Tag: Action Packed

Traitors Gate by Jeffrey Archer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Thriller3 Comments

Traitors Gate Cover 2

Publisher: Harper Collins (ebook – 26 September 2023)

Series: William Warwick – Book Six

Length: 384 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Bestselling author Jeffrey Archer returns with another exciting addition to his fun and compelling William Warwick series with Traitors Gate.

Jeffrey Archer is a well-known and interesting British figure: a former politician, a convicted criminal, a life peer and member of the House of Lords.  However, these days Archer is best known as a bestselling author, having written a large catalogue of novels that usually contain a historical or thriller element to them.  Some of his works include the Kane and Abel series, his well-known Clifton Chronicles and a range of standalone books like Heads You Win.  I particularly enjoy the William Warwick series, which is a fun and entertaining collection of historical thrillers.

The William Warwick novels, which originated within the fiction universe of the Clifton Chronicles series, follows the life and career of titular protagonist William Warrick, an idealistic London police officer who rises through the ranks while solving a series of dastardly crimes.  This series, which is defined by its character-driven plots, new criminal focuses for each novel, and the protagonist’s bitter rivalry with a notorious crook, are always very entertaining and feature some compelling stories.  I personally really enjoyed the first three books in the series, Nothing Ventured, Hidden in Plain Sight, and Turn a Blind Eye, although I unfortunately missed the next two books in the series.  Luckily, I was able to grab a copy of the upcoming sixth William Warwick book, Traitors Gate, which honestly might be one of the best entries in the series.

London, 1996.  There is nothing more sacred nor valuable in the entire realm than the crown Jewels of England.  Kept secure within the Tower of London, the jewels are only brought out once a year for the Queen to attend the State Opening of Parliament.  Providing security for the transfer between the Tower and the palace is one of the most important jobs done by the Metropolitan Police, and this vital duty is now overseen by Chief Superintendent William Warwick and his crack team.  Thanks to all the elaborate precautions around the transfer, the jewels are considered unstealable, but there is one audacious crook who is about to prove them wrong.

For years, William has sought to bring down notorious criminal mastermind Miles Faulkner, a gentleman thief and deadly rogue who has brought nothing but misery to William’s friends and family.  But despite the best effort of William and the men under his command, Faulkner has always managed to elude justice as he continues to hatch his despicable plots and thefts.

However, Faulkner also has a vengeful streak, and when William manages to finally get one over on his rival by recovering a stolen artwork, Faulkner decides it is time to get his final retribution against William and everyone close to him.  Pulling together a team of rogues and villains, Faulkner sets in place his boldest plan yet: steal the Crown Jewels and ruin the career of William and the other police involved in its protection.  Can William stop this plan before everything he loves is destroyed, or has Faulkner finally won their decades-long game of cat and mouse?

Archer continues to impress with his latest William Warwick book, which honestly had me hooked the entire way through.  An intriguing continuation of his fun ongoing series, Traitors Gate was a great character-driven thriller that was fun from start to finish.

Traitors Gate has a great story to it that expertly combines existing storylines from the series with an excellent and wildly entertaining new plot.  Once again focusing on protagonist William Warwick and fantastic antagonist Miles Faulkner, Archer sets up a great story that takes their rivalry to a new level.  The author does an outstanding job of setting this up, with the early parts of the novel recapping key events from the previous William Warwick novels whilst highlighting the protagonist’s current role in protecting the Crown Jewels.  The first half of Traitors Gate follows some intriguing story threads focused on several key existing characters that eventually lead to William getting one over on Faulkner in their long-running feud.  This first half of this book is very entertaining, especially as the rivalry between the protagonist and antagonist is so damn fun, and you really get drawn into the unique and continuing character stories.

The second half of the book really amps up a notch as Faulkner initiates a series of elaborate and daring revenge plots against those who wronged him, while also setting up his master heist.  These various storylines, which include a con job and a fantastically fun court sequence, work together well to tell an excellent overall story, and they play into the build-up for the big conclusion extremely well.  However, the crown jewel (pun intended) of the plot has to be the great heist scene, which was so damn tense and exciting.  Archer sets the entire thing up perfectly, and by constantly switching back and forth between various characters on both sides, you get quite the intense and captivating sequence.  This entire heist is a ton of fun from conception to implementation and leads to a compelling final part of the novel which sees the characters all desperately trying to come out on top.  The various elements of this, from the fun characters involved, the multiple elaborate steps the antagonists take, and the ticking clock the protagonists need to beat, are designed to keep the reader on their toes, and I had such a fun time seeing everything unfold.  The entire story honestly comes together extremely well, and frankly this was one of the more impressive and addictive stories that Archer has come up with yet.

Archer pulled this excellent story together in his typical style that focuses on the characters and makes great use of quick jumps between various perspectives.  I loved the multiple fantastic storylines that emerge as a result, and the author does a great job of balancing the various elements and character arcs.  Archer also proves very apt at building suspense and laying down the ground work for the key sequences for his story where the real magic happens.  Watching some of the more impressive scenes, such as the excellent entertaining court sequences (which are generally the highlight of all the William Warwick books) and the brilliant heist, are so much fun, and you really appreciate the planning and build-up he puts into it.  The author also makes excellent use of the 1990s London setting for the majority of the plot, and I have really enjoyed how the William Warwick books have moved from the 80s to the 90s, incorporating real-life events as they go.  The 1996 election plays a key role in the plot of Traitors Gate, and I loved the historical colour that Archer added to the plot, including a great in-story presentation about Colonel Blood and his own infamous Crown Jewel heist.  I also really need to highlight the way that Archer makes each of his novels inclusive and open so that new readers can easily dive into Traitors Gate.  Thanks to some quick and effective recaps and reintroductions, new readers can start the series at Traitors Gate without any issues, and indeed even after missing the last two books in the series, I was able to dive in without any pause at all.  This book comes together so well and I had a great time reading it.

I really need to highlight the fantastic and outrageous characters the plot of Traitors Gate follows.  Throughout the course of six William Warwick books, Archer has built up quite an intriguing cast of characters to follow, and he does an excellent job of breaking up the story between them.  There is a notable divide between the protagonists and the antagonists throughout the course of Traitors Gate, and watching the cast play off each other with their moves and countermoves is exceedingly fun.  Each of the protagonists, especially the police characters, are very righteous in their dealings (William goes by the nickname “Choir Boy”, for example), although they aren’t averse to breaking the rules if it gets them justice, which makes for some great scenes.  However, it’s the baddies are the ones who really make the book extremely entertaining.

Archer has done such a great job building up main antagonist Miles Faulkner throughout the course of the series, and the elaborate and spiteful rivalry he forms with William and his friends drives so much of the plot.  Faulkner honestly steals every scene he is in with his elaborate schemes, villainous persona, and sheer petty hate of the protagonists, and I have so much fun following throughout the book.  I also have a lot of fun with secondary antagonist Booth Watson QC, Faulkner’s lawyer, who seems to act for every criminal and villain in the William Warwick series.  A morally corrupt lawyer who specialises in every devious legal trick you can think of, Watson is nearly as bad as Faulkner, and he proves to be such a delightful thorn in the protagonist’s side.  Watching him legally manipulate and pontificate is so much fun, especially when he faces off against William’s straightlaced and proper father, Sir Julian Warwick, who he brings out the worst in.  These two characters are at their best when they face off against each other in the courtroom, and it so damn entertaining to see them get childish and outraged in the middle of a trail.  These characters, and more, add so much enjoyment to Traitors Gate and I look forward to seeing the epic rivalry between William and Faulkner continue in the future.

Jeffery Archer has produced a fantastic and awesome new addition to his always entertaining William Warwick series with Traitors Gate.  Featuring a fun and inventive narrative that makes great use of the bitter rivalries of Archer’s well-established cast, Traitors Gate is a highly addictive and exciting novel that has some outstanding moments to it.  Slick, hilarious and always compelling, Traitors Gate is an amazing novel that is well worth checking out.

Traitors Gate Cover

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Warhammer 40,000: Longshot by Rob Young

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer11 Comments

Longshot Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 12 August 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 10 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to dive into one of the grittiest battles in Warhammer 40,000 fiction with the awesome and captivating novel, Longshot by Rob Young.

2023 has definitely been an outstanding year for Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and I have had a ton of fun reading several pretty amazing entries from this extended universe in recent months.  Examples of this include The Lion: Son of the Forest, Warboss, Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter, Leviathan and The King of the Spoil just to name a few.  However, the year is far from over and there are still several great-sounding Warhammer 40,000 novels coming out that I have my eyes on.  One of the more intriguing was the fantastic Longshot by new author Rob Young, which sounded extremely fun.  Longshot, which follows on from Young’s short stories, Transplants and Memories of Broken Glass, is the author’s debut Warhammer 40,000 novel, and it proved to be a very intense and action-packed novel with a great story.

Several years after the fall of Cadia, which saw the Imperium of Man split in two by a great rift in space, humanity is still attempting to recover as many lost planets and systems as possible.  The latest target of the relentless Indomitus Crusade sees the troops of the Cadian 217th arrive at the former manufactorium world of Attruso, whose people have fallen under the sway of the seeming beatific alien t’au.

As the initial assault begins in the battered city of Miracil, the Cadian forces struggle to make progress against the determined t’au defenders and their human auxiliaries.  As the fighting gets even more desperate, the tides of war soon place the keys to victory into the hands of Sergeant Darya Nevic and her squad of snipers.  Nevic is a legendary figure within the 217th, a transplant from a non-Cadian regiment renown for her abilities of infiltration, assassination and survival, Nevic excels at disrupting the enemy from the top down.  However, when the t’au unleash their own deadly sniper against the Cadians, Nevic is forced into a battle of wits with a killer just as skilled and ruthless as she is.  But has Nevic finally come across a foe even she can’t best, especially as she begins to doubt her mission in the face of her own infamy, the lies of her commanders and the t’au’s insidious promises?

Longshot is an awesome and fast-paced novel that perfectly showcases the horror of war in this grim universe through the lens of a skilled sniper.  Young did an outstanding job with his debut novel and I loved the intriguing and powerful narrative that placed great characters into a deadly setting.  I managed to knock this book off in a couple of days, and it is one of the most exciting and fun Warhammer 40,000 novels of 2023 so far.

I loved the complex and intense story that Young pulled together for Longshot, which perfectly presents a tale of the common soldier in the grim Warhammer 40,000 universe.  I have often said that some of the very best Warhammer 40,000 novels are those that focus on the common human soldier facing off against alien or inhuman forces (for example, Steel Tread, the Gaunt’s Ghosts books or Catachan Devil).  Longshot is a very good example of this as you follow a tired soldier as she faces internal and external threats on the frontline of a desperate conflict.  Thanks to its focus on snipers, city fighting, camaraderie and propaganda, Longshot is honestly the Warhammer 40,000 version of Enemy at the Gates, which I deeply enjoyed.  The reader really gets invested in the protagonist’s journey which follows her through some fantastic missions, battles and character growth in the first half of the novel.  This leads to a great second half, where Nevic becomes a victim of her own success and is forced to go up against a deadly enemy sniper.  Due to everything the protagonist experiences, there is some real tension leading into the final third of Longshot, especially after she experiences some terrible losses.  Thanks to the protagonists’ conflicted state, you honestly don’t know how the story is going to turn, and Young loads up some great twists and swerves.  While the ending was a tad predictable, I really enjoyed it and the author really pulled together a satisfying and exciting read that you can really power through.

This ended up being a pretty addictive standalone book, and it is one that would definitely serve as a great introductory novel to Warhammer 40,000 fiction for those readers unfamiliar with the franchise.  Young does a great job of expanding his previous short stories into his first full-length novel, and you really get to grips quickly with the situation, the characters, and the wider universe.  The sharp and intense character-driven story which primarily focuses on the protagonist, Darya Nevic, with a few chapters shown from other key character perspective, has a lot of great elements to it.  The focus on character motivation, the depravities of war, and the grim realities of the background universe really cut through the main story, and you understand the difficulties that many of the conflicted characters experience.  The subsequent focuses on morale in battle and the impacts of propaganda and manipulation also proves to be very fascinating and adds a great edge to Longshot.  I also deeply appreciated how well Young built up his main protagonist throughout the course of Longshot, diving into Nevic’s complex history and examining how she gained her legend.  You grow quite attached to Nevic as the book continues, especially she is forced to make several difficult decisions, and Young turns her into a relatable and understandable figure, especially when it comes to her conflicted feelings about her fame and leadership.  Nevic is well supported by other great characters, and Young was able to establish and utilise these figures in a short amount of time.

The real highlight of Longshot is the awesome and well-written action sequences that dominate the book and constantly keep the reader on their toes.  Young paints an effective and dark picture of brutal city fighting, and you can tell he was using the battle of Stalingrad as inspiration.  The gritty battles that take place are very exciting and powerful, and you can really feel the desperation and weariness of the combatants.  The author proves particularly adept at writing high-quality sniper scenes, and the focus on shooting, infiltration and calculated strikes makes Longshot stand out from other battle-heavy Warhammer 40,000 novels.  This ended up being a very slick and addictive read and Young proved quite skilled at getting his fantastic story across to the reader in the most effective way.

Well-established fans of Warhammer 40,000 canon will really appreciate Young’s compelling and insightful look into two distinctive factions who provide a very interesting contrast to each other.  This includes the members of the Cadians, one of the most iconic Imperial Guard factions in the game.  While the Cadians are already pretty heavily featured in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, I felt that Young provided a particularly effective dive into their current problems, namely the gradual deaths of the natural-born members of the regiment and their replacement by transplants from other regiments.  Thanks to the focus on Nevic, herself a transplant from another regiment, you see the dire internal conflict this causes as the strongly traditional Cadian regiment begin to lose their identity after the loss of their planet.  Young does a wonderful job of expressing this throughout the course of Longshot and the resultant impacts this has on the characters makes for some interesting story moments.  I also quite enjoyed seeing several outsider perspectives of the Cadians that Young worked into the story, which often contrasts well with what the Cadian protagonists feel, and it makes for some fantastic story moments. The author also examines other fascinating elements of the Imperial war machine, such as the exhausting Indomitus Crusade, the current crumbling state of the Imperium, the way other supporting regiments are treated, and the internal propaganda and planning of the regiment.

While the Cadians do get most of the story focus in Longshot, Young does take the time to also dive into the alien t’au who serve as the main antagonists of the plot.  Most Warhammer 40,000 novels that have the t’au as antagonists often nerf or underutilise them to a degree (for example Kill Team or Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker), which is frustrating for fans of the faction.  However, Young effectively showcases the t’au as skilled and deadly enemies who are able to weather the Imperial forces and overwhelm them in several key theatres.  Young has fun bringing several key t’au units to life throughout the course of Longshot and you really start to appreciate them as effective opponents to the Cadians.  There is also an interesting examination of t’au motivations, philosophies and manipulations, specifically around their recruitment of human auxiliaries.  This compelling dive into the t’au muddies the moral waters around the protagonists and the Cadians, and you soon start to question who has the best interest of the people of Attruso at heart.  This, and other intriguing similarities to the human soldiers, adds an awesome edge of consideration and concern to the story that I quite enjoyed.  I really think that Young had some of the better portrayals of the Cadians and the t’au I have so far seen in Warhammer 40,000 fiction, and fans of the franchise are going to have a wonderful time diving into that in this book.

Unsurprisingly, I chose to check out Longshot on audiobook, which in my opinion the best way to enjoy a Warhammer 40,000 novel.  Longshot is a particularly good example of this, as the audiobook format really helped to move the already exciting novel along at a fast clip, especially when the action scenes are brought to life by the narrator.  Coming in at around 10 and a half hours, this is very easy audiobook to get through quickly, and I made sure to power through it in only a few days.  It helped that this book was narrated by the very talented Colleen Prendergast, who already has a bit of experience narrating Warhammer novels featuring the Cadians.  Prendergast did a wonderful job bringing all the major characters to life, especially the main protagonist of Darya Nevic, and I loved the elaborate and fitting voices that she gifted the cast which really helped to draw you into the story.  However, the real benefit of Prendergast’s narration is the way that she walks the listener through all the elaborate battle sequences, especially those that show the snipers facing off against each other.  I felt that this narration expertly captured all the inherent intensity and danger of these scenes and I got really invested into the book as a result.  Thanks to this amazing narration and story enhancement, I would strongly recommend checking out Longshot on audiobook and I know I had a lot more fun thanks to this amazing format.

Overall, Longshot is an awesome and compelling addition to the Warhammer 40,000 canon and one that I had a ton of fun with.  Young produced a powerful and intriguing character driven war story that will appeal to a wide audience of readers, especially with its fantastic focus on sniping and some of the more fascinating elements of Warhammer lore.  I deeply enjoyed this fantastic novel and Longshot comes highly recommended.

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Warhammer 40,000: The King of the Spoil by Jonathan D. Beer

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer12 Comments

The King of the Spoil Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 July 2023)

Series: Warhammer Crime

Length: 12 hours and 33 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Get ready for another awesome round of Warhammer Crime goodness as Jonathan D. Beer presents an epic and captivating novel thick with action, intrigue and cool characters in The King of the Spoil.

Out of all the many Warhammer 40,000 novels and series currently running, few are as fun as the very impressive Warhammer Crime collection of books.  An intriguing subseries designed to mix distinctive crime fiction narratives with the awesome grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Warhammer Crime novels are a ton of fun, and I love the crazy and powerful stories that result.  All loosely connected and set in the same massive dystopian city of Varangantua, the Warhammer Crime series has so far produced some epic reads, including The Wraithbone Phoenix and Dredge Runners by Alec Worley, Grim Repast by Marc Collins, Flesh and Steel by Guy Hayley, and Bloodlines by Chris Wraight.  Each of these Warhammer Crime books has been pretty damn exceptional in their own way, and most of them appeared on my recent favourite Warhammer 40,000 list.  As such, I was very excited when I saw that a new Warhammer Crime novel was on its way with The King of the Spoil.

The King of the Spoil was an outstanding novel from author Jonathan D. Beer that introduced the reader to a new area of the overarching setting of Varangantua while also supplying them with a compelling and impressive story.  This is actually the first full novel from Beer, and it continues several of his short stories that were previously published in the Warhammer Crime collected editions, Broken City and Sanction and Sin.  I had an epic time with this fantastic novel as Beer produced an exceptional and addictive read.

In the vast continent-spanning city of Varangantua, there is no section of the city more desperate or devastated than the broken chunk of land known as the Spoil.  A formerly prominent industrial area, time has turned the Spoil in a useless wasteland abandoned by the rest of the city.  With the remaining populace of the Spoil forced to remain within its bounds, there are very few choices for survival and little chance for escape.  But even in this fallen area, someone must rise to the top, and only one man can be king.

For over a generation, the Spoil was ruled by Andreti Sorokin, the self-proclaimed King of the Spoil.  His rule brought stability to the once lawless section of the city, while his unpopular alliance with the Valtteri business cartel ensured that money once again flowed through the Spoil.  However, no king can rule forever, and when Sorokin is brutally murdered by a mysterious assassin, it doesn’t take long until someone tries to replace him.

As the Spoil devolves into a deadly gang war, with rival factions fighting for control of whatever they can get, the Valtteri turn to their most effective agent to find them an edge.  Melita Voronova is an info-broker and hacker of unsurpassed skill who has been forced to work for the Valterri.  However, after failing to predict Sorokin’s assassination, her only hope to survive her employer’s wrath is to travel to the Spoil and determine who killed Sorokin.  However, many people within the Spoil had a motive for killing the king, and Melita is about to discover that Sorokin’s death is only the first step in an elaborate plot that could change the very foundation of the Spoil.  Can Melita find the truth before it’s too late, or will this massive conspiracy destroy her and everything she cares about?

This was a pretty awesome book from Beer, who really showcases his fantastic writing ability in his debut novel.  Featuring an excellent and intense story, loaded with intrigue, action and complex characters, The King of the Spoil is an excellent addition to the Warhammer Crime series and I had so much fun getting through it.

Beer comes up with a very elaborate and fun story in The King of the Spoil, which starts very strong and never really slows down.  Beginning with the assassination of the titular king, Beer takes his time before introducing the main protagonist, instead utilising a series of short chapters to effectively bring several supporting cast members into the narrative while also showcasing the immediate aftermath of Sorokin’s death.  I really liked how Beer decided to focus on these other characters first, especially as it adds in some interesting story angles that come into play later in the story.

Once the scene has been effectively set, the story starts to primarily focus on protagonist Melita Voronova who, after failing to warn her dangerous corporate employers about Sorokin’s death, is forced to journey to the Spoil to find out who killed him and manage the appointment of a successor.  Beer also introduces a great alternate point of view protagonist in young Spoil resident Haska Jovanic, who provides an intriguing look at the events occurring on the ground in the Spoil, especially as warlords and other involved parties make their move.  Both major narratives evolve at a steady pace, mostly independent of each other, and I liked the competing views of the events and the city that they provided to the reader.  Out of the two, Melita’s investigation-focused chapters were probably the more entertaining, and she leads the reader on the hunt for the killer and the complex politics of the Spoil and its gangs.  These two main perspectives are cleverly interspersed with a series of interludes shown from other side characters, including the true antagonist and their patsies, as they put their masterplan into commission.  While a more detailed perspective from the antagonist might have been interesting, Beer chose to keep their involvement mostly mysterious for the moment, and it was interesting to see their intermittent involvement to the larger plot.

The King of the Spoil takes a big turn in the second half when the antagonist makes a big move and absolutely rocks the entire plot.  The full extent of their ambitious plan and its massive repercussions are pretty over the top, and I loved how Beer cleverly hinted at what was to come while setting everything up in the first half of the book.  Everything honestly goes to hell for Melita at that point while Haska finds herself in the middle of conflict, fighting for everything she believes in.  The stakes of the book keep getting bigger and bigger, and Melita is forced to find help more in keeping with the Warhammer Crime vibe to uncover who some of the major hidden players in the case are, which only results in a more sinister conspiracy than anyone realised.  This leads up to a massively explosive conclusion, which leads to some major changes and mostly resolves events, although there are some big plot points left open which Beer is clearly looking to explore in the future.  Both the main protagonists are left in interesting positions, which cleverly fits their respective development, and it will be great to see what happens to them next.  This was overall an exciting and gripping narrative that lived up to the lofty heights of the Warhammer Crime series.

Like many of the Warhammer Crime books, The King of the Spoil is a mostly standalone read that does not require a lot of pre-knowledge of the other entries in the series, or the wider Warhammer 40,000 universe to enjoy.  While Beer has written about the main character in several prior short stories, you don’t really need to check these out first, as the author makes sure that any relevant details are revisited or mentioned where necessary.  I think that Beer did a really good job of converting the characters and scenarios from his previous shorter works into the larger novel format, and his debut book was pretty epic as a result.

I loved the intriguing mixture of storylines that were featured within The King of the Spoil, and the blend of investigation, gang politics, and character driven storylines worked to produce a fantastic and complex read that fit well within the larger Warhammer Crime universe.  Beer maintains a steady and compelling pace throughout the course of The King of Spoil, and there honestly wasn’t a dull moment throughout the entire book, whether the focus was on intrigue, action, or character growth.  The intriguing crime elements of the novel, such as the protagonist’s major investigation, criminal politics, and the brewing gang war, were all expertly inserted into the story and it blended well with both the setting and the accompanying character arcs.  Beer proved competent at ratchetting up the tension at certain parts of the novel, as both main protagonists are continuously experiencing major threats, momentous decisions, and tragedy.  The action scenes were pretty damn awesome, and I loved how Beer was able to capture the intricacies of the various battles that occurred, whether they be gang scraps or something even more serious.  Thanks to the author’s inclusive writing style and determination to bring a powerful crime fiction story to life, I found The King of the Spoil to be a great entry novel into the Warhammer Crime series, and indeed this might even be a good read for those readers looking to explore the Warhammer 40,000 universe for the first time.  This entire story was showcased extremely well by Beer and I honestly had a hard time putting down The King of the Spoil.

One of the things I love so much about the Warhammer Crime books is the great overarching setting of the massive city of Varangantua, which each author adds to throughout the course of the series.  I love all the unique and different areas of the city that have so far been introduced, but I think the Spoil is one of the best.  Showcased as an extremely poor district that has been deliberately cut off from the rest of the city and is now completely ruled by gangs, the Spoil is a particularly grim and desperate place in an already notoriously grim city/universe.  Beer does a wonderful job diving into the unique history of the Spoil and its inhabitants throughout the course of the book, including how things changed during the reign of Andreti Sorokin, who brought some stability to the region, but in a way that damaged their pride and independence.  This desperation and desire to be free becomes a key part of the plot, as the antagonists use this to bring anarchy to the Spoil and beyond in some impressively destructive ways.  There is also an outstanding and enjoyable focus on gang politics and interactions, as various factions seek to take control of the Spoil throughout the course of the book.  I deeply appreciated how Beer wove these elements of his major setting into the plot, and it made for a much more complex story where neither side is really in the right.  Beer also cleverly works in some larger Warhammer 40,000 elements into the story, which work to enhance the stakes of the story.  The inclusion of one notorious Imperial organisation really showcases just how serious events get at times, and I honestly enjoyed just how widespread and massive Beer decided to make his plot, especially as there are implications of darker forces at work.  This was such a great addition to the Warhammer Crime sub-series of books, and I loved how Beer made this part of Varangantua his own and built an outstanding story around it.

One of the major highlights of The King of the Spoil was the intriguing group of characters the story was set around.  Beer does a great job of introducing a fantastic cast of thieves, gangsters, mercenaries, cut-throat industrialists and more throughout the book, and their battles for supremacy and respect ensured this was an excellent read.  The main protagonist is Melita Voronova, a talented info-broker who has been forced into service by the Valterri cartel and is tasked with keeping an eye on the Spoil.  A brilliant, analytical person with the ability to recruit and maintain a large spy network, Melita is a very intriguing protagonist, and you swiftly grow to ensure her unique outlook and abilities.  However, thanks to her indentured servitude, her complex past, and the cybernetic implants she’s received, Melita is a bit of a mess and is using drugs to cope.  Beer portrays Melita is a deeply damaged figure, who is resentful of her current lot in life and is constantly pushing everyone close to her away.  This makes for several deeply personal scenes throughout The King of Spoil, and it was heartbreaking at times to see her refuse any help, even when she really needs it.  Thanks to the chaotic events of the book, Melita experiences several tragedies in The King of the Spoil which adds further strain to her psyche and enhances the already dark tension of the novel.  I really liked where Beer left Melita’s character arc at the end of The King of the Spoil, especially as it became clear that she still has a lot of development to go, and it will be fascinating to see what happens to her next, especially as she is now on several powerful people’s radar.

The other major protagonist of The King of the Spoil was Haska Jovanic, a young resident of the Spoil who gets a front row view of all the changes and conflict that occurs throughout the book.  In some ways, Haska has a much more complete character journey in this book than Melita, especially as she goes from scared street rat to hardened and vengeful gang soldier.  Dragged into various conflicts in the book thanks to her eager friends, Haska is a bit of a reluctant figure for much of the story, and there are some intriguing chapters around her motivations and what she wants out of life.  Forced to choose between being a fighter or being exploited, Haska is thrust into some of the major plot points of the book, where she finds courage, motivation and tragedy.  Beer did a particularly good job of building up the reader’s attachment to Haska throughout The King of the Spoil, especially as she is one of the more relatable figures in the entire book.  Watching her be forced by circumstances, fear and loyalty into several deadly situations which usually backfire on her is pretty powerful, and the author builds some fantastic storylines around her as a result, especially in the second half of the book.  I deeply enjoyed how her entire complex storyline unfolded, and the compelling conclusion to her arc in The King of the Spoil ensures that she is going to be particularly interesting to follow when she shows up again next.

Aside from Melita and Haska, there are a ton of other great characters featured throughout The King of the Spoil, mainly to bolster the protagonist’s storyline or provide some intriguing antagonistic figures.  Some of the most notable includes Edi, Melita’s bodyguard and former enforcer who serves as the main character’s conscience, resolve and sounding board.  Edi is probably one of the more likeable and honourable figures in the novel, and his intriguing relationship with Melita as he tries to act like her father against her wishes, makes him that much more enjoyable.  The Valterri security chief Tomillan Vasimov, who controls Melita for his organisation, served as an outstanding secondary antagonist, especially due to his rivalry and disdain for the protagonist.  Beer turns him into quite a fantastically unlikeable figure, so much so that you quite enjoy it when the real antagonists take shots at him.  Haska’s ambitious and inexperienced gang friends also prove an excellent addition to the cast, especially as they give Haska a lot of motivation to get involved in events, while Mattix, the grizzled Probator (investigator for the Enforcers), adds a great police presence, despite his often less-than-honourable motivations.  Other great characters also have their moment in the book, such as the actual, and somewhat hidden, antagonist of the story, who masterfully sets every event into play.  I quite liked the deadly intrigue that surrounded this figure, although I do wish we had gotten to see more of them in The King of the Spoil or find out more about their motivations.  I imagine this antagonist will be a recurring figure in any future Beer Warhammer Crime novels, and I look forward to seeing them face off against the protagonist again.  These characters, and more, were all deeply enjoyable and I loved the intriguing range they brought to the plot.

I checked out The King of the Spoil on audiobook, as frankly it is the best way to enjoy a Warhammer 40,000 novel.  Unsurprisingly, I had an amazing time listening to The King of the Spoil, and I really felt that the audiobook format helped to enhance its already exciting and fantastic story.  The frenetic intrigue and brutal action sequences all really come to life when it is read out to you from the protagonist’s perspective, and I definitely absorbed more of the elaborate and desolate landscape of the Spoil thanks to the narration.  I also a very big fan of the narration provided by relatively new audiobook narrator, Gabrielle Nellis-Pain, whose intriguing range added a great deal to the impact and enjoyment of the story.  Nellis-Pain does such a great job of inhabiting the roles of the various characters contained within The King of the Spoil, especially the main two protagonists, Melita and Haska.  I felt that the narrator did a wonderful job capturing their various personalities, as well as the emotional pain and distress the events of this book inflict upon them, and you really get drawn into their story arcs as a result.  The rest of the cast also come together extremely well, and I liked how Nellis-Pain was able to really showcase some of their key character traits, which really helped me to enjoy the excellent story.  Coming in with a decent runtime of 12 and a half hours, dedicated listeners can get through The King of Spoil fairly quickly, especially once they get caught up in its wonderful detail.  I would strongly recommend The King of the Spoil’s audiobook to anyone interested in checking this book out and you will really enjoy it more in this format.

Overall, The King of the Spoil was an excellent and captivating Warhammer Crime novel that I had an epic time listening to.  Author Jonathan Beer did an outstanding job with his first Warhammer novel, and I deeply enjoyed the powerful and exciting crime fiction story he came up with, loaded with amazing characters and set in a fantastic and compelling new part of the Warhammer Crime shared setting.  The King of the Spoil was an impressive addition to an already awesome sub-series and it is clear that Beer has some interesting plans to continue the storylines started here in the future.  I cannot wait to see what Beer delivers in the future and if this first book is anything to go by, it’s bound to be exceptional.

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The Traitor by Anthony Ryan

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books14 Comments

The Traitor Cover

Publisher: Orbit (Audiobook – 11 July 2023)

Series: Covenant of Steel – Book Three

Length: 19 hours and 15 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed fantasy author Anthony Ryan brings his epic and exceptional Covenant of Steel trilogy to an end in a massive way with the impressive third and final book, The Traitor.

Over the last three years I have had an outstanding time getting my first taste of the works of leading fantasy author Anthony Ryan.  A veteran author who has been enthralling fantasy audiences for over a decade, Ryan has several highly regarded series under his belt, including his Raven’s Shadow books, the Slab City Blues series, the Seven Swords series and The Draconis Memoria trilogy.  However, I have so far only had the opportunity to read his latest body of works, The Covenant of Steel trilogy, which has been more than enough to make me a major fan of this author.

The Covenant of Steel books are an outstanding series that follows an intriguing and well-developed protagonist, the notorious Alwyn Scribe.  Told in a chronicle format written by Alwyn, the Covenant of Steel books follow the protagonist as he embarks upon a powerful and exciting character journey that sees him overcome his bandit past to take on several new roles, including that of a scribe, soldier and knight, all while serving the mysterious religious figure, Lady Evadine Courlain.  I have had an epic time with this series over the last few years, and the first two books, The Pariah (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021) and The Martyr (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022) have been exceptional five-star reads that proved near impossible to put down.  Loaded with action, intrigue, a fantastic new world, and some complex characters, this series is so damn good, and I have been eagerly awaiting the third and final book for a while.  This third book, The Traitor, was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023, and I was so excited when I finally got the chance to listen to it.

Alwyn Scribe is a man in real trouble.  Now a renowned knight, general, spymaster, and trusted advisor, the former outlaw has relentlessly championed the cause of his lady, the Risen Martyr Evadine Courlain, and ensured she is now the most beloved and influential religious figure in all of Albermaine.  But what if he made a terrible mistake?

Cryptic visions from the past have warned Alwyn that, despite her claims to be a servant of the divine Seraphile, Evadine actually serves the Malecite, the source of all evil in the land, who will use her to bring about a cataclysmic future.  Blinded by love, Alwyn is convinced that these visions are false, and he is determined to keep Evadine alive and ensure that her vision of a united Albermaine are brought to life, even if that means starting another destructive war.

However, the closer Evadine gets to achieving her goal, the more Alwyn begins to realise that she is no longer the same woman that he swore his life to.  Her messages of peace and tolerance have been replaced by the fires of puritanical fury, and Evadine soon launches a brutal crusade to rid the country of her enemies and place herself on the throne as an Ascendant Queen.  But is she truly corrupted by the Malecite or is her brutal work a necessity to keep Albermaine safe from a greater evil?  As a devastating civil war is unleashed upon the kingdom, Alwyn will be forced to choose whose side he is truly on and what he is willing to sacrifice to keep the world from burning.

Well damn, Ryan really didn’t disappoint with this fantastic and powerful conclusion to the fantastic Covenant of Steel trilogy.  Weaving together all the elaborate elements from his first two books and then lighting everything you love on fire, The Traitor was a complex and deeply enjoyable read that I honestly couldn’t stop listening to.  Powerful, thrilling, and oh so beautifully dark, The Traitor was a perfect ending to the Covenant of Steel trilogy that got an easy five-star rating from me.

The Traitor has a heck of a powerful narrative to it that takes the protagonist and the reader to the emotional limit.  After an effective and entertaining recap of the previous two books, The Traitor starts in the immediate aftermath of the previous novel, The Martyr, with Alwyn leading Evadine’s army to war against the dangerous Ascendant Arnabus and his forces, resulting in a major, religious war.  This initial conflict is the focus for a good part of the early story, and it serves as a great warm-up for the rest of the plot, allowing for some much-needed character reintroductions and development, while also providing some intriguing new context for the main story.  This initial fight only serves as a taste for the wars to come, as Evadine seeks to overthrow the current order and rule herself.  This incoming conflict ensures that the first half of The Traitor has a range of great story elements to it, with a mixture of intrigue, political manoeuvrings, espionage, and battles, ensuring that every second of The Traitor at this point is highly entertaining.  This also serves as an excellent prelim for the anticipated change in the middle of the book, where the protagonist is finally forced to confront the fact that Evadine is no longer the woman he fell in love with.

Due to the reveal at the end of The Martyr, you had to know that Evadine was going to have some sort of fall from grace in this final novel, and when it comes, boy does it come hard.  The betrayals, shocks and losses at this point are exceedingly impactful, and you soon realise that Ryan intends to go full scorched earth with his storytelling, forcing the reader to deal with some major tragedies.  I liked the dark turns that occurred at this point in The Traitor, especially as Ryan had been hinting at them since book one, and it was awesome to get some payoff for the previous dark predictions.  This forces Alwyn to make some tough choices, and there is a major and compelling change in the protagonist’s objectives and loyalties for the second half of the book.  Thanks to the great setup at the start, as well as the major events in the middle, the reader will be very strongly caught in the narrative at this point, and even though the final half of The Traitor slows down in places, you really cannot put it down.  Ryan really dives into the lore of his land in this second half, which provides some very unique scenes and moments, even if some of these story elements got a little away from the author.  Still, this part of the book has some pretty impactful moments, and you will not be prepared for some of the key touching events.

Everything leads up to a final confrontation, which releases three books worth of pent-up emotion and revelations in some spectacular scenes.  While part of this confrontation is a bit more metaphysical than it needed to be, you honestly will be blown away with how it all comes to an end, especially as there is layer upon layer of tragedy involved, and I deeply enjoyed the compelling and satisfying resolutions that followed.  This entire story was a fantastic read from start to finish, and I really loved how Ryan wrapped up so many of his ongoing storylines and arcs here.  While most plot points are finalised here, a couple do remain unresolved, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we get a sequel series at some point.  I personally would be very keen for that, as I had such an exceptional time seeing this elaborate trilogy and ongoing narrative come together in some excellent ways.

I have always really enjoyed how Ryan set out the previous Covenant of Steel books, and he did a fantastic job of continuing his awesome writing style in this third and final book.  The author sets out The Traitor using a chronicle style told from the protagonist’s perspective, which is such an effective writing tool.  This deeply personal vision of events, combined with the author’s regretful insights of the future, really helps to drag the reader into the story, and Ryan really makes the most of this story format the entire way through.  Like with the rest of the trilogy, Ryan keeps up a pretty steady pace in The Traitor, and there aren’t a lot of quiet moments in the book.  The author really hit the right blend of powerful character focus, fantasy world building, and storytelling loaded with intrigue and action, and there is generally something for everyone here.

I loved the darker, more tragic feel that The Traitor had, especially compared to the earlier books, and it was easy to tell that this is the final book in the series.  While the detailed plot recap and cast list at the front of the book is very helpful at reminding readers of prior events, readers unfamiliar with The Pariah and The Martyr probably won’t be able to jump into this final novel too easily as there are so many details from the first two books that reader’s need to be aware of to fully appreciate the impacts of this story. As such, people new to the series should really head back to the start, and I guarantee you will have a great time doing so.  I really enjoyed how this awesome book came together, and Ryan’s ability to weave together an intense read with so many layers to it is very impressive.

One of the great highlights of the Covenant of Steel series has been the exceptional and detailed fantasy realm that the book has been set in, shown through the eyes of the narrator as he explores it.  The reader has been given a very detailed look at these settings throughout the last two novels, and it has served as a great background to the plot.  Primarily a medieval landscape dominated by a quasi-Christian religion, this background setting initially didn’t have a lot of fantasy elements to it except for a couple of wandering beings with strange powers.  But Ryan slowly built up the fantasy elements throughout the book, with cumulation of magic occurring about halfway through The Martyr, which I think was an excellent choice, as it allowed him to instead focus on character growth, other world building elements, and the general politics and wars of the realm, in excellent detail.  A lot of these political and religious elements are strongly explored throughout The Traitor, especially in the first half, and Ryan had a lot of fun showcasing the land’s dark turn towards religious conflict as his character’s embark on a bitter holy war.  The dark and destructive changes to this well utilised setting are very notable, disturbing and compelling, and it was fascinating to see how much everything changed throughout the course of the series.

The Traitor does get a lot more fantasy heavy in the second half of the book, as the protagonist returns to a hidden realm and fully experiences the mysterious magic and powers that reside there to counter the dark visions of Evadine.  I do think that there might have been a few too many magical inclusions here, as the plot did get a tad convoluted in places.  Still, Ryan definitely had some fantastic and unique ideas here, and many of these fantasy elements have been utilised in the past to great effect.  One particular ability that emerges actually brings part of the story around full circle, and it allowed for some very compelling interactions with characters from the past that I quite enjoyed.  The fantasy revelations that emerge during the big concluding confrontation are very over the top, which some readers might have issues with.  However, I quite enjoyed it, and it lead to a particularly dark final meeting between protagonist and antagonist that had me hooked the entire time.  This really was an awesome fantasy series, loaded with cool settings and unique features, and I hope that we might get to revisit them in the future, especially as the events of this book will leave Albermaine a much darker and traumatised setting.

Easily my favourite element of The Traitor, and indeed the entire Covenant of Steel trilogy, has been the complex, damaged and memorable characters that the story has focussed on.  Ryan has come up with an exceptional group of protagonists and villains over the course of the trilogy, and there are some deeply elaborate character arcs ongoing throughout the last two books.  Many of these continue and conclude here in The Traitor, and Ryan really went out of his way to finalise the development of his characters in some powerful ways that will really strike the reader in the feels.

The main character of The Traitor is once again Alwyn Scribe, who serves as the primary narrator of the trilogy as he recounts his historical adventures.  Alwyn has been a particularly compelling character throughout the series, mainly because you get to see him grow from a common outlaw to key advisor of the Risen Martyr as she begins her campaign across the country.  Ryan has done such a great job telling Alwyn’s unique tale in the previous books, and the reader should already be highly invested in his story before The Traitor even starts.  Of course, this ensures that the reader is hit even harder by some of the big moments of the book, as Alwyn goes through a lot here.  Not only is he still involved in a series of deadly wars and political battles, but now he finds himself being torn between love and his sense of right and wrong, as Evadine becomes more and more unstable.  Watching Alwyn continue to justify Evadine’s actions, even though deep down he knows she’s in the wrong, is both frustrating and understandable, as you realise just how much he is devoted to her.  This sense of frustration is only enhanced by the constant recriminations Alwyn throws towards his past self as he narrates his own story, and you can feel the regret pouring of the pages there.  While I won’t give too much away here, Alwyn ends up going through quite a lot in The Traitor, and the emotional toil that inflicts is pretty terrible, especially as he has to make some bitter and ruthless choices.  It was very touching and intense to see Alwyn’s story come full circle in some ways, especially as there are some intriguing callbacks to his past, and all the major impactful moments that affect Alwyn are expertly portrayed by the author.  Despite everything he goes through, Alwyn still maintains much of his humour, wit, ingenuity, and disrespectful attitude that were such a great part of the Covenant of Steel trilogy.  It was so much fun to once again get his unique take on events, and he ended up being a pretty perfect narrator for this fantastic series.

The other major character that I have to talk about is Evadine Courlain, the Risen Martyr and Alwyn’s love interest, who has been such a significant figure in the last two books.  A religious leader who inspired people with her visions, Evadine has always been a fascinating character, especially as you are never quite sure if she is actually divinely chosen, a delusional madwoman, or something even worse.  After the reveal at the end of The Martyr that Evadine might be an avatar of evil, you come into The Traitor naturally highly suspicious of her, and Ryan caters to these expectations by ensuring that she quickly starts to descend into further darkness.  Despite Alwyn’s continual attempts to restrain her, and justify her actions to the reader, Evadine becomes more of a darker figure as she pursues her various wars, although initially never going quite far enough to alienate her friends.  Of course, that changes about halfway through the book, and when she goes dark, she goes dark in a big way, turning into quite a fantastic and sinister antagonistic figure.  I really loved how Ryan turned Evadine here, and it is such an outstanding cumulation of so many key story arcs from the first two books.  Despite everything she does, there is still a powerful bond between Alwyn and Evadine that deeply impacts both of them, and it was fascinating to see these great characters walk the thin line between love and hate again and again.  The complex interactions between these two characters at various different points of The Traitor are beautifully written, and you have to appreciate just how damaged and dangerous their bond got at times.  Evadine honestly was the perfect counterpoint to Alwyn in The Traitor, and I cannot emphasise how impressive her entire story arc ended up being.

In addition to Alwyn and Evadine, Ryan has loaded The Traitor with an exceptional cast of supporting characters who add a great deal to the impact of the story.  This supporting cast is mostly made up of figures from the first two books, as Ryan brings back many of the old favourites and seeks to wrap up many of the intriguing storylines that have been such a fantastic part of the series.  Highlights include Alwyn’s returning comrades, such as the unstable but very likeable Ayin, disgraced knight Wilhum, former outlaw Tiler, outlaw queen turned legitimate Duchess Lorine, and Juhlina, also known as the Widow.  These characters, and more end up having some interesting roles throughout The Traitor, and it was fascinating to see the various sides that many of them chose, especially as the plot continued.  I liked some of the surprising directions Ryan took a few of these returning characters, and there are some interesting choices, romances and entertaining fates that were wonderful to see.  Ryan also features several great new characters who got a good introduction and utilisation in The Traitor, even if it was only for a single book.  Quite a few of these characters were cast in antagonistic roles, which I think worked really well, and it was amazing how quickly Ryan was able to turn some of these characters into quite hateable figures.

While I did really enjoy the return of so many great characters featured within The Traitor, readers should be warned that Ryan does go on a bit of a murder spree here.  While I won’t give too much away here, several great characters meet an untimely end in The Traitor, and this honestly gets pretty heartbreaking.  While I usually don’t love it when authors kill off most of their characters in a finale, I think it worked quite well in The Traitor, especially as each death served an important narrative purpose.  It also helped that for many of these characters, Ryan worked to resolve their storylines in advance, so readers got some closure with them, even as they were taken away.  As such, The Traitor turns into quite a bloody and impactful read at times, and you will not be prepared for just how grim and tragic it gets when it comes to your favourite Covenant of Steel characters.  I really cannot emphasise just how good Ryan’s character work is though, and I hope we see some of the surviving figures again in the future.

I ended up grabbing a copy of the audiobook version of The Traitor, mainly because it has been the format that I have enjoyed the rest of the Covenant of Steel books in.  Coming in at a bit over 19 hours, this is a decently long audiobook, but I absolutely flew through it once I got caught up in the exceptional story.  This format really lent itself to Ryan’s writing style and epic storytelling, and I deeply appreciated how listening to The Traitor allowed me to absorb all the key character moments, action and world building a lot better.  My enjoyment of this book was enhanced even further by the return of narrator Steven Brand, who has given his voice to most of Ryan’s audiobooks.  Brand is a very talented narrator with a great voice that fits this darker fantasy novel extremely well, especially as he perfectly encapsulates the protagonist, Alwyn Scribe.  Brand really brings Ryan’s chronicle style to life in Alwyn’s voice, and I really loved his take on the protagonist and all the other characters.  The sheer despair, weariness and self-loathing that Brand envisions in Alwyn’s voice at times is really moving, and I deeply appreciated how expertly he dove into the role of the main character.  The rest of characters in The Traitor also receive some great, fitting voices, and the entire cast really came to life, if but briefly.  I honestly had such a great time listening to The Traitor on audiobook and this is easily my preferred way to enjoy this fantastic book.  As such, this format comes highly recommended, and it will probably end up being one of my top audiobooks of 2023.

Honestly, after how much fun I had with the first two books in this series, as well as my lengthy write-up above, it should come as no surprise that I deeply enjoyed The Traitor.  Anthony Ryan brought his epic Covenant of Steel trilogy to a near perfect end, and I cannot emphasise enough how great and impactful this exceptional novel was.  Featuring some excellent dark moments, powerful character development, and an outstanding war-focused narrative, The Traitor delivered everything I wanted and more.  Easily one of the best fantasy books of 2023 so far, The Traitor was a joy to read from start to finish, and I am so glad I got the experience this awesome and amazing fantasy trilogy.

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Fearless by M. W. Craven

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller14 Comments

Fearless Cover

Publisher: Constable (Trade Paperback – 27 June 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 435 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The talented M. W. Craven debuts an awesome thriller protagonist with his epic and intense new novel, Fearless.

Craven is an interesting thriller author who has been establishing himself over the last few years.  Craven already has a fantastic catalogue of novels behind him, including his Washington Poe and Avison Fluke series, although I had not previously had the pleasure of reading any of his books.  As such, I was intrigued when I received a copy of Fearless, which looks to be the first book in an awesome new series.  I really liked how cool Fearless sounded and I was glad I got the opportunity to check out another author who was new to me this year.

Ben Koenig is a man who knows how to disappear.  The former leader of the US Marshals’ elite Special Ops Group, Koenig was the man who brought the very worst fugitives to justice, and his relentless attitude and uncanny abilities made him feared throughout the criminal community.  But after an operation goes bad, Koenig goes into hiding, drifting from small town to small town.

After managing to stay off everyone’s radar for six years, Koenig suddenly finds his face plastered across every television screen in America.  His old boss at the US Marshalls desperately needs Koenig’s help for a personal mission, and he’ll do anything he can to get his attention.  Soon Koenig finds himself back on the job, but this time he has no limits, no backup, and no idea the amount of trouble he is about to find himself in.

His assignment will eventually lead him to the small town of Gauntlet in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert.  Someone in Gauntlet has a dark secret that they will do anything to protect, and they have the entire town, and more, at their disposal.  However, they have never encountered anyone like Koenig and they soon begin to realise that Koenig has no fear, no mercy and no desire to stop.  But against the dangerous forces in front of him, as well as dangerous assassins from his past, can even the fearless Koenig stay alive and complete his mission?

Fearless was a very fun and over-the-top thriller from Craven, who crafts together a very intense and addictive narrative for this new book.  Starting off with a strong introduction to the character of Ben Koenig, the reader gets quickly swept up in both his unusual life and his new mission as he is drafted in to find a missing girl and revenge on the people that hurt her.  Fearless’ story has a lot of great elements to it, and Craven takes his protagonist on a wild and blood-soaked thrill ride through several great locales and impressive scenarios.  Most of the story takes place in the Texas town of Gauntlet, where Koenig investigates a mysterious solar energy company involved with his case.  Craven does a great job setting up the antagonists of this series, as well as a compelling underlying mystery about who they are and why they are there, and I loved the combination of suspense and intrigue that emerged, as well as the fear and brutality of the villains as they try to take Koenig down.  At the same time, Craven works in several compelling flashback chapters that give greater context to Koenig’s character and flesh out why he was on the run and the implications that has on his current situation.

Craven works a ton of brilliant and action-packed set pieces into the story as he goes, and the reader really sticks around to check out all the violence that emerges as a result.  The author goes pretty over the top multiple times throughout the book as he tries to make the scenarios, and his protagonist, as explosive and unpredictable as possible.  These memorable sequences mesh well with the investigative and character driven aspects of the story, and the reader really gets drawn into the entire compelling plot.  Everything leads up to the big finale, where the author unleashes several massive and exceptionally brutal fights, which really draw the reader in and ensure that they cannot stop turning the pages.  Everything ends on a very interesting note, although a couple of the final twists are clearly only there to set up the future books.  Still, this ended up being a very thrilling and enjoyable story, and I honestly managed to knock off this lengthy book in a couple of fun-filled days.

Craven utilises a pretty effective style for this book that is focused on making the novel as fast-paced and easy to read as possible.  Fearless is dominated by multiple short and impactful chapters which are very easy to power through and which encourage the reader to keep going, especially as you can get through the next exciting chapter with only a few page turns.  I honestly found myself just going and going as I was reading, as I really wanted to see what awesome event was going to pop up next in the story.  The author did a really good job of quickly and effectively setting up the protagonists, the story, and the general vibe of Fearless, and you quickly realise what sort of fun and compelling story the author has planned, which helps to keep you hooked.  The primary focus on protagonist Ben Koenig is nicely balanced with several chapters told from the perspective of the antagonists, and I loved seeing some of the different angles of the story, especially as the villains get more and more desperate, and ruthless, as the book continues.  This ended up being quite an attractive and highly accessible new series to test out, and Fearless will appeal to most thriller readers, especially those who are interested in something with a ton of action and a fun plot.  There are obviously some interesting parallels between Fearless and the Jack Reacher novels, which Craven does cleverly and humorously reference at the start.  I think this book will appeal to anyone who appreciates intense, fast, and unpredictable thrillers, and this really was a great treat.

One of the more interesting and distinctive elements of Fearless is the over-the-top protagonist, Ben Koenig.  Written as an elite former government agent on the run after upsetting the wrong crime family, Koenig is a very capable and effective killer who serves as the book’s main point-of-view character and narrator.  Koenig is a fun central figure for Fearless, and I loved his unique and entertaining viewpoint of the world, which translates through his chapters and gives the book more of a humorous edge.  Most of the novel is designed to introduce readers to the author’s new major protagonist up and I liked the intriguing background that Craven built around him in several fantastic flashback chapters.  There is a certain arrogance and cockiness to Koenig that some people might not like, but I though it fit his story arc well, and he does get called out on it a bit.  There is also a great ruthlessness to him at times, which does make you wonder if he is really a good guy.  These elements are cleverly tied into Koenig’s most defining character feature: due to a medical condition, he lacks the ability to feel any fear.  While this does seem like a bit of a weird character element, Craven does an excellent job working it into the story, and the entertaining interactions that emerge from Koenig failing to react with any fear make for some fantastic reading.  It was surprisingly fun to see Koenig blithely walk through a range of scenarios without any concern at all, such as when he’s digging his own grave, and the resulting reactions from his opponents are so much fun.  The character’s inability to feel fear does has some downsides, as Koenig’s risk assessment capability is shot, so he does end up making some mistakes from a lack of caution, which was a useful narrative handicap.  Still, the inventive ways that he gets out of several unfortunate scenarios makes for some compelling reading, and Craven really manages to stretch his imagination thanks to this protagonist.  I honestly enjoyed seeing the story from his perspective, and I look forward to reading a larger series featuring this character in the future.

Overall, I had an absolute blast reading Fearless by M. W. Craven, and it really was a particularly fun and exciting thriller.  While the story might get a bit to over-the-top crazy in places for some readers, I honestly enjoyed how silly and insane it got, as it made for some entertaining reading that I could quickly power through with a big smile on my face.  As such, I am giving Fearless a pretty good rating, and I would strongly recommend this novel to anyone who wants a huge dealing of action, funny characters, and wonderfully violent thriller storylines.

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Quick Review – The Last Orphan by Gregg Hurwitz

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller10 Comments

The Last Orphan Cover 2

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 21 February 2023)

Series: Orphan X – Book 8

Length: 342 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The always impressive Gregg Hurwitz continues his amazing Orphan X series with the awesome and wonderful new addition, The Last Orphan.

One of my favourite spy thriller series at the moment is easily the exciting and cool Orphan X series by rising thriller author Gregg Hurwitz.  This fantastic series follows a former elite government assassin, Evan Smoak, codenamed Orphan X, who is forced to go rogue and hide himself away from his old employers.  Hoping to redeem himself after all the killing he’s done, Evan takes up a new identity, the Nowhere Man, a vigilante who helps the most desperate people in ways no one else can.  I have been a fan of this series for ages, ever since I read Out of the Dark, which pitted the protagonist against a deranged US President.  Since then, I have had an outstanding time reading the latest books in the series, including Into the Fire, Prodigal Son, and Dark Horse.  I always make it a point to pick up the new Orphan X book each year, and the latest entry, The Last Orphan, was another pretty awesome book that I was quickly able to power through.

Plot Synopsis:

As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out.

When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government’s radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers.

Until he makes one little mistake…

Now the President has him in her control and offers Evan a deal – eliminate a rich, powerful man she says is too dangerous to live and, in turn, she’ll let Evan survive. But when Evan left the Program he swore to only use his skills against those who really deserve it. Now he has to decide what’s more important – his principles or his life.


The Last Orphan was another outstanding entry in this great series and Hurwitz ensures that it features all his trademark features, including strong characters, a powerful emotional heart, and a ton of action and intrigue.

This latest Orphan X book has a very strong start to it as Evan is ambushed right at the beginning of the novel by a massive Secret Service detail, determined to finally bring him in after he went rogue on the President a few too many times.  Captured and trapped, Evan is forced to make a deal: kill mysterious industrialist Luke Devine or lose his own life.  However, Orphan X makes his own decisions about who he assassinates, and after escaping, he begins his own research into his target, hoping to determine if he deserves to die.  Investigating a mysterious death associated with Devine’s estate and the massive parties that go on there, Evan begins to make his own connections about the case and is forced to go up against Devine’s lethal and morally dangerous security detail.  There are some pretty intense scenes in this part of the book as Evan makes some curious discoveries about Devine and his company, while also being forced to protect potential witnesses from his target’s security.  At the same time, Evan begins to wonder if Devine actually deserves to die and must soon choose between his conscious and his peaceful life of anonymity.

This was a pretty good entry in this series, although possibly not the best that I have so far read (in my mind, that’s Into the Fire).  I really liked the awesome start to The Last Orphan, especially as the over-the-top and intense capture by the Secret Service was so damn cool and it was interesting to finally see Evan taken down by the Government.  However, this doesn’t last long, and once he rather easily escapes, the intensity and pace of the story kind of slows down a bit.  Don’t get me wrong; I did really enjoy the subsequent storyline set around the investigation into the mysterious industrialist and his security crew, but it was a bit of a step down after the initial excitement.  Still, this second half of the novel is a ton of fun, and Hurwitz presents his usual blend of fascinating spy thriller moments, particularly intense and brutal action, as well as the focus on Evan’s strained and unique personal life.

The villains of this story, Devine’s security detail, are some pretty over-the-top but genuinely threatening figures, and Hurwitz comes up with some excellent scenes around them, even presenting them as real threats to the protagonist.  At the same time, Hurwitz works in a very compelling morality edge to the story, as Evan tries to work out whether Devine is actually evil or just a political threat to the President.  The author makes this determination pretty hard, especially as Devine comes across as a very manipulative and unusual figure who manages to make even the legendary Orphan X doubt himself.  The big conclusion of this books is very good and features all the typical action and carnage that you would expect.  However, parts of the story go in some very surprising directions and I liked the unique ideas that Hurwitz presented here.

In addition to all the action and intrigue, quite a lot of The Last Orphan revolved around the compelling and moving emotional and personal concerns of the protagonist and his great supporting cast.  Evan has always been a very complex figure due to his unusual upbringing, his lack of personal skills, and his crippling OCD, and a fantastic recurring theme of the books has been him trying to overcome this and finally make some connections.  This continues extremely well in The Last Orphan, as he once again relies on his friends and his surrogate daughter/little sister to pull him out of the fire and keep his sanity.  There are some pretty emotional interactions between Evan and these figures throughout the course of The Last Orphan, especially as it appears that Evan might not be able to come back from his latest adventure, and I felt that this was another powerful and impressive evolution of some already deep character growth.  There are some other pretty big personal moments for Evan in The Last Orphan, including the seeming end of one relationship due to Evan’s fugitive status, and the potential development of another as Evan finally attempts to dive into his own complex past.  It will be fascinating to see how this develops in the future, and I am sure that Hurwitz has some very intense moments planned for all of us.  I honestly felt that the author got the right balance between action and emotion for The Last Orphan, and this ended up being a stronger book as a result.

Overall, The Last Orphan was a pretty awesome new entry in the great Orphan X series, and I really liked how Gregg Hurwitz continued his fantastic ongoing narrative.  Featuring an excellent blend of spy thriller fun and powerful character work, The Last Orphan was an addictive and clever read, and I am glad I got the chance to check it out.  Highly recommended, especially to established fans of the series, The Last Orphan is really worth the read.

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Quick Review – Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Science Fiction4 Comments

Fractal Noise Cover

Publisher: Tor (Trade Paperback – 16 May 2023)

Series: Fractalverse – 0.5

Length: 287 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Return to the epic Fractalverse of the always awesome Christopher Paolini with this standalone prequel novel, Fractal Noise, a tense and impressive dark science fiction novel.

Christopher Paolini is an author that I have been a major fan of for a very long time thanks to his iconic and epic Inheritance Cycle series.  The amazing Inheritance Cycle first debuted over 20 years ago with the amazing fantasy novel Eragon, which told the compelling story of a young hero and his dragon companion as they fight to free a conquered land.  The Inheritance Cycle series is one of my all-time favourite series due to the great story, impressive world building, and the sheer nostalgia that I hold for them.  Indeed, I am particularly excited because Paolini is also releasing a sequel to the Inheritance Cycle books later this year with Murtagh, which is one of my most anticipated reads for the second half of 2023.  However, before we get to that there is even more Paolini goodness to unwrap this year as the author has also released the intriguing science fiction novel, Fractal Noise.  A standalone prequel to his science fiction epic from a few years ago, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Fractal Noise was an intriguing read that I had a lot of fun reading in the last week.

Plot Synopsis:

July 25th, 2234: The crew of the Adamura discovers the Anomaly.

On the seemingly uninhabited planet Talos VII: a circular pit, 50 kilometers wide.

Its curve not of nature, but design.

Now, a small team must land and journey on foot across the surface to learn who built the hole and why.

But they all carry the burdens of lives carved out on disparate colonies in the cruel cold of space.

For some the mission is the dream of the lifetime, for others a risk not worth taking, and for one it is a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe.

Each step they take toward the mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last.

And the ghosts of their past follow.


Fractal Noise was a very awesome book from Paolini that I had an outstanding time getting through.  I must admit that when I first received a copy of Fractal Noise, I wasn’t too sure that I was going to read it, mainly because while I enjoyed To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, it was a bit too long and overcomplicated, and I feared this potentially unnecessary prequel would be the same.  However, I decided to give it a shot, especially as Fractal Noise was considerably shorter than the original novel in this series, and boy am I glad that I did.

Paolini sets up a simple but very effective story in Fractal Noise that is set 23 years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, which details the discover and early exploration of a mysterious alien artefact that was mentioned in the original novel.  Just like with To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, Fractal Noise is told from the perspective of a single scientific protagonist, this time a xenobiologist names Alex Crichton, and follows them and their team as they examine a newly discovered space anomaly, an uninhabited planet with a 50km-wide perfect hole in it that is constantly relaying a continuous, overwhelming beat.  This anomaly could only have been created by a sentient species, and the scientists aboard the ship decide to journey to the planet to find any additional signs of alien life and to discover more about the hole.  However, to make it to the edge they need to land a substantial distance away and trek to it by foot in an arduous journey with many potential complications.

Paolini does a good job of quickly and effectively setting up this compelling plot in the first 50 pages of Fractal Noise while also providing great introductions to the damaged protagonist, as well as the accompanying scientists that are taking the trek with him.  However, the real story doesn’t start until the protagonists land on the planet and begin walking the distance towards the hole.  The author really goes out of his way to make this trek as arduous as possible, as the characters need to walk through wind, dust and other obstacles, all while pulling a mechanised sled behind them that slowly breaks down.  The sheer repetitiveness of this task, combined with the desolate landscape, injuries, and the unique planet that rings with a loud “thud” every few seconds, works to slowly wear down the protagonists and force them into some very dark places of their mind.  The closer they get to their goal, the harder their task becomes as the vibrations and noise produced by the hole becomes more intense and places a bigger toil on their bodies and technology.  At the same time, every setback impacts their minds even further as the four scientists soon fall to dangerous infighting as each of them is haunted by their own ghosts and their own reasons for being there.

I really liked how the entire story slowly devolved into a dark and ultra-intense psychological science fiction thriller as Paolini worked to emulate desolate real-life expeditions (such as those old-school arctic journeys), with his excellent storytelling.  The slow but unstoppable mental decline of the characters is handled perfectly, and while you are initially more worried about the protagonist, Alex Crichton, due to the recent tragedies in his life, the other characters are the ones you have to watch out for as they become more and more deranged or determined in their own ways.  Watching everyone slowly turn on each other as the journey becomes harder and harder on them is extremely compelling, and it proves hard to turn away as things get darker and darker.  The author supplements this compelling narrative with some intriguing, realistic and very-well thought out science fiction elements, especially when it comes to the physics of the planet, the obstacles they are facing, and the technology they have access to.  However, there is also a certain primitive edge to the storytelling as no matter how advanced their technology is, when it starts to fail, they are forced to dive back into more a much more basic mindset.  All this combines well with the fantastic dive into Crichton’s bleak mental state, as the protagonist begins to see the expedition as an important quest that will give him some redemption for his recent losses.

The entire story continues along this dark vein all the way to its compelling conclusion, and I was honestly pretty addicted towards the end, knocking out the last couple of hundred pages in a single night.  Watching the final snap of each protagonist was pretty brutal, but it was a necessary commutation of the complex storytelling that had been leading up to at that point.  I loved how well the barren landscape served as a background to this great story, and the constant “thump” “thump” of the planet as they drew closer gave such an outstanding atmosphere to the plot.  Paolini really pulled together an excellent read here that both serves as a continuation of his existing universe, while also giving readers a story so very different to anything that he has produced before.

Overall, I found Fractal Noise to be an outstanding and epic new novel from Christopher Paolini, which I had such a great time with.  I cannot emphasise just how intense and complex this initially simple story becomes, and the author’s ability to create forbidding settings, damaged characters, and suffocating story atmospheres has clearly grow over the years.  Due to its connections to the history of his pervious novel, Fractal Noise is perfect for fans of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, while also being very open to new readers interested in a compelling and bleak science fiction adventure.  Fractal Noise was an exceptional read that comes very highly recommended from me and I cannot wait to see more of Paolini’s writing later this year when Murtagh comes out.

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Quick Review – Fairy Tale by Stephen King

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Quick Review34 Comments

Fairy Tale Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade  Paperback – 6 September 2022)

Series: Standalone

Length: 579 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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The master of horror and thriller fiction, Stephen King, dives into the world of fantasy in a big way with his compelling 2022 novel, Fairy Tale.

I have finally started to get into some of the more recent books of legendary author Stephen King, which has usually worked out pretty well for me.  His two 2021 novels, Later and Billy Summers were both excellent reads, with the later proving to be one of my favourite novels of 2021.  We also have another new Stephen King novel, Holly, coming in a couple of months, but before we get to that I thought I would quickly review King’s 2022 release, Fairy Tale, which I read last year.  While I had fun with Fairy Tale, I failed to write a review for it, which is something I am hoping to rectify now, especially after all the recent interest people have shown in his next book.  Fairy Tale was a great dark fantasy read from King that took his typical teenager protagonist on a harrowing and compelling journey into a unique and hidden realm.

Plot Synopsis:

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.

Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.

A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.


Fairy Tale was a pretty awesome book, although I have to admit that it wasn’t my absolute favourite Stephen King novel so far.  While it was a great story loaded with King’s usual coming-of-age themes and great characters, it did have a few issues regarding pacing and a somewhat disconnected story.

The main issue that I had with the book was that Fairy Tale honestly felt like it was two separate novels combined into one massive read.  The first half of Fairy Tale is probably my favourite, mainly because it contains the classic King coming-of-age story as the author introduces the reader to the protagonist of Charlie Reade and his complicated life.  King really hits the reader strong from the beginning, describing the tragic events of Charlie’s young life, including the death of his mother, the alcoholic crumbling of his father, and the eventual resumption of a normal life once his father recovers from grief and drink.  These events are covered perfectly, and they form a great basis for Charlie’s story, especially as they drive him to be a better person, which leads him to try and help his elderly neighbour, Howard Bowditch.

Mr Bowditch is a fantastic character, mainly because King gets his cranky persona and loner attitude down perfectly.  The growing friendship between Charlie and Mr Bowditch, as well as Charlie’s bonding with Mr Bowditch’s old dog, Radar, forms a solid emotional centre for Fairy Tale’s narrative, which really hangs around to the end.  I had a great time with the part of the book that followed Charlie helping Mr Bowditch and Radar, and I honestly think King could have written a great story purely around that.  The combination of brilliant character work, a fun generational divide, true friendship, and even some mystery elements, really produced an excellent first part to the story.  Even the hints of the fantasy elements to come are very well done, and King did a good job of only featuring a few subtle moments meant to tease the imagination.  However, this doesn’t last nearly as long as I would have liked, as you are soon drawn into the next part of the story once Mr Bowditch dies.  This sad but expected death serves as the catalyst for the second half the story, and the reader gets a full story about the hidden realm which can be accessed via a portal in the toolshed.

Now, I was initially very onboard for this second part of the book, especially as the protagonist’s main reason to visit the fantasy realm was to find a way to save Radar.  Frankly anyone who has ever owned a dog should be pretty drawn into this part of the story, and the sheer desperation that the protagonist experiences as he journeys towards the potential restorative device made this story very relatable to me.  This desperate quest with a tangible and heartbreaking time constraint melded well with the unique new land that the protagonist found himself in, and I loved seeing King’s imagination as he crafted a dying world of mysterious and damaged figures.  The story at this point had an intriguing old-school quest vibe to it, very much like a classic fable, and I was so damn invested in seeing what happened to Radar.  However, once that part of the story was resolved, there was so much left of the book left to go, and that’s where I had a little less fun with Fairy Tale.

Don’t get me wrong, King still brought together a lot of great elements that cleverly carried on from the front of the book.  The dark fantasy realm had some great fairy tale inspirations which made for an excellent background, and the deranged figures who ruled over it were excellent villains.  King also works in a very dark storyline where Charlie experiences some major adversity that he must literally battle to overcome, all while meeting a cohort of desperate new supporting characters.  However, this part of the book just didn’t grab me as much as the first half, and there is somewhat of a disconnect between this story and the earlier awesome chapters of the book.  Still, it was pretty fun to continue, and the story morphed into a classic hero narrative, with Charlie leading a mystical revolution.  I ended up quickly getting through this chunky novel, and it was great to see Charlie grow into Mr Bowditch’s shadow as he encounters some of the events that made him.  King ends everything a pretty happy and final note, and the reader comes away from Fairly Tale fairly satisfied with how everything turned out.  I felt that the second half, while not as enticing as the first, combined well with the rest of the story and together you have a great, character-driven story, that you can really sink your teeth into.

Overall, I rather enjoyed Fairy Tale, even though it took me a little while to review it.  Stephen King showed off his unsurpassed ability to create compelling stories focused on intriguing protagonists, and I love his amazing imagination and awesome ability to make me care about these fiction figures.  While I did have some issues with the second half of Fairy Tale, this was still and excellent novel, and it is really worth checking out, especially if you are an established fan of King and his complex stories.

Fairy Tale Cover 2

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Warhammer 40,000: Leviathan by Darius Hinks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer6 Comments

Warhammer 40,000 - Leviathan Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 24 June 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 12 hours and 13 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for all-out war as the righteous Ultramarines battle the insidious Tyranids in this epic new Warhammer 40,000 novel from Darius Hinks, Leviathan.

It has been a pretty good year for Warhammer 40,000 fiction already, with several fantastic novels coming out in 2023, including Warboss and The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks (the latter being one of my favourite books from the first half of 2023), and Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter by Phil Kelly.  However, the hits are far from over, especially as there are several fantastic new Warhammer 40,000 novels set to come out later this year.  But before we get to those, I managed to jump onto another recent release with the outstanding novel Leviathan, written by established Warhammer author Darius Hinks.  Hinks was a new author to me, but I soon grew to appreciate his latest book, especially as it showcased a dark and intense alien invasion that made for a great story.

In the far future of the 41st millennium, the besieged Imperium of Man faces many threats, but few are more deadly, unstoppable, or insidious as the unrelenting and seemingly endless hordes of the Tyranids, an alien race determined to devour everything it encounters.  While several of the larger invading Tyranid fleets have been destroyed, a splinter tendril is making its way towards the galactic centre, threatening the very heart of the Imperium.

Standing in the way of this fleet is the fortress world of Regium, an ancient planet recently taken over by Imperial forces, it now serves as a bulwark against invasions heading towards the inner-Imperium.  Many believe that Regium is secure from all threats, but when the people of the planet are haunted by parasites, strange cults, and mysterious dreams of terrifying monsters, it soon becomes clear that a Tyranid swarm is about to descend upon them.

It falls to the decorated hero, Lieutenant Castamon of the Ultramarines, to hold Regium against the foes and keep the rest of the Imperium safe.  A veteran of many battles, Castamon believes that this new Tyranid fleet will be swiftly destroyed.  However, these Tyranids are led by something far more sinister than the Ultramarines have encountered before, something cunning and ruthless that is able to disrupt minds and outthink even the cleverest of humans.  With his forces split, Regium’s defences compromised, and his allies panicking, even the vaunted Lieutenant Castamon may be unable to save Regium from the Tyranid invasion.  However, Castamon has one last trick up his sleeve, the brilliant Ultramarine Apothecary Biologis, Vultis, whose research into the Tyranid biology might be the only thing that can stop them.  Unfortunately, the enemy knows all about the Ultramarines and their plans, and the deadly creature known as the Harbinger is coming for them.

Leviathan was a pretty awesome and intense Warhammer 40,000 novel that shines a real spotlight on one of the more insidious alien races in the canon.  Featuring a strong and at times terrifying narrative, Leviathan was a great read, and I really got caught up in Hinks’s fantastic book.

Hinks pulls together an excellent story for Leviathan, and it is one that will appeal to a range of different readers, especially those fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction.  Set around the already troubled planet of Regium, Leviathan follows an intriguing range of different human/space marine characters as they attempt to make sense and prepare for a Tyranid invasion of their world.  The early parts of the book are dedicated to introducing the key characters and the overall setting of the story, while also attempting to cast a more psychological edge to the main story as visions, doubts and other insanities haunt the populace.  There are some great early action sequences, including a disastrous shipboard incursion, and a dark hunt in some interesting terrain, and Hinks works well to set up for the second half of the book, especially as several unique, character driven stories were introduced and given some early weight.  While I enjoyed a lot of this set up, I did find the first half of the story to be a bit slow with its pacing and I was initially having trouble getting too invested in any of the characters or story elements.  However, this changed when I got to the second half of the book.

This second half masterfully builds on all the setup and character development that occurred at the start of Leviathan and readers are in for a particularly intense and gruesome narrative from this point on.  This entire second half is dedicated to the full-on invasion of Regium, as swarms of aliens, including some new creatures, emerge to decimate the populace and challenge the protagonists.  Each of the character focused plot lines set up in the first part of the book, as well as a few additional story inclusions, are perfectly thrust into this overlying chaos, and you get to see them try to survive the oncoming horrors and monstrosities.  Hinks really pulls no punches when it comes to this Tyranid invasion, and you get to witness all the devastation, the deadly transformation of the planet, and the subsequent epic battles, as the Tyranids fight against the human and Ultramarine defenders in some epic and well-crafted set pieces.  Each storyline was really good in its own way, and together they formed a fantastic and at times over-the-top overarching narrative that successfully showcased just how overwhelming the Tyranids can be.  I loved how dark Hinks made Leviathan at times, especially as he had no qualms about killing off key characters in some particularly brutal ways, which really raised the stakes for the reader.  While I did think that a lot of the plot did rely a little on the narrative stupidity of certain characters (the Ultramarines kept forgetting everything they knew about the Tyranids), the second half of the book was extremely epic, and I had real trouble putting it down.  All the separate storylines were concluded in entertaining and fitting ways, and I particularly appreciated the final plan that Hinks introduced for the main protagonists, which really fitted the outrageous feel of a lot of the plot.  This brutal and continuously exciting second half really turned Leviathan into such a great read, and I really loved how the entire thing turned out.

Leviathan proved to be an interesting and compelling addition to the wider Warhammer canon, especially as Hinks took the opportunity to really dive into some of the factions and showcase how crazy they can be.  However, I know that Leviathan has been copping a little flack in this department, mainly because some people see it as merely a promotional novel tied-in with some of the recently announced Ultramarines and Tyranid models.  While I can definitely see that, especially as Hinks spends a lot of time highlighting some of the newer Tyranid creatures in his narrative, I still enjoyed Leviathan a lot.  His depictions of the Tyranids were one of the major highlights of the book, and I loved how much he upped the horror aspect of them, showing them to be ravenous monsters who alter and devour everything they encounter.  This might be one of the better portrayals of Tyranids that I have so far seen in Warhammer fiction, and they were certainly a lot less one-dimensional here than they are in other books.  Part of this was because of the inclusion of several newer Tyranid creatures, such as the Neurotyrant and the Norn Emissary, with both being shown as unstoppable monsters with interesting abilities.  This allowed the Tyranids to attack their prey in all new ways, and it was very fun to see the various intricate tactics they were able to come up with.  Hinks tempers some of the more commercial aspects of these creatures’ inclusion by not actually using the names of the models in Leviathan, instead all you have is the protagonist’s descriptions of them when they encounter them in person.  These personal and often deeply terrified accounts of the various Tyranid bioforms really help to showcase just how terrifying and alien they are, especially to the ordinary human, and it really added a great edge to the narrative.  This darker edge is further exacerbated by the author’s powerful examination of how the planet of Regium is altered once the Tyranids arrive.  The spores constantly raining down on the planet slowly poison the various humans as they breathe in, and the depictions of the protagonists dying from within as they inhale alien matter, while their skin starts to slowly melt is pretty damn memorable and terrifying, especially as this is the first step in turning all biological matter in the planet into edible goo.  Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced the horror that is the Tyranid better than in Leviathan, and Hinks’ brilliant use of this faction enhanced the entire book.

On top of the Tyranids, Leviathan also features another intriguing major faction, the all-time classic Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines.  I mostly liked how the various Ultramarine characters were featured in Leviathan, although I did think that Hinks could have perhaps done a little more to distinguish them from other general Space Marines.  Still, Hinks goes out of his way to make the Ultramarines as badass as possible, and you really get a sense of their courage and battle prowess, especially as the severally outnumbered Ultramarines (I won’t go into the logistics of Regium’s defence here, but it did seem a tad low for such a vital planet), managed to put up quite a showing against the Tyranid swarm.  Some of the fight sequences featuring the Ultramarines in combat were pretty damn epic, and while some Space Marines did die easily for plot effect (especially when going up against a Tyranid with a new model), I felt that Hinks did a good job highlighting just how dangerous a Space Marine can be.  Hinks really tries to cover various aspects of the Space Marines throughout Leviathan, including the reverence and respect that most normal people have for them, and while this might not be the absolute best portrayal of an Ultramarine detachment ever, it was still pretty damn good, especially in those fantastic fight sequences.

I also must highlight some of the great characters featured within Leviathan as Hinks comes up with a diverse and compelling cast to tell the story with.  Thanks to the way the story is set out, each of the key plotlines revolves around some excellent characters, each with their own motivations, missions, and big moments, as they try to weather or escape the oncoming Tyranid doom.  Hinks crafts some great storylines for each of these major characters, and it proves easy to get invested in them, such as the tale of two ordinary farm workers who try to escape the monsters around them, the hapless Governor who finds himself out of his depth, or the proud Cadian leader who is drawn into war by the machinations of a delusional priest.  However, some of the best characters in Leviathan are members of the Ultramarines, and much of the story focuses on the elites of this chapter on Regium.  I really enjoyed these major Ultramarine characters, including the bold Lieutenant Castamon, the heroic leader who lives up to all the hype, the Apothecary Biologis, Vultis, whose analytical mind and desire for knowledge might hold the key to victory, and even the arrogant Sergeant Tanaro has his moments, especially in that powerful last scene.  However, my favourite character in the book is probably the scarred Ultramarine Baraca.  Baraca is a seemingly unkillable figure who has survived an insane amount of damage, but who has grown detached from even the rest of his battle brothers.  Despite appearing to be a mindless brute, Baraca is a deep and complex figure whose friendship with Vultis provides some emotional power to their scenes together.  Baraca honestly steals every scene he is in, especially his last, and Hinks writes a great storyline around him as he courts death, while trying to find his place in life.  All these characters, and more are very well written, and the impact they have on the plot is pretty impressive.

Like most Warhammer 40,000 content that I absorb, I chose to listen to Leviathan’s audiobook format, which is such a fantastic way to enjoy these intense stories.  I think that I made the right choice when it came to Leviathan, as this amazing audiobook really helped to throw me into the midst of the action.  Narrator Theo Solomon did an excellent job of setting a fast pace with his narration, and his descriptions of the massive battles, compelling heroics, and gruesome aliens was very fun to listen to.  While I wasn’t always the biggest fan of some of the character voices that he came up with, Solomon did produce some excellent tones for some of the main characters, particularly that of Lieutenant Castamon, who is made to sound very heroic and bold, which worked to showcase this intriguing protagonist.  As such, I felt that this was an excellent way to enjoy Leviathan, and with a run time of just over 12 hours, this isn’t a massive audiobook to get through, especially once you get caught up in the impressive second half.  I had an awesome time with Leviathan on audiobook, and I recently featured it on my favourite audiobooks from the first half of 2023 list.

Overall, I think that Leviathan was a pretty good Warhammer 40,000 novel and I was pretty impressed with my first book from Darius Hinks.  While I did have some issues with the story, especially in the early goings, this ended up being a very memorable and captivating read, especially thanks to the use of the cool Tyranid faction.  Loaded with carnage, brutal fights to the death, and complex characters dealing with an oncoming horde of clever aliens, Leviathan was an outstanding novel that deeply enjoyed.

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The Hunger by Marsheila Rockwell

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, Horror, LGBT+, Superhero, Tie-in Novel3 Comments

The Hunger Cover

Publisher: Aconyte Books (ebook – 3 October 2023)

Series: Marvel Zombies

Length: 249 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out 5 stars

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Prepare to dive into a wacky, time travelling, zombie filled Marvel novel with Marsheila Rockwell’s fantastic tie-in book, The Hunger.

After having a lot of fun reading the awesome Marvel Comics tie-in novel The Tyrant Skies by David Annandale earlier this year, I thought it would be an excellent idea to dive into another amazing Marvel book, especially one with a great plot like The Hunger.  Written by intriguing fantasy and science fiction author, Marsheila Rockwell, whose previous foray in Marvel fiction produced the magic Sisters of Sorcery novel, The Hunger is an awesome upcoming book that I was very happy to get an early copy of thanks to Netgalley.  Set around the iconic Marvel Zombies concept, The Hunger was a pretty epic read that I had an outstanding time with.

When a mysterious object falls to Earth, landing in New York city, it unleashes a wave of evil and despair as the world’s greatest heroes are turned into ravenous zombies determined to feast on all living flesh.  As the zombified superheroes begin to spread out across the planet, turning or eating everything before them, only Doctor Strange can briefly retain his sanity to try and find a way to avert disaster, but despite his best efforts, his overwhelming hunger threatens all around him.

With no alternative, Doctor Strange is forced to turn to one of the few magic users left unaffected by the zombie outbreak, the librarian of the Sanctum Sanctorum, Zelma Stanton, who reluctantly takes up the burden and imprisons her zombified mentor.  Despite her lack of experience, Zelma has access to all the magical knowledge and ancient artefacts in Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, and she hopes to find some answer to the deadly chaos consuming her planet.  But Zelma soon realises that even all the books in the Sanctum aren’t enough; if she wants to succeed, she’s going to need help.

Pulling together a ragtag team of survivors, including Runaway witch Nico Minoru, monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone and the living embodiment of insanity, Deadpool, Zelma hopes that together they can find a solution.  But their plan to trap the zombies in a time loop backfires on them, thanks to antics of Deadpool, unsurprisingly.  Now with time fracturing all around them, an evil magic threat unleashed, and the zombie horde still determined to eat everything, Zelma and her strange team need to find a way to reverse the damaged they caused while still saving the world.  But is this group of survivors truly capable of stopping the flesh-eating nightmares waiting for them?

That was an insanely fun book about zombies and time travel shenanigans that I desperately needed, and I am sure glad that I decided to check this novel out.  The Hunger was a very entertaining book that I ended up knocking out in a few hours because of how easy and fantastic it was to read.  Rockwell came up with a very impressive story that quickly grabbed my attention and took me along a wild journey loaded with so many awesome moments.  Starting off with a great new introduction to an alternate Marvel Zombies event, where Doctor Strange and pretty much every other hero gets brutally turned into zombies, the story gets bleak very quickly and rarely lightens up after that.  The resulting narrative focuses on the intriguing figure of Zelma Stanton, a supporting character in one of the recent Doctor Strange comics, and it proves to be very interesting as you follow a young, inexperienced magician as she tries to survive in a very dangerous world.  The resulting story has a lot of great features to it as Zelma finds her courage, gathers a unique group of allies, and then finds herself getting thrown into all manner of chaos as her actions produce more zombie mayhem and every time travel issues you could think of.  The second half of The Hunger is pure, unadulterated bedlam, and I frankly loved every second of it, as Rockwell comes up with some outrageous and exciting scenarios that never really slow down.  Bringing together some well set-up storylines in some excellent ways, you honestly will find it hard to put down The Hunger once you get rolling with it, and I found the entire story to be exceedingly entertaining, especially as Rockwell wove together some complex scenes that saw the characters journey through all manner of unique points the Marvel Universe timeline.  This story was a riot from start to finish, especially the fantastic extended time travel sequences, and you will come away from this book very satisfied and honestly wanting more.

Rockwell has a great writing style that I felt really lent itself to the emotionally charged and intense story that came together in The Hunger.  Primarily told from the perspective of two young female magic users, The Hunger is a strong, character-driven tale that showcases how people grow under adversity, while also treating the reader to a brilliant amount of action, carnage and Marvel comics lore.  Rockwell really leans into the Marvel Zombies background of her story to provide some gruesome and graphic moments, which I felt helped set The Hunger apart from some of the other Marvel tie-in books.  While there is a lot of humour attached to the book, mainly thanks to the inclusion of a particular merc-with-a-mouth, The Hunger gets very deep and serious at times, and I loved the impactful dive into the traumas affecting the protagonists.  I loved the fast pace that Rockwell sets for The Hunger’s story, and frankly there was not a single moment of this book where I wanted to stop, as I just wanted to see what was going to happen next.  I did think some of the early sequences of the book felt a little simplistic in their writing, which almost threw me off.  However, Rockwell found her stride as the book continued, and I loved some of the elaborate sequences that emerged, especially those that feature multiple figures, time elements and obscure bits of Marvel lore.  Some of The Hunger’s twists were very well set up in the earlier stages of the book, and I loved how well things came together in the end, especially as Rockwell made such great use of the time travel elements to tell a very entertaining story.

The Hunger serves as a rather interesting addition to the wider Marvel lore that exists as Rockwell makes fine use of several existing storylines, concepts and characters, to create a pretty fun read.  Set in a version of the main Marvel universe that is suddenly impacted by a Marvel Zombies event, The Hunger has a ton of curious and distinctive elements to it that established fans of the comics will deeply enjoy.  Not only are there a ton of different characters present, often in zombie form, but Rockwell goes out of her way to feature or reference multiple storylines from the comics.  This includes a great mixture of more recent comics and some classic storylines, both of which work extremely well in the context of the story and its time travel elements.  I felt that Rockwell did a very good job of cleverly introducing and then utilising these different storylines throughout the course of the comics, and the resulting crazy plot encounters and big moments were pretty damn awesome.  Each of the main characters also makes sure to remember or mention many key story arcs from their history, many of which have a compelling impact on the current storyline or mental state.  The author clearly has an appreciation for the various storylines and obscure characters that she featured and I loved how random and compelling the later scenes got.  While Rockwell does go to some diverse areas of the Marvel universe and history, all of these elements and characters are explored in excellent detail so that anyone with some basic knowledge of Marvel comics can easily enjoy what is going on.  I personally loved all the cool references that emerged, as well the excellent reimagining of the Marvel Zombies storyline which helped turn The Hunger into a pretty awesome tie-in novel.

As with her previous Marvel tie-in novel, Sisters of Sorcery, Rockwell chose to focus The Hunger on three intriguing and somewhat underused female characters from the Marvel canon, Zelma Stanton, Nico Minoru, and Elsa Bloodstone.  All three characters are already epic, but it was great to see them forming a team here in The Hunger, especially when faced with an insane, world-ending threat.  Of these three characters, Zelma is probably the one I knew the least about, mainly because I’ve never read any of the Doctor Strange comics she is in, but she soon proved to be the invaluable heart of this entire novel.  Rockwell did a remarkable job of introducing and utilising Zelma as a character, even to a reader like me that has had no experience with her.  You are swiftly brought up to speed on who Zelma is and why she is involved, and soon you follow this overwhelmed magical character as she is thrust into events beyond her comprehension.  I loved the overarching narrative of this character finding her confidence and ability in this ultimate post-apocalyptic setting, and it was great to see her become the hero that Doctor Strange believed her to be.  Watching her use her unique intelligence and experiences to survive and attempt to stop all the chaos is quite compelling, and you really grow to appreciate Zelma, especially as she has very relatable doubts and concerns.  Zelma is the emotional heart of this entire book and I felt that Rockwell was very wise to use her as a central character, especially with how exceptionally she is portrayed.

In addition to Zelma, I really enjoyed the fantastic use of Nico Minoru and Elsa Bloodstone in The Hunger who served as impressive joint protagonists.  I particularly loved seeing Nico Minoru here in The Hunger, mainly because I’m such a big fan of Runaways, and Rockwell featured her in an excellent way.  Focusing on her at a key part of her character development from the comics, this already jaded and wary Nico arrives on the scene after seeing her entire adopted family turned to zombies and is swiftly forced into another harrowing adventure with a new group of strangers.  I really enjoyed exploring Nico’s fears, concerns and complex history throughout The Hunger, and she served as a great secondary point-of-view character for the plot.  These female characters are further enhanced by monster hunter extraordinaire Elsa Bloodstone, who is well suited for this sort of dark, monstrous tale.  The foul-mouthed, highly confident figure is a great addition to the focal cast of the novel, especially as her loud personality plays off the more reserved Zelma and Nico for a good chunk of the novel.  While initially shown to be mostly carefree, there are some compelling darker feelings under the surface, especially related to the start of the zombie apocalypse, and I felt that Elsa was a brilliant and great addition to the plot.

The final major character in the book really needs no introduction as Rockwell features Deadpool as the much need comic relief.  Brought into the story for very unique reasons, Deadpool is his usual blend of irrelevant humour, catchy one-liners, and all-round killing machine that works well with the female protagonists to save the day.  His constant jokes, weird comments and fourth wall breaks deeply add to the enjoyment I had of the book, even with its darker story content.  So many of the best plot moments in The Hunger revolve around Deadpool’s antics, and he really is an unsurpassed character to include in a crazy book like this.  His interactions with the other protagonists are also a lot of fun, with an intriguing blend of comedic conversations, crazed resentment, and even a grudging respect for his fellow survivors.  Throw in a ton of zombified superheroes, an overpowered magical witch from history, a fun new mount for Deadpool, and some intriguing figures from the dawn of the Marvel canon, and The Hunger has an outstanding cast that are a lot of fun to follow, especially during their darker and emotionally charged moments.

The Hunger really lived up to all its great potential and I had an epic time getting through this insane and highly exciting read.  Marsheila Rockwell produced one hell of a story here that made great use of the Marvel Zombies theme and featured a bonkers story with fantastic time travel elements, complex characters, and a ton of compelling references to the wider Marvel canon.  I honestly had such an incredible time with The Hunger and readers are guaranteed to get caught up in its cool story just like me.  Highly recommended, for all Marvel fans, you will have fun with this book.

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