The Yorkshire Book Collector - The Vault

I hadn’t really planned to read Warbreaker, in fact I was as stubbornly resisting the idea of getting sucked into the wider Cosmere. I read Way of Kings and changed my mind because I was told it would be essential reading to understand Stormlight properly and now here we are. Where to start? I wanted this book to be better. That isn’t to say it’s bad, it’s objectively very good and I did ultimately end up enjoying it as a whole but it was such a slow start and I started to find it tedious, it doesn’t keep you engaged through the lulls the way some of Sandersons other work does. I also didn’t particularly care for the characters. Vasher and Lightsong have fantastic conclusions to their development but again it just took so long to lift the curtain get there. Other characters, particularly Blushweaver were a bit cringeworthy in the way they’re written. Maybe I’m missing something really poignant but having your breasts and sexual promiscuity be your superpower doesn’t really make for goo...

The day has arrived. My precious is here. The magpie within me has won its battle for shiny books and my copy of The Hobbit from The Folio Society has arrived. When I started collecting books back in 2012 the thought of spending more than £50 on a book seemed alien to me, but I’ve bought and sold bits and pieces of my collection over the years to the point where yes, I have decided to spend £600 on a single fine press book, and today I’m going to talk about it. So the book itself is the very definition of fine press. I’ll list the specs below for anyone interested. Limited to 1,000 copies​ Quarter-bound in Spaccato Di Montone leather with art silk sides. Front board has an inset label printed with an illustration by Alan Lee Limitation label is printed letterpress and signed by the illustrator​ Typeset in Dante with display set in Testament​ 344 pages print in 2 colours​ Numerous black & white line integrated illustrations​ 28 colour illustrations, hand tipped as plates within bord...

Firstly I’d like to thank Joel for sending me a copy of The Thirteenth Prince on the vague promise that I would get to reading it ‘this year at some point’ and for waiting patiently while I took until November to read it.  The Thirteenth Prince has a lot going on within what feels like a relatively simple plot. In short it’s a bit of a buddy cop novel, but the cops are accountants working in a fantasy setting, and one of the accountants, our protagonist Gene also seems to have some form of Synesthesia that causes him to see patterns in numbers. While working as said fantasy accountant they uncover a nefarious plot and set on their way to stopping it, and all of this is happening in a world where males are seen as the weaker sex, and where an entire collection of cities thinks they’re the next chosen one. Like I say, there’s a whole bunch going on and it feels a bit mental written down in one place but it does work, just trust me.  The first thing I noticed about this book...

 I was recently lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of the Ultimate Collectors Edition of Gunmetal Gods, Zamil Akhtar's first foray into self published luxury books. I say I was lucky, I was lucky in the sense that I backed the Kickstarter, bought an additional slipcase paid for international shipping but my partner wasn't home when it arrived to give me that withering look and ask me if i'd bought "another REDACTED book".  This book particularly is the reason I started a blog. Zamil was bold with his mission statement, but it was simple. 'I am determined to deliver an edition that surpasses the wildest expectations'. It set my juices flowing and I thought it would be fun to write about whether I think Indie Fine Press will ever be a thing, or even if it's already a thing. So that what we'll do, strap in and be ready to pick apart my thoughts as they fall out of my brain onto this laptop. I was also lucky enough to chat with Zamil himself about ...

Firstly, I’d like to thank A.M. Shine, Head of Zeus and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Stay in the Light in exchange for an honest review. Secondly, I’d like to apologise to A.M. Shine, Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the incoherent mess that is about to unfold. I loved this book, I loved it like I loved The Watchers. I’ll admit I was apprehensive going into this as so often horror books lose their scary edge once that initial climax has been reached and faded again in the first book. There’s no denying that the book does have a slow start but that isn’t without reason as we start to unpack just how the events of book one have impacted the lives of Mina and Ciara. If you find the start a bit slow for your tastes I would implore you to persevere, it’s around the 25% mark that things start to ramp up, and boy do they ramp up. A.M. Shine has developed the perfect concoction of horror for me, it has all the insurmountable terror of superhuman killing machines, the horro...

This is how you build a world. This is how you develop your lore and your history. This is just so, so good. If you’ve been following any of what I spill mindlessly into the void of the internet then you’ll know I’m new to Rob’s work, and that I loved Demon. This is of en equal calibre whilst being completely different. Demon was a very obvious good vs bad narrative and I loved the book because of how strongly it made me feel things. Deathless however plays with the greys of morality and how easily people are willing to part with that morality when power is on the table. This book very much character driven, focusing more on the changes in Ertide Hostain than any clear story, though this book does set the story up wonderfully. Once again Rob nails his characters in an impressively short period of time, particularly Moon who became really memorable in a short amount of airtime. I will say is that this doesn’t feel like a full book, it feels like part of a book that realistically could b...

I have a love hate relationship with this series. I love the setting, I love its unending sense of mystery and tension, I love how it keeps me on my toes, never knowing who to trust (more so in second foundation than any other book) but the series has some things that just don’t work for me. Asimov is a master of building tension but really struggles when it comes to the crescendo. The story arcs build and build to a point where you’re expecting something to happen, only to find a short summary of the events stopping just short of a “and they all lived happily ever after”. His characters also don’t work for me as the series progresses, I understand the short, fast episodic nature of his work but he’s proven in Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow that he can write interesting characters, he just doesn’t do it consistently and it’s a huge shame. This book is the second strongest of the three in my opinion with Foundation and Empire being the weakest and Foundation being miles out in front. Th...

Ahhhhh this was so disappointing. I really enjoyed the first book. It’s short, pacey episodic style really suited me and I was hoping for more, but Asimov changes the formula pretty much entirely here. The series has gone from a pacey, suspenseful, political sci fi thriller, to a slow meandering political mystery chess match. The book is far too short to adopt that style in my opinion. The book feels a lot more padded than the first book too, with excessive boring passages that don’t feel even remotely necessary. Foundation and Empire does remedy my one complaint of the first in that we now have a consistent cast of characters, the only problem being that the cast of characters that have stuck around are by far the worst. The book picks up three stars mainly as it carries over momentum from book one, in really hoping for a turnaround in book 3.

This book doesn’t need a review, let’s be honest. I’m writing this mostly through force of habit and for my own benefit than for any other reason. I loved Foundation, but it certainly wasn’t what I expected. I loved how modern the writing style is for its time, I loved the prophetic nature of the book as it takes this budding new society along the inevitable timeline of religious control, economic controls etc, I loved that the book was more a collection of interconnected short stories than it was a novel, I loved that the book has personal atomic shields, but everyone still uses normal pens. This is a charming, fast paced sci-fi book packed to the seams with political agility, carefully laid foundations (apologies) and big reveals. Five stars all day long, some of the best science fiction I’ve read.

  I’d like to thank Joel for generously sending me a copy of The Path of Pain and Ruin to read. He didn’t ask for a review in return, but I’d be remiss not to post my unbiased thoughts. Firstly I want to talk about the premise and format of this book because it was the first thing to really catch me. Essentially the story follows a member of a religious super soldiers called The Blessed (They’re basically like a Jesus X Men) who are gifted supernatural abilities by angels they can call upon. The MC is subject to a couple of assassination attempts and sets out on a mission to establish why. Aside from the main narrative you have these chapter that read almost like diary entries, telling the tale of the MC up to this point. I really enjoyed it as a concept. This book has once again surprised me and my unconscious predisposition to assume indie books won’t be as well written as a more traditionally published book. It isn’t as grim dark as I thought it would be (ending aside). But it’s...

  Ok so a bit of housekeeping first. I got my copy of Fogbound for free because Nick decided to give the book away as a birthday present to himself (I don’t understand it either but I like his style). There was no obligation to read or review the book but I feel like an honest review of Fogbound is the least I can do in return. I’m also relatively friendly with the author on twitter, this doesn’t influence my review of fogbound. Scouts honour. So where to start. Fogbound is a sort of accidental hero, band of brothers style fantasy in which our protagonist Zercien finds himself slap bang in the middle of a war which, as a history teacher, he has no business being a part of. Fogbound is unlike anything I’ve read before. Maybe something exists and I just haven’t read it yet but for me it’s a truly original concept and story. A big plus for me is that the author manages so get information to the reader without over explaining or infodumping, it all feels really organic as the layers of...

This is the first Rob J. Hayes book I’ve read and one of the easiest five star reads I’ve ever had. What an entry. What Rob has achieved in just 200 pages here is fantastic. I wanted to use the word wonderful but it feels out of place. Demon is a classic obvious good vs obvious bad epic fantasy story following a struggle between mankind and a race of brutal sadistic demons on the brink of war. It’s a story of loss, of grief, of struggle and most importantly it’s a story of resilience and hope. The setting is cosy for a chapter or two, followed by an entire book of darkness, brutality and discomfort. I have a relatively strong stomach but this book made me feel uncomfortable in parts. A special mention for the characters in Demon. Rob wastes no time establishing characters you’re going to love and characters you’re going to absolutely hate, namely Donnell, Swordere, Roka and the hounds. I don’t have much more to say on this book, it’s short, it’s punchy, it’s brutal and I have absolutel...

I ’ll be honest, I went into this book tired of Dragon Focused epic fantasy fully expecting not to like it. I was wrong. The book isn’t without its flaws but Corey’s talents shine through in book one of The Elmerian Chronicles. The first thing to note with this book is that Ratliff has an incredibly fluent writing style. His story is presented in a way that’s incredibly easy to digest and it really helped me to enjoy the tale he was telling without being bogged down in overly descriptive writing and world building. That isn’t to say that he hasn’t successfully built a world that feels vibrant and alive though, Ratliff has really gone all out with some unique fauna like his Valravn and some wonderful settings such as Az’ Grim and Bor Mesari. The character work was okay without being brilliant, especially on the side of Aric and Moro who I felt had a very similar voice throughout the book, I do think some of that burden has to fall with the narrator of the audiobook and not the book itse...