Garth Nix emerged from nowhere with his novel, Sabriel, the first volume of the Old Kingdom Trilogy. With its blend of richly imagined magical rules and a fascinating relationship between the realms of life and death, it established him as one of the world’s most exciting young fantasy authors. In the second volume, Lirael, Nix fleshes out the Old Kingdom with greater detail, more realised characters and, most importantly, more hordes of shambling zombies! Read the rest of this entry »

As volume six of The Dark Tower series, Song of Susannah, rolls toward us, we are beset by one burning question. Can Stephen King rescue the plot of his magnum opus from the wayward excess of self-indulgence that dominated the last two instalments in the series, Wizard and Glass and The Wolves of the Calla? Read the rest of this entry »

How can I convey in a few pithy paragraphs the wonder, the fascination, the emotional turmoil, the sheer artistry to be found within the covers of this truly amazing novel? Perdido Street Station is a masterpiece – pure and simple. Read the rest of this entry »

I knew Mieville was a great writer, but little did I know on picking up this volume of short stories for a casual read while enduring some economy-class air hell that I was about to embark on an almost religious experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Long and detailed, but saved from being boring by some episodes of genuine suspense and tension. The action scenes are very well written and, apart from some obviously Tolkienesque plot elements, this is one of the more original sword and sorcery genre series (not that originality is one of the genre’s strong points!)

Filled with beautiful, florid prose and some magnificent passages of writing. However, as with many Rushdie books, when you step back and consider the whole piece, it is sprawling, chaotic and largely incoherent. I found myself pretty uncaring as to the fate of the main characters: for all their detail, they are still caricatures to me - cartoon characters drawn with fine pen strokes. But I have to admit, there are some really magical moments, like the story of Rosa Diamond, and the first segment centring on Mahound, that make this well worth a read.