April 2022 book blog

Another quietish month for reading, I’ve been busy getting ‘Ransomed Hearts’ ready for publication, and I have to confess that I’ve spent a lot of time in front of the telly watching ‘Deep Space Nine’ again. Those of you who know DS9 will understand that no apology is necessary.

I read ‘Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances’ by Aliette de Bodard as an ARC, pre publication, you can read my review in my previous blog post. de Bodard has created a detailed and seductive world with her Dominion of the Fallen stories, and any trip there is a welcome one. ‘Of Charms’ is a novella, a weekend away under the Seine to enjoy a simple tale of complex people. Her short tales featuring the adventures of Thuan and Asmodeus are little treats for her readers, and shouldn’t be missed by fans of her novels.

From there I revisited Dave Harrison’s fantasy trilogy about the adventures of Tyrant. ‘King of the Desert’ is a hefty book, in the grand tradition of hefty fantasy books. There are a hundred chapters, that follow several different characters for a few pages at a time each. This makes for a fast moving book with lots of cliffhangers, and it has to be said, it’s a lot of fun. In the first book, Secret of the Scrolls, we met Tyrant, an affable chap who just wants to be left alone, and has therefore carefully cultivated a reputation for very effective violence. By the end of first book, he’s in a position where he actually cares about other people, which makes his life a lot more difficult. Wittingly or unwittingly, the other characters are moved like chess pieces by several different spirits in order to place Tyrant in the right place at the right time. The poor guy just wants Bignuts, taterlicker and a quiet life, and instead he meets the monster who blighted his childhood.

My third and final read of the month was ‘The Way of all Flesh’ by Ambrose Parry. Neither historical fiction nor crime fiction are genres that I often dabble in, but when I was checking that I’d not missed any Christopher Brookmyre books, I found out that he’s been collaborating with his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman, on a series of historical crime books under the joint pen name ‘Ambrose Parry’. I bought the first book in the series, and found it very hard to put down. It’s informative, topical, and damn good read.