Tag: Multiple Character Perspectives

The Warsaw Protocol by Steve Berry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Thriller25 Comments

The Warsaw Protocol Cover

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton/Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 25 February 2020)

Series: Cotton Malone – Book 15

Length: 11 hours and 48 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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In the mood for an exciting thriller that not only features an intense, high-stakes spy adventure but also an intriguing and detailed examination of a nation’s history and culture? Then you are going to love The Warsaw Protocol, the latest novel from bestselling thriller author Steve Berry and the 15th novel in his long-running Cotton Malone series.

Former United States Justice Department agent Cotton Malone is now retired and enjoying his life as a rare book dealer and occasionally supplementing his income with some freelance intelligence work. In Bruges to attend a book fair, his holiday takes an unexpected turn when he attempts to stop the theft of a rare religious artefact. His interference accidently places him in the centre of a new conspiracy threatening to engulf Poland, one with massive global ramifications.

A notorious information broker has obtained a series of documents that reveal troubling secrets about the President of Poland, Janusz Czajkowski, and his past during the communist occupation of his country. These secrets, if revealed, would ruin the political career of Czajkowski and are the ultimate form of blackmail. With a controversial proposal surrounding an advanced American missile defence system in Poland on the table, both the United States and Russia want these documents, as do several other interested nations. The documents will be auctioned off in a secret location, with the price of admission one of seven sacred Christian relics located around the world.

Recruited by his former boss, Stephanie Nelle, Cotton attempts to steal one of the remaining relics in order to enter the US into the auction. However, despite the best-laid plans of the new President of the United States, the auction turns into a disaster, with Russian duplicity, Polish intelligence agents and a rival information broker all coming into play. As Cotton attempt to recover the documents, he is faced with severe moral implications, should he really be party to an American plan to blackmail a foreign nation?

Berry is an outstanding thriller author who has been producing consistent and enjoyable work since his 2003 debut, The Amber Room. While he has produced several standalone novels, his main body of work is the Cotton Malone novels, which started in 2006 with The Templar Legacy. So far, I have only read the prior book in the Cotton Malone series, The Malta Exchange, which came out last year. I really enjoyed The Malta Exchange and became an instant fan of the way that Berry combined exciting thriller storylines with historical conspiracy theories and deep dives into the history and culture of various nations. I have been looking forward to The Warsaw Protocol for a while now, and I even featured it on my recent Most Anticipated Books for the First Half of 2020 list.

Like the rest of the books in the series, The Warsaw Protocol can easily be read as a standalone novel, with absolutely no knowledge of any of the prior books required to enjoy the fun and exciting story contained within. Long-term fans of the series will definitely enjoy this new entry, not only because of its great story but because some of the events depicted are likely to have major repercussions for future books in the series. Berry makes excellent use of multiple viewpoints to tell this story, with several major characters getting a number of chapters to themselves, which not only show their actions in the current day but also dive into their own personal history and the history of the people or places they are interacting with. This leads to a richer overall narrative, and I think it was the best way to tell this complex story. Overall, I am really glad that I decided to dive further into the Cotton Malone series, as I found The Warsaw Protocol to be another fantastic and captivating thriller with some first-rate depictions of the complex nation of Poland.

At the centre of this book lies an outstanding thriller which sees the agents of several different nations fighting over sensitive material that could change the balance of power in the world. Berry takes this thriller storyline in some fantastic directions, and I really enjoyed the fast-paced and exciting final result. I loved seeing the past coming back to haunt people, especially as this allowed the author to dive back into Poland’s history when it was part of the Soviet Union. The Warsaw Protocol contains several excellent action sequences, although the book has more of a focus on uncovering the past and solving historical clues. I felt that the author’s use of multiple viewpoints worked really well to increase story’s suspense and intrigue, especially as you get to see the various major players react and enact countermoves against each other. I was a tad surprised that the author did not really do much more with the holy relics the auction participants needed to collect, especially as I spent a good part of the book thinking they were going to lead to some other great Polish treasure. There were also some other McGuffins and secrets that were mentioned or discovered throughout the book that didn’t really go anywhere either, and I would have been interested to see what impact they would have had on the plot if the protagonist had known about them. Still, this was an incredibly captivating piece of thriller fiction, and thanks to the fast-paced and exciting story, I had a really hard time putting The Warsaw Protocol down.

One of the main things that draws me to the Cotton Malone series is the way that Berry makes sure to dive into the history and culture of the countries in which his books are set. I really loved the in-depth look at Malta in his previous book, and I have a great appreciation for all the intriguing details about Poland that he features in his latest novel. Make no mistake, while this book does mainly follow the story of an American intelligence agent, The Warsaw Protocol is first and foremost a novel about Poland, featuring examinations of the nations troubled history and its unique cultural mindset. I am a huge history buff, so I absolutely loved Berry’s examination of these elements of Polish history. His major focus was on Poland when it was controlled by the Soviets following World War II, although he also looks back at the medieval history of the country as well. I found this examination of the Communist occupation of Poland to be quite fascinating, although Berry makes sure to point out the terrible circumstances that the people found themselves in and the lasting impact Communist control has had on the nation. The author sets up the seeds of the book’s central thriller in the country’s Communist past, and the resultant bloom turned out to be an excellent story.

In addition to the country’s history, Berry also attempts to showcase the social and cultural identity of Poland, while examining how the country’s long history of dissention, political upheaval and oppression from other nations has helped to create a unique society of people with a distinctive social mindset and way of life. Berry obviously has a lot of love for the people of Poland, and his examination of their national personality is quite intriguing. It is also another element of this book that works well with the overarching thriller storyline, as several of the point-of-view characters are able to predict how the general population of Poland will react if the information up for auction is released, motivating several of the characters. All in all, this was an incredibly fascinating and compelling examination of one of Europe’s most distinctive and important countries, and I really liked how Berry was once again able to use these captivating elements to produce an excellent spy thriller.

Berry also spends a lot of time bringing several iconic Polish locations to life to serve as backdrops for his story. There are some absolutely fantastic locations featured within this novel, including a number of major cities, some important castles, significant religious sites and even a world-famous salt mine. Berry has apparently spent a lot of time faithfully replicating these sites within his book, with some minor exceptions for plot reasons. The author really paints a vibrant picture when he presents these locations to the reader, and many of them sound like incredible places to visit (I personally would love to see the aforementioned salt mine after reading this book, as it sounds pretty damn awesome). There is also a rather fun sequence at the start of the book set in the Belgium city of Bruges, which the author uses to full advantage, setting a great chase sequence in the city’s iconic canals. There are also descriptions of several real-life restaurants, cafes and other such locations throughout this book, and it is clear that the author has really done his homework. Indeed, the author has even included a substantial notes section at the back of the book discussing the accuracy of his portrayals of history and locations. All of these are amazing backdrops for this fast-paced thriller storyline, and I really enjoyed seeing some of the action taking place in this amazing historical and cultural locations. Those readers who have been to these locations in Poland are bound to get a kick out seeing them so lovingly portrayed in this book, and I think that Berry did a wonderful job of bringing these places to life.

One of Berry’s inclusions that I found particularly interesting was the character of the new US President, Warner Fox. Fox is a brash, undiplomatic and ill-informed former businessman who practices cronyism and is generally painted as being an incompetent and unworthy President by the book’s characters. This sort of US President is becoming more and more common in thriller novels these days for obvious reasons, and I always find it intriguing to see what perceived impacts authors believe such a person would have on the intelligence community. In The Warsaw Protocol, the President is portrayed in an antagonistic manner, as Cotton Malone greatly disagrees with him and his methods. The President and his advisors blunder through the entire book, failing to listen to the advice of seasoned intelligence operators and generally make the entire situation far worse, while the other world leaders easily run rings around them. This actually becomes a major issue for the protagonist, as not only does it make his mission more difficult, but this new President ends up shifting the entire landscape of the series. I thought that this was a really intriguing, if somewhat horrifying, addition to the novel, especially as it is a potentially accurate depiction of how the current administration would interfere with or attempt to control intelligence agencies, and I look forward to seeing how Berry expands on this point in future novels (especially after the next election).

Just as I did with the previous book in the Cotton Malone series, I chose to listen to The Warsaw Protocol’s audiobook format. The Warsaw Protocol audiobook is narrated by Scott Brick and runs for just under 12 hours, allowing for a relatively quick read for a determined listener. I personally find that the audiobook is a great format to enjoy Berry’s books with, as listening to the story helped me appreciate his vivid descriptions and intriguing examinations of history a lot more. Brick is an excellent audiobook narrator who has narrated nearly all of the Cotton Malone books in the past and also provides his vocal talents to a number of other thriller novels, such as the recently released Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz. I find that Brick has a fantastic voice for thriller novels such as The Warsaw Protocol, and he is able to present the complex story in an enjoyable way, as well as provide some great Eastern European accents for some of the individuals featured in the novel. If I had to make a complaint, though, I did find it a little hard at times to distinguish between a couple of characters with similar voices, especially when they are having a conversation with each other. This was not a major issue; it just occasionally left me wondering for a couple of seconds who was talking, although it was usually made clear right after I had that thought. As a result, I would strongly recommend the audiobook format to anyone who is interested in checking this book out, and I personally loved listening to the story unfold.

Steve Berry has once again produced an incredible and deeply enjoyable thriller novel that utilises his trademark love for all things historical and cultural to create a fantastic read. The Warsaw Protocol does a wonderful job of combining an exciting story with an in-depth look at the vibrant, distinctive and at times chaotic nation of Poland, and I loved the final result. I cannot wait to see what amazing adventure Berry comes up with next time, and I fully intend to keep reading all the Cotton Malone books he brings out. This is a highly recommend thriller that I think a lot of people are going to enjoy.

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Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Thriller31 Comments

Into the Fire

Publisher: Michael Joseph/Brilliance Audio (Audiobook – 28 January 2020)

Series: Orphan X – Book Five

Length: 12 hours

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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From the mind of bestselling thriller author Gregg Hurwitz comes an outstanding and captivating adventure novel, Into the Fire, the latest book in his amazing Orphan X series.

Evan Smoak is Orphan X, a former orphan child who was taken in by a secret covert government and trained from a young age to become the most skilled assassin and special operator in the world. Orphan X served his country for years before finally having enough and leaving, pursued by the people who ordered his creation. Resettling to Los Angeles, Evan forged a new identity for himself as The Nowhere Man, a vigilante dedicated to helping those in desperate need who have no one else to turn to.

After killing his greatest enemy, the United States President, Evan has had enough of violence and is determined to retire and live a quiet life. But before he leaves everything behind, Evan has decided to help one more person as The Nowhere Man, as one final act of redemption. Enter Max Merriweather, a poor construction worker in LA. Two months earlier his cousin Grant, a successful forensic accountant, entrusted Max with an envelope and instructions to take it to a reporter if anything happened to him. Now Grant is dead, an armed thug is ransacking Max’s apartment and the reporter he was told to contact has been murdered. With nowhere else left to turn, Max calls The Nowhere Man.

Taking on Max’s case, Evan dives into LA’s criminal underbelly in order to locate the people hunting Max. Easily finding the thugs responsible for Grant’s death, Evan manages to eliminate them quickly; however, it turns out that they are just the tip of an iceberg stretching throughout the entirety of LA. Grant was on the verge of uncovering a massive conspiracy, and his evidence could put away a lot of dangerous people who are now determined to kill Max to keep him quiet. Determined to keep Max safe, Evan soon finds himself embroiled in one of the most challenging and complicated missions of his life, as behind every corner a new adversary lies, each one more powerful and connected than the last. Can even this legendary assassin and vigilante win with the odds so severely stacked against him?

Gregg Hurwitz is a veteran thriller author who has been producing compelling and exciting novels since his 1999 debut, The Tower. Since then he has written over 20 novels, including his Tim Rackley series, The Rains Brothers books and several standalone novels. He has also contributed to several DC and Marvel comic book series, such as Batman: The Dark Knight and The Punisher, and he also does a bit of screenwriting, having written several episodes of the 2009 remake of V. Hurwitz’s main body of work at the moment is his Orphan X series, which started in 2016 with the novel Orphan X. Into the Fire is the fifth book in the Orphan X series and follows on shortly after the events of the fourth book, Out of the Dark. I actually got into Hurwitz’s works last year when I read Out of the Dark due its cool story premise of a former secret agent attempting to kill the President. After I enjoyed this fun action thriller last year, I was definitely keen to check out more of Hurwitz’s work and I have been looking forward to Into the Fire for a little while now.

Now, I have to admit that while I was interested in checking out Into the Fire, I was a little worried that Hurwitz was going to have a hard time topping his previous novel and its outrageous central plot point. However, Into the Fire turned out to be an outstanding read which I ended up enjoying more than Out of the Dark. Hurwitz has produced an incredible thriller that is filled with intense action, clever plot developments and an excellent character-driven central story. All of these amazing elements combine together perfectly into a novel which can easily be read as either a continuation of the series or as a compelling standalone novel.

One of the best parts of this novel is the well-written and captivating central thriller storyline which sees the protagonist attempt to take down a criminal conspiracy in the heart of LA. What starts out as a relatively simple mission to take down a small-time criminal organisation quickly morphs into a massive task, as each time Evan thinks he has succeeded, a larger and more dangerous adversary appears behind the people he has just taken out. There are so many twists and turns in this novel, you honestly don’t know when or where it is going to end, and the story goes in some very fun and clever directions. I really enjoyed how the author layered his story with seemingly innocuous comments and discussion that later morphed into major plot payoffs later down the line in the book, and I was actually surprised about a few of the reveals that occurred.

I really liked the overarching plot idea of an elite secret agent going after everyday criminals with his full range of tradecraft, advanced weapons and training, especially as it resulted in some amazing sequences throughout the book. The protagonist comes up with some truly unique, clever and at times brutal ways to take down some of his opponents, which were fun to check out. I know I will never look at a plastic drinking straw the same way again. My personal favourite part of the book are several chapters where the protagonist breaks into a prison to deal with one of his targets. The various ways that he infiltrated the prison, pulled off his mission and then escaped was not only clever but also very entertaining, and I loved every single second of it. I also really liked how Hurwitz introduced a handicap for his protagonist throughout this book in the form of a severe concussion obtained early on in the story. The author did an excellent job portraying the symptoms of a concussion, and it was interesting to watch the protagonist struggle to complete his tasks with blurred vision or a massive headache. The concussion angle was a great way to amp the risk surrounding the protagonist’s actions, as it actually put many of his opponents on an equal footing with this former elite special agent and was a fantastic inclusion to the story. Overall, this turned out to be an extremely well-written and deeply exciting thriller storyline, which proves to be quite addictive and captivating.

I was also quite impressed by the way that Hurwitz spent time examining and developing the central characters of this book. In particular, there is a fascinating focus on the complex character of Evan Smoak, who is the main protagonist of this series. Hurwitz has always done an amazing job of portraying Evan as a man very much haunted by his past lives, both as an abandoned child and as an assassin who was trained to kill since the age of 12. Both of these parts of his life still drive him, and his whole persona as The Nowhere Man is a form of redemption for him, as he attempts to not only atone for the lives he took as Orphan X but to also help those who feel as powerless as he did when he was a young child. Hurwitz continues to utilise this characterisation in Into the Fire, although this time it is further complicated by his plans to retire after this one final mission. This whole retirement angle is a major concern for Evan, as he spends a good part of the book weighing up the good he does as The Nowhere Man against all the personal benefits of attempting to live a normal life. This makes for a lot of internal conflict, which forces the author to once again dive into Evan’s motivations for being a vigilante, which adds a great dramatic edge to the entire story.

This consideration about having a more normal life is also explored in the way that the trained loner Evan starting to learn more about human interaction and relationships in this book. Part of this takes place in the way that he interacts with Joey, the teenage hacker and former Orphan trainee he saved and took under his wing. Evan has inadvertently taken on the role of a father figure to Joey, and it was great to see him continue to act protective towards her and see their unique relationship grow. There is also the rather amusing and awkward interactions that he has with the residence of his building. Despite not wanting to have much to do with them, he actually goes out of his way to protect them, and he is actually shown to care quite deeply when one of them is hurt. Finally, there is the complex relationship he has with Mia, the single mother and ADA in his building who he has feelings for but has driven away with his acts of vigilantism. All of these interactions help Evan develop more as a character and recover a little more of his lost humanity, and I really enjoyed the way that Hurwitz explored such a complex and damaged protagonist.

While most of the book’s focus is on Evan, Hurwitz also dives into the life of Evan’s latest client, Max Merriweather. Max, who serves as a significant point-of-view character, is a down-on-his-luck individual who is dragged into the events of this book by his more successful cousin. Throughout the course of Into the Fire, you get to learn about the past of Max, showing how, due to events outside of his control, he has always been seen as the family screw-up, something he has struggled to escape due to his corresponding low self-confidence. You also get to see the history of his tragic marriage, and how doing the right thing cost him everything. I really liked the way that Hurwitz took the time to explore the life of this new client, especially as it develops him into a much more sympathetic character that reader becomes invested in over the course of the book. I also liked the relationship he slowly built up with Evan, as each of them were able to provide some help in solving the deeper emotional or personal issues that were affecting the other. This excellent character was an outstanding and distinctive part of the book, and I am definitely keen to see what excellent characters are introduced in the next Orphan X book, especially after the intriguing reveal at the end of Into the Fire.

I ended up enjoying the audiobook format of Into the Fire, which was narrated by Scott Brick. This audiobook runs for a substantial 12 hours in length, but I got through it rather quickly, as I got really drawn in by the cool and compelling story. I personally found that this was an excellent way to consume this fantastic book, and I had a great time listening to the story. Brick is an excellent audiobook narrator who has a lot of experience bringing thriller novels to life. I previously enjoyed his narration of The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry, and I am currently listening to his narration of the sequel, The Warsaw Protocol. Brick did a wonderful job bringing the characters in Into the Fire to life, and I felt that he utilised perfect voices for each of them. As a result, I would strongly recommend the audiobook format of Into the Fire, as it is an amazing way to enjoy this book.

Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz is an incredible read that comes highly recommended. This latest book in the fantastic Orphan X series is an outstanding piece of thriller fiction, which sets its complex characters down an action-packed road of intrigue and twists to produce a five-star read. Hurwitz has really outdone himself with Into the Fire, which turned out to be one hell of a book. I cannot wait to see where Hurwitz takes the Orphan X series next, but I will definitely be grabbing a copy of his next book when it comes out.

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Throwback Thursday: Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Golden

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Throwback Thursday, Tie-in Novel21 Comments

Star Wars Dark Disciple Cover

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 7 July 2015)

Series: Star Wars

Length: 11 hours and 11 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Amazon

Reviewed as part of 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.

For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I go back and check out an amazing piece of Star Wars fiction with Star Wars: Dark Disciple by tie-in fiction extraordinaire Christie Golden. Dark Disciple is a compelling and intense Star Wars novel that features two fan-favourite characters from the extended universe in a fantastic adventure that is deeply connected with The Clone Wars animated series.

A Jedi shall not know anger. Nor hatred. Nor love!

For years, the galaxy has been locked in one of the most destructive struggles it has ever known, the Clone Wars. Led by the ruthless Sith Lord Count Dooku, the Separatists have engaged in a gruelling and bloody conflict with the Republic that has led to the death of countless innocents. While the guardians of the Republic, the Jedi, have tried in vain to capture Dooku and end the war, their methods appear inadequate to stop him. After a particularly brutal massacre, the Jedi Council do the unthinkable and sanction the assassination of Count Dooku, believing that only his death will bring peace to the galaxy.

To that end, the Council turns to maverick Jedi Master Quinlan Vos. Unpredictable, brash and experienced in undercover work, Vos is the perfect candidate for this dangerous mission. However, this is not a one-man job. In order to track down Dooku, infiltrate his defences and defeat him in battle, Vos is going to need a partner. At the suggestion of Master Yoda, Vos seeks out the one person who knows the Count better than anyone else, Dooku’s former apprentice and assassin, Asajj Ventress.

After losing everything she held dear at the hands of Dooku, Ventress is desperate to leave her past as a Sith behind. But her hatred for Dooku is all-consuming, and she jumps at the chance to finally kill him. However, Ventress believes that Dooku can only be defeated by someone empowered by their emotions and able to access the dark side of the Force. Tutoring Vos in the methods of her race, the Nightsisters, Ventress is able to make Vos stronger and more powerful as he sits on the knife’s edge between the light and the dark side. But this balance is fragile at best, and all it will take is a single push for Vos to fully embrace the darkness. Between the machinations of Dooku, terrible secrets from the past and his growing feelings for Ventress, can Vos remain true to his vows and complete his mission, or have the Jedi have unleashed a great new evil upon the galaxy?

Dark Disciple is an intriguing addition to the Star Wars canon which not only has some major connections to the popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series but also contains a cool and at times dramatic story about love, darkness within and redemption. Dark Disciple was actually based on a script for eight unproduced episodes of The Clone Wars that were never made due to the Disney buyout of Star Wars and the subsequent cancellation of the animated show. These episodes were written by The Clone Wars screenwriter Katie Lucas (who provides a foreword for this book) and subsequently adapted into this book by acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author Christie Golden. Golden has authored many tie-in novels for various franchises, and I have previously enjoyed her World of Warcraft novels, including War Crimes (probably my favourite piece of Warcraft fiction) and Before the Storm. While Golden had written a few pieces of Star Wars fiction before this book, Dark Disciple ended up being her first novel in the current canon. In the end, this turned out to be an excellent read and I was really impressed in the way that Golden ended up turning this cool script into a deep and compelling novel.

Seeing as it is based off an unused script for the show, this book obviously has some strong connections to The Clone Wars television show. This book is set a little while after the events of the already aired episodes of The Clone Wars and continues their range of storylines a little further. Not only does Dark Disciple contain several characters whose main appearance was in the animated show, but it also refers to events from several episodes, including episodes that Katie Lucas wrote herself. As a result, Dark Disciple is probably best enjoyed by those readers who are familiar with the show, who will have a greater appreciation of the book’s various story elements. That being said, anyone who has seen the Star Wars prequel movies will be able to easily follow what is going on, and will no doubt enjoy the complex story it contains.

Fair warning to fans of The Clone Wars series, though: you are going to experience some sense of crushing disappointment after reading this. The book itself is pretty damn awesome, but it’s supremely disappointing that the story contained within this novel never featured as the amazing extended arc for the animated series it clearly would have been. While I really loved this novelisation, I cannot help but imagine how emotional and explosive it would have been acted out and animated as part of the show. As I review this book, it is actually less than a month until the release of the seventh and final series of The Clone Wars. While I am deeply excited for this final season, after reading this book I am a little sad as I know that the storyline contained within Dark Disciple is unlikely to be featured in it.

That being said, I really enjoyed the fact that this book focuses on two amazing characters from the animated series, Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos. Ventress and Vos are fan-favourite characters who have had significant appearances within the expanded Star Wars universe. Ventress is best known for her role within The Clone Wars universe (first appearing in the original 2003 Clone Wars show), where she first served as a major antagonist, before developing into more of an anti-hero. Ventress ended up being the focus of several major arcs within The Clone Wars series, some of which were written by Katie Lucas. Her success in the animated series saw her utilised in several books and comics set in the same period, although most of these are no longer canon. Vos also has an interesting origin as he was first seen as a background character in The Phantom Menace. Thanks to his cool look and some fan interest, the character was given a fleshed-out origin story as a Jedi and subsequently utilised in several works of expanded fiction. This included books and comics and an appearance in one episode of The Clone Wars. While Ventress and Vos had several interactions in the old Star Wars Legends canon, Dark Disciples is actually the first time that they meet in the current canon. Their whole relationship is a major part of the story, and I liked how it formed and developed throughout the course of the book.

I really enjoyed how Ventress was utilised in this book. Ventress is one of the best original characters in The Clone Wars, and I have always loved the gradual journey to redemption that occurred within her story arc. As a result, a book where she is one of the main characters is deeply intriguing to me and I was excited to see how she continued to evolve after her last appearance in the animated series. There are some major developments for Ventress in this book, and if you ever enjoyed this character in the animated series and wanted to know her ultimate fate than you need to read this book. Personally, I think that this was an amazing continuation to the character arcs that had been featured within the shows, and as I mentioned above, I am disappointed that it was never included as part of The Clone Wars. In adapting the script into this novel, Golden makes sure to really cover the background of this character, so those readers who are unfamiliar with the shows will be able to understand her complex and tragic backstory. I also think that Golden did an amazing job of capturing the complex character that was Ventress in this book, getting past her prickly outer layer to see the more complicated emotional person within. This was a near perfect examination of one of the best Star Wars characters who never appeared in a movie, and after reading this book it will be a shame not to see more of her in any of the planned animated shows.

Perhaps the most compelling part of this book is the complex and gripping central tale about Quinlan Vos’s fall to the dark side of the Force. This was an intrinsic part of the book’s overall plot, as Vos and Ventress both believed that having the easy power obtained by dark side users was the only way to defeat Dooku. This turn to the dark side is spurred on by lies, revelations and intense emotions, and it necessitates some deep dives into Vos and Ventress’s respective psyches, resulting in some dramatic and personal moments from both of these great characters. Watching Vos’s slow decline as he slips further and further away from the light side is painful at times, especially when you just know he is eventually going to turn. Even then, despite realizing it was coming, the point when he fully breaks bad for the first time (yellow eyes included) is pretty powerful, as he lashes out at the only person he has, and will ever, truly love. In many ways, Vos’s fall reflects Anakin’s later turn in Revenge of the Sith, in that he believes learning about the dark side is for the greater good, the Jedi Council pushes him to do something he has moral issues with and his emotional connections to a women push him over the edge. There are also some amazing scenes in the later part of the book where the reader is unsure whether Vos is actually evil or is just pretending to have fallen to fool his foes, which leads to a lot of uncertainty and hostility from the other Jedi and Ventress as they try to work out his plan. Overall, this was an outstanding centre for this book, and the complex web of deceit, deeper examination of how one falls to the dark side and all the drama surrounding this part of novel, was really cool to read.

One of the other parts of the story that I found to be interesting was the depiction of some of the other Jedi in this book. Throughout this story the Jedi, particularly the members of their ruling council, are shown to be walking a bit of a darker path thanks to the impacts of the Clone Wars. While not attempting to learn more about the dark side of the Force, members of the Council are beginning to propose action that they usually wouldn’t consider, such as the assassination of Dooku, or the execution of Vos and Ventress. This is a really intriguing take on their characterisation which plays in well with the future events of Revenge of the Sith, where their boldness in attempting to take over the Republic to protect it or Mace Windu’s attempt to kill Chancellor Palpatine backfires on them. Windu in particular comes across as a bit of an arse in this book, and the rest of the council (with the exception of Yoda and Kenobi) seem like meek followers going along with him. I thought that this aspect of the books was pretty interesting, and it liked seeing some hints of this once wise and noble Jedi Council beginning to act more rashly and dramatically.

Like most of the Star Wars books that I look at for my Throwback Thursday articles, I ended up listening to the audiobook version of Dark Disciple, which was narrated by Marc Thompson and ran for just over 11 hours. I have mentioned several times before about how I find Star Wars audiobooks to be a step above most other audiobook productions I listen to, and Dark Disciple was yet another awesome example of just how cool they can be. This audiobook in particular does an excellent job of utilising the huge range of iconic Star Wars sound effects to create an exciting or appropriate atmosphere for much of the story, and there is nothing cooler than hearing lightsaber or blaster sound effects during a battle sequence. In addition, this format also features some of the incredible and memorable music from the films. John Williams’s epic score from the prequels was on full display in this book, with some of his most awesome pieces being used throughout several scenes to great effect. Nothing amps up an action scene quite as much as having the pulse pumping Duel of the Fates playing in the background, while hearing the mournful composition known as Anakin’s Betrayal playing during the scenes where Vos is turning to the dark side of the Force is a real emotional gut punch that brings back memories of Vader and the Emperor killing all the Jedi. This was actually one of the best utilisations of Star Wars music in an audiobook that I have so far experienced, and I really loved how much it increased my enjoyment of this fantastic audiobook.

In addition to the cool sound effects and dramatic music, the audiobook also benefited from the talented voice work of Marc Thompson. Thompson is a veteran narrator of Star Wars audiobooks, having worked on a huge number of their tie-in books since 2007. I have previously listened to two Star Wars books narrated by Thompson, Thrawn and Scoundrels, and with both of these I was really impressed with the realistic and clever voices that he came up with for some of iconic Star Wars characters. Dark Disciple is another exceptional example of Thompson’s skill, as he was able to reproduce the voices of several of the book’s major characters. Not only does he do an amazing job replicating Ventress’s voice, but he also produced excellent examples of Yoda, Count Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s voices from The Clone Wars show. This is some first-rate voice work which, when combined with all the extra sound effect and musical inclusions, made Dark Disciples an absolute treat to listen to, and I cannot recommend this format highly enough.

Star Wars: Dark Disciple by Christie Goldie is an outstanding and highly enjoyable piece of Star Wars fiction that I had an amazing time listening to. Featuring a first-rate story that revolves around two amazing characters and their complicated relationship to the force (and each other), Dark Disciple is one of the better Star Wars novels that I have had the pleasure of reading. A perfect tie-in to the amazing The Clone Wars animated series, this book is a must read for all fans of that series, especially before the seventh and final season is released. Dark Disciple comes highly recommend and is a force to be reckoned with.

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A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books27 Comments

A Little Hatred Cover

Publisher: Orion (Audiobook – 17 September 2019)

Series: Age of Madness Trilogy – Book One

Length: 20 hours and 20 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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One of the very best authors of dark fantasy fiction, Joe Abercrombie, returns to his epic First Law series with A Little Hatred, an outstanding and deeply entertaining read that serves as an excellent start to a whole new trilogy.

28 years after the failed Gurkish invasion of the Union and Jezal dan Luthar’s sudden rise to the throne, the world is much changed. Industry has come to the Union, with vast factories, production lines and businesses now defining the Union’s various cities at the expense of the nation’s farmers, labourers and working classes. In this time of change, a whole new generation is ready to make its mark in the world, but the rivalries, hatreds, manipulations and disappointments of those who have come before are hard things to overcome.

In the North, war once again rocks the lands, as the forces of Stour Nightfall invade the Dogman’s Protectorate, forcing the armies of Angland to come to their aid. Young lord Leo dan Brock is desperate to seek honour and glory on the battlefield; however, his forces are too small to defeat the vast Northern hordes. Requiring help from the Union, Leo is hopeful that a relief force led by Crown Prince Orso may help to turn the tide of battle, but the Crown Prince is a man known to constantly disappoint all who pin their hopes on him. However, the arrival of the mysterious Rikke, daughter of the Dogman, may provide him with a all the help he needs, especially with her ability to see through the Long Eye. Back in the Union, Savine dan Glokta, daughter of the feared Arch Lector Glokta, is making a name for herself as a ruthless businesswoman. Dominating the world of business and industry, Savine believes that she is untouchable, but dissent amongst the working classes are about to show her how wrong she is.

As both the North and the Union find themselves on the dawn of a whole new era, chaos will absorb all before it. While this new generation attempts to find their place, they soon begin to realise what the previous generation found out the hard way that they are not the ones in charge of their destiny, and there is nothing a little hatred cannot ruin.

Joe Abercrombie is a highly acclaimed author who has produced some truly amazing pieces of dark fantasy fiction over the years. While he has written other books, such as the Shattered Sea trilogy, he is probably best known for his First Law series. The First Law series is currently made up of seven books (including A Little Hatred), which detail bloodshed, politics and manipulation in a dark fantasy world. This series started with The First Law trilogy, which debuted in 2006 with The Blade Itself and ended in 2008 with Last Argument of Kings. The First Law trilogy followed the adventures of several complex and amazing characters as they fought to not only stop the Gurkish invasion of The Union but also the end a war in the North. Abercrombie would eventually follow this original trilogy with three standalone novels, which were set after the events of The First Law trilogy. These three books, 2009’s Best Served Cold, 2011’s The Heroes and 2012’s Red Country, each had various degrees of connection to the original trilogy, and in many cases showed what happened to some of the major characters from the first three books. These standalone novels were eventually collected together into the loose Great Leveller trilogy. I absolutely loved the original First Law trilogy, and it remains amongst one of my favourite fantasy series of all times. I do need to check out all of the Great Leveller books at some point, although I have no doubt the will all prove to be first-rate reads.

A Little Hatred is Abercrombie’s first entry in the First Law series since 2012, and it is set 28 years after the events of the original trilogy and 15 years after the events of Red Country. A Little Hatred is also the first book in a new connected trilogy that Abercrombie is producing, The Age of Madness trilogy, with the next two books in this trilogy to be released in September 2020 and September 2021. I have been looking forward to reading A Little Hatred for a while now, mainly because of how much I enjoyed the original The First Law trilogy, and I was very happy to not be disappointed with this new book. A Little Hatred was an incredible and captivating read which I powered through in short order. Not only does this book get a full five stars from me, but I even listed it as one of my favourite novels from 2019 when I was only about halfway through it.

For his latest book, Abercrombie utilises the same writing style that proved to be so successful in the previous First Law books. Readers are once again in for a dark, gruesome and very adult story that follows seven main point-of-view characters as they experience the events unfolding throughout the book. While each of the seven main characters has their own unique arcs, their various stories combine throughout the course of the novel to produce a deeply compelling overall narrative. I really like all the places the story went in this book, and it turned into an excellent blend of war, political intrigue, violent social revolution and intense interaction between a number of amazing characters. Abercrombie does not hold back any punches in this story, and there are a number of intense and excessively violent fight and torture scenes in this book, and there is plenty to keep action fans satisfied. At the same time, the author also installs a fun sense of humour throughout the book, which usually relates to the personalities of the various characters who are telling the story. All of this adds up to an absolutely amazing story and you are guaranteed to get quickly get drawn into A Little Hatred’s plot.

I thought that the author’s use of multiple character perspectives was an extremely effective storytelling method, especially as the seven point-of-view characters followed in this book often find themselves on different sides in the various featured conflicts. This allows the reader to see all the relevant angles to the political, social and military conflicts that are shown in the story, whilst also advancing the book’s various character arcs. These multiple character perspectives also allow the reader to see multiple viewpoints of the same events. This is especially effective during a couple of the larger battle sequences or during a particular duel scene, where you get to see the thoughts, fears and plans of the various participants and spectators, allowing for richer and more elaborate scenes. There are also a bunch of brief scenes which are told from the perspective of several minor characters, which are used, for example, to show off the extreme chaos surrounding the takeover of a city by members of the working class. I also really liked how Abercrombie used these different character viewpoints to imbue the story with some intriguing symmetry, such as by having two separate characters spending time with their respective parents back to back in order to show the differences and similarities in their relationships. All of this produces an excellent flow to the novel, which I really appreciated, and which helped with the overall enjoyment of the book.

A Little Hatred is an excellent continuation of the previous First Law books, and Abercrombie has come up with a bold new direction for the series. This latest novel is strongly connected to the events of the previous entries in this overarching series and continues a bunch of the storylines established in the prior books. It also continues the adventures of several characters who have previously appeared in the series, showing what has happened to them in the intervening years and how their legacy is being continued. Despite this strong connection to the previous six books in the First Law series, I would say that it is not a major necessity to have read any of the prior books, as the author does a great job of rehashing all the relevant major events while also successfully reintroducing some of the main characters, allowing new readers to enjoy this book. That being said, those readers who are familiar with some of the prior books, especially The First Law trilogy, are going to have a much better understanding of the events and characters that are featured within A Little Hatred, which may also result in a change in how readers view certain characters and events. For example, one of the main characters from the original trilogy makes several appearances throughout the book, interacting with some of the point-of-view characters. As these new characters have no prior experiences dealing with him, they believe he is a fairly harmless and friendly old man, which is how he is then presented to new readers. However, those readers who are familiar with him from the original trilogy know just how dangerous he can be, and his harmless routine actually becomes a little sinister. Readers with knowledge of the events of the original trilogy are also in for a lot more cringe throughout this book, as you know all the shocking details of a certain inappropriate relationship well before it is revealed to one of the characters later in the book.

I thought it was interesting that Abercrombie included such a significant time skip between this book and the original trilogy, but I think that it really paid off and created an excellent new setting. While the North and the conflicts that defined it remained very similar to what was featured in the previous books, the main setting of the Union proved to be very different. Since the last time you saw it, the Union has started to evolve from a more medieval society to an industrial society, with factories and production lines, which in many ways were very reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution in places like England. Of course, these changes result in different types of conflicts, as the lack of traditional jobs combined with the rich ruthlessly taking the agricultural industry away from the peasants results in an interesting bout of extreme class warfare, led by the organisation called the Breakers. These Breakers bear a lot of similarities to the organised instigator of real-life industrial revolts that occurred throughout historical Europe, and it was interesting to see Abercrombie’s take on them, especially as he included an anarchist sub-group, the Burners. I really liked this intriguing focus on class revolution, and it looks like this is going to be one of the major story threads of this new trilogy. I am very curious to see how it all unwinds, and I imagine there is more anarchy, chaos and bloody revolution on the horizon.

While the above elements are all pretty outstanding, the true highlight of the First Law books has always been the complex and damaged protagonists through whose eyes the story is told. Abercrombie has a real knack for creating compelling and memorable characters, which he once again showcases within this book. There are some really enjoyable and complex characters here, and I really liked their various interactions and character arcs. These new point-of-view characters include:

  • Crown Prince Orso – son of King Jezal and notorious wastrel who, despite his outward appearance as a lazy, useless and apathetic drunk, is actually a surprisingly capable and deeply caring individual, who hides his abilities and real feelings, especially as his attempts to be a good person usually have disappointing results.
  • Savine dan Glokta – daughter of Arch Lector Glokta, Savine has capitalised on her business sense and the fear of her father to become a successful investor. As a woman in a man’s world, she is forced to be utterly ruthless like her father, and Savine mostly comes across as heartless until a traumatic experience and revelations about her past almost break her.
  • Rikke – a Northern girl who is the daughter of the Dogman. Rikke is a powerful seer with the ability to see both into both the past and the future, although she has limited control of these powers. Rikke starts the book out as quite an innocent woman, until Stour Nightfall’s invasion hardens her and makes her keener for violence and revenge.
  • Leo dan Brock – a Union lord who is the son of two of the protagonists of The Heroes. Leo is a young man’s man, eager to prove himself in combat, whose abilities have made him a popular hero. However, his impatience and desire for glory ensure calamity on the battlefield, which guilts him to try and learn a new way of command. However, once he tastes glory again, he forgets all the lessons he has learned and the friends who got him there.
  • Vick dan Teufel – a Union Inquisitor serving under Arch Lector Glokta. Despite the fact that Glokta framed her father in the original trilogy and sent her and her entire family to a prison camp, Teufel appears loyal to him and the Union, as she likes being on the winning side. Despite her misgivings about the people she works with and her respect for some of the people she is investigating, she continues her missions and tries not to get close to anyone. Teufel is actually very similar to Glokta in personality, especially as she has the familiar storyline of being forced to investigate a conspiracy that no one wants solved.
  • Gunnar Broad – a former Union soldier who returned home after many years of fighting for his country to find that the local lord has stolen his farm. Attempting to find work in the cities, Broad becomes involved in the events of the Breaker’s revolution. Broad is a killer without peer whose temper, bloodlust and the emotional trauma of war drag him into great acts of violence, even when these actions backfire on him and his family.
  • Jonas Clover – a veteran Northern warrior who finds himself serving as an advisor to the young warlord Stour Nightfall. Clover is easily my favourite character in A Little Hatred, as his sense of humour, penchant for mockery and jaded personality really stand out amongst the more serious and blood thirsty characters he interacts with and he has some of the best lines in the whole book. Clover affects an air of laziness and cowardice and is constantly spouting wisdom and council to the younger warriors, who either don’t listen or openly mock him. Despite his apparently amiable nature, Clover is actually a vicious bastard when he needs to be, and he has a couple of memorable kills throughout the book.

In addition to the above seven new point-of-view characters, there is also a bevy of great side characters which really help move the story along. While I could go on about several of them, I might just stick to Isern-i-Phail and Stour Nightfall. Isern is another older Northern character who serves as Rikke’s mentor and protector. While Isern is generally a hard and practical character she is in many ways crafted in a similar vein to Jonas Clover, gently mocking the younger characters she interacts with and producing some of the most entertaining insults and comments throughout the book. Stour Nightfall, on the other hand, is one of the primary antagonists of the book. The cocky son of Black Calder and the grandson of Bethod, one of the major antagonists of the original trilogy, Stour has a real sense of entitlement and viciousness, brought on by his famous relatives and his skill with the blade. In many ways he is a mirror to Leo dan Brock, as both are determined to seek glory in combat, and both seek to emulate the Bloody Nine, Logen Ninefingers, despite their elder’s warnings about what kind of person their hero really was. While at times Stour was a bit two-dimensional as a character, he changes after a significant event at the end of the book, and his future in the series should prove to be very interesting.

Aside from this new group of protagonists, several of the major characters from the original trilogy make a return in this book, allowing readers to get an idea of what has happened to them since their last appearances. This includes returning former point-of-view characters Jezal dan Luthar, Sand dan Glokta (who might just be the best character Abercrombie ever came up with) and the Dogman, as well as several secondary characters. While all of these characters get a few lines and are presented as major figures in the current world order, most of the focus of A Little Hatred is given over to the newer protagonists, which I think fits in well with the book’s overall focus on change. It was great to see these characters again, and there were even some major developments surrounding one of them. It was also cool to see them interact with the younger generations, especially when they see these new characters making the same mistakes they did at their age. A Little Hatred also features the return of the First of the Magi, Bayaz, who is still pulling all the strings in the world. Despite his grandfatherly appearance, Bayaz is probably the main villain of this entire series, and you just know that he is behind all of the events occurring in this book. I look forward to seeing more of the excellent villain in the future, and I cannot wait to see how and why he is manipulating everyone this time.

Rather than read a physical copy of this book, I ended up listening to the audiobook version, which was narrated by Steven Pacey. The A Little Hatred audiobook runs for 20 hours and 20 minutes, making it a fairly substantial audiobook that would actually come in at number 19 on my longest audiobook list. The audiobook format is an excellent way to enjoy A Little Hatred, as you get a real sense of all the gore and violence as it is narrated to you, as well as a better vision of the impressive, changed world that served as the setting of this book. I was really glad that they continued to utilise Steven Pacey as narrator for this new book as Pacey has narrated all the previous First Law audiobooks. It was really good to once again hear the unique voices that Pacey assigned to the characters from the original trilogy, especially as, to me, they were the defining voices of these original characters. The voices that he came up with for the new characters in this book were also good, and I think that he got the character’s personalities down pretty effectively. As a result, I would strongly recommend the audiobook format of A Little Hatred to anyone interested in checking out this book, and I am planning to listen to the rest of The Age of Madness books.

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie is an outstanding and impressive new addition to his brilliant First Law series. Abercrombie has once again produced a captivating, character-based tale of bloody war and politics, while also adding some intriguing new elements to it. This is an exceptional book, which I had an absolute blast listening to. The Age of Madness is off to an extremely strong start, and I cannot wait to see where Abercrombie takes this amazing series to next.

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Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Tie-in Novel, Warhammer17 Comments

Deathwatch Shadowbreaker Cover

Publisher: Black Library (Audiobook – 25 April 2019)

Series: Warhammer 40,000/Deathwatch – Book Two

Length: 16 hours and 37 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to dive into the extended universe of Warhammer 40,000 (Warhammer 40K or 40K), as science fiction author Steve Parker presents Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker, an action-packed and exceedingly exciting sequel to his 2013 novel, Deathwatch, which pits the deadly Deathwatch Space Marines against an entire planet full of T’au.

Thousands of years in the future, the galaxy is constantly at war. Humankind has survived as the massive Imperium of Man, under the divine protection of their long-dead Emperor. However, this beacon of humanity is under constant threat from all sides. Destructive alien races, demons from the warp and the traitor forces of Chaos continuously assault its borders, whilst heretics, mutants and witches attempt to destroy it from within. Over the millennia, the Imperium has created many different forces to protect their worlds from these threats; however, none is more feared or revered than the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines. Space Marines are legendary warriors genetically modified to become significantly stronger, larger and faster than a normal man. Swathed in power armour and armed with the deadliest of weapons, the Space Marines are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, bringing the Emperor’s wrath down on all who oppose them.

But even amongst these deadliest of soldiers, there is one organisation of Space Marines who are respected above all others for their fighting ability and skill, Deathwatch. Deathwatch is an elite group made up of best Space Marines veterans from across the Chapters, trained to become the ultimate tools in one of the Imperium’s holiest missions, the extermination of the xenos, the alien. Utilising the most advanced technology in the Imperium and receiving specialist instruction in the strengths and weaknesses of their foes, Deathwatch work in small kill-teams under the Ordo Xenos of the Imperial Inquisition in order to hunt down and destroy the most dangerous xenos threats in the galaxy.

Lyandro Karras, Codicier of the Death Spectres, is a powerful Space Marine Librarian serving in the Deathwatch as the leader of the kill-team, Talon Squad. Barely recovered from the disastrous events of their last mission, Karros and Talon Squad once again find themselves under the command of the mysterious Inquisitor Sigma. Their new mission takes them to a former Imperial world that has been conquered by the alien T’au, who have indoctrinated the majority of the human population into their society and philosophy. An Imperial Inquisitor, Epsilon, has gone missing in T’au space, and Sigma believes that she is being kept prisoner on the planet. Desperate to free her before the T’au extract vital secrets about the Imperium from her, Talon Squad and a force of Ordo Xenos Storm Troopers are deployed to find her. Working with the local human resistance, Talon Squad identify the prison she is located in and must work to release her before the massive T’au garrison knows they are on planet. But what happens when Epsilon refuses to accompany Talon Squad back to the Imperium?

Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker is part of the massive extended universe which has formed up around the Warhammer 40K tabletop miniature game produced by Games Workshop. Warhammer 40K, which was first released in 1987 and pits armies of science fiction miniatures against each other, has always contained an interesting and grim science fiction narrative to serve as a background to the game. With every new edition of Warhammer 40K that was released, this background narrative got more and more detailed, resulting in an extremely deep, compelling and gothic-themed fictional history surrounding all of the different races, armies and characters featured within this tabletop game. Due to the popularity of the Warhammer 40K universe, a huge amount of expanded material has also been released over the years, including several videogames, comics, board game spinoffs, an animated movie (with a remarkably good cast of British actors) and there is currently a television series in production. However, the main medium that has been utilised as part of this expanded universe is books.

Over the years, there has been a tremendous amount of Warhammer 40K books produced, featuring the works of a number of skilled and talented science fiction authors. There are now hundreds of Warhammer 40K books currently published, covering the different periods and races featured in the tabletop game. In 2019 alone there were nearly 20 different novels, anthologies and audio dramas associated with Warhammer 40K. This is a very impressive amount of material, and I have not even mentioned the multiple book releases associated with the separate Warhammer Fantasy universe.

While I am a man of many, many different fandoms, the products of Game Workshops are among the earliest fantasy and science fiction products that I was a major enthusiast of. I was extremely into Warhammer Fantasy when I was a kid and I have many fond memories of painting and battling with the models, reading the company’s monthly White Dwarf publication and playing some of the Warhammer 40K computer games, such as Dawn of War. While I was solely playing with Warhammer Fantasy models, I did learn a lot about Warhammer 40K at the same time, especially as I really enjoyed reading all the lore and background of the various Games Workshop products. I have been meaning to read some Games Workshop fiction for a while now, and I have previously mentioned that I want to read the cool-sounding Gaunt’s Ghosts series. However, I ended up reading the recently released Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker instead, mainly because it featured two of my favourite groups from the Warhammer 40K lore, Deathwatch and the T’au, facing off. Shadowbreaker is the latest book from Steve Parker, a science fiction author, who has primarily written Warhammer 40K fiction. Shadowbreaker is his first release since 2016, and it is actually a sequel to his 2014 novel, Deathwatch, which featured the same group of primary characters.

I am actually really glad that I chose to read and review Shadowbreaker, as this excellent 40K novel contains an awesome and extremely entertaining story that features all manner of action, adventure and intrigue, while also diving deep into several fascinating parts of 40K’s lore. Shadowbreaker is an excellent sequel to the author’s previous book, Deathwatch, and Parker does an amazing job of continuing the story that was started in this prior book, while at the same time setting up some intriguing potential directions for the series to go next. Prior knowledge of the events of Deathwatch is not a necessity to enjoy this book, as Parker does a good job of re-introducing all the relevant events of the previous novel, and readers should be able to follow Shadowbreaker’s story without any real issues. Parker has created a rich narrative for this book that utilises a huge number of character viewpoints to not only examine the development within several characters but also explore a number of different angles and features of the harsh gothic universe in which this book is set. These multiple viewpoints work especially well during Shadowbreaker’s extended action sequences, as they allow Parker to show off every aspect and side of the brutal battles, resulting in some exciting and detailed combat set pieces. Shadowbreaker’s story ends up going in some rather intriguing directions, featuring some fun twists and reveals, and this was an overall fantastic and exciting story to check out.

While Shadowbreaker is an amazing novel, it might not be as appealing to those readers who are not familiar with the Warhammer 40K universe. This book is pretty lore heavy, containing a whole lot of references to history, technology, alien races and other unique aspects of this fictional universe. While I felt that Parker did a great job of explaining most of the Warhammer 40K elements that are relevant to the story, a certain amount of prior knowledge about this massive universe will really help readers understand what is going on. Do not get me wrong; readers unfamiliar with the franchise will easily be able to follow and enjoy Shadowbreaker’s story, but they may have trouble appreciating all the interesting lore references or depictions from the miniatures game. As a result, I would probably recommend this book more to established fans of the 40K universe, although casual science fiction readers are definitely going to have a good time reading this. That being said, I note that some other readers of this book who are more familiar with the actual tabletop game than me were put off by a couple of apparently incorrect depictions of weapons, armour and vehicles. While these apparent anomalies in no way impacted my enjoyment of the book (honestly, I am not knowledgeable enough about battle gear to have really picked up on this), I can imagine that this could annoy some hardcore 40K fans, so fair warning about that.

For me, one of the major appealing aspects of this book was its excellent examination of fascinating elements from the Warhammer 40K universe. As I mentioned above, the universe of the 40K games are filled with all manner of fantastic, complex and unique features which are all backed up with a ton of lore and fictional history. Parker does an awesome job of setting Shadowbreaker within this universe and he ends up utilising quite a lot of detail from the games in the story. There is actually quite a lot going on within this book. Not only do you have the primary storyline of Space Marines versus T’au but you also have storylines that relate to infighting and intrigue within the Ordo Xenos, examination of the constant threat that is the Tyranid, the machinations of the Eldar, and the long-term plots of a demon lord thrown in on top. All these various storylines actually come together really well into an outstanding story, and fans of the 40K franchise are almost guaranteed to have some mention or discussion about their preferred army or race in the game (with a couple of exceptions).

However, the thing that really excited me the most about this book was the central conflict between Deathwatch and the T’au. I am a major fan of both of those groups and have always been really intrigued by the cool lore and background that surrounds them. When I started reading this book, I was half-expecting the story to be shown purely from the perspective of the Deathwatch characters. If this had been the case, the author would have been forced to do a classic humans versus aliens storyline, where aliens are automatically the bad guys due to the Space Marines’ inherent hatred of all things alien. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when Parker presented a much more complex storyline which showed neither side as “good” or “evil”. Instead, thanks to the author’s excellent use of multiple perspectives, it is shown that both sides of this conflict are dominated by dangerous fanatics driven by their beliefs, either in the purity of destroying all things alien or the defining T’au philosophy of the “Greater Good”. This belief results in both sides doing some very questionable things in order to achieve their objectives, most of which result in large amounts of destruction and death. Interesting enough, it is Lyandro Karras and some of the members of Talon Squad who are the most reasonable characters in this book, and all of them have been heavily indoctrinated about the evils of the alien. This all makes for a much more intriguing and clever story, and I loved how it helped highlighted how complex this universe can get.

Shadowbreaker contains quite a bit of information about how the legendary Deathwatch operates, which is just downright fascinating, and I can imagine a lot of readers would be really interested to learn more about. While there was a lot more about the layout of the organisation and their training in the initial Deathwatch book, readers of Shadowbreaker learn a lot about them in this book. For example, Shadowbreaker contains information about Deathwatch’s unique relationship with the Inquisition, their skills in battle, their knowledge of the aliens they fight and the fact their ranks consist of Space Marines from various chapters. All of this is really cool, and there were a fantastic central organisation to centre the book on.

I also quite enjoyed the examination of the different Space Marines that make up the various Deathwatch kill-teams featured within this book. Thanks to the author’s use of multiple character perspectives, the reader gets to see through the eyes of a number of Space Marine characters. Parker cleverly utilises this to show off the varied personalities of the Space Marines, and it was interesting to see how diverse these genetically enhanced and indoctrinated killing machines can really be. A lot of this is due to the specific Chapters that they come from, as each character seems to reflect the traits of their Chapter and their founding father. I liked how the multiple perspectives helped highlight he different fighting styles of the various members of the Deathwatch kill-team, especially as each of them utilises different weapons and tactics to achieve their goals, reflecting the defining skills of their original Chapter. For example, the Raven Guard character continuously utilises a jump pack and lightning claws in his fights, while the Imperial Fist preferred to use heavy weapons. These different combat techniques add an extra layer of spice to the various fight sequences, and I really liked seeing the different characters in action. I was also really intrigued by the author’s deep dive into the history and peculiarities of two of the lesser-known Space Marine chapters, the Death Spectres and the Exorcists. Parker reveals some really interesting facts about these two Chapters, mostly when these respective characters think back on their past or their Chapter. I really didn’t know that much about these two Chapters before this book, and I really enjoyed learning more about them, especially as they have some very cool and unique traits (one summons and betrays demons for an initiation test; the other has a mysterious glass throne hidden on their home planet). As a result, fans of Space Marine history and lore are really going to love this book, and even non-fans will appreciate the world-building associated with them.

In addition to the intriguing examination of Deathwatch and other Space Marine Chapters, Parker also features an excellent look at one my favourite races in the Warhammer 40K universe, the T’au (or Tau). The T’au are probably the newest race in 40K canon (although that was quite a few years ago) and have been featured in a couple of books and have even had their own video game, Fire Warrior. T’au are a young race of aliens whose empire has quickly expanded in recent years thanks to their advanced technology and wiliness to incorporate alien races into their empire. Their sudden expansion has made them a real threat to the stagnant Imperium of Man. Parker does an amazing job incorporating the T’au into this book, and there are some fantastic depictions of their technology and unique physiology. The T’au serve as excellent primary antagonists for this book, and Parker takes an interesting view of them, diving into the darker side of their empire. Thanks to the various character perspectives contained within Shadowbreaker, the reader gets to see more than their typical depiction as a beatific race who merely wish to share their technology and their message of the “Greater Good” throughout the universe. Instead, you get to understand how slavishly devoted to their philosophy they really are, and the lengths that some of them will go to achieve their race’s goals. There are some really interesting discussions about how they control the populations they conquer, as well as some brief but curious mentions of T’au who do not follow the Greater Good and are persecuted or punished for this. I also really liked the detailed examination of a human world that is being ruled by the T’au, especially as you get to see all the various benefits and downfalls of this control. The fact that neither the T’au nor the Imperium actually care about the planet or its people is a bit of a dark spot in the novel, and some of the conclusions of the book reveal just how much better off this planet would have been on its own. If I had one complaint about Parker’s depiction of the T’au, it would be that they went down way too easily in a fight. While a couple of their units and commanders were able to hold their own for a bit, the rest of the T’au forces were pretty much slaughtered in one-sided battles throughout the book. While I appreciate that the author was probably trying to demonstrate Deathwatch’s skill at killing aliens, I think he could have perhaps added in a bit more of a fight from this popular race. Still, I really enjoyed this inclusion of the T’au, and I need to check out some other books that feature them.

I ended up listening to the audiobook format of Shadowbreaker, which was narrated by Andrew Wincott. Shadowbreaker clocks in at just over 16½ hours, so it is a fairly substantial audiobook which takes a little bit of effort to get through. I was very impressed by this format of the book, and I personally found it a great way to absorb all the amazing things occurring in the story. Wincott is a really good narrator, coming up with some distinctive and appropriate voices for the huge raft of characters that were featured in this book. I really liked how Wincott was able to capture the emotion and mood of the various characters, and I was especially impressed with the harsher tone that he took for many of the Imperial characters, which fitted perfectly into the gothic style of the Imperium. As a result, I would highly recommend the audiobook format of Shadowbreaker to anyone who is interested in checking this book out, and it is a wonderful way to enjoy this great piece of Warhammer 40K fiction.

Deathwatch: Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker was an incredible read which I found to be extremely entertaining and which proved to be a perfect reintroduction for me to the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. Parker presents an exciting and compelling story that dives deep into the universe’s lore while also exploring some of the complexities of the various featured races and armies. Overall, this is an outstanding novel and I am really glad that I checked it out. I fully intend to read more Warhammer 40K fiction in the future, especially after enjoying this book so much, and I hope that Parker continues his Deathwatch books in the future as well.

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Guest Review – The Power by Naomi Alderman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Guest Review, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday1 Comment

After reviewing some of 2019’s most intriguing reads with Pan’s Labyrinth, The Testaments and The Fowl Twins, my amazing editor/wife Alex (editor is the important part there) attempts to muscle in on my Throwback Thursday territory in her latest Guest Review by checking out The Power by Naomi Alderman.

The Power Cover

Publisher: Penguin (Trade Paperback – 27 October 2016)

Series: Stand Alone/Book One

Length: 341 pages

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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I’m on a mission to conquer my habit of buying more books than I can read. I picked up The Power because I recognised Naomi Alderman’s name from one of my favourite apps, Zombies, Run!, for which she is the lead writer. Zombies, Run! is primarily an exercise app, but its best feature is its compelling and immersive narrative about a community of survivors of a zombie apocalypse. So when I stumbled upon a copy of one of Alderman’s books I was immediately keen to check it out. Unfortunately, my reading of it was interrupted and it has been sadly shelved for the last year and a half. When I resolved to tackle my collection of unread books this year, I knew The Power had to be first on the list.

The Power chronicles a world in which young women develop a biological power to create and manipulate electricity. There are four main threads in the story, following a small collection of key characters on their adventures during the first decade of the change. The first is Roxy Monke, the child of an English gangster, who uses her power with devastating effect to build and control a vast criminal empire. Tunde Edo is a young Nigerian man who discovers a passion for photojournalism when he happens to capture video of an early attack using the power. He travels the world documenting the great upheavals and rebellions that the power inspires. Margot Cleary is an American politician, and through her we see how the change affects government. Allie is a young American runaway with perhaps the greatest control over her power of any woman in the world, which she uses to establish herself as a respected and feared cult leader of women. There is also an extensive cast of excellent side characters, including Margot’s daughter Jocelyn, who struggles as a young woman without a fully developed power, and Tatiana Moskalev, the wife of the president of Moldova.

What I always enjoy most about speculative fiction with several narrators is the way that readers get to experience so much of the world that has been created. This is particularly true in The Power, since each of the characters (especially Tunde) is very well travelled, and as a result we get a glimpse of how the power affects societies all over the world, as well as how the world changes over the 10 years covered in the book. We see the initial scepticism of women spontaneously evolving the power to emit and control electricity. We see the fear set in as it becomes clear how dangerous the power can be, both when it is used as an attack against individuals and when women band together to challenge misogynistic and oppressive regimes and governments. We see how cults and societies develop as the status quo is forever changed and the new power imbalance between men and women becomes firmly established. The events that unfold in Moldova are particularly fascinating. All in all, there’s not a dull moment in the whole book, and though it is at times brutally violent it is always deeply compelling.

I really loved the way the narrative is framed as a dramatisation of historical events, in a fashion similar to that of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments. The book begins and ends with correspondence between Neil, who appears to be a budding historian and author, and Naomi, who is surely his mentor or perhaps his publisher. Neil and Naomi speculate on the accuracy of the story, given that they are removed from these events by several hundred years and have only the archaeological record to guide them. I was also very pleased to find chapters interspersed with illustrations and interpretations of artefacts from the time of the change, such as idols, grave sites and internet forum threads. These elements in particular made the archaeologist in me very happy.

The Power is a fantastic exploration of a world suddenly and dramatically shaken to its core. I’m going to have to check out some more of Naomi Alderman’s work, and I’m only sorry I hadn’t read this one sooner.

Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller8 Comments

Lost Cover

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 7 January 2020)

Series: Stand Alone/Book One

Length: 328 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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From the excellent crime fiction team of James Patterson and James O. Born comes Lost, an enjoyable and thrilling novel that sets a fun new protagonist against the scourge of international human trafficking.

Detective Tom Moon is a Miami man, born and bred, who loves to protect his city. Assigned to lead a new FBI joint task force that’s been set up in the city, his new job is to tackle international crime. However, their job gets very complicated when they receive a tip about a man coming in through Miami International Airport from Amsterdam. Upon arresting their suspect, they find that he was attempting to smuggle in several children from Europe and that he is part of a notorious human trafficking ring.

Working closely with Dutch Detective Marie Meijer, Moon and his team work to uncover the full extent of the trafficking ring in both Amsterdam and Miami. However, the traffickers are being led by a ruthless pair of Dutch siblings who are desperate to succeed and even willing to target the police hunting them. Worse, the traffickers are working with a powerful syndicate of Russian gangsters who have a strong foothold in both Europe and Miami. When Moon and his team receive news that a massive shipment of people is being smuggled into Miami, they know that this is the break they need to bring down the entire operation. But with money and family on the line, both the Russians and the traffickers are desperate to claim their cargo and will go to any lengths to secure it, even if that means killing Moon and everyone he cares about.

Lost is the latest novel from co-writers James Patterson and James O. Born. Patterson is an author who needs very little introduction, having contributed to well over 100 crime fiction novels since his debut in 1976, including his bestselling Alex Cross series. Patterson has a longstanding tradition of collaborating with other crime fiction authors to create some intriguing reads, including the Detective Harriet Blue series with Candice Fox, the Women’s Murder Club series with Andrew Gross and Maxine Paetro, the Michael Bennett series which he has mostly done with Michael Ledwidge, the NYPD Red series with Marshall Karp and the Private series co-written with several different authors. James O. Born has been writing since 2004, when he debuted with the intriguing-sounding Walking Money. Born has written several novels in his career so far and has been collaborating with Patterson since 2016. Patterson and Born have already written several together, including the Mitchum series (the third book of which, The River Murders, was released only a few days ago) and the latest two entries in the Michael Bennett series. The two writers are also releasing a third Michael Bennett novel, Blindside, in the next week, which actually sounds pretty interesting and I might have to try and check out.

Lost is a standalone novel that features a brand-new protagonist, Tom Moone. Lost is a fantastic piece of crime fiction with a massively enjoyable story that was a lot of fun to check out. This was an exceedingly accessible novel from this writing pair, which requires no prior knowledge of any of the books in Patterson’s extensive library of works. Patterson and Born have produced an entertaining and very fast-paced story that I was to power through in a very short period of time. The story is told in a series of extremely short chapters, which helps to move the plot along at a quick clip, which I really appreciated. The authors also cleverly utilise multiple character perspectives to create a richer and more compelling overall novel. Around half the novel is told from the first-person perspective of the book’s protagonist, Tom Moon, while the rest of the novel is told from the third-person perspective of several other characters. The most prominent of these characters are the smuggler team of Hanna and Albert Greete, who serve as some of the book’s main antagonists. This great use of perspective has some real advantages for the story, as it allows a deeper look at this new exciting protagonist whilst also providing the reader with an enticing view of the dark underbelly that is the world of human trafficking.

The authors’ decision to focus this book on human trafficking was an interesting choice and one which I felt really payed off for this book. This whole criminal enterprise is both fascinating and despicable, and results in a number of fantastic sequences throughout Lost. The two authors do an excellent job of covering all the angles surrounding the human trafficking and their inclusion of multiple character perspectives is really useful here. Not only do we get to see the viewpoints of the police who are trying to stop these crimes but we also get to see the perspective of the traffickers and some of the people they are smuggling. This allows the authors to show some of the tricks and techniques that human traffickers use to smuggle people into the United States, and we also get to see the eventual fates of several people who are successfully trafficked (it doesn’t go well for them). We also see what has driven several smuggled people into the arms of the traffickers; whether they are there by choice or whether they have been forced their against their will, their story is generally a bleak one, and I liked that the authors tried to examine the victims of this crime in some detail. The use of international human trafficking as the central crime also allows this novel to have more of a multinational fair to it, as police from two separate countries, in this case agents of a United States FBI taskforce and the Dutch police, work together to solve the crime. I liked the various scenes set in Amsterdam, and it was really interesting to see the author’s interpretation of the city and how it has been impacted by international crime. It was also fun to see the two main police characters in the book, Miami cop Moon and Amsterdam police officer Meijer, spend time learning more about the cultures of their international counterpart, as both characters get tours of the other’s respective cities. I personally really enjoyed this captivating aspect of the book, and it really helped make this cool crime fiction novel even more enjoyable.

Patterson has a fantastic habit of coming up with a number of memorable protagonists for his works. The bestselling author and his co-writers have created some truly compelling protagonists to help helm their books, many of whom are then utilised as the central character of long-running series. In Lost, Patterson and Born have come up with another interesting main character in the form of Detective Tom Moon, who was an excellent protagonist for this new novel. Moon is a pretty distinctive police officer, whose large physical appearance clashes with a number of character traits featured within this book, such as his calm, philosophical nature, his soft spot for children and his dedication to his family. Moon is a truly nice guy who has earned the trust of the Miami street community and even some criminals thanks to his status as a local, his well-known past as a poor college athlete and his sense of fair play. I really enjoyed the whole man-of-the-streets vibe that the authors came up with for Moon, and it was fun seeing several examples of local people helping him out with his enquires, even the criminals. While we mainly see Moon being nice and helpful, he is not always such a laid-back guy, especially when his family is being threatened. He can actually get quite vicious at times, especially in one club scene when his sister is around, and he really doesn’t get intimidated, choosing to go after several dangerous people, often in fairly tactless ways (there is one entertaining scene where he calls out a criminal in a very public way). All of this adds up to another distinctive and enjoyable protagonist, and I quite enjoyed the combination of charm, humour and street smarts that made up Detective Moon. That being said, I think that the book would have survived without the continued stream of philosophically meaningful quotes he was spouting, and it really wasn’t my favourite thing in Lost.

Overall, Lost by James Patterson and James O. Born is another great piece of crime fiction that is bound to keep a lot of readers entertained. These two authors have come up with another intriguing story, which dives deep into the world of international human trafficking to produce an excellent read. I very much enjoyed this new novel, and I would love to see more of Tom Moon in the future, especially if the authors come up with some other fascinating examples of international crime to investigate. Lost is worth checking out, especially if you are in the mood for a compelling, fast-paced crime fiction novel with a fantastic protagonist.

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Just Watch Me by Jeff Lindsay

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller10 Comments

Just Watch Me Cover.jpg

Publisher: Orion (Trade Paperback – 10 December 2019)

Series: Riley Wolfe series – Book One

Length: 358 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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From one of the world’s most popular thriller authors, Jeff Lindsay, comes Just Watch Me, an electrifying heist novel that pits an intriguing new protagonist against impossible odds.

Prepare to meet Riley Wolfe, the world’s greatest thief. Wolfe is a master of disguise, an expert con artist and a true devotee of the ridiculous heist. There is nothing he can’t steal, and he lives to target the super-rich with his capers in order to make them suffer. However, Wolfe is starting to get bored. His last few heists have gone off without a hitch and he is looking for a challenge. But his new target might be truly impossible to steal, even for him.

Wolfe has his eyes on some of the most impressive treasures in the world, the Crown Jewels of Iran, and in particular the Daryayeh-E-Noor, a gigantic pink diamond that is valued beyond compare. With the jewels finally out of Iran and in New York for a tour, Wolfe knows that this is the time to steal them. They have been placed within the most secure gallery in the country, which utilises impenetrable security systems, state-of-the-art alarms and a small army of former special forces soldiers acting as guards. In addition, a regiment of the lethal Iranian Revolutionary Guard are also standing watch, ready to kill anyone who gets too close. With these security measures in place, the jewels appear to be beyond the reach of any potential thieves, no matter how careful or elaborate their plan may be, and anyone who tries is going to end up dead. However, Wolfe is no ordinary thief, and he has come up with a cunning scheme that no one else would have ever thought of. If all his planning succeeds, he will have an opportunity to make off with the jewels. But with all manner of complications in front of him and a determined FBI agent hunting down his past, can even the great Riley Wolfe succeed, or will his most daring heist be his last?

When I first saw that Jeff Lindsay was doing a heist novel, I knew that I was going to have to grab a copy of it. Lindsay is a bestselling thriller author who debuted in 1994 with the novel Tropical Depression. Lindsay is of course best known for his Dexter series, which was adapted into a highly popular television series. While I have not had the pleasure of reading any of Lindsay’s work prior to this book, I did really enjoy the first few seasons of the Dexter television show, so I was really interested in seeing the author’s take on a heist novel. I am really glad that I checked Just Watch Me out as Lindsay has produced a deeply compelling and exceedingly fun novel that not only contains a really cool heist story, but which also features another complex protagonist for the reader to sink their teeth into.

First of all, let’s talk heists. For Just Watch Me, Lindsay came up with a very interesting heist scenario which sees one man try to break into a massively secure gallery guarded by some of the most sophisticated technology in the world, as well as some of the deadliest killers. The story follows Wolfe as he attempts to find some way into the building that everyone agrees in impenetrable, and while he initially encounters major setbacks, he eventually comes up with an audacious plan to get in. This plan is very bold and complicated, and involves a lot of manipulation, disguises, seduction, confidence work, forgeries, doublecrosses and even a couple of well-placed murders. All of this comes together into one fun and exciting conclusion which sees everyone understand the full extent of the plan. Lindsay paces out all the parts of the heist extremely well, and I really enjoyed how the entire thing unfolded, especially as it was a cool, roundabout way to attempt to steal something from a gallery. The heist proves to be an exceptional centre to the whole narrative, and I really enjoyed seeing how this part of the book progressed.

I also liked the way that Lindsay utilised multiple viewpoints to tell this story. While several chapters are told from the protagonist’s point of view using the first-person perspective, a large amount of the book is actually told from the perspective of the book’s side characters. These side characters include a range of different people, such as Wolfe’s allies, the people he is trying to manipulate, the FBI agent hunting him and even several bystanders who are caught up in the whole heist. All of these different viewpoints help to show off the various angles of the heist, which I felt helped enhance this part of the story. It was also really cool to see how normal people, including police officers, guards, gallery employees and some of his marks, perceive the various disguises he comes up with or the confidence tricks that he is pulling. I loved seeing this outside perspective of Wolfe’s criminal techniques, and it was a great way to portray a large amount of the heist.

While the heist is a really amazing part of this book, one of the most compelling parts of Just Watch Me is actually its protagonist, Riley Wolfe. Lindsay obviously has a lot of experience writing complex and intriguing protagonists for his thrillers, and he has done an amazing job creating another one here in Wolfe. Wolfe is a master thief whose defining characteristic is an overwhelming compulsion to steal from the mega-rich, especially those who obtained their wealth by screwing over the little people in the world. Wolfe is absolutely obsessed with his crusade against the rich due to his experiences as a child, and this obsession forces him to complete his heists no matter the cost. The author spends quite a bit of time exploring Wolfe’s hatred for the rich, and it is quite fascinating to see his internal thoughts on why he is stealing from them. The reader also gets to see some of the events from the character’s childhood which form the basis for this obsession. Ironically enough, the reason we get to learn so much about Wolfe’s childhood is because one of the book’s antagonists, FBI Special Agent Frank Delgado, becomes so obsessed with learning more about him that he briefly leaves the FBI in an attempt to hunt him down (obsession is a key element of several of the book’s main characters). Delgado spends several scenes scouring the country trying to find out Wolfe’s history, which is slowly revealed throughout the course of the book. I really enjoyed that Lindsay included this dive into the character’s past, and I felt that it really complemented the main heist storyline and helped to create a fantastic overall narrative, especially as this investigation into his history, represents the biggest risk to Wolfe’s freedom.

Now, as Wolfe steals from the richest of the rich, it might be easy to assume that he’s a good guy or an anti-hero you can cheer on, but that is really not true. Not only does this protagonist come across as an excessively arrogant person who is high on himself, but he also does a ton of stuff that is totally morally wrong. For example, throughout the course of the book, Wolfe commits several murders, frames people for crimes they did not commit and totally ruins a number of people’s lives. While some of these people probably deserve to suffer at the hands of Wolfe, a bunch really did nothing wrong; they were either born into money, in his way, or merely collateral damage. In one case, he even spends time thinking about how much he respects one of his victims right before he arranges for her to be arrested for art fraud. What’s even worse is that, in many cases, Wolfe doesn’t even realise that he’s done something wrong. While he knows that he maybe should not have committed some of the murders, he totally fails to think of the emotional consequences some of his cons or manipulations will have on the people he is playing. He is even called out about some of his actions towards the end of the book by his only friend; however, he completely fails to see her point of view. Instead he merely thinks that she is overreacting and goes right back to plotting to get into her pants. Stuff like this makes Wolfe a very hard protagonist to like, and even the knowledge that his actions and viewpoint are the result of a messed-up childhood doesn’t really help. It does result in a much more compelling story though, and it was refreshing to follow a morally ambiguous protagonist. I will be interested to see if Lindsay will examine the impacts Wolfe’s actions had on some of the supporting characters in a later book, and I personally would love to see a story where one of his incidental victims attempts to hunt him down to get revenge for their ruined lives.

I have to say that I was also really impressed with all the discussions of art, paintings and other valuables that the author was able to fit into the story. Lindsay obviously did a large amount of research into the subject (his acknowledgements mention an art professor he consulted) and it was interesting to read the various discussions about art and art forgery. I have to admit that I have no real knowledge of or appreciation for art (except comic book art), but I really enjoyed all the discussions about art style and technique that were peppered throughout the novel. Overall, this was a pretty intriguing inclusion in the book, and I found it to be quite fascinating at times.

In conclusion, Just Watch Me is an amazing fast-paced heist thriller that is really worth checking out. Lindsay has come up with not only an awesome scenario that features a fun heist at the centre but also another complex and morally corrupted protagonist whose inner demons and powerful obsessions we get to explore. I really enjoyed this excellent new book from Lindsay, and I am definitely planning to grab any future novels that come out in this series.

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Throwback Thursday – Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Science Fiction, Thriller, Throwback Thursday5 Comments

Extinction Machine Cover.jpg

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 26 May 2013)

Series: Joe Ledger Series – Book Five

Length: 14 hours and 53 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Reviewed as part of 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.

For my latest Throwback Thursday, I once again go back to one of my absolute favourite series as I check out Extinction Machine by Jonathan Maberry, the fifth book in the exciting Joe Ledger series.

Long-term readers of this blog will be familiar with my recent obsession with the Joe Ledger thriller novels. The Joe Ledger series is one of the main bodies of work from bestselling author Jonathan Maberry, which follows a secret military organisation that targets any organisations or individual who attempts to utilise the latest science and technology for their own dangerous ends. I absolutely fell in love with this series in late 2018, when I read the 10th book, Deep Silence, and I have been slowly reading my way through the earlier Joe Ledger books ever since. So far, each of the Joe Ledger books I have read has been absolutely amazing novels, and I have awarded all of them a full five stars. I also recently read the first book in Maberry’s sequel Rogue Team International series, Rage, which was released a couple of months ago and which I consider to be amongst one of the best books (and audiobooks) of 2019. I am actually reviewing Extinction Machine a little out of order, as I have already reviewed the sixth book in the series, Code Zero, despite reading Extinction Machine first.

For years, Joe Ledger and the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) have faced off against some of the most advanced and devious weapons human ingenuity and insanity is capable of creating. However, what happens when they are forced to go up against something that is literally out of their world? In Extinction Machine, a series of strange and seemingly unrelated events begin occurring around the world. America’s leading weapons manufacturers are being targeted by elaborate computer attacks that are impossible to trace. An advanced prototype stealth fighter is destroyed during its test flight by an impossibly fast craft, while sightings of UFOs are occurring all around the world. In the midst of all this chaos, the impossible happens: the President of the United States vanishes from the White House. The only evidence of his abductors is a crop circle on the White House lawn.

Despite being officially sidelined by the corrupt Vice-President, the DMS attempts to investigate after receiving a strange message from the missing President promising unprecedented destruction. Ledger and his team soon find themselves caught in the midst of massive conspiracy involving alien technology and the deepest secret of America’s military industrial complex. Can the DMS uncover the full conspiracy before it is too late, or will the world tremble at the hands of mysterious beings who want their technology back?

Extinction Machine proved to be yet another thrilling and enjoyable entry in the Joe Ledger series, and I really had a great time listening to it. Maberry has produced another fantastic and elaborate story which utilises a number of his trademark and classic storytelling elements to produce a first-rate read. The reader is once again treated to a fast-paced and captivating narrative which is enhanced by the author’s clever use of different perspectives, point-of-view characters and time periods, which not only focus on the protagonists hunt for answers but also showcases all the fascinating aspects of the villain’s complex master plan. Extinction Machine also continues to feature some outstanding action sequences and a number of amazing and relatable protagonists, including the series’ titular character, Joe Ledger, whose ultra-sarcastic narration and half-broken psyche make him one of the most fascinating and enjoyable action heroes out there. All of these familiar elements have made the previous Joe Ledger books some of my favourite thrillers out there, so I quite enjoyed the fact that Maberry once again utilised them for Extinction Machine, especially as they were once again used to great effect to produce an overall excellent story.

In addition to using all the awesome trademark storytelling elements of the Joe Ledger series, Maberry also makes Extinction Machine stand out from the existing novels in the series by including several new and exciting plot inclusions. At the centre of this is a fantastic overarching story about alien craft that have crash landed on Earth sparking a long-term hidden arms race. This is a deeply fascinating main plot point for the book, which explores a vast and complex conspiracy theory that turns out to be true, as not only have the crashed alien craft allowed the world’s leading arms manufacturers to advance their technology at an accelerated rate, but now the world’s various superpowers all have top-secret programs aimed at obtaining certain alien components and using them to construct a working alien craft, known as a T-Craft. Maberry does an amazing job of introducing the full history and breadth of this alien technology conspiracy at an excellent pace, and it was really intriguing to see him craft an action-packed story around it as Ledger and his team must try to counter not only the antagonist’s plans to utilise the alien technology for their own twisted purposes but also the unexpected consequence of all this secret work. I also think that this story was an excellent way to introduce the concept of aliens into the series as a whole, especially as it is used again in some of the later books. Having Ledger straight up face off against aliens in this book (and presumably win) would have been a bit too much, even for a series that has so far featured genetically modified Nazis and vampires. But by having the protagonists deal with self-interested humans who have spent generations researching mysterious alien technology, Maberry is able to introduce the concept at a much more controlled pace which works a heck of a lot better.

There are a number of other amazing elements introduced or utilised in this novel that were a real highlight for me. These include a several excellent action set-pieces, including a well-choreographed fight sequence out in the woods between Ledger and a lethal hit team and a large-scale assault on the enemy’s compound; some cool new characters, including a major love interest for Ledger; and the first time political attacks hampered the DMS (which later becomes a recurring theme). I also liked the idea of Ledger and his team essentially going up against the Men in Black (known here as the Fixers), who are the henchmen for the book’s antagonists. The Fixers have some devastating alien technology which really help amp up some of the action scenes, and they are also able to pull of a pretty major attack against the DMS with it. Finally, I had a real laugh at the way that one of the main antagonists, the apparently most lethal member of the Fixers, is taken down, especially as Maberry telegraphs how it’s going to happen by mentioning a certain movie scene. All of these new elements are fantastic additions to the story, and I felt that they worked extremely well with the author’s existing writing style for the Joe Ledger books to create another awesome read.

While I really enjoyed Extinction Machine, I have to admit that it is probably my least favourite Joe Ledger book that I have read so far. To be fair, part of this might be because it falls between two of my absolute favourite entries in the series, Assassin’s Code and Code Zero, and I might be unfavourably comparing Extinction Machine to them (especially as I read these three books back-to-back in quick succession). However, in my opinion Extinction Machine’s story went a bit too slowly in places and it lacked the truly compelling villains that the other books in the series feature (even if the antagonists in this book do manage to pull off the biggest attack against DMS yet) all of which slightly tanked my enjoyment of this book. That being said, this is still an amazing read, and even my least favourite book in this series still deserves 4.75 out of 5 stars.

The audiobook is my format of choice for enjoying the Joe Ledger series, and I ended up listening to Extinction Machine over a couple of weeks while I was away travelling. The Extinction Machine audiobook runs for a little under 15 hours and is narrated by the incredible Ray Porter, who has leant his amazing vocal talents to all of the other Joe Ledger audiobooks. I have spent a lot of time over the last year singing the praises of Porter for his work with the Joe Ledger series; in my opinion, he is one of the best audiobook narrators out there. Porter has the rare ability to fully encapsulate the characters that he is voicing, and his perfect take on the character of Joe Ledger is so very impressive. Needless to say, he does another standout job with Extinction Machine, and I highly recommend this format to anyone interested in checking this book out.

Overall, I felt that Extinction Machine was another excellent addition to the Joe Ledger series, and I had a real blast checking it out. There are a lot of cool elements to this book, and I really liked where Maberry took the story this time around. This is a must-read for fans of the Joe Ledger series, and I would also highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and exciting science fiction thriller.

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Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy1 Comment

Legacy of Ash Cover

Publisher: Orbit (Trade Paperback – 5 November 2019)

Series: Legacy trilogy – Book 1

Length: 768 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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From impressive new author Matthew Ward comes Legacy of Ash, a massive and entertaining new fantasy adventure that was amongst one of my favourite debut novels of 2019.

Legacy of Ash is set within the Tressian Republic, a powerful nation controlled by a council of nobles. The Tressian Republic is beset by many dangers, including the constant threat of invasion from the massive Hadari Empire on its border; open rebellion from the nation’s southernmost lands, the Southshires, which have been seeking independence for years; and the machinations of the dark magic-wielding criminal organisation known as the Crowmarket.

When the Hadari Empire invades the Southshires, the political ambitions and old grudges of the Tressian Council results in a muted military response. It falls to Viktor Akadra, the champion of the Tressian Republic, to lead a small force to the Southshires in order to make a stand against the invaders. However, Viktor is the last person the inhabitants of the Southshires want defending them, as years before he brutally put down their last rebellion, which resulted in the death of their beloved Duchess Katya Trelan.

In order to defeat the Hadari Empire, Viktor needs to work with the children of Katya Trelan, Josiri and Calenne, both of whom hate and fear him, and who both have different plans to ensure their future freedom. However, as fate, self-interest and the future of the Southshires forces them together, these three must find a common ground if they are to survive. But even if they manage to face the forces of the Hadari Empire, far darker threats are assailing the Tressian Republic from within and they will stop at nothing to achieve their terrible goals.

Ward is an interesting new author who is probably best known for his work with Games Workshop, where he served as a principal architect for the company on many of their properties, including Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and their The Lord of the Rings range. However, in recent years he has turned his hand to fantasy writing, creating several novellas and short stories, as well as releasing two ebooks, Shadow of the Raven and Light of the Radiant. Legacy of Ash is Ward’s first printed novel, and it is actually set in the same universe as his previous ebooks. It is also the first book in his planned Legacy trilogy, with the second book in the trilogy, Legacy of Steel, set for release later this year.

Legacy of Ash is an excellent new read which contains an exciting and elaborate story, set in a large and creative new world and featuring a substantial group of point-of-view characters. I have actually been looking forward to Legacy of Ash for a while, as it sounded like one of the more exciting new fantasy books that were set for release in 2019, and I am very glad I got a chance to read and review it. However, readers should probably be aware in advance that this book is nearly 800 pages in length, making it a pretty substantial read, and requiring a significant investment of time in finishing it off. This took me a couple of weeks to read in full, mainly because Legacy of Ash would actually come in at number 12 on my recent Longest Novels That I Have Ever Read list. That being said, Legacy of Ash is well worth the time, as this was an amazing and fascinating new fantasy adventure.

Ward has come up with a large and impressive story for his first book, and there is a lot going on within it. The story actually splits up into two separate locations within the Tressian Republic, with half of it set down in the Southshires and the other half set up in the capital of the Republic, Tressia (with small parts also set in a couple of locations in between or within the Hadari Empire). The parts of the book set down in the Southshires deal with the impending invasion of the Hadari, the repression of the Southshire inhabitants by the Tressian council and the attempts by Viktor to work with both of the Trelan siblings. At the same time, the parts of the book set up in Tressia contains a lot of political intrigue, criminal undertakings, dark magical plans and gambits for control of the nation. Both sets of storylines are a lot of fun, and it was really amazing to see all the various story elements occurring at the same time in the different locations. In addition, these two storylines are strongly related to each other, with events happening in one location impacting characters down in the other part of the Republic. All of these story elements and character arcs come together to form an extremely compelling overarching narrative and I quite enjoyed how Legacy of Ash contained such a wide range of different plot points.

Legacy of Ash is populated with a multiple point-of-view characters from whose eyes we see this whole massive story unfold. The use of all these characters allows for a much richer and expansive story, especially as you get to see every side of all various character’s plots and plans as everyone attempts to come out on top of the events unfolding around them. In addition, nearly all of the point-of-view characters have some incredibly captivating and enjoyable character arcs, many of which reach their full potential within this book. There are such an interesting range of different character based stories going on throughout Legacy of Ash, from the mysterious divine magic that starts to infect the honourable knight Roslava Orova, the machinations and manipulations of Ebigail Kiradin, the chaotic adventures of Crowmarket member Apara Rann and the fun friendship that forms between old opponents Kurkas and Halvor. However, the main elements of character development occur around the book’s three central characters, Viktor Akadra, Josiri Trelan and Calenne Trelan. Due to history, resentments and circumstances, these three characters start the book with fairly distant or hostile relationships to each other. However, these barriers are slowly broken down as the book progresses, and each of these main characters slowly works to come to terms with each other and their own individual issues, such as Viktor’s hidden dark magic, or the expectations or resentments that surround Trelan siblings thanks to their long-dead mother. Overall, this is some fairly impressive character work, and Ward did an excellent job creating a fantastic cast for this novel, each of whom add a whole lot to book’s story.

While I did enjoy how this novel progressed and all the interesting story points and character inclusions that were featured, I do feel it was a perhaps a little too long. In particular, I really think that Ward would have been better off not featuring the book’s final antagonist (a long-dead magical queen), who starts to appear around two thirds of the way through the book. Instead, the author could have perhaps only hinted at her return and shaved off most of the final 100 pages. Not only would this make Legacy of Ash a bit more of a manageable read, but it would have allowed the author to expand on this antagonist’s motivations and history a lot more in the subsequent book, rather than having her introduction be somewhat rushed, like it was in this book. Still, the inclusion of this final antagonist led to some rather intriguing and emotional moments, and it also sets up some potentially fantastic story arcs for one of the main characters in the next book in the series.

I also need to say how impressed with the massive and complex new fantasy landscape that Ward created for his debut series. Ward has come up with a number of unique and enjoyable elements for this fantasy world, which really add a lot to the story. The central location of the Tressian Republic was a lot of fun, as it is filled with all manner of perils, conflicting ideals, fermenting hatreds and a hidden death-worshipping criminal organisation, while also featuring a number of external or divine groups or threats at the same time. I felt that the author did a good job of introducing all of these unique elements throughout the book, and I was never too lost or confused by any of the inclusions.

I also really enjoyed the huge number of battle sequences that took place throughout this harsh fantasy landscape, especially those which were enhanced by the series’ unique fantasy inclusions. For example, one massive sequence featured two armies, one with magical constructs and the other with armoured rhinos, facing off against each other as strange and divine magics rain down chaos all around them. Other scenes include a number of different characters attempting to combat the eldritch-enhanced assassins of the mysterious Crowmarket, often resulting in some really impressive battles. I also liked how Ward utilised the multiple point-of-view characters during some of these longer conflicts, ensuring that the reader got to see both sides of the battle, as well as the various thoughts and fears of the characters involved. All of this ensured that the book was chocked full of intense and exciting fantasy action, which is always a plus in my book.

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward was an extremely well-written and addictive fantasy debut, which I am very glad I made the effort to read cover-to-cover. Full of some excellent characters, a multi-faceted story and an intriguing new fantasy landscape, the first book in the Legacy trilogy was a really great read, and I had a lot of fun getting through it. Ward has a lot of potential as a fantasy author, and I am quite excited to see where this series goes next.

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