Shadows of the Past - Book Review

Shadows of the Past
By Carmen Stefanescu

When Anne and Neil leave on a one-week holiday hoping to reconcile after a two-year separation, little do they know that destiny has other plans for them. Their discovery of human bones and a bejeweled cross in the hollow of a tree open the door to the supernatural realm and the anguished life of Genevieve, a nun from medieval England.

Can Anne save her relationship and help Genevieve find her eternal rest?

The twists and turns in this paranormal tale keep the reader guessing up to the end and weave themselves together into a quest to rekindle love. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

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Shadows of the Past tells two stories: of 15th century nun Genevieve, and 90’s business-woman Anne. The ways in which these separate stories interact and weave together, and the similarity between past lives, was intriguing. The women’s stories and their romances mirrored each other, but at the same time were different enough that the characters felt like separate people. It was interesting to see one relationship blossoming while another was tentatively trying to reform after a betrayal. The idea of the evil forest and the haunting passed down into future lives was also very promising.

However, I didn’t really get on with this book. I struggled with some of the characters; I found Anne and Neil a little dull and underdeveloped, and I didn’t really believe in their relationship. We were told a lot that they loved each other, and that Neil is perfect for Anne, but I didn’t see enough evidence of this to help me understand why she forgave him.

I also found the abbess’ character a little odd. Yes, she was greedy and selfish, and a direct threat to Genevieve, but her ‘evil’ nature was a bit confusing to me. She was using some kind of magic up in her room in the abbey, which seemed to be tied to her sexuality. According to the other nuns, this dark magic was very sinister, but we never really saw the effects of it. Most of the time she just seemed to like to eat good food and enjoy herself, and so resented and defied the strict rules of the abbey. I understand that this is reason enough for nuns to be against her in the 15th century, but some of the over-moralising against it, particularly from the modern characters, made me uncomfortable. The abbess is a horrible person for trying to seduce a priest, but the main character, a nun, falls in love with the very same priest and that's alright? Both the abbess and Genevieve have knowledge of witchcraft, but the abbess uses her powers for... well, I'm not sure what exactly, but it make snakes appear on her head (so we hear from one of the nuns, and never actually see), so obviously her powers are evil? I also really didn’t like the suggestion that two nuns’ sexual experimentation together might be seen as a mark of how much the evil abbess had corrupted them. Again, this fits with the attitude of the nuns, but were the readers supposed to agree? I hope not!

Genevieve herself was the most developed character, and in general I was interested in what would happen to her. The historical chapters were the better parts of the novel, but were unfortunately spoiled a little now and then by some quite jarring anachronisms. Some elements were obviously researched, but others clearly weren’t. For example, asps are not a danger to watch out for while hiking up mountains in England. The way characters spoke also felt a little off, for both 15th century and 1990’s England, and I found the writing in general to be a little awkward and stilted. This made the book hard-going for me at points.

Despite some intriguing aspects, this book wasn’t for me.

Thank you to the author for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Taste of Blood Wine - Blog Tour & Short Story Extract

Have you heard that Titan Books are re-releasing Freda Warrington's vampire series, the wonderful Blood Books, beginning with A Taste of Blood Wine and leading up to a brand new book in the series? Today I'm really excited to be a host in the “Gorgeous Grave-throbber” Tour, with the second part of one of Freda's related short stories!

From award-winning British fantasy author Freda Warrington, A Taste of Blood Wine (Titan Books, May 2013) is the first novel of a gothic vampire melodrama.

To celebrate the return of the critically acclaimed Blood Books in collectable paperback and e-book edition, Titan Books and Freda Warrington are serialising two rare and risqué stories set within the universe of the Blood Books across a series of websites and blogs.

This is part two of And Their Blood Will Be Prescient to Fire, and you can read the rest of the tale here. Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

 

And Their Blood Will Be Prescient to Fire: Part 2

by Freda Warrington

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Robyn. Seventy years lost. Violette, who thought she couldn’t love, had loved her. Perhaps she’d come close with others since, but Robyn was the ruby set in her heart. A glorious courtesan defying Boston’s high society; a wounded soul, beautiful, warm and funny. The miracle was that Robyn had wanted her too. But Violette had turned her away. Robyn, if I let you come with me… I will destroy you.

It had seemed the right decision at the time.

Violette was hardly aware of her surroundings. She could only see Robyn’s face, smell her hair. Charlotte’s voice startled her.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To speak to her.’

Charlotte’s hand shot out and circled her upper arm. ‘Don’t.’

‘Do you think a day goes by that I haven’t longed to find her again?’ Violette hissed. ‘Let me go.’

Too much liquid swam in Charlotte’s eyes. Fear, jealousy. ‘Violette, it isn’t Robyn.’

The dancer plucked Charlotte’s hand off her arm and pushed it away. ‘Let me go. Whoever she is, at least let me look at her face again for a few minutes.’

The main lobby of the hotel was bright, sparkling with huge chandeliers. From the marshmallow comfort of a sofa, Violette watched the woman pacing, talking into a mobile phone, high heels clicking on the marble floor. At last she ended the conversation, turned and saw Violette.

‘Hi again,’ she said, about to walk straight past. Violette sat forward and made brazen eye contact, her posture demanding conversation. With those brilliant kohl-ringed eyes she could convey emotion to the back of the stalls. The effect on the woman was virtually physical. She halted, bemused as if Violette had tripped her.

‘Hi,’ said Violette. ‘Is your evening going as well as mine?’

‘Oh, my dinner date stood me up. Migraine, sure; too many brandies at lunch is more like it.’

‘Same here,’ said Violette. ‘That is, my friend was called away. Ordered this bottle, and now no one to drink it with.’ She indicated Stefan’s demon-brew, which she’d seized and brought with her. The thick green glass of the bottle glistened. There were two fresh glasses beside it. ‘I’d love it if you’d help me out.’

Despite the cool poise of her exterior, Violette was trembling inwardly like a teenager. Her approach felt inane and desperate. The desire to keep this gorgeous, distracted stranger beside her was turning her into a fool.

‘Oh, sure, why not.’ The woman flopped down, stretching stockinged calves. She took out a palmtop computer and began tapping at it, at the same time trying to keep the folder from sliding off her knee. Violette, hypnotised, watched Robyn’s warm face with its mischievous dark eyes, Robyn’s unruly thick hair falling forward and being pushed back. ‘It’s such a damn nuisance… hope the guy’s okay for a working breakfast… Oh, and my sister’s picking me up at nine… Damn, I need to email Mark; that’s my husband…’

Violette had a vision of breaking into a strange house and sucking the life from a faceless man. No more husband. She poured syrupy straw-gold plasma into the woman’s glass.

‘What do you do?’ she asked softly.

‘What? Oh, pharmaceutical company. Really dull.’ The woman flipped the palmtop shut and into her purse. ‘Sorry, I’m not normally this rude. You so don’t look part of the convention, and you’ll turn out to be head of some huge corporation and I’ll have blown a billion-dollar deal.’

‘Relax. I’m not.’

‘I’m Ruth Sarandon.’ She reached out and shook hands, her fingers warm in Violette’s cold ones.

‘I read the name tag.’

‘You’re not wearing one,’ said Ruth. She took the glass. There was no sign of Robyn’s calm, sensual personality beneath the brittle energy.

‘I’m Violette.’ She didn’t think to offer a false name.

‘Well, cheers, Violette.’ The dancer watched as Ruth-Robyn took a mouthful of blood plasma. She swallowed hard, eyes watering. ‘Wow, that’s different. Kind of bitter, like an aperitif. Not bad.’ She turned the bottle, holding it by the neck. ‘No label. That’s scary.’

‘It peeled off. Condensation.’ Usually Violette dealt in the truth. Tonight it felt all too easy to spill one lie after another. The spiked blood made her unguarded and she was floating in a dream where all that mattered was what she wanted.

‘So, what brings you to Boston?’ Ruth asked. She took large mouthfuls of her drink, shuddering a little with each one. Violette looked at the chestnut hair lying against her throat.

‘Oh… working trip,’ she began, but Ruth sat forward, speaking over her.

‘You know, you look incredibly familiar. Did you say your name was Violette? Are you a ballet dancer?’

Violette bit her lip, cursing inwardly. She felt the magic bleeding away. The chatter of people in the lobby became deafening. She shrugged, gave a self-effacing smile. ‘I’m off-duty.’

‘You’re the Violette Lenoir, right?’ Ruth put down her drink and clapped her hands. ‘Oh, my God, my little sister worships you. She will die if she knows I met you.’

Violette’s eyes widened. She had an image of a small girl, like a child in an Edward Gorey cartoon, literally expiring in the face of her big sister’s news. Meanwhile Ruth’s chatter went on: ‘I say little; Sarah’s twenty-three. Oh, her room’s a shrine, she has every one of your ballets on DVD, she truly spends every cent of her wages on you…’ and Violette sat transfixed by dismay. This was the last thing she wanted. She wanted Robyn, the wordless bliss of finding each other again. Not the inane flutter of a stranger. She wanted Robyn so badly the feeling pushed tears into her eyes.

She drank down the herb-fragrant blood. It gelled inside her like disappointment. She let the words wash over her until she couldn’t hear them any more. The world was buzzing madly around her, speeded up in time while she sat utterly still. No longer seeing the babbling woman there, only seeing Robyn.

She became aware that Ruth had stopped and was staring uneasily at her. ‘So – I guess an autograph’s out of the question? For Sarah, not me.’

‘Forgive me.’ Violette’s attempt at graciousness sounded wooden. ‘It’s wonderful that your sister… To know my work’s not in vain.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Ruth. ‘You must get this all the time. Another gushing idiot, and here you are trying to relax. I’ll stop.’

Her voice had an edge suggesting disapproval of stars who weren’t meltingly grateful to their fans. Violette didn’t care. She leaned into the sofa, her body turned towards Ruth’s, one hand supporting her head and the other resting lightly on her hip.

‘Actually, I’m trying to pick you up,’ Violette said coolly, not blinking. ‘Can we please go to your room before everyone in this bloody hotel recognises me?’

---

Read the rest of the short story, And Their Blood Will Be Prescient to Fire, here. And don't forget to hop over to The Curiosity of a Social Misfit for part 3!

Thanks Freda Warrington and Titan Books. I'm so looking forward to reading the book! :-)

The first book in Freda Warrington’s Blood Books series, A Taste of Blood Wine, is out now from Titan Books, £7.99. 

Bout of Books 7.0 Wrap-Up

 
And that's it! Read-a-thon over. It was a lot of fun, and I got more reading done than I thought I would. I met most of my goals, and took part in most of the mini-challenges. Yay! Whether you joined in this time or not, hope to see you in August for the next one! :-)

My goals were:

Finish The Night Circus and at least one other book.
- I finished The Night Circus, Any Other Name, and Poison, and I started Angelmaker.
 
Catch up on some cross-posting of reviews.
- I... did not do this. >_< 

Visit as many participating blogs as I can.
- I didn't have as much time for blog visiting as previous read-a-thons, but I did still manage to visit lots, and to say hi to old friends as well as new.

Take part in at least two mini-challenges.
- I took part in five mini-challenges!

Join in at least one of the Twitter chats.
- I joined two of the Twitter chats.

Have fun!
- The easiest but most important goal. Yes, I had a lot of fun!

Books Read/Started:

The Night Circus

Any Other Name

Poison

Angelmaker

How did everyone else do? Did you have fun? :-)


 

Showcase Sunday #19

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

I can't believe it's Sunday again already! Had a very fun and busy week - Bout of Books on top of having a lot of work! Didn't mind the hecticness though, as it's been so much fun. :-) I've been reading away, doing mini-challenges, and taking part in twitter chats. I've been updating my progress and challenges posts each day, which is why there haven't been many new posts this week. But look out for lots of reviews coming soon! :-)

Last week's posts:

Bout of Books Updates

Bout of Books Mini-Challenges


New Goodies:

Poison, by Sarah Pinborough

Thanks Gollancz Geeks for the review copy!

I've actually already finished this one,

as it was one of my read-a-thon books.

Enjoyed it. Review soon!

Poison Study, by Maria V Snyder

(kindle daily deal)

Department 19, by Will Hill

(99p on kindle)

Hope everyone's had a lovely week! :-)

Bout of Books Mini-Challenges

I find it easier to put the mini-challenge responses in a separate post from my updates, so here we go. I LOVE mini-challenges, so I'm pretty excited...


Sunday:

Last day of the read-a-thon! Today's mini-challenge is hosted by Snarky Bird, Uber Nerd, and it's all about recommending books. The idea is to say that if you liked (...) then you'll love (...)

Okay, here are my suggestions. I wanted to go mad and recommend everything on my shelf, but then realised that I'd have to limit myself. Of course, these work both ways - if you've read the second suggestion, then you should love the first too!

- If you like The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, you'll love Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett. The latter book is older, and I never see it talked about much, but it is very good!

 

- If you like The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa, you'll love Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. Strong heroines, and sexy supernatural stories that don't pull punches.

- If you like the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, you'll love the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud. Not exactly similar, but both are fun and adventurous, both feature magic, both are very British, both feature arrogant magic users (the Bartimaeus series could be seen as what the Harry Potter world could look like if the magic users had ruled over the muggles instead of hiding from them), and both explore prejudice towards magical creatures.

- If you like A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin, but would like a smaller cast of characters and more women in positions of strength, then you'll love The Red Knight by K. T. Davies.

- If you like The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, you'll love Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. In terms of the magical feel. So enchanting and absorbing, though I think Howl's Moving Castle has a much better story, and would recommend it to anyone, even if you hated The Night Circus. ;-)

- If you like the current trend of YA dystopias involving pregnancies, you'll love The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

- If you like A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin, you'll love The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan. Similar idea of young people being plucked from the most unlikely place in order to learn magic, and then dealing with the consequences.

- If you like the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, you'll love the Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence. Same sense of adventure, same fairly simple but very fun puzzles, same brave children and strong friendship, and the added bonus of learning about ancient Rome as you go!

So there you go. Hope there was something there to interest you, or to add to your To Read list! Can't wait to see everyone else's suggestions. :-)


Saturday

Today's challenge is hosted by Smash Attack Reads and it's another book spine poem! But this time we have to stick to one genre of books... of course, I chose fantasy (it's the genre I own the most of, so makes things a bit easier). It's 12 books long and uses 12 extra words, and I ended up having to take the picture in three:

A game of thrones in Fantasyland:

The Iron King on his throne of glass;

The High Lord in his castle in the air.

Each sips poison from enchanted glass,

As the novice, cursed with eyes the colour of magic,

Claims the crown of Dalemark.

I'm not sure if the second title is 'Fantasyland' or 'The Tough Guide to Fantasyland'. If it's the latter, then replace that title with 'City of Ruin', which I own but haven't taken a photo of.


Thursday

Today's challenge is to make an acrostic poem, hosted by Harley Bear Book Blog. The task is to take a book title and use each letter to make a word. Here's mine:

Wednesday

Create a cover! This is being hosted by I Talk Books, and the challenge is simple: re-design a book cover! I picked Wool by Hugh Howey, and created this with the help of my husband. Enjoy! ;-) 

 
Monday

Book spine poem time! This is being hosted at Escape Through the Pages.

The rules are: create a poem using book titles. You get as many extra words as you have books in your poem. I'm already breaking the rules because I actually have two more words than I do books. Technically, I can do it without cheating, as I can replace 'I call' with 'are', and remove 'and', but I think this throws off the rhythmn a bit, so I prefer this version.

This is a little tribute to the poem within the book The Stars My Destination, which is also one of the books in the stack. :-)

I've titled it:

'The Science Fiction and Fantasy Author'

I'm the master puppeteer,
And Neverwhere my nation.
Magic and stone I call my home,
The stars my destination.

Showcase Sunday #18

Inspired by Celine from Nyx Book Reviews, I've decided to combine several weekly wrap-up memes into one post. Showcase Sunday is hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits and Tea. Stacking the Shelves is hosted at Tynga's Reviews, and Sunday Post is hosted at Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Letterbox Love is a special British book-haul meme hosted by Lindsey at Narratively Speaking.


Last Week:

Had a bit more of a relaxed week; John was off work, and we enjoyed the lovely weather at the beginning of the week. We tried a new cafe close to us, which was yummy, and I found The Eyre Affair in Oxfam! Been wanting to read this one for ages, so I'm pretty pleased with that find. :-)

Last week's posts:

Book Review - Echo, by Alicia Wright Brewster

Video Game Sneak Peek - The Last of Us

Bout of Books 7.0 Goals and Updates

Shepard is Meeeelting - a very funny Mass Effect glitch that I just had to share!


New Goodies:

 

The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

Oxfam find!

Writing the Other, by Nisi Shawl & Cynthia Ward

Something to help me with my own writing and

to help me see things from different perspectives.

Life in the UK Test handbook and guide.

These are for my husband. I've added them here

because I thought I might flick through them myself and

review them. I wonder how many British people ever

read these. Will be interesting to find out the things

I am apparently expected to know!

Other Stuff:

Bout of Books begins tomorrow! :-)

 

Bout of Books 7.0 Goals and Updates

Woohoo, Bout of Books starts tomorrow! So here are my goals for the read-a-thon, and check back here for updates throughout the week too.

Not sure what Bout of Books is? It's an event run by Amanda from On a Book Bender, and Kelly from Reading the Paranormal, in which participants challenge themselves to read as much as they can over a week. There are twitter chats, mini-challenges, prizes and lots of fun! Find out more about it here.

Goals

- Finish The Night Circus and at least one other book (and hopefully more, but I have a lot of work this week and want to set an easy goal so that I don't stress myself!)
- Catch up on some cross-posting of reviews.
- Visit as many participating blogs as I can.
- Take part in at least two mini-challenges.
- Join in at least one of the Twitter chats.
- Have fun!

Books I'm Aiming to Read/Start

These are the books I'd like to choose from, and get as many read as I can. My goal is to finish The Night Circus and at least one other. Five books should give me plenty of choice, but I'll probably end up picking something completely different anyway!

Updates

Monday: Very good first day, finished The Night Circus and took part in the Twitter chat (which was CRAZY - so many people!), and completed the book spine poem mini-challenge. So I'm already a good way through my goals. Yay for easy goals! :-)

- Read: Finished The Night Circus. 32% through Any Other Name by Emma Newman.
- Mini-Challenge: Completed!

Tuesday: I had a busy day, but decided to go internet-free for the evening and wow, did I get a lot of reading done! Steaming ahead with this read-a-thon... this can't last! xD

- Read: Finished Any Other Name

Wednesday: Today's reading wasn't quite so epic, but I did have A LOT of fun with the mini-challenge! :-D

- Read: Up to page 134 in Poison, by Sarah Pinborough.
- Mini-Challenge: Completed!

Thursday: Was feeling a bit head-achey all day, but didn't manage to curl up with a book until quite late. Still, managed to finish Poison (which is a very short book) and now I'm onto my FOURTH book! Woo! That's very good for me, and I think this is now officially my most productive read-a-thon ever.

- Read: Finished Poison, and began Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (up to page 26).
- Mini-Challenge: Completed!

Friday: Okay, today was a terrible day for reading. Think I burned myself out a bit and needed a video game night instead. Progress was made on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, not so much on Angelmaker! I'm not sure tomorrow will be a lot better, what with Doctor Who and Eurovision distractions. Eurovision! I'm so excited! :-D John's making a trip out for snacks and party food right now...

- Read: Er, about 10 pages I think! Let's see... oh, a bit better than that. 22 pages. >_< Angelmaker is very weird but very intriguing so far. I love Bastion!

Saturday: After a frustrating day trying to fix an issue with my computer, I finally got it working... just in time for the twitter chat! Yay! The chat was really fun, and have discovered some new Twitter friends and blogs thanks to it. :-) Then it was Doctor Who, Eurovision, and far too much party food. A really fun afternoon/evening, but not very productive for the reading!

- Read: To page 99 of Angelmaker.
- Mini-Challenge: Completed!

Sunday: I ended up writing for most of the day - almost 5000 words done on my story, which is pretty good for one day for me. Must be something about a read-a-thon that makes me want to write... :-) Consequently, didn't get a lot read, but it was definitely worth it!

- Read: To page130 of Angelmaker.
- Mini-Challenge: Completed!


And that's it! Read-a-thon over. It was a lot of fun, and I got more reading done than I thought I would. I met most of my goals, and took part in most of the mini-challenges. Yay! Whether you joined in this time or not, hope to see you in August for the next one! :-)

Shepard is Meeeeelting - Mass Effect Glitch

My husband is currently on a mission to replay all the Mass Effect games and DLC in order. Fun stuff. Until, that is, we came across the Terrifying Mass Effect Glitch From Hell.

At first, Matriarch Benezia knocks Shepard down with her biotic powers. We laughed as he just lay there, watching Liara and Tali do all the work. We thought this was the extent of this particular glitch. But then... then we started to notice that Shepard was looking a little odd. Trying to push himself into one of those back-breaking poses that female superheroes do? Or perhaps slowly melting into a little puddle on the floor...

And then stretching...

And stretching...

And stretching...

And... oh god! :-(

What is this? The true, horrifying result of synthesis? Some new alien lifeform emerging, and using Shepard as a host? Proof that you don't mess with the asari?

Whatever it is, I'm not sure I can ever look at my husband's Shep in the same way again.

Echo - Book Review

Echo
by Alicia Wright Brewster

The countdown clock reads ten days until the end of the world. The citizens are organized. Everyone's been notified and assigned a duty. The problem is . . . no one knows for sure how it will end.

Energy-hungry Mages are the most likely culprit. They travel toward a single location from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each Mage holds the power of an element: air, earth, fire, metal, water, or ether. They harness their powers to draw energy from the most readily available resource: humans.

Ashara has been assigned to the Ethereal task force, made up of human ether manipulators and directed by Loken, a young man with whom she has a complicated past. Loken and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the Mages from occupying their home and gaining more energy than they can contain. But soon, they begin to suspect that the future of the world may depend on Ashara's death. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

---

Echo has a really interesting concept; it mixes the idea of people who can control elements - earth, air, water, metal, fire and ether - with time-related stuff. The Elders have seen a vision that the world will end, and so they have moved everyone and everything back in time to try to prevent the disaster. Each time they fail, and each time they move the world backwards again. But they can only travel back ten days, and each time they do they get a little weaker, as they are only echoes of their former selves. Soon, they won’t have the power to alter time at all. Their chances are running out.

What a fantastic idea! Unfortunately, however, I didn’t feel that the plot and the characters quite lived up to this amazing concept. The story focuses on Asha, a teenage girl who discovers her powers for the first time and is suddenly flung into the council’s desperate attempts to save the world. We see training, a lot of talking, running around and fighting mages (people who have lost both their control of their powers and their humanity), and running from various groups of people who don’t like Asha very much. Naturally, Asha turns out to be very special, and centrally important to the end-of-the-world scenario. It’s a shame that Asha’s story, and in fact, Asha herself, were just a little dull. There were also points in which characters’ actions made no sense. I can’t really elaborate without giving away spoilers, but really... the council is formed of some very stupid people.

Having said that, the book is far from boring; it gives us quite familiar save-the-world superhero type fights, and typical young adult self-discovery and relationship issues. These aren’t the most original, but they are written well, and there’s plenty to keep the reader entertained. I did enjoy the story. I just felt that it could have been so much more. The revelation about why Asha is so powerful and important is very clever, and it ties into the time travel stuff. The fact that the end of the world may not have been inevitable at all, but could itself have been an echo travelling back from future timelines in the form of a vision of the future, is a brilliant idea. Did the council cause its own dilemma? It seems that way. I do love timey wimey paradoxes. I also loved the religious elements and the slight science fiction aspects of what was mainly a fantasy feel. Very intriguing stuff!

I felt that these aspects could have been explored more, and that the ultimate cause of the end of the world could have been something deeper or more interesting. I was actually expecting some kind of twist involving that, as it seemed to me unlikely that a group of mages, no matter how numerous, could destroy the whole world. It didn’t seem to fit, somehow, and the people’s extreme hatred of them was odd. Shouldn’t the mages elicit at least a bit of sympathy, as people who have been lost to their own powers? And how does this happen? And are they really the simple bad guys that they seem to be? I felt that this aspect of the book was too simplistic and under-explored. It made me a little uncomfortable to keep hearing how much various characters, particularly Asha, wanted to kill mages. At least Asha has an excuse for her feelings, but I still thought that she might have to learn that life is not necessarily that clear cut.

This is an interesting book that for the most part I enjoyed, but was also disappointed by. It has some very unique aspects and clever ideas, but unfortunately doesn’t explore them as much as it could, instead following a slightly dry and familiar plot. The characters often act frustratingly, but there is plenty of action and intriguing worldbuilding to keep the story going.

Thank you to Dragonfairy Press for providing a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


---


A quick note on the cover, as there currently seems to be an issue with it. A friend pointed this out to me, so I thought it might be important to provide a link to it. It should be noted that authors don’t necessarily have much input into their covers, and it hasn't affected my review of the story.

Sneak Peek Event at GAME - The Last of Us

On Saturday I went to a lock-in event at Nottingham GAME to try a demo of upcoming Playstation game The Last of Us. This was one of those exclusive thingies that GAME sometimes does, with the promise of a sneak peek and free pizza.


The Event 

I actually expected the lock-in event to be more of... well, an event. As it was, it felt like something that could have happened in the store during the day (if there hadn't been an age restriction). Some people wandered in, queued to try the demo, had a go, and then left. It was fun playing the game, and there was Dominoes, but I had thought there might be a little more. I don't know, maybe a talk about the game? Or something that encouraged more chatting? A joint viewing of a trailer before trying the demo? I'm not sure. Just something a bit more.

The screens were lined up in a row, which felt a little daunting, but on the other hand it was nice to be able to take a peek at what others were doing or to comment on the game to them. I think there had been a mix up with sending the headphones; they hadn't arrived on time, anyway, so unfortunately it was impossible to hear what was happening in the game above the noise of everyone else becoming zombie dinner.

Other than the sound issue, the event was run well, and everyone seemed to have fun. There were drinks and pizza, and very friendly staff on hand to help with anything. The Playstation rep was helpful and nice, and answered all questions about the game enthusiastically, despite probably getting asked the same questions over and over (why am I collecting scissors? which button is left three? Ok, so maybe I was the only one who asked that, but it was my first time on a Playstation).

The Last of Us

But anyway, let’s talk about The Last of Us. Well, I only had a short play, and it’s always hard to tell a lot from a short demo. Added to this was the headphones issue, so it was impossible to actually hear what was happening. I therefore have very little idea of story except what the Playstation rep told me.

However, the game certainly seems intriguing. It’s set in post-apocalyptic USA, in which a fungus that affects insects has mutated to humans. It’s basically a zombie game (I know. Another one. I really don’t know why either), but this time the zombie people turn into kinda plant-like things. Yeah, it’s a bit hard to explain, but it does look really good. Seriously, the graphics are gorgeous.

The player character, Joel, seems like a pretty standard post-apoc hero, but I didn’t see any backstory on him, so it’s possible he has a lot more depth. He walks around the world with a teenage girl, Ellie, who he is protecting, in a very fatherly role by the look of it. In the section I played there was actually another character with us, a woman who I don’t know much about. I thought the interaction between them seemed very interesting and well done (I couldn’t hear, but I could pick up a lot just from the expressions and the looks they gave each other). Although your character is obviously the leader and protector, the woman with you kills a zombie near the beginning of the demo, helps to push doors and furniture, and doesn’t come across as too helpless (of course, it's hard to say whether this carries on). There was one part that I got a bit of a kick out of, which involved the player character hauling with mighty effort on a chest of drawers to move it out of the way of a door. The woman then waltzes through and, entirely on her own, easily pushes what looks like a very heavy photocopy machine to prop open the door.

The way the characters and enemies move also seems very real, even the fact that the player character’s head turns to look around him as you move, rather than staring rigidly ahead. I also liked how the world responded to me, such as half-fallen buildings leaning and creaking as I walked through them. I think this would be a fun world to explore during the game, especially as you can find items to craft with. For example, certain ingredients will give you a makeshift knife, and bottles of alcohol and rags can be used to create Molotov Cocktails. Very useful by the way – much more so than the healing kits. If you’re getting hit, you’re probably gonna die.

This is a survival game, so it’s not a rush-through-and-shoot-things type. You have to creep about a bit, try not to let the blind zombies hear you, and sneak up behind the other zombies to strangle them quietly. You can throw objects to divert the zombies’ attention and sneak past (or lure them all to the same spot and then throw a Molotov Cocktail). You do find guns, but this is definitely the kind of game where ammo is limited. Finding ways to take care of the zombies, or to get past them, seemed fun and challenging, but again, this is hard to say from such a short play. Can the fun elements be enough to counter the same-old-same-old zombieness? I guess, if you love zombies, this is definitely one for you. If you’re a bit sick of them, perhaps wait for the reviews.

All in all, a promising and intriguing game that I’m interested in finding out more about. There didn’t seem to be anything very new about it, but it did seem to handle the slightly clichéd survival stuff (and the ridiculously clichéd zombie stuff) pretty well. I had fun, and what’s more, I had free pizza!

*thumbs up GAME*

*possible thumbs up and interest piqued in The Last of Us*