The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth

Before I go into writing about this book I thought I’d say a little about Unbound first. Unbound is amazing! If you don’t know about them, you really should. Basically authors can pitch their ideas for books directly to us (the readers) so we can see what they are thinking about writing. If you like the sound of it and would like to see it in print you pledge money, obviously the more you pledge the more goodies or rewards you get when/if the donations reach their goal. For example the smallest pledge will get a copy of the book in ebook format all the way up to dinner with the author (or whatever they are offering) when the total is reached the authors then go and write the book. All the pledgeies (well, that’s not a word but you know what I mean) get their name printed in the back of the book, but most importantly you get to point to a book on the shelf of your local bookstore and say “I made that happen!”

I first heard about Unbound (as most people find out about random stuff these days) through a celebrity on twitter! Yup, Robert Llewellyn (of Red Dwarf fame) was talking about his idea for a book ‘Notes From Gardenia’ a future utopia story (not the easiest of genre stories to try and write) and it’s brilliant, but not what I’m writing about now, but I will say that he has had two sequels funded through Unbound as well and they are well worth checking out (when available).
Please do check out Unbound (check their website here) as it’s an amazing idea that deserves even more attention. They put out real quality products; case in point is the stunningly beautiful ‘The Wake’.

As I’ve mentioned it let’s start with the look of this hardback. It’s stunning. Muted and natural colours with embossed lettering and Green man on the cover, the book also has no spine. Much like the gorgeous ‘Polpo’ cookbook from last year the lack of spine allows the book to flop and stay open a thing of perfect design beauty. But looking good will only take you so far, ‘So what’s inside?’ I hear you cry.
Set in the years after the battle of Hastings in 1066 ‘The Wake’ tells the story of a band of guerrilla fighters who take up arms against the French invaders. Well that had me interested. Of course I know the story of Harold (who didn’t learn that at school?) but guerrilla fighters in the aftermath? Not a story I have heard before, also ‘guerrilla warfare’ brings to my mind images of the Spanish civil war, with machine guns, grenades and blowing up rail tracks –how does that work in 1066? Ok, Mr Kingsnorth you’ve got me even more interested. Next I learn that Paul Kingsnorth hasn’t just written this story like you’d expect him too. No. He’s made up his own version of Old English! Yes, you read that right. Paul Kingsnorth has created ‘a shadow tongue’ a readable and understandable version of Old English to give the book a more authentic feel!
This I found to be quite a challenge. Maybe it’s my dyslexia, maybe I’m just stupid! But I had trouble reading this at first. The first page took about fifteen minutes to read! It was slow going at first, and I was around fifty pages in before I found that there was a glossary and a note on the language in the back that I would have loved to have been at the start, but hell, I’d found it now! By about halfway through the book I’d forgotten that I was reading this “readable” Old English and was just reading the story. And what a story it is!
If Bernard Cornwell had written this book (no offence to any Cornwell fans out there) the hero would have found his home destroyed, picked up a sword from the ashes gathered men around him and for all intents and purposes taken on and defeated the French single-handedly! Paul Kingsnorth doesn’t write that story. He wrote a much more realistic story. Buccmaster is a man on the verge of madness, talking of old Gods and with no real social skills at all, he does gather a band of men around him, fractious though they are and take on the French in the most uninspiring way. You wouldn’t call these men heroes, they are rubbish! If you’re thinking they are going to be like Robin Hood you’re in for a much more realistic vision of the past.
This book is not for everyone. The language, the uninspiring lead character and did I mention the language? But for those that venture, and those that don’t give up you will find the best book you have read in a very long time. This novel is unique, real and truly gripping. This is undoubtedly the book of the year!
I’ve just heard that this has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. As this is an English language prize I don’t think you can get more English than this! Good luck Paul, I hope you win!

'The Girl in the Road' by Monica Byrne

As with 'The Road to Reckoning' by Robert Lautner that was basically a road trip novel with western bits sprinkled over the top, 'The Girl in the Road' is also a road trip novel but with a sprinkle of science fiction.
Set about a hundred years in the future, a new energy source is being used. The sea. Thousands of upside down pyramid shaped scales (known as 'The Trail) line the sea between India and Africa. Our leading lady, Meena wakes up one morning with a snake bite on her chest she decides to try and walk along the trail to get to Ethiopia to escape whomever is trying to kill her and to find the killer of her parents (who were murdered while she was still in the womb). We also follow a literal road trip of a young girl called Mariama who runs away from home after finding her mother dead, bitten in the chest by a snake. She stumbles upon a couple of friendly travellers and joins them on a cargo convoy to Ethiopia. What the relation between these two women, to me seemed quite obvious, though a few moments made me question myself. I wont mention what it actually is, to keep you guessing too.
Apart from a fancy ipad type device, new sources of energy on a grand scale and the political landscape of India and the African nations (all of which play a very minor role in the story) this could be set at any time period really. So if you're expecting Iain M. Banks, you couldn't be more wrong, I found it was closer to the equally excellent 'The Windup Girl' by Paolo Bacigalupi. Road trip books tend to be about growing up or finding yourself and this is no different. It explores the meaning of love, but in a subtle way -this isn't 'chick lit'! It is a very great début that you should definitely give a try no matter what genre of book you normally read, this beautifully written gem will stay with you for a long time.

'The Ocean at the End of the Lane' by Neil Gaiman

This story is short. I read it in a few hours, but yet it doesn't feel small. The story is as full as it needs to be. You aren't left feeling like there could have been more. It's a perfectly formed novel.
The narrator of the book (I'm sure he has a name, but I can't remember. Maybe it's never mentioned. Either way it doesn't really matter) starts the tale leaving a funeral and killing time before the wake, decides to take a drive and finds himself driving to the house in which he grew up in. But as he drives on past he realises that it isn't where he was driving at all. He was heading to the Hempstock farm at the end of the lane. Once there he sets out for the pond or 'ocean' as the little girl (Lettie) who used to live there called it, and remembers the first time he came to the farm. A lodger at his families house stole his Dad's car and committed suicide in it, setting in motion the strange events that would follow. We follow his narrative as he uncovers these repressed memories, seemingly for the first time. The Hempstocks are the classic three Wyrd witches, the old hag, the beautiful woman and the child used in old British folklore (and a million other people since including Shakespeare and Gaiman himself in previous novels) and they lead him by the hand (quite literally) as the suicide cracks the edge of reality letting in some otherworldly nasties.
I don't want to talk too much about it, as you should just read it for yourself as this is a beautiful book, sad and poignant. One that you will dive into like the ocean, finding the waters refreshing, deep, and dark.

'The Axeman's Jazz' by Ray Celestin

 

New Orleans,1919 (the year before prohibition hit). Jazz and alcohol fuelled parties run continuously throughout the segregated and Mob-ruled city. Then something else turns up to ruin everyone's day: the Axeman.
Based on a true story, this tale provincially follows three characters who are all searching for the serial killer that's killing people with an axe (hence 'axeman' -clever right?!). We have the cop, Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot who is hated by everybody on the force after he exposed the rampant corruption in the police department, who feels he's been given this unsolvable case so that he can finally be buried. We have Luca D'Andrea, the corrupt cop that Michael put in prison. He's just been released from prison and the only job he can get is back with the mob. So the mob can continue extorting protection money from businesses they need to be seen protecting the community. So Luca is given the job of finding the axeman before the cops do, despite wanting nothing more than to leave this life and move to Italy. Finally we have Ida, a secretary at the Pinkerton's detective agency. A girl who loves Sherlock Holmes and wants to be a detective, but knows she never can because of her gender and ethnicity. Helped along the way from her childhood friend Louis Armstrong she decides to prove her worth by capturing this killer.
When I first started this book I was constantly wondering how much of it is true. Was Michael Talbot really the lead detective? Was he married to a black woman? Was Louis Armstrong involved in tracking down a killer? I started to do a little research, printed out a map with the locations of the Axeman's murders but then I told myself it didn't matter which bits were true or not, the book is classified in fiction, just read it.
So read it I did. It is amazing. The story is dark, foreboding and very tense. As the three main characters collect evidence and clues you're shouting at them to somehow get together and compare notes, as they'd work it out if they pooled their resources. Obviously the Axeman is a famous unsolved murder case, so no convictions will be taking place, but that doesn't mean that under the guise of fiction the story can't have a more fulfilling end. Whether it does or not I wont say, but what I will tell you is the characters that Ray writes about whether inspired by real people or not are made real with his storytelling. Every character, no matter how minor is a fully fleshed out human being which along with the fact the story is a true one makes everything seem so real and threatening. I loved this book, and you should too. Without giving away what happens to some of the characters, I really hope that at least one of them is back in another book when prohibition hits.

‘Dear Daughter’ by Elizabeth Little

 

WARNING! There will be spoilers in this review, so if you are going to read this book, maybe you shouldn’t read what I’m writing. But I personally think you should read this review and give ‘Dear Daughter’ a wide berth.

Basic premise of the story is this; Janie Jenkins is a LA IT girl who gets convicted of the murder of her mother. After 10 years in prison she is suddenly released due to some technicality to do with evidence tampering or something. I don’t know, it’s not really gone into, neither is the 10 years in prison that haven’t really changed her at all. Janie doesn’t quite remember the night of her mother’s murder, so despite not being sure if she IS the murderer or not she sets off to find out what really happened.
The whole world seems interested in what she’ll get up to and one hate fuelled blogger has offered up $50,000 for any information on her whereabouts. So she dyes her hair black and puts on a pair of glasses. The perfect disguise! And unsurprisingly the first person to see her recognises her immediately and she has to threaten him to keep quiet (he doesn’t!). So she heads off to a small town in South Dakota (Ardelle), because one of the three words she heard her mother say before she died was the name of the town! (Yes, really).
Luckily for Janie no one in Ardelle recognises her despite spending lots of time with a small cast of characters that all end up being somehow involved in the story somehow. Janie stumbles on clues like she draws them to her like some sort of clue magnet. I know I have a USB stick somewhere in my house, but can I find it? Can I fuck! Yet Janie finds a new clue in every photo she looks at, every book she opens and even when she takes a shit it comes out in the shape of an arrow that points her in the right direction!!! So she gets to this small town and finds out that her mother was actually someone who grew up in this very town, got pregnant ran away and changed her name. Obviously something happened in this town, they’d tracked her down and killed her. Don’t worry though, Detective Clue Magnet is on the case, joined by a ‘Mystery Inc’  (that’s a Sccoby-Doo reference) group of people including a cool, good looking cop, a couple of lesbians, a teenage rebel and a few dodgy seeming guys to keep you guessing which one of them did it (I won’t actually tell you which one though!).
The book isn’t badly written (in terms of style), but is full of clichés and coincidences. It’s complete trash, but it is quite enjoyable, Janie has a fantastic wit and the LA IT girl is a new voice to tell a crime novel through. But if you’re not the kind of person who occasionally likes to switch off your brain and watch daytime TV this isn’t the book for you.

 

'Scavenger: Zoid' by Paul Stewart

 

Paul Stewart has once again teamed up with Muddle Earth playmate Chris Riddell on this new series 'Scavenger'. The beautiful, detailed, crisp and instantly recognisable work of Mr Riddell wonderfully complements the story, so why, oh why didn't Macmillan use him for the cover? I wont name the artist they used as (s)he hasn't done a bad job. To be honest, as someone who does illustration is quite obvious what has happened. They've been given copies of Chris' work to show them what the characters look like and then were stuck having to try and make their artwork look like Chris'! The results although fine, do come across as a pale copy. It's like you coloured in Chris' work then looked at it through a murky window. Really disappointing.
But once inside Chris' glorious drawing of the Biosphere with it's minute, intricate detail that just blows your mind...What? You don't know what the Biosphere is? Oh yes, I went off on a rant about art and haven't said a thing about the book!
So the story of Zoid is set in a far away future, basically we (the Humans) have ruined the Earth beyond repair and decided that we needed a new planet. So we created the Biosphere an enormous planet shaped space ship to hold life for however long it may take to find a suitable planet to colonise. All was fine for some time until all the robots (or Zoids) that worked on the ship doing all the menial tasks for the humans revolted and took over the ship and killed everyone they could find. Many years after that, small bands of humans that are left live deep within the Biosphere trying to stay alive. The main character York (a 14 year old boy) is a scavenger (hence the title of the series) who leaves the Inpost to look for bits of anything that they can use and destroy Zoids.
Ok, here comes a spoiler (but not a big one). Right near the start the Zoids attack the Inpost and drag everyone away. York then sets off on a journey to save them encountering all sorts of creatures and other 'tribes' of hiding humans.
The book is designed for that 9-12 age range so there's nothing too gritty or offensive (obviously), is quite short and easy to read. Each chapter is only a few pages long and each ends with a cliff-hanger that makes you keep on reading no matter what you are meant to be doing! The book is a lot of fun and a really great read. Yes the main character is a boy, but there is also a strong female lead who comes into the story about halfway through (I'm not giving anything away, she's on that so-so cover!) so not necessary a boys-own type story. The story ends well, so even though the book has a series title if no more are ever written you aren't left feeling deflated. But I really hope there will be.
Yes, it's for kids, but it's great. Like that guilty pleasure of watching Doctor who.

'Wolves' by Simon Ings

You're told never to judge a book by it's cover, but if a book doesn't look good you are not going to pick it up. I read an awful lot, I work in a bookstore and yet I do judge books by their covers. And once in a blue moon along comes a book to teach me a lesson, 'Wolves' was one of them.

You see, 'Wolves' has a fantastic cover. It's dark, grainy, haunting and menacing. It has a giant wolfesque creature on it and the title 'Wolves'. The book however is NOT about wolves, there are no wolves in it, there isn't even a gang with a 'pack mentality'! The only reason this book is called Wolves is that 'Dull guy in marketing has a series of horrendous events happen to him, but just gets on with his life' was a terrible (although accurate) title.

Don't get me wrong, the book isn't badly written and there are some interesting ideas in it. Basically it's the invention of 'augmented reality' a kind of souped-up Google glass, that mixes adverts and computer games into your everyday surroundings. But the story doesn't focus on this, or on anything. The book reads like a huge series of sub-plots interwoven together, there's the augmented reality, the cheating with his best friends wife, the 'murder' of his Mother, an apocalyptic novel about a flood, changing relationships and so on. But as none of them take the main stage (as it were) you're left with a book of nothing but sub-plots, which reads like nothing is happening and yet you know lots did!

I Would not recommend this book. Lovely cover though...