Friday 15 September 2017

Five Books I haven't Mentioned Before

I've currently got a cold and am therefore running on even less brainpower than usual so I can't come up with anything particularly thought provoking. So I thought I'd talk about a bunch of books I like and reckon more people should like yeah. So here we go.

1)  Angel's Truth by AJ Grimmelhaus

The reason you want to read this book is that its an old school fantasy adventure with a lot of charm. Its like going down your local and watching a really tight covers band kick out a bunch of your favourite 80s tracks. You mightn't feel enrichened afterwards, but my god you had fun.

The story is about a young man named Tol with a weighty heritage who has to run for it, precious secret in tow, when the forces of evil wreck his young life. Yes, that does sound very familiar. Partly that's because I'm trying to avoid spoilers and thereby reducing things to very bare bones. But it is very familiar. 

What makes it work though is the characters and their dynamics. They're likeable. There's just the right ratios of snark to nobility, boneheaded loyalty to genuine sense. The world too has just enough little details to feel mainly fresh, with the representation of the angels being particularly enjoyable. And that's the right word for this book. Enjoyable. Anyone wanting to simply escape into a familiar world of adventure should check in righ here.

2) Heart of Granite by James Barclay

From one light-hearted adventure with just enough heft to work to another - but there's nothing familiar about Heart of Granite. That is, unless you read a lot of Science-Fantasy books in which alien DNA is used to replace fighter jets with dragons and make mahossive dinosaur like things as massive moving fortresses. I don't, but maybe I should.

Anyway, the book centres around Max Halloran, a flippantly arrogant fighter jock who's the best there is at what he does, which is mainly get into trouble. In this particular case, the trouble is a secret about the true nature of things, which is wise as all the best Military stories covers the enemies within that they can't shoot as well as the poor bastards who are merely on the wrong side.

The result is some particularly nice character development. Max will never stop being a Snark Commander of the Honourable Order of Jackasses but the threats to his deeper emotional connections brings out the best of him. And that's what gives this book the heft needed to make it the perfect popcorn fantasy.

3) The Horse Lord by Peter Morwood

Now this is an old book. I found it in a second hand book shop on the Isle of Wight and have never quite forgotten. Its the story of a young warrior called Aldric whose family and birthright is destroyed by a dastardly sorcerer, and who has to go to some rather extreme measures to get restitution. 

The thing I've always liked about this book - other than it being highly enjoyable - is that Aldric has a fairly plausible feeling of a young man who has been brought up to believe violence is a very acceptable answer to a lot of problems. One of the things that I've often thought goes missing in a lot of fantasies is we see all these warrior societies but nobody really delves into what that entails. I mean, good grief, most people I know who've been to an all boys school have a more accepting attitude to casual fisticuffs as a solution than a lot of fantasy heroes.

Anyway, I digress. Its a fun adventure with some spectecular set-pieces, intriguing set characters, and a very cool foster-filial relationship between Aldric and one of the characters. The whole parental or near-parental thing is one of the relationships fantasy sometimes misses out on. A series I should really finish some day.

4) The Woven Ring by MD Presley

Its funny how some books grow on you. When I first read this book, I found the prose a little too stiff to fall in love with. But the story has stuck in my mind. There is a certain quality which reminds me of the Korean film Oldboy, the way moss grows on a wooden block that has got wet. It is the story of a life being ruined for no ostensible reason, and the revenge and redemption that follows.

The setting builds loosely on the American Civil War and features a spy and magician (I use that term very, very loosely) named Marta, stuck down on her luck when given one simple seeming job. The job is - surprise! - not that simple and lands her with a small and very motley crew. Some fantasy adventuring groups are fun because of the banter and the way they bounce off each other. Some are fun because of the way they splat on each other, like a flightless bird shoved out of a second floor window.

I tend to prefer the former but the latter often stick longer in the memory. As has happened here. For those who prefer to look at the more abrasive - but still sympathetic - characters, the Woven Ring would be a fine place to go.

5) The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams

I should have said at the start of the article that these are all fun adventure books.  That's certainly what this is. It features an ensemble cast, but main billing probably goes to Vintage, a middle aged explorer and scholar who takes an affectionately vexed view on the world. Some characters I would pay simply to hear about their everyday life in their own words; Vintage may well be one of them.

The story - actually I am far too braindead right now to describe the story without going into spoiler territories. After a peek at the Goodreads blurb, I feel safe telling you that there's some bad muddafuddas returning to the world and our poor heroes end up right in the firing line. The book has been described as Epic Fantasy by the author, but to me its got a modern Sword & Sorcery feeling to it; go to interesting places, wonder what the hell was wrong with the people who made the things you found there, escape with your lives. Almost horror without the powerlessness. There's an appealingly effed up sense to the magic too which reminds me of S&S.

So that's what The Ninth Rain is. Your favourite mad auntie going adventuring in a baroque Sword & Sorcery world with a sexy vampire elf swordsman (that's a close to verbatim quote from the author) and a traumatised fire witch. I'd buy that again.


Anyway, I hope that gave some of you some reading ideas, or if not ideas of what to avoid. I'll sneeze on you if you didn't. Have a good weekend people.

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