Please note, Ghosts is book four in The Voices series. If you haven’t read the three books that precede this then there will most definitely be spoilers ahead.  Seven years ago, the voices came. Some people could hear and others despised them for it. As death and destruction spread, a ghostly figure was waiting in the shadows. Now the Flitting Man is ready to show his face – and no one is safe. Pilgrim was made for this broken world. He’s chosen his path and will stop at nothing to see it through. Lacey grew up in this changing world. She’s lost almost everything to the Flitting Man, but her fight isn’t over yet. Albus sees this world as others cannot. And the friends that he’s kept safe are facing terrible danger. Addison belongs to a very different world. She might just be the future, if she survives… If you are a regular reader of The Eloquent Page, then you know I normally write long rambling reviews about the books I read. I wax lyrical about how the writing made me feel. What I liked and what I thought of the characters, basically all manner of book-related waffle. I find…

Please note, Survivors is the third book in an ongoing series. If you haven’t read books one and two then what follows is likely to contain some potentially spoilery type elements. Consider yourself duly warned.  There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who hear voices, and those who want to silence them. Pilgrim is a man with a past he can’t remember. When he wakes alone in a shallow grave, there is a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. It explains who he is and what he’s done. It tells him he has one purpose: to find a girl named Lacey. As Pilgrim is drawn north to Missouri in search of Lacey, he must also travel back to where it all began – to those he left behind. War is coming, and Pilgrim is going to need all the allies he can get. Chances are that if you’re reading this, then you’ve already discovered this series of books and, like me, you’ve been waiting eagerly for Survivors to arrive. The good news is that the wait has been well worth it. G X Todd is back with another slice of post-apocalyptic drama, and it…

Please note Hunted is the second book in The Voices series. If you haven’t read Defender, then it is highly likely this review will contain spoilers. Consider yourself duly warned… The birds are flying. The birds are flocking. The birds know where to find her. One man is driven by a Voice that isn’t his. It’s killing his sanity and wrestling with it over and over like a jackal with a bone. He has one goal. To find the girl with a Voice like his own. She has no one to defend her now. The hunt is on. But in an Inn by the sea, a boy with no tongue and no Voice gathers his warriors. Albus must find Lacey … before the Other does. And finish the work his sister, Ruby began. Hunted is the second book in the highly acclaimed Voices series, where the battle between Good and Evil rages on. And on. I’ll begin with an admission. Now I know it might sound a bit weird, but if I could only read one type of story ever again it would mostly likely be some sort of apocalyptic fiction. Over the years I have read many variations of…

In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road. The moment locks them together. Here and now it’s dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet. These voices have purpose. And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn’t know it yet. I’ve said this in the past and I’ll say it again now – I have a soft spot in my heart for apocalyptic fiction. I love nothing better than a good apocalypse. Last year I read about half a dozen books that had a distinctly end of the world type vibe. The Fireman by Joe Hill, The Ship by Antonia Honeywell, and The Last of Us by Rob Ewing were all extremely good examples. Why this fascination with the end of all things as we know it? It’s simple. I am consumed with wanting/needing to know what happens next. For me, the very best examples of apocalyptic fiction suggest to us how humanity will change. It is all about questioning our place in the universe. What…

2018 is all but done, so it’s time once again for me to dig my judging hat out of storage and cast my beady eye over the last twelve months here at The Eloquent Page. Before all the excitement and accolades, some thrilling numbers for all you stat fans out there. Since 1st January I’ve read fifty-eight books. Forty-one of those fall into the categories of either fantasy, sci fi or horror. Conversely, crime, action/adventure, and historical fiction were all pretty thin on the ground. I’ve written fifty-three thousand five  hundred words of book-related review waffle and, most importantly, thoroughly enjoyed myself to boot. Now time for the awards. As ever, what follows is a random assortment of plaudits, each of my own devising. The “End of the World and I Feel Fine Award” for the Apocalypse in Fiction – Tough group this year. The Feed by Nick Clark Windo was brilliant. Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone was suitably bonkers (flesh eating spiders are wonderfully icky). Hunted by G X Todd continued The Defender series, and was both thoughtful and immersive. So many great books in one of my favourite categories. I do love the end of the world. My…

Welcome to The Eloquent Page’s annual awards/review of the year (2017 Edition). Ten awards created at random for your delectation and delight. The rules remain deliciously simple. I make up a series of categories and I choose a winner. Eligibility is also easy, if I’ve read it this year, it’s eligible. First some stats (I apologise, I’m a stat whore and so I’m often compelled to start throwing numbers around). I’ve read sixty-one books this year. There were an additional fifteen I started but didn’t finish. Fantasy fiction featured most heavily with twenty-two books, while Horror came a close second with seventeen. My longest review was one thousand two hundred and thirty-four words long, my shortest was four hundred and twenty-eight. The total number of review words written in 2017? A suitably satisfying fifty-two thousand and sixty-six words. “Enough of this statistical folderol”, I hear you cry. Alrighty then. Please take your seats and direct your attention towards the stage. Without further ado on with the show… The “They’re Good Dogs Brent” Award for Canines in Fiction – For some inexplicable reason, 2017 seemed to feature more dogs in fiction than in previous years. Adrian Tchaikovsky brought us Dogs of…

Jack Corman is failing at life. Jobless, jaded and facing the threat of eviction, he’s also reeling from the death of his father, one-time film director Bob Corman. Back in the eighties, Bob poured his heart and soul into the creation of his 1986 puppet fantasy The Shadow Glass, but the film flopped on release and Bob was never the same again. In the wake of Bob’s death, Jack returns to his decaying childhood home, where he is confronted with the impossible — the puppet heroes from The Shadow Glass are alive, and they need his help. Tipped into a desperate quest to save the world from the more nefarious of his father’s creations, Jack teams up with an excitable fanboy and a spiky studio exec to navigate the labyrinth of his father’s legacy and ignite a Shadow Glass resurgence that could, finally, do Bob proud.  I still remember it vividly; when I was eight years old The Dark Crystal was released. I remember being enthralled and terrified in equal measure. This wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before. There was a darkness in the story that I had never encountered. The good guys were undoubtedly good, but the…

Please note, The Saints of Salvation is the final book in The Salvation Sequence. If you haven’t read Salvation and Salvation Lost then what follows is going to contain some minor spoilers. My advice would be to toddle off and read them both first. You can thank me later.  Live in hiding – or die for freedom Humanity welcomed the Olyix and their utopian technology. But mankind was tricked. Now these visitors are extracting a terrible price. For two years, the Olyix have laid siege to Earth, harvesting its people for their god. One by one, cities are falling to their devastating weaponry. And while millions have fled to seek refuge in space, others continue to fight an apparently unwinnable war. As Earth’s defeat draws near, a team attempts to infiltrate the Salvation of Life – the Olyix’s arkship. If it succeeds, those chosen will travel to a hidden enclave thousands of light years away. Once there, they must signal its location to future generations, to bring the battle to the enemy. Maybe allies scattered throughout space and time can join forces. Yet in the far future, humanity are still hunted by their ancient adversary. And as forces battle on…

KnightWatch Press is proud to present Sunny, with a Chance of Zombies: a sensational selection of strangely uplifting stories to help raise a smile at the end of the world. “This is gonna sound a bit weird, but do you think all people taste this good, or just zombies, or just this zombie?” Our authors have dug deep to bring you brand new tales of anarchy, heartbreak and revenge, leavened with a little bit of love, life and laughter. Within these pages you’ll find a variety of zombies, from the classic Shamblers to the Working Dead and the sentient Other. Ranged against them are a motley bunch of survivors. Some will take cynical advantage of the situation whilst others try to build a better life in the dead new world. “Pop bought me my first zom when I was eighteen. She was a real bitch; wiry and evil, and she won me a few races before her left leg dropped off and she couldn’t race no more.” We’ve got all sorts waiting in store for you here, from necromancy to technomancy; savagery to comedy; lovers, liars, looters, and the very tenderest of tragedy. All in all, the outlook’s good. I…

Todd and Jodi have been together for more than twenty years. They are both aware their world is in crisis, though neither is willing to admit it.  Todd is living a dual existence, while Jodi is living in denial. But she also likes to settle scores. When it becomes clear their affluent Chicago lifestyle could disintegrate at any moment, Jodi knows everything is at stake. It’s only now she will discover how much she’s truly capable of… Viewed from the outside Todd and Jodi appear to have the perfect life. He is a self-made man who enjoys all the finer things that life has to offer. She is a successful therapist who likes everything to be just so. Beneath the thin veneer of their ideal existence however, the truth is actually far from perfect. Todd is a serial philanderer while Jodi is so far in denial it is slowly eating her up from the inside out. This isn’t the sort of novel that I would normally pick up, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. The Silent Wife is a fascinating story. It works on multiple levels, part character study, part psycho-analysis, part thriller. The chapters alternate between Todd and Jodi’s…

In a world where ZOMBIES control banks and governments, only one young man sees the way things are and emerges from the CHAOS and destruction: GUY BOY MAN. While he tries to end human suffering worldwide and in his high school, Guy Boy Man meets a cute PINK-HAIRED girl named BABY DOLL15 who has a UNICORN that follows her everywhere. An EPIC ROMANCE begins, but forces BEYOND THEIR CONTROL are intent on keeping the young couple apart. One of those FORCES may—or may not be!—Guy Boy Man’s closest friend, a handsome African-American NINJA named SWEETIE HONEY; another could be four EXOTICALLY BEAUTIFUL, genetically engineered and behaviourally modified EASTERN EUROPEAN girls; yet another, the principal of their HIGH SCHOOL . . . not to mention an impending standardized test known as the ZOMBIE ACCEPTANCE TEST! Will Guy Boy Man find a way to be with Baby Doll15 in a WORLD WHERE EVERYONE IS DOOMED to become either zombies or zombie food??!! There is absolutely no way to get around the fact that this book is extremely weird. The zombies may or may not be actual zombies. The main protagonist may be a highly intelligent genius or may in fact be an…