Five noble war heroes of Vagandrak get drunk one night and sign a contract – to journey to the Karamakkos in search of the Five Havens. There, it is written, there lies untold, abandoned wealth and, more importantly, the three Dragon Heads, legendary jewels claimed to give unspeakable power and everlasting life to those who wield them. But the Dragon Heads aren’t what the adventurers think they are, and the world has not encountered their like in many, many generations! A new Andy Remic novel is cause for much merriment here at The Eloquent Page. Here is an author who is consistently reliable when it comes to action-packed, adult-themed fantasy. I’ve been reading his work for years now, and when The Dragon Engine appeared on my Kindle I dived in with gusto. Though set in the same world as The Iron Wolves and The White Towers this follows a completely different group of heroes. If you haven’t read those books then you won’t be at any disadvantage. That said, there are a few nods to both novels that eagle-eyed existing readers are likely to spot. One of the things I always enjoy about Andy Remic’s writing is his vivid characterisation….

On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past… while a world goes to war with itself. In the frozen kingdom of Saiduan, invaders from another realm are decimating whole cities, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. As the dark star of the cataclysm rises, an illegitimate ruler is tasked with holding together a country fractured by civil war, a precocious young fighter is asked to betray his family and a half-Dhai general must choose between the eradication of her father’s people or loyalty to her alien Empress. Through tense alliances and devastating betrayal, the Dhai and their allies attempt to hold against a seemingly unstoppable force as enemy nations prepare for a coming together of worlds as old as the universe itself. In the end, one world will rise – and many will perish. I have to begin with a terrible admission. Initially (at least for the first fifty odd pages or so) The Mirror Empire had me regularly exclaiming “WWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAT!!!!” in a Moe Szyslak-esque fashion. I had little clue what was going on and I was beginning to…

Please note The White Towers is a direct sequel to The Iron Wolves so it is entirely possible that this review may contain something akin to spoilers. Read on at your own peril… Vagandrak is broken, and a new threat has arisen that threatens to defeat even the mighty Iron Wolves. The twisted, deviant Elf Rats have gathered in the toxic realm beyond the White Lion Mountains… swiftly they invade the troubled land of Vagandrak, killing for profit and pleasure. The now-disgraced Iron Wolves are the realm’s only hope, but there’s a problem: they’ve been sentenced to death by the insane King Yoon for the dark sorcery in their blood. In the mountains of Zalazar lie the White Towers, pillars of legend said to contain the Heart of the Elves. The Iron Wolves must journey north to steal the Heart, and purify the evil in the land, but the land belongs to the Elves – and they won’t give it up without a fight! It’s a universal truth that when one evil falls, another will rise to take its place. Orlana the Changer is gone. The Iron Wolves have dealt with her and her army of mud orcs in their…

The Book of The Crowman is a direct sequel to Black Feathers. I strongly urge you to read Black Feathers first, honest, I’m not kidding you know. There is also a good chance that this review may contain spoilery type elements if you haven’t read book one. It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying. It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world. The search for the shadowy figure known only as the Crowman continues, as the Green Men prepare to rise up against the forces of the Ward.  The world has been condemned. Only Gordon Black and The Crowman can redeem it. Black Feathers was a bit of a revelatory moment for me. I’ve read most of Joseph D’Lacey’s existing back catalogue but wasn’t sure how I was going to get on with a novel that didn’t fit neatly into the horror genre. I needn’t have worried, I was utterly engrossed by his first foray into fantasy. Since then, I’ve been waiting patiently for book two and now that it’s finally here I can confirm it’s a corker. Whenever I read a…

Thirty years ago, the Iron Wolves held back mud-orc hordes at the Pass of Splintered Bones, an led a brutal charge that saw the sorcerer Morkagoth slain. Now, a new terror stalks the realm. Orlana the Changer, has escaped from the Chaos Halls and is building an army, twisting horses, lions and bears into terrible, bloody hunters, summoning mud-orcs from the slime and heading north to battle the mighty region of Vagandrak where, it is said, the king has gone insane…  General Dalgoran searches to reunite the heroes of old for what he believes will be there finally battle. But Dalgoran discovers the Iron Wolves are no longer the heroes of legend, and they might just be more dangerous than the invading hordes…  Since their heroic heyday the various members of the Iron Wolves have fallen, and in most cases they have fallen pretty far. Drug abuse, psychopathic acts of violence, gambling (find more details here)and pit fighting are just a select few of the various vices on offer. I like this approach. Too often in fantasy heroes appear utterly indomitable, and it just gets so damn boring after a while; those holier-than-thou types with not a single chink in…

Please note The Cormorant is the third book in an on-going series. It’s entirely possible that this review may contain the odd spoiler or two. See I warned ya! Now I don’t expect any moaning if you spot one, you were warned! Miriam is on the road again, having transitioned from “thief”… to “killer”. Hired by a wealthy businessman, she heads down to Florida to practice the one thing she’s good at. But in her vision she sees her client die by another’s hand – and on the wall, written in blood, is a message just for Miriam. She’s expected. I have what can best be described a strange relationship with Chuck Wendig. Not literally, you understand. I don’t follow him around everywhere or anything like that (apparently that sort of thing can lead to restraining orders). No, I mean with his writing. I’ve read and adored both Blackbirds and Mockingbird. They are both deliciously dark modern adult fairy tales that grab you by the throat and refuse to let go until they’re done with you. Splendid stuff. I had assumed, based on my immense enjoyment of said novels that I was a dyed in the wool Chuck Wending fan. I…

Please note The Eighth Court is the fourth book in The Courts of the Feyre series. It’s entirely possible that this review may contain some spoilers if you’ve not read books one to three. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya! The Eighth Court has been established, but petty rivalries and old disputes threaten its stability. The mongrels that make up the court are not helping, and Blackbird enlists the help of the warders to keep the peace. Has Blackbird bitten off more than she can chew, and can the uneasy peace between the courts continue under such tension and rivalry? I have to admit that I’ve been a little worried about reading this particular book. The closer and closer it got to the top of my review pile the more and more nervous I became. Why all the unnecessary anxiety? Well Sixty One Nails is one of the first books that actually made me want to sit down and try to string together something resembling a coherent review. Yes, I know I didn’t review it on The Eloquent Page but it was one of the first books that made me want to share my passion for reading with the world….

When out-of-shape IT technician Roen woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn’t  He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes. Meanwhile, Roen is having to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well… Any book that begins with a tense rooftop standoff swiftly followed by an unexpectedly dramatic escape has got to be worth a shot as far as I’m concerned. Spy type thrills and escapades are always a great deal of fun. The trickiest question though is how exactly do you make spies more exciting? Let’s be honest, they are quite exciting already. The answer, which The Lives of Tao successfully confirms, is to add two groups of ancient…

It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying. It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world. In each era, a child shall be chosen. Their task is to find a dark messiah known only as the Crowman. But is he our saviour –or the final incarnation of evil? Black Feathers, the latest novel from Joseph D’Lacey, is a story in two halves. The narrative alternates between a couple of separate, but interconnected journeys. The first strand is the story of Gordon Black, a young boy born into the present day just as the world we know is beginning to come apart at the seams. The evil that Gordon faces off against appears in the form of a group known only as The Ward. They have infiltrated every level of government and big business in an effort to control what precious few resources remain. The Ward’s sole purpose? To locate and destroy the individual known as The Crowman. I was reminded a little of Norsefire, the near faceless fascist villains that feature heavily in Alan Moore’s masterpiece V for Vendetta. You see, D’Lacey is being…

I do hope that everyone is having a relaxing and enjoyable festive season. Now that most of the serious over-indulgence is done with for another year, I thought it was about time to take a look at what new book-related loveliness is due in 2013. Here are my top ten books I’m looking forward to reading in the next six months or so. Hope you enjoy. Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth Powell Publication Date: 3rd January Publisher: Solaris Genre: Simian Steampunk Science Fiction The Blurb: In 1944, as waves of German ninjas parachute into Kent, Britain’s best hopes for victory lie with a Spitfire pilot codenamed ‘Ack-Ack Macaque.’ The trouble is, Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, and he’s starting to doubt everything, including his own existence. A century later, in a world where France and Great Britain merged in the late 1950s and nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole her electronic soul. Meanwhile, in Paris, after taking part in an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, the heir to the British throne goes on the run….

Fear the might of… The Cowl!  Tony Prosdocimi lives in the bustling metropolis of San Ventura – a city utterly gripped by fear, a city under siege by the hooded supervillain, The Cowl. When Tony develops super-powers and acts to take down The Cowl, however, he finds that the local superhero team, the Seven Wonders, aren’t anything like as grateful as he assumed they would be… I am, and always will be, a comic book geek at heart. Before I developed a passion for reading novels I grew up with 2000AD, Marvel and DC. I still try to read comics whenever I can but now a lot of my time is taken up by books and reviewing. The idea of reading something that captures the best elements of the comic book medium and translates them successfully certainly intrigues. San Ventura is glorious amalgam of every other comic book city that you’ve ever read. With liberal doses of Gotham, Metropolis and Star City, it serves as the perfect backdrop for all the action. From a comic book fan’s standpoint, there can’t be anything better than huge epic battles where heroes and villains duke it out, trashing buildings and destroying scenery in…

Please note Mockingbird is a direct sequel to Blackbirds and due to that fact it’s entirely possible this review may contain minor spoilers. Consider yourself warned, people. Miriam Black has a terrible talent. The first time she touches someone, she will see the moment of their death. Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. It is all she can do to keep her talent – her curse – in check.  But when Miriam touches a woman while standing in line at the supermarket, she foresees that the woman will be violently killed – right here, right now. Earlier this year I read and reviewed Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig and if I’m being honest I have to admit that it did blow my tiny little mind just a bit. Like a David Lynch directed version of The Littlest Hobo (if the Hobo was a young women with supernatural powers rather than a dog) I really enjoyed this dark, nightmarish tale. When I heard there was another novel featuring the same character, I was keen to give it a whirl. Once again I found myself amazed at how quickly I was hooked….

Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine, a self-replicating humanoid robot. For the past five years, she has been grown slowly as part of a mixed organic/synthetic family. She knows very little about her android mother’s past, so when her grandmother arrives and attacks her mother, little Amy wastes no time: she eats her alive. Now she carries her malfunctioning granny as a partition on her memory drive, and she’s learning impossible things about her clade’s history – like the fact that the failsafe that stops all robots from harming humans has failed… Which means that everyone wants a piece of her, some to use her as a weapon, others to destroy her. When we first meet Amy she is a five-year old child living with her human father and android mother. Her accelerated growth has been stunted to mimic that of a human child using a special diet that keeps her in a state of almost constant hunger.  Everything seems idyllic in this perfect little family unit, but within a few short chapters it becomes evident that all is not as rosy as it appears from the outside. The unexpected appearance of Amy’s grandmother acts as a catalyst to events…