Truth and Fear - Peter Higgins

Investigator Lom returns to Mirgorod and finds the city in the throes of a crisis. The war against the Archipelago is not going well. Enemy divisions are massing outside the city, air raids are a daily occurrence and the citizens are being conscripted into the desperate defense of the city. 

But Lom has other concerns. The police are after him, the mystery of the otherworldly Pollandore remains and the vast Angel is moving, turning all of nature against the city. But will the horrors of war overtake all their plans?

My thoughts:

I had planned to save this for Friday, but ok you get 2 Higgins after each other :D I did not know I'd read it so fast. I just could not stop ;)

Look at that, I actually liked book 2 more. That does not happen a lot but here, maybe it was because now I knew the world, now I was truly invested, or maybe just because book 2 kicked it up a notch.

Lom and Maroussia return to the city. There are more to Lom than meets the eye and I do wonder about his origin. While Maroussia is no longer the confused woman on the run, she now has a goal. Together they must run from those who seek them. They get closer and closer to the Pollandore which might change the world. 

The world is still awesome. War is coming closer, the dictator is dead. The leadership of the city had changed, and yes the angel is still watching and playing. It was a constant fear for their lives, perfect.

Conclusion:

This book is about a journey through the city, fighting for your life, the search for something and what war do to people. And the end, oh that was rather evil wasn't it. Now I need more. Now I need to know what will happen to Vlast. Because, awesome.

Cover

Still so thriller looking

Paperback, 368 pages
Published March 20th 2014 by Gollancz (first published January 1st 2014)
Wolfhound Century #2
For review
Alternate history / thriller / detective

Wolfhound Century - Peter Higgins

Investigator Vissarion Lom has been summoned to the capital in order to catch a terrorist --- and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. A totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown terrorism with an iron fist. But Lom discovers Mirgorod to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Lom has been chosen because he is an outsider, not involved in the struggle for power within the party. And because of the sliver of angel stone implanted in his head.

My thoughts:

How to describe this one? How to do it justice? In Soviet Russia reviews writes you! Anyway...

Yes, this book takes place in a world that is ours, or maybe it is not our world. We have a "Russia" turned "Soviet", ruled by a ruthless dictator, revolutionaries running around in the streets bombing stuff, a war with a place called The Archipelago, and that is all we learn of that place. But that is only the beginning. There is a vast vast forest, there are creatures from Slavic mythology, there are Gods that left, and there was a war in the sky that broke the moon and made angels fall to earth and die. Their flesh used by scientist for their own gain, and one of those angels are still alive, huge, dark and hungry. Hey there was even "Finnish" giant. Now you might to understand that this was different. 

In this fascinating world an investigator named Lom is brought to the capital to find a terrorist. Instead he finds a conspiracy bigger than anything he could have imagined. A city killing itself, earth moving beneath his feet and a world that needs to be saved.

Conclusion:

So, it's a mystery, fantasy, alternate earth, detective story. Really different and honestly just cool.

Cover

It made me think more thriller and not this crazy mix

Paperback, 336 pages
Published January 9th 2014 by Gollancz (first published March 1st 2013)
Wolfhound Century #1
Alternate history / detective story /speculative fiction
For review