Bane of Kings reviews James Lovegrove’s Gig, a collection of two Novellas focusing on the same story, published by Anarchy Books. As Gig isn’t as long as a normal novel, the review will be shorter than an average review.

“A superb idea that is brilliantly executed. Lovegrove proves once again that he cannot let you down. ” ~The Founding Fields

 

James Lovegrove is one of my favourite underrated authors, especially after his amazing Pantheon Trilogy and his work on Redlaw, so I leapt at the chance to review Gig, a collection of two novellas that focus on one story told from two different points of view, and due to the nature of the fact that I got the PDF copy, I was able to read both parts on my many bus journeys that I have to reluctantly partake in daily.

Mik Dyer is a rock star, the famous singer of the fictional band God Dog, and Kim Reid is his number one fan. Both have completely opposite lifestyles, and have only ever met once.  Mik though, has had enough of the shallowness and blankness of his current lifestyle, and wants to put an end to it all.

That’s where Kim comes in, who is willing to do anything that Mik wishes, and as God Dog return home for their final tour gig, the audience are in for a night that they will never forget, and the music is not just the only things that the crowd will hear.

The two novellas are entitled Mik and Kim, and follow both characters’ views on the story, and Lovegrove has turned the somewhat odd idea of the two novellas, and has combined them together to create a tale that will have both fans of Lovegrove’s writing, and newcomers alike, hooked.

Gig is set in an alternate Britain where fans of music are much more serious than they are in real life, and provides some amusing moments that attempt to lighten the dark tone that runs throughout Lovegrove’s work, first published as a limited edition hardcover book back in 2004.

I can safely say that Gig was an enjoyable book, and I can continue to say that I’ve liked all of Lovegrove’s books that I’ve read, and although Gig is not my favourite (That belongs to The Age of Odin/Zeus), it is certainly one of the better works by James Lovegrove that I’ve read, and plus – Kim and Mik are quite cheap if you want to pick up a digital copy. (As far as I’m aware, you can only pick them up as a digital copy.)

As mentioned before, you can buy either Kim or Mik and read one of them without buying the other novella, but when combined it will allow you to get a better picture of Lovegrove’s tale, and allow you to enjoy it much more than you would have done otherwise. I personally read Mik first, and I think this would have been the best way to do it, as you get to hear Mik’s tale before you’ve heard Kim’s, and in my opinion, Mik’s is better, although Kim, despite her being the complete opposite of Mik, the evil to Mik’s good, is a sympathetic character that helps convey the story well.

Even with both novellas, Gig still leaves a few questions unanswered, but sadly, this is a one-off and I don’t think we’re going to be seeing any more stories in this universe, which is a slight downside to these two novellas.

Mik is told through the eyes of Dave Noon, despite the lead role clearly being Mik himself, and this is one of the many ways why it’s separated from Kim, as the aforementioned novella is told entirely through the eyes of Kim, like Harry Potter, limiting us to this person’s viewpoint but in third person.

Kim is clearly the more amusing of the two novellas, with Chapter 3 being a particular highlight for me, and any Beatles fan should enjoy it

The writing itself is fast paced, and you find yourself turning the pages of the eBook quite quickly, and especially seeing as this is shorter than your average book you will get through Gig pretty fast indeed, and when you reach the final page of the final novella, you can only want more from Lovegrove.

Verdict: 4/5

 More James Lovegrove: The Age of Ra, The Age of Odin, The Age of Zeus, Redlaw, Dead Brigade, Kill Swap, The House of Lazarus.