The Night Club: Part Two (Jiří Kulhánek, 2009) is the, er, second part in The Night Club duology. It continues the story of Tobias, the Club’s greatest sharpshooter and would-be world famous author.
This is a sequel review, so there’s no-holds-barred spoilers for the first novel. So consider yourself warned! Continue reading
The Night Club: Part One (Jiří Kulhánek, 2008) is a Czech modern fantasy horror novel. That’s a lot of adjectives. It is the first in a series of novels, with the first introducing the vigilante Night Club and their ideals, as well as covering the trials and tribulations of Tobias, the Club’s finest sharpshooter. Continue reading
The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester, 1951) is a science-fiction inverted detective story, equal parts Ocean’s Eleven and Death Note. The novel tells the story of business monolith Ben Reich’s mission to murder rival conglomerate owner Craye D’Courtney in a world where psychics (or espers, ‘extra-sensory perception’-ers) form a significant proportion of the population and a pre-meditated murder hasn’t gone undetected or unsolved for over seventy years. Ben’s primary foil is the police prefect Lincoln Powell, top-class esper who is able to ‘peep’ through even the strongest mental blocks that a suspect can put up. Continue reading
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813) is a romance novel set in 19th century England. Ultimately, it aims to ask and answer the question of whether pride and prejudice can be overcome to give way to love and affection. Also, it spawned a TV mini-series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the lead roles with scenes that weren’t in the book. Most people remember the bits that weren’t in the book, namely Colin Firth’s wet shirt scene. Yeah. Anyway, on with the novel. Continue reading
Falling Free (Lois McMaster Bujold, 1987) is a sci-fi adventure novel set on-board a floating space habitat called, er, the Habitat. Leo Graf, master safety engineer, comes to the Habitat to teach a group of a thousand genetically-modified humans known as “quaddies”, conceived in a uterus replacement machine and born on the Habitat. The quaddies defining characteristic is their lack of legs: In their place, they have another set of arms. Continue reading
The Glass Magician (Charlie N. Holmberg, 2014) is the sequel to Holmberg’s novel The Paper Magician. Again starring Ceony Twill, apprentice Folder, the novel follows the cat-and-mouse chase between Ceony and a pair of powerful, evil magicians that she wronged during the course of the first adventure. As this is a sequel, the gentle reader of this review must prepare themselves: There will be unmarked spoilers for the first novel, The Paper Magician! Continue reading
The Paper Magician (Charlie N. Holmberg, 2014) is a magical fantasy young adult novel set in a Victorian-era world where magic can be taught to those with potential, and each magician is bound to a particular man-made material that they choose. Well, they normally get their own choice of material, but England is suffering a dearth of Folders — paper magicians — and recent magical school graduate Ceony Twill is unfortunate: She is to forgo her goal of becoming a Smelter, and take up paper in the name of Queen and country. What a dreadful business! Continue reading
The Last Wish (Andrzej Sapkowski, 1992) is a high fantasy adventure novel set in a world of dark twisted fairy tales, where monsters roam and professional killers known as witchers are hired by townspeople to keep the evil in check.
Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl (2013, David Barnett) is a steampunk fantasy novel set in an alternate Victorian era, covering an intercontinental adventure to uncover the reason behind mysterious monster attacks plaguing England. It has its flaws, but it’s a solid page-turner that you can easily envisage as a big budget blockbuster. I’m also a sucker for airships, which helps a lot. There’s light spoilers incoming, so beware!