Books tagged with: unreliable narrator

  • Cheap Complex DevicesJohn Sundman
    Cheap Complex Devices
    by John Sundman
    Science Fiction

    Cheap Complex Devices is a science fiction novel by John Sundman. Sundmans novel 'Acts of the Apostles' was a kind of a weird techno thriller - this one is just weird. The premiss is that once upon a time (about five years ago), there was a computer generated novel contest, where two winners where f...

  • Dagger of the MindBob Shaw
    Dagger of the Mind
    by Bob Shaw
    Science Fiction

    Dagger of the Mind is a speculative fiction book by Bob Shaw. Dagger of the Mind, is a strange book. It takes off normally (well..) enough, Redpath is an epileptic living in a small english town. To make a buck, he participates in a series of experiments involving a new drug Compound 183. The book s...

  • Fardwor, RussiaOlec Kashin
    Fardwor, Russia
    by Olec Kashin
    Science Fiction

    Oleg Kashin’s debut novel ‘Fardwor, Russia’ takes its reader on a surreal journey through the political landscape of Russia’s seedy underbelly. Drawing on his experience as an award-winning journalist and polemicist, Kashin skilfully blends fact and fiction, shining a light on some of the most sinis...

  • Forever PeaceJoe Haldeman
    Forever Peace
    by Joe Haldeman
    Science Fiction

    First 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 Nebula a...

  • New Model ArmyAdam Roberts
    New Model Army
    by Adam Roberts
    Science Fiction

    New Model Army is a science fiction novel by Adam Roberts. Pantegral is a giant, a democratic gestalt entity whose thoughts are populated from the thousands of minds that make up a New Model Army, it's intelligence is born from the almost limitless knowledge available on the internet. Stalking throu...

  • Oryx and CrakeMargaret Atwood
    Oryx and Crake
    by Margaret Atwood
    Science Fiction

    I've been meaning to grab this series for quite some time — the combination of Atwood's evocative prose and a post-apocalyptic setting is a highly promising one. Oryx and Crake tells the story of an altered world through the eyes of a man once known as Jimmy. Now known as Snowman and clothed in dete...

  • OsamaLavie Tidhar
    Osama
    by Lavie Tidhar
    Science Fiction

    Joe is a private detective who after a visit from the obligatory attractive but mysterious woman is tasked with finding the author of the pulp-fiction series "Osama bin Laden: Vigilante". In this alternative history which seems to have split some time after world war two, the horrific terror attacks...

  • PainkillersSimon Ings
    Painkillers
    by Simon Ings
    Science Fiction

    Painkillers is a thought provoking read. I completed it in less than three days, which is something I haven’t done with a book for nearly fifteen years. During that time, I tried to work out what was keeping me absorbed as it is a very atypical Science Fiction novel, but perhaps that’s it. There is...

  • 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...

  • The Fictional ManAl Ewing
    The Fictional Man
    by Al Ewing
    Science Fiction

    Imagine a world where cloning was not only advanced enough to create real bodies but where the technology was inexpensive and simple enough to be viable on a large scale. Of course making copies of real people would be wrong and there would bound to be a law against such a thing but what if a loopho...

  • The Girl in the RoadMonica Byrne
    The Girl in the Road
    by Monica Byrne
    Science Fiction

    In 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...

  • ValisPhilip K Dick
    Valis
    by Philip K Dick
    Science Fiction

    Valis is a science fiction novel by the legendary author Philip K Dick. VALIS is an intelligence system in space somewhere that is beaming pink rays of intelligence to Horselover Fat, Philip K Dick's split personality half. He knows to get his kid to the hospital to avoid death, the Valis ray is rig...

  • DroodDan Simmons
    Drood
    by Dan Simmons
    Fantasy

    Drood is an 800-page historical novel by Dan Simmons, published in 2009, and on the face of it that page count should be a warning. It mostly isn't. The premise comes wrapped in a conceit: the book purports to be a secret manuscript by Wilkie Collins, friend and rival to Charles Dickens, sealed away...

  • John Dies at the endDavid Wong
    John Dies at the end
    by David Wong
    Fantasy

    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, and th...

  • ManrootAnne Steinberg
    Manroot
    by Anne Steinberg
    Fantasy

    Manroot opens in the spring of 1930 with Katherine Sheahan and her father, Jessie, looking for work in the tourist town of Castlewood, Missouri. Jesse gets a job as a handyman and Katherine as a hotel maid. While her father eventually embraces the drink and disappears, Katherine makes a living for h...

  • The Complete AlcatrazBrandon Sanderson
    The Complete Alcatraz
    by Brandon Sanderson
    Fantasy

    The Complete Alcatraz collects the whole series of Brandon Sanderson young adult novels including Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones, Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia and Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens. These novels follow the adventures of the 13...

  • The Gospel of LokiJoanne Harris
    The Gospel of Loki
    by Joanne Harris
    Fantasy

    From the first page when Loki interrupts the “official” introduction poem, you know this is going to be a special kind of book. The Gospel of Loki tells the story of Norse mythology from the point of view of the trickster god, covering everything from the birth of the Nine Worlds, all the way up to...

  • The Wise Man's FearPatrick Rothfuss
    The Wise Man's Fear
    by Patrick Rothfuss
    Fantasy

    The Wise Man's Fear follows on from the authors incredible debut "The Name of the Wind" which is currently one of the most memorable, most enjoyable fantasy novels I have ever read - I seriously recommend you read that first. Picking up where the last novel finished we once again follow the journey...

  • HornsJoe Hill
    Horns
    by Joe Hill
    Horror

    Ignatius Perrish awoke with the usual hangover symptoms that accompany a drunken night of debauchery - raging headache, bad breath... and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Ig had it all, a privileged upbringing, a caring family, a famous dad and the love of the beautiful, vivacious Merrin Wi...

  • MongrelsStephen Graham Jones
    Mongrels
    by Stephen Graham Jones
    Horror

    Mongrels is a book that grips you by the jugular right from the start, a bit like the way a werewolf might. Funny enough that's what Mongrels is all about - a family of werewolves who are forced to travel around the USA avoiding the authorities and others who take a dislike their kind. It's a countr...

  • The Nameless CityHP Lovecraft
    The Nameless City
    by HP Lovecraft
    Fantasy

    The Nameless City is a short story by HP lovecraft and is generally considered to be the first Cthulhu Mythos story, published in 1921. In the middle of the Arabian Peninsula is an ancient ruin, it's been there longer than humanity and was built by a race mostly forgotten. These crawling reptiles ma...

  • WhistleblowerDavid Smith
    Whistleblower
    by David Smith
    Science Fiction

    A near future Science Fiction story packed full of action, when it starts, Whistleblower by David Smith has all the punch of a Hollywood blockbuster. Jake Redwood is part of a special police task force ordered to apprehend suspect alien children and subject them to a set of rigorous tests before the...

  • A Head Full of GhostsPaul Tremblay
    A Head Full of Ghosts
    by Paul Tremblay
    Horror

    A Head Full of Ghosts was first released last year and won the coveted Bram Stokers award for Best Novel. It's also received pretty much the finest compliment a Horror novel can receive when Stephen King said of the book:   Scared the living hell out of me, and I'm pretty hard to scare.   Titan Book...

  • Slow BulletsAlastair Reynolds
    Slow Bullets
    by Alastair Reynolds
    Science Fiction

    Slow 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 person by...

  • CottingleyAlison Littlewood
    Cottingley
    by Alison Littlewood
    Fantasy

    My second review of the Newcon Press Novella series released in Autumn 2017. This is a set of four stories. The Wind by Jay Caselberg, Cottingley by Alison Littlewood, Body in the Woods by Sarah Lotz and Case of the Bedeviled Poet A Sherlock Holmes Enigma , by Simon Clark. Cottingley by Alison Littl...

  • Case of the Bedevilled Poet: A Sherlock Holmes EnigmaSimon Clark

    Newcon Press’ second novella series continues with Simon Clark’s story, set in the middle of the London Blitz. The title gives away the nature of what we are to expect – a Sherlock Holmes story, occurring in the twilight years of Baker Street’s favourite detective. During the 1940s, Jack Crofton, a...

  • ArtemisAndy Weir
    Artemis
    by Andy Weir
    Science Fiction

    The global success of The Martian and its subsequent film adaptation, catapulted Andy Weir into the public eye. Whatever he chose to write next was always going to draw attention. Set in our near future, Artemis is the story of Jazz Bashara, a young girl living on the moon. Struggling to make a life...

  • The Triumph of the Spider MonkeyJoyce Carol Oates
    The Triumph of the Spider Monkey
    by Joyce Carol Oates
    General Fiction

    A lot of crime fiction is told from the prospective of an investigator. We follow them as they stumble across clues and finally get their suspect. This method provides structure and cohesion as even amateur sleuths follow some sort of logical pattern. Authors such as John Sandford and his Prey serie...

  • A Cosmology of MonstersShaun Hamill
    A Cosmology of Monsters
    by Shaun Hamill
    Horror

    H P Lovecraft’s shadow casts a long one over the horror  genre . He  developed  new types of horrors that reverberate today ;  psychological  and body horror are just two. What has changed is the way that people  perceive  horror. Whilst once  upon a time witnessing the horrors from a different dime...

  • How to Rule An Empire and Get Away With ItK J Parker

    I have read a lot of speculative fiction that shows humans going crazy if a major event happens; a pandemic has rioting in the street or the voice of God echoing from the heavens leads to a rise in suicides. Perhaps it is a British thing, but I think that we would just shrug our shoulders and get on...

  • Hummingbird SalamanderJeff Vandermeer
    Hummingbird Salamander
    by Jeff Vandermeer
    General Fiction

    Following the news, it feels like the world is going to hell in a handcart. Put aside any politics and there is enough going on environmentally to worry most people. The idea of the oceans rising, smog filling the skies and animals dying out whilst the infrastructure of countries collapse, all have...

  • RabbitsTerry Miles
    Rabbits
    by Terry Miles
    Science Fiction

    Are you playing the game? Made you look. The idea of a metagame that embroils a hero is not a new one, but it is hard to pull off. The amount of financial resources and secrecy that is required to convince Michael Douglas to jump off a building is beyond what the average person can afford, unless yo...

  • A Perfect HarvestBill Fitzhugh
    A Perfect Harvest
    by Bill Fitzhugh
    General Fiction

    If you don’t laugh, you will cry. One way that people cope with bleakness is to try and find the funny things in life. Recent lockdowns would have been a lot harder for me without my family to keep me smiling. Diagnoses of terminal illness is no laughing matter, but you still find people who will ke...

  • Dare to KnowJames Kennedy
    Dare to Know
    by James Kennedy
    Science Fiction

    If you could find out your exact time of death down to the last second, would you take up the option? For some it could be liberating, they will pack their lives until the last moment. For others, their death will become even more of a looming presence as it draws ever near. In James Kennedy’s  Dare...

  • WhitesandsJohann Thorsson
    Whitesands
    by Johann Thorsson
    Horror

    The fictional detective always seems to have some flaw that follows them through life preventing them from being happy or doing their best work. This could be drink, gambling, or drugs. In the case of Johann Thorsson’s Detective John Dark it is far worse, a missing daughter. For two years he has abu...

  • Black MouthRonald Malfi
    Black Mouth
    by Ronald Malfi
    Horror

    A group of adults tormented by their past when a carnival worker changed their lives forever. Sound familiar? No not It , but Ronald Malfi’s Black Mouth , the author’s own take on how the memories of youth haunt the present. This is dark horror with glimpses of the supernatural, but also plenty of t...

  • The Stage Mother's ClubRon Capshaw
    The Stage Mother's Club
    by Ron Capshaw
    Horror

    It is amazing what can inspire a writer. A little thought worm can drill itself into their head and the only peace to be found is to write the thing out. Ron Capshaw’s inspiration for The Stage Mother’s Club seems to be the author’s fascination with all the failed stage Mums who could not get their...

  • SpiderAzma Dar
    Spider
    by Azma Dar
    General Fiction

    There are at least two sides to every truth and somewhere in the middle is what happened. All relationships contain lies, they oil the machinery of compromise, but for a better relationship you want to keep them to little white lies. Things can quickly spiral out of control if you start to hide the...

  • The AccidentJulia Stone
    The Accident
    by Julia Stone
    General Fiction

    Do you trust this reviewer? Am I all that I appear? I claim to work for one of the longest running review sites on the internet, but is any of it true? You cannot always trust a protagonist; we may have an ulterior motive that you are unaware of. Perhaps I am a fantasist who latches themselves on to...

  • PenitentMark Leggatt
    Penitent
    by Mark Leggatt
    General Fiction

    Telling a story in the first person means that you are going to want a protagonist that the reader can connect with, but what if that character struggles with relationships? In Mark Leggatt’s Penitent , Hector is a brilliant lawyer, but has far more interest in the process than the people. He has ne...

  • The Redemption of Morgan BrightChris Panatier
    Horror

    I love to read books; they transport me to unfamiliar places. I will go there even if these unfamiliar places are dangerous like the Hollyhock Asylum found in Chris Panatier’s The Redemption of Morgan Bright . A story can transport you, as can characters, but sometimes the structure of a book does t...

  • Confessions of an AntichristMarta Skadi
    General Fiction

    Joining 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 you wan...

  • Seven Recipes for RevolutionRyan Rose
    Fantasy

    The fantasy genre is a form of comfort reading for me. The genre often follows similar tropes, and you can get into the rhythm of the story quickly. However, increasingly often in modern fantasy, authors are creating new and challenging ideas to shake up the genre. Magical systems are an area you ca...

  • The Drowned SirenCallisto Lodwick
    The Drowned Siren
    by Callisto Lodwick
    General Fiction

    To work in a novel, you need to be the right amount of crazy. Too little and you just come across as a little odd and moany, too much and your book has just become a horror novel. In Callisto Lodwick’s The Drowned Siren , Eleanor is a student in Scotland who is introverted and clingy, but not really...

  • Our Lady of BladesSebastien De Castell
    Our Lady of Blades
    by Sebastien De Castell
    Fantasy

    I am not sure if readers have noticed, but we have quietly entered a new Golden Era of Fantasy writing. There is a handful or more of established fantasy authors who have the experience and skill to be writing at the top of their game. Fantasy novels that are not just simple retellings of old tropes...