Archives by Tag 'Fiction'
Review: ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian’ by Marina Lewycka
When their recently widowed father announces that he plans to remarry, sisters Vera and Nadezhda realize that they must learn to put aside a lifetime of bitter rivalry in order to save him. The new woman in his life is Valentina, a voluptuous gold-digger from Ukraine, fifty years his junior, with fabulous breasts and a [...]
Review: ‘The Magician’s Guild’ by Trudi Canavan
This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders . [...]
Review: ‘The Affinity Bridge’ by George Mann
Welcome to the bizarre and dangerous world of Victorian London, a city teetering on the edge of revolution. Its people are ushering in a new era of technology, dazzled each day by new inventions. Airships soar in the skies over the city, whilst ground trains rumble through the streets and clockwork automatons are programmed to [...]
Review: ‘Interview with the Vampire’ by Anne Rice
This is the book that started it all. We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks–as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. (Goodreads Summary) I read this book hoping for a [...]
Review: ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy
Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of Russian society and leaves her husband and son to live with her lover. Condemned [...]
Review: ‘The Hammer of the Sun’ by Michael Scott Rohan
Elof, master smith, and his band of true friends, face their greatest challenge when they confront their nemesis with inferior forces and crippling odds that must not give into a stronger power. (Goodreads Summary) I have never before been this disappointed with the final installment in a trilogy. In fact, had it not been the [...]
Review: ‘The Discovery of Chocolate’ by James Runcie
What delicious ingredients James Runcie has blended together in his first novel, The Discovery of Chocolate–a picaresque, time-travelling journey of self-discovery. Told by the Spaniard, Diego de Godoy, accompanied by his faithful greyhound Pedro, Diego wanders the world, like Don Quixote bereft of his Dulcinea, in search of his beloved Ignacia–and the perfect chocolate. (Goodreads [...]
Review: ‘Fire and Shadow’ by David Hillier
It is the time of the Third Crusade, and Isabel is about to marry when her parents are murdered. She suspects the Earl de Mortaine is involved, and learns that he is trying to eliminate the king’s supporters while the king is fighting in Jerusalem. Isabel travels there to report what is happening. (Goodreads Summary) [...]
Review: ‘The Devil in Amber’ by Mark Gatiss
Lucifer Box – portraitist, dandy and terribly good secret agent – is feeling his age. He’s also more than a little anxious about an ambitious younger agent, Percy Flarge, who’s snapping at his heels. Assigned to observe the activities of fascist leader Olympus Mons and his fanatical followers, or “Amber Shirts,” in F.A.U.S.T. – The [...]
Review: ‘The Vesuvius Club’ by Mark Gatiss
Meet Lucifer Box: Equal parts James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, with a twist of Monty Python and a dash of Austin Powers, Lucifer has a charming countenance and rapier wit that make him the guest all hostesses must have. And most do. But few of his conquests know that Lucifer is also His Majesty’s most [...]