What a great month August was. It seemed to last for bloody ages too, which is fantastic when you’re a teacher…
The Company of Words – J.R. Park
J. R. Park weaves another fab tale combining a creeping and sinister dread with a tale full of action, gore and fear.
Park combines two stories in The Company of Words, that of Andrew, a nervous security guard on duty for the first time over night while a storm rages.
Here, he takes solace in fiction (hence the title, The Company of Words) where we learn of Bonehead and his brothers Wilf and Gaz in the aftermath of breaking another brother, Tommy, from a prison transport.
Throughout the novella we jump from Andrew’s narrative which is a tale of creeping dread as he deals with various strange sounds and other disturbances, and the more actin packed novel in which we discover that Tommy was kept at a facility in which the prisoners were given a rather revolutionary treatment.
The links between the fiction and the fiction within the fiction are done well – a noise is described in the fictional book, and Andrew thinks he hears something similar and has to investigate. It really captures the way a book can get into your head.
Things start to get strange with Andrew as the story of Bonehead and his brothers becomes more intense. He’s worried about screwing up and letting his family down and his competence is called into question several times times, and it’s clear the book is unsettling him further, and yet he persists.
It’s a great structure, and kept me reading, finishing it in one sitting. We are somewhat left with a few unresolved threads, so I could have done with one final chapter, though there is satisfaction in the manner in which it is left regardless.
Like with Mad Dog, Park is inventive when it comes to how to tell the story, which makes it all the more enjoyable. A new Park book is becoming something to get very excited about, and I’ll be at the front of the queue for the next one.
The Army of Lost Souls – Jo Kutya
I loved The Curse of Odin, the first of Jo Kutya’s Blink and Abernathy adventures, and The Army of Lost Souls continues to develop those character is a fast-paced and action-packed adventure. This one starts at top speed, and barely lifts its foot from the accelerator. We start mid-chase, and it doesn’t take long at all to fall back into the Steampunk setting, or to get to grips with the characters again.
Like the first book, the stakes are incredibly high again, but this one feels a little darker. A killer, inspired by the Spring-Heeled Jack myths and Jack the Ripper terrorises the streets. A letter promises more bodies, and Blink and Abernathy are hired to investigate. When their investigations leads to them becoming suspects we end up in a situation where they’re trying to catch a killer, while th epolice are chasing them.
The threat has definitely been raised here, with seemingly unstoppable villains and a relentless police force. The unrest in the city means it all takes place with an air of unease. Once more, Kutya bring in a range of interesting characters and we get to spend more time in some of London’d hidden locations.
Kutya continues to plant seeds for the bigger mysteries in the series too, with more information coming about Blink’s and Abernathy’s pasts.
This book would appeal to anyone from teenager upwards who likes an adventure with lots of action, fantastic characters, and great dialogue.
Witchcraft and Black Magic – Montague Summers
This book was absolutely crackers. The 1946 handbook on the supernatural is meticulously researched with sources going back hundreds of years to describe different beliefs and practices in witchcraft.
The whole thing is written entirely in earnest. It is written as if Montague Summers not only believed in witches and black magic, but feared it. Knowledge is power, and this is a book with which we can arm ourselves with the knowledge to identify those who practicce the dark arts.
Inside you’ll find information on familiars and grimoires, accounts of witchcraft taking place in the corridors in power and in the country’s oldest education establishments. You’ll discover the truth about Anne Boleyn. You’ll find out why demons like to float.
I primarily read it for research purposes, wanting to know what some of the believes were in the late 16th century, and I got that from this, as well as a whole lot more. I’m a little shocked to believe that in 1946, 75 years ago, someone could be writing academically about witchcraft from the position on staunch believer.
Dune – Frank Herbert
I set myself a low target with the number of books I was going to read this year, simply so I could take some time to enjoy some longer books without that pressure of having to reach a goal. My goodreads target has long since been passed, and I could read this at my leisure.
My knowledge of Dune was limited before I started. There was sand, spice, and worms. It was a sci-fi. The 80s film was a flop and had a load of production issues. I knew nothing else. It was a little slow going at first. Lots of interplanetary diplomacy and lots of characters to meet. Paul’s our protagonist, the son of a Duke, relocated to the desert planet Arrakis. He has to undergo a trial early on. We understand that he has a gift for foresight through dreams. This tells us things are going to go wrong on the planet, and from the second they do, it all picks up pace.
The narrative continues to be surprising, because Herbert’s not afraid to build up characters, and then kill them off (or leave them to die in the wilds). That’s one of the novel’s strengths. The world-building is incredible. I really enjoyed the level of detail that went into it, particulalry the way the people of Arrakis, the Fremen, copes in a world with so little water. The sand worms are a great element too, and an early scene in which one consumes a spice factory shows how powerful they are.
It shows its age a little with its conventional prophesied hero/revenge narrative, with Paul almost being too powerful to be realistic (though I found that easier to accept if I imagined he was Kyle Maclachlan) and while the writing is often great while there is action, the in-scene head-jumping is rather distracting. While I enjoyed the narrative as a whole, I was gutted that some really important events took placce off the page. We’d skip forward until after the action and have the meeting that came after instead of the key event that led us to it, for example.
I’m glad I read it (though I skipped the appendices). It’s easy to see the influence it had in the genre. I might read more in the series in years to come. I’ll give the 80s movie a watch soon, and see how in compares to the forthcoming movie.