A+ – Page 2 – transmission

elderglass?

Posted on January 31, 2008February 1, 2008 by Greig

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Scott Lynch

The best fantasy novel I’ve read in an age.
Set in a city reminiscent of medieval Venice, it’s a world full of pampered nobles and organized crime existing cheek by jowl.
Lamora is the head of a criminal gang who secretly flaunt the rules of criminal society by conning nobles out of their money.
The main plot is full of twists and turns putting the hugely likeable central characters through the ringer.
Flashbacks fill out some of Lamora’s history.
The seecondary characters are also rather well fleshed out.
His total disregard for the lives of his characters is something – lots and lots of deaths in this one.
It’s barely fantasy to be honest, barring a couple of central conceits, it could have easily been an historical novel.
I recommend this to anyone without hesitation.

Rating: A+

southerners?

Posted on December 28, 2007January 14, 2008 by Greig

Good Omens

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

This is one of my favourite books of all time.
It’s a brilliant play on the story of the horror film The Omen, which was about the coming of the anti-christ.
In Good Omens, though, the anti-christ ends up with the wrong family and the well meaning attempts of an angel and a demon to prevent his rise have absolutely no effect. A swirl of sub-plots contain a host of brilliant characters such as Anathema Device – the professional descendent of the only seer to have prophecies that were 100% correct, or Shadwell – the bitterly eccentric leader of the Witchfinder Army (current corps – 2 members), and his well meaning but drippy recruit Newton Pulsifer.
This book is funny, insightful, full of great characters and is a totally great read.
It’s on my ‘give this book to everyone I know and force them to read it list’ – it’s that good.
In an interesting sidenote it would appear that I own quite an unusual edition of the book. Nice to know!

Rating: A+

fourths?

Posted on April 3, 2006September 24, 2009 by Greig

Spin

Robert Charles Wilson

I made the decision to get this book after reading this post by Patrick Nielsen Hayden. Even though he has an interest in the book doing well his passion for the work was obvious to see. Taking into consideration the many positive reviews in the comments the purchase became a foregone conclusion.
The story is told from the perspective of Tyler Dupree. In one stream he recounts the story of his life as measured against the mysterious “Spin” and his friendship with the Lawtons. The second, alternating, stream takes place in his current day.
I don’t know if it would be at all helpful to go into any further detail with the plot – the book unfolds beautifully and the plot, ideas and characters are never less than fascinating.
This is one of the best science fiction books I’ve read in a very long time. I suspect it’s even better than The Chronoliths and if you read my review of that you can see how impressed I was.
If you have any love for science fiction do yourself a favour and read this book.

Rating: A+

johnny?

Posted on March 8, 2006January 17, 2014 by Greig

Black And Blue

Ian Rankin

This book is Ian Rankin’s masterpiece. Using the device of a Bible John copycat, Rankin examines Scotland through the lens of it’s
reaction to the original murders. Rebus is, as always, a fascinating puzzle of a character. Rebus is someone who must know the truth, must find out the answers and no cost is too high for him to pay – because only the truth heals.
This was the first book of Rankin’s I ever read and by god did it set a high standard. I don’t think I’ve ever read a crime novel that was more interesting, more insightful, more revealing.
This book is recommended to everyone. You will not read a better crime novel or a better book about Scotland pre-devolution than this.

Rating: A+

brief update (2)

Posted on February 22, 2005 by Greig

Night Watch

Terry Pratchett

This is among the very best Discworld novels, along with the likes of
Small Gods.
A bit darker than normal, and with much less emphasis on the humour, this is an Ankh-Morpork Watch story.
Sam Vimes (who has grown to become perhaps my favourite Discworld character) is thrown into the past to hunt down a psychotic killer and finds he has to relive one of the formative experiences of his youth and take on the mantle of his mentor in order to heal time and get back to his present and his newborn child.
The plot is a device allowing Pratchett to really get under the skin of a character.
It’s a beautiful piece of writing.

Rating: A+