Review: The Sworn by Gail Z Martin

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Mar 032011
 

The Sworn

Fallen Kings #1

Written: Gail Z. Martin [website]

Published: February 3rd, 2011

Publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 1841499137

Obtained via: NetGalley

Blurb (via GoodReads.com): As plague and famine scourge the winter kingdoms, a vast invasion force is mustering from beyond the northern seas. And at its heart, a dark spirit mage wields the blood magic of ancient, vanquished gods.

Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Neighboring lands reel toward anarchy while plague decimates their leaders. Drayke must seek new allies from among the living – and the dead –- as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle.

Then someone disturbs the legendary Dread as they rest in a millennia-long slumber beneath sacred barrows. Their warrior guardians, the Sworn, know the Dread could be pivotal as a force for great good or evil. But if it’s the latter, could even the Summoner-King’s sorcery prevail?

The Sworn is Book One of The Fallen Kings Cycle, and it picks up the adventures of Tris, Jonmarc and the Winter Kingdoms gang six months after the end of Dark Lady’s Chosen. There are all new challenges, lots of dark magic and the biggest threat Margolan has faced in 400 years.

My Review:

The Sworn is the first book in a new series featuring the Winter Kingdoms and all our old friends fromChronicles of the Necromancer plus a few extras. It’s being advertised as the perfect place for new readers to start, and I agree that one could pick up the series here. However, I’m not entirely sure that this is thebest place to start.

We’ve got problems new and old in this story: there’s something odd with the infant heir to Margolan, the Divisionists in Isencroft are continuing to cause problems,  the Black Robes are still trying to raise the old gods – this time by disturbing the Dread, a mysterious noise is driving the hedge witches of the Winter Kingdoms mad, and the traitor Alvior is rumored to be on his way back home accompanied by an invasion fleet from across the Northern Sea. Maybe worst of all are the indications that there is a dark summoner walking the world, one who could be worse than Lemuel and the Obsidian King together.

The Sworn is a great addition to the world of the Winter Kingdoms. Fans will be thrilled to see Tris, Kiara (Can you guess that Kiara is my favorite?), Jonmarc and the others again, and it’s just as exciting to see new faces. I thought the story was engaging and Gail Z Martin certainly has a knack for creating interesting worlds and merging multiple mythologies together into a cohesive whole. What other book can you think of that has necromancers, ghosts, and mages along with vampires and werewolves, all set in a sword-and-sorcery type of world?

That said, I don’t know if The Sworn would be quite as engaging to the new reader as The Summoner (first book in The Chronicles of the Necromancer series) was for me. I’m frankly worried that a married Tris, a pregnant Kiara, and Jonmarc Vahanion as a father-to-be won’t capture the attention the way a palace coupe, a caravan of slave traders, and an army of the dead did for me. While a new reader can pick up here and not be confused, I feel they also would be missing out on the bulk of the story. If you’re considering this series, do yourself a favor and go back to The Summoner to start. I can’t imagine a single person who would prefer to just “skip to the end” this way. If it’s worth reading (and I believe it is), it’s worth reading the whole story. Don’t short-change yourself.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Review & Giveaway: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

 Books, Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 252011
 

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

The Inheritance Trilogy #1

Written: N.K. Jemisin

Published: February 25, 2010

Publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 0316043915

Obtained via: Gift from a friend

Blurb:

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate – and gods and mortals – are bound inseparably together.

My Review:

N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms twists and pulls traditional fantasy more times than a piece of string on a pair of knitting needles. We have all the usual epic fantasy elements: strange gods, a stoic king, a beautiful palace, powerful magic, and a youngster trying to find her place in the world. Except that none of those pieces fit together in any of the usual ways: the king is a tyrant, the palace is poison, the youngster already ruled her homeland before we met her, and the gods are weapons and slaves turned against each other by mortal hand.

The world of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is exotic and strange, and the Palace of Sky is the strangest, most exotic place in all the land. It is a place where the ruling family is dozens (maybe hundreds) strong and where the large majority of them work as servants, but the only slaves in the place aren’t human — they’re gods. Yeine is thrust into this strange world – her mother’s world – where she’s been declared heir to the kingdom, if she can survive. Surviving won’t be easy, though, with her two cousins doing their best to kill her and with the god-slaves trying to draw her into their own dangerous conspiracies.

This book is cruel and strange; deadly and beautiful; by turns compelling and repulsive. I’ve seen a whole truckload of hype about this book, and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s lived up to all of it. But I daresay that it was woven well and uniquely and is worth a look for any fantasy fan. I’m looking forward to having the time to take #2 – The Broken Kingdoms off my shelf.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Interested in winning your own copy of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms? Leave a comment on this post by midnight ET on February 28th, 2011 to be entered to win. (1 entry per person, drawn at random. Must have US shipping address.)

Green Rider Series Guest Review: Blackveil

 Books, Guest Reviews, Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 242011
 

Blackveil cover artKristen Britain’s fourth Green Rider novel, Blackveil, came out February 1. Having now read through it I am extremely happy to have gotten a new novel. Before I get started though, a blurb:

Viewings at a masquerade ball celebration before the King’s wedding give us glimpses of events that may have a huge impact on Sacoridia. Karigan gets sent to Blackveil on a joint Eletian and Sacoridian expedition. Alton meets Karigan’s best friend and minstrel, Estral, and they start making progress on fixing the D’Yer wall. Meanwhile, the Second Empire’s leaders continue to do their utmost to bring about the downfall of Sacoridia.

The High King’s Tomb also introduced Lord Amberhill to us, and he plays an interesting, almost bit part in this novel. I have a feeling he’s going to turn out a big part of this story in the end, but I don’t currently know just how big. He also makes some rather unfortunate decisions in his stint throughout these couple novels.

I also feel I’ve got a bit of a handle on Karigan. She’s bad at relationships. Just about any of them. I can think of only two times when her bad assumptions are not her fault. And she’s decidedly selfish when it comes to some of these things. I know she’s a stubborn girl, but seriously, when you already know you’re lonely, why in the world would you push away your closest friends? That loneliness is part of why I think she makes those bad decisions, but I guess if she made all the right ones all the time, she’d be a less interesting character. I do wish she’d make better decisions at least on occasion! At least she and Stevic made up at the beginning of this one! :D Also, Stevic was finally back in the book! ;)

Another thing I’ve noticed is that Karigan herself seems to be the deus ex machina of these books. I think most of the things she’s done as such have been explained (which I suppose makes her not much of an actual deus ex machina), but I wish we could see more of her out of the box thinking and skills saving the day instead of who she is being the Big Thing.

And the ending. I don’t know if it’s come across in my collection of posts, but endings really help make a book for me. They’re extremely important in making a book feel like a finished product, in particular when the author only comes out with a book once every 4 years or so. (Seriously, 1998, 2003, 2007, and now 2011.) This is the first time I’ve been disappointed. Matter of fact, I very much liked the way the other books ended. Don’t get me wrong, there’s an ending, and even a good one for some of the characters (with high hopes and potential drama insinuated for the next book in those endings), but the very end of Blackveil, with the likelihood of it being another 4 years till the next book definitely leaves something to be desired.

All that being said, I really enjoyed this book! So many things happen (Estora gets to be a badass), and it seems that the world might start being a somewhat less dark place than it seemed in the last couple, though I’m sure there are still many dire straights left in store for our favorite Sacoridians, and I can’t wait until I get to read of their continued exploits! (Please, please let it be less than 4 years.)

Another Guest Review: Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson

 Books, Guest Reviews, Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 222011
 

A Note From Kiara: This cross-posted guest review comes from another dear friend of mine. Paige is SUCH a great friend that she was the best “man” at my wedding. She’s only recently started her own review blog but she has very good instincts, so please click over and give her other reviews a visit.

Published in August of 2010, book #1 of the Death Works Series is Death Most Definite, Australian author Trent Jamieson’s debut novel. Set in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, the story focuses on Psychopomp Steven de Selby, whose job it is to facilitate the journey of the souls of the newly dead to the afterlife. Yet the newly dead girl he just met doesn’t want him to do so. Instead of needing him to ease her journey to the Underworld, she’s trying to save his life.

The back cover blurb:

Steven de Selby has a hangover. Bright lights, loud noise, and lots of exercise are the last thing he wants. But that’s exactly what he gets when someone starts shooting at him.

Steven is no stranger to death-Mr. D’s his boss after all-but when a dead girl saves him from sharing her fate, he finds himself on the wrong end of the barrel. His job is to guide the restless dead to the underworld but now his clients are his own colleagues, friends, and family.


Mr. D’s gone missing and with no one in charge, the dead start to rise, the living are hunted, and the whole city teeters on the brink of a regional apocalypse-unless Steven can shake his hangover, not fall for the dead girl, and find out what happened to his boss- that is, Death himself.

It’s a certainty that our main character, Pomp Steve de Selby, wouldn’t have lived through the first chapter had it not been for newly deceased Lissa Jones. A fact which makes him tend to rather like her quite a lot. Maybe a little too much. Even though she’s dead.

After the attempt on his life, things just go from bad to worse to horrific for Steve and he’s literally running for his life while those around him are all dragged down. So here he is, attempting to deal with the dreadful weight of loss and betrayal that’s been heaped upon him out of nowhere, while realizing that he’s the only one left who might be able to prevent a regional apocalypse.

The dead need to be pomped and as time passes and his Pomp colleagues dwindle, Steven is the only one who can ease their passing to the Underworld. And dammit, it’s getting hard! To make matters worse, Stirrers are beginning to inhabit the bodies whose souls are seeking passage. They’re everywhere and they’re after Steven. Now, Stirrers aren’t your run-of-the-mill, Romero-esque, living flesh-eating zombies. Oh, no… they’re much worse. Here’s how the book describes an outbreak of Stirrers:

Bodies will disappear from morgues, people will see their deceased loved ones walking in the street, or wake up with them in their bed. And there will be no joy in the occasion, because they are not loved ones, just something that possesses their memories: an imperfect and deadly mimic.

Stirrers are voids. They will turn a house cold and they will swallow laughter. They are the worst aspects of time only sped up and grown cruelly cunning. Bad luck follows them.

The scariest thing about them is that instead of mindless sacks of flesh and bone shambling aimlessly about and trying to eat people, Stirrers are actual beings from the depths of the Underworld that inhabit dead bodies and move them about. They do very unzombie-like things like talking and driving cars and shooting at people and such. People like poor Steven de Selby. As a Psychopomp, he can “stall” these Stirrers, or banish them from the bodies they inhabit. He only needs to shed some blood, his blood, and touch them to do so. But it’s difficult, it’s painful, and they’re just… everywhere.

Steven is racing against the clock, trying to avoid being wiped out, trying to avoid the Stirrers, trying to discover his betrayer and the reason for the Pomp massacre, trying to stop the apocalypse… and trying to find his boss because as creepy as he is, Steven could really use his advice and assistance. Where in hell is Death, anyway? With help from the dead girl he’s falling for, despite knowing better, and a couple of Black Sheeps who didn’t want to join in the family business but happen to be relatives of newly murdered Pomps, he’s going to try to find out. Even if it means going to hell and back.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book, the humor in the writing and the way Steven wore his heart on his sleeve. His bewilderment and pain in the face of the fiasco his life and his world became, literally in the blink of an eye, were believable and it was easy to sympathize with his plight. The story was fast-paced and the plot was like nothing I’ve read before. It held my interest so completely that I read it in three parts, kicking out the entire last half of the 320 page paperback in one sitting. I most definitely look forward to the next installment of the series, the recently released Managing Death.

Fave quotes:

‘It’s the first new law of the universe according to Steven de Selby’s life: things always get worse-and then they explode.’

‘Why were the seventies all about vomit colors?’

‘This would all be so very Mad Max if I was driving a V8, and if it wasn’t me.’

‘Shit, give dead people firearms and soon enough it’s all they know. Shoot this, blast that.’

“I never bothered with a computer for the real work. Who needs one, eh? Though I do like my Twitter.” ~Death

Review: Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

 Books, Featured, Reviews  2 Responses »
Feb 202011
 

Pale Demon

Hollows #9

Written: Kim Harrison [website]

Published: Eos

When: February 22, 2011

ISBN: 0061138061

Obtained Via: NetGalley

Cover Blurb:

Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after . . . for ever after.

Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passanger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassin on their tail.

A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature may not be enough to save her.

My Review:

I’ve been a fan of The Hollows since I found Dead Witch Walking on a bookstore shelf in Cincinnati shortly after its release and picked it up, delighted that I’d found a story set in my own hometown. I fell in love with Rachel’s fiery temper, Ivy’s stoic vampire glamor, and Jenks’ fierce disrespect for everything. The series has had its ups and downs. When a certain cast member died, my heart broke (we’ve lost two and this statement is equally true for them both). Rachel as a character has a history of bad choices. Some of those have made me furious (namely, Black Magic Sanction), others I’ve been less upset with but they made me wonder if the story was going in the right direction. I’ve remained steadfast, however, picking up every book each year as they are released (shortly before my birthday – the perfect gift!), and I’m thrilled to say that the ride was so definitely worth it.

Pale Demon is the most thrilling book we’ve seen since  A Fistful of Charms — and is also the absolute best in the series. We finally get a full look at life in the ever after! The stakes are the highest they’ve ever been: Rachel stands to lose what little standing she has left in the witch community, her church, her friends, her freedom, her magic, and quite probably her life. She finds a surprising ally in her nemesis, Trent Kalamack — but Trent also makes it clear that he has his own agenda in going to the West Coast. Rachel somehow has to travel by car to California, get her shunning revoked, protect Trent from a gang of elven baddies, and — oh, yeah — defeat a suddenly-released day-walking demon that has every resident of the ever after shaking in their boots.

Yes, we have here the classic story-making trope of taking the crew on that oldie-but-goody “the cross-country road trip”. But there’s nothing old or tired about the story we’re getting. I’d have read this straight through if I could have, and when I finished I wanted to pick it up and read it all over again. I may have gotten an advanced galley from NetGalley but this won’t stop me in the least from making sure the hardcover is pre-ordered so that I can devour it once more on the release date.

Kim Harrison is a master storyteller, one who knows her craft very well. Check out her website sometime, her writing posts are of a phenomenal help to aspiring writers. I have never picked up a book by Kim (or her alter-ego, Dawn Cook) that I haven’t enjoyed tremendously. Her young adult series is also a wonderful tale to read — even for adults.

If you’re not reading this series, then you are simply missing out. Buy it now at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Green Rider Series Re-Read: Guest Review of The High King’s Tomb

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Feb 182011
 

The High King's Tomb cover art

I have to admit The High King’s Tomb, book 3 of Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series, is not my favorite of the three I’ve read so far. For example, again with only the mentions with Stevic G’ladheon. Also, Karigan actually gets a bit whiny in the first half of this book, where as I specifically mentioned she doesn’t get there for me in the other books. However, as usual she’s too busy to be whiny in most of the second half! ;)

The blurb:

Karigan and a Green Rider trainee are sent on what seem to be mundane errands for the king of Sacoridia and Captain Mapstone, and which end up being anything but. Attempts to mend the breach in the D’Yer Wall continue. And the Second Empire continues its no longer secret attempts to overthrow Sacoridia for their ancient leader, Mornhavon the Black. Britain keeps the excitement high from beginning to end, balancing epic magical craziness with the humor and camaraderie of Karigan and her fellow riders.

This novel starts out much more sedately than the first two books, which is actually something I quite like. I like to read about “normal” in these long series. The first couple books were separated by two years, but it wasn’t something that the reader actually gets to experience.

I think I’ve figured out why this novel isn’t sitting the same with me as the first two. The villainess introduced in this book has a mission. She also has a side mission. A huge, horrible side mission that potentially affects the universe, but still only feels like a side project and unimportant to the story. Maybe as the series goes along this side mission will be shown to have had more impact on the story than I could see.

And just a couple of random comments to add: I’ve read reviews that mention how Britain likes to use all the fantasy tropes you can think of, and I can’t disagree with that. However, a lot of them seemed pretty fresh uses to me. There are also definite parallels with Tolkien’s work, beyond the very black and white nature of the characters, but that’s almost hard to not do these days. I would definitely have to agree that Green Rider’s parallels are stronger than those I’ve read in other novels lately. On the other hand, it’s a bit like coming home in that sense.

And apparently my blog has been found at least once by people searching to see if you can read the Green Rider novels out of order. In this case, it’s something I’d definitely not recommend. I may be biased however. Even with series that aren’t necessarily connected (Terry Brooks, Brian Jacques, L.E. Modesitt, Jr.) I like to read them in order. On the other hand, thinking about it, the stories are fairly self contained. I just can’t say personally whether they work out of order, since I’ve never read them that way. One would definitely be missing out on detailed background info as a person might assume.

And now for the most recent installment, which you can still comment to win over at Waiting for Fairies, Blackveil!

Review: Right Hand Magic by Nancy A Collins

 Books, Reviews  Comments Off
Feb 162011
 

Right Hand Magic

Golgotham #1

Written: Nancy A. Collins

Published: December 7, 2010

Publisher: Roc

ISBN: 0451463668

Obtained via: Purchase (e-book)

Blurb:

Like most Manhattanites, aspiring artist Tate can’t resist a good rental deal-even if it’s in the city’s strangest neighborhood, Golgotham, where for centuries werewolves, centaurs, and countless other creatures have roamed the streets.

Her new landlord is a sorcerer name Hexe, who is determined to build his reputation without using dark, left-hand magic. As Tate is drawn into Hexe’s fascinating world, they both find that the right hand does not always know what the left hand is doing-and avoiding darkness is no easy trick…

My Review:

This book was the first one I bought after I received my NookColor. I think it was a great candidate for that, because, while I enjoyed Collins’ Sonja Blue stories, they were very much on the dark side and I wasn’t sure about this new one. I’m thrilled to say that this series is much lighter than Sonja Blue, and that I really enjoyed the world and the city-within-a-city feel of Golgotham. The story doesn’t have a ton of depth, but it’s a perfect cotton-candy piece.

Tate is a little on the annoying side, as a trust-fund baby with a fairly large chip on her shoulder. Her parents suck and would rather she hang out at the country club and work on an eating disorder than get an art showing for her very large junkyard-reject metal sculptures. She does come off a bit juvenile, and she’s OBVIOUSLY out of her depth after she moves into Golgotham, but the setting is so complex and fascinating that I’m willing to forgive that for a book or two. After all, if the main character was perfect in the very first book there wouldn’t be much room for the character to grow.

I will say that I’m VERY tired of the rote romance elements in a lot of urban fantasy novels. Yes, Tate’s new landlord Hexe is a sorcerer-with-a-heart-of-gold and extremely hot, even with his funny hair and six-fingered hands. But c’mon, authors, do we have to be SO predictable? With maddened werewolf attacks, giant shapeshifting cat-dragons, a wicked uncle, and a world so fully realized that a reader could actually step into it, do we HAVE to have that old, tired, “he-helped-her-out-so-of-course-she-falls-in-love-with-him” plot point?

Despite its flaws, I genuinely liked this book. I think it’s a great start to a new series and I’m looking forward to future installments. This book is an absolute perfect, lazy weekend read. It’s a little cheesy in places, but every diet needs a bit of cheese – and the world-building is worth any price.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Review: A Christmas Carroll by Leanna Renee Hieber

 Books, Featured, Reviews  1 Response »
Feb 112011
 

A Christmas Carroll

A Midwinter Fantasy Anthology

Strangely Beautiful #2.5

Written: Leanna Renee Hieber [website]

Published: Dorchester Publishing

When: Digital release in November, 2010 with a trade paperback release in October, 2011

ISBN: 0843964219 (digital version)

Obtained via: Publisher

Cover Blurb:

You have ventured through the wardrobe and down the rabbit hole. You’ve beheld the Fading Lands and glimpsed the ivory spires of Minas Tirith. A star now rises over three other kingdoms, and over three heroic couples, all deep in winter’s thrall:

Visit Leanna Renee Hieber’s Strangely Beautiful Victorian London, “strange in its happenings and mood and beautiful in its romance and language.” -Booklist
Haunted though these soot-stained urban alleys may be, a lonely headmistress and a gallant vicar shall here reap the season’s blessings.

Travel to Meridian and Sylph Valley, L.J. McDonald’s “mesmerizing, magical world [readers] won’t want to leave.” -Library Journal
Immensely powerful creatures called battle sylphs vie for dominance here, while fulfilling every wish of their queens. But what woman shall rule the mighty Mace?

Discover Helen Scott Taylor’s land of The Magic Knot, which is “wonderfully creative and lusciously sexy.” -The Chicago Tribune
In the frosty North, in the ice palace of Valhalla, Sonja’s life depends upon unraveling the mystery of the Crystal Crib–and upon winning the love of Odin’s son.

My Review:

Note: This review covers only A Christmas Carroll and not the other novellas in this volume.

This novella is the perfect compliment to the first two Strangely Beautiful volumes. The major conflict was resolved at the end of Darkly Luminous, but there were definitely ends left untied. Namely, Michael had confessed his love for Rebecca, Headmistress of Athens Academy, but would she return that love? Would they find the happiness that had been delayed by two decades?

Hieber has a talent for making the eerily supernatural a perfectly normal phenomenon. Reading her words, it is not unreasonable to imagine that one could look up from the turn of a page to see a Victorian ghost come gliding through a wall. The language, like the previous volumes, is lovely and ephemeral and obviously carefully chosen to evoke the time period in question.

This novella focuses on the importance of love and friendship, and the power of the light to turn back the darkness. Which, really, is an over-arching theme throughout the whole of the books, but it is particularly poignant in this one. The departed spirit of a lost member of the Guard arranges a dangerous quest through twenty years of history to fight despair and guilt — and to bring a pair of soul mates together.

A Christmas Carroll is a must-read episode, and probably my favorite in the Strangely Beautiful universe. It may be possible to read the novella first, but it would have major spoilers for the first two books, so I don’t recommend it. We’ll be receiving a third volume (a prequel) titled The Perilous Prophecy of Guard and Goddess in May. There is also a turn-of-the-20th-century volume in the works, to round out the quartet. If you like the Victorian era, Gothic architecture, Dickens, or love stories then this series is a good one to try.

Buy it at Amazon.

Note: Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for a copy of the 1st book in the series: The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Guest Review – First Rider’s Call

 Books, Guest Reviews, Reviews  Comments Off
Feb 072011
 

A note from Kiara: Thus continue our guest reviews of the Green Rider series. Don’t forget to enter our Blackveil Giveaway!
First Rider's Call cover art

The blurb:

Karigan, who took on the mantle of king’s messenger after chancing upon a dying Green Rider, has returned to her everyday life. She has put the thrills and perils of being caught up in great events apparently behind her. But few may evade their destiny, and Karigan is soon to face even greater dangers… Blackveil Forest is stirring, its tainted powers seeping through the breach in the D’Yer wall. While havoc sweeps the countryside, a Green Rider and scion of the stoneworkers who created the wall, attempts to mend the breach. Summoned to duty by the call of the First Rider, Karigan must help the Riders, and face the truth about her own savage heritage. Sought by undead warriors and caught in the machinations of the mysterious Eletians, Karigan must confront an ancient enemy in the rotten heart of Blackveil.

First Rider’s Call, the second book in Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series, can be summed up with one word. Betrayal. I’m not the most sopisticated reader ever. I tend to read only for enjoyment, but this one I actually caught the thread in. I’m not even sure I can count the number of different betrayals (or seeming betrayals) that occurred in this story; I certainly can’t do it on only one hand.

For the record, I should mention that in no way did I, as the reader, feel betrayed. Quite the opposite actually, this novel provides so much quality, character insights, and exciting happenings that I can’t even describe how happy it makes me. Or how sad I was when I finished (sort of, the ending was fantastic, which is fortunate for those unfortunate souls who had to wait years for the next book)! Fortunately for me, I had the next one on hand to start reading once I finished this one! ;)

The funny thing about betrayal is that it can often lead to hope and happiness and lots of other great things. Sounds weird, I know, but if you read this novel, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

And that Karigan. She’s impulsive surely, but as Captain Mapstone once thinks, leaders of the Green Riders need to have flexibility in their thinking. And Karigan’s got that in spades. She thinks out of the box and takes advantage of crazy things without thinking twice. This is the second time I read this book and I was completely surprised by her solution for the second time. Totally didn’t see it coming. (Of course, it doesn’t help that I hadn’t remembered how it finished since it’s been so long since that first read through!)

My only disappointment is that Karigan’s dad didn’t play a direct role in this novel. He’s mentioned, but that’s not the same at all. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll get over it. ;)

So there’s that! On to The High King’s Tomb!

Kiaras Festivus Green Rider Guest Review & Blackveil GIVEAWAY

 Books, Featured, Guest Reviews, Reviews  7 Responses »
Feb 012011
 

A Note From Kiara: This review & giveaway is written and sponsored by one of my dear friends who posts as Spragujs and has been cross-posted with the author’s permission from The Double Phoenix blog. Please stay tuned for the giveaway at the end of this post!

To celebrate Festivus Kiaras, Kiara has asked for some guest reviews.  In honor of my friend’s birthday month and the release of one of my favorite author’s newest books, I’m doing a reread review of the associated series as well as a give away of the newest book.  It will be a hardcover copy that I’ll have read before sending it out, so it’ll be slightly used and you won’t get it in time for the release, but maybe if you haven’t read any of the series yet, this give away will entice you to go out and give the others a shot.  :)  And with no further adieu…

I recently finished rereading Green Rider, the first book in Kristen Britain’s Green Rider series, in preparation for the fourth book, Blackveil, which is coming out today. The blurb:

Karigan G’ladahon has fled from school following a fight which would surely lead to her expulsion. As she makes her way through the deep forest, a galloping horse pounds up to her, its rider impaled by two black-shafted arrows. With his dying breath, he tells her he is a Green Rider, one of the legendary magical messengers of the King, and makes Karigan swear to deliver the message he’s carrying, giving her his green coat, with its symbolic brooch of office. This promise given to a dying man changes Karigan’s life forever. Pursued by unknown assassins, following a path only her horse seems to know, she unwittingly finds herself in a world of deadly danger and complex magic, compelled by forces she cannot understand.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I wish more of my friends had read these books.  I remembered the stories very vaguely as feeling very otherworldly, which was pretty funny to me after reading an article about the upcoming release party for Blackveil, that ”while the stories are fantasies, the characters and settings are not fantastical or otherworldly.  There is an appealing familiarity about them, and they are so convincingly drawn that they could be real.”  I agree, but at the same time still stand by my statement.  The world is extremely vivid and easily imagined.  I think it’s the layer of magic that blankets everything combined with the very easily imagined setting that gives me the otherworldly feeling.  It should feel extremely familiar, but the magic also makes it very different.

Green Rider introduces the reader to the world of Sacoridia and its surrounds, to the characters of the story, and to the idea that there’s a very big story arc coming up in this series.  The characters are great, and even if they do tend to fall to the black and white, they’re still individuals with their own strengths, weaknesses, and personalities.  I’m always impressed that Britain has made me feel for even the briefly mentioned characters when things (often bad) end up happening to them.  Very brief descriptions bring them fully to life.  I will say that her attempts at romance in this novel were a little less than fully developed, but that’s really the only complaint I can think of at this point.  With more novels out, there’s plenty of time for them to become more believable.

I also think that Karigan may be one of the few protagonists I’ve run into that I can remember that wasn’t whiny.  Yes, she starts out pretty spoiled and of course she complains about a few things and makes wishes about others, but not to the point where I’d describe it as whiny.  Just in case that’s a pet peeve for any interested readers out there!  ;)

Check The Double Phoenix soon for a review of book 2, First Rider’s Call!

Another note from Kiara: If you’d like to enter the giveaway for a copy of Blackveil, please leave a comment on this post. Giveaway is open to International readers and will close February 28th at midnight EST. One entry per commenter, regardless of the number of comments left. Winner will be drawn at random.

Review: Pack of Lies by Laura Anne Gilman

 Books, Reviews  1 Response »
Jan 242011
 

Pack of Lies

PSI #2

Written: Laura Anne Gilman [website]

Published: Luna

When: February 1, 2011 (Although some stores may have it out now.)

ISBN: 0373803249

Obtained Via: NetGalley

Cover Blurb:

FUNNY HOW LIFE CAN TURN YOU UPSIDE DOWN…

My name is Bonita Torres, and eight months ago I was an unemployed college graduate without a plan. Now I’m an investigator with the Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations team of New York. Pretty awesome, right?

The Cosa Nostradamus, the magical community, isn’t quick to give up its secrets, though. Not even to fellow members. Not even when it’s in their best interests. So we’ve been busting our tails, perfecting our forensic skills, working to gain acceptance. The team’s tight… but we have our quirks, too. And our Big Dog, Benjamin Venec…well, he’s a special case, all right.

But we can’t give up. We’re needed, especially when a case comes along that threatens to pit human against fatae. But one wrong move could cost us everything we’ve worked for…

My Review:

Making the focus of your mystery a sexual assault is either a very brave or a very stupid thing for a writer to do. Readers are way more uncomfortable with rape than they are with murder or other violent crimes. The success or failure of the story depends on whether you’re a good enough writer to pull it off. Laura Anne Gilman carries the sensitive subject well, resolving it in probably the only way that it could have been.

When Bonita Torres and her fellow PUPIs (I’m still not sure whether to love or roll my eyes at that acronym) are brought in on the case of an attempted rape, they believe it’s an open and shut case.The female companion of a ki-rin is assaulted by two Talented males, and one of them is killed when the ki-rin retaliates. Since the ki-rin is a unicorn-like fatae, complete with the unicorn’s requirements for virginity in its companions, nearly everyone involved assumes the ki-rin’s attack is justified. Open. Shut. Done.

Except heightened tension between the human Talents and the non-human fatae community means the city is ready to erupt into violence and war, and this attack could be the match that lights the inferno. Once the surviving male from the assault swears that the whole thing was a setup, that the girl had asked to meet the pair and that it hadn’t been rape, it becomes essential for the team to discover the truth – and fast. The case devolves into a he-said/she-said nightmare with no evidence that can prove either side.

This is where the whole thing could’ve broken down into a tangle that would have caused the story to fail. It didn’t. Gilman handles the twisty situation with a dignity that a lot of authors couldn’t have done. We don’t get to meet the surviving attacker “on-camera” but it would have been difficult, I think, to make all sides look sympathetic, even with the situation that’s been set up here. In the end, I think the reader is shown a fundamental truth: nobody wins when violence is done, not the attacker and certainly not the victim.

Since this is the second series Gilman has set in this version of NYC, the world is fully realized and extensively built. Something about the main characters didn’t grab me, though. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have the benefit of starting with the first in the series. I don’t know. Bonnie’s emotional reactions seemed just the slightest bit off. Then again, her emotions are being manipulated without her knowledge for the first half of the book, and this is a character who is very different mentally than I am, so maybe that’s all it is. She’s not written badly, she just doesn’t make me love her the way other characters have in the past.

I’m still reading through the first set of Cosa Nostradamus books. (I’m on book three. Maybe I’ll tell the story sometime of why I’m coming so late to that series.) So it’s possible there are bits of history missing that would better flesh out the characters. We’ll see.

Pack of Lies is certainly a solid story for the series, handling a delicate subject with grace, and I’ll definitely be giving the characters another go at reeling me in. I’m going to give this book a hopeful three and a half stars, with a look toward going back to Hard Magic for another go-round.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Review: Secrets of the Demon by Diana Rowland

 Books, Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 192011
 

Secrets of the Demon

Kara Gillian #3

Written: Diana Rowland [website]

Published: DAW

When: January 4, 2011

ISBN: 0756406528

Cover blurb: Homicide detective Kara Gillian has a special talent: she can sense the “arcane” in our world, and there’s quite a bit of it, even in Beaulac, Louisiana. She’s also a summoner of demons, and works on a task force that deals with supernatural crimes. Her partners are attractive and smart FBI agents, but they’re not summoners, and they’re not telling Kara why they are on this special force with her.

To make things worse, Kara has pledged herself to one of the most powerful of demons-a Demon Lord-who helped save her partner’s life, but now expects things in return. Meanwhile, she’s trying to solve a string of murders that are somehow tied together by money, sex, rock music and…mud. But how can she concentrate on the case when she’s not even sure who-or what-her partners are?

My Review:

It’s not a secret that I love pretty much everything Diana Rowland writes, including most of her tweets. This is an author whose writing grabs you by the hair and drags you bodily into the story. The mysteries haven’t been so complex that you can’t follow them, and she’s certainly surprised me a time or two, but this series isn’t one that’s going to cause you to think overly much. This is a perfect book for a rainy Saturday — or a sick Wednesday, in my case.

This is the third in the series, so I won’t go too much into the plot details. I wouldn’t want to ruin anything, and believe me when I tell you that this book has the best surprises in the series so far. Suffice to say that Kara and her FBI task force partners Zach and Ryan end up investigating several strange murders, one or two of which appear at first glance to be accidents – except for the strange mud and arcane resonance at the scenes.

The author has vast prior experience with both law enforcement and dead bodies (and I don’t) so her procedures and work-related character interactions are believably real. Kara’s behavior with Rhyzkahl is annoying as hell, but since I have beef with any heroine who magically jumps into bed with people she doesn’t know (which pretty much keeps every romance novel in existence off my book shelves), I’m not going to hold that against her. Especially since, to my great relief, the sex does actually further the storyline instead of just being a distracting interlude from it. This is a talent of Rowland’s, and one I’m pleased to see. I am taking a quarter star off my rating, only because Rhyzkahl’s “I’m going to bone you in every room of your house” line made me roll my eyes. Otherwise, this would be a 5 star book.

The cover art has changed, disappointingly – as it was gorgeous before. However, it’s understandable that this would happen, since the author had to change publishing houses in order to sell more books in the series. They could put abstract art of squishy deer farts on the cover of the next one, for all I care, as long as we get a next book. And really, the art on this one isn’t hideous, it just doesn’t pop quite like the first two did. I’m easy to please, really. As long as the cover doesn’t involve any form of man-boobs, I’m good to go.

Now, as to the surprises in this book – there were two fairly big ones. Okay, REALLY BIG ones. No, I’m not going to tell you what they are. The first one I didn’t see coming at all. I should have, in retrospect. The clues were subtle, but they were there. On the other hand, I enjoy novels that make me yell things that would look like “WTF?!?!” if they were done on the internet.  I figured out the second reveal — which occurs on the VERY LAST PAGE (no peeking!) – based on the first one. I’m pleased that I got to have both a “WTF” moment and a smug “I knew that was going to happen” in the same book. It’s like a Reese’s – chocolate and peanut butter are best when they’re together.

I don’t know what else I can say. I read both this book and Faith Hunter’s Mercy Blade a couple of weeks ago when I had to stay home for a day due to an illness. They’re a perfect combination, so I encourage you to go catch some sort of bug so you can stay home and read them both. (Okay, not really. I suppose you don’t have to actually make yourself ill to do this.) If you like urban fantasy and you’re not reading this series, I’m not entirely sure that we can stay friends in the future. So what are you waiting for?

Rating: ★★★★¾ 

Review: The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe

 Books, Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 172011
 

The Wall of Night Book 1 The Heir of Night

The Wall of Night #1

Written: Helen Lowe [website]

Published: Eos

When: September 28,2010

ISBN: 0061734047

Obtained via: Publisher (ARC)

Back Cover Blurb:

If Night falls, all fall . . .

In the far north of the world of Haarth lies the bitter mountain range known as the Wall of Night. Garrisoned by the Nine Houses of the Derai, the Wall is the final bastion between the peoples of Haarth and the Swarm of Dark—which the Derai have been fighting across worlds and time.

Malian, Heir to the House of Night, knows the history of her people: the unending war with the Darkswarm; the legendary heroes, blazing with long-lost power; the internal strife that has fractured the Derai’s former strength. But now the Darkswarm is rising again, and Malian’s destiny as Heir of Night is bound inextricably to both ancient legend and any future the Derai—or Haarth—may have.

My Review:

I’m pretty late in this review, since the book came out in September, but I really wanted to talk about it. I finished this book awhile ago but life has kept me from my review. This book, though, deserves to be talked about and so here I am, late to the party, but with a case of wine in hand (figuratively speaking anyway).

When Eos offered up advance reader copies of this book, I jumped at the chance even though I knew nothing about the book. I’ve had good luck with Eos’ fantasy offerings as a whole, so I figured even if I’d never heard of the author before that I probably wouldn’t be disappointed. Man, am I glad that not only did I make that jump but that I actually managed to snag a copy.

I have to admit to a few misconceptions going into it. The cover art, though beautiful, is pretty misleading. I mean, we have a huge dark castle looming out of a creepy-looking forest and a cloaked figure in the foreground holding aloft a lantern. I thought for sure that this was a vampire book. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Make no mistake that this is a fantasy novel – and if you don’t believe me, one look at the blurb will prove it. It has a very slight science fiction flavor, in that the history of the Derai seems to be that they came to Haarth from a distant world. But it’s a science fiction flavor the way the first couple of Pern books were science fiction — only by the most remote of the world’s origins and (for this book, at least) that seems to have little bearing on the story.

In point of fact, we don’t learn much about the Darkswarm who are the sworn enemies of the Derai, or of the Derai people themselves. This novel focuses mostly on Malian, Heir to the House of Night, daughter of the leader of the foremost of Derai houses; and on her new-found friend, the young Kalan, who is a sort of apprentice priest at the local temple. They are separated from those who care for them, lost in the mountain-sized warren of the House while the treacherous and mysterious Darkswarm attack the House and Temple both.

This is another volume with more questions than answers, though I think not on the scale of Brandon Sanderson’s. The compelling portrayals of the main characters are comparable though. Both Malian and Kalan are young and naive but brave and they both live in a harsh world and culture. Their characters are vivid and both make choices believable for their age and experience.

The Derai seem to be a brutal people, one who put much stock in war and in physical might. There is also an undercurrent of treachery that sours their fearlessness into something dark and sort of bitter. I wanted to know more about the Derai, but I was also relieved when Malian begins the fantasy-series-required “hero’s journey” at the end of the book. The Derai and the Wall of Night they protect are just the tip of the enigmatic iceberg. The reader is given many teasing hints of more – and just as strange – cultures and peoples of Haarth.

I’m sold on this world, and on the characters. I want to know more. I think Helen Lowe has given us a unique new twist on the old “coming of age” fantasy trope and I can’t wait to see what else she’s going to do with it. Not only that, but now that I know from her website that she’s also a poet, I understand the beautiful imagery of this novel. The language here is gorgeous and unobtrusive. You’ll only notice how musically the words go together if you’re looking for it, otherwise you’ll just see the beautifully painted pictures of the scenes described. (Unless, of course, you don’t see pictures in your head**. Which boggles my mind, but is possible. Doubtless even if so, you’ll be able to appreciate this book anyway.)

The good news – at least for my overseas readers – is that I delayed in my review enough that now those in the United Kingdom can look forward to their local Heir of Night debut. The book is set to be released in March 2011, per the sidebar on the author’s website. Don’t feel bummed, US readers – you can pick up The Heir of Night now and still look forward to the sequel, coming out this fall. If you’re not convinced, then hear it from the author’s own lips over at John Scalzi’s Whatever feature: The Big Idea. 

Buy it at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.

Rating: ★★★★¼ 

**I was going to link, here, to an article I read by (I think) CE Murphy about how she doesn’t see images in her head when she writes and had no idea that anyone could even do that until she’d met someone who’d explained it to her. Except that I can’t find it. Oh, well.

Thoughts on the Nook Color

 Book Tech, Books, Featured  2 Responses »
Jan 142011
 

I’ve been fascinated with the concept of e-readers since the first Kindle was released by Amazon, but there have always been several things that held me back. First and foremost was cost. Several hundred dollars for a device with one purpose doesn’t make you want to run out and buy one. Second was that I’ve always loved books – the smell of the paper, the ease of taking one with you, the visceral FEEL of them. Last of all was the uncertain nature of an e-book. The idea of DRM that forces you to re-purchase books for multiple devices makes me unhappy. The episode where copies of George Orwell’s 1984 were removed from devices without users’ consent put the nail in the e-reader coffin for me.

For awhile.

Then there was the development of ePub. A free and open file format that can be transported across multiple devices?

Sweet. Sign me up.

Then I started hearing about the Nook Color. The more I heard, the more intrigued I was. An e-reader device running Android that could do books, magazines, newspapers, text books, and ALSO surf the web and handle games and apps? This was no single-purpose device, and for $249, the price wasn’t unreasonable.

I’d found my e-reader. An unexpected windfall of a gift card gave me the excuse to purchase it.

At this point in time, I’ve read three or four books on the Nook Color as well as explored some of the extras like Sudoku and chess. Overall, it’s been a god-send and I love it. (Caveat: I suck at chess.)

I changed my whole “only paper books for me, please!” mindset when I realized that I currently have nearly 1,000 books.(This *does not* count my husband’s books. He is probably even more prolific than I am, but he collects comics and manga since he’s an art guy.)  This is not in itself a bad thing. There is just one problem– I am allergic to dust. VERY allergic. Not anaphylactic shock allergic. More like if I get it on my skin it feels a bit like I imagine acid would feel, and if I breathe too much of it in I start to wheeze and get dizzy to the point where I have to lie down the rest of the day.

Sadly, books = dust, and if I am honest with myself I just cannot handle dealing with several thousand of them and the dust they would collect (or that they kick up when you rearrange shelves and move them around). I will never part with quite a few of my precious hardcovers, of course, and I have many signed paperbacks that I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of either. Everything else, however, is getting moved to a digital format just as soon as I decide whether trying to scan and convert them is more or less of a hassle than rebuying all the damned things. I WISH someone had a “trade in your hard copy for an ePub” program.

So the concept of the device itself has many merits. But you are probably here for my opinion of the actual device. The answer to that question is more complicated.

I love being able to carry dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of books with me. The Nook Color comes with 8GB of built in memory and I’ve not even hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of storage yet. It also has an SD card slot – cleverly hidden under a flap in the back of the device and which is pretty darned hard to find if you don’t know where it is. I haven’t added an SD card yet, though, because I haven’t needed to.

I never had a regular Nook or any other e-reader, so I can’t compare the speed of page turns but I’ve heard the Color is faster. It seems fast enough to me. The only beef I have there is that sometimes the touch screen doesn’t seem to register my taps. You can also turn pages with a swipe, though, and that always seems to work so if I change my method I’m sure there’ll be no issues.

Book organization could use some work. Luckily, the software can (and has been) upgraded to add functionality. For now, though, shelves can only be created or rearranged from the Nook itself so there’s no software or meta tags you can use to set things up before hand. You must add each book individually to its shelf – either by pressing and holding on the book’s cover image one at a time and choosing a shelf from the menu or by adding books manually from the shelf. You do get a list of books when adding from the shelf, but it’s your *entire* list of books on the device with check boxes and this method is just as difficult as adding them individually if you have more than a few books on the device.

On the other hand, the Nook Color has a simple and easy to use search feature that hasn’t failed me yet. So as long as you know what you’re searching for, you shouldn’t have any problems there.

I also like the bookmark function. The device will automatically save your place if you put the device in standby or open a different book. It’s also supposed to sync across devices, so if you leave your Nook at home, you can keep reading  from where you left off on your phone or laptop. I haven’t tried this feature much beyond an initial test, but it seems to work properly.

As far as extras, I’ve already mentioned Sudoku and chess. There is also a Pandora app (haven’t tried it, though I love Pandora on my phone), a web browser (haven’t used much), and a couple of other things I haven’t used and so don’t remember. You can , of course, shop and purchase books from the device as well. There is also supposed to be a B&N app store opening up shortly, so you’ll be able to add additional do-dads if you so desire.

A couple of shopping caveats – the Nook Color is only available in a Wi-Fi version, so no 3G shopping from anywhere. Also, you must have the device registered to your B&N account and you MUST have a credit card on file there. Your credit card number is used as a “password” to the DRM on B&N’s ebooks.

On the bright side, it’s very simple to back up your books in case of theft, loss, or breakage. I was able to back up to my hard drive and add the files to my Calibre library very easily. This makes organizing and keeping tabs of what you’ve bought fairly no stress.

I like the Nook Color even better because it’s possible to back up your ePubs and move from device to device without having to worry about whether your purchased data will continue to work. No wondering about the legality of stripping DRM just so you can read a book you’ve already purchased on your phone or on a new device. This was a huge concern for me because not only is removing DRM legally & morally questionable, but because it’s a big pain in the ass.

I don’t want to circumvent any software, I’m  not a pirate, I just want my files to continue to WORK if I buy a new device later on. With ePub, there’s no worries. Simple & easy for the consumer means there’s no reason to look anywhere else for a way to manage files. Of course, pirates always find a way to do what pirates do, but most of us just don’t want the not inconsiderable sums we spend on books to go to waste when the Next New Shiny gets released.

All in all, big thumbs up for this device. This skeptic has been completely sold on the concept.  I can’t wait to start moving a big part of my collection from hard copy to digital.

Review: Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter

 Books, Reviews  2 Responses »
Jan 112011
 

Mercy Blade

Jane Yellowrock #3

Written: Faith Hunter [website]

Published: Penguin

When: January 4, 2011

ISBN: 978-0451463722

Obtained via: Purchase

Cover blurb:

Jane, a shapeshifting vampire-hunter-for-hire, crosses paths with a stranger who has arrived in New Orleans, enlisted to hunt vampires who have gone insane-or so he says…

My Review:

I love the Jane Yellowrock novels because of the themes they explore. One of the big, big themes in this series is that of two equal but opposing sides and exploring how those two sides can live and work together. Vampire and human; human and witch; vampire and werewolf; woman and panther; Christian and Cherokee; warrior and woman. There are probably more that I’ve missed.

I like the fact that Jane isn’t a perfect character. She has flaws, she messes up, she makes bad choices – she is REAL. I wish she’d chosen anyone other than Rick, but I get why she did. It’s easy to stand outside of a relationship and say, “This man is bad for you.” It’s not so easy to be one of the involved parties and do that. I don’t think there are a lot of women out there who haven’t made that mistake a time or two. One doesn’t have to like or agree with the main character’s motivations or actions in order to realize that the story is well-crafted.

In the end, MERCY BLADE is very well-crafted. For myself, I wish Jane could feel less guilt over her out-of-wedlock activities, but I understand the motivation behind it. Some other reviews have taken an issue with her guilt over unmarried sex and said that it is at odds with her vampire killer career, but I disagree. Jane does not see vampires (or werewolves, I think) as human. As a matter of fact, I think it’s reasonable to assume that her Christian upbringing, at least, may view her career as destroying evil — and thus, not a bad thing at all. Religion gets freaky and hypocritical sometimes, and this book shows that really well.

The mystery is solid and not one of those throw away UF or paranormal “mysteries” where you can figure out the bad guy within the first 10 pages. The characters are conflicted, make bad choices, and have to deal with their own mistakes (A LOT of mistakes). Jane’s world doesn’t pull it’s punches and doesn’t keep its characters wrapped in plastic. And Jane doesn’t always come out ahead by herself (or at all)– a woman can be strong and still need to ask for help. (Note to self: going up against an entire biker bar of werewolves is a time to ask for help.)

This is a dark world and really explores some not too bright and cheery themes. If you’re afraid of that, you might want to seek your stories elsewhere. If you want stale, formulaic mysteries and too-strong-for-their-own-good heroines, there are plenty of other places to look. If you want a peek into the world of an extraordinary, supernatural woman with real flaws, then I’d urge you to give Jane a chance.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

[Adapted from my Amazon review, which I posted there first because some people there who didn't seem to "get it" and it kind of ticked me off. :-) ]

Buy it at Amazon.

Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

 Books, Reviews  3 Responses »
Jan 042011
 

The Way of Kings

The Stormlight Archive #1

Written:  Brandon Sanderson[website]

Published: Tor

When: August 31, 2010

ISBN:  978-0765326355

Obtained via: Purchase* (I also won an ARC in a contest, but ended up buying a copy as well.)

Cover blurb:

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar’s niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan’s motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.

Strength before weakness.

Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

My Review:

The Way of Kings is Sanderson’s very ambitious magnum opus, a projected 10 volume epic fantasy, of which this is the first. As an added bonus – if you get mugged after purchasing this book, you can use all 1,000 pages of it to beat your attacker senseless.

All the arm cramps I got from trying to read this thing in bed were totally worth it. I received an Advanced Reader Copy, but ended up running out to buy the hardcover edition because I kept hearing that all the wonderful art was so much better in the final copy. It was the truth, and I don’t regret my purchase at all.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Brandon’s other work: everything from the Mistborn books, to his stand alone Warbreaker to his Alcatraz series with Scholastic. I’ve been following his work since shortly after it was announced that he would be finishing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time. He’s done remarkably well with that series, in my opinion.

Finishing someone else’s epic series with their notes, however, is a very different animal from successfully carrying off your own. Does he manage it? I think it’s too early to tell.

The Way of Kings is its own world and it’s a highly complex one. We’re shown elements ranging from a harsh alien landscape complete with new and frightening wildlife to an intricate political system with multiple peoples and countries. The only problem is that the world is so vast that we’re shown only the merest of glimpses of anything.

The world is beautiful, hypnotic and deadly. Yet we get only the smallest taste of the banquet that’s hinted at throughout the story. For every element that’s shown, there are at least a dozen questions that we’re left wondering about. Why do noblewomen cover their left hands? What exactly is the nature of the fabrials? Where does the power for lashings come from? That doesn’t even cover the series’ big mysteries, those are just world-building questions.

We’re ultimately left with more questions than answers, and Sanderson’s treading a very fine line between leaving the reader wanting more and leaving the reader frustrated beyond endurance. Does it work? It did for me, but I think it’s going to depend on the willingness of the reader to wait for answers.

No one builds worlds like Brandon Sanderson – it’s his signature, what he’s famous for and he does it like a master. The Way of Kings is no different – in fact, if it’s possible to go too far with world-building, then he might have managed it. There might be too much information here, but the way Sanderson builds worlds leaves the reader wondering whether that information is extraneous or whether it will be vitally important later on in the series. Or maybe I’m just pissy that I’m going to have to wait until at least 2012 to see book #2.

It’s a good thing that the characters carry so much of the book’s emotion. Dalinar, Kaladin and Shallan – three of our major characters – are vitally alive. They hold within them brutal strength, desperate hope, and an innocent ruthlessness. Kaladin’s storyline especially is spell-binding, and I’ll be forced to wait for the rest of the series if only to find out what happens to him.

You have plenty of time to pick up and plow your way through this massive tome before the next volume hits shelves. This is probably for the best, because this is a story that will require multiple readings to wring out all its juices.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Buy the book at Amazon or B&N.

Review: Blameless by Gail Carriger

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Oct 012010
 

Blameless

Parasol Protectorate #3

Written: Gail Carriger [website]

Published: Orbit, Mass market

When: September 1, 2010

ISBN: 0316074152

Obtained via: Purchase

Note: The cover blurb for Blameless contains spoilers for Changeless. If you haven’t read book 2, you should not read this blurb/review.

* * *

Cover blurb: Quitting her husband’s house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London’s vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires — and they’re armed with pesto.

* * *

I have been trying to write this review for a week, but I just haven’t had the time or mental capacity to use phrases like “elegant romp”, “rousing caper” and “holy crap, giant killer mechanical ladybugs!” in a sentence – even though all of those are accurate. So you’ll be getting my plain-spoken working-overtime version of this review of Blameless.

What I love most about this series is that there’s always something different to love. Soulless had awesome parasol action and a creepy mystery accompanied by a nice solid romance. Changeless was a slightly different kind of mystery (one with more action, in my opinion), some new steampunk technology, and a sucker-punch-to-the-forehead ending.

Blameless, doesn’t try to be what it’s predecessors were. It’s not afraid to be different from what’s gone before, and that’s what I like about it. It carries even more action than Changeless did, but Blameless does it with an almost silly sense of humor that I found delightful.

Don’t get me wrong – the entire series has plenty of humor, but most of it is a bit wry. Blameless, however, isn’t afraid to make fun of itself. There were several moments that had me laughing out loud. My favorite was when Professor Lyall, the werewolf Beta, admits to an interest in the reproduction of sheep. He even keeps several embryos, floating in formaldehyde. His Alpha (Lord Maccon), at one point in the book, compliments Lyall on having on-hand such a delightful drink, complete with “crunchy snacks”.

If Carriger had tried to top the tension at the end of Changeless, there’s a good chance the attempt would’ve fallen flat. That she didn’t try, and still managed to write a better, more solid book than the last has done more to impress me than any number of summer-blockbuster-style shenanigans could have.

Gail Carriger is just flat out a good author, and her work is worth giving a try. I’m very glad I did.

Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | Indie Bound

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Review: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

 Books, Featured, Reviews  3 Responses »
Sep 242010
 

Shades of Milk and Honey

Written: Mary Robinette Kowal [website]

Published: Tor, Hardcover

When: August 3rd, 2010

ISBN: 9780765325563

Obtained via: Purchase

Cover blurb: Shades of Milk and Honey is an intimate portrait of Jane Ellsworth, a woman ahead of her time in a version of Regency England where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality. But despite the prevalence of magic in everyday life, other aspects of Dorchester’s society are not that different: Jane and her sister Melody’s lives still revolve around vying for the attentions of eligible men.


Jane resists this fate, and rightly so: while her skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face, and therefore wins the lion’s share of the attention. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Jane has resigned herself to being invisible forever. But when her family’s honor is threatened, she finds that she must push her skills to the limit in order to set things right–and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

This debut novel from an award-winning talent scratches a literary itch you never knew you had. Like wandering onto a secret picnic attended by Pride and Prejudice and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Shades of Milk and Honey is precisely the sort of tale we would expect from Jane Austen…if she had lived in a world where magic worked.

* * *

I have to be honest with you – this post will be more of an anecdote than a review and it will probably contain spoilers, if you care about those things.

I found my time with Shades of Milk and Honey to be a pleasant distraction from some (hopefully) good news that’s had me waiting on pins and needles this week. Jane lives in an entirely different world than we do today. (Well, than I do at any rate. I won’t speak for the rest of you.) I’ve never once had the desire to live in Regency England. I’ll gladly confess to not having read a single word of Jane Austen, and to not missing the experience at all.

Jane is everything I can’t stand in a main character – a pushover who is too polite to stand up for herself, a “proper lady” who follows every expectation of society and etiquette. I just want to scream when, after her sister selfishly snaps at her for the umpteenth time, Jane finds herself thinking how she must comfort her sister in her pique. Ugh! Such a goody two-shoes!

Yet there are still things about Jane that I can identify with: a passionate urge to make whatever she’s working on perfect; a plain face; being told she’d be an old maid at 28 (Though I was 26, and I’ll grant that means different things today then it did then.); and a pretty-faced, self-absorbed younger sister who steals the spotlight – at home and without.

In classic Jane Austen style, the ladies who are the main characters of our story spend (nearly) the entire time talking about dresses, trying to catch a husband, and making sure they’re not left alone too long with a member of the opposite sex. Intriguingly – and the thing that drew me to the story – is that, along with such things as music and painting, the magic known as glamour is also a womanly art in this time.

Glamour is a subtle magic used to beautify the home and for use in theater. In one scene, Jane creates a grove of trees in her bedroom, and in another she causes a soft breeze and a hint of honeysuckle to blow delicately in her family’s drawing room. (I wish I could pull off that trick!) Glamour is stationary and exceedingly gentle, and so is used mostly by women. It was the sample chapter showing Jane’s working of glamour that first grabbed my attention and made me want to read this book. The trailer reminded me that I’d wanted to read it and kept me intrigued. Then, it was this post that sealed the deal and made me buy it.

If this review sounds harsh in any way, believe me that is not my intention. I merely wish to convey that, even while so many things in this story are things that I wouldn’t customarily seek out in a story, I immensely enjoyed the time I spent with it. I’ll even admit to laughing out loud after reading the last page – which I doubt was something the author intended.

Shades of Milk and Honey is an “urban” fantasy for the Regency period*: all the magic in a city setting but with no gun-wielding goddesses of war and pain, no tattoos, no promiscuous sex, and no gratuitous deaths. Surprisingly, I found this a nice break. (I think I’m getting burnt out on UF.) What we do have is a nice, civilized magic system set amidst all the tedious societal politeness that most of us think would be nice to visit but would find rather quaint and annoying were it real life.

(*Hush, now. I know the genre is “alternate history”.  I’m trying to make a point by contrasting here.)

I urge you to give Shades of Milk and Honey a try. It is a charming tale, a quick and easy read. And the formatting is just gorgeous. I applaud the typesetter on this one, and that’s rarely something that makes me stop to think.

I suppose you’re wondering about my laugh-out-loud moment, huh? It’s really very simple, but will probably be lost on anyone who doesn’t know me directly.

>>> HERE BE SPOILERS. <<<

No, seriously. Don’t read any further unless you want to be spoiled.

Got it?

Okay. I told you so.


You see, Jane spends the entire book fascinated with her neighbor, Mr. Dunkirk. He is portrayed as a gentle, thoughtful soul who dotes on his little sister and holds the art of glamour in high regard. In contrast, the glamourist Mr. Vincent is a brusque, off-putting fellow who seems to care much more for his art than he does for anything (or anyone) else. He spends most of his time glaring and skulking about.

Shockingly, at the end of the story, Jane ends up not with Mr. Dunkirk but with Mr. Vincent. I closed the book and sat thinking to myself, “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would Jane decide  to be with the surly artist when she’s spent all that time swooning over the gentle neighbor? What woman of Jane’s time period would choose to be with such a man?”

That’s when I laughed out loud. You see, it occurred to me that Jane is not the only one who married a surly, if talented, artist. If I saw merit in a great, hulking man with a brusque nature and artist’s hands, then why couldn’t Jane? Perhaps she and I aren’t so different after all!

Rating: ★★★¾☆ 

Buy the book: Amazon | B&N | Indie Bound

Review: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

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Sep 202010
 

by Brent Weeks The Black Prism

Lightbringer #1

Written: Brent Weeks [website]

Published: Orbit, Hardcover

When: August 25th, 2010

ISBN: 0316075558

Obtained via: Purchase

Cover blurb: Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

* * *

There is so much to address about The Black Prism. We have a very ambitious new fantasy world, a unique and fairly complicated magic system, an interesting political set-up, and some pretty ambiguous characters.

First, the magic system – which consists of an inherent ability of certain members of this society to turn pure light into a plastic-y substance of various states of solidity. This substance is called luxin, and consists of the various colors of the visible spectrum of light plus what in the book is called “superviolet” and “sub-red”. Not all people in this world can create luxin, however, and of those that can, none can create luxin from more than 2 or 3 colors out of the entire spectrum. Except, of course, for the man known as the Prism.

Which brings us to Gavin Guile, the current political leader of the Seven Satrapies. Gavin is a wealth of contradictions. He is a savvy politician; a powerful user of the entire spectrum of luxin; a kind and gentle man, who accepts the sudden shame of a half-competent bastard son with barely a care for how it will affect his own plans. We don’t see all of his five goals, but the ones we do see are noble indeed. Yet, he is also the victor of a vicious war who left thousands dead, an entire satrapy virtually destroyed, and his own brother deposed. He then rather callously dumps his fiancée and sets himself up as the supreme ruler of the entire kingdom.

Then there’s Kip, the aforementioned bastard, whose mouth moves fastest, mind moves second, and legs move last of all. He’s a smart-talking, tubby teenager with low self-esteem whose mouth frequently writes checks his body can’t cash. Kip’s snarky, repetitive comments about his size and abilities is occasionally enough to set one’s teeth on edge, but I think it’s a pretty true vision of what a teenager would be thinking. Because there’s no one more important to a 15-year-old than themselves….

Some people have taken issue with Kip’s repeated self-esteem issues – and there are a lot of them. I’ll admit that Weeks is treading a fine line here between an honest portrayal of a character and one so frustrating and pitiful that you must distance yourself as a reader. But my opinion is that he’s coming down on the side of candor, rather than annoyance. Each reader must ultimately judge that for themselves.

I’m leaving out many compelling characters, of course, and even more compelling events. I read this 626 page hardcover in 2-3 days while working full-time. I think that feat speaks to the draw of this book.

There are tropes here to examine, of course: the poor boy who suddenly finds himself in possession of a noble name and great power; a subject king in rebellion (and a siege!); the girl-fighter who became a warrior to hide her vulnerabilities. Every fantasy, by virtue of being called fantasy, must have one or two. I think Weeks has done a pretty good job of stacking them together in a unique new way.

The magic system, in my opinion, is what that in Brandon Sanderson’s Warbreaker should have been. This is not a knock against that book (which was excellent in its own way); there was plenty going on there and I understand why Sanderson chose not to take that opportunity. However, I’ve been curious to see what a magic system using color and light as separate functions would look like, and I’m pleased that Weeks has managed to do it so well. I’m curious to find out why the various colors have different degrees of solidity and I hope that’s explored further in later books. I’d love to know why, for instance, the author chose yellow as a liquid while blue is a solid, etc.

Ultimately, though, I think this book speaks a lot about whether one can overcome their past and make a better future. Gavin is trying to heal the wounds of a pretty horrific war. He’s lied. He’s murdered. In his mind, both were for the better good. Is that enough to overcome the choices he has made to get where he is? As the first book in a series, we obviously don’t yet have the answer. But it’s the question that is important.

The same goes for Kip. He’s the poor son of a drug-addicted, abusive mother and an (until now) absent father. His home satrapy is conquered by Gavin’s war, and then fifteen years later, his hometown is razed by soldiers of his own King. In this case, Kip’s situation didn’t spring from his own decisions, but he still has a terrible past. Are the brave deeds he accomplishes during the course of this book enough to separate him from that past? Again, we don’t know the answer, but the questioning is even more crucial.

The Black Prism gives us layer upon layer of past decisions and actions affecting current affairs, and it makes a truly intriguing web of events. I’m excited about seeing the rest of these consequences unfold. Once you top that with some well-rounded, three-dimensional characters, each with noble intentions and dangerously real flaws, you get a spicy recipe for a series that I will definitely be lining up to finish.

Buy The Black Prism: Amazon | B&N | Indie Bound

Rating: ★★★★¼ 

Review: The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

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Sep 142010
 

Brenna YovanoffThe Replacement

Written: Brenna Yovanoff [Website]

Published: Razorbill, Hardcover

When: September 21, 2010

ISBN: 9781595143372

Obtained via: Publisher

Cover blurb:

Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, Mackie comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement—left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is slowly dying in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with an oddly intriguing girl named Tate. But when Tate’s baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

* * *

The Replacement is a book of the Others, the Fae Ones, the Creatures who live under the hill. It’s also the story of a teenage boy who feels a lot different than the rest of his friends: a little odd, a little sickly, a little strange. You may be thinking, “But doesn’t this describe every teenage boy who ever lived?” And it does.

But Mackie is different.

Mackie is a Replacement, a creature left in an empty crib the night the REAL Malcolm Doyle was taken away. Sickly from the constant touch of iron, a substance that – to Mackie – is deathly poisonous, he never should have survived to grow up in the first place. However- in a twist that resonates with me most strongly – the unconditional love of his older sister, Emma, has given Mackie the strength to reach near-adulthood. But Emma makes a deal with the creatures of the slag heap to get Mackie an otherworldly medicine for his illness, and this draws them both into a centuries-old web of lies and illusion that has haunted the town and caused the sacrifice of dozens of babies.

This book is a macabre hyperbole of teenage existence: the angst, the unhappiness with one’s parents and with where one comes from, the desire to fit in that pairs with the secret feeling that one really just doesn’t and maybe never could. That need that one feels, as you’re coming to adulthood, to prove oneself. To be a good person. To save the world. And to make out with that really cute girl/guy from English class…

Mackie struggles with all of these things throughout the book. He also deals with the ghastly but somehow piteous creatures who live beneath the slag heap, and he finds himself caught in the middle of a rivalry between two Fae sisters (though they’re never called that in the book).

Through it all, though, is that theme of love and the way it can transform us if we let it. Emma has loved Mackie enough that he still lives, years after he should have become too ill to survive. The creatures of the House of Mayhem, under the slag heap, become beautiful when they go out on stage to play music for the town and receive their adoration. Mackie’s friends love him enough to risk their lives and the safety of their town to go underground and try to rescue a missing child.

The Replacement is an excellent coming-of-age, finding-yourself tale for the YA crowd, with just the right amount of teenage angst – making it compelling to adults rather than annoying. The publisher has billed it as “Edward Scissorhands meets Catcher In the Rye” and they’re not wrong. I also love the haunting (US) cover art.  The Replacement’s release date is September 21st, so you have just enough time to jot it on your shopping list and go out to pick it up!

Buy The Replacement: Amazon | B&N | Indie Bound

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

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