N.P. Griffiths's Blog

Last month, a great fantasy series with epic ideas and motion picture production values came to an end. Of course, so did Game of Thrones, but that’s not what I’m talking about. After three seasons Penny Dreadful has finished and by that I don’t mean we’ve had the seasonal finale plastered all over the papers and it’ll be back next year, I mean that’s it, that’s your lot, folks, there’s no more, nada, nothing, not a sausage.

Which is a shame really as Penny Dreadful was one of the bravest bits of programming I think I’ve ever seen on mainstream television. It’s worth remembering here that, where HBO is pay-per-view and has a reputation for adult drama, Showtime is a subsidiary of CBS with all the caveats that brings. The decision to make a prime time drama for TV involving gore, fantasy and non-traditional leads would have been unthinkable ten years ago. The success of True Blood and the sudden emergence of Game of Thrones changed all that and it could be argued that Penny Dreadful was ShowTime’s response to HBO’s success but I don’t think that this is the case. There were far more obvious projects that could have been optioned if they had chosen to go down that route. From Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time behemoth (which has now been optioned by an as yet un-named TV studio) to Terry Goodkind’s The Sword of Truth series, Showtime was spoilt for choice when it came to epic fantasy source material.

Instead they chose to go down the route of commissioning an original (sort of) series that brought together many of the characters that have been engrained in our psyche since childhood thanks to authors from two centuries ago. They did this in 19th century London, with actors who, whilst outstanding in their field, would not necessarily have been too well known in the United States (Josh Hartnett being the honourable exception here) which, I guess, was the primary audience Showtime were looking at when they commissioned it.

This was a risk as mash ups like this do not have a great track record when to comes to commercial success as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in 2003, and any film which has the title of ‘someone v someone else’ have proven on more than a few occasions. The reason is usually the same, namely that we have far too many characters and personalities looking for their own screen time which means that spectacle takes over and storytelling is pushed to a poor second place. Also, these characters often lived in their own intricately created universes prior to being rudely displaced by a movie producer with one eye on box office revenue. The problem then becomes one of explaining the reason behind the sudden relocation of said characters and this is nigh on impossible in a two to two and a half hour film if you actually want to tell a story as well.

The solution to this? Well it’s two fold and Marvel seemed to have sussed the first one out quite nicely. It’s the origin story. Give your characters their own films prior to bringing them together in a blockbuster. If you get it right, the audience cares for your heroes, bleeds with them and cries on their behalf when tragedy strikes. More importantly from the studio’s perspective they will want to come back for more. And if you get it wrong? Well, you end up with a big hole in your balance sheet come year end.

As for the second solution? It’s something that has become far more respectable in the last fifteen years or so. Simply put it is television. Television allows you to build up your story and your characters over multiple weeks and multiple series so that you can explain character arcs and tell a story that would be far too complex to put on a big screen.

And this is where Penny Dreadful comes in.

Penny Dreadful has kind of flown under the radar since its inception in 2014. This is in large part because Game of Thrones has basically flattened anything in its path to all conquering global domination. But the fact that this series was made at all is in large part due to the completely unexpected success of the latter as well as the likes of American Horror Story, true Blood etc. No one expected GoT to get the audience it did when it was first shown on HBO in 2011 (seriously, was it that long ago)? I mean dragons, princesses and dwarves, Really? Those were the sort of things that should be confined to the bedrooms of geeky teens and geeky *ahem* post-teens, right? Well, it turned out not so much and HBO had a completely unexpected hit on their hands.

So, armed with the knowledge that the viewing audience now had an appetite for the spectacle, bloodshed and, let’s be honest, acres of nudity that fantasy brought, other channels decided to get in on the act.

But in Penny Dreadful ShowTime created a different beast. Where Game of Thrones was high fantasy, a sprawling, sometimes rambling and seriously bloody epic, Penny Dreadful was gothic, subdued and laced with an underlying menace that always hinted at something terrifying around the corner. Gone were the fields of soldiers, dragons and giants with magnificent citadels and castles as backdrops. In were alleyways soaked through with grime and poverty, salons that played host to society balls and old gothic houses you wouldn’t be caught dead in (even if you were dead). Penny Dreadful did dark, smoky and Victorian better than anybody. The gore was used sparingly but was all the more shocking for that when it did appear and you were always close to the victim due to the nature of the scene and the excellence of the screenplay.

The next thing that the show’s creators did was a thing of (in my opinion) genius. They went out and got a cast that, whilst not necessarily household names, had for the most part been trained in the theatre and who were all at the absolute top of their game. Combine this with a screenplay that has some of the most sublime dialogue in television and you have a very potent combination. The pathos brought to screen by the likes of Rory Kinnear playing John Clare AKA Frankenstein’s monster and the sheer versatility of Eva Green’s performance as Vanessa Ives anchor a show that sees characters swapping both gender and ethnicity. The fresh portrayal of characters like Dr Jekyll and Dr Seward are just two examples of an approach that brings new life to characters that have been familiar to fans of the genre for generations. It has also allowed the creators of the series to take liberties with the storyline in so much as John Clare is an eloquent creature aware of his predicament and, for the most part, far more human than those he is surrounded by and Dr Seward, far from being a bookish, slightly loopy, British physician is a woman from New York who killed her violent husband before escaping to London. Like I say liberties have been taken but to good effect. This is intelligent storytelling that sucks you in and scares the crap out of you on occasion.

So what’s next? Well, hopefully, this won’t be the last that we hear of the gothic genre. There are two more series of Game of Thrones scheduled. They’re going to be a little later coming to our screens than the last six seasons due to the fact that the world of Westeros is now in winter and that needs, you know, snow to film in. MTV has commissioned a second season of The Shannara chronicles and AMC are producing spin-offs to The Walking Dead. Combine that with the likes of Netflix producing output like Hemlock Grove, Shadowhunters and Stranger Things and it looks like, at least for now, that fantasy and horror fans will not be going short of options for their viewing pleasure.

But as for Penny Dreadful, well I guess it’s goodbye. It was dark and scary and utterly compelling while it lasted and, if there is any justice, it will find an audience and a life far beyond that which it had on Showtime and, over here in the UK, on Sky Atlantic.

I've been away from this for a long time but I've done a guest blog for author Jenny Kane's website, which has just been posted today.

I've written about my inspirations for my first book, Isabella's Heiress, and how it is that we are surrounded by ancient elements of our cities (in this case the City of London) and often don't even realise it.

From Roman amphitheatres to Anglo-Saxon burial sites that are now part of our public parks, we often have no idea what there is around and below us as we walk bye.

Read on by clicking the link below and let me know if you have any little known places where you live that are just waiting to be discovered.

http://goo.gl/Z5RZUP

With the season finales of Game of Thrones and Penny Dreadful now behind us is it time to ask whether Game of Thrones has lost its way? The shock effect of the final episode aside, this seasons Game of Thrones has been slower, less satisfying and, at least for me, more than a little disappointing. There can be no arguing with the quality of the acting or directing, all this is superb, but the slow pace of many of the story arcs this season meant that the season had a bloated feel to it in the middle episodes that hasn’t been seen in previous seasons. Part of the problem here is that there are now several competing storylines which all demand airtime and are inevitably edited in such a way as to give equal time to each. The end result however appears to be a slowing down in the narrative. This is not necessarily a problem for the established storylines as the viewer is already invested in these but when new characters come along such is the gargantuan size of HBO’s vision that they inevitably lack the time to fully develop them. The Sand Snakes are a good example of this. They were hyped quite heavily before the season aired but they received very little airtime and when they were on they came across as pretty one dimensional. I think this was a problem directly linked to my first point about their lack of airtime and, hopefully, this will be something that will evolve over season six.

Whilst there is no evidence of fans deserting Game of Thrones, the problem for HBO is that there are now other channels becoming increasingly adept at bringing their own flavours of fantasy and horror to the screen. This is especially evident in Showtime’s Penny Dreadful which has just been commissioned for a third season (albeit at nine episodes, one short of this seasons run) and is going from strength to strength. The Gothic horror brings different characters from literature, as well as some created specifically for the series, to life in a dark Victorian landscape. Its mash up of Grand Guignol and human interest is something that only a few years ago would not have been seen on TV. The seriousness with which channels like Showtime and Sky take this is underlined by the quality of the cast which includes Timothy Dalton, Simon Russell-Beale and Josh Hartnett revolving around an outstanding central performance by Eva Green.

The human interest element throws up another problem with this seasons Game of Thrones in that most of the characters seem to have become a lot less likeable. I know that this is probably to be expected as they become hardened to the events that take place around them but the problem with that is that we stop caring about them as viewers. With the honourable exception of Sansa Stark and Tyrian Lannister it seemed that everybody in Westeros had had a humanity bypass (okay, I guess we can add Jaimie Lannister to the other two as well but, let’s be honest, he was starting from a pretty low base.) The sheer breadth and spectacle of the show is amazing but there comes a point when something has to become of all the journeying and training.

Throw in the excellent adaptation of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and it is clear that all the mainstream channels are now discovering what HBO have known for some years, that there is a audience for adult orientated fantasy and that the market for this shows no sign of abating. Whilst this is good for us as an audience this could be a problem for HBO as audiences are notoriously fickle and if they become bored with one thing they will inevitably go looking for something to take its place. With the strong reviews for Penny Dreadful, this may end up being that ‘something else’. Right now it has a hardcore following of fans of the genre but this was the same for GoT for the first season until word got out. At the time HBO were in a good position due to the complete absence of competition and they should be applauded for taking a leap in to the dark with a genre piece that traditionally only has a limited audience. This, however, is no longer the case.

Game of Thrones is in many ways a victim of its own success and is by no means a busted flush but the sense of anticipation that I felt last year and in the years before that has now gone and been replaced by a kind of ‘meh’ feeling that means I watch it because I’ve watched everything that came before. Will I watch season six, yep, absolutely, but I really hope that the scriptwriters tighten the narrative as it is in real danger of losing the plot.

Isabella’s Heiress opens on a battlefield in 1648 in Dresden. Isabella Calabria is leading the ranks and fighting when she disappears.

Fast forward to modern-day London, and to Emma Elliott who finds herself in a strange situation.

She is near London Bridge where she works, yet something is off. The priest father Eamon is with Emma and he explains to her that she has been in an accident has passed away and is now in purgatory. She has to stay here until it is decided where her soul will go next because she has unfinished business and because she also died too soon.

Truths about this twilight world are revealed to Emma as she struggles to understand where she is and finds that there is evil lurking around dark corners. On top of that, she keeps being mistaken for Isabella Calabria, the stuff of legend.

With Father Eamon’s training, Emma learns to cross over from twilight London into other strange dimensions.

Speaking of Father Eamon, he quickly became a favorite character. He eventually reveals her the task she must complete on her own in order to essentially save her soul and leave this twilight world. Taryn was Emma’s best friend in real life and the two are reunited here. Soon enough Emma finds herself not only trying to complete her task but trying to save her friend as well before it is too late.

Isabella’s Heiress is one of those books that just sweeps you away to another time and place.

I enjoyed the storytelling, the wonderful world building and the strong female lead. Twilight London was well written as were the other dimensions, they were dark and scary places. Griffiths has a knack for creating a rich atmosphere and for giving the story twists and turns. There is danger lurking around every corner and I found Emma running into some unique characters and places.

She ignored him, concentrating instead on the deep orange and red glow, which silhouetted the Tower of London and Tower Bride as a crackling sound was carried on the wind. The smell of smoke and dust hit the back of her throat while on a boiling Thames, ships bobbed aimlessly at anchor.

p. 49, Isabella’s Heiress by N.P. Griffiths

There is plenty of adventure within these pages and I was pulled into the story easily. I did however, want to read more about Isabella Calabria and the prophecy, so maybe in the next book? There were some things left unanswered.

The ending leaves it wide open for the next installment.

Special thanks to the publicist for my review copy of Isabella’s Heiress.

Disclaimer: This review is my honest opinion. I did not receive any kind of compensation for reading and reviewing this book. I am under no obligation to write a positive review. I received my free copy of Isabella’s Heiress via the publicist.

 

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Premise: Isabella’s Heiress provides an interesting and intriguing premise, bringing to life the idea of a purgatory-like concept, where those that die before their time are provided the opportunity to gain their way into heaven by completing a set task, or are delivered into the hands of their enemy to be tortured on their way to hell.

The main character, Emma Elliot, is a woman in her late twenties who finds herself in this strange realm, a version of London that reflects the centuries and times of the past in dark and dreary manners. Emma discovers early on in her time there that the people of this realm believe her to be the reincarnation of a heroine from the 1600s, named Isabella, which would make Emma the answer to a prophecy made after Isabella mysteriously disappeared during a battle between her family and her enemy.

Emma must complete her task in the allotted time, all the while trying to figure out her role amidst the prophecies and the impending war that will leak out from these planes where the dead roam into the real world.

Thoughts: The premise of the story itself was quite intriguing. As someone who loves stories about other planes of existence, angels, death, and all the things that surround it, the story definitely leapt out at me as one that could be of interest. The prologue of the story, which introduces us to Isabella and her strange demise, sets up the reader for quite the ride, as this young woman’s role in what is transpiring in the spirit world is hinted at being a very big deal.

Coming up with what I would rank the story in a five star setting was difficult. The writing itself was very good, easy to read, and engaging and descriptive enough to paint a solid picture of what was going on around and throughout. One need not be familiar with London or it’s history to get a strong mental image of the setting, and the details of the setting. The author’s ability to weave his knowledge, interest, and ideas from different concepts into the story was quite obvious.

Where I struggled with the rating was in two specific areas: one, the introduction into the story. It was very long, and drawn out, taking nearly 100 pages into the book for anything to actually start happening. I say this acknowledging that there are readers out there who appreciate long, drawn out introductions to allow them time to understand the character, the setting, and the difficulty of the task set before the MC. For myself, however, I am a fast-pace reader. I like enough of the intro to know what is going on, before an immediate dive into the story.

That being said, once I made it past the first 100 pages, the story picked up quite nicely, and was engaging enough that I flew through the rest of the book in less than two hours, and was unable to put it down. It was emotional, it was action-packed, and it had enough going on that I simply had to know what happened next.

The whole concept of the story was incredible – could you imagine if each of us had to learn how to manipulate the living world, objects in it, and people in order to complete one final, heart-wrenching task that would allow us to pass through the pearly gates after our death?

Another struggle came in with the end of the story and how it played out. For all the build up of who Emma was, and what her connection and her completing her task was meant to be, there wasn’t much of an end for that. There also wasn’t really much of a connection between Emma and Isabella, despite the build up of what Isabella’s return was supposed to mean.

Conclusion: On the five-star ranking system, I would give Isabella’s Heiress 4 out of 5 stars. The book has a lot of potential, presents incredible concepts, and an interesting premise. The book was really long, which to me is a good thing, but it lacks in follow-through in my opinion. It’s the kind of story that could make a great series; there is so much to explore, and there are so many potential lines the story could have taken. I would definitely like to see a sequel to the book, to see what happens after the story ends.

I think I would have liked to have seen a deeper look into the Cordoban Council (the ‘good’ guys) and the Cado Angelus (the Fallen Angels), the connection with the church in our world, and how Emma effects all of their goals. The story touches on each of those ever so briefly, without full explanation or depth, and I feel like having more about all those areas would have made for a much stronger story.

I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who likes exploring ideas of life after death, other planes, spirituality and everything else connected to it. It’s also one that will end up on my ‘to be reread’ shelf at least a couple of times. I’ll also be keeping my fingers crossed that N.P. Griffiths will be writing more books from this story, as you can bet I will be picking them up if he does.

With today’s review, I also have a free e-book of Isabella’s Heiress to give away! To be entered into the draw for the book, please comment that you are interested. I will make the draw next Thursday!

 

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First of all this is a very long book, and the beginning I found to be very slow. It starts out with the heroine, Emma Elliott being killed in an accident, and suddenly found in a very mist covered version of London. Emma is approached by Father Eamon who does his best to explain to her that she is dead and she must accept that fact and come with him to the Sanctuary. (All of this is then explained during their long walk). In the Sanctuary, she even meets friends she’d known but had lost contact with over the years.

Fr. Eamon explains to Emma that she is in-between planes; he is her guardian; and she has a quest she must complete to decide which way she could spend her future in (think good vs. bad). What Fr.Eamon doesn’t explain to Emma, until much later in the book, is that she is a very special person who could definite the world in a big way. While working to complete her task – after so many forays out of the Sanctuary to complete this mission Emma couldn’t help but notice people staring at her and some even frightened by her! It takes some time though before she discovers the reason as to just how special she actually is.

What was interesting was how she could cross the planes from being noticed in that misty plane to the present day where people could walk through and not see her. As the book progresses she learns more things which only lead to more and more questions and Fr. Eamon didn’t seem too keen on giving Emma all the answers.

The character of Emma was okay, but I never got that warm fuzzy feel I generally get with a lead character I really like. It’s possible that the slower pace of this book was a bit of a turn off, and some of the relatively graphic descriptions of some of the monsters and plague victims were really not to my taste. Unfortunately, I found this tome very hard to get through. The ending was very good, but let me just say I was happy to get through it.

Bottom line: Writing was very good, it just wasn’t my cuppa and the slowness and long length made it tough to finish.

 

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Emma Elliot used to be a British Attorney with a normal life, until one day her life was brought to an abrupt, untimely end. She wakes up in a place that she is told is the realm between heaven and hell, and with every new move she makes in her new reality, she becomes more confused than ever before. It’s not long before she makes friends, and in time discovers that this world she now resides has more danger than she could’ve imagined. While wrestling with the problems and attachments to her old life, Emma must also deal with the enormous part she is about to play in this epic journey.

One of the things that stands out the most in Isabella’s Heiress is how this fantasy story is set in the wonderful city of London. This novel ties together the modern day world with a fantasy realm perfectly, and it makes it all the more fun to read. The novel is not only exciting and thrilling to read, but it also contains themes like forgiveness, and calls all the readers to understand the importance of forgiving others but also yourself. This book is very well written and shoulder appeal to everyone who likes reading supernatural thrillers. It isn’t a quick read, but it’s not hard to read at all. Isabella’s Heiress gets **** stars.

 

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Isabella’s Heiress follows the now deceased Emma as she finds herself in a strange twilight version of London. While there she quickly realizes that there is a battle going on between the Good Angels and the Bad Angels. With the help of Father Emon and childhood best friend Taryn, whom she reunites with in death, Emma goes to battle to restore peace. Will Emma realize her true potential to be a hero in her new world?

Isabella’s Heiress is a supernatural thriller. I enjoyed reading this book. I love following Emma’s story as she battles her way through her new city. Not only is she battling against evil but herself. Through the battling, she starts to work through her inner demons that she has long forgotten about. The story touches on forgiveness which is a powerful thing, in order to move on and be free you have to forgive. Forgiving is hard than it seems especially when you need to forgive yourself.

I enjoyed reading Isabella’s Heiress. It’s not a quick read which is different from the books I have read lately. Even though it’s not a quick read it’s not a hard read. It’s a great story to read. There is a lot of hidden themes and life gems, which makes the story even better. Isabella’s Heiress is the first book in the series.

 

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This story felt like a maze. It navigated me through a past, a present and an other world versions of London.

The walkabout town is quite long with the main character learning about her new environment which is kind of limbo in a London past where ladies wore corsets. Flashbacks into the past and present are interspersed. And then a trip to the underworld is revealed as well.

But finally, in the end we get to the heart of the story and the character’s heart.

 

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I received this book for an honest review from the team at Authoright. Thank you!!

I had thoughts all over the spectrum for this one. Leggo:

– It was BIG. Now, sizable books are SO my cup of tea, but if they’re not yours avoid this. In the case of Isabella’s Heiress, it was both a pro and a drawback – it worked in the sense that we got to explore Emma’s life in the Twilight plane and before, and a lot happened. However, the novel started off very slow and only picked up about halfway through.

– The plot: Definitely was original, which was refreshing. It also has a lot of crossover potential; I had debated whether to categorize it as YA or Adult. I decided to go with Adult for a few reasons, the first and foremost being that there are a few harsher elements that I would recommend for an older audience. Torture, rape, and family disasters play roles, but small ones, therefore prompting me to say that it could work for teenagers, too. The other reasons I chose Adult in the end are Emma’s age (not mentioned, but twenty-something implied) and the frankly, the lack of romance that all we young ones seem to want (if you are an exception to this understandable but ridiculous rule, by all means pick up this book).

-Characters: Nothing remarkable on this front. Emma is realistic, brave and guilt-ridden, but not as kind and smart as we have come to expect from our protagonists. I liked the character of Father Eamon, and feel that Sister Ignacia could have been an interesting person to hear more about.

-Setting: I ADORE London, and it was part of the reason I decided to read this book. However, I wish the idea of the Twilight plane was explained more. What do the inhabitants do all eternity? Is it London for all the initiates or is that just how Emma perceives it? What do the Cado Angelus and the Cordoban Council really want? What does the church have anything to do with this? What did the prophecy say and who issued it? The whole background story was murky and unclear, and I was left with more questions than answers.

Overall: As you can tell from above, I was really ambivalent about Isabella’s Heiress- there was a lot I liked and a lot I didn’t. I think, though, that good structural editing and proofreading could fix most of the problems I had with this book(:

 

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