Karsa Orlong

The likes of you are just too easy to please

You're just throwing those 10s around like there's no tomorrow

I'm considering covering it in wallpaper, like I used to do with my schoolbooks

A Storm of Swords is all kinds of awesome

I really liked Cloverfield. Nothing to do with Lizzy Caplan. Nope. I would've enjoyed Blair Witch Project more if it hadn't had all the hype - I watched it waiting to be scared and it never happened. I think if I'd caught it late night on tv and known nothing about it beforehand it may well have scared the bejesus out of me Just paid a quick visit to Forbidden Planet and got the third Vorkosigan Saga omnibus: The cover, as you can see, is absolutely bloody awful, so I had to find the biggest image of it I could just so I'm not the only one who has to endure it. Go on, click on it - I dares ya I'm trying to persuade myself that the embarrassment of that cover is justified by the fact it cost £5.99, whereas to get the Kindle editions of the two novels and one novella included would cost £12.62. I'm not sure it's working yet ETA: the two novels included in the omnibus are Cetaganda and Ethan of Athos, and the novella is called 'Labyrinth'.

I was looking at these the other day after reading comments about them on the Malazan forum, and wishlisted Dirty Streets as a result. Good to know you enjoyed it so much

I wonder if the wood chipper will make an appearance

Tee hee

I've read Fevre Dream. It's solid, if unspectacular. The Jon Courtenay Grimwood books really appeal but I've never got round to actually buying them, so I look forward to your review(s)! It's not a massive spiky arse, it's a massive spiky helmet Which, taken out of context, is even worse, I suppose

No need to be snotty about it

With my trademark 'Shaky Cam'?

I'm with Angury on this one. I would rather hope that the movies or tv shows would encourage people - who perhaps otherwise wouldn't have - to go and check out the books, and then hopefully move on from those books to others in the genre that haven't been made into films or tv shows

I may just have ordered the graphic novels of Legend and Wolf in Shadow. It had to be done

I didn't realise at the time, but the musicians getting stuff thrown at them at the wedding were from Sigur Rós

Jim Butcher's working on a new Steampunk series called 'The Cinder Spires'. The first book is called The Aeronaut's Windlass and is due around August, apparently. According to Goodreads: The Cinder Spires is set in a world “of black spires that tower for miles over a mist-shrouded surface” and follows a war between two of the Spires: Spire Albion and Spire Aurora. It’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen meets Sherlock meets Hornblower. There are goggles and airships and steam power and bizarre crystal technology and talking cats, who are horrid little bullies.

I really think you'll like it I liked the first book - unfortunately, it lulled me into a false sense of security

I used to like Ally Sheedy, back in the day, mostly in The Breakfast Club ETA: Bloody hell, just looked it up - that's nearly 30 years ago now

Thanks I'm still about 50,000 behind Gaia, though

Glad you enjoyed it, Ian. I hope you'll check out some other modern fantasy authors when you're done with A Song of Ice & Fire - there are quite a lot (not all) that have moved past the LotR-copycat stage now, in my opinion.

Brilliant review, as per usual I think I would've thrown it out of the window, though. It sounds far too much like a 'Kent-kissing Sanderson book for my liking

# 26 White Wolf by David Gemmell 2003 - Corgi paperback - 589 pages From Amazon: Skilgannon the Damned had vanished from the pages of history. Following the terrible triumph at Perapolis, the General had taken the legendary Swords of Night and Day and ridden from the lands of Naashan. No-one knew where he had gone, and the assassins sent by the Witch Queen could find no trace of his passing. Three years later, as a mob intent on murder gathers outside a distant monastery, they are faced by a single unarmed priest. In a few terrifying seconds their world is changed for ever, and word spreads across the lands of the East. In a world torn by war, White Wolf is a page-turning tale of love, betrayal and treachery, which examines the nature of heroism and friendship and the narrow lines that divide good from evil, redemption from damnation. Thoughts: Going by the internal chronology of Gemmell's Drenai books, this one falls somewhere between The Legend of Deathwalker and Legend itself. Olek Skilgannon was once a general in the Naashanite army, the right-hand man of the Witch Queen who, several years before, he had saved from certain death. But, as her power grew, he performed evil acts in her name, culminating in the sacking of Perapolis. Appalled by what he had done, stalked in his dreams by a white wolf, Skilgannon walked away. He became a monk, and disappeared, and that's where this story begins. Hmm, I wonder if he can stick to being a monk for long? White Wolf starts off in typical Gemmell fashion, introducing the characters quickly and effectively and then getting on with it. Skilgannon is a character riddled with guilt. He's not trying to escape his past because he knows he can never do so. He doesn't even believe he can atone for his actions. His one driving force is to find a mysterious temple where he believes his wife can be brought back to life. So it's something of a quest tale and, in other hands, I might have found it a bit boring because it could have become formulaic. I do think Gemmell had a winning formula that he stuck to, by and large, but I didn't find this book boring for one minute. In fact, the pages flew by (590 pages in less than four days is very fast reading for me!). What he does brilliantly here is tip the hat to several of his other Drenai novels - almost a drawing together of the mythology he created: little nods and winks, a loaded piece of dialogue here, a throwaway line there, all of which add an extra resonance to the tale. As such, it may not be a good place to start with his books, cos if you don't get the references then I'm not sure how it would affect your enjoyment. As usual, though, he creates a winning cast of characters, especially Skilgannon himself (and his terrifying abilities with the Swords of Night and Day). And an old face shows up and kicks the whole story onto another level. His characters are world-weary and do what they do not for pay or enjoyment, but because they live by a code, and that code walks a path through all of his books. Most of the time they are scared because they know death awaits them around every corner. It's also interesting that cancer crops up again, in a more literal way than it did in Legend. Gemmell is pretty much my go-to author when I want to be entertained. The stories are streamlined, the action is thrilling. His writing is simple, straightforward and effective. There is no flowery prose, no long passages of description. He lets his characters do his talking, and their friendships, loves, losses, and the natural banter and humour between them makes them come alive. I thoroughly enjoyed their company over the last few days. I thought White Wolf was fantastic from start to finish. 9/10

*waves* Hi Sarah, hope you're doing okay

Still watching this. The last few episodes have been pretty decent. It's not great, but I think it's improved and I'm quite enjoying it now. ETA:

# 25 Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds 2003 - Gollancz ebook - 208 pages From Amazon: Diamond Dogs: The planet Golgotha—supposedly lifeless—resides in a remote star system, far from those inhabited by human colonists. It is home to an enigmatic machinelike structure called the Blood Spire, which has already brutally and systematically claimed the lives of one starship crew that attempted to uncover its secrets. But nothing will deter Richard Swift from exploring this object of alien origin… Turquoise Days: In the seas of Turquoise live the Pattern Jugglers, the amorphous, aquatic organisms capable of preserving the memories of any human swimmer who joins their collective consciousness. Naqi Okpik devoted her life to studying these creatures—and paid a high price for swimming among them. Now, she may be the only hope for the survival of the species—and of every person living on Turquoise… Thoughts: Alastair Reynolds is obviously a David Bowie and Echo & the Bunnymen fan These two novellas are both set in the Revelation Space universe. They don't really require any prior knowledge of the series, although I think it adds some resonance to the stories if you've read the previous books. Diamond Dogs, for example, begins in Chasm City, and makes reference to Calvin Sylveste and the Monument to the Eighty, not to mention the Melding Plague. It also has references to the movies Raiders of the Lost Ark and Cube, and once you get into the story it becomes - amusingly - apparent why this is (assuming you've seen the films, that is). The story is told in the first person from the perspective of Richard Swift. He and his friend Roland Childe had long competed or cooperated in playing various games. Childe has discovered a mysterious alien structure on an otherwise uninhabited planet called Golgotha and has assembled a party to go and figure it out. Attempts by previous explorers had resulted in their deaths, and the team must race against time to figure out how to get to the top of the spire. Turquoise Days tells the story of Naqi and her sister, Mina, who are scientists attempting to unravel the mysteries of the Pattern Jugglers, which have also made appearances in the previous books (the characters and the planet Turquoise have not). When a communications black-out affects the whole planet they discover that a mysterious Lighthugger is approaching the planet with motives unknown. Both stories are full of twists and turns, and both have brilliant endings. I think I mentioned in previous reviews that, for me, the only issue with the 'Inhibitors Trilogy' is that it could've done with a bit of tightening up, so what interested and excited me about this book was the chance to see what Reynolds can do with a shorter format. And I think these stories are first class. They're naturally pacey, exciting, have plenty of wit, and characters who are developed quickly and cleverly, and there are plenty of surprises, all with a much shorter page count. They're also quite pleasingly dark. I suppose the flip side of that is that they can't have the level of depth and atmosphere that his novels achieve, but that's barely worth consideration. I had heard that he is a brilliant short story writer and, going by these novellas, it looks like it could be true. The next book in the RS sequence is Galactic North - a collection of short stories. Can't wait! 8/10

Too right! FWIW, you may get most out of The King Beyond the Gate, as it's a sort-of-sequel to Legend