Book Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher

 

Harry Dresden is a Wizard for Hire, offering reasonable rates, he can help you find lost things, perform paranormal investigations and aid the Chicago PD with gruesome murders that can not be explained. He is the best at what he does, in fact he is the only one who does what he does.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher is the first book in the ongoing Dresden Files series, an urban fantasy series that combines noir detective novels with supernatural monsters. We join Dresden in the middle of a slow patch with work, being the only Wizard in the Chicago area does not always mean he is in demand. But then the Chicago PD ask for his help in a couple of very gruesome murders and suddenly Harry has more on his hands than he wanted.

Storm Front is a great, entertaining book that is short, action packed and never lets up. The book takes place over a couple of days and I read it in about the same timeframe. This is not the most original book; it relies heavily on the Noir genre and Jim Butcher uses that to great advantage. There is no long info dumps and we are introduced the Supernatural underworld Dresden inhabits as he moves through it investigating the murderers. We are introduced to aspects and characters that I believe will play a big part in the ongoing series but this could be read as an almost stand alone book, the whole thing in tied up neatly by the end.

This is not a perfect book though, the depiction of Women and Harry’s views towards them are not the best, although the book is told from Harry’s perspective and I believe it is his views on women we are reading, rather than the authors opinions. I have also been informed that the depiction of women gets much better as Harry grows throughout the series.

In summary I really enjoyed this book and I couldn’t put it down. I love the idea and found Jim Butcher’s writing to be enjoyable and easy to read. I have heard fantastic things about the series of a whole and I will be continuing to read the Dresden Files. Harry Dresden as a character is one I feel will grow measurably through the books and I am looking forward to going on that journey. The world Jim Butcher has begun to build also leaves loads of room for scope and to grow with certain aspects touched on in this book I hope are explored more in the books to come.

Review: Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks is the first book in the Night Angel Trilogy. It follows the story of Azoth, a young child born in the Warrens, a poor, destitute area of Cenaria. Azoth, as an Orphan, has to join a small Guild in order to survive, this involves, spending his days trying to find or steal enough money to pay his dues in order to continue having the small sense of security the Guild provides.

However, being a member of the Guild isn’t a completely safe option as Azoth and the other youngsters are at the mercy of the older members and in particular the leader Rat and life for Azoth is full of violence and threats and so Azoth longs to escape his life through an Apprenticeship with Durzo Blint, a legendary Wetboy.

A Wetboy is an Assassin that has a small amount of magic, or talent as it is referred to in the book, this allows them to do things that are not usually possible, such as breaking into even the most heavily guarded places, changing appearances and even having some measure over control of a person and means that when a Wetboy accepts a contract on someone that person is as good as dead.

And Durzo Blint is the best Wetboy.

Azoth, after a truly horrifying incident, convinces Blint to take him on as an apprentice and the book follows Azoth as he learns what it means to not only be a Wetboy, but to be a killer.

The book moves along at a great pace, you never have to wade through pages of world building or unnecessary scenes or characters that don’t have some influence on the main characters and the plot and this means that your attention never wavers from the main storyline and the Characters, which is great as both Azoth, Durzo and  most of the supporting characters are well written and engaging.

The great thing about this book is that it explores morality by putting these characters in positions where they have to do bad things and exploring how it affects them, whether this is becoming a hired killer, selling your body or even worse.

I found the weakest parts of the book to be the two “pure” characters, Elene and Logan. Both of whom are good to the point of annoying and while Logan develops and grows as the book goes on Elene remained too pure to relate to.

Another problem I found with the book, although this isn’t necessarily a bad point, is the fact the book moved so quickly through the story, from Azoth becoming an apprentice, to training, to growing into an adult and a full blown assassin, that I was regularly left wanting more.

I wanted to read more of Azoth’s training, see more of him living undercover and explore more of his early jobs and how they affected him. The reason I wanted more details was not because the story was lacking in detail or wasn’t interesting, it was the exact opposite, the story was so good that I didn’t want it to end. Luckily, The Way of Shadows is the first in a trilogy.

In summary, The Way of Shadows, is a fast-paced book that tells a great story and has engaging, well rounded characters that leave you routing for them. There are some very dark themes and scenarios and isn’t suitable for younger or even young adult readers but does act as an easy read and intro to fantasy or even a good way to take your mind of the real world and get lost in a good book.

Book Review: The Blade Itself: The First Law Book One By Joe Abercrombie

Once you’ve got a task to do, its better to do it than to live with the fear of it.

Logen Ninefingers

Joe Abercrombie The Blade Itself: The First Law Book One

So I usually like to begin these reviews with a little detail about the plot of the story as to me it is one of the most important parts of good book, I like to be pulled into the story by the plot and use this as a means to get to know the characters. If the plot is too slow or unbelievable then I struggle to engage with book. This book has almost no plot, so you would assume then that I would struggle to get into it.

Not at all.

This was one of (if not the) best book I have read in a long time and that comes down to one thing, the characterization.

This book is full of the best characters I have come across. I could take any one, two, three, heck any character in the book and do a full review on just them. Each of the main characters, are fully realized, unique and best of all, bloody interesting to follow.

The book opens with Logen Ninefingers, feared barbarian of the North whose name brings fear to anyone who hears it, then there is a dashing noble who was caught in the war and tortured beyond recognition, a selfish vain soldier training for a fencing tournament and an ex-slave on a revenge mission. 

To say there is no plot is probably a disservice to Joe Abercrombie. What I actually mean is that each character feels like they are on their own subplot when the main plot, an impending war between the Union and its neighbours, builds slowly in the background. Abercrombie touches on this impending war just enough to keep you hooked and when the books ends leaves you wanting more.

Joe Abercrombie has rightly got a lot of praise for his character building in this book but that doesn’t mean that other aspects of the books are any weaker. The world building is fantastic, he gives the reader just enough background and history to the world to how it impacts the characters without overloading on pages and pages of world-building. The Union is fully realised with its own politics and history.

The Blade Itself also contains some fantastic fight scenes, that are vicious, violent and described beautifully so that the reader can always follow what’s going on. Abercrombie also does well in showing both the emotional and physical cost of fight scenes. Characters get injured and stay injured and are usually left battered and bruised, and needing to pee.

This book is truly amazing, a wonderful start to a series I cannot wait to continue and a book I can not stop raving about and recommending to anyone who happens to say that they like to read.

Book Review: The Red Sister by Mark Lawrence

It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.

Mark Lawrence, Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, Book 1)

Nona, a young girl of around 7/8 years old is having a bad time. She has been kicked out of her destitute village by the small minded (terrified) townspeople, sold to a fighting promoter to be tested and trained to fight in the rings and ended up killing the prize fighter while trying to defend her only friend and about to be hung for the murder.

Until Abbess Glass appears and takes Nona back to the convent to become a Novice and train to be a Nun.

There Nona immerses herself in the daily life at the convent, learning to write, read, make poisons and antidotes and train to be a kick ass assassin/warrior Nun. You know, the usual.

In simple terms this is a story about Nona, our protagonist and her friends learning and growing at school, dealing with things like jealousy, feeling out of place and trying to discover who you really are. But it also contains chosen one prophecy, touches on an impending war building outside of the Convent walls and the politics that go along with this.

At its heart though it follows Nona and her struggles to identify who she is and what her place in this world is. And I am so glad it does because Nona is amazing.

In Nona, Mark Lawrence has created one of the best Characters I have read in along time. Everything she does in the story, the way she speaks, acts and thinks feels true to the character and is written in such a way that you can follow and track her growth as a person in the first few years she spends at the convent without having things spelled out to the reader. Its organic, its real and it feels wonderful to read.   

When I first started reading The Red Sister, I did worry that Nona was going to be a Mary Sue type of character, one that is instantly good at most things with out really trying, but Mark Lawrence sidesteps this issue deftly. Nona is good at some thing’s; she is great at a few thing’s and she is downright awful at a lot of things. But she does try, and she learns, and this does pay off as the book progresses which just adds to her character.

Nona is also smart, kind to her friends and her sense of humour builds and you can’t help but like her. However, she is also petty about things, can’t control her anger and makes bad decisions because she can’t trust people when she should do, but all of these feels true to Nona as a character. Its not like she is brilliant and amazing and then suddenly makes a bad decision to move the story on.

Mark Lawrence has obviously spent a lot of time in crafting Nona and a lot of her work has gone into her and this shows on the pages. With this in mind it could have been forgiven if some of the other characters where a little underdeveloped, but this is not the case. Each character, whether it is the Nuns, or the Novices are all well developed. Yes, obviously some more developed than others, but each character is recognisable by who they are, each character acts in a way that is true to them and the dialogue is fantastic. You can tell who is speaking by how they are speaking and what they are saying rather than because you are told who is speaking.

The plot of the story is also strong. As I have previously said, this book mostly focuses on the girls and their training but there is just enough information and hints about the wider world and the impending war, the climate issues they are facing and the politics in the nobility and ruling class and how it affects the convent, and while these are only touched one I believe they will play a much bigger part going in the story going forward.

My only real problem with the story was that it occasionally jumped forward in time which I found pulled me out of the story quite a bit. This may be because the main story was so good that I resented being pulled away from it but I also felt that these jumps forwards just weren’t executed quite as well as the main plot and the big reveal they were aiming for wasn’t quite worth distracting from the main plot.

In summary I think Red Sister by Mark Lawrence is an amazing start to a series that I feel will go on to be a classic of the genre. In Nona Lawrence has an amazing character to build around and I am wonderfully excited about continuing the story.

I had planned on reading a few other books before dipping back into this series but it left me wanting more and I cant seem to concentrate on the other books because I just want to go back and find out what’s to come. And isn’t that exactly what you want from a book, to be so enthralled that you just can’t let it end, even when the books has?