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What’s it all about?
The Martian is Mark Watney, biologist, engineer and astronaut who finds himself stranded on the Red Planet after a huge sandstorm jeopardises the mission and his crewmates evacuate believing that he died in a freak accident. How is he going to survive until the next planned landing in four years time, especially as no-one knows he is alive?
Why did I want to read it?
I love all kinds of sci-fi but have a particular fondness for techie stories with lots of science and explanations and problem-solving. The only thing missing from this one was a Big Dumb Object but at least there was enough Survival Against the Odds to keep me gripped. Oh and the reviews had been very favourable and when people whose opinions you trust suggest you read something then it would be rude to refuse. And I love love love books about Mars.
What did I think of it?
A couple of chapters in I really thought I was going to be so irritated by Mark that I wasn’t going to be able to continue. He was just so annoying – and it really wasn’t about the technical detail which as I’ve said above is something I enjoy, it’s that it was all first-person and he was so relentlessly cheerful and positive and upbeat and, well, blokey, it began to get on my nerves. I know the conceit is that he is leaving a record for future expeditions in case he doesn’t make it and so the tone is deliberate but ooh, I wanted to hit him.
However, fear not. It got better. Much, much better.
Things started to improve for me when they started to go wrong for Mark and the cracks in his positive attitude began to show. Then Andy Weir made a very wise tactical decision in order to deal with the inherent problem in first person narratives and had the people on Earth find out he was still alive and start to work to bring him back. Apart from adding a second layer of tension to the story it also meant we weren’t constantly in Mark’s head and I began to like him a lot more. I also liked the way the dilemma on whether to tell the rest of his crew was handled and resolved; they’re stuck on a spaceship heading home, how will they feel when they find out they’ve abandoned their friend and colleague?
It’s basically a huge boy’s own adventure, Robinson Crusoe in Space. Without Man Friday, and being American and, you know, in space (obviously).
In the end I enjoyed it; an uplifting story of human ingenuity with quite a few “isn’t science cool” moments. And it will no doubt make a good film.
So great fun, but *whispers* for my money the best man stranded in space story I read this year was The Explorer.
You could do worse than read them both.
What year are we in? The Laws of Murder is set in 1876.
What is Lenox’s case?
One of Lenox’s friends has been shot in Regent’s Park and the murder may be tied to an aristocratic ne’er-do-well that Lenox has been after for many years. In helping Scotland Yard work the case (after a short period of some estrangement) it becomes clear that matters are not what they seem. At all.
What did I learn about that I didn’t know before?
Quite a bit about mourning dress and Victorian funerals and the business of booking fixed berths on ships to allow cargo to be transported abroad (regardless of what that cargo might be). No questions asked. ‘Nuff said.
What’s happening in Lenox’s personal life?
Lenox has given up his seat in Parliament and has set up a professional detective agency with Dallington and two other colleagues (identified at the end of the last book but not mentioned here by name because *spoilers*) and it’s all taking a while to settle down. Dallington may be in love but is it reciprocated? All the McConnell and Lenox domestic arrangements are happy and harmonious. We see a bit of the background to the lives of Scotland Yard policemen and not all of it is edifying.
Did I enjoy it?
I did enjoy it very much. Like the previous books in the series it is an easy and likeable read, comfortable in a good way as you revisit characters you’ve watched develop over time. Seeing rich people behave badly is always a pleasure (and why I have always preferred Dallas to Eastenders) and the crime(s) and the purpose behind them were ingenious and well thought through. And nice to see that the new detective agency has its premises in Chancery Lane where my old employer used to be based.
However, I shall never look at convents again in quite the same way.
Lovecraft Unbound is one of the books I flagged up in my series of Spring Cleaning posts earlier in the year (back in April I think) where I tackled the huge started but not finished pile; and was one of the titles I thought I would definitely go back to; I finally got round to picking it up again this weekend.
What’s it all about and why did I want to read it?
[…] twenty-two of today’s most respected writers of the fantastic present their visions of HP Lovecraft’s world and creations.
What did I think of it?
Like all anthologies it was patchy but the good ones were very good indeed. Some of the Lovecraftian-ness was tenuous but there were enough set in Antarctic wastes and Tibetan planes as well as ancient horrors in modern life to make it worthwhile.
Highlights for me:
- Cold Water Survival by Holly Phillips (one of the icy ones)
- In the Black Mill by Michael Chabon (though I spotted early on what the “secret” was but I’m not sure he was trying to hide it that hard)
- Commencement by Joyce Carol Oates (because, well, it’s JCO, one of my heroes)
- Mongoose by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear – probably my favourite
There is a companion volume called Lovecraft’s Monsters which has mysteriously found its way onto my Kindle app and I’m sure I’ll dip into that shortly because *whispers* Neil Gaiman’s in it, if for no other reason 🙂
Update: and in tagging this post for publication I realise that I had already written about the first five stories as part of RIP VI back in 2011, which you can read here if you so desire!
I think I’ve said all I have to say about how much I enjoy the Peter Grant novels by Ben Aaronovitch, reinforced last week by the talk and book signing which I attended a week ago and have been banging on about ever since. But does Foxglove Summer live up to the other books in the series?
Well, of course it does.
But it is a little bit different, in that Peter is outside his comfort zone, having been despatched by Nightingale to rural Herefordshire to look into the apparent abduction of two little girls. The Folly’s intervention hasn’t been requested, but they always look into cases where children disappear because, you know, there’s a history of that sort of thing. Although at first it looks to be a sad but ordinary case it becomes clear that there may very well be a supernatural element and Peter stays on to assist with the investigation, which takes a distinctly unexpected turn.
I don’t want to say too much more because as always the fun is in seeing the plot develop. There’s a particular phrase stuck in my head which I so much want to type out here but I won’t. Though I really want to. But I won’t.
I loved it. I read it in two sittings and thoroughly enjoyed it. The new characters were just as well-rounded and interesting as the main cast (particular shout out to Dominic). It gains rather than loses from being set outside the normal London stamping ground (some people worry about that sort of thing but I like long-running series to be shaken up every once in a while). Beverley is there. The whole Lesley situation set off at the end of Broken Homes is still bubbling away. We learn something about Molly. And we meet another, if somewhat elderly, practitioner.
As always my only quibble is insufficient presence of Nightingale, but that’s a small thing really given the other pleasures on the novel.
If you have been reading along then this is a fine addition to the series. And if you haven’t then what are you waiting for?
What’s it all about?
With Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death we are back at Ghastly-Gorm Hall with Ada and her father the cycling poet Lord Goth and the wonderful cast of characters that surround them. This time everyone is getting ready for the annual Full-Moon Fete and:
the Great Ghastly-Gorm Bake Off. Celebrity Cooks are arriving at the hall for the big event, and as usual Maltravers is acting suspiciously. On top of all this, Ada’s elusive lady’s maid Marylebone has a surprising secret and everyone seems to have forgotten Ada’s birthday.
Into all of this comes her father’s dashing friend Lord Whimsy who is more than he at first appears.
Why did I want to read it?
I absolutely adored the previous book in the series (you can read my review of it here) and this is just as good. Again, it’s a beautiful physical object full of wonderful illustrations and tucked into the back another little miniature book, Marylebone’s biography. Just lovely to read.
What did I think of it?
It has all of the strengths of Ghost of a Mouse and builds on that earlier story with the same cast of characters bolstered by some strong new additions. Maltravers is still up to no good, Ada and her father’s relationship has developed and she is learning a great deal from her vampire nanny Lucy Borgia. The delight is as always seeing the real-life models for the chefs in particular (Nigellina Sugarspoon and Heston Harboil, anyone?) and the influences on the plot (Paddington obviously but also a mix of Scarlet Pimpernel and a Regency James Bond). But of course it’s all about he illustrations and the wonderful silliness.
The footnotes this time are webbed and written by a well-travelled Muscovy duck. My favourite relates to Abba the Swedish minotaur, who is naturally depressed and who:
likes pickled herring, knitted jumpers and long walks in the rain. He composes annoyingly catchy songs on his Scandinavian lyre.
Wonderful, and a very fun and unplanned end to my RIP IX reading experience.
What’s it all about?
Murder is the sequel to Mayhem and picks up a few years after the events of that book, focussing very much on the Dr Thomas Bond (trying to avoid spoilers here) who is trying to deal with the aftermath of those events, hoping to finally win the love of Juliana, now widowed and the mother of a young son, and the arrival of a handsome American, Edward Kane, a friend of Juliana’s late husband who in trying to put his mind at rest on the past events may stir up some of Bond’s demons. In more ways than one.
Why did I want to read it?
I really enjoy Sarah Pinborough’s work and thought this was going to be the second in a series rather than a direct sequel. Ordered it as soon as it was announced.
What did I think of it?
As I said above I was not expecting this to be a sequel; in my head I had convinced myself that this was going to be a series of nasty (in a good way) serial killer novels with Bond as the hero hunting down the bad guys. All of this based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, all based on assumptions rather than any hard evidence. even starting to read the book I thought that we were running through the events of Mayhem as the background to something entirely different. However, it quickly became clear that I was in for something entirely different as the events of Mayhem come back to haunt Bond in rather horrible ways with a kind of horrible inevitability in the events that were unfolding. Or so it seemed.
This was an interesting reading experience for me, one in a line of dark books with very human dilemmas underscored by creepy supernatural elements and a fair dose of nastiness. But because it was so dark I actually had to set it aside on a couple of occasions because it was almost overwhelming. This is a credit to Sarah’s writing; the triggers for me were not the obvious nastiness but the realistic portrayal of the impact of unrequited love (I have some experience in this area – don’t ask, best left alone – and just found it painful to read) and the descent of a man into madness.
But I’m glad I persevered because there are a couple of events in particular which push the story into really dark territory and I was desperate to know how this was all going to work out. I had a tiny wee suspicion of what might happen at the end which was mostly right though not delivered in quite the way I expected.
This was my eighth read for RIP IX and I’m definitely going to continue exploring this author’s work.
What’s it all about?
Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse (or GG&GM as it will henceforth be known) tells the story of Ada, who as the blurb says
lives in Ghastly-Gorm Hall with her father, Lord Goth, lots of servants and at least half a dozen ghosts, but she hasn’t got any friends to explore her enormous creepy house with.
But then she meets a ghost mouse called Ishmael and in trying to discover the circumstances around his untimely death (even for a mouse) she discovers that there is a nefarious plot taking place right under their noses.
Why did I want to read it?
I love Chris Riddell’s work. The physical book (which I’m lucky to have, bought it as a birthday present for myself) is a thing of beauty in its own right, not just because of the copious illustrations but the binding and endpapers and tiny book “Memoirs of a Mouse” tucked inside the back cover. And as a children’s book, even one with a Gothic sensibility, it was going to be way way lighter than most of my other October reads.
What did I think of it?
GG&GM was just totally delightful. I picked it up for some light relief then found I couldn’t put it down because it was just such fun. Ada is a wonderful creation, a girl who looks so much like her mother (Parthenope, a tightrope walker from Thessalonika who had died one night while practising on the roof) that her father needs her to wear huge clumpy boots so he can hear her coming and avoid her (only through his overwhelming sadness, which has led him to the view that children should be heard but not seen).
There’s a wonderful cast of supporting characters – vampire governess, indoor gamekeeper, the Cabbage children (Emily, a talented artist, and William, who has chameleon syndrome and can blend in with his surroundings), various servants and of course Ishmael who is sad and sweet and gets the whole plot rolling. Everyone has wonderful pseudo-Dickensian names and a range of interesting skills.
It’s really good story, and is also very funny in a silly way with lots of puns and nonsense names for things and invented creatures. There are footnotes with useful information, provided by
the severed foot of a famous writer who lost the aforementioned foot at the Battle of Baden-Baden-Wurttemberg-Baden
My favourite footnote (and they’re all very amusing) gives some context to Hamish, the Shetland Centaur:
Shetland centaurs are just one of a number of mythical creatures living in Scotland. The Glasgow cyclops and the Edinburgh gorgon are well known, but the Arbroath smokie, a fire-breathing mermaid, is more elusive.
That made me giggle a great deal, and if it made you smile too then you will love this book as much as I did. A real treat, and I already have my hands on the sequel.
This was my seventh read for RIP IX (and possibly my favourite so far but shh, don’t tell the others)
What’s it all about?
As per the blurb:
The Book of Whispering Spirits is a haunting collection of 18 ghost stories, ranging from Gothic horror to modern tales of terror. These tales of the supernatural will haunt your dreams and trouble your sleep, making you believe once more in the ghostly phantoms that wait for you in the shadows. In the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe, M.R. James and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, young spiritual medium Violet Winterbrook guides us through this collection of ghost stories, as told to her by the spirits who lived and died in them.
Why did I want to read it?
I’ll admit that although I’m a sucker for a decent ghost story what really drew me to this collection was the cover art by Abigail Larson, whom I just love (and a piece of whose work I treated myself to earlier in the year.)
What did I think of it?
It’s a nice collection of stories, none of them terribly memorable if I’m honest but fun to read at the time. The interesting thing for me is that the conceit that the medium Violet is sharing these tales is set up at the beginning and then disappears, without even a little epilogue at the end to round things off, which seems a shame. So absolutely fine but unlike the work of MR James (mentioned above and a regular re-read) I can’t see myself returning to this volume again.
This was my fifth read for RIP IX.
What’s it all about?
The Jennifer Morgue is the second in Charles Stross’s Laundry Files series, where espionage, the joy of the civil service and Cthulhu-adjacent occult matters all meet. In this case our hero Bob Howard is tasked with going into the field (the Caribbean, what a shame) to deal with a demon hell-bent in taking over the world through a suitably megalomaniac billionaire, and to do so is paired with a rather lovely partner who is not all she seems (OK, she’s an assassin under a glamour and possessed by a sex-vampire, but nobody’s perfect)
Why did I want thread it?
I love the Laundry Files and re-read the first volume (The Atrocity Archives, reviewed here) earlier this year. I am planning to work my way through the whole series.
What did I think of it?
I must admit I wasn’t sure what to make of this at first because it seemed very much a parody of the classic James Bond movies – location, gadgets, bad guy intent on sharing his details plans with the hero rather than just killing him, gorgeous good girl sidekick, gorgeous bad girl sidekick, super villain lair and so on – which all seemed a bit weird until it becomes clear that the James Bond thing is actually the whole point – it’s the occult construction that the baddies are using to control the whole thing and prevent themselves from being stopped. Though of course it doesn’t work out that way…
As always the fun here is in the combination of occult weirdness with classic civil service bureaucracy and infighting which is oh so recognisable to anyone who has ever worked in that world, though normally you’re not likely to get possessed with something tentacular. Not normally.
This was very enjoyable and raced along. It is also very funny in places and for anyone of my age who grew up with Dr No and Blofeld the Bond references are particularly enjoyable, right down to the white cat. And the nasties are very nasty indeed. There’s also a nice little additional story as a bonus.
Loved it, and looking forward to reading the next one.
This was my fifth read for RIP IX.
What’s it all about?
Tried to pull together a synopsis of the plot for this novel but can’t do much better than the blurb:
Life isn’t easy for Detective Inspector Bobby Maiden. Death is even harder. When Maiden is revived in hospital after dying in a hit and run incident, his memories are not the familiar ones of bright lights and angelic music, only of a cold, harsh place he has no wish to revisit…ever. But his experience means that Bobby Maiden may be the only person who can reach The Green Man, a serial murderer the police don’t even know exists…a predator who returns to stone circles, burial mounds and ancient churches in the belief that he is defending Britain’s sacred heritage.
There is also an additional plot involving an American journalist, Grayle Underhill, who specialises in New Age matters and has arrived on the Welsh borders to find out what has happened to her sister who has gone missing after becoming involved in research around Stone Age mysteries.
And of course the two stories will inevitably come together.
Why did I want to read it?
I have read a few of Rickman’s early horror stories, and have most of his Merrily Watkins books though I’m working through those extraordinarily slowly. I hadn’t come across this one before until it appeared on Kindle, largely because it was originally written under a the pseudonym Will Kingdom. It sounded right up my street.
What did I think of it?
Gosh this was grim, but I have often found that with Rickman’s books even as (or perhaps because) he has moved away from pure horror into what the “About the Author” note calls “realistic crime with a subtle element of the paranormal.”
I personally consider this to be a mainly a horror novel; yes there’s a serial killer with a weird fixation but the supernatural element is so strong and certain scenes and events are so nasty (in a non-pejorative sense) that it gave me the creeps as only the best horror can; quite disturbing. As I’ve often found with his work the darkness of tone means I tend to read them over a fairly lengthy period of time in manageable chunks, and this was no exception though it’s fair to say that the experience is always rewarding as the novels are so well written, and in this case about two-thirds of the way into the book something clicked and I did another marathon staying up into the wee small hours to finish it.
So a strong story with flawed but believable characters and a very interesting serial killer whose identity I sort of guessed but not that far in advance of the protagonists so can’t claim much there. I will pick up others in this series and am also looking forward to dipping my toe into his series about John Dee, one of my favourite Elizabethans.
This was my fourth read for RIP IX and means I have met Peril the First!
Bride of the Book God 