The Obsidian Key - Eldon Thompson

RATING: THREE STARS

When Soric, an insidious and conquering sorcerer, declared war on Alson less than a year earlier, Jarom was forced into a birthright he had never asked for. Torn from his quiet life as the Farson of Diln, he soon found himself floundering as the new king following his father's brutal assassination. Jarom's quest to defeat Soric and an awakened demon queen from a bygone age drove him to seek out the fabled Crimson Sword, the magic of which promised to be Alson's salvation. But the talisman was more than just hidden away and served as a key, locking a more dangerous enemy than anyone could imagine in the astral plane they come from.

The Illysp rose on mass when Jarom took the Crimson Sword and began, in secret, a new invasion of Pentania. It is not long before the new king learns of the Illysp and he embarks upon a dangerous quest to the distant shores of Yawacor. Legends say that the remnants of Finlorians, elves who are ancient and wise in the use of magic, fled to the most inexcessible regions of the far continent after their civilisation on Pentania collapsed. The Finlorians, who had once pervailed over the Illysp and locked them away. Jarom must find them if he is to save his country and friends. He must speak with their elders and learn their dearest secrets,

The Good
The Obsidian Key is fast-paced and exciting, being full of the same gripping danger and strife that made The Crimson Sword so exhilarating. Many of the enemies Jarom made in the first book resurface and Eldon Thompson has managed to end many of the story arcs that were left open in favour of new ones that should develop interestingly.

The Bad
Once again, Jarom's character was one of the worst things about the book and he was understanding and docile to the point that it wasn't plausible or reflective of real life. No matter what happened to him, he never became angry or hurt over events or betrayals and worked things through logically so he could emphasise with that person. Even the nicest and wisest people in real life aren't that understanding and forgiving, which added an unbelievability to an already bland character, Furthermore, it rendered Jarom's acts of violence slighty absurd when he suddenly dove into battle and began hacking down enemies left, right and centre.

As in the series first book, The Obsidian Key is full of extremely stereotypical villains and cheesy mannerisms. They 'snicker' and 'smirk' over the 'evil' things they do at every chance, which, again, is slightly unrealistic. Criminals in real life commit crimes and hurt people because it works to benefit them in whatever way, rarely because they enjoy being 'evil.' A man doesn't 'smirk' and 'snicker' when he robs or store or shoots someone dead, and I find it a bit unplausible when Thompson's antagonists do this.

My Thoughts
Overall though, The Obsidian Key was a good read and was a nice instalment to The Legend of Asahiel. I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to finishing the trilogy in The Divine Talisman sometime soon.

Biggun: A Short Story - L. X. Cain

RATING: TWO STARS

Biggun: A Short Story tells the tale of a young mother who is trapped in her house during a zombie apocalypse. Her resources are dwindling and she is left with Biggun -- a shotgun given to her by her father -- to protect her young baby. Zombies are everywhere and they quickly realise that the young woman is barricaded in her home. Their attempts to invade it are relentless and eventually they are bound to ooze through her defences . . .

The Good
L. X. Cain has done a pretty good job with the story and has managed to paint a convincing picture of a mother desperately trying to protect her baby. He has thrown an interesting aspect into the story (which I won't spoil for you, but will be fairly obvious if you read it), which helps make it stand out from the other, more conventional zombie kill-fests out there.

The Bad
As with any zombie apocalypse book, the story itself is fairly predictable and isn't anything special. It's full of rotting corpses, gnashing teeth and the death the doom of the world brings. If you're looking for something new and deeply engaging, Biggun will definitely leave you feeling a bit disappointed.

My Thoughts
Biggun is exactly what it is says on the cover and is undeniably a short story. I doubt it'll take you much longer than fifteen minutes or so to read, but those fifteen minutes are fairly enjoyable. Cain has done a reasonable job in establishing a character and a snippet of her life in the short amount of prose he has used. The book certainly isn't something that you should rush online to buy, but it's perfect if you just want to kill a bit of time by diving in gristly horror.

GRRM is all set to release A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a prequel to ASoIaF!

Anybody who's familiar with George R. R. Martin, who is often affectionately called GRRM by his fans, will know that he is writing a hugely complex work of fantasy intrigue called A Song of Ice & Fire. These critically acclaimed novels are international best sellers in themselves and have been adapted into Game of Thrones, one of television's biggest shows.

While it is taking GRRM a long time to write The Winds of Winter, the sixth instlment of the series, he is managing to get a few spin-off novels into print. He released The World of Ice & Fire in 2014 and now has another book ready, which comprises all three prequel novellas about Aegon Targaryen's early life, where he is know as Egg and squires for Ser Duncan the Tall . . .

I expect that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will be a must-read for any ASoIaF fan and is available for preorder now, being set for release on 6th October 2015! I think this book is well worth watching out for and will provide a much needed Westerosi fix! One that I'm certainly eager to get!

Release Date of Ridley Scott's 'The Martian' Is Announced!

The Martian by Andy Weir is one of my favourite books ever and is firmly placed on my Shelf of Fame. It's not just me who has recognised its quality and the book was actually voted the best science fiction novel of 2014 in the Goodreads Choice Awards! Without going into too much detail, which can be read in my review, the story outlines the struggles of Mark Watney when he is stranded alone on Mars. Presumed dead by his ship-mates, NASA and the peoples of Earth, Watney must use the scant resources available to him to produce food, water, oxygen and, ultimately, find a way to send a message back home . . .

You can understand then why I was excited to learn that Ridley Scott had taken an interest in the book when he announced that he would be adapting The Martian into a feature-length movie staring Matt Damon as Mark Watney. The book will undoubtedly adapt well to a film and it's original release date of March 2016 has recently been moved forward to 25th Novemeber 2015! This is a huge announcement for science fiction fans and Scott's The Martian will probably be one of the biggest sci fi films of the year! If you don't believe me, there's plenty of time to grab a copy of the book and see for yourself before the film is released!

Scott has now released the official trailer for the movie, along with two teaser trailers to wet our appetites:

Messenger's Legacy - Peter V. Brett

RATING: THREE STARS

Peter V. Brett continues The Demon Cycle and the story Mudboy (which was first published in Unfettered in 2013). Messenger's Legacy is set just after the events of The Daylight War and introduces a new character to the series, Briar Damaj. Born as a son of two people's, Briar Damaj is only a child when a tragic accident sees his family killed in a vicious Coreling attack. But rather than accept the help of his village, Briar flees into the wilderness and makes his home amidst a refuse dump where he must hone his physical and mental skills if he hopes to survive the demons that hunt there . . .

The Good
Messenger's Legacy provides an interesting insight into one of the series new characters and develops his background well, using the fact he personally knows Ragan, Arlen's mentor, to help develop his history in the story, rather than just introducing him as a random person. As well as this, Brett uses the story to reveal more about demon behaviour and introduces some new ways of fighting them in circumstances where warded weapons are not available.

The Bad
Sadly, Messenger's Legacy isn't quite as exciting as the other intermediary novellas Brett has written for The Demon Cycle and I would have liked to have read more about Arlen's past than anything (as in The Great Bazaar and Brayan's Gold). The story is lacking the same excitement seen in the others and, since many of the characters are new, it's hard to engage with them in the same way because the story isn't long enough for them to be developed fully.

My Thoughts
Messenger's Legacy is an interesting introduction for who is clearly going to be a prominent character in the later books of The Demon Cycle. It's definitely worth a read for any fan of the series and has really wet my appetite for The Skull Throne, which is due to be released on 9th April 2015 in the UK!

The Crimson Sword - Eldon Thompson

RATING: THREE STARS

Although King Sorl has driven Alson into the dust financially, it was a quiet and peaceful place. Jarom loved his life as the Farson of Diln and relished in the responsibilities of protecting his village. But the peace and tranquillity Jarom loves is shattered when an evil wizard invades Alson and lays siege to Kyrnwall. Even as the wizard's mercenaries raid and plunder the surrounding countryside, Jarom is charged with a great mission and, along with Allion, his best friend, heads to Kuuria to beg help from their aged emperor.

Yet things do not plan and a terrible evil has woken from its two thousand year slumber. A demon queen, forgotten by the ages, sees only weakness in the island continent of Pentania and decides the Age of Man is all but over. Her armies of dragonspawn ride out to bring the continent to its knees and Jarom knows that only one thing has the power to stop her - the fabled Crimson Sword, one of the great talismans the Ceilhigh Avatars used to forge the world . . .

The Good
Eldon Thompson has managed to create a story that is full of peril and adventure, which reads like cheesy, old-school fantasy (despite being written in the 2000's). I really enjoyed this 'feel' to the book and it was nice to read about a hero embarking on an epic quest to slay evil and save his home. The small size of Thompson's map also helps because it cuts down on the long, arduous travelling that fills many works of fantasy, allowing him to greatly increase the pace of the story so it's pretty much non-stop action all of the way through!

The Bad
I'm not going to say that The Crimson Sword is a bad book and I certainly enjoying reading it, but it did have a few problems that detracted from my enjoyment of the story. The first, and probably the worst one of these, was with Jarom, one of the main protagonists. Jarom's character was very passive, thoughtful and forgiving, which didn't really fit with him becoming a great hero and vicious warrior. Despite all that was happening to Pentania, he never really got angry about it and his motives for trying to save it were pretty much just to be noble and fulfil what he perceived to be his destiny. I found this slightly odd and didn't really think it was believable - anybody would be raging if their country has been assailed by armies of darkness that are going about slaughtering people and burning settlements to the ground!

The second issue I had with the novel was with its villains, who were very stereotypical. Thompson frequently had them being evil just for the sake of being evil, which authors such as George R. R. Martin have made me sceptical about by showing me that evil actions are usually committed due to a person acting in their own self interests rather than to harm people. In addition to this, all of his antagonists were frequently described as 'smirking,' 'sneering' and 'snickering.' This got old quite fast and I don't really think these expressions are ever much use in trying to portray wickedness in a character. No matter how evil someone is, would they really smirk after they've burnt down a village and slaughtered it's inhabitants? Would they really snicker when people are captured to be fed alive to dragonspawn? Sadly, I think this easily avoidable mistake made the story's antagonists pretty bland and unremarkable.

My Thoughts
Eldon Thompson has really let his imagination go wild when writing The Crimson Sword and has created an epic story where light faces darkness. The novel is fast-paced, exciting and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an immersing read. I can't wait to continue Jarom's adventures in the next book in The Legend of Asahiel, The Obsidian Key!

GRRM Releases Another Excerpt From 'The Winds of Winter'

George R. R. Martin has just released a new excerpt from his upcoming novel, The Winds of Winter, the next instalment of his popular and critically acclaimed series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Although this isn't quite as exciting as announcing a release date for the book, it's certainly interesting and provides a good teaser for the widely anticipated sequel.

The excerpt, which can be read on his website, features the Lady Alayne as the PoV character, who is apparently being forced into a political marriage. For obvious reasons, I don't know enough about the plot to speculate on this too much, but Lord Petyr Baelish is involved in the scene so the arrangement can't be good for Alayne! Anyway, never mind what I think and read the excerpt for yourself - afterall, it's only a click away!