The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

Genre: Fantasy

Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes, would like you to know that it is full of - misfits, flawed characters, anti heroes; everything but heroes.

It hammers this lack of heroes and that war is hell incessantly. In the book, we find ourselves in midst of a war between the barbarian northerners and the civilized union. The narratives alternates between description of various battle/skirmishes and some character building. The description of the battles is suitably gory and gritty, leaving you with little doubt that war is hell. The character buildup, done via reaction of the characters to current events and some flashbacks, is nicely done. The pace of the book is brisk and it flows well.

While there is a little twist at the end, the book really is, a bit surprisingly - All the smaller battles/skirmishes leading to a final climatic battle. The book is not pulpy enough to carry such a simple plot. All this focus on creating anti-heroes means that despite the good character buildup, you don't really care for the characters that much. A better plot would have elevated this book over average territory.

Rating: 2.5 / 5. Average

Book review: From the dust returned by Ray Bradbury

Genre: Fantasy

From the dust returned is a collection of short stories packaged in the form of a novel. The stories center around a strange family in Illinois. This is a family of vampire like creatures, ghosts and other mythical and fantastical creatures. The stories themselves lack any real punch to them. The fantastical nature of the characters is simply used to dress up their shallowness and make them a bit less forgettable. The poetic nature of the prose and quality of writing do provide some entertainment, but there is no substantial value here.

Rating: 2 / 5, Below Average.

Book review: Elminster Ascending: Sage of Shadowdale by Ed Greenwood

Genre: Fantasy

This collects three books in the Elminster saga - Elminster: The Making of a Mage, Elminster in Myth Drannor, and The Temptation of Elminster. I read it as one big Novel. For such a large book there was surprisingly little story to it. The initial character and plot development was solid. There is however no epic story that unfolds in these 3 books. Ed Greenwood has a god acting mysteriously in the book and sending Elminster of on random tasks to "increase the use of magic in the world". Why ? And to what ends ? None of these questions get answered. Some clues into why the God was getting Elminster to perform these tasks would have helped peaked interest in the sequels that followed. These books simply feel like episodes of a soap opera that you know will never end or resolve anything in a meaningful or satisfactory manner.

If you are desperately hankering for some fantasy fiction then consider this book. Else give this a pass.

Rating: 2.5 / 5, Meh average.

Book review: Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Genre: Fantasy.

This book is a modern day retelling of Dante's Inferno. In this version we follow a science fiction author who lands in hell and follow his journey as he attempts to get out of hell. The book is jointly authored by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, two well respected authors.

Never having read Dante's Inferno, I can't comment on any links between the two tales. The concept of a science fiction author in a hell or a hell like place is intriguing. The first third of the book was fun to read as the authors explore the initial concept. However after the initial exuberance has waned, the shallowness of the plot starts to come through. The book is basically composed of "Allen Carpentier" the main character of the book and "Benito", his guide / companion visiting various levels of hell and seeing the punishment being meted out. The plot is thin and the conclusion is insipid.

This is not a bad book however, namely because the writing style is good and there is some entertainment to be had from the description of a modern (well 70'e era) hell. However instead of fulfilling its promise of being a special book, we end up with one that is just average.

Rating: 2.5 / 5; Average.

Book review: Queen Victoria:Demon Hunter by A. E. Moorat

Genre: Historical horror/fantasy.

The tag line for this book goes - 'She loved her country. She hated zombies.' Based on this tag line I expected to get a 19th century, Buffy the vampire slayer book.

The book is not a 19th century, Buffy the vampire slayer. Nor is it a romance novel as some might believe, reading the blurb on the back of the book.

The book focuses on the time period just before Victoria's coronation to a few years after that. One might expect a 19th century Royal court to have various intrigues. In this book those intrigues involve Demons, Zombies, werewolves and such.

The book is well written with the author trying a fair bit, to humanise and build up the characters. For the most part he succeeds. The plot line in the book is functional and simplistic. There are no complex twist and turns here. There are a few sub-plots and surprises that keep it interesting though. The pace of the book is very brisk with events happening at a rapid pace. The book contains a lot of gore. I liked the gore in the book and thought it fit in well with the tone of the book. But a fair warning, if you don't like gore, you will find it gratuitous.

Quimby a side character in this book, ends up stealing the show. And that is the most severe failing of this book, since Victoria's character does not end up dominating the book, as one might expect of the title character.

All in all this is a light fun read as long as you don't mind the gore.

Rating: 4 / 5, Recommended

Book review: Fabulous harbours by Michael Moorcock

Genre: Short stories/Novella/Novelettes in a Fantasy setting.

Fabulous harbours is a sequel to Blood, the introduction however states that Fabulous harbours does not continue any story lines or such and hence reading Blood is not required. I have not read Blood and I concur it is not required to read Fabulous harbour.

The book starts at a languid pace and continues throughout the book. This is mainly because the book is narrated as a recounting of events that have occured in the past. The book is a collection of short stories/novella/novelettes. These are set across various timeline and dimensions, and Moorcock writes these in different literary styles to suite the story's setting. The styles are varied but blend together well and do not jar.

I found myself warming to the stories and Moorcock's style as the book progressed. A large part of this was realising that there is no one tale (epic or not) to be had from this book, rather I just enjoyed each story and the varied style and pace.

Rating: 4/5, Great as long as you are open to short stories.