I liked it quite a lot after having been a bit disappointed by a few of his recent ones. The cicero trilogy is still his best stuff for me.
Books & Reading Thread 2025
- Thread starter RobMCFC
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stoneblue
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RobMCFC
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- Cunning Folk – Adam L.G. Nevill - 8/10
- Bad Apples – Will Dean – 7/10
- The Winter Road – Adrian Selby – 6/10
- The Dark Place – Damian Vargas – 9/10
- Act of Oblivion – Robert Harris – 7/10
- The Tyranny of Faith – Richard Swan – 7/10
This is the second book in The Empire of the Wolf trilogy, and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand it’s well written, has solid characters and an interesting take on the fantasy genre – that of a wandering Justice, Sir Konrad Vonvalt, who acts as judge, jury and executioner in the name of the Emperor as told through the eyes of his young clerk, Helena. On the other hand, a 500-page plus page count for what happened in this part of the story felt very drawn out, and I found it a struggle to plough on at times.
I think the problem is that I’ve been spoilt by Joe Abercrombie and Scott Lynch, whose characters sparkle, and in these cases you could happily read 500, 600, 700-page whoppers with the characters wandering around doing nothing much at all and it would still make for an entertaining few hours.
Anyway, back to the book, where Sir Konrad, Helena and co. head to Sova, the capital of the Empire. A prince has been abducted and it’s up to Sir Konrad to lead the investigation, bring the prince home alive and administer justice to the abductors. As if this wasn’t enough, Sir Konrad quickly finds that he’s been hexed by rogue priest, Bartholomew Claver, and Helena and the rest of the crew end up on a side-mission trying to find a cure.
As noted above, it’s not a bad book, but other than the fact that Claver is a religious nutter intent on deposing the Emperor, you don’t get much insight into what motivates him. I also thought that the big reveal was telegraphed early in the story (and I don’t usually spot this kind of stuff!). The rest of the story is well told from Helena’s perspective and despite my reservations, I’ll still be reading the final part when it comes out.
JRockBlues
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This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong
I finally got around to reading the sequel to John Dies at the End. Only took me 9 years. I have no idea why I waited so long as I acquired Spiders not long after finishing the first book which I quite enjoyed reading. David & John, the two stoners, are back and along with Amy, David’s girlfriend, and a few other helpful souls need to save the world from things the normal world cannot see. Again!
All the elements of the first book are there in this sequel. Horror mixed with (very) black humour as well as some more of the light-hearted variety on occasion blends well so you’re never too grossed out. The pace starts out fast and never lets up so while weighing in at almost 500 pages it’s still a quick read as we pass through the viewpoints of David, John & Amy depending on where the action is. Hopefully it’s not another 9 years until I come back to this series. 4★'s
I finally got around to reading the sequel to John Dies at the End. Only took me 9 years. I have no idea why I waited so long as I acquired Spiders not long after finishing the first book which I quite enjoyed reading. David & John, the two stoners, are back and along with Amy, David’s girlfriend, and a few other helpful souls need to save the world from things the normal world cannot see. Again!
All the elements of the first book are there in this sequel. Horror mixed with (very) black humour as well as some more of the light-hearted variety on occasion blends well so you’re never too grossed out. The pace starts out fast and never lets up so while weighing in at almost 500 pages it’s still a quick read as we pass through the viewpoints of David, John & Amy depending on where the action is. Hopefully it’s not another 9 years until I come back to this series. 4★'s
jimmy blue shoes
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Just finished Blood Meridian. Horrifically brutal. Not sure what to make of the ending..
Did the Judge kill the Kid and the bear girl in the outhouse or was the Judge never there and it was the Kid killed the girl after not being able to get aroused for the dwarf whore, was the Kid the guy outside the outhouse advising people not to go in? Too many possibilities.
Up there with American Psycho for the most disturbing book I've ever read!
richardtheref
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Hells Kitchen - Jeffery Deaver 4/5
RobMCFC
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As we're into April now, it's probably a good time for people to start posting recommendations for the Q2 group read.
Last time we pretty much all agreed on Act of Oblivion very quickly. This time, if we get a few, then we can have a vote.
Last time we pretty much all agreed on Act of Oblivion very quickly. This time, if we get a few, then we can have a vote.
Dark Matter is certainly a page turner 3/4 way through now am feeling I know how it ends! If it doesn’t then it be up there with one the best books I’ve read! Can’t stand predictability and have a feeling how a book will end..
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - book cover, description.
www.fantasticfiction.com
RobMCFC
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I read Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy and it was excellent (as is the TV series based on it - one of the best book-to-screen adaptations I've ever seen). Also read a few of his others but I thought that Dark Matter was OK but not as good as Wayward Pines.
RobMCFC
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As far as I remember, the TV series covered the 3 books across the 10-episode first season.
I forgot to mention that the 2nd series wasn't very good.
stoneblue
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9/23 Dead Man’s Creek - Chris Hammer
It was through this equivalent thread in 2021 that I discovered Aussie noir, specifically Jane Harper’s The Dry. I enjoyed it so much so that I have sought out other similar authors.
Chris Hammer is one of these…this is his 5th book (I have read 3 others) and the 2nd featuring Nell Buchanan, who at the start of the book has been promoted to homicide detective.
She is assigned a case with her partner DS Ivan Lucic in her home town following the discovery of a long dead murdered body of a man. However, the case soon becomes more complicated as more bodies are discovered. Her investigation leads to secrets from the past being uncovered.
The plot is quite intricate and the story is told through three timelines; for these reasons if you read this book I suggest reading it in as few sittings as possible. On more than one occasion I found I had to re-read some pages to pick up the thread from where I had left it.
That said however, I really enjoyed this book, particularly the description of the forest and waterways; this for me is probably this author’s best novel and I can thoroughly recommend it for any fan of the genre.
Note: also known as "The Tilt"
It was through this equivalent thread in 2021 that I discovered Aussie noir, specifically Jane Harper’s The Dry. I enjoyed it so much so that I have sought out other similar authors.
Chris Hammer is one of these…this is his 5th book (I have read 3 others) and the 2nd featuring Nell Buchanan, who at the start of the book has been promoted to homicide detective.
She is assigned a case with her partner DS Ivan Lucic in her home town following the discovery of a long dead murdered body of a man. However, the case soon becomes more complicated as more bodies are discovered. Her investigation leads to secrets from the past being uncovered.
The plot is quite intricate and the story is told through three timelines; for these reasons if you read this book I suggest reading it in as few sittings as possible. On more than one occasion I found I had to re-read some pages to pick up the thread from where I had left it.
That said however, I really enjoyed this book, particularly the description of the forest and waterways; this for me is probably this author’s best novel and I can thoroughly recommend it for any fan of the genre.
Note: also known as "The Tilt"
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RobMCFC
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- Cunning Folk – Adam L.G. Nevill - 8/10
- Bad Apples – Will Dean – 7/10
- The Winter Road – Adrian Selby – 6/10
- The Dark Place – Damian Vargas – 9/10
- Act of Oblivion – Robert Harris – 7/10
- The Tyranny of Faith – Richard Swan – 7/10
- The Game – Micah Richards – 8/10
I really enjoyed Micah Richards account of his career. It’s full of self-deprecating humour and appears to present an honest account of how he felt at various stages of his life. The narrative jumps around in time but by the end of the story, you’ve got to know how he got his start as a kid in Leeds before moving to Oldham, famously bursting onto the scene at City, how it felt to go through two big-money takeovers, winning the FA cup and league title, playing for England, spending a season on loan at Fiorentina, ending his career at Aston Villa and then bursting onto the scene again in the broadcasting business.
There are no sensational revelations or kiss-and-tell stories, not even any inside info on Mario Balotelli and his fireworks. Instead, Micah presents his story in a humble way – well, as humble as he can when he’s talking about the lifestyles of millionaire footballers. We get to hear about Stephen Ireland’s lack of culinary skills, David Silva shinning down a drainpipe, Javier Garrido’s Peugeot, Sergjo Aguero’s love of the Xbox and how Roberto Mancini loves nothing more than to tell everybody to “fuck off”.
The thing that stays with me most about this book was Micah saying that Andy Cole changed his life by pointing out something that should have been obvious. The “should have been obvious” bit is my observation as a reader, and I still can’t quite work out why this wasn’t obvious to Micah himself.
A very good book, especially for City fans.
threespires
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I finished Micah's book recently and would broadly agree. There's just a tiny bit of me though that found him less likable at times. In his I'll tell it how it is approach though he included himself in that, I thought every now and then he gave himself a bit more leeway than some of the other pros he was talking about. Human nature I suppose.
But I agree, it was better than a lot of pros books and def worth a read for blues.
richardtheref
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Half way through Fairy Tale by Stephen King. Not at all sure if I like it or not
RobMCFC
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Having enjoyed his last few, this was on my list for later this year.
stoneblue
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Me too. I had an audible credit to use, so have downloaded this.
threespires
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These are my three suggestions...
Kafka on the shore - Murukami (a bit old so people might have read it -but if we fancied something a bit out there)
The Way Back To Florence - Glen Haybittle (as we seem to have a few Italophiles - Italy WW2)
Notes on an Execution - Danya Kukafka (I don't think it's as girlie as it might appear)
But happy to go with most things.
RobMCFC
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I'd be happy with "Notes on an Execution" as it did look interesting.
I would also read "The Way Back To Florence" if it received enough votes.
I was going to start the satsuma complex by Bob Mortimer so I will nominate that.
Again though happy enough with anything really.
www.theguardian.com
Again though happy enough with anything really.
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer review – the sleuth is out there
The much-loved comic proves adept at noirish fiction in a debut whose surrealist humour sets it apart
www.theguardian.com