Bill, The Galactic Hero

Harry Harrison
1965
1-85798-805-8

The adventures of Bill, drafted into the troopers to fight the Chingers, a fearsome seven-foot-tall lizard (which turns out to be seven inches instead).  Quickly disillusioned with the army he was drugged into joining, he finds himself in all sorts of trouble with all sorts of people.

This is hilarious, and the technology imagined from the 60s is a welcome relief from the technical jargon that goes with most modern science fiction.  I wouldn't mind reading the rest of the Bill series, if I can find them.

Date finished: 05/11/08
Book Number: 32

Nobody True

James Herbert
1-405-04173-0

Jim True had a habit of leaving his body and wandering around London as a spirit, looking in on an oblivious humanity.  One night, his physical body is murdered while he is out and about, and he returns to find that he has nothing to come back to.

Unable to influence anything or communicate with anyone, and sunk in the misery that accompanies the realisation that he has left his wife and daughter alone, he hangs around, and learns more about his life and family than he could have imagined.  But why is he still here?  Is it simply a case of a haunting?  Or is he able to stop the serial killer that is stalking the city?

Some of the things he discovers were predictable - there are only so many family secrets that you can guess about - while some of Moker's habit took me by surprise.  While some of the digressions were interesting and revealed more about the main character, I thought that the ending was a little feel-good; the imparting of wisdom on forgiveness rang a little sugary, especially after the horrific events throughout the rest of the book.  Still, this was a good read; not too gory, but still unsettling and thought-provoking.

Finished: 04/11/08
Number: 31

No Flame but Mine

Tanith Lee
2008
ISBN 978-0-330-41311-4

From daughterofthenightcom, "Searching for the beautiful witch Jemhara, the magician Thryfe
at last finds her in the reinvented town of Kandexa, where a strange and passionate wooing begins. From this union
a son is born - golden-skinned, red-haired, blue-eyed - and thus the Lionwolf returns to the world of men.

Unaware of his birth, his original mother, the goddess Saftri has begun her own search for her lost love Althluan ...
while elsewhere the black and shining ones, the children of Chillel, seek to establish claims on the ice-locked planet.
Beyond, over, under all, the evil god Zzth rages and plans the ruin of these separate immortal lives.

Meanwhile, strafed by the tumult of such conflicting powers, the be-wintered Earth of mortals can only wait to learn
her destiny.(back cover copy)"

This book sort of wrapped up loose ends, but I didn't really follow the thread of Chillel's children very well, and glossed over that to some extent. 

All up, this trilogy was more enjoyable than most of the books that I've attempted lately, and has reignited an interest in Lee's books.

Not sure when I finished it (will really have to work harder at keeping track), but that was number 30 for the year.

Here in Cold Hell

Tanith Lee
2005
ISBN 0 330 41310 4

Book 2 of the Lionwolf Trilogy, and better than the first, if only because there is no 'perfect' hero riding around ruining it for everyone else.  In fact, his hell is more intriguing than Lionwolf himself.

Cast a Bright Shadow

Tanith Lee
2004
ISBN 0-330-41309-0

Finished last week sometime; have been really lazy and not reviewed it, but it was good enough to hold my interest, which is saying something at the moment.  Currently reading book 2 of the trilogy.

Highlander In Love

Julia London
2005
0-7434-6508-3

Half-naked man on the cover means I approached this book with a measure of skepticism, and the title means I really wasn't expecting much in the way of indepth prose.

Luckily, both cover and title belied the story itself, which had a healthy dose of humour and a lot of rural Scotland in it, making it more than readable. The love scenes I pretty much skipped over, but the ebb and flow of the story made it interesting enough without them anyway.

The author has apparently written about the other members of the family as well, but I don't think I'll be in a hurry to hunt them down. While this was a good weekend read, I'm just not that interested in the rest of the family.

Date Finished: 18/08/08
Year Total: 27

The Shadow Walker:

Murder at the Edge of the World
Michael Walters
2006
1-84724-080-1

The blurb on the back of book describes an horrific murder facing Nergui, chief of the Serious Crimes Team in Mongolia, so it came as a surprise that much of the story, including the entire first half, is told from the point of view of a British detective instead.

That small gripe aside, it was refreshing to read a murder mystery in such an exotic location, and the story came together at a good pace, without the sneak peeks at the bad guys that you usually get.

Nergui remained a mystery until the end, and while I didn't feel that the outcome was as sinister as the blurb predicted, it was realistic and retained the edginess right to the very last page. This was a good weekend book, as it was easy to get lost in.

Date Finished: 09/07/08
Year Total: 26