Project Öcalan

This isn't really a book, it was my Masters dissertation. But it's as long as some books! And more scholarly, if I may say so myself, than many others! And I've reread it, so it gets a post! Not a long one though as I've already done one (see previous link).

If you'd be interested in reading an examination of whether & how post-nationalist ideologies are reshaping the Kurdish question in the contemporary Middle-East, then I've left a .pdf of it open to all on my Google Docs folder. So click here. By the way, the reason it's called Project Öcalan on here is that the founder of the PKK and key thinker behind the recent ideological shifts I talk about is that very same Abdullah.

Jesus: A Biography from a Believer

This book by Christian and biographical historian Paul Johnson is an interesting little creature. I've just speed-read it because I'm giving it to my mum for her birthday and I wanted to check it was the kind of thing she'd find interesting and edifying.

   Honestly I'm not really sure who this book is for. Pretty much all of the biographical details are lifted directly from the Gospels,* which is fine and all considering it was written by a Christian, but it makes the book of little apologetic value for non-believer readers who may well doubt the veracity of the New Testament texts at face value; and for Christian readers adds nothing that was not already present in those same texts except maybe a sprinkling of vaguely-insightful commentary here and there. There are several fairly helpful passages explicating historical bits of contextual culture or politics or norms, but none of these are things the average Christian reader couldn't find in a halfway-decent study Bible, and none of it really goes far enough to be again of much apologetic value to non-Christian readers.

   All that said, it is nice to have the life of the Messiah straightened out without having to dive chapter-and-verse between four different books trying to assemble a chronology; instead Jesus's life story is organised more by thematic blocks; early life, miracles, teaching, conflict with religious leaders, crucifixion, and afterwards. I don't know who I'd recommend this book to honestly, which is a shame because Paul Johnson's biography of Socrates was incredibly illuminating. Sorry mum, I hope you like it anyway.

* He does make good mention of the fact that Jesus is included in the official non-Christian histories by both Tacitus and Josephus, but doesn't dig into this a whole lot and it's more just an off-the-cuff reference.

The Vorrh

This book by sculptor Brian Catling is hands-down the weirdest, most original fantasy novel I've ever read. It blends together biblical mythology, real people from history, critiques of colonialism, generations-long revenge dramas, black magic, experimental science, a cyclops, robot guardians, a mysterious house, quasi-magical mutant elements, and so much else.

   I'm extremely hesitant to try to give an overview of what happens in this, partly because I don't want to spoil in the slightest an incredible experience of being pulled into another world, but also frankly I'm not entirely sure what was going on. I know I'm familiar with the names and strangenesses of a couple dozen characters, not to mention the backdrop setting of Essenwald, a colonial city built within the edges of the vast prehistoric forest called the Vorrh, at the heart of which is said to lie the remains of Eden. But all the elements blend together and collide with or miss each other with such deftness of prose that upon finishing the book I am left with very little of substance that I can say for sure I know was going on. It's like a fever dream; the deepest, most pungent, most beautifully-written fever dream imaginable. And I say that wholeheartedly - this book contains some of the most ecstatic and innovative prose I have ever had the privilege of reading. I can't wait to finish the trilogy.

   I would strongly recommend this to any reader willing to be a bit uncomfortable with their reading experience, even if you don't usually go for fantasy. This is not magical realism, or any other shade of 'believable' fantasy - this is our own world viewed through a kaleidoscope that seems to have been built by a committee of angels and demons and monkeys and monks. Ask me not what the book is about, know only I will be thinking about it for months.

The Guns of Tanith

This book is the fifth instalment of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts, and sees our beloved scouting regiment take on an aerial assault of a cloud city called Ouranberg, which doesn't sound too dangerous, right? I mean, it's not like the enemy isn't dug in with anti-air batteries or anything, or it's not like the fleet of dropships tasked with delivering the troops to the assault sites can't see where they're going through the pollution fog-banks or anything, is it? Ugh. This is one of the most sickening novels in the series so far, with an injustice at the end that will leave your screaming at the page. I think I'm going to take a break from re-reading these, and come back to the series when I feel a bit better about the phrase "expected losses".

Honour Guard

This book is the fourth Gaunt's Ghosts story by Dan Abnett. Buckle in. The Tanith First-and-Only, with their new Verghastite cohort making up the numbers after the regiment sustained heavy losses in the last book, are sent to the shrine-world of Hagia, which was home planet to Saint Beatti, who was the key player in an ancient Imperial crusade against Chaos centuries prior to this current crusade we're following the Ghosts through. Anyway, the regiment is tasked with escorting a bunch of pilgrims from the dangerous population centres to the holy sites up in the mountains, and as you'd probably expect already, this doesn't go as smoothly as any of them would've hoped. I must say though it's fun to see the culture-clashes between Tanith and Verghastite start to play out, some for better, some certainly not...

Necropolis

This book is the third Gaunt's Ghosts instalment by Dan Abnett, and it's a doozy. The Tanith First are sent to the hive-world Verghast, where what had been thought prior to be a local war between competing aristocratic heritages has metastasized into a full-blown Chaos uprising. A number of Verghastite locals are introduced - Captain Ban Daur, mine-worker Gol Kolea, hab-ganger Tona Criid, smeltery-worker Agun Soric, to name a few - gee, I wonder if any of them will join any of the Imperial Guard regiments should Vervunhive prevail in defending itself against the onslaught of cultists and woe machines? No spoilers. This is the grimmest book yet. Death wipes its arse on every page, and you find yourself genuinely thinking everyone might die. I've thought before that Abnett has a slightly-irritating habit of ending his books too quickly - they build to a massive climax about two-thirds through, then that climax sustains its intensity until there's literally only like five pages of novel left, and you're wondering "what the feth is going to happen?" and then it happens and you're like "oh." Which is probably true to war. Victory is always unforeseeable until it occurs, and once it's occurred, you've won, so there's no need for the chroniclers of war to keep the cameras rolling.

Ghostmaker

This book is the second book in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, and it's a little different to all the rest. Instead of a singular self-contained novel, this contains one big novella at the end (which I won't spoil as it's devastatingly fun) set on Monthax - and then seven or eight shortish stories, each focusing on a particularly interesting character from the regiment. Major Rawne, sniper Larkin, sergeant Varl, colonel Corbec, heavy-weapons operator Bragg, trooper Caffran, regimental mascot & piper Milo, scout-sergeant Mkoll... oh man, I love these feth-heads like they were people I know. Abnett as an author has a horrible habit of sketching people so realistically that you get to anticipate them, empathise wise them, and then see them die in ghastly, unpredictable ways. But more on that as the series progresses.

First and Only

This book is the first novel in Dan Abnett's ground-breaking Warhammer 40,000 series, Gaunt's Ghosts. I absolutely love this series, and much like I did with several other series last year I fully intend to reread all of them. Which means I'll be doing very short, blunt posts merely overviewing the plot and then in my post about the last one I can let myself breathe enough to give a bit more reflection.

   So, in a nutshell: the forest-world Tanith has been called to muster three regiments as a draft into the Imperial Guard, which is both an honour and something to pretty much expect of any world. Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt, hot off the back of a major victory, is given command of these regiments - but as soon as the Guard's ships arrive at Tanith, a major Chaos attack ensues. Gaunt does everything he can to save the men, and ends up escaping with only the First regiment (aye, hence the title). The Tanith, thanks to their forested home-world's habit of having trees move over time thus making navigation very tricky, have an innately acute sense of direction, and are also great stealthers thanks to their hunting lifestyle: this makes the Tanith First-and-Only a perfect scouting regiment. However, as soon as they arrive at their first major testing ground, Gaunt realises that not only do they have the ferocious Chaos foes to deal with - their main problem might simply be the snobbery and idiocy of other Guard regiments...

Embedded

This is another non-40k novel by Dan Abnett - though this one feels a lot more like his usual wheelhouse than the prior. That said, it's still sparklingly original, and doesn't feel like it's drawing on his typical IP-universe at all: the politics and culture of the future setting, the general vibes of the characters, the technologies used and how - it all seems very fresh.

   In a nutshell, veteran war correspondent Lex Falk is finding it hard to get close enough to a current war to cover it to his satisfaction. So he gets his consciousness embedded in the brain of a soldier on frontline duty. When said soldier is nearly killed in combat - it falls to Falk to steer them both, and the troops with them, back to safety. Bonkers premise, right? It is chock-full of extremely intense action, interspersed with moments of nail-biting suspense, several brilliantly clever tactical workarounds, more funny bits than you'd expect, and a completely unexpectable ending that throws an epic light back on the story as a whole.

   As with Triumff I had read this back when I was a teenager but had forgotten just how gripping of a tale it is. With Abnett being as good of a war writer he is, it's really refreshing to see him doing what he does best with complete freedom of world-building (not that he isn't still great when beholden to Games Workshop, but you know what I mean). Strongly recommended for any fans of science-fiction action thrillers.

Triumff

This book, a novel (and one NOT set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe!) by Dan Abnett, is an absolute riot. It's set in an alternate-history present where magic was rediscovered in the Elizabethan era, which led to the stagnation of society to never technologically progress past that age. And so we reach the year 2010, and famed swashbuckling adventurer Sir Rupert Triumff is returned proudly from his discoveries of an alien new continent on the opposite side of the world. However - once returned home to England, he almost immediately find himself thoroughly embroiled in a series of plots and schemes which he neither wants to be part of nor understands; involving evil necromancer churchmen, rival explorers, a series of actors and stagehands, his own loyal staff, a man with a cat's head, a foreign scientist, and a rural witch, to name but a few. This book is absolutely hilarious while also being a thoroughly compelling story - it reads like Guy Ritchie adapting a film script from a Terry Pratchett novel based on Blackadder... or something else entirely. This novel is so original, it's unlike any other fantasy story I've come across. I had read it before when I was about seventeen, but had forgotten how funny and exciting it was. A strong recommendation.

Penitent

This book is Dan Abnett's sequel to Pariah, which started off telling us Alizebeth Bequin's story. I had my heart in my throat most of the way through this book. Events that had started off as a bit of a mystery-spiral in the prior instalment explode into horrifying, cosmos-defining moments of warp-derived fuckery, bureaucratic Imperial nonsense, Inquisitorial rigour, absolute evil, and amid all of it a confused young woman trying to stay alive. I mean, if you're already a 40k fan, not only am I sure you will absolutely love this, but I would actually genuinely recommend NOT reading it until Dan finishes writing the third book in the trilogy so you can binge it all at once, as I am itching at the thought of how long I will have to wait to find out what happens next.

Pariah

This novel by Dan Abnett is the first of his third Inquisitor trilogies (see Eisenhorn and Ravenor for the other two), and follows Alizebeth Bequin, a youth at an orphanage school in a strange but relatively (for the 41st millennium, anyway) peaceful city. She has grown up being trained in a variety of esoteric and espionage-ish arts, and is rather good at what she does. But then a job goes slightly sideways, and her whole life is thrown out of balance - new people come into her periphery just as old ones are violently ripped from it, and she must do whatever she can to keep her head... I'm reluctant to say more than that because of spoilers for the previous pair of trilogies. But as ever with Abnett, the writing is as fluid as it is punchy, the characters feel lived-in and believable, the action is - well, full of surprises; and the overall interpretation of the world of Warhammer 40,000 is magnificent in scope and thoroughly original despite never deviating from the essentials of the lore.

Primeval: Extinction Event

This book by Dan Abnett is set in the brilliant world of that old ITV show Primeval - which if you never saw, oh boy were you missing out. It was ridiculous. Though this is only the second-best dinosaur novel I've read recently (sorry Dan, but you just edged out on beating the classic) it is still a thoroughly good novel. The characters are sketched perfectly so it feels just like you're watching the show; the plot is outstandingly well-paced, full of suspense and twists and the page-equivalent of jump-scares; the dinosaurs themselves are smelly and believable. Like most books based on TV shows from over a decade ago this will probably be quite hard to get your hands on, but if you like prehistoric beast-driven mayhem, sneaky Russians, and hard-nosed English paleontologists flailing to keep it all together - you'll almost certainly like this.

Magos

This book is the fourth instalment of Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn saga, comprising a novel and several short stories; I already did a fairly recent post about it but yeh I'm re-reading all his stuff. No regrets.

Ravenor Rogue

Dan Abnett's third Ravenor novel. I am somewhat regretting redoing all these posts; I could have just let it suffice to re-read them all without tooting my horn about it.

Ravenor Returned

Dan Abnett's second Ravenor novel. You know the drill. 

Ravenor

This book is the first of Dan Abnett's Ravenor trilogy. Same deal as the Eisenhorn re-reads.