REVIEW: Lullaby by Daniel Barnett (Nightmareland Chronicles #2)

See now, how to describe this without doing my own indie community a disservice? But this nagging thought really does ring true - reading Barnett is like reading a professionally produced title; something that has been through the wringer and honed with the help of an army of agents and editors. It's easy, colloquial, the best mix of POV and stream of consciousness, spotted with action, filling rivers of long paragraphs where each is a mini-journey.

"Mariah thought of those fleeting moments out in the desert when he had almost seemed awake. The warning squeeze of his fingers on her stomach before she found the plane. The long stare after she woke from her nightmare. The name, his daughter's name, whispered longingly in the dark."

This is book 2 in the Nightmareland series, and the sun is still gone. Night reigns. John and Mariah are fleeing across the desert, (sans Gunslinger) but this is very much Mariah's chapter - her emotional journey as she struggles to get to grips with her own changing body in a world turned upside down. Her chance to find strength, both emotional and physical, instead of relying on John. It's a good decision, artistically, as it allows her character to grow and become one that shares this story, rather than being part of John's. Not that she was secondary in part 1, but this feels more.

"Which side of the aisle had they been on? Mariah wondered. And who got the window? Probably the boy, she decided. Yes, they would have given the boy the window. She could tell it was a boy because of the red sneakers and the Spiderman pajamas. She could also tell he was still breathing. She covered her mouth and moaned."

It's horror in the vein of Joe Hill, threaded with paranormal elements, in good All-American settings. With unsettling images and an unflinching narrative, the characterisation leads the way, so much so that you can almost forget the lights have been turned off. But how can the moon still be visible without a sun? This is one of the mysteries I can't wait to resolve. The biggest negative? The whole series isn't ready to go right now!

Book Review: Mutation by Nerys Wheatley

"Despite their bravado, most of the men facing them now looked on edge, ranging from nervous to downright terrified, glancing around them as if they expected a wave of ravenous monsters to flood from the surrounding buildings at any second. It was one thing to shout and goad an empty street, but quite another to come face to face with their nightmares."

Mutation is book one in the Twenty-Five Percent series; featuring samurai swords, bromance, romance, gore, suspense, guns (in the UK!), motorbikes - and eaters (not zombies!). It's also a meaty book, coming in at nearly 400 ebook pages. From page one it's a series of encounters covering the usual humans-are-the-real-bad-guys and running-from-zombies tropes, all tuned to the max. If you're going to write this kind of story, do it well! And Nerys has.

Pinning the story to earth is Alex and Micah, an unlikely duo who begin at loggerheads (literally) before developing a believable bromance as the story unfolds, while they keep tally of who has saved each other more than the other. This central partnership is key, and the book wouldn't work half as well without this being convincing, but there's also plenty of exciting misadventure too as they narrowly avoid death time and again.

"Carrie was staring at Alex's face. "What happened to your nose?"
"Someone punched me," he said quickly, before Micah could say anything. "Big dude, fists like rocks."
Micah snorted. Alex ignored him."

The writing is solid - my only gripe being the slightly heavy handed use of the passive voice, such as "Carrie was staring at Alex's face." Personally, I'd prefer "Carrie stared at Alex's face." But this is minor in what is a well-written story.

As the plot progresses, it also begins to throw in the elements that the story would need to make it stand out from other zombie-genre titles, to make it different. We already have the Survivors (Alex) - those who were turned but then cured just before it was too late, left with 'powers' and distinguishable white irises. Gradually, more is revealed, and it's not so far-fetched (in this world) to be believable either.

If you enjoy this genre of book, you can't go wrong!

BOOK REVIEW: The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag

To say I love Simon's art is an understatement, so this book could have been all pictures and still attained 5 stars. Behind the art however is a story: it is a roadtrip across an alternative version of USA in the 90s, one filled with a mixture of analogue and digital and a curious array of science-fiction artefacts left to rust and decay after an apparent 'event'. Or are they?

The story is told using a mixture of the art and the writing, often using the writing to delve into some character backstory and history of events – the pacing is slow and allows the world to become ingrained before we learn more about the narrator and the kind of events that have lead to this point. Indeed, there is some satisfaction in the scarcity of revelation; little nuggets we are given which we are able to mesh with revelations further on. It’s not a long read so there’s no trouble remembering important little elements, and a second read through might be worth it to pick up on anything you may have missed.

The writing itself was four out of five because of some inconsistencies over style, sometimes verging into stream of consciousness without punctuation, when really the slow, meandering style it had been using, and which was sometimes elegant, would have sufficed. It could have done with another editor too as it should have been tighter, often losing impact because of a passive voice.

Overall though, it leaves you wanting more, which is always a good sign.

BOOK REVIEW: Rusticles by Rebecca Grandsen

Rusticles was a pleasantly literary read after months and months of genre books, something to wrap my mind around and dig my teeth into. It's a series of short stories interconnected by themes and locations and just a general, overall mood of melancholy, my favourite of which is Dilapidated Flamingo, a story about a boy trying to feed a mysterious flamingo that keeps appearing in his garden. Like the other stories, character is key. There's a mystery or mysterious event occurring, but it's the emotions of the characters that are explored, with the events being catalysts for character development.

"I'm starting to think it knows I'm watching. I was at my window and it appeared from beneath, like it had been hovering around the backdoor waiting for its moment. It opened its wings right there, waving them around a little, putting on a show. Its feathers were all bent and drooping and its neck looked like someone had kicked it sideways. The flamingo proceeded to prance around the decking, its faded pinkness and rotten skinned legs making me feel sorry for it."

I don't want to talk too much about the stories, because each one is like a little gem waiting to be mined and best discovered on a one-to-one basis. What's paramount is the writing, and the confidence to take risks with it (one story has no punctuation but has a wonderful rhythm). Early on there was a vague feeling of the writing riding the cliff-edge of trying too hard, but you soon realise there is a solid understanding of how to develop a sentence or a paragraph. The writing is tight, pleasingly devoid of passive tense, and when you get a long, complicated sentence, it's followed by some shorter ones. The prose rises and falls poetically.

Check it out! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35643268-rusticles

A Darkling Plain (The Hungry City Chronicles, #4) by Philip Reeve

I gave the first three books 4-stars (exciting but with thin characters) and half-way through A Darkling Plain was of a mind to give this 5-stars, to acknowledge the worldbuilding and story aspects that spanned all the books, even though it struggled with the same problems. (See what I did there, Philip? 'Even though it struggled' instead of 'even though it was struggling'.) The final third of the book cemented a begrudging 3-stars, it was just terrible. 

Before I even talk about the story and characters, I have to mention the writing, or perhaps that should be the editing, or its lack of editing. Throughout the series, the writing was solid enough if nothing spectacular, and rarely distracting. For a while I even thought the quality had gone up in A Darkling Plain, but like the story, it seemed to collapse in the final third. Packed with action, yet filled with passive tense - these lines should be URGENT and TAUGHT but instead were weak and lazy.


"The Stalker's robes began to burn. Lightning was crawling across her calm, bronze face..."

Book Review: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

His Dark Materials is up there with my favourite books so it was a pleasurable, warm and cosy return to the alt-Oxford world of daemons and anti-religiosity. Set before the first trilogy, it introduces Malcolm Polstead who charges himself with protecting a baby Lyra from forces that want her for their own needs, and from a 40-days and 40-nights style flood.

The writing is beautiful and the story is great; the first half being a reintroduction to the world, told leisurely, with the second half ramping up the tension and action as a chase on the water ensues. There is a sense early on that you are still reading the book's introduction, despite being a couple hundred words in, but then you realise you have become immersed in it.

Malcolm as a character, and latterly Alice (who is forced into the journey too) both grow and develop as the story winds on, escaping the one-dimensional traits. And we meet some old (young) characters from His Dark Materials too, but they don't interfere too much. With the next one set 20 years after this, I do wonder about the pertinence of this story and how it will add to the whole, especially with the introduction of certain important characters. 20 years sees like a loooong time to jump ahead...

View all my reviews

Humanity's Hope by Pembroke Sinclair REVIEW 2/5

Even the cover is a bit misleading on this one. I hate to bash on another indie author, but Sinclair has quite a few books out all released in the last year and a bit. That could tell you something. This zombie story follows Caleb and his tryst with the authorities after he discovers a life-changing fact about himself - the clue is in the title - and then does a runner.

So much of this plot makes no sense: authorities who can't even use a little subterfuge and subtlety to get what they want (something they already had); a twist for the sake of a twist which leaves massive gaping holes in everything that happened previously; random events to push the plot, or convoluted decisions to push the plot (that even Caleb himself questions his motivations); and a protagonist with narcissistic tendencies (but in his defence, it's not his fault - at no point are we as readers left in any doubt about what he is thinking.) This is on-the-rail-writing, with tell-me back story and tell-me feelings: tell-me feelings that are repeated so often the only purpose is surely filler on the writer's behalf.

There's very little creativity here, phrases repeated, action repeated, tendrils of pain repeated, giving me tendrils of pain too. It's all very rote and by the book. Maybe I'm being harsh as this is aimed at the YA market - but don't they deserve something better? Both in writing, and plot? Honestly, Caleb is supposed to be a badass who has survived out there in 'the wild' among the zombies, but all he does throughout (and this isn't helped by the tell-me nature of the narrative) is whine, second-guess, and doubt himself. Maybe I'm forgetting what being a 17-year-old was really like!

Added to this is that it has no ending to speak of. Previous books of Sinclair are labelled volume if they are in a series, which this is not (yet). If there isn't to be a follow-up then I would definitely think about that ending. Helpfully, it would perhaps not burn plot holes in all that had just gone!

Indie Book Review: The Method by Duncan Ralston - 4/5

Duncan Ralston's The Method is a brutal exploration of a relationship falling apart; Linda and Frank's last gasp effort to save their marriage; a weekend getaway at Lone Loon Lodge to undergo The Method — whatever that is. Recommended to them by mutual friends who were experiencing similar issues, but who are now closer than ever, it seemed like a good idea. What could go wrong?

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/method-duncan-ralston-review/

ReadingList Update - AmReading - Indie Goodness - Indigo by DL Young

Another day, another indie book finished. Can I get the first one now please DL Young? You sent me #2 in the series and now I know #1 is from the POV of a certain character in #2, I wanna read it!

Anywho, Indigo was a fun read and the review will be up shortly. The review for Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Ballard, who I accidentally just wrote as Gallard - bet you got that all the time, eh - or maybe not - went up on Cultured Vultures last week - delight in it here. In fact, for more of my Indie book reviews, check out my CV page.

Reminds me, I now have 10 indie novels I can order from best to worst - or more likely, most favourable to least. I've only really read one that fell short. Once I've sorted that I'll tweet away like the magpie I am.

Currently reading

The Method by Duncan Ralston

How hard would you fight for the one you love?

Frank and Linda's marriage is falling apart. When old friends tell them about an "unconventional therapy retreat" called The Method, they jump at the chance to attend.

Dr. Kaspar's Lone Loon Lodge is a secluded resort deep in the Montana wilds. The staff is friendly. The other couple joining them is intense. But when a death occurs events quickly spiral out of control, leaving Linda and Frank unable to trust anyone but each other.

Nothing is what it seems, and only one thing is certain: Love Is Pain.

Reading list

Humanity's Hope by Pembroke Sinclair

Caleb, a 17-year-old boy, survived the zombie uprising, but he didn’t come out of the ordeal unscathed. He’s been scarred—both mentally and physically. The rest of humanity is trying to rebuild, to make the world normal again. Caleb is trying to return to a normal life also, but after all he’s seen, after the loss of his family and friends, the transition is difficult. The darkness that led him down a path of self-doubt and self-harm keeps trying to creep back into his mind.
Things only become worse when he discovers he’s immune to whatever makes a zombie a zombie. Fighting zombies was predictable. He knew what to expect. Fighting humans is volatile. They are malicious and treacherous. They won’t stop to get what they want, and Caleb has to figure out exactly what that is.

Under the Amoral Bridge Book Review - 4/5

Artemis Bridge is a fixer. You need something? Bridge knows a guy. For a finder’s fee, he can hook you up, no questions asked. In fact, the less he knows the better. As a character, he is a curious one; he is the protagonist but he is conflicted, and so, as readers, we’re never quite sure how we should feel about him.

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/amoral-bridge-gary-ballard-review/

The Long List Goodnight: Requests Currently Closed - ReadingList

A big thanks to everyone who has been in touch lately about their book. Great to see so much creativity on show! I'm not the fastest reader in the world, having to fit it between work, writing and kids (and gaming *cough*) - so I've put a halt on requests until I can catch up. Here's my reading list for now, chock-full of interesting stories!

Currently reading

Under the Amoral Bridge by Gary Ballard

Artemis Bridge is the know-who, go-to guy, the amoral fixer in 2028 Los Angeles with the connection for any illicit desire no matter how depraved. You need it, he can get it without questions or judgment. He prides himself on staying detached from the depravity, untouched by the filth, untouchable by the law. When a young hacker is assassinated before his eyes, he is burdened with a scandalous video of the mayor on the eve of the city's most important election of the century. With digital assassins and murderous thugs dogging his every step, he has only days before the corrupt mayor is re-elected, handing the Chronosoft Corporation complete control of the city. Unable to sell the video, he is forced further into a complex conspiracy.

Reading list

Indigo by DL Young

For over twenty years, Indigo Cruz has worked the markets of the Texas wastelands, hustling wares, cutting deals, and earning a hard-won reputation as a tough, shrewd trader. In a dangerous, brutal world, she's managed to carve out a comfortable, safe existence...

...until the day the Fundamentalist Church of Divine Wrath shows up on her turf, throwing her world into chaos.
Forced by the violent cult's leader to serve as a guide for a mysterious mission, Indigo finds herself trapped between factions warring for control of the Republic. But when she crosses paths with the runaway mind-reader Soledad Paz, will their chance meeting be the key to Indigo's survival or the final nail in her coffin?

Book review: A Life Removed By Jason Parent Book

There’s something to be said about the growing quality of my indie review list: many of them could easily grace the shelves of your local bookstore with the backing of a publisher, and even those that may fall short just need some tinkering. Stepping to the plate is A Life Removed by Jason Parent, a crime thriller perhaps in the vein of James Patterson or Thomas Harris. It may not have the depth of say a Silence of the Lambs, but it does well to weave an intriguing plot that leaves you wanting more of the bad guy. And everyone loves to hate a bad guy.

8/10
Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/life-removed-jason-parent-book-review/

A Traitor’s War By Graeme Rodaughan Book Review

The Metaframe War is well and truly raging in book two of Graeme Rodaughan’s mystical vampire action series. A Traitor’s War continues directly from where book one left off – and you definitely need to have read A Subtle Agency. The characters are a-plenty, and I appreciate that A Traitor’s War assumes you know who everyone is and doesn’t pander with too much explanation. Straight into the action! (Spoilers for book one follow).

I gave it a 9/10 review here: https://culturedvultures.com/traitors-war-graeme-rodaughan-review/

Incidentally, loved the little addendum at the end...

In the Presence of Knowing by Valarie Savage Kinney review

In the Presence of Knowing is the opening, enjoyable book in the Windy Springs saga - a book of battling demons, coming to terms with yourself, of accepting others, and crafting beautiful fairy wings in a magical forest.

As the mysterious elements of Windy Springs and its inhabitants reveal themselves, the one constant is Keisha’s gradual acceptance of herself, and her acceptance of others’ acceptance. It’s a heart-warming tale, but feels as though the weight of it is quite heavily on the inner-self, rather than of plot moving forward. It could quite easily have been a longer book, but then since book two will hopefully be coming out, it serves as a successful introduction to the world, even if it does leave a few more unanswered questions then you would like.

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/presence-knowing-valarie-savage-kinney-review/

Vampire Wars by Perry Lake Review

Vampire Wars is an inventive and entertaining tale of Dracula’s many ups and downs. If you think he has it all his way, you would be mistaken – those who sleep by day have no idea of the war that is being fought by night, unless they become dinner, of course. Perry Lake’s writing is believable and consistent in its language, and the book is written as a series of chronological short stories. This is sometimes cumbersome as we are reintroduced to characters, but becomes less so the more you read, particularly as the cast grows and grows and you actually need that character prompt sometimes. Recommended!

Full review: https://culturedvultures.com/vampire-wars-perry-lake-review/

Book review: Hallow Mass by JP Mac

With overtones of William Peter Blatty’s humorous dialogue style, Hallow Mass is irreverent, self-deprecating and amusing – a paranormal novel with a personality. 

I’ve stumbled upon another enjoyable indie-read, and the most polished I’ve read to date – you can tell it’s been passed by the professional eyes of an editor or two. Hallow Mass is set in world slightly off-centre to ours: one in which wizards and spells exist, but in a humorous twist, are treated like paranormal hokum reduced to the cobwebs of the Antiquity Section of the fictional, ultra-PC Miskatonic University. The University itself appeared in Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror, and Hallow Mass follows the occult theme by exposing the horrors of Dunwich and the terror they wish to expose to the world.

The Rest: Https://Culturedvultures.Com/Book-Review-Hallow-Mass-Jp-Mac/