Friday, October 16, 2015

THE MINISTRY OF THUNDER



THE MINISTRY OF THUNDER
By Davide Mana
Acheron Books
340 pages

Shanghai in 1936 is overrun by foreign agents all vying to align themselves with various political factions they believe will survive the coming global conflict and emerge victorious.  Amidst this cauldron of intrigue and espionage, Italian mercenary pilot Felice Sabatini finds himself caught up in a bizarre expedition that will lead to mysterious peeks of Tibet in search of an ancient artifact that could easily tilt the balance of power to whoever possesses it.

Guiding him along this dangerous quest is a beautiful Asian femme-fatale with the anglicized name of Pat Neal. Their enemy is a blonde German vixen who commands a giant black airship with a Nazi swastika painted on its hull. Along the way, Sabatini and Neal confront both human and magical advisories to include a group of Ninja like monks, Japanese agents, a three-eyed demon and talking green dogs. Author Mana has crammed more fantasy adventure in this one pulp tale than we’d normally find twice as many.

“The Ministry of Thunder,” is a rollicking tongue-in-cheek over-the-top pulp winner that completely won me over within its first few chapters. It’s Indiana Jones meets Bill Barnes with a touch of Kung-Fu thrown in to spice things up.  It is the first Davide Mana book we’ve read and we certainly hope not the last.

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