Seizure

Tory Brennan and her friends Hi, Shelton and Ben are, along with wolf pup Cooper, the Virals; a psychically linked 'pack' who, as a result of exposure to an experimental virus have achieved, in addition to the aforementioned psychic link, heightened senses and varying degrees of super speed, strength and agility. Unfortunately they also seem to have gained a heightened ability to get themselves mixed up in weird and dangerous situations as well.

The first book in the Virals series; called, appropriately enough, Virals; told of how the gang got their powers, and their subsequent efforts to bring down the nasty scientists and mobsters responsible, whilst simultaneously keeping said powers secret. I mean, you would, wouldn't you? No-one likes being vivisected.

Book 2, Seizure, is having no truck with that though and sets about examining what the kids will do with their new abilities. Which, it turns out, is hunt for buried pirate treasure to fund their parents lab so they don't lose their homes and have to split up. So basically, The Goonies.

Reichs doesn't attempt to disguise the similarities, even going so far as to have characters mention the movie in conversation. But acknowledging an influence doesn't relieve you of guilt if you don't live up to it; if anything, I'd say it's quite the opposite; and this book in no way lives up to the legacy of said movie. Sadly, it's The Goonies with all the wit and charm replaced by stilted dialogue and science lessons.

Reichs can tell a story, that much should never be in doubt. The problem is that she can't tell this story. Her background is in forensic anthropology, and her 'day job' of remains identification; be it for disaster relief, war zone/genocide clear up or, ore often, law enforcement; is shared by the heroine of her 'adult' novels, Temperance Brennan. As such, Reichs' technical jargon and propensity for lecturing the reader in aspects of her discipline, sits easily in the context of those books. Of course coroners and cops and the like will talk in those terms. Teenagers, however scientifically minded, will not. There isn't a single character among the 'Virals' that comes across like an actual teen.

This could have been a thrilling adventure story. And when she lets herself go, it is; she's certainly capable of writing a decent action sequence. But it's too inconsistent, and all too often she falls into the trap of having her characters explain the plot to each other in a huge chunk of techno-babble. Suspension of disbelief becomes impossible.

Of course, I'm going to keep reading regardless. Not because I'm particularly enjoying the series but because I am still enjoying the Temperance Brennan books and, on an intellectual level, I'm eager to see how the two series co-exist. Reichs is playing a little bit fast and loose with the rules of fiction lately and I'm intrigued as to how she keeps it up.

Not only does she have Tory and her father sit down to watch Bones, a TV show based on novels which, one would assume, don't exist in their world, since they feature a member of their family as a fictional character (and Tory's father has actually appeared in a couple of them himself), but we also have the fact that both the Tempe and Tory Brennan books are existing in the same world; Tempe has mentioned her niece in her books, and Tory has asked her Aunt for help in the Virals books, but the Tempe books are straight thrillers with a hard science basis and the Virals books are, by their very nature, delving into the realms of sci-fi. How closely will she allow them to interact? And will she come a cropper because of it?

I'm not wishing for her to fail. Far from it in fact; I thoroughly enjoy her adult books and genuinely hope she finds a more distinctive voice for her YA work. I just don't think she will.

Vampire Diaries: The Return

Since comparing the Vampire Diaries books to the TV show has become pointless, I have no easy method to disguise my thoughts on them. So, I must bite the bullet and give a straight opinion of the books, in and of themselves. It may not be pretty.

The second series of The Vampire Diaries books, called The Return because there is no lazy cliche to which L. J. Smith will not stoop, is comprised of the novels Nightfall, Shadow Souls, and Midnight. They are none of them very good.

To Smith's credit, she has opted to widen the setting of these books considerably, fleshing out the history and deepening the mythology of her fictional world, when it must have been oh so very tempting to churn out more of the same. Parallel worlds, heavenly 'police', an order of vampire hunters, vicious animal spirits... there is an awful lot going on here, that in the hands of a decent writer could have produced something a bit good. Sadly, in the decades since the first series Smith has not a better writer become. All the annoying little tics that blemished her earlier works are still present and correct, not least the ridiculous need to stop the plot every few pages so the girls can debate the relative 'hotness' of various characters and of course her insistence on using terms no self respecting human would ever utter in real conversation. We know that Meredith and Alaric are 'engaged to be engaged' because characters use that very phrase EVERY SINGLE TIME the couple are mentioned.

"Did you hear about thingy and wotsit?"

"No, what about them?"

"Oh, they're engaged to be engaged! It's ever so romantic."

"Engaged to be engaged, you say? That's ever such big news!"

"I know! Engaged to be engaged!"

You think I'm mocking. There are numerous conversations, exactly as banal as that, throughout these books. It's annoying as hell.

Terrible writing aside though, there is actually a lot to like in the story. Certainly, if the TV show writers were looking for new villains to displace the increasingly tired Originals they could do a lot worse than check out the Kitsune demons seen here. Petty and spiteful their motives may seem at first glance but that doesn't stop the effects of their actions from being truly horrific in places. Indeed, some of the acts of self-mutilation they inspire in those they influence are nothing short of disgusting. Make no mistake, there is some really nasty stuff in here.

Of course, tradition dictates that the story must end on a pathetic cop-out, and sure enough Smith doesn't disappoint. The out of nowhere resurrection of Elena at the end of the first series, which occurs without any explanation and essentially renders the drama of the climax meaningless is actually beaten here by the lead characters essentially asking an angel for a do-over and the angel saying yes. So NOTHING BAD THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST 7! BOOKS MATTERS! It's couched in slightly more complicated terms than that, but the bottom line is, angels fix all the boo-boos. It's an insult, ladies and gentlemen.

So, the story is an improvement over the first, at least until the end, but the writing is as crappy as ever. The question now becomes, how will the third series compare? Smith herself has been fired from the series by the publishers, though you'd never know it from the covers, and a ghost writer is penning them. Can we expect to see an improvement, or will this new pen be even worse, as difficult as that is to conceive? We'll have to wait and see, won't we?

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home

And so it came to pass that several decades after Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9 launched, I didst sit upon mine writing stool and pour forth upon the page mine thoughts as to the worth of Volume One of... Season 8.

Yeah, I'm slow. What of it?

First things first, let's just get out of the way the fact that a) I'm an unapologetic gusher of superlatives (or I would be if I knew any; my thesaurus has disappeared) when it comes to the writing of Joss Whedon, and b) Buffy The Vampire Slayer is, in my opinion, one of the greatest television shows of it's, or any other, era. That said, I'd like to think I can put aside any lingering hero worship and read this material with my critical faculties intact.

IT WAS AWESOME! Ahem.

 Season 8, for those who don't know, is; or was, since it's long ended and it's successor is in full flow; an official, canonical continuation of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, picking up shortly after the events at the end of the 7th and final season of the TV show. Clue's in the name really.

The worry was that, for all the protestations from the publisher and Joss Whedon, who was on board to plot the 'season' and write pivotal issues, it wouldn't be real Buffy. Tie in comics rarely, at least in my opinion, achieve the true feel of the source material, and there is always the stigma of, 'if it's not on TV it doesn't count.' Hopefully Whedon's involvement would counter the first point, but the second would be harder to tackle; being, as it was, a perception ingrained in the reader for many years. Just ask the Star Trek TV writers how much they worried about contradicting the print stuff.

Luckily, we needn't have worried. At least as far as the first five issues are concerned; that being the material collected in this first volume; the feel is pretty much spot on. Characters sound like their TV counterparts, with all the laugh out loud moments of dialogue that come along with that, and while the storyline is on a much bigger scale to that of the TV show, it's in a way that makes perfect sense, given the way the show ended. After all, when last we waved farewell to Buffy, she'd just saved the world at the head of what was essentially a Slayer Army.

The events depicted in this book could never have happened onscreen. Casting logistics alone; a lot of old faces show up in rapid succession; would cause them problems but the budget... The very first scene in the book is of Buffy leading an assault team of Slayers, by sky diving from a helicopter. Yeah. Oh, and it also features dialogue about Nick Fury, which made me chuckle, given a certain modest little movie Whedon has just released.

We get a lot of plot in amongst the witty dialogue and the action scenes. A couple of old villains show up to cause trouble, another old villain cashes in his chips, the US military make their presence known in a much more overt way than The Initiative ever did and we get a few hints that none of them are  going to be the main villains of the piece, when all is said and done. Because that would just be too easy, wouldn't it?

Oh, and Dawn is a giant. Just because.

Artwise, the interiors (by Georges Jeanty) offer work in which you always know who it is you're meant to be looking at, without ever seeming like exact likenesses of the actors. I'm sure there's probably  a name for that, but I know nothing about this stuff so... The covers of the individual issues, though (by Jo Chen), all of which are included, are incredibly lifelike paintings, very obviously based on the cast's likenesses and in some cases creepily accurate.

Horus Heresy : Age of Darkness

As the seemingly never ending quest to catch up with the Horus Heresy series trundles ever onwards we come to Age of Darkness, which marks a pretty significant turning point in the series.

After the opening trilogy the Horus Heresy series series very quickly moved away from having any kind of traditional linear narrative. Books would explore previously described events from a new perspective, or flash back to show how characters arrived at their roles in the opening story; some going back years, decades, even centuries. Very rare was the story that progressed the plot much beyond the massacre on Isstvan V that closed the 3rd book. Until now.

Age of Darkness is a collection of novellas from various writers; some established contributors to the series, some new names. The stories continue the series tradition of jumping around in time, but with a much narrower window, and one that's looking in the other direction. At last, we get to see the after effects of the Isstvan V event.

Some of the stories are better than others, as is to be expected in any anthology format, and which are the good and which the bad will depend, in this case, on what you want from this series. For many people; those who came to the books from the games; I would imagine a large part of the appeal lies in the weaponry and the technology. For me though, it's all about the world building, the politics, the people and the subtler side of the war.

With that said it's perhaps unsurprising that I was drawn to Liar's Due, by James Swallow; a tale of how propaganda can be used to conquer a people without firing a shot; and The Iron Within, which while on the surface is a fairly basic battle story, also tackles the issue of individuals having to decide whether to follow immoral orders. This latter story deals with something I'd been thinking about more and more as I read the Horus Heresy series; we are told that this Legion or that is on one side or the other of the rebellion, but what are the chances that everyone within those Legions is going to follow suit? It can come across as overly simplistic, if examined too closely, but this story at least addresses the issue. Whether it will be looked at again as the series progresses is something we'll have to wait and see about.

My other favourite story, which will come as no surprise to anyone who has the vaguest inkling of my tastes, was Little Horus by Dan Abnett; partly because it delved into the psyche of an important character that we seldom see, though often hear about; and partly because it employs a favourite trick of Abnett's which to me at least never gets old; that of repetition. As in his last HH novel, Prospero Burns; in which a major character experiences a recurring dream, which is always almost exactly the same until the point of waking, whereupon the dreamer comes a little closer to learning the point of the dream each time; Abnett uses repetition here in his description of his title character, right up to the line "Then again, once they (redacted for spoiler), all he ever looked was..."

It's a clever ploy which ensures that the final iteration of the line; the final line of the story; hits home hard. We come away thinking exactly what he wants us to be thinking about this character, and what I'm sure we need to be thinking about him, going forward, since he's almost guaranteed to be back down the line.

I'm hoping, given that all of these stories take place post-Isstvan and the cover tells us "A new chapter begins", that we are going to see the story move forward into the post massacre period permanently. I've enjoyed the flashbacks, and as someone who comes to the books fresh; not having been a gamer; they've been a boon in terms of getting to grips with the world, but we're nearing 20 books, now, in the series and the time has come I think.

Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted

Comics again this week, as once again we look at Vol.1 of an ongoing series. This week the focus is on Madame Xanadu; a long time minor character, apparently, in the DC Universe, Xanadu's time to shine has arrived as she gets her own series, penned by Matt Wagner, with art by Amy Reeder Hadley, coloured by Guy Major.

This first volume, entitled Disenchanted, collects the story first published in issues 1-10 of the monthly comic, published by DC's 'mature readers' arm, Vertigo.


Usual comics discussion caveats apply here; I'm not the most widely read when it comes to the big mainstream comics universes of Marvel and DC, and have next to zero interest in the seemingly endless Superhero titles that throng the shelves, choosing to mainly concentrate on self contained, often creator owned, serials. My DC consumption is almost entirely limited to Vertigo titles, because they are more likely to fit those criteria, and when they do tie in to DC continuity, as is the case here, they're on the periphery, and don't require a huge commitment to buying 97 titles a month. All of which is just to say, I've not read anything else featuring this character. And it didn't matter in the slightest.

Madame Xanadu is a mystic, a fortune teller, and a guide to those who need aid when supernatural threats come knocking at their door. But why did she decide to dedicate her life to helping others? More to the point, what are the origins of the powers she uses to do so?


With this, suitably epic, opening storyline, Wagner gives us as thorough an origin story for the character as anyone could ask for. In 2 issue jumps we get snapshots of Xanadu's life over the centuries, from the fall of Camelot (you'll never guess who she was in Arthurian myth), through the court of Kublai Khan, Paris in the days of the revolution, and London at the height of Jack the Ripper's spree, to New York City in the 1930's.


Along the way we see Xanadu at the highest peaks of her powers and at her lowest, near death ebb, and come to understand how she became the person she is today, and presumably will continue to be as the series continues. She has lived a long time, and has made a lot of mistakes over that time, many in regards to an equally long lived Phantom Stranger, and it would seem destiny requires her to make amends.


Hadley, ably assisted by Major, produces some absolutely stunning artwork here, and shows a remarkable range, given the wide scope of the settings. The contrast could not be more apparent than in the lush green of her woodland home pre-camelot, and the seedy, dark underbelly of London, as Jack stalks the fogbound alleyways; these disparate settings never derail the book, always managing to feel, for all their differences, like part of the same world. I sometimes struggle to discuss the art in comics, but as the cliche says, I know what I like. And I love this.


The story features a number of references to the wider DC world, but they're very subtle, never once intruding on the story or leaving me feeling that I lacked some obscure piece of canon required to understand the tale at hand. It actually would not surprise me to learn that many other references existed which I'd missed entirely; they are there for the faithful, but the uninitiated are welcome too. Indeed, if you are a relative newcomer to comics, looking for a place to start but put off by decades of continuity, you could do worse than heed the words painted on Madame Xanadu's shopfront; Enter Freely And Be Unafraid.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

There are some truths which can not, however hard we try to delude ourselves otherwise, be denied. In my case, one such undeniable truth is that it will take approx 5 years for any significant literary pop-culture phenomenon to make it's way past my my fiercely defended ramparts of established series/authors, and force it's way into my reading consciousness. It's why Order of the Phoenix was on it's way before I'd heard of Harry Potter, it's why I haven't read The Hunger Games, and it's why I have just now gotten around to reading the first of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy; The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

You've doubtless read the praise. In all likelihood you've read the book, or at least seen one of the movie versions. Most people have. Which makes it difficult for someone to read it now without a nagging sensation of "you must like it, or you aren't normal. " Something so universally praised must be excellent, right? Everyone can't be wrong, surely?

Well, everyone can be., and everyone often is. In the case of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo though... Let's just say that the majority does sometimes get it right.

First things first. Yes, it takes a while to get going, with a lot of quite dry set up regarding the (very) extended family around which the stories main thread revolves. And yes, the epilogue is far too long; if you've wrapped up your A plot and need another 100 pages to tie up your B plot, you're doing something wrong. Those two points alone lose the book points, at least in my view. One explanation for these faults, which could have been fixed with a little editorial tinkering, could be Larsson's untimely and regrettable death shortly after handing in the manuscripts. His death precluded any collaborative editing, and to aggressively edit without his input may have been deemed disrespectful.*

But the mystery at the heart of the book; the disappearance of a young girl in 1966 which has haunted her family, especially it's patriarch, ever since; is compelling enough to make all but the most demanding reader forgive the book those flaws. To untangle the mystery is to unearth all the secrets her wealthy family strove for so long to keep buried, and as secrets go, there are some doozies here.

Enter disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist, fresh off a libel conviction, and needing something to occupy his time. Blomkvist is an odd creation, I must admit. Certainly the biggest romantic relationship in his life is one that would raise quite a few eyebrows, although since none of the other characters seem too bothered by it
that may be a cultural thing, given the novels Swedish setting; or it could just be a quirk of Larsson's sexual politics.**

Which is not to say that Blomkvist is an unpleasant lead. In all other respects he's the archetypal lead; smart, savvy, witty, charming, resourceful, honest, and totally unwilling to give up once he realises just what he's dealing with.

Of course, no-one is coming to these books for him. The draw, hence the title, is the enigmatic Lisbeth Salander; she of the big lizard. It's here that Larsson plays his master stroke, because this is a character so psychologically complex, so removed from anything we would normally expect in a hero, that the passages detailing her life; as unrelated to the main mystery as they are, are nevertheless among the most compelling in the book.

Easy comparisons could be made to the likes of Dexter Morgan; certainly she fits more closely to that breed of dark anti-hero than she does any traditional heroic role; but where his sociopathy is played, in many instances, for pitch black humour; and I'd wager doesn't bear a great deal of resemblance to any realistic conditions; Salander's detached way of life, and inability to function within normal societal parameters is presented not to amuse, but to inform. She is as she is, at least in part, because the system failed her; and her recognition of that failure, even if the system itself doesn't see it, forces her ever deeper into her shell of self reliance. Few characters can crack that shell, and it's not always a good thing when they do.

Incidentally, the 'guardianship' system under which Salander lives, if it exists in Sweden as Larsson describes it here, is as deeply flawed and open to abuse a system as I think I've ever heard of, and must surely contravene any number of the basic human rights of those placed in it's care. Larsson alludes to the fact that the relatively small number of complaints about this system could well be due to the fact that the subjects have little power with which to complain and you can't help thinking, sadly, that he is probably right.

Anyway, back to the book. The resolution to the mystery, when it comes, is both obvious, and a shocker, if that makes sense, in that it's the most logical explanation with the always helpful hindsight, but certainly not one that I got close to; my 2 theories, which I formulated at different junctures, both turned out to be about as far from correct as it's possible to get; and the villain one of the nastier examples I've come across in recent years.

All in all then, a book I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend wholeheartedly, where it not for the aforementioned slow start and drawn out ending. As it is, I still think everyone should read it, just go in forewarned.



*I do not claim this theory as fact. Nor, in fact do I claim it as my own; it's far too insightful to have come from me. It was postulated by @McFlooze on twitter; a young lady well worth a follow.

**It wouldn't be the first time recently that I've read a book in which a character behaves ridiculously without arousing comment, leading to the unmistakable conclusion that the author 'doesn't think it's ridiculous'. Kathy Reichs, I'm looking at you, with your whole Ryan and his long lost ex thing.

House Of Mystery: Room and Boredom

Well it's been about a month since I said I'd be back 'next week' with a post about House of Mystery, so I figured the time was about right to deliver.

Taking it's name and basic premise from a long running DC Comics horror anthology title from the 50's thru 80's, House of Mystery was launched by DC imprint Vertigo in 2008. The first collection, Room and Boredom, collects issues 1-5 of this new series, written by Bill Willingham and Mathew Sturges with art by Luca Rossi.


Cain; he of 'and Abel' fame; has long been established as the owner of the House of Mystery, acting as 'host' or narrator during the titles anthology years. This series opens with him returning from one of his regular visits to his Brother's House of Secrets, for a spot of tea and homicide, to find that the House of Mystery has disappeared. It's a fairly radical departure, beautifully handled in just two pages, that allows the writers to take the series, well, pretty much anywhere they want to.

We rejoin the house an indeterminate time later to find it operating as an inn; a resting place for weary travelers from many realms and realities. Most can come and go as their needs dictate, taking refuge and succor before moving on. Others however, cannot, and it is these souls, trapped in the house for reasons beyond their knowledge or control, who will be our 'heroes' and 'heroines' as he series progresses.

Why are they trapped? Who are the mysterious figures who arrive, without warning, to take them away one at a time, seemingly chosen at random, to an unknown fate? And what effect will the latest addition to their number, young Fig Keele, have on all their lives, not to mention the future of the house itself?

The mysteries are heaped on us in this opening book, and they serve to whet the readers appetite admirably for what may lay ahead. It's abundantly clear that all of the characters; The Bartender, The Poet, The Pirate and The Drama Queen, as the book jacket would have them named; have secrets, agendas, and divided loyalties of their own, and some might be far more interested in them, than the shared goal of escaping the house. Only time will tell which of them Fig can trust. Or indeed, whether they can trust Fig.

As engaging as the ongoing mysteries are, Sturges and Willingham have not forgotten the titles anthology roots, either. The 'sole coin of the realm' is the telling of a story, and each issue takes a brief pause as one of the bar patrons regales us with a short tale from their lives. From the process server who relates his assignment to deliver papers to a deep sea monster, to the mobster who can weasel out of any situation, and the wonderful little slice of life that is 'Jordan's Tale', the stories are as varied as they are twisted. I would venture, however, that the one most likely to stay with you beyond the closing of the book is the gruesome and heartbreaking tale of Hungry Sally and her less than blissful marriage.

Even if the identity of one 'mystery' character is all too obvious, that doesn't detract from what is, over all, a masterclass in hooking a reader, guaranteeing that they'll be back for more. And what more can you ask for from a Book One?