The X-Files - Season 10: Volume 2 by Joe Harris

As Scully and Mulder try to deal with the fallout from the actions of a mysterious group that has been targeting anyone associated with the X-Files and causing their return to the Bureau, reports that a creature from their past has returned sends Mulder heading to Martha's Vineyard and Scully to Quantico.

Follow-ups to television series in the form of comic books have become de rigeur nowadays (especially if said television series has the name of Joss Whedon attached to it).The X-Files - a seminal show of the 90s if ever there was one, tapping into government paranoia and conspiracy fears - is only one of those to receive the comic book continuation treatment. This second volume, following on from the introductory graphic novel that reintroduced the world of the X-Files through a classic alien-conspiracy story, picks up where the show left off, reintroducing the concept of monsters-of-the-week, while also providing us with an update on some beloved characters. 

Volume 2 is a definite love letter to the fans, bringing back one of the greatest monsters ever to appear in the series, Season 2's Flukeman, developing its origin and ending with a classic X-Files fake out. Beyond that, Volume 2 resurrects two key characters: Mr. X, chiefly appearing in flashback, and the Cigarette Smoking Man. While it was nice to see both of these characters again, the stories themselves were weak, with the Cigarette Smoking Man story especially being let down by some extremely confusing art work. 

Overall, Season 10 is a fun read, a love letter to fans, but very far from being a must read. I'll be continuing to read, but I was a rabid X-Files fan. For the occasional viewer - or someone who has never watched the show - this may be one to miss. 

I gave The X-Files - Season 10: Volume II 3 stars.

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss

"Release the Doctor — or the killing will start."

An asteroid in the furthest reaches of space - the most secure prison for the most dangerous of criminals. The Governor is responsible for the worst fraudsters and the cruellest murderers. So he's certainly not impressed by the arrival of the man they're calling the most dangerous criminal in the quadrant. Or, as he prefers to be known, the Doctor.

What does impress the Governor is the way the new prisoner immediately sets about trying to escape. And keeps trying. Finally, he sends for the Doctor and asks him why? But the answer surprises even the Governor. And then there's the threat — unless the Governor listens to the Doctor, a lot of people will die.

Who is the Doctor and what's he really doing here? Why does he want to help the Governor? And who is the young woman who comes every day to visit him, only to be turned away by the guards?

When the killing finally starts, the Governor begins to get his answers...

A very strange Doctor Who story, The Blood Cell is told entirely through the eyes of a secondary character – the Governor – who encounters the Doctor and Clara when a strange old man is incarcerated in the prison he runs. As strange things begin to happen and the prison turns against the inmates and the guards, the Governor is forced to turn to the Doctor for help…

As a Doctor Who story told through the eyes of a secondary character, The Blood Cell works. As a science fiction story disassociated from the Doctor Who franchise, The Blood Cell works even better.  The Governor is an interesting narrator, full of contradictions and secrets that beg to be revealed. The situation - an inescapable prison where prisoners are disappearing - dealt cleverly with some basic sci-fi tropes. As the story progresses and the stakes mount, I for one found the story gripping, wondering who was behind the prison's problems, who the Governor really was and how the whole thing was going to resolve itself. 

Unfortunately, as a Twelfth Doctor story, The Blood Cell fails at one vital hurdle – the Doctor himself. While I could definitely see the Eleventh or Tenth Doctors acting in the way this Doctor does, what we have seen of Capaldi so far just does not gel with this wise-cracking, pop-culture spouting character. This Doctor does not have the darkness that Capaldi has brought to the role and while his relationship with Clara does share some of the antagonism of the on-screen partners, there was definitely something essential missing. If you can tell yourself that this is a lost Matt Smith story, great. If not, you may have the same problems with The Blood Cell that I did.
 
I gave The Blood Cell 3 stars. 

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Most people ignored the outrageous reports on the news. But they became too frequent, they became too real. And soon, they began happening down the street. Then the Internet died. The television and radio went silent. The phones stopped ringing. And we couldn't look outside anymore. Malorie raises the children the only way she can; indoors. The house is quiet. The doors are locked, the curtains are closed, mattresses are nailed over the windows. They are out there. She might let them in. The children sleep in the bedroom across the hall. Soon she will have to wake them. Soon she will have to blindfold them. Today they must leave the house. Today they will risk everything.

Always on the lookout for a good horror novel, especially post apocalyptic ones, I came across Bird Box on a blog I regularly check for new releases. The blurb presented a world gone silent, with the people forced to lock themselves away and wear blindfolds outside. Something is out there, something that will make you crazy if you look at it. Added to that the characters of a mother and her children forced to risk everything to leave the safety of their house and it seemed as though Bird Box would be right up my alley.

Although I did enjoy it, Bird Box wasn’t as good as I had hoped. While the tension is palpable as the story progresses, especially in the sections in the novel ‘present’ as Malorie and her two children take a boat on the river to reach the safety of a commune that may or may not exist, the unclear and diffuse nature of the threat acted against that tension rather than for it. Malorie herself was not a particularly pleasant character in these ‘present’ sections and her reactions to the children left me more irritated than anything else. Still, the book could have been saved by a strong ending, but unfortunately the conclusion wrapped things up much too neatly, with very little resolution of what exactly is going on outside. Still, the book had a definite creep factor that kept me reading and the ‘past’ sections painted a clear picture of a world past the brink of disaster.
 
I gave Bird Box 3 stars.

Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards

 

"Vastra and Strax and Jenny? Oh no, we don't need to bother them. Trust me."

Marlowe Hapworth is found dead in his locked study, killed by an unknown assailant. This is a case for the Great Detective, Madame Vastra.

Rick Bellamy, bare-knuckle boxer, has the life drawn out of him by a figure dressed as an undertaker. This angers Strax the Sontaran.

The Carnival of Curiosities, a collection of bizarre and fascinating sideshows and performers. This is where Jenny Flint looks for answers.

How are these things connected? And what does Orestes Milton, rich industrialist, have to do with it all? This is where the Doctor and Clara come in. The Doctor and his friends find themselves thrust into a world where nothing and no one are what they seem. Can they unravel the truth before the most dangerous weapon ever developed is unleashed on London?

When people start vanishing in the Carnival of Curiosities, a sideshow in London’s Winter Fair, Madame Vastra, her wife Jenny and the Sontaran Strax begin to investigate. As they look for connections between the disappearances, the Doctor and Clara arrive, drawn here by a strange energy reading. In the Carnival, though, no one is who or what they seem. And a mysterious industrialist is hiding in the background, threatening the entire world with a deadly weapon...

Silhouette is the second book in the New Adventures dealing with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor. I read – and enjoyed – the first, The Crawling Terror, last month. In that review, I mentioned that Mike Tucker had done a fantastic job of capturing the Doctor and Clara’s voices – you could hear the actors speaking the lines throughout. In Silhouette, unfortunately, I did not feel that Justin Richards managed the same feat. What he did manage, though, was to perfectly capture the voices of the Paternoster Gang. Already fan favourites, the three members of Madame Vastra’s gang stand centre stage in Silhouette – all three of them have important roles to play here, each of them with their own storylines. Considering how much fun these characters are, that is all to the good. The story itself works well, with some nice nods back to prior cannon (the Shadow Proclamation makes an appearance), and the threat is pure Doctor Who. If Capaldi’s Doctor and Coleman’s Clara had been more true to their character’s voices, Silhouette would have been almost perfect. As it is, this could almost have been a spin-off novel, involving only the Paternoster Gang, and it would have worked just as well.

I gave Doctor Who: Silhouette 3 stars.

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker

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Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When a village finds itself overrun by giant insects and cut off from the outside world by a giant spider's web, the Doctor and Clara investigate. As the attacks grow more deadly and an army of zombie village people begin to stalk the survivors, the Doctor realises that no one may be safe. The only hope is to decode the symbols engraved on an ancient stone circle, symbols that are somehow linked to a mystery dating back to the Second World War... 

I have not read very many Doctor Who novels, beyond a couple when I was a kid that I picked up in a second hand book shop. Nevertheless, I am a huge Doctor Who fan and love the new shows, so I was extremely excited when the new Doctor was announced. After reading the War Doctor novel last month, I decided to give the new BBC novels based on Capaldi's doctor a try. Of those The Crawling Terror was the first I received via Netgalley and so I gave it a shot. 

The Crawling Terror turned out to be much better than I had expected. Tucker gets Capaldi's voice down perfectly, which is astonishing considering that when he wrote them the series had not even started yet. The same with Clara and the dialogue between the two reads perfectly following the first few episodes. Beyond that, The Crawling Terror turns a cracking story, involving alien invaders, Nazi experiments and ley-lines, as well as the eponymous giant bugs! I was quite surprised at what a visceral reaction I had - I mean nobody likes giant insects but the descriptions here were much more scary than expected. Once we get into the nitty gritty of the plot, the story becomes a standard Doctor Who adventure - lots of running, time travel shenanigans and an over the top enemy - but as a fan, that was fine with me. I really enjoyed The Crawling Terror and will definitely check out the others. 

I gave The Crawling Terror 3 stars.

Star Wars A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller

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Disclaimer: This electronic copy was provided by the publisher in return for an honest review.

In the aftermath of the Clone Wars, the Republic has fallen, replaced by the Empire. The Jedi were betrayed and slaughtered, leaving only a handful of survivors to eke out a quiet existence on the fringes of galactic power. But as the Emperor tightens his grip, even those fringes have begun to fall under the iron rule of the Empire. Hidden amongst those who live in the outskirts are those whose lives were destroyed by Palpatine's plans, those who have begun to question his means and motives. On the far off world of Gorse, a handful of such people, including Kanan Jarrus, a former Jedi padawan and Hera Syndulla, an agent provocateur with plans of her own, will stand together against one of the Empire's most fearsome enforcers... with the fate of an entire world in the palm of their hands. 

Few people interested in pop culture will have failed to notice the intense discussion that broke out a few months ago when Disney announced that the Star Wars Expanded Universe - the vast collection of novels, short stories, comics and games that had so far formed the unofficial canon of the galaxy far far away - was being wiped clean, replaced by a brand new canon that would be just as official as the movies. Starting with the Clone Wars cartoon, this new canon would also include new novels, the first of which - A New Dawn - sets up the cartoon series Rebels. 

A New Dawn does a nice job of setting up the main characters of the series, while also telling an interesting, exciting, but slightly disappointing story involving mining, terrorism and the fight for freedom. Centered around two main characters - both of whom are featured on the cover - A New Dawn is no revolutionary new beginning for the Star Wars galaxy. While it does manage to keep your attention thanks to a race against time plot and a reluctant Jedi forced to embrace his powers once again, it is hard to hide the fact that this is designed to get the characters into their positions ready for Rebels to begin in October. The addition of a handful of secondary characters, including a very well realised villain, does add some spice to the story, but it is difficult to develop any real interest in Kanan and Hera. Hopefully the upcoming novels, one of which will centre on Grand Moff Tarkin, will do more to ignite this new expanded universe. 

I gave Star Wars: A New Dawn 3 stars

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

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When the dark star rises, worlds will collide and nations will be extinguished. Thrown through a portal when she was only a child, a troubled orphan struggles to learn the truth about her own past, while a new ruler fights to hold his country together in the face of a civil war. Invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, while a general is called upon to eradicate her father’s people. In the end, the truth about the invasion will come to light as many worlds face destruction…

The Mirror Empire has been one of the most highly anticipated novels so far in SFF circles, mentioned, hyped and reviewed on most of the biggest blogs. I read the first book in Hurley’s sci-fi trilogy a couple of years ago and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to this one, especially after hearing how imaginative the world building was. While I definitely enjoyed that aspect of the novel, I struggled with some of the rest of it, notably the character work. Outside the main characters, I found it difficult to keep a track of who was who, not a problem I generally have despite reading a lot of epic fantasy. I think what irritates me the most is that I can’t put my finger on exactly why I had such difficulty keeping the various characters straight in my mind. Also, I did not feel any sense of urgency while reading – this is nowhere near being a novel that kept me reading far into the night. On the positive side, the breadth of imagination on display is awe-inspiring, from living trees to huge mirrors that allow passage between worlds. And Hurley is definitely a talented writer whose prose is a joy to read. The story itself just failed to gel with me, unfortunately.

 
I gave The Mirror Empire 3 stars.

Hell Before Breakfast by Robert H Patton

 
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The Gilded Age. A time of advancing technology that gave rise to the modern world we know. Thanks to the creation of the electric telegraph and the transatlantic cable, for the first time it was possible for foreign correspondents to share their dispatches with the general public days and sometimes even hours after the events. Out of this came the first war correspondents, Americans sent to cover twenty years of conflict in Europe and Central Asia. Pushed by bitter competition but brought together by a brotherhood born of common experience, these men drove public opinion and fuelled passions that would not come to rest until World War I. Hell Before Breakfast tells their story, through the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the Russian conflicts in Central Asia and through to the sinking of the Titanic.

I have a thing about history books set in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, so Hell Before Breakfast was right up my alley. As such it jumped out at me from the Amazon Monthly Editors’ Choices and went straight on to my TBR list as a book I was definitely looking forward to getting to. In the end, the book was an enjoyable read, though not as much as I had been expecting. After all, a non-fiction book dealing with journalism at a time when the profession was truly a cut-throat one, could only be exciting, right? Well, yes and no. While the book has its moments, especially when the correspondents become directly involved in battles, there is also a lack of flow in the narrative – you sometimes get the feeling that the book would have worked better with a different chapter concentrating on each correspondent or newspaper, rather than on a simple linear story. The journalists themselves, though, are truly the stars of the book: every single one of them comes across as a real character, complete with extravagant foibles and – for some of them – extremely dramatic lives (and deaths!). The theme that remains omnipresent throughout is the fact that these men were responsible for providing us with an important glimpse of the world of the time, putting everything on the line in order to do so. Overall, I enjoyed Hell Before Breakfast, though I can see ways in which it could have been improved. 

I gave Hell Before Breakfast 3 stars.