State of Review

Press Release: Anarchy Books

2011-11-15T06:46:00.001-08:00

ANARCHY BOOKS PRESS RELEASE

Saturday 19th November is a date for your diaries, with Anarchy Books releasing not one wholesome SF novel, but two!

First comes New York Nights by SF Heavyweight, Eric Brown.

"New York 2040 is a city of the lost. So, a good place to work in Missing Persons. But business is not so good that Hal Halliday can forget his sister, burned alive when she was a child. Now, only VR offers the chance to bring her back. The future may yet allow Hal to live in the past - if he can survive his next job..."

Described by Peter F. Hamilton as "the name to watch in SF", and Brown's novel HELIX described by Stephen Baxter as, "a classic concept - a built world to dwarf Rama and Ringworld - a setting for a hugely imaginative adventure. Helix is the very DNA of true sf. This is the rediscovery of wonder", this first digital release of New York Nights is available as a PDF, EPUB or MOBI format, for the low price of £1.99. Artwork by Jethro Lentle. Check out www.anarchy-books.com.

The second “SF Saturday” release emerges from the crazy imagination of famous tattoo artist Dan Henk.The Black Seas of Infinity is Dan Henk’s debut novel, and what a powerhouse of action SF it is!

“Visions of pulp era heroes fill his thoughts. Taking advanced physics, he dreams big, but harsh reality bites as he grows up, and he resigns himself to building surveillance drones for the military. After a brief probative period, he’s unexpectedly moved into the clandestine world of investigating crashed alien craft. Fascinated beyond anything he thought possible, it’s a dream come true but his lack of social skills get him fired. However, he's seen too much – and a year later returns to pull off a bloody heist... Fleeing into the woods with the military in hot pursuit, he makes a mad scramble up the coast. It’s only then he discovers the world has grown strange. Businesses are closed. Highways deserted. The US has become fractured... Trigger happy locals and violent militias are only the beginning. Death, madness, and the unwelcome return of creatures from beyond this world await...”

Think X-Files crossed with Alastair Reynolds and you’ll begin to get a picture of where Dan’s stunning original SF writing will lead you...

The Black Seas of Infinity is available in PDF, EPUB or MOBI flavours, for the low low price of £1.99. Artwork and internal illustrations by Dan Henk. Check out www.anarchy-books.com.

REVIEW: The Metalmark Contract by David Batchelor

2011-08-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

The Metalmark Contract by David Batchelor
Publishing information: Kindle, Paperback; 250 pages
Publisher: Black Rose Writing; 3 March 2011
ISBN 10: 1612960111
ISBN 13: 978-1612960111
ASIN: B004Y60T3E
Series: Book One
Copy: Provided by author
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis "The alien Metalmark offered mankind a starship and its advanced technology in a trade for the rights to planet Mercury and moon Triton. What could go wrong? But his appearance sent the nations of Earth into turmoil as many people suspected danger and a trick. Our dreams of futuristic breakthroughs made Metalmark a celebrity in the West, but inflamed the Islamic world. A scientist with the space agency and a CIA spy became two of Metalmark's defenders. Our chance to join superior beings and travel the stars depended on the clash of futurists with ancient traditions. Could he sell us the means to a quantum jump in progress? But . . . he wanted Mercury and Triton for habitats where his species could spawn . . . what did that mean?"

It has been a while since I have read a first contact novel. So, when presented with the chance to read the latest first contact novel by David Batchelor, I jumped at the chance.

The Metalmark Contract is a frustrating book. Not so much because it is poorly written, but due to the fact that many of the decisions made by mankind in the novel makes you want to stand up and shout that they are making a terrible mistake. When the alien named Metalmark comes to Earth requesting to meet with the United Nations to engage in trade, he asks for the planet Mercury and the moon Triton for spawning grounds. While our leaders first question why he requires those two heavenly bodies it is soon forgotten. They ask for as much information on the two space bodies but then quickly forget it when events start to spin out of their control. I would like to have seen some more discussion or details on the two planets and their advantages to keeping them, but once Metalmark shows Earth his amazing technology they forget that they may need Mercury or Triton. It really frustrated me as I am not sure that a contract like this would have been ramrodded into law so quickly. China seems to be the only country who is leery of what Metalmark is asking for and what he is giving in return. The President of the United States is true to form and plays the part of a puppet only it seems that the alien has managed to play the strings to perfection.

Metalmark is very interesting, without giving away too much about him (you will have to read it to find out more about him). He is very charismatic and has definitely done his homework on humanity. His true motives are hidden from everyone, he also does a great job of deflecting any and all information that humans try to glean from him about his origins or his species. It probably helps that he has a CIA agent and NASA scientist doing their utmost to shelter and protect him from any real negative publicity. While there is a medium-sized cast in this novel, they are juggled quite well and Batchelor does a great job of introducing them and keeping them interesting throughout the story. They also do a decent amount of growing as the novel continues.

The end of The Metalmark Contract leaves many questions to be answered and everyone's fate is left up in the air. But for a first novel it is quite good. It only lagged in one or two places and that was to set things up for the next event. The Metalmark Contract is an interesting premise as first contact is based on a need of commerce instead of friendship or the advancement of knowledge. There is also a lot of mystery involved in the novel as we are never fully told what "spawning" means and what it implies. Metalmark's physiology is also interesting and much different from what we usually encounter in science fiction novels. The Metalmark Contract is a fun read and sadly a quick read. You will also have to wait until the next novel is completed before you find out more about the implications of the contract forged between mankind and its latest neighbor. Recommended.

REVIEW:Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

2011-08-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Publishing information: Paperback; 528 pages

Publisher: Eos; 01 July 2005

ISBN 10: 0060733497

ISBN 13: 9780060733490

Standalone

Copy: Out of Pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: " The ruling Asharites of Al-Rassan have come from the desert sands, but over centuries, seduced by the sensuous pleasures of their new land, their stern piety has eroded. The Asharite Empire has splintered into decadent city-states lead by warring petty kings. King Almalik of Cartada is on the ascendancy, aided always by his friend and advisor, the notorious Ammar ibn Khairan – poet, diplomat; soldier – until a summer afternoon of savage brutality changes their relationship forever.
Meanwhile, in the north, the conquered Jaddites’ most celebrated – and feared – military leader, Rodrigo Belmonte, driven into exile, leads his mercenary company south.
In the dangerous lands of Al-Rassan, these two men from different worlds meet and serve – for a time – the same master. Sharing their interwoven fate – and increasingly torn by her feelings – is Jehane, the accomplished court physician, whose own skills play an increasing role as Al-Rassan is swept to the brink of holy war, and beyond.
Hauntingly evocative of Medieval Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is both a brilliant adventure and a deeply compelling story of love, divided loyalties, and what happens to men and women when hardening beliefs begin to remake – or destroy – a world."

I have a few Guy Gavriel Kay titles in the pile and I was told by my fellow Speculative Book Reviewers that The Lions of Al-Rassan is the best place to start. Since this book has been staring at me for nearly a year, I thought that it was time I finally man up and see what Mr. Kay was all about.

The three main characters in The Lions of Al-Rassan represent the three religious factions: Asharites, Jaddites, and Kindath. These three groups represent Islam, Christians, and Jews. The three characters are all very charismatic and are considered to be the perfect specimen of their given factions. Ammar ibn Khairan is a well-known warrior and poet who represents the Asharites/Muslims, Rodrigo Belmonte (El Cid) is the champion for the Christians/Jaddites, and Jehane is the beautiful and intelligent Kindath/Jewish doctor that the two men fall in love with. I did enjoy each of the characters and it was refreshing to see the Asharites/Muslims shown in a favorable light even if it was a more romanticized version. Ammar was a character that you could respond to. Belmonte was also a great character, except he also had a huge flaw, in that he was married to one, if not the most beautiful woman in the realm and he found himself in a love triangle with Ammar and Jehane. This was a lot to swallow as his introduction showed him as honorable and loving no one else aside from his wife. For the story to work you had to buy into his love for another woman. The other woman, Jehane, was also a great character. She was very strong and did a great job of moving the story forward. Even the supporting cast had great parts to play as the story unfolded. Kay does an excellent job with characters, although there is a small need to stretch the imagination and buy into Belmonte's love for Jehane but as I said it is a small stretch even if it tarnishes his honorable image.

The world building is a little less than average as Kay has taken medieval Spain and renamed all of the cities and locations to his world. The map in the beginning of the novel should give you a clue as to what time of topography you are going to encounter in the book. For me I simply pictured Don Quixote. The Lions of Al-Rassan has very little magic within its pages. There is one child who has visions of the future which is more of a plot device than anything else. The book is more of Kay's take on the world at that time in history without actually calling it Spain.

The Lions of Al-Rassan is a tad slow as there is a lot of ground to cover before any action occurs. Much of the book has the characters traveling to a new city or discussing strategy. While I know that Kay is not a huge action writer it may have helped me get through this novel a bit faster if the pace had picked up. That is not to say that the book was bad, quite the opposite, but there are a lot of slow moments. However, even though it was much slower than other fantasy books I have read it was a fairly good read with some amazing characters and an interesting take on the Spanish medieval period (It reminded me a lot of Daniel Abraham's books). While I have not read anything else by Kay at this point in time I am willing to give him another try as the book was interesting and a nice change of pace from what I normally read. It should also be noted that The Lions of Al-Rassan was chosen as the 2010 World Scholar's Cup novel, as it coincides with their theme of "A World Divided."

REVIEW: Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

2011-08-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Publishing Information: Hardback; 336 pages (373 pages in ARC)

Publisher: Voyager; 4 August 2011

ISBN 10: 0441020321

ISBN 13: 978-0007423293

Series: Book one of The Broken Empire

Copy Provided by publisher

Synopsis: "The thorns taught him a lesson in blood...

Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse."

Once a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg's bleak past has set him beyond fear of any man, living or dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him."

TYSON

Prince of Thorns first grabbed my attention when I saw the cover. A hooded warrior amid a battlefield strewn with the recent dead. While we have seen a lot of our mysteriously hooded figures, this one really drew me in. Then I read what the book was about and I had a really good feeling that I was going to enjoy whatever was contained within the pages of the novel.

Prince of Thorns does its best to tell two stories. One that progresses the story and the other tells us how our hero came to be. Jorg, our protagonist has not had an easy life. It starts out with all the pleasantries of one noble born, but quickly veers to a life of death and mayhem. Jorg's most formative years should have been spent under the expert tutelage of the king but instead he has gone seeking revenge and has learned from the worst of mankind. He is ruthless and will use anyone to further his personal goals. He is not a warrior, but a killer. He is not above sacrificing his own men if it means a quick means to his aspirations. I found myself really liking Jorg even when he was at his most terrifying. The way his mind works was both entertaining and impressive. I could imagine how his own men, who towered over him, would stay on their toes lest they became the next corpse. The fact that some of his men stood at seven feet tall and never turned their back on him, for fear he would take their head spoke volumes.

A few other characters were also very interesting. Rike and Makin. Rike was is described as a massive killing machine with little or no morals. I saw him as a juggernaut and it was interesting to see how he interacted with Jorg throughout the book. Makin was another character that I liked. He was the white knight that had screwed up and was doing his best to guide Jorg and make up for his past errors. To a certain degree they exemplified the two sides of Jorg's personality and they also complimented him very well. There is a large cast of characters that are apart of Jorg's group known as the Brotherhood and many of them stand out. Since it starts out as a large group many of them go unnamed and it was one of my minor complaints. Lawrence has a lot of death in the pages of Prince of Thorns and they take place on both sides of the battles. Many of the brotherhood die and it doesn't really impact the story simply because they are a name or empty suit and nothing else. We only learn their names when they fall in battle. Of course Lawrence does manage to kill off a many of the secondary characters as well. No one is truly safe in Prince of Thorns but many of the early deaths do not mean much as they were never introduced in the first place, which loses its dramatic impact.

The world building is interesting. We never understand just where in time the story takes place. Many famous books and authors are mentioned (IE: Shakespeare, Plato, etc.) and we are told the roads were built by the Romans long ago. We are also told of a great battle that wiped out the mighty nations that once were. While I do not want to spoil the big surprise that comes along the towards the end of the book we do learn more about when the book takes place, but we are still not told specifics, which I thought was a major plus. The majority of the novel has little to no magic. However, towards the second half of the novel it becomes more prevalent and it was a nice change of pace. While I was perfectly fine with there being very little magic in the beginning; however, when the magic does comes out, it is done very well and only adds to the story as it unfolds.

Prince of Thorns really flows. The chapters are rather short and there is not much time for the action to take a breather. There is plenty of hack and slash within its pages, but at the heart of it is Jorg's personal quest to reunite the empire to its former glory and he does not care how he does it or who he must crush under his heels to attain it.

Prince of Thorns is not what I consider a very gritty book, but it certainly is bloody. While there is a lot of death contained within its pages that is just the surface there is a lot going on behind the scenes which is what really drove the story. Jorg has a plan and it is great fun to see how it unfolds. The problem that I have with the novel is that its sequels are not available. The Prince of Thorns is a bloody good time and I plan to stay with it as the series continues. It is sure to be one, if not the, best fantasy debuts I read all year. Lawrence's Prince of Thorns reminds me of Joe Abercrombie, the character'smorals are ambiguous and never safe from their demise. Highly recommended.

Mark was interviewed by me earlier over at Speculative Book Review. Check it out.

REVIEW: Skywatcher by Jon Connington

2011-07-25T23:28:00.000-07:00

Skywatcher by Jon Connington

Publishing information: Paperback (proof copy) 324 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace; 27 Sept 2010

ISBN 10: 145384435X

ISBN 13: 978-1453844359

Series: book 2 of 2

Copy: Provided by author version was a proof addition

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "Armies gather on the horizon. A world on the edge of destruction A hero faces the ultimate choice.

Driven onward by his quest for revenge, Macsen has come the Kingdom of Audran, There he joins with the Order of the Skywatchers to bring down Goren, the mage responsible for the destruction of his village.

Armies gather in the wilds of the Upper Airs, as Goren readies the final step of his plan to destroy the world and then remake it in his image.

Battle rages in the killing skies, swords and magic clash. And the fate of the world lies in the hands of one man.

SKYWATCHER: the thrilling conclusion of The Storm at the Center of the World!"

Not long ago Speculative Book Review was approached by Jon Connington to review his first novel Field of Fire, the majority of us really enjoyed what we read and were dying to see the conclusion to his series. Luckily Connington approached us again to review his second and final book in the series, Skywatcher.

When I read Field of Fire there were a lot of unanswered questions such as what keeps the world afloat and how do the flying ships stay in the air. I was delighted to find out how both were possible but they were also a little bit of a let down and the reasons for both were a little too quickly explained without further information. While it may have slowed down the pacing of the book, I still would have liked to have learned more about how these things were possible. In truth, aside from learning these two facts there was little world building in the book. Considering the potential that Connington presented in the first book I had hoped that he would take advantage of the massive world, but unfortunately he did not.

As Skywatcher opens up I was a little disoriented and lost as you are swept up in events. Not a lot of what occurs in the opening scene makes a lot of sense in the beginning but as the book unfolds it becomes more apparent as to what has happened and why it occurred. The problem that I had with Skywatcher is the pacing. The book seems disjointed at times, as I read it it felt rushed, as if the author was hurrying to complete the novel without filling us in on some vitally important things. There were a few holes that I hope are made clear when the final version is released.

We also return to the life of Macsen, our hero and even he did not seem to be the good guy he appeared to be from the first novel. There was also a major love sub-plot that just never seemed to get off the ground and was a little confusing. It seemed very forced as there was no chemistry before the actual encounter where the two "fall in love." Again, I felt as if it was due to the fact that the story felt rushed. Had Skywatcher taken its time and let things develop more naturally, I think it not have been so muddled. It is not that the characters were so bad, just that it did not feel natural.

When compared to Field of Fire, Skywatcher is not as good. The pacing and characters did not flow as well as they did in the debut novel. The end was also a little disappointing. However, the end was fitting. Skywatcher is a decent novel and while I had a proof copy, the final version should prove to be a decent end to the series.

REVIEW: Wintertide by Michael J Sullivan (Kindle Edition)

2011-07-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Wintertide by Michael J Sullivan

Publishing Information: Kindle

Publisher: Ridan Publishing; 1 October 2010

ISBN 10: 0982514581

ISBN 13: 978-0982514580

ASIN: B00452VB5W

Series: The Riyria Revelations Book 5

Copy: Provided by Publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "A FORCED WEDDING. A DOUBLE EXECUTION. TWO THIEVES HAVE OTHER PLANS.

The New Empire intends to celebrate its victory over the Nationalists with a day that will never be forgotten. On the high holiday of Wintertide the empress will be married. Degan Gaunt and the Witch of Melengar will be publically executed. Then the empress will suffer a fatal accident leaving the empire in the hands of the new emperor. It will be a perfect day. There is only one problem-Royce and Hadrian have finally found the lost heir."

A year ago today we started Speculative Book Review with the first review of Michael Sullivan's The Emerald Storm, book four in the Riyria Revelations series. It seems only fitting that we review the fifth book in the series, Wintertide, on our anniversary.

With each new installment in the Riyria Revelations the characters just get better. Wintertide is no exception. This addition focuses is on a much smaller scale than the previous novels as it all takes place in one location, for the most part. As things took a turn for the worst at the end of The Emerald Storm. Royce and Hadrian go their separate ways for the majority of the novel in order to take on their personal quests.

In Wintertide, we head to the Empire's capital, Aquesta, for the celebration known as Wintertide. As Royce and Hadrian enter the city there is a lot of great characters introduced. We meet a few street smart kids that take on a more important role and and also provide some levity to the story. With their introduction we also catch a glimpse about what life is like for the underprivileged and just how important the world's rulers are to the down trodden. The conversations the kids have when plotting their crimes and how to handle the city's newcomers was a lot of fun.

We also have a few recurring characters take on a larger role in Wintertide, they tend to help out our main characters in one shape or another. The story of Hadrian's taking on the role of a recently dubbed knight is interesting as he must learn the ways of a noble and the warfare that takes place during the gatherings and royal occasions are a lot of fun to read as the snubbing that takes place is highly amusing and intelligent. Royce's story is very minor and he really only shows up at the end; however, we he does his actions speak louder than words and the ending sets the stage for the final book. His story has him confronting a friend from the past and while I could see it coming from the previous books, I was not prepared for what happens in Wintertide. His role while minor, has a dramatic impact on how this story comes to a conclusion.

As with all of Sullivan's books in the Riyria Revelations series, Wintertide can be read as an individual book, but not recommend it as you miss out on a lot of the little stuff and many of the holes are plugged as we venture forth in this book. For those waiting for the last book in the series you will have a somewhat longer wait than expected as Orbit has recently purchased the series and will be releasing it as a trilogy. Percepliquis, will be contained in the third book in the trilogy. While I have spoken to Mrs. Sullivan she has stated that they may be able to do a limited run on the final book in the series and if you go to Michael Sullivan's website you may be able to complete your collection with all of Sullivan's amazing covers. Wintertide is highly recommended and should be congratulated on his recent success with Orbit purchasing his series.

Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic

2011-07-11T23:21:00.000-07:00

Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic

Publishing Information: Kindle

Publisher: AmazonEncore; 22 February 2011

ISBN 10: 1935597345

ISBN 13: 978-1935597346

ASIN: B003WQAZ3Q

Standalone

Copy: Provided by Publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated. Fast-forward to 35 years later: Felix Sayers is a culinary writer living in San Francisco of Universe A who spends his days lunching at Coconut Café and dreaming of penning an Agatha Christie-style mystery. But everything changes when his Aunt Henrietta dies, leaving Felix a photograph of his father and himself--dated ten days before Felix was born. It can only mean one thing: Felix has an 'alter' in Universe B. Panicked that his mystery novel may exist already, Felix crosses to San Francisco B and proceeds to flagrantly violate the rules of both worlds by snooping around his alter's life. But when he narrowly escapes a hit-and-run, it becomes clear that someone knows he's crossed over... and whoever it is isn't happy about it. Now Felix must uncover the truth about his alter, the events of one Monday, and a wayward rubber duck before his time in both worlds runs out."

When I received Regarding Ducks and Universes I really had no idea what to expect. The blurb made is sound like a humorous romp with the feel of Christopher Moore. to a certain extent, it is. But what I ended up getting was a light mystery more in the vein of China Mielville.

When we start the book we are in a transporter that allows individuals to travel from Universe A to Universe B. Neither universe is ours although both have a striking resemblance. However, Universe A relies on computers and has a serious inflation problem and Universe B still contains books and personal motor vehicles. Each universe was unique and I found myself being drawn into both of them without really realizing what was happening. Before I knew it, I was hunting for more of the little things to see how they compared to each other and our own universe. I also was looking for clues to the mystery the novel was attempting to solve.

Felix A (from Universe A) is our main character and from the moment we are introduced to him, he quickly comes off as a very real individual with real concerns and feelings. The rest of the characters do a decent job of rounding out the cast and some are wacky but overall they all add to the story. Felix A is a bored to death writer who dreams of writing a mystery novel and hopes to find out more about his double (Felix B) and to see if his double leads a better life than he does and if he has been beaten to the punch about his novel.

Another interesting thing about the two universes was how they came to be and how one could travel and communicate between the two. The two universes have a privacy law that far exceeds anything we have here in our universe and really holds the two universes together and to a certain degree, apart. The whole same yet different concept was explored in Mielville's The City and The City and Regarding Ducks and Universes is similar yet, much easier to take in. The rules are quickly established and then the characters look for ways to turn it to their advantage or in some cases blatantly disregard it.

There are many humorous incidents and observations within Regarding Ducks and Universes, which offer a few light-hearted moments. There are a few science fictional elements that make up the story but the core of the story is a mystery. As Felix A (from Universe A) and Felix B (from Universe B) work with and against each other to help different organizations find out just what event lead to the two (nearly) identical universes to become (slightly) altered. I really had no idea just what to expect when I started reading Regarding Ducks and Universes and found myself enjoying the adventure and mystery found within. It is a light read with a lot of great moments and a decent mystery that leaves you guessing until the end. The brilliance that I found in Regarding Ducks and Universes is that there is a lot of mystery in the book, from our character wanting to write a mystery novel, to his love of Agatha Christie, to the mystery contained within the book. The book itself is an enigma, wrapped up in a puzzle and all of it is done simply and without difficulty.

REVIEW: The Immune by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer

2011-07-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Immune by Doc Lucky Meisenheimer

Publishing Information: ARC Paperback; 348 pages

Publisher: LJS&S Publishing; 13 May 2011

ISBN 10: 0966761227

ISBN 13: 9780966761221

Standalone

Copy: Provided by Publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "A biological crisis of epic proportions threatens the world. Genetically manufactured creatures, named airwars, attack and kill at random. Despite having captured and sequestered the airwar's creator, a hastily formed world government appears more effective in consolidating power than managing the crisis. Hope emerges when a navy admiral discovers there are individuals born genetically immune to the deadly stings of the creatures. As the "immunes" struggle to protect humanity, they bemoan escalating governmental control. There is, however, one key "immune" with the intelligence and leadership to look beyond the crisis. As the government unfolds its secret plans to end the crisis, the future of humanity may well rest on his shoulders."

Not knowing anything about the author or the book when it reached my doorstep, I had no idea what to expect when I began to read The Immune. The cover is a little campy, but I have to admit I kind of like it. The novel starts out in a rather serene situation until strange floating jellyfish known as Airwars start appearing around the globe. I really enjoyed the build up to the "first contact." We spend some time with our protagonist (later known to the world as "The Immune") and got a feel for the world before everything changes. This also did a great job of setting things up for all of the United Nations changes that rapidly come to become world-wide law.

One of the most enjoyable aspects to The Immune was when chaos begins to spread across the globe and the world seems to change overnight due to a quick acting multi-national group. At times Meisenheimer has some really bleak and dark moments in human history occur. There were a few times where it did not quite hit the mark but still manages to get us to believe in the swift policy changes. Meisenheimer also give you an opportunity to think about national governments and world governing bodies as well as various other political ideas and concepts. He does not browbeat you, but I get the feeling our author has a few libertarian leanings. If fact, I could be wrong as the way in which he presents them is more in the vein of devil's advocate. I really enjoyed it as it got me to thinking about many of the ideas he brought up in the book as they all play a major role in how the world shift when a world-wide crisis occurs without warning.

However, the biggest thrill was how the book loved to use PR or Public Relations to sway the public to either go along with what the government's plans or to single out cells of hold outs who refuse to go with what the UN has deemed required. The propaganda and its uses are interesting and a huge plot point in the book which was nicely done and did a fairly good job of keeping me off-balance.

Through out The Immune, Meisenheimer weaves an intricate tale of characters and events that all build up towards a major ending. Except it was not the ending I was expecting. Just when I thought I knew who and why the Airwars appeared I was stunned to find out I was completely wrong. It is rare to find a book that manages to pull an ace from its sleeve and catch me unawares and I found that I liked it. The book felt a little too predictable and then the rug was pulled out from under me, I liked the fact that I was wrong in my prediction. Once the real conspiracy was uncovered it was resolved a little too quickly but with the big reveal there was very little more to do than deal directly with the new knowledge. However, it would have been nice to have a little bit more of the real cover up as it came from left field and was completely unexpected.

The Immune is a nice change of pace it tells of a world-wide threat that is unexplained, how the governments of the world step in or in most cases get out of the way and, and how people cope with their new realities. It also raises a lot of questions about our world governments, the UN, and the secrets that they keep. Science and genetics are also questioned in the book. I have a feeling that The Immune may escape a lot of readers attention, but it really should not be missed. It just might be the sleeper hit of the year. A book with the same ideas as Heinlein but a bit more in your face and focused on today's current concerns. Recommended.

REVIEW: Pink Noise: A Posthuman Tale by Leonid Korogodski

2011-06-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Pink Noise: A Posthuman Tale by Leonid Korogodski

Publishing Information: Kindle/PDF; 192 pages

Publisher: Silverberry Publishing; 29 August 2010

ISBN 10: 0984360824

ISBN 13: 978-0984360826

ASIN:B004BLINMQ

Standalone

Copy: Provided by Author

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "One of the best brain doctors of his time, Nathi lost his own brain five centuries ago when he became a posthuman. He is now called upon to save a comatose girl. The damage is extensive, so he decides to map his own mind into her brain in order to replace the damaged part. But something unexpected awaits him within the girl's brain. She is a carrier of a Wish Fairy, an enigmatic sentient cyberbeing whose only purpose is to kill the Wish, a virus used to enslave all posthuman minds, including Nathi's. Liberated, Nathi forms a symbiotic union with the girl, discovers the true cause of her brain injury, and finds a way to break out of the Castle, their high-tech prison, and into the Martian polar night. But once outside, the real chase begins. It is a battle that must be fought both in the physical world and that of the mind."

Pink Noise is an interesting tale, but unfortunately one I found difficult to follow. It deals with the mind more than the body and a future that is very alien to one you would expect. With the United States finally going to Mars but quickly losing interest after they get there only to have the Africans colonizing the red world. As I read Pink Noise I had a hard time keeping up with the background and what was going on with the current story.

There is a lot of technobabble that takes some getting use to and the pdf copy that I was given had many concepts, descriptions, and guides in the margins of the book to help you stumble along as you read. Nathi was an interesting character as he is a brain stored in digital form and he continues to live well past the time most mortals would have lived. He does his best to save a comatose girl but along the way he gets much more than he bargained for. Nathi was easy to like but very difficult to decipher. You could tell that even though he was now a humanized computer program, he was lonely and looking for someone to share his existence with.

A lot of the story deals with Nathi saving the young girl but the reader must also pay attention to the clues that are given about the past. There is a war on in the universe and it is not like the wars that we are use to. The wars of the future are no longer just physical, they are now cyber and metaphysical. It is a war that has been waged for a few centuries. There are wizards who fight and command in the cyber/metaphysical world and then there are the warriors who are more traditional in that they fight in the physical plan. I liked this idea but admittedly. had a hard time comprehending the idea. It was mind-boggling to say the least and while Korogodski does a great job of explaining it, however, I still had trouble grasping the idea.

Pink Noise is a very short story but a very large concept that may or may not come to pass. It takes place several centuries from now and raises some issues about our current artificial Intelligence and just how long the human body could live for given the proper care. While I had trouble with some of the ideas that the author brought forth I can see where hardcore science fiction readers may have a blast with this story. It should be noted that the reason for the low score is due to the fact that I had trouble with the book, not because of the story itself.

REVIEW: Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

2011-06-20T23:14:00.000-07:00

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

Publishing Information: Paperback; 336 pages

Publisher: Orion Publishing Co; 30 Sept 2010

ISBN 10: 0575088885

ISBN 13: 9780575088887

Standalone

Copy: Out of Pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of Book: "Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy - from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to steal their thoughts, to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of the Moving Cities of Mars. Except that Jean made one mistake. Now he is condemned to play endless variations of a game-theoretic riddle in the vast virtual jail of the Axelrod Archons - the Dilemma Prison - against countless copies of himself. Jean's routine of death, defection and cooperation is upset by the arrival of Mieli and her spidership, Perhonen. She offers him a chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self - in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed ...The Quantum Thief is a dazzling hard SF novel set in the solar system of the far future - a heist novel peopled by bizarre post-humans but powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy. It is a stunning debut."

A few months before The Quantum Thief was released much of the blogosphere was on fire about how great this book was. While not a huge Science Fiction reader (I mainly stick to fantasy), I decided to give him a shot. After all, it sounded like a similar concept to David Louis Edelman's Jump 225 series. I was wrong on all counts. Rajaniemi's debut is not like anything else I have ever read.

The first third of The Quantum Thief leaves you scratching your head. There are different races and factions, concepts and human history that is never explained. Rajaniemi could have taken a few minutes to pile on a large infodump or provided a history in the back of the novel so you would have something to help you. Instead he decides to throw you into the deep end of the ocean with some starving sharks and then continues his story.

By the time I reached the halfway point of the book I had no connection to anyone in story. Our thief, Jean La Flambeur, is in a pickle and I had no desire to see him worm his way out of it or see him get caught. I had no investment. The only character I found liking, yet still no connection was the young detective, Isadore. Although for all the complexity the author spun around his main characters I was able to deduce the connection between certain character well before I think I should have. The character development was lackluster and rather two dimensional. As I said before, with no emotional impact caused by the characters there was nothing to keep me reading other than to find out whether the book gets any better, which it never did. If anything it actually got worse.

While I think that The Quantum Thief will continue to get rave reviews, I will not be one of them. The book is front-loaded with a bunch of technobabble that will leave you cold and confused for a good portion of the book and the action and characters do not provide any payoff in the end. I can not recommend this book and if asked I would probably tell friends to stay clear of it.

REVIEW: Mirrored Heavens by David J Williams

2011-06-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

The Mirrored Heaven by David J. Williams

Publishing information: Kindle

Publisher: Spectra 20 May 2008

ISBN 10: 0553385410

ISBN 13: 978-0553385410

ASIN: B0015DRP4A

Series: Book one in the Autumn Rain trilogy

Copy: Out of Pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Description "In the 22nd century, the first wonder of a brave new world is the Phoenix Space Elevator, designed to give mankind greater access to the frontier beyond Earth. Cooperatively built by the United States and the Eurasian Coalition, the Elevator is also a grand symbol of superpower alliance following a second cold war. And it's just been destroyed. With suspicions rampant, armies and espionage teams are mobilized across the globe and beyond. Enter Claire Haskell and Jason Marlowe, U.S. counterintelligence agents and former lovers-though their memories may only be constructs implanted by their spymaster. Now their agenda is to trust no one. For as the crisis mounts, the lives of all involved will converge in one explosive finale-and a startling aftermath that will rewrite everything they've ever known-about their mission, their world, and themselves."

The Mirrored Heaven is an interesting future for Earth. Russia and China have formed an alliance as has the United States and her allies. The rest of the world has been chopped up and divvied up between the two. South America is proving to be difficult to contain as they have many splinter groups doing their best to remain free from the oppression of the two major super powers. The two super powers have formed an uneasy alliance with the creation of the space elevator. Doesn't sound too far fetched for the next century. That is why I think this book is interesting.

Admittedly, I was at a loss in the beginning as things move at light speed and the characters and events come and go quickly within the first 100 pages or so. however, once the main event occurs then things start to have some light shed on them. Basically most secret operatives work in pairs. One shooter and one person working support. I found I really enjoyed reading about the shooters. The action was fast and furious and some of their abilities were astounding. The support personnel were interesting as well but not quite as much as I think that Williams wanted me to believe. There is a lot of hacking in The Mirrored Heavens, hacking for information, hacking to circumvent security systems and to gain access to locations. The Mirrored Heavens focus on this on many occasions and at times it was tense but after a fashion, I stopped being excited with the whole process. There is a love interest between a shooter and his hacker but, it is mainly a plot point and a point of mystery as to whether they truly love one another or it was all downloaded into their brains to make them more effective on the battlefield and also cause doubt and trust issues in times of crisis. It was interesting and fun to watch as the mystery unravelled but it could have also been avoided altogether and the book would have came to the same conclusion, minus a few points of tension.

The world building is interesting and I suppose it is plausible as well. There are portions of the book that describe the history of earth and how we got to the point where the book takes place and it is interesting. However, with all of the advancements that we made, I found it interesting that South America was never brought into the fold and treated so harshly and without any care. Of course you have to have someone to be the scapegoat and they cannot always be the Russians or the Chinese so, why not the South Americans. It is an exotic locale.

Due to the fact that The Mirrored Heavens gets off to a chaotic and shaky start it takes some time to get on the same page as the author, but once you do it is a fun ride. Lots of action and things exploding and at times if feels more like a action movie than a novel, it is a decent read. It is not a great read however. This is the debut from a promising author and when time permits I do plan to return to the trilogy and see how things come to an end. I hear the third book is very good and was the reason I picked up the first volume in the first place.

REVIEW: The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches by Robert Stanek (Kindle Edition)

2011-06-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches (Signature Illustrated Edition) by Robert Stanek

Publishing Information: Kindle

Publisher: Reagent Press LLC; 16 November 2009

ISBN 10: 1575455013

ISBN 13: 978-1575455013

ASIN: B004GXB2E0

Series: Book 1 of Keeper Martin's Tales

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Discover a magical world and be swept away in the adventure of a life time! Readers everywhere are discovering the works of Robert Stanek, and overwhelmingly they agree on one thing: the books are some of the best they've ever read. Featuring full-page illustrations from original paintings, and many additional extraordinary illustrations, this powerful fantasy novel will delight the young and the young at heart! About the BookAfter the Great War that divided the peoples, the kingdoms of men plunged into a Dark Age that lasted 500 years. To heal the lands and restore the light, the great kings decreed that magic and all that is magical, be it creature, man, or device, shall be cleansed to dust. The cleansing raged for so long that no human could recall a time without it and it is in this time that the Dark Lord Sathar returned from the dark beyond. The one hope of the peoples of Ruin Mist was Queen Mother, the elf queen of old. She saw a way out of everlasting darkness, a path that required the union of the divided peoples. And so it began."

Oh boy, where to begin? Robert Stanek has a dubious distinction of deleting negative reviews on Amazon and allegedly creating false profiles to promote and extoll the virtues of his novels. Not to mention having his lawyer contact individuals with his hotmail account. It was the main reason I took upon the task of purchasing this novel and finding out for myself whether it was a negative media campaign against him, or if he truly deserved the hate that has been put upon him. In the end, there can be no doubt that he deserves all of the negative reviews and constructive criticism directed at him.

The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches has been compared to JRR Tolkien and for good reason, they both contain magic, elves. and evil newly awakened. There are also words, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters in both books. So, I can completely understand why you would want to draw comparisons to both novels; however, once you get past those details the comparison quickly falls apart. We have three main characters: the young princess, an elf who believes duty comes before dishonor, and a young boy with magical powers. Each one of these characters have the emotional range of a sofa pillow and are as three dimensional as a sheet of paper. The book is targeted for young adults but I can not see anyone of any age finding this novel entertaining. Painting by numbers has more mystery and intrigue than what I found in this book. The characters are dreadful and most of that is due to the dialogue.

There are many passages in The Kingdoms and of the Elves of Reach that had me dumbfounded. I literally found myself shaking my head and re-reading portions of the book and then laughing out loud at some of the alliterations and illusions Stanek attempted to convey to the readers. I usually refrain from using book quotes in my reviews, but in this case I will make an exception.

“Always more reminders of the things she should or should not do—her proper place, always her proper place. She knew all about the proper things, the proper mannerisms, the proper greetings, her proper duties, her proper place. She had even been taught, though only recently, the proper things to do to invite a man’s attention. She was to begin courting. But why? “

Or this winning prose:

“But his search was in vain because he truly was alone. There was no one else with him.”

And the best for last:

"The robed figure lowered his hood to reveal childlike features riddled with lines that spoke of ages past and of hardship."

These are just a few of my favorites from a book riddled with absurd statements. It is as if he wrote the book and then went back to it with the express purpose of adding as many words that he knew from the thesaurus and placed them sporadically within the text. The book is full of awkward sentences and repetitive descriptions. It helped make it a little more tolerable to read but only from a comical standpoint.

Then there is the map located in the book. I tried to find a clean copy but I unfortunately could not so I had to use the map from another review, but it points out exactly what I had issues with. The full review from antishurtugal can be found here.

At the heart of The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches are three people questing to defeat an unspeakable evil that is returning to the world. Sure Tolkien did it, but so have many other authors, all of which did it much better than Mr. Stanek. The book, while not hard to read, suffers from a very unimaginative individual.

I really tried to read this novel with an open mind and do my best to avoid the negative reactions from other reviewers and disappointed consumers but after finishing this dreadful debacle of a book, I found myself in the exact same spot as others. I have to warn you to stay away from The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches and any other book written by Robert Stanek. His (alleged) antics on the internet are far worse than the book, but there is no reason to line his pockets any further. My recommendation is to avoid this at all costs unless death is the only other option, although death may be the better option.

Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

2011-05-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

Publishing information: Paperback; 400 pages

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Ltd.; 01 April 2010

ISBN 10: 1847375634

ISBN 13: 978184737563

Series- The Chronicles of Siala Book One

Copy- out of pocket

Reviewer- Tyson

Back of the Book "After centuries of calm, the Nameless One is stirring. An army is gathering: giants, ogres and other creatures joining forces from across the Desolate Lands, united for the first time in history under one black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of the great city of Avendoom. Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can find some way to stop them. Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows professional thief Shadow Harold on his quest for a magic Horn that will restore peace to the kingdom of Siala. Accompanied by an elfin princess, ten Wild Hearts - the most experienced and dangerous royal fighters - and the King's court jester (who may be more than he seems ...or less), Harold must outwit angry demons, escape the clutches of a band of hired murderers, survive ten bloody skirmishes ...and reach the burial grounds before dark. Can he escape a fate worse than death?"

Shadow Prowler has been prowling me for quite some time, I have had this book since September of last year and finally settled down to read the first book by Pehov. It was translated from his native tongue of Russian and aside from a few clumsy sentences here and there, it is very well written.

The story follows Harold a well-reknown thief who does his best to stay off the radar of law enforcement, royalty, and the thieves guild. All of Harold's hard work comes crashing down when the powers that be require his services. This starts his quest or should I say say quests as the book is divided into two parts. The first mission is to gain information vital to his main mission. In order to do this he must go into a enchanted section of the city that no one has been known to escape once they enter it. The second is when he accepts his mission to find a magical item that will maintain the balance and keep "The Nameless One" from attaining power in their world and defeating humankind and the other various races that live in relative harmony. The plot of Shadow Prowler is similar to the Lord of the Rings but in reverse. The handpicked group is not trying to destroy a magical object in a place of evil but rather to obtain a object of great power and use it to vanquish the forces of evil.

The character are what you would expect from a fantasy novel, we have elves, dwarves, humans, orcs and other creatures. However, Pehov has a very distinct take on all of them. The Elves for instance more resemble vampires and are separated by two schools of magic. Gnomes and Dwarves hate one another. Harold is the story teller of the first book in the series and he is not sure of his abilities or his companions. The characters in this tale all have their own reasons for taking on the journey and it is interesting as each individual's motivation is revealed.

The magic system is divided into wizardry and shamanism, each have their benefits and negative aspects. While magic is found all over the world in this book our main character, Harold possesses no magic ability. Pehov does a decent job of explaining the magic systems and I have a feeling that there is more to them that what he lets on in this first installment of the series.

The world building is rather lacking, but it has the feel of middle Earth or something very similar to Tolkien's world, with a Russian slant on it, of course. The world is a dark and dangerous place full of orc attacks and other beasts that roam the world looking for the weak.

While the book is very short 381 pages of actual story and a small glossary in the back, I found myself wanting more. Especially as the book reaches its conclusion before the real story could truly begin. It made me hunger for more and I have to wait until April 2011 (Shadow Chaser) in order to do just that. While not a huge fan of Tolkien (perish the thought), I did enjoy this novel quite a lot.

Green by Jay Lake

2011-05-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

Green By Jay Lake

Publishing Information: Hardback; 368 pages

Publisher: Tor; Doherty Tom Associates, LLC; 09 June 2009

ISBN 10: 0765321858

ISBN 13: 9780765321855

Standalone

Copy Out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Inside Cover: "She was born in poverty, in a dusty village under the equatorial sun. She does not remember her mother, she does not remember her own name—her earliest clear memory is of the day her father sold her to the tall pale man. In the Court of the Pomegranate Tree, where she was taught the ways of a courtesan…and the skills of an assassin…she was named Emerald, the precious jewel of the Undying Duke’s collection of beauties.

She calls herself Green.

The world she inhabits is one of political power and magic, where Gods meddle in the affairs of mortals. At the center of it is the immortal Duke’s city of Copper Downs, which controls all the trade on the Storm Sea. Green has made many enemies, and some secret friends, and she has become a very dangerous woman indeed.

Acclaimed author Jay Lake has created a remarkable character in Green, and evokes a remarkable world in this novel. Green and her struggle to survive and find her own past will live in the reader’s mind for a long time after closing the book."

I know it is said to never judge a book by its cover, but in the case of Jay Lake's Green, that is exactly what I did. The cover is gorgeous. The young girl turned tool and weapon of the gods hanging from a pomegranate tree is such a great image. I knew virtually nothing about Jay Green aside from the cover of this novel and went out on a limb to try him out and I am glad I did.

Green starts off fairly quickly, as a small child the 'girl' who would become to be known as Green is sold and taken to a faraway land. Almost the instant you start reading the book the imagery is rather well written. Since the girl is really young we are not given a lot of clear details as to the world outside as she begins her journey the reader begins to learn about the world around the girl just as she begins to learn as well. As she grows and matures so do we and the world becomes much more open to us even though she herself is secluded from the outside in a fancy well-provided house known as the Pomegranate Court. The way in which Lake evolves the way we read the story and how it changes and becomes sharper is very subtle and I really enjoyed that concept as I read it.

Green is the story of a girl going through massive changes as she is taught various skills and knowledge. It is told through the girl and so we are not told everything in the beginning but as you progress through the novel things become much sharper and clearer. By the very end of the story most things are made fairly clear and with a few pages to go it becomes a little obvious as to how things will end but that does not mean the journey was not worth taking. I really enjoyed reading the girl's prospective as you really have a window into her brain and you see how things unfold with her head.

The world building in Green is very graphic at times and very vague in others. The story is told in only two cities and a few small locations. The two major cities are brought to light fairly well but the overall world is not talked about in much detail. From what I gathered the story takes place in a world similar to the Mediterranean Sea as they must travel by ship to travel in between city-states but it only takes a matter of days. They do mention a few other ports of call and cities, but beyond names we have no real concept of what they look like or where they specifically are. Since the other locales were not important to the story they had no real bearing on the story but it would have been nice to have them fleshed out.

With less than 400 pages the book moves at a break-neck pace. There are a lot of details to the girl's education and yet Lake is able to have her to quite a bit more and then some. In the short span of life that the novel occurs in the girl travels far and wide and gains a reputation as she travels. I was impressed with how much was done in such a short amount of text. The book does have a few moments where the pace slows down but then things get picked back up and your are on another adventure. I thought it was all done very well.

While Green is my first Jay Lake novel, I doubt it will be my last. Green was a enjoyable read from a talented writer. A great way to be introduced to the author.

Tales from the Edge of Forever by Alexander Hammond

2011-05-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

Tales from the Edge of Forever by Alexander Hammond

Publishing information: Paperback; 174 pages

Publisher: Nazca Plains; 16 December 2010

ISBN 10: 1610981715

ISBN 13: 978-1610981712

Anthology/Short Story Collection

Copy: Provided by Author

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "An anthology of mind bending imagination, Tales from the Edge of Forever offers a delicious collection of wildly original vignettes mixing fantasy, speculation, spirituality and science invention. Hammond has created stories with a depth and thoughtfulness that transcend their brevity. Whether on the streets of Manhattan or at the very edge of time and space itself the authors’ scenarios tease and intrigue in this stunningly unique collection. A total of twenty three creatively brilliant stories to captivate even the most jaded fantasy enthusiast, this book both challenges and enchants."

Tales From the Edge of Forever is a short story collection from Alexander Hammond and he does a fairly good job of delivering a wide gambit of genres. He tackles suicide in the story The Hotel at the Edge of Forever. Nuclear war and politics in the story The Button and UFO conspiracies in Top Secret. Every story contained in the collection reads as if it was written from a different author as Hammond finds a new voice for each story. There is at least one story for everyone regardless of your tastes.

The three stories that I enjoyed the most were The End of the World, My Special Guest Tonight, and Deity. The End of the World had a surprise ending. So did My Special Guest Tonight which takes a interesting look at violence in the media. The main character has a striking quality similar to Quentin Tarantino. Finally, in Deity we find a young man who must come to terms with his god-like powers.

There are a lot of stories contained in this collection and they read really quickly. I found myself continuing to read long after I should have taken a break. Tales from the Edge of Forever is quite an eclectic collection and I found that it was a lot of fun to read.

Mogworld by Yatzhee Croshaw

2011-05-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

Mogworld by Yatzhee Croshaw

Publishing information: Paperback; 414 pages

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics; 21 August 2010

ISBN 10: 1595825290

ISBN 13: 9781595825292

Standalone

Copy Out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "A Novel That Will Give A Whole New Meaning To The Term 'Corpse Run'

In a world full to bursting with would-be heroes, Jim couldn't be less interested in saving the day. His fireballs fizzle. He's awfully grumpy. Plus, he's been dead for about sixty years. When a renegade necromancer wrenches him from eternal slumber and into a world gone terribly, bizarrely wrong, all Jim wants is to find a way to die properly, once and for all. On his side, he's got a few shambling corpses, an inept thief, and a powerful death wish. But he's up against tough odds: angry mobs of adventurers, a body falling apart at the seams - and a team of programmers racing a deadline to hammer out the last few bugs in their AI."

As a huge fan of The Escapist's Zero Punctuation, I knew that I had to give Mogworld a shot. I love Croshaw's sense of humor and while Mogworld is a tad bit tamer than his video reviews it does a fairly great job of converting his brand of comedy into a novel.

Mogworld is very similar to World of Warcraft or other forms of MMORPG's (or online mulitplayer role playing games for the uninitiated) except this novel has a twist. We find ourselves reading about Jim, an undead wizard whose only wish is to die. He was resurrected, in his own words, " by a git." When the "git" messes up the resurrection spell Jim and his fellow undead gain awareness. They are not the mindless zombies their master was expecting. This leads to many adventures and an ultimate quest. These quests border on the absurd. Jim has a few companions that join him and encourage him to take on one disaster after another.

While the world building is a little bit lacking, you can see where it was done on purpose as Mogworld is satire at its best. Each location sounds similar to some famous games and locales. While the book has some interesting names for locations they really have no real impact on the story as it is more about the adventure or quest. Besides, the majority of people that will be reading Mogworld should have a pretty good grasp of what online gaming worlds look like and should be able to relate fairly well. This is also where Mogworld fails, if you are not a gamer, then this book will fall apart on you half-way through and will leave you behind. The book starts out very strong with witty dialogue and great characters but by the end you are not left with much to think about besides, "why did I read this?" Even if you are a gamer, you may find yourself lost along the way.

The plot is rather simple, Jim is undead and unable to die and he is looking for a way to take a permanent dirt nap. What seems simple becomes impossible and leads to some strange and interesting situations. The fact that Croshaw is behind the wheel of this story should tell you that you are in for quite a ride. The book is said to be 350 pages but my book has 414 pages which were plenty. I was hoping for more when I bought the book and Croshaw did not deliver.

If you enjoy Zero Punctuation's humor and want to see how he does in another form of media this may be your book. Mogworld was written for gamers that like to play role playing games, but if you are not a hardcore player you may not get all of the jokes. Also, Mogworld is a far cry from his video game review site, Zero Punctuation, very tame and it loses its focus towards the end. A bitter disappointment, can not recommend this novel.

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009 edited by Rich Horton

2011-05-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009 Edited by Rich Horton

Publishing Information: Paperback; 544 pages

Publisher: Prime Books; 6 January 2010

ISBN 10: 1607012146

ISBN 13: 978-1607012146

Series: Annual publication

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "The first volume of The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy features over a quarter million words of fiction by some of the genre's greatest authors, including Peter S. Beagle, Elizabeth Bear, Jay Lake, Ian McDonald, Sarah Monette, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Robert Reed, Patrick Rothfuss, and many more, as selected by Rich Horton, a well-known and well-received contributor to many of the field's most respected magazines."

Title of Story and Author -

26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss, Kil Johnson

Shoggoths in Bloom, Elizabeth Bear

Glass, Daryl Gregory

The Hiss of Escaping Air, Christopher Golden

Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake, Naomi Novik

We Love Deena, Alice Sola Kim

The Art of Alchemy, Ted Kosmathka

Falling Angel, Eugene Mirabelli

The Fifth Star in the Southern Cross, Margo Lanagan

King Pelles the Sure, Peter S. Beagle

Character Flu, Robert Reed

Gift From a Spring, Delia Sherman

The Region of Unlikeness, Rivka Galchen

Daltharee, Jeffery Ford

The Ray-Gun: A love Story, James Alan Gardner

The God of Au, Ann Leckie

The Fantasy Jumper, Will McIntosh

The Magician's House, Meghan McCarron

Balancing Accounts, James L. Cambias

Suicide Drive, Charles Anders

The Small Door, Holly Phillips

The Eyes of God, Peter Watts

Firooz and his Brother, Alex Jeffers

Infestation, Garth Nix

A Water Matter, Jay Lake

The Golden Octopus, Beth Bernobich

Blue Vervain Murder Ballad #2: Jack of Diamonds, Erik Amundsen

The Road to Levinshir, Patrick Rothfuss

Fixing Handover, Jeff Vandermeer

Boojum, Elizabeth Bear and Sara Monette

The Difficulties of Evolution, Karen Heuler

Catherine Drewe, Paul Cornell

Silent as Dust, James Maxey

Evil Robot Monkey, Mary Robinette Kowal

If Angels Fight, Richard Bowes

Spiderhorse, Liz Williams

The Tear, Ian McDonald

I am not a huge short story reader, I read a few here and there but usually if I am in the mood to read a series of short stories I tend to pick up a collection by a single author but, this particular collection featured a story by Patrick Rothfuss that I really wanted to read as I am eagerly awaiting the next book in his Kingkiller Chronicles. Not to mention it gave me an opportunity to read a few authors I have not had a chance to read before and get a sample of their work. There were also a few authors that I had not read in quite a while and it allowed me a chance to catch up with them as well.

There were quite a few stories that I either dealt with a subject matter that failed to get my attention or in some cases just was not anything I was interested in; however, there were quite a few gems inside. Mainly, the stories by Rothfuss, Beagle, Nix and James Alan Gardner.

If you are a fan of Peter S. Beagle, his story King Pelles the Sure should be right up your alley. Strong characters from the start with the moral of be careful what you wish for.

Garth Nix is an author I haven't read in a fairly long time and his story Infestation is a vampire tale that explores a new origin for the species and has a impressive, yet mysterious protagonist. Full of action and while it had a Young Adult slant to it, that did not keep it from being really entertaining. If it were to become a novel or series I would more than likely put down cash to read it as I was hooked and hoping for more.

James Alan Gardner chimes in with his story The Ray-Gun: A Love Story, in which I found rather clever. When the main character finds an alien weapon on Earth and we follow him as he uses his new found power. The weapon also has the ability to protect itself and we see just how small and fragile humanity and Earth are in the big picture of the universe.

The reason I purchased this collection was for Patrick Rothfuss' short story The Road to Levinshir, the main character from his Kingkiller Chonicles, Kvothe is featured in this story as he is in his role of bard and rights the wrongs of a fellow traveling troupe that had recently visited a small village. While it was nice to read something featuring Kvothe again it was rather disappointing from the prospective that I was hoping to gain more dirt on Kvothe but that was not to be the case. It was still a strong story but I was hoping for a few glimpses into Kvothe or at least a taste of what was to come in the second book that I have been waiting forever for it to be released.

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2009, has a lot to offer if you are looking for a new author or want to read a few quick but fascinating stories from some of the best in the business. The only real complaint is that a few of the stories contain minimal fantasy or science fiction; however, nearly every story is strong and capable of standing on its own, the complaint is minor. It is hard to give the book that contains several stories from different authors a score, but this is what I came up with.

REVIEW: Contra Alliance: Shadows of the Past by Tom Kolega (Kindle Edition)

2011-04-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Contra Alliance: Shadows of the Past by Tom Kolega

Publishing information: Kindle

Publisher: State of the Art Entertainment, LLC; 9 October 2010

ISBN 10: 9780615302027

ISBN 13: 978-0615302027

ASIN: 0615302025

Series: The Contra Alliance Trilogy Book One

Copy: Provided by Author

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "The year is 2035. America's preeminence has withered. Global warming, scarce resources, and conflict have pushed the world to its breaking point. Throughout the increasing turmoil, a rogue group called The Revolution has risen to prominence seeking domination over humanity.

Shadows of the Past explores the adventures of a NATO Counter-Revolutionary (CONTRA) Strike Force as it battles against the mysterious organization. Elite Special Forces operators use advanced military technology to hunt The Revolution, finding its feared wickedness is worse than imagined. When secrets of the enemy's origin threaten accepted reality, dangers intensify.

Disturbing evidence exposed by CONTRA uncovers stunning truths about the galaxies. A covert faction of extraordinary messengers race to save Earth. Legends of the past and visions of the future collide when a long-dormant evil resurfaces to challenge the most powerful space alliance in the universe. The course of human history irrevocably alters, setting the world on an unforeseen path.

When Time Unlocks The Truth to History . . . The Epic Begins."

When I received Contra Alliance I could not help but think about the classic video game. However, after a few chapters in I knew that it was not the case. Contra Alliance deals with a highly secretive branch of operators working for the United Nations and two powerful alien races who are secretly waging a secret war on Earth.

The biggest obstacle is that there is a huge cast of characters, nations, and abilities to juggle. Many of which really don't play a major factor in the story or the characters abilities, at least at this point in the story. But it truly is an international group, and to a degree, interstellar force. While the setting takes place in the near future not much has happened in the way of weapons. Lasers have started to make an appearance on the battlefield, as well as battle suits that augment the person wearing them. We are told that the United States has lost its grip on being the ultimate superpower yet they are still at the forefront of every altercation, still have the best equipment, and continue to play a major role in international affairs which left me a little confused as to how or if they had truly fallen.

Contra Alliance has two plot lines going: the evil plan of the Revolution that plans to use earth for their personal revenge against their ancient enemies and the constant, well-planned and oftentimes violence from radical groups, and the second plot is the newly formed UN's Contra force must assist in bringing order out of chaos. There is a third plot, where earth's alien protectors must keep their involvement and identities secret but it is a minor plot point.

There is a lot of action and the way Kolega weaves them is quite good. They are quick and the results felt well into the final pages of the book. No one is really safe from injury or death except for a few key players that will be obvious from the start. Contra Alliance has the feel of a novelizaton for a comic book and I could see this as a Sci-fi (sorry Syfy) television show similar in the vein of Stargate: SG1 if it ever made it to the small screen. Which I think would bring in a lot of viewers.

At the end of the day, Contra Alliance is a suprising military action story with some great characters and the potential for a great series. I know there is a plans for a prequel and its sequel should be released soon. While not the deepest story you will ever find, it is a lot of fun to read and does a great job of keeping you guessing. Had I not been asked to review the book would have missed out on a great science fiction military adventure. While it does not take place in space, there is some foreshadowing of what is to come and it has me excited to see what happens next. Contra Alliance: Shadows of the Past is the perfect read for anyone looking to escape. I am glad I was introduced to the series and hope that I have a chance to continue the adventures that Kolega started in this book.

Out of the Dark By David Weber (Kindle Edition)

2011-04-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

Out of the Dark by David Weber

Publishing infomation: Kindle; 1166kb also available in hardcover 384 pages

Publisher: Tor; 28 September 2010

ASIN: B003P8Q5LM

ISBN 10: 0765324121

ISBN 13: 978-0765324122

Book 1 in a planned trilogy

Copy: out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Description "In the stunning launch of a new military-SF series, DAVID WEBER tells the tale of humanity’s near extinction by hostile aliens and of the surprising alliance that fights back.

Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanitys cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, over half the human race has died.

Now Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize the scattered survivors without getting killed.

His chances look bleak. The aliens have definitely underestimated human tenacity—but no amount of heroism can endlessly hold off overwhelming force.

Then, emerging from the mountains and forests of Eastern Europe, new allies present themselves to the ragtag human resistance. Predators, creatures of the night, human in form but inhumanly strong. Long Enemies of humanity…until now. Because now is the time to defend Earth."

Out of the Dark grew from a short story that was featured in the George RR Martin and Gardner Dozio's Warriors anthology. While I never got around to reading the anthology, the book itself sounded appealing. I have read a previous Weber novel but for the life of me cannot recall the title or what occurred in it, it was just too long ago. I only remember that it had a fair amount of military action. So, to a certain extent I expected more of the same. If you enjoy a fair amount of military acronyms and terminology you will not be disappointed. Out of the Dark starts out at the battle of Agincourt where the aliens first encounter humanity and take their negative report back to their superiors. After that encounter the rest of the novel takes place a few years into the future. Tensions are still high between the west and Iran. There is a fair amount of world building in the beginning of the novel as we play catch up on world events and we gain a better prospective on how the Shongairi think and how their caste system works. We also learn their true motivations for arriving on earth.

There are quite a few characters to juggle in Out of the Dark. Each chapter jumped from one continent and character to another as action spans the globe. While none of the characters ever became a favorite, they all had a part to play and sometimes their luck was a little too lucky where it bordered on divine intervention. It was not too bothersome but it did seem to make for an easier time than one should have encountered considering every major city and military installation just got blown to smithereens.

In Out of the Dark we have both the various human prospective and the Shongairi's, While the humans seemed normal, or as normal as they could be considering the situation they faced, the Shogairi were a little too human. They did have problems understanding human psychology and human motivations. At times this was humorous but I could not understand why Weber had them seem so much like humans. Aside from the fact that they are described as "puppies," meaning they look like dogs that walk upright, I would have liked to have seen something completely different from us. Aside from their pack like instinct and appearance they were far too similar to humans and that was a disappointment albeit a small one. However, that said, I did enjoy their military staff meetings and they way they analyzed the human's actions. They were humorous and insightful.

When the Shogairi arrive they find three super powers with vast and powerful militaries: The United States of America, Russia, and China. The Shogairi then act swiftly to nullify the three powers. However, throughout Out of the Dark we only get to hear about the US and Russia. After the build up from the first portion of the novel we never hear about China again. As I read the beginning, I was all set to read about those three regions and was disappointed to read about two of them for the duration of the book. The book also takes place in Romania but I felt that that was like a booby prize and I know that Romania was only to set things up for humanity's great undead hope.

I knew that Out of the Dark featured vampires and to be honest it was one of the reasons I picked the book up as I wanted to see how Weber went about blending science fiction with horror. However, that been said it would have been nice if Weber kept the vampires a secret, if he somehow kept it as the twist in the plot. But it is stated on the blurb on the inside of the book. While the vampires slowly reveal themselves and don't outright show up, they were not treated very well in Out of the Dark. They were the Deus ex Machina. They only show up near the end and when they do they are unmatched at killing. They turn the tide of war so far over to the human's advantage that you have to question whether or not they were needed in the first place.

I really enjoyed the idea of aliens coming to conquer earth only to find we are a lot stronger then their earlier (600 years ago) estimates. The battles at the beginning of the book were a lot of fun and it was interesting to read how humanity continued to wage war even when the chips were down. The vampires were interesting but the way the book set itself up in the beginning it could have been a bunch of highly trained military special forces or intelligence operatives that survived and began conducted the strikes towards the end of novel in place of the vampires.

Out of the Dark has an interesting ending which was a little too warm and mushy for me, but there are still a lot of loose ends and issues to be resolved. I am sure that they will all be solved in the remaining two novels in the planned trilogy. While Out of the Dark was not one of my top reads it certainly was a fun book to escape to after a long day of work. It does exactly what I had in mind for it to do, entertain me.

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

2011-04-04T21:47:00.000-07:00

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

Publishing Information: Paperback; 384 pages

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group; 01 March 2003

ISBN 10: 0345457684

ISBN 13: 9780345457684

Series Book #1 of Takeshi Kovacs series

Copy out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person's consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats "existence" as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning...."

This is my second Richard Morgan novel. My first encounter with Morgan was The Steel Remains. His debut fantasy novel and while there were a few things that I enjoyed about The Steel Remains it left me on the fence as to whether or not I should continue the series. However, whether you enjoyed Morgan's fantasy literature nearly everyone agrees that his true calling is science fiction. With that in mind, not long ago I came across his first novel Altered Carbon and decided to give him another shot.

Altered Carbon is set in our future where the human body is simply a shell to be used and discarded as easily as the hermit crab does. We are all uploaded via a small electronic device at the base of the skull. From there it is as simple as downloading your personality into a new body of your choosing. Or, if you are unlucky someone else's choosing. It is here where we meet our hero Takeshi Kovacs. A former envoy or special forces agent/assassin/detective with advanced programming and upgrades that travel along with him when he "resleeves" or is downloaded into a new body.

Altered Carbon starts off with adventure and does not let up until the very last page. Kovacs is resleeved and sent to Earth to investigate a murder. While most readers would love to read about distant planets Morgan has chosen to have Earth as the backdrop to the novel and as it turns out Kovacs has never been to the cradle of civilization and so he is out of sorts with some of the mundane everyday things we take for granted. While Kovacs is tracking down leads he is constantly being hunted by interested parties that have scores to settle and keep him from the truth. I found it interesting that the body Kovacs has been sleeved into still smokes. I would have thought that smoking would have been outlawed/illegal many eons ago but we apparently still need our nicotine. While Takeshi Kovacs is the main star of the show his friends and associates are also interesting. Each with their own story to tell and motivations for their own actions. No one is pure which only adds to the enigma.

The book has a deeper issue beyond the detective story in regards to religion and how humanity deals with the concept of souls. With people able to enter any body whenever they feel like changing (assuming they can afford it), it leaves the last remaining Earth religion Catholocism to answer those questions and attempt to stop people from resleeving. While Morgan brings these issue to the forefront of the book, he does not browbeat you with this quandary which only adds to the richness of the novel.

The novel also has Morgan's flair for graphic sexual details and while I was not bothered by the actions that the characters engaged in, I could not help but feel it was a bit over the top and perhaps thrown in there for a bite of shock value.

Altered Carbon is a cross between Blade Runner and the Matrix while surpassing them both and adding Morgan's own distinct flavor. A highly recommended book that may have just changed my opinion on the way I look at the author. I may not have found The Steel Remains an entertaining read but I do see where Morgan's genius shines and that is in science fiction. A noir detective story set in the far future that has a gripping mystery and interesting characters.

REVIEW: X-Men Misfits vol. 1 by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman Illustrated by Anzu

2011-03-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

X-Men Misfits vol. 1 by Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman Illustrated by Anzu

Publishing information: Paperback; 192 pages

Publisher: Del Ray; 11 August 2009

ISBN 10: 034550514X

ISBN 13: 978-0345505149

Series Volume 1

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "THE X-MEN GET A RADICAL NEW REMIX IN A STORY ABOUT TEEN ANGST, FIRST LOVE, AND WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

High school student Kitty Pryde has always been the odd girl out. A mutant, she was born with strange superpowers, magical talents that make her the class freak. But Kitty’s world is changed when she’s invited to study at Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, a special home for mutant teens. There’s just one catch: Kitty’s the only girl at the all-boy school, and she ends up just feeling like a freak all over again.

Then Kitty meets Pyro and the ultra-hot bad boys of the Hellfire Club. They’re the school’s elite–handsome, rich, and totally above the rules. Now Kitty seems to have it all: a dreamy boyfriend, super-cool friends, and the chance to develop her extraordinary talents. But why is her heart telling her that something is wrong? Will Kitty ever find the place where she belongs, or is she doomed to be a misfit forever?"

The book seemed to be targeted for girls or at least this particular book was as Kitty Pryde is a outcast at her school when she is asked to come to a private school for people like her. She accepts the offer and learns she is the only girl enrolled which seemed to me to be trying to hit the Twilight fans as that seemed right out of Stephanie Meyer's personal playbook. X-Men Misfits is a reboot on the popular Marvel franchise and for me it did not do it for me. When I reviewed the rebooted Wolverine, I liked it. X-men Misfits just failed to hit the mark.

Some of that may have to do with the fact that the book focused it on Kitty Pryde AKA Shadowcat. She was such a minor character back when I read the comics that I had difficulty getting into this one. While I had several issues with this reboot I will only focus on a few. The second issue I had was that the book had Scott Summers/Cyclops as a student and his wife Jean Grey and Ororo Munroe/Storm as professors which really confused me and the timeline I had already set in my mind. The third issue I had was that Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto was in charge of an elite group of mutants at Xavier's School for the Gifted called Hellfire Club and that the they students in that group had free reign of the school. I would have thought that Professor X would have knowledge of the group and put a stop to it but it was never brought up.

X-Men Misfits does have a lot of potential as there are plenty of characters that can be introduced or brought in as a cameo. However, I have no plans to continue with this particular series.

The artwork is the real gem in X-Men Misfits. It is done in the anime style and should bring more fans to the world of the X-Men. It may take some getting use to as some panels have some serious humor ejected into them which is not common in traditional American comics. It was my first encounter with Anzu and I have to say that I like what I saw. It was the books only saving grace.

REVIEW: Flesh and Bone: Rise of the Necromancers edited by Jessy Marie Roberts

2011-03-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Flesh and Bone: Rise of the Necromancers edited by Jessy Marie Roberts

Publishing information: Kindle

Publisher: Pine Hill Press; 16 August 2010

ISBN 10: 1617060011

ISBN 13: 978-1617060014

ASIN: B004C05DR4

Anthology

Copy: Provided by publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Twenty-one dark short stories about the undead, and the persons who raise them... Featuring: The Blade of Tears by Lydia Sharp, No Man's Land by K.G. McAbee, Wrists by Shennandoah Diaz, All the World a Grave by Michael McClung, Blood on the Beach by Anne Michaud, The Scarlet Cat by Rebecca Lloyd, The Mortician's Secret by Kelley Frank, The King's Accord by Alan Baxter, Necrodance by Darin Kennedy, The Ghost Walk by Marianne Halbert, Blood Brothers by J. Matthew Saunders, Bequest by Greg Mellor, 9 Mystery Rose by Eden Royce, In the Dark Kingdom by Brandon Berntson, Jenna's Awakening by TW Brown, Queen of Bones by Aubrie Dionne, Small Matters of Immortality by Michael R. Colangelo, The Stoner Bride by Matthew Fryer, Sedenberry's Pest by Jon C. Forisha, A History of the Wraith King by Chris Poling & And the Greatest of these is Love by David McDonald."

While reading Flesh and Bone I was struck with the thought that this entire collection has the feel of a Creep Show or Tales From the Darkside feel to them. The collection contained in the anthology varies considerably. There are tales that are in the modern age as well as from times past. There is also a lot of fantasy elements aside from the obvious dealing with necromancy. While I found the nearly all the stories contained in the collection to be great there were a few that stood out.

The Blade of Tears by Lydia Sharp and All the World a Grave by Michael McClung were very impressive in that they should have been full blown novels. There were a lot of great ideas and characters presented in both of the stories. The Blade of Tears dealt with the undead attacking a woman bent on revenge as she attempts to recover a family heirloom. All the World a Grave had a fascinating assassin. The background for the character was impressive and the ending was something that I did not see coming. The Scarlet Cat by Rebecca Lloyd was a cross between classic Stephen King and Raimi's Drag Me to Hell. After reading the story I thought she outdid King in many respects and would love to see more work from the author.

The one stand out story that I enjoyed was Blood on the Beach by Anne Michaud. It was a short story told from the zombie's prospective as the zombie is semi-aware and not as brain dead was we are led to believe. When Michaud has the zombie looking for a hiding spot to avoid the soldiers had me chuckling.

Flesh and Bone: Rise of the Necromancers is not a collection that I would pick up on my own as it is not something that I tend to go after when I look for a new book, but I am glad that the publisher sent me the collection as it was a lot of fun to read and gave me a chance to read several talented authors that I had never encountered before. If you love the undead and those that raise them from their eternal rest then this the perfect collection for you. I wish that I had received this anthology around Halloween because it is a great collection for that time of year.

REVIEW: Machine of Death: A collection of stories about people who know how they will die [Kindle Edition]

2011-03-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

Machine of Death: A collection of stories about people who know how they will die editors: Ryan North, Bennardo, David Malki

Publishing Information: Kindle Edition

Publisher: Bearstache Books 26 October 2010

ISBN 10: 0982167121

ISBN 13: 978-0982167120

ASIN: B004AHK9ZA

Short Story Collection

Copy: Provided by Publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "The machine had been invented a few years ago: a machine that could tell, from just a sample of your blood, how you were going to die. No dates, no details. Just a slip of paper with a few words spelling out your ultimate fate -- at once all-too specific and maddeningly vague.

A top ten Amazon Customer Favorite in Science Fiction & Fantasy for 2010, The Machine of Death is an anthology of original stories bound together by a central premise. From the humorous to the adventurous to the mind-bending to the touching, the writers explore what the world would be like if a blood test could predict your death.

But don't think for a moment this is a book entirely composed of stories about people meeting their ironic dooms. There is some of that, of course. But more than that, this is a genre-hopping collection of tales about people who have learned more about themselves then perhaps they should have, and how that knowledge affects their relationships, their perception of the world, and how they feel about themselves.

Features thirty-four stories by Randall Munroe, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, Tom Francis, Camille Alexa, Erin McKean, James L. Sutter, David Malki !, Ryan North, and many others

Features illustrations by Kate Beaton, Kazu Kibuishi, Aaron Diaz, Jeffrey Brown, Scott C., Roger Langridge, Karl Kershl, Cameron Stewart, and many others"

I am not a huge short story reader but when the publisher contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in reviewing the book, I said yes. I was not hooked until I read the premise. Each story contained in the collection is based on the same idea that a machine has been invented that will predict accurately how you will leave this world. While some of the predictions are fairly obvious, others are not so clear.

In all honesty the first few stories that I read in Machine of Death drove me nuts as they are left very open ended. No resolution is to be found in the first few stories. I was getting skeptical and was wondering if there was ever going to be a scene in any of the stories where we see the predictions come true. I did not have to wait long and soon came to realise that they were put in the beginning of the novel to warm you up to the idea and to have you salivating at the prospect of what was to come.

As you dig deeper into the stories the collection provides, you wonder just how far they are willing to go as each story really builds upon one another. As you read one story you wonder, how can they top that one? Only to find that the next story accomplishes exactly that. While I was a little disappointed with the first few stories (mainly due to no resolution) I began to see the bigger picture and thought it was really impressive that they placed them where they did. Because had they been thrown in the middle or in the later portions of the book, it would have ruined the tempo the book had built up to.

Next week, I will review Yathzee Croshaw's Mogworld and I was disappointed with the novel but he really does shine in this collection. His short story was a lot of fun to read. He was redeemed in this collection. Truth be told I can not really think of a poorly written short story found in this book. Each one is original and entertaining. It was also a change of pace as it led to a interesting conversation at home as I asked the qestion "would you want to know how you died?"

Machine of Death is a impressive collection of short stories all with a common bond. I think the common bond actually made the read more enjoyable as it was the first short story collection that I had read that had a common thread. Reading it on the Kindle the format was perfect. It was easy to read and formatted perfectly. Highly recommended.

REVIEW: Temple of the Dead by Tim Marquitz

2011-03-07T15:51:00.000-08:00

The Temple of the Dead by Tim Marquitz

Publishing information: Kindle Edition

Publisher: Damnation Books 1 March 2010

ISBN 10: 1615722718

ISBN 13: 978-1615722716

ASIN: B004E3XTR0

Series: Part II of the Sepulchral Earth

Copy: Provided by Author

Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Two years after the furious dead rose up to murder the living, the remnants of mankind face a brutal extinction. Wretched and broken, trading humanity for life, the survivors suffer under the inevitable shadow of death.

Aided by friendly spirits, the necromancer Harlan Cole wages war against the merciless forces of the undead. Driven to bring peace to the souls of his wife and daughter, Harlan vows to return the dead to their graves, or join them trying."

Last year I reviewed an very impressive debut, Armageddon Bound, after my review the author contacted me to read a short story that he was working on. Sepulchral Earth. I was blown away and was begging for more. A few months ago Tim Marquitz contacted me again to see if I would be interested in reading the sequel to his first short story. I jumped at the chance.

The Temple of the Dead was a lot of fun to read and provided a lot of insight into just how things on earth got as bad as they have. When we left our hero Cole he was saving a family from the undead. In this latest installment he is dealing with his past. The reason part one of the Sepulchral Earth was so mind boggling was that the hero and his mysterious ghostly sidekick is the mystery that surrounded him and his past. Sepulchral Earth. It was kind of a let down to know how things came to be and to learn of what drives Harlan to be the man he is. I would have liked to have learned more about him as the character and his adventures continued. With that said I still enjoyed this chapter in the series.

Marquitz does a great job of showing the despair that humankind has sunk to with legions of undead "dying" to get a piece of them. There is a fascinating new villain that Cole must come to terms with and he has a new friend along for the journey. While the story is rather short Marquitz does an excellent job of throwing in some stylized action within the pages. The Temple of the Dead is a welcome addition to the Sepulchral Earth series.

As I said before I was a bit disappointed with the unveiling of Cole's past but that aside it was great to get back into the series and I look forward to seeing more of his adventures.

REVIEW: Nightchild by James Barclay

2011-02-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Nightchild by James Barclay

Publishing information: Paperback; 496 pages

Publisher: Orion Publishing; 13 November 2008

ISBN 10: 0575082844

ISBN 13: 9780575082847

Series: Book 3 in the Chronicles of the Raven trilogy

Copy- out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: ”It begins with a tidal wave. There is a new power coming. It will sweep aside the four colleges of magic. It is the power of the land, and it has manifested itself in Lyanna, a five year old girl. Unknowingly, she could destroy Balaia. Desperate to maintain their power, the colleges will do anything to control the child. If that fails, they will kill her. Terrified, Lyanna's mother, Erienne the mage, takes her into hiding. But they can't hide forever. As the hunt goes on, Lyanna starts to test her powers and nature itself begins to turn on Balaia. Her father, Denser of The Raven, is also desperate to find her. But can even The Raven find Erienne and her child when they do not want to be found? And if they do find them, what then should they do? Lyanna is ripping the world apart. Thousands are dying. Can The Raven afford to let her live?“

If you are just catching up the reviews for the other two novels in the series are here: Dawnthief and Noonshade.

When we return to the land of Balaia we find the Ravens five years from the previous adventure found in Noonshade and they have all gone their separate ways and found new lives, giving up the life of the Balaia's legendary mercenaries. All of them have started families. Hirad has taken it upon himself to watch over the dragons and protect them from those that would seek them as a hunting trophy, The Unknown has returned to his beloved bar and settled down, Ilkar has taken up the massive chore of rebuilding the Julastian college, and Erienne and Denser have a young daughter that is strong in magic.

While we are allowed a glimpse of the Raven's new lives it does not take long before all heck breaks out and the Ravens are called to once again take on a job, this time it is to protect one of their own. When Denser learns that his wife and child are on the run from her own college and witch hunters, he turns to his long-time friends for help. The glimpse that we see as the Ravens reform in Nightchild is beyond the hack and slash adding a missing portion of the characters personalities that was only hinted at in the earlier books. Nightchild is a great action novel but a new aspect has been added in this one. Barclay adds a new dimension to each of his beloved Ravens. I would have liked to have seen more of each of the characters in retirement but, then the book would not have been quite so action packed. However, it was a nice change of pace while it lasted.

Each of the characters in Nightchild have grown leaps and bounds from where they started in Dawnthief and I have to say it only added to the enjoyment as I read the book. Nightchild also brings back a lot of our favorite supporting characters from the previous installments, as well as adding in Lyanna the offspring of Erienne and Denser. While I liked her at first, her character seemed innocent and curious but as the novel continued to add more and more of her personality, I came to dislike her.

At the heart of Nightchild is a rescue. The Raven need to reform in order to save Erienne and her (and Denser's) daughter Lyanna. Along the way the Raven meet old friends and enemies. The big diffence that I found with this novel when compared to the previous two books is that the Raven tend to have a few falling outs between them. In Dawnthief and Noonshade, they were a cohesive fighting unit all like minded. While the other novels in the trilogy had them have very few (minor) disagreements usually regarding tactics and strategies. The arguments in Nightchild were bigger and have far reaching implications and show how far the Raven have changed from a cohesive unit to individuals. It was definitely a change for me and was a subtle and brilliant way to add realism to the individuals, while showing how time changes everything and everyone.

Barclay is once again at the top of his game. While Nightchild may be classified as a good old hack and slash we also have a fairly impressive tactical novel as the Raven rarely go in guns (er..swords) blazing (slashing?). They always take their time to approach every situation through tactical brilliance. One of the reasons that I enjoy the series is that we have a group of highly skilled and intellegent mercenaries who approach every obstacle with reason and sound judgement. The Raven planning sessions are always a joy to read as they are rather informative and at times revealing of the characters. Barclay does not disappoint in this installment as the sessions are a major part of this book adding to the depth of the series.

I really enjoyed Nightchild and all of the books in the Chronicles of the Raven series and will more than likely continue with the second trilogy the Legends of the Raven sometime in the future. If you want the thinking man's sword and sorcery with some interesting characters with great dialogue. Then James Barclay's Chronicles of the Raven (Dawnthief, Noonshade, and Nightchild)is right up your alley. This is a series that you should not miss and should be in everyone's library.

REVIEW: Blood Follows by Steven Erikson

2011-02-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

Blood Follows by Steven Erikson

Publishing information: Hardback; 125 pages

Publisher: Night Shade Books; 25 May 2005

ISBN 10: 159780004X

ISBN 13: 978-1597800044

Standalone but from the Malazan of the Fallen universe

Copy- out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Inside the Book "All is not well in Lamentable Moll. A sinister, diabolical killer stalks the port city's narrow, barrow-humped streets, and panic grips the citizens like a fever. Emancipor Reese is no exception, and indeed, with his legendary ill luck, it's worse for him than for most. Not only was his previous employer the unknown killer's latest victim, but Emancipor is out of work. And, with his dearest wife terminally comfortable with the manner of life to which she asserts she has become accustomed (or at least to which she aspires) -- for her and their two whelps -- all other terrors grow limp and pale for poor Emancipor. But perhaps his luck has finally changed, for two strangers have come to Lamentable Moll... and they have nailed to the centre post in Fishmonger's Round a note requesting the services of a manservant. This is surely a remarkable opportunity for the hapless Emancipor Reese... no matter that the note reeks with death-warded magic; no matter that the barrow ghosts themselves howl with fear every night; and certainly no matter that Lamentable Moll itself is about to erupt in a frenzy of terror-inspired anarchy.... After all, it's work... and working is better than not working. Isn't it? First in a series of novellas taking place in the Malazan Empire."

I was shocked to find this first edition of Blood Follows in the used book store and even more befuddled to find it in South Korea of all places. However, when I found it I latched on to and held on to it tightly until I made it to the cash register. I am a huge fan of Erikson and have not had the pleasure of reading any of his novellas until now.

Blood Follows is the story of Emancipor Reece and how he became employed as a manservant by Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. As the story progresses we also have a murder mystery as several people, including some close to the king of Lamentable Moll.

The focus is on Reece and his lifestyle. It appears that Reece's former employers all meet with an untimely demise and when his despicable wife finds out he has once again become unemployed he learns that he may be able to get a job that involves lots of travel. Broach and Baucelain are still as mysterious as they were in Memories of Ice. There is a bit of irony and some humor injected into the story and it was enjoyable. As for the two employers they are as creepy and mysterious as I remember them to be. While we never learn their true mission in Moll, we do learn a few things about them, but not much.

The plot of Blood Follows is airtight which may surprise some people as many find Erikson to talk in circles before finally getting to his point. But the story goes from point to point without interruption.

Blood Follows was a quick and entertaining read and I look forward to reading the other short stories as I find them. I know that Erikson will soon be releasing Blood Follows, The Healthy Dead, and The Lees of Laughter's End in a omnibus soon but at the time of this review the information was not available. The omnibus will cover three of the four books that detail the adventures of Bauchelain, Korbal Broach, and their faithful manservant Emancipor Reece.

REVIEW: Runescape: Betrayal at Falador by T.S. Church

2011-02-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

Runescape: Betrayal at Falador by T.S. Church

Publishing Information: Paperback; 400 pages

Publisher: Titan Books; 12 October 2010

ISBN 10: 1848567227

ISBN 13: 978-1848567221

Series: Book 1

Copy: Provided by Publisher

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "In the kingdom of Asgarnia, though the Knights of Falador defend the land a protect the people, they face threats that clamor from all sides-and from within. Enemies mass at borders, and a killer stalks the night killing innocents and slipping away unseen.

When a young woman appears in the teeth of the storm, her sudden arrival launches a chain of events that endangers the very fabric of magic. And unless the knights can solve the riddle of Kara-Meir, everything they hold close may be lost.

Their one hope may lie in the hands, not of a knight, but of an untested squire named Theodore..."

As a huge gamer I have to admit that I have never bothered to play Runescape. It has always been under the radar for me, with that said, I have no idea if this novel stays true to the gaming series. So, I read this book with little to no background knowledge on Runescape.

Betrayal at Falador starts out with a mystery. An injured young girl suddenly appears in front of the knights of Falador through the use of a special ring. How she obtained the ring and her origins are unknown which sets a young squire on a quest which quickly unravels in this first book set in the Runscape Universe.

The young squire, Theodore, sets off on his quest only to encounter another mystery as a beast is roaming the countryside murdering the villagers and travelers.Theodore's personality really shines as he is more than your typical squire as he is shown to protect his charges and while he uncovers this new threat is really put in a difficult situation as he known he must finish his mission but is also trying to find a way to appease the citizens that are plagued with murder on their doorstep. Once the young girl awakens from her injuries, Kara becomes the real protagonist as her future holds many opportunities and while her past is still a mystery she grows as a character quite quickly. In some regards this was a little off putting as she gains skills a little too quickly and good fortune seem to fall into her lap as the story progresses. However, the action does not let up very often and that may have been the real issue I had. With everything that is going on I found it hard to see where she found the time to attain the skills she receives. As Theodore and Kara become closer allies they are joined by your typical adventuring group, they have a hard-headed dwarf, a young magician, a troubled youth with unnatural strength, and a failed magician turned scientist. The majority of the cast is well crafted. A few secrets are left to be sorted out in future novels in the series which I think is a great idea as the mysteries that were left did not deter my enjoyment of the book.

As the story progresses we learn who the creature is that is killing the people in the countryside. I will not spoil who or what it is but I will say that it becomes a central character to the novel and that it scenes in the novel where the most enjoyable. It was a minor shock to learn what it was and the quest that it is on is also interesting and I am curious to see how it all unfolds.

The plot is nothing new. The god representing evil is making a play against the god of good and it is something we have seen hundreds of times. There is also a god of neutrality which to me reminded me of Dragonlance but, the spin that Church adds in Betrayal at Falador makes the world his own.

Aside from the fact that Kara comes into her abilities a little too quickly the only other issue I had was that the book takes an ominous tone just past the halfway point and then just when you think things are bleakest the book takes a turn and then everything is quickly resolved which I would have liked to have seen the book continue down the path it was going and then seeing everything resolved in a later book as it was progressing nicely and then it turned the page so to speak. With that in mind the book could easily be read as a standalone but, the sequel Return to Canifis will be released on March 22, 2011.

Betrayal at Falador was a nice light read with some interesting characters and great action, the pacing is also quite good. As a person with no previous knowledge of Runescape I had no problem entering the world that was presented to me and enjoyed my time there while I read it. A nice introduction to Runscape and a fun read.

REVIEW: The Silver Skull by Mark Chadbourn

2011-02-07T18:55:00.000-08:00

The Silver Skull (Swords of Albion series #1) by Mark Chadbourn

Publisher: Pyr 24 November 2009

Format: Paperback, 424 pages

ISBN 10: 1591027837

ISBN 13: 9781591027836

1st book in a Series

Copy: Out of pocket

Back of the book "A Devilish plot to assassinate the queen, a cold war enemy hell-bent on destroying the nation, incredible gadgets, a race against time around the world to stop the ultimate doomsday device...and Elizabethan England's greatest spy!"

This is my first Mark Chadbourn novel and I had a lot of high hopes for it but it just did not get it done for me. While the novel is full of high action and a great deal of mystery and intrigue, I found it to be mundane.

One of the reasons that I did not find The Silver Skull as entertaining as other reviewers, is that it attempted to take things from other famous British literary icons and it just did not work for me. For instance, Will Swyfte, our hero is given a few gadgets to help him in his mission. While you could state that it is in the same vein as James Bond, I found it to be a little to close for comfort. Another reason that The Silver Skull did not work for me is that I read Dan Abnett's Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero, which I also did not enjoy, and they both had very similar characters. A cocky and always lucky protagonist who is the Queen's go to guy in an emergency. While this could nearly describe a lot of protagonists in literature these two just rubbed me the wrong way. The third thing that I just did not like was the weapon that they were all hunting, the silver skull, just seemed unimaginative as far as weapons go. What it can do was interesting but the skull itself did not have the impact it should have in my opinion.

One thing that I found Mark Chadbourn does well, is that he has a real understanding of British myths and folklore. He can create an eerie situation when the called for. Early on in the novel, we flash back to when Mary Queen of Scots is being beheaded and the setting and pacing is dead on. You come away from the scene with the hairs on the back of your neck raised.

I can not tell you exactly why I did not find this book as charming as the rest of the world, perhaps it was because I was getting over the flu when I read it and that somehow soured my experience. Whatever the reason, I did not find the book to be what I expected it to be. Which is a shame. There were a lot of great things to be found within it's pages so, maybe a re-read is called for when I have some time. The Silver Skull could be read as a standalone but, it does leave things open for sequels which is what is planned. Perhaps I will give the second book a shot and see if it changes my prospective of things.

REVIEW: Old Man's War by John Scalzi

2011-01-31T16:41:00.000-08:00

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Publishing Information: Paperback; 320 pages

Publisher: Tor Publishing 15 January 2007

ISBN 10: 0765348276

ISBN 13: 978-0765348272

Series: Book one of the Old Man's War Universe

Copy: Out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity’s resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You’ll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you’ll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine—and what he will become is far stranger."

I really enjoyed Old Man's War. It was very fast paced and humorous. While there are a lot of unbelievable things that happen and are discussed in the novel, there were also a lot of things that seemed very plausible. Either way I had a very enjoyable experience with Scalzi's Old Man's War.

The character of John Perry was very likable. He did not come off as a know it all or a Rambo but more of your everyman who is thrust into situations and uses his past to solve his current problems. While Perry is not sure what he has signed up for in the beginning he quickly learns to adapt and excel. While he is turned into a lean, mean, alien killing machine he has his doubts and concerns about his humanity. This is something that is largely forgotten in other military science fiction I have read and was a nice change of pace.

The plot is a fairly simple idea but very imaginative in scope. Humanity has breeched the stars and encountered alien life. Some aliens co-exist peacefully with humankind. Others find humanity a blight and with inhabitable planets in short supply they fight with the various space faring races for those planets. In order to stake a claim on the planets and keep Earth safe, when you reach retirement age you are able to join the military for the colonies. through medical and scientific breakthroughs, age is no longer a factor. I would share with you how this is possible but I feel that it would ruin the enjoyment of the novel.

The main reason that the elderly are able to take the fight to the various aliens is a bit far fetched but it is a science fiction novel after all. With that aside there are a few scientific breakthroughs that are intriguing. The first one is the slip stream or the way I envisioned it, worm hole/paradox technology. It is explained in simple terms and will make your head spin if you think about it too long. The other technology that I really liked was the BrainPal, think cellphone and computer all in your head. One of the best parts of the novel was when Perry and his friends talk about what they have named their personal BrainPal. A lot of the technical advancements in Old Man's War are interesting and to a certain degree possible. While the technology is not shared with Earth it has helped keep Earth safe and allowed mankind to exist in the universe.

John Scalzi does an excellent job of keeping you on your toes with a lot of great action and dialogue. The characters are very funny and Perry, our protagonist, has some great lines in the book. For a short novel it packs a lot of punch. Old Man's War is the first in the trilogy and I plan on checking out the rest of the series very soon. If you want a lighter version of Heinlein's Starship Troopers with a lot more action this is the book for you. Old Man's War has certainly made me a fan of Scalzi's work.

REVIEW: Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

2011-01-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

Publishing Information: Paperback; 464 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins 5 January 2009

ISBN 10: 0007276028

ISBN 13: 9780007276028

Series: Book of the Valisar Trilogy

Copy: Out of Pocket

Back of the book: "From out of the East they spread like a merciless plague -- destroying kingdom after kingdom and the sovereigns who had previously mocked the warlord Loethar and his barbarian horde. Now only one land remains unconquered -- the largest, richest, and most powerful realm of the Denova Set...Penraven. The Valisar royals of Penraven face certain death, for the savage tyrant Loethar covets what they alone possess: the fabled Valisar Enchantment, an irresistible power to coerce, which will belong to Loethar once every Valisar has been slain. But the last hope of the besieged kingdom is being sent in secret from his doomed home, in the company of a single warrior. The future of Penraven now rests on the shoulders of the young Crown Prince Leonel who, though untried and untested in the ways of war, must survive brutality and treachery in order to claim the Valisar throne."

Fiona McIntosh's Royal Exile has been sitting in my to read pile for nearly a year and it was not alone. Truth be told I was tired of looking at the title and decided to give the book a shot. The book starts out like many other fantasy novels do, a peaceful and successful empire is rapidly destroyed by a invading horde of barbarians. In an effort to end the conflict the empire prepares for the worst and makes plans for the heir of the throne to vanish and seek his revenge and reclaim his kingdom when he is older and able to gather the appropriate force to deal with the threat.

It sounds good on paper and many of us have read that story on more than one occasion. Usually it is told very well and I find myself looking for more of the story. Royal Exile did not deliver on my expectations. The characters were far to black and white for my taste. if someone in the story was bad they were completely evil with no grey areas. Same could be said for our heroes. They had no shortcomings. I like my heroes to be full of valor but I do not expect or want perfection. I think that is where the story started to unravel for me.

It takes very little time for things to get ugly in the vast and impressive empire that McIntosh set up for us and for a kingdom that was alluded to being vast and powerful they did not put up much of a fight to save their citizens or claims of property. While I can see a king holding his soldiers back to save his own parcel of land the Emperor of Royal Exile did not even bother to do that. He simply had his right hand ride out and deliver terms for surrender. Surprisingly enough the barbarians do not even bother to listen to the offer. While there may be some powerful empires that do not require the use of a standing army in fantasy, I have yet to see one. The empire in Royal Exile seemed to be ruled by a pansy with some narrow-minded flunkies. McIntosh missed the boat when she outlined her ideas on how a kingdom is to be ruled and it was no wonder that it was steamrolled by anyone with a sword.

While this is a trilogy, and I am told that it does in fact get better in the later books in the series, I have no plans to return to McIntosh's world. I found myself laughing at some of the moronic things that took place in the novel. When I reached the end of the Royal Exile I actually had to wonder if I had gone anywhere. It felt as if the book hardly moved at all or at least came full circle. There was a great idea in there somewhere, it just never came to fruition.

REVIEW: Fevre Dream by George RR Martin

2011-01-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

Publishing Information: Paperback; 334 pages

Publisher: Random House 1 September 2004

ISBN 10: 0553383051

ISBN 13: 9780553383058

Standalone

Copy: Out of Pocket

Back of Book: "When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something's amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesn't care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh's dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won't earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh's concern--no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove.

Marsh meant to turn down York's offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolve--coupled with the terrible force of York's mesmerizing gaze. Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankind's most impossible dream.
Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampire's quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous riverman's dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river."

George RR Martin is famous for his A Song of Ice And Fire series, which is loosely based on the War of the Roses. Having read ASOIAF and enjoyed them, I decided I to see what some of his other works were like. If you look on any horror forum you will more than likely be surprised as I was to learn that he had also written a vampire novel, Fevre Dream, it takes place on a river boat just before the civil war would break out.

The setting of Fevre Dream takes center stage in this vampire tale. Martin takes an interesting look at the concept of slavery. For humans it is lowering another person simply due to the color of his or her skin For vampires it is lowering humanity because they are a newer race and not as powerful as the undead. While the ideas presented in the book are very thought provoking they are very understated. The one interesting tidbit that I gleaned from the story that the chained or impoverish of society may suffer from those that lord over them, but they persevere through their art and ingenuity. As an expatriate myself, I could easily draw parallels to America as it rose to the cream of the crop in innovation only to no longer produce any products and left the more impoverish countries to create what the US feels is beneath it. Only to have the great country rot from the inside. Of course this is only my take on the novel.

The characters in Fevre Dream are also a lot of fun. Each of the four main characters have their distinct personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. If Fevre Dream were a cake, the setting would be the spongy cake and the characters the sweet frosting. By the end of the book you feel let down. Not because the ending was not spectacular, but that Martin decided that the novel did not require a sequel. You are left wondering what happened after the events in the book. I read this book days ago and I still wonder what everyone is doing now.

I hate to say it and will probably get hate mail, but I would like to see Martin postpone A Dance With Dragons and have him write a sequel to Fevre Dream. If you are 'dying' for more GRRM and can not wait for ADWD to arrive on book shelves, look no further than Fevre Dream. It has all the rich characters you come to expect from GRRM and lets you see that regardless of which genre Martin decides to write in he is the master of his craft. This is the vampire movie that should have been made. Not the teeny romance Twilight. I will warn you that the book is set in a time and place where the word "nigger" was considered acceptable. While I cringed every time I encountered the word, I realised why he used it and what he was attempting to do with the word. If you can see past that you are in for a truly great tale reminiscent of Mark Twain and Bram Stoker.

REVIEW: Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

2011-01-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

Publishing information: Paperback; 278 pages

Publisher: DelRay Books; 12 April 1985

ISBN 10: 0345321383

ISBN 13: 9780345321381

Series: Book 1 in the Master Li Kao and Ten Ox series

Copy: Out of Pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "When the children of his village were struck with a mysterious illness, Number Ten Ox found master Li Kao. Together they set out to find the Great Root of Power, the only possible cure, and together they discover adventure and legend, and the power of belief...."

Not long ago a friend of mine mentioned Bridge of Birds as a novel that everyone should read if they wanted a fantasy novel set in the orient. Since I happen to live in Asia I thought it would be in my best interest if I sat down and read it.

Bridge of Birds starts out in a small village that does its best to survive. Life is simple but good in the peaceful village. It is a tight community full of love and joy. When the time comes to nurse the silk worms so that they will have a successful silk harvest (not sure if that is the correct terminology), things go horribly wrong as the children fall victim to a strange and paralyzing virus. No one can explain it and they decide to send Ten Ox out to the capital city to find help.

The characters are rather stereotypical. Which normally would be setback but they work and quickly draw you into the story. We have a kind and gentle giant who is tasked to bring a wise man to the village to help the stricken children, we have a wise man who is also a detective with a shady, but humorous past. We have a evil female that rules China with an iron fist behind the guise of her young son, greedy merchants and since it is fantasy and mythology mixed we also have some creatures from fairy tales make an appearance. Everything combines smoothly to lull you into a sense of security and tell you a story that could have actually occurred in ancient China. The Character of Li Kao is mysterious and humorous as he does a like to keep everyone around him on their toes and the situations as light as possible.

The style of Bridge of Birds is pure genius. It is very lyrical and poetic. Normally, I do not go for books of this type but it hooked me instantly and i found myself thrown into a magical place that I never wanted to leave. Hughart has a way with words that is hard to explain. He tells a story with the least amount of words possible yet finds a way to have it come to life in vibrant color and detail in your mind. The environments are magnificent and the feeling you get while the adventure is taking place is extraordinary. Bridge of Birds is like nothing I have ever read. Not to mention that the book has a lot of light hearted humor thrown in the mix. A play on words here and there.

The plot of Bridge of Birds is simple but that works. The children are sick and a rare root must be obtained in order to save the children. As the story progresses more and more of the world is uncovered as is the history of Hughart's imagined China. The book's pacing is so tight that there is no time for lag in the story and we are taken along for a ride that is pure Chinese mythology.

From the first paragraph of Bridge of Birds you know that you are in for something special. The prose is beautiful, everything seems to take on a poetic feel as you immerse yourself in this imaginary period of China. The entire experience from start to finish feels like a dream. A dream you never want to come out of. Bridge of Birds is a classic and after reading it there is no room for doubt as to why it is considered a masterpiece of literature and fantasy.

Plot 8

Characters 8

Style 10

Overall 10/10

REVIEW: Noonshade by James Barclay

2011-01-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Noonshade by James Barclay

Publishing information: Paperback; 528 pages

Publisher: Orion Publishing; 13 November 2008

ISBN 10: 0575082798

ISBN 13: 9780575082793

Series- Book 2 in the Chronicles of the Raven trilogy.

Copy "Out of pocket"

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "An apocalyptic spell has been cast, an ancient evil banished. Now the land of Balaia, still riven by war, must live with the consequences. The Dawnthief spell- designed to destroy the world, but cast to save it- has torn a hole in the sky, a pathway into the dragon dimension, and, through it, unfriendly eyes are turning to Balaia.

With war already sweeping the land, there are no armies to send against the dragons. All that stands between Balaia and complete dominion by these tyrannous beasts is a tine, but legendary band of mercenaries: The Raven."

Not long ago I reviewed the first novel by James Barclay, Dawnthief, and found it to be a fine and worthy tale. However, I had a lot of other books on my plate and it took me some time to get back to The Raven and their adventures. Looking at my pile of unread books Noonshade was staring at me and telling me it was time to return.

I was really glad I did as I was quickly held in Barclay's grip and the story refused to let me go. The characters in the Noonshade are immersive. There is a character for everyone to enjoy and at least one to admire, and of course, one to hate. Ilkar is one of my favorites, along with the Unknown Warrior and Harid. These three are the core Ravens. The have been with the team since its creation and know how to turn the tide of war from utter defeat to glorious victory. As your read the story you can not help but root for these guys to come out on top. Noonshade is the thinking man's hack and slash, sword and sorcery. There is a lot of tactical discussions and while it does deal with magic you get the sense that while they are well versed in combat, there are things they can and can not do. This helps sustain your belief in the story. They are not all-powerful and are keen to make mistakes like anyone else. The difference is that with their combined combat experience they know how to turn the the tides of war.

The setting is the same as in Dawnthief, Balaia which has nearly every geographical region as we do here on earth: Deserts, prairies, and fertile plains. Large scaled cities and small huddled villages all trying to survive the onslaught that war brings. However, we are allowed to peak behind the curtain of two other dimensions. The world of demons and of dragons. We do not spend a whole lot of time in the demon's world but we do visit that of the dragons and it is quite interesting. I will not spoil it for those that have not read Noonshade but it would make for interesting books on their own if Barclay wanted to.

The magic system is another great aspect of the trilogy. There is a price to pay for using magic as it weakens and tires the caster and the system uses geometric shapes in order to obtain the requested spell. Barclay goes into great detail for a few of the spells used in Noonshade and it allows the reader to gain a great deal of knowledge on how magic works in his world without giving you a huge information dump.

When you are finished with Noonshade you are left with a cliffhanger which promises to take The Raven on another great adventure. One that I plan to follow soon. While Noonshade was a great book it was not as great as Dawnthief. Of course, living up to Dawnthief is nearly impossible. I enjoyed the story and returning to some great protagonists but, it just did not feel as massive and impressive as the first book in the series. That is not to say that the book or the series in not worth reading, just that it was not as stirring as the first. book three, Nightchild appears to be a much bigger adventure and looks to be more in the vein of book one. Nightchild's review will be coming soon.

Plot 8

Characters 8

Style 8

Overall 7/10

2011 Speculative Fiction Challenge

2010-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

Admittedly this is not a hard challenge for me but it gives me an opportunity to meet a few of my fellow bloggers, which is something that I enjoy. I have made a lot of good friends this way. So, with any luck I should be done with this challenge by the first quarter of the year. Last year I read over 100 novels I am hoping to be able to say that I read 125 novels in the coming year.

For anyone that wants to join up on the challenge either hit the button on the left of follow the link here. Hope everyone has a great new year and thanks for following.

REVIEW: Soldier of the Legion by Marshall S Thomas

2010-12-28T12:47:00.000-08:00

Soldier of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas

Publishing Information: Paperback; 298 pages

Publisher: Timberwolf Press 2007

ISBN 10: 1601453426

ISBN 13: 978-601453426

Series Book 1 of the Beta 3 series

Copy: Out of pocket

Back of Book: "A rough truce divides the known galaxy between the System, the despotic slave empire that rules the inner systems, and the Confederation of Free Worlds. A ConFree unit is dispatched to defend a remote world from a mysterious Systie incursion. Our hero, call-sign "Thinker," will soon discover that giant exosegs, slavers and Systies are just the beginning. Once before the Legion faced the godlike, utterly alien and evil, Omnis, and drove them back at the cost of billions of lives. The future of humanity, all humanity - even the corrupt and decaying System empire, will soon be in the hands of Soldiers of the Legion."

As I was looking on the internet for a book similar to Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Scalzi's Old Man's War I found Marshall S. Thomas' Soldier of the Legion. The book does take a rookie soldier and talk of the exploits through the galaxy. However, that is where the similarities end.

The Heart of Soldier of the Legion is a loose attempt to capture the success of Heinlein and Scalzi and it starts out well. We learn the unit and their various shortcomings and at first I really enjoyed what I was reading but as the book dragged on the chacters began to lose their charm. I think part of it had to do with the characters of Priestess and Valkyrie. They are both hardcore female warriors and they both have staked a claim on our protagonist, "Thinker." Since they are the best looking women and natural born killers it made it hard to continue my suspension of disbelief.

The plot is that there are two forms of government/philosophy in the universe one that believes in freedom and one that uses slaves for labor and any other tasks. If earth gave up slavery in the 1800s (for the most part), it did not make much sense that we returned to the practice once we took to the stars. I realise that the bad guys in Soldier of the Legion had to be despicable, but I would have like to have seen something different to set the two civilisations apart. Slavery to me was an easy out.

Another thing that bothered me was that the book leaves you hanging. The end of the book is a cliffhanger. While I do not mind cliffhangers, the last 30 to 40 pages takes the reader on a completely different course from the rest of the book and then leaves you with the legion preparing to face death. The ending of Soldier of the Legion seemed rushed and I have to wonder if the Thomas was not sure what to do next so he just stopped and ran to the publishers and said "we will take care of it in book two." It left a sour taste in my mouth considering the short length of the book, Thomas could have at least ended the small skirmish and then give us a glimpse of the big picture and the first portion of the plot for the second book in the series but, he failed to do that.

REVIEW: God of War by Matthew Stover and Robert E. Vardeman

2010-12-27T06:53:00.000-08:00

God of War by Matthew Stover and Robert E. Vardeman

Publishing information: Paperback; 301 pages

Publisher: Titan Books LTD.; 28 May 2010

ISBN 10: 1848567189

ISBN 13: 9781848567184

Copy: Out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "The first official tie-in novel to the hugely successful God of War series of action-adventure video games. This is an epic adventure set in the world of Greek mythology. This novel takes the mega-successful God of War franchise to a new level! Kratos is the new god of war, but the other gods refuse to welcome him as one of their own. Zeus kills him, but he is saved by the goddess of the earth, Gaia. She sends him back to Mount Olympos - where, once again, he will challenge the might of the gods...Written by Matt Stover, the hugely popular, bestselling writer of many Star Wars adventures, gaming fans should not miss this brand-new God of War story!"

As a huge video game player and fan of the God of War series I was really looking forward to the latest adaption of the game by Matthew Stover. However, after a few chapters in I realized that I was not going to get what I was hoping for.

All of the players are accounted for. We have Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, Ares, and Athena as well as a few other gods. We also have the Ghost of Sparta, Kratos, our hero. with all of the Dramatis Personae accounted for this should be one rocking adaptation of God of War. However, it falls flat. All of the personalities are as they are represented in mythology (for the most part) and in the game. but they never go beyond what we have seen in the video games. A book is always far better than the movie, or in this case the game and this is the first time that it has not been true.

The setting is Ancient Greece during the height of the Greek gods rein. Ares is no longer content with the status quo on Mt. Olympus and has started to stir things up and cause trouble for his sister Athena and his father Zeus. This altercation draws in the other gods as each side attempts to garner support for the others downfall. A degree by Zeus that no god may slay another god brings Kratos front and center as he will be Athena's secret weapon and ultimately Ares' downfall.

The story is, as far as I can recall from playing the original game just that, the original God of War. There are no deleted scenes or additional elements to improve the plot. If you have played the game and made it to the end, then you have read God of War. The journey that Vardeman takes you on is boring as we have been there, seen it, and bought the t-shirt. The entire book reads as if someone started playing the game and then just wrote down the dialogue and rehashed what was happening on the screen. The reason I have to say that Vardeman has taken us on the journey is because it reads nothing like all of the Stover novels I have read in the past. Stover always has great characters, narration, and action sequences. This book did not. The opening sequence does draw the reader in which leads me to believe that it may have been written by Stover. But once you get past the opening scene you are bogged down until the last page. By the time I reached the end, it was painful.

While not a die-hard fan of the God of War franchise, I am a huge fan. Even with that background behind me the novelization of God of War was unbearable. I was reading what I had already played years ago. With Kratos well-known to gamers they had a lot of ways to take the character and the authors never bothered to do it. Instead we find ourselves reading something we have already seen and experienced. I am not even sure if someone who was not familiar with the series would enjoy this book as the action sequences are sub-par. Kratos is one of the most violent and action worthy video game protagonists and in this book he could not keep my interest. This book is a disgrace to the franchise. Unless you are dying to read a book based on the God of War series I recommend staying far away from this one. This has to be the worst book I have read this year and may even be one for the record books.

REVIEW: Dawnthief by James Barclay

2010-12-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Dawnthief (Chronicles of the Raven Book 1) by James Barclay

Publisher: Gollancz

Published: 13 November 2008

Format: Paperback 496 pages

ISBN 13: 9780575082755

ISBN 10: 0575082755

Series - Book 1 in a trilogy. 2 trilogies in all

Copy Provided by me

Reviewer - Tyson

Back of the Book "The Raven have fought together for years, six men carving out a living as swords for hire in the war that have torn Balaia apart, loyal only to themselves and their code. But when they agree to escort a Xesteskian mage on a secret mission they are pulled into a world of politics and ancients secrets. For the first time the Raven cannot even trust their own strength and prowess, for the first time their code is in doubt. How is it that they are fighting for one of the most evil colleges of magic known? Searching for the secret location of Dawnthief; a spell that could end the world? Aiming not to destroy it but to cast it. DAWNTHIEF is a fast paced epic about a band of all too human heroes."

James Barclay's Dawnthief is good old fashion sword and sorcery with a lot of depth. The land of Balaia is split between the Western barren lands home to the less civilized and the East which is made up of several different factions that have not seen eye to eye for centuries. With four magical colleges looking to one up each other they will have to find a way to work together if they are to defeat their old foes.

The Ravens are a mercenary band of heroes that are thrust into the middle of the chaos and they live up to their reputation. Each Raven has a distinct personality and quirks that make their struggles personal and keep the reader on their toes. They are all well liked and that does become a problem as some do not make it very far in the novel. For a trilogy (and a sequel trilogy) you expect the protagonists to survive. This is not the case in Dawnthief. James Barclay has no problem killing off his characters which adds a whole new dimension to the story as no one is safe.

The setting of Dawnthief is another world with half of it covered in an inhospitable desert and wastelands with a few cities sparsely connected together but where the forces of evil are gathering. While the East has a lush landscape with all of the resources to prosper. An uneasy peace between the kingdoms who must also maintain a constant vanguard against the possible threats from the West.

As you read Dawnthief you get to learn and cheer for the Raven as they truly are a impressive bunch of mercenaries who go up against impossible odds and find a way to overcome their struggles. The problem is as you start to have a connection with a few of them Barclay shocks you by killing them off. So, you are forewarned that your some of your favorites will not make it beyond the first book.

At the heart of Dawnthief is an amazing hack and slash sword and sorcery novel but Barclay manages to go beyond the Conan-type story lines and tells an impressive thriller. It is a story of valor, self-sacrifice, and magic. Everything you want in a fantasy novel and more.

REVIEW: Infoquake (Vol. 1 of the Jump 225 trilogy) by David Louis Edelman

2010-12-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

Infoquake by David Louis Edelman

Publishing information: Paperback; 540 pages

Publisher: Solaris; 7 July 2008

ISBN 10: 1844166457

ISBN 13: 978-1844166459

Series Volume 1 of the Jump 225 Trilogy

Copy: Out of pocket

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book: "Natch is a master of bio/logics, the programming of the human body. He’s clawed and scraped his way to the top of the bio/logics market using little more than his wits. Now his sudden notoriety has brought him to the attention of Margaret Surina, the owner of a mysterious new technology called MultiReal. Only by enlisting Natch’s devious mind can Margaret keep MultiReal out of the hands of High Executive Len Borda and his ruthless armies.

To fend off the intricate net of enemies closing in around him, Natch and his apprentices must accomplish the impossible. They must understand this strange new technology, run through the product development cycle, and prepare MultiReal for release to the public—all in three days.

Meanwhile, hanging over everything is the specter of the infoquake, a lethal burst of energy that’s disrupting the bio/logic networks and threatening to send the world crashing back into the Dark Ages."

When you think science fiction you usually picture epic space battles and aliens that defy your imagination. Most of those books are quite good but you do not always picture a science fiction book regarding the future of the internet. That is where Infoquake comes in, it propels us into the future and let's us see what cyberspace could be like in the distant future.

Infoquake takes place in the far future where countries are of a bygone era and we now find Earth, the moon, Mars, and a few other distant planets and space stations all choosing their form of governments through their email. You can choose the amount of security and laws you want/require and how many tax breaks they will give you for your chosen profession. Edelman says nothing about are current political parties but it looks as if he has some Libertarian leanings as our hero goes that route when choosing his government. With the current state of politics going on around the world, an email choosing your government does not sound too bad.

With humanity reaching far into the heavens and beyond, the majority of the people travel through cyberspace or what Edelman calls the Data Sea. Everyone in the future relies on bio/logics which are nanites that keep the body safe and with various programs offered in the Data Sea enhance the body beyond our wildest dreams. The law enforcement agencies of the future no longer need to carry lethal force when they have baton/guns that can enter your bloodstream and interfere with the technology that runs around your nervous system. The world building is, in a word, impressive. Edelman has a fully envisioned future which is represented in the back of the book where you can read about Earth's history and the various terms used in the book.

Infoquake follows Natch our mastermind and child prodigy as he claws his way to the top of the charts on the data sea bringing new and improved bio/logic programs for purchase so that the population can enhance their nature abilities or increase their vanity. As he is planning his next breakthrough he is offered the opportunity of a life time. While this is going on we are also treated to the back story of what makes Natch tick and how he came to be the head of his own company and hire his trusted employees. Natch's two top employees also bring in fresh prospectives to the story as Jara provides the voice of reason and acts like his conscience and Horvil attempts to create what Natch has envisioned. The three work as a whole to move the story forward and provide different points of view. As the company becomes more successful we are also allowed to peer into the motivations of Natch's enemies that he has created along the way. Each and every individual we encounter in Infoquake is well developed and at times mysterious at the same time. It makes for an amazing read as we are allowed to peak behind the curtain but not allowed to see everything as if the room were blanketed in darkness.

Infoquake has been compared to the classic novel Dune and the movie Wallstreet. This is a very good comparison but I think that Infoquake stands on its own merits and allows us to envision a future that could quite possibly occur with a nudge in the right direction. The pacing and style of the novel leaves you wanting more as the book moves at break-neck speed from the corporate boardrooms to the public launch of a product. You would think that a science fiction book that focuses on the backstabbing and the planning of a new computer program would leave you yawning and sleepy, but Edelman has found a way to keep you reading way into the wee hours of the morning drinking coffee like a computer programmer late on his quota. A fascinating piece of literary work that is bound to be considered a classic of science fiction. One, if not THE top read of the year. I must have for any reader of science fiction.

REVIEW: Bully by A.J. Kirby

2010-12-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

Bully by A.J. Kirby

Publishing Information: Paperback; 228 pages

Publisher: Wild Wolf Publishing; 19 May 2009

ISBN 10: 0956211453

ISBN 13: 978-0956211453

Standalone

Copy: Provided by publisher

Back of the Book: "They say you should never go back. But sometimes you don't have a choice.
After Gary Bull's miraculous survival from an explosion in Afghanistan, he is compelled to return to the small town where he grew up, a place that he thought he would never set his eyes upon again. Memories of a past long buried come back to him and he finds himself forced to face the horror of what he did when he was young. It started with the bullying...

Newton Mills appears normal enough on the surface, but scratch the surface and there is something far more sinister.

It has more than its fair share of graveyards and the skeletons are liable to walk right out of the closet.

Newton Mills is the scene of a despicable crime.

No one gets out alive."

This is my first novel by Kirby and I was not sure what to expect. At first the book sounded as if it was a zombie novel but after a few pages I was no where near the mark. Bully starts off in the middle of the on-going war on terrorism with our protagonist, aptly named Bully, dreading his current military assignment and then we flip to scenes from his broken childhood. The book constantly keeps you on your toes as we move from past to present and back again.

Bully is an interesting character with a shady past. He has joined the military in order to escape his former life and make a change for himself. however, his past keeps catching up to him and when he is injured while on duty he decides to confront his past and finally get rid of the nightmares that haunt him both day and night. When Bully returns back to his hometown in England he notices that things are not as they seem and that something is amiss. Kirby does an excellent job of describing the tiny hamlet and the various idiosyncrasies. The world building and characters are very well done.

Bully is a deep psychological thriller that has you trying to figure out all of the character's sanity. You may even find yourself questioning your own mental state as things get weird once he is back in England. There are few horrific scenes in Bully but when they are present they are slightly graphic. However, they are never over the top.

Kirby also uses color in Bully. Specifically the color purple and while he brings it out to the forefront of the book he never fully explores the idea and we never really find out exactly what it was. It left me feeling a little left out and I really wanted to know how worked. Bully is fast paced and a quick read. It reminds me a little bit of Stephen King's IT. By the end of Bully we never really have any answers to some of the questions that were raised in the book and it left me frustrated. In the end, it is a interesting psychological horror that may be just what you are looking for if you like the strange and unknown. It also does a fairly good job of subtly discussing post-tramatic stress in all of its many forms.

Plot 6

Characters 7

Style 6

Overall 6/10

REVIEW: The Deed of Paksenarrion (omnibus) by Elizabeth Moon

2010-11-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Deeds of Parksenarrion (omnibus) by Elizabeth Moon

Publishing information: Paperback; 1216 pages

Publisher: Little Brown Book Group; 21 January 2010

ISBN 10: 1841498548

ISBN 13: 9781841498546

Omnibus that contains the first trilogy

Contains the books Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold

Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the Book "Paksenarrion wasn't planning to submit to an unwelcome marriage and a lifetime of poverty, so she left her village with a plan and her grandfather's sword. And a few weeks later, she was installed as Duke Phelan's newest recruit in a company of soldiers for hire, her arms training about to begin. But when Paks sees combat, she's stabbed with an ensorcelled knife and barely survives. Then the near-misses start mounting up, raising questions about this young fighter. Is she attracting evil because she is a danger to them all? Or is there another reason malignant forces seek her life? Paks will face the spider-minions of the Webmistress Achrya, orcs and the corrupted men who serve blood mage Liart, Master of Torments. She will also earn the gratitude of elves and of her Duke. And through conflict she will learn she has powers of her own and a destiny. To become a gods-chosen Paladin of Gird, and a target for the ultimate torture."

The Deeds of Paksenarrion is my first novel or novels rather by Elizabeth Moon. Nearly everyone else here at Speculative Book Review has read one, if not several books by her and I have to admit that I am impressed. Since this is an omnibus I thought I would attempt to tackle the books separately and then bring it all back together so, bear with me.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter

The first book in the series was a real high point in the series. We are introduced to nearly everyone in the rest of the series in this book. Paksenarrion comes across as a real individual. While this is a fantasy, if you were brought into the world Elizabeth Moon created she seems that she would be someone you would find in any small village or town. Many of the supporting cast is also realistic. There are various personalities thrown into the mix and they all feel real.

The pacing of the novel is very fast. We move from her time with her family in a very small village to her time training with her mercenary group. Once her training is completed she and her cohort are quickly brought into action. While most readers may cringe at the idea of reading about the training of a soldier, Moon does an excellent job of bring out what would be required to be an efficient soldier and the various personalities that are in a military unit. It made for some humorous and interesting moments. It was also very effectively paced and was not tedious or boring. It was entertaining and to a certain degree educational.

Due to Elizabeth Moon's personal background as a former US Marine the training and dialogue feels genuine. Which only adds to the enjoyment of the book. The way that the soldiers work together and how they are handled by their superiors has you feeling like you are one of the group.

The overall story of Sheepfarmer's Daughter is mainly a set up for the other installments in the other books. But while the book does set up the other installments, it also has a great story as well. There is plenty of action, worldbuilding, and characterization. A great way to start the series.

Divided Allegiance

The second book in the series is a bit darker than the first book. Paksenarrion or Paks as she likes to be referred to is a veteran and the incidents at the end of the first novel have forced her hand to move on and seek her own path which leads her on a larger than life adventure that will taker her closer to her ultimate destiny.

There are a few more new characters that are introduced in this novel and many of them play a huge role later on but Divided Allegiance is more about Paks' personal growth as she learns more about the world and herself. There is not a lot of world building as the groundwork was laid in the first novel but there are a few new location that we encounter. We also discover more about the various gods on both side of the spectrum and uncover some of what the forces of dark have planned for the world.

Oath of Gold

The direct sequel to Divided Allegiance takes place right where it left off. Paks has become an agent of good and that action leads to where she is needed most, to uncover the last prince of the Northern kingdom but while that might be quest enough for some the forces of evil have also marked her as a threat and do everything in their power to stop her from succeeding.

Since the last two novels in the series have introduced us to most of the major players and locations this book once again focus on Paks and her mission which takes us for a a quite a ride. Action and political intrigue are par for the course in Oath of Gold and Moon does not disappoint. With each new chapter the story becomes stronger and while the big mystery was a little to obvious for me it did not lessen my enjoyment of the story.

The Deed of Paksenarrion is a great addition to any library and personally I found it a spectacular way to be introduced to a highly talented author. While reading this omnibus I found it hard to imagine why I had not read this series earlier. While not groundbreaking fantasy it was a great read. I really enjoyed reading about a strong female character who was not helpless and when you consider Moon's personal experience as a Marine you can not help but think that some of the instances and individuals in the book may have been apart of Moon's past. Highly entertaining and recommended.

Plot 9

Characterization 9

Style 9

Overall 9.5/10