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Book Review – The Taking
Author: Dean Koontz Cover Artist: Gary Nolton Publisher: Voyager Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2004 The Taking, by Dean Koontz, is an interesting book to read on a rainy day, because the first sign that things are awry in this suspense novel is an odd downpour. More than a downpour, in fact, a worldwide torrent of [...]
Book Review – The Swarm
Author: Frank Schätzing Cover Artist: Getty Images Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2004 There’s nothing like reading a big, fat thriller novel every now and then. It’s a specialised genre, with its own rules, and for me the pleasure comes not so much from any literary quality, but from the fast-paced action [...]
Book Review – Foundling
Author: David M. Cornish Cover Artist: D. M. Cornish Publisher: Penguin Binding: Paperback Publication Date: May 2006 Setting out to read book one of the new young adult series, Monster Blood Tattoo (Foundling) I didn’t have particularly high expectations. But there are a lot of great YA fantasy novels out there, so I was willing [...]
Book Review – Reading Stargate SG-1
Author: Stan Beeler, Lisa Dickson Cover Artist: Chris Bromley Publisher: Reading Contemporary Television Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2006 Reading Stargate SG-1 is a book for fans of the television series. Not just any fans, but fans of a particularly academic mindset, looking to deepen their understanding of the popular show. If you picked this book [...]
Book Review – Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town
Author: Cory Doctorow Cover Artist: Dave McKean Publisher: Tor Binding: Hardcover Publication Date: August 2005 Cory Doctorow’s Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town is a step away from his prior science fiction, in the direction of magical realism. In this thoughtful book, he broadens and develops his range, but still delights with some sparkling [...]
DVD Review – Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Directed by: Tetsuya Nomura Studio: Square Enix Publication Date: 2005 Advent Children is an animated fantasy action movie set two years after the game Final Fantasy VII (FFVII). It may be very confusing for those who aren’t familiar with the game series and particularly with FFVII, but I highly recommend it nonetheless. Fortunately, if you’re [...]
Comic Book Review – Red Prophet: The Tales Of Alvin Maker # 2
Writer: Orson Scott Card Pencilers: Renato Arlem Cover Artist: Renato Arlem Publisher: Dabel Brothers Publication Date: June 2006 Orson Scott Card’s ‘Alvin Maker’ world begins to open up to us in this second volume of Red Prophet by Dabel Brothers Productions. Here we step outside the tense and squalid setting of Carthage City with Lolla-Wossiky. [...]
Comic Book Review – Red Prophet: The Tales Of Alvin Maker # 1
Writer: Orson Scott Card Pencilers: Renato Arlem Cover Artist: Renato Arlem Publisher: Dabel Brothers Publication Date: July 2006 Here’s the beginning of another comic-book adaptation of a fantasy classic – Red Prophet, set in Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker universe. It’s an alternate history of frontier America, and a fascinating one. This first issue seemed [...]
Comic Book Review – Magician: Apprentice #1
Writers: Raymond E. Feist, Michael Avon Oeming, Bryan J. L. Glass Pencilers: Brett Booth Cover Artists: Brett Booth Publisher: Dabel Brothers Publication Date: 2006 I’m probably the last person who should be reviewing the Dabel Brothers’ adaptation of Raymond E. Feist’s Magician. I’m not at all an aficionado of the comic book art (especially the [...]
Book Review – Infernal Devices
Author: K.W. Jeter Cover Artist: David O’Connor Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Binding: Paperback Publication Date:1987 Infernal Devices is the story of George Dower, a stolid fellow who has inherited his father’s clock-repair shop, but not his genius for clockwork. The novel is written as a personal account, an apologia for the life of Dower, and [...]
DVD Review – Blood: The Last Vampire
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo Studio: Production I.G. and Aniplex Release Date: November 2000 Japan, 1966. A secret agency of the United States government is tracking down and killing vampiric creatures around the Yokota Air Force base. Bullets don’t kill these hideous monsters: like the vampires in I Am Legend, they need to suffer a major wound. [...]
Book Review – The Athenian Murders
Author: Jose Carlos Somoza Publisher: Macmillan Binding: Paperback Publication Date: 2000 Being a fan of historical and literary mysteries, The Athenian Murders seemed just my kind of book – especially with a cover blurb by Julian Rathbone comparing it to The Name of the Rose. The comparison is justified: this is a brilliant and engrossing [...]
