Young Adult Book Review - One – Sarah Crossan

Young Adult Book Review - One – Sarah Crossan

Recommended for literally everyone, ever. Babies? Yeah, why not.

You know how sometimes you start a book and almost immediately you think, ‘this is going to win awards’?

Well, this is going to win awards. This should win awards. This should win all the awards. It’s a stunning, emotional journey in the lives (or is it life?) of teenage conjoined twins starting school for the first time, and if it doesn’t have you weeping at the end then there must be something wrong with you.

Told from Grace’s point of view, we see into the life that she shares with twin Tippi, and the way that what is so alien to everyone else is so normal to them. Where everyone gives them sympathy or is certain that they were be broken apart if given the opportunity, this special bond and connection is all the twins have known, and it would be like cutting out one of their vital organs if they lost the other.

Their family and newfound friends all react in different ways to the challenges of the twins’ condition, from their father’s drinking and unworthiness of the title ‘father’, to the friendships they strike up immediately upon starting school with two outcasts, and the emotional and romantic bonds that begin to form following that. You can’t help but feel the pain that goes with the knowledge that, though they wouldn’t change who they are for a second, it means that they can’t do everything that a ‘normal’ person does, at least without huge challenges. A romantic relationship, for example.

I’ve already mentioned how emotional the story is, and it only gets increasingly so as the story goes on. No spoilers, but use your imagination for the issues that might arise for conjoined twins, and you’ll be on the right tracks.

Underpinning all this is the beautiful poetical and lyrics prose that Sarah Crossan uses to tell the story. It’s essentially one long poem broken into smaller chapters, occasionally broken up with the odd POV from another character, and is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. Would I feel differently about the story if it was written traditionally? I doubt it. Does it make it stand out and feel utterly special because of it? A million times yes.

If I had to place a bet now, I would put this above all others as the main contender for the Carnegie Medal 2016. It’s an emotional powerhouse, beautifully written in it’s own unique style (as far as I’ve ever come across), and does a great job of highlighting an unbelievable difficult situation for people to live in, whilst highlighting how it’s simply the norm for those involved.

I was recommending this even before I’d finished reading it. It’s not just for young adults; it deserves to be read by everyone. The only book that comes close to this on an emotional level for me is A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, and I’m guessing you know all about that.

If you only read one book this year, it should be One.

5/5

Young Adult Book Review – Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) – Sarah J Maas

Young Adult Book Review – Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) – Sarah J Maas

Recommended for literally everyone ever, though thinking about it I suppose it’s 13+ really

I waited long and hard for this. A whole year pretty much of anticipation and sweating and getting distracted by the amazingness that was A Court of Thorns and Roses and then some more sweating and publishing some more music to showcase my love of the Throne of Glass world (www.youtube.com/bertass if you’ve not heard any of it) and having another son somewhere in the mix too, before finally being rewarded for my diligence and devotion with the publication at long last of Queen of Shadows, book four in the Throne of Glass series.

I needed – like, needed - a fantastic and memorable story to go along with the various bouts of sweaty anticipation etc. outlined above, lest my world come crashing down around me as I tasted the horror of a Throne of Glass book not living up to my expectations.

Was it salty tears of joy that I tasted upon finishing, or salty tears of agony and disappointment?

Well, duh. Joy, obviously. It’s freaking brilliant.

The 650-page beast that is Queen of Shadows is full of action, revelation, twists and emotion with nary a page wasted, as Sarah J Maas once more takes us into the rich fantasy world that she has created and leaves us breathless in anticipation for what is to come in the last couple of books of the series.

The feels, man. The feels.

I’m not going to spoil those feels for you, as you need to feel them fully un-spoilered for yourself, but my whole heart took a huge pounding during this book, more so than with any other despite the agonising deaths that had come before. Everything is up in the air and no-one is safe at any point, barring Aelin/Celaena of course, and so you really don’t know who is going to make it and who isn’t.

Aelin truly becomes the Queen she has always been over the course of the book, and remains one of my favourite-written characters from any series I have ever read. Her relationship with all the other characters develops considerably by the time the story is finished, from those we’ve seen her interact with before, to those we know she has done but we haven’t personally seen yet. She gets her revenge on some, and she befriends others that she wouldn’t dream of befriending before. She establishes the main players in her court, and she rains hell on those that would oppose her. I’d follow her into the fires of hell, though I’d have to wait in line behind those already protecting her.

Elsewhere, we have the alpha-male-off that we’d always wanted between Rowan and Aedion, both devoted to her in different ways, but equally committed to protecting her life. Chaol is perhaps the most changed of all of them, fully on the side of the rebels opposing the king now, but bearing the scars of watching so many good people die and seeing his friend and prince, Dorian, consumed by the demon prince that now vies for control of his body. It’s not a happy reunion between Chaol and Aelin, to put it mildly, and the tension that builds between them as they disagree on the best way to help Dorian is heartbreaking, as is the state that we saw the prince in.

There are several new characters, notably the highly-skilled guard and lover of Chaol, Nesryn Faliq, and Lysandra, former rival of Aelin from her time in the Assassin’s Guild. Both are strong, brave, and fun to spend time with, and more great examples of strong heroines in the fantasy genre that Maas’ excels at writing. You don’t need to look far to find strong female characters for girls and boys to look up to in the Throne of Glass world.

We also get to meet Arobynn, King of the Assassins, and Aelin’s former master. He’s as cunning and deceitful as we’ve been led to believe, and its great watching the battle between him and Aelin play out as she seeks her revenge on him. And it’s not just Aelin who wants revenge…

The witch Manon and her Thirteen are also still there, growing increasingly frustrated under the command of humans, and as deadly and dangerous as ever, but they grow in a way that’s unexpected and promising to make their role in the final two books even more exciting and unpredictable.

I’ve always thought that the dialogue between characters is one of Maas’ biggest strengths, but she’s also fantastic at misdirection and twists, particularly so in this book. Aelin has plenty of tricks up her sleeve to fool both her enemies, her friends and us as readers, and there’s one particular twist that will throw everything you know about the Throne of Glass series on its head. If, as the characters themselves point out, it’s not just another lie…

So, are there any criticisms? Well, the length doesn’t bother me one bit. The more the better to be honest. I read one review that complained about the text going on too often about how wonderful Aelin is, and though I agree that the characters and narration do praise her a lot, I spent the entire book thinking about how wonderful Aelin is so it kind of just mirrored exactly what I was thinking at the time and didn’t bother me in the slightest. I can’t fault the dialogue, the world-building, the twists and turns, the interaction between the main characters…I just enjoy it all so much I can’t find faults to pick.

I have to wait another year for Book 5, and to be honest I almost feel like I need it this time to recover from everything that’s happened. A Court of Thorns and Roses 2 will come along and keep me going in the meantime, I’ve no doubt, but until then I’ll have to make do with analysing everything that’s happened and creating more music to go along with it. Queen of Shadows is a 650-page epic that will enthral you as much as anything else she’s written before, and it’s another brilliant addition to the series.

My favourite modern fantasy series just got even better.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Saga Volume 5 - Brian K Vaughan (Author) & Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Saga Volume 4 - Brian K Vaughan (Author) & Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

Recommended for Adults

There’s not much I can say about Saga that hasn’t been said before; it’s one of the most exciting, well-written, and humorous comics available today, and every time a new volume comes out it instantly becomes the most essential item on my reading list. Volume 4 is no exception, though it does come with more sorrow than ever before.

Marko and Alana are still trying to hide away with baby Hazel, Alana trying to eke out a living with a virtual theatre/television show while Marko tends to their daughter. The strains in their relationship are starting to show by now, and with the addition of Alana’s drug taking and the threat of another woman befriending Marko, things aren’t exactly losing rosy for their relationship.

Elsewhere, there’s a new royal baby robot being kidnapped by a disgruntled insane janitor forming the bulk of the rest of the story, with a welcome return at the end for Marko’s ex-wife, Gwen, and her companion, Sophie. The storytelling is fast-paced with Brian K Vaughan’s trademark witty dialogue, and Fiona Staples truly wonderful illustrations, and the volume ends all too quickly, as ever.

There isn’t quite enough of Izabel this time round, because you could make a whole book featuring nothing but Izabel and it’d be wonderful, but Alana’s slow descent into drug use as she gets fed up with how her life is panning out is the most captivating part of the story, and goes a long way to making up for the lack of Izabel. The ‘other woman’ storyline for Marko is nothing new, but it all ties in brilliantly to show the strains of his and Alana’s relationship.

It’s doubtful that Saga will be displaced as Image Comics’ no.1 comic anytime soon, and I’m counting the days until Volume 5 comes out.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Dragons Beware! - Jorge Aguirre

Graphic Novel Review - Dragons Beware! - Jorge Aguirre (Author) & Rafael Rosado (Illustrator)

Recommended for Older Children/Young Adult/Adults

I received a free of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks!

Young Claudette, her brother Gaston and Princess Marie set off on an adventure to retrieve her father Augustine's magical sword, Breaker, from the belly of the fearsome dragon, Azra. They'll face multiple foes along the way, including Marie's evil wizard grandfather, Grombach, and his army of gargoyles; will they find the sword and defeat the dragon, or will they meet their doom?

Well, I won't spoil it, but what I will say is you will laugh your arse off during their quest, because this is a fantastically funny fantasy graphic novel that I didn't want to put down. It's full of pop culture references, from a certain famous Marvel shield making a vomity appearance, to multiple Death Star attack run nods (yeah, I saw what you did, and I LOVED it), which gives it an edge of over other funny children's graphic novels that I've read recently. The humour is silly but witty, and with a nod to the audience that it knows full well it's being daft and doesn't care, and it's exactly the type of humour that I love in a book like this.

The illustrations are great, and they invoke fond memories of similarly-styled texts that I've read before (though I can't put my finger on which ones exactly at the moment) - all three of the main characters eccentricities are perfectly brought across, and to a very high standard.

This is the second book in the series (following Giants Beware!) and I'm certainly going to try and get hold of a copy. The library doesn't appear to have it, so both of these are going straight on my monthly requests for the librarians to order in, because I'll be pushing these at the new monthly comic book club that I'm hoping to set up.

Worth been checked out by all ages from about 7 upwards, and it's pushed into 5* territory by its pop culture references - seriously, if they aren't Death Star run references in the last battle then [insert forfeit but just don't make me do it].

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Monster Motors - Brian Lynch (Author) & Nick Roche (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Monster Motors - Brian Lynch (Author) & Nick Roche (Illustrator)

Recommended for Older Children/YA/Adults

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

You know how sometimes a book tries to do something different, like re-telling a classic story using reanimated-motors rather than a monster? Yes? Then read Monster Motors, because it does it ever so well. No? Then read Monster Motors, because it does it ever so well.

Mechanic Vic Frankenstein buys a junkyard in Transylvania to set up a repair business, and immediately comes across the not-too-insignificant problem of a vampire cadillac called Cadillacula, who wants to suck the gas out of all the other cars, and be evil and stuff. He'll have to reanimate a truck of his own if he's going to stand a chance at stopping this evil...

Later on, he'll team up with Minivan Helsing and his team to stop an even greater threat, when a lightning strike accidentally reanimates all the other cars in the junkyard and sends them on a cannibalistic spree across town. Not quite the simple life repairing cars that Frankenstein had in mind.

Monster Motors is split into the two separate stories described above, and it's definitely the second (The Curse of Minivan Helsing) that is the strongest. Not to take anything away from the first about Cadillacula, because it's perfectly good fun, but the jokes and subtle humour in the second are far better, and genuinely laugh-out-loud in places. The idea of 'Minivan Helsing' for starters is genius, and in places the script seems to acknowledge the sheer craziness of everything with a knowing wink to the reader, without ever actually breaking the fourth wall, which is a technique I've always been fond of.

It's in the second story, again, where the characters really start to standout. To start with, it was only the delightful robot Igor that I had found memorable, but with the arrival of Minivan Helsing and crew, you've got Minivan himself, his daughter, some self-admittedly treacherous crewmates, Frankenstein's own monster truck, and Frankenstein himself becoming funnier and more likeable. I'd see it as the ingredients all properly falling into place, just like Neil Morrissey joining Men Behaving Badly; good beforehand, excellent afterwards.

The illustrations are great, with a very cartoony feel to fit the story perfectly, and I'd happily get people to read this in the library. If the next story is as good as The Curse of Minivan Helsing then I'll be delighted!

4/5

Monster Motors is out on 16th June 2015 through IDW Publishing

Graphic Novel Review - Exquisite Corpse - Pénélope Bagieu (Author & Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Exquisite Corpse - Pénélope Bagieu (Author & Illustrator)

Translated into English by Alexis Siegel 

Recommended for YA/Adults

I received an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks,

French graphic novel author and illustrator Pénélope Bagieu isn't well known in the UK (this is her first English-languge release, I believe) but based on this quirky and charming tale of a young girl falling in love with a reclusive author, her recognition deserves to grow enormously.

22-year old trade rep Zoe is fed up with her job and her life with an abusive boyfriend, so when she happens upon reclusive author Thomas Rocher she finds her mood greatly improving. However, everything is thrown upside down when she learns the incredible truth; Thomas supposedly died several years earlier! 

There's a charm running throughout this book that reminds me of French art-house flicks that I've come across before, with the love story of an unlikely couple played out with warm humour. Zoe is desperately in need of something new and exciting, as is Thomas if he's to find inspiration for his next novel. Thomas' editor (and ex-wife) is also around to throw a spanner in the works, and it seems unlikely that there's going to be a happy ending (I won't spoil whether or not there is one, and for whom). Zoe has a bit of manic pixie girl about her, Thomas is clearly batshit crazy on a liberal-arts level, and ex-wife Agathe is suitably snotty to her former love's new squeeze, and the way they play off each other is very well written indeed. The illustrations are offbeat and quirky and fit the text well; in short, everything is very well done and blends together beautifully. I also had to smile at the ending, with it's mini-twist giving a satisfying conclusion.

If I had one complaint, it's that it almost flies by too quickly. leaving me utterly charmed but finished in about 20 minutes. No, I don't know how it could have been extended, but perhaps then it's to the author's credit that I feel like I'm left craving more. I'll certainly be using this as an example to people in the library for a quick and easy introduction to graphic novels that aren't all about superheroes.

Credit as well to the translator, Alexis Siegel, because without a good translator it wouldn't have worked so well.

A lovely (quick) story that left me with a glowing smile!

4/5

Exquisite Corpse is published on 5th May 2015 by First Second Books

Book Review - Pop Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous

Book Review - Pop Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous

Recommended for YA/Adults

I love the Babylon series. They're informative, funny, well-written, and always about areas that I know are going to have interesting stories. Pop Babylon is no exception, as you can well imagine the tales of celebrity-excess that are brought up within it's pages, as we follow the fictional (but based on real events told to the author by those in the business) year in the life of a band manager, as he tries to put together a new boy band to rise to the top of the charts.

Imogen Edwards-Jones has to be one of the best authors for getting me to pick up a book and then wondering where the hell the time has gone, as I always find myself completely glued to the text and desperate to know what real-life story is going to be re-told next. With Pop Babylon, she confirms a lot of what we expect to be true (the alcohol, the drugs, the groupies etc.) with a lot that we might not have realised about (what tricks you need to get your band to be signed) and breakdowns of the costs of working in the music business. Whilst I was mainly reading it to see just how shocking the stories of rock and pop excess were going to be, info about the breakdown of how profits are divided and shared amongst all relevant parties was both interesting and shocking when you learn just how little some pop stars actually earn for their work.

The Babylon series is so different from a regular non-fiction account as they really do read like stories themselves. I'm always eager to pick up another Babylon-account (I'm eyeing up Restaurant Babylon on the shelf as I type), and I'm forever putting them out on display in the library to encourage others to try.

You can't go wrong with something like this.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 2 - Neil Gibson

Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 2 - Neil Gibson

Recommended for 18+

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

I really enjoyed Volume 1 of Twisted Dark, a collection of short horror stories by Neil Gibson and a revolving team of writers; the twists were good, the writing was excellent, and some of them were genuinely heartbreaking. So I was delighted when I had the chance to review Volume 2.

I'm pleased to say that this is more of the same, in a very good way. The notes at the start mention that lots of fans originally complained that the stories were too dark when Volume 1 was originally published, and so they tried to lighten some of them here, which to be honest I can only really see in the story about a bullied high schooler gaining revenge through a science project ('The Experiment'); the rest are just as twisted and haunting as in the first volume, with three in particular standing out for me as top notch: 'Becoming a man', about jealousy within a tribe when one person is chosen to reach manhood over another, did a great job of swerving away from what you are certain is going to happen, only to come back in an even more terrible way at the end; 'Popular', about a girl who cares more about being popular online than with anyone real, and learns the trouble of online stalking firsthand; and 'Smile', which I have to say left me feeling shaken and nauseated, about a woman confessing to a murder.

With that last story, it got me thinking again about what exactly constitutes going 'too far' in books (or indeed any media). Now, I'll roll my eyes at anyone who watches all the way through a TV show only to complain about it afterwards instead of just turning over and ignoring it - in fact, I think they present very real danger to artist creativity. You also get the ridiculous like Janet Jackson's exposed nipple at the Super Bowl (wasn't that the most complained about TV event of all time or something ridiculous?). I do, however, have sympathy for people who are left feeling genuinely upset having read or seen something, which is how I felt with 'Smile' - as a parent myself, anything where children come to harm makes me upset, particularly where the parent is neglectful or uncaring as happens in this circumstance, and in all honesty I wish I hadn't read that one. BUT, I don't see why I should complain about it - it's in a book called Twisted Tales for crying out loud, so it's not as if I wouldn't see any warning coming that some of these stories might leave me feeling a little bothered. Crossed is a graphic novel series that comes up time and time again for pushing the boundaries of taste and decency, and having read a lot of that I can agree that I felt physically sick having read some of it, but again I knew that it was a story that many people said went too far and that's the reason I chose to read it, so I don't see what right I have to complain.

Anyway, I'll finish that strange little off-topic rant there, and confirm that despite me feeling blue after reading 'Smile' (which, despite that, is a great story in itself with a twist that I didn't see at all), this is a second volume of crackingly twisted tales that have left me wanting more.

One confession I do have to make is that in both these volumes the reader is told that the stories are connected through some of the characters, with the connections becoming more apparent as time goes on, but that I still haven't spotted a single one! Not sure what I'm doing wrong here but I'm missing something that I'm sure makes it an even better read! Might have to read them all through again to start catching hold of some of them.

If you like your tales dark and twisted, then the Twisted Dark series is definitely for you. Great to see a British comic publisher putting out quality stories like this.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 1 - Neil Gibson

Graphic Novel Review - Twisted Dark Volume 1 - Neil Gibson

Recommended for 18+

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks.

Anyone up for a dark and depressing collection of tales? Thought so!

Twisted Dark is well named; a collection of short horror stories written by Neil Gibson and illustrated by a revolving team of artists for British comic book publisher T Pub, this was originally released back in 2010 if what I've seen online is true. I might have missed it back then, but I'm damn pleased to have found it now, because this is a cracking little collection of stories that each deliver a chilling twist, in the same manner of Twisted Tales from Pacific/Eclipse Comics in the 1980s, which are some of my favourites. From a (very) young suicide case, to the corruption of a worker in appalling conditions, each story drags you in before delivering the knockout blow in the final couple of pages.

There's a couple of stories that I wasn't quite so taken with (? about a disillusioned train 'pusher' in Japan for one), but the aforementioned story of an Indian construction worker who tastes power after living in appalling conditions is very chilling, and the woman with a mental illness who makes her seek attention at the expense of her own family is heartbreaking, particularly for anyone with children. You certainly won't come out of reading this with a grin on your face feeling positive about the world, but then who the hell picks up a book called 'Twisted Dark' expecting it to be uplifting?

I believe there's six volumes altogether, and I intend to try and catch them all (a quick glimpse at the Forward for Volume 2 suggests that it's a little more lighthearted in places due to numerous fan requests to lighten the tone, so we'll see how that affects it) - I heartily suggest you do, too!

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - Death Sentence - Montynero (Author) & Mike Dowling (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Death Sentence - Montynero (Author) & Mike Dowling (Illustrator)

Recommended for 18+

Well, that escalated quickly!

A sexually transmitted virus, the G+, gives the victim incredible powers with the downside of only six months of life left to live. When rogue media icon Monty develops powers more powerful than anyone else and threatens an apocalypse, it's up to frustrated artist Verity and fallen rock idol Weasel to put a stop to him. But, with Monty as powerful as he is, do they have any hope?

If I was to sum Death Sentence up in one word, it would probably have to be 'holy-shitting-WTF'; seriously, there are several moments here where you won't quite believe what you're seeing - and I mean that in a positive, keeps-you-gripped, way. Without wanting to spoil the surprises, there are some deaths that you wouldn't dream anyone would ever try and portray in any form of media, that left me literally open-jawed as I double-checked that what I thought had happened had actually happened. Talk about pushing boundaries! And far from being gratuitous and only there to shock, it only serves to enhance the sense of despair and peril that the world finds itself in.

Story- and visual-wise, this is firmly an adults-only story, with none of it holding anything back. From boobs and bums to exploding heads and bodies sliced in half, you're not going to want anyone squeamish seeing this, which is a shame because I was utterly transfixed throughout. It's a nice change having a graphic novel of this calibre set mainly in the UK, and I'm feeling uber-excited having learnt that there's a Volume 2 on its way.

Having a superpowered-STI is an original take on the superpower/mutant staple, and having lotharios such as Weasel and Monty spreading it is sure to come into play in Volume 2, with more and more people affected by the disease. It's truly a graphic novel that I wish hadn't ended, yet I was completely satisfied with the way it did, and looking forward to seeing where the creative team take it in the next volume.

Buzzfeed called this the 'best British comic in years' - they're absolutely, 100%, correct. I'm loving nearly everything that Image Comics are throwing at me at the moment, but Titan Comics have thrown out something that's right up there with the best.

Essential.

5/5

Book Review - On The Island - Tracey Garvis Graves

Book Review - On The Island - Tracey Garvis Graves

Suitable for YA/Adults

Considering the stranded-on-a-desert-island story is such a classic of fiction, and one that I love the idea of, I've only ever actually read Lord of the Flies. Sure, I've watched Lost and The Mighty Boosh, but I've never read Swallows and Amazons and...there are others, right? Really obvious ones? Man, my mind's gone blank and I don't have enough time to spend looking them. Just rest assured that I know there are others. This was sold to me by a friend as 'teen gets stranded on island with hot older lady', and as I can remember my formative teenage years quite well I must say it it appealed to me immensely.

Thirty-year-old English tutor Anna crash lands on a deserted island with sixteen-year-old pupil T.J. during a flight over the Maldives, and the pair are forced to find a way to survive the isolation and wilderness of the unknown, with minimal hope of rescue. In time they'll grow closer as they come to accept the growing likelihood that they'll never return home, but will they even survive till tomorrow with the dangers that a deserted island offers?

Let me say one thing first; I enjoyed On the Island, and I'd recommend checking it out. It keeps you turning the page, the characters are likable and relate-able, and at no point did I think any of the situation was getting unbelievable (they didn't learn to become shark-killing ninjas with spinning blades overnight or anything like that). It gets particularly strong about a third of the way through when Anna and C.J. start to get closer, and continues to be until the end (I don't want to spoil too many plot details here). I wanted to know what happened to them, whether they would leave the island, and I wasn't disappointed in that at all.

Where I need to be a bit more negative is with the first third, and unfortunately it's difficult to say exactly I didn't enjoy as much. The story is intriguing as the crash first happens, it's just that I didn't find the characters as interesting, and it was the situation rather than Anna and T.J. themselves that kept me reading. It's as if all of a sudden I clicked with them a third in, from which point it was great, but I read the first third thinking 'yeah, this is okay, though I might try something else'. Sometimes I suppose it just takes a while to get into a book.

I'm glad I stuck with it, because it's a great read for the final two-thirds, and I feel bad criticising the first third because of it, but I wouldn't want anyone else to think the same and not stick it out. Once I really got sucked into the story it flew by, and I thought it dealt with Anna and C.J.'s situation really well, and ended exactly how I thought it should.

Just don't read it before flying over the Maldives...

4/5

Graphic Novel Review - Southern Bastards Volume 1: Here Was A Man - Jason Aaron (Author) & Jason Latour (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel Review - Southern Bastards Volume 1: Here Was A Man - Jason Aaron (Author) & Jason Latour (Illustrator)

Recommended for 18+

I'm in love with Image Comics at the moment. Head over heels in love. They've produced so many fantastic series over the last couple of years that they've moved firmly into the position of 'favourite comic book publisher'. Black Science, Saga, Nailbiter...all fantastic, and if Volume 1 is anything to go by then Southern Bastards is going to sitting right at the top of the pile (alongside Saga, because it's Saga).

It's the story of Earl Tubb, returning home to Craw County, Alabama where he was brought up under the strict rule of his father, the sheriff. Nowadays, high school football coach Euless Boss has the petrified town in his grip, and Earl doesn't take kindly to that. Over the course of the story, we see Earl try to put the memories of his childhood to bed, whilst confronting the new menace of Boss, and holy shit is it fantastically good.

Ask me to put my finger on just what it is that makes the story so utterly readable and I can't do it; it's basically just everything adding up together. The script, the images that go with it, the mystery behind why everyone is so scared of Boss, the desire to see Earl get revenge, and not to mention the HOLY SHIT ending, it's all just mesmerising. Who doesn't love the image of an old guy with a legendary stick beating the crap out of gobby youths?

I'm sure the American South isn't all like the time of Craw County, but I'll certainly be weary of any high school football coaches if I pay a visit!

Could not be any more excited for Volume 2, just to see more of the history of Craw County, and the backstory of Boss. Essential reading for any graphic novel aficionados in 2015.

5/5

Graphic Novel Review - The Fuse Volume 1: The Russia Shift

Graphic Novel Review - The Fuse Volume 1: The Russia Shift

Recommended for Adults who love Sci-Fi and Crime

Image Comics are blowing me out of the water at the moment. Honestly, everything I read at the moment seems to be golden. From Black Science to Southern Bastards, Nailbiter to (obviously) Saga, it's series after series that I'm desperately trying to get everyone who comes into the library to read. I've always loved the stories that DC and Marvel have created, but I'm firmly in the third camp of Image at the moment for who the true masters of the graphic novel are.

The Fuse is no different. It's the story of Ralph Dietrich, homocide detective and recently reassigned to the Fuse, and his veteran partner, Sergeant Klem Ristovych. It's a strange world up there, with the death of a homeless person giving Dietrich his first case immediately.It should be open and shut, but when a second turns up dead it's clear that there's more to this than first thought, especially when there are implications that the Mayor's office might have some involvement...

As with all the best stories, the relationship between the main characters is fantastic here, as is their dialogue. Dietrich is trying to find his way in this new environment, while Ristovych has seen it all before but enjoys leaving Dietrich in the dark as long as possible. They make for a classic cop team that I'm quite happy to follow in further cases, he being not exactly the good cop, and her certainly not trying to be the overly co-operative and friendly one to anyone, even in her own department.

The setting is great, with the 'cablers' (homeloess) living inside the walls with their own rules that even a cop shouldn't dare break. It's almost dystopian without being dystopian, if that makes sense, a very familiar setting without being overly familiar. Houses with picket fences, for example, set on a space station.

The mystery behind the murders is nicely wrapped up within the story, so it'll be a brand new case next time around, but it was a great first standalone story with a satisfying reveal of the truth, and I look forward with much anticipation to the next one. This is a Sci-Fi Crime series that should be on everyone's radar.

5/5

Young Adult Book Review - Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass Book 3) - Sarah J Maas

Young Adult Book Review - Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass Book 3) - Sarah J Maas

Recommended for literally everyone. EVERYONE.

I received an ARC of Heir of Fire from Bloomsbury, in exchange for an honest review. I've literally just realised that I never posted that review (though I was convinced I had), so massive apologies to them, as I was so grateful to get to read it early. Letting the blogging world down there...

It's literally impossible to convey just how much I loved Heir of Fire. There hasn't been an author that has excited me as much as Sarah J Maas does in the past decade (or perhaps longer), and this was without doubt my most anticipated book of 2014. Was it also my favourite book of 2014? Hell yeah it was, and for me it's the best of the series so far as well.

It's also the longest, which can sometimes become a problem if you feel that the author is throwing everything they possibly can at you story-wise, rather than picking the most interesting and important parts (hello, ASOIAF...), but here it's needed to really tell Celaena's story of learning to harness her magic with the wonderfully uptight and mysterious Rowan in Wendlyn and beyond, whilst maintaining the danger that both Chaol and Dorian are in back home in Adarlan. The introduction of witch Manon is a welcome third storyline, as is the further exploration of the lore of the Wyrdkeys and Wyrdgates.

the main strength of the Throne of Glass series remains it's characters. I've never known anyone write dialogue that attracts me as well as Maas; it's snappy, realistic, and it's exactly how I wish I could write. Seriously, NO-ONE inspires me to write like she does. I've even written music for the series based on the feelings it stirs (currently at two tracks recorded but with plenty more written...www.youtube.com/bertass). I'm so completely engaged and wrapped up in this world that she's created that it really is hell waiting for the fourth book to come out. I need to know whether the feelings between Celaena and Rowan and just incredibly strong friendship or something more to come; I need to know whether Celaena and Chaol can ever work it out; I need to know just how Celaena is going to save the world and end the reign of the King of Adarlan; I need to know when it's all going to explode in one magic-fuelled battle orgy to rival anything seen in LOTR.

I also need to know when they're going to give the go ahead to the gritty television series starring Taylor Momsen as Celaena, because seriously, that's blatantly her on the cover.

New characters like Rowan and Aedion (pure bad-ass - Chris Jericho?) instantly belong alongside the established ones, building up this pantheon of legendary figures into one of my favourite literary casts of all time, with Celaena still at the head of it all. She would have united the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros by now, AND kept peace in Esos; she would have thrown the One Ring into Mount Doom far before Sam had to carry Frodo to the top; she'd just have given Voldemort the evil stare and he'd have crumbled, Elder Wand or none. To me, she's emblazoned in fantasy heroine law at the very top of everyone else, and I'm desperate to discover the next step along her fateful journey.

There isn't a single author that I recommend to the users of my library as much as Sarah J Maas; there's a whole new army of fans that I've managed to recruit because it's impossible for me NOT to gush about her work. I can feel my face light up and the passion start to brew as I find someone suitable to recommend to, and I'll continue to do it till I'm no longer breathing. If I make it to her latest book tour, I'm going to present her with a copy of all the music that she's inspired me to write for the series, and make sure she knows that without her, I wouldn't have picked up the fantasy trilogy that I started writing seven years ago, and be well on the way to completing it.

The Throne of Glass series is a complete must for any fantasy fans.

5/5

Thanks to Bloomsbury for letting me have an ARC of this, and apologies for the massive delay in putting up this review, which I thought I'd already done. I'm presuming that's why I was denied an ARC of A Court of Thorns and Roses, so now that I've apologise can I please have one?! Pretty please?!

Graphic Novel Review - Nailbiter Volume 1 - Joshua Williamson (Story)

Graphic Novel Review - Nailbiter Volume 1 - Joshua Williamson (Story) - Image Comics

Recommended for 18+

I've always felt that the pinnacle of stomach-churning, horrifying visuals in graphic novel form is Crossed. That seems to be a pretty common opinion, and it's going to take rather a lot to change my mind on that. Nailbiter gives it a good go in places, and though it's not quite as stomach-churning, it's a better story and it kept me hooked from start to finish.

NSA Agen Nicholas Finch has been brought to Buckaroo, Oregon by his FBI Profiler friend, Eliot Carroll, who believes he has solved the reason why there have been sixteen serial killers in the town and what links them together. He gets there to find that Carroll has disappeared, teaming up with Sheriff Crane to investigate, and reluctantly utilising the help of the Edward 'Nailbiter' Warren, a serial killer who was let off when the jury found him not guilty. When the bodies of some of the original town serial killers start to appear, the mystery deepens.

When I read Nailbiter, I really couldn't put it down. I'm still desperately awaiting Volume 2 so that I can continue the search for answers, following the deepening mysteries at the end of Volume 1. It reels you in and keeps you hooked perfectly, leading you down one way of thinking which turns out to be a dead end, then pulling the same trick a short while later. It's a truly creepy and spine-chilling tale, with a couple of moments that reminded me squarely of Crossed, as mentioned above.

Whereas with Crossed I admit I was mainly wondering what the hell I was going to be faced with visually on the next page, here I'm mainly focused on where the story is going to take me. There's a jarring style to the aforementioned visuals that help keep it dark and menacing, and there's several nailbiting moments (literally!) that linger in the memory.

For fans of mystery who don't mind being shocked by some disturbing visuals, this is a must see.

5/5

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 3, Episode 1 - Smith & Jones

Revisiting Doctor Who - Series 3, Episode 1 - Smith & Jones

Ooh, that's different - Series 3 starts with no pre-credits sequence! And that is...of absolutely no consequence, really.

Anyway, here we go...

Ah, Martha. You're funny, friendly, beautiful...but you're going to get no joy from The Doctor here. Still, you've got 13 episodes to find that out, so for now we'll join you walking down the street as you try to sort out your family's lives (including Reggie Yates from Radio1! Reggie's awesome). To be honest, Martha, I wouldn't want Aniliese there either, but families, eh? Oh, it's The Doctor! Being all strange and taking his tie off just to confuse her. He's gone again now.

Martha's on her way to work at the hospital, being bumped into by a dodgy looking biker and attracting lightning from her locker amongst other things, and OH MY GOD THAT'S 'MARTHA'S THEME' PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND! I LOVE that bit of music! Best bit of music ever in Who besides the theme. Bloody love it. Whilst on her rounds, she discovers a sweet old lady who will in no way become relevant to the story, some more biker people, and 'John Smith', who looks suspiciously like The Doctor and feels 'bleugh'. Apparently he wasn't running around this morning, though it's the dual heartbeats that really confuzzle her.

Stranger still, it seems that it's only raining on the hospital, and it's raining 'up'. And then the building starts earthquaking massively and they've ended up on the Moon. Which is unusual for Martha, though I'm pretty sure The Doctor suspected something might happen. It all gets a bit chaotic in the hospital, with people running around like headless chickens. The Doctor then reveals himself to be  more than just a patient, and they head outside to have a look, glad for the fact that they've got air from somewhere. She seems spectacularly unsurprised that they've ended up on the Moon, but now that humanity knows about aliens following the Cybermen and the Racnoss...and the role that she played in Series 2 which was her 'cousin', she's not surprised by anything.

Just as they realise that the air will run out eventually and suffocate 1,000 people, some spaceships land, revealing the Judoon space police (well, more like police-for-hire, or intergalactic space thugs). Inside, the old lady confronts the hospital chief doctor consultant man, revealing herself to be a nasty alien lady, in control of the biker people, who wants to suck out his innards with a straw. The Judoon also march into the hospital, scattering plenty of scared patients everywhere, and revealing themselves to be humanoid rhinos who want to 'catalogue' all the patients. That means they're after something non-human, which is bad news for The Doctor...One guy gets executed when he commits a crime by smacking a Judoon over head with a vase. Bit extreme, but we're on the Moon so everything goes I guess. 

The Doctor shows Martha his sonic screwdriver, explaining how he was just checking out some plasma coils which turned out to be the Judoon in orbit. If they find the hospital guilty of harbouriing a fugitive, they'll blow it up, including the people. Martha runs off to find the head of the hospital, but finds the old lady sucking his brains out with a straw, so decides that running away is a better option, which I heartily agree with. Reuniting with The Doctor, they flee from the alien lady's henchmen, eventually losing him by zapping him with an extra-radiated x-ray. His sonic screwdriver is a bit buggered though. He also deduces that the old lady is assimilating the old chap's blood, so that she registers as human. 

They round a corner and meet face to face with some Judoon, who confirm for Martha that The Doctor is non-human. They head for Mr Stoker's office, finding him completely drained of blood. Realising that she'll be heading to the MRI scanner, he kisses Martha because of course, and runs off to find alien lady. He gets himself sort of captured, pretends to be human, finds out some of her plans, and then she tries to suck his brains out through her straw. Though she goes through his neck, so maybe I was wrong about the brains bit.

The Judoon burst in at this point and declare The Doctor dead. Martha realises though that the old lady will now register as non-human, before the Judoon execute her as she tries to blow the hospital. The Judoon bugger off at this point, which is typical of rhinos as they always do this shit on other planets, and the hospital looks screwed. Martha does the decent thing and tries to bring The Doctor back to life, using the last of her oxygen to give him the kiss of life. It works, though she looks a big of a goner, and The Doctor successfully modifies the scanner and what not, saving the day. Well, there's still no oxygen, which is generally negative. Never fear though, the Judoon reverse the whole process just in time, and the hospital is sent back to Earth.

Still dazed by the incident, Martha looks on forlornly as The Doctor disappears in the TARDIS. Later, she listens to a colleague on the radio talking about the wonder of it all, smiling. Her father, mother and father's girlfiend argue outside a club, taking Martha's siblings with them, and eventually moving out of the way for Martha to notice The Doctor gazing at her from round a corner (seriously, it's not like he didn't slightly give her the hint that he was interested in her). She chases after him, having that oh-so-special 'it's bigger on the inside' moment, engages in a bit of mild flirting, and then off they go!


First things first, Martha is great, right from the off. She's different than Rose, that's all, though she's far better at sussing out alien things, and already I can feel the pangs of sadness that she'll only last a season. It really is difficult to pick a favourite companion, because they've all been fantastic in their own ways, but Martha always gets the least praise, completely unfairly. She's played brilliantly by Freema Agyeman, and if they don't take the character over to Torchwood when it finally starts up again then they're missing a great opportunity.

Martha also saves his life with a bit of CPR, which means that either The Doctor was relying on her doing this or he was genuinely willing to let himself die just to save everyone in the hospital; knowing The Doctor, it's probably more the latter. What a darn good fellow he is.

The Doctor shows the signs of his recent loss at the end where he tells Martha that she isn't replacing Rose and gets a bit grumpy, and it's this that will affect their relationship throughout. You can see the massive impact that Rose had on him, more perhaps than any other companion except Sarah Jane Smith, though the fact that you know Ten was actually in love with her goes a long way to explaining that.

It's perfect, PERFECT Tenth Doctor when Martha discovers his second heartbeat and he gives her a small wink. Followed by his discussion of being involved in Ben Franklin's discovery of lightning (having been electrocuted himself in the process apaprently).

Also a great in joke for those who remember the Zovirax cold sore adverts.

The whole sequence where The Doctor gets Mrs Finnigan's plan out of her (GCSE Magnets, Geography and fifteen years as a postman) is superb, perfect for the Tenth Doctor, and looking back on it now I really feel it should be a contender for 'Best Way He Got Someone's Plan Out Of Them' (because he's really rather good at it').

You can tell why Martha ends up with The Doctor; the first to establish that they're on the Moon, the one who realises that because they're breathing there must still be air surrounding them...As soon as he 'reveals' himself (I can't think how to write that without making it sound like he exposes himself...) to her, he's obviously taken to her:
Doctor: We might die.
Martha: We might not.
Doctor: Good(!)

One of David Tennant's more bizarre moments as she tries to get rid of the radiation in his body through his shoe, dancing like he's got bees in his trousers (Martha: You're completely mad. The Doctor: You're right, I look daft with one shoe). Anybody else really bugged that he opens a clinical waste bin with his hands and doesn't wash them?!

One of the Judoon trips up the stairs! It's only ever so slightly but it's there!

Mentions of Mr Saxon
Martha's colleague on the radio at the end mentions how Mr Saxon was right about what's out there, and there are 'Vote Saxon' posters behind Martha in the alley at the end. We don't know who he's going to be at this point, though he's obviously a politician, but come the end of the season...

Overall
It's a solid start, with a brilliant introduction for Martha who is great from the off. The Tenth Doctor doesn't suffer from not having Rose around, and though it doesn't have the greatest villain of all time, it's fun throughout.

8/10