26th June 2022

Anthony Horowitz returns to the world of James Bond for a third and final time, on this outing giving us a view of Bond late career, following the last of Fleming’s original novels.

As before, the author is able to successfully emulate Fleming’s style - though I suspect that this might mean the tale doesn’t appeal too well to readers more used to modern thrillers, as this style is quite slow and cerebral compared to later tastes for fast paced action.

However unlike before, I’m janitor convinced that Horowitz has managed to quite balance the Fleming with a more modern viewpoint, with some aspects of story and character coming across as a bit too Fleming in their attitudes towards women.

Overall though a satisfying end to the Horowitz trilogy, and one that gives a deeper sense of character to Bond at least than I think I’ve seen in along time. I’m intrigued next to see what the next author, Kim Sherwood, will bring to the series.

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26th June 2022

Another story in the mid-80s revamp of the Hardy Boys sees the brothers investigating a pyramid scheme exploiting teenagers in Bayport.

The plot is quite an interesting one, with a lot going on and lots to investigate.

The increased richness of the world continues, with lots of the incidental characters gaining more of their own social lives. This does however lead to a slightly suspect aspect of the story which is that loads of the familiar characters the boys might turn to for help are on holiday at the moment.

One of the biggest changes though is that when Chet is fat-shamed by another character, it’s portrayed as a really bad thing to do - totally reversing the attitude of the books from now long earlier.

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26th June 2022

A surprisingly interesting mid-80s Hardy Boys adventure.

The brothers are hired to investigate sabotage at a company making computerised cars, with some surprisingly prescient examples of voice interfaces.

It’s a bit wild for the time period, but holds up pretty well and probably could be translated to a modern setting with minimal tweaks.

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4th June 2022

The third book of this mid-eighties new era of Hardy Boys feels like it’s toned things back down a bit. The techno aspects are still there, but supplement the plot rather than steal focus.

There’s still an increased focus on violence, especially a lot of guns, which is uncomfortable.

However there are positive changes too. There are a lot more female characters, including making more of the established women and bringing in women as functional guest characters where previously there would have been just another man. There’s a really notable shift in the narration’s attitude towards Chet too, moving away from body-shaming language entirely.

I also like the relaxed dialogue we’re seeing. The characters feel more like real people in their interactions, and for the first time we see a hint that Fenton and Laura’s relationship is more than just worrying about their children.

The plot of this one is fairly good I think, though not really a solvable mystery, just more of an interesting adventure.

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4th June 2022

This 1985 Hardy Boys novel continues in the new style established in the previous novel. It has become something more akin to a techno thriller, properly introducing the boys’ “Super Van”, kitted out with more gadgets than a James Bond car. Not the only thing that this novel seems to use in homage to Bond.

The violence feels a bit over the top, and I hope they are able to find the way back to something a bit less about guns as the authors get used to this new style.

Meanwhile the plot feels like it’s been recycled from an earlier novel - perhaps indicating that the publishers were in a hurry to get some books out in this new style and so didn’t worry about originality.

However the realism of the plot totally drops off here, and almost feels like a Shark Jumping climax. Then the author needs to add a final chapter just to explain the plot to the audience, which feels like a weak way to end.

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4th June 2022

This is a remarkably different Hardy Boys book. Dropping from 20 to 15 chapters, and with a real shift in tone, it feels like the 80s have really hit.

The characters are much less bland, and feel more realistic. But the adventure is much bigger, with guns everywhere, although this is at least balanced with a lot of new introspection from Frank about them having ended up in a bad situation.

This story also takes a decent step toward better representation, not only marking the first time the boys’ client has been black, but also having a couple of significant female characters. Iola Morton stands out in particular as finally having character, motivation, frustrations, and is an active character.

Overall, I found it a bit jarring. It feels like it’s probably a pilot for the Casefiles series, but we shall see if the next few books retain this style or revert to something more traditional.

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4th June 2022

The Hardys and co head to Texas for this mystery with a giant crocodile.

It’s a complex plot that wasn’t very clear, and felt again like a cheap repeated idea or two but in a different state.

There’s a touch of approaching a more modern take, with female guest characters showing a little bit of feminism, but mostly being there still for decoration and to provide food.

The brothers take part in a civil war reenactment, which certainly feels like a misstep now, looking back in retrospect, and something that I’m certain would have been avoided had the authors had a bit more awareness.

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2nd June 2022

Finally a Bayport-based mystery again, and that allows us to see the whole of the Hardy Boys gang, including the random decision in this novel to relabel their aunt as “Gertie”.

It’s 1984, and the fascinations of the era continue to dominate - technology and ghosts in this case.

It’s a fairly solid mystery, but there’s almost too much going on, with at my count five different strands which don’t entirely flow together.

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2nd June 2022

In this slightly weirdly anti-GM, religious persecutionist Hardy Boys novel, the brothers are once again on their summer holidays, this time in Vermont, when they join in a hunt for a missing child.

The plot is all over the place, with absolutely no reason for a bunch of elements to fit together. It feels like a child describing back the plot of a film they’ve seen, then someone sticking together the elements remembered and turning them into a mystery.

I did however appreciate the chapter which is essentially a giant reference to the James Bond story Goldfinger, including one of the most famous lines from the film, coupled with the equivalent scene from the book.

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1st June 2022

In this first 1984 Hardy Boys story, the brothers go white water rafting in Maine, with a flimsy excuse of a mystery to back up their adventure.

It really does feel like a low effort plot put together to give them a reason to take part in the activity, almost like it was product placement.

The mystery is badly put together and doesn’t make a lot of sense. One aspect that they puzzle over for half the story made no sense, and a lot of the conclusion doesn’t add up. I will say though that there was one pretty good clue that I totally missed.

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1st June 2022

It’s 1983 and the Hardy brothers are off on their travels again, this time to Florida to do the Space Centre and Theme Parks. Oh and solve crimes.

I’m not sure there’s a huge amount of mystery solving going on, mostly the plot seems to involve following people around, then waiting for them to give themselves away. I’m not even sure the plot actually makes sense.

The body shaming of their friend Chet continues, although it seems like the authors have become less imaginative, just using the same word over and over to describe him. This novel does however see a more meaningful role for a female character than I remember up to this point, which is a small amount of progress, but only small.

What really stands out though is that there’s a step up in brutality. The baddies have a lot of murderous intent towards the Hardys, but also the Hardys themselves are almost joyful in torturing two of their own prisoners, which doesn’t sit well as a modern reader.

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1st June 2022

The third Chronicle of St Mary’s sees our favourite time travelling historian planning for her final mission, to see the great wooden horse at Troy.

It continues the series in the same fashion - feeling very flow of consciousnessy, as if it were written linearly with not a lot of planning, and almost like any foreshadowing is a lucky coincidence. There is some stuff which doesn’t pay off though, and I can’t tell whether that’s an abandoned idea or an intentional red herring.

It’s a good fun read, which is exactly what I was looking for, and takes the series in an interesting new direction that I’m keen to see develop in later books.

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1st June 2022

I really like how easy it is to slip back into the Rebus novels. Rankin has definitely got the right balance of realistic crime novel down for me - we are always aligned with the investigator, so there’s no sense of glorifying the crime, and there’s no sensationalist over emphasis on gore or graphic description.

It feels clear that this is a reactionary return after previously ending the Rebus series. Malcolm Fox, who had his own two novels before this, appears too but seems to have been deliberately turned into an antagonist, generally unlikable and unwanted, compared to Rebus who we as readers are glad to have back in the saddle.

The story is a good one, marred only maybe by the number of car journeys that need to be described. The characters are enjoyable to return to, and there is almost a soap operatic element to how the lives of the various long running characters fit together that I really like.

I’m glad Rankin returned to Rebus, and look forward to continuing to read about his adventures.

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1st June 2022

I’m not typically one for graphic novels - but after reading the latest Rivers of London novel I finally decided that I was missing out on story by not consuming this format too, and so started here at the beginning.

This is the tale of an investigating into haunted cars.

The format remains I think not my favourite. I struggle to recognise the illustrator’s depictions of the characters from the visions I had formed in my head, particularly Nightingale and Molly. And I find that my eyes only really want to focus on the words. There was one place where the experience felt really disjointed, which I think might have been a transition where the issues where split when this was published as comics, and it didn’t really give any explanation of the transition or repetition of some scenes.

However the story itself was good, and I enjoyed filling in some of the gaps in the characters’ lives. I found it interesting that there seems to be more time spent away from Peter, when not tied exclusively to his first person narrative, and seeing particularly more from Nightingale felt like a new take.

I don’t know if I will continue reading these graphic novels - I suspect it will depend on what sort of prices I can find them at.

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1st June 2022

I don’t really remember how this ended up on my wish list - possibly just as a result of aggressive advertising on social media. But when I found a copy in a small independent bookshop it leapt out at me, quite possibly aided by the bright yellow and pink colour scheme and the chunky size.

I was not sure what I was getting into, and even after reading I’m not sure how to classify this novel. It is horror, though fairly tame, but it’s also a romance,or multiple romances, as well as a comedy. There’s a lot in here and the genre seems to twist and turn with the plot.

I found it hard going to begin with. Interestingly I found the parts set in 1902 harder to read than the parts set in the present day, but I couldn’t put my finger on what clever stylistic trick the author was pulling to achieve this subtle difference in tone.

But once I hit the halfway point the pages wouldn’t stop turning. It did help a little that I was unexpectedly stuck on a train for three hours with nothing else to do but get stuck in.

It’s an incredibly complex book, with layer upon layer to uncover, and I’m still not sure having finished it that there wasn’t another layer that I entirely missed. I loved that it’s a book entirely about women, and such a range of them, and especially a book celebrating queer women and their diversity.

I still don’t really know why I read this book, but I’m glad that I did, even though it took me three weeks to get through. I’m intrigued to find out what the author might publish next, and whether I will be similarly entertained.

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1st June 2022

The Hardy Brothers head away from home again to help investigate something fairly forgettable at a ski resort film set. Meanwhile they get involved in a class war between the locals and the rich landowners, without acknowledging it as such.

What’s most notable about this book is that it’s the first time Chet seems actively upset about his friends’ bullying and body shaming. This doesn’t get picked up by the otherwise perfect-in-every-way main characters, and Chet continues to be referred to as alternatively fat and chubby throughout.

As plots go, this one is fairly bland.

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7th May 2022

In Stella Rimington’s latest novel she’s departed from her previous character and introduced an entirely new set for us to follow on their investigations and suspicions.

It’s a fascinating take, although for the genre felt particularly low on suspense. We’re aware of many points of view throughout, which does mean we know more than the characters, but also means that we get to see everything play out from all over.

One of the aspects that I found quite clever was the sense of timelessness. Apart from the context of being after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is very little to indicate when the story happens - no detailed mention of mobile phone technology - so could easily have been any point in the last 20 years or so.

An enjoyable adventure I thought, and I hope that these continue.

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7th May 2022

Rivers of London 9 sees Peter and his surprisingly large group of friends now investigating some suspicious deaths and rings.

It is again a really enjoyable narrative and explores a variety of London locations and beyond. This book in particular felt like it’s really widening the worldbuilding and we’re seeing much more of what goes on outside the Folly. I feel like a re-read of the whole series might be in order soon though, as there is so much that’s happened I sometimes struggle to remember it all.

This book in particular stood out for its excellent representation. The characters are pulled from a really diverse pool of British residents, including notably disabled and LGBTQ characters as well as the usual range of ethnicities and genders (plus spirits and foxes of course). I was really happy to see this.

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7th May 2022

A pretty standard early 1980s adventure for the Hardy Boys, as they are hired to protect a valuable ruby from potential thieves.

The mystery is pretty straightforward, but the adventure is quite fun.

This falls into the category in which the brothers go travelling a lot, including to another country. As an adult reading, I found it disappointing that more effort wasn’t spent exploring the culture of their destination, and spending some time actually educating the reader about what it’s like there.

Once again, there are almost no appearances by female characters in the entire book. I’m really fascinated to find out when this changes.

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1st May 2022

This novella side story from the Stormlight Archives has finally been published in print in the UK, which means I’ve been able to read it.

It feels very self contained as a story, and yet also feels like something that should impact upon the main narrative in the future as well, which will be interesting to see if it does.

With Stormlight being so epic, and my memory less so, I wasn’t sure at the start whether I was meant to already know the characters or not, and the book didn’t feel like it was giving me many clues. Ultimately I don’t think it matters, although almost certainly this shouldn’t be read without reading the main novels first, at least up to this point, as I suspect a lot about the world wouldn’t make sense to a totally new reader.

But it is itself a fun little self contained adventure, with some good characters and fascinating interactions between them. A nice little return to Roshar between the big books.

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1st May 2022

John Scalzi has produced a great, light-hearted yet incredibly serious novel, set during but not about the pandemic, which kept me well entertained.

After being sacked and forced to work for a corrupt food delivery firm, an old friend offers Jamie a mystery job which turns out to be working for the titular Kaiju Preservation Society.

The opening is particularly funny to the extent that I had to read passages aloud. It’s a long time since something has opened so well, and a little disappointing that the same level of amusement wasn’t kept up through the subsequent chapters.

However the plot picks up then and keeps the reader engaged. There’s an element that’s almost Harry Potter - we’re aligned with a character who is totally new to this world, lives in a dorm room with his friends, gets lessons, fights monsters, and ends up having to save the day. There are more spoilery parallels too.

That’s not to say it’s derivative, just an amusing observation about how this sort of story works.

I really enjoyed it, and am glad that the author found some time amid the grim few years of pandemic to produce something that is a bit fun, as well as having a serious message for our time.

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1st May 2022

Grisham returns to the land of sequels as we return to the investigators of dodgy judges, and a horrifying accusation is made.

With this novel, I feel like I might be on the Grisham off ramp. The narrative style is becoming increasingly dry and hard to engage with, and it feels like Grisham in this book particularly has started taking lessons from other crime writers I’ve given up on about how graphic to be in describing violent criminal activity, and that’s not what I’m here for.

I found the novel to be a bit of a slog, and just really wanted it to be over all the way until the conclusion. That itself was very true to the Grisham style, which I’d describe as being unable to provide a satisfying ending.

So I don’t know if I’m even going to bother with the next book. Maybe that’s the end.

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1st May 2022

The third Ambrose Parry novel continues in the same style as the first two. We follow our characters though their mildly soap opera nineteenth century doctor lives, while they also investigate a murder or two.

As before, it’s a flood blend of mystery, history, and character, with a decent injection of brutal and explicit medical practice thrown in. Not for the faint hearted reader perhaps in that last respect.

I do feel a little like some of the more soapy aspects are starting to seem dragged out after three books, and are things that seem to fit into the classic trope of being solvable if only the characters would actually talk to one another.

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5th April 2022

The finale of the 20+ year so-called Star Trek lit-verse sees an end to a novel series that has kept me a companion since the end of the DS9 TV series. So this is a bitter-sweet moment of reflection as it’s finally wrapped up and put away so that the continuing novel line can sit back into line with the TV canon.

It’s a hell of an ending, bringing together so many characters, so many threads of storyline, giving each and every one a chance to shine before devastating the reader like only David Mack can. And he has embraced this opportunity.

Plot wise, Mack rounds things off with a really clever set up that makes everything make so much sense and really allows for the reader to root for the characters despite it being very clear and very upfront about how things are going to go.

So all in all an excellent and very fitting end to this long running narrative thread. Very well done to the three authors who put the trilogy together to wrap this up and land us happily back into where we, as readers, need to be to continue to enjoy Star Trek novels of the future.

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5th April 2022

The Queen and her staff return for a second investigation. This time we find them at Buckingham Palace, where not only has a body been found in the pool, but one of the Queen’s favourite paintings has been lost.

Although I’ve described the plot tongue in cheek, it’s actually a really solid mystery story, with decent characters who properly seem invested in the events and have real human emotional responses to what’s happening around them.

I really enjoy the balance of mystery, humour, and character that Bennett brings to these novels - they make for a nice piece of escapism from more serious reading.

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5th April 2022

I’d heard of Obverse and their various Archive series before via Twitter, but it was only when I heard they were going to release a Star Trek series that I took the plunge and pre-ordered the first three entries.

And so the first book of the Gold Archive. It’s essentially a prolonged essay on the episode The Return of the Archons, considering the historical background of the episode, the themes that it brings up, and the echos of the episode through subsequent Trek shows.

It’s a more academic style of text than I am typically used to reading, but not in such a way that makes it dry or unreadable. I enjoyed dipping in and out, reading a few pages at a time, and learning more about this episode in more depth than I think I’ve seen it thought about elsewhere.

I’m glad I made these purchases, and intrigued to find out whether this example is going to be typical of the series, or how varied they will become.

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5th April 2022

Taking a week off school because of a teachers’ convention, the Hardy brothers go to college to act as private security for a famous local American football player in the lead up to a big match.

It’s action packed and feels a bit more modern than many of the books, though this may be because it is, given I’m reading in chronological order.

The mystery however is overly complex and there are a number of conflicting plot lines that mix around and rather than having just been red herrings, leave it unclear at the conclusion exactly what was really going on in all of them.

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5th April 2022

The third book in what’s now called the Cytosphere, this continues Spensa’s adventures in a sci-fi action adventure that almost begins to feel like it has a computer game vibe.

This time it took me a while to get my head into the narrative. The first person, young person presentations feels now quite reminiscent of Sanderson’s other series, Alcatraz vs…, and that actually put me off, because I’ve never managed to properly get settled in that series.

After a while though I became absorbed by the plot and raced through the rest of the story. It’s presented as a traditional quest, focussed on character, and as with the previous novel very clearly distinct from its predecessor. The overarching plot is developed, but there are aspects that feel like this entry is just extended exposition and getting things lined up ready for the next book, the finale.

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5th April 2022

Hallett’s second novel is a similar but different take on the style of her first - this time presenting the entire narrative in the form of transcripts of audio recordings, as a recently released convict records his life story, and what he gets up to, into his estranged son’s old phone.

It took me a little while to get my head into reading this style, but once there I absorbed the story as fast as possible and was totally hooked.

Hallett does a really great job of drip feeding information about multiple different narrative threads all at the same time. The book must have taken really extensive planning to work everything out and fit it into the structure so perfectly.

It’s also funny. There are a bunch of little Easter eggs hinting at some of the inspirations for parts of the story, and the main character is thoroughly likeable.

Another really good story, and I’m looking forward to more of this kind of thing.

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23rd February 2022

Andrew Child’s second Reacher novel shows a lot of the same traits as the first. The writing style feels different - this time we’re in first person, which we’ve seen before in the series, but the tone feels almost smoother than in the novels written by his older brother Lee.

Reacher’s lack of knowledge of modern technology is demonstrated again. It adds quite a nice light and realistic touch to the character, and I feel like it might come from a gentle ribbing from younger brother to older on the authorship team.

Plotwise though I found this one a bit confusing. Part of the idea I know is a sense of mystery - the first person narrative always giving the sense that the reader can only know as much as the character - but even after finishing the story and hearing the explanation at the end, it doesn’t feel like everything adds up in my head. Possibly I read the end too fast so couldn’t take the information in and digest it before more came along.

Overall though, still a solid Reacher novel for the 2020s, and I will doubtless keep reading.

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23rd February 2022

This novel is a refreshing return to the midpoint of the DS9 TV series as we reunite with Jadzia Dax when she’s asked to try to help an old friend who has gone off the rails.

The tone of the book does feel different to many Star Trek novels - it feels aimed at less dedicated readers of the novels, and readers less familiar with all the (now) older TV series. It also has the slight feeling, particularly near the start, of being pitched closer to the “young adult” feel that the 2009 era Star Trek Academy novels had. But I don’t think any of these are bad things - they all fit well with a return to an era that the novels haven’t touched for a while.

In terms of the plot - I thought it really interesting, but I can imagine some readers would not like how it expands upon the canon, particularly in regard to Trill joining practices. I think White has certainly not felt constrained in creating new lore, and just about gets away with it.

The characterisation is where I think White shines. We spend most of our time with Dax, but four of the rest of the cast make significant appearances, and I do think it shows that White has definitely understood them all well, and utilises them. This comes across particularly in how Dax thinks of the other characters.

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23rd February 2022

The third book of the Poppy War trilogy got off to a slower start for me. I found it hard to get back into the storyline, I think because it’s taken a darker turn and my ability to sympathise with the characters has reduced as a result.

My attention definitely picked up later on though, and I charged through the second half. Probably too fast, because I think I’m doing so I messed up my perception of time passing in the story. Having said that though, my memory is of long parts of the narrative covering relatively inconsequential events, and then major events happening very abruptly.

For me then, probably the weakest of the trilogy, though it does manage to deliver a satisfying ending that, unlike other fantasy trilogies, felt like it left me at exactly the right point - without feeling like I needed a bit more time with the characters or to see how things pan out following the climax.

I’m glad I picked up this trilogy after seeing the author win the Astounding Award in 2020, and I am certainly planning to pick up her future works.

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6th February 2022

Brent Spiner, the actor who played/plays the Android Data and his family in Star Trek, pens the tale of a man named Brent Spiner, an actor who plays the Android Data in Star Trek, in the early 1990s, as he receives threatening letters and lives a confusing life.

The narrative is what this book is really all about. It paints a fascinating satire of life as a TV star, with larger than life colleagues, and a weird Hollywood world moving around you. But also of a man clearly too tired to be in any sort of control of his life.

The plot is chaotic, but somehow doesn’t really seem the point. There’s an element of whodunnit, but apart from a couple of pieces of beautiful misdirection it’s really just a sideshow for the narration, which is where the humour and love shows.

A fun adventure of a novel, likely only made possible by Spiner himself serving as the author, as the insights, teasing, and self-deprecation would feel wrong coming from anyone else.

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6th February 2022

John le Carré’s final novel feels like he remained very much on form. It’s short by modern standards, but feels like the perfect length for the story it is telling. To some extent, it feels like Carré’s stature allowed him to escape concepts like word counts imposed by publishers, and just to write the words that are necessary.

This then is the story of a number of people with murky backgrounds. One retires tho a coastal town to become a bookseller, where he meets some of the others.

It feels like there are many layers to this world. The things that are happening on the surface are clear, and the layer beneath mostly clear, but there is another layer or two below that are obscured, and may take a second reading to expose.

A fantastic exit, and clear tribute to the author who really did define the entire genre and remained at its peak throughout.

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6th February 2022

I absolutely adored Mitch Benn’s first Terra novel, and enjoyed the sequel, so was disappointed in his publisher’s decision to leave the story incomplete. Clearly so was Benn, as he’s now taken matters into his own hands and published the third novel himself - which explains why I had couldn’t find the novel for sale in my local bookshop.

This novel feels long. It’s a heavy book, being printed on quite thick paper, and the first half felt a bit of a slog to get through, before I became more properly hooked through the second half.

The story deals with the Everywar, a huge intergalactic fight for survival, tying together elements from the earlier novels. I think one area it felt weak was in recapping what had gone before - it felt like there was an expectation of familiarity with the first two novels, despite the time that has passed, which was more than what I had.

The first Terra novel will always be my favourite, but I’m satisfied now that the trilogy is complete, and happy for Benn that he’s been able to wrap the story up for himself. I look forward to seeing what he writes next.

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6th February 2022

My loosely focussed Discworld re-read has reached Jingo, a novel which I don’t think I was sure about the first time, but did enjoy on second reading.

Pratchett’s wit and insight into the human condition fill the pages, nothing here is more glorious than the character interactions, particularly between Colon and Nobbs, and it’s amazing how much is subtly communicated to the reader just in the dialogue.

I think where this one suffers a little is in the plot. It’s more complicated I think than many Discworld novels, with multiple layers of plot lasagne’d together in such a way that I’m not sure I really know what’s at the bottom.

But it does do well at holding up a mirror to roundworld, and pointing out the absurdities of war, property, and international relationships, while also condemning racism, a theme that runs throughout Pratchett’s work.

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6th February 2022

I picked up this new mystery novel entirely on a whim after seeing it displayed in a bookshop and needing an extra book to make up a multi buy deal. I’m glad I did.

The wrapping story sees Julia track down a mathematician turned author turned recluse, and visits him asking to understand more about his collection of short stories - which purport to be examples of all the mathematically possible crime stories.

It’s a fascinating book on several levels. The combination of maths and mystery fits nicely with me, as it could be said that I’ve studied both things. The structure, alternating between chapters representing each of the short stories, and chapters exploring the interaction and discussion between the two real characters, is novel, and makes for a really interesting read.

I’m really happy to have found this book, and am intrigued to see if the author has anything else lined up next.

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