Sunday 24 November 2013

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: The Violent Century - Lavie Tidhar

Release Date: 24/10/13
Publisher:  Hodder

SYNOPSIS:

For seventy years they guarded the British Empire. Oblivion and Fogg, inseparable friends, bound together by a shared fate. Until one night in Berlin, in the aftermath of the Second World War, and a secret that tore them apart. But there must always be an account...and the past has a habit of catching up to the present. Now, recalled to the Retirement Bureau from which no one can retire, Fogg and Oblivion must face up to a past of terrible war and unacknowledged heroism, - a life of dusty corridors and secret rooms, of furtive meetings and blood-stained fields - to answer one last, impossible question: What makes a hero?


REVIEW:

To be honest this is a superhero novel that has all sorts of origin threads that have been explored in recent films such as Captain America and a few of the other Marvel titles. The fact that one of the witnesses in the trial is Stanley Martin Lieber (who for those in the know is Stan Lee) goes to show how deep an influence that Mr Lee has had on Lavie.

Its definitely a quirky book, something pretty unique and when it delves into the second world war as told from a superhero point of view really takes the reader into an uncomfortable world that will dig itself in deeper into the psyche.

Add to this solid prose, some cracking characters and of course an overall arc that really gets to the heart of the matter makes this a book that will stay with the reader for quite some time.

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