Written by Mike Wild for Abaddon Publishing
Having read another book from this set by a different author (The Call of Kerberos, reviewed here: http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/10/call-of-kerberos-by-jonathon-oliver.html) I was curious to see how this worked. The answer? Pretty darn well!
The tale follows two lead characters. You’re first introduced to Kali Hooper who could best be described as a fantasy version of Lara Croft with a bit of Indian Jones chucked in for good measure. Written in what comes across as a tongue-in cheek fashion, her sections are often action-packed, slightly snarky and a good, humorous read. She also owns a pretty awesome mount in the form of Horse, her Bamffcat. No, I don’t know what one s either, but it’s big, clever, armoured, quick and capable of several formats, a bit like the MIGHTY TRANSFORMER OWL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwgblszf6s. Cough. Sorry!
The other is Killiam Slowhand, Kali’s former lover (n.b. if you want sexual tension and romance, however, go elsewhere. There’s not much to be had here) a master archer with a grudge against the Final Faith. Which is a little problematic, seeing as they’re the continents dominant power… His sections are slightly more thoughtful, slightly sadder but great because of the contrast it provides with Kali, as well as his development and backstory.
The plot takes several twists and turns, starting with the emergence of the titular Engines of the Apocalypse, then the kidnapping of the Leadership of the final faith and finally the formation of a group of former enemies, all with their grudges to bear, to take on hordes of… not-quite-zombies and their nefarious master. This sounds slightly cliché, but with a full complement of bad, bad jokes (and as Hagel can testify, when I say that, I know what I’m talking about), magic, intrigue, redemption and a smidge of (SPOILER-ish) drunken dimension hopping the book remains a bouncy if slightly quirky read from end to end.
There are several references to its sister book, Call of Kerberos and between the two you get a sense of a gathering arc and interplay between all of the books which should be interesting to watch develop. It also makes the set title interesting. Two books, two potential apocalypses prevented. If this is the twilight, what happens that’s big and bad enough to finally finish the world off and bring on the night?
On that note, I shall leave you, good reader.
All the best, Kerl
Having read another book from this set by a different author (The Call of Kerberos, reviewed here: http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2010/10/call-of-kerberos-by-jonathon-oliver.html) I was curious to see how this worked. The answer? Pretty darn well!
The tale follows two lead characters. You’re first introduced to Kali Hooper who could best be described as a fantasy version of Lara Croft with a bit of Indian Jones chucked in for good measure. Written in what comes across as a tongue-in cheek fashion, her sections are often action-packed, slightly snarky and a good, humorous read. She also owns a pretty awesome mount in the form of Horse, her Bamffcat. No, I don’t know what one s either, but it’s big, clever, armoured, quick and capable of several formats, a bit like the MIGHTY TRANSFORMER OWL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFwgblszf6s. Cough. Sorry!
The other is Killiam Slowhand, Kali’s former lover (n.b. if you want sexual tension and romance, however, go elsewhere. There’s not much to be had here) a master archer with a grudge against the Final Faith. Which is a little problematic, seeing as they’re the continents dominant power… His sections are slightly more thoughtful, slightly sadder but great because of the contrast it provides with Kali, as well as his development and backstory.
The plot takes several twists and turns, starting with the emergence of the titular Engines of the Apocalypse, then the kidnapping of the Leadership of the final faith and finally the formation of a group of former enemies, all with their grudges to bear, to take on hordes of… not-quite-zombies and their nefarious master. This sounds slightly cliché, but with a full complement of bad, bad jokes (and as Hagel can testify, when I say that, I know what I’m talking about), magic, intrigue, redemption and a smidge of (SPOILER-ish) drunken dimension hopping the book remains a bouncy if slightly quirky read from end to end.
There are several references to its sister book, Call of Kerberos and between the two you get a sense of a gathering arc and interplay between all of the books which should be interesting to watch develop. It also makes the set title interesting. Two books, two potential apocalypses prevented. If this is the twilight, what happens that’s big and bad enough to finally finish the world off and bring on the night?
On that note, I shall leave you, good reader.
All the best, Kerl
2 comments:
I just read a book called Tomes of the Dead, which are three short novels from Abbadon, and all three are well-written, original and a heck of a lot of fun. I'd be inclined to try this book based on publisher alone... and I don't say that very often!
Having read several of their books (Including Tomes of the Dead: Stronghold reviewed here http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2011/01/tomes-of-dead-stronghold.html)I have to say I would agree with that. They tend to be quite dark, but are almost always very creative!
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