Between Two Thorns – Book Review

Title: Between Two Thorns

Author: Emma Newman

Publisher: Angry Robot

Published: Out Now

RRP: Print £8.99 – Kindle £5.49

Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath’s secret mirror city.

 The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing. Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned the task of finding him, with no-one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer. There is a witness, but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the Arbiter’s enemies can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

 But can she be trusted, she a daughter of one of the Great Families of Aquae Sulis, a family allied to one of the most powerful Fae Lords. And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she’s been born into?

This is a beautifully crafted story, the characters fit, the settings fit; everything fits. Reading it you’d expect it to be the author’s 4^th or 5^th book, but this is Emma Newman’s debut novel; and it doesn’t show. Emma’s been very ambitious leading up to the release of this book, she embarked on a project of releasing a short story a week for a year, all set somewhere within the Split Worlds. I signed up and received an email every week and really enjoyed them all. It was a taste of what was to come, but upon starting this book I realised she’d saved the best for these pages.

Long ago there was a war between the Fae and sorcerers, the sorcerers won and the Split Worlds were created. The normal world (our world called Mundanus and humans are referred to as Mundanes) is devoid of magic and is off limits to the Fae. The Fae are trapped in Exilium, a prison from which there is no escape. Between the two, the Nether – neither here nor there – a world locked in time, its people living a strict caste system, a world where the puppets of the Fae live and plot and scheme. Great Families; all allied to one Fae Lord or another, all vying for power. But much like the Fae they too are trapped in their own prison. Making sure the Fae and Great Families behave – and do not interfere in Mundane life – are the Arbiters, soulless guardians immune to Fae magic, led by a sorcerer who has the power to force the Fae and their puppets to do as they are bid.

This is the Split Worlds, each world unlike the other. It’s a nice twist that Exilium – the Fae prison – is seen as a beautiful world, full of colour, dance, music. Whereas the Nether is dull monochrome, a silver sky, no stars, no sun, no day, no night; its people ageless and trapped. Emma manages to bring each of these worlds vividly to life, no detail is left unclear, the worlds themselves characters as well.

Emma’s work over the previous year with her weekly short stories means she is freed up here to get straight into the story. That being said you can read this without having prior knowledge of what came before; there is ample world building so you know what is what, and who is who. Several strands are started in the opening chapters that run the length of the book, and interestingly not all the strands are tied off in the closing chapters. There are a couple of late reveals that leave the book on a sort of cliff hanger. This bodes well for the future of the Split Worlds.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book; I’ve recently got into stories about Fae and Fae magic. This adds a nice twist to that mythology and it’s obvious from the off that Emma knows and loves what she is writing about.

Rivers Of London – Review

Title: Rivers Of London

Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Publisher: Gollancz

Published: Out Now

RRP: Print £7.99 – Kindle £1.99

My name is Peter Grant, and until January I was just a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known as the Metropolitan Police Service (or the Filth). My only concerns were not getting assigned to the Case Progression Unit and how to get into WPC Leslie May’s pants. Then one night I tried to take a witness statement from someone who’d been dead for over a century, that brought me to the attention of DI Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

 Now I’m a DC and trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become a whole lot more complicated. Nests of vampires in Purley, digging up graves in Covent Garden, brokering a peace between the warring gods and goddesses that rule over the Thames and its tributaries. But there’s something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious, vengeful spirit that takes ordinary people and turns them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

 The spirit of riot and rebellions has awakened in the city, and its fallen to me to bring order to the chaos; or die trying.

 I’ve been hearing about the PC Grant books for a while, I’d always steered away because I was worried that it would just be a Harry Potteresque story, about an apprentice who is better than everyone else and shows the experts how to do it. I’m glad to say that when I finally did get round to picking a copy up that I was so wrong.

There are elements of Harry Potter in there – the story has magic – but its how Harry Potter would have been if he’d been ten years older, a lot more cynical and was born a raised in London. Peter Grant is not your ordinary wizard; he’s not your ordinary copper. He over-thinks things too much, but in over-thinking them he manages to see what is there better than some others. Deemed to be too cerebral to be an ordinary copper Peter is sidelined into the Case Progression Unit, his role, in-putting all the data “ordinary” coppers collate. It’s a dead-end assignment and not what he’d signed up for; lucky for him the guy he took a witness statement from one cold January morning happened to be a ghost.

One dead body, one ghost witness and Peter’s life is turned upside down. Within days he is thrust into a world of magic, gods, demons and other creatures that shouldn’t be allowed into polite society. To his credit Peter handles the transition fairly well, he guided through the rules and pitfalls that come with him being an apprentice. He is introduced to age old agreements between the supernatural world and the Metropolitan Police Service. But something is hell bent on tearing that fragile peace to shreds.

The plot slowly builds, each set piece introducing Peter – and the reader – to the hidden world that coexists alongside ours. There is a lot of interesting history thrown in for good measure, showing the author has gone out of his way to set his story in a grounded reality. I liked the fact that London itself is a character in the story, its streets, buildings and the rivers that flow through it, all have a part to play and add something to the tale as a whole.

If I had any niggles it’s that I’d liked to have seen more of DI Nightingale, but I suppose this isn’t his story, and seeing there are already three more books in the series out, I’m guessing more of his story will come out as Peter’s training progresses.

Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L Powell – Book Review

Title: Ack-Ack Macaque

Author: Gareth L Powell

Publisher: Solaris

Published: Out Now

RRP: Print £5.62 – Kindle £4.86

In 1944, when waves of German Ninja’s parachute into Kent, Britain’s only hope lies with a Spitfire pilot code named ‘Ack-Ack Macaque’. The trouble is Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar chomping, booze swilling, foul mouthed monkey. And he’s starting to doubt everything, even his very existence.

 2059 is a world where France and Great Britain merged in the late 1950s to form the core of the glorious Commonwealth of Europe and nuclear powered Zeppelins ply the skies. Ex-Journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband, and stole her electronic soul. In Paris, after taking part in an illegal breaking at a research laboratory, the heir to the throne goes on the run, with a self aware cynical talking monkey who wants answers.

 And all the while the Doomsday clock ticks towards Armageddon.

Ack-Ack Macaque started life as a short story in the pages of Interzone, the same year it was published the readers of the magazine voted it the year’s best story. The short story is included in this book, allowing the reader to see the evolution of the character and what was kept in and what was taken out.

This book is a story within a story, partly set in an alternative WWII, with Ack-Ack Macaque fighting off hoards of black clad German Ninja warriors. And partly set in 2059, a future with an alternative past to what we know now. The link between the two is the title character. How, you might ask, does the character fit into two time frames 115 years apart? Well that would be giving a little too much away, but let’s put it this way, he does fit in both time frames, and it doesn’t involve any complicated time travel plot.

The move from past to present is deftly done, almost seamless, and allows the character to carry on unchanged. He is assisted in his adventures by a supporting cast that are not what you would expect to be adventurous, danger seekers. Of the bunch the heir to the throne is the most interesting, and because of events shares a common ground with Macaque.

The action is handled well, no-one, except the monkey, is a skilled fighter, and the author manages to put this across well. People are clumsy, they get injured; they make mistakes. This gives the action a more realistic feel for me. Too often in books, TV and films you see an average Joe take on the big bad and become an expert fighter overnight. Here this does not happen.

I nice touch is the inclusion of news items, blog posts, scattered between the chapters, about events happening in the story and in the wider world. It helps build a bigger picture without coming across as info-dumping. It’s also is a nifty way of world building.

If I have one criticism it’s there are a lot of long talky segments in the middle section, talky segments that made the middle drag. I’m not sure if these were put in to bulk the book out to novel length, but for me they seemed superfluous, as several times the conversations were just going over ground that had been covered. As a reader I think of myself as fairly perceptive, I can get the gist of what’s going on without having to be reminded.

All in all this is a rip roaring adventure yarn, with a smattering of steampunk, a smidge of alternative sci-fi and a lead character that seriously kicks-ass.

The Alchemist Of Souls by Anne Lyle – Book Review

Title: The Alchemist of Souls

Author: Anne Lyle

Publisher: Angry Robot

Published: Out Now

RRP: Print £8.99 – Kindle £4.38

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back with them a name out of half forgotten Viking legend – Skayling’s – and following in those explorers wake came red sailed ships, native American goods, and a Skrayling ambassador to Queen Elizebeth I court.

 Mal Catlyn, a down on his luck sword for hire, is seconded to the Skrayling’s guard as the Ambassador’s personal bodyguard – at his behest – but assassinations are the least of Mal’s worries. What he learns about the Skrayling’s, their unholy powers, could cost England her new ally; and Mal his soul.

If you like your historical fiction with a twist then this is for you. Anne Lyle has obviously taken a lot of time to learn about the period she is writing in, the muddied streets of Elizabethan London jump from the page, full of colourful characters, sinister plots and rip roaring adventure. On top of this she has layered an alternative history where Queen Elizabeth I married and has children, as if that wasn’t enough to create another timeline she has added the Skrayling’s – creatures from legend – to add to the political melting pot that was Europe in the late 1500s.

The plots and schemes that were famously around during that time are still there, numerous characters seem to be working to their own agenda, whilst proclaiming to be working for the Crown. The mystery at the core of the story though has nothing to do with the plots and machinations of high ranking peers. It’s a story of lost love, murder and possession.

Mal Catlyn serves well as the main character, he hides secrets of his own, carries a burden that could see him accused a traitor and hanged. He is ably assisted by Ned and Corby – a young gay man and a girl pretending to be a boy, both of whom work in the theatre – both of whom are well equipped to deal with the dangers of living in London at that time, and both of whom on more than one occasion save the day and possibly Mal’s life.

The story rattles along at a healthy pace, there is little time to catch your breath as Mal and his friends go from working for the Crown, to fugitives, to heroes. The action is handled well and the suspense kept bubbling nicely to keep you engaged. If I have any qualms it’s that everyone, no matter their standing in society, seems to have easy access in and out of several important castles – including the Tower of London. I’m unsure what the level of security was in the late 1500s, but I imagine it to have been tighter than this.

Red Country by Joe Aberceombie – Review

Title: Red Country

Author: Joe Abercrombie

Publisher: Gollancz

Published: Out Now

RRP: £16.99 (Hardback) – £8.99 (Kindle)

They burned her home, they stole her brother and sister, but vengeance is following.

 Shy South hoped she’d buried her bloody past, but she’ll have to sharpen up her old ways to get her family back. She sets off in pursuit with a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step-father, Lamb, for company. But she learns along the way that Lamb buried a bloody past of his own, none bloodier, and out in the Far Country the past never stays buried for long.

 Their journey will take them across the barren plains to the frontier town from hell that is gripped by gold fever. Through feud, duel and massacre they must go, then high into the mountains for a confrontation Ghosts. But worse their journey will force them into an alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple; two men no one should ever want to trust.

I’ve been following the progress of this sixth book set in the First Law universe with interest. I’m a late comer to the works of Joe Abercrombie, I only discovered him after he’d published the original trilogy, but since then he has fast become my favourite fantasy author. So it was with a tingle of excitement when I read on his blog that his next project after The Heroes would be the fantasy take on the classic Western. I grew up watching the genre, my Dad is a fan of John Wayne, and he instilled that same interest in me. From Bonanza to The High Chaparral, from True Grit to The Wild Bunch. Westerns were a big part of my non SF/F growing up.

Red Country is themed very much in that classic mould, with sweeping vistas, dangerous natives and lawless towns without a sheriff in sight. But it also draws from more modern takes on the genre, it is clear as soon as we reach the frontier town of Crease that the brilliant Deadwood was very much in Joe’s mind when he described it. With all the ingredients taken from the past few decades mixed together, the ingredients from the First Law world were delicately added, the outcome the best of both worlds, but with some minor glitches (more of them later).

Red Country is very much a swansong book. In a recent interview Joe has already hinted at his next project, another trilogy set in the First Law world, but set some fifteen to twenty years after the events of this book. So it should come as no surprise that one fan favourite character doesn’t survive this book and the other rides off into the sunset, with more an idea as to his fate than we were left with after he fell into a fast flowing river at the end of Last Argument of Kings. It feels that with this book Joe is drawing a line under the events and characters we’ve seen over the past six books, and laying the foundations for what is to come. The world of the First Law is moving on, unlike most other fantasy worlds there is a definite sense of progress, of time moving forward. Industrialisation is sweeping across the civilised world, the boundaries of the map are being pushed back on the unknown, but I feel that after six books of building his world and the forces at work within it that perhaps the unknown is about to push back.

That’s not to say this is a perfect book. I did find after reading it somewhat empty, I’d not felt like that since reading A Dance with Dragons last year. I think in my mind I’d built it up to such a height that when it came down to it that height wasn’t reached. I did enjoy it, it is still miles ahead of anything else on the market at the moment; but there was still something missing. I have no idea what it was; I have no answer to what is needed to set this book up alongside the pinnacle that is the original trilogy. But there are something’s that either didn’t work (for me) or could have been done differently.

The Ghosts for me were a missed opportunity. For the first third of the book we were led to believe these tribes of the plains were a big danger, they were uncompromising, vicious and could not be reasoned with. But when it came down to it they were little more than a desperate ragtag band, scavenging from the weak and unwary. And all it took to deal with them was for Lamb to kill their chief to make them fade away into the night. OK, I know the whole Ghost threat, when it came to the Fellowship, was a set up and the expected outcome was for the pioneers to pay out. But even so, I thought the son of the chief was going to break the deal that his father had made with Sweet and go native; alas he was never seen again.

The Dragon people, like the Ghosts, seemed to be all hype and little else. I appreciate the bulk of their strength was away dealing with the growing Shanka problem, but even so I was expecting more. And being honest I was hoping to see some Lamb/Shanka action which would have tied into the original trilogy.

But these were my only major quibbles. Joe Abercrombie has said himself that this book was the hardest of all the First Law books to write. I think some of those difficulties he experienced might be why there are some flaws with the finished product. That being said it is still a great read, and a great ending for two of the series stand out characters.

So, January

So that was January, first month of 2013, eleven months until I hit the big 50. So what did it mean for me?

BOOKS

I finished Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton. This was the first of his books I’d read outside of the Commonwealth Saga. It was enjoyable, though I did find some sections overblown and there seemed (to me) to be a lot of filler.

I also read Redshirts by John Scalzi. I was expecting something more along the lines of Galaxy Quest, if that was what he was heading for then it fell well short of the mark for me. There were some funny moments, but I did not have any of the laugh-out-loud moments some of the reviewers seemed to have enjoyed.

I was back on familiar territory with Bait Dog by Chuck Wendig (a double bill of the novella Shotgun Gravy & the novel Bait Dog). Familiar as in I know what Chuck is about, have  a pretty good idea of how he works. Though I will be honest and say I was surprised by the intensity of this one. Also it was Chuck without any psychic or vampiric powers. A hard hitting story of bullies, racists and sadists. Not for the faint of heart.

Just finished (last night) Apocalypse: Year Zero, a collection of four novellas that center of four women who go through life changing, and shattering events – 911, the Boxing Day tsunami, hurricane Katrina and California’s “big one”. The end result of these experiences is they each find they have power over fire, water, wind and earth. And as they slowly come together over the course of the four novella’s it’s revelaed that the Four Horsemen were not men at all.

 

TV & MOVIES

Well actually only TV, I did intend to go and see The Hobbit for a second time but never got round to it. TV wise I’m now a proud subscriber to Sky TV, and boy am I a happy bunny. Watched Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (available on Alibi) staring the brilliant Forrest Whitaker. Some pretty hard, brutal stuff in there. Also been watching Ripper Street (BBC1) set in Victorian London in the months after the Ripper killings. Dark, gritty and no holds barred, it also stars Gerome Flynn who seems intent on carving out a niche for himself as a hard as nails character actor (he’s also the brilliant Bronn in Game Of Thrones)

This week started watching The Following (Sky Atlantic) staring Kevin Bacon. Ex-FBI agent brought out of retirement to bring down an escaped serial killer. It has echoes of Red Dragon but an interesting twist is the serial killer has amassed a following, he’s been creating serial killers, he has (possibly) an army of them. Its not for the faint of heart (especially episode 1′s Ice Pick lady scene) but looks to have the makings of a gripping drama.

I also received my DVD of Dredd, watched it and still think its a brilliant stab at bringing the iconic character to the screen. Its just a shame it bombed at the cinema and so highly unlikely and sequels will be forthcoming.

 

WRITING

Some sad news last week when I received an email telling me that Pill Hill Press has closed. Pill Hill gave me my first break, published my first short story. On top of that I have another story accepted by them that was due to be in their next anthology. But there was a sliver lining, Miles Boothe – another author and ardent monster hunter – has created Emby Press and intends to honour all submissions made to Pill Hill. So hopefully in a few months the anthology will be released.

I’ve had a short script placed with Twisted Showcase – a web based anthology series (named in the Guardian’s Top 25 web shows in 2012) – for several months now but they have been struggling to fit it into the filming schedule. There was talk of making it as their first animated short, but finding an animator with time on their hands is not easy. Now they are looking into producing it as a comic strip, and if it is successful on the site will be the first of many.

My WIPs are ticking along nicely. I’ve been prepping a post apocalypse novel for a couple of months now which is close to being ready for the start of the first draft. I’ve also finished a treatment for a pilot episode that I will be writing next month. The aim is to have it written, beta read and second drafted by the end of February so I can catch the current BBC Writers Room submissions window. Once that is done I start work on the novel first draft.

I still have four short stories out there in the world waiting on acceptance/declining emails.

 

All in all January was a packed month, February is shaping up to be more of the same.

 

Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review

Read some sad news today that Graeme Flory has decided to call an end to his reviewing blog Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review.

http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com/

Along with Adam Whitehead’s Wertzone, Graeme’s blog are the only two review blog’s I’ve read. Partly because of his reviews I was introduced to some great authors and books I would probably never have heard of.

End of an era, I’d like to wish Graeme well in the future.

In The Tall Grass by Stephen King & Joe Hill – Review

Title - In The Tall Grass

Authour – Stephen King & Joe Hill

Publisher - Gollancz

Price – £0.99 (Kindle) – £10. 10 (audio)

 

 

 

 

 

King and Hill, Father and Son, a dynamic duo with equal strengths, twisted imaginations and the ability to turn in a diabolical tale from something as simple as a field of grass.

Going in I was expecting some side-story along the lines of Children Of The Corn, but I was wrong, this is as far removed from that classic King tale as Count Duckula is from Bram Stokers Dracula. OK maybe slight exaggeration, but you get my drift?

Anyone familiar with both author’s work will know they are brilliant at visualising everyday settings with a sinister, supernatural twist. In this trimmed down short story you get all that, without the high page count. A brother and sister taking a road trip across America hear a cry for help from within a field of tall grass. Deciding to go help they soon find themselves disorientated, lost and slowly becoming spooked by their surroundings.

The scares are fast in coming, the horror slow in building, and the pay-off though predictable is satisfying. Also, as an added bonus you get two neat excerpts after the main event, a preview of Stephen King’s Dr. Sleep – a prequel to The Shining – and an excerpt to Joe Hill’s next novel NOS4R2, which might be about vampires (based on the title alone).

 

 

Seven Wonders by Adam Christopher – Book Review

Title: Seven Wonders

Author: Adam Christopher

Publisher: Angry Robot

Published: Out Now

Price: £7.99 (paperback) -  £5.49 (Kindle)

 

 

 

 

Tony Prosdocimi lives in the Shining City that is San Ventura California – a city in fear, a fear of the worlds only remaining supervillain The Cowl. Tony’s a minimum wage drone working for a retail outlet, bored with life and with little to look forward to. Then he awakes one morning with superpowers, and decides to take down The Cowl. However he finds the resident superhero team, the Seven Wonders, are not too happy at his intervention or as grateful as he’d thought they’d be.

Adam Christopher showed his love of all things noir with his debut book Empire State, now he’s turned his attention to comics and the tale of superheroes and villains. Set in the imaginary city of San Ventura on the golden coast of California the story revolves around the resident super team and their attempts – or not – to bring down the worlds only remaining supervillain, The Cowl. In this world all other superheroes are either retired, media celebrities or dead, and one of the questions raised is if there are no more villains, do we really need heroes?

Reading like a comic book without the pictures the book hits the ground running with a blistering opening that doesn’t save on the violence. This is no childrens superhero story, there is death, there is destruction, and from early on you are left wondering who the real heroes are. Adam has used the format that is popular with fantasy fiction at the moment of painting his primary characters a nice shade of grey. There are a lot of agendas, some hidden, some obvious; but you need to read right to the end to get to the bottom of what is really going on in San Ventura.

Where Empire State was a fairly contained story – set as it was in a small bubble of reality – Seven Wonders has a broader scope, world encompassing and beyond scope at that. There are nods to famous heroes, trimmed down phrases, actions, powers, that are overly familiar but have a distinctive bent so as they are new and fresh. Also you are getting more than just the story of Tony Prosdocimi and his quest to rid the city of The Cowl, that is resolved fairly early on, but as one story ends so another starts, building upon the bones of the first. All linked together to make an overall arc with an endgame that rivals the New York smackdown in The Avengers film.

Adam’s writing has improved from Empire State, it seems less hesitant, less repetitive. The characters are colourful and real, with histories that are briefly touched upon. If I was to have any criticism’s it would be the main “threat” was a little too borglike. What did I like the most? The opening, every superhero story should start with a Meanwhile back at…, and the rollcall of superheroes near the end – for me – possibly hints at future stories set in the same world.

As a second book Seven Wonders ticks all the right boxes, it is a thrilling rollercoaster ride where the reader feels the wind in their hair, and their cape flapping behind them.

 

The Dog Faced God’s Trilogy by Sarah Pinborough – Review

I picked up the first installment in this trilogy back in May. I had intended to write a review after reading each book, but felt it would be better if I’d done it after reading the whole story. I’m glad I did because looking at the story as a whole feels better than taking it a book at a time. I’m not saying you don’t get three cracking stories, you do, each book may be linked by the overall arc, but they are all fairly self-contained.

A Matter Of Blood starts out as your classic cop chasing serial killer tale, except you are left with no illusions early on that what you are reading is far from your run-of-the-mill procedural.  Sarah wastes no time pinning the supernatural element’s colours to the mast, which is something I’m all for, too much faux “fantasy” is available today that leaves the reader – or viewer – wondering if they are buying into what the thought they were. I prefer to know from the off if I’m getting weird shit because of some supernatural element, or explainable shit because someones clever and wants to make people believe its strange.

The book has a fairly fast start, like the protagonist DI Cass Jones, the reader is dumped into the middle of an ongoing investigation. A serial killer is on the loose in London, killing young women seemingly at random, the only link between the murders are hundreds of fly eggs laid out on the bodies. Pretty soon you find there is more going on than just random killings, there is The Bank, a mysterious organisation that seems to run the world now. There is another double murder, that may or may not be linked in with the “Man Of Flies” case; and then there is the brutal murder of DI Jones’ own brother and family.

As the book progresses the reader is fed information about Jones’ past life, an undercover operation that went bad, and his broken relationship with his family and colleagues. You also learn about the shadowy figure called Castor Bright, a man that appears not to have aged and is high up in the command structure of The Bank. The action is brutal, Sarah pulls no punches in describing some of the jucier crime scenes visited (including a rather unpleasant surprise in an oven), and she uses the language of the street to full effect. Not one for the faint hearted, but the picture it paints of a broken society limping along towards a bleaker future is gripping. Alongside the main story is one of Police corruption and rampant drug abuse, a theme that will echo throughout the following two books.

 

The Shadow Of The Soul picks up soon after the end of the first. The “Man Of Flies” case is closed, no-one but DI Jones knows what really happened and he’s not prepared to talk about it. All he knows is the life he thought he’d had growing up was a lie, and that the man he knows as Castor Bright appears to hold all the cards and is pulling everyones strings. Much like the first book the main thrust of this tale is another serial killer, and like the first book the string of random deaths seemingly push Jones along evermore in the direction of The Bank, and Castor Bright.

In this second outing Sarah drops more hints as to what Mr. Bright’s motives are, the tentacles of his organisation seem to reach to the highest levels of government, but all is not rosy within The Bank or the even more shadowy Network that appears to be the power behind it. Again with this book Sarah stamps the supernatural credentials early on. There’s no grey areas here, you know something is not right with the world, something is not right with Mr. Bright and his associates, but what exactly their plan for humanity is is unclear.

The book builds more towards the endgame, DI Jones is not so much the damaged goods he was in the first book. Now he seems to have more of a purpose, he knows his enemy and has him firmly set in his sights. Unfortunately for Jones though Castor Bright is a master of the long game, he has had his moves plotted out a long time, some it would seem even before Cass Jones was born. The ending is brilliant, it reveals more about what Mr. Bright and his associates are and then dumps Jones outside his comfort zone by making him a wanted man.

The Chosen Seed picks up several months after the end of the second book. Cass Jones is on the run, wanted for murder, he is more driven now than ever before; more determined to find Castor Bright and bring his empire of lies crashing down. But Mr. Bright has bigger concerns than a renegade detective, the First has woken, the Interventionalists are broadcasting the rapture, and an emissary walks the Earth.

All the cards are in play in this final story. Mr. Bright finds himself fighting a war on two fronts as ex-DI Jones takes the offensive and then members of his own team plot to bring him down. But its all a case of fiddling whilst Rome burns, powers beyond anyone’s comprehension are in play, the Network knows that which they fled from is coming for them, they know it’ll be a fight to the death, and that death will be the destruction of everything they’ve built; namely the Earth.

But Mr. Bright is a master of the long game, he knows peoples strengths and their weaknesses. As disaster looms he turns his association with Cass Jones on its head; the idea is to use his special birthright to save a world. The final half dozen or so chapters are breathtaking, the reader is dragged along from crisis to solution to crisis, the fate of the planet teetering on the brink the whole time.

I’ve read a fair few alternative history books, most pick a point in history to act as a divergent date. But never have I come across a story so bold that it picks the creation itself as its divergent point. The reader may make assumptions early on as to what Castor Bright and his associates are, but Sarah masterfully twists your preconceptions and makes them into a little bit more than what you’d imagined.