I wanted to review books as a way of pushing myself out of the comfort zone and out into the amazing world of unknown books. Tom Vater approached me for an honest review of Kolkata Noir and I happily accepted. I am glad I did as this novel is very different from my usual reading habits. It may be different to my usual choices, but I greatly enjoyed it.

The novel’s name is perfect. It is set in a city called variously Calcutta, Kolkata and Killkata and combines the steamy atmosphere of West Bengal with the clipped, dark pessimism of noir literature. It is a heady combination.

The book is divided into three sections. The first is called Calcutta and is set in 1999. An English traveller, Becker, meets a newly created police inspector, Madhurima, and the two characters find themselves working together to solve a seedy plot involving the Indian upper classes and a British interloper. I love the way the noir themes of money and corruption intertwine with the feverish heat of Bengal. There is tension between the two characters but they are pulled apart by their separate life paths.

The second section is called Kolkata and is set in 2019. It’s the same city (the name changed in 2001) and once again Becker and Madhurima meet to solve a problem. This time it is British incomers inciting trouble among the dispossessed and lost of the Kolkata slums and rubbish heaps. Once again the tension is felt between the two characters as they work together to solve the deaths and destruction caused by the hunt for the fabled Mother Teresa’s treasure. Once again the characters are pulled apart by their life paths.

The third and final section is called Killkata as the city once again changes her name and is set in 2039. The city is drowning as global warming raises the sea levels. Corruption and lawlessness now rule instead of any government and the people left behind struggle frantically for survival. Madhurima reaches out to her old contact, Becker, in a desperate attempt to help someone she loves and he, of course, responds. This is by far the darkest section as the two companions struggle through the shadows as the world is falling around them.

There are two distinct strands to the book. One is the dark shadows of the noir genre. There are the seedy secrets, the grotesque underclass, the morally bankrupt high society and the dark deals that define noir. The contrast between the fantastically rich and the desperately poor is well drawn and stark. People make difficult decisions in impossible circumstances and the intangible link between Becker and Madhurima is very much part of the noir tradition. People make difficult choices, heroic decisions and unlucky calls. The stories are full of shadows that grow darker as the book progresses. As ever, there is a glimmer of hope in the end as people make hard choices and still decide to do the right thing regardless of personal cost.

The other strand is the city itself. Tom Vater talks so eloquently about the Indian culture and the relics of British rule. You can almost feel the sultry air as he shows the city and her former riches. I admit that there were times when I had to turn to the internet to understand some of the references, but for me that was a plus as it broadened my knowledge. The constant intrusion of the old British Raj still pushing into current Indian life is a recurring theme. History is still casting shadows.

Quibbles – the three sections are quite short. I personally think that each could have been expanded. There could have been more about the characters and further depth as the stories were expanded. I suspect that I am just being greedy. The book works. I just wanted more.

You can find Kolkata Noir by Tom Vater as an ebook, audio book, hardback or paperback at Amazon.co.uk.

The Crow Journal by Finn Cullen is a wonderfully evocative, meticulously researched, intricately woven tale that slots in impeccable references to mid Victorian London and joins them seamlessly to a chilling tale of faerie, enchantment, adventure and treachery.

The story is told in a style that would have been familiar to Dickens or Conan Doyle. Here’s an excerpt to give some flavour:

The carriage ride was not a long one, and my companion was not inclined to conversation. I was thoughtful myself after my encounter in the court of Green Jack. I had not gained the answers I sought, but I had taken a first step into the realm of Faerie. More importantly I hadn’t lost my life in the taking of that step. There in the safety of the cab’s compartment it began to dawn on me how perilous that encounter had been. Thorn’s ruthlessness had been clear, the memory of those cold killer’s eyes would not soon leave me, and the sense of power that came when I recalled the vast landscape face of Green Jack himself was daunting.

Barnaby Silver, having finished the first part of his magical training with his kindly mentor, Doctor Moran, journeys from a remote village in Yorkshire to London. He is searching for news of his father, who he never knew. His mother, a magus or magician, had fled London when he was a baby. Now he needed to find out about his father.

His quest takes him through the darkest streets of mid Victorian London and the dangerous lands of faerie. Interlaced with the search for his father is the intrigue and scheming of the magi, the magicians that are now based in London after moving from Glastonbury.

The story has plenty of great action scenes and lots of plot twists, although only a hint of romance. As a story, it stands alone but there are a few strands left that suggest further great stories may come.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cogs, Crowns and Carriages is a sparkling Steampunk anthology collection of a dozen stirring tales. As a newcomer to the Steampunk genre, I was excited to dip in to a great selection. The thing about Steampunk is that it is gloriously undefined and wonderfully varied, so I really looked forward to getting stuck into this.

The collection starts with an intricate and intriguing story of pirates steering airships through uncharted seas. Then there is the wonderful vampiric inventor written with a lovely light touch, the ghost powered machines and an amazing, delicate story with a Japanese background that resonates so much with the interweaving and contending cultures of today.

There is a wonderful clash with a sea-monster that is only pushed back by the ingenuity of the characters, a tale of silken bowers framed by mechanical wonders and a tense, layered story set in an alternate timeline. Then a rollicking western-style story of monsters and wrong doing followed by an exquisitely crafted gothic story of colour and loss which is followed by a dark, psychological horror.

Finally there is a beautiful story of transcending the horror of war and a last, piratical yarn of derring do in airships wheeling above the Spanish Main.

It is a wonderful, glorious, vivid collection of stories and I sincerely recommend it.

Eileen was kind enough to let me have a peek into one of her books, and now that my laptop is working again, I thought I would share.

I have to be honest right from the start – it does deal with some adult themes, and those themes are strongly adult. They are dealt with well, and with sensitivity, but it is strong meat. It wasn’t gratuitous, it was something that drove the plot, and while I blush at naughty bits, this was part of a strong plot, so I’m good with that.

It is a fantasy story, with strands of magic, politics and the ways that human nature can react darkly to unknown forces. I think the plot was well thought out, and I loved the the sense of place. Eileen wrote that the terrain in the book is strongly based on the landscapes known to her, and there is a wonderful depth to the descriptions. Something that I particularly liked was the sense of the world around the story, that other lives went on around the characters and would continue. The world is ongoing and evolving around the characters and is more than a reflection of them or their stage.

To be honest, I never really got into the characters, and I don’t know why. They were well described, and they were certainly not two dimensional. I think I ought to dip into more of Eileen Troemel’s works to see what happens, although I believe a lot of it is adult, and I blush too easily.

It is not a bad book, and there is the preview function on Amazon so you can get a taste of the tone of the book and its rhythm, so I suggest you use the ‘Look Inside’ tab and see what you think.

My personal view is that I am not likely to re-read it, but I don’t regret reading it, and I may well pick up other books by Eileen Troemel in the future. I think it is not quite my usual stamping ground or personal taste, so that has influenced me a little. I certainly wouldn’t reject it.

Confession time – I got accepted for their anthology Grumpy Old Gods Vol 3. Another confession – instead of doing my research, I only read their other stuff after I got accepted. Third confession – I liked it a lot more than I expected. As always, the review is completely honest and a true reflection of how I feel. I may have been accepted into a later anthology, but I wouldn’t have fibbed. We have all read books where the best thing you can say about them is that they were the perfect size to put under the table leg to stop it wobbling, and while I would have found something tactful to say if I didn’t like it, fortunately for my conscience, I loved this.

Grumpy Old Gods Vol 1 is a collection of thirteen stories from different authors, all of them about the former deities that are now out to pasture or somehow superannuated. The authors have taken the idea of the old gods and run with it. I don’t want to put in spoilers, but these are great stories. Some are just hilarious, others are sweetly sad.

It’s a great selection. Many of the stories go across more than one pantheon, so you get wonderful quotes such as, ‘Odin, Merlin, Zeus and Nubis sat around a table playing spades and debating the part humanity would play in the coming Apocalypse,‘ while others stick to one tradition and mythology. There is a great selection as well, as we have stories that refer to Norse, Greek, Egyptian and First Nation beliefs, which is wonderful to dip into.

I really enjoyed the excellent, well presented, well written stories. I am definitely going be reading Vol 2 just for pleasure, and I sincerely recommend this anthology.

Disclaimer – I don’t know the author, and I read the book through Kindle Unlimited, without being asked. This is a book I thought looked interesting and decided to read

First thing that I noted is that this is a chunky book. I usually read on my phone while waiting for my son, and most of the books I have been reading don’t take that long to read. If you read this in paperback, however, it’s over 400 pages long! It didn’t feel too long, though. As a writer, I’m aware that sometimes things can be trimmed or padded. It can be a difficult call to make. Objectively, I’m sure that there could have been some cuts made, but I enjoyed all I read and I didn’t feel anything dragged. The conversations, the descriptions and the action scenes all contributed to the story and the development of the characters. It was a well-paced, satisfying read.

And speaking of things dragging (or not), I thought the pace throughout was good. It was varied and interesting, with some great action sequences. I am a sucker for a good fight scene, and I think that these were great. You never lost track of who was doing what, which is testament to the skill of the writer, because these fast paced, detailed scenes with plenty of characters can be hard to track.

It wasn’t just a series of action scenes, though. The characters were distinct, interesting and well drawn. I loved that the characters developed through the story, changing and responding to changes in a believable way.

The plot is modern day fantasy, where Ash Angels battle Dreads, the forces of Good versus the forces of Evil. The setting has a well thought out, consistent and subtly complex background. At first it seems to ignore the theology that comes with the concept of Angels, but the implications are addressed as part of the plot. I should add that the plot has plenty of twists and turns, and some amazing surprises. I’ve had to be careful to avoid spoilers, because it’s worth uncovering the layers as the story progresses.

I am going to risk being a little controversial. I would say that this is a masculine book, as in there is more focus on the characters and the action than on relationships. This does not mean that the relationships are treated poorly, and that the interactions between the characters are not well drawn, just that romance is not the main focus.

I really recommend this intense, well paced, action packed story and I shall be dipping in to the rest of the series. Here’s a brief taster from the prologue:

The shot hit to the right of his forehead, tearing away part of his skull. Even that wouldn’t keep a Dread down. She took a quick bead on the pale face of the Dread next to him, a chunky biker with a devilish grin. But before she could pull the trigger, the glowing red radiance around him blasted outwards like the dawn of an evil sun, and a demonic haze washed out her vision – Spirit Shock, a dark gift some Dreads possessed. Everyone in the field called it ‘Getting Torched’. Everyone who survived it.

I know Timothy Bateson. He’s been a real help to me in the past and is a generally awesome person. That is why I didn’t tell him I was writing this review. Instead I paid full price for them (though they are reasonably priced) to read. If I hadn’t liked his work, I wouldn’t have posted anything about it. I would have been tactful, not mentioned I had seen them, and continue to be awestruck at the amount he does to help fellow authors and his incredibly generosity of time and encouragement.

These prequels are awesome!!!

They are written in the first person, which is not always my favourite, but the way that Timothy uses the first person makes the story far more engaging and immediate. The stories are the growth of a character, Richard Parsons, a werewolf growing up in modern day USA, and the trials that he faced. They are gritty and stripped down stories of a werewolf struggling in an urban environment, trying to scrape by. There is no glamour or glitz, but a hard reality about them. I know werewolves don’t exist but this reads true to that reality. There are no dark lords or imperious courts, just getting by and making bad choices in a harsh environment. The three prequels show the hero as a boy facing the biggest hurdle in his life, a crossroads where he has to make hard decisions that impact on his relationships, and the difficulty of being a werewolf in the conflicts in the Middle East – all with tantalising hints of more to come.

I really enjoyed reading them. I have two main complaints. The first complaint is that I would have like to have an option to buy them as a bundle. The second complaint is that the actual books that these prequel aren’t available yet. I should also add (sorry Timothy) that these are quite short, so you may like to check the length before you buy them. I thought they were value for money, but I know that sometimes you have to watch a budget.

I seriously recommend these awesome books, and I also recommend that you check out Timothy Bateson’s blog as not only do you get snippets of writing (and hopefully news of when the next books come out) but Timothy also showcases a lot of other authors with reviews, book tours and insights that can lead you to other awesome books.

This is a good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will almost certainly dip into more books from Stephanie Foxe.

You have snappy dialogue, well drawn, multi layered and believable characters, a great plot with unexpected twists and a believable and coherent magic system that isn’t overtly explained but is instead subtly shown throughout the book. The fight scenes are great, the hints of passion are amazing and I want to know more.

The only thing is, it’s in the first person present tense! I do not do well with first person present tense, it doesn’t draw me in the way that a more conventionally written story does, although in this case it does pretty well. It has very nearly almost come close to possibly considering changing my mind. Here is the opening paragraph, and you have to admit that it works:

I’m the only healer in two hundred miles who would let a vampire dump a half-dead snack off on my doorstep. I’m also the weakest healer in over two hundred miles, my magical talent is in brewing potions and salves, but I can keep a necker alive if a vampire gets a little over zealous

I read this on Kindle Unlimited, this is an unsolicited review, and I can recommend this book if you don’t mind first person present tense.

I enjoyed read this book, it has an interesting background, it has some sparky dialogue, some great action and there are some beautiful descriptions.

I read this for free, entirely unsolicited, from Kindle Unlimited. It’s not a bad read. I don’t regret the time I spent with this story. However it didn’t quite hit the spot with me.

I think the problem I have with this story is that I feel that it could do with being around 25% longer. Sometimes it feels like the story is rushed past some parts, or details are skimmed over. I would like to have a clearer set up about the deities and the way they interact. Of course, anyone who is writing using the Olympic deities is going to be compared to Rick Riordan and he is a tough act to follow. April Canavan doesn’t have the same take as the Percy Jackson series, which is kind of refreshing, but I personally would have liked to know more. Perhaps it will grow in the next books of the series.

As an entirely personal preference, I would like more distance between Gods and non-Gods, to have more of an air of glory about them. It doesn’t mean that this book isn’t worth reading, just that it didn’t push all my buttons. Here is a (non-spoiler) example:

“The only one of the gods of the wind who didn’t live with her was sitting there, eating a banana and reading a newspaper.

“‘Boreas,’ she greeted with a smile. ‘What are you doing here so early?’ Normally he didn’t show up until after everyone had eaten breakfast and calmed down a little.”

It also ended on something of a cliff hanger. Hopefully this will be resolved in the next books. It isn’t my favourite end to a book, though.

I’ve said the negatives about this, but there is a lot of good in this story. I think it’s going in interesting directions and I will almost certainly read the next in the series.

This is a well-written, entertaining book about magic in our present day world, with a well thought out, logical magic system and a recognition that being a witch doesn’t pay the bills. The pacing was great, with some variation, the descriptions had depth and supplemented the story and the characters were well thought through.

It is written in the first person present tense, which can be an acquired taste, particularly with the use of the present tense. That means that you get quotes like:

A few moments pass as Dean considers his options. Which are basically zero, so I’m not bothered. The fact that my skin has gone from tingling to crawling tells me he’s got a serious problem on his hands. A problem that I seriously doubt a psychic could deal with. Add to that, I can’t imagine one being dumb enough to try. Any true psychic would steer clear. So Dean has me or no-one…

I love the details included, the way that everyday, mundane life is used as a touchstone and counterpoint to the magical world and I love the reality of the language. It is an interesting, detailed, well imagined world with great plotting and lots of hints that don’t give the game away until the end. I can say that it is a good book to settle down with.

I have two issues. The first is that it ends on a cliffhanger, but not an irrational cliffhanger, so that is down to personal preference. It isn’t my preference, but it isn’t a bad end to the book. It is a logical, sensible, rational and consistent end to the book that leads well into the next of the series. If you don’t mind this sort of cliffhanger, then you will be fine.

The second issue is my completely irrational prejudice against first person present tense. It has it’s value as a method of story telling as it makes all the action very immediate and, if well written (and this is), it can make it very relatable. I think it is utterly awesome for short stories. My completely irrational dislike is that I feel that it can affect the flow of information so that you get more ‘tell’ than ‘show’ and that it can affect pacing. JS Malcom has done a wonderful job conveying the information necessary for the plot and the pacing works great. In fact, the way that the background is gently introduced during the story is wonderfully handled. I still have this completely ridiculous aversion to first person present tense.

If you are okay with a cliffhanger ending and a story in the first person present tense then I would be happy to recommend this book and to perhaps check out the sequel.