Signor Finzione

Nice to meet you Tonya. Welcome to the forums. What kind of books do you like to read?

Hmm. I suppose it's a possibility . . .

IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!

Review: 'Tomorrow the Killing' by Daniel Polansky The Dren War ended fifteen years ago. Some soldiers came home heroes, while others came back bitter, broken and without a future. Many didn’t make it back at all. Roland Montgomery, hero of the war, was brutally murdered and his body dumped behind a brothel. Years later, his death still haunts Warden, once Montgomery’s soldier and friend. Now Montgomery’s sister Rhaine has disappeared, after asking one too many awkward questions about his death. But Warden knows whose hand is lifted against whom, where the blood flows and where the bodies fall. He’ll find Rhaine. But he’ll also find the returning past to be a bloody, vengeful and unforgiving mistress. The Straight Razor Cure was Polansky’s debut novel, and was a gritty and gripping introduction to the Low Town series. Tomorrow the Killing is even more impressive than its predecessor: it is dark and compelling and delves more deeply into Warden’s past, focusing particularly on his service during the Great War. This second instalment in the Low Town novels is set three years after the events of the first, and places a much greater emphasis on Warden’s attitude to the war: his voice comes across a lot more strongly and the overriding tone is one of grim cynicism, which is perfect for the purposes of the story. The characters – new and recurring – feel a lot more developed here, and I found myself liking (and hating) them a lot more than the characters in Razor. I felt revulsion towards the drug-addled crime lord Adisu the Damned, a mixture of anger and sympathy for war ‘hero’ Adolphus, derision and amusement at every appearance of the goons Roussel and Rabbit. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and Warden’s dry one-liners are a frequent source of humour. Most importantly, I began to understand the protagonist a little better. Tomorrow the Killing gives us a lot more to chew over in our attempts to understand Warden’s motives and attitudes, and it’s at this point where we start to experience an interesting mixture of sympathy and antipathy towards our anti-hero: antipathy, because the way he mishandles his relationships and deals with his problems is so different from how we imagine we would behave in his situation; sympathy, because we can totally understand why someone would react in such a way and how easy it would be to set foot on Warden’s downward spiral. One of the shining aspects of Tomorrow the Killing is the way in which it deals with the impact of history upon the present day. Polansky draws on an issue that will always be relevant in any world, real or fictional, and presents several layers of conflict very cleverly. He has the Warden’s regret-tinged struggle to come to terms with his own participation in the war; Adolphus’ desperate attempts to regain glory for the veterans in spite of Warden’s opposing attitude; both men fighting to instil their respective attitudes on young Wren; and of course the general impossibility of reconciling the glorified speeches and broadsheet stories with the horrific experiences actually lived through by the soldiers. This is all done so well that we’re never sure whether either side is entirely right or wrong. The plot is fast-paced and clever; Warden has stepped up his game in the time since the events of The Straight Razor Cure - perhaps because the new events are so close to home - and he tirelessly orchestrates schemes within plots within ideas, running circles around his adversaries (and other people who just happen to get in the way). Warden is revealed to be ruthless and more cunning than suggested by the previous novel, and the way Polansky manipulates events to their inevitable fiery yet poignant conclusion is tense, exciting and masterfully done. My rating: 4.5/5

I'm sure it will be, given the amount of praise it's received from different quarters. It's another one I'm looking forward to reading next year - once I've bought it, that is. (I'd be voting for it to win just so I could go over to SFF Chronicles and laugh .)

It depends on whether Bloodsong is shortlisted for 'best debut novel' as well as the Legend award. I do hope he wins it for Emperor (he deserves it), but if not then at least we know he'll still have other books that may be nominated in the future! John Gwynne won this year's debut award with Malice, by the way, which I really will have to read soon. And Red Country won the award for best cover art! I wonder which ones will be nominated next year. --strokes chin thoughtfully--

I know. I sincerely hope Lightbringer is good enough to have earned it. Guess I'll find out when I read it. Poor Mark Lawrence. He really wanted to win the axe.

The Gemmell Awards were held tonight. Both Mark Lawrence and Joe Abercrombie lost out to Brent Weeks.

Wow, nice haul! I have the Warcraft book (I thought it was okay), and have always been intrigued by the Morganville ones. Looking forward to seeing what you think of them!

Are you people on commission? I think I may have to add this to the ever-growing Christmas list.

Aww, you beat me to it! Sorry to hear you're having trouble, Steve. Hope your book turns up soon.

Well, maybe not a Waterstones book, but the average price for a paperback on Amazon is around 5-6 quid. Oh, it was some new guy spam-posting about a book he couldn't find. Mods must have deleted it.

No I don't, and you might want to create a separate post for this sort of thing rather than just dumping your requests in other people's reading logs.

I could buy half of a book with that money, though.

I remember having a problem with the patches on my Neverwinter Nights. It kept saying it needed updating, and I kept doing it, then it said it needed updating again etc . . . Eventually I realised I'd somehow been installing and re-installing the same patch again and again. And again. I hope it's good. Let me know when you get it running!

Noooo I have enough games I want to play - not to mention books to read! - so please don't give me any more! I'll have to start a TBP list at this rate. They both look awesome, though.

When I worked there I used to buy so many books I didn't need (I still do, but that's not the point). It's probably responsible for around 50% of my TBR. Yeah, I shouldn't moan really, and I don't think I'd begrudge paying them twice that amount since it's for charity. It's just that we used to get loads of people (mainly of the older generation) coming into our work complaining about it, and saying they'd rather pay less money and get them brand new at our place. You'd think BHF would at least put them into a similar multi-buy offer to stave off the competition.

I'm interested to hear what you thought of A Song of Ice and Fire, particularly as to whether you thought the more recent books measured up to the earlier ones. Personally I was really disappointed with A Dance with Dragons, especially after waiting so long for it. I think A Game of Thrones will always be my favourite in the series.

Hmm, I'll let him off then. At least it sounds as though ICE is getting better the more he writes. Steven Erikson co-created the entire Malazan world with his friend Ian C Esslemont - they spent something like 20 years doing it, also creating a board game (I think) and writing a manuscript along the way. While Erikson is the one who has written the main series (and is easily the better writer), Esslemont has written other books that can be slotted in either before, during or after the main series. It's all part of the same timeline, and they both feature some of the same characters; Esslemont's books are sort of an expansion of/supplement to the main series. I've only read a couple of his, but I hope to read them all when I fully re-read the entire series sometime in the future.

BHF is stupidly expensive - my local one sells paperbacks for up to £2.50 each. This always makes me laugh because the book shop I used to work at (The Works) sells 3 paperbacks for £5, and most of these end up in BHF being more expensive second-hand than the original price for brand new. It is, however, the only local charity shop where I have even a remote chance of finding something I want.

Other reviews seem to suggest that the next book is even better, so I'm looking forward to my foray into the rest of the series. (Although the author told me that 'It all goes downhill after the first one', so I guess I'll wait and see .)

I know, and the covers are just so pretty too. Oh god. Surely not a (gasp) five star rating??

After we've spent the last few days insulting the man's writing ability? Oh, Steve.

Not at all - it's good that it can cheer you up, and it's a nice thing to be proud of!

Review: 'The Straight Razor Cure' (Low Town #1) by Daniel Polansky Welcome to Low Town. Here, the criminal is king. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure that they are never found. Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics dealer with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You’d struggle to find someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his. But then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley. And then another. With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, Warden’s the only man with a hope of finding the killer. If the killer doesn’t find him first. Let me start by saying that The Straight Razor Cure is unlike most books I typically read. While it’s classed as fantasy, it actually comes across as more of a crime noir that just happens to be set in a secondary world – and this is by no means a bad thing. The novel combines different elements of various genres: we have a former detective investigating the crimes of a sinister serial killer, underlying messages about class division, a grimdark setting, and a few aspects of traditional high fantasy, such as magic. It’s fresh and interesting, and an additional dark undertone is provided by the numerous parallels between Polansky’s fictional universe and our own world. The world itself is fairly vivid and well-realised: the majority of Low Town is dirty and ugly – as are many of its inhabitants – and it is rife with moral and physical corruption. It’s full of drugs, murder, organised crime and bigotry, and the author effectively uses the first person narration of the main character to implicate the reader in various kinds of casual and normalised delinquency. The protagonist is very much an anti-hero, the sort of character that is common in this sort of ‘low’ or ‘grimdark’ (or maybe just ‘grim’) fantasy. Warden is an ex-soldier and former investigator who has fallen on hard times due to an unspecified incident, which makes him somewhat enigmatic. He is a drug dealer; he has a tough exterior, and his morals are questionable at best. But his conscience (and more often the conscience of his best friend Adolphus) generally prods him into doing the right thing, even if he can’t help but break a few heads (and arms, and legs, and ribs, and necks) along the way. On our way through the story we learn a few things about our protagonist’s history. This is very well done, as it’s not over-emphasised; rather, the author feeds us bits of backstory that are relevant to the plot, while withholding key information about Warden’s personal history for future novels. I must admit I’m curious to learn more about his early life with the Crane and about his time as a member of the ‘frost’, particularly since he doesn’t dwell overmuch on himself and his memories. The plot was fairly even-paced for the most part, perhaps representing the initial lethargy of Warden, though there are enough moments of surprise and gruesomeness to keep the reader sufficiently intrigued. It picks up the pace marvellously towards the end, however, and the twist ending – although not entirely unexpected – is an exciting resolution to the story. Overall this is an impressive debut novel, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Warden in future Low Town novels. My rating: 4/5