The Book Plank

It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying. It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world. In each era, a child shall be chosen. Their task is to find a dark messiah known only as the Crowman. But is he our saviour – or the final incarnation of evil? Ryan has been recommending some horror books my way. Horror has always been a genre that I have enjoyed reading but a good horror book is hard to come by. But when Stephen King is quoted on the cover with “Joseph D’Lacey rocks” it should say enough right? When I read the synopsis I though standard apocalyptic story where you see the world descend slowly into disarray, following the footsteps of two children and how they perceive the downward spiral of society. However the book starts with Satan and references towards The Crowman, Black Jack and Scarecrow. From the prologue it is stressed that there cannot be a tale without a tell...

It’s August 19, 1884. The consumptive Doc Holliday is preparing to await his end in a sanatorium in Leadville, Colorado, when the medicine man Geronimo enlists him on a mission. The time the great chief has predicted has come, the one white man he’s willing to treat with has crossed the Mississippi and is heading to Tombstone – a young man named Theodore Roosevelt. The various tribes know that Geronimo is willing to end the spell that has kept the United States from expanding west of the Mississippi. In response, they have created a huge, monstrous, medicine man named War Bonnet, whose function is to kill Roosevelt and Geronimo and keep the United States east of the river forever. And War Bonnet has enlisted the master shootist John Wesley Hardin. So the battle lines are drawn: Roosevelt and Geronimo against the most powerful of the medicine men, a supernatural creature that seemingly nothing can harm; and Holliday against the man with more credited kills than any gunfig...

This is a world dying. A world where wild magic leaks from the corpses of rotting gods, desperate tyrants battle over fading resources, impassive shapeshifters marshal beasts of enormous size and startling intelligence, and ravenous demons infest the northern mountains. A world where the only difference between a hero and a killer lies in the ability to justify dark deeds. But even in this world, pockets of resistance remain. When two aging warriors save the life of a young rebel, it proves the foundation for an unlikely fellowship. A fellowship united against tyranny, yet composed of self-righteous outlaws, crippled turncoats and amoral mercenaries. A grim company, indeed… Head of Zeus, who is publishing The Grim Company series, just opened its doors early last January 3rd 2013. Already they have a great amount of titles published to start with and many to follow soon this year. But already somewhere late summer there was a big press release about this particular book: The ...

Every year at an exclusive private boarding school in New York state, the graduating students uphold an old tradition – they must swear an oath of secrecy and leave behind a “treasure” for each incoming senior. When Duncan Meade inherits the room and secrets of Tim Macbeth, he uncovers evidence of a clandestine romance, and unravels the truth behind one of the biggest mysteries in the school’s history. How far would you go to keep a secret? Sometimes I come across a book that makes it hard to write a review and to put your finger on. The Tragedy Paper is one of those books for me. It is not your standard Young-Adult fantasy, no swashbuckling action or the likes but it is fascinating and captivating story. Also it is the author’s, Elizabeth LaBan, first book. The Tragedy Paper blends literature and a journey of discovering yourself into one classic love-story. Whenever I put the book down to do something else I immediately got the urge to pick it up again and find out what woul...

A change is happening in the Metasphere. Thanks to Jonah Delacroix, the avatars of the uploaded have been transferred to a dynamic new virtual world. But as the Uploaded grow in strength so does their desperate desire to be alive again. And in a world at war bot on and off-line, how can Jonah tell who is really on his side? On thing is for certain: he must find out fast because… the dead are rising – and nothing can stop them. MetaWars: The Dead are Rising is the second book in the MetaWars series written by Jeff Norton. After the explosive start of the series in Fight for the Future this was definitely a series for me to watch. I recently received a copy of the second book and Jeff Norton continues the trend set in the first book to the fullest. Just a short recap of what was going on in the first book. MetaWars takes place in a global dystopian setting, after the fall of the governments several privatized companies took to power. One person, Matthew Granger, created the...

The Virals’ home on Loggerhead Island is under threat, and only one thing can save it: a lot of money. A 300-year-old legend. Rumour has it that notorious pirate Anne Bonny hid her treasure somewhere in Charleston in 1720. No-one knows where, but Tory Brennan – great-niece of famous forensic anthropologist Dr Tempe Brennan – is certain that the Virals can work out Bonny’s cryptic clues. A deadly path. It isn’t long before the Virals are on the right track. But they aren’t the only ones searching for the treasure.Someone is following them, and will stop at nothing to get their hands on it. Dead bodies litter the trail. Time is running out before the island will be sold. Will the Virals’ special powers be enough to save them? Seizure is the second book in the Virals series. Virals is a Young-Adult oriented series written by the acclaimed author Kathy Reichs, offering to some degree a bit of a spin-off from the hit series Bones but for a younger audience. Mentioning that I was lo...