Books tagged with: torture
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![Harrison SquaredDaryl Gregory]()
FantasyIn Harrison's earliest memory he is three year's old. He is with his father on a boat that breaks apart in a storm off the California coast. He knows a chunk of metal sheared off his leg at the knee as his father sank into the water. So why does he remember tentacles and teeth? Daryl Gregory’s...
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![The SpearJames Herbert]()
HorrorReview by Arron Clegg. James Herbert has long been regarded by many people as Britain’s finest horror writer of the 20th century and with his 5th novel The Spear it is hard to argue against such claims. It is a horror novel that has it all, ghosts, the occult and Nazis. The writing in this book is...
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![AfraidJack Kilborn]()
HorrorThis is the first book I’ve read by this author. I kind of stumbled across it by accident and I’m so glad I did. Jack Kilborn is a pen name for the author J.A Konrath, and this was his first novel writing under that name. It is a simple tale, wrote simply and in no way completely original and yet th...
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![NecroscopeBrian Lumley]()
HorrorBy the time Lumley got around to writing this book he had already written thirteen others. His early works expanded heavily the Cthulu mythos with some subtle differences. He introduces us to a guy named Titus Crow. But that was then and this is now and we have a new hero to thank. Harry Keogh. Harr...
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![SawbonesStuart Macbride]()
HorrorWhat a neat little idea in a neat little book. Book is probably a touch generous coming in at just over a hundred pages but don’t let that spoil your fun, what you have here is actually a twisted tale, gruesome in the telling and packs a punch other books only hope to imitate. Sawbones tells...
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![Deadhouse GatesSteven Erikson]()
FantasyDeadhouse Gates is the second book in the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. Picking up where Gardens of the Moon left off, Deadhouse Gates reunites a host of old characters and throws some new ones into the fray. This time the action is focused not on Genabackis, but on the continent of...
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![Azanian BridgesNick Wood]()
Science FictionScience fiction set in the near future, Azanian Bridges is a rough diamond, drawing on a variety of influences to deliver a real and wrenching story. Our setting is an alternative South Africa, where Mandela was never released and Apartheid didn’t end. We follow two characters, Martin and Sibu...
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![Carrion ComfortDan Simmons]()
Science FictionCarrion Comfort is a Dan Simmons horror novel, best known for the Hyperion and Endymoin series. Except for the stories in Dark Visions this is the first horror by Dan Simmons that I've read. I'm not sure what kind of expectations I had for this book before I started on it, but I can't say that I wa...
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![Creation MachineAndrew Bannister]()
Science FictionI’m always guilty of making snap judgements of books and their covers. Sci-fi covers don’t tend to help. Andrew Bannister’s The Creation Machine is not going to draw you in with its generic spaceship framed by a generic planet, and the woefully reductive, sensationalist logline of ‘It helped create...
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![Escape from Bagdad!Saad Hossain]()
Science FictionEscape from Bagdad! is a novel riding the wave of modern, alternative fiction that provides a fresh and marked difference to the over-subscribed European / American setting. As the title implies the story is set in Bagdad during the US invasion. With the American military, Religious fanatics, Mercen...
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![In the Garden of IdenKage Baker]()
Science FictionNobody knows her name, not even her. Thus, she's called Mendoza. She's the latest operative to be recruited away from horrible circumstances (in Mendoza's case, she was imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition) to serve Dr. Zeus Incorporated in its eternal quest to make money and preserve some semblanc...
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![Path of the RenegadeAndy Chambers]()
Science FictionAsdrubael Vect has ruled the dark city of Commorragh for millennia, ruthlessly disposing of any who would dare cross him. His reach is long and his position unassailable... or so he thinks. The ambitious Archon (highest ranking member of a Dark Eldar Kabal) Yllithian thinks otherwise and joins forc...
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![PerfectionNick Kyme]()
Science FictionPerfection, an audio drama from those wonderful people at Black Library; this time we are welcomed with the words of Nick Kyme who writes about those colourful, chaotic characters of the Slaaneshi Space Marines. The warped warriors of chaos have beseiged the world of Vardask and things look pretty b...
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![Space MarineIan Watson]()
Science FictionSpace Marine is a rare novel that is set in the Warhammer 40k universe, written by Ian Watson. Space Marine is essentially a piece of history in the Warhammer 40k universe, but one that Games Workshop doesn't actually agree with, and was never re-printed. The novel itself no longer "fit's in" with t...
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![The Book of the New Sun: Shadow and ClawGene Wolfe]()
Science FictionGene Wolfe is perhaps one of the most under-rated and criminally overlooked writers in genre fiction. The New Yorker recently called him Sci-Fi's Difficult Genius. Authors Michael Swanwick and Patrick O'Leary have gone so far as to say he is: The best writer alive today. Ursula K LeGuin is frequen...
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![The EmpireElizabeth Lang]()
Science FictionThe Empire is a science fiction space opera by Elizabeth Lang. The Centuries old war with Andromedans is heating up and the Empire is the only force that can stand it's way. One brilliant scientist may hold the key to a weapon that could swing the tide and save the galaxy but the method's of the Em...
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![Whipping StarFrank Herbert]()
Science FictionThis Frank Herbert fella wrote the book Dune which was a semi sleeper for me as it walked around this barren planet with some aristocracy stuff going on, got to try to read it again maybe I'm missing something? This other "WHIPPING STAR" is swell though. Frank's little obtuse and abstract words and...
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![Dead HarvestChris F Holm]()
FantasyI’m going to start by saying that this isn’t usually a book I’d consider reading, my usual reads being Sci-Fi and Fantasy (usually humorous), or history books, but I was very surprised and really, really enjoyed it. The book is seen through the eyes of a Collector, Sam Thornton, who collects the so...
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![Deaths Sweet EmbraceTracey O Hara]()
FantasyThere have been thousands of years of conflict between humans and parahumans, a war that's been happening in secret has finally reached an uneasy truce. But now this peace is threatened by the awakening of an unspeakable evil, a sadistic serial killer who is slaughtering teenage shapeshifters and ri...
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![EntangledGraham Hancock]()
FantasyEntangled is a time-spanning fantasy novel from the best-selling author, Graham Hancock. Leoni is a troubled teenager, living in modern day Los Angeles and after an accidental drug overdose causes her to have a "near-death" experience, she experiences her soul being lifted from her body and throw...
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![Foreign DevilsJohn Hornor Jacobs]()
FantasyA steampunk fantasy set in a world that draws some uncomfortable inspiration from our own, Foreign Devils is the sequel to John Hornor Jacobs’ The Incorruptibles and follows the adventures of Fisk and Shoe – two would be mercenaries making their way through a world of demons, feral elves and worse....
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![Into The LabyrinthWeis and Hickman]()
FantasyOn Abarrach, Xar is attempting to learn the secret of necromancy, but he needs a corpse to test it on. He interrogates the lazar Kleitus about the location of any living Sartan, and Kleitus reveals that Haplo lied to Xar about all the Sartan dying at the hands of the dead; Balthazar and his group re...
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![OrcsStan Nicholls]()
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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![RebellionJames McGee]()
FantasyRebellion is an historical fiction novel by James McGee and follows the adventures of Matthew Hawkwood as he heads behind the enemy lines in Napoleonic France. October 1812 sees Britain and France still at war, France is engaged with both Spain and Russia and fighting a battle on two fronts is prov...
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![SanctusSimon Toyne]()
FantasySanctus is a mystery detective novel and the debut of Simon Toyne. An enigmatic citadel sits atop a steep mountain, overlooking the ancient Turkish city of Ruin. One of the oldest and most secretive inhabited places on earth is about to draw the attention of the world as a symbolic suicide set's of...
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![The Gathering StormRobert Jordan]()
FantasyThe Gathering Storm (formally under the working title A Memory of Light) is the 12th novel in the outstanding fantasy epic, the Wheel of Time by the late Robert Jordan, originally started in 1990 with "The Eye of the World". As Jordan passed away before completing what was thought to be the last vo...
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![The Gun SellerHugh Laurie]()
FantasyI've been a fan of Hugh Laurie since he first made an appearance on Blackadder (series 2 and onwards) in the early 80's along with "A bit of Fry and Laurie" and the the TV adaption of PG Wodehouse' "Jeeves and Wooster". He is a talented comedian but it took me years to finally watch his long running...
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![The Hand of ChaosWeis and Hickman]()
FantasyHaplo takes a submersible back to Draknor to retrieve his ship. He finds Samah there— wet, haggard, and lost. The leader of the Council has opened Death's Gate, allowing the dragon-snakes free access to all the four worlds. Haplo decides he is too tired to physically capture Samah and uses his...
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![The Vanishing ThroneElizabeth May]()
FantasyThe Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May is the second in a series of books following the adventures of Lady Aileana Kameron (or Kam) and the action follow on directly from the first book. If you haven’t read The Falconer I suggest you do, as this review definitely contains spoilers for the ending of t...
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![Wizards First RuleTerry Goodkind]()
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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![Slow BulletsAlastair Reynolds]()
Science FictionSlow Bullets won the 2016 Locus award for best Novella and was shortlisted for the Hugo (along with making a number of must read lists). As you would expect from a novella it's a short read at 192 pages but it packs in more ideas than many more weighty novels manage. Narrated in the first per...
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![Shadow CaptainAlastair Reynolds]()
Science FictionI've been reading Reynolds books since he began writing them and have seen him grow over the years from a seriously talented writer to one of the best in his field. Revenger was one of his finest works to date, Shadow Captain eclipses it easily. It's the second in a planned trilogy but manages to av...
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![The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor MoreauHG Wells]()
Science FictionIllustration ©Grahame Baker-Smith from The Folio Society edition of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells The work of H. G. Wells is both seminal and formative to our current interest in Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy. The collection of these two novellas in one volume is a common publication fo...
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![Galaxy's Edge: Black SpireDelilah S. Dawson]()
Science FictionTo the uninitiated, Star Wars is just a film. To everyone else, that is just nonsense. There are multiple films, games, books, toys, teddies and now a theme park. A small part of the Star War Universe resides in Disneyland. You can visit the outpost of Black Spire and experience...
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![A Fool's HopeMike Shackle]()
FantasyTo the uninitiated, the fantasy genre is stagnant. The same old dwarves and elves going on long journeys and then back again. Any fan of the genre knows that this is just not the case. The genre has evolved with society. The fantasy books of the 80s and 90s differ greatly from Tolkien and...
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![The Book of MalachiT C Farren]()
Science FictionThe way that humans treat each other in real life is far darker and harrowing than any science fiction book that you can create, but this does not stop some authors from exploring the depths of the human condition. If we are only as good as how we treat the weakest in society, the people w...
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![Golden PreyJohn Sandford]()
General FictionThe long running series is a dream for an author as it means that your characters and world are successful enough that people are buying them, and you can keep writing. John Sandford's Lucas Davenport books must be a success when you realise that Golden Prey is the 27th book cent...
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![Shadow Service Volume 1Cavan Scott]()
HorrorSome of my favourite Urban Fantasy is about a normal world that is unaware of the creatures that lurk in the night. Whilst we are all safely asleep, there is are demons and witches lurking around the corner. Most of us will never even know that these things exist, but what i...
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![Doctor AphraSarah Kuhn]()
Science FictionWhen an intellectual property becomes huge it can go one of two ways, a homogeneous blob of the same stories on repeat, or a vibrant universe full of different adventures. Star Wars was already massive, but recently has branched out even wider. This included a reset of the tie in...
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![Shadow Service Volume 2: Mission InfernalCavan Scott]()
We all have a past. For most of us it is dull. I went to school, Uni and then got a job. It is rare that I have to face off against the hideous undead or talk to the local rat population. Gina Meyers does not have it so easy, and her past is coming back to haunt her. Th...
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![Five DecembersJames Kestrel]()
General FictionNoir is not always an easy genre to write, there is a timeless tone to it. You can pick up a book that was written 70 years ago and it still has all the effortless style to make it incredibly readable. If you are going to write a new noir set during the classic noir period you are not only comp...
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![The Circus InfiniteKhan Wong]()
Science FictionThere is something magical about the idea of a circus, the lights, the action, the antics, and the acts. The reality in my youth was a little different with a threadbare tent being erected in a local muddy play field. Khan Wong has thankfully decided to capture the majesty that the idea evokes in Th...
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![EquinoxDavid Towsey]()
FantasyAre you a night person or a day person? Do you like to wake up at 5am and then go to the gym before a full day at work and an early night? Perhaps you like to wake up in time for Bargain Hunt and work from home into the late hours? Either way, you are you. The night owl and the early bird, same pers...
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![The Last Blade PriestW P Wiles]()
FantasyDestiny is a tricky thing as it is something that you should not be aware of. I want to be surprised if it turns out that I save the world, or perhaps destroy it. Some characters have their destiny thrust upon them from a young age and are told what it will be. Anton is a Blade Priest for Craithe, t...
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![Sons of DarknessGourav Mohanty]()
FantasyFantasy is a wonderful genre, and it has become more so in recent years as it has grown in diversity. It felt for a while that fantasy was always epic and set in some sort of alternative Europe. There were plenty of alternatives to find if you looked, but today theses are abundant and that is fantas...
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![The Siege of Burning GrassPremee Mohamed]()
Science FictionScience Fiction can be upbeat and utopian or downbeat and dystopian. The current trend is to focus on the negatives, but even these books have a glint of hope in them. When it comes to dystopian visions of the future, they do not come much more intense than Premee Mohamed’s The Siege of Burnin...
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![Marc Spector Was Host to Venom?Mike Chen]()
Science FictionComics have a complex history with some storylines going back decades. Even the relatively new superheroes can have intricate lore. Moon Knight has had plenty of time to muddy the waters with almost 50 years of stories to look back on, but it is not the depth of the stories that make Moon Knight so...
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![The Price of FreedomMichael C. Bland]()
Science FictionAfter discovering what The Price of Safety and The Price of Rebellion are in the first two outings in Michael C Bland’s dystopian trilogy, we finally get to see what The Price of Freedom is in this final outing. In a world in which everyone has been rendered blind unless they wear technology,...
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![Anji Kills a KingEvan Leikam]()
FantasyIn the fantasy that I usually read Regicide is usually the goal for the end of the book. In fact, I have read entire trilogies in which the protagonist is trying to kill a royal. You get the sense that Evan Leikam is going to tackle things a little differently in Anji Kills a King when the first sce...
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![Paved With Good IntentionsPeter Mclean]()
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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