Karsa Orlong

The Resident. Oh dear ...

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker After those three hefty tomes I fancied something quick to read, so I chose this novella which was the basis for Barker's Hellraiser movie. It's a long, long time since I saw that film, but I was surprised by how much I remembered. It reads very well. It's a fairly unpleasant love triangle, it has to be said. Moving into the family home, Julia is trapped in a loveless marriage to Rory. He does not know that she had a fling with his missing black-sheep brother, Frank, who had briefly lived in the house a year before. Frank had been in possession of a mysterious puzzle box which he believed would give him access to other realms of pleasure. Needless to say, he opened it ... This all happens in the first few pages, and to go beyond that would spoil what is a very fast read. It is, perhaps, not scary, but it is quite unsettling, and is very well written. I thought that Julia was not given enough motivation for what she does in the story, which renders her more of a plot device rather than a character, and evokes nothing in the way of sympathy. Apart from that, it has done enough to convince me to check out some of Barker's heftier works. 8/10

I crank the volume up whenever these come on This one's the best tv theme ever, imo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKzrwOjwalA And this one's a current fave:

Excalibur By Bernard Cornwell I don't think I can add anything that I haven't already said in my reviews of the first two books (above). I finished this in the early hours of this morning, determined to read the final 100 pages or so in one sitting. Glad I did. All I can say, really, is that I think this goes down as one of the most memorable and consistently brilliant trilogies I have read. I'm sad it's over, but look forward to re-reading it in the future. That will be, of course, after I've read some of Cornwell's other books! All sorts of awesome. 10/10

Centurion Black Swan

I think the right person won in the end, even though I voted for Chelsee She seemed the more natural dancer to me, but her routines in the final didn't seem to me to have that extra layer of polish that Harry's did. I hope they keep Zoe for ITT next year. I wasn't sure I'd like her taking over from Winkelman at first, but she made it her own

Yikes! Mine will be a year old on December 25th ...

I'd say the first movie is a classic 80s action movie - it's more fun than most and, apart from The Terminator, pretty much the only Arnie film I like. It was the film John McTiernan made before going on to make Die Hard. Well worth a watch if you like that kind of thing

Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell This is the second book in Cornwell's 'Warlord Chronicles' trilogy. It picks up immediately after the climax of The Winter King, in the aftermath of the battle of Lugg Vale. Arthur's dream of a united Britain seems to be drawing closer as he makes peace with Powys and reveals his plans for Siluria. Once he has achieved this he intends turning his attentions to the Saxon invaders in the east, but his plans may fall apart if Lancelot and Guinevere don't follow his lead. Meanwhile, Derfel is swayed when Merlin offers him his heart's desire - but only if he accompanies the wizard on a dangerous quest. This book does everything the second part of a trilogy should do. From the beginning it seems determined to lead the protagonists into the deepest, darkest places possible, whether physically or emotionally, and still Cornwell manages to pull it off deftly. The conflict between Paganism and Christianity begin to have a major effect on proceedings, and the book covers a number of years after the events of Lugg Vale, so the characters grow a lot over its course. None of these developments are forced or unnatural, and I really love the way Cornwell handles the passage of time, describing the events of the intervening years without the need to resort to either dates or a typical 'Five years later ...' trick. In the end it's the characters that are the winners, I think. He juggles events in their personal lives and massive, landscape-changing events so easily that I was just swept along. Of course, being the middle book in a trilogy, you know you will ultimately be left wanting to know what happens and I did feel, perhaps, that the ending was a little rushed. Also, I found myself wanting to read more about Morgan, but she is largely relegated to the sidelines. Having said that, Arthur, Guinevere, Galahad, Merlin and Nimue all get plenty of attention, Lancelot continues to infuriate me (in a good way!), and Mordred ... well, that would be telling Fate is inexorable, so Merlin says, and Cornwell plays with this theme throughout the book, and it makes for some extremely tense moments. There were at least two occasions whilst reading this book that I could feel my heart thumping with the excitement, which is a big compliment to the quality of the writing, in my opinion. I would be tempted to knock maybe half a point off due to the slightly rushed ending, but that seems a bit churlish. It's just as good as The Winter King, and viewing the book as the second part of a trilogy it is pretty much flawless. I suspect that Cornwell planned where each book would end, but actually wrote the whole trilogy as one book, because his style, his characters and the world don't falter for an instant from the end of one book to the start of the next. Brilliant, brilliant stuff. 10/10

I thought Shadow of the Wind was marvellous

I finished Bernard Cornwell's Enemy of God yesterday and have started the last book in the trilogy, Excalibur.

Predators. Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be

Don't get me started on Lancelot! What a total, utter bar steward he is I finished Enemy of God yesterday. Shall come back and review it later. Started the last book, Excalibur, this morning

Very true, and I think it's a shame. I loved it, and gobbled it up in a couple of days, but my mate gave up on it after 100 pages and found it unreadable. It's probably my favourite period of history, so maybe that made me like it more, I don't know. The 'he' issue is definitely there. I wonder if she'll abandon that in the sequel.

Tell me about it! One thing I'm loving about these books is the different spin he puts on some of the characters

That confused me as well! It looks like Nimue was her Welsh name, which fits in with Cornwell's naming of characters and places throughout the book(s) http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/nimue.html

I expect you've heard the name in Arthurian legend - wasn't she the Lady of the Lake?

Blimey, that was quick! Hope you enjoy it

Your favourite read of the year? Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan, just a wonderful, wonderful stand-alone historical fantasy. Honourable mentions to: Bernard Cornwell's The Winter King, an awesome read but first in a trilogy so may be surpassed! Dan Simmons' Hyperion - just brilliant. And Steven Erikson's The Crippled God, the tenth and final book of his 'Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen', which was a fantastic conclusion to my favourite series, but obviously difficult to judge on its own merits. Your favourite author of the year? Guy Gavriel Kay tops the list. Also Steven Saylor and Neal Asher, and Bernard Cornwell is coming up fast on the rails ... Your most read author of the year? George RR Martin, all but one of which were re-reads. Otherwise, of the first-time reads there are several authors of whose I've read three books each. Your favourite book cover of the year? This is a problem if you're using a Kindle Otherwise, probably the SF Masterworks hardback edition of The Time Machine: The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? Endgame by Matthew Glass. The blurb and cover gave the impression it was some action-packed Clancy-esque thriller, but it was all politics instead. The book that most disappointed you? A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin. Yawn. Has managed to drop Martin in my opinion considerably, and has almost put me off the idea of reading the future books, or even watching anymore of the tv series! The funniest book of the year? I think The Sisters Brothers made me chuckle the most, or one of the Dresden Files books. Tim Willocks's The Religion was hilarious, but not intentionally so ... Your favourite literary character this year? Ammar ibn Khairan from The Lions of Al-Rassan. Your favourite classic of the year? The Three Musketeers

The Pineapple Thief -

Oooh, was that It Came from Outer Space? I remember alien brains floating around the desert in that one, I think.

For me, definitely! I'm just worried that the next two will be even better. That's what I mean about having to revise my other scores downwards - I've given too many 10's this year Actually, the others were The Snowman, The Lions of Al-Rassan, A Storm of Swords (which was a re-read, so shouldn't count I suppose), A Song for Arbonne and Hyperion, all of which I rank as highly, except maybe The Snowman, which should probably be a 9.5. I'll have to be a bit harsher next year On another note, I'm glad I got the paperbacks of this trilogy - I was constantly referring to the map, which would've been a pain in the bum on the Kindle

The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell I've been wanting to read this one for a while, I guess because I like the BBC's Merlin and I wanted to read something Arthurian. I suppose, in some ways, this wasn't the best place to start, especially if you're looking for swords in stones, wizards, mythical beasts and ladies of lakes. No, this is the story of Arthur told as historical fiction, with the myths and legends stripped away and turned into something wholly believable. If Arthur really existed (there's no smoke without fire, after all!) then I can well imagine that this might be how it was. I guess I was slightly suprised that Arthur isn't the leading protagonist in this story. All of the following is explained in the first few pages, so I don't consider this spoilery. Cornwell tells his tale from the point of view of a Saxon boy called Derfel, who - at an early age - walks unharmed from a Druid's death pit and is found and raised by Merlin, himself a Druid, who believes Derfel might be watched over by the Pagan gods. The story starts several years after this, as High King Uther Pendragon, nearing death, worries over the impending birth of his child, who he prays will be a boy to inherit his throne. Derfel has grown, along with Merlin's young lover Nimue, amongst the English and no longer considers himself a Saxon. As such, he is perfectly placed to relate the story. And what a story! I have never read any of Cornwell's other novels and didn't know quite what to expect. In fact, opening the book and seeing the density of the text, I was thinking it might be heavy going. Fortunately it is anything but. I found his writing marvellous. It made me jealous! I wish I could write like this. It flows gracefully, and with a level of detail and atmosphere that is hypnotic. The characters came alive in my head - every single one of them. His versions of Arthur, Galahad, Lancelot, Guinevere etc are not quite what you might expect, but they live and breathe through the pages. Nimue is a standout, and he makes Merlin his own - Ian McKellen was playing him in my head. It was brilliant. The action, when it comes, is just as good. It's vivid and visceral and totally believable. Considering this is just the start of the story it's amazing that it isn't just info dump after exposition after padding. The pacing is just right, and made it impossible for me to put down. So yeah, I loved it, obviously Time will tell, but I'd already rank it among the best books I've ever read. The problem is, it's the kind of book that makes me think I need to revise all my other scores. A ten should only be for perfection, after all, and there's the chance that the next two books in the trilogy might be even better, if that's possible. But what the hell - I can't score this any less ... 10/10

Finished The Winter King and started on the next one, Enemy of God