The City & The City

The city is Beszel and the city is Ul Qoma, two cities in two different countries, but each occupying the same geographic space. The cities are built in and around each other, however anyone in one city (resident or visitor) is forbidden to take any notice of anyone or anything in the other city. Any failure to do so incurs the wrath of the mysterious and all-powerful "Breach". When the body of a murdered student is found in Beszel, it seems like a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad, but the investigation proves more complex and dangerous than Borlu could have imagined, leading him from one city to another and to the even more mysterious places in between.

This 2009 novel from British author China Mieville works as a complex and intriguing fantasy tale in a well-realised world, the rules by which the two cities exist together and function are well worked out and believable, but this also works as an exciting detective novel, and it delivers anything you might want from a crime novel. A gruesome murder, investigation, no shortage of suspects, action, chases, and a likeable and troubled protagonist. It also makes a point about how people deliberately ignore the more troubling aspects of where they live.

I Am Behind You

This 2017 horror novel is the sixth book from Swedish stand-up comedian turned author John Ajvide Lindqvist to be translated into English.  Four families on caravan holidays wake up one morning to find the rest of their campsite has vanished. In fact everything has vanished, they are totally alone in the middle of a seemingly endless blank, flat field, where, despite clear bright blue summer skies, there is no sun, and the grass is the exact same height.  Where are they?  How did they get there? Why are they there? and, more importantly, how can they get back?  Running low on food and supplies, their situation is desperate, but there is something else out there.  Something that knows their worst mistakes and deepest desires, and will confront them with their darkest dreams and worst fears, and something even worse.

Lindqvist is still probably best known for his debut novel, Let the Right One In (2004) which was  adapted as an acclaimed Swedish film in 2008 and a successful US remake, Let Me In (2010).  With Let the Right One In and his subsequent books, there can be little doubt that John Ajvide Lindqvist is one of the most interesting modern writers working in horror.  The characters in this book start off wondering where they are and how they got there, and are little the wiser by the end of it.  For every question that is answered, another is posed, and it really seems to just stop dead.  However, this is the first volume in a planned trilogy, so presumably we'll find out what happens later.  The ending, though is a fairly minor issue when this is such a chilling, gripping novel and genuinely disturbing.  It's full of dark humour and often graphic gore.  The frequently surreal happenings in the book work because the  characters are interesting and well-drawn, with their past lives depicted in flashback.  Lindqvist is frequently compared to Stephen King, and this has a lot of King-like elements to it, with the disparate collection of ordinary people having to band together against horrific adversaries, although it's more like if Stephen King had ever collaborated with Ingmar Bergman, because it has a very strong philosophical element to it.  Lindqvist his a particular gift for writing about children and one of the child characters, six year old Molly is one of the most terrifying characters you're likely to read about this year.  This is definitely recommended.

A Legacy of Spies

This 2017 novel is by John le Carre, one of the greatest British writers working.  Moving between past and present, the novel follows Peter Guillam, retired British spy and former right-hand man of legendary spymaster George Smiley, living peacefully on his family farm in Brittany, until he is summoned back to London by the Secret Service who are investigating an operation Guillam was involved in over fifty years ago.  Forced to rake over his murky past in Cold War espionage, Guillam is forced to reckon with the consequences of a life of personal and professional betrayal.

This fine novel returns to the world of Cold War spying that made John le Carre's name and features the return of his best-loved character, tubby, bespectacled, soft-spoken, but ruthless spymaster George Smiley.  The novel is a kind of follow-up to le Carre's 1962 breakthrough novel The Spy Who came in From the Cold, and also calls back to his other best known book Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1973).  Written in spare terse prose, this is nevertheless complex and emotionally devastating.  As with many le Carre novels, this deals with the psychology of a spy, and the moral and psychological consequences of that lifestyle.  This is John le Carre at his best.   

The Girl with All the Gifts

This 2014 novel from writer M. R. Carey (the pen-name of British writer Mike Carey, whose probably best known as a comics writer probably best known for his runs on X-Men, John Constantine: Hellblazer, Lucifer and his own series The Unwritten), is a striking post-apocalyptic science-fiction / horror tale.  Set in a near future Britain, ten year old Melanie is a bright, intelligent, friendly girl who loves school, particularly her favourite teacher Miss Justineau.  She lives in a cell on a military base.  Every day soldiers strap her to a wheelchair at gunpoint, muzzle her and take her to her classes with the other children on the base, similarly strapped and muzzled.  Occasionally there are new faces.  More often children disappear and are never seen again.  Outside the  world is gone, most of the population has become infected by a fungus that turns humans into cannibalistic zombies known as "Hungries".

This a deeply affecting, exciting, thrilling, and occasionally surprisingly tender story.  The plot moves along at a brisk pace, with interesting and engaging characters.  The are some plot contrivances, with characters often being rescued from certain death at the very last moment, and it's full of stuff that you will probably have seen before in many other zombie apocalypse stories (of which there have been a lot!).

Moon Palace

This 1989 novel by American novelist Paul Auster opens in 1969 and follows recent graduate Marco Stanley Fogg in a quest for family and identity which takes him from New York City to the desolate beauty of American West.  Along the way he encounters various characters who all have their stories to tell.

The book deals with familiar Paul Auster themes such as the relationship between life and art, the role that chance plays in life and unreliable narrators.  It is beautifully written and full of memorable characters.

Oracle Night

This 2004 novel by acclaimed American novelist Paul Auster is set over nine days in 1982.  New York author Sidney Orr is recovering from a serious illness, and has not written anything new in a long time.  Passing by a stationery shop, Orr stops and buys a blue notebook.  The notebook seems to unlock something inside Orr and he begins writing again.  However, while he is once more exploring his creativity, Orr's world is rocked by a string of life-changing events, some of which seem to be connected to the stories he is working on.

This short novel is beautifully written, moving between Orr's work and his "real" life.  It explores the links between life and art and how art and creativity can impact on the real world.  Orr is an interesting, if often unlikeable main character, and is surrounded by several other memorable characters.  It's definitely recommended, particularly to writers.    

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind: Volume 1

Written and illustrated by Hayao Miyazaki
130 pages
Genre:  Manga, action, adventure, science-fiction, fantasy

Thousands of years after a devastating war, humanity has been reduced to small struggling tribes, as the world is slowly submerged in the ever-growing Sea of Corruption, a toxic forest full of poisonous spores and bizarre and dangerous mutant insects and plants.  In the tiny Valley of the Wind, lives the young princess Nausicaa who has an instinctive empathic bond with animals of all kinds, even the deadly giant Ohmu insects.  As a deadly war looms, and the Sea of Corruption grows ever bigger, Nausicaa may be the only one who can save the world.

This beautifully illustrated manga series was created, written and drawn by acclaimed animated movie writer/director Hayao Miyazaki, and formed the basis of his 1984 movie of the same name.  The artwork is beautiful and creates a stunning fantasy world.  It features many Miyazaki hallmarks, such as the environmental theme, and the intricately designed vehicles, particularly aircraft.