Ant-Man (2015)

I personally feel that the MCU treatment of Ant-Man was long overdue. The Hank Pym version of Ant-Man had been a founding member of The Avengers along with his wealthy socialite girlfriend (later wife) Janet Van Dyne (aka The Wasp).

While the new version changes a lot it also doesn’t ignore the origin. Hank Pym was the first man to discover the ability to shrink himself to the size of an ant and communicate with the insects and also was married to Janet who shared his missions and shrunk herself.

In the comics the role of Ant-Man went to ex con Scott Lang, and that’s what happens in this film.

The film is fun, I hadn’t realised just how much fun until I rewatched it. Some of this stems from the fact that lead actor Paul Rudd is a comedian and had a hand in the writing.

Paul Rudd played the title character, and he did with a great sense of humour and plenty of comedy, to be expected with his background, but never overdone.

The big name of Michael Douglas played Hank Pym and he did a great job. He made an excellent elder statesman, was always believable and I liked his tough love mentor role.

Lost and The Hobbit star Evangeline Lilly was cast as Hope Van Dyne, and she does a good job with both the physicality of the role and the gradual relationship with Scott.

Scott’s former cell mate Luis is also played with plenty of humour by Michael Pena, who while he is well known for serious roles was great as the fast talking Luis.

Chief amongst the villains was Corey Stoll as Hank’s former protégé Darren Chross.

Bobby Cannavale appeared in a rare turn as someone who wasn’t totally bad. His character of cop and Scott’s ex-wife’s fiancé Paxton was a thorn in Scott’s side, but was essentially a good person doing what he saw as his job.

There were cameos from Hayley Atwell as an aged up Peggy and John Slattery as Howard Stark again. Stan Lee’s cameos seem to be getting smaller as he gets older, this time he was a bartender in one of Luis’ stories. Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson also appears.

Peyton Reed was another one of the MCU’s left field directing choices, but he seemed to work and had a good light touch for the film.

I have to admit that I really liked this one. It was probably the sort of action super hero comedy that audiences needed after the overly serious and disappointing Age of Ultron.

Post credit sequences hint at two things: Hope will become The Wasp and Scott is going to be called into service with The Avengers.

The Avengers - Age of Ultron (2015)

For some reason Avengers 2, or Age of Ultron just didn’t work for me. It should have. They had all the major cast members back and even the same director, but it lacked something.

Everyone seemed to labour under the misconception that bigger, louder and more expensive is better, and that’s not always the case. The actors were all good without anyone being outstanding. They worked together when they had to, but didn’t have the same feel of cohesion that they did when fighting to save New York in The Avengers.

Its easy to see where a lot of the money went. The destruction of an unnamed African city while the Hulk and Iron Man hammer away at one another wouldn’t have come cheap. The sad thing about the scene, while its visually stunning and very well done is that the whole thing is unnecessary, or at least it didn’t need to be as long and as destructive as it was. Then there are all the locations; The Avengers go everywhere in this one: Sokovia (an invented Eastern European country), Africa (an unnamed location somewhere on the coast), Seoul and some stuff in New York and an undisclosed location somewhere in the US, but those were probably just sets. The party in NY is probably one of the best bits and it showcases the Avengers just hanging out and being friends.

The party also managed to explain why neither Jane or Pepper appear, and while neither Thor or Tony actually admit that they’ve broken up with their respective partners, reading between the lines, it appears that they have. Jane’s not that much of a concern for Thor, but Pepper was what kept Tony from going totally over the top with his reckless narcissism. In fact it’s Tony’s inability to work as a member of a team, his need to prove that he is the smartest guy in the room and his obsession with being the one person who can protect the rest of the world that creates Ultron. The absence of Loki hurt as well.

So much of this one just felt overdone and they lost sight of many of the things that made The Avengers such a great film.

As I’ve said the majority of the cast returned, including the peripheral characters like Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Erik Selvig, Heimdall, Sam Wilson, Rhodey (not really an Avenger, more of a tool that does the US military’s heavy lifting while wearing one of Tony’s suits), Peggy and of course Stan Lee, who is a veteran at the party, who bites off a bit more than he can chew and is carried from the room, drunkenly muttering ‘Exelshior’.

New cast members included Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton (yes, Clint had an unknown family. Only Nick and Natasha knew about them. I think it was dropped in there so that they could continue to force Natasha and Bruce together and to give the MCU an out when Jeremy Renner decides he doesn’t want to be Hawkeye any more) and Paul Bettany as Vision (yes, he was Jarvis’ voice, but as Vision he appears in person).

Most of the rest were bad guys: Julie Delpy was Madame B (Natasha’s instructress at the Red Room), Andy Serkis played a villainous arms dealer, Claudia Kim was Helen Cho, a brilliant doctor forced to do Ultron’s bidding, Ultron’s voice was provided by James Spader. Both Wanda and Pietro Maximoff had appeared in a post credits sequence in The Winter Soldier and those roles were filled by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson. They were The Scarlet Witch (kinetic and mind altering ability) and Quicksilver (super speed). I couldn’t help comparing Taylor Johnson’s performance with that of Evan Peters, who played the same character in the X-Men franchise and unfortunately the Avengers version came off second best.

I don’t think Joss Whedon’s heart was in this one. I don’t know, but it just didn’t seem to be there. Very few of the usual Joss moments appeared.

I was a little sad that this didn’t work. I won’t say that I didn’t enjoy it, I did, but it didn’t have the same sparkle that The Avengers did and it even compared badly against The Winter Soldier, although Scarlett Johansson yet again walked away with all the acting credits.

The post credit sequence with Captain America and Black Widow training the new Avengers in Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch and Vision, which indicates that the MCU is thinking ahead to when the regular cast members either get too old or don't want to play the roles any more that they have heroes ready and willing to go. This fits in the comic book Avengers, which is an ever changing roster.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

After The Winter Soldier it was reasonable to expect another Avengers film, or something featuring a character the audiences were familiar with, at least something set on Earth. What we did not expect was Guardians of the Galaxy. The Guardians did have their genesis in Marvel comics, but they weren’t that big of a title.

A team of spacefaring adventurers composed of a genetically engineered, anthropomorphic, angry at the universe raccoon by the name of Rocket, his best friend a walking, talking tree who by dint of it being the only thing it ever said everyone assumed it’s name was Groot, a vengeance seeking, heavily muscled, red skinned humanoid who took everything said to him literally, a green skinned female humanoid considered a living weapon and then there was Peter ‘Starlord’ Quill, an opportunistic Terran thief who had more than his share of luck, was not really what anyone thought the same company who had just given us The Winter Soldier would present as it’s follow up.

Despite all of the above Guardians of the Galaxy is connected to the wider story of the Avengers. The plot of the film centres around the hunt for the Orb, which is actually the 4^th infinity stone (the others to this point have been: the Tesseract, the yellow stone that powered Loki’s staff and the Aether), it seems to give the holder power, but no one can actually handle it without destroying themselves. Of course, it hasn’t yet met Peter Quill.

Despite by now being able to ask for and get almost any actor they wanted for even small roles, the relatively low profile Chris Pratt was chosen to play Peter Quill. Prior to landing the role Pratt was best known for his role in the soap opera Everwood and the comedy Parks and Recreation, exactly what the people at Marvel saw in him that prompted them to cast him as the lead in an action film (maybe it was the amount of comedy in it) I don’t know, but it worked. Since the film Pratt has established himself as an action star, being in Jurassic World, and the reboot of The Magnificent Seven, as well as the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy that the success of the first film made inevitable.

The female lead role of Gamora went to Zoe Saldana. Saldana’s SF leading lady credentials were well established having already played the lead female in Avatar and Uhura in the Star Trek reboot. She’s not entirely recognisable being covered in green makeup, but she does work well with Pratt and the rest of her group, not all of who are human.

Wrestler Dave Bautista was cast as Drax. The role suited him, making use of his impressive physical build and athletic ability. He also showcased a talent for comedy, which had not previously been part of his repertoire.

Groot was voiced by action star Vin Diesel, but as the only thing her ever says is ‘I am Groot’ most of the credit for making the walking tree the surprise breakout star of the film has to go to the special effects team.

Rocket’s voice was provided by Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper. Cooper has good comic timing and the character or Rocket again gave him plenty of opportunity to utilise it. Again credit to the special effects team for making Rocket look real, even to the point of giving him facial expressions. Who would have ever thought an anthropomorphic raccoon would get close to top billing in a big budget Hollywood action flick?

Hard man Michael Rooker (Merle in The Walking Dead) played Peter’s foster father Yondu, and although he’s only partially recognisable under the makeup, he doesn’t hide his voice or his nature.

Djimon Hounsou had a relatively small role as a pissed off alien treasure hunter trying to track down Peter and meets his fairly gory death at the hands of Drax.

John C. Reilly gave the film a bit of humanity as hardworking family man on the planet of Xandar, which is what much of the action revolves around.

Glenn Close basically channelled her role from Air Force One, but with way more interesting hair. She was the leader of Xandar; Nova Prime.

Former Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan was cast as Gamora’s psychotic cyborg adoptive sister. Not that any of Amy could be seen under the make up.

Lee Pace played Ronan the chief bad guy, although I think that role really belongs to the shadowy Thanos, voiced by James Brolin.

The only returnees in this one are Benicio Del Toro in his second appearance as The Collector and the ever present Stan Lee, briefly seen as an aging Lothario in the scene on Xandar that introduces Rocket and Groot.

The whole thing is so ridiculous that it shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. Audiences were so busy laughing that they didn’t really wonder how the whole thing fitted into the large overarching story, even with the presence of the 4^th infinity stone. The world building was impressive and it honestly looked better and made more sense that anything I’ve seen in the new Star Wars films (Canto Bight anyone?).

The post credit sequence wasn’t anything particularly significant, but it was very cute, with Baby Groot jiving in its pot to the Jackson 5, only to freeze every time Drax looked in it’s direction.

Captain America - The Winter Soldier (2014)

Time for Captain America to get his second solo outing. After a couple of relatively disappointing solo films following The Avengers, had the MCU lost the magic of their first 5 films? Could they recover it? In my opinion Captain America – The First Avenger, stood second only to The Avengers in terms of quality, so the expectations were high. It was going to be a challenge though, because the first film had the backdrop of the second World War, and support from characters like Peggy Carter and actors like Tommy Lee Jones. In his other appearance in the modern day, Steve had the advantage of being in an ensemble cast and having their characters to bounce off. This time he carried the film and it was set in the current age.

Captain America – The Winter Soldier was a game changer, and I rate it as the second best of the MCU films, it’s almost impossible to knock The Avengers off that perch for me.

Chris Evans saddled up as Captain America again. An aged up Hayley Atwell played a Peggy suffering tragically from dementia in a small role. The interesting decision was made to pair the boy scout persona of Steve Rogers up with the dangerous and morally conflicted Natasha Romanov wonderfully portrayed by Scarlett Johansson (I still can’t understand why she hasn’t got a movie of her own and saying that she’s the co-star of The Winter Soldier, which she is, doesn’t really cut it). Samuel Jackson returned as Nick Fury and had quite a significant part. Interestingly Sebastian Stan also came back, despite Bucky having been killed in Captain America.

Smaller roles were taken by Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill (I love Maria and wish they’d use her more), and Stan Lee once again had a cameo, this time as a security guard who finds Cap’s uniform missing from its exhibit. Jenny Agutter reprised her role as a member of the council. Powers Boothe was replaced by Alan Dale, so the Australian connection remained, although Dale is originally from NZ.

New characters on the side of good were Sam Wilson (aka The Falcon) played by Anthony Mackie and Emily Van Camp as Agent 13 (aka Sharon Carter), written in as a love interest for Steve, and how surprising she just happens to be related to Peggy!

A few bad guys returned: Toby Jones’ Zola came back in quite a surprising way, and confirmed that the Allies should have found a way to have him conveniently die in custody when they captured him. Maxmilian Hernandez’s Agent Sitwell came back and we saw his true colours as an agent of Hydra, same went for Gary Shandling’s crooked Senator Stern.

It’s a measure of how big these films now are that they could sign Hollywood royalty in the form of Robert Redford and cast him as bad guy Alexander Pierce. He was absolutely brilliant and the way he casually shoots his housemaid for seeing something she shouldn’t have is chilling. Frank Grillo played SHIELD turned Hydra operative Rumlow (readers of Marvel comics would see that Brock Rumlow would become villain Crossbones from his final scene). Another SHIELD/Hydra operative was Aussie character actor Callan Mulvey, he specialises in playing mean looking types. I appreciated seeing Georges Batroc as played by Georges St Pierre. Not sure if Batroc will return, 

but I remember him as admittedly a 2^nd rate villain, but a fun one.

The Russo brothers directed and while I hadn’t heard of them before I have to admit that they were the best directors of an MCU film since Joss Whedon helmed The Avengers.

The reintroduction of Hydra and showing how they’d insinuated themselves into every level of government and law enforcement worldwide, especially in the US, was a game changer for the MCU. It didn’t just affect this film. It reverberated through the storyline of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV show and turned it from a fairly lightweight, pedestrian affair into something else different and much better. It also came up during the 3^rd Captain America film, Civil War and will continue to run through the films going forward.

The Winter Soldier is a very different film for a superhero film. It was as much tight, action packed, modern day spy thriller as it was superhero film. There was cross and double cross, it featured spies and had secrets from the past re emerging to affect the present. It was rather like a Daniel Craig era Bond film with superheroes added.

There was great chemistry between Natasha and Steve and I’m really not sure why they didn’t follow this up, rather than trying to pair Natasha up with Bruce/Hulk and Steve with Sharon. Both pairings are extremely forced and as a result don’t come across as particularly believable.

Just like with The Avengers this was going to be hard to top and while the MCU’s next move in trying something completely different was surprising, I think it meant that they wouldn’t make the same mistakes they had made in how they tried to follow up The Avengers.

Thor - The Dark World (2013)

Giving Thor a second solo movie made perfect sense. I do still wonder why The Dark World didn’t come out before the, in my mind, unnecessary Iron Man 3 (I’ll stop talking about it now, I really need to build a bridge. I didn’t realise how much I disliked that film until rewatching and reviewing it).

Anything that followed The Avengers was going to be a hard act to follow and The Dark World suffered from a few problems. Chief among them being striking a balance between what takes place in Asgard and what takes place on Earth and how could they link the story of a standalone film into the overarching one that began with the discovery of the Tesseract in Captain America?

Weird thing about doing a wildly popular franchise is that actors fall over themselves to be in them, and if they’ve already scored a gig then they’re happy to hang onto it, at least for a while. That makes the job of casting the film way easier.

The list of actors that returned to reprise their roles from Thor in Thor – The Dark World is fairly lengthy: Chris Hemsworth in the title role, Natalie Portman as his love interest, Tom Hiddleston as the duplicitous Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Kat Dennings as comedy relief Darcy, Stellan Skarsgard in his 3^rd appearance as Erik Selvig, Ray Stevenson reprised Volstagg and Jaimie Alexander donned her Sif gear again, Rene Russo was Frigga for the second time and she had a bigger role and did something other than stand around looking serene. Idris Elba was Heimdall again.

There was a change of actor in Asgard, with Zachary Levi (best known as Chuck and the voice of Flynn Rider in Tangled) replacing Josh Dallas as Fandral.

Other notable smaller roles and cameos included: Jonathan Howard as Darcy’s hapless intern Ian. Comedian Chris O’Dowd as a hopeful and ultimately unsuccessful boyfriend of Jane’s. Stan Lee’s obligatory cameo was as an inmate of the asylum that Erik finds himself in after a nudie run at Stonehenge. Chris Evans also appears briefly and quite funnily as 'Captain America'.

The villain of the piece is a dark elf by the name of Malekith, played by former Doctor Who actor Christopher Eccleston. Malekith left me kind of cold and he was a rather generic villain. His main function really was to introduce the aether into the storyline and it is the 3^rd of the infinity stones. The first was the Tesseract, the second the one in Loki’s sceptre. There are 6 in total and we still haven’t seen them all, 4 years later and quite a few films on. The post credit scene where Volstagg and Sif deliver it to The Collector gave Benicio Del Toro a cameo.

The director was another odd choice. I assume, despite being successful with Thor, that Kenneth Branagh had left to pursue other interests. The job went to Alan Taylor, who has mostly worked in 

TV, not film.

The standout performance and the best thing about the film was Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. He plays the character so well. Most of the characters in the MCU films are either heroes or villains. They choose sides. Loki isn’t either and the only side he chooses is himself.

Hemsworth was also very good and his understandable fury when Thor finds his slain mother is one of the film’s best dramatic moments.

In contrast I felt Natalie Portman’s performance lacked fire, despite slapping Thor and attacking Loki when she encounters him again.

There were a few misteps in the film. One is Malekith, another is the decision to turn Erik nto a figure of comic fun. Difficulty was still experienced with balancing the two stories; the one in Asgard with the one on Earth and I can foresee significant difficulties with the relationship between Thor and Jane. Asgard was wonderfully realised, though, and I liked the contrast of futuristic modernity (energy guns, spaceships) with the city’s classical aspect.

It was a fun film and significantly better than the preceding MCU film, but still felt there was something lacking, and a feeling that it was just a little too light.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

I thought it was an odd idea to follow up a team epic like The Avengers with a solo star film. There was fresh ground they could have plowed and it was an even odder decision to make that solo film the 3^rd one focussing on the same character; Iron Man, especially when both Thor and Captain America had only done the one film each and we were still waiting (and still are) for something to star Black Widow. As a result, to be totally honest Iron Man 3 is a bit of a mess.

Casting was again a fairly simple exercise: all the usual stars returned to the roles that they had become known for A notable absence was Samuel Jackson, so that meant the film would not feature Nick Fury. Jon Favreau did not direct (he did produce), but he appeared for the 3^rd time as Happy Hogan, and he got to do a scene set in the 90’s where he has the most ridiculous hair. I was a bit surprised and to be honest disappointed that Stan Lee’s cameo featured him as a pageant judge, rather than another mistaken celebrity he bore a passing resemblance to. Mark Ruffalo played Bruce in the post credit joke.

William Sadler was cast as President Ellis. He did an okay job of pretending to the POTUS, but it’s a pet peeve of mine when they make up a known figure like the President.

Child actor Ty Simpkins played Iron Man’s sidekick when Tony was off the grid (he’d later find greater fame as one of Jurassic World’s juvenile leads). I always think a franchise is in trouble when they have to start casting obnoxious kids (his character was, the actor isn’t) for the cute factor and the occasional laugh.

We had not one villain, but a few of them. Guy Pearce continued the Australian tradition for the MCU by playing Aldrich Killian, founder of AIM (they didn’t make a big thing of it in the film, but I do vaguely remember AIM as being a big deal in the comics). Pearce almost phoned the role in. I doubt when his career is at an end he’ll look back on this one fondly. He even villain monologued.

They cast Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin. From my early morning cartoon watching, I remember the Mandarin as being one of Iron Man’s major opponents. Such a disappointment to find out that this incarnation is a down on his luck British actor. Kingsley seemed to enjoy chewing on the scenery and his turn as Trevor Slattery did get a laugh.

Rebecca Hall played Maya Hansen, the scientist, whose work made Killian’s weapon possible, only to be betrayed and killed by him.

Shane Black’s a good writer, but as his last directorial job was with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang in 2005 I’m not sure why he directed this. Surely it would have made more sense to give that work to Favreau, his role as Happy isn’t that much bigger than it was in Iron Man 2. It’s another mystery of the film.

There’s so much wrong with Iron Man 3 that it’s hard to know where to start. It makes sense after what he went through in The Avengers that Tony has PTSD, but he’s bad enough when he doesn’t have it, seeing him with it makes it worse. There’s so little explanation for so many of his actions.

I still don’t understand why Pepper stays with him, even being aware of and at times making light of his many failings. I also hated what they did to her and then just kind of hand waved it off.

If 3 terrorists in helicopters can take Iron Man out, as they did in this film, then why hasn’t it been done before?

Why on Earth do they keep suiting Rhodey up as War Machine or Iron Patriot as he’s known in this one when he continues to prove that he sucks at it? Even Pepper did a better job when she found herself in control of one of Tony’s suits. Jarvis handles them better. With one boot and one glove Tony was a better and more effective Iron Man than Rhodey is with the entire suit and its armaments.

The problem long running franchises have is that while the characters don’t age, the actors do and they also get bored. The way they wrap things up in this one, and the very fact that it was made at all, prior to giving Thor and Captain America a second film, indicates that RDJ may have flagged an intention to walk away from the role. He’s clearly stayed on, but this is something they’ll have to deal with sooner rather than later, hopefully they handle it better.

7 from 2017

At the end of every year I have a look through everything I read and then I pick out what I thought really stood out and collect them all together in this post where I list the best  or favourite things I read for the year.

Here's what did it for me in 2017.

Note: they're not in any particular order. Basically they're listed in the order I read them.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

I was quite taken by this. I did a comparison between it and Danielle Paige's Stealing Snow when I first read it. Like Meyer's other work it's a different look at a fairytale, although it's very different from her Lunar Chronicles. They look at classical fairytales of the Brothers Grimm variety and are set in an anime influenced future world.

Heartless is a prequel of sorts to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's a look at the Red Queen and what made her the way she is when Alice falls through the rabbit hole and into her kingdom. It doesn't quite hit the heights of Carroll's vision (I don't think anything ever will), but it comes close and there's a wonderful sense of whimsy about it.

I read it quite quickly (most, if not all, of the books on this list were quick reads for me, they had that unputdownable quality), and weirdly enough it had me on the side of the Queen, she was very different before she lost her heart, and I kind of wished that we'd known more about her.

They're unlikely to make a film of the book, but it kicks those terrible aberrations that have been Tim Burton's view of Wonderland to the curb.

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix

Even though he's an Aussie and writes mostly fantasy I'd never actually read any Garth Nix.  He's best known for his Old Kingdom YA series, and they've just never appealed to me.

I couldn't tell you what made me pick Frogkisser! up. I actually think my wife may have been the one who bought it because she enjoyed Newt's Emerald. I haven't read Newt's Emerald, but I don't think it's got anything at all in common with Frogkisser! other than they both came out of the mind of the same author.

Frogkisser! does share something with Heartless, though. It's a fairytale. The difference is that it's a brand new fairytale, which riffs on the old ones. It's a clever twist on the standard fairytale with a quest, a changed frog prince, witches, wizards, princesses and talking dogs. Okay maybe they don't all have talking dogs, but after reading Frogkisser! I'm convinced that this is a quality many fairytales are lacking. Nix, like me, is a dog person.

I really felt that this was one of those rare books that effortlessly spans generational boundaries, and can be read and appreciated on a number of levels. It will appeal to kids and adults who have enjoyed The Princess Bride. I hope there's a sequel because Princess Anya most definitely has more stories in her.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

Oh my God, this one blew me away! I first read it in March, and I've already read it again since that. The last book to do that to me was Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (18 reads on and I still love that book).

Every so often a reader is lucky enough to encounter a book that is like a shot of nitro glycerine to the head. I get one every so often. Kings of the Wyld was my nitro glycerine book for 2017.

I can't really tell anyone why I love it so much, but I just do. There's the perfectly executed conceit that the mercenary band of Saga are like an old school rock band doing a one last time tour, but going out to rescue their front man's daughter Rose from where she and many other doomed heroes are trapped by a horde of monsters from everyone's worst nightmare.

It's the characters that form Saga themselves, from the lead of Gabe, to the wild, hard drinking ladies man Matrick Skulldrummer, the eccentric and dangerous wizard Moog and the mysterious, ageless hell on wheels Ganelon. Then there's the every man Clay 'Slowhand' Cooper, the glue that holds the band together. Clay is what makes this book, he gives it heart.

The other thing that I loved about Kings of the Wyld was the way it neatly skewered every cliche of grimdark and never took itself too seriously.

I am hanging for the sequel Bloody Rose, if for nothing else than it gives me another excuse to reread Kings of the Wyld.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

In 2016 Seanan McGuire wrote Every Heart a Doorway about Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, it was a wonderful flight of fancy, achingly beautiful, it made me cry. It was nominated for multiple awards and won the Best Novella Hugo. Down Among the Sticks and Bones is the second book in the Wayward Children series.

I say second book in the series, because it's not a sequel, if anything it's a prequel. It covers two of the most damaged characters in Every Heart a Doorway and examines what made them the way they are. Given the home lives of Jack and Jill they would have been messed up individuals even if they hadn't ever discovered a doorway into a world of vampires and mad scientists, but going there not only unlocked their full potential it amplified it and made them so much worse than before.

Seanan actually likes creepy, she does it very well, but never more successfully than in Down Among the Sticks and Bones. This was so dark and cold, that I shivered while reading it and looked around more than twice before turning off the lights.

She may very well have written herself a second Hugo in the novella category.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss

After reading Theodora Goss' short story in the Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination anthology about the daughters of a number of famous mad scientists, I knew I wanted this book.

Goss' work had previously been of the short variety, this is her first novel and what a great idea. The daughters of Dr's Morreau, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Rappaccini all meet one another in Victorian London and team up with Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson and go on a hunt to solve a number of unexplained and rather gruesome murders.

I adored the ladies in this book and loved Goss' portrayal of both Holmes and Watson. Given the subject matter and the idea it doesn't sound like there's room for much humour, but at times this book is laugh out loud funny.

I think tBac he humour and the warmth and depth of the characters come out because of the very conscious choice that Theodora Goss took in the way she wrote it. To be honest this approach may not work for everyone, and I'm pretty sure that people who didn't like the book, didn't like it because of the style. Done badly it would grate, it's bloody hard to do and Theodora Goss pulled it off flawlessly.

The book is written by Beatrice Rappaccini, but the other ladies involved frequently interject and argue with Beatrice about her style and how she portrays them and how the events actually took place. It's rather like pulling up a chair in the drawing room, in front of the fire and sitting down to an evening of tea and discussion with the ladies.

I can't wait for the sequel and to see what else these thoroughly modern Victorian ladies can get up to.

 River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Yes, I am including another novella. When they're this damn good, why not?

River of Teeth is one of those books that had it's genesis in the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction.

The US faced a severe meat shortage in the early years of the 20th century, and an Congressman by the name of Robert Broussard had the idea that they could kill two birds with the one stone by importing a significant number of hippos from Africa, they would solve the meat shortage and at the same time eat the water hyacinth that was a pest in the swamp lands. Had this ever happened it would have been disastrous. Fortunately it failed by one vote.

Sarah Gailey took that odd moment in history and wondered what if? She changed the timing around a little, but gave us an American frontier where the real bad asses ride around on hippos and rule the waterways.

The book reads a little like a classic western with hippos in place of horses. One of the great things is that the hippos themselves have character, far more than any horses in the westerns do. There are gun fights, fist fights, knife fights and con jobs, stuff blows up, people get eaten by hippos, how can this book not be fun, people?

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I first became aware of Grady Hendrix when he started reviewing (hilariously) Under the Dome for Tor.com. By the end of the show's run the only reason I watched it was to read his reviews (it couldn't have been for the show itself, it was one of the worst most unintentionally farcical pieces of TV ever made).

Then he released a book called Horrorstor, it was about a haunted IKEA shop. They didn't call it IKEA, but that's what it was.

I really liked Horrorstor, so My Best Friend's Exorcism had a lot to live up to and boy did it ever do that, and then some.

It is the story of two girls who are best friends from the time they're 10 years old and then after one disastrous night of skinny dipping and dropping acid, it all changes.

It's a wonderful, funny nostalgia trip into the 80's. A careful look at the cover brings back memories of the many awful, cheesy 80's teen horror direct to video releases.

Despite the humour, and it is very funny, the characters have depth, are likeable and relatable and have every reader pulling for Abby and Gretchen and hope that their friendship can survive whatever has possessed one of them.