Booklog 27/2019 - Adrian Tchaikovsky: Walking to Aldebaran

Due to be published by Solaris, 28^th May 2019.
This advance review copy from Netgalley.

A science fiction/horror novella. When a strange artefact, looking like a giant frog-face, appears on the farthest edge of our solar system a combined expedition is sent to investigate. Inside, there's an atmosphere and a maze of tunnels. What is its purpose? Does it link to other stars, or maybe even to other galaxies or even universes? One lone astronaut, Gary Rendell, survives and this is his story. It's told in the present, alternating with chapters of the past and how he got to be wandering around the maze of weirdness and a somewhat altered post-human state.

"I got lucky; when a probe exploring the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw. Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here."

A beautifully written and fascinating examination of one human in impossible circumstances, doing what he needs to do to survive.

Booklog 28/2019 - Andre Norton: Year of the Unicorn - Wich World, High Hallack #1

This is a re-read of a favourite book. I've loved this book since I read it (more than once) in my twenties, along with every other Witch World book I could lay my hands on. (Before the advent of the internet, Amazon and Abe Books getting SF/Fantasy published in the USA was not always easy, however a few Witch World books came out in the UK as YA titles.) There are two strands, the Estcarp books, with the witches of Estcarp, Simon Tregarth, Jaelithe and their offspring, and the High Hallack books. They are set at the same time and the Hounds of Alizon are bad guys in both. This is labelled as Witch World #3 but I think It's really High Hallack #1.

Maybe going back is not always a good idea. Did it stand up to my memories? Yes and no. I loved the characters, Gillan and Herrel, she a witch and he a were-rider (shape-changer), but the prose is chewy and the dialogue mannered in the extreme. There are times when it's almost Yodaspeak.

"Well do you speak in the terms of war and battle, Gillan. You are shield mate and sword companion as good as any man could wish. This then is what I would do—"

And that's by no means the chewiest section.

You do, however, get used to it, and Andre Norton has always been able to tell a good story. The style is very dated, now (written in the 1960s) but if you can forgive it that then it's still worth reading.

When the Hounds of Alizon attack the Dales of High Hallack the lords make a pact with the were riders: Help us beat back the enemy and afterwards we will send you thirteen virgin brides. The war is won, the thirteen brides must go, but not all of them are happy about it. The were riders are little better than monsters as far as they are concerned. Gillan has grown up a refugee in the Abbey at Norstead, escaped from the Hounds some years ago with no knowledge of her heritage. Partly to save a terrified bride, and partly because she can't face the rest of her life cloistered in the Abbey, Gillan takes the place of the thirteenth bride and rides out for better or worse, to marry a were rider. On the way she discovers that she has powers (and may be of Escarp witch blood) but she doesn't have the training. When she picks Herrel, she unlocks a world of trouble. Herrel is a half blood and this counts as least in the pack, so the fact that he's snagged a bride when other 'more worthy' riders haven't sets the pack against them. 

Is it still one of my favourite books? Hmm, maybe I wouldn't read it again, but it's still fondly remembered.

Booklog 29/2019 - Jodi Taylor: Hope for the Best – Chronicles of St Mary's #10

Anything by Jodi Taylor is buy-on-site, or pre-order as soon as news of a new book is released. The Chronicles of St Mary's are funny and serious in turn. The historians of St Mary's take their time travelling seriously. Their purpose is to observe historic events in real time, never to interfere. Though generally they are disaster magnets and something always goes wrong. Told from the viewpoint of Max Maxwell, whose droll, dry delivery is half the fun of the books, the whole series seems to have been working up to this point The early books were lighthearted, but without losing thew drollery, things have become more serious.

Several books ago, Max got together with Leon (one of the engineers) and they had a child, Matthew who was kidnapped by the long-running villain, Ronan and dumped in the Victorian era as a climbing boy for a chimney sweep. Time travel being what it is, it took Max and Leon several years (in Matthew's timeline) to find him. Matthew is now (for his own safety) staying with the Time Police in the future while Ronan is on the loose. Ronan is public enemy number one, having killed a number of St Mary's staff over the course of a few books, and nurtured a personal vendetta against Max, Leon and St Marys, so in this book, Max hatches a plan to finally trap him. She involves the Time Police, even though they've caused a lot of problems for St Marys in the past – the two organisations being natural opposites. Here we have time jumps to a Tudor period where history has gone wrong and to the Cretacious period where everything is trying to kill Max (the fauna, the weather, two gangland crooks, and Ronan). It's difficult to know who to trust.

I love the characters, the voice and the complex, fast-paced plotting. Highly recommended.

Booklog 30/2019 - Jane Ashford: Earl to the Rescue

When Gwendoline Gregory is left destitute after her feckless parents die in a coach accident, Alex St Audley, Earl of Merryn, comes to the rescue (totally out of the blue) with the offer of a home and a London season, but what are his motives. In truth I read this sometime last year and forgot to blog it, and now I find it a bit unmemorable and somewhat predictable. Predictability is not necessarily a bad thing, if I'm in the right mood, but much of this was based on misunderstandings which could have shortened the story by half if only the protagonists had talked to each other.

Movie of the Week: Avengers Endgame

Hmm, how to review this without spoilers...

First of all - I loved it. At a bladder-busting three hours and one minute long there's so much happening that it certainly bears a second visit to the cinema.

It picks up right where Infinity War finished and then skips five years. Everyone, including the surviving Avengers are still deeply affected, so... it moves forward from there.

What I can say is that characters who were notably absent from Infinity War (such as Hawkeye and Captain Marvel) feature more strongly in this (though maybe Capt. Marvel is a little under-used). Iron Man and Captain America are still in the lead. There's a very funny turn by Chris Hemsworth as Thor in very different mode to the way we're used to seeing him.

Are we going to get every character back who was killed in Infinity War? You'll have to watch to find out. But I think it does a great job of wrapping up this raft of marvel Movies, while leaving room for the next generation. All our favourite characters get a satisfactory ending to their own individual story arcs.

Yes I am going to see it again.