Eagle Rising by David Devereux

Eagle Rising is the sequel and follow-up to Hunter's Moon. That book established the character of 'Jack', a special forces/wizard fighting the forces of evil on behalf of Her Majesty's Government. Eagle Rising picks up the action a year or two after the first book, again with an unrelated action-packed James Bond-esque prologue before the story proper kicks off.


Jack is given a new mission: his bosses have gotten wind of something occult and dangerous in the offing, apparently linked to a neo-Nazi group operating in London. Jack is assigned to infiltrate the group via one of their money men, who works in a London bank. Jack is successful, but initially finds little evidence of magical involvement amongst the racist thugs and football hooligans whose favourite past-time is to complain at length about Britain being overrun and ruined by immigrants and homosexuals. When this group's tactics turn violent, Jack uncovers a more sinister link to an organisation with a very ambitious plan indeed...

Sadly Eagle Rising features no kinky sex or lesbian bondage witches like its forebear, which will no doubt divide readers on the appeal of the novel. The story otherwise unfolds in a similar manner to the first book, however, with Jack's investigative skills and magical abilities deployed intelligently to investigate a problem and find a resolution. This the author pulls off quite well, resulting in a readable, exciting action-adventure novel with some good thriller elements. The writing shows improvement from the first volume, and characterisation is stronger. Jack's ambiguous feelings towards some of the people in the neo-Nazi movement (some of whom don't seem to really be there but are from peer pressure) are nicely played, and his complex relationship with an MI5 officer from the first book evolves quite well. The story is pretty daft - possibly dafter than the first one if that is possible - but played straight and works due to that.

Eagle Rising (****) is a fast-paced, enjoyable read which improves on the first novel. It's not likely to win any awards or change any lives, but it is certainly entertaining and well thought-out. The book is available in the UK from Gollancz in the USA via Amazon. A third book in the series, Turnabout, is in the planning stages.

BioShock

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

Originally released at the end of 2007, BioShock is a first-person shooter which borrows some minor elements from roleplaying games. Created by some of the same team-members behind the popular and successful System Shock 2, BioShock was marketed as a 'spiritual successor' to that game. It achieved some critical acclaim after release, garnering extremely high scores from games review magazines.

The game is set in 1960. A passenger aircraft crossing the Atlantic Ocean crashes in the sea 200 miles from Iceland. The sole survivor, a man named Jack, finds a lighthouse standing on an isolated island nearby. To his surprise, the lighthouse is the surface entry to a vast underwater city called Rapture. Built by wealthy industrialist Andrew Ryan a decade and a half earlier, Rapture was designed to be a city independent from any government or religion outside. After arriving in the city, Jack is contacted by a man named Atlas who tells him the city's society has fallen apart, and most of the inhabitants have gone mad and become genetically-mutated 'Splicers' who hunger only for 'ADAM', a material which can grant great powers to the wielders. Atlas convinces Jack to help him rescue his wife and daughter from captivity. Jack is also contacted by a woman named Tenenbaum, who explains that ADAM is produced by genetically-modified young girls named 'Little Sisters', and Jack can absorb ADAM from any Little Sisters he comes across. Tenenbaum urges Jack to spare the Little Sisters and set them free from the ADAM influence, whilst Atlas suggests that Jack kill them to gain a lot more and become more powerful. Jack's decision will determine the course of the rest of the game.

BioShock plays pretty much as a standard first-person shooter. Jack can wield a large number of weapons, many of them with different types of ammunition for different circumstances. He can also use EVE (a weaponized form of ADAM) to power 'plasmids', which give him certain powers, such as the ability to hurl fireballs, shoot lightning out of his hand or levitate objects with his mind. Combat can be greatly enhanced by switching between plasmids and traditional weapons for different circumstances. The game dips its tools in the RPG category by giving out different quests and adopting a 'mission hub' structure for its levels, but without an active inventory system and an inability to talk to people (not to mention that every single person you randomly encounter in the game wants to kill you, with important NPCs only appearing behind bullet-proof windows or screens) this is not pursued much.

BioShock has an interesting storyline and a philosophical streak to it, which asks questions about free will and determination. Whilst intriguing, it's explored in a considerably less compelling fashion than Planescape: Torment, and to anyone who's played that older game BioShock feels a bit lightweight (not to mention predictable: some plot twists are very close to those of that older game and some others as well). Of course, most modern gamers haven't, so kudos to 2K Games for trying something a bit more interesting than just the standard run 'n' gun action. Unfortunately, that action is somewhat lacking. Your character feels very 'heavy' for lack of a better word, and combat is sluggish and unresponsive as a result. For most opponents it isn't a problem, but for the Big Daddies (whom you have to kill to get to the Little Sisters) it can turn into a total nightmare as they can kill you with maybe three hits. It isn't until very late in the game that you get weapons powerful enough to make the task less frustrating. Also, and this is utterly enraging at the start of the game, if you die you have to wait whilst a brief unskippable sequence plays (where your character is revived at a re-lifing chamber, often located inconveniently distant from the place where you died) before you can hit re-load.

BioShock has an offbeat and unusual story, and the art design of the game is different and often gorgeous, channelling the 'Americanapunk' vibe of the earlier Fallout games (and the more recent Fallout 3). The graphics are impressive throughout, with particularly good water and lighting effects. The more colourful palette of the game is also nice change from a lot of other modern 'gritty' FPS, and it's certainly admirable to encounter a game which actually has a purpose or theme to its plot beyond mindless violence. However, the game is nowhere near as revolutionary as it seems to think it is, combat is leaden and somewhat unsatisfying, the save/load system is frustratingly slow, the end-game boss is preposterously easy to defeat and the 'good' ending is corny.

BioShock (***) is an entertaining game that passes the time, but all the magazine writers that gave it 95% were clearly smoking some very strong substances indeed. The game is available now in the UK (PC, 360, PS3) and USA (PC, 360, PS3). A sequel, BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams, will follow at the end of this year or the start of next.

Half-Life 2: Episode One

Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first of three stand-alone expansions to Half-Life 2. It picks up moments after the first game ended - which you may recall was on a massive cliffhanger - and nicely sets up the events of Episode Two.


Before the events of Half-Life 2, the Earth was invaded and subjugated by a ruthless interdimensional alien race known as the Combine. Inhibiting humanity's desire to procreate with suppression fields, draining the oceans and gradually transforming the surviving humans into cybernetic slaves or indoctrinated soldiers, the Combine are clearly not very friendly. However, aided by the alien vortigaunts who used to be slaves of the Combine but were liberated by the actions of your character, Gordon Freeman, at the end of the original Half-Life, humanity has formed a resistance. Freeman's unexpected arrival in City 17, the main Combine base of operations in Eastern Europe, triggered a mass-uprising against the Combine. At the end of Half-Life 2, Gordon and Alyx Vance infiltrated the Citadel and defeated the plans of the Combine and their ally, Dr. Wallace Breen. Unfortunately, although their plan succeeded, the zero-point energy generator at the top of the Citadel exploded, apparently incinerating Alyx, although Gordon was 'rescued' once again by the mysterious G-Man.

Episode One picks up moments later as the G-Man suddenly finds his powers neutralised by a bunch of vortigaunts, who teleport both Alyx and Gordon to freedom. The resistance is evacuated City 17, but as thousands of people flee for safety the defensive shields around the city collapse and dangerous wildlife starts flooding in, causing havoc. Gordon and Alyx's task in Episode One is simple: to re-engage the Citadel's shields to stop the reactor exploding for a few hours longer, and then to get the hell out of the city.

Episode One is impressive for distilling the Half-Life experience down to a few intense hours of fun. The episode isn't as long as any of the other games or expansions in the series, clocking in at around four hours in length, but it does cover a fair amount of ground. New weapons are disappointingly nowhere to be seen, but there are some new enemies and some interesting set pieces. As usual, combat is fast and furious and the physics puzzles aren't quite as blindingly obvious as in HL2 itself. They've also generously increased the battery life of your torch, which given that chunks of the game take place in darkness as you have to fight off zombie and headcrab hordes is a good thing.

Much of the game's enjoyment comes from having Alyx by your side for most of the game. She is easily the most impressive allied NPC to ever appear in an action game, and her reactions in a few situations are surprisingly lifelike. However, Valve definitely missed a trick by not allowing a co-op mode with another player controlling her.

Episode One (****½) is a fun game and an enjoyable addition to the series, if you can stomach yet another cliffhanger ending (although that is eased due to the fact of Episode Two already being available). The game is available in the UK as part of The Orange Box (PC, 360, PS3), and the Half-Life 2 Episode Pack (PC), and in the USA as part of The Orange Box (PC, 360, PS3) and the Half-Life 2 Episode Pack (PC).

Hunter's Moon by David Devereux

Before I begin this review, I will point out ahead of time that this book features a coven of lesbian bondage witches planning to kill the Prime Minister of Britain, with only a badass military special ops guy who also happens to be a trained wizard standing in their way. It is possible that this information will have you instantly clicking to Amazon to order the book or rapidly clicking onto another topic in fear, meaning I don't have to write the rest of the review. For the three of you who do require more information, I will however carry on.


Rewinding a bit, Hunter's Moon opens with a James Bond-esque mission which introduces our 'hero' (used in the loosest possible sense of the word), Jack. It has nothing to do with the rest of the book, and is meant to show how our protagonist operates when a mission goes well. The main storyline kicks in when Jack is assigned to assist a rookie agent, Annie, who has infiltrated a coven of witches who seem to be up to no good. He arranges the death of one of their senior members and Annie manages to replace her. However, things start going a bit pear-shaped and as Jack investigates further, it turns out the witches' plans are more ambitious than he first thought and their resources considerably greater.

Hunter's Moon is many things, but a subtle examination of the human condition it isn't. Jack is a self-admitted amoral bastard, but also has a (slight) soft spot for his rookie colleague and a lingering sense of patriotism that occasionally threatens to make him likable. He has tremendous resources - you'll probably be shocked to hear that he works for a secret government organisation so secret even MI5 don't know they exist, as well as a network of independent informants and friends - and, if in doubt, kills first and asks questions later. The cliches come thick and fast, but there's a wryness to the writing and the author is clearing slipping the reader a nod and wink about the ludicrousness of throwing together a novel that combines SAS 'manly man' fiction featuring guns and dominatrix villainesses with the contents of a year's subscription to the Fortean Times. The magic system used in the book is also interesting and seems to open up a number of some interesting possibilities for future stories.

Hunter's Moon (***½) comes across as the demented love-child born of an unholy union between Laurel K. Hamilton (when she was decent) and Andy McNab, and is fast-paced, entertaining and quite funny. However, it also has a fair bit of (usually eye-watering) sex and violence, meaning it isn't for the squeamish or faint of heart. It is available in the UK from Gollancz and is available in the USA via Amazon. A sequel, Eagle Rising (featuring zombie Nazis), is also available now and I'll be reviewing that one in a few days. You can also find reviews of the book on Graeme's Fantasy Book Review and Sandstorm Reviews.

Wertzone Classics: The Affirmation by Christopher Priest

The Affirmation is the eighth novel by British SF author Christopher Priest, originally published in 1981. As with his later novels The Prestige and moreso The Separation, The Affirmation is a book about identity, truth, perception and perspective which rewards multiple readings and is open to many interpretations of what is happening.


A 29-year-old man named Peter Sinclair is tormented by the death of his father, an unhappy relationship with a woman named Gracia and the loss of his job in London. Offered an opportunity to fix up the dilapidated country house of a friend of his late father's, he jumps at the chance. Whilst performing this job he becomes obsessed with the idea of writing his autobiography and defining his life through words. But, anxious to protect the identities of real people, he changes their names, then the names of the places they live, then the very nature of the world they exist in.

But that may be a lie.

A 31-year-old man named Peter Sinclair is living in the city of Jethra, part of the great nation of Faiandland. Unexpectedly, he wins the Lotterie-Collago. The prize is a course of treatment given on the distant southern island of Collago, which grants the recipient immortality but only at the price of total amnesia. On his way through the islands he meets and falls in love with a woman named Seri, but is occasionally haunted by thoughts of a manuscript he wrote two years ago, the story of his life with some of the names and places changed.

That may also be a lie.

The Affirmation utterly defies any attempt to summarise it. It is a twisting and at times bewildering novel that moves between at least three different levels of reality, and each of those is open to multiple interpretations. Peter is really a native of a different, although similar, world and our planet and everything on it is a figment of his imagination. Peter is really a Londoner suffering a total mental collapse in the wake of personal tragedy. He is suffering from amnesia, or schizophrenia, or an acute solipsist, or all three. The manuscripts are real, or only exist in his head. The manuscript he is writing is the actual novel itself, forming a Mobius strip of narrative and causality that loops back in on itself: when you reach the end of the novel, which literally finishes in mid-sentence, you can go back to the start and re-read it as its own sequel, with greater understanding.

Priest does his usual thing here of using a clean, easily readable prose style which lures the reader into a false sense of security until the story's second level of interpretation and reality kicks in, leaving the reader confused as to what is happening. And just when you adjust for that, something else happens that hints at a grander but stranger truth yet. The Affirmation is a puzzle, but not necessarily a puzzle with a single solution, which makes it a fiendishly addictive read.

The Affirmation (*****) is one of the most original and mind-blowing books I have read, somehow even eclipsing The Separation in what it asks from the reader and the possible answers it gives out. The novel is available in the UK from Gollancz and in the USA from Pocket Books. The latter is out of print, but Amazon.com still has some copies available.

Richard Morgan book offer

Richard Morgan is being overrun by boxes full of books (US, UK and foreign-language editions) and is offering to sell them to fans for cover price plus postage, with the option of having them signed.

Check out his blog for more.

Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks

Look to Windward is the nineteenth novel by British SF and mainstream author Iain M. Banks, and the seventh book set in his Culture universe. Published back in 2000, there was some speculation that this would be the last Culture book, especially because the title of the novel comes from T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, as did that of the first Culture book, Consider Phlebas, and as a result nicely bookends the series. However, Banks did release a new Culture novel, Matter, last year.


Eight centuries ago, the Culture and the Idiran Empire fought a significant war after the latter invaded the Culture's territory. The weak, supposedly decadent Culture crushed the invaders in a conflict that lasted half a century and killed almost 900 billion sentient beings. During the course of the war two stars were destroyed, killing untold civilians on the worlds orbiting them. The Culture considers this act to have been a tragedy of the war they have been careful never to forget.

800 light-years from the location of the supernovae lies the Culture Orbital Masaq'. A ring-shaped artificial worldlet three million kilometres across, orbiting a gas giant (yes, Banks' Orbitals and Niven's Ringworld were the direct inspiration for the Halo worldlets in the computer game sereis), Masaq' is home to fifty billion intelligent life-forms. Amongst them is Mahrai Ziller, a composer and former native of the planet Chel. This world was formerly home to a rigid caste system that was inhibiting the planet's social development, so the Culture attempted an intervention meant to lead to a peaceful revolution. Instead, a bloody civil war ripped the planet apart. The Culture admitted its culpability, a shocking admission for a civilisation very rarely known to have failed in its goals.

The primary storyline sees the Chelgrian Major Quilan despatched to Masaq' to convince Ziller to return home. Ziller, who is busy preparing a symphony dedicated to remembering the war and the destroyed stars and planning to perform it as the light from their deaths reaches the Orbit, is uninterested. The Culture Mind (hyper-advanced sentient AI) which runs Masaq' takes a special and keen interest in the symphony for reasons that eventually become clear.


Look to Windward is an accomplished and intelligent science fiction novel written by one of the modern masters of the field. If not quite up there with Banks' best books, it is still a powerful novel which examines the morality of warfare, the dubious notions of 'acceptable losses' and 'proportionate responses' and the idea of what one person can do to make amends for the 'acceptable' acts they commit in war which in peace would have them condemned as a mass-murderer. It's a powerful theme and explored effectively. However, the book is at its heart a thriller as one person is given the opportunity to avenge two wrongs, one ancient and one fresh in memory, and whether they are prepared to go through with that course of action. As usual, Banks slips in his black humour, terrifically original starship names and his usual musings on how a true utopia like the Culture can survive and thrive.

Look to Windward (****½) is a terrific science fiction novel and well worth a look. It is available in the UK from Orbit and in the USA from Pocket Books.

Paul Kearney signs with Solaris for two more books

Bit of an exclusive scoop here. Paul Kearney, author of The Sea-Beggars series and last year's excellent The Ten Thousand (my 2008 book of the year), has signed a deal with Solaris for two more books set in the world of the Macht. Early working titles are Corvus and Kings of Morning. Congratulations to Paul, and I'm already looking forward to the new books.


This is in addition to the reprints of Kearney's excellent Monarchies of God saga, a five-volume epic fantasy which is to be reissued as two omnibuses entitled Hawkwood and the Kings and Century of the Soldier. Release dates have to be finalised for those, but will hopefully be for later this year.

Some new blogs for your consideration

I recently came across SciFiGuy's blog, which is an interesting read covering various strands of spec fic. Plus kudos to him for coming up with a great blog name.

Also, my (actual, real-life) friend Liz has literally just set up her blog Redshift for reviewing books and other items of interest. With a reading speed that puts me to shame, she's already posted four book reviews in as many days. I now feel wholly inadequate. However, that does increase the number of Colchester-based SF&F blogs by 100% that I know of :-)

The Wire: Season 5

The fifth and final season of The Wire is given the task of wrapping up all the loose ends from previous seasons and also to give space to a new storyline element, that of the media. With the police, criminals, politicians, working class and teachers already covered, moving into the newspapers is the logical next port of call, especially since many of the show's writers cut their teeth as journalists at one time or another.


Thanks to the efforts of the ever-redoubtable defence attorney Maurice Levy, Marlo Stanfield and his crew have avoided jail time, despite being linked to 22 bodies discovered in vacant housing in Baltimore. New mayor Tommy Carcetti wants the murders solved, so the Major Crimes Unit has been reconstituted with most of the old team back in play: Kima, Freamon, McNulty and Sydnor. Meanwhile, Herc has been forced to leave the police and is now working for Levy as a private investigator, and Omar is enjoying a holiday life down in the Caribbean, having apparently left behind the game for good. Unfortunately, Carcetti has inherited a massive education budget deficit from his predecessor and is forced to divert substantial financial resources away from the police to the schools. The Major Crimes Unit is disbanded, and even the street cops find their vehicle maintenance funding being pulled. With the police off his back, Marlo's consolidation of control over the city's drug trade suddenly ramps up to a new and dangerous level and he vows to settle his score with Omar.

With bodies dropping but no funds available to investigate them, McNulty comes up with a scheme to get attention and resources back to the police force but, needless to say, it backfires spectacularly. At the same time, the Baltimore Sun is facing cutbacks but an ambitious young reporter, Scott Templeton, finds unorthodox means of finding new stories that please the bosses but annoy his editor.

The final season of The Wire has a lot of ground to cover, as the police force's attempts to take down Marlo hit a brick wall and a new case rapidly rises to prominence, whilst a whole new facet of the city is explored through the newspaper. Simultaneously, many subplots running from the previous season continue to be explored, such as the continuing trials of the former schoolchildren from Prez's class (although only Dukie and Michael have a lot of screen time this season, Namond and Randy being reduced to cameos) and Marlo's attempt to dispose of the last barrier between him and total control of the city's drug trade. As a result a lot of other storylines fall behind. Carver and Herc appear a lot less than before (although when they do appear, they have some important things to contribute to the show's ending), Prez only has a brief cameo and the school storyline is pretty much abandoned. Cutty also only has a brief appearance, although given that his rehabilitation arc through Seasons 3 and 4 is pretty much complete that is more understandable.

The name of the game this year is resolution. McNulty and Freamon are out for Marlo's blood and plan to bring down his organisation and put him in jail at any cost, and the extraordinary (and increasingly illegal) lengths they go to achieve that are breathtaking. Having played the system for four seasons prior without much to show for it, the two police officers are at breaking point, which isn't surprising. We also see Carcetti, the wonder boy who wanted clean stats and a new dawn for his city, being driven down by the system into the same morass of murky compromises and grey morality that blighted his predecessor. The newspaper storyline is nicely handled, and encapsulates the idea of people trying to do the right thing and getting beaten back for it whilst those who ride and exploit the system can succeed. It's a very cynical view of the world, although one that seems to be depressingly backed up by reality.

But inbetween the cracks there are rays of light. Michael has been put through the wringer in the show's last two seasons and done some very bad things, but towards the end he comes to the realisation that he is in the game but not a gang player, which leads to a very logical end point for him, whilst Bubbles' traumas over the years finally lead him down the path of redemption. It would have been easy for the writers to have had Bubbles rehabilitate at the end of Season 1, but making his journey much longer and more painful before the possibility of a happy ending presents itself results in a more satisfying resolution.

The series ends by showing us the hard-won victories the forces of law and order have achieved, but elsewhere many of the villains are still at large with blood on their hands. Some of the 'good guys' are left broken, or homeless, or without their jobs, or as drug addicts. But some people get what's coming to them, and the series ends with a long, lingering shot of Baltimore, a crime-addled, bankrupt city where the people are just struggling to survive day by day. It was this city, which stands in for pretty much any city in America, that was the real star of the show. David Simon and his writers, directors and actors are to be commended by giving us the definitive portrait of the American city in the 21st Century, and that portrait is not a positive or a happy one. But it has a ring of truth and authenticity to it that no other cop or lawyer show has ever achieved.

Season 5 of the The Wire (*****) is a fitting end-point to the series, and a fine capstone to one of the greatest TV shows of all time. Storylines and mysteries stretching back to Season 1 are resolved satisfyingly, but no easy answers are given and the ending is anything but neat. The season is available on DVD in the UK and USA, and as part of the complete series box set (UK, USA).