witch who comes to visit the coven, or a pair of vampire twins from outside Paris who arrive at the theatre one night; but these elements are so scattered and light that I'd sometimes forget they were happening or even cared about them. For example, the witch who visits has a deeply disturbing effect on Arnault, and he becomes determined to track her down, but between each small step of the journey to figuring out who she is or where she's from there's dozens of pages of theatre talk; which not only felt like it was dragging out the plot too long, but also made it look like Arnalut didn't really care about finding her.

There is more than happens in the book, but this ends up being much later into the story, and by then you'll be hundreds of pages deep into the book. The Red Sacrament is a long novel, over 500 pages, but if it's taking hundreds of pages to even get interesting it's not going to be a book that I'm going to be able to easily enjoy. If it wasn't for the fact that I had agreed to review the book I would likely have not finished it, bowing out at a much earlier point.

That isn't to say that The Red Sacrament is a bad book, I just think that it's not for me. There will be people who love the slow pace and the focus on the theatre, and for them this will be a perfect exploration of those areas. As someone who likes to find something, even something small, to get interested in early on I was sadly left feeling somewhat deflated whilst reading The Red Sacrament. I think that there's definitely an audience and fanbase out there for The Red Sacrament, and if you're looking for a slower book to really spend some time with then it's definitely worth trying out.

The Red Sacrament is available now from Titan Books. 

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Marion by Leah Rowan - Book Review

 

'NORMAN WAS HER FIRST. Marion is in deep. She's stolen money from the Manhattan ad agency where she works in a desperate bid to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, but the bus breaks down before she can make it to Saratoga Springs. It's late at night, and the only place with vacancies is an old set of cabins on the outskirts of town. She pays for a room in cash, and ends up chatting with Norm, the young innkeeper who's handsome, charming and a touch hung-up on his elderly mother. Back in her room, she steps into the shower, scrubbing off the late-summer heat, when the curtain is pulled back...

'Norm Billings is there with a knife. He raises his arm to strike, but before he does, Marion knees him in the balls, grabs the knife, and stabs the life out of him. Now, she's covered in blood, and she's a woman on the run—not just a thief, but a killer, too. Where will she go? How will she save both herself and her sister? And what mysteries will she uncover as she does?

'In Psycho, Hitchcock shocked audiences when he killed off his protagonist. But what if the leading lady had fought back? Marion offers an alternate history of the most famous dead blonde to ever grace the silver screen. Only this time, the knife is in her hands—and she's no victim.'

The original Psycho is a classic of cinema, not only spawning multiple sequels (which are all really good films too!) but inspiring staples of cinema going forward, such as the slasher genre, and the pretty blonde victim trope. The fact that the film followed its supposed lead, Marion Crane, for the entire first act, and that Hitchcock cast major star Janet Leigh in the role made her sudden murder at the hands of Norman Bates one of the biggest shocks in cinema history, especially at the time. It changed what people thought films could do, and it made the brutal stabbing of Marion Crane a piece of history. 

But, what could happen if Marion didn't die? What if she fought with Norman over the knife? What if she managed to not just survive, but became the only person to come out of that bathroom alive? These questions, built around a modernisation, are what lies at the heart of Leah Rowan's Marion, a novel that turns cinema's most memorable victim into a fierce survivor.

Marion tells the story of two women, across shifting points in time. The main focus of the book is 'Marion', a woman whose real name we never learn over the course of the story. Marion works in New 
York City at a major advertising firm, where her boss brings her into a secret meeting with a rich new client. Agreeing to take $100,000 in cash there and then to work on a new campaign, Marion's boss sneakily tells her that he's doing it off the books, looking to break away from the firm and use this client to set up his own business; a business he wants Marion to come and work for. Giving Marion the money, with instructions to take it to the bank and put it in his personal account, he leaves Marion with the cash whilst he takes the client for a night on the town.

However, when Marion is turned away from the bank and is unable to deposit the cash without her boss present she's left holding the $100,000 over the weekend. To make matters worse, Marion learns that her sister, Lauren, who was staying with her for the week after her husband hit her, has decided to go back home without telling her. Knowing that her sister is in danger, and that she needs a small fortune to leave her abusive husband without losing her business, Marion sets out to save her sister, the stacks of cash in tow. Thanks to a broken down buss, Marion ends up stuck in a small town named New Paltz overnight, where she manages to find accommodation in the Billings Motel, ran by a strange but charming man named Norm. Trying decide what her next move should be, Marion soon finds all of her plans, and her entire future, at risk when Norm attacks her in the shower with a knife. Now Marion not only has a sister to save, a stolen $100,000 in her luggage, but also a dead body to deal with.

Interspersed with Marion's narrative is the story of Hannah Pierce, a private investigator trying to find a missing young woman who may have stopped in New Paltz. Set two weeks after the events of Marion's story, Hannah's investigation into the missing girl leads her into a mystery that involves murder, and the twisted lair of a serial killer.

Those familiar with Psycho will understand how the story is supposed to go, and know that after Marion's death at the hands of Norman her sister eventually comes looking for her at the Bates motel weeks later. Marion takes the structure of the film and plays with it in delightful ways, using the shifting times and different character perspectives to play homage to the original story whilst being hugely creative in its own ways. There's very little that I can actually say about the book beyond the initial set-up and comparing it to the original as the book does so many interesting new things that create its own new narrative that discussing them would spoil parts of a mystery that readers will be wanting to try and solve themselves. All I can say is that I was surprised at how much the novel was able to avoid just being a retelling or a modernisation, and managed to create a story that felt inspired by the film whilst being its own animal.

Leah Rowan does a phenomenal job with the shifting narrative, and creates an interweaving story that adds the twists and surprised that readers get to experience. Every time I thought that I knew what was coming, or what I was seeing, something happened that not only subverted those expectations but took the plot in a new and unexpected direction that made the book so much more fun. There were a few times where I'd find myself yelling 'what?!' out loud, or flipping back to an earlier part of the book to see just how Rowan had managed to mess with me so wonderfully.

Marion was described to me as a 'feminist retelling of Psycho', and I can't think of a better way to sum it up. The book has so many good women characters in it that are not only standing up to terrible, shitty men, but in doing so discovering a fierceness and strength that they never knew they had before. The book showcases these transformations incredibly well, it makes them believable, and it even kind of has you wanting to see them come out on top despite it meaning getting away with murder. It was fantastic to see such strong women not only getting the centre stage, but seeing terrible men get put in their place. 

Marion was an incredibly fun read, one that was filled with twists and turns that keep the narrative from ever feeling stale, yet also serving the characters stories well. If you're familiar with the original story you won't be able to predict what happens throughout the book, and you'll get to have just as much fun as someone coming to this completely fresh. As someone with a great deal of respect for Psycho this felt like not only a brilliant reinvention of it, but a carefully crafted love letter to it.

Marion is available now from Titan Books.

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This is Where the Future Bleeds by Mike Brooks - Book Review

 

'Kitt Carver is one of the best diviners in the business at finding destinies for the rich and powerful. When she’s nearly killed, and her regular broker is murdered, it becomes clear that someone has an issue with the last destiny that she found. 

'Determined not to let anyone else die, Kitt gathers a mismatched group – including Two Tongue Derna, her childhood friend and now a renowned street duellist; Sulian the Swallowmage, powerful but plagued with intrusive visions of futures; and Donal Klae, Kitt’s one-night stand who was accidentally responsible for her near-murder – and sets off across the Timeless Lands to warn the destiny’s recipient.  However, unbeknownst to Kitt, she has her own destiny; one which might spell disaster for everyone.'

Destiny and fate are often used in fantasy stories as a main driving force for heroes and villains alike. Whether it's the chosen one, predicted by prophecy who has to leave home and heed the call to adventure, or the wicked villain who's out to prevent their downfall that fate seems to have engineered the concept of people bound to certain paths in life is a theme that writers explore time and time again. And whilst This is Where the Future Bleeds is all about fate and destiny, it goes about exploring these concepts in wonderfully original ways.

Many generations ago the future was broken. A powerful god used their divine sword to shatter the very concept of fate, breaking the mechanism of destinies finding people; as well as leaving a whole part of the world perpetually frozen in time. For those brave enough, and equipped with magical devices that allow them to exist in this land where time has stopped, the high moors contain some of the most valuable commodities around, destinies. Kitt Carver is a diviner, someone with the magical ability to sense and find destinies, and along with her crew she's able to search the high moors for these valuable pieces of the future and sell them on to the rich and powerful who'll pay good money to secure a grand future for themselves.

Kitt's life is fairly simple despite the constant dangers that going onto the high moors brings, but that all changes when someone tries to kill her. Thankfully, her old friend, Two Tongue Derna, the vicious swordfighter, is around to keep her alive, despite her hatred for Kitt's choice in work. The two of them learn that Kitt isn't the only person involved in the destinies trade who has been killed in town over the last few days, and discover that someone is trying to track down everyone involved with the sale of a particularly powerful destiny that Kitt discovered. Fearing that her life might still be in danger, and not wanting anyone else from getting killed, Kitt sets out to travel across the high moors, something no one has ever done before, and head to the distant city of Derrigsmoot. Along the way she'll be joined by some members of her old team, Derna, the magic wielding Swallowmage, and another diviner who's also been targeted by her would-be assassins. But little does Kitt know that killers are the least dangerous things that she will have to face, and that her actions could end up changing the future for everyone.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is fairly bold, as it drops you into things with little to no background information and makes you keep up with the world as the story progresses. Mike Brooks, who's no stranger to writing stories in complex and fantastical settings, doesn't hold your hand and take things slowly. The very first chapter introduces you to key characters, the concept of the destiny trade, the high moors where time stops, the strange creatures that inhabit it, a number of non-human races, as well as the world that the story takes place in. It would be easy to get bogged down in lore dumps and huge passages of explanatory text, but instead Brooks relies on his evocative storytelling to draw you in and get you invested in the characters, allowing you to instead discover the world as and when things become relevant.

It's this enjoyment of the central characters that made This is Where the Future Bleeds one of those books that I didn't want to put down. As much as I wanted to learn more about the setting and see more of the central mystery it was Kitt that had me coming back, had me reading long beyond the point that I should have put the book down to do something else. Kitt is something of a flawed young woman, someone who's trying her best to get by in a town where she doesn't have many opportunities, nor many friends. She understands why people like Two Tongue Derna might not like the work that she does, how it can be seen as potentially destructive or unfair, yet has to do it because she's someone with very few real opportunities to do much else. Thankfully, she's such a warm, caring person that you almost never think about these parts of her, instead seeing the person who's braving extreme danger to try to save the lives of strangers, who's concerned with the safety of those on her quest with her, and even wants to be liked by people who you can definitely say are much worse people than her; such as Derna.

As the story progresses more and more colourful characters join Kitt on her mission, characters that are absolutely delightful in their weirdness; though they're that much more flawed people than Kitt that they make her look absolutely normal in comparison. Whilst there are a few that I really like, but can't say much about as even their inclusion would spoil aspects of the story, the one I loved the most was Derna. Presented as something of an antagonist in the very first chapter due to her interfering with Kitt's destiny harvesting, she quickly becomes Kitt's fiercest ally and eventual love interest. Watching the evolution of their strained friendship, seeing Kitt realise that she has feelings for Derna, and then her trying to carefully navigate this new awkwardness was absolutely delightful and had me rooting for the two of them to get together. 

Kitt and Derna's relationship isn't even the only queer representation in the book, however, as there are multiple queer characters, as well as non-binary and trans characters throughout the book, integrated in ways that made it clear that this was a world where queer identities and expressions were perfectly accepted and normalised. I absolutely adored this aspect. Yes, more books are including queer characters, and queer leads, in ways that weren't done years ago, but having as many as this book does, and with it never being treated as different or other in any way is the kind of representation that I was screaming out for as a frightened, closeted queer child, and I'm so happy that its on the shelves now for anyone to pick up and experience.

My main criticism of the book is that the pacing in the final chapters isn't the best, and it does feel a tiny bit rushed for the final pieces of the plot. This pacing issue felt even worse as it was a book that I was really loving, and so would have been happy to have it go on for longer so that these moments had longer to breathe, had more set-up time, and even something of an epilogue so that we can see where the characters end up and how their lives are different once the main story comes to a close. As it is, it almost felt like Brooks had a hard cut-off where he couldn't take the time to do that, or he had to wrap things up fast due to some circumstances outside of his control. Like I said, I'd have liked to have had more of these characters anyway, so perhaps this feeling is just a reflection of that, and others won't have any issue with the pacing.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is the first thing of Brooks' I've read outside of the Warhammer IP, and I wasn't sure what to expect as that was my only frame of reference for his work; but I'm happy to say not only was I thoroughly impressed and engrossed with the book, but it felt so thematically different that it really highlighted how versatile and talented Brooks is as a writer.

This is Where the Future Bleeds is available now from Titan Books.

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Cold Prey Trilogy - Limited Edition Blu-ray Review

 

I recently watched my first Norwegian film recently, Insomnia, thanks to the recent release from Second Sight, and now I've been able to expand that number even further thanks to their latest release, collecting together the three Norwegian slasher films Cold Prey. 

Originally released at a time where bland remakes and gory torture porn were the headline horror offerings from big studios, Cold Prey gave viewers something a little different; a smaller scale slasher movie that felt more in line with the iconic franchises of the past, yet managed to deliver it with a visual flare and style that felt refreshing and new to those not used to Norwegian cinema.

The first Cold Prey follows a group of friends who travel to the Jotunheimen mountains in the middle of winter to go snowboarding. One of the group, Morten Tobias (Rolf Kristian Larsen) takes a nasty fall down the mountain and ends up breaking his leg. With the nearest town too far to reach before night falls, the group decide to take shelter in an old hotel nestled in the mountains. The five of them are able to care for Morten Tobias' wound as best as they can, stay warm, and even find some alcohol inside to help while away the long night. 

Disturbingly, however, they find evidence of the lodge having been abandoned decades before after the owners young son went missing in the mountains a few weeks before the parents were killed in an apparent avalanche whilst searching for him. As the group explore the sprawling building someone else is watching them. This hulking, fur clad figure, enters the hotel and begins to hunt the group through its halls, picking them off one by one with traps and his pickaxe. 

The second film picks up almost immediately where the first film leaves off, with the lone survivor of the massacre, Jannicke (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) found wandering the mountain roads, barely alive. Taken to a hospital in the small town of Otta, the police question her as to what happened. When a search party is sent up into the mountains they discover the icy grave of her friends, and the monstrous Mountain Man (Robert Follin) responsible for killing them. When the bodies are brought back to the hospital Jannicke is faced once again with the trauma that she just lived through. But, when the Mountain Man begins to show signs of life the hospital staff work to revive him; a decision that will lead to a new night of terror and the Mountain Man works his way through the hospital, targeting doctors, patients, law enforcement, and Jannicke once again.

The third film decides to move to the past, telling a prequel story instead of trying to somehow justify the return of the Mountain Man a second time (something that would be even harder to explain away following the conclusion of the second movie). The film opens with flashbacks to the Mountain Man's childhood, where it's shown that his parents tried to kill him in the mountains due to his psychopathic tendencies. However, after surviving their murder attempt he returns home and kills his own parents, vanishing with their bodies. Twelve years late, the Mountain Man remains hidden in the wilderness of the Jotunheimen National Park, where a group of young friends are travelling to, wanting to check out the long abandoned hotel with strange rumours attached to it. 

Despite not staying in the hotel, and leaving it almost immediately (a pretty smart choice for horror protagonists), the group still attract the attention of the Mountain Man, and begin to fall prey to the traps he's left out in the wood. As the group realise that someone is hunting them down they attempt to make their way back to safety. Unfortunately for them, the Mountain Man has been hunting in the forest for years, and now that he's decided to switch from animals to humans he won't abandon his prey.

Cold Prey isn't really anything new or original when you look at the bare bones of it. It's a group of friends with very broad, archetypal characteristics who travel to a remote location, go somewhere they shouldn't, and then get picked off one by one. It's adhering to the expectations of the slasher genre, even if it has a Norwegian flavour to it. What makes the film stand apart from other on offer, especially against other horror films of the era, is how visually unique the film feels. Where the US is offering things like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes remakes, and new slasher franchises like Wrong Turn, films set in warm summer locations such as the forest and deserts, seeing a movie shift to the middle of winter, to the cold barren wilderness of the Norwegian mountains feels like the complete tonal opposite.

The new type of setting offers what feels like more realism in some ways too. Our protagonists can't just head for the nearest road and try to get help because the road is miles of trekking over the mountains away, and no one is using them anyway. They have to break into the abandoned building they find because if they don't they'll freeze to death outside, meaning they don't have to go into the obvious murder house simply because they're curious idiots. Where other films have their group of victims making stupid choices because they need to for the story here it feels like the creators are trying to justify why things are happening, which leads to a much more grounded and relatable story. Plus, just having the amazing visuals of the snow covered mountains is such a pleasant change that gives the movie its own character.

I also have to give the franchise points for trying something different with each movie too. The choice to shift location from an isolated mountain resort to a small town in the sequel is a bold move. Yes, there's still a sense of isolation in some ways thanks to the small hospital that's in the middle of closing down so only has a handful of staff for even fewer patients, and the snow and darkness outside gives the impression that it's cut off from the rest of the world, but it's still in a place where our protagonists can literally flee the building, run down the street to someone's house and ask for help, or where a dozen police can turn up to help (something that does actually happen in the movie). Considering most horror franchises will try and stick to the same kind of formula for several films before opening up the world, taking things from a distant isolated location to a more populated one, Cold Prey made the bold choice to do that.

This willingness to change their formula is also present in the third film in the series. Set decades before the events of the first film, Cold Prey 3 changes things up by moving from winter to summer. This simple shift in season changes the bleak white wilderness of snow covered mountains to luscious green forests and grassland. This immediately gives the prequel film a flavour of its own, making it instantly unique from the others just at a simple glance. I found the locations that were used for the third film to be the most gorgeous of the trilogy, presenting an amazing look at some of the stunning wilderness that Norway has to offer. And whilst the third film might be more limited in terms of its storytelling (we know that anyone who sees the Mountain Man has to die as he's an unknown entity in the other films) this simple change in visual style keeps it fresh and interesting. 

Alongside the films each movie comes with brand new audio commentaries on each of the films that feature directors, actors, and film academics who offer some fantastic insight not only into the making of the franchise, but also on Norwegian cinema as a whole. The first film has the most extra features to accompany it, featuring some original behind the scenes videos, an alternate ending, new interviews with cast and crew, visual effects breakdowns, and two short films. The second movie also comes with new cast and crew interviews, cut scenes, and original behind the scenes featurettes, whilst the third film sadly only has some short original behind the scenes features to go alongside the commentary track.

On a whole, I really enjoyed the Cold Prey Trilogy. It was a lot of fun to discover horror cinema from a country where I'd never experienced it before. They stood out against other films of the era, and made me come away wanting to see more of what Norway has to offer, especially in genres that I love. This new blu-ray set offers a fantastic way to either discover these films for the first time, or add an updated version to your home collection.

The Cold Prey Trilogy Limited Edition Blu-ray set is available now from Second Sight.

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All We Have Left by Emily Paxman - Book Reivew

 

'The world might not have ended all at once. But end it did. Kayla Hollins is a survivor. Living in the fragmented wasteland of the Canadian Pacific Northwest, she's outlived a colony, a cult, a paramilitary group, and most of her family. So when her younger sister April falls seriously ill, Kayla will do anything to save her. They trek to Salt Spring Island, a beacon of hope in their otherwise brutalized world, which is rumoured to still have a hospital. But Salt Spring's utopia comes with a price. Not just anyone can enter paradise or access their medical care, and Kayla's past is chequered.

'Desperate, Kayla makes a deal with Sid Charles, an aspiring politician with whom she had a chance encounter before arriving on Salt Spring. If Kayla and Sid get married, it will boost Sid's chances of election, and grant April automatic access to the medical treatment she desperately needs. And in two years, when Kayla is eligible for citizenship herself, they can get a divorce. Simple, right?

'Sid is distant and cranky, but Kayla comes to learn he is also shockingly kind. The more time she spends with him and his ragtag group of rescued boys, the more she comes to admire him. But with April's treatment and Sid's election on the line—and the constant terror of her past being discovered—Kayla isn't sure she can risk trying to change their arrangement. Trapped together in the closest thing left to paradise, Kayla and Sid both know what it means for the world to end. But as they try to rebuild with the people of Salt Spring Island, there may be time left to save—if not the world—themselves.'

I'm not much of a romance reader. This is largely down to not really enjoying genres and settings where it's real-life. The closest I'll come to reading a book that could be set in the real world is a murder mystery type story, otherwise I want fantastical things that I could never get to live myself, such as monsters, aliens, magic and the like. When I do get to read stories with romance in them they tend to be secondary to other events, a little sprinkling of romance in a story that's main focus is elsewhere. All We Have Left, despite being a post-apocalypse survival story, manages to do something of a switcheroo on me where I suddenly realised that the post-apocalypse setting was mere window dressing for a romance story; and I was shocked that I was absolutely loving the book despite of this trickery. 

All We Have Left begins in the Canadian wilderness decades after the world has been ravaged by intense global climate shifts and massive earthquakes that brought civilisation as we're used to to an end. It's here that we meet two sisters, Kayla and April. Kayla is almost a decade older than her teenage sister, and has been her sole caregiver for years now since their mother was killed by other survivors. However, since April has been getting sicker and sicker Kayla has been left with no choice but to do the one thing that she never wanted to do, trust one of the communities of survivors for help.

Travelling to the island community of Salt Spring Island, Kayla and April are taken in as refugees; a process made a little bit harder by Kayla's trauma inspired panic when confronted by their armed border guards that results in her injuring one of them. On the island Kayla learns that April has diabetes, and her plan to get some quick treatment and leave falls apart as she realises that April will have to live on the island for the rest of her life. To make matters worse, Kayla doesn't know how she's going to pay for many future treatments after selling most of her possessions.

As a refugee, Kayla and April are placed with a family on the island as their sponsors, and they end up having to stay with Sid, the man that Kayla injured, after he steps forward to care for them when their future on the island is put at risk because of the injury Kayla gave him. The two sisters move into the huge farmhouse where Sid lives with several younger men and boys, all of whom came to Salt Spring with him and made a life there. As April settles into island life, going to school for the first time and dreaming of a future as a scientist, Kayla struggles to overcome past trauma, as well as a way for her to keep custody of her sister and pay for her medical bills. 

Thankfully, Sid comes up with a plan that can help them and him, if Kayla marries Sid they will get citizenship, and April's treatment will be covered; and Sid gets a wife to help his public image as he attempts to enter the world of politics. With little choice left to her, Kayla enters into a sham marriage with Sid, with the understanding between the two of them that nothing has to happen between them, and after a few years time they can just divorce. However, as time goes on it becomes clear that the two of them have feelings for each other, and now must navigate the complex web of these new emotions, island politics, and past trauma.

All We Have Left drops the reader into a post-apocalypse world, one where these two young sisters are scavenging for food to survive, and the fear of raiders and thieves is always present. However, this is something that soon changes, as Kayla discovers the small community on Salt Spring Island, one that has spent decades rebuilding itself as best it can. It has a government, a hospital, a library, a busy market, and even restaurants; all things that Kayla thought lost to the end of the world. From here the book becomes almost a twisted reflection of the world we know. Instead of fighting for survival in a ravaged world we're seeing Kayla have to deal with political deals, bureaucracy, and perhaps the worst scourge of all, capitalism.

Because we see this shift through Kayla's eyes it took me a while to realise that in many ways I wasn't really reading a post-apocalypse story anymore, and Salt Spring Island and the community there could fit into almost any kind of setting with a few tweaks. The promise of reading a story set in the post-apocalypse was pretty much gone after the first couple of chapters. Luckily, I had become invested in Kayla as a character that I didn't really mind this shift, though it could have been the kind of change that would have ruined the book for me if not written as well as Emily Paxman does here.

The main draw for All We Have Left is the characters and their relationships, even beyond the central romance plot. The several boys that Sid lives with are fun and engaging characters, and seeing how they relate to each other, learning about their past, and seeing how they handle the sudden change of having two women living with them makes for an interesting premise. There's also the subplot of seeing Sid, a former outsider to the community himself, navigate the world of politics to try to change the island for the better and create a bigger, more hopeful community that could have been the focus of an entire book itself.

The romance plot is the main drive of the book, and it's handled pretty well for the most part, relying on a slow burn approach to keep the reader invested and maintain a steady amount of tension as you wonder if Sid and Kayla will wind up together or not. There are times when things don't go well for the two of them in ways that could easily be resolved by simply sitting down and talking to each other, something the characters fail to do, but this is a fairly common trope across a lot of media, so I can't really blame to book for falling into this trap at times. There does come a point where the romance suddenly speeds up, with the two of them declaring their love and talking about babies and their future together that felt way too fast; but then the book does talk about how relationships evolve pretty fast in the post-apocalypse world due in large part because people don't know how long they're going to get.

However, this sudden change of pace does play into my biggest problem with the book; it resolves too fast. Towards the back end of the book a character from Kayla's past appears on the island, someone connected to the weird cult she and her family had to escape when she was a child. This kicks off a whole new subplot about how one of Salt Spring's allies is secretly a cult, and how they've hid this from the island whilst also keeping their own people in the dark so that only those on the top can benefit. This is a big plot, one that could have huge rammifications not just for Kayla, but the entire community. This gets resolved in about two chapters, and mostly off page with the reader being told how it all worked out in an epilogue scene. We also find out how Sid's political apsiratipns go in this scene in a similar way.

The ending feels so rushed because of this. With the amount of different plots going on, the number of relationships that were being explored, the story could have easily been told across two books, with perhaps the second book exploring Kayla and Sid's relationship once they admitted their feelings, whilst also dealing with the more intense parts of Sid's desire to be in politics, and the cult. Instead it's all done very fast and given as a 'oh and this happened between chapters' info drop. I couldn't help but feel somewhat cheated by this, and I think that if Paxman wasn't going to take the time to actually explore some of these things fully then perhaps just not including the sudden cult involvement in the final few chapters would have been better as then the resolution would have simply felt fast instead of very rushed.

Despite these issues with the ending, I still really liked the book. It wasn't perfect by any means, and Salt Spring island was perhaps not the setting I was imagining it would be (I don't know why it was capitalist and that a main plot point in the post-apocalypse was April dying because Kayla couldn't pay for medical bills) but the main relationships managed to make it a really engaging read, one that I kept wanting to come back to. I came out of the book feeling like I'd been tricked into reading a book that was pretty much just all romance, but I didn't mind it at all.

All We Have Left is available now from Titan Books.

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