[Book Review] Dan Abnett - Know No Fear

The Horus Heresy series is the jewel in the crown of Black Library’s fiction – an epic of staggering proportions that even nearly twenty novels in, shows no signs of slowing. And Know No Fear; an Ultramarines vs. Word Bearers tour de force, sets itself up as one of the best books of the series.

With Dan Abnett in the driving seat – arguably the best Warhammer 40k author around – Know No Fear strides the delicate balance between all-out action blockbuster and richly detailed sci-fi escapade. While all the Horus Heresy novels are of a high quality, Abnett brings an unmatched level of literary skill to his instalments and the pace at which Know No Fear rips by with is remarkable, a literal page turner in every sense of the word. Flipping effortlessly between an immense cast-list of characters, Know No Fear depicts the moment the loyalist Ultramarine forces are betrayed by the chaos-tainted Word Bearers legion – and it’s testament to Abnett’s skill that we feel that treachery strike right at our hearts as surely as it does any of the Ultramarine characters in the novel.

While Know No Fear is certainly one of the more action orientated Horus Heresy novels (as opposed to something like A Thousand Sons or Fulgrim), the glimpses of insight it provides into Primarch Guilliman’s mind and tactics are fascinating, really fleshing the character out as one of the more relatable Primarchs within the series. Not just a towering leader of men, Guilliman becomes a genuine persona and presence beating right at the centre of the book.

While it helps to have read previous novels from the series (in particular The First Heretic, which sets up many of the Word Bearers characters who also feature in this instalment), Know No Fear could just as easily be taken as an entry point to the series – it’s that accessible. With a plot that moves like quick-spun electricity, and some mindblowing set pieces, Know No Fear marks a real high water mark for the Horus Heresy series and bodes extremely well for its continuing machinations.

Particular highlights include the ‘practical/theoretical’ Ultramarine combat philosophy, the count-down clock that marks out each chapter, the almost stop-motion break-down of the initial decimation of the Ultramarine fleet and one of the largest of said ships (seven kilometres long) falling breathtakingly backwards into the Calth atmosphere. Oh, and the cover sequence where Guilliman himself wades through the void of space to smash apart a few Word Bearers, punching heads clean off shoulders and such like.

As The Guardian quote on the front of the book touts, no one does sci-fi combat as well as Abnett, and in Space Marine on Space Marine action, that skill for crafting a combustuous, blood-splashed page-turner reaches its apotheosis.

Posy Edwards – Cheryl Cole Annual 2012

Following on from Posy Edwards’ previous two compendiums of all things Cheryl-related, the 2012 Annual offers a sparkly pink whistle-stop tour through the life of the nation’s sweetheart. Aside from the perfunctory biography material, there’s an assortment of activities and stuff to keep the kids occupied in here: Cheryl cupcakes, Cheryl manicures, Cheryl sleepovers, even horoscopes – it’s all in here. For hardcore fans of Miss Cole, there’s little you won’t already know but everything’s neatly presented with lots of lovely pictures of the lady herself – the free poster is a nice plus too.

[Book Review] Claire Diaz-Ortiz - Twitter For Good

It’s a telling sign that my lasting impression of this book isn’t guidelines for using Twitter, but multiple anecdotes about water aid agencies and adventurous trips to developing countries. Entitled ‘Twitter For Good’, the guide certainly emphasises the ‘for good’ part – this is the book for the internet user with a conscience.

The advice given is good, if a little vague at times. The book relies heavily on company specific case studies and the ratio of charity/twitter content is probably 50/50 – basically, as much as this is a book about Twitter, at times it feels just as much a book about aid organisations.

While there’s nothing bad about this per se, it means the focus of the book kind of wafts from place to place – and while it’s neatly divided up into a TWEET acronym of chapters, the tips provided are often pretty general and unconfined. The book even devotes its final quarter to going over all the points it’s just illustrated all over again, now in the form of two more case studies (one of which is fictional).

On the plus side, the book is well-researched with lots of example tweets and up to date info (covering subjects such as the Egypt Uprising and Japan earthquake)  – in an area as rapidly changing as Twitter and the internet, it’s vital that this kind of stuff didn’t feel out of touch with the present.

Overall, this feels very much like an impulse purchase book – it’s cheap and cheerful, rough and ready. If you’re totally new to Twitter and fancy a quick start guide and some good basic tips, you’ll probably find this book pretty helpful. If you’re an experienced user though, there’s little merit contained in these pages.

[Book Review] Purple Your People

‘Get the people stuff right!’ boasts this book – pledging tips to happier, more inspired people. You’d be forgiven for expecting your standard self help stuff, but no; the language of this book is rooted firmly in the cut and thrust of hard business.

It’s the kind of book you imagine the CEO’s of the wannabe ‘next Google/Facebook’ would carry on their person at all times. The blend of hard-hitting business material and cheery ‘positive thinking!’ stuff is on the whole well balances, although the superhero job advert analogy did make me chuckle.

The book’s best merit is probably in its layout – it looks really slick and well compiled from the start. It’s all well bullet-pointed and interspersed with lots of pop-out boxes and the like, you get the sense this highly visual methodology plays well into the pro-active overtones of the whole book. Its greatest downside? The way the whole book reads like one massive advert for Learn Purple itself and their 'friends' (various companies that form in-depth case studies throughout the book)

After all, this is a system based on profound change and action – every page of this guide is about targeting problems – or more specifically areas of improvement – and finding solutions. In its strive for perfection it can all come across as rather domineering, bulldozing right through with no room for stragglers – but you get the sense the ideal market for this book would have no qualms with following the letters of this book to a T.

Of course, by extrapolating an existing ‘improvement system’ into a book format, the tendency to pick and choose what bits you want to use is tempting, but while this methodology would often work with other similar guides, you get the sense it wouldn’t here. In Purple Your People, the strict overtures of business are absolute. For a fairly ‘out there’ guide (just look at the title!), the language of business is laid on pretty thick.

The lasting impression is of a system where you are very much either in or out, and it’s something reflected in the overall readability of the book itself.

Shunda K - I'm Da Best

Utterly relentless, I'm Da Best is a track that carries the confidence of its title. Remarkably minimal - with just a smattering of crashing synthetic stabs, hitting like a hammer on sheet metal, your attention is freed up to focus on what's really important here; the beats, and Shunda's vocal.

Shunda K - the leader of Domino Records signed hip-hop group Yo! Majesty, 2011 sees her going it solo. And with NME placing her on their 'cool list' plus electro star Peaches collaborating with Shunda on their track Billionaire, things are looking pretty rosy right now.

And that's what comes across in I'm Da Best, the first single from Shunda's solo record The Most Wanted. There's an undeniable positivity to the track, reinforced by its anti-bullying video. In it, we see Shunda dressed up as a Superwoman, there to save the day, to stop hard-ship and oppression - and that's what this track feels like, something to rally to in the hardest of times, an anthem that whatever anyone else might say, you can always find comfort and inner strength in your own personal best.

The Most Wanted album, featuring I'm Da Best, is available to buy from Amazon now.

(Book Review) Paul Hoffman - The Left Hand of God

Paul Hoffman’s imagination certainly can’t be faulted. In the four-hundred or so pages of The Left Hand of God, he manages to create a wonderfully unique and quirky world. The plot is relatively standard fantasy-quest fare – a whole host of twists and turns leading central character Cale from his oppression at the hands of a strict religious order to the vast, opulent city of Memphis. It’s not the plot that makes the novel stand out though – if I’m completely honest, the plot actually lets the book down a little, it’s all perhaps a little too convoluted. No, what makes Cale’s adventures stand out is the sheer idea’s Hoffman draws on, as well as his highly distinct writing style.

His tone is highly colloquial, reading the book, you feel as if he’s sat there opposite you, relating this vast saga over a glass or two of wine. It’s all a little bit of this, a little bit of that; everything helping to contribute to this patchwork world that seems to hold certain similarities to our own (mentions to Norway among others), but so many other differences.

On the whole, this works to the book’s favour – indeed, it is its biggest draw. But there are times when it can grow tiresome – this book is full of digressions, many holding no relevance to the central plot. Yes, it could be argued they add to the world of the novel, but there’s only so many quirky deviations you can tolerate before you feel like saying ‘get on with it’. Rest assured, if there’s something Hoffman can say in two words, he’ll use twenty instead.

That word again, ‘quirky’. The Left Hand of God is very much a product of the ‘random’ school of writing. Authors like Lemony Snicket are the masters of it – that wry, humorous slant on everything; even the darkest of matters like death and hardship.

Which brings me to a matter I found rather troublesome – who exactly this book is aimed at. It’s definitely not for children – swear-words are frequent, as are sexual references and on the whole a rather grim tone of black humour that pervades through the whole book. Equally though, the book definitely doesn’t feel like it’s for adults either. The central characters are children and the ‘quirky’ tone, as mentioned above, often works against itself. Teenagers then perhaps? They certainly seem the most viable audience for the book.

The issue of the intended audience always seems to rear its head in regards to fantasy novels (of which, The Left Hand of God most definitely is), but it seems even more prevalent here. The difficulty to place the novel is representative of the ever-shifting, undefined quality that seems to cloak so many elements of the plot and its characters. Cale might be young, but he is also a highly trained killer, and one who will do so without a shred of remorse. Again, it’s almost unsettling to imagine this boy journeying around ending lives so ruthlessly, as he does in one scene where he effortlessly kills eight men in about as many minutes.

I also found the portrayal of the female characters in the book rather troublesome too – so often they seemed reduced to mere sensual objects, mostly described in regards to their appearance or how they might best interact with men.

Let’s pick up on some of the more positive aspects though – If you’re a fan of vivid characters and lots of backstabbing and treachery, The Left Hand of God will be right up your street. For a fantasy novel, it’s refreshing to see something so focused on its characters and the book really feels propelled by their dealings with one-another. Much of this centres around favours, the plot unfolding around a twisted web of benefits and bonuses for those skilled characters who best manage to eke out an existence in this immensely competitive world.

Competitiveness is another key element of the book – as you might expect of a classic fantasy novel, there’s plenty of fight scenes and swordplay. Here, it’s all about hyper-skilled characters, the real crème de la crème fighting other extremely talented individuals. And while at times it all feels a little Top Trumps (he’s just that little bit stronger/faster so he wins the fight), it’s good fun and well-written stuff.

And so, just as so many elements of The Left Hand of God are hard to pin down, so to is it hard to decide what I ultimately make of the book. I was certainly entertained, and Hoffman’s imagination is undeniable. But so often I felt the plot dragged immensely as the characters went through the processes again of unpacking their own individual philosophies on life or what skills they posses. As such, the book feels an unnecessarily bulky beast. There are many cuts of prime fantasy fare to be found here for sure, but you feel that if only everything was more lean and streamlined, the whole affair would be that whole lot more enjoyable.