Agency

William Gibson. Penguin. (416p) ISBN: 9780241974575
Agency

Agency

I’m a huge fan of William Gibson (I’ve not got a collection of Neuromancer in different editions…) and am always waiting for his next book with great anticipation, waiting to see where he takes us next.

In Agency, he gives us a ‘prequel and sequel’ to The Peripheral.

Like The Peripheral the story of Agency switches between two different timelines, a 2017 where Verity lives in a world where Hilary Clinton won the 2016 elections, and the other is set in the 22nd century post-Jackpot world of Russian crime families and advanced technology.

Written in short punchy chapters switching between the two time frames, developing character depth and interaction which makes you invest very quickly and ensures that you don’t want to put the book down. The explanation of the technology in the book works on extrapolations from existing technology so never really seems that far fetched.

Though the way interaction with ‘stubs’ is achieved is the most ‘out there’ technology mentioned it still doesn’t jar and t hat’s what I’ve always enjoyed about Gibson’s writing, especially Blue Ant Trilogy and the Bridge Trilogy, the technology could be out there now, being developed and tested as it is never an outrageous use of ‘black box’ technologies.

Another great addition to William Gibson’s oeuvre, and I’m now back to anticipating his next work.


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La Belle Sauvage

Philip Pullman. Penguin. (592p) ISBN: 9780241365854
La Belle Sauvage

La Belle Sauvage

I’ve had the special edition of La Belle Sauvage with the Lynx daemon sat on my shelves since it was released but never got around to reading it.

I found this on the RBDigital service whilst looking through for a fantasy or sci-fi book to listen to and thought walking was a great opportunity to listen to this.

Really pleased to report that Michael Sheen is a wonderful narrator and that the audiobook was wonderfully paced and was a complete pleasure to listen to.

Set twelve years before Lyra’s adventures in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, this helps explain some of the beginnings of that trilogy and how Lyra got to the college in Oxford, also the background to some of the main characters to come.

Malcolm Polstead, Alice, and La Belle Sauvage are the main characters in this adventure, building Malcolm’s strong moral character in the first part of the book and then their flight from danger in the second half of the book.

Well fleshed out characters and world help propel the story along at the speed of the flood that they are caught up in. Some really hard scenes, especially the ones with the hyena in it, sorrow and disgust mingle with a feeling of strangeness when compared to other daemons in Pullman’s world.

A world of strange and totalitarian religious groups which seek to control all, but also a world of magics and old gods, living cheek by jowl with a world of science and engineering.

A wonderful setup for ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy and then onto The Secret Commonwealth which I’ll have to listen to as soon as possible, and any book that mentions Danish oil is all right by me, that and spontaneous combustion always make for a good combination.


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Glimpses of the Unknown

Mike Ashley (ed). British Library Publishing. (336p) ISBN: 9780712352666
Glimpses of the Unknown

Glimpses of the Unknown

I picked this up at random quite a while back as I liked the cover and the concept of revisiting never before republished supernatural stories of the early 20th century.

This is part of a larger overall series that the British Library is publishing, old supernatural tales in volumes with great covers of which I’ve picked up several and still have those to look forward to.

Yes, look forward to as this volume of eighteen short stories is highly varied and a great read. It fit my need for a volume of short stories to have by the bed so I can actually finish something every evening before going to sleep and what better to send you to sleep than spooky supernatural horrors.

Starting with the ghostly presence of the ’empty seat’ in On The Embankment, all the way through to an almost Lovecraftian tale of Mesopotamian treasure seeking in The Treasure of the Tombs, all the stories were well paced with great characterisation as a short story should have.

I found all of the stories strong in their own fashion but my favourite was the above mentioned The Treasure of the Tombs, set in Mesopotamia where ex-servicemen from Britain try to steal from the tombs but find it impossible due to supernatural guardians.

I don’t actually have much space on my bookshelves for ‘keepers’ anymore but this is going to be one as all the stories are fast, fun, and frightening and well worth a read late at night.


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The Promise Witch

Celine Kiernan. Walker Books. (224p) ISBN: 9781406373936
The Promise Witch

The Promise Witch

I’d been waiting on The Promise Witch forever, or that’s how it felt as the first two in the trilogy were soooo good.

From the start I realised that I was really going to enjoy this adventure with Mup and Crow, we see old enemies return and new friends step up.

There were some solid bits of humour throughout the book and there was one spot with the Grey Girl (from book two) which had me splurting my coffee as it reminded me so much of the Ghost of Christmas Present from Scrooged. This didn’t detract from the adventure and peril though, it just highlighted it.

The old Queen is still exerting her influence over Witches Burrough, playing with the weather and environment once more, but Mam is working really hard at getting the people to work together and realise their strength.

During this Magda, Crow’s mum returns and things take a massive turn for the worse, she is trying to return to the old queen, and everything gets caught up in this.

A story about love, sacrifice, loss and acceptance, where people have to help each other and trust each other to finally overcome.


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New Suns

ed Nisi Shawl. Rebellion. (320p) ISBN: 9781781086384
New Suns

New Suns

This is one of the first books I requested from NetGalley and I’ve been so remiss in getting reviews done for the books I’ve requested that I thought I best start now and get on with it.

New Suns is a collection of “Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour” and examines the speculative fiction short story format from a non-Eurocentric perspective and is well worth a read if you enjoy the short story format.

Seventeen completely different stories examine everything from what feels like space opera to far more mystical themes, with a lot in-between.

One of my favourites is ‘Blood and Bells’ by Karin Lowachee, set in a post-something city of tribal affiliations being stretched by family needs, the language is strong and pulls you through a desolate setting to a great ending.

The story of an alternative Aztec world and revolt, Burn the Ships by Alberto Yáñez, is fascinating and exciting, bringing in ancient gods, blood and magic.

Harvest by Rebecca Roanhorse is wondrous and horrific love story warning you to ‘never fall in love with a deer woman’, enticing and tells a story of hate and revenge.

This is a great collection without a weak story in it, coming from different countries and cultures it opens the genre of speculative short fiction beyond its usual tropes and ideas.


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One Day All This Will Be Yours

Adrian Tchaikovsky. Rebellion. (144p) ISBN: 9781781088746
One Day All This Will Be Yours

One Day All This Will Be Yours

I’ve never read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky before even though I had seen his work around a lot, and that he has won loads of awards. I kept telling myself there would be plenty of time to do so but never got round to it.

When I saw this on NetGalley I jumped at the chance to read it.

There’s been a time war and it’s shattered causality and the narrator is the last survivor of it, he’s made sure of that.

A story of a misanthrope and his pet Allosaurus, Miffly, at the end of time, an end of time that he has engineered specifically to stop any other time travellers from messing up the rest of time which is empty of humans.

Then there’s a really annoying twist where something shouldn’t have happened but due to the nature of time travel and such does.

Darkly humorous in all the right places this cracks along at a great speed and kept me enthralled all the way through, especially good use of time travel and paradoxes to create a convincing world(s)/times.

Will definitely expanding my library of Adrian’s books now.


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