Now online at SF Site: my review of K.J. Parker’s new Subterranean Press novella Purple and Black. It’s a tale of war and treachery told through the military dispatches between an emperor and his governor on the frontier. It’s good fun, asks some serious questions, and does quite a lot within its essentially limited structure.
Tag: Reviews
DVD REVIEW: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
My second review at VideoVista this month is of Simon Pegg’s comedy about a British journalist trying (and, as the title suggests, largely failing) to make his way at a New York glossy. Not quite as sharp as perhaps it would like to be, this is still good fun and very amusing — so it gets 7 out of 10.
DVD REVIEW: They Wait (2007)
Time for this month’s update to VideoVista, and I have two reviews there. They Wait is a tale of vengeful spirits and buried secrets, set in Vancouver’s Chinatown during the festival of Hungry Ghost Month. Alas, it’s not particularly scary, creepy, or atmospheric; and I think the ending contradicts the beginning. It’s a mediocre movie, and so gets a rating of 5 out of 10.
Quoted!
After five years and 100+ pieces, I’ve reached a personal reviewing milestrone — one of my reviews has been quoted in a book from a mass-market publisher! The quote is inside the Virgin Books edition of Conrad Williams’ new novel, One, and is from my review of The Unblemished: “Williams’ threat emerges from the world like an optical illusion being revealed, then you find that society fell apart while you were looking somewhere else.” Unfortunately, this quote is not attributed to me by name (just to “SF Site” — but that can be the next milestone!
I’m particularly pleased to see this quote because I’ve often had the impression that my reviews don’t lend themselves easily to quotable soundbites (“A heart-stopping tour de force!” etc.) — and I think what the publishers have quoted bears this out. It’s not immediately apparent what it means, and the quote probably only makes full sense once you’ve read the book — yet it gets to the heart of how I think The Unblemished works.
Anyway, as you can imagine, I’m in a good mood.
BOOK REVIEW: The Accord by Keith Brooke (2009)
Everything I’ve ever read by Keith Brooke has been excellent, and The Accord is no excepton. This tale of love and revenge in a virtual ‘afterlife’ is my favourite book of the year so far. I’ve reviewed it for SF Site.
DVD REVIEW: Malcolm (1986)
A highly enjoyable Australian film about Malcolm Hughes, a man low on social skills, but high on mechanical aptitude. He takes in a lodger, who turns out to be a petty crimimal; and Malcolm, in his innocence, starts to help out…
BOOK REVIEW: The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski (2008)
My latest review over at SF Site is of a deightful little book set in 16th century Bohemia, where a twelve-year-old girl journeys to Prague to retrieve her father’s eyes (which were taken away ffrom him after he built a marvellous clock for the prince). The Cabinet of Wonders is indeed full of wonder.
BOOK REVIEW: The Age of the Conglomerates by Thomas Nevins (2008)
Ah well, they can’t all be good. This novel has the unfortunate distinction of being the worst I have read in quite some time. It’s set in a future where the US government has been supplanted by a cartoon version of Faceless Big Business. Anything interesting, exciting, or engaging is lost in a sea of exposition.
BOOK REVIEW: Orcs – Bad Blood, Vol. 1: Weapons of Magical Destruction by Stan Nicholls (2008)
Back in 2004, I reviewed (for The Alien Online) an omnibus edition of Stan Nicholls’ Orcs trilogy. It was fun to read, so I was quite pleased to hear that Nicholls was working on a sequel trilogy. The first volume of that series is now here, entitled Weapons of Magical Destruction, and I have reviewied it for The Zone. Again, it’s good fun, but it may end up being better in the context of the complete trilogy than on its own. I’d have given it 3.5 stars if The Zone allowed half marks; but they don’t, so it gets 4 instead.
BOOK REVIEW: Seven Days by various authors (2007)
Also up at Laura Hird’s website is my review of Seven Days, a Legend Press anthology of seven stories which each follow a single character over the course of one day. It’s an interesting idea, though (as is almost always the way of these things) some contributors do better with it than others. The best ones, however, make it well worth giving the book a try.
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