Official Jon Steele Facebook
Order “The Watchers” HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Jon Steele was an award-winning cameraman and editor for ITN for more than twenty years. He has traveled and worked through seventy-eight countries across six continents. War Junkie, his autobiography of a life behind the camera in some of the worst places on earth, was published in 2002 and has become a cult classic of war reportage. The Watchers is his debut novel.

PLOT SUMMARY: Lausanne, Switzerland...

In the Lausanne Cathedral, Marc Rochat, a strange boy with a limp, watches over the city. He lives in a world of shadows and beforetimes and imaginary beings, waiting for the angel his mother told him he'd one day have to save.

Marc believes that angel is Katherine Taylor, a high-priced escort who is about to discover that her real-life fairy tale is too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Jay Harper wakes up one day with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or what he did before. Offered a job as a freelance security specialist for the International Olympic Committee, he has no choice but to accept. On the trail of a missing former hockey star, Harper crosses paths with Marc Rochat and Katherine Taylor, which he will discover is no coincidence.

Three lives. One purpose...

FORMAT/INFO: The Watchers is 560 pages long divided over a prologue called ‘Quietus’, four titled books, forty numbered chapters, and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person via Marc Rochat, Katherine Taylor and Jay Harper. The Watchers is mostly self-contained, coming to a satisfying stopping point, but it’s the first book in a trilogy. The sequels are tentatively titled Angel City and The Way of Sorrows. June 9, 2011 marks the UK Hardcover publication of The Watchers via Bantam Press.

ANALYSIS: Like many other reviewers, Jon Steele’s The Watchers caught my attention because of its tagline: “Imagine The Bourne Identity rewritten by Neil Gaiman.” After finishing the book, I can see why the publisher chose such a comparison, but it is a little misleading. The truth is, The Watchers is a very difficult novel to classify.

For starters, the book opens with a prologue set in 1917, at the Battle of Vimy Ridge during the first World War. It’s a beautifully written prologue—full of magic, wonder and mystery—and immediately intriguing, but how these events are connected with the rest of the book are not revealed until much later in the novel.

From this prologue, The Watchers shifts to present day Switzerland with the next 300-some pages of the novel introducing and cultivating the book’s three main characters and their relationship to one another: Marc Rochat, a 21-year-old boy, handicapped both mentally and physically, who serves as the guardian of Lausanne Cathedral—think Quasimodo; Katherine Taylor, a 26-year-old American former Playboy star who moved to Switzerland to work as an escort for the Two Hundred Club which caters to Europe’s rich and powerful; and Jay Harper, a thirty-something Brit who cannot remember anything prior to waking up and accepting a job as a freelance security specialist for the International Olympic Committee.

How these three characters are connected to one another is all part of the “mysterious mystery” that Jon Steele slowly unravels during the first two-thirds of the novel, which also involves a once famous Russian hockey player gone missing, Inspector Gobet who may or may not be crooked, extremely dangerous killers, and Lausanne Cathedral. Most of this “mysterious mystery” is presented through Harper’s narrative, which contains a detective noir influence. Over the course of the book, Harper also suddenly remembers things—understanding French, quoting poems, etc.—without knowing where that knowledge came from, which is where The Bourne Identity comparison comes in. Meanwhile, a Book of Enoch subplot—“an apocryphal book of the Hebrew Bible, long discredited until it was discovered as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948”—is introduced around page 280, injecting a Dan Brown element in the novel. Magic realism on the other hand, best describes the narratives by Marc Rochat and Katherine Taylor, although a sense of ambiguity keeps the reader guessing as to what is real and what is imagined.

It’s around page 360 that The Watchers starts shifting in another direction. Before that point, I was completely engrossed by the book, thanks mainly to Jon Steele’s exquisite writing, which in turn is the key behind the novel’s compelling main characters, a vividly described setting that felt almost as real as what I imagine the genuine article would be like—especially Lausanne Cathedral, and a story that brilliantly straddles the line between reality and fantasy. Characterization in particular, is a high point of the novel because of the amount of detail and effort that is used to flesh out the protagonists’ different personalities, narrative voices and worldviews. Of the three, Marc Rochat is easily the most interesting because of his uniquely charming outlook on life (detectiveman, weather-teller, workermen, beforetimes, nowtimes) and the way he communicates with ghosts, his cat Monsieur Booty, and the bells of Lausanne Cathedral.

The story admittedly, is a bit slow-moving and lacking in the action & adventure department—which can be partly attributed to the amount of details and information used by the author in establishing the setting and characters—but it’s really the nature of the book. In other words, The Watchers was never meant to be a page-turner like a James Patterson or Dan Brown novel. Instead, The Watchers is a character-driven book—where even the environment is a character—and editing out what may seem like unnecessary details, would only lessen the novel’s impact. Besides, The Watchers is gripping in its own way, as I found it nearly impossible to put the book down. At least for the first two-thirds of the novel.

Once the book starts shifting into supernatural territory around page 360, The Watchers becomes less engrossing. Part of the problem is that once the cat is let out of the bag, the novel loses its intriguing sense of mystery and ambiguity and becomes a straightforward battle between good and evil. Another problem is that the supernatural elements—fallen angels, Nephilim, dead black potion, time wake, stasis, etc.—lack the detail and clarity found in the rest of the book, giving the last third of the novel an unfinished feel. However, since The Watchers is just the first volume in a trilogy, I’m hoping the sequels will explain the supernatural war in much greater detail. Finally, the author goes a little overboard with some of The Watcher’s supernatural elements, especially compared to everything that came before, but the Epilogue was satisfying while introducing a number of interesting developments to be explored in the next book...

CONCLUSION: Because The Watchers shifts between so many different genres—historical fiction, detective noir, magic realism, religious conspiracy, supernatural thriller—it’s difficult to say what kind of audience would enjoy Jon Steele’s debut. Personally, I loved The Watchers because of Jon Steele’s exquisite writing, the novel’s compelling protagonists and the vivid setting, but I felt the supernatural elements did not work nearly as well as the rest of the book and I’m a bit worried at how the author handles these elements in the sequels. Nevertheless, The Watchers mostly enthralls, seizing the heart and imagination, while leaving the reader satisfied, but still tempted for more...

Order “Kings, Queens, Heroes & Fools” HERE (Amazon) + HERE (Smashwords)

Read An Excerpt HERE (PDF) + HERE

Read FBC’s Review of “The Sword & the Dragon”

In support of the July 4, 2011 publication of M.R. Mathias’ “Kings, Queens, Heroes & Fools”, the second installment in The Wardstone Trilogy after “The Sword & the Dragon”, M.R. Mathias is giving away an AMAZON KINDLE!!! In addition to the Kindle—the “Indie Kindy”—the winner will also receive FREE Smashwords Coupons for M.R. Mathias’s entire bibliography, which includes the following titles:

Not only that, but the winner will also receive FREE Smashwords Coupons from some of M.R. Mathias’s favorite independent authors! These titles include the following:

To enter, please send an email to fbcgiveaway@gmail.com with your Name, Mailing Address (Street Addresses Only), and the subject: INDIE KINDY. Giveaway ends on Monday, July 4, 2011 – 11:59AM PST and is open to Anyone. Thank you for entering and Good Luck!

GIVEAWAY RULES:

1) Open To Anyone

2) Only One Entry Per Household (Multiple Entries Will Be Disqualified)

3) Must Enter Valid Email Address, Name + Mailing Address (Street Addresses Only)

4) No Purchase Necessary

5) Giveaway Will End July 4, 2011 – 11:59AM PST

6) Winner Will Be Randomly Selected and Notified By Email

7) Personal Information Will Only Be Used In Mailing Out the Prizes to the Winner

Order “Songs of the Earth” HERE

Read Extracts HERE + HERE

Watch the Book Trailer HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Elspeth Cooper was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne. Ever since she was read Ivanhoe as a bedtime story, she has been fascinated by storytelling. Now her lifelong fascination with language has been put into practice with Songs of the Earth, her debut novel, and the first book in The Wild Hunt series.

PLOT SUMMARY: The Book of Eador, Abjurations 12:14, is very clear: Suffer ye not the life of a witch. For a thousand years, the Church Knights have obeyed that commandment, sending to the stake anyone who can hear the songs of the earth. There are no exceptions, not even for one of their own.

Novice Knight Gair can hear music no one else can—beautiful, terrible music: music with power. In the Holy City of Dremen, that can mean only one thing: death by fire . . . until an unlikely intervention gives him a chance to flee the city and escape the flames.

With the Church Knights and their witchfinder hot on his heels, Gair hasn’t time to learn how to use the power growing inside him, but if he doesn’t master it, that power will tear him apart. His only hope is the secretive Guardians of the Veil, though centuries of persecution have almost destroyed their Order, and the few Guardians left have troubles of their own.

The Veil between worlds is weakening, and behind it, the Hidden Kingdom, ever-hungry for dominion over the daylight realm, is stirring. Though he is far from ready, Gair will find himself fighting for his own life, for everyone within the Order of the Veil, and for the woman he has come to love...

CLASSIFICATION: Songs of the Earth is a PG-13 traditional epic fantasy novel that reminded me at times of Terry Brooks, David Edding's The Belgariad, and Gail Z. Martin...

FORMAT/INFO: Songs of the Earth is 480 pages long divided over thirty-seven numbered/titled chapters and an Epilogue. Narration is in the third person, mainly via the protagonist Gair, but there are also several minor POVs. Songs of the Earth comes to an acceptable stopping point, but leaves many matters unresolved and is the first book in The Wild Hunt trilogy, which will be followed by Trinity Moon (Book 2) and The Dragon House (Book 3).

June 16, 2011 marks the UK Hardcover & Trade Paperback publication of Songs of the Earth via Gollancz. The North American version will be published by Tor in Spring 2012.

ANALYSIS: According to Gollancz, Elspeth Cooper’s Songs of the Earth is “the fantasy debut of 2011”. If only that were true. Instead, Songs of the Earth is a mediocre fantasy offering that fails on many different levels...

Originality is the novel’s most glaring problem. Not only is the magic system in Songs of the Earth highly derivative—shape-shifting, weaving shields, creating illusions, healing, speaking with the mind, controlling the four elements, etc.—but the world itself is sorely lacking in the creativity department, with races (Nordmen, elves, desertmen), religion (think the Roman Catholic Church) and various other aspects (chess, hypoglycemia) of the world culled from obvious sources. In fact, it seems like the only effort Elspeth Cooper made in creating her secondary world, was to change the names of things and alter a few minor details.

To make matters worse, world-building is practically nonexistent. For instance, it takes the author over 300 pages to reveal that Astolans are not human, while important concepts like the Veil, the Hidden Kingdom, the Founding Wars and the starseed are barely skimmed over. Then there’s the story, which is bloated with commonplace ideas like the hero blessed with incredible power, a school for the magically gifted, insurrection among the church’s leaders, a magical boundary that is weakening, and a power-hungry villain who once was a student of the good guys—the Guardians of the Veil.

Writing-wise, Elspeth Cooper’s prose is accessible and impressive at times—especially whenever the author is describing scenes of sword fighting, shape shifting, using the Song and romance—but dialogue and similes/metaphors are simplistic and seem more suited for a children’s book instead of an adult audience. Characters meanwhile, are difficult to visualize apart from vague impressions (old, young, tall, strong, fat, dark-haired, etc.), while understanding how a character thinks or feels is only marginally successful. This is particularly disappointing because the book contains a number of interesting themes that could have been explored in greater detail—Gair haunted by the memories of his torture; Gair’s church upbringing suddenly challenged by a different lifestyle and different beliefs; Aysha’s handicap; human/non-human prejudice; and Alderan committing evil in the name of the greater good. On the positive side, Gair is a charming protagonist while the relationships he develops with Aysha, Darin, Alderan and the like, are reasonably convincing.

Structurally, Songs of the Earth suffers from POVs that shift between characters without any rhyme or reason—like Alderan disappearing from the book for long stretches at a time; subplots that either take too long to develop or fail to reward the reader (Masen’s journey to warn the Guardians of the Veil, the coup against Preceptor Ansel, Elder Goran’s motive for hunting down Gair, etc.); and several questionable choices made by the author, including her decision to withhold key pieces of information (Gair’s shape-shifting ability, Tanith’s royal heritage, Savin’s evil nature and dark goals) for no logical reason that I can see, except maybe to provide dramatic effect during their eventual unveiling. As a result, Songs of the Earth feels very disjointed, like the author didn’t quite know what she was doing, and just ended up haphazardly putting together pieces as she was writing her book. These structural issues also cause the book to suffer through several periods (Gair’s journey to Chapterhouse, Masen’s journey, Gair’s life at Chapterhouse, Ansel & Danilar's narratives) that are just downright tedious.

Admittedly, the novel redeems itself some during the last fifty pages or so with tragic events that end Songs of the Earth on a powerful note, while introducing a number of interesting developments to be explored in the sequel. By that time though, it was a little too late as the book did not impress me enough to justify reading the second volume of The Wild Hunt trilogy. That said, I believe Trinity Moon has the chance to be much better than its predecessor, if Elspeth Cooper can improve her craft and if she can write a more focused and compelling narrative. Unfortunately for her debut, Songs of the Earth is a pedestrian fantasy novel plagued by unoriginality, simplistic writing, and structural flaws...

Order “The Stranger’s Woes” HERE (US) + HERE (UK)

Read FBC’s Review of “The Stranger”

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Max Frei is a pen name for Svetlana Martynchik. As Max Frei, she is the author of the international bestselling The Labyrinths of Echo series, of which over two million copies have sold in Russia alone. She also writes books on literature and art, still untranslated. The author lives in Moscow.

ABOUT THE STRANGER’S WOES: The Stranger’s Woes continues the story of twenty-something loser Max Frei. A loafer who sleeps all day, Max one night finds himself transported to the magical world of Echo, where he possesses magical abilities and becomes the Nocturnal Representative of the Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the City of Echo.

With his new friends and co-workers—the omniscient Sir Juffin Hully, the hilarious Melifaro and the beautiful Lady Melamori Blimm—Sir Max enjoys a life where he’s no longer a social outcast as he solves crimes, battles illegal magic and fights trespassing monsters from other worlds. Now in The Stranger’s Woes, Max will encounter cases more complicated, extravagant and dangerous than ever before in this strange and topsy-turvy universe...

FORMAT/INFO: The Stranger’s Woes is 416 pages long divided over three titled chapters, with each chapter serving as a self-contained short story/novella that is interconnected with the series as whole. Narration is in the first-person exclusively via the protagonist Max. The Stranger’s Woes is the second book in The Labyrinths of Echo series, which consists of ten volumes. In order to understand what is happening in The Stranger’s Woes, it is highly recommended that readers finish The Stranger before starting the second book.

June 9, 2011 marks the North American Hardcover publication of “The Stranger’s Woes” via The Overlook Press. The English edition is translated from Russian by Polly Gannon and Astamur Moore. The UK version (see below) will be published on June 30, 2011 via Gollancz.

ANALYSIS: It may have taken me a long while to become acclimated to the quirky humor, characters, setting, story structure and other idiosyncrasies found in Max Frei’s The Stranger, but once I did, the book was impossible to put down and I finished the novel immediately hungering for another helping of Sir Max’s adventures. For the most part, The Stranger’s Woes served up exactly what I was craving for...

Comprised of three chapters/short stories, The Stranger’s Woes continues Max’s entertaining adventures as the Nocturnal Representative of the Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force of the City of Echo. This time around, Max gets to deal with undead bandits, representatives from the empire of Arvarox who are seeking a dangerous fugitive, zombies who refuse to die, and becoming trapped on Earth. Max also gets to meet His Majesty King Gurig VIII for the first time; develops a new love interest in Tekki Shekk, the proprietor of a bar named after Max’s cats; is declared the king of Max’s supposed homeland in the Barren Lands; visits General Boboota Box’s home; serves as Sir Juffin Hully’s temporary replacement; develops new abilities (Lethal Spheres, tracking someone through their trace, traveling through the Doors between Worlds); makes some new acquaintances (Anday Pu, Rulen Bagdasys, Aloxto Allirox, Lieutenant Chekta Jax, Lady Kekki Tuotli); and introduces Echo to the marvelous invention that is movies.

Now because I was already familiar with the author’s writing style and the tone of the series which was established in the first book, I was able to pick up The Stranger’s Woes and start enjoying myself right from the get go. This familiarity was aided by how much the book shares with The Stranger, including the same humor and running jokes (Max’s laziness and voracious appetite), the same supporting cast (Sir Juffin Hully, Sir Shurf Lonli-Lokli, Sir Manga Melifaro, Sir Kofa Yox, Lady Melamori Blimm), the same imaginative world with its strange customs, the same story structure, and so on.

The downside to all of this is that The Stranger’s Woes doesn’t really offer anything different from its predecessor. In fact, you could take the three stories found in The Stranger’s Woes, insert them in The Stranger, and no one would be able to tell the difference. Sure, the cases are new, but characters and relationships remain largely static, and there aren’t any major overarching conflicts or subplots to help drive the story, apart from Max & Melamori’s love quandary and vague hints toward other complications. For now, this isn’t a major issue with eight more volumes to go, but at some point, The Labyrinths of Echo needs to do more than just have Sir Max solve crimes for the Minor Secret Investigative Force.

Other minor complaints include jokes that fail to translate properly or are painfully outdated—in Max’s world, VCRs are still the primary method for playing movies at home—and a first-person narrative that remains detached, although the third chapter/short story (The Volunteers of Eternity) does offer some interesting insight into Max’s life before Echo.

Aside from these issues, The Stranger’s Woes is another wildly imaginative and entertaining entry in The Labyrinths of Echo, which I enjoyed almost as much as I did the first book. However, I hope the story and characters are developed much further in the remaining sequels, otherwise, the series could get stale and repetitive very quickly...