The Book Plank

Best Alternate History of 2015 Alternate history, the genre that bends the "what once has been" into something new, into what might have also happened. I am a big history fan and seeing with what these authors came up with I can only try to hide my grin. The Mechanical must not be missed by anyone and especially me being a Dutchy. Ian Tregillis is best known for his alternate WWII story with the Milweed Tryptich, in The Mechanical  he take you back to The Netherlands in the 17th century. Where clakkers, automatons, are slaves to help us humans. It is a wonderful imagining of The Netherlands and Ian Tregillis really did his homework when he was re imagining several parts of The Netherlands. I am a big fan of Nick Brown's Agent of Rome series. I like the Roman times a lot, during a holiday in Rome I visited the Colosseum. Awesome I tell you. With every book the series just seems to get better. Nick Brown shows a lot of versatility in the build up of his story. Highlightin...

Review Round-up April  Here are my favorites of April.    Which books did you enjoy reading about the most in the last month? Cheers - Jasper ---------------------------------  1. Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz, Angry Robot I am going to repeat myself. Flex needs a direct sequel! period. I am always on the look out for the next thing in fantasy and Ferrett Steinmetz' Flex completely lives up to this promise. It's fresh, it's exciting and it's a whole lot of fun to read. It could also be the pubilsher to be honest as the majority of the books that I read from Angry Robots fall into the category of genre pushing. In Flex Ferret Steinmetz introduces an flexable world (to a certain degree), some very well fleshed out characters and of course one of the coolest magical system that I have the pleasure of reading about. Highly recommended! Read the full review here 2. The Mechanical by Ian Tregillism, Orbit The Mechanical a book that...

The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis, The Alchemy Wars #1 My name is Jax. That is the name granted to be by my human masters. I am a clakker: a mechanical man, powered by alchemy. Armies of my kind have conquered the world - and made the Brasswork Throne the sole superpower. I am a faithful servant. I am the ultimate fighting machine. I am endowed with great strength and boundless stamina. But I am beholden to the wishes of my human masters. I am a slave. But I shall be free. I learned about this book last year during my LonCon3 visit, the premise sounded amazing and ever since having read Bitter Seeds and Something More Than Night I have been very taken by the way that Ian Tregillis devises his stories, they are great to start with but have much more working in their favor, they have big idea's, very creative and are to be honest in certain parts quite ruthless. The Mechanical is the lastest addition to the so far impressive line up of books that Ian Tregillis has written, and...

(p)review forecast April part 2 What will you be reading in the next weeks? Cheers, Jasper 1. The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis, Orbit My name is Jax. That is the name granted to be by my human masters. I am a clakker: a mechanical man, powered by alchemy. Armies of my kind have conquered the world - and made the Brasswork Throne the sole superpower. I am a faithful servant. I am the ultimate fighting machine. I am endowed with great strength and boundless stamina. But I am beholden to the wishes of my human masters. I am a slave. But I shall be free. 2. Horn by Joe Hill, Gollancz At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns...