Tag Archives: Book Reviews

Fringe: September’s Notebook book review . Titan Books are spoiling us. A few months ago they brought us The Essential Supernatural , a coffee table book that came so jam-packed with goodies it almost burst at the seams. Much the same effort has been expended on this Fringe title, from …

Throne Of The Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed book review: The Doctor will kill you now. It’s easy to agree with Lies Of Locke Lamora author Scott Lynch when he says that Throne of The Crescent Moon “buoyantly fails to suck”. Another ho-hum, medieval backdrop would have sucked. Prophecies would …

Wool by Hugh Howey book review : Buy it and you won’t feel fleeced. In today’s dystopia-crazy book world, the only real surprise about the “underground, enclosed society” subgenre making a comeback is that it’s taken quite so long. Ever since the nuclear paranoia of the ‘50s, SF has regularly …

Buffy : The Making Of A Slayer book review: Bored now. This lavish hardback making of Buffy The Vampire Slayer arrives 15 years after the show’s debut. If that makes you feel old then reading it you’ll assume Nancy Holder thinks you’ve gone senile as well, as so much of …

Is there anything left to be written about Doctor Who ? Sometimes, nowadays, one wonders. But A History Of The Universe… proves that if you can find an unusual angle to come at it from you can still produce something hugely entertaining, which feels fresh even when it’s covering old …

Any worries that by book six/seven (should we count The Great Samuel Pepys Fiasco?) the Thursday Next series would have settled into a rut prove groundless here, as Jasper Fforde delivers another swerve ball. The previous book was set entirely in Bookworld; this time there’s no action in Bookworld at …

While occasionally flirting with full-blown fantasy ( The Tooth Fairy ), Graham Joyce more often writes novels that exist on the very edges of the genre, in which elements of the supernatural are delicately woven into the real-world plots like gossamer threads ( Smoking Poppy , The Facts Of Life …

Who is Michael E Briant? It’s a question even pretty knowledgeable Doctor Who fans can be forgiven for scratching their heads at. Briant helmed half a dozen of the Time Lord’s ‘70s adventures (including much-loved tales “The Green Death” and “Robots Of Death”), but has a lower profile than some …

It may be a teen romance with no “adult” content whatsoever, but this could well be one of the most mature books you’ll read all year. A synopsis might make you think it will be the usual rubbish: Ellie is recovering from the death of her mother over a year …

Giving “nuclear fusion” a whole new meaning When it comes to raising the dramatic stakes and getting the sort of cathartic kick that reminds you your life is actually pretty good, you can’t beat a good dystopia. Pure offers two for the price of one. On the one hand, we …