Lowly’s Book Blog

Ah yes, there had to be an Indiana Jones novel somewhere in the pile. This is it. And just like the movies, suspend logic, buckle seat belt, and go along for a ride.

Three murders, one in Rome, one in Africa and one in a genetics lab at Princeton University. Nothing apparently connects them, except for a strange cross burned into their skin. Enter Sigma Force to solve the mystery. And the ancient source of power that will destroy or save the world? Is it really the reason that the Domesday Book listed some towns in Anglo-Saxon England as wasted? And how does St Malachy fit into the whole mystery? Sorry, I can’t tell you because that would spoil the story. I will just say that Rollins has certainly put together a fascinating tale that links these various ideas into a wonderfully suspenseful adventure.

Apparently the Sigma Force novels have been around for years. I just haven’t read any before. But I firmly believe that fans of the action adventure novel that won’t make you think too hard will love this book, and probably many others in the series.

I hate picking up a story in the middle! I hate starting to watch a movie after it has started. I am not one of these people who is quite content to watch a film 10 minutes at a time. So picking up a fantasy series in book three is going to be difficult. And it was. It took real discipline to get through the first hundred pages, but once I worked out who was who and what was what, this became a most interesting fantasy tale.

The story opens after the destructive battle of Scree. Thousands of men lost their lives in the battle and the city was wiped from the face of the earth. The victors have retreated to their home cities in the north and are now trying to put their lives back into some normality. However, another army has formed in the south and they are marching north.

Isak is now king of his region, a young man learning the responsibilities of leadership while trying to come to terms with what he saw and did at Scree. His kingdom is fractured by a wide variety of cults and religions. And the Gods are getting involved in the fight. Each God is gathering converts and negotiating with humans to gain some advantage over the others. As a result the society is torn apart by cults and religious factions. Isak must somehow gather all these forces together in order to stop the army invading from the south.

As with many middle books in a fantasy series, this book is filled with details that seem irrelevant to the story being told. But you just know that the significants of the Mortal Aspects will become more important in book 4 and it is important to know why the decisions were made. And it was fairly obvious that the Crystal Skulls were important sources of magical power, but little details like how many and where were glossed over in this book.

Admittedly Lloyd provided an extensive introduction, but at that stage of the book I was overwhelmed by the odd names and could make very little sense of it. It was easier to go with the blurb and dive into the story, with frequent references to the who’s who in the final pages.

This book was hard work to read. But I found indications of a wonderful maturity in fantasy writing. This is far more than the average good and evil fantasy. The cover notes compared Lloyd to Feist, one of my favourite fantasy authors. I suspect that may be a valid comparison. I would have hated to pick up Darkness at Sethanon without reading Magician. So someday when I have nothing better to do, I will pick up the complete series of The Twilight Reign read it properly, one end to the other. But as individual books? Don’t bother.

One book, two authors. Yeah right, tell me that works. It can be done if the plot involves telling a story from two different points of view, but a murder mystery? Not likely.

When a New York Times reporter is brutally murdered in his apartment, NYPD is under pressure to solve the crime. Vincent D’Agosta thinks that he has everything under control, when FBI Special Agent Pendergast shows up to ‘help’. But is his help only a distraction into voodoo and black magic? Quickly the investigation leads to a hidden cult deep in the heart of Manhattan.

This book is an interesting mix of crime thriller and horror. There are zombies mixed right in with the forensic police work. Most surprising, it works. The plot is convincing and the characters ring true. The two authors successfully blend their writing style to tell one story. OK so it isn’t totally realistic. That is very obvious from the entrance of the first zombie. But the story is engaging and generally an entertaining read, just switch off the logic functions and go along for the ride.

One of the most common bits of advice given to young authors is to write what you know about. Well obviously Riches lives near Hadrian’s Wall and he has spent many years coming to understand the live of the Roman legions stationed there. Now he has shared this knowledge and understanding with all of us in this most entertaining novel.

But first a little Roman history. Everyone knows about Julius Caesar, and maybe even his nephew Augustus. But how many have actually looked any further into the Roman emperors? Well, for the novices, many emperors were very paranoid, and as a result would frequently eliminate anyone who disagreed with them along with their whole household, family, servants and slaves. Young Praetorian Guard Marcus Aquila is escaping Emperor Commodus who has destroyed the rest of his family by fleeing to the most remote province of Britannia. There he changes his name and joins a legion stationed on Hadrian’s Wall.

But his experience and intelligence cannot be hidden. He becomes a centurion, and under his leadership his century shines. This is not always a good thing when you are trying to hide from a vindictive emperor.

I loved the detail about life in the Roman army. By this time in history, the legions have very few Romans in their ranks. Riches demonstrates an excellent understanding of the officers and the men of the legions and how they lived, adapting some Roman customs while clinging to their native culture. He has also written a wonderful tale about military life and the loyalties that can be formed within that routine.

Riches is obviously very familiar with Northern England. According to the media release, he began writing this novel after a visit to Housesteads Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall. His understanding of the geography has made the battles very credible. The media release also mentions his passion for military history, and this is very obvious from the accurate detail in the accounts of everyday life for the legion.

Wounds of Honour is book one in a planned series called Empire. This first volume hinted that Marcus may be forced to flee to other distant provinces in order to escape the death sentence that has been pronounced. I hope that Riches is equally familiar with these other provinces, or he has the budget to enable him to do the research required to maintain the quality of his historical detail.

I very rarely get the chance to read a book in one sitting, but once I started this one, there was no choice.

Jasmyn is a young woman whose life is in chaos. She has recently been married, but one day her husband Liam suddenly dies. In her grief, Jasmyn isolates herself from everyone and everything. But there seems to be some mystery involving his twin brother Ben. As she begins to restore order to her life, Jasmyn starts to investigate this undefined strangeness. The investigation leads her to Europe, and the land of fairy tales and enchantments. She uncovers a tale of murder, stolen love and deception. But who can be trusted?

Bell is very skilled at interweaving myth and reality. In his previous novel, he mingled the mythology of angels with the reality of life in a city. Here he is mixing the cultural icons of magic and mythology with the reality of modern life and love. His craftsmanship is superb. The characters remain true and yet when the end is revealed, the reader wonders how on earth they missed all the clues. Probably they were missed because the story itself is so engaging that there isn’t time to stop and wonder about the meaning of all the little inconsistencies of life.

Jasmyn is simply one of the best books that I have read in a very long time.

I started this book assuming that it was going to be another in the ‘Indiana Jones’ genre. A bunch of archaeologists are running around the world looking for the definitive proof of the power of God before the bad guys get there and acquire the proof to use for their own devious plans. I was wrong. This is actually a thought-provoking book about the manipulation of society using technology.

A small CNN reporting team are on board an Antarctic exploration vessel watching one of the great ice sheets crumble. The view is spectacular, but not as spectacular as the mysterious light that suddenly appears in the sky, changing shape and colour as it hangs in place. Immediately the news media springs into action, looking for an explanation. But the next day, the same sign is seen again over a melting glacier in Greenland. Is this God sending a message to his people? The CNN team are looking for explanations, and the clues seem to indicate that a Koptic monastery in Egypt may hold a clue. They arrive to discover that one of the monks has been drawing this sign on the walls of a cave for weeks while he has been in retreat. When the team show their discovery to the world, the same mysterious light appears over the head of Father Jerome, and all hell breaks loose.

This is the point where the real story begins. Yes this is a real shoot-em-up adventure. Guns, fistfights and violence is involved on every page. But there is also a hidden theme about religious fanaticism, unthinking news journalism and secrecy in science. These themes are far more interesting than the car thief who can out fight and out shoot a special operations officer. But I suppose that the action fans must have their explosions or they won’t buy the book. Personally, I would much prefer to leave all the silliness involving Matt and Jabba out and let Gracie work out the answers for herself. Sorry, but I was really annoyed by Matt before the final chapters.

This book comes with a Publisher’s Promise, Love it our your money back. I might go as far as like, but love it??

cI rarely get the opportunity to review children’s books for Buzz, but I snatched at this one as soon as it was unpacked. Everything about it said, read me, now!

This book is exactly what you expect it to be, the letters of the alphabet illustrated using animals. One word on each page, and the associated letter. You have all seen the sort of thing on Sesame Street.

But this book has some wonderful illustrations. Andrew Zukerman is an excellent animal photographer. His photos demand attention. At first I assumed that the illustrations were drawn in a photorealistic style, but upon closer inspection, this level of detail could only come from the animal itself.

But a picture book is more than the illustrations. The text is placed carefully to suit each photo and the whole effect is to demand reading.

Thinking about Christmas presents for a youngster? This would jump to the top of my list.

This is another book shortlisted for the CBC awards, and it well deserves nomination. But for all kinds of reasons, I hope it doesn’t win. Personally, I am uncomfortable with the level of violence.

The book opens with Dylan ‘dropping in’ on his almost girlfriend Kirsty one Sunday afternoon. Accidently he times his visit to coincide with Kirsty’s stepfather’s fortnightly visit when he returns his daughter after his access weekend. This fortnightly visit follows a long established routine of verbal abuse, denigration, and general bullying that re-establishes Ian’s control over the family for another fortnight.

After witnessing this demolition of people that he likes and respects, Dylan gets angry. As a young social activist, he rushes in with all kinds of advice and good intentions. But Kirsty and Time, the younger brother, gradually help Dylan understand the way they are trapped. They have tried, but Ian has a very aggressive lawyer. Everything got tied in knots and soon all the community services that are supposed to help started avoiding any involvement.

But Dylan is still angry, partially at Ian, but also at his own father who deserted his mother when Dylan was only months old. This level of anger and frustration needs to be vented.

The story rapidly escalates to an incredible level of violence for a book written for young adults. Yes there are moments when all the young people enjoy life, a shopping trip, a pool party, and even a first kiss. But the continual undercurrent of anger and violence is always just below the surface. And then a gun gets involved…

This was an excellent book to read. The writing was strong and the level of tension was maintained throughout. I had great difficulty putting it aside and consequently read it in one day. But I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea that violent behavior requires a violent response. What are we telling our children in this age of road rage and nightclub brawls?

This book has been on my reading list for months. It was released in January, but somehow it never appealed. Part of the reason is that this is clearly a continuation of a fantasy saga and regular readers will know how I feel about that. In fact it appears that the author had finished a double trilogy about The Raven, and now there is just one more book. To me that smacks of a publisher’s push for a story that never needed telling but certainly needed selling.

I haven’t read anything from the previous trilogy, but very quickly Barclay reminds his readers that he had killed off most of The Raven, his band of heroes. Only two survive and they have established lives and careers very different from their mercenary ways. But one day the dead refuse to die! Gradually dead bodies, each animated by the soul of a Raven, gather in Sol’s inn. It seems there is one more evil for them to fight.

The evil is very impressive. Imagine huge machines, each supported by indestructible soldiers, that suddenly appear out of nowhere and proceed to harvest mana. The process virtually sucks all life from that area. Complete and total devastation. The whole planet is under attack. And the last continent for harvest is where Sol lives.

But how do a band of dead bodies fight, let alone destroy the indestructible. And where do these monsters come from? Therein lies the tale, and I will go no further.

I found this book amazing. The action scenes were riveting. The characters, including the heroes, were flawed and very believable. Barclay’s novel is not only an incredible action adventure, but he has taken the time to portray the political and philosophical background to his tale. That simply ground the story very solidly. At time I would have loved a map, but as I moved through the book, it really didn’t matter. And the final scene is just so right.

This was an excellent fantasy novel written by a master of the genre.

Fasten your seatbelt. Place critical thinking on hold. Activate visual imagination. Now you are ready for Andy McDermott’s latest thriller.

My regular readers will be familiar with the term ‘Indiana Jones’ genre and some of you will know that I am a real fan of Andy McDermott. This is a worthy addition to his booklist and as I was reading it, several other fans were keen to lay their hands on a copy.

In this the fourth book of the Eddie Chase series, Eddie and Nina are on the trail of an ancient civilisation, one far older than Atlantis, that has apparently disappeared from the face of the earth. Of course, there are a bunch of bad guys sworn to protect the secrets of this civilisation by killing everyone who learns anything and obliterating all archaeological traces. But of course Eddie and Nina survive their first encounter and once again find a treasure that will change mankind’s future. Well, maybe.

OK so the plot is not original. That’s why it is called a genre. But Andy McDermott writes it well. The story unfolds like a high-speed action movie with car chases, high explosives, and lots and lots of hand-to-hand combat. The reader never has a chance to draw breath. And that is the whole fun of the story. This is a book you read for pure entertainment.

And I really, really liked the explanation of the Genesis story at the end.