The City & the City by China Mieville

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Genre - Science Fiction Mystery

Mieville's latest offering could be read as a straight police procedural but the mean streets that his hero, Inspector Tyador Borlu, walks are twisted and tainted. Borlu belongs to the city of Beszel but his murder case leads his investigation to the city of Ul Qoma.... the only problem is that the two cities occupy the same place and the same time. The cities overlap, cross hatch and mingle. Their respective denizens have learnt to "unsee" each other in order to avoid being in "breach" of a harsh and severe higher law.
It is a fascinating concept and one that Mieville expertly plays with bringing to mind all of those cities divided by internecine conflict that currently exist in our strife torn world - think of Belfast, Beirut or Jerusalem.
I so enjoyed the book that I will now be tracking down more of this newly discovered author's work.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Headquarters

The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway

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Genre - Romantic Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fantasy



A post-apocalyptic romp of a book that leaves you slack jawed and amazed at the coruscating brilliance of the author and the bravura of his writing. Any book that has ninjas, pirates, mimes, big trucks and even bigger things that go bang in it will always have my stamp of approval!! If you have a taste for the weird, the wonderful, the witty and the satiric this is the book for you. Enjoy!!

PS: If you are in the mood for more of Harkaway's writing check out his website for a sneak preview of his next writing venture - "The Hospitality of Doctor Franzavius".

---- Reviewed by Paul, Headquarters

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

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Genre - Fairytale



You know how it is sometimes with a book.... your friends and colleagues come up to you and say that this is a book you would really like but for some perverse reason you decide that it really isn't for you and you choose not to read it... and then you come across that book some while later and pick it up and start reading and find that you are totally entranced and wonder to yourself "Where has this book been all my reading life and why hasn't anyone told me about it?" and then you realise that they have and you have just been too obtuse to sit down and just read it!!! Well such a book is Neil Gaiman's "Stardust".

It begins with the line....

"There once was a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire."

and then continues to tell you of the many adventures and misadventures of young Tristran Thorn as he discovers what his Heart's desire truly is.

It has undergone several iterations having been a Graphic Novel, then a Novel, then a Movie, then a Movie tie-in, an Audio Book and now a DVD.
I enjoyed the movie, and I know it's a cliche, but the book is so much better. Gaiman went out of his way to write a fairy/faerie story for adults and he has succeeded brilliantly. I recommend that you get the original graphic novel with illustrations by Charles Vess and then as a special treat request the Audio Book read by the author himself.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Administration

The Devil You Know by Mike Carey

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Genre - Mystery


Felix Castor, known as "Fix" to his friends, is an exorcist whose main weapon is a tin whistle allied with a cutting, witty tongue. He lives in a modern-day London which is becoming inundated with the spirits of the dead and various other denizens of the underworld. After an unsuccessful attempt to exorcise a spirit from a close friend he has sworn away from his chosen career but a need to pay the bills makes him take on a seemingly simple ghost-busting job. However all is not as simple as it seems. What follows is a hilariously chilling noir thriller as Felix fights off various demons, succubi and gangsters who try to stop him discovering the secret of the scarlet shrouded ghost haunting the Bonnington Archive.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Administration

The 47th Samurai : a Bob Lee Swagger novel by Stephen Hunter

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Genre - Thriller

The 47th Samurai is the fourth and bloodiest in the series of Hunter's books following the adventures of Bob Lee Swagger the Vietnam veteran and sniper.

In the book Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano, two modern day warriors and Samurai, are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survives. More than sixty years later Yano comes to America to search for his father's sword which was taken as a trophy by Earl Swagger. What then follows is a maelstrom of violence and blood letting as Bob Lee finds himself at the centre of a series of horrific crimes.

I must admit that some of the scenes were gratuitously violent and graphic but were there to show how visceral and terrifying sword fighting with a katana must be. The book also read in places like a potential film script, Hunter has been a film reviewer for many years and one of the Swagger books has been recently made into a movie. I would recommend the book for those who are interested in the psyche of ancient and modern day soldiers and who have a strong stomach for violence.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Administration

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

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Genre - Thriller


Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, instead finds several men shot dead, a load of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Taking the money , he knows, will change everything. But only after two more men are murdered does a victim’s burning car lead the local Sheriff to the carnage out in the desert. What follows is a tremendous story of the collision of love and duty set against a backdrop of spectacular violence and mayhem.

The book has been turned in to a film by the wonderful Coen Brothers and will soon be released in Australia. I have already placed it on my "Must Be Seen" list! In the meantime read the book and be mesmerised by McCarthy's superb prose.
Enjoy!

---- Reviewed by Paul, Administration