Books tagged with: sexual content
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HorrorNow I am a self-professed fan of horror books and have been since I was a teenager, reading hundreds of horror books along the way. Most have been good, a few not so good. I have collected loads of authors along my journey, possessing all the King novels, Herbert novels and quite a few Barker novels...
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HorrorThe first of the sequels to The Rats is a vast improvement to the original in terms of suspense and action. What the book lacks in originality now, due to it being a sequel, it definitely makes up for in horror and gore. The author’s writing has really come a long way in the intervening years and by...
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HorrorGeralds Game is a novel by the master of Horror, Stephen King. This is the first Stephen King book (please notice that I wrote book and not story) I have read that really doesn't have anything supernatural in it. Not that I missed it, GG is still a terrific story. The story starts off with...
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HorrorIt’s been awhile since I picked up one of Mr Laymon’s books and I was quite looking forward to reading this book. With this in mind I picked it up and started ahead. Now for those of you who aren’t aware Laymon was a very prolific writer right up to his death. His books ranged from short sharp shock...
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HorrorOk it’s fair to say I struggled with this book a lot more than I expected to. Promise of an English Stephen King, was lapped up by yours truly, a self-confessed King fan, add on to that the fact I’m English myself and I had a book on my hands I just had to read. The promise was far more than the ac...
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FantasyAsa, 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 phys...
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FantasyThe Guns of Ivrea is a seafaring fantasy adventure that immediately establishes its author, Clifford Beal as eminently knowledgeable in his chosen subject area and a strong storyteller to boot. Our plot revolves around the fortunes of Nicolo Danamis, a pirate in the same vein as Sir Francis Drake,...
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FantasyI first read Tithe when I was young, probably the same age as the main character, Kaye—16. I was entranced. It was so dark, so beautifully written, and so enticing. I wanted more of the silver knight, more of the deliciously dark faery world. It isn’t by any means glorious—there’s teen drinking, gru...
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FantasyKing 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 the...
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FantasyKing’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, King att...
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FantasyCold Light of Day is a contemporary horror novel by Paul Cave. Student Josh Sawyer's passionate encounter with Anna, a beautiful and mysterious young woman, was one that would change his life forever. He must come to terms with Anna's deep, dark and terrifying secrets - that thrust him into a night...
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FantasyReview by author Luis Villazon. This is a detective novel, with a fantasy setting. The city of Winter Moon is surrounded on three sides by impenetrable mountains and on the fourth by an impassable frozen sea. Its only connection to the outside world is via the magical floating city of Crystalline, w...
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Science FictionA Princess of the Aerie is the second volume in the Jak Jinnaka series by author John Barnes. It's hard to stay away from series, in this world. There are a lot of upsides to them and, as long as they stay fresh, the downsides are few. You know what you can expect, you are already wise to the backg...
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Science FictionBlope is about segregation, plastic surgery gone wrong, and all sorts of messed up religion. For a little background, it is basically another version of history where the American Southwest becomes part of an extreme Taiwanese empire. Its ruler uses the American Southwest as an experiment & segregat...
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Science FictionChildren of the Thunder is a science fiction novel by John Brunner. John Brunner has written a really wonderful book 'THE SHEEP LOOK UP' that I should probably re-read. This book came close but not quite to the despondancy that Earth is supposed to face in the present/near future. There is developin...
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Science FictionDreaming of Eden is a science fiction novel by James Lucien. In the dystopian future of 2049, a ravaged world, divided into four Super States, is locked into a continuous war for diminishing resources. Under the oppression of a totalitarian government, an Elite DHS hacker, a robotics scientist, an...
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Science FictionIf you've ever read a Simon Spurrier novel, you will understand how his voice has an almost dirty quality to it. His novels have a raw edge that isn't quite horror but manages to lend some of the gritty reality that the finest horror posses. Nemorensis has that edge, an unusual style and very diffe...
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Science FictionFirst things first, Forever Peace is not a sequel to Forever War, for that you need to look for the later novel Forever Free (expect a review at some point when time permits). Forever Peace does however share a few of the same ideologies as it's predecessor and it also won both the Hugo and Nebu...
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Science FictionThis is a substantive collection of short stories from Alchemy Press, varying in setting, premise and idea but all focusing around the concept of a moment in time as mentioned in the title. These moments are all pivotal and memorable, life defining and changing in each case. The stories themse...
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Science FictionIn the Blood is a science fiction novel by Robert J Sullivan. The Utu festival was only three days old when the first body was found, 22 year old Gloria Ashlock, naked except for her shoes, lashed to a column in a warehouse and stabbed 35 times. The discovery was a shock but not a surprise to the p...
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Science FictionIn the Hall of the Martian King is the third volume in the Jak Jinnaka series by the American author John Barnes. This is the third book in the Jak Jinnaka series. Jak, has gotten him self an easy job administrating the Hive base on Deimos. Noting much is supposed to happen, but of cause something...
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Science FictionInfernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman is a science fiction novel by Angela Carter. It seems some editor thought War of Dreams is a better title for the Americas than The INFERNAL DESIRE MACHINES OF DOCTOR HOFFMAN which is the UK title...stupid editor!! My copy says "WAR OF DREAMS" but I am choosi...
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Science FictionLoveDeath is a speculative fiction novel by the award winning author Dan Simmons. I met Simmons at a recent Danish book fair and had a small talk with him about the range of his published work and the problem of categorising books. Not being a very well read Simmons fan (The Hyperion Cantos and Car...
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Science FictionMars Plus is the sequel to the science fiction classic Man Plus, by Frederik Pohl. Long awaited follow-up to the excellent novel Man Plus, takes place forty years after Man Plus - Mars has been settled, not only with Cyborgs (read the review of Man Plus), but also with normal people and everything...
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Science FictionMindstar Rising is the first volume of the Greg Mandel Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton. First some ranting about the cover art: The cover "art" on this book is incredibly stupid looking - there's a picture of a "tough guy" (well, he looks more like a cheap actor to me) wearing a blue jacket with too sh...
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Science FictionMisspent Youth is a stand alone science fiction novel by the acclaimed British author Peter F Hamilton. Misspent Youth – try saying it to your self – Misspent Youth, not exactly catchy is it?. It sound so much like a story about maladjusted working class youngsters in some large industrial town or...
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Science FictionOdd John was first published in 1935 and was one of the very first novels to explore the theme of the super human, coining the term homo superior. It's being reviewed here as part of Gollancz excellent SF Masterworks series. Written from a narrator's perspective, Odd John is a pretty unique piece o...
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Science FictionSet within the same universe as the authors previous novel Tribes, Shades of Empire follows the ex-soldier Alexander Napier, merchant starship captain Madeline Pallestrino and a host of other colourful characters. Alexander still reluctantly wears the marks of his servitude to the Emperor but it's...
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Science FictionStranger in a Strange Land is one of the most famous and controversial science fiction novels, by the legendary author Robert A Heinlein. A best seller and Hugo award winner - having never been out of print, Stranger in a Strange Land was written in 1961, almost 50 years ago. The original publ...
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Science FictionThe Centauri Device is a classic science fiction tale told by M John Harrison. Picking up another classic from the SF Masterworks series, by an author which was a total unknown to me. It's kind of a high risk gamble, it could open my eyes to something completely new and it could be a complete waste...
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Science FictionIn the future world of "A Girl in the Road" global power has shifted and a revolution blows with the easterly wind. It's a future where the technology so long held in the west meets the culture of the east. Into this maelstrom of technology walks Meena, a complicated girl in a complicated world who...
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Science FictionThe Windup Girl is the award winning dystopian vision by Paolo Bacigalupi. Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's calorie representative in Thailand. Under cover as a factory worker he combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs long thought to be extinct. There he meets the...
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Science FictionThe World Inside is a science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg. Silverberg's "THE WORLD INSIDE" is about the giant apartment communistic/yet caste ridden complex (the floors are divided up according to job 'importance), and thought this is the straight bullet shot to the future. Population goes...
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FantasyAs Wonders Go By a wildly different book to most I've read. For a start it's narrated in the second person, there aren't many I've read that take this approach. The protagonist is a woman of "loose morals", at large in Europe and looking for "adventure". She finds more adventure even she can handle...
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FantasyBlood and Chocolate’s protagonist Vivian Gandillon loves the change—the sweetly painful way her body moves from human to wolf. At 16, she’s stunningly beautiful and has all the men in her pack running after her. Her pack family, recently driven away from West Virginia where her father lost his life,...
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FantasyCharm is the second in Sarah Pinborough's series of novels which rewrite the traditional fairy tale for an intelligent, adult audience. This time it's the story of Cinderella that is re-created into an erotic, adult and charged story with a touch of brothers grimm darkness. I love how the author con...
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FantasyEcko Rising is the début novel from Danie Ware, publicist and events organiser for that famous retailer Forbidden Planet. You've got to admire her ambition, not content to just write her first novel within a standard science fiction or fantasy setting, with Ecko Rising she attempt's that which often...
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Unclean Spirits is the first in a new shared-universe series called Gods and Monsters. Gods (and Monsters) are real. In the past this Pantheon were content to keep the world at arms length, sucking up the belief and devotion of mortals to provide them with the power to wage war against each other....
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FantasyAnthologies from Alchemy Press specialise in bringing myth to a contemporary setting and general involve adult characters living adult lives. Music in the Bone is no exception to this. It’s quite a varied collection of Marion Pitman’s work from a number of different sources and spans a long career...
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FantasyOrc's is an anthology of Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder and Warriors of the Tempest, 3 novels in the fantasy series Orcs, written by Stan Nicholls. In the world of Maras-Dantia the elder races lived along with each other, while not in peace at least in some tolerance of one another. From...
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FantasyPoison is an enchanting adult take on the classic fairy tale Snow White. With an appealing freshness and confident, unique voice of the author its a tale that will leave you eager for more. Everyone knows the story of Snow White and Poison is instantly recognisable from that childhood fable and yet...
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FantasyPretty Little Dead Things is a urban horror novel by the author Gary McMahon. Thomas Usher used to be a fairly normal guy, a family man with a wife and child, all this changed when a tragic accident took his family away from him. He began to see the dead, and they him, all the lost and lonely souls...
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FantasySerial Killers Incorporated is a dark urban fantasy novel by Andy Remic and published by Anarchy Books. Callaghan is a drug and drink fuelled, womanising, amoral, hardcore photographer for the tabloid rag Black & White. He's a guy with very few redeeming features (if any) and his journey on the roa...
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FantasyWorld Fantasy Award winning series Strange Tales has now reached its fifth volume, offering again a bunch of tales ranging from SF to horror, from fantasy to supernatural, sharing a "strange" or "weird" character. The present book includes sixteen brand new stories, penned by authors from both side...
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FantasyWizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind is the first volume in the sword of truth series and follows the adventures of Richard Cypher, an young woods guide who makes a life changing decision to help a lady in distress. The woman richard rescues is Kahlan Amnell (Mother Confessor), who has crossed the...
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HorrorThere seems to be a rise in a new form of entertainment these last few years, that of the live action experience. While "escape rooms" seem to the most prevelant, there is also a niche for those who would prefer to be scared rather than think about puzzles. The House by the Cemetery is an old, de...
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FantasyThe clue to what makes the Fantasy genre so great is staring you straight in the face; it is fantastical. It gives author the chance to transport their readers to a different time and place. Lands full of wonder, populated by creatures only seen in your dreams. So, it is sometimes a little sad to se...
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HorrorThe very nature of horror means that it should not always be a pleasant read. You should be unsettled, scared and perhaps even disgusted at times, but a balance must be struck. If an author is failing to get genuine scares into their book they may resort to cheap tricks such as writing things so gro...
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HorrorPeople have power over on another. Someone who is charismatic may be able to manipulate others to do their bidding even against their own best interests. The opposite sex can also have power. What would you do to be with the partner you love/lust for? Mistress Hel is a Dominatrix who speci...
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General FictionThe noir genre has an inherent problem, it has the feel of the 1940s and 1950s. You imagine black and white films, men in fedoras and women with cascading red locks. The lack of technology forced the central gumshoe to walk the streets and knock together heads to gather the intel...
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General FictionWalk into my house and glance at my bookshelves and you will find an eclectic mix of books. My favourite genres are represented heavily in science fiction and fantasy, but I also have loads of crime, history, biographies and general fiction. This&nbs...
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General FictionOne man’s truth is another man’s myth and whilst the Greek Gods may have once been worshipped as real, they are now considered by most as myths. This is great for a genre review site as the Greek Gods are as fantastical as they come. They turn themselves and others into an...
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FantasyOne of the wonderful things about genre fiction is that an author can take their imagination anywhere and run with it. I can imagine a lot of things, but an alternative urban fantasy that has Knights on motorbikes. That is a new on me. Laure Eve...
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FantasySecrets are powerful. They can make or break someone. In the alternative Edwardian England of Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light there is a magical society of people who hide their powers. This is a big secret to keep, but there are others. Both Robin Blyth and Edwin Co...
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FantasyThe days of High Elves and spiffing adventures being the only choice in fantasy are long over. This is a vast genre that still has books of High Fantasy, but it also has Low Fantasy. This gritty version of the genre is more prevalent than ever with some of the best being made into TVs shows and film...
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FantasyThere is something about Low Fantasy that makes it such a good genre. It is not the violence, swearing or muckraking, it is the people. Reading a fantasy book where the heroes are not in white and the villains in black. In J. L Worrad’s The Keep Within the nominal hero is one Sir Harrance 'Har...
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FantasyYou are probably a fantasy fan if you are reading a review of this fantasy book. As fans we love the genre, but even we can admit that plenty of the tropes are well trodden and to standout a new fantasy series is going to have to be something different. Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare opens with a...
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FantasyMost people love a good heist if they are not the ones being robbed. Be it in the movies, a documentary, or even a novel, a heist is all about planning and then it falling apart instantly. You can tell the story of a heist in different ways; do you go deeply into the plan or find out more about the...
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General FictionJoining a band is a rite of passage that everyone should try at least once. I got as far as forming a fake band with my mates at university, but then we had no commitment. To really make it you will need to buckle down and learn an instrument and write some songs – or just be a punk band. If y...
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FantasyWhen it comes to vampires, I understand that there is a rich tapestry of versions you can now read about, but I like mine to have that old fashioned appeal. The type of vampire that does not want to talk about their feelings or act like the average tween, but instead wants to wear lace frills and su...
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General FictionWhen you enter midlife, you must watch out that you do not get lost in the past. Past glories that may have been, lovers that were or could have been. There is a reason that some people drift into a crisis, seeing the grass could have been greener had they picked a different path. When you are going...
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FantasyThere are all types of fantasy from the high to the low, but for some fans it can be tricky to enjoy one type or the other. For someone interested in starting to read low fantasy they may be turned off by the violence and darkness that this part of the genre emits. On the other hand, high fantasy ca...
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Science FictionThere are books in a person’s life that helps to define their taste in genres. I was lucky enough in my teenage years to work my way through some of the classics of science fiction instilling a lifelong love of the genre. One novel that stands out among the best was Ray Bradbury’s The Il...
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Science FictionI picked this book up after learning about it being short-listed and eventually winning the Arthur C Clarke Award. It's proof of not judging a book by its cover because I'd have completely passed it by sitting on a table, with its shockingly bright pink swirlyness and quote by Sheena Patel that says...
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General FictionThe pulp crime genre is one of my favourite because it pushes the envelope of what is acceptable in crime. It can be a little too gory, a little too silly, a little too much, but that is what makes it so fun to read. There is a delicate balance between writing a thrilling action crime story that is...
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FantasyThey say never judge a book by its cover and this is a good lesson to take heed of with Peter McLean’s Paved With Good Intentions, as the UK cover stars Eline dressed in regal splendour. You see, Eline is also someone you should not judge from by her looks. She may be presenting as a member of...
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Fantasy has a rich history of heroes who fight against the odds to ensure that good triumphs over evil, but what about the cowards? What about the people who would rather live in peace and quiet faraway from the front and have no truck with prophecies, even if they are the centre of them? In Greer S...