Category Archives: Books

Fables: Sons Of Empire. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

All empires must eventually wither, contract, fade and die. It is perhaps the most human of all truths, which nothing can, or indeed should, last forever.

The days of empire should surely be beyond thought and yet in many minds it is as necessary as breathing, from business to the old empirical values of ownership, empire is nothing more than a control set upon from afar, the will of one people over another. It is a mindset that is perhaps eagerly captured in Bill Willingham’s ninth collection of stories in his Fables series, the stunning Sons of Empire.

Fables: Sons Of Empire. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(526 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Batman: Mad Love And Other Stories, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

At times in life, a diversion is needed to take the subtle agony of the daily grind away, a sense of humour keen and required to withstand even the most arduous of days and if not for love, humour would have no way of being reigned in from being nothing more than cruel and absurd.

Batman: Mad Love And Other Stories, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

James Patterson, Hope To Die. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

With hands held tightly in a sort of nervous anticipation for the next page to slowly crawl your way, finding that the last few chapters of what has been one long chase in Cross My Heart and its 2015 sequel Hope To Die, has left you feeling exasperated, slightly jaded, jarred and dejected, is enough to feel slightly cheated at what has otherwise been a great return to form for James Patterson and his erstwhile detective hero Alex Cross.

James Patterson, Hope To Die. Book Review. full post

(410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Mark Pardy, A Guide To The Unique Style Of Ian Mosley: Marillion’s Heartbeat. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You can have a not half bad band but with a talented drummer on board you will sound so good that people will flock to see you. The drums, for many a group, are the pulse in which Time passes freely, in which sets out the not just rhythm but the reason and without reason, without the passion of the player who never gets the true spotlight, all may be lost in the cacophony of sound and pleasure.

Mark Pardy, A Guide To The Unique Style Of Ian Mosley: Marillion’s Heartbeat. Book Review. full post

(584 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Fables: Wolves. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

After the fairly disappointing previous title in the collection of Bill Willingham’s otherwise entertaining Fables, the otherwise forgettable Arabian Nights (And Days), Wolves brings back one of the most interesting of characters to stride through the mythic streets and overwhelming wilderness, the previous Sheriff of Fable Town, Bigby Wolf.

The theme of solitude and repentance lives long in the minds of many fables as it does in the eyes of humanity. The long road to freedom, to shake of the chains of dishonour is a road that many don’t realise they have to take when dealing in a modern world. It is a tricky one to master but it must be taken with every step accounted for and it is one in which Bigby Wolf has endured.

Fables: Wolves. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days). Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

In every season, in all great and interesting art, there must always come a small blip in the fabric of performance; so much so that the only real and humane thing to do is to treat it as perhaps filler between the good stuff. Not everything appeals all the time, not everything immediately grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shouts proudly down your ear-hole, “Adore me.”

Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days). Graphic Novel Review. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Stephen Fry, More Fool Me. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For many, indeed arguably millions, Stephen Fry has that modern disturbing invisible, perhaps slightly jingoistic moniker attached to his name that implies monetary wealth, rather than the importance he brings to the species as a whole and yet National Treasure he is and will be hopefully until the sad lamenting day when Q.I. has an empty host chair in sad rememberance.

Stephen Fry, More Fool Me. Book Review. full post

(579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Fables: Homelands. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

What do fables do when nobody is thinking of them? It’s pretty much the same for anybody that walks the planet sometimes feeling alone and un-thought of, if they don’t wallow in a pit of despair, they can get up to mischief or they can become a hero.

Fables: Homelands. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

The Wicked And The Divine, Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The ancients arguably had a better idea of what makes Humanity tick than the so called enlightened era in which the notion of one deity, in which ever guise you prefer to believe in, sits in judgement or peace loving affection you care to mention. Whether through the inter-changeable Gods of Rome and Greece or the Gods of Norse mythology and British Paganism, there was personal God for everybody and whichever one you believed in surely stoked the fires within you.

The Wicked And The Divine, Graphic Novel Review. full post

(643 words, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)

Fables: The Mean Seasons. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The war is over and now the stirrings of a Civil War in the family has begun to grumble down every side-street and political office in Fable Town. It is though a Civil War that will have to take place without either Snow White of the father of her children Bigby Wolf.

Fables: The Mean Seasons. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(730 words, estimated 2:55 mins reading time)