The Quatermass Book-Reading Blog 9: On Cloud Nine...

Post Reply New Topic

Book 15...

REVIEW: The Man in the Rubber Mask: Robert Llewellyn Tells the Inside Story of Red Dwarf Almost by Robert Llewellyn

Okay, I enjoy Red Dwarf. So it was inevitable that, if I could get a hold of Robert Llewellyn's pseudo-memoirs The Man in the Rubber Mask, I would read it some day. Unfortunately, I have no more pithy comments to make about this book and the review. So, here goes...

The Man in the Rubber Mask is the tale of how Robert Llewellyn got plucked from a stage play, Mammon, Robot Born of Woman, to play the mechanoid Kryten in the BBC science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf. Interactions with cast and crew over the making of three seasons of Red Dwarf, the trials and travails of wearing prosthetics almost all the time, plus his brush with fame in the US, all are detailed here.

It's enjoyable to read about Red Dwarf, being a fan, and there is certainly plenty of information here for other fans to lap up, like scenes that nearly went wrong or did go wrong, or the interactions between cast members and/or crew members. There is certainly a lot of funny jokes as well, with more than a few getting me to laugh out loud. There's also a running gag about Llewellyn's 'irony light' being on at inopportune times.

However, I have to confess being disappointed. This book is not really an autobiography, and indeed, feels like an extract from a more substantial work, even though Llewellyn hasn't, to my knowledge, actually written an autobiography or more substantial memoirs. It just feels like it could have been so much more meatier, and ends rather abruptly with little resolution.

The Man in the Rubber Mask was enjoyable, but less substantial than I would have liked it to be. Which is a shame, really.


8/10

First words: In the giant control room in the sky, there are banks and banks of lights on a huge, smooth, black control board, each one connected to an emotion, or a significant experience, of a human being on Earth.

Last words: It was only a temporary glitch, but while it lasted, it was very, very peaceful.

Book 16...

REVIEW: Yu-Gi-Oh! volume 5: The Heart of the Cards by Kazuki Takahashi

I'm not sure that I have any pithy comments left to describe the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. But I recently revisited the 4Kids dub of the second anime series, finding a couple of DVD volumes at the local video shop. It felt very different to both the manga version and the Abridged Series that I had become so used to watching. The first episode even uses elements from the original manga, but rather mangled up. But now, the true version comes out...

Yugi, Anzu, Jonouchi and Johji have made it through the first three sections of Seto Kaiba's insanely deadly theme park, Death-T. But it has come at a terrible cost: Yugi's grandfather is suffering from a heart attack, and Honda is trapped, perhaps even dead, in a room filling with falling blocks. And in the final two sections of Death-T, Yugi must face the Kaiba brothers alone, in one-on-one rematches of their favourite games. First, he must face Mokuba in a rigged game of Capsule Monster Chess, and if he wins, he faces off against Seto Kaiba in a new Duel Monsters game. But Yugi is frightened of his darker half, and how his friends will react. Can Yugi beat the two Kaiba brothers? Is Seto so beyond redemption, he would willingly subject his brother to the worst kind of psychological torment? And can Yugi really beat Seto with his grandfather's cards? It will take every ounce of cunning and skill Dark Yugi has, as well as the secret of Exodia, and faith in the heart of the cards...

This volume not only has the exciting conclusion of the Death-T arc, but also a pair of regular chapters. Death-T goes from the rather more sadistic parts of the park to high-stakes games that are reminiscent of the later Duel Monsters-oriented battles. It's enjoyable stuff, and the battle between Yugi and Seto are particularly enjoyable. The other two chapters include a rather dud one about love testers that seems almost a repeat of the last story of the first volume, and a more interesting one involving Jonouchi being on a game show and being manipulated by a disdainful producer.

Yugi and Dark Yugi get more development here, with Yugi finally admitting that he is aware of his darker half and Dark Yugi's connection to the blackouts he had. Dark Yugi too gets development when he shows mercy to the Kaiba brothers, saving Mokuba from the 'Experience of Death' simulation Seto subjected him to for losing to Yugi, and sending Kaiba into a coma with a Mind Crush, destroying the evil in his heart and allowing him to start afresh. Mokuba and Seto also get more support, with Mokuba helping Yugi and his friends after the tournament is over, and relating how Seto became such an evil bastard. I wonder why Yugi spared him, though, as Seto is shown to be unrepentantly evil throughout.

Overall, Yu-Gi-Oh! volume 5 was immensely enjoyable. I just hope that the last two volumes, prior to the Duel Monsters volumes, are as enjoyable.


9/10

First words: This is as far as I go......

Last words: WAAAAAH!

Book 17...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: EarthWorld by Jacqueline Rayner


So far, the Doctor Who books I have read and reviewed for this particular book-reading blog have been...disappointing. So I had to admit to a certain disheartened nature as I chose my next book. Recently, the BBC reissued a number of Doctor Who novels, most of them from the BBC Books range from the late 90s to the 2000s, one for each Doctor, and while I had many of them, there were four that I hadn't read: Ten Little Aliens, Dreams of Empire, Festival of Death, and EarthWorld. The latter two I had once possessed, but never got to reading and sold long ago in their original editions. I decided to try EarthWorld, written by Jacqueline Rayner, who would go on to be a script editor and writer for the new series...

The Doctor has still not regained his memories, but he has recently regained the TARDIS. Taking long-time companion Fitz, and a newcomer, Anji Kapoor, whose boyfriend died during her first encounter with the Doctor, back to Earth after one adventure, he seems to have succeeded at first, albeit landing in prehistoric times. But since when did cavemen coexist with dinosaurs? They soon find out that they are in the far future, and in a theme park dedicated to what humanity remembers of Earth's past. The Doctor and Anji are soon accused of being terrorists, while Fitz finds that his knowledge of 20th century Earth may have landed him in hot water, and being a copy of the original Fitz means that he will soon have the biggest identity crisis of his life. Why are the androids that populate EarthWorld going berserk? Is it the work of the teenage terrorist organisation ANJI? Or do the psychopathic daughters of President Hoover of New Jupiter have something to do with it? The Doctor and his companions will be hard-pressed to stop the culprits, and get out alive.

EarthWorld's story is a slightly simple one, but this is not a bad thing. Indeed, I feel like there's a sophistication here that is missing from the other books I have reviewed for this particular book-reading blog. There are a few threads that are hard to follow, and the conclusion is a little abrupt, and much of the story relies on knowing what happened earlier in the Eighth Doctor Adventures series (the Doctor wiping out Gallifrey in The Ancestor Cell, as well as Fitz being a copy of the original, thanks to the events of Interference). But these are relatively minor problems.

The Doctor takes a bit of a background to the development of his companions, although he does play a large and important role in the story. Poor Fitz undergoes a massive identity crisis, and an understandable one at that, while Anji is still mourning the death of her boyfriend, presumably from her introductory story, Escape Velocity (which I am yet to read, incidentally). The other characters are fine enough, though the villainous sisters Asia, Africa, and Antarctica (yes, those are their names!) are rather small-time villains, despite their interestingly childish and psychopathic natures. Probably the most interesting character was a brief appearance by an Elvis impersonator.

Overall, though, I enjoyed EarthWorld. It entertained me quite well. So, bring on the other 50th Anniversary reissues...


9/10

First words: A rocky plain - barren and dull.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers.)

Book 18...

REVIEW: London Falling by Paul Cornell

As part of my own unofficial rules for this book-reading blog, I try to alternate between genres or sets. For example, I try not to read two manga or graphic novels in a row, fitting in a normal fiction book instead, or reading two Doctor Who books in a row. And while London Falling is not a Doctor Who book, its author, Paul Cornell, has written both novels (such as Human Nature and Love and War) and TV episodes for the series. It's also not dissimilar in concept to Ben Aaronovitch's book Rivers of London, and the series that followed, about policemen in London discovering the occult bubbling away, just beneath the surface. But does London Falling have its own identity? Does it turn out the goods, or does it fall flat?

The pressure is on to try and capture notorious criminal Rob Toshack. DI James Quill of the London Metropolitan Police feels that corruption within the undercover agents in the operation, Sefton and Costain, is to blame. But during the interview after the arrest, Toshack dies violently and mysteriously, a spiral-like symbol left behind. Quill, realising that there may be more to this than a drug baron, recruits Sefton and Costain, along with intelligence analyst Lisa Ross, into a taskforce. Soon, they find that the symbol is connected to a series of mysterious deaths, many of them relating to a curse around the West Ham football club. That, and a series of child abductions. And upon investigating a house at the centre of these, and touching a strange tub of soil, each of the investigators find themselves seeing things that shouldn't be there. Terrifying things. Who, or what is Mora Losley? What connection does Lisa Ross have to Rob Toshack's past? And can the team use both their terrifying new ability to see the supernatural and their policing skills to stop Losley and her hellish powers?

I have to confess, I got more involved in this story compared to Rivers of London. This is not to say that the story is not without faults. It lacks some of the sophistication and research of Aaronovitch's novel, and the ending leaves more than one significant event unexplained. But it was certainly more accessible than Rivers of London, with more characters and a somewhat slightly less cliched (or at least used) method of showing the supernatural within London. We also get hints, too tantalising and not substantial enough, of the nature of supernatural London, and this story feels like the start of a series. In a way, it was, as Cornell admits in an afterword that it was derived from a TV series idea he had.

The characters are all interesting, to one degree or another. Of the four main characters, it is Lisa Ross, with her frankly unexpected connection to Rob Toshack that grabbed me the most, although Costain, haunted by the death of an informer, comes a close second. Mora Losley is a brilliant villain who, while not quite as primal and elemental as the villain of Rivers of London, still manages to keep a close second and is not only a real threat, but has the kind of backstory in which that, although you can sympathise with what happened to her, you can't sympathise with the monster she became. And to do that right is very good.

Overall, I enjoyed London Falling, and I hope that if Paul Cornell writes any sequels, they get bigger and better.


9/10

First words: Costain entered the service station and stopped when he saw Quill standing there, not even pretending to look at the chocolate bars displayed in front of him.

Last words: 'This explains a lot.'

Book 19...

REVIEW: Fullmetal Alchemist volume 2 by Hiromu Arakawa


Having enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist after reading its first volume, I knew that eventually, I'd get around to reading the next volumes. After all, for a manga of its genre (shonen, which tends to be action adventure serials), it hit the ground running and almost immediately began the build up for the proper story. But would it last? Here's hoping...

Having met up with military State Alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang and his comrades, Edward and Al Elric decide to pick his brains, looking for a state alchemist who specialises in biological alchemy. Unfortunately, their expert, Shou Tucker, a supposedly devoted family man, is desperate enough to have not only turned his wife into a chimera long ago, but soon turns his daughter into one. But even his crimes pale into significance when he is killed by a vicious scarred man who then proceeds to attack Edward and Al, one who has an understandable grudge against state alchemists, and who is going to kill every one of them...

Okay, the story of the series, while obviously continuing, is still quite good. It's still stuffed to the gills with action scenes and goofy comedy, but it also has a substantial amount of moral ambiguity, with many of the supposed good guys revealed to have taken part (albeit reluctantly and with regrets) in a genocidal war. We even have more foreshadowing of what comes later, with Lust and Gluttony joined by the androgynous Envy. It's still quite a standard shonen manga in many other respects, and only time will tell as to whether it will kick up a notch.

Edward and Alphonse are both pretty good protagonists, even if they don't get much actual development in this volume. However, we learn more about Roy Mustang, seen briefly at the end of the first volume, along with his comrades, with the most interesting besides Mustang being the flamboyant Major Alex Louis Armstrong, who is so funny, and yet ridiculously competent despite it. Scar is also an interesting character, a serial killer of state alchemists, but who, in his very first scene no less, is shown to be sympathetic to a degree, even before his backstory is revealed.

I enjoyed the second volume of Fullmetal Alchemist, even if it didn't quite go to the level I was hoping it to get to. A pity, but no less enjoyable.


8.5/10

First words: Whoa...

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 20...

REVIEW: Resident Evil: Zero Hour by S.D Perry


It has to be said that the Resident Evil series of games ranks amongst my personal favourited. Even so, while I used to say that Resident Evil was 'zombie blasting with a good plot', the truth is, the plots are actually quite cheesy. Resident Evil 0, a prequel to the main series, was okay, but hard, and didn't have the freshness that the next game, Resident Evil 4, have. But of the novelisations of the series by S.D Perry, I have only not read this one, the novelisation of Resident Evil 0. Now that has changed...

Racoon City: a city where the unscrupulous Umbrella Corporation effectively rules from behind the scenes, while creating biological weapons in secret facilities throughout the city and the surrounding wilderness. But now, the deadly T-virus has been released, in a remote lab hidden in a mansion, on a train used by Umbrella employees, and at a training facility with its own laboratories. Rookie STARS member Rebecca Chambers is separated from her comrades after a chopper crash strands them, and she finds herself forced to team up with a condemned military prisoner, Billy Coen, accused of murdering 23 people. Arranged against them is not only the might of Umbrella as they try to cover up the leaks, but also a mysterious young man who has control over mutated leeches. Is Billy Coen really a murderer? Who is the young man? And what links him to Dr James Marcus, a long-dead Umbrella scientist who helped create the T-virus? The answers to these questions will be paid for in hardships and blood, as Rebecca and Billy fight their way through zombies, giant insects, and leech creatures from Hell...

Now, the story of Resident Evil: Zero Hour isn't that much different from the game, save for giving some extra scenes detailing combat sequences, as well as backstory and some scenes from the point of view of the main villain. Some of the dialogue is altered to tone down the cheese towards the end (particularly during the confrontation against the villain), but it's not the most sophisticated of stories. Hell, it's more of a fast-food kind of story. But it is highly entertaining, regardless, though non-fans of the series may not be so entertained.

Certainly, we have Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen fleshed out, albeit in S.D Perry's typical style. And it was a pleasure to have the main villain's story fleshed out more than he had in the game. It was all very well to be an enigmatic character, but here, his motivations are clarified. Not many other characters used, though.

Resident Evil: Zero Hour is probably only going to appeal to fans of the series, but it's a decent enough novelisation of a fairly cheesy story. Not great literature by any means, but certainly enjoyable.


8.5/10

First words: The train swayed and rocked as it traveled through the Racoon woods, the thunder of its wheels echoed by a thundering twilight sky.

Last words: They were hungry.

Book 21...

REVIEW: The Unwritten, volume 7: The Wound by Mike Carey and Peter Gross


The Unwritten has been one of the best graphic novel series I have ever followed in recent times. But after the exciting sixth volume, where Tommy Taylor took the fight to the mysterious Cabal and destroyed them, I wondered whether it was possible for the series to top that. So it was with more than a little trepidation that I finally started reading the seventh volume, The Wound...

A year has passed since Tom Taylor went to war against the Cabal and its enforcer, Pullman. He destroyed the Cabal and Pullman, but at a cost: Lizzie is apparently dead, and Leviathan, the embodiment of stories and the collective unconsciousness of all humanity, is wounded, possibly even dying. After a dispute with comrade and vampire Richard Savoy, Tom is trying to make his own way. But the worlds of fiction are in turmoil, on the verge of becoming extinct. The wound Pullman put in Tom and thus Leviathan is worsening. And in Queensland, Australia, a driven Aboriginal detective known as Sandra 'Didge' Patterson is investigating a cult around Tom Taylor, one that seems to have drawn in others, like former Cabal minion Daniel Armitage, or a menagerie of fictional creatures. But is Tom, and his fictional counterpart Tommy Taylor really to blame for the cult? Or is he the victim of circumstance?

Okay, after the brilliant story in the sixth volume, this one was something of a comedown. The first chapter (showing what happened to a couple of people Wilson Taylor turned into fictional characters, namely the Tinker and Pauly Bruckner) is short, but appropriately bleak, and gives the next few chapters context which they badly need. But while some of the crisis is understandable, especially given the conversation between Richie Savoy and Rausch, the Queensland arc is a little less understandable, though there are more than a few good moments (like the revelation of Daniel Armitage meeting fictional characters, or Didge encountering Pullman's hand). And I feel that the last story in the collection should have been put first, although Richie Savoy's anger, while somewhat understandable, seems a little out of left field.

Tom gets little development here, being more of a background character, while Richie is the only main character to get much action. And even that isn't much, although his sequences are more enlightening to the story than that of the main story thread. I can't say that I think that much of Daniel Armitage, Didge is an excellent character. Problem is, she seems to be written more like an African-American than an Australian Aboriginal. The unicorn Shrdlu Silverhoof is a decent enough one, though I feel something more beyond 'crazed cult leader' could have gone into Lucas Filby. He did get some things, though. Another problem is that although some settings in Brisbane look accurate, the rest either looks like they're out in the country when they have no need to be, or else makes Brisbane look more American. Maybe a little artistic licence was exercised, or maybe they didn't do the research. Or maybe I'm more ignorant than I thought.

In any case, while not actually bad, this volume of The Unwritten fell well below my expectations for the series. Which is a crying shame, really, as I wanted the series to maintain a high standard. I just hope things pick up for the next volume, as they may have hinted to be...


8.5/10

First words: This story is the Tinker's Quest, and it begins like so:

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 22...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Festival of Death by Jonathan Morris


It's perhaps surprising that a series like Doctor Who doesn't always use the possibilities of time travel to the full. Some stories like The Space Museum, Blink, and The Big Bang do use time travel to quite a strong degree. However, a few of the original novels based on the series do use this, and one of them, as I found out, was the recently reprinted (as part of the 50th Anniversary) Fourth Doctor novel Festival of Death...

The G-Lock: a gigantic space station in the middle of hyperspace, created by spaceships bolted together, including the wreck of the cruise liner known as the Cerberus. Now, it is the home of the Beautiful Death, where people can experience the afterlife...and come back to tell the tale. When the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive in response to a distress call, they find the G-Lock in utter chaos, in the throes of a disaster's aftermath. Not only that, but some there recognise them, with some hailing the time travellers as the heroes who saved the G-Lock, and at least another, the greedy Executive Metcalfe, claiming them to be saboteurs and terrorists. Not only have they been here before, but someone witnessed the death of the Doctor. Realising that they have seen events out of sequence, the time travellers head back in time to find out what happened, with the Doctor sure that his fate is to die. There, they find that the Beautiful Death is run by the driven Paddox, who is obsessed with the necroport that allows the Beautiful Death to happen. But things go wrong, and a hideous entity from the other side known as the Repulsion starts taking over those people who underwent the Beautiful Death. What does Paddox hope to achieve? Why is he responsible for the death of an entire species? And can the Doctor stop the Repulsion AND Paddox before he is doomed to die?

Earlier in this book-reading blog, I read a not dissimilar timey-wimey Doctor Who novel, Touched by an Angel. However, unlike that one, this one, while far more complicated with the time travel, is nonetheless the better written of the two, with the complexity handled with aplomb. Funnily enough, Touched by an Angel was also written by Jonathan Morris (who also wrote the excellent Big Finish story Bloodtide), and contains many of the same themes. Even so, this story was undoubtedly done better. I have a soft spot for novels set in this era of Doctor Who's history, as while many of the actual TV scripts didn't go down well (Horns of Nimon, I am looking at you!), the novels that I have read thus far (pretty much all by Gareth Roberts, admittedly) have been excellent, funny, and yet balancing the humour with drama. It certainly is meatier than Touched by an Angel, in my opinion.

The Doctor, Romana, and K9 feel like they had stepped out of the screen and onto the page, with the Doctor given a rare moment of vulnerability when he learns of his coming demise. Most of the other characters are fine enough, but lack a certain je ne sais quoi, for the most part. Paddox is only given texture by the tragedy of his past, and the other human characters seem a little flat, albeit not badly so. The Repulsion is also a fairly stereotypical ranting horror. However, ERIC the terminally depressed computer is a better character, showing what happens when Eddie the Computer from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy becomes Marvin the Android from the same. Hoopy is a very funny character, being best described as a hippy lizard, and the Arboretans have an extraordinarily interesting quirk for their species, one key to the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed Festival of Death immensely. Which goes to show, even with the same author and similar concepts, results can vary quite widely.


9/10

First words: For the rest of his life he would remember it as the day he died.

Last words: No one would ever hear him.

Book 23...

REVIEW: Yu-Gi-Oh! volume 6: Monster Fight! by Kazuki Takahashi


Having recently obtained the sixth and seventh volumes of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, I think my time with the series will draw to a close, if only temporarily. After the seventh volume comes the emphasis on Duel Monsters, where the fate of the world rests on what Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series says is a children's card game, and while the manga is better than the anime, I will probably 'retire' from the series for the time being. Even so, it looks to be getting even more interesting, with another recurring character about to be introduced...

Yugi and his friends may have survived Seto Kaiba's Death-T, but their troubles are far from over. Yugi and Jonouchi start a new trend at school by being amongst the first to play Monster Fight, but Yugi soon has a run-in with a vicious bully who steals them, one whom his dark side will teach a lesson. A date with Anzu at a theme park leads to Anzu putting herself into danger deliberately to draw out Dark Yugi, but she gets more than she bargained for at the hands of a sadistic bomber who plays a deadly version of solitaire with Dark Yugi, with Anzu's life, and other people's lives, at stake. And then, there is Imori, who intends to claim the Millennium Puzzle as his own, using the forbidden power of the Dragon Cards, as well as the revenge of gang leader Hirutani, who wants to take revenge on Jonouchi and Yugi. But even all these may pale into significance with transfer student Ryou Bakura, a role-playing game enthusiast who is afraid to make friends with Yugi...because his friends have a habit of falling into comas. But Yugi is unaware that Bakura has a Millennium Item, the malevolent Millennium Ring. And unlike the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, the Ring's spirit possessing the otherwise good-natured Bakura is wholly evil, and intent on claiming the Millennium Puzzle for his own nefarious purposes...

Unlike some of the previous volumes, all of the stories here, barring the deadly solitaire story, are multiple-part stories. While it was nice to have the consistent story of Death-T in the previous volumes, it was also great to come back to some variety in terms of the games. We have another monster-fighting toy, albeit a mechanical rather than electronic one, a variation on solitaire, a deadly card game that seems to prefigure some of the later Duel Monsters card games in Yu-Gi-Oh!, deadly usages of yo-yos (I kid ye not), and a tabletop RPG that seems set to become really deadly. The stories are enjoyable, although the deadly solitaire one is a bit annoying for reasons I will detail. And, after Shadi, we finally meet another possessor of a Millennium Item, exciting stuff indeed.

Yugi and Dark Yugi are given some small development, mostly where Dark Yugi fights to save the soul of Yugi in the Dragon Cards game, while Jonouchi has one of his finest hours fighting to save Yugi, as well as defeat Hirutani for once and for all. Anzu, I have to admit, my opinion of her falls down quite a bit, when she stupidly puts herself into mortal danger to bring out Dark Yugi (though at least she realises her mistake once the bombs start going off in the deadly solitaire game). Of the one-shot antagonists, the best perhaps is Imori, the twisted little bastard who decides to feed Yugi's soul to the dragons of the Dragon Cards game so he can claim the Millennium Puzzle for his own. However, of the new characters, we have Bakura and his dark counterpart introduced. While not enough of either character has been developed yet, one cannot help but feel sorry for Bakura, especially when the evil Bakura takes over, digging the spikes of the Millennium Ring into his chest in one of the more simpler nightmarish images in the series.

While not without its flaws, this latest volume of Yu-Gi-Oh! is still very enjoyable, and promises much for the next volume, when evil Bakura's scheme begins in earnest...

9/10

First words: Here's a game I think you'll like...

Last words: H-HA HA HA HA!

Book 24...

REVIEW: Joe Golem and the Drowning City by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden


One of the many comic series that I have enjoyed previously has been Mike Mignola's Hellboy. This mixture of pulp action-adventure, sardonic humour and Lovecraftian horror entertained and thrilled me. So my next entry into this book-reading blog is one of Mignola's recent works, collaborating with novelist Christopher Golden, whom he has collaborated with before. So would Joe Golem and the Drowning City do well?

In 1925, a cataclysm engulfed Manhattan. Fifty years later, Lower Manhattan is now known as the Drowning City, a warren of crime, vice, and poverty. Teenager Molly McHugh is lucky: she has a good man as an employer, psychic Felix Orlov, a former stage musician whose talents are very real. But when a seance goes wrong, and a mysterious group of gas-masked men turn up, Molly is forced to run for her life, saved only by the intervention of a man called Joe. Joe and his employer, the famous and long-lived detective Simon Church, are worried about Orlov's link to the occult, a link that has been with him since before his birth, and the lengths that the driven Dr Cocteau will go to to use it. What is the Pentajulum? What links it to Orlov and his true nature? And can Molly, Joe, and Church stop Cocteau before he causes the end of the world?

Okay, this story isn't exactly a deep and meaningful one. In fact, it's really a relatively unsophisticated two-fisted supernatural action story in the vein of Hellboy. But this, as I so often say, is by no means a bad thing. What the story lacks in sophistication and complexity it makes up for in the entertainment stakes. Indeed, besides the relatively simple story, my only real complaint is that it seems like it was set up to start a series of some kind.

The characters are pretty good, not bad, not great. Simon Church seems to be a derivative of Sherlock Holmes, albeit turned into an occult detective, while Orlov's story is a tragedy, especially given what happens. Molly is a fine enough protagonist, though I wish more was done on Joe (hell, the big twist about him is spoiled in the bloody title!). Cocteau isn't that fleshed out an antagonist, not as much as I'd like.

Joe Golem and the Drowning City is a good, if unsophisticated story. It entertained me well enough, though, which is what matters.


8.5/10

First words: Orlov the Conjuror dreams he is a ghost.

Last words: The tide had shifted, and it was heading out.

Book 25...

REVIEW: Yu-Gi-Oh! volume 7: Monster World by Kazuki Takahashi

Finally, I come to the end of the first run of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga. From volumes 1 to 7 have been a run through various games, from improvised games to the Duel Monsters card games. But this is the final volume before the Duel Monsters card game takes over, and it's a helluva doozy, involving a deadly RPG...

In order to cheer up their morose classmate Bakura, Yugi and his friends have decided to play a game of Monster World with him. But they don't know that not only does Bakura possess the Millennium Ring, he is also possessed by the evil spirit within the Ring, a spirit that cares nothing for its host's pain, or the lives of others. Soon, Yugi and his friends find themselves trapped in figurines on the Monster World board by Bakura's evil half, with only Dark Yugi left to play. Dark Bakura does everything to make sure that the odds are against them, and it's only a matter of time before they lose. Or can they win? Can Bakura's true self break through? Or will Yugi and his friends become lead miniatures for all eternity? It's a battle between alter-egos, and only one can win...

The entirety of this volume is continuing the Monster World story arc that began in the previous volume, although it starts when things start to go very wrong for Yugi and his friends. The rest of the volume is really just one extended battle with little actual story, but it is an exciting one, and with many a heartwarming moment. It also marks many firsts, including the first time normal Yugi gets to see his counterpart.

I'm not sure that I can say much about the characters here that I haven't already. However, both Bakuras get development, with the evil Bakura willing to show to what depths he will go to to defeat Yugi and his friends (as well as deliberately impaling his own hand to prevent the real Bakura from controlling it), while the real Bakura has many a moment of both awesome and sacrifice. And we get the first definitive proof that Yugi trusts his dark counterpart, although there are hints in previous volumes.

While nowhere near perfect, the seventh volume of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga is a bloody good one, exciting, even though its story is, at this point, rather simple.


9/10

First words: Scratch one Level 3 Goblin!!

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 26...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Dreams of Empire by Justin Richards


Patrick Troughton is my second favourite classic Doctor. There was something about him that defined the Doctor more than William Hartnell did, and he provided the template for Sylvester McCoy (my personal favourite actor for the Doctor) taking up the role. So it was no surprise that when I decided to read another of the 50th Anniversary reprints, I chose Dreams of Empire, set during this era...

The Haddron Republic is close to collapse. A deadly civil war brought about by the ambitions of Hans Kesar, Consul General, has ended with his being exiled to a luxurious prison on an asteroid, apparently disfigured by an explosion and hiding his features behind a mask. Those guarding him have to deal with assassination attempts that may make Kesar a martyr, or else attempts to rescue him, and make him Emperor. Into this volatile situation comes the Doctor, Victoria, and Jamie, who come just when someone is murdered. Their innocence in the murder is soon proven, but the Doctor soon learns that not all is well. The security systems of the asteroid prison have been sabotaged, Consul Milton Trayx has arrived to root out a possible assasin that Kesar's most vocal and powerful opponent may have planted on the asteroid, and another ship is approaching, manned by robot soldiers. With two plots colliding, chess games between disgraced military officers, and a deadly secret behind the mask of Kesar, the Doctor and his friends will be hard-pressed to get out of it alive...

As Justin Richards explains in the foreword to this edition of Dreams of Empire, the story, while set in the far future, involves a situation not unlike what happened to Julius Caesar, and posits a situation where Caesar was arrested and forced into exile. The story itself is rather straightforward and not very labyrinthian, but this is not a bad thing. Indeed, we have many twists and turns, including more than a few excellent ones at the end. It's also refreshing to have the main cast, although suspected of murder initially, to be exonerated and 'trusted' quite swiftly.

The Doctor, Jamie, and Zoe, as with many great novels from the series, feel like they have stepped out of the TV screen and onto the page, with an amusing scene where Victoria, a prim and proper teenager from Victorian times, is made to wear a figure-hugging armoured combat suit, as well as Jamie's frustrations with the Doctor not revealing anything. The Haddron characters aren't always superb, but most do, including Kesar, Hedan, and Cruger. Another good character is Prion, who has more than one twist up his sleeve that I shouldn't spoil.

In the end, Dreams of Empire was just a whisker away from perfection. Pity, that. It was an enjoyable book in any case.


9.5/10

First words: All colour seemed bled from the walls, the floor, the ceiling.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers)

Book 27...

REVIEW: Fullmetal Alchemist volume 3 by Hiromu Arakawa


Well, I don't really have any pithy comments to make about the next volume of Fullmetal Alchemist. So let's get on with the review, shall we?

Having barely survived an attack by Ishvarlan alchemist killer Scar, and having learned about the Philosopher's Stone from Dr Tim Marcoh, Edward and Al Elric, accompanied by the flamboyant Alex Louis Armstrong, head back to their hometown, to get help from automail and prosthetic experts Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry, to repair Ed's automail limbs. After staying for a while, Edward and Al head to the library where Marcoh's research notes were kept, only to find that it has been destroyed by the mysterious Lust. But a librarian with a photographic memory manages to give the Elrics a copy of the notes, but within is a horrible revelation, one which leads the Elrics to a former military research facility, guarded by animated armour, like Al...

Okay, the story is still enjoyable, if not quite at an excellent level. Certainly there was a very good, and chilling, revelation of what is needed to create a Philosopher's Stone, and a few good fight sequences. We also learn just a little bit more about the Elric brothers' past. It's enjoyable popcorn entertainment.

The characters are enjoyable enough. As mentioned before, we learn more about the Elrics' past, as well as something about where they lived, and they, along with the flamboyant and very funny Armstrong are great comedic and active characters. We also have some hints about Roy Mustang's own ambitions, as well as a trio of characters bonded to armour who reveal perhaps more about the Elrics than they do themselves.

The third volume of Fullmetal Alchemist is enjoyable, but not great. Which is a pity. Maybe later volumes might turn out well...


8.5/10

First words: There.

Last words: I suppose we'll have to fix that, won't we?

Book 28...

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Harvest of Time by Alastair Reynolds

I've never really read the works of Alastair Reynolds yet, although it's been on the to-read list for some time. However, when I heard that, like Michael Moorcock and Stephen Baxter before him, he had written a Doctor Who novel, I decided to get a hold of it. Having bought it, I've read through it at a fair old trot, and am now ready for my verdict...

Billions of years into the far future, the Red Queen tries desperately to save the race she governs, the Praxilions. In the 1970s, UNIT is investigating a series of strange events, including bizarre holes that appear in the sky or the sea, water gushing out of them, as well as the mysterious goings on around an oil rig, one of those owned by Callum 'Big Cal' McCrimmon. Edwina 'Ed' McCrimmon, despite having summoned UNIT, has been forced by her father and government officials to state that little happened, but the Doctor and Jo soon find something very wrong indeed: the Master has been let out of prison covertly by elements of the government who want him to create a special submarine communications system. The Master has exploited his limited freedom to create a distress signal to himself, so that he may free himself, but now UNIT and others are finding their memory of the Master fading. Meanwhile, on the sea shore, mechanical crabs containing aliens are washing up and taking people over, heralding an invasion by the vicious Sild. What connects the Sild to events in the future? Why is the Master fading from memory? And can the Doctor, in order to save the universe, ally with his oldest friend and enemy?

I have to confess that, although the last 'guest author' story, The Wheel of Ice by Stephen Baxter, was excellent, as well as Dan Abnett's The Silent Stars Go By, I hadn't thought as much of Michael Moorcock's The Coming of the Terraphiles. So I knew that this story could be great, or not so great. Thankfully, it is the former. Reynolds is unafraid to tackle the soft science fiction of the series, and does so in a way that gives a story that has a fairly complex plot, though the MERMAN plot and some explanation for the Sild falls by the wayside, as well as that with the Doctor being able to control his TARDIS, even though he is still in the middle of his exile.

Perhaps the heart of the story is the interaction between the Master and the Doctor, with an exploration of their past before they left Gallifrey, as well as the complex nature of their perverse friendship and bitter rivalry. This dominates the novel, though there is certainly enough characterisation given to Jo and Edwina McCrimmon. I wish UNIT was used a bit more, along with the dodgy MERMAN characters, but hey, that's not a big issue.

Harvest of Time is just a whisker away from perfection, but it is a brilliant book regardless. Although getting guest authors may be something of a stunt, the choice of Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds show that there is method to it, and the result is, nonetheless, enjoyable...


9.5/10

First words: The worst machine in the universe was a marble-grey box no larger than a coffin or shipping trunk.

Last words: It was a marvellous feeling.

Book 29...

REVIEW: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean

One thing that I am trying to do for the book-reading blogs is to read graphic novels of some repute. Having read various Batman collections like The Killing Joke, Hush, and Joker, amongst others, I have finally gotten around to reading Grant Morrison's seminal Batman work: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. Even with the 15th anniversary version that has annotations by the author attached to the original script, would I be able to penetrate this dense work?

Decades ago, Amadeus Arkham founded Arkham Asylum, hiding dark secrets within his past. In the present, Batman is called to the Asylum. Joker and the other inmates have the staff hostage, and have demanded that Batman take his place amongst the insane within Arkham. However, all is not as it seems within these walls, and even as Batman battles the inmates of Arkham, as well as a deadly new menace, he must battle the madness within, a battle he may be incapable of winning...

It must be said that on the face of it, the story is an excellent and intelligently written work of psychological horror, as well as an in-depth exploration of the psyche of Batman and many of his foes. But I have noted before that an intelligently written work doesn't necessarily make it an enjoyable work. The annotations attached to this edition do help significantly, but even then, reading this work is bad for the brain, even leaving the psychological horror aside. The symbolism is everywhere, and is often impenetrable when it isn't being highly disturbing.

Batman seems to be a bit too jerkish in this story, considering his rather more brutal behaviour than the norm, though this is justified according to the annotations. The rogues gallery get some pretty good shots in, though Joker and Harvey Dent get the most air time. I have to confess to having little sympathy for Cavendish or Adams, although whether this is due to lack of development or just their natures, I don't know. The main star of the story is Amadeus Arkham, with his journals relating his spiral into madness, and how it connects to the present day Asylum. Dave McKean's artwork is surreal and lends a very disturbing edge that helps bring the story up a notch, even if it also makes it more difficult to discern exactly what is going on.

With some parts impenetrable without annotations, and other stuff very disturbing, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth is a good, but very hard to get into story. It's a bit hard to access, and may not be for everyone, given its treatment of Batman, but it's still something you should try, if you've the stomach for it.


8/10

First words: From the Journals of Amadeus Arkham:

Last words: You're nothing but a pack of cards.

Book 30...

REVIEW: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold

Last year, I purchased the latest Vorkosigan Saga book, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, and while I was excited to have the next Vorkosigan Saga book, it took me a while to commit to reading the damn thing. Which is a shame, considering how much I have enjoyed this underrated series, a mixture of science fiction with drama and even more than a little comedy. Maybe it was because the emphasis wasn't on the main character of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, but was that any excuse?

Captain Ivan Vorpatril wants a quiet, easy life, and it seems that being a staff officer on Komarr means that he's away from his more infamous cousin Miles Vorkosigan, or his mother and her pointed remarks about his not settling down. Unfortunately, the quiet life doesn't last, as Barrayan ImpSec wants Ivan to investigate Tej and Rish, a pair of new arrivals who turn out to be on the run from the wretched hive of Jackson's Whole, and whose ancestry is sure to complicate matters. In a desperate gamble to protect Tej from those who want to take her from Komarr, Ivan marries her. But that's when his troubles really begin, for marital bliss with someone with links to one of the former Cetaganda occupiers of Barrayar is sure to get him into deep trouble, in more ways than one...

Once again, Bujold is a master of mixing drama, intrigue and comedy in a science fiction. Despite the focus of the story on Ivan Vorpatril rather than Miles Vorkosigan (to some very minor detriment), it still manages to be an excellent one. It just feels a little less high-stakes than previous Vorkosigan Saga books, which is a shame. It was still an enjoyable romp.

Certainly, Ivan Vorpatril makes a good protagonist, on a par with Miles' mother Cordelia, compared to the titular Ethan from Ethan of Athos. Tej and Rish are also interesting, as are their family, although I feel that they could have been fleshed out just a tad more. Same with the returning characters, although maybe it's because I haven't read a Vorkosigan Saga book since CryoBurn back in December 2010.

Overall, this book is a worthy addition to the Vorkosigan Saga, and well worth any fans' time, and even casual readers will like it.


9/10

First words: Ivan's door buzzer sounded at close to Komarran midnight, just when he was unwinding enough from lingering jump lag, his screwed up diurnal rhythm, and the day's labors to consider sleep.

Last words: (Not recorded due to spoilers.)