Tag Archives: Fiction

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review Drums of War

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Book 2 in Daniel Rawson series by Edward Marston

I am always on the lookout for my next ‘Sharpe’ series. And in my attempt to find one I have decided to go to the War of Spanish Succession. (Duke Marlborough, Blenheim, and battles against the French.) Our hero in this case is Daniel Rawson.

So onto a Book Review Drums of War by Edward Marston.

From the Book

We come across our hero, Captain Rawson, deep inside the war-ravaged borders of Europe, as he fights alongside the brave and resolute Earl of Marlborough in defeating the, self-proclaimed, ‘invincible’ French army. Yet victory is short lived, blunted by the dissenting voices of the Dutch, who secretly seek to wrestle the power and life from Rawson’s compatriot, Marlborough. In these hostile and insecure times, Captain Rawson is called on to succeed in his biggest, most daring mission to the rescue of a celebrated tapestry-maker turned spy from inside the fortified Bastille – the pride of a despotic France.

Now alone behind enemy-lines, the undaunted Rawson must apply all his guile and wit in his rescuing of the renowned prisoner and his beautiful daughter, Amalia – a delicate girl to whom Rawson’s friendship soon blossoms into something more. However, unbeknownst to Rawson the French and Dutch have already combined to plot both the assassination of Marlborough and the reclaiming of his power. This time Europe is beginning to close in on him, and it will take all of his self-sacrifice, skill and sincerity to once again rescue the war and the army’s pride from out of the clutches of the betrayers.

Review

Daniel Rawson is a Captain in the 24th Foot in the army of Duke Marlborough. Having been promoted from the ranks, Daniel’s ability to speak English, Dutch and French is invaluable. So he is sent to Paris to find the whereabouts of a Dutch spy.

He sneaks into Paris via the front door, finds the daughter of his target and moves her to a safe house… whilst falling in love with her – and vice-versa. He finds out her father is in the Bastille, and having determined there is nothing he can do, returns to the camp, attempts to rescue him.

If this is starting to feel unlikely, fear not. There is a second story throughout the book to keep our attention on the 24th Foot. A newly arrived drummer boy is being victimised by a Major. And he turns to Daniel to help him. This could be a perfect opportunity to bring the book down to earth. But because Daniel is sent to Paris he can’t do anything to save the drummer.

Upon escaping Paris, Daniel and his party and captured, promptly escape and return to the army. All in time to fight the Battle of Ramillies.

Daniel join’s the Duke’s closest advisors, is involved with a cavalry charge, and saves the Duke.

Verdict

Oh dear… Daniel Rawson is there nothing you can’t do? And herein lies the problem. At no point in the book did he fail to do something he attempted. Sure he was ambushed… but escaped. That was the greatest bit of peril in the book. And that’s without the whole Bastille debacle.

The secondary story is also weak with a very unsatisfactory ending. I will try book three, but I don’t hold out a lot of hope given this book.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – The Mountain in the Sea

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A novel by Ray Nayler

For the third week in a row, I’m leaving behind the Black Library, but I am back to Fiction. Speculative Fiction to be specific. And a novel shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award, and a winner of Locus.

The novel this week is ‘The Mountain in the Sea’ by Ray Nayler.

From the Book

Humankind discovers intelligent life in an octopus species with its own language and culture, and sets off a high-stakes global competition to dominate the future. Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android. The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extra-human intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses’ advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

Review

The Mountain in the Sea has a number of story lines which help to build a picture of the near future. The main story takes place on the Con Dao Archipelago. But there are other stories on a slave/fishing vessel, and the workings of a mega-corporation – DIANIMA.

This means there’s a lot of characters but many of them are incidental. But there are some deaths throughout the book to thin the herd.

Ray Nayley uses the slave/fishing vessel to bring the reader into his view of the future. It is not pleasant. But – importantly in speculative fiction – it is definitely believable. Although not a future we would want to aim for.

On the archipelago, Ha Nguyen has been asked to find and communicate with a group of Octopuses. These Octopuses appear to be trying to make contact with the humans on the islands. With some of the conduct being unsurprisingly negative. Before long Ha identifies a method of communication from the Octopuses, that may be writing.

So what will happen if Ha can communicate back, and can DIANIMA be trusted to use this information wisely? Or will Humanity want to kill any new intelligent life?

The book is well written, well set-up and running at a great pace. The chapters are short (perfect for a book at bedtime). And the quotes from Ha’s book before each chapter are a nice touch and a great technique for world building and info-dumping.

Verdict

Overall a very interesting read of speculative fiction. This story won’t be for everyone, and it certainly isn’t a casual read. But if you like speculative fiction, and wonder what would happen if humanity found an advanced intelligent species, then The Mountain in the Sea gives a good attempt o answer that question.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – Head On

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Lock In #2 by John Scalzi

We leave Warhammer and Black Library behind this week and review ‘A Novel of the Near Future’ by John Scalzi. Book 2 in the Lock In series.

From the book:

John Scalzi returns with Head On, the standalone follow-up to the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed Lock In. Chilling near-future SF with the thrills of a gritty cop procedural, Head On brings Scalzi’s trademark snappy dialogue and technological speculation to the future world of sports.

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent’s head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are “threeps,” robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden’s Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real and the crowds love it.

Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.

Is it an accident or murder? FBI Agents and Haden-related crime investigators, Chris Shane and Leslie Vann, are called in to uncover the truth―and in doing so travel to the darker side of the fast-growing sport of Hilketa, where fortunes are made or lost, and where players and owners do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.

Published in 2018 this book is the second in a series following a global pandemic which has caused people to suffer a locked-in syndrome called ‘Haden’; and FBI agents who suffer from the illness. It really is a detective story set in the near future with a science-fiction basis.

I don’t read many detective novels and can never work out the culprit early… and I failed here again! But the main reason for reading this was the background and the set-up from the Locked-In syndrome.

It is a fun book and good read, but it definitely has problems with the science and also the set-up of the game being played – Hilketa. Scalzi doesn’t seem to have done any research on the numbers of players, fans, and value of any sport in the world as Hilketa is said to be successful whilst having none of the numbers of existing sports… This won’t be an issue for many readers, but I like my ‘near future’ science fiction to be closer to reality.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Check out the full list of Book Reviews we’ve done on Woehammer here

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore

Book Reviews, Declan Waters

Book Review – Project Hail Mary

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By Andy Weir

Welcome to Woehammer – have you noticed the lovely feeling of no adverts (ads), no pop-ups and no auto-playing videos? Well, that’s the norm here at Woehammer.

But this is only possible because of our wonderful Patreons. So, some articles over 1 year old will now display our Patreon request at the top of the article… like this one! Don’t worry, we are not adding ads – but if you can afford to donate to the site, we would definitely appreciate it. Membership is available from just £1/month (plus taxes!!)

In our occasional series of looking outside the Worlds of Warhammer, I recently finished Andy Weir’s book which follows on the success of The Martian.

Cover from Goodreads

From Goodreads:

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that’s been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it’s up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian–while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

First up and to be honest — this is not a follow up to The Martian. It is a stand alone book. That said it includes all the styles and things that made the Martian so successful. Science… and lots of it – with some Engineering thrown in for good measure. There are also two story-lines here — one of Ryland Grace and his new companion trying to find the reason why the star they have visited is safe – and the second of the build up to the Earth mission.

This method is well executed by Weir and allows us to find out information at the same rate as the hero. It also allows for twists and turns in the story and some suprises and ‘ohhhhh’ moments which is great fun.

Meanwhile the main story is all about the difficulty of communication, new technologies, space, and science and Andy Weir does it superbly. It was a great read and definitely one worth considering if you’re looking for stories outside the Warhammer worlds.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

We always encourage people to shop at local bricks and mortar stores, but if your friendly local book store doesn’t have this available, we have a UK Amazon affiliate link & a USA Amazon affiliate link for which Woehammer receives a small commission.

— Declan & Eeyore