The Coldest Winter by Antony Johnston, Steven Perkins

Rating: WARTY!

I got this because it's purportedly related to the movie Atomic Blonde which is a really good movie. The problem is that this book, despite having Charlize Theron's image on the front, has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie, which is based on The Coldest City not The Coldest Winter. This is why I have nothing to do with Big Publishing because they're so shamelessly dishonest, it's disgraceful.

Nevertheless, I tried to give this a read and it was boring. The art is thick, ugly, smudgy black and white, and the book was unappealing in every way except that I could close it and return it to the library and pretend I never had it in my hands. That was the best part about it by far.

Umbral by Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten

Title: Umbral
Author: Antony Johnston
Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors
Rating: WORTHY!
Illustrated by John Rauch and Christopher Mitten

DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review.

Umbral tells a great story - a bit derivative of Greek mythology and a bit of Lord of the Rings while at the same time coming up with an original concept and a majorly kick-ass female main character. I fell in love with Rascal pretty much as soon as she opened her mouth!

Set in a fantasy kingdom, this story begins with Rascal, who was raised by thieves and smugglers, conspiring with her highly unlikely friend, the prince of the realm. They plan to steal a royal gem, the oculus, on the day when everyone's attention will be on an eclipse and the attendant celbrations, but instead what they witness is the slaughter of the king and queen by underworld creatures aka the Umbral (plural, the Umbral...).

The problem is, who will believe a thief like her? Her situation progressively deteriorates, but she manages, by the skin of her teeth to stay ahead of the underworld creatures even as she learns they can shape-shift to emulate humans.

Fortunately, there is a wizard at hand, and he informs a disbelieving Rascal that she has both a history and a destiny, something which the Umbral already seem to know....

This was a first class romp and I recommend it highly.