The Book Plank

Best Steampunk Steampunk. My first introduction to this weird theme was with the movie Wild Wild West . the big spider etc in the western setting won me over. Steampunk can be used in various different time lines be it western, in the Victorian setting, even our current day or in the future. Steampunk is often accompanied by gears and sprockets flying around your ears but it can also be subtle element hidden within the story brief glimpses to enliven the surroundings of the story. Once Upon a Time in Hell is the second book in the Heaven's Gate Trilogy by Guy Adams. This is truly the weird west at it's top. Guy Adams nicely integrates Steampunk into his world by letting it be modes of transport and some nifty gadgets the characters have. This story is big and bold and I am looking forward to seeing where this story ends. Rod Duncan's The Bullet-Catchers Daughter is something of an Victorianesque inspired story following a young women Elizabeth Barnabus that leads an int...

It's that time of the month again, no not that one, the other! Time for another Review Round-up. I said many times that January was off to a good start but I read some very fine book in February as well. I am already at the 29/175 books that I plan to read, no time to waste typing too much. These are my favourite books of the past month! 1. Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, Gollancz  Yes yes, where to begin? Joe Abercrombie is well renowned writer in his genre and has been noted as perhaps a revolutionist in terms of breathing new life into the existing fantasy genre. From the first book that I read of Joe Abercrombie I was hooked. He introduces a dark and gritty texture to his stories that is just cool. His writing style is in many part straight to the point, immersing the reader in a action packed story. The fighting scenes are described in full color and he gives the reader a front row seat. Red Country is the sixth book the First Law series which first featured as a trilogy ...

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett, Discworld #40 To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear. Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital... but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse... Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of gr...