Temple of the Gods by Andy McDermott

Publisher: Headline
Pages: 544
Year: 2012 (Kindle 2011) (Pb 2 August 2012)
Buy: Hardback, Kindle, Paperback
Source: Bought copy

Review
Andy McDermott has been writing the adventures of American archaeologist Nina Wile and her ex-SAS Yorkshireman husband Eddie Chase since just 2008 and he has been prodigious. The latest, Temple of the Gods, is the eighth thriller in the series and one that received a slightly earlier release on the kindle than in its treebook format. When I heard that I snapped it up. I may have been late in discovering the appeal of the Wilde/Chase thrillers but I’ve made up for it by reading all eight in little over a year. This has also given me an advantage. The seventh novel Empire of Gold ended very differently from the books that preceded it – it ended on a cliffhanger that only immediate immersion in Temple of the Gods could satisfy. Therefore, you really should read Empire of Gold first. In fact, I would argue that you should give yourself a holiday treat and read the lot.

You don’t need me to tell you that suspension of belief is a desirable quality when reading archaeological thrillers. It is certainly rewarded here. And while one may have visited Atlantis so many times in thrillers that it’s almost as familiar as any other historical site that actually survives on a map, there’s a lot less justification for its existence here than say in The Gods of Atlantis by David Gibbins. Andy McDermott revels in it. In the first of the adventures, Nina and Eddie met during The Hunt for Atlantis and in this book they return to it, having found that their adventures elsewhere on the planet have all contained further clues to explain the ancient enigma of Atlantis, the hub of civilisation. All roads have led back.

But what roads they’ve been. Previous novels have taken us to pyramids, Glastonbury, lost Inca cities, a hidden valley in the Himalayas and more besides in what is essentially an Atlantean trail, not to mention a rogues gallery of meglomaniacs, all intent on taking over the world and killing as many people as possible while using the most devious of technologies. More than one of them has the added help of Sophia, Eddie’s previous wife who seems to have left the marriage with an overwhelming compulsion to kill her ex-husband.

There are formulae here – ancient nasty traps reminiscent of Indiana Jones, enemies made much earlier in life who pop up again and the inability of some people to just die, even with their arm stuffed inside a nuclear device or when they’re being chucked off a precipice. There is also a repetition through the series. Eddie and Nina flit between sauce and argument with the predictability of a set of traffic lights. Nevertheless, Eddie and Nina are very difficult to dislike. Even Eddie’s deafness – caused by close proximity to gunfire and bombs (including the nuclear variety) – is endearing. Nina’s Americanness and Eddie’s Yorkshire characteristics make for an interesting cultural clash (to put it politely). There is more tongue in Eddie’s cheek than is good for him.

But by this time in the series, we know the leads and some other characters very well and shocks that took place in Empire of Gold continue to resonate here. This eighth adventure is, as a result, a little different. This time, the emphasis is much less on archaeological discovery than on resolution. Despite that, the quest takes Eddie and Nina across the world as normal, escaping a succession of dangers by the skin of their teeth, and the pages fly by as normal.

It is likely that if this were the only Wilde/Chase adventure you picked up, it would mean much less to you that it would if it marked the continuation of your enjoyment of Nina and Eddie’s highly entertaining, energetic and funny ride. How about, then, setting your disbelief detectors to ‘off’ for the time being and diving in.

Broken Angels by Richard Morgan

Publisher: Gollancz
Pages: 480
Year: 2003 (this edn 2008)
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Bought copy

Review
As my science fiction odyssey continues, it was only a matter of time before I reacquainted myself with Kovacs, Richard Morgan’s cynical, unflinching and displaced protagonist, whom I first met in the remarkable Altered Carbon. It seems wrong to call Kovacs a ‘hero’ – the universe that Morgan envisages and creates is not a place for heroes.

Broken Angels isn’t a novel to read without having read its predecessor, Altered Carbon. From that novel, you’ll have learned that this universe is one in which life means less and death means more. That is because one’s ‘soul’ can be located in a small metal stack which lies at the base of the skull and can be ‘resleeved’ into the bodies of other humans or into clones. As long as the stack survives, life will continue, even if it has a face you can no longer recognise. When the stack is destroyed then this real death is all the more terrifying for its unusual finality.

In Altered Carbon, we saw the tragic and quite devastating repercussions of this body shifting on earth, when resleeving was predominantly for the rich, with the souls of the poor confined to virtual prisons or even oblivion and their bodies rented out to the wealthy. Broken Angels has a different perspective. Instead of human tragedy and a detective story, we’re taken off world to Sanction IV, a planet torn in two by war. Kovacs is now a mercenary fighting for the Wedge against Kemp’s rebellion. In this war, soldiers fight endlessly. Their mutilated bodies are rebuilt while, if they’re lucky, their minds can recover in a virtual pleasure dome. They are then thrown back into the fray.

Kovacs is distracted from the war by one of those Martian mysteries hinted at in the first novel. A gateway has been discovered that leads directly into space and a Martian starship, abandoned many, many years ago. Control of Martian technology is highly desirable and so Kovacs finds himself part of a team of resurrected soldiers and traumatised archaeologists whose aim is to reopen the gate and claim the ship.

Of course, it’s not that symbol. Others, from both sides of the war, want control of the gate and the discovery of bodies at the scene is a reminder that some may be nearer than had been thought.

Alongside the wonder of the Martian enigma and the quite beautiful remains of the vessel, we have the sheer brutality of the situation on Sanction IV. There are moments of horror here, the kind of horror that can send inhabitants of this universe insane. The title of the novel is very clever because there are broken angels everywhere, not just on the Martian ship. Kovacs has demons and the only way that he feels that he can survive here is to act in ways that, more than once, made me try to read the pages with eyes almost shut.

This universe is perfectly realised by Morgan, with it expanded to another dimension from Altered Carbon. It is a world abandoned by Martians, in which an individual has little control, where good has become lost in bad, and where alien technology offers dreams of solution but in reality is not understandable. Thoroughly absorbing science fiction mixes with a probing and disturbing look in to the human condition. Broken Angels is complex, raising questions about the nature of existence, and is both alarming and extremely rewarding. Kovac’s third journey is next and this time we’ll experience his own home world – Woken Furies.

The Gods of Atlantis by David Gibbins

Publisher: Headline
Pages: 576
Year: 2011
Buy: Paperback, Kindle
Source: Bought copy

Review
The publication of a new thriller by David Gibbins is always a pleasure, not least because you know what to expect and it’s very unlikely to disappoint. However, mixed in with that pleasure, there is likely to be a sprinkling of the mild exasperation and frustration that also invariably accompany a new Gibbins books, at least for me. Fortunately, because fans now feel such an affection for hero Jack Howard and his trusty friend Costas, these feelings become easier to bear and most definitely secondary to that enjoyment. Even better – The Gods of Atlantis is by far the best of the series that I’ve read and I loved every page of it.

The Gods of Atlantis returns marine archaeologist Jack to his first great discovery, Atlantis (which is covered in the first novel, fittingly enough entitled Atlantis). An underwater volcanic eruption has left the ruins on the very brink of destruction and Jack and Costas grab the chance to return for one last dive. Their aim is to unravel the clues inscribed on to ancient pillars or painted on to cavern walls which hint at the reasons behind the demise of Atlantis and the possible creation of a new civilisation far away, an Atlantis reborn.

This quest continues the mystery of the palladion, the gold disc or key marked with the symbols of Atlantis, which played such an important role in Gibbins’ last novel The Mask of Troy. This object was found by Schliemann and then stolen by Nazis. Not surprisingly, then, in the quest for the new Atlantis, Jack and Costas must delve deep into the last days of the Third Reich, focusing in particular on a bunker hidden away in the forests, concealing horrors, a tower in Berlin Zoo filled to the brim with humanity during the closing days of the war, and Himmler’s castle, built as if it had been resurrected by King Arthur. Stories intermingle, clues take us from the days of Atlantis, to the 1940s and to the present day, and flashbacks co-exist with the discoveries of Jack and Costas as they travel around the globe. Needlesstosay, Jack and Costas are not alone in wanting to discover the palladion and the terrible secret that it unlocks.

David Gibbins’ thrillers aren’t typical quest thrillers. If you wanted thrilling gun battles by the dozen, car chases across mountains and through city streets, and more dead bodies that you can shake a cat at, then you’d be disappointed. There are these things – or at least some of them – but they’re few and far between. Instead, what we have is an adventure of discovery. Archaeological and historical clues are sought, discovered, explained and then used to move on to the next clue. They take pieces from the earlier novels and use them to help build a very thorough and convincing backdrop for these new discoveries. There are run-ins with the bad guys, there are scenes of great peril – and they are exciting scenes – but these are most definitely secondary to the history and the context, whether that context is Neolithic, Trojan or Nazi.

Personally, I have no problem with this at all. I’m fascinated by the history and, as an archaeologist, there’s plenty here to keep me reading the book until well into the night. My issue with David Gibbins’ novels has always been that too much of the valuable context is placed in the mouths of the characters. This is not the right place for it. Too many times, Jack or Costas, or any number of their colleagues and friends, will take time out to stand and explain the history behind something, their family history, their career, the story of an object, the archaeology of a site, their flying skill, the makeup of wall plaster and so on and so on. Take these expositions out of peoples’ mouths and the books would be much better. However, they’re there and the only thing you can do is tut a little and just appreciate the information that’s packed in. Fortunately, there are also moments of dialogue between Jack and Costas that made me laugh out loud.

Obviously, a novel like this requires a leap of faith and some suspension of disbelief, not least because of the coincidences. Again, David Gibbins is more fascinated by the history and archaeology (ancient and Nazi) than he is with plot but if you can accept the Atlantis element of the story you can certainly accept that a main character’s old aunt was central to the whole mystery. My other slight misgiving was that a couple of characters, to my mind, would have been too old but again they’re such good characters belief was happily suspended.

You don’t need to have read any of Gibbins’ earlier novels to read and enjoy The Gods of Atlantis. Indeed, this is by far the best I’ve read and it could even be a good one to start with. However, it does give away the plot of a couple – Atlantis and The Mask of Troy – so do bear that in mind. I haven’t read The Last Gospel (about Herculaneum) but the references to it in this book make me very keen to read it.

David Gibbins is a marine archaeologist just like his hero. He is genuinely fascinated and enthused by the mysteries of the past and he is also very knowledgeable about his subject. If you share this interest, as I do, then spending a few days with The Gods of Atlantis is well worth it and I can’t wait for the next one.