Another year draws to a close, and I find myself in the midst of the little book vacation I always give myself. A couple of weeks off means I can come back to the blog refreshed and reinvigorated for the coming year. It also gives me the opportunity to reflect upon what I’ve read over the past twelve months. Now, it’s time for the annual Eloquent Page awards. The rules are as arbitrary as ever. I make up the categories myself and the only real requirement are that the winners are taken from within the books I’ve read this last year. I’ve tried to reduce the number of books I read in a year; I’m aiming for one a week. In the past the blog has taken over my life a little, but in 2015 I came pretty close to my target. The grand total was 60 books. So without further ado on to the awards themselves. The They Will Be Missed Award – Sadly, all good things to an end. The biggest disappointment for me in 2015 was that way back in January, the final book in the Ack Ack Macaque series, Macaque Attack by Gareth Powell arrived. *Sniffle*…

The Society of Blood is a direct sequel to The Wolves of London. With that in mind it is highly likely that this review will contain something akin to spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Transported through time to the dank streets of Victorian London, Alex Locke seeks to unravel the mysteries of the Obsidian Heart, the enigmatic object to which his fate is inextricably bound. When a string of grisly murders takes place across the capital, Alex follows a trail that will lead him through the opium dens of Limehouse into the dark and twisted world of the Society of Blood, and ever closer to unlocking the secret of the Heart. I read the first part of The Obsidian Heart trilogy, The Wolves of London, last year on a whim. I knew nothing about it and picked it up solely based on the fantastically gothic cover. It was an absolutely brilliant book that left me wanting more. Now, the second part of the trilogy is upon us and the good news is that it’s just as good as its predecessor. When we last left Alex Locke and Clover…

Alex Locke is a reformed ex-con forced into London’s criminal underworld for one more job. He agrees to steal a priceless artefact – a human heart carved from the blackest obsidian – but when the burglary goes horribly wrong, Alex is plunged into the nightmarish world of the Wolves of London, unearthly assassins who will stop at nothing to reclaim the heart. As he races to unlock the secrets of the mysterious object, Alex must learn to wield its dark power – or be destroyed by it. I’m incredibly lucky that from time to time, publisher see fit to send me books and I get to read them and waffle a bit about my opinions of their contents. That said, there is little I love more than a good rummage around in a book shop. Last week I was doing that very thing and I suddenly found The Wolves of London by Mark Morris in my hands. I can’t really tell you how it got there, all I can confirm is that as soon as it was in my hands I knew I was going to read it. My cleverly monitored review spreadsheet was immediately ignored and my previous commitments…