Release Date: 11/09/14
Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
A brand new SF series from the author of the Pantheon series, which included the break-out hits Age and Ra, Age of Zeus and Age of Odin. Dev Harmer wakes in a new body with every mission, and he has woken this time on Alighieri, a planet perpetually in flames, where the world's wealth lies below the elemental surface, and humanity is not the only race after it.
Dev Harmer, reluctant agent of Interstellar Security Solutions, wakes up in a newly cloned host body on the planet Alighieri, ready for action.
It’s an infernal world, so close to its sun that it surface is regularly baked to 1,000°C, hot enough to turn rock to lava. But deep underground there are networks of tunnels connecting colonies of miners who dig for the precious helium-3 regolith deposits in Alighieri’s crust.
Polis+, the AI race who are humankind’s great galactic rivals, want to claim the fiery planet’s mineral wealth for their own. All that stands between them and this goal is Dev. But as well as Polis+’s agents, there are giant moleworms to contend with, and a spate of mysterious earthquakes, and the perils of the surface where a man can be burned to cinders if he gets caught unprotected on the day side...
REVIEW:
I love spending time with James Lovegrove and having completely fallen for his Pantheon Series, so I was hoping that the magic he wove into the tales that I’ve loved would make its way into this new one.
What James does well is generate characters that the readers want to spend time with. They’re complex, they’re rounded and whilst some of the story elements may seem far-fetched the believability of the principle character really keeps you glued. What occurs within is a story of Science Fiction Crime with a detective who has to adapt not only to differing environments but also different bodies as each one is specially vat grown for him to suit the world that he is being sent to, with his consciousness being implanted into the new body. It works wonderfully well, allows a whole host of different concepts to be explored and all round allows you to hope and dream as it wends its merry way. Back this up with solid prose, some wonderful twists and the chance to see that the stranger things may seem to us, the more they are the same with emotional conflicts and murder speaking many languages and crossing different evolutionary paths. Great stuff.
Release Date: 10/04/14
Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
Zachary Bramwell, better known as the comics artist Zak Zap, is pushing forty and wondering why his life isn t as exciting as the lives of the superheroes he draws. Then he s shanghaied by black-suited goons and flown to Mount Meru, a vast complex built atop an island in the Maldives. There, Zak meets a trio of billionaire businessmen who put him to work designing costumes for a team of godlike super-powered beings based on the ten avatars of Vishnu from Hindu mythology. The Ten Avatars battle demons and aliens and seem to be the saviours of a world teetering on collapse. But their presence is itself a harbinger of apocalypse. The Vedic fourth age of civilisation, Kali Yuga, is coming to an end, and Zak has a ringside seat for the final, all-out war that threatens the destruction of Earth.
REVIEW:
The latest from James in his Age of series and whilst I’m a huge fan of whats gone before, this title left me a little flat. Don’t get me wrong I love the concepts that he brings to the fore in each of the books, but for me, this pantheon left me feeling a little flat as each of the incarnations really didn’t improve the tale to the standards to which I was expecting.
Yes the pace was just as lively as in previous titles, the principle storyteller working wonderfully well, but there felt like a massive separation between him and the deities that nothing seemed to bridge for me as a reader. Don’t get me wrong, James is definitely one of my favourite British Urban Fantasy authors but against other titles in this series this one feels like its one of the weakest for me. All round a great shame.
Release Date: 30/08/13
Publisher: Titan
SYNOPSIS:
It's the autumn of 1890, and a spate of bombings has hit London. Sherlock Holmes believes Professor Moriarty is behind the campaign of terror, but to what end? At the same time, a bizarrely garbed figure has been spotted on the rooftops of the capital. Known only by the name Baron Cauchemar, he appears to be a scourge of crime and villainy. But is he truly the force for good that he seems?
REVIEW:
Whilst the Holmes novels from Titan are a step in the fantastical, I love the way that they allow others to play in the world bringing it not only to life but adding a touch of Urban Fantasy so that the reader is in for a real treat, in this case the Steampunk character of Baron Cauchemar who is not only delightfully dark but with a mysteriousness that really does deserve the world’s greatest detectives mental acumen. It’s a joy to read as James takes you not only a journey of this alternate Victorian London but brings all the components to life that works so well for me as a reader.
The pace is wonderful constantly leaving the reader on the back foot as the case is unravelled and when added to the authors usual style of twisting the readers perceptions alongside a great way of delivering a story all round makes this something that you just can’t ignore.
Back that up with some wonderful background characters as well as a constant feel for Holmes and Watson, all round makes this a pure joy. I deduce that this was a title of great fun.
Release Date: 12/09/13
Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
THREE NOVELLAS IN ONE OMNIBUS VOLUME! James Lovegrove presents three novellas with three different gods and their appreance in the worlds of man. Age of Anansi: Dion Yeboah leads an orderly, disciplined life... until the day the spider appears. What looks like an ordinary arachnid turns out to be Anansi, the trickster god of African legend, and its arrival throws Dion s existence into chaos. Age of Satan: A politician ushers in a new age that promises enlightenment and tolerance... Age of Gaia: A billionaire businessmen is about to find out his future is very different from the plans he has laid.
REVIEW:
A collection of short stories set in James’ Pantheon series that have previously been released as e-books. The stories are fun, bring James’ talent to the fore and really give the reader a set of stories that are a lot of fun to sit back with and enjoy, especially if you’re already a fan of his work.
As usual he gets to the meat of the story by giving the reader a solid principle character, some wonderful twists and of course a pace alongside arc that will entertain as you make your way through. All round a nice bit of fun, however be cautious as you may already own this collection individually.
Release Date: 26/02/13
SYNOPSIS:
Lex Dove thought he was done with the killing game. A retired British wetwork specialist, he's living the quiet life in the Caribbean, minding his own business. Then a call comes. One last mission: to lead an American black ops team into a disused Cold War bunker on a remote island. The money's good, which means the risks are high. How high, Dove doesn't discover until he and his team are a hundred feet below ground, facing the fruits of an experiment in science and voodoo witchcraft gone wrong. As if barely human monsters weren t bad enough, a clock is ticking. Deep in the bowels of the earth, a god is waiting. And his anger, if roused, will be fearsome indeed.
REVIEW:
Over recent years, there’s been one series that after reading the concept had me hooked, that of James Lovegrove’s Pantheon series, where the old gods are making comebacks. It is definitely something that had me hooked with the first title in the series and this, the latest is no less addictive as they take on Baron Samedi.
The prose are crisp, the characters fitting into the scenario’s wonderfully and when added to a story that gives you the undead under the malicious power of a Bokor, really works well to give you that wonderful fright as you curl up in bed. Throw into the mix solid action alongside an author who knows how to give the reader what they want and all round another successful book in the series. Magic.
Release Date: 14/02/13
SYNOPSIS:
1968. Guy Lucas, son a murdered British diplomat, is sent to an old-fashioned boarding school, where he is bullied and abused. A fellow student persuades him to perform a black mass and plead with Satan to intervene, with horrific consequences. For the next ten years, the shadow of Satan is cast across his life; he flees, across the sea and into obscurity, but tragedy follows him. Eventually, he must confront the Devil, and learn the truth about himself...
Lovegrove takes his ‘godpunk’ series to its next logical next step in a sinister new e-novella that will delight readers of the Pantheonseries as well as fans of classic films such as The Omen and The Exorcist.
REVIEW:
With so many other pantheon’s coming to the fore in the various other titles in the series, I had been wondering if James would ever tackle something to do with the darker side of Christianity so when I heard about this short story I was more than hooked to see what would unfurl.
The story is definitely sharp and follows a character throughout a number of years, its quirky, has some wonderful touches of the macabre and when blended with a writing style that fits the short story format wonderfully, really does get to the meat of the tale without having to add extra filling. Back that up with a lead character that is guessing as much as we are and all round it’s a tale that works wonderfully well. Great stuff.
Release Date: 27/03/12
SYNOPSIS:
The date is 4 Jaguar 1 Monkey 1 House - November 25th 2012 by the old reckoning - and the Aztec Empire rules the world.
The Aztecs' reign is one of cruel and ruthless oppression, encompassing regular human sacrifice. In the jungle-infested city of London, one man defies them: the masked vigilante known as the Conquistador.
Then the Conquistador is recruited to spearhead an uprising, and discovers a terrible truth. The clock is ticking. Apocalypse looms, unless the Conquistador can help assassinate the mysterious, immortal Aztec emperor, the Great Speaker. But his mission is complicated by Mal Vaughn, a police detective who is on his trail, determined to bring him to justice.
REVIEW:
For me, James’ Age series is one that not only rode into a new direction but is one that has set the standard for others to follow. The writing is phenomenal, the use of the deities inspired and when he added human characters that are the pawns, it really brought the whole thing to life for me as a reader.
The writing really took me to the world he generated and with the action, dark deeds which when backed with a wonderful sense of pace, it made it a title that pretty much didn’t get anywhere other than the top of my TBR pile. Finally add to this, some wonderful author sleight of hand, characters that you could really get behind which when backed by his authors understanding of what the readers wants as well as needs and all in this was a title that didn’t live to see the sunrise.
Release Date: 01/10/11
SYNOPSIS:
They live among us, abhorred, marginalised, despised. They are vampires, known politely as strigoi. The job of policing their community falls to the men and women of the Strigoian Control And Liaison Executive - SCALE. Captain John Redlaw is London's most feared and respected SCALE officer.
But when the vampires start rioting within their ghettoes, and angry humans respond with violence of their own, even Redlaw may not be able to keep the peace. Especially when political forces are aligning to introduce a radical answer to the strigoi problem, one that will resolve the situation once and for all...
REVIEW:
If you love an Urban Fantasy story that is gripping, has vampires and shows the dark seedy underbelly of double dealing, murder alongside profiteering through manipulation from a man who holds the cards then you really have to read this book by James Lovegrove. It has a great lead character whose no nonsense, by the book honourable attitude is tested to the limits as he lives his life by an iron code where everything is black and white, finds his beliefs as well as limits tested to the max both spiritually as well as physically.
Add to this some marvellous sleight of hand twists, some cracking prose and of course a typical Lovegrove tale that is unlike anything else that’s gone before. All in, this is definitely a title to savour and one that is worth persevering through the first few chapters so that you get the full blooded feel of this new all too easy to imagine world of a London that many could see coming to pass. Great stuff.
Release Date: 06/01/11
BOOK BLURB:
Gideon Dixon was a good solider but bad at everything else. Now the British Army doesn't want him any more. So when he hears about the Valhalla Project it seems like a dream come true. They're recruiting fromer service personnel for execellent pay, no questions asked, to take part in unspecified combat operations. The last thing Gideon expects is to finding himself fighting alongside the gods of the ancient Norse pantheon. The world is in the grip of one of the worst winters it has ever known, and Ragnarok-the fabled final conflict of the Sagas-is looming.
REVIEW:
As with the previous two titles in this series, Age of Odin brings an ancient Pantheon back to the modern day and reimagines events that unfold as they prepare for a catastrophe. Whilst you do get to follow the tale from an everyman point of view (in this case through the eyes of Gideon Coxall who discovers more about himself as he aides the gods in their predestined war. Beautifully written, this, the third part in the trilogy is perhaps James’ best work to date, each has built upon the successes of the previous titles and when backed with solid plot, great prose and a serious amount of world construction alongside research you know that this series will hit the spot.
All in a seriously great bit of fun and whilst you have to keep your brain fully engaged the subtle changes and nuances from the original mythology will more than please readers making this a great title and one that really has set the standards for 2011.
BOOK BLURB:
The Olympians appeared a decade ago, living incarnations of the Ancient Greek gods on a mission to bring permanent order and stability to the world. Resistance has proved futile, and now humankind isunder the jackboot of divine oppression. Then former London police officer Sam Akehurst receives an invitation too tempting to turn down, the chance to join a small band of geurilla rebels armed with high-tech weapons and battlesuits. Calling themselves the Titans, they square off against the Olympians and their ferocious mythological monsters in a war of attrition which not all of them will survive!
REVIEW:
The second novel in Lovegrove's Age series and one that takes a different look to the original this time with the Greek Pantheon. Well written, beautifully creative and above all a story that really will satify the reader. Lovegrove’s talent really does explode onto the pages as the consequences and actions of the few affect the masses creating a thought provoking tale. A top quality read and whilst I haven’t always loved James’ writing I really think he’s got something special with this series.
BOOK BLURB:
An alternate history of the world where the Egyptian gods have defeated all others and have carved up the planet between themselves. Only a band of Freedom Fighters and their enigmatic leader can free the Earth from their divine tyranny.
REVIEW:
What would you do if the world was being fought over by an ancient pantheon? With mankind being used as the pawns of the gods who’s own family was as dysfunctional as many of the cartoon based ones who whilst united against the other gods, fought each other harder after their own victory? And essentially, how would mankind survive against such strife where the worship of the deities defined their own power?
James Lovegrove brings all these questions, and more, to light within this tale. Its creative it’s a two story adventure where on the one side we see how it develops from the god’s point of view as Ra endeavours to create peace and we also view it from mankind’s point of view as the reader follows the story from one of the “pawn’s” point of view. Its creative, it is extremely well written and it has made me see this author in another light. I will be honest here, I am not the biggest fan of James’ other work but this one really did deliver what it not only promised on the box but also allowed the reader the chance to view the situation from all angles. A definite must read for fans of Sci-Fi/Fantasy as it has elements that will appeal to all. The only criticism that I do have of this is that it did feel a little bit too Stargate with some of the weapons and thought processes, that’s not a bad thing but you do wonder if the author should have had more distance from it.
