Kraken: An Anatomy by China Mieville

Kraken: An Anatomy
by China Mieville 

Kraken is the story of Billy Harrow, a worker at the British Museum, where he specializes in the preservation of squids. One day their giant squid vanishes from its display. Soon thereafter the body of a man is found, impossibly placed within a glass bottle.

And it just gets exponentially stranger from then on.

Despite the plot being a bit convoluted at times and dragging a little in the middle, I really enjoyed this surreal trip down the rabbit hole. Mieville excels in describing an alternate version of London – both disturbing and magical – and manages to keep a straight face throughout his tale. No small feat considering how utterly absurd (and entertaining) his story is. -- recommended by Rasmus T. - Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

[For other magic versions of London, you may also wish to try Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch]

[ official China Mieville blog ]

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The Blade Itself

The Blade Itself
by Joe Abercrombie

For those of you (im)patiently waiting for George R. R. Martin to finish the next entry in "A Song of Ice and Fire" looking for a brilliant fix of fantasy and non-stop action. The Blade Itself is the first volume in Joe Abercrombie's trilogy The First Law, in which he provides a tongue-in-cheek take on traditional high fantasy tropes, mixed with a healthy dose of graphic murder and brutal mayhem. The story revolves around a former cavalry officer turned torturer for the inquisition, a narcissistic nobleman with vain ambitions, an extremely capable barbarian with a dark past and an even darker temper and a scheming old wizard who is more Machiavelli than Gandalf. None of these guys come across as particularly sympathetic, but it is hard not to root for them — even though you are never really sure whether they are actually the good guys. Epic, fast-paced, colorful, well written and a whole lot of fun. For me it became one of those books I had to force myself to put down, so I wouldn't binge-read it in a single day. -- recommended by Rasmus T. - temporary summer worker at Bennett Martin Public Library

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, Name of the Wind by Pat Rothfuss or Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski.]

[Also available in downloadable audio, book-on-cd, downloadable E-book and Large Print formats.]

[ The Blade Itself page on the official Joe Abercrombie web site ]

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Ready Player One

Ready Player One
by Ernest Cline

In 2044 humanity has bled the world dry of fossil fuels and the majority of people live out their lives in OASIS, a completely immersive virtual world created by James Halliday. Halliday, who grow up during the 1980s let that decade inspire him in everything he did. In his last will Halliday reveals that he, in true video game fashion, has hidden an Easter egg behind three gates within OASIS. Whoever finds it first will receive Halliday's entire fortune and gain total ownership of his company — essentially a modern-day version of the deeds to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. In the book we follow the young Wade Watts, a gunter (Egg Hunter) in his quest to find the Easter egg and protect OASIS from those who intend to control it for their own nefarious purposes. The limitless virtual world of OASIS is an unabashed love letter to 1980s culture and is ripe with geeky references to movies, music and literature and video games. Anyone who has ever pretended to fight with a light saber or played Dungeons & Dragons until sunrise will feel right at home here. As someone growing up in that decade, Ready Player One was a shot of pure gleeful nostalgia for me, but it can be enjoyed as a great story in its own right, even without getting all the cultural references Ernest Cline throws at the reader. If you prefer movies and video games to the written word, this is the one book you should read this year. -- recommended by Rasmus T. - temporary summer worker at Bennett Martin Public Library

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Redshirts by John Scalzi.]

[Also available in downloadable audio and downloadable E-book formats.]

[ Publisher's official Ready Player One web site ] | [ official Ernest Cline web site (very creatively designed!!) ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!