Antony Jones

Books reviewed by Ant (873)

  • Out of OzGregory Maguire
    Out of Oz
    by Gregory Maguire
    Fantasy

    I must admit that I missed the first 3 novels in this series although I have heard a lot about them (all good) and remember hearing about the (Tony winning) Broadway musical that was based on the first book "Wicked". The books themselves are inspired by Frank Baum's childrens classic "The Wonderful...

  • Legends of Marithia: Darkness RisingPeter Koevari
    Fantasy

    Back in May last year I reviewed a novel by Peter Koevari, a promising new Indie author who has been creating an epic fantasy series known as Legends of Marithia. This is the second novel in that series and follows straight on from the events of the previous book - Legends of Marithia: Prophecies Aw...

  • Who Goes ThereJohn W Campbell
    Who Goes There
    by John W Campbell
    Science Fiction

    "Who Goes There?" is the novella by John W Campbell on which John Carpenter based the classic film "The Thing", its presented here with another 6 short stories by the same author, mostly published within Astounded magazine in the 1930's. John W Campbell is widely regarded as being highly influential...

  • Theme PlanetAndy Remic
    Theme Planet
    by Andy Remic
    Science Fiction

    Andy Remic has managed to carve out his own particular niche within the science fiction genre, deliberately pushing the boundaries and not holding back in the slightest. Finding a new Remic book is very much like finding a new Tarrantino film - you just know it's going to be an irresistible action p...

  • Empire StateAdam Christopher
    Empire State
    by Adam Christopher
    Science Fiction

    Empire State is the début novel of the talented author Adam Christopher, combining a superhero tale with an alternative reality prohibition era noir-esque New York. Throw in gangsters, private investigators and a rogue robot and even a slight nod to steampunk then you have one daring mix. The parall...

  • PureJulianna Baggott
    Pure
    by Julianna Baggott
    Science Fiction

    I do so love a post apocalyptic tale and they often seem not very far from the reality in these times of economic turmoil. It therefore gives me great pleasure to inform you dear reader of another tale of survival after a world altering cataclysmic event. Pressia can barely remember a time before th...

  • Secret HarmoniesPaul McAuley
    Secret Harmonies
    by Paul McAuley
    Science Fiction

    I first read this book about 20 years ago, one that I picked up at random having not heard anything about the author in the slightest, it become one of the most memorable books I have read before or since and this will be the third or fourth time I have read it. Ironically it's still the only novel...

  • CoyoteAllen Steele
    Coyote
    by Allen Steele
    Science Fiction

    I first found this novel during a book hunt back in 2006, at that time I hadn't heard of the author however I had just read Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars and as such was looking for another space opera "settlement" style novel. What I found with Coyote impressed me so much that I went straight out...

  • World War ZMax Brooks
    World War Z
    by Max Brooks
    Fantasy

    A Zombie novel by the son of comic legend Mel Brooks, World War Z is told as a series of interconnected interviews from survivors of the zombie war all over the world. This method of storytelling is very different, there is no central protagonist or contiguous plot, instead we learn about the story...

  • Counter Clock WorldPhilip K Dick
    Counter Clock World
    by Philip K Dick
    Science Fiction

    Philip K Dick first wrote this story as a short called "Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday" which was published in the August 1966 edition of the Amazing Stories magazine. Counter Clock World is the expanded, novel length version and was published a year later. The novel uses the Big Crunch theory t...

  • The Word for World is ForestUrsula K Le Guin
    The Word for World is Forest
    by Ursula K Le Guin
    Science Fiction

    Far in the future the humans of Earth have spread to the stars, but at great cost to Earths fragile ecosystem. For a world that is largely concrete and plastic, wood has more value than gold and the Terrans waste no time in establishing a logging colony and military base named "New Tahiti" on an idy...

  • The Ghost from the Grand BanksArthur C Clarke
    The Ghost from the Grand Banks
    by Arthur C Clarke
    Science Fiction

    It's been too long since I read an Arthur C Clarke book, before I even started reviewing in fact and so when the opportunity presented itself to review The Ghost from the Grand Banks I jumped at the chance. This is one of Clarkes later novels, published in 1990 and the story revolves around the reco...

  • Power TripJeff Thomason
    Power Trip
    by Jeff Thomason
    Science Fiction

    Power Trip is a novel featuring the Wondering Koala, a mute superhero who always manages to stand up for those who need help. This time we are in "Firebird City", home to 8 million people and one power company. After six months of job hunting following college René thinks he's finally hit the jackpo...

  • The Everlasting Beyond of Eternal HappinessMichael Amos
    Science Fiction

    The Everlasting Beyond of Eternal Happiness reminds me quite a bit of Harry Harrisons "Bill, The Galactic Hero" series, which itself is in part a parody of Heinlein's Starship Troopers - there is a very similar irony running throughout and the book even shares some of the same vernacular. There are...

  • The Legends of LightGill Shutt
    The Legends of Light
    by Gill Shutt
    Fantasy

    Legends of Light is a high fantasy saga told as a series of poems, each building upon the last to weave a tale of magic, romance and creatures of the dark. I must admit that I am not really one to read poems, they have never interested me in the slightest and so when I was asked to review this book...

  • WiredDouglas E Richards
    Wired
    by Douglas E Richards
    Science Fiction

    Kira Miller is a highly gifted engineer working in the field of gene therapy; she manages to enhance the function of the brain to such a degree that makes immortality a real possibility through a savant like consciousness. But what secrets could be unlocked by playing god with the human brain? Wired...

  • Symphony of BloodAdam Pepper
    Symphony of Blood
    by Adam Pepper
    Fantasy

    Hank Mondale is a rough and ready P.I. who likes to drink and gamble more than he should, a lifestyle choice which has led to his landlord threatening to evict him and bookie threatening a great deal worse, he desperately needs a break. When the real estate mogul Thomas Blake calls with a paid job o...

  • The Ice Wars of DominiaHylton H Smith
    The Ice Wars of Dominia
    by Hylton H Smith
    Science Fiction

    Over a 100 years have passed since the annihilative events of 2045 and the world is a very different place. With the earths climate raging out of control and ice spread across much of the globe humanity is forced to survive in nomadic pockets around the narrow band of the "Temperate Zone" near the e...

  • Fingers and other Fantastic StoriesMarian Coman
    Fantasy

    Fingers and other Fantastic Stories is an anthology by the talented Romanian author Marian Coman, current editor in chief of the newspaper "Obiectiv - Vocea Br'ilei" and a very talented writer. Fingers is his first work to be translated from his own language and includes four short stories that were...

  • The Silent LandGraham Joyce
    The Silent Land
    by Graham Joyce
    Fantasy

    The Silent Land concerns the story of Jake and Zoe who find themselves cut off from civilisation after being trapped in an Avalanche while on a skiing holiday. Managing to claw and wriggle her way out of her snowbound tomb Zoe finds Jake has miraculously survived. On return to their hotel they find...

  • The WeirdAnn Vandermeer
    The Weird
    by Ann Vandermeer
    Fantasy

    The Weird is a landmark tome of leviathan proportions, gathering together the best weird fiction from the last 100 years or so (beginning in 1908) from some of the most talented people that ever put pen to paper. It's difficult to convey just how much information is contained in this truly gargantua...

  • Hull Zero ThreeGreg Bear
    Hull Zero Three
    by Greg Bear
    Science Fiction

    A starship hurtles through the empty void of space towards an unknown destination, it's purpose and history lost in the midst of time. One man finds himself ripped from his dream of a new home and partner and awakens to the freezing cold and dark halls of Hull Zero One, a place that seems full of da...

  • RUR & War with the NewtsKarel Capek
    RUR & War with the Newts
    by Karel Capek
    Science Fiction

    R.U.R. (Russum's Universal Robots) is a "play" written almost 100 years ago and first introduced the world to the word "robot" which was derived from the Czech word "robota" meaning serf labor or hard work. ?apek has actually credited his brother (the painter and writer Josef ?apek) as the actual in...

  • The Black Gods WarMoses Siregar III
    The Black Gods War
    by Moses Siregar III
    Fantasy

    The war against the lands of Pawelon is now in its tenth year and King Vieri hopes that the kingdom's holy saviour, his son Caio will lead his army to a final victory. Meanwhile Caio's sister Lucia is tortured with nightly visions from the Black God Lord Danato promising another 10 years of bloodshe...

  • The Dying of the Light: EndJason Kristopher
    The Dying of the Light: End
    by Jason Kristopher
    Fantasy

    I must admit that I am developing a bit of a soft spot for Zombie novels, I love the way that each I have read recently has something different to offer, from the pseudo first person account of World War Z to the subtle and gradual style of David Moody's Autumn, even though they are all descended fr...

  • HellbentCherie Priest
    Hellbent
    by Cherie Priest
    Fantasy

    Hellbent sees the return of the sassy super thief Raylene - also known as Cheshire Red - who is back to her usual tricks, hired to retrieve a valuable magical artifact. This time however she is up against a very powerful Witch and must team up with x-Navy SEAL and fabulous drag queen Adrian deJesus;...

  • Discord of Lupinda: The AwakenedTony Elliott
    Fantasy

    One man's quest for the justice of his wronged mother brings war to a land made soft by a forced but enduring peace. As the conflict spreads a few survivors flee into an alien world of currency, corruption, commerce and cruelty while behind them a long buried darkness returns, something that the wor...

  • Picus the ThiefRobin Bennett
    Picus the Thief
    by Robin Bennett
    Fantasy

    Picus is one of those people who act as a magnet for trouble, disowned by his parents (or at least his quite scary mother) for not being blood-thirsty enough, hunted by the violent vampire Raben for the theft of an item that wasn't really his and wanted by the leader of the faie Queen Mab (the tooth...

  • The AffirmationChristopher Priest
    The Affirmation
    by Christopher Priest
    Science Fiction

    The Affirmation is one seriously good book, managing to create a complex and mind bending scenario that plays on the structure of reality, levels of existence and the nature of the mind - the very notion of "self" and the idea of identity. The story is narrated in the first person by the central pro...

  • ChosenJerry Ibbotson
    Chosen
    by Jerry Ibbotson
    Fantasy

    Alex is a grumpy daydreamer who spends his life working in an office, commuting via trains and spending time with his family. He has a strong sense of detachment about the world around him and tends to float through life, that is until he finds a tunnel in the basement at work which leads to a very...

  • The RecollectionGareth L Powell
    The Recollection
    by Gareth L Powell
    Science Fiction

    Strange arches are appearing all over the world and the brother of failed artist Ed disappears through one that suddenly jumps into being at the bottom of a London Escalator. With no visible way back Ed must put aside his differences with his brother's wife and go find him. Four hundred years into t...

  • The Road to HellPeter Cawdron
    The Road to Hell
    by Peter Cawdron
    Science Fiction

    Not to be confused with the A589 (which is the road to Morecambe) or that very depressing Cormac McCarthy novel, The Road to Hell* (now known as Out of Time) is indeed paved with good vibrations intentions, in this case that road involves a future that uses a limited form of time travel. During the...

  • Daylight on Iron MountainDavid Wingrove
    Daylight on Iron Mountain
    by David Wingrove
    Science Fiction

    Daylight on Iron Mountain is the second book in David Wingrove's epic re-imagining of his Chung Kuo series and follows on from the events in the incredible novel Son of Heaven , I seriously recommend you read that novel first. Although we still have the characters of Jack, Mary and their family - wh...

  • Blood ReactionDL Atha
    Blood Reaction
    by DL Atha
    Fantasy

    Asa, the century old, vindictive and cruel vampire invades the home of single mother and physician Annalice forcing her to strike a bargain for her daughters life as the monster takes control of her own life and home. Caught in a race against a genetic timeline she must rely on her skills as a physi...

  • Down to the BoneJustina Robson
    Down to the Bone
    by Justina Robson
    Science Fiction

    Down to the Bone is the first novel I have read in the Quantum Gravity series and indeed the first by Justina Robson, as such this review should be seen from that perspective; how a novice of the series will fare jumping in at the fifth and final volume. The idea behind Quantum Gravity is that our r...

  • AutumnDavid Moody
    Autumn
    by David Moody
    Fantasy

    Autumn was originally self published and given away by the author ten years ago, since then it has been read by hundreds of thousands of people and even turned into a film starring David Carradine and Dexter Fletcher. It's now published by those fantastic people over at Gollancz and I must say that...

  • Johannes Cabal the Fear InstituteJonathan L Howard
    Johannes Cabal the Fear Institute
    by Jonathan L Howard
    Fantasy

    So here we reach the third novel featuring that acerbic anti hero Johannes Cabal who this time get's recruited by the mysterious Fear Institute to lead an expedition into the Dreamlands - an alternative reality created by peoples dreams. There they must hunt and destroy the dread Phobic Animus - the...

  • No Safe HavenCarmen Webster Buxton
    No Safe Haven
    by Carmen Webster Buxton
    Science Fiction

    No Safe Haven is the direct sequel to The Sixth Discipline and follows the fortunes of Ran-Del and Francesca who are now happily married parents. Ran-Del still doesn't know what vision his clan shaman had which forced him from his tribe however his own little known "psy" abilities have helped him to...

  • The Wayfarer KingKC May
    The Wayfarer King
    by KC May
    Fantasy

    The new king of Thendylath Gavin Kinshield has vowed to protect the realm and it's people from the evil of the Beyonders - creatures of chaos who appear without warning and invade the world of men to wreak havoc. For this though he will need an army and of course a huge amount of funds to support su...

  • Johannes Cabal the DetectiveJonathan L Howard
    Johannes Cabal the Detective
    by Jonathan L Howard
    Fantasy

    So here we have the return of Johannes Cabal, a little older, maybe a little wiser; at the very least more "complete" than he was, this time he's attempting to steal a rare book in his continued quest to understand how to defeat death. Captured in the act and awaiting execution Cabal is forced to re...