They don’t give up, those Martians. Both in fiction and in our cultural consciousness, HG Wells’ invaders from Mars are persistent. Stephen Baxter now carries the torch in The Massacre of Mankind; the official sequel to The War of the Worlds, some 119 years later. Wells’ novel, published in 1898 was actually set in 1907. Baxter brings us at first to 1920. The Martians are long gone, but there are some familiar green flares seen coming from Mars… Meet Julie Elphinstone. A suffragette and journalist who is the sister-in-law to the original novel’s narrator. The story is told from a number of different perspectives, as reported to Julie at some time later than the events of the plot. England has moved on from the original attack, and is almost a dictatorship. The Great War hasn’t happened. The left Martian technology has changed the world. But now, the Martians are coming back and not just 10 cylinders this time. And they’ve learned their lessons about earthly bacteria. Again, the first wave lands in England; north west of London this time. They aren’t here to destroy, but to farm. They bring with them humanoid Martians and also semi-aquatic Venetians (who, I wonder,…

I started the Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman (the Invisible Library #3) expecting it to be the final in series so I’m really over the moon to have discovered that a further two instalments are in the offing.  I’m loving this series so far and just as this is predominantly about a library that can open doors to an infinite number of realms I think this series also holds the possibility to an infinite number of exciting storylines and settings.  Libraries, librarians, dragons, fae, chaos, dastardly baddies, and a Sherlock-Holmes-style detective all thrown into the mix equals an excellent read for me and for you too I think.  Obligatory spoiler warning – if you haven’t read the first two books in the series this review may contain spoilers. Following Irene’s adventures in the last book (The Masked City) she (and her apprentice Kai) are now in the naughty corner so to speak.  They are still working from the alternate Victorian London where Irene has been made Librarian in residence but they’re being given some of the less desirable jobs as a form of punishment.  Anyway, as the story begins Irene and Kai are making a hasty departure from one possible…

“Never sell a cure when you can sell a treatment,” says one of the more unpleasant pharmaceutical executives at the center of Dan Wells’s new novel, Extreme Makeover. “A magical lotion that protects you from heart disease is great for you, but then what do we sell you in the next fiscal quarter?” This sort of cynical thinking is at the core of this very enjoyable novel, often operating in the classic social-satire mode of science fiction. A book about the destructive impact of short-sighted corporate greed is, of course, gunning for both a worthy and a slow-moving target, and if Extreme Makeover doesn’t say anything we don’t already know about the destructive power of unchecked capitalism, it provides an entertaining and clever scientific premise to justify its potshots. The story centers around the pharmaceutical and cosmetic company, NewYew, and its underachieving and underappreciated head scientist Lyle Fontanelle (who, if you doubt his nerd creds, wants to change his business cards to read “Chief Science Officer”). Fontanelle may be the perpetual office whipping-boy, and a socially-awkward older man who pathetically moons after his college-aged intern, but when it comes to science, he’s the real deal. He’s developed a new anti-aging skin cream that he believes…

The fractures are becoming kaleidoscopic in the third instalment of the Fractured Europe sequence. University intelligence man Rupert is now settled in Europe and working as an agent for Rudi; former chef Rudi is trying to work out who is behind a string of terrorist attacks; and who knows what the Community – or the Coureurs – are really up to… Be warned, this is not a book you can make any sense of without having read the previous 2 instalments (Europe in Autumn and Europe at Midnight). If the first two novels in the Sequence were companion volumes exploring post-EU Europe and the mysterious Community, Europe in Winter embraces the brave new world of open borders. The action – and there’s a lot of it – is split between Rudi, still doggedly trying to work out what the hell is going on, and a string of new (largely one-shot) characters who introduce us to the various new developments first hand. We begin with a disaster: an attack on the Line that cuts the belligerently transcontinental railway somewhere just north of Kazakhstan. We see it first hand, but we get no clue to motive – or to who is behind it. Other operations follow thick…

Having fairly recently read and enjoyed Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis I had no hesitation at all in putting in a request for Congress of Secrets.  This book definitely does not disappoint and in fact I personally enjoyed it even more than Masks and Shadows.  Using real historical events and people Burgis once again brings to us a story that weaves together magic and mystery in a most compelling way. The year is 1814, Napoleon has fallen and the Congress of Vienna is being hosted by Emperor Francis.  A meeting of nobles, ambassadors and royalty with all the ensuing pomp and ceremony that such an occasion would herald.  Negotiations for territory are the main order of the day while behind the scenes Vienna is held in the grip of fear, political speech is restricted, secret police maintain strict control over the general populace and dark alchemy is being practiced in the most unexpected places. This really was a good read.  I love this author’s style of writing.  She really can set a scene and make it appear effortless.  I like how she builds her characters and I think she hits the nail spot on in terms of cutting back…

In my ongoing search for fiction with diverse settings and characters, I was excited to be offered a review copy of Rosewater from the wonderful folks at Apex Books. One of the reasons I like to read fiction from smaller publishers is that they have more freedom to publish books that might not fit the constraints of larger publishers. This means that much of what Apex publishes is fresh and original and edgy. Rosewater is a perfect example of this. It’s a beautifully written alien invasion/first contact story that isn’t afraid to break the rules of story format, and its African setting makes it perfect for those readers seeking diversity. This book is complex, and you will need to have patience while reading it. But that said, it’s an extremely satisfying read that ends on a (sort of) hopeful note, and left me with questions that I will be thinking about for days to come, no doubt. The story takes place in Nigeria, in a small town near Lagos called Rosewater. Rosewater has sprung up around an odd alien domed structure that residents call Utopicity, where once a year, a split in the dome opens up and fills the air…

Most novels come with expectations, but when I began reading The Promise of the Child by Tom Toner I had none, expect maybe wondering who the child was going to be and why it had been promised. This is a debut novel by Toner and set in the far future, but when the opening quotes come from Byron and Wilde and the prologue begins in 1319 Prague, my curiosity was piqued. The plot, as it sprawls over 500 pages, is complex and shouldn’t be summarised for the new reader. There is plenty to discover and the best way is simply to read it. The story follows numerous threads and characters through journeys both large and small. The main actor is Lycaste. He lives in the far future, on what is now called the Old World. He has an unrequited love despite being a renowned beauty, but must face greater battles ahead. He is our everyman that we see Toner’s world through. Sotiris Gianakos is 12,000 years old, from Cyprus. His sister has recently died and he is facing grief. This is the story of their coming together, and how they change each other’s lives. So far, so not very science…

Dominion is the second in the Burned Man series by Peter Blake.  The story picks up not long after Drake (the first in series) left off and the action is fairly intense from the get go. I thought Dominion was a solid instalment in the series, the characters have been fleshed out and added to and the dark side of London is explored further.  Be warned, if you haven’t read the first in series there may be spoilers contained below. Dominion, probably in the style of other UF stories, is a self contained instalment – it can probably be read as a stand alone although I would always suggest starting from the first so that you pick up more background to the characters. At the start of the story our main protagonist, Don Drake, former hitman (or diabolist), has been roped into checking out a potential problem below the streets of London – in fact below the Tube.  Basically, deep beneath the underground tunnels of London live the elementals, gnomes.  It seems that their home is slowly being destroyed by something they know only as the ‘Rotman’.  Everything is decaying, including those who lay eyes on this monster and the…

A lot has to go wrong for the world to turn into an alt-physics realm of vertically-distributed islands, hovering in a breathable atmosphere, populated entirely by amnesiacs. Clearly those things have gone wrong at the beginning of Will McIntosh’s clever and absorbing novel, Faller, and much of the forward momentum of the story is fueled by the reader’s desire to find out how things could have ended up in such a disastrous and improbable state. I am a great admirer of several of McIntosh’s previous books, which are built on a foundation of big ideas, but always propped up by vivid and believable characters. Faller very much continues in that tradition. On what comes to be called Day One, when a man awakens on what seems to be a broken and floating chunk of a city. The man has no knowledge of who he is, where he is, or why the world is full of inexplicable machines, whose purpose no one can remember. The clueless inhabitants face a number of obvious crises, most pressing among these being distressingly-limited amount of food, which more or less instantly generates a Hobbesian struggle for survival. In his pockets, our protagonist finds three things…

The Motion of Puppets is a darkly enchanting tale based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.  I really enjoyed this.  To be frank, I was completely intrigued.  The author spins a tale that is compellingly horrifying and, well, I just couldn’t put it down. The story starts off with a newlywed couple.  To an extent they come across as an unlikely couple, Kay is a performer, currently holding a position in the Cirque as an acrobat and her husband Theo is an academic, a little older than Kay and usually with his head in a book.  And yet, the two of them are in love.  They’ve found that special something that just works for them and they’re happy.  Until one evening, when Kay, after having finished the evening’s performance, accepts an invitation to go for a small soiree with some of the other artistes.  Of course one drink leads to three and soon enough Kay is walking home alone, wary of footsteps that seem to be echoing in her wake.  She spots a light on in a window.  It’s the toy shop that she’s been strangely fascinated with, especially the old puppet in the front window.  The shop has never…