Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell

The Blurb On The Back:

In 1944, as waves of German ninjas parachute into Kent, Britain’s best hopes for victory lie with a Spitfire pilot codenamed ‘Ack-Ack Macaque’. The trouble is, Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, and he’s starting to doubt everything, including his own existence.

A century later, in a world where France and Great Britain merged in the late 1950s and nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole her electronic soul. In Paris, after taking part in an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, the heir to the British throne goes on the run. And all the while, the doomsday clock ticks towards Armageddon …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Gareth Powell’s SF novel is a thoroughly entertaining, fun-filled adventure packed with ideas and wry humour that kept me turning the pages to the end and I will definitely be buying the sequel.

Sun Catcher by Sheila Rance

The Blurb On The Back:

Maia has been brought up by Tareth, silk weaver and warrior, who she has always believed is her father. But on her thirteenth birthday she begins an adventure that will lead her to a kingdom poisoned by bitterness and jealousies. A kingdom that she must save. Maia, of course, is no ordinary girl. The flame-haired outsider among the Cliff-Dwellers, she doesn’t want to listen to the song of the silk, or the terrifying words of the village Watcher. Guarding her secret, denying her future, Maia journeys to places she has never explored where she’ll encounter mercenaries, spies, friends and enemies. And where she will face her destiny as a Sun Catcher.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Sheila Rance’s debut YA fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is an interesting tale set in a bronze age world filled with intrigue, adventure and ideas but the pacing is uneven with the gradual world building of the first half offset by a break neck turn of events in the final third. Although Maia’s a spirited character determined to make her own future, there’s an air of predictability to her adventures, which isn’t helped by the inevitable YA love triangle with Rezek and Kodo and ultimately there wasn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.