Things is Jars is like a female Sherlock Holmes story. Except Watson is a half-naked ghost – or possibly a drug-induced hallucination – in boxing shorts who has very little to contribute to the investigation. London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from […]
speculative fiction
Review: Daughter of Bad Times, by Rohan Wilson
Daughter of Bad Times reads less like dystopian fiction and more like future history. The writing style makes it feel like a slightly dramatised reenactment of entirely plausible events. The only kicker is that these particular events haven’t happened – yet. In 2075 the seas have risen and swallowed up tiny island-based nations like the […]
Review: The Book of Dreams, by Nina George
Nina George’s incredible new novel, The Book of Dreams, is about the dream world that exists between life and death. 13-year-old Sam sees the world in colours and can sense things most others can’t. He meets his father, Henri, for the first time in hospital. Henri is in a deep coma after being struck by a […]
Review: The Wall, by John Lanchester
In The Wall, John Lanchester has channelled modern society’s xenophobia and failure to act on climate change into a massive concrete structure surrounding a very different England. In the United Kingdom of the future, Brexit is the least of their worries. To keep out the rest of the world – ‘the Others’ – and the […]
Review: Psychotopia, by R.N. Morris
Psychotopia is a modern literary journey down through the seven circles of Hell which left me feeling utterly drained. R.N. Morris has plucked out two of society’s current anxieties (the rise of psychopaths, especially in positions of power, and the influence of online gaming on the shape of our society), combined them with new scientific […]
Review: North, by Frank Owen
I was intrigued by the cover claim on North – that it’s a post-apocalyptic game changer. That’s a pretty big call in this genre. Not a lot changes, really. There’s an apocalypse, and then people have to survive afterwards. Normally there are the ‘good’ people who try to survive while keeping their humanity intact. Then […]
