Reviews with titles beginning with J.
Adam Roberts is one of those rare authors who not only manage to create a rewarding, entertaining story but also does so in a way that challenges your perceptions, encourages you examine that which you take for granted and often plays on accepted norms of the genre. Jack Glass is no exception....
The arrival of the Jagannath changed everything. Humanity did not have time to reflect on the fact that they were not alone in the Universe. This amorphous blob appears unstoppable, simply absorbing everyone in it's path and assimilating their identity and intellect. Growing stronger and smarter...
I always forget how unpleasant some of the antiheros were in Victorian era fantasy and science fiction. In my mind I think of the era being full of ladies and gentlemen, but there were plenty of loathsome people too. Looking back on the working conditions and how society treated its poor,...
Jem is a classic science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. Pohl writes a new book every year, this one is high on the pile of what I've read. It was just sitting simply and carefully almost precariously in the 'forget it' pile up til page 80 and then whammo! I got so jumped on with the typeface I...
Simply put this is a witty outlook on modern life and the consumerists of today. It does bare great similarities with the classic Orwell novel but where that can be quite dark and bleak this novel, although fatalistic somewhat is rather funny. The characters in the novel all having surnames from...
I discovered Michael Moorcock’s work fairly late in life. I’d just started teaching in Higher Education and was pointed towards both Elric of Melibone and his academic text – Wizardry and Wild Romance. The latter I found disagreeable, but deeply insightful and the former a read I could...
One of the newer books in the (never-ending) Discworld saga. I'm finding it extremely hard to say anything interesting about this book – not because it's bad, but it's a Discworld novel and …well that's it. It's no worse and no better than all the other Discworld novels. Pratchett is funny,...
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...
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 -...
Another book found at random during one of my frequent book hunts which usually end up with more books on my shelf that I don't have the time to read. This time however I have been sent the third novel in the series by those wonderful people at Headline so I thought it a good idea to read the...
There is a new Drug on the street known as Soy Sauce which kicks you across time and through dimensions, but some who come back could no longer be called human. David Wong and his best friend John (those names are fake) are ready to tell you about the sauce, about Korrock, about the invasion,...
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is an alternative history novel by Susanna Clarke. In the year 1806, England is becoming frustrated by the long drawn out war with Napoleon. Practical Magic has long faded into the countries history but one remaining true Magician is found, a very reclusive Mr...
Joshua and Aaron is the second volume in the ITP series, following on from the events of Future Hope, written by David Gelber. It is the the year 2163 and 7 years have passed since David Sanders fated voyage through the ITP to another world. Joshua Smith shuns society and instead spends his...
If you like your science fiction with a dystopian edge, this might be a good book for you.
The Afterblight Chronicles is a shared world series published by Abaddon Books. Originating in 2006, with Simon Spurrier’s The Culled and passing through the hands of several different writers...
What can be said about this author that hasn’t been said before? Prolific. Scary. Master of terror. King is all of these and more. King has really grown as not just a writer of horror throughout his career but as a true wordsmith, a master of his art and none more so than with this latest...
What made people think that the middle of the desert was the right place to build a town like Los Vegas where people from around the world flock to get their vice on? It was the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere, safe from prying eyes and it was desperate to for people to visit. There...
Some people love the city life, there is something to do every hour of the day. I find it a little odd. You can open the door of your million-pound house and have to step over the passed out person on your step. One street can look like it is from a movie set,...
Growing up my group of friends was obsessed with America and all wanted to move there. They had all been taken in by the glossy American films and TV shows that suggested that even if you were unemployed, you would own a swanky loft apartment. I had relatives who live there and was far...
Writing a futuristic science fiction novel will allow you to explore strange new worlds but can also be used to explore our past and culture. Reading a wide range of stories from different people, from different parts of the world is a gift that will keep giving your entire life. There has been...
Junction asks the question: what would we do if we had access to a brand new, virgin world? Would we destroy it like we are doing with our own world? Or would we learn from our mistakes and treat this as a second chance to do things right?
Daisuke Matsumori is a Japanese nature show host...
There's a new sheriff in town, and he's got the Nightside's rich and powerful quaking in their boots. He's The Walking Man, and it's his mission to exorcise sinners - with extreme prejudice. Problem is, the Nightside was built on sin and corruption, and The Walking Man makes no distinction...
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