Reviews with titles beginning with K.
Kaleidoscope Century is the second volume in the Century Next Door series by the author John Barnes. I'm quite sure that I haven't read any John Barnes before and that can only be classified as a big mistake. Barnes is writing like nobody else that I can remember or try to compare him to. It's...
If you missed out on Michael Moorcock the first time around, the collated paperback editions of his work from Gollancz are an excellent way to discover his stories. Kane of Old Mars collects three Kane books, Warriors of Mars, Blades of Mars and Barbarians of Mars. All of Moorcock’s adventures...
Kells Legend is the first volume in the Clockwork Vampires Chronicles and has been written by Andy Remic. Without warning came the vast albino army, the army of iron, invading Falanor from the north. To have any hope of survival a small band set off to warn the King. The band leaves quickly and...
There is an internet meme of Will Ferrel playing a dishevelled looking Anchorman and stating, “well that escalated quickly.” I have read many crime thrillers in my time, and they often pick up pace and rattle along, but none have...
Like any genre, the horror genre has shifts in style and tone. I was always a fan of the nasty horror stories of the late 70s and early 80s. Books that saw lots of terrible things happen to good people. In Killer on the Road author Stephen Graham Jones attempts to capture that Grindhouse feel...
People have used the insanity plea in defence of some heinous crimes. Was it months of planning that made you act or next door’s Labrador? When buying a property, it may be a clever idea to heed the warning of the stranger who tells you not to listen the voice when it appears. The last...
Killing is my Business (not to be confused with Megadeth's debut album) is the second novel in Adam Christopher's LA Trilogy, following on from Made to Kill.
Featuring the robot Assassin Raymond Electromatic, disguised as LA's only artificial private...
There is nothing quite like a caper movie. A bunch of loveable rogues essentially breaking the law, but it is ok as they are up against even worse rogues. It is not a genre that I have found in a book format too often, can you capture the humour and pace required to make the ride an exciting...
King Maker is an Urban fantasy novel by Maurice Broaddus, retelling the the ancient Arthurian legend through lives of Indianapolis street gangs and the first in "The knights of Breton Court" series. The story involves the principal character of King, son of Luther and destined to try and unite...
King Rat is the debut of the award winning British author China Miéville. The novel begins with Saul returning from a camping trip to the top floor flat he shares with his father, deciding not to wake him he goes straight to bed. In the early hours of the following morning he is rudely...
There are two ways that you can view the future. We are all doomed, or we will somehow save ourselves. The optimistic The Day the Earth Stood Still way of thinking is that humans will only get around to do something when we are really in a pickle. World ending...
King’s Justice is the second novel in the Knights of Breton Court series and the sequel to the phenomenal novel King maker by Maurice Broaddus. From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. Spurred on with ever more urgent visions by his mystic advisor Merle,...
This is the first Ben Bova that I've read in a long time. Chet Kinsman will do just about anything to get into space, and luckily for him he gets to go to space with the space marines. He's not so lucky when he gets grounded after a "small" accident. He's lucky again when NASA lets him go to...
DOOM is a recognizable brand to any 90s kid or true gamer from the PC age of first person video gaming. One of my most vivid memories as a kid is sitting in my underwear at the large IBM PC a kid, around the age of six, blasting away demons, boneys, and hell-princes until late into the night....
Knife of Dreams is the eleventh volume in the epic Wheel of Time series and is the last full volume written by Robert Jordan. If you have like me arrived here after reading the first 10 volumes then you will appreciate this moment, a long journey, hugely rewarding and it is with a sense of...
The fantasy quest, beginning with a youth, who has gifts and potential they have yet to master. Who is guided by an older mentor and forced from their home by a life changing event onto their journey and battle against evil foes that stand in the way of them reaching adulthood.
On one...
The noble and venerable order of The Knights of the Blazing Sun dedicate themselves to the warrior-goddess Myrmidia and in her name travel the land as Templars. The young knight Hector Goetz is sent to investigate a group of knights gone missing on the distant island of Svunum. Reunited with...
I can't really imagine a more exciting sounding Warhammer 40K novel, a battle during the Horus Heresy conflict that depicts the Ultramarines (my favorite Legion) against the Word Bearers - told with energy and grace by that master of battles Dan Abnett.
The Primarch of the Ultramarines -...
Komarr is a novel in the Miles Vorkosigan Adventures series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Probably the strongest book yet in the continuing saga of Miles Vorkosigan. Bujold has moved a step beyond her usual "let's keep it simple and stick to Miles' point-of-view" for this story and is letting one of...
In this first book of a trilogy, Konrad's life is shattered when his home is destroyed and his true love is slain by daemonic forces. Saved from certain death by the enigmatic mercenary known as Wolf, Konrad sets out on a quest for vengeance and the secret of his destiny. It is an adventure that...
Kraken is essentially "grown up" urban fantasy - and when I say grown up I don't mean littered with expletives but with a deal of maturity and written without compromise (as all Miéville's works are). You won't find any soppy vampires or angst ridden werewolves here, Kraken is a complicated mix...
Krysta the Dark Queen is a dark fantasy novel by the author Pat Castaldo. Justice or revenge? was Krysta a saintly spirit dealing out divine justice or was she an evil ghoul, a vampire who carved a bloodthirsty path for her own revengeful malevolence? The first part of the book is taken up...
Meet Thaddeus Blaklok, mercenary, demonist and down right violent thug-for-hire who uses his fists the way most people use punctuation. He is dragged out of semi-retirement to "retreive" a very mysterious key for his equally mysterious benefactors. He isn't the only one after the artefact...
Book of the month
