Gods and Monsters: Unclean Spirits - Chuck Wendig

The Blurb: Five years ago, it all went wrong for Cason Cole. He lost his wife and son, lost everything, and was bound into service to a man who chews up human lives and spits them out, a predator who holds nothing dear and respects no law. Now, as the man he both loves and hates lies dying at his feet, the sounds of the explosion still ringing in his ears, Cason is finally free. The gods and goddesses are real. A polytheistic pantheon—a tangle of divine hierarchies—once kept the world at an arm’s length, warring with one another for mankind’s belief and devotion. It was a grim and bloody balance, but a balance just the same. When one god triumphed, driving all other gods out of Heaven, it was back to the bad old days: cults and sycophants, and the terrible retribution the gods visit on those who spite them. None of which is going to stop Cason from getting back what’s his...

I am a huge fan of Chuck Wendig's, having devoured his Miriam Black books with relish. I'm also a faithful follower of his blog and the writing advice he dishes out on there are entertaining and quite brilliant in it's own right. I must admit my Urban Fantasy reading shelf leaves a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of Dresden running around doing what he does best. This book proves that there are some damn good ones out there that I miss and I'll work to rectify this.

Onto Unclean Spirits. The main character here is Cason Cole, a retired MMA fighter who faced an easy choice. Serve a monster in order to save his family. It was a no brainer and of course he accepted. You save those you love and screw the strings attached. There were some bastard strings attached to this deal, but at least his family was safe.

Cason gets a lucky break when someone blows up his boss, which he thinks allows him to go back to his family. He thought that the deal was done, the strings cut. Far from it for the poor man, his torture was only starting.

The gods has been evicted from their respective pantheons and are living with us normal people on earth. Some of them just get on with life as it were, while others manipulate humans to their own ends. I'd like to think that humanity has rubbed off on them after their time here, since the petty squabbles and mistakes they make are quite human at the end of the day. They aren't omni-cognisant or omnipresent, but they are still the scariest thing you'll ever meet by a country mile. A pissed off god is not to be trifled with.

Unclean Spirits is definitely not for the YA crowd, seeing as language use is quite, shall we say spicy? The violence present in the novel is also pretty graphic, but done in typical Wendig style. It's dirty, desperate and hilarious in equal measure. It fits in with the story damn well, seeing if this ever happened to me I would be running around cursing, screaming and peeing myself for the majority of the story. And whimpering. Lots of curling into a ball and whimpering.

Most of the gods are bastards, manipulating events and Cason to their own ends. Many a time he thinks he's doing the right thing, only to realise later on that he was being lead around by the nose. Cason isn't a quitter and he bulldozes his way through most of the problems he faces. He takes some hits along the way and as the plot around him becomes clearer, he's still his own man. For someone who has been put through the meat grinder by damn gods, this is admirable and you cannot help but cheer the man on.

Is this book the same as Gaiman's American Gods? No. The premise is the same with gods running around all over the place, but that's about it. Wendig's gods are foul mouthed, meaner and petty for the most part. Infected with humanity if it makes sense. It makes them more fun to read seeing as they scheme to cheat each other more than they try cheating humanity. 

Unclean Spirits was a fun novel to read. The pacing is fast and never lets up. The action is wall to wall awesome and there were enough humorous parts to lighten it up and lift the story. As a quick jaunt into urban fantasy filled with gods and drama, this was awesome.

8/10 

Mockingbird - Chuck Wendig

The Blurb: Miriam is trying. Really, she is.

But this whole “settling down thing” that Louis has going for her just isn’t working out. She lives on Long Beach Island all year around. Her home is a run-down double-wide trailer. She works at a grocery store as a check-out girl. And her relationship with Louis–who’s on the road half the time in his truck–is subject to the piss and vinegar Miriam brings to everything she does.

It just isn’t going well. Still, she’s keeping her psychic ability–to see when and how someone is going to die just by touching them–in check. But even that feels wrong somehow. Like she’s keeping a tornado stoppered up in a tiny bottle.

Then comes one bad day that turns it all on her ear.

This is the second Miriam Black novel, the first being Blackbirds - you can find my review of it here. If you haven't read it yet, for shame! Go and buy it. Read it, I'll wait...

First things first, the cover is awesomely unique. Joey Hi-Fi really outdid himself, but that happens quite regularly with all his covers. The guy is really good.

The book picks up a few months after the stunning ending of Blackbirds. Miriam is trying to live a normal life and it's not going well. Poor old suffering Louis is trying his best to provide stability to her life and she really hates it. She hates her job, the trailer she lives in and basically everyone around her. She is living an almost normal life, and Miriam does not seem to like anything normal.

She screws it up as she usually does and absolute chaos erupts. Miriam is really one damn disturbed woman. Totally batshit insane. She cannot connect in any normal way to the people who care about her. As soon as something goes a little right in her world, she sabotages it and runs. It makes for some compelling reading, but it'll be damn frustrating to live like this in the real world.

Miriam is on a mission to thwart fate once again. Not for money, but because she decided it's the right thing to do. This is the biggest difference between the first and second books in my opinion. Miriam tries to use her gift to do good. She saves those that she can, especially the helpless and hopeless. Fate does not like this meddling, and the hints are there that Miriam is being noticed by something or somethings that you really do not want to notice you.

The language and violence used in the book might disturb those with gentle constitutions, but you have been warned. Miriam curses more and better than a sailor, but as she sees death everywhere, she gets a free pass on that. 

Some may feel that the story is too much like Blackbirds, but they are quite wrong. There are real character growth and development throughout the story, personal conflicts gets resolved and some real damn big issues are hinted at that's coming in the near future. I see Mockingbird as the second chapter in the Miriam Black story. 

The writing and pacing is done well and really sucks you in. I destroyed this book in two days, and wished that the next one was out as well. The pages flew past without the story feeling frantic. That is pacing I enjoy.

The story is bleak, dark and gory. Despair and death seems to be everywhere. It's amazing.

9/10

What a performance!

Now I know I'm a bit behind in my reading, but some good stuff is on the horison. I'm currently busy with Paul S. Kemp's The Hammer and the Blade, then right into Chuck Wendig's Mockingbird - with a giveaway - and then most probably Mark Lawrence's King of Thorns. So there are some damn good books and reviews coming in the near future.

I'm behind because of the Olympics. The games have sucked me in, and refuses to let me go. We do not stand much chance of a huge medal haul here in South Africa, it's always been that way. That's why when we win one it's kind of a big deal. Cameron van der Burgh worked his ass off to dominate in the 100m breststroke and Chad le Clos stunned the world in the 200m Butterfly. Thanks guys, you made my year!

New book deal for Wendig!

Chuck Wendig, author of Blackbirds, which we reviewed just yesterday as luck would have it, has just signed a new two book deal with Angry Robot Books.

Via their newsletter:

A New Two-Book Deal for Chuck Wendig!


Angry Robot, the award-winning publisher of cutting-edge SF, F, and WTF?! fiction is delighted to announce that a new deal has been signed and sealed with rising star Chuck Wendig.


About the Deal


Chuck's first Angry Robot novel, Blackbirds, only hit the bookshelves for the first time a few weeks ago, but the response has already been so strong that Angry Robot moved quickly to sign him up for another two books.


The World English Rights deal, negotiated between Angry Robot editor Lee Harris and Stacia Decker of the Donald Maas Literary Agency, is for:


The Blue Blazes - the first in a new urban fantasy series in which lovable thug Mookie Pearl must contend with the criminal underworld, the supernatural underworld, a new drug that makes the invisible visible, and a rebellious teen daughter who opposes him at every turn.


Cormorant - a new tale of Miriam Black, the third book in a series that begins with Blackbirds and continues with Mockingbird (September 2012).


Both new titles are scheduled for publication in 2013.


Congratulations Chuck. I can't wait for the new novels.

Blackbirds - Chuck Wendig

The Blurb: Miriam Black knows how you are going to die.

She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides. She merely needs to touch you — skin to skin contact — and she knows how and when you’ll die.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try

I’ve been following Chuck Wendig’s blog and twitter feed for some time now. He’s good on both, and his writing advice he regulary offers up on his blog is worth more than it’s weight in gold.  And he’s a funny bastard, which is one of the things that I like to see in an author. When he published Blackbirds, I grabbed it as soon as it was monetary possible for me.

First off, look at that cover. It’s beautiful, attention grabbing and unique. Just like a good cover should be.

As the blurb states, the main character is Miriam Black. She can see anyone’s time and method of death as soon as she touches them. This is a damn bleak idea to base a story on, but I must say, it makes for some real gripping reading and a real interesting story.  It would really suck as a superpower though.

Miriam has a real fatalistic outlook on life, which is understandable and done really well. If you had to see death on a daily basis, it would drive most of us totally insane. Miriam does what she has to do to cope with all this insanity, and that of course includes loads of alcohol and cigarettes. If I was in her shoes, my liver would have exploded years ago.  Since most of the book is from her viewpoint it stood a real chance to spiral deep into depression and self-loathing territory, but her sarcasm and some funny moments in the story made up for this and kept me turning the pages.  

The book does contain loads of swearing and violence, but come on; if you are shocked or bothered by this after reading the blurb then you are an idiot. It all adds to the story, keeping the tension and fear levels right up there.  Any character who can go through this story and not curse isn’t real enough, if that makes sense to  you.

Wendig keeps you in the story. I felt connected to the main characters, felt their pain and hope. I felt invested in the story, and that makes a damn good book in my world. Flashbacks are used liberally throughout the book, but these just reinforce the main storyline, adding extra motivation to actions and extra layers to the characters. It didn’t distract from the story at all.

Is this a book I’ll recommend to anyone? Not really. It’s too dark and murderous for some. Would I recommend it to my friends? I already did. It’s brilliant.

A super solid 9/10.