On the ice world of Shadrac, Sergeant Marlin leads his unit of beleaguered guardsman away from the rampaging tyranid hordes. But to where? As the vicious aliens get ever closer, all he can do is pray for a miracle from the Emperor. Whilst his troops are preparing themselves for certain death, a group of hulking figures appear in the midst of a snowstorm - their miracle has arrived as a band of savage Space Wolves join the fray! But when the smoke of battle clears, Marlin realises his salvation may not be as close as he thought. Comic legend, Dan Abnett, teams up with awesome new artist, Karl Richardson, to set the standard that all comic strips should strive for.

Review

I decided to read this graphic novel due to the characters and Warhammer 40k universe race which it follows. Also, I am a huge fan of the works of Dan Abnett having read a lot of his work for the Black Library, especially his work in the Warhammer 40K universe. I thoroughly enjoyed his Eisenhorn and Gaunt’s Ghosts series’ in addition to his contribution to the Horus Heresy omnibus. 

Another reason for picking up Lone Wolves was the striking front cover depicting a stoic faced Space Wolf. I have been fascinated by the Space Wolves since reading William King’s Space Wolf omnibus. Captivated by their customs and in awe of their manliness and ferociousness, the Space Wolves are a race of living legends and warriors with feral characteristics.

Karl Richardson’s art within the book is sharp and strong and illustrated the battle scenes in full and brutal glory. It also supplemented a compelling story plot. A story which follows the plight of a small regiment of imperial guardsmen stuck on a frozen ice world, a world which has been infested by the most rapacious xenostreed in the galaxy, Tyranids. With no hope in sight and food rations completely diminished, men start to fall into madness and die at the teeth and claws of the Tyranids. Salvation appears in the form of the Space Wolves, warriors of inhuman skill, size and strength. This is one hell of an action packed graphic novel containing chain swords and war hammer wielding, resulting in plenty of blood splatter. Together the Space Wolves and Imperial Guardsmen must face the countless swarms of Tyranids.

This is a story of fear, hope and courage, with compelling characters and a fast paced, action packed story plot. This is a graphic novel I would highly recommend to anyone fascinated by the Warhammer 40k universe and also the fans of Sci-fi fantasy and action.

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. 

One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear. Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur's chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them. 

Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten's arm is a line from Star Trek: "Because survival is insufficient." But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave. 

Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleventells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it. 

From the Hardcover edition.



Review



Emily St. John Mandel’s Post-apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven is one of the most thought-provoking and intriguing of its kind that I have read. A story which makes you consider what is most important in your life, and how once everything has been stripped away, and materials things no longer matter it is the loving relationships with others and the beauty found in human creativity that can make even the most dire situations seem beautiful.

Beautifully written from a number of different perspectives before and after the Georgian flu wipes out around 99% of the population, the story flows seamlessly between narratives, each with their own outlook on life but each connected to one person, Author Leander, a famous actor, who in some way has impacted upon each person’s life. Arthur Leander at times portrays the usual characteristics recognisable with some of today’s famous A-listers, someone who is flawed yet is completely devoted to his art and has worked hard in his quest for fame and fortune, succeeding, yet not so successful in terms of his relationships. Divorced three times, one of his ex-wives is Miranda, a graphic novelist whose work is called Station Eleven. Miranda gives two copies of the first issues to Arthur which he then gives to a young actress called Kristen, 20 years later after the collapse, Kristen is part of the Travelling Symphony.

The Travelling Symphony itself is fascinating. They are an assortment of characters and entertainers, travelling the desolate American landscape, performing Shakespeare and music to the small settlements of survivors, trying to bring some semblance of normality and beauty to an otherwise barren, dangerous and haunting landscape.

”Civilization in Year Twenty was an archipelago of small towns. These towns had fought off ferals, buried their neighbors, lived and died and suffered together in the blood-drenched years just after the collapse, survived against unspeakable odds and then only by holding together into the calm…”

The Symphony’s motto is one taken from Star Trek – “Because survival is insufficient” and I think this quote sums up this novels message, although the characters are surviving, even before the pandemic, people working day in day out trying to make ends meet or pursue fortune, like “high functioning sleepwalkers”, it is the things we sometimes take for granted that turn surviving into actually living.

Unlike most post-apocalyptic literature I read, Station Eleven isn’t an action filled, zombie/mutant fest and instead feels more of a story about the importance of living life in a way which allows you to appreciate loved ones, appreciating art in all forms and not being trapped in a monotonous and disappointing daily routine as put by Emily St. John Mandel

“…people who've ended up in one life instead of another and they are just so disappointed. Do you know what I mean? They've done what's expected of them. They want to do something different but it's impossible now, there's a mortgage, kids, whatever, they're trapped...” 

Of course in a society no longer controlled by laws it is no surprise that the Traveling Symphony encounter some nutcase proclaiming to be a prophet. The false prophet resides in a settlement called St Deborah by the Water, already visited by the symphony some years past, there is now an unsettling feel to the place and even more unsettling are the gravestones left for people who still live, including their friends who had settled there to raise their child. Their friends missing, the symphony must trace them, at the same time the prophet has taken a liking to Kristen and wishes for her to become one of his many wives resulting in a chase and eventual standoff. This part of the story added much appreciated pace whereas the rest of the story at times is slow yet the beautiful writing and linked stories of the enthralling characters held my attention throughout. 

Station Eleven is an enthralling novel which I really loved, a story that transitioned between pre and post-apocalypse gracefully, and was elegant and heart-breaking. Highly recommended.

THE DEAD begins one year "before" the action in THE ENEMY, just after the Disaster. A terrible disease has struck everyone sixteen and over, leaving them either dead or a decomposing, flesh-eating creature. The action starts in a boarding school just outside London, where all the teachers have turned into sickos. A few kids survive and travel by bus into the city. The bus driver, an adult named Greg, seems to be unaffected by the disease. Then he begins to show the dreaded signs: outer blisters and inner madness. The kids escape Greg and end up at the Imperial War Museum. A huge fire in South London drives them all to the Thames, and eventually over the river to the Tower of London. It is there they will meet up with the kids in THE ENEMY in Book 3, THE FEAR.

Review

The second book in Charlie Higson’s The Enemy series, Higson has opted for a none-linear approach to this series and this time we follow a completely separate group of youngsters as they try to survive in the world filled with ravenous, kid-hungry adults. Set one year before the occurrences of the first book, during a time when it seems the world is just beginning to experience the true and horrific nature of the disease that has wiped out or transformed the adult population. We follow a group of boys, initially holding out at their boarding school fighting off hordes of teachers afflicted by the disease. The group has a mixture of characters that you would be familiar with in any school setting from jocks, geeks and misfits each with their own personalities, strengths, skills and way of dealing with the horrors at hand.

The two characters at the forefront of the story are Jack and Ed, best friends but both with completely different approaches to dealing with what they are faced with. Jack, on one hand is a fighter, whereas Ed isn’t able to bring himself to do any harm to the once protective, now homicidal, vile, puss and boil covered adults.

In this story the kids do find some security in the form of Greg, an adult who is unaffected by the disease and somewhat more organised, laden with supplies and in possession of a vehicle. Eventually, due to shocking and horrific circumstances the children must separate from Greg and this leads them to the safety of the Imperial War Museum. Under the reign of Jordan Hordern the group do experience some luck but as always Higson is able to snatch this sense of security away with the introduction of other dangers.

Throughout the story the relationships develop between all the characters. Jack and Ed’s relationship is tested throughout and it’s great to see new relationships form. It’s hard not to become attached to the group and hope for their survival, every individual has their own unique personality and dialogue all of which feel realistic.

Another aspect of this book that added to the intrigue was the recognisable characters that we were introduced to in The Enemy, we are reintroduced to David King before he occupies Buckingham palace. As with the first book it was also filled with plenty of action and nail biting suspense. I’ve become used to the idea that nobody is safe in Higson’s series and this had me glued to each page with a sense of trepidation.  Action scenes were quick and brutal as well as gruesomely detailed and gore filled. This is a must read for any zombie fan, the Enemy series is great and I can’t wait to see how the series concludes.

If you liked this then you might also like:
Autumn
The reapers are the angels
The cost of living

A dark and dirty horror novel from David Moody, author of HATER and AUTUMN

A spate of brutal murders occur in and around the small town of Thussock. The bodies of the dead – savagely mutilated, unspeakably defiled – are piling up with terrifying speed. There are no apparent motives and no obvious connections between the victims, but the killings only began when Scott Griffiths and his family arrived in Thussock...

Review

An author who resides as one of my all-time favourites and one who has consistently delivered when it comes to post-apocalyptic horror, I was somewhat apprehensive but excited to hear that Moody was releasing a story which contained neither zombies or the end of the world as we know it.

A compelling story following the relocation of a family, moving from their home in Redditch to Thussock. Thussock is a deprived town in the middle of nowhere, a town that time seems to have forgotten. Located in a remote location, near a fracking site, where unemployment is rampant and the town’s people aren’t welcoming to outsiders, it’s hard to understand why anyone would move there and the motives aren’t revealed until the later parts of this intriguing story. The dynamics of the family seem perfectly normal to begin with but with the secrecy and somewhat controlling and violent nature (that the reader is slowly introduced to) of one of the main characters, Scott Griffiths, hints at a more sinister side to this family.

As well as the stress of moving there is also the issue of a spate of gruesome murders which only started when the family showed up, instantly the close knit community of Thussock start to have suspicions of the strangers within their midst. As the reader, you start to develop your own conclusions, could it be one of the residents of the strange town or is it the hot headed Scott, the mystery creates an enthralling page turner. Pulling me in with its superb characterisation and realistic dialogue. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the page, yet some of the gruesomeness and the detailed description employed by Moody had me reading mouth agape. This is not a story for someone with a weak constitution. Although this story is not the platform I am used to from Moody, I was not surprised to read the gruesome, violent and graphic descriptions of the murder victims, disturbing and grotesque as would be expected from the author of the Autumn and Hater series.

As anyone who reads Moody’s stories will tell you, a real strength in his writing is his masterful way of taking what seem like ordinary people and thrusting the into shocking situations, with crisp dialogue and an ability to depict believable and realistic human interaction and reactions in these circumstances. This as well as a disturbing plot and setting Moody creates a highly believable and all the more terrifying story. Highly recommended.

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Laneis told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

Review

My second journey into the magically enchanting world created by Neil Gaiman, my first was Neverwhere and I have been itching to delve back in ever since.

This time the story follows the recollections of a middle aged man returning to his former home that he, his sister and parents occupied before it was demolished. Something that remains of that past is the small ramshackle cottage situated at the bottom of the lane where our protagonist made friends, at the age of 7, with an 11 year old girl called Lettie Hempstock. Delving into these memories our narrator recollects events unbelievable, haunting and truly magical.

Written from the perspective of a 7 year old boy, one who loves to read and doesn’t fully understand the actions of adults, Gaiman captures the innocence and naivety perfectly and this coupled with some of the experiences makes it hard for the reader not to feel a sense of nostalgia when reading this novel. Gaiman’s enchanting way with words and his whimsical style tell a story that turns the mundane fascinating and the magical all the more memorising and wonderful.

This is a story of one boys revelation that the world where everything is ordinary exists alongside one with an orange sky, filled with monsters and magic and otherworldly beings. The boy is pulled into this world after the suicide of an opal miner who was a lodger at his home. The suicide awakens a being that exhibits powers to manipulate adults through the use of money. It is during this time that the young boy meets Lettie Hempstock, her mother and Grandmother. He is told that the Grandmother witnessed the moon being made and Lettie is adamant that the pond next to her home is actually an ocean, and it becomes quite clear that this family is not what its seems but is friendly and comforting.

One menacing being is able to integrate itself into the family home and using its powers is able to turn his whole family against him and causes his father to do a terrifyingly violent act. The story is also a portrayal of the role of adults in a child’s life and how they are seen, and the sudden realisation that the adults themselves fear things and have their own insecurities and are not much different from their child-selves, beautifully put by Lettie;

“I’m going to tell you something important. Grown-ups don’t look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they’re big and thoughtless and they always know what they’re doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. The truth is, there aren’t any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world.”

This is one tale that will stay with me for a while, enchanting and frightening, touching and nostalgic. A story of friendship, childhood experiences, memories, folklore and unimaginable things that live just outside of our own world, waiting for a way to escape and wreak havoc by unleashing the monsters within ourselves. A true work of genius by Gaiman and added to my favourite novel list.

Apollo 13 meets Cast Away in this grippingly detailed, brilliantly ingenious man-vs-nature survival thriller, set on the surface of Mars.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first men to walk on the surface of Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first man to die there.

It started with the dust storm that holed his suit and nearly killed him, and that forced his crew to leave him behind, sure he was already dead. Now he's stranded millions of miles from the nearest human being, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his food would be gone years before a rescue mission could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to get him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. But will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Review

A smart, fast paced, edge of your seat rollercoaster. One man’s struggle, alone on Mars, all odds stacked against him, can Mark Watney survive the inhospitable environment of Mars?

The story opens with a fantastic opening sentence which sets up the rest of this gripping story,

“I’m pretty much fucked.”

As this sentence implies Mark Watney is fucked, thought dead by his crew mates he is now stranded alone on Mars with the left over equipment designed to last thirty one days and his own ingenuity.

Narrated mostly in the first person by Mark in the form of a mission log, one thing that really shines out for me is his amusing persona and wit leading to some laugh out loud moments throughout his story. Well aware of the position he finds himself in Mark is a very organised and calculating individual whose careful planning and resourcefulness might ensure his survival until NASA can be contacted or until the next mission to Mars, four years away.

Using his botany background he is able to come up with plans for food, using his knowledge of engineering and chemistry he is able to provide enough water. These, coupled with the plentiful oxygen supply and endless stream of disco music to keep him entertained, survival doesn’t seem too unachievable. This doesn’t mean that Mars doesn’t have other things in store and with Mark using equipment initially meant for one mission on a daily basis over a prolonged period something is bound to give up.

Although most of the story is told from Mark Watney’s perspective. Andy Weir also includes the viewpoints of those on the ground at NASA, his crewmates, who unknowingly abandoned Mark, news reports and some third person sections which greatly add to the suspense as they describe the consequences of Mark’s actions.

Is it evident that throughout the story the physical and mental strain takes its toll on Mark, leading to moments of utter frustration and moments where you think he might concede defeat to the unforgiving planet, it’s also not just the planet out to get him but also his own human error;

“Mars keeps trying to kill me.

Well... Mars didn't electrocute Pathfinder. So I'll amend that:

Mars and my stupidity keep trying to kill me.”

Even with these blunders, Marks character and his resilience, mental strength and brilliant problem solving skills have you routing for him throughout. This along with his likable persona have you both sympathising with him and hoping that he can survive the punishing situations he finds himself in.

I can’t recommend this book enough. This was a highly believable, intense tale of survival and suspense with humour and wit thrown in, hugely entertaining and I look forward to what Andy Weir releases in the future.