Book review: Montefiore's Goddaughter.

MONTEFIORE’S GODDAUGHTER

By Elizabeth Brooks.

The strength of the opening of this book drew me in straight away to the dream world of the protagonist and I instantly wished I had a place of haven like that to escape to in my dreams. “Where do you go at night?” It asks, and the now adult Abigail Crabtree relates the description of her dream world to us. It is a place she drifts to when she sleeps in the Waking World and, accompanied by Boris her teddy bear, she has great friends and great adventures there.

But the dream world is not wholly safe and Abigail tells us of how her story really began, the day she saw her first Vulture Man. In this dream forest of cannibals, and now enemies that seem to be hunting specifically for her and her friends, Abigail finds herself tracked not only in Traumund but in the Waking World too, when she is hunted and summoned to her godfather, Ludovick Montefiore.

Montefiore is a wealthy man and wishes to pay for a grand education for Abigail, and without further ado she finds herself at The Institute of Social and Personal Advancement under the scathing tutelage of a headmistress who makes it clear from the offset that Abigail, with her scruffy hair, baggy clothes and teddy bear, is less than welcome there. Now, with no allies, and no desire to spend her days painting her nails and straightening her hair, Abigail must seek solace in the one place she can: Traumund. But the Vulture Men draw closer and the King they serve is closer to Abigail than she suspected.

This is a fantastically imaginative book and comes alive with visual imagery that is so well rendered as to make the reader wish the world of Traumund were real and accessible to all of us. Brooks’ blend of the modern elements of the institute and the grand and ancient feel of Montefiore’s abbey and the world of Traumund is surprisingly effective in reminding us that this is a modern story about a modern girl that we can all relate to in some way.

Imagination itself is a theme of the story, and it really focuses around Abigail’s determination not to conform or give up her dreams and desires in favour of what society thinks she should be doing, wearing, saying and feeling. As a narrator Abigail is pitched perfectly and has those moments of self-doubt, cowardice and indecision that afflict all of us. She is not the strong heroine so often found in stories, she is real, and acts based on what is best for her at the time and within the confines of her environment.

Montefiore’s Goddaughter has a young protagonist and would fall into the young adult bracket, but as an adult reader I certainly related to the story and found myself compelled to read on. Some elements of the action are rather unsettling and there is no lack of excitement or tension throughout the story. The standard of the writing and the phrasing felt quite literary and certainly mature enough to stimulate an adult reader. Overall this book is a highly enjoyable read and the sort of grand story that is perfect for bedtime reading.

Elloise.

Middle Earth Weekend 2012…

And why I expect far more from it. 

Ok so there is a background to this post. I grew up in Moseley, Birmingham – Tolkien’s Birmingham. This is the real Middle Earth where the bog and the trees, the mill and the towers inspired some of his world. Each year the Middle Earth Weekend takes place in the heart of Tolkien’s Birmingham and promises a medieval delve into the costumes, crafts and tales from the world of Lord Of the Rings. Sounds like a winner huh?

Well yes, and so it used to be. In previous years I have attended the festival and seen craft stalls, story re-enactments and readings, sword-fighting and demonstrations, puppetry, gaming, costumes, archery, a train ride, walking tours, a full scale farmers market with stalls selling local produce and organic foods, beer tents and the list goes on. You get the picture. We are talking a weekend of entertainment and appreciation on a spring weekend surrounded by greenery and enthusiasm.

Last year for personal reasons I boycotted the festival. In short, a local children’s entertainment company that ran a successful and popular stall at Middle Earth Weekend 2010 found themselves being refused a stall by the committee for the 2011 festival. The reason cited was lack of space. Given the size of the site and the more than ample volume of green space that is always unused at the festival, it was clearly a political decision and that is something I cannot get on board with. So after a run of  several years enjoying Middle Earth Weekend, in 2011 they disappointed me.

This year I was passing right by the site, having gone home to visit my parents, so I decided to see what was happening. I walked around the same old craft stalls, looked at the artwork, saw readings were taking place and found a cramped marquee with some children’s activities taking place. The archery was still there and there were visitors dressed up, though not as many as usual and I was disappointed not to see the Nazguls on the move this time. The farmer’s market and beer tents were curiously absent and the whole affair had shrunk again this year leaving even more unused space at the Sarehole Mill site. I stopped to watch the mummers for a while and then, disappointed at the general scale and atmosphere, I called it a day.

Tolkien’s legacy is appreciated worldwide. Undisputable fact. His popularity has not waned. Again fact. Yet what could be an incredibly popular annual festival that has potential to attract visitors from across the country and bring revenue into local businesses is, for whatever reason the committee deems fit, suppressed into a very local, ever decreasing in size affair. I cannot think of a single good reason why this is not opened up to become a regular national attraction. People love Tolkien. I love Tolkien. And yet again this year the Middle Earth Weekend felt more like a local pagan wedding on the village green than a celebration of a huge part of our culture.

I would dearly love to see a far bigger, far more embracing Middle Earth Weekend in 2013 and I hope that the organisers will realise the potential of this event and next year do something bigger, better, and dare to invite some new exhibitors and visitors into the mix. It’s not that often that I go on a real rant about something, but this genuinely disappoints me, because it is just a waste of potential.

Elloise.

Inspirational Art of the Moment...

I am having a fantastic time at the moment rediscovering my love for graphic novels and am breaking up my copious amounts of reading with some really outstanding releases. Today I am finding such depth of inspiration in Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Creation Myths Volume 1.

I don’t want to say too much here because I will be writing a proper review of it but it has reminded me just how much I love the artwork, designs and puppets of Jim Henson’s work. Suddenly I am craving another viewing of Labyrinth, which remains one of my all time favourite films.

In Henson’s work, and of course the team that carries on his legacy, there is such personality depicted in every line of the imagery, such a beautiful range of colour and shapes employed to create these wonderful and intriguing characters and landscapes that take your breath away.

It is my intention to draw influence from this style and try to remember, when I am writing descriptions and inventing characters, that it is the smallest details that make the greatest difference and the most memorable and lovable creations. Definitely an inspiration and thus today’s muse.

Elloise.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 First Impressions…

I wondered where the story would go after Final Fantasy XIII; a game which, I should add, I thought was fantastic, and Lightning quickly made it into my top ten favourite FF characters of all time. I pre-ordered XIII-2 before it came out and then life, or rather university coursework and novel writing, got in the way. Finally now I have had chance to start playing.

The trailers intrigued me. Lightning was still alive and she looked and sounded as amazing, if not better, than she did before. And her seeming nemesis Caius Ballad looked just as incredible. I decided with these two leading the game XIII-2 would not be a disappointment. The opening credits certainly weren’t, and blew me away. I got shivers when Caius said “Warrior Goddess”. Seriously. For the record, I want that on my tombstone.

So what’s my verdict on the game? Well I’m only a couple of hours in so it is really too early to comment on plot or the overall playing experience. I’m currently running around trying to ‘capture’ a Pulsework Knight for my paradigm pack. Of course before I decided I wanted one they were lurking every time I turned around and now they are conveniently elusive.

Nonetheless I do feel like I’m getting into the game now. To start with I was really disappointed to be forced to play as Serah. She certainly did not seem to be a strong lead to me and her rendering seemed peculiarly off. I have some experience of 3D animating, and the texturing of her clothes and especially her hair looked severely below FF standard. But I’m pleased to report that not too far in I was given the option to use Noel as my party leader, which has appeased me somewhat for the moment.

The action seems to be shaping up nicely, the battle system is more complex than its predecessor and although I am a little perplexed by the Crystarium for some unknown reason – does it seem to be too simple and non-intuitive perhaps? – now that I have switched the game off I am craving more play. Yes, the FF addiction has me again. I need more hours in my weeks.

Elloise.

The Hunger Games...

I went to see The Hunger Games movie with a little apprehension. I loved that the book was written in first person present tense and so the reader was right there with Katniss in the midst of everything, experiencing the struggles and fears along with her. I just couldn’t see how that constant sense of danger and urgency would translate well into a full colour, big screen movie. The images I had seen of some of the characters prior to the film’s release had excited me; however, and I was looking forward to seeing the full stylised version.

At a 12A certificate I knew beforehand that certainly some of the more unpleasant aspects of the book would have been eradicated and others seriously toned down for the screen version, so I was expecting to see a very glossy and Hollywood-emphasised film with lots of action and melodrama but lacking in the deeper emotional content.

I am pleased to report that I was partially wrong. The film had me captivated from start to finish and I did still feel that constant sense of disgust at what I was seeing and that sense of disbelief that humans can behave in such a cruel manner towards one another that I felt when reading the book. The stylistic appearance of the rich capital and all of its elements – indulgent dining, futuristic technology, crisp lines and opulent designs – were the perfect contrast to the gloomy shabbiness of the poor districts, and really hammered the message home.

The film just worked for me in every way. Visually I was stimulated, the relationships between characters were not exaggerated and so portrayed the depth of feeling in a realistic manner, and the casting was excellent; all of which produced a believable adaptation of the book even if it did not give me the same gut-wrenching suspense and tension of the prose. I have only read the first of the trilogy but came away from the cinema wanting to read them all.

Elloise.

Charlie Chaplin with the CBSO…

Recently I attended the Birmingham Symphony Hall Friday Night Classics: Charlie Chaplin and I have been musing about it ever since. Something didn’t feel quite right during the evening and I think I’ve worked out what and why.

The evening began with four short animated films accompanied of course by the famous City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The films screened were the winner and runners up from a recent competition that charged young animators across the city to create an animation to go with music discovered in the library archives. Watching the Bullring bull rampage along New Street is a sight I may never forget.

The one that stood out most for me was The Banshee by sixteen-year-old Kane Rose, the story of a young boy playing in the woods with his own imagination before a Banshee chases and attacks him. The animation went perfectly with the score and this film was actually the judges’ special commendation; however, I did feel that the point of the film was lost on the audience, which broke into raucous laughter when the monster ate the boy.

Next up was a short Charlie Chaplin film One A.M. This is a classic Chaplin comedy. A drunken man arrives home and has various slapstick incidents with everything from his front door to the staircase, the tiger skin rug to his fold out bed. The audience definitely enjoyed this one, as did I on the whole, but this was my first experience with Chaplin’s full on comedy and I did feel like some of the gags were repeated too many times with not enough variety.

The main feature, Chaplin’s City Lights did not disappoint. In this one Chaplin plays a tramp that falls in love with a blind flower girl, who by a strange turn of fate mistakes the tramp for a wealthy man. The tramp survives a series of mishaps and different occupations and eventually obtains enough money to give to the girl for an operation that will restore her sight.

The film then ends with the flower girl no longer blind and there is a heart-breaking moment when the tramp first sees her and she does not recognise him, seeing him only as a tramp and not the benefactor she fell in love with. First she mocks the tramp, then her good nature allows her to pity him and eventually when she is close enough to him she recognises him by touch and the couple is reunited.

Having the live music accompanying the film was an experience I had never had before, but I think in this instance the power and theme of the visuals just overpowered the orchestra. With the musicians and conductor in the pit they were not wholly visible to the audience, and whilst the music was of an exceptional standard and perfectly accompanied the action on screen, I had to keep reminding myself that I was listening to live music and not a recorded soundtrack. 

So the night of CBSO with Charlie Chaplin was enjoyable and I came away mostly thrilled with just a couple of niggles. Firstly, again during the main feature I felt as though the audience was missing a key point of the film. Some of its more tragic moments were drowned in laughter and the exceptional acting prowess displayed towards the end of the movie seemed lost on the viewers who were content to mock and laugh at inopportune moments. We humans do love to laugh, I concede; perhaps it was nervous or uncomfortable laughter.

Secondly, I did not feel the tingling chills and excitement I had expected to feel from the music, as the music played second fiddle if you like to the movie. I think had the orchestra been on stage below the screen and in my constant eye line, the whole experience would have been more moving and more connected. Nonetheless it was a one off opportunity and I am glad I attended.

Elloise.

Book review: Dark Solus. An Assassin's Tale...

DARK SOLUS. AN ASSASSIN’S TALE.

By David Andrew Crawford.

In the City of Duergar, the greatest yet most wicked city in the world, night is falling. And this is a place where the night is the time that evil walks. Leynorr, the pregnant half elf, and her partner Demon, one of the world’s greatest assassins, escape from the evil Arch Mage Kalifen and fly away on the enchanted ship Albatross to bear their unborn child away from danger. But danger, we learn, will always be close by.

Ten years later their son Dark is taken under the tutelage of his grandfather, the powerful wizard Mephistopheles. The wizard has a temper but underneath it all he does love his half elf grandson and presents him with a gift: Nightmare, the fire-snorting Hell horse with flaming hooves. And with that Dark’s studies commence.

But some years later old enemies catch up with his parents and as a consequence Dark desires nothing more than to see them punished. Mephistopheles does all in his power to stop his grandson but, realising Dark is heart set on his mission, he offers his assistance in the form of magic, mystery and a warden who will teach Dark to become a great assassin after his father. Dark concedes that more years of training and waiting will be worth the end result.

Dark Solus is indeed the assassin’s tale, as the first paragraph tells us, and it follows Dark’s story as he comes into his powers and learns to use them, although not always in the most cautious way possible and there are many trials along his way. The young hero is akin to classic tales of fantasy and we watch him grow and learn throughout his journey. His sometimes cheeky or arrogant nature makes him feel just a little more modern and more believable than other young protagonists I have read in the genre.

The best thing about this book is that it delivers pure unadulterated escapism and at a good length. Here we have the innocence of youth, a turning point in our hero’s life, and the man he becomes as a result, all packaged in a colourful and well-rendered world. There is as much joy in here as I get from watching classic fantasy movies from decades past, as the traditional elements of fantasy – the power of a name, mythical beasts, wizards and witches, magic, flying ships, floating castles, and creatures and places from legend – play out across the page.

It is an extremely visual story right from the start, and when statues come to life at the power of a druid’s chanting it makes for an action-filed and gripping opening. This power of description continues throughout the book, perhaps occasionally slowing the plot, but not losing that overall magic of an imagined world and the reader’s desire to finish the tale. Although at the end it did not finish, per se, and I am left wondering if a book two is on the cards. Nevertheless this is the perfect book for a lazy afternoon or a lunchtime break to really take you elsewhere for a few pleasurable hours.

Elloise.

London Book Fair 2012, Blog two...

After the social media panel. I had a catch up with some colleagues over a late lunch (i.e. a hastily grabbed sandwich in a gloomy corner of the warehouse) and then headed to my last panel of the day ‘has anyone spoken to the author?’ This was a panel made up entirely of authors reflecting on the industry from their experience.

The main focus of the panel seemed to be about publishers always getting their own way and authors not being consulted. John Mitchinson described the author’s advance as “hush money” to go away and keep quiet and let the publisher take control of everything.

I was delighted to find Nick Harkaway was one of the authors – a man who is clearly as witty and engaging in real life as he is in his books. Also there was Ilana Fox who came from a social media background and she had some interesting ideas about how the author could use online networking as a promotional and networking tool.  Twitter training it seemed was a hot topic and was a suggested need for all authors.

Not being overly self-promotional also came up on this panel and Robert Llewellyn summed up how to do it well, and I paraphrase here, ‘fluffy thing, fluffy thing, news, book!, fluffy thing’ and so on. He said that he often lost followers through “the shame of self-promotion”.

Books becoming more interactive with the advent of ereaders and so on was also discussed. Nick Harkaway had recently seen a demo of ebooks that had sound effects and mood music and said that strangely it worked for him. There have been other instances where a book has been sold along with the author’s soundtrack – music they listened to whilst writing. Ilana Fox said that the website her characters create in her book will actually be live online for readers to see, with links to it in the prose.

The panel looked at the possibility of authors becoming even more promotional than they currently have to be, perhaps gaining and giving out credits for positive feedback on their books. Perhaps that will reduce the shame of self-promotion and make it a legitimately necessary part of an author’s job.

The panel also discussed their own working practices – switching off the internet whilst writing was a popular one, although Nick Harkaway said he does not do that because if the internet becomes more popular than what he is working on then he knows his work is not good enough.

I think the best advice from the panel though was reading work aloud to help with sentence structuring and so on. In the main if the reader stumbles over sections of the prose then it probably needs to be re-worded, although there are exceptions where writing for an inner monologue has proven successful.

Salena Godden finished off the panel with a performed poem about quelling high expectations, which was pretty breathtaking to see delivered live in such an engaging manner. The day on the whole gave me much to think about and helped to once again ignite my desire to become a professional writer. Worth the trip to London just for the inspiration.

Elloise.

London Book Fair 2012, Blog 1...

I headed to London Book Fair again this year, but this time with more understanding of what the event was about and what I could hope to achieve from it. Earl’s Court was full of the usual hustle and stress as the industry’s players filled four days with meetings, promotions, book launches and signings, panel talks and networking. At least this time I came prepared with comfortable shoes and lots of water.

First I spent some time walking through the stands and chatting to publishers, mainstream and small press alike, introducing myself and finding out a little bit about who did what within the business and what their big releases for the year were. I didn’t find many opportunities to talk fantasy unfortunately as this is not a genre event, but some of the small press publishers in particular were receptive to the idea of a genre writer and reviewer and I came away with some titles I would otherwise probably have never come across. Reviews on those will be coming soon.

I attended a panel on ‘turning social media into sales’, which I then discovered was the title of a book published by the panel’s main speaker Guy Clapperton. The talk wasn’t quite what I had expected – more geared towards how businesses can make social media work for them, rather than focusing on writers using social media – but I did come away with a few pieces of good advice:

Don’t overkill on self-promotion.

Be conversational, engaging and helpful.

Use hashtags to your advantage but do not hijack inappropriate ones to push your wares.

Start small with social media but make time for it.

Remember social media is there to support the business, not the other way around.

Social media was the hot topic of the fair as far as I could tell. More coming up in blog two.

Elloise.

Book review: The Ten...

THE TEN.

Book One of the Kingdom of Graves Series.

By Leland Myrick.

The war with the Kingdom of Graves is coming to a head. Jorophe finds himself scruffily attired in an overstretched army facing a battle that his command cannot hope to win. He clings onto his captain’s advice: to just kill one enemy at a time as he waits in line for the approach of the Kingdom warriors. Sparing one last thought for his lost love, he fights.

Two years after Ostholt’s defeat by the Kingdom of the Graves, Jorophe finds himself in the service of those he used to call enemy. Even worse, he is to be recruited into a special branch of the Kingdom of the Graves Guard – The King’s Ten. Ten highly skilled warriors that are charged with the highest order of them all: to protect the King. All Jorophe need do before he is recruited rather against his will into The Ten is to pass a test, or nine.

But all is not well in the growing Kingdom of Graves and there are darker enemies at hand than soldiers. Threats from religious cults, disappearing children, demons, magics, and assassination plots are all stacking up, and Jorophe discovers that he was recruited for more than just his skills in battle.

Meanwhile, Lord Prosper, the King’s Minister of Information, dispatches his best shadows to find out more about the evils that threaten the Kingdom. Some go to track down assassins, some to investigate the strange activities of the religious cults and one sets out to bring back a mage. Prosper’s tools are all in place and now the race is on to find out who will succeed and who will fall.

The Ten follows the stories of Prosper’s various recruits in a pacy, action-packed narrative that draws its strength from an ability to play out numerous plot threads in a controlled manner so that the reader remains engaged with each character throughout the narrative. The visual descriptions are one of the main strengths here and I felt instantly drawn into this world. Myrick writes confidently in well flowing prose using just a touch of humour to lighten more serious parts of the story.

This is a large, developing story and as I got towards the end of the book I felt that many parts of the narrative were only just starting to play out.  As the story progressed, more and more characters came into play and even at the very end new developments were happening to constantly make me question who is behind all of the evil deeds.

Certainly there is much left unanswered in this first book in the Kingdom of Graves series that will need to be expanded, explained and concluded in the follow up, so this did feel very much like a beginning rather than a complete story. Nonetheless this was an enjoyable read and a strong start to a new series that I would like to see in its entirety.

Elloise.