Book Review - 300 by Frank Miller

A review of

300

by

Frank Miller

I’ll keep this brief, Spartan, you could say.

I love Frank Miller’s work, and I decided to re-read and review his epic graphic novel 300. Its impact has not lessened from my first reading many years ago.

In case you don’t know, it is the story of the battle of Thermopylae in Ancient Greece. We should all know the story; most of us have seen the excellent film. Three hundred kick-ass Spartan warriors stand against hordes of Persian invaders under the command of King Leonidas. They slaughter the Persians but are eventually overwhelmed and die to last man. We all know the story. But it’s Millers re-telling that makes this so special. The dialogue pulls no punches; it’s snappy and bad-ass. The art style is also on another level, and with the epic ancient story, it all combines to make a truly classic graphic novel. It’s an amazing modern re-telling of an epic story that has endured the ages and inspired us for thousands of years.

If you haven’t read it, and you enjoy graphic novels this is a must. The art is stunning, the writing makes you grimace and smile all at once. It’s simply BAD ASS.

(In the words of Leonidas from the Film)

THIS IS SPARTA!

Thanks for reading,

Lee

Book Review - Along the Razor’s Edge (The War Eternal #1) By Rob J Hayes

A review of

Along the Razor’s Edge

By

Rob J Hayes

Along the Razor’s Edge is the first book of Rob J. Hayes’ new series, The War Eternal. It follows the story of a young girl called Eska. A child Sourcerer (yes, I spelt that right), who fights on the losing side of a great war between empires. She is captured, stripped of her magic and imprisoned deep within an underground prison known as The Pit. A prison mine, full of murders and scum, where they toil their lives away digging, doomed never to see the light of day.

Eska is quite a grim, but badass young woman. Eska burns through her friends as quickly as she does her enemies. A great character, and she just doesn’t know when to quit. I quickly found myself invested in her character, and situation, very quickly.

This book is dark (literally dark, they are underground) and Hayes does a great job of capturing the hopelessness of the subterranean gloom. This book is also violent, the Pit is not a nice or particularly safe place for a young lady – or anybody for that matter. Yet, she meets allies, you could even call them friends at a push, and together they must find some way to survive life in The Pit.

This book is a master class in foreshadowing. Hayes literally tells us major events from the later in the series, perhaps even how it will end, within the first couple of pages. We constantly get drip fed glimpses of Eska’s future exploits as she recounts her youth and time in The Pit. The timeline skips between Eska’s past as a child and trainee at a magic academy to her present day narrative in The Pit.

That reminds me, the magic system of Sourcerers and the sources which Hayes has created here is quite something in itself, refreshingly different, yet brutal to those able to wield it. Liked it!

Despite the choice to reveal those glimpses of the future story, I found myself totally wrapped up in finding out how those mentioned events come about, as I say, a master class in foreshadowing. This book is excellently written, and I particularly enjoyed some of the more creative and colourful language used in this book, some of the curses made me chuckle as I read them.

An excellent and action packed opening novel to his new series. I will be looking forward to continuing Eska’s journey to find out how that foreshadowing works out in the remaining books of The War Eternal series. Check this book out as soon as you can and remember,

No one escapes the Pit!

Thanks for reading,

Book Review - The Grey Bastards By Jonathan French

(This cover is the original artwork from the self published edition)

A review of

The Grey Bastards

By

Jonathan French

This book came to my attention after winning the SPFBO award in 2017, and was then picked up and published by Orbit. Now, wow! That’s quite a success story, and got me thinking it must be worth checking out.

Now, I’ve heard this book described as Sons of Anarchy but with Orks, and you know, it’s not far wrong. There is definitely a gang vibe going on but instead of bikes, they’re on kick ass fucking piggy war-hogs. They ride around swearing and generally being bad ass on literally hogs. There’s a hog called Ugfuck! I mean I was sold pretty early on with this story.

Now, it’s not just a cool setting, the plot is pretty damn good too.

It focuses on the main character Jackal, a half-ork riding with The Grey Bastards, one of several hoofs protecting the Lot Lands from ork incursion. He is accompanied by Oats and Fletching and the other members of his hoof. It appears things aren’t quite right in both the Lot Lands or within the hoof, a power struggle ensues, a mysterious magic user appears offering his services, but where do his allegiances truly lie. We get to see the other factions of the Lot Lands from the pious Halflings, treacherous human imperials, deadly secretive elves, to the rampaging murderous Centaurs as past secrets come to life and the very balance of the lands they know is thrown into uncertainty.

French’s use of established fantasy tropes is really interesting and fresh, as mentioned we have orks, half-orks, elves, halflings, centaurs, but none are like you’ve ever seen before. He has managed to give these established fantasy creatures a new gritty lease of life. I particularly liked the inclusion of the sludges, which to me was the classic ooze right out of D&D, and as a big D&D fan, again, that got me pretty excited.

The writing is excellent; it was easy to see how it has exploded proudly into the limelight from its self-published origins, earning all its deserved accolades. This book was a real wild ride, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, from the excellent prose, to the awesome characters and the twisting turning adventure, all of it—a damn fine book indeed. I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, True Bastards, which is already out. I recommend this one folks, if you haven’t already check it out!

In the words of the Bastards

‘Live in the saddle, die on the hog!’

Thanks for reading,

Lee