Another
few weeks have passed, time for another review round-up! I finally have gotten
around reading some books that I have always wanted to read: Among Thieves, Three Parts Dead, continuing with the Shadows of the Apt series in Heirs of the Blade and there are still plenty
more on my list though! But without further ado here is my selection of
favorites of August.
1. Happy Hour in Hell by Tad
Williams (Hodderscape, Hodder and
Stoughton)
Tad
Williams has been one of my favorite authors for quite some time. Last year I
read The Dirty Streets of Heaven and
was awed, blown away, and a lot more! Having to have to wait another whole year
for its sequel was hard but proved to be worthwhile. The Bobby Dollar series is Tad Williams venture into
Urban Fantasy, and even though there are quite a few series out there already,
for me Bobby Dollar stands out heads above shoulders. The concept of the book
where, once you pass away, you get confronted by a person from Heaven and Hell
to judge whether you should go to Heaven or Hell based on your track record.
Yes it has angels, demons and guns, but what the other books don’t have is
BOBBY DOLLAR! Man I love his character, his bit of nonchalance, sarcastic and
witty remarks really make the story. Where The Dirty Streets of Heaven introduced us to the whole universe, Happy Hour in Hell takes a nice tour
through Hell and shows everything that is accompanied in it. Though the
emphasis is on rescuing Caz from The Grand Duke of Hell, there is nice shift in
the emphasis of the plot, if my thoughts are correct I think we will be in for
an explosive finale in the last book of the series. It’s a book you must have
read. In Happy Hour in Hell, Tad
Williams shows how to take a story further.Read my full review here
2. Heirs of the Blade by Adrian
Tchaikovsky (Tor UK)
The
Shadows of the Apt series has been on my favorite list for a long time. From
the introduction of Empire of Black and
Gold Adrian Tchaikovsky has just never let me down and never stopped to
amaze me. The Shadows of the Apt series introduces the reader to a unique
heretofore unexplored concept, the Kinden, from Beetle, Mantis to Scorpion
Kinden, each have their own strengths and weaknesses, furthermore there is a
division in being Apt and Inapt, able to work with the simplest of switches is
impossible for the inapt. With Heirs of the Blade already the seventh book in
the series I was hesitant to pick it up after one year of not having read the
series, but I was proven wrong. The Shadows of the Apt is a series that sticks
on you, grows on you and stays with you. Heirs
of the Blade sees the continuing of two favorite characters Che and Tynisa.
It felt good to have the spotlight on these two as there are quite a few
interesting developments going on that, seem to me, to be paving the road for
the last three volumes. This series is a must read for fantasy enthusiasts. Read my full review here
3. Three Parts Dead by Max
Gladstone (Tor USA)
A
book that has been on my personal to read list even since it was released last
year. I only finished it recently but this is one of those books that left me
speechless. It is these kind of books that I like, where an author, Max
Gladstone in this case, takes an existing genre, bends it to its own will and
takes it those few steps further. Three
Parts Dead introduces us to a unclear day and age and world. The story
doesn’t take place on an alternate vision of London or New York but in the
completely designed and lively envisioned city of Alt Coulumb, with heavy
influences of fantasy, science fiction and steampunk. But what really makes
this story stand out is the complexity of it all that is neatly realized by the
characters and the story line and the idea behind the story. Time to get lawyered
up! The main protagonist of the series, Tara is a first year student for the
necromantic lawyer firm Kelethres, Albreacht and Ao, yep necromantic lawyers.
They raise the dead. But the story is much more, it’s intricately build and
very engaging with all the action in the book. There are quite a few trails
being pursued and I was pleased to see that the leads that seemed unlinkable in
the end were all connected, and this was done in a terrific way, not hastily
but when you look back it does make full sense on how things came to pass. The
nomination of Three Parts Dead for
the John W. Campbell Award is therefore fully justified! It’s amazing.Read my full review here
4. Planesrunner by Ian McDonald (Jo Fletcher Books)
Planesrunner is the venture of Ian McDonald
in the young adult genre, having previously written only adult science fiction,
he now brings his level and vision of sci-fi in an engaging manner for the
younger readers. Science fiction is a cool genre and Ian McDonald makes it even
cooler by introducing the concept of multiversing and parallel worlds. The way
that Ian McDondald shows his concept is by the hands of the main protagonist
Everett who just saw his father being kidnapped right in front of him. From this point
onwards, only a few pages in, you are thrown in a mad but carefully planned
dash of action in already a few parallel Earth’s. What is crucial for me is the
way the world and it’s surrounding are shown in young adult fiction, writing
for adults is totally a different league, but Ian McDonald does it in a way
that must, in my opinion, appeal to many younger kids, he explain the type of
travel in a great manner using good examples and of course a lot of high tech
gadgets! Its all good stuff. Furthermore he really puts Everett in the hero
spotlight and Everett taken together with his new friend aboard the Everness Sen make up for a great duo.
Also the book has a hidden message, whether it was intended or not, I like this
and hope that a lot of younger readers will also get it. Planesrunner is a great book if you want to have your teen to start
reading, Ian McDonald gives you a front row seat as the other dimensions are
being explored.Read my full review here
5. The Darwin Elevator by Jason M
Hough (Titan Books)
I
must admit, The Darwin Elevator,
first escaped my notice until a copy fell on the doormat. The Darwin Elevator is one action-packed blockbuster type of book.
From start to finish you will be on the edge of your seat. There are a lot of
things happening in the book going from space opera, dystopian, politics and
even zombies thrown in the mix. It all started when the space elevator was send
down from space into the city of Darwin Australia, on first take it was all
nice and well but soon things started to happen. People living outside of
Darwin started to change… into zombies also called the subhumans. It’s only
safe to life inside a specific radius of Darwin, there is this protective aura
around the space elevator that protects against people turning into zombies. The
main protagonist of The Darwin Elevator, Skyler, is shown in a magnificent way,
he is the leader of a bunch of immunes but doesn’t come over as the bossy kind
of guy, he wants to be everybody’s companion and friend and his approach to his
crew makes him very human and easy to relate to. The storyline really evolves
when a you get deeper and deeper into the story, later in the book you get to
learn more about the dependency of the Earth bound colonists and the colonists
living in space. Also from the beginning there is a revelation that the aliens
are planning a new intervention but when and what is unknown. In the end you do
get to learn more about what is intended and you already glimpse some of the
power that it holds, leaving the book on a great cliffhanger moment. I am eager
to see how this will be explored in The
Exodus Towers. Read my full review here
Next to the twenty some reviews there were also quite a few interviews with authors that were featured on the blog, a summery of the August interview is listed below, all the interview that have been done so far can be found in the Author interview tab to the side.
- Steven L. Kent (The Clone Rebellion) August 2013
- Aidan Harte (The Wave Trilogy) August 2013
- Nick Brown (Agents of Rome) August 2013
- Jay Posey (Legends of the Duskwalker) : August 2013
- Snorri Kristjansson (The Valhalla Saga): August 2013
- Jeff Norton (MetaWars): August 2013
I'm curious to hear what your favorite reads were of August!
Cheers,
Jasper