 I did not know about this book until I was lucky to receive a copy, initially by way of recommendation by a good amount of people on Twitter, and then I came across the author and he kindly sent me a copy, to read.
Book synopsis: Set in 1842, two drunken sisters (Judy & Maggie), both not married and running a failing business until Maggie has the idea of opening a Seance Parlour. Judy has other ideas and dreams of becoming a successful writer and then to meet a man of her dreams but gives into starting up the Seance Parlour whilst Blackheath has dead bodies appearing on and around the Common, oh, and there are Demons in it, sort of! You see, the book is also a book 'within' a book and we get to read the novel that Judy is writing which captures your imagination and, well, you just need to read it. The way the story 'within' a story is written is genius, Alan Williams, who writes in a style as if it is written by the hand of a woman writing fantasy in the 19th Century, in that it being by Judy from the main story; even at one point I thought I was reading something written by Mary Shelley when I was reading this story 'within' a story! I guess that you could say that you have '2 books for the price of 1' here! Alan Williams also perfectly describes London for the year of 1842 and I have learnt a lot about such places like Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam) and the 'not so friendly way' the clergy treated certain findings back then (not real spoilers); don't get me wrong, this is no history book but I feel the research Alan put into this book is worthy of anything I have ever read about historical London. This book deserves a wider audience and I insist you must download a Kindle Amazon sample first to give you a taster of what I feel is a hidden gem of a book that came out in 2013, and then purchase the rest of the book. 9.5 out of 10 - a must read! Click here to download a sample from Amazon
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 Melanie is the main character "The Girl With All The Gifts" but the gifts are not the sort of gifts you would want a little girl having. It's hard to mention the other characters or even what the story is really about as it will ruin it for you, all I will say is that the other characters fit into the storyline perfectly and you will either love or hate them. What I can say is this, the novel is all about surprises, often shocking and hard to take in (those with young families will understand where I am coming from), whilst some of the surprises have you scratching your head thinking "Eh! Did I just read that correctly?" You see, the author M.R. Carey is a very intelligent writer and without giving too much away, he totally convinced me with all the medical jargon he uses in this book, that you would think he was a certain type of surgeon!
When the ending of the book was all but a few pages away, I was still working out how it would end, however just like rest of the book, it came crashing down as if taken out by one of the "Hungries" in the book - (oops slight spoiler there!) One thing I did have when I finished the book was a big smile on my face. I really did not see that ending coming, it blew me away as some authors would end such a novel in the usual linear fashion but M.R. Carey keeps you guessing and then when you think "Oh, they will probably just live happily ever after" or "This will probably end this way", it's like "BANG! What the...?" When you get into the book you will be thinking how could I finish the book with a smile on my face once you know what this book is about but, trust me, you will smile too. 9.5 out of 10 - Brilliant!  First I must say I want to be a Greatcoat and that I became engrossed in this book much to the annoyance of my family! The author served a master class in sword fighting skills like no other author I have read before, I came away from this book believing that I am now an expert swordsman!
Falcio is the hero we all would love to be, there is a master archer called Brasti (who never misses - he would tell you this himself, the modest man that he is!) and there is Kest who is the best swordsman in the Land having never lost a duel, apart from to Falcio, who likes to dwell on this. These three are Greatcoats, there were 144 of them before the King was killed. Now they are spread out and finding work, just to survive. The story goes from opening with our 3 Greatcoats acting as security for Lord Tremondi but in the first chapter he is murdered by a woman. And that is all I am going to reveal as everything is connected in this story and leads to a fantastic conclusion but does lead to a sequel. The story has surprises all over the place and will keep you turning the pages until you get to the end; much so that I had to finish it over a few days as I kept on thinking "Oh yes, now that makes sense!". Sebastien de Castell is a brilliant story teller. This book reminded me of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie; high praise you may think but once you read this book, you will agree with me. I have no fear in giving this my highest marks: 10 out of 10 For Amazon reviews/info - CLICK HERE Fingers crossed the Winter Olympics is a great success and that there are no 'security incidents'!
For Monday I will have my review of Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell, this is setting the bar for Fantasy debut of the year so far! Have a good weekend All.  If you have to read one book this year, READ THIS. If you have not read a book in years, READ THIS. Don't be put off by the storyline, it is satire at it's best. Having lived in Germany myself I know how the mention of Hitler, (only ten years ago) was taboo and anyone doing the Nazi salute was frowned upon (perhaps even a criminal offence!?!)
You see, since World War 2, Germany sort of buried it's head in the sand or should that be the Sahara Desert equivalent of sand pit when Adolf and his crimes were mentioned/not mentioned. Had this book been published by anyone not from Germany first, then I doubt any non-German publisher would have touched it, yet, it was a German who was published by a German publisher and it became a best-seller in Germany. Not because it glorifies Hitler, it portrays him in a light where he plays himself fully in this book but, as I mentioned already, this is satire at it's best, it is funny, laugh out loud hilarious at times, yet no doubt the political correct brigade may object but it is satire and in this modern age, by making fun of Hitler brings awareness to what he did, such inexcusably bad things. Book Description "The storyline is written in the first person, i.e. by Hitler. He awakes in 2011 with a sore head and no recollection of why he was sleeping outside on the grass. No-one believes he is really Hitler. The story then shows how the power of modern technology could plausibly allow this monster to gain an audience again by the likes of Youtube, Google, etc..." At no time did I want to put this book down, it is brilliant and I cannot thank the author and the translator enough for allowing me to read this English language version. I hope you will read this book, you should read this book! 10 out of 10 - yes TEN out of TEN! For Amazon reviews/further book details - CLICK HERE |