The Crying Machine by Greg Chivers

Science documentary producer Greg Chivers’ first novel is a delightful combination of sci-fi, politics, and the three strange characters ensconced within them.

Chivers’ future Jerusalem is a city all but ignored as irrelevant by the world’s leaders, and in its anonymity the Holy City has become a haven for smugglers, exiles and extremists. While flying under the radar of the globe’s superpowers, the Middle Eastern metropolis teems with dubious characters, black...

No Way by S J Morden

No Way is the follow up to the gripping thriller One Way.  A perilous journey to the Red Planet by a group of convicts. Deciding that it was much more economically viable to train people that would have otherwise rotted in a jail rather than a group of experienced and highly trained Astronauts forms the basis of the story.

I can't really mention any more than that without spoilers to this first book - so if you haven't read One Way and are meaning to, it's best not to read any fu...

Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray

With the new films, TV shows and cartoons it is sometimes hard to keep up with the Star Wars Universe and all its moving parts. Some of the less fashionable elements could be ignored in favour of big flashy characters like Han Solo or Boba Fett. Thankfully, the Star Wars books are continuing to explore the entire timeline including the somewhat maligned The Phantom Menace. I am an apologist for this film and particularly liked the relationship between Jedi Knight, Qui-Gon Jinn, and his Padawa...

The Sign of Nine by G. S. Denning

Warlock Holmes is back. No, not Sherlock, Warlock. If you think about it, what makes more sense; a man who can somehow divine everything from a few clues, or a Warlock who just uses magic to do the same? The Sign of Nine continues the premise that Sir Conan Doyle’s original stories were actually edited to remove all the magic bits. Here are Dr Watson’s real notes; were we see Warlock melting locks and Watson himself smoking bits of an ancient Mummy to harvest its hallucinogenic po...

Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers

A Hopeful Future

Review kindly provided by Vanessa Smyth. 

Welcome to the third and latest instalment in The Wayfarers series, Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. This current narrative is set within the same captivating universe as the first two books and, despite a few oblique character links, this is an original story which can be read as a standalone novel, though I would recommend reading it in sequence. This is because you will get a sense of Chambers&rsquo...

The Magnificent Nine by James Lovegrove

Any show on the US TV network Fox has to realise that its days could be numbered. Fox have the reputation of axing cult shows before their time from Arrested Development to Family Guy. Despite their cancelation these shows are still being made. Firefly was not so lucky. This was a science fiction/western mash up that just cost a little too much for Fox to fund for more than a dozen episodes or so. But like a typical Joss Whedon character, the show would not stay dead. With the great film Sere...

The Passengers by John Marrs

Call me old fashioned, I am a little scared of the future. This is a sentiment that will hit many of us eventually. What is wrong with the way technology works right now? Do I really need to talk to my speakers or plug myself into the Matrix just to order a pizza? The idea of getting behind the wheel of an automatic car gives me the heebie-jeebies, but just this week laws are being passed to allow cars to limit your speed by pinging up to a satellite. A future in which all cars are automated ...

Molten Heart by Una McCormack

Back in the day the Doctor Who spin off novels had a real advantage over the TV show as they had no budget. The limit to what could happen in these books was not down to the pen pushers at the BBC or the naivety of special effects. The only limit to the books was the author’s imagination. Go big or go home as no one will tell you no. By Doctor Number 13, even the BBC can pretty much do what they want with CGI so the novels have lost one of their unique selling points. Molten Heart by Un...

The Buried Dagger by James Swallow

So this is it, the 54th and final book in the Horus Heresy series. But before you despair, it isn't the end of the story and the mad Titan Horus is only just knocking on the doors of Terra. The final battle will be played out over a series of novels called the Siege of Terra, presumably ending with the legendary fight of Horus against the Emperor. That series starts with The Solar War, coming out in May this year. Black Library have promised that this series won't be drawn out into anoth...

This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

The crime genre is very well established and has many shortcuts and tropes that you can use. This allows genre authors to drape their own unique ideas over familiar territory. Want to write a book about a Dinosaur PI – go ahead. Sherlock Holmes actually a Warlock – sorted. You can throw in crazy ideas and twists in the knowledge that the crime foundations they are built on are firm. The issue is that although the fantastical elements often work, the crime elements do not; writing ...

Titan Death by Guy Haley

The 53rd and penultimate book in the epic Horus Heresy series and the brave soldiers of the Emperor attempt to hold back the armies of chaos from reaching Terra.

The line is drawn on Beta-Garmon and god-machines of the Adeptus Titanicus are at the front. Horus has defeated all that have stood before him, even the Emperor's own Executioner - the Primarch of the Space Wolves Leman Russ.

There only remains on more book after this one in Black Libraries momentous Horus Heresy...

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

Lies Sleeping is the seventh book (eighth if you count The Furthest Station) in the impressive River of London urban fantasy series, following Peter Grant - detective constable for the metropolitan police and apprentice wizard.

It looks like time may finally be up for the Faceless Man (Martin Chorley) as a joint police operation looks to ensnare the criminal mastermind. But even as the unwieldy might of the Metropolitan Police bears down on its foe, Peter uncovers clues that Chor...

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Illustration ©2019 Francis Vallejo from The Folio Society edition of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.

The asymmetrical sequel to Gaiman’s American Gods, Anansi Boys makes use of the same dramatic conceit, that Gods exist and walk amongst us. However, this story from Gaiman is more of an urban folk tale, utilising a variety of authentic sources to bring us the myth of Anansi and his sons. This Folio Society edition is the ultimate treatment of Gaiman&rsqu...

The Telling by Ursula K Le Guin

What is religion?

Most of us aren’t used to contemplating that question too hard. The answer seems self-evident. In the world around us now, we have Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as the big three monotheistic religions. India and East Asia provide numerous examples of the polytheistic variety. It might be tempting to fall back on some seeming truism, such as, “all religions are about adherence to a set of rules,” but stray outside of those big three monotheis...