Tag: Action Packed

Witch King by Martha Wells

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, LGBT+5 Comments

Witch King Cover

Publisher: Tor (ebook – 30 May 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 432 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Acclaimed science fiction author Martha Wells returns to fantasy fiction in a big way with a cool new epic novel, Witch King.  This was an excellent and intriguing new read that I had a wonderful time reading, especially as I finally got to check out something from Wells, who has been on my to-read list for a while.  Wells is a veteran author who has several intriguing novels and series throughout her storied career, including her Ille-Rien, Books of the Raksura and Emilie, and well as tie-in books in the Star Wars and Stargate franchises.  While I am interested in reading her Star Wars book, Wells is best known for her Murderbot Diaries series, which follows a deadly security robot who has gained sentience and finds itself involved in serval complicated situation with various humans.  This series gets a lot of love in review communities and has been on my radar for a while.  However, instead I managed to get a copy of Wells’ new fantasy novel, Witch King and decided to have a read of that.  Featuring an intriguing and compelling story, Witch King was an awesome novel that I found myself really hooked on.

Kai is having a very bad day.  Awakening after an unknown period of imprisonment in a specially designed underwater cell, Kai is annoyed to find an arrogant magic user attempting to bind him to their will.  However, Kai is no mere demon, he is Kaiisteron, the Witch King, a legendary figure who, with the help of his heroic friends, saved the world from the nefarious Hierarchs and the led the current nations to freedom.

Now freed from his tomb and inhabiting the body of the mortal who foolishly tried to control him, Kai needs to find out who trapped him and why.  Accompanied by his long-time friend, the witch Ziede, and Sanja, the young woman intended to be sacrificed to him, Kai emerges once again into the world, trying to figure out what is changed and who benefited from his absence.  However, nothing is as it seems, and Kai and Ziede soon discover that their other friends and comrades have also gone missing.

Determined to get to the truth, Kai, Ziede and Sanja begin their search for answers, but soon find themselves under attack from all corners.  Dangerous magic users, powerful angelic creatures and lethal killers are all hunting for them, and everyone seems to have their own agenda.  To survive, Kai and Ziede will need to dive into their dark history, and the legendary war they fought years ago.  But the secrets they uncover will reveal dark truths about people they thought were their friends, and soon they will be forced to face the terrible consequences of their past mistakes.  Can these legendary figures survive in a world that turned against them to find their loved ones, or has their adventure finally come to an end?

This was a pretty awesome read from Wells.  Witch King has a gripping and intense story that really gets your attention early on and wows you with its elaborate world and interesting characters.  I had a great time reading this book, and while I struggled to get through it quickly, I ended up really enjoying it and I am very interested in seeing how Wells follows it up.

I really enjoyed the great story contained within Witch King, although you have to be prepared for Wells to drop you into some heavy plot right away.  There is not a lot of introduction to the characters or the world at the start of the book; instead you have to build up your own picture of events initially based on what’s going on.  This kind of makes the first few chapters a little harder to follow at times, although there is some fun action, interesting events, and great characters to grab your attention.  Wells eventually provides some of the details you need as the story continues, especially as she starts to split the story into two separate timelines, the current one and one set years in the past.  The modern timeline continues to show the characters as they get to the bottom of why they’re imprisoned and why everyone is after them, while the past timeline shows the earlier days of their history, as well as the legendary war that made them famous and which is still impacting everyone who was involved.  Both of these timelines are told from the perspective of Kai, and it provides a great overarching narrative, especially as you get to see two different sides to the same characters.  The older timeline also provides some much needed context for the modern day storyline, and Wells did a great job of balancing events from the two timelines to tell an intriguing and elaborate story.

Both awesome narratives continue at a great pace and Wells loads both up with some outstanding moments.  Out of the two, I enjoyed the chapters set in the past the most, especially as the young and inexperienced Kai was so very different from his confident and lethal persona in the future.  There was also a greater sense of desperation, oppression, and an overlay of hope in these prequel scenes which really spoke to me.  I also felt that it gave the reader a pretty good supplementary introduction into several of Witch King’s best characters, including Kai and Ziede, both of whom have some fun, complex, and LGBT+ positive arcs.  I loved seeing them as younger characters experiencing some of the worst, and most defining, moments of their lives, and Wells did an outstanding job of building that up.  However, most of the most important action occurred in the present-day storyline, and Wells writes a fantastic and powerful narrative about lost friends and relentless enemies that proved to be very compelling.  There are some great twists and turns here, most of which are rooted in their adventures in the past, and I loved some of the powerful moments that occurred.  Wells features several impressive battle scenes that make full use of the cool abilities of her magical characters, and it was particularly fun seeing Kai in action with his deadly abilities.  Both storylines come to a great conclusion that perfectly complement each other, and I liked the symmetry with the past and present, especially as it relates to the protagonists.  The final twist of the novel was pretty good and I liked how the modern-day storyline was set up to allow the narrative to continue if Wells chooses to.  However, if this was only a standalone novel, it worked really well, and I loved how impressive and fun this fantastic narrative turned out.

In addition to featuring a compelling and well-written narrative with great characters, Wells also comes up with a very distinctive and intriguing fantasy setting for Witch King, which I had a fantastic time exploring.  The world itself is a bit dark and damaged, having seen wars, magical upheaval and conquests, and it serves as a great background for the complex story.  Wells does an outstanding job of utilising some unique elements, such as demons, angelic warriors, dark magic users and mysterious tyrants to bolster the plot and produce some distinctive and exciting sequences.  This is often further enhanced by the author’s great use of the split timeline, as readers get to compare and contrast the settings and abilities of the characters after the massive time difference.  Some of the settings are really outstanding as well, with my favourite being a sinister palace first introduced in the prequel timeline.  This palace makes for an excellent backdrop for most of the early timeline’s plot, and the subsequent visit to it in the present also produces some fantastic and elaborate scenes, especially as actions in the past alter it in some very dramatic ways.  While most of these unique fantasy and world elements are impressive and fun in many ways, I did think that Wells could have done a bit of a better job introducing them.  The author really did just drop readers into the middle of the world at the start of the story with very little explanation and it takes a while to build up a full understanding of all the politics, factions, races, and basis for magic that are relevant to the plot.  While this did lead to the occasional bought of confusion during the early chapters of the book, once you get deeper into the plot (especially after the first few prequel chapters), you really grow to appreciate the elaborate world and the inventiveness Wells put into it.

Overall, Witch King was a pretty awesome and captivating fantasy read, and it was one that served as a great introduction to Martha Wells for me.  The exciting and compelling plot really drags the readers in, and the use of great characters, clever storyline splits, and an epic fantasy landscape proves to be an effective combination.  I really hope that Wells continues some of the storylines set up in Witch King in the future, and I look forward to reading more from the author if she does.

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Throwback Thursday – Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Animation, Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, Five-Star Books, Superhero, Throwback ThursdayLeave a comment

The Flashpoint Paradox Poster

Studio: Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment

Series: DC Universe Animated Original Movies – Film 18 / DC Animated Movie Universe – Film One

Director: Jay Oliva

Writer: Jim Krieg (Based on the comic by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert)

Producer: James Tucker

Length: 81 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review content I have enjoyed before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I dive into a pretty damn awesome DC Comics animated film that is highly relevant at the moment with the awesome Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Like many comic book fans in the world, I went out last weekend for the epic new film offering, The Flash, which ended up being pretty damn good.  The film had a lot of great elements to it, including the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, the introduction of a great new Supergirl, and a fantastic examination of the Flash mythos.  I was also very happy to see a fresh new take on the iconic Flashpoint comic, and it will be interesting to see how that impacts any upcoming live action DC films.  While I liked what they did with the Flashpoint story, I don’t think that The Flash was the absolute best adaptation of the Flashpoint comic; instead that honour goes the focus of this article, the 2013 animated film, Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Before we talk about the film, I should give a little background about the Flashpoint comic.  Flashpoint was a major 2011 comic event, written by Geoff Johns, whose work I have deeply enjoyed in comics like Rogues’ Revenge and Teen Titans, and pencilled by Andy Kubert.  Flashpoint was a compelling alternate timeline story that ended up resetting the main DC Universe in a big way.  While I honestly have very little love for the resulting changes it caused (I will never forgive DC for The New 52), the Flashpoint comic itself is pretty good, featuring some unique and stunning ideas within it.

Flashpoint has been adapted a few times in recent years, including in several seasons of The Flash television series, and the current The Flash film takes a lot from it.  While these other adaptations are pretty good, I think that The Flashpoint Paradox did the most with it, mainly because it sticks a lot closer to the source material and provides a very gritty animated film with a brilliant cast behind it.  Directed by veteran animated film director Jay Oliva (who has directed several of my favourite animated comic book films) and written by Jim Krieg, The Flashpoint Paradox is pretty damn awesome film and it is one that I have rewatched multiple times over the years.

Barry Allen is the Flash, founding member of the Justice League, the fastest man alive and the greatest hero Central City has ever known.  However, despite all he has done and everyone he has saved, Barry still cannot shake the trauma of his mother’s murder, a tragedy that has haunted him since his childhood.  After defeating several of his greatest foes, including his archenemy, the Reverse-Flash Eobard Thawne, Barry awakens to find himself in a new world, one where his mother is still alive and the Flash never existed.  Despite the joy he feels about his mother, this new world is no paradise, instead it is on the brink of ruin.  The Atlanteans, under the command of Aquaman, and the Amazons, led by Wonder Woman, are at war, and their relentless battling and disdain for humanity, has seen the destruction of much of Europe and the death of hundreds of millions of people.

Determined to find out what is happening and to stop the war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons before it destroys the world, Barry seeks out the one man who he thinks can help him, Batman.  However, the Batman he encounters is far different from the one he knows and has very little desire to save the world.  Worse, it soon becomes apparent that the changes to the world have been caused by Thawne, whose obsession with destroying the Flash could lead to unbelievable destruction.  To save the day, Barry needs to find a way to regain his powers and unite the scattered heroes of this reality.  But with all-out war in front of him, and his own trauma catching up behind, can the Flash stop Thawne before it’s too late?  And even if he succeeds, is he truly ready for the revelations that await him?

The Flashpoint Paradox was a pretty epic film that I have a lot of love for, especially as it blends a compelling story with great aesthetics, slick animation and a brilliant cast to produce something pretty damn awesome and a lot of fun to check out.

The creative team behind The Flashpoint Paradox did an outstanding job bringing this film together and one of the main reasons it works is the fantastic and intense story behind it.  The film itself is an exceptional adaptation of the original Flashpoint comic and much of it is a close and deliberate match to the source material.  That being said, it’s not a straight adaption as they needed to make it more accessible and take the story out of the main comic universe.  The film starts off with an exceptional sequence where the Flash faces off against the Rogues and the Reverse-Flash, who ambush him at the Flash Museum.  This scene, which sees a series of bombs threaten Flash and Central City, manages to achieve a lot of essential story points, including introducing Flash, showcasing his bitter rivalry with the self-destructive Thawne, and presenting the established version of the various Justice League characters who will later appear in the alternate timeline.  It’s also a very entertaining scene in several great ways, not only because the banter between Flash and Thawne is pretty brutal, but because it shows each member of the Justice League in action as they disarm a bomb in their own unique way.  This great intro really sets up the rest of the film, especially thanks to the clever references to Barry’s mothers’ death, and while it does make it a little more obvious whose ultimately responsible for events, it was a pretty damn epic start.

The middle part of the film is where the meat of the story is developed, as Barry arrives in the alternate universe and attempts to find out what is going on.  This part of the film resembles the source material the closest as they are pretty much doing a straight adaptation of the Flashpoint comic at this point.  However, they manage to really show off the grim reality of this new timeline very effectively in a short amount of time, and you really get to appreciate just how murderous the Amazons and the Atlanteans are, as well as how dark a world without the Justice League can be.  The creative team tell a very impactful story in this part of the film, and you must love the powerful interactions between Barry and the new Batman, as well as the emotional impacts of Barry realising just how much his universe has changed.  Everything is well capped off by the infiltration into the lab holding Superman, which is honestly way darker than what they did in the recent Flash film, especially with the horrifying aesthetics around the captured Superman.  At the same time, the growing sense of doom in the world is intensifying as the two superhuman armies prepare for war in London, and the tension is well and truly ratcheted up before the final phase of the film.

Everything leads up perfectly to the final act of The Flashpoint Paradox, which frankly is the best and most impactful part of this entire exceptional film.  The final third of the film is essentially an all-out war sequence, as the various characters descend into a three-way battle in the ruins of London, with the Atlanteans, the Amazons, and the human resistance, which includes the protagonists, fighting to kill as many enemies as possible.  This sequence is dominated by several excessively brutal fights between the heroes, and so many characters end up dead in some pretty horrible ways.  Not only are these action scenes highly polished and exciting, but they are also emotionally powerful, as the various character arcs and elements come full circle.  The best scenes are probably shared between Barry and Thawne, as they fight through the battle, debating what has happened to the world.  There are some outstanding revelations here, especially if you aren’t familiar with the source material or the other Flashpoint adaptations, and the moment when Barry figures out what truly happened is just heartbreaking, especially with Thawne’s taunting.  There is so much dramatic tension floating around, especially as Barry witnesses the full onslaught of the battle in front of him, and everything tilts on the edge of destruction.  The final brutal moments of this fight are so damn epic, and it leads up to some painful farewells and some tough decisions from Barry that will shake him forever.  This built-up emotion remains to the very end of the movie, especially as Flash manages to get closure for himself and others, and I really appreciated just how well the film ended.

On top of the epic plot and amazing concluding third, I also need to really highlight the impressive animation, stylistic choices, and fantastic musical score that accompanied it.  The animation in particular is awesome, and I loved the brilliant and iconic character designs that it depicted, especially as there is a mixture of classic character depictions, and the alternate versions that appeared in the Flashpoint universe.  The grim nature of the Flashpoint timeline serves as a powerful backdrop to the plot of The Flashpoint Paradox, and it was fantastic to see the DC universe in an even darker and more desperate light.  The best animation is naturally saved for the multiple impressive fight sequences scattered throughout the film, especially in the big war sequence at the end, and the brutality and sheer ferocity of the fights and battles are quite distinctive.  The animators honestly show no hesitation in showing blood, gore, death and even brains throughout this film, and it is even more brutal than The Flash film or the original comics, as there is barely a second in the final war where someone isn’t dying in some dramatic fashion.  There is some outstanding attention to detail during these various battles, whether it be a brutal fight in the sky, an intense duel between Cyborg and Aquaman in the middle of a warzone, or a high-speed fight through the midst of over combatants, and these are expertly portrayed and guaranteed to keep your interest with its high concept impact.  The cool time travel sequences are also a great highlight, and the clever animation around them really dial up the intensity of the film, especially during certain seminal scenes.  I’m also a big fan of the way that the major characters are presented throughout this film, and I appreciated how their designs change at various points of the film depending on which timeline is being watched.  The alternate costumes or depictions are well contrasted by the classic costumes shown at the start of the film, and I also love the subsequent subtle changes that appear at the end of the film to represent the further changes that have been created.

I also must talk about the fantastic use of music throughout this film, which works perfectly in concert with the animated sequences.  There are some great orchestral scores and tunes that are featured throughout the film, often in the most impact scenes, and I really liked how well they were used to enhance emotion or drama in a very powerful way.  Some of the very best scenes, including several particularly tense or pivotal sequences at the end come across as so much better thanks to the music that was overscoring it, and this really drew me further into the plot.  Combined this great music with the excellent graphics and The Flashpoint Paradox turns out to be an exceptional watch that I cannot get away from.

While the adapted plot and amazing stylistic choices help to turn this film into something special, I cannot walk away from this review without talking about the incredible cast of actors who bring this elaborate story to life.  The Flashpoint Paradox features a pretty hefty and impressive group of voice actors who each dive into their respective characters and bring forth some of the more iconic figures from the DC universe, as well as their alternate versions, in some pretty epic ways.  There is a great combination of classic character depictions, as well as the more nuanced and, in many cases, evil versions from the alternate timeline, that are featured in The Flashpoint Paradox, and the creative team brilliantly balanced the two throughout the plot.

At the centre of The Flashpoint Paradox is the Barry Allen version of the Flash, who embarks upon one of the most important missions of his life.  Expertly voiced by Justin Chambers (of Grey’s Anatomy fame), this version of the Flash is much more closely related to the classic comic portrayals (rather than Ezra Miller’s quirky version) and is an experienced and competent crime fighter.  Despite being one of the more stable superheroes out there, Barry is still haunted by the murder of his mother and his failure to save her.  Chambers really dives into this role and perfectly voices the full emotional spectrum out of Barry, showing all the deep inner pain, as well as his inherent hope, all of which really comes out throughout the film.  There are so many powerful scenes featuring Barry in the film, from his initial confusion over the new timeline, the emotional meeting with his mother, the despair at how the world turned out, and his absolute shocked resignation at who is responsible.  I also felt that the writers did an outstanding job of capturing the entire personality, key history and mythos of the Flash within this film, and you really understand his decisions and how he interacts with the other heroes.  I particularly loved his shock and pain at seeing what his friends have become in this alternate timeline, and it is so damn compelling.  Honestly, there are so many powerful moments here and I have a whole new level of respect for Chambers thanks to this film as he honestly was just magical here.

On top of the Flash, I really need to highlight two figures from the new timeline who perfectly mesh with the main character and show off just how dark events are.  The most prominent of these is easily this universes Batman, who was voiced by another Grey’s Anatomy alumni, Kevin McKidd.  Rather than being an older version of Bruce Wayne, this version of Batman is his father Thomas Wayne, who took on the cowl after Bruce was killed in Crime Alley and Martha became this universe’s Joker.  McKidd goes full on growly here for Batman, and the result is a grizzled, violent, and very murderous Dark Knight who has given up on the world in many ways.  I loved this fantastic and clever take on Batman in The Flashpoint Paradox, and it is so damn epic to watch Barry attempt to work with this very different Batman.  The shared connection of knowing Bruce gives these characters a powerful emotional bond, and McKidd kills it in several emotionally charged scenes, showcasing this Batman’s hidden heart.

I also have a lot of love for the cool version of Cyborg that appears in The Flashpoint Paradox, and honestly this is probably the grimmest and most powerful portrayal you are likely to see.  Voiced by a young Michael B. Jordan, this Cyborg is the only real superhero left in America and has been modded out into a massive tank figure who runs national security.  Out of all the figures in the film, Cyborg has the most impressive change in characterisation between timelines, especially as he goes from teenage figure to actual adult, and this is one of the first animated films that really showed what he could offer the wider DC universe.  Jordan provides a pretty good and slightly robotic voice for Cyborg here, and I loved how he was portrayed as a level-headed peacemaker, trying to save the world.  While still a little naive and idealistic, he really lives up to all the hype surrounding him in his initial introductions, especially during the final bloody battle scenes.  He honestly goes full out in this war, and it was so damn cool to see just how dangerous he could be.

While the more heroic (or anti-heroic for Batman) characters above were great, this film would be nothing without its villains.  The most prominent of these is easily Flash’s archnemesis Eobard Thawne, better known as the Reverse Flash.  Voiced by the very talented C. Thomas Howell, Thawne is a brilliant and powerful figure in The Flashpoint Paradox, mainly because he has such a tangible hatred for Barry and his legacy.  While he is the main villain of the story, he only appears in a few short scenes, but Howell makes each and every one of them count.  The sheer contempt and bile that drips from every sentence is so important for the performance, and you quickly understand just how much he wants to destroy him, even if that means losing his own life.  Thawne’s best sequence occurs at the end of the film when he finally appears to mock Barry and reveal everything that has been done.  The joy, satisfaction and mocking appreciation for Barry is just perfect, and he has such a great villain monologue here.  Howell has one of the strongest performances in The Flashpoint Paradox and I deeply appreciated how he brought such a fun and compelling villain to life.

In addition to Thawne, The Flashpoint Paradox features two other outstanding and particularly unique antagonists in the form of militarised and anti-human versions of Aquaman and Wonder Woman.  Both characters have been twisted by a failed romance and the hatred that followed Wonder Woman’s slaying of Aquaman’s wife, and they are now brutally engaged in war to kill each other and the rest of the world.  I loved these darker and more murderous forms of these iconic characters, especially after they are shown in their more heroic guises at the start of the film, and their complex war is a destructive backdrop to the intense narrative.  Like Reverse-Flash, both are consumed by hatred, and they are willing to destroy the world rather than lose.  Despite that, there is still an obvious, if twisted, love between them, which makes their fight even more tragic.  I loved how both characters are portrayed, although I especially like how badass they make Aquaman here, especially as this was released in the pre-Jason Momoa days when Aquaman was still a bit of a joke.  Watching him destroy everyone in The Flashpoint Paradox really sets him up as a massive threat, and I deeply appreciated this fantastic change to the character.  I also loved the great casting behind these characters as well.  Aquaman is portrayed by legendary actor Cary Elwes, who honestly disappears into the role, providing a much more gruff and commanding voice than I have heard in his previous works.  The voice of Wonder Woman is provided by veteran voice actor Vanessa Marshall (Hera Syndulla from Star Wars Rebels), who is reprising the role she previously portrayed in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.  Both actors really get these iconic characters down perfectly, especially in their darker moments, and I loved how well they were utilised in the film, especially as they enhance the emotional power and looming threat of the narrative.

On top of the great performances above, I also must commend the use of several excellent supporting actors in smaller roles who did an outstanding job.  I as particularly happy that several actors who had previously voiced certain characters in other films and shows revisited their roles here, including some big names.  The most noticeable of these is the late great Kevin Conroy, who does an exceptional (as always) job of voicing the Bruce Wayne Batman at the beginning and end of the story.  Conway has several amazing scenes, including a particularly emotional sequence at the end that will have you in tears.  Other performers include Nathan Fillion providing a cocky voice to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Dana Delany once again voicing Lois Lane after voicing her the DC Animated Universe (Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited), and Ron Perlman revisiting his epic Teen Titans performance as Deathstroke for a short scene.  Other notable actors and characters include Danny Huston doing a quick dash as General Sam Lane and Dee Bradley Baker (the voice of all the clones in Star Wars animation, as well as several hundred other credits) doing a fantastic Etrigan the Demon.  However, my favourite of these side characters is Danny Jacobs’s portrayal of the Wildstorm Comics character Grifter.  Grifter is a brutally effective figure in the final third of the film, and he has some outstanding interactions with other characters like Batman.  This cast, and more, all add so much to the film with their brilliantly portrayed characters, and I am still blown away by the calibre of the cast that was brought together here.

I think it is pretty obvious from the lengthy rant above that I have a lot of love for Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, and it is one of those animated films that I have watched so many times.  Thanks to its amazing cast, fantastically adapted story, intense animation and general darker vibe, The Flashpoint Paradox is a pretty spectacular animated film, and I honestly think it has the best execution of the Flashpoint comic.  It also has an awesome legacy, especially as it sets up the DC Animated Movie Universe and has impacts that range all the way to the final film, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.  As such, I really must give this film a full five-star rating and it is a must-watch for all comic fans, especially those who like their animation a little more adult and emotionally charged.

White Night by Jim Butcher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday7 Comments

White Night Cover

Publisher: Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 3 April 2007)

Series: Dresden Files – Book Nine

Length: 14 hours and 12 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  In my latest Throwback Thursday post, I continue to explore the epic Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, with the exceptional White Night.

Readers of this blog will have noticed that my last few Throwback Thursday posts have been all about the amazing Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.  One of the most impressive and recognisable urban fantasy series in the world today, the Dresden Files are brilliant novels that follow Harry Dresden, a wizard and magical protector of humanity, as he faces off against all manner of unique supernatural foes and mysteries in modern day Chicago.  This series features so many incredible books, such as Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites and Battle Ground, as well as the novella The Law, all of which are five-star reads.  I have been reading this series on and off since 2020, and I recently got back into it, managing to finish off two more books, Dead Beat and Proven Guilty in recent weeks.  These outstanding novels were also pretty exceptional, and I was in such a Dresden Files mood I ended up also listening to ninth book in the series, White Night, which turned out to be a pretty awesome decision.

Harry Dresden, wizard, private investigator, and now Warden for the White Council, is Chicago’s only defence against a range of supernatural threats lurking around its exterior.  However, due to his growing power, the extended war between the White Council and the Red Court vampires, and his new position as a Warden, a lethal magical law enforcer, the ordinary magical users of Chicago have grown to fear him and no longer consider him one of their own.  As such, Dresden is shocked to discover that several lesser practitioners in the city have either died in apparent suicides or simply disappeared.

Investigating the crimes, he discovers several mysterious messages that hint at a serial killer stalking female magic users in the city, one who seems to be taunting Dresden directly.  Diving into the city’s hidden magical underbelly, Dresden soon finds a group of minor witches living in fear, all of whom are convinced that Dresden has something to do with their comrade’s deaths.  Attempting to gain their trust, Dresden tries to find the truth, only to discover that all the evidence points towards his secret half-brother, the vampire Thomas Raith.

Unwilling to believe that his brother has become a murdering monster, Dresden dives deeper, only to discover a far more sinister plot lying beneath the surface.  The vampires of the White Court are on the hunt, and their malevolent schemes are expanding to capture all of Chicago, including Dresden and his friends, in their web.  Working with a range of allies, including wizards, gangsters and an old flame, can Dresden untangle the web and stop the White Court before every human magic user on the planet becomes the ultimate prey?

Damn, it really is proving impossible for me to have a bad time with one of the Dresden Files books.  The ninth novel in this series by Butcher, White Night, was another incredible addition and one that I absolutely inhaled in only a few short days.  Featuring a brilliant and well-written story loaded with the series’ great characters, White Night is an amazing and captivating read that gets another easy five-star rating from me.

Butcher has come up with a pretty epic story for White Night, and it was one that had me hooked the entire way through.  The narrative starts off in familiar ground for a Dresden Files novel, with Dresden helping the Chicago police with a suspicious death that might have magical implications.  Butcher draws the reader in at first by presenting them with a juicy and compelling case, that of a serial killer stalking minor magical practitioners in Chicago and leaving taunting messages or Dresden to find.  This story gets even more intriguing when it turns out that many witnesses or the victims’ friends consider Dresden to be the main suspect, not only because of circumstantial evidence, but because his damaged reputation.  Despite this, Dresden keeps trying to investigate, only to come across evidence that suggests his half-brother, Thomas, a White Court vampire, might be behind some of the crimes.  He also encounters his first love, Elaine, who has been hired by a local group of witches for protection, and who Dresden teams up with again to solve the case.

I really appreciated the investigative focus for the first third of the book, and it really reminded me of some of the more classic Dresden Files adventures that started the series off.  This initial investigation soon leads the protagonists into a pretty massive confrontation, and I loved how deadly and destructive things got around halfway through.  Butcher also works in a rather good flashback sequence at this point, which lends itself well to explaining the protagonist’s mental state and providing some excellent context to his recent actions.  As the story continues, Butcher starts to layer out and fully explore the major mystery of White Night in some fantastic ways.  Not only is one of the killers exposed after some fun revelations, but a massive, elaborate conspiracy is also revealed that places Dresden and his allies in a major predicament.  This leads up to an extended confrontation sequence in the last third of the book where Butcher really cuts loose and provides the reader with all the action and intense scenes that they can handle.  Not only is their a beautifully written duel sequence that was pretty cool to see, but Butcher than provides a massive battle sequence that had so much going for it.  There are explosions, betrayals, carnage and sacrifices here, and it is an impressive extended sequences that was near impossible to put down, especially as Butcher loads in epic surprise after epic surprise.  The entire sequence comes together perfectly, and I had so much fun with it, especially as it opens up some cool storylines for the future.  It also serves as a great conclusion to the narrative, and I was really impressed at the ongoing storylines that were either wrapped up or strengthen.  Everything comes together really well and it honestly left me wanting even more Dresden Files.

Butcher once again backs up his amazing story with some outstanding writing that always works to drag the reader write into the middle of the plot.  Featuring a great first-person perspective from Dresden that showcases his unique view of events, as well as his own deep personal concerns, Butcher moves White Night along at a swift pace, ensuring that every scene has something deeply interesting or exciting to keep the reader’s attention.  I really appreciated the great blend of elements within White Night, as Butcher cleverly balances action, adventure, humour, character growth and dark moments, which, along with the investigation elements, ensures that there is a little something for everyone in this book.  I particularly enjoyed some of the elaborate and intense major action sequences in White Night, especially that epic one at the end, and it was cool how massive and deadly some of them got.  Just like most of the previous Dresden Files novels, White Night can be read as a standalone urban fantasy adventure, as Butcher makes sure to recap and reference and relevant prior event, character or storyline so new readers can easily follow along and still have fun.  However, as this is a key novel in the series which concludes or continues several long-running storylines and character arcs, White Night is best enjoyed by those who have checked out the earlier Dresden Files books, especially as the emotional elements of some revelations or actions are greatly enhanced by continuous reading.  I always have so much fun with Butcher’s style in this series, and I felt that White Night was particularly well served by the author’s ability to tell an amazing story.

I have a lot of love for the cool fantasy setting that the Dresden Files utilises as the combination of modern-day Chicago and classic fantasy monsters and magic is always makes for an excellent story.  There are so many excellent elements to this fantasy society that Butcher has dreamed up over the years, and at this point in the series the lore and history of magic and its various factions is very well established.  Despite this, Butcher always finds intriguing new elements to dive into each book, which is something I really appreciate.  In White Night, he takes the time to look at the less powerful magic users in this society, the ones that don’t have enough magic to bother the White Council or interact with Dresden.  These somewhat marginalised magic users have created their own societies and communities as a result, and it was really interesting to see Dresden interact with them, especially as, due to his position as a Warden, they all fear what he represents, which is a fun reversal of how Dresden was persecuted at the start of the series.  I really loved seeing magic through the eyes of the little guy, and Butcher works them into the story in a very intriguing way.

The book also features quite a few White Court vampires, who feed on emotion and mental energy rather than blood.  The White Court are always a rather distinctive inclusion in any Dresden Files novel, and of course there is the requisite extremely beautiful women and focus on lust that are a key part of the White Court vampires.  However, several of the other factions of vampires are finally introduced here, those that induce and feed off fear and despair.  This adds a rather darker angle to parts of the book, especially when these abilities are unleashed at full blast, and it was interesting to see how badly it can be weaponised.  The accompanying vampiric schemes and backstabbing plans are also very fun, and Butcher manages to weave several elaborate ruses and plots into the narrative with some effective results.  These fantasy elements, and more, really help to create a distinctive and captivating read, and I cannot get enough of Butcher’s ability to come up with and utilise the inventive elements.

As always, the characters contained within White Night were pretty damn amazing, and I felt that their complex and powerful character arcs added so much value and intensity to the plot.  The focus is once again on protagonist and point-of-view character, Harry Dresden, who finds himself under all manner of immense pressure in White Night, which blows up around him in some big ways.  Not only is he dealing with the dual responsibilities of having an apprentice and being the magical law in Chicago, but he also has some major family issues and a tone of intense mental trauma that has been building up over the last few books.  A lot of this comes to a head in White Night, and Dresden actually comes across as a lot more angry and frustrated than he has in previous novels, especially after experiencing more losses and seeing some dreadful things.  Butcher writes some compelling and complex storylines around Dresden’s many emotional concerns in White Night, and it proves very intriguing and powerful to see him try to work through them, especially as he is in denial about several of the more prominent concerns.  The author does an amazing job exploring Dresden’s inner psyche here, and you come away feeling closer to him as a result.  White Night is actually a pretty significant book for Dresden’s character growth, especially as several long-running storylines about his mental state finish up here, and this ends up being a pretty satisfying read as a result, especially if you like how he was portrayed in the previous few novels.  Despite, or perhaps because of, his many issues, Dresden still brings his typical humour and complete disregard for decorum or his opponents to the table in White Night, and his fun comments and witty observations are responsible for most of the book’s comedy and entertainment.  As such, Dresden remains a pretty impressive and likeable central character, and I cannot wait to see what future adventures and pain he has coming to him in the future.

White Night also features a great supporting cast of friends and antagonists to liven up the plot in some awesome ways.  While most of the focus of the story is on Dresden, you see a lot of these characters and there are some fantastic and complex storylines written around them.  The most prominent of these characters in White Night is probably Dresden’s half-brother Thomas Raith, who has been a major figure for the last few books.  Due to his banishment from his vampire family, Thomas has been somewhat adrift in recent books, and it was clear that he had been keeping secrets from Dresden for various reasons.  Most of his secrets are finally revealed here in White Night and it was interesting to see what resulted.  Some of them are quite intriguing, some are pretty funny, and it was nice to finally get some answers, especially as it helped to strengthen the relationship between the two brothers.  Other great characters in White Night include Dresden’s former lover, Elaine, who has managed to bounce back since her last appearance and is trying to become more like Dresden by helping people; Dresden’s dog, Mouse, who is such a fun supernatural canine character; and the fallen angel in Dresden’s head Lasciel, who has some of the most emotionally powerful scenes in the book.  However, my favourite supporting character in White Night is probably Chicago gangster John Marcone, a mortal crime lord who dips his toes in supernatural affairs and often serves as an antagonist/uneasy ally of Dresden.  Marcone is always very fun in these books, especially as he and Dresden play off each other perfectly, and he is the perfect foil to the hot-headed protagonist.  His appearance in White Night is particularly good, as you get a deeper look at his true character, and realise he isn’t as evil as he appears.  Despite that, he still proves to be rather ruthless and Butcher writes some amazing and compelling scenes around him.  These characters and more add so much to the power and impact of White Night’s story, and I love how captivating and complex Butcher makes them.

I can’t talk about a Dresden Files novel without once again raving about its audiobook format.  I love, love, love the Dresden Files audiobooks, and there is honestly no substitute to listening to these amazing stories, especially when all the audiobooks feature the incredible vocal talents of actor James Marsters.  Marsters, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators thanks to this series, is so damn talented, and his take on the Dresden Files books is very special.  This proves to be the case again in White Night, as Marsters utilises all his intensity and passion to bring this epic story to life.  His grip on all the major characters in White Night is pretty damn amazing, and I love how he manages to expertly portray all the characters, ensuring that the reader fully understands their personalities, emotions and inner thoughts when Marsters speaks in their voice.  This is particularly true for protagonist Harry Dresden, a character that Marsters has always done an incredible job voicing, and I deeply appreciated how the narrator was able to capture his full emotional turmoil in this fantastic audiobook.  This brilliant narration, as well as the great story it follows, ensures that White Night was another exceptional listen, and I had an outstanding time getting through this audiobook.  Coming in at just over 14 hours, White Night was slightly shorter than some of the other Dresden Files audiobooks out there, but it still takes a little bit to get through it.  However, it is well worth the time investment, and I cannot recommend White Night on audiobook enough.

Just like every Dresden Files novel I have read, White Night is an exceptional and captivating read that I had an absolute blast getting through.  Jim Butcher’s novels always drag me in with their brilliant storytelling, complex scenarios and fantastic characters, and White Night is one of his more intense and exciting inclusions in the series.  A highly recommended read and an outstanding addition to the series.  I will be reading more Dresden Files novels as soon as I can.

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Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday6 Comments

Proven Guilty Cover

Publisher: Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1 February 2006)

Series: Dresden Files – Book Eight

Length: 16 hours and 16 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Welcome back to my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.  This week I dive into another awesome entry in the exceptional Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher with Proven Guilty.

I have been having an outstanding time reading Butcher’s iconic and fantastic Dresden Files books over the last couple of years.  One of the absolute best urban fantasy series ever written, the Dresden Files follows titular wizard and supernatural protector, Harry Dresden, as he investigates a series of crimes and magical conspiracies in Chicago.  I got into these books back in 2020 and have been slowly getting through the series from the start, with most of the entries getting five-star reviews from me as I go.  This includes the outstanding novels, Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, Dead Beat and Battle Ground, as well as the novella The Law.  I had so much fun reading the previous novels that I just had to dive into the eighth book this week with Proven Guilty, which proved to be another amazing read.

A year after officially becoming a Warden for the White Council of Wizards, Harry Dresden is chafing under his new role, especially the part that forces him to punish young practitioners with no real knowledge of the magic they wield.  However, he must put aside his concerns when he is warned about black magic being used in Chicago, forcing him to start a new investigation into the city’s magical underbelly.

His investigations soon lead him to a seemingly normal horror movie convention where mysterious and sinister events are taking place.  Brought in by one of the convention’s staff, Molly Carpenter, the daughter of holy knight Michael Carpenter, Dresden soon finds himself attempting to stem a series of supernatural attacks against innocent humans.  The dangerous perpetrators all appear in the form of classic horror movie monsters, and their deadly attacks soon leaves a trail of mayhem across the convention.  Forced to circumnavigate the police and other dangers waiting for him, Dresden works to hold back the dark supernatural tide, only to discover dangerous secrets that shock him to his core.

Working with his faithful dog, his vampiric half-brother, a cop with her own problems, and the most dangerous mother on the planet, Dresden attempts to right all the wrongs in front of him.  But to succeed, he’ll need to confront the forces of the Nevernever, a rogue White Court Vampire, dangerous creatures forged from fear, and even the White Council itself.  Can Dresden succeed or will his actions lead to even more suffering for those he cares about the most?

Butcher keeps his epic Dresden Files going in an amazing way with this eighth book, and I had an outstanding time reading Proven Guilty.  Featuring an elaborate plot that effortless combines mystery and supernatural elements in modern day Chicago, while also serving as a key entry in the wider Dresden Files, Proven Guilty is a powerful and deeply captivating read that I had a great time listening to.  I have so much love for this fantastic series, and Proven Guilty got another five-star rating from me as a result.

Proven Guilty has an outstanding story to it which sees the protagonist go up against a cohort of deadly enemies, some of which are disguised as horror movies creatures.  I will admit that the start of the book was a tad slow, and I honestly thought that this was going to be more of a filler novel than anything else.  However, it soon develops into an excellent story that loads up a cool mystery with some exciting encounters, deep emotional moments, strong character development, and the continuation or creation of several major storylines for the entire series.  A conflicted Dresden is dragged into everything when Molly Carpenter requests his help, and he soon finds himself looking into the mysterious events at the horror convention.  The main story goes in some very interesting directions, and I liked the great combination of investigation and fantasy elements as it continued, while several compelling side stories see Dresden facing even more danger and mystery.  Several of these storylines came together quite nicely as the book continued, and Dresden soon identifies the main perpetrator of the threat, as well as other forces taking advantage of their actions.  The impact of the big reveal of who was responsible wasn’t as significant for me, as I’d had that spoiled in advance, but it was still well crafted, especially the motivations behind it.  However, the real meat of the story revolves around darker designs as unknown forces manipulate Dresden and his allies to do their bidding.  This results in some very impressive scenes, including a massive magic battle in the Fae realm, and I loved how everything came together while also leaving some big mysteries open for later in the series.  I also really enjoyed the complex wrap-up chapters, which saw Dresden go up against the White Council in some very intense scenes, as well as providing some excellent emotional resolutions that I deeply appreciated.  Everything comes together perfectly, and this proves to be a fantastic new addition to already impressive series.

Butcher applies his usual excellent writing style to Proven Guilty, which always works well to convey his complex narratives.  Like the rest of the series, Proven Guilty moves at a swift pace, quickly taking readers from one intriguing scene to the next, all of which is great in its own particular way, whether it be character interactions, plot developments, or lore downloads.  At the same time, readers are treated to a great blend of fantasy elements, emotional moments, and a compelling investigation storyline, all of which is overlayed with a fun and signature bout of humour and snark, often directed from the protagonist.  You really get drawn into Proven Guilty as a result, and I always love Butcher’s approach to the urban fantasy style, especially as both his unique fantasy world and the cool investigative story arcs work so well together.  Like the rest of the Dresden Files books, Proven Guilty can be read as a standalone novel, although Butcher is juggling a few ongoing storylines and character arcs that had been built up in the previous entries.  While the author always does a good job of recapping key events and reintroducing key characters, I really do feel that at this point in the series readers need to have enjoyed some of the previous books to get the full emotional and story impact Butcher is conveying.  I do really need to critique one part of Butcher’s writing style for Grave Peril though, particularly how he oversexualised a teenage female character.  The Dresden Files have always featured over-the-top descriptions of women, and while Butcher has gotten better about them as the series continues, he backslid here in Proven Guilty when it came to this character.  While I do get what he was trying to do from a literary perspective, i.e. showing the vulnerability and confusion of teenagers, and how they act out a result, it honestly felt really icky to me, and I think the book would have been better off without it.  Apart from that though, Proven Guilty is very well written, and I had a wonderful time getting through it.

I always really enjoy how well Butcher manages to utilise cool and complex fantasy elements into his narratives and Proven Guilty has some outstanding examples of this.  Thanks to Dresden’s promotion to Warden in the last book, he is now a very prominent member of the White Council, and this provides him some bigger insights into the council and its members.  This results in some great political scenes, as well as a deeper dive into the council’s law enforcement wing, which exists to hunt down and punish magic users who break the laws of magic.  I found this to be pretty interesting and compelling, especially as the council’s determination to enforce the laws leads to some dark moments in the plot, and I liked the clever comparisons between them and the Chicago PD.  The case also sees a return of the Fae Summer and Winter Courts, both of which have been featured heavily in the past, and Butcher has a lot of fun revisiting both and expanding the lore surrounding them.  One of the most pivotal moments of the plot sees Dresden and his allies invading one of the most significant locations of the Winter Court, and I loved the carnage that resulted.  As always, the various scenes of magical battle and encounters are a great highlight of Proven Guilty, and Butcher has a real talent for making the featured spells feel intense and spectacular.  I also rather enjoyed the use of a horror convention (SplatterCon!!!) as a major background for the plot, especially as it allowed for a menagerie of movie monsters to emerge and attack the convention goers.  There were a ton of fun homages here as a result, and it was very entertaining to see Dresden face off against several iconic monsters in some great scenes.  These fantasy elements merge with the rest of the plot extremely well, and it was fun to see Dresden dive through the worst parts of his world to save the day.

One of the major highlights of all the Dresden Files novels in the fantastic cohort of characters that Butcher features and Proven Guilty is no exception to this as the author has utilised another fantastic group of figures, each of whom brings something emotional or compelling to the plot.  The most prominent of these is naturally series protagonist Harry Dresden, who serves as the book’s main voice.  Cocky, confident, emotionally damaged and highly conflicted, Dresden makes a great focal character and I have deeply enjoyed seeing his personal journey throughout this series.  While still responsible for most of the book’s humour thanks to his jokes and fun observations about the other characters and all things magic, Dresden is decidedly a little more serious in Proven Guilty, especially as he is still recovering from some of the traumas of the previous books, including his injuries, his possession by a fallen angel, emotional conflicts with those closest to him, and the guilt over being forced to kill two people in his previous adventure.  This provides a noticeable change to Dresden in this book, and I felt that Butcher did a wonderful job showcasing this in several emotionally charged confrontations and scenes.  At the same time, Dresden is also dealing with his misapprehensions for working for the White Council as a Warden, especially as he is having trouble believing in all their rules.  This leads him into even greater conflict as the book continues, especially when he finds out who is truly responsible for the latest evils he uncovers.  All these personal issues and traumas help to provide a deep emotional layer to the plot, and it was one that Butcher masterfully addressed, providing some compelling and satisfying resolutions to several of them.  I particularly liked how Dresden’s story is coming full circle in some ways, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the future.

Aside from Dresden, there are a ton of other great characters featured through Proven Guilty who add their own flavour to the plot.  This includes an excellent range of new figures and well-established supporting characters, and I liked the mixture of storylines and character arcs that emerged.  Dresden’s usual allies, Karrin Murphy and Thomas Raith are very well utilised again here, both as supporting characters for Dresden’s adventures, and as individuals with considerable personal and professional issues to deal with.  Molly Carpenter, a minor figure from the previous novels, returns in a big way here and serves as an intriguing new addition to the plot.  While I have some major concerns about Molly’s portrayal at times, her storyline had some great depth and it will be interesting to see how that develops in the future.  This use of Molly also allowed a great focus on her mother Charity, another minor character from the previous novels, who gets a fantastic showing in Proven Guilty, especially as she shows herself to be an absolute badass.  Throw in Harry’s giant dog Mouse, who is one of my favourite characters in this series now, and differing voices of Dresden’s two supernatural advisors, Bob and Lasciel, the angel and demon on his magical shoulder (both literally and figuratively), and you have a pretty outstanding cast here, and one that I always have a great time following.

As always with one of the Dresden Files novels I really need to highlight the exceptional and awesome audiobook versions which are my favourite way to enjoy this amazing books.  The format really lends itself to the intense action, fast-paced storytelling and great characters contained within Proven Guilty, and I really found myself powering through this great audiobook in no time at all.  With a run time of over 16 hours, this is one of the longer Dresden Files audiobooks, but I still managed to knock it off in a few days, as I never got sick of listening to it.  The main reason for this is the outstanding narration of actor James Marsters, who has lent his powerful voice to the entire Dresden Files series.  Marsters effortlessly dives into the story each time, and he brings some real gravitas and feeling to the plot and characters.  The various voices he produces does each member of the complex cast great justice and I love how well he portrays their feelings, interactions, and personalities.  This is mostly easily seen in main character Harry Dresden, who is suffering from a lot of different abuses by this point in the series.  Marsters really does such a great job showcasing his various emotional and personal issues and I am always so impressed with how the narrator just gets this complicated character and brings that out with his voice.  This great performance does so much to enhance the experience of listening to Proven Guilty on audiobook and I cannot recommend this format enough to people interested in checking out this cool Dresden Files entry.

Unsurprisingly, I had an outstanding time with Proven Guilty and it proved to be an excellent continuation of Jim Butcher’s epic Dresden Files series.  Featuring another brilliant story, some fantastic character growth, and even more magic and mayhem, Proven Guilty was a ton of fun to get through, and I have so much love for this series.  Indeed, I had such an incredible time with Proven Guilty that I have already started listening to the next book in the series, White Night, which I will hopefully review next week. I honestly can’t give Proven Guilty a higher compliment than that, and this is a pretty damn amazing read.

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Warhammer 40,000: The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer25 Comments

The Lion - Son of the Forest Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 22 April 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 12 hours and 15 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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One of the fastest rising authors of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, Mike Brooks, returns with another exceptional read, this time covering one of the most significant events in recent Warhammer fiction, the return of Lion El’Johnson with The Lion: Son of the Forest.

At this point I think that my love for all things Warhammer is pretty well established, especially after my lengthy post earlier this year detailing my favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels.  I have been having a ton of fun in 2023 with this cool franchise, and I have just managed to finish off the newest Warhammer novel with The Lion: Son of the Forest.  This is the latest book from the very impressive Mike Brooks, who has been making a real name for himself in Warhammer 40,000 fiction and who seems to get better with every one of his books that I read.  His previous novel, Huron Blackheart: Master of the Maelstrom was a great read about an excellent established villain, and I had a lot of fun with his most recent book, Warboss, a highly entertaining novel about the always crazy orks.  However, I think that The Lion is probably his most ambitious and captivating novel yet as he covers the return of the Primarch of the Dark Angels, Lion El’Johnson.  This is a pretty big deal in Warhammer circles, and I was very impressed with how Brooks puts his own spin on the return to create an epic and powerful read.

At the dawn of the Imperium of Man, there was no force more deadly nor more loyal to the Emperor than the Dark Angels, the first Legion of Space Marines.  Led by their implacable and unstoppable Primarch and genefather, Lion El’Johnson, better known as the Lion, nothing was able to stop the Dark Angels as they crusaded from planet to planet dispensing the Emperor’s will.  However, following the events of the Horus Heresy and the Lion’s inability to save the Emperor, the Dark Angels imploded from within.  Treachery and years of resentment saw the Legion engage in a brutal and sudden civil war, which resulted in the destruction of the Dark Angel’s home world of Caliban, the scattering of the traitor Dark Angels throughout time and space as the Fallen, and the disappearance and apparent death of the Lion right when the galaxy needed him most.

Now in the 41st millennium, humanity is facing the greatest threat since the Horus Heresy.  The fall of Cadia spawned the Great Rift, a sprawling gap of daemon infested space that split the already crumbling Imperium in two, distributing travel, communications and coordination between humanity’s armies.  Into this darkness, the dread forces of Chaos emerge, destroying all before them, while other malign threats begin to eat away the remains of the Imperium.  The doom of all mankind seems certain, but hope is about to emerge in the most unlikely of places.

After a 10,000-year absence, the Lion awakens on the far-flung and devastated planet of Camarth, with no memory of how he got there.  Discovering one of his former sons, the Fallen Zabriel, the Lion soon discovers what has happened to the Imperium in his absence, as well as the terrible threats of the Great Rift and the forces of Chaos.  Unsure of his purpose or what has happened to him, the Lion sets out to preserve humanity from the forces trying to destroy it.  Rallying members of the Fallen from their long exile, the Lion begins a new campaign throughout the besieged systems of man, while trying to reconcile himself to everything he has lost.  But a dangerous and well-organised Chaos warband, the Ten Thousand Eyes, led by two of the Lion’s Fallen sons, are determined to destroy the returned Primarch and enact an ambitious plan with galaxy shattering consequences.  Can an isolated Lion survive the insanity of the 41st millennium, or has he returned only to face his doom?

Wow, now this was a pretty damn awesome Warhammer 40,000 novel.  Mike Brooks continues to really impress me with this cool new book, and I loved the elaborate and captivating tale contained within The Lion: Son of the Forest.  Featuring an intriguing and emotionally charged narrative that perfectly revives a key Warhammer 40,000 character, The Lion is an outstanding read and I think this is probably Brooks’ best Warhammer novel yet.

The Lion had a particularly interesting narrative that was firmly set around the return of Lion El’Johnson, and I loved the unique tale that Brooks came up.  The initial scenes of the book are quite fascinating as Brooks presents a symbol laden couple of chapters to show the Lion’s initial return, which I felt was a great way to start the story as it set up a lot of intriguing moments and gave the book quite a distinctive theme.  The introduction of two new alternate perspective characters a few chapters in helps to morph the story into a more typical Warhammer 40,000 narrative as it sees the Lion and other former members of the Dark Angels awaken in the current timeline.  The story soon sees the Lion reunite with one of his former sons and begin to reclaim a conquered Imperial planet from a notorious Chaos warband while trying to understand the new universe he’s in.  Getting back to his roots as a protector, the Lion soon is soon drawn into larger affairs, thanks a mysterious new ability he has obtained, and he sets out to do the right thing and right the wrongs of his past.  His actions not only lead him to more of his sons, ensuring that this book has a deep emotional heart to it, but it also leads him into conflict with a dangerous enemy, one that has big plans for him.

The Lion’s narrative is pretty epic in its scope and power as Brooks tells an exciting and compelling story about both the past and the present, and how one hero can make a difference.  The story features some great moments, including cool battles, emotional reunions, and dives into ancient history, as the characters come to grips with what the Lion’s return means to the greater universe.  Everything leads up to an ultra-intense finale as the Lion encounters a truly fallen son and is forced to reckon with the sins of his Legion and family.  I really enjoyed this epic narrative and Brooks sets out all the events extremely well, ensuring that readers will follow one excellent scene to the next.  While not every mystery is explained, the author does lay out some intriguing events that will grab a lot of Warhammer fans attention, and it leaves it open for more awesome books in the future.  I had an incredible time with The Lion and I managed to finish it off in a short amount of time.

This outstanding story is beautifully brought to life in Brooks’s capable hands as he deploys an excellent and captivating writing style throughout The Lion.  Brooks really had a tall order here in bringing back a key character from the Warhammer mythos and I think that he handled in an outstanding way by focusing on the emotional aspects of the character, rather than a pure action novel.  While The Lion does have some outstanding battle sequences designed to showcase just how epic a Space Marine can be, the focus is really on character development as Brooks examines three outstanding point of view figures while also telling an excellent narrative about characters trying to find their place in a strange new galaxy.

I loved how the author split the story across the three different perspectives, and I enjoyed how he made them so distinctive by using different styles and tenses for each of them.  For example, Baelor’s chapters use a third-person narration to show his struggles without going too deep into his head, the scenes shown from Zabriel’s eyes are written in a first person chronicle style as he recounts his story as if writing a journal, while the chapters focusing on the Lion are also in the third person, but feature a different, more epic style, which at times put me in mind of an older story or saga.  These different styles really fit the characters and their specific stories, and I appreciated how Brooks utilised these changes of styles to really tell a complex by subtly layering a classic Warhammer tale with pain, emotional damage, and uncertainty.

I felt that the author got the right balance of action and adventure with character growth, and you really get attached to the protagonists and their unique experiences in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.  I also loved how Brooks layered the story with a ton of Arthurian symbolism, as the Lion is meant to mirror King Arthur in this book, returning during his people’s darkest hour after dying during a war with his sons.  This included an excellent take on the Green Knight tale, with a dark Warhammer 40,000 twist to it, which also leads to one of the book’s funniest moments with a Monty Python homage.  I really got drawn into this outstanding story thanks to the way that Brooks told it, and this was an excellent and captivating read.

Now, this one of those Warhammer 40,000 novels that I probably wouldn’t recommend to new Warhammer readers as the story dives into some deep canon elements of the franchise.  Due to its focus on the return of Lion El’Johnson, a particularly important character that was only recently brought back in the game as a major event, The Lion is a key book in the Warhammer 40,000 expanded universe, and I felt readers needed a good understanding of the lore to fully appreciate its story.  This is because is strongly related to the history of the Dark Angels, and indeed all the Space Marines, and while Brooks does revisit and explain these events, having a more in-depth knowledge really does make that story that much clearer and more intriguing.  For those established fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction, you are in for a real treat as Brooks expertly expands the lore while also providing some intriguing insights into established canon.  Seeing the Lion return and interact with his Fallen brethren was so damn cool, and it really tied into some of the best bits of Dark Angel lore that has been building for years and years.

I loved how the story examined both the current state of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, as well as the Horus Heresy, and it was fantastic to see characters who survived the Heresy arrive in the current universe and see what has been unleashed by the arrival of the Great Rift.  There are also a ton of jokes, references, and in-universe discussions that I had a lot of fun with, including intriguing new descriptions of events of the Horus Heresy, as well as more intriguing Dark Angels history.  I personally deeply enjoyed seeing the various ancient characters discuss the events that happened after they disappeared, and their reactions at the state of the Imperium, the deification of the Emperor to godhood, and what happened to the Dark Angels in the Lion’s absence, and this lead to some outstanding scenes.  The Lion proved to be a pretty epic piece of Warhammer 40,000 fiction and I was really impressed with how Brooks told such a unique and important story.

As I mentioned before, The Lion is a very powerful character driven novel as Brooks focuses on a cast of damaged and dispossessed figures thrust into an uncompromising future.  This is mostly clearly seen in the main character of Lion El’Johnson, the legendary Primarch of the Dark Angels and son of the Emperor, who returns after 10,000 years of mysterious disappearance.  Brooks paints quite the intriguing and complex picture around the Lion, showing him as a being out of time who, after experiencing some of the greatest losses and betrayals imaginable, awakens 10,000 years in the future with no idea of what happened to him.  The Lion is shocked at what the Imperium has become and how badly the universe has changed without him there.  Forced to reconcile with both this new future and his many failures, the older and wiser Lion heads back to the basics of his youth, protecting humans from monsters while also trying to reconnect with his lost sons, the Fallen, who he has mixed feelings about.  Brooks’s characterisation of the Lion is very different to what we’ve seen in previous novels, which I think a smart move, as the character is tired and lonely in this reality, and very much aware of the mistakes he has throughout his life.  Watching him relive some of the worst decisions he made during the Horus Heresy is very moving, and I loved how his insights into the past allowed him to move forward with his rediscovered sons and attempt to forgive them.  While there are a still a lot of questions around how the Lion returned (something I hope Brooks addresses in the future), I think that this was a pretty impressive return of such a key character, and I look forward to seeing more books focused on him.

The other major characters featured within The Lion are former Dark Angels who rebelled against their father thousands of years ago and were scattered throughout time and space following the destruction of Caliban.  Known collectively as the Fallen, these Space Marine characters have very complex feelings about Lion El’Johnson, especially as many believe he betrayed them and the Imperium, and they have all spent the intervening years being relentlessly hunted by the modern Dark Angels and their successor chapters.  This intriguing background was fertile ground for rich character development and backgrounds, and a large portion of the novel’s emotional depth relied heavily on the Lion meeting and reconciling with his lost sons.  Brooks produces several brilliant scenes that showcase the turbulent relationship between the Lion and the returning Fallen, and it was fascinating to see the Lion, a usually stubborn and proud character, admit that he was wrong and try to make amend to his sons.  I loved the intriguing group of characters that emerged in a supporting role as a result, especially as Brooks set them up as counterpoints to the Knights of the Round Table to match the Arthurian vibes around the Lion.

The most prominent of these supporting characters is Zabriel, the first Fallen that the returned Lion encounters, who serves as his guide to the new universe.  Zabriel has some amazing scenes in this book, especially as he provides the Lion with the first taste of the trauma the Fallen have experienced thanks to their father, and he makes sure the Lion knows that.  His well written chapters really capture his deep emotional conflict throughout The Lion, as he tries to reconcile the betrayals of the past with the hope that surrounds the revelation that Lion El’Johnson has returned.  His interactions with other members of the Fallen are really impressive as well, and I think he had some of the best chapters in the book.  Zabriel’s intriguing perspective is well matched by the other major point of view character, Baelor, a fellow Fallen who has chosen to continue following his former commander Seraphax, who he believes has a great plan to save the Imperium.  To achieve this goal, Seraphax has taken to wielding dark magic and is working with the followers of Chaos, forming the deadly warband, The Ten Thousand Eyes.  This forces Baelor to make a lot of compromises as he works to maintain his loyalty to Seraphax, even though they are doing terrible things.  The return of the Lion really throws Baelor for a loop, and there is a great undercurrent of denial to him as he tries to process all the implications that this has for him.  Brooks paints a brilliantly narrative of conflicted loyalty and duty around Baelor which worked wonderfully with all his chapters depicting the horrors of Chaos.  The rest of the Fallen characters in The Lion are very well written, and while some of them didn’t get a lot of focus, I loved some of the distinctive personalities that emerged.  It will be interesting to see how many of them are featured in the future, especially as there are still some secrets I wouldn’t mind knowing (who is The Red Whisper?), and I deeply appreciated how well Brooks featured them here.

To nobody’s great surprise, I checked out The Lion on audiobook, which is easily the best way to enjoy any good Warhammer novel.  Naturally, The Lion was pretty damn epic in this form, and everything about the book is greatly enhanced by the narration, as the epic story, amazing characters, and intriguing additions to the Warhammer universe, all come to life when read out.  I particularly enjoyed the voice work of Timothy Watson, who previously impressed me in last year’s Warhammer 40,000 audiobook, Krieg.  Watson has a wonderfully booming and commanding voice that worked well with all the powerful Space Marine characters in The Lion.  The narrators take on the confident and radiant tones of Lion El’Johnson was particularly awesome, and I really felt that he captured both the majesty of the character, as well as his deeper uncertainty and regret.  The other Space Marine characters are also extremely well captured, and I liked the fun range of voices that emerged, especially as they all seemed to fit that respective character and convey the key parts of their identity to the listener.  The villains are also cleverly narrated, and Watson goes out of his way to make them sound as inhuman as possible in places.  Coming in with a run time of over 12 hours, The Lion has a decent length for a Warhammer audiobook, although Watson’s fantastic narration moves the story along at a swift pace, ensuring that the listener is constantly hooked on the plot.  This entire production was just amazing, and I had an exceptional time listening to The Lion on audiobook, which is such an epic way to enjoy a Warhammer 40,000 novel.

Mike Brooks continues to rise through the ranks of Warhammer 40,000 authors with his outstanding new novel, The Lion: Son of the Forest.  The impressive and captivating read brilliantly brings back one of the most significant characters in the Warhammer canon and places him in an intense and deeply powerful tale of betrayal, forgiveness and displacement.  I had such an epic time with The Lion: Son of the Forest and this probably the best Warhammer book of 2023 so far.  I cannot wait to see what happens to this iconic character in the future, nor can wait to get my next Mike Brooks novel.  Highly recommended and required reading for all fans of Warhammer fiction.

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The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy22 Comments

The Malevolent Seven Cover

Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books (Trade Paperback – 9 May 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 373 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Rising fantasy star Sebastien de Castell returns with a bold and highly entertaining new fantasy novel, The Malevolent Seven, that takes several dangerous and dastardly characters on a magical journey of death, deceit and despair which is so much fun to behold.

Magic is power and only the strong can hope to wield it, especially if they can make a profit out of it.  Cade Ombra is a powerful wonderist, a magic user who makes his living as a war mage, selling his services to highest bidder to fight in their wars and kill their enemies, even if his employers are monsters.  Cade has long struggled with the ethics of his job, and when his latest employment ends badly, with Cade framed for murder resulting in a relentless band of holy enforcers hunting him, he knows he needs to find a way out.

Luckily, a lucrative new job is looking for wonderists, and the payment is something he’s always desired, an artefact capable of changing everything about his life.  However, to get paid he needs to do one last very bad thing: kill seven heroic mages attempting to take down a corrupt noble and survive everything that wants to kill him along the way.  Determined to win no matter the cost, Cade and his violent colleague Corrigan set off to claim the reward before any of their rivals can.  But to succeed, they’ll need to recruit five more mages capable of taking down their powerful enemies and who have no moral qualms about killing heroes for money.

So begins a deadly recruitment mission as Cade and Corrigan seek out five mages just as crazy as they are.  But even with a mentally unstable blood mage, a fallen angel, a moral demon knight, a charismatic rat mage and a mysterious jackal, can even this mismatched bad of rogues hope to survive against the seven most deadly magic users on this plane of existence?  However, nothing about this job is as it seems, and Cade and the Malevolent Seven find themselves caught up in a deadly game between gods, demons and monsters, with the fate of the world lying in the balance.

Wow, now this was a very, very fun and addictive novel.  Sebastien de Castell wasn’t an author I was too familiar with before this point, although I had heard good things about The Greatcoats series.  However, I am now going to have to go out of my way to read more of his stuff, especially after reading the epic and entertaining The Malevolent Seven.

The Malevolent Seven was such a great read as de Castell pulls together a dark fantasy reimagining of heroic stories like Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven.  The book starts of strong with a great introduction to the main character, Cade Ombra, the rules of magic in this realm, and the author’s very entertaining and outrageous sense of humour.  Expertly and hilariously told from the first-person perspective of Cade, whose observations about the insane events going on around him adds so much value to the story, you soon get a great sense of what to expect from this book and de Castell does not disappoint.  The story initially focuses on Cade and his friend Corrigan’s efforts in a brutal war for a mad ruler, but things go south when their employer is killed, Cade is betrayed by his fellow wonderists, and a band of ruthless religious warriors, the Glorian Justiciars, arrive determined to hunt down Cade for his use of demonic magic.  Forced to take a new job with Corrigan to save his skin and quickly get out of dodge, the two take up the mysterious contract to kill seven heroic mages in exchange for a powerful artefact, and begin a recruitment drive for five additional mages.

I love a good recruitment montage in heist or action fiction, and this one is pretty damn fun as de Castell writes in a particularly eclectic and insane group of mages for the protagonists to recruit.  Naturally nothing goes as plan, as the two are forced to take along a half-insane junior blood mage who Cade feels responsible for.  Their subsequent recruitment attempts land them in all manner of trouble as they rescue a highly chivalrous rat mage, save a mysterious fallen angel from a pleasure ship, journey to hell to recruit a demon knight, and end up in the middle of a wasteland, chased by everyone.  This recruitment period took up more of the plot than I thought it would, but it works really well to tell a great overall narrative.  Each scene introduces the reader to more of the world and it allows a compelling dynamic to grow between the various protagonists, especially as they grow to understand each other crazy tendencies.  De Castell also builds up several intriguing long-running storylines of manipulation and betrayal as it becomes clear that someone is influencing their mission and has set gods and demons against them.  This middle section of the book is a lot of fun, and I loved how de Castell keeps up the same blend of humour, intriguing character development, and insane over-the-top moments, that really draws you in at the start of the novel.

Everything perfectly leads up to the final third of the book, when the protagonists arrive at their destination.  Of course, as can be expected by the theme of this story so far, nothing is what they thought it would be, and instead they find themselves facing off against a mysterious foe with very different motivations to what they expected.  I loved how de Castell turned the plot a little on its head at this point, as the characters find themselves in the unexpected position of being the good guys.  This leads to some amazing scenes in the final third, loaded with magic, chaotic confrontations and more, all of which is a ton of fun to see.  There is some great character growth as several storylines come full circle, as well as a ton of twists and turns.  I loved some of the epic reveals that came across, and while I saw a few coming, de Castell managed to surprise me in places, which I really enjoyed.  The final twists about why the characters were on the job and who really wins were pretty damn epic and it sets the story up nicely for a sequel, which I am definitely going to grab a copy of.  I loved how de Castell really enhanced the drama in this final third of the book, especially as several character relationships or conflicts come to the boil in some explosive and captivating ways.  This combines really well with the continued craziness of the story and the inherent humour of the plot, and you really get drawn into all the fantastic elements of this book.  The Malevolent Seven ended up being an incredible read, and I managed to power through this entire story in a couple of days and had a ton of fun doing so.

I loved the dark and despairing world that served as the cool new setting for The Malevolent Seven and de Castell has a ton of fun showcasing this new fantasy landscape throughout the book.  Loaded with petty tyrants, warring nobles, and wandering wonderists who dish out death to the highest bidder, this land is the perfect backdrop for the crazy and self-serving narrative, and I loved seeing de Castell’s great characters traverse it causing trouble.  While there are some outstanding locations, including a magically blasted wasteland and several deadly battlegrounds, the highlight of this setting is the complex magical system that the author came up with.  This magical system is primarily predicated on wonderists breaching dimensional barriers and utilising magic that they have an infinity for.  This results in several unique rules and abilities that de Castell did an outstanding job of effectively introducing, and I loved how weird some of the abilities were, especially those that played into the novel’s humour.  Some of the more interesting realms require the magical users to interact with the associated denizens, including this world’s equivalent of angels and demons, all of whom have a stake in the mortal realms.  Several of the best scenes in the book require the protagonist to make dark and forbidden deals with his demonic contact, and the manipulation of the various mystical entities from both heaven and hell becomes a key part of the book.  The author makes sure to utilise all these fantastic and lethal abilities to their full extent throughout The Malevolent Seven and the epic, ultra-destructive battles that emerged, as well as the clever combination of talents, resulted in some amazingly, electrifying sequences.  It will be interesting to see what crazy abilities de Castell brings to the table for the sequel, but it’s going to be good.

The final thing I want to highlight about The Malevolent Seven are the excellent and compelling damaged characters featured throughout the plot.  De Castell really went out of his way to make his main seven protagonists as random, broken and insane as possible, and this really works in the context of this brilliant story.  The main protagonist is point-of-view character Cade Ombra, a wonderist with a secret past whose current magical ability comes from deals with a literal demon (nice guy actually).  Because of this and many other mistakes in his life, Cade is pretty alone and damaged when the story starts, and he is constantly trying to balance his survival instincts and desire for power, with his conscience, something that keeps getting him in trouble.  De Castell builds up Cade extremely well throughout The Malevolent Seven and I liked his constant growth as he tries to do the right thing, even though it usually makes life even harder for him.  The author sets Cade up as a reluctant leader and hero, and it was intriguing to see the dynamics that form between him and the rest of the team fate brings together around him.  The rest of the titular Malevolent Seven are all pretty entertaining and uniquely crazy in their own way, and the range of diverse and entertaining personalities makes for a great overall dynamic to the story. My favourite character in the group was the excessively violent Corrigan Blight, whose thunder magic matches his outrageous personality.  Corrigan served as the straight speaking, highly reactive and trigger-happy organiser of the group, who plays off the more reserved Cade perfectly, especially as they form a unique and fragile friendship.  Other highlights include the highly charismatic and surprisingly noble Aradeus, whose rat magic proves to be highly effective if a little weird, and the novice blood mage Galass, whose spunky personality is only matched by her deadly abilities that are slowly driving her insane.  I loved this impressive and very entertaining cast and I cannot wait to see what happens to them next.

I think it is very clear that I loved The Malevolent Seven as Sebastien de Castell’s outrageous and inventive dark fantasy tale was a real joy to behold.  The great blend of fantastic humour, twisty storytelling, brutal magic and over-the-top characters, works exceedingly well and I loved the witty and extremely fun story that emerged.  The Malevolent Seven is a great read and if you are in the mood for a cool and highly compelling fantasy adventure than this is the book for you.

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Battle Song by Ian Ross

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction18 Comments

Battle Song Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (Trade Paperback – 28 March 2023)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 405 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Impressive historical fiction author Ian Ross journeys away from his typical Roman history novels and instead dives into the chaos and glory of medieval England with the outstanding and highly addictive read, Battle Song.

England, 1262. Adam de Norton is a lowly squire with very few prospects to his name.  Unable to claim his family’s rightful estates, Adam’s only hope is to be knighted by his lord, which will allow him to win the glory and respect his chivalrous heart believes in.  However, his chances of even being noticed by his lord seem slim, and Adam looks set for a life of disappointment until a hunting accident leads him to his new master, the rogue knight Sir Robert de Dunstanville.

Robert de Dunstanville is a man infamous throughout England as a murderous heretic, and his anger, resentment and apparent lack of knightly virtue seem to match his devilish reputation.  A keen member of the tournament scene, Robert leads Adam to Europe, where his underhanded strategies and desire for victory over honour, prove to be highly effective.  While Adam chafes under the dishonour of his new master and the circumstances that lead them together, he soon discovers that Robert seems to have a far better idea of the realities of his world than he does.

Two years later, Robert leads Adam back to England, determined to take advantage of the chaotic political situation that emerges.  The Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort, has declared war against his brother-in-law, King Henry III, and now leads the barons of the realm in a rebellion, aimed at bringing reform and redressing the balance of power in the country.  As the country plunges into civil war, Robert and Adam must choose which side will give them the greatest advantage and keep them alive.  Soon caught in the middle of a desperate battle for the fate of the kingdom, will this duo get everything they think they deserve, or wind up in a bloody grave?

Ian Ross has written an exceptional and captivating historical adventure in Battle Song that I had an absolutely wonderful time reading.  Blending some great characters with an exciting story and intriguing historical detail, Battle Song is one the most thrilling and intense historical novels I have read in a while, and which is worth checking out.

Battle Song has an intense and captivating story that perfectly follows a young knight in training as he finds his destiny and gets embroiled in war.  Blending emotional personal growth with an exciting narrative from a great part of history, Ross’s narrative for this book is really addictive, and I had a ton of fun powering through it in a few days.  The story starts off great with a very strong introduction to protagonist Adam de Norton, a minor squire overlooked in life who still believes in the knightly virtues.  After a violent brawl shows his true raging potential, Adam is drafted into the service of Robert de Dunstanville, a bastard knight with a severe grudge against the king, who drags Adam to Europe for a run at the knightly tournaments.  The initial part of the book is really good as it sets up the story and the key politics of England, while also serving as an invaluable introduction to main characters.  I loved the early friction between Adam and Robert, which really helps to showcase the differences between their world views and ensures that there is some intriguing personal conflict between them throughout the book.

Ross dedicates a good chunk of the plot to following Adam, Robert and their companions, on an extended romp through the European tournaments, which are so damn fun.  The various scenes depicting the harshness of the tournaments, including the infamous melee, are some of my favourites in the book, and the author’s depiction of the chaotic violence and sheer unpredictability really appealed to me.  At the same time, this book serves as a good learning experience for the protagonist as Adam learns the realities of being a knight as he experiences love, betrayal and begins a deadly rivalry.  Ross also uses this part of the story to further dive into the start of the conflict between Simon de Montfort, as Robert meets and plots with the exiled Earl while in Europe and begins to weigh his options.

The second half of Battle Song is set back in England as Adam and Robert return home, determined to take part in the civil war to come, even if they don’t know which side to choose.  This half of the novel is pretty damn intense as Ross really dives into the intriguing and dark history of the period in some great ways.  The narrative drags the protagonists into some of the key events of the period, including riots, a dangerous siege, and several minor conflicts, as they watch the King and Simon de Montfort fight for control of the country.  This part of the book is also well layered with the personal concerns of Adam and Robert, as Adam faces a hopeless romance while witnessing some of the most vicious elements of war, while Robert continues to battle his conscience, inner-hate and survival instincts to come out on top.  There are some pretty epic scenes here and I deeply enjoyed how Ross balanced out the historical detail with the deeper part of his story.  The characters all go through setbacks, growth, and dark moments as the plot proceeds, and the reader gets caught up in their personal tales.  The battles themselves are really impressive, as Ross captures the sheer chaos of war and Adam learns what it is to kill.  I really appreciated Ross’s use of Adam as the main point-of-view character for this second half of the battle, not only because his position allows a great view of all the key historical moments, but because you see a more impassioned take on events which gives the entire narrative some great heart.  Everything leads up to the big final battle, which Ross covers perfectly, showcasing it as a metal meatgrinder of knight-on-knight combat.  There are some outstanding moments in these final pages, especially as several character arcs and storylines are cleverly finished, and I was deeply intrigued to see how the entire conflict came together.  Ross leaves everything on a satisfying conclusion and Battle Song ends up serving a particularly epic and brilliantly self-contained standalone read, which does have some potential to be continued in the future.  I deeply enjoyed this exceptional story and it was so damn addictive in places.

One of the best highlights of Battle Song is the way that Ross expertly portrays the historical period in which the book is set.  I loved the depictions of England and Europe in the 13th century featured throughout Battle Song, and Ross has a lot of fun showcasing the people, culture and politics of the people at the time.  There is a particular focus on the lives and experiences of the knightly classes as the book as shown through the eyes of a lowly squire experiencing them for the first time.  As such, you get a great idea of what it is to be both a knight and a squire as Adam grows into both roles while watching his master and peers in action.  There are some great discussions about the how knights act in life, and I loved how Ross examined how the realities of this compared to the romanticized notions of chivalry and honour that Adam had been fed growing up.  Naturally some of the best parts of the historical elements of Battle Song fall amongst the tournaments and battles that were such an amazing feature of the story.  Ross really dives into the nitty gritty detail of the tournaments, and I loved seeing the tactics and practicalities of big events like the joust and the melee.  It was also very interesting to see how these skills then translated across to the battlefield and the similarities and differences between the two proved to be deeply fascinating.  Ross really went out of his way to highlight the gritty and brutal nature of both the tournament melee and the battlefield throughout Battle Song, and I loved the high-intensity action scenes that emerged as a result.  Battle Song honestly some of the best historical battle sequences that I had seen for a while, and I found myself getting even further dragged into the story thanks to that.

In addition, I really enjoyed the compelling and impressive examination of the events of Simon de Montfort’s rebellion in 1264, one of England’s lesser-known civil wars.  The entirety of Battle Song is set around this war, and Ross really good job of showcasing the politics and the events leading up to the rebellion as Adam and Robert witness his plotting during their tournament days.  The second half of the book then examines the resulting war in high detail as the protagonists find themselves dragged into several key battles and incidents of this war, including the siege of Rochester and the decisive battle of Lewes.  The author does an outstanding job showcasing these battles as he looks at how they came about, what happened during them, and the resulting impacts it had on the war.  At the same time, Ross also tries to examine some of the key historical figures involved in this conflict, and it was very interesting to see the protagonists interact with them.  Ross initially paints this war as a battle for rights against the king, with de Montfort trying to rally the nobles behind his leadership.  However, rather than showing this as a purely noble affair, Ross also highlights some of the darker aspects of de Montfort’s campaign, including the infamous purge against the Jewish population of London at the start of the rebellion, which honestly was some of the darkest and most intense moments in the entire book.  I deeply appreciated this complex examination of the history, especially the prejudice against the Jews, and it painted both sides in morally ambiguous tones that fit the two protagonists.  Ross clearly has a real talent for portraying fascinating moments from history, and I had an outstanding time learning more about this unique and captivating period.

I was also quite impressed by the characters featured within Battle Song as Ross introduces the reader to an outstanding cast of both original characters and notable figures out of history.  The main protagonists are the duo of Adam de Norton, a poor squire who serves as the book’s point of view character, and Robert de Dunstanville, a blackhearted knight with a low opinion of the world around him.  Both characters are intriguing as they represent very different ends of the knightly spectrum.  Adam starts the book as a naïve squire who believes in honour and duty, even after years of being overlooked by his lord.  Robert, on the other hand, is a far more devious and jaded being.  A bastard with no lands of his own, Robert is upset about royal rulings made against him and takes out his anger in the tournaments, where his cunning tactics allow him to achieve many victories.  These two characters are polar opposites to begin with, however, they both start to influence the other in different ways.  Adam starts to become a little more cynical, wiser, and learns how to survive in this harsh world, eventually becoming a competent and dangerous warrior.  Robert on the other hand starts to soften as they grow closer, and the protagonist finds out that there is far more to Robert than he lets the rest of the world see.  These two play off each other, and the rest of the extended cast, extremely well, and I loved the complex mentor-mentee relationship that emerged.  These two are definitely the heart of the story, and I deeply enjoyed their compelling storylines, especially as they both experience hopeless romances, loss, disappointment, intense rivalries, betrayal and moments of glory as they journey towards the conclusion of the book.  The rest of the cast supports the story nicely, and I loved some of the interactions that emerged, as well as the clever mixture of real people from history and original characters invented for the narrative.  These great characters and their unique stories deeply enhance the quality of Battle Song and its powerful story and I was very impressed by how well Ross set them out.

With its outstanding blend of historical detail, amazing protagonists, and an intense and powerful narrative, Battle Song is a brilliant and epic read that I had such an incredible time reading.  Ian Ross produced such a great read here and this was one of the more exciting and entertaining historical fiction novels I have read all year.  Battle Song is a highly recommended historical fiction novel that is really worth checking out.

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Warhammer 40,000: Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter by Phil Kelly

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer5 Comments

Warhammer 40,000 - Shadowsun Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 1 April 2023)

Series: Warhammer 40,000

Length: 8 hours and 13 minutes

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Veteran Warhammer 40,000 author Phil Kelly once again dives into his favourite topic, the T’au, with this new fast-paced and intense novel focused on the intriguing figure of Commander Shadowsun, Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter.

I have been having a lot of fun with Warhammer 40,000 novels this year, and I have already had the opportunity to read some major classics.  Many of these appeared in my recent Favourite Warhammer 40,000 novels list, and I have been keen to read more Warhammer fiction as a result.  As such, I decided to dive into one of the more recent Warhammer 40,000 novels, Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter, an excellent novel focusing on the intriguing T’au faction.  Shadowsun is the latest Warhammer 40,000 novel from Phil Kelly, who is probably best known for his work as a background writer on the various codexes and campaign books released as part of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game.  However, Kelly has also produced several Warhammer 40,000 novels over his career, with a particular focus on the T’au, having written several of the more prominent novels for the alien faction, including his Farsight novels and Blades of Damocles.  This latest book sees Kelly once again focus on Commander Shadowsun as she leads the latest T’au expansion, only to encounter more horrors than she ever expected.

Commander Shas’O Shaserra, better known to her foes as Shadowsun, has long led the forces of the T’au into war against all manner of foes.  A former contemporary of the legendary Commander Farsight, Shadowsun has since earned her own substantial reputation across various theatres.  Her latest action sees her leading the T’au Empire’s Fifth Sphere Expansion on the other side of the Startide Nexus, capturing many former Imperial worlds and bringing them under the sphere of the T’au’s influence.

A calculating tactician and a master of the philosophy of war that emulates the Patient Hunter, Shadowsun has known only success during this new phase of expansion.  But the surprise appearance of a massive fleet of decaying and indestructible warships soon throws all her plans into turmoil as she faces an enemy unlike anything T’au have dealt with before, the Chaos Space Marines of the Death Guard.

Ancient and deadly warriors sworn to the Chaos God of disease and decay, Nurgle, the Death Guard are a force unlike any other in the galaxy.  Employing deadly diseases, unstoppable daemons and other deranged horrors that defy all laws of physics and sanity, the Death Guard effortlessly brush through the T’au resistance.  Unable to counter their terrible tactics, Shadowsun desperately looks for a way to strike back against the Death Guard.  But with her own body consumed with disease and rivals within the T’au seeking their own sinister objectives, can even the great Commander Shadowsun succeed against these relentless opponents?

This was a pretty fun and intense Warhammer 40,000 novel from Phil Kelly, who had a great time really showing off two very different factions from the game.  Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter was a very interesting and action-packed read that will really appeal to fans of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.

The plot of Shadowsun follows the character of Commander Shadowsun in her most lethal adventure yet.  This is a very brutal and quick-paced narrative that wastes no time diving into the action and intrigue to grab the readers full attention.  Starting with a good introduction to the character of Shadowsun and the complex politics of the T’au, the reader is soon introduced to the gruesome threat of the Death Guard, who soon make a major impact on the plot.  This takes the form of an extended and very over-the-top battle sequence on a T’au controlled human planet which Shadowsun was visiting, and she soon must contend with the full threat of the Death Guard.  Kelly really does not hold back at this part of the book, producing a brilliant and very lengthy connected sequence in which Shadowsun encounters the full, fly-infested horrors of Nurgle, as the Death Guard unleash their terrible might.  These scenes are pretty damn intense, at times bordering on pure horror, as the characters encounter diseases, decay, daemons and plague zombies, each of which test Shadowsun and her forces in very different ways.  This major sequence takes a substantial chunk of the book, and it really served to grab the reader’s attention early on with very high plot stakes.

The second half of the book deals with the fallout of this conflict, as an infected and weakened Shadowsun finds all her strategies and plans in ruin, and must find a new way to strike back, despite being hamstrung by internal T’au politics, a growing conflict between the T’au and their alien levies, and a sinister conspiracy from her superiors.  The resolution to this is a desperate boarding action against the Death Guard flagship, with Shadowsun leading a small force on a deadly suicide mission.  While not as extensive as the previous major confrontation, this final third of the book is extremely good, as Kelly envisions another complex battle that pits T’au tech against ancient, unclean horrors.  This sequence gets a little crazy in places, especially as Kelly brings in a couple of unique aliens as backup for the protagonist, and the Death Guard ship is loaded with horrors.  The big fights that emerge are extremely deadly and well written, and you will be enthralled at the carnage that emerges and the unique encounters that occur.  At the same time, the character of Shadowsun continues to grow as a warrior and a commander, fully trusting in her new squad of aliens, while also beginning to understand there is far more going on in the universe than her superiors have let her know.  Everything comes together extremely well, with a fun conclusion that is very satisfying for readers and leaves quite a few questions open that I am sure Kelly will try to answer in the future.  I liked the more metaphysical examination of the T’au towards the end of the book, and it gave the story a really unique conclusion that I will definitely remember.

I felt that Shadowsun was an overall pretty good Warhammer 40,000 novel as Kelly produced an excellent and highly exciting narrative that makes full use of the book’s action, heavy doses of lore intriguing characters.  The various fight sequences are very well written, and the author goes out of his way to try and capture the full horror and considerations of the battlefield, especially when regular soldiers face off against something strange and terrifying.  The two lengthy battles that much of the plot of Shadowsun focuses on are true highlights of the novel, and I love how intense, captivating and devastating the author made them.  Due to Kelly’s obvious passion for the game, this is a very, very detailed novel as the author goes out of his way to highlight the various factions, their motivations, and the state of the Warhammer 40,000 universe at this point in the canon timeline.  Every scene is loaded with some fascinating description of technology, lore, politics or factional history, which is fun in its way, especially for established fans of the games and the surrounding canon.  However, this does mean that Shadowsun might be a bit of a harder book for more casual readers to enjoy, as a certain level of understanding about the T’au is needed to fully appreciate the plot.  As such, I would probably recommend this book to fans of the T’au and dedicated Warhammer 40,000 readers, although newer readers will still be able to have some fun with Shadowsun.

Due to Kelly’s familiarity with the T’au, quite a lot of the book is dedicated to showing them in all their glory, from their advanced technology, their complex society, and their reliance on allied races to help their expansion.  While I am familiar with the T’au, I haven’t read a lot of books from their perspective, having instead only read books where they’re the enemy (Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker and Kill Team by Gav Thorpe).  As such, I really appreciated this highly detailed and compelling focus on the T’au, and I had a lot of fun exploring their recent history, including their expansion throughout the galaxy.  There are so many great elements to their inclusion in Shadowsun, such as getting to see their awesome advanced weapons in combat, which are so very different from the human technology that most of the other Warhammer 40,000 books feature.  I also appreciated the compelling look at several of the client species that make up the T’au auxiliary forces, such as the Kroot.  Kelly features several intriguing different alien species throughout Shadowsun, making for some unique scenes as a result, and I appreciated the examination of their thoughts about the T’au allies, especially with how it plays into their faith and how they view the rest of the galaxy.

In addition, Kelly layers this book with so many complex bits of T’au day to day life, and you must admire his dedication and attention to detail.  Every conversation or discussion between T’au characters provides you some intriguing insights into their society, and I loved seeing their perfectionist mindsets or their fascinating interactions, such as those meaning-laden hand signals.  There are also some cool examinations of the various castes, their reliance on technology (such as Shadowsun’s two drone companions), and their desire to expand and bring word of the “Greater Good” to the rest of the galaxy.  While there is some definite love for the T’au throughout Shadowsun, Kelly also makes it a point to examine the darker side of their society, including the deadly secrets of the Fourth Sphere Expansion force and the typical manipulation of the Ethereal caste.  Commander Shadowsun, who starts the story off relatively naïve about some of the darker aspects of her race, begins to get an understanding of some of the secrets being kept from her, especially when she encounters some of the forces of Chaos and the secrets of the Warp.  The attempts to shut down any discussion about daemons or what happened to the allied species when they went through the Warp gave some of the T’au focused scenes a darker and more sinister edge, and it will be interesting to see whether Shadowsun continues to blindly follow the Ethereals in the future.  I also liked how Kelly really showcased the inherent arrogance of the T’au, especially when it comes to their opinion of other races in the universe, such as humans from the Imperium.  Their haughty belief that they understand the universe is quite amusing, especially when they come face to face with something completely insane.

To balance out the T’au, Kelly also strongly features the Chaos Space Marines of the Death Guard legion in Shadowsun, who are pretty epic antagonists.  Followers of the Chaos God Nurgle, the Death Guard are dedicated to all things disease, decay and corruption, which results in some pretty horrific mutations for their plague infested bodies.  The Death Guard are always pretty gruesome when featured in fiction, but I felt that Kelly did a particularly fantastic job of capturing them in their fully festering glory.  All the Death Guard encountered in this book are covered in putrefying mutations or growths to some degree, and Kelly really goes out of his way to describe just how unsettling they are.  This includes a compelling look at a Death Guard battle cruiser, whose interior is just covered in growths, mould, various liquids that fill up entire corridors, and loaded with so many other over-the-top elements, which really pop in Kelly’s talented hands.  I also loved how the author tries to capture the Death Guard’s highly positive and benevolent natures, which are reflections of their “kindly” god, Nurgle, and which honestly makes them even more sinister.  He further disturbs the reader by showing the Death Guard unleashing their full horrors on the T’au with, diseases, plague zombies, daemons, dark magic and more used against them, totally devastating them.

Watching the T’au get overwhelmed by these weird and terrifying elements is pretty intense, and the main T’au perspective character, Commander Shadowsun, keeps getting more disturbed by their unpredictable tactics and terrible weaponry.  I loved the compelling comparisons the author makes between the Death Guard and the T’au, and the two are honestly the antithesis of each other in aesthetics, combat styles, and mindset.  This ensures that their conflicts are pretty damn epic and watching the T’au forced to come up with some new tactic while freaking out made for some thrilling reading.  I did think that to make the Death Guard see even more threatening and dangerous, Kelly did slightly nerf the T’au in places, especially during their earlier battles, which fans of the faction probably won’t love, however, the protagonist makes up for that by taking out a Great Unclean One at one point.  Kelly’s decision to feature the Death Guard as the antagonists was an outstanding choice and one that made Shadowsun standout to me even more.

As with most Warhammer 40,000 novels that I have the pleasure of enjoying, I chose to check out Shadowsun on audiobook, which was a fun decision as always.  Coming in at just over eight hours, this was a quick audiobook to power through, especially when you get to some of the more epic battle scenes.  This format served to really enhance some of the best elements of the Shadowsun book, including the cool action and the sheer horror of some of the scenes where the protagonists go up against the forces of Nurgle.  Having someone reading out all the disgusting things this foul horde contains makes the book seem even more terrifying, which I deeply appreciated.  Narrator Helen McAlpine does a very good job bringing this compelling plot to life with her great voice work, and I really appreciated her take on several of the characters and big scenes within Shadowsun.  The voice that she gives to the main character of Commander Shadowsun is highly fitting, and I felt that McAlpine managed to capture her emotions, particularly that of distress of despair, very well throughout this audiobook.  Due to this, and more, I would once again strongly recommend this Warhammer 40,000 audiobook to anyone interested in checking out Shadowsun, as it is easily the best way to enjoy any book from this franchise.

Overall, Shadowsun: The Patient Hunter is an excellent Warhammer 40,000 novel and one that I really had a fun time with.  Phil Kelly did an outstanding job featuring the T’au again and it was great to get a deeper look at one of the more fascinating alien factions in the canon.  Loaded with action, horrifying moments, and some deep lore drops, Shadowsun is an awesome read that fans of Warhammer 40,000 fiction can have a lot of fun with.

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Fire With Fire by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller9 Comments

Fire With Fire Cover

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia (Trade Paperback – 4 April 2023)

Series: Standalone

Length: 480 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s most exciting and compelling crime fiction authors, Candice Fox, returns with another intense and impressive novel, the powerful and memorable Fire With Fire.

Over the last several years, few Australian authors have dominated the crime fiction market as effectively as veteran author Candice Fox, who has produced some outstanding reads.  Fox is a very interesting author who started off focusing on the Australian market with several books set out in the wilds of Australia, including her Archer and Bennet series and the Crimson Lake books, the latter of which was recently adapted into the Australian television show, Troppo.  However, in more recent years, Fox has moved on to the larger international audience and has produced several great books set in America, as well as collaborating with legendary author James Patterson for their Detective Harriet Blue series.  I personally know Fox more for her international work rather than her Australian fiction, as I have been lucky enough to receive copies of her last few books, including the gritty standalone read Gathering Dark, the elaborate prison break novel The Chase, and the fantastic and heartfelt 2 Sisters Detective Agency co-written with James Patterson.  Each of these novels has been fun in their own way, and 2 Sisters Detective Agency ended up being one of my favourite Australian books of 2021.  Due to excellent books like these, Fox is now a key addition to my yearly reading schedule, and I just had to grab a copy of her latest novel, Fire With Fire, especially as it had a pretty epic plot behind it.

What starts as a normal day at the understaffed Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Centre in Los Angeles swiftly turns deadly when two people take over the lab, holding three people hostage.  However, this is no ordinary hostage situation, as the kidnappers are husband and wife Ryan and Elsie Delaney.  Two years earlier, the Delaneys’ daughter Tilly went missing at the Santa Monica beach, which the police eventually ruled an accidental drowning.  However, Tilly’s body was never found, key evidence was lost, and her parents never believed the official story and resented a lacklustre police investigation.

Now, desperate for answers, the Delaneys offer the LAPD an ultimatum: find Tilly dead or alive within 24 hours or they will destroy evidence in several major cases, all but destroying key investigations.  Armed with uncanny knowledge of which evidence is the most vital to the LAPD and which samples are too valuable to lose, the Delaneys appear to hold all the cards against the police.  However, the LAPD have no intention of validating the Delaneys’ actions by searching for Tilly.

However, one LAPD detective, Charlie Hoskins, has more motivation to save the evidence in the lab than the rest of the department.  Hoskins has finished up a gruelling five-year undercover stint within the ruthless Death Machines biker gang, an experience he barely survived.  All the evidence that he collected against the gang is now sitting in the lab, and if it goes up in flames, everything he tried to accomplish would be for nothing.  With the rest of the police force angling for a more lethal solution to the Delaney problem, Hoskins decides to find Tilly himself.

Helped by recently fired rookie Lynette Lamb, the woman responsible for blowing his cover with the Death Machines, which saw him literally thrown to the sharks, Hoskins begins a new investigation into Tilly’s disappearance, hoping to find any evidence that can convince the Delaneys that their daughter really did drown.  However, the more they dig, the more Hoskins and Lamb begin to realise that there is something far more sinister behind Tilly’s disappearance.  With time running out before his evidence is destroyed, and with the Death Machines hunting him across LA, can Hoskins find out what happened to Tilly before it’s too late and a lethal gang of killers are set free?

This was another excellent novel from Fox that featured an outstanding and captivating story.  Fox sets the entire narrative up perfectly, first introducing the main characters of Hoskins and Lamb by showing them on the very worst days of their life, as Hoskins is tortured out by the gang he infiltrated, while Lamb is fired on her first day as a rookie cop for being responsible for the leak.  From there, the story focuses on the start of the lab siege as the Delaneys take over and send the police their demands.  I really love this cool main scenario for the Fire With Fire as it is such a brilliant way to gain leverage over a police force.  Fox uses this to great effect to engage the major storylines of the book.  Firstly, there is an intriguing and intense siege storyline as police, led by LAPD Chief of Police Saskia Ferboden, attempt to resolve the situation without the destruction of evidence.  Fox examines many different sides of this situation, from the desperation of the Delaneys, the fear of the hostages in the lab, the emotions of the Delaney’s remaining daughter outside, and the growing hostility of the cops as they watch their evidence get destroyed.  This leads to a captivating series of events as Saskia and her FBI negotiator try to resolve the situation peacefully, only to hit setback after setback, as the Delaneys get violent, the hostages try to be heroic, and all her cops get mutinous at her decisions.

While the storyline around the siege is pretty intense and emotionally powerful, the real meat of the story focuses on Hoskins and Lamb as they attempt to find the Delaneys’ missing daughter, Tilly, before it is too late.  This entire storyline falls together extremely well as the unlikely partnership of Hoskins and Lamb are forced to work together and soon form an entertaining team as they simultaneously investigate the disappearance while also dodging the vengeful gang gunning for Hoskins.  The investigation angle takes them into some interesting directions, and I liked the compelling mystery that Fox wove together for this part of the book.  The author loads in a ton of misleads, alternate suspects, and problematic witnesses, each of whom muddy the water and ensure that the ultimate solution to the case isn’t too clear until the end.  The confrontation between Hoskins and his former gang also forms a great part of this story, especially as there are some excellent twists involved there, and the resulting carnage adds some major danger to the book.  However, the best part of this storyline is the partnership between Hoskins and Lamb, which steals the show with its genuineness and fun moments.

Fox has a highly readable writing style that I felt lent itself to this story and helped to turn it into an enjoyable read.  Pretty much everything about this book, including its flow, its pacing and the balance of story elements is set up really well, and I had a fun time getting through it.  The fast-paced and sharp chapters really move the plot along quickly, and you find yourself reading page after page, trying to see what awesome or intense event will occur next.  I liked how Fox split the story focus around Fire With Fire and the constant changes between the investigation for the missing girl and the deadly siege at the lab, really helps to amplify the intensity of the plot and keep the stakes very high.  I was also very impressed by the excellent blend of mystery, intense drama, high-octane action, and powerful character development, that were the primary features of the plot.  There is a barely a page where Fox isn’t portraying something pretty damn interesting or moving, and you are constantly intrigued with what is going to happen to the characters or the plot moving forward.  This ended up being a pretty amazing read, and I had such a great time getting through it.

One of the major writing highlights of Fire With Fire has to be the complex and damaged characters who formed the basis for much of the story.  There are some exceptional and well-written characters featured throughout this book, and Fox does a great job of showcasing their inner pain, motivations, and compelling personal pasts to the reader as the focus switches between them.  Two of the most notable are the characters of Detective Charlie Hoskins and Lynette Lamb, who serve as the main figures of the investigate arm of the plot.  Hoskins is a tough and independent figure who spent five years infiltrating a deadly criminal gang trying to find evidence to put them all away for murder, only to be discovered at the last minute and tortured.  Barely recovered from his ordeal, Hoskins spends the book trying to protect his hard-won evidence by finding the missing girl.  There is a lot of desperation behind Hoskins as he tries to make all the sacrifices and bad things he did over the last five years matter, and this leads to some great character moments throughout Fire With Fire.  There is also a major trauma component behind Hoskins, as he tries to get over the dark things he experienced during his torture and escape, which leads to him making some reckless decisions.

Hoskins is well matched up with his young and somewhat naïve partner Lynette Lamb.  Lamb is a rookie cop who was targeted without her knowledge and used to find information that exposed Hoskins to his gang.  Fired on her first day on the job, Lamb manages to find Hoskins out of both guilt and determination, hoping that he can get her job back.  Thrust together by circumstance, Lamb stubbornly partners up with Hoskins and works with him to find the missing girl.  There are a lot of great elements to Lamb’s storyline, and out of all the characters in Fire With Fire, she has the most growth as she tries to prove she is tough and capable enough to be a police officer.  The pairing of Hoskins and Lamb is an excellent highlight of the book and I loved how Hoskins reluctantly takes Lamb under his wing and tries to toughen her up., quickly realising there is far more to her than he initially though.  The two make an outstanding team, and they both cover the other’s weakness extremely well.

Aside from Hoskins and Lamb, some of the other standout characters include Ryan and Elsie Delaney, who take over the forensic lab and hold the evidence and people there hostage.  Fox does an outstanding job portraying the desperation behind these two characters as their obsession about finding their missing daughter, bought on by guilt and anger, drives them to extremes.  These two are some of the most complex figures in the entire book, especially as their actions, while bad, are understandable.  Other characters, such as Chief Ferboden and Hoskin’s entertaining friend Surge, help to round out the excellent cast of this book and I felt that these great figures really helped to turn Fire With Fire into a powerful and highly enjoyable read.

Overall, this was an amazing novel from Candice Fox, who once again shows why she is one of Australia’s premier crime fiction authors.  Fire With Fire had an outstanding and clever narrative to it that really drew me in and kept me extremely engaged the entire way through.  The excellent blend of intense narrative, amazing characters and a unique crime fiction scenario was highly effective, and I had a wonderful time reading this awesome book.  Fire With Fire comes highly recommended, and you will get really drawn into this great standalone crime fiction novel.

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The Last Kingdom by Steve Berry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Historical Fiction, Thriller12 Comments

The Last Kingdom (Steve Berry) Cover

Publisher: Hachette Audio (Audiobook – 21 February 2023)

Series: Cotton Malone – Book 17

Length: 14 hours and 20 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for a remarkable and captivating mystery from out of history as acclaimed thriller writer Steve Berry presents another outstanding and riveting novel in The Last Kingdom.

Ever since I started reading thrillers a few years ago, one of my favourite authors in the genre, as well the most consistently entertaining, is the fantastic Steve Berry.  A veteran author who has been producing compelling reads since the early 2000s, Berry has over 25 books to his name that blend intense modern thriller narratives with intriguing history elements.  His most iconic body of work is his long-running Cotton Malone series, which follows a US Justice Department agent as he investigates unique historical conspiracies or secrets whose revelation will have major implications in the modern world.  I first fell in love with Berry’s writing back in 2019 when I read The Malta Exchange.  Since then I have gone on to read several more Cotton Malone novels including The Warsaw Protocol and The Kaiser’s Web, as well as the standalone novel The Omega Factor, each of which have contained some addictive stories that I’ve deeply enjoyed.  As such, I made sure to read his 2023 release, The Last Kingdom, as a soon as I could.  The 17th Cotton Malone novel, The Last Kingdom presented the reader with another brilliant conspiracy from history that was pretty awesome to behold.

There are many strange tales scattered throughout the history of Europe, but few are more unusual than that of King Ludwig II of Bavaria.  An unstable and fanciful figure who loved stories, solitude, and magnificent castles, King Ludwig dreamed of a magical kingdom, one far different from the lands he ruled.  Determined to find such a kingdom, he despatched agents throughout the world before his murder in 1886.  History suggests that he never found what he was looking for, but what if he did?

Now, in modern day Bavaria, freelance intelligence agent Cotton Malone has been hired by his old friend and protégé Luke Daniels to help him infiltrate a small group of radical separatists with dreams of securing Bavaria’s independence from Germany.  The focus of Luke’s investigation is the prince of Bavaria who seeks to usurp his older brother, the duke, and restore the ousted Wittelsbach monarchy with himself as king.  But to achieve his dreams, the prince needs the ultimate leverage, the Last Kingdom of King Ludwig II.

Following clues throughout several significant sites in Bavaria, Cotton and the Prince’s men are soon caught in a race to find a mysterious deed, one that Germany, China and the United States would kill for and which could greatly shift the balance of power in the world.  With the White House, Chinese intelligence, a mysterious Bavarian secret society and a rogue group of former CIA agents all vying for the prize, Cotton desperately attempts to solve the puzzle of the Last Kingdom and the terrible legacy it holds.  But can Cotton once again defeat the odds and keep the word safe from another historical mystery, or will the world be irrevocably altered by a secret form another century?

Well damn, now that was a pretty awesome read.  I have so much damn love for Steve Berry’s work, and The Last Kingdom is probably one of my favourites so far.  Perfectly combining an excellent thriller storyline with an elaborate and deeply captivating tale of history, The Last Kingdom was an exceptional read and one that I honestly could not stop listening to.

Berry has produced an amazing and addictive masterpiece of a thriller in The Last Kingdom with a particularly strong story behind it.  Like most of Berry’s books, The Last Kingdom is primarily a modern day thriller that introduces an original conspiracy that took place in history and has remained hidden until Cotton Malone wanders along (that man finds ancient mysteries wherever he goes).  As such, what starts as a simple infiltration at a famous Bavarian palace soon devolves into an elaborate treasure hunt for unique piece of history.  This latest historical mystery revolves around the eccentric and tragic final kings of Bavaria, and their desires to either retain power or find their own place in the world.  Berry expands on this historical detail throughout the entire course of the book, providing a good combination of real facts and some exaggerated fictional elements, which works into the main plot extremely well.  This modern day storyline gets some legs really early on as the protagonist and his companions are dragged into a major shadow war with several different factions attempting to take advantage of the situation and the hunt for the historical mystery.  Cotton soon finds himself working for several old colleagues, including a reckless CIA agent, while other groups, including the Bavarian prince and a rogue group of former CIA agents, start to use deadly force to solve the clues and find the hidden deed.

Berry keeps the pace of The Last Kingdom quick and compelling by raising the various stakes of the book while still showing off the entirety of Bavaria and its historic beauty.  There is a good reveal of why everyone is after the deed about halfway through which sets everyone on the road to a big confrontation.  While the full details of the conspiracy are a little over-the-top, Berry fits it into the story well, and the examination of modern and historical concerns surrounding is quite clever and intriguing.  The final half of the book is an intense thrill ride in several great ways, as Berry loads up the story with fun reveals, clever twists and so many betrayals.  I loved how the mystery of the King’s deed unfolded, and Berry really mixed the various original puzzle pieces of his conspiracy with the overlying historical detail to create a fantastic scavenger hunt.  The modern day thriller elements flitted around this extremely well, and watching the various participants in the hunt betray or outwit each other to try and get the prize was deeply exciting and led to some big moments.  The conclusion to the story is very good, and readers will come away extremely satisfied, both with how the story came together, and with all the extra knowledge Berry leaves you with.

I have a very deep appreciation for how Berry writes his outstanding novels and I think that The Last Kingdom was a particularly impressive example of this.  The blend of a high-intensity modern thriller storyline wrapped around a mystery loaded in historical detail is always entertaining, and I felt it turned out well again in The Last Kingdom.  The way that Berry splits the story out using alternate perspective chapters is particularly useful, as you get to see each of the characters interpreting the historical elements from different perspectives.  At the same time, several of the chapters are set in the 19th century and provide some deeper historical context to the story, which I felt was particularly useful and fun.  Berry really excels in simultaneously showing the different aspects of his story, and readers come away from The Last Kingdom having had fun with the thriller elements, while also learning so much more about some fascinating topics.  I really think that The Last Kingdom had one of the better thriller storylines associated with it thanks to inclusion of spies, disaffected royals, and several warring governments, and the way that story element unfolded had me pretty damn hooked the entire way through.  Like most of the Cotton Malone novels, The Last Kingdom can be read as a mostly standalone book, and readers don’t need to have any real knowledge of the previous entries in the series to enjoy this great novel.  While there are references to previous adventures and mysteries, the relevant details of these are well explained and new readers won’t be thrown by them.  However, long-term fans of the series will appreciate the continuation of several recent storylines, especially around Cotton’s feud with the US President, and I liked how that unfolded.

As I have mentioned a few times already, one of the best things about The Last Kingdom, and indeed all of the Cotton Malone novels, is the way that Berry dives into unique and intriguing parts of history to really give his stories a captivating kick.  In The Last Kingdom, this takes the form of a focus on the unique history of the kingdom of Bavaria, specifically the last 19th and early 20th century and the last three monarchs of the Wittelsbach line.  I have to admit, this was an area of history that I was not familiar with, but that changed after reading The Last Kingdom.  Berry conveys an immense amount of detail about this period and the relevant kings to the reader throughout the course of the book, so by the time you are done, you know so much about them.  However, Berry does it in such a way that ensures that the reader don’t get bored with it, as he showcases the more compelling elements of their reigns and the nation’s history around it, while also hinting at how it ties into the big conspiracy/mystery of the story.  I particularly enjoyed the detailed and fascinating examination of eccentric King Ludwig II.  Berry covers so many parts of his compelling life in this story, including his complex reign, his unusual outlook on the monarch, and his infamous end that saw him deposed and murdered.  The mysteries of Ludwig II and his search for a new kingdom proved to be a deeply compelling centre for the entire plot and I am really glad I got to learn more about them.  Another nation’s history, which I mention for spoiler reasons, is also concisely featured here, and I liked how Berry tied it together with Bavaria, resulting in a cool mixture that perfectly fed into the modern-day thriller.  The author clearly has so much fun researching and utilising all this historical detail in his books, especially if the extensive author’s notes section at the back is anything to go by.  Featuring all this historical detail works to create a great story, and I cannot emphasise how awesome it can be, especially in Berry’s capable hands.

In addition to all the historical elements of the book, I also really need to highlight how well Berry showcased Bavaria as a whole throughout the course of The Last Kingdom.  Many of the Cotton Malone novels act like a tourist brochure as the protagonists travel from one picturesque area of the country to the next, visiting all manner of historical sites.  This is very much the case for The Last Kingdom as the characters are forced to travel to several impressive locations throughout Bavaria, including iconic cityscapes, famous cathedrals, and beautiful landscapes.  Berry really spares no detail when it comes to describing these locations, and you can easily visualise them in all their stunning glory.  Some of the best descriptions are the iconic three castles that King Ludwig II built, which were strongly connected to his life story.  These castles form the basis for much of the plot’s historical scavenger hunt, and Berry really goes into the history and layout of them, even describing the furniture and the decorations.  You really grow to appreciate these locations around Bavaria, and I know that if I ever get the chance to visit, several of them are going to be on the top of my list of places to check out.  However, it is not just these iconic locations that are explored.  Berry also spends substantial time trying to show off the intangible nature of Bavaria, including its politics, its current attitudes, the state of its old monarchy, its place within larger Germany, and various other elements of its culture, including a real secret society dedicated to King Ludwig II.  All these elements are masterfully researched, examined, and showcased throughout The Last Kingdom, and all of them add to the authenticity of the story in immeasurable ways.

Aside from the excellent story and complex historical details, I also need to mention the great characters featured throughout The Last Kingdom.  Berry always writes fantastic figures, and it was awesome to see more of his central protagonist, Cotton Malone, as well as recurring supporting character Luke Daniels.  Both are well utilised throughout The Last Kingdom, and it was always great to see them working, especially as they have some major veteran presence at this point and work well against the various forces coming for them.  I did think that there was not a lot of development between the two, as both are essentially the same people they were in their last appearances, but they still make solid and likeable central focuses for the story.  However, there was some fantastic character development occurring outside of these main characters, especially as Berry introduces an amazing supporting cast of aging spies, angry deposed royalty, intriguing members of Bavarian society and deadly foreign agents.  Several of these characters have key roles in the book and Berry utilises them perfectly as great alternate perspectives for large swathes of the plot, producing a complex and powerful extended plot.  I loved the utilisation of Derrick Koger, a veteran CIA agent who has history with Cotton and has worked with him/against him in the past.  The funny and morally ambiguous Koger plays off the honourable Cotton perfectly as they work together in this book, and it was interesting to see them teaming up.  I liked how several of the antagonists, as well as Koger, shared a compelling character theme of people who believe they were overlooked or betrayed by their peers or people, and it serves as a great driving force for them to do bad things.  This group of characters and their conflicting priorities are an excellent part of The Last Kingdom and I had an outstanding time following them along this powerful quest.

I once again chose to check out this latest Steve Berry novel on audiobook, which is always a pretty epic experience.  Coming in at nearly 14 and a half hours, The Last Kingdom is medium length audiobook, although once you get caught up in the compelling story it flies by extremely quickly.  I personally love the Cotton Malone audiobooks as the narration really enhances all the elaborate detail of the story, especially the historical background, and ensures that they stick in the mind.  Hearing the key historical facts again and again really drives them home and I find that this helped me get even more fixated on the narrative as I was extremely eager to see how everything came together.  It helps that The Last Kingdom once again features narration from Scott Brick, one of the premiere thriller audiobook narrators out there who has lent his voice to all the previous Cotton Malone audiobooks.  Brick has a great voice for thrillers and I find his narration really fits Berry’s cool stories, especially as he gives some gravitas and complexity to both the modern day events and the historical elements.  Brick also has a great array of accents that he employs to full effect throughout The Last Kingdom, which I deeply appreciated.  His various American accents, which includes one from the wilds of Tennessee, are very well done, and I was once again extremely impressed by his dazzling array of German and European tones.  Even his Australian accent, something I am particularly sensitive about, was passable, if slightly stereotypical, and this fantastic choice of voices enhanced the audiobook experience.  Due to this outstanding voice work, as well as the great impact this format has on some of the key parts of the book, I would strongly recommend The Last Kingdom audiobook, and it is always one of my favourite ways to enjoy a good Steve Berry novel.

Steve Berry continues to impress with his latest outstanding Cotton Malone novel, The Last Kingdom.  Featuring his typical blend of exciting and intense thriller storylines and fascinating historical detail, The Last Kingdom is a brilliant read that powerfully showcases Bavaria in all its glory.  Examining key elements of the state’s past, as well as its current beauty, and perfectly working them into an excellent story, this was an exceptional outing from Berry and one that I had such an amazing time reading. Highly recommended!

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