1. The Departure by Neal Asher. A solid sci fi about an overcrowded dystopian earth that has become ruled by a world government - with frequent references to the Eurozone - which has decided to annihilate a large portion of the billions who would die anyway. Our hero, Adam Saul, has developed an organic interface to computers and implanted it in his brain in order to overcome the military backed bureacracy. Pacy beginning to a new series. 7/10
2. The House of the Dead by Doestoyevsky. A brilliant depiction of life in a Siberian jail in the 19th century. The characterisation, the relentless drudgery described, the themed chapters that veer away from a chronological account, the events that punctuated the years in jail and the pathos of the men and animals all combine in to a life of slow horror. 10/10
3. The Battle for Crete by Anthony Beevor. An interesting and comprehensive account of the fall of Crete in WW2 when the Germans launched their first and only parachute invasion. It charts the dithering and incompetence of the British command, and how they lost a battle they nearly won. 8/10
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip Dick. Set in a dystopian, nuclear future, a Bounty Hunter is charged by the police department to "retire" 6 new androids produced by a shady corporation. It examines the relationship of man to living and non-living beings in an autopsy of empathy. A good, though provoking read. 8/10
5. Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett. This concerns the time travels and trials of Commander Vimes in Ankh-Morpork. It's a great plot, and an enjoyable read. The thing with Pratchett's books is the weak humour, often based upon tired stereotypes such as the "Aunties" that patrol certain streets and are reputedly deadly with an umbrella. We've seen this kind of thing with the Grannies in Monty Python. Nevertheless a good read. 7/10
6. Embassytown by China Mieville. You never know quite what you're going to get with Mieville's work, as the blurb never does justice to the story. I had a space opera preconception about this book, but was surpried to find it being about language - the hosts of an alien planet have a unique way of communicating with humans - which may prove to be an allegory about the failure of human cultures to speak and understand one another. There's political intrigue, exotic aliens and landscapes, and a story that is both surprising and interesting. 8/10
7. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. This book has everything, love, death, betrayal, hermits, ghosts, giant hands, helmets and feet, murder, corsairs, a lost child, a discovered son, a mad Lord, sentences of death, usurpers, piety, familial love, tragedy, coincidence, melodrama, imprisonment, escape. divine justice... For a book written over 200 years ago, it has it's qualities and flaws. It is plot driven with little development of character or a sense of place, but, as one of the first gothic novels it deserves a whirl. 6/10
8. Archangel by Robert Harris. A very good thriller set in post Glasnost Russia. Fluke Kelso, a hisorian whose specialism is Stalin, is drawn into a political intrigue that takes him to the heart of Russian politics laced with murder, insanity and power. 9/10
9. The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton. Very good sci fi with credible, well thought out worlds, and an interesting take on ethnicity and religion in space. It races at a thumping pace - all 1100 pages - and this is only part one of a trilogy. 8/10
