KJ Parker at Wikipedia
Read KJ Parker's story Amor Vincit Omnia
Read KJ Parker's story Let Maps to Others
Read KJ Parker's story Amor Vincit Omnia
Read KJ Parker's story Let Maps to Others
Read FBC Rv of Blue and Gold
Read FBC Rv of The Folding Knife
Read FBC Rv of Purple & Black
Read FBC Rv of A Rich Full Week (short story)
Read FBC Rv of The Scavenger Trilogy
Read FBC Rv of The HammerRead FBC Rv of The Folding Knife
Read FBC Rv of Purple & Black
Read FBC Rv of A Rich Full Week (short story)
Read FBC Rv of The Scavenger Trilogy
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (Liviu): Sharps
is vintage KJ Parker but it is also the most complex of the author's
standalone novels, bringing elements from all the author's oeuvre
and connecting with earlier works like Purple and Black which is alluded
in the book - though of course as it is KJ Parker, the details may not
be precisely the same. But this is one of author's trademarks, describing a deep but mutable history which depends on who is writing it.
Two former border provinces of the Western and Eastern Empires left independent more or less as detritus after the Empires' long war a few hundred years ago, manage to get into a war of their own for the possession of a barren border land-strip that is rumored to contain huge mineral deposits
More populous Scheria and richer Permia go at it for a long time - some four decades: Scheria with conscript manpower, Permia mostly with Imperial and barbarian mercenaries, "the Blueskins" and the Aram Chantat respectively, in addition to their less numerous conscripts - but ultimately they both run out of money and people. The military aristocracy which ran the war in both countries falls from power and goes mostly bankrupt, while the new governments - the Bank in Scheria and the mine owners in Permia - are in an uneasy seven year truce at the beginning of the novel in 614 AUC.
However the last and most notable feat of war, the total flooding and submerging under water of a major Permian city, by the best general of the war - and some say, best such in centuries - Scherian general Carnufex known forever as "The Irrigator" gave Scheria the "moral win" though as mentioned both countries are almost bankrupt as the treaty negotiations go nowhere fast so the riches of the DMZ cannot be exploited to prop both economies.
Adding instability silver mining, the mainstay of the Permian economy, is getting competition in the Eastern Empire while the plotting by the members of the aristocracy like Carnufex - retired with honors but privately seething at the current government of Scheria - does not help, when a new factor that can make or break the situation appears, namely a Scherian fencing team has been invited to visit fencing-mad Permia and give three exhibit games.
And in the first few pages we get to meet the quite unlikely members of the team:
Suidas Deutzel (mid 30's), fencing champion of Scheria, habitual drunk with an expensive actress girlfriend and numerous creditors to satisfy from his game to game winnings, former war hero or war criminal depending on who tells it and who badly needs the money the Scherian government offers him for a trip to Permia; of course as he is not that stable there is a clear possibility he may run amok and restart the war single handed.
Iseutz Bringas (early 20's) - the one girl on the team, she is tall and not that polished, a former junior ladies champion from a middle management bank family, who accepts the highly risky tour as an alternative to a political marriage.
Giraut Byrennius (early 20's) - perennial student from an upper class family, highly skilled amateur fencer who prefers bedding university girls to almost anything else including work and study, until his latest "conquest" leads him into big trouble, so it is the gallows or Permia for him.
Addo (Adulescentulos) Carnufex (24), youngest son of the Irrigator - out of 4, three surviving, one dead in the war - good fencer as all the aristocratic scions, pacifist, chess master, highly intelligent and attractive who worships his father; however the general seems to regard him with contempt for his pacifist views.
And then we have the team manager/coach, 51 year old wool merchant Phrantzes, former three time fencing champion of Scheria - record at the time -, former supply major under Carnufex in the war, recently and somewhat scandalously married to a 37 year old lady of foreign and unseemly origins - former prostitute etc - who is "convinced" to lead the team despite being manifestly unsuited and unwilling.
Supervising
them, political officer Timizces, anonymous looking and always
disappearing when bad things are ready to happen and the **** starts
looking like hitting the fan. And of course there are the
secrets, personal and political, the power players, real and pretend,
the machinations and the intrigue. High stakes indeed and quite unclear what chance at survival our five unlikely heroes have.
For people familiar with the author's work, Suidas is not unlike the heroes of The Company, Addo not unlike Gignomai from The Hammer - or as the author prefers Miel Ducas from The Engineer trilogy - Iseutz not unlike the heroine with the same name in the Fencer trilogy though with less baggage, while Giraut and Phrantzes are the seemingly expendable nobodies that appear in various places - including for example Ziani in the Engineer trilogy/
What is
the right thing to do, can the honorable thing be wrong and the dishonorable
thing be right, the ambiguity of morality as dictated by circumstances
etc etc - among the numerous superb touches of the book there is a
game the heroes play when each names a thing they are sure they would
not do under any circumstances and the cynical Suidas creates scenarios
under which they agree they actually would do it - all the familiar
themes of the author's work combined with great prose and world building.
Outstanding and I would say this is probably the best KJ Parker novel so far and definitely a huge favorite mine alongside The Hammer, The Scavenger trilogy and Purple and Black which so far are my personal favorites from the author's work. Top novel of the year to date and a guaranteed top five by the end of 2012!
Outstanding and I would say this is probably the best KJ Parker novel so far and definitely a huge favorite mine alongside The Hammer, The Scavenger trilogy and Purple and Black which so far are my personal favorites from the author's work. Top novel of the year to date and a guaranteed top five by the end of 2012!
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (Mihir): SHARPS is a tale
about several things, one way the author summarizes is “Sharps is rather
more about the Arab Spring than the economy or the war, but just as elements of
the war and the economy impinged on events in Egypt and Libya in real life, so
in the book.”
It’s also perhaps a tale
of fencing or as the author quotes it as “a conversation in steel”. Most
reviewers who have read it have had fulsome praise for it. For me it’s a tale
of people that are talented fencers but are sent on a mission of peace,
warriors that have to use their martial skills to help broker peace between
warring provinces lest ruin might touch both. It’s an inherent contradiction in
terms of the characters and the plot that makes this book a good one and
another excellent fable from the cunning mind of K.J. Parker.
The story begins in a meandering manner,
wherein the author introduces all the main characters. And the lot is varied, a
murderer, an ex-soldier, a son of a famous general and a couple of others. Amidst
the introduction, the background situation is revealed through character
dialogue as is the vogue seen in previous KJP novels.
From here on the story slowly unfolds as the
reader is taken in to Permia along with the fencing party and slowly and surely
the reader picks up on details regarding the war, character backgrounds and
Permian-Scherian culture. The first part of the book has an uneven pace until
the story reaches near the middle point wherein a few key events occur that
shake up certain status quos and reveal what truly is at stake.
The pace then picks up and it is from here on
that KJP’s cynicism and trademark dialogue flow to make the story reach a
tumultuous but very much satisfying ending. The characterization of the book is
the one thing that is the best piece of this entire story, as the reader will
get to know these flawed but highly captivating characters that make you
engrossed in the story without a care of the world outside.
What also helps is
that each character is unique and interesting; they individually could power a
singular story themselves and in KJP’s hands make the story intriguing beyond a
doubt. Another excellent point about the book is the dialogue across several
occasions while seeming focused on the events in the book has a very crucial
subtext about human nature and the vagaries of life, war and history.
This book came very close to
her previous work “The Folding Knife” which is an all-time favorite of mine because
of the characterization and plot however TFK was a story wherein everything
clicked. Not so much the case in this one as the uneven pace of the earlier
half might hamper the read for some readers’ especially first time readers. I
would very much request all virgin KJP readers to start with TFK just because I
think it’s the epitome of her storytelling style.
“Sharps” is another excellent
story from a devious mind and with it being given the requisite push from the
publisher as well. It will only help KJP’s cause and perhaps spread the world
among fantasy fans about one of the most under-appreciated fantasy writers of
the 21st century. If you haven’t read any of her books, do so soon
if you want something different in your current fantasy reads.
12:00 AM | 
Posted by
Liviu |
Order the Book HERE
Read an excerpt HERE
Read FBC review of Omar The Immortal
Read FBC’s Interview with Joseph Robert Lewis
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Joss Llewelyn is a pseudonym used by Joseph Robert Lewis for his Young Adult work. Being curious about world mythology since a tender age, he decided to write stories in which history, mythology, and fantasy would collide in unpredictable ways. He also likes writing about heroines that his daughters can respect and admire and took on this particular pseudonym as his daughters kept demanding more stories. Joe was born in Annapolis and went to the University of Maryland to study ancient novels, morality plays, and Viking poetry. He graduated with a degree in English Literature and currently lives in Maryland with his family, a needy cat, and a zombie fish.
OFFICIAL BLURB: Zelda Pryce builds beautiful machines that defy explanation and allow her to break into any building with ease. After burgling the Smithsonian, Zelda is hired to test the security of a prestigious museum overseas using her arcane instruments. And that’s where everything goes very, very wrong.
The museum never hired her. Someone else did. And when Zelda escapes from the authorities the only thing on her mind is tracking down the person who set her up and nearly destroyed her career. So she teams up with a charming English riskbender and a daring French alchemist to chase her quarry from Paris to Rome, from Castle Frankenstein to the Taj Mahal. Together they must escape all manners of strange traps and supernatural creatures, and only their arcane skills and tools will keep them alive.
Between saving the world, working with a flirtatious partner, and helping her little sister with her love life, Zelda has her hands full. But if she can’t catch the real thief in time, every arcane device in the entire world is in danger, and thousands of innocent lives could be lost.
FORMAT/INFO: Zelda Pryce: The Razor's Edge is 207 pages long divided over twenty six numbered chapters. Narration is in the third-person via Zelda Pryce solely. Zelda Pryce: The Razor's Edge is self-contained and ends on a clear note however is the first volume in the Zelda Pryce series with the second volume tentatively titled Zelda Pryce: The Clockwork Girl. There is also a note about Real Arcana present in the world as well as an “about the author” section.
May 16, 2012 marked the overall Paperback and e-book publication of Zelda Pryce: The Razor's Edge. Cover photo provided by Kornilovdream (Dreamstime) and the design was by the author himself.
ANALYSIS: After being introduced to Joseph R. Lewis’s writing in the form of the Other Earth books, I was very curious to see what else he has written. On checking his website I saw a brand new book being released called Zelda Pryce: The Razor’s Edge, two things nudged my curiosity, the reference to the classic Princess Zelda video games and the fact that this was going to steampunk-ish YA caper (of sorts) novel. I was partly right in my assumptions about those two nudges and here’s why.
The story opens up in current day wherein Zelda Pryce, our protagonist is currently testing the security of Smithsonian Museum of Arcane Science. She does manage to evade the security and procure the items as required but not without some high kinks on the way. Plus with regular phone calls from her sister Roxanne about her interests in arcane science, studies and life over all, she leads a life that can be deemed reasonable as befitting her persona. Soon after gig with the Smithsonian, she gets contacted for a new gig overseas in London. During the actual gig she realizes something is horribly off, combined with the presence of other people in the same place, she discovers that she has been mentally conned into following someone’s nefarious plan. Soon she learns from Yasmin Demir, a French DCRI agent that all is not well in the world of Arcane museums the world over. Soon Zelda will have to make a choice whether to go back to her normal life or to find out who is behind all of this.
If this book can be encapsulated in a single word, it would be FUN. Beginning from the first chapter, there’s a jovial undertone to this book that asserts itself in the dialogue as well as the inventions that abound the pages from cover to cover. The characterization ranging from Zelda, Clive & Yasmin are done competently as befitting a YA novel however we only get the story from Zelda’s point of view. The author though does his best to provide a decent background to the supporting cast however this move is hampered through the use of a singular third person POV. Going on to the second favorite part of the book, which was the presence of all these cool phenomena, gadgets and alternate arcane history, the author has created a world wherein magic is present but it is more akin to a science and is distilled by various famous historical personae, into its current highly evolved state.
Ranging from Chekov guns to Diogenes lamps to Occam razors to Nicomachean whistles to other cool but equally dangerous artifacts. The author has planned this world akin to the Harry Potter one but with a crucial difference, this is the age of science. Thereby having a cool machine-punk edge to history, the story gains a different edge more akin to the Scott Westerfeld Leviathan series but with a comical tone akin to that of the John Connolly Samuel Johnson series. Lastly there's no Link in this story and this Zelda does everything herself to save the world. The story does have a complete plot with room left for a sequel and readers who enjoyed this book will be glad to hear that Zelda will be back in the sequel tentatively titled “Zelda Pryce: The Clockwork Girl”.
What can readers look forward to in book, hilarious banter involving Zelda and her younger sibling Roxanne, action packed sequences in various international locales and overall a strong fun filled story to boot. With such plus features, it really becomes hard to point out any insufficiencies in this book but I think there might be some points to note. Primarily this book is equivalent to literary candy (as the author meant it to be); readers looking for a grimmer world setting akin to the current YA dystopian mold will not find it here. Also the author intentionally has made the series the way it is thereby choosing to disregard certain facts and history to make the story plot more accessible and if you can’t let go of your sensibilities completely then this isn’t the book for you.
CONCLUSION: Joseph Robert Lewis is a maverick writer and it shows in this YA outing, filled with colorful characters, fascinating gadgets and an action packed storyline. I strongly recommend this book simply because of its theme to be a funny book. If you haven’t read Joss Llewelyn yet then grab a copy at the earliest instant and you can thank me later ;)
INTRODUCTION: Zoran Zivkovic is an author who should be a household name for any lover of Eastern European fantastica, that blend of the real and unreal set in a world that is both familiar and strange and whose best known practitioners in the Western world are probably Kafka, Bulgakov and Lem.
(some of the wonderful print editions I own of his books in addition to the various e's)
Over the past 10-15 years I have been reading various works of Zoran Zivkovic as they have been appearing in English, though I sort of lost track of his books in the past few years until yesterday and a pdf e-arc of The Ghostwriter courtesy of PS Publishing which entranced me from the first page, made me gather again the books I already have and buy a few more from Amazon Kindle for good measure, so now I have all his English language works except the last novel, The Five Wonders of the Danube which has not yet been published in the UK or the US. Expect more reviews of his work as I read or occasionally even reread them...
"A writer sits down to
work, but who can resist the addictive temptation of the email inbox?
Each message alert brings a new question and a fresh challenge, until a
tangled web weaves its way around the hapless author. Yet all the while
his cat, Felix, gets on with life regardless. Zoran Zivkovic’s hilarious
new novella lays bare the oddities and absurdities of the writing life:
the traps writers set for themselves and the snares readers lay for
them. Here, too, are fascinating puzzles about the nature of authorship
and the writer’s identity, the relationship between the writer and their
work and between the writer and the reader, the reader and that which
is read. Above all, though, it is a paean to the Cat, to a relationship
which in its simplicity and innocence, its playfulness and affection,
makes nonsense of all these human perplexities. "
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "The Ghostwriter" is a lighter and funnier piece but with a serious underlying theme that took over my reading yesterday and I could not put it
down until finished. The first few lines quoted below attracted my attention and from then on the virtual doings of our narrator and his email obsession as well as his adventures both past and present with his spoiled tomcat Felix proved impossible to resist.
"HAD THE EMAIL STARTED ANY OTHER WAY, I certainly would have deleted it immediately. For a long time I have saved almost every message and replied to most of them, but finally I came to my senses. Now I only save the ones that seem important because there is less and less time. But what writer could resist the flattery of a devotee, even an anonymous one?
Highly Esteemed Writer,
I am a great fan of your work. I have a business proposal to make in this regard. Would you be interested in hearing about it?
Sincerely,
An Admirer"
So
we meet the narrator, a quite successful but loner writer who is going currently through a "drought" and who has developed an
email addiction. For a while now he has been entertaining long email conversations
with four other persons, all identified by pseudonyms as he also uses one too, being "Felix" in cyberspace: "OpenSea" - a bitter unsuccessful writer,
"Banana" a wannabe lady writer with a fixation on our hero, "Pandora" an
elderly neighboring lady with an old dog and "P-0" a writer of pastiches
(fan fiction) of our hero's work...
As it happens all four
correspondents, the "admirer" and Felix the cat, gang on our hero in a
convoluted tale that is both superbly brought together and utterly
funny. The clues to the identity of the unknown correspondent are scattered throughout the story and if by the end you are still in doubt, an excellent afterword by Michael Morrison will spell it for you, but "The Ghostwriter" will enchant nonetheless and you may find yourself visiting Amazon and getting some of the numerous inexpensive drm-free ebooks of the author or some of the superbly realized print editions which are more boutique-like...
Overall The Ghostwriter is highly recommended and a very good introduction to the author's work.
Friday, July 6, 2012
A Mini-Interview with KJ Parker (Questions asked by Liviu Suciu and Mihir Wanchoo)
KJ Parker at Wikipedia
Read KJ Parker's story Amor Vincit Omnia
Read KJ Parker's story Let Maps to Others
Read KJ Parker's story Amor Vincit Omnia
Read KJ Parker's story Let Maps to Others
Read FBC Rv of Blue and Gold
Read FBC Rv of The Folding Knife
Read FBC Rv of Purple & Black
Read FBC Rv of A Rich Full Week (short story)
Read FBC Rv of The Scavenger Trilogy
Recently Fantasy Book Critic has been honored to participate in a round of interviews with K.J. Parker. We submitted a few questions and the author graciously answered three of them which I am presenting below. The first comes from Mihir and the other two from myself.
I would also note that the author's latest novel Sharps is already out at least from Amazon and I plan to publish FBC's review of it next Tuesday, July 10 (hint: it's my number 1 novel of the year to date), hopefully with a contribution from Mihir too, while KJ Parker latest story, Let Maps to Others, is also out, this time available for free courtesy of the wonderful Subterranean Press as are two earlier stories linked above and a fascinating article on the history of sword making.
Enjoy!
***************************************************************
1. You
seem to buck the fantasy trend of long, fat book series as you mostly
have written trilogies and standalone books, Could you expound on the
reasoning or wish to write in such a manner?
Do
please be careful what you say. It was reviewers complimenting me on
writing magic-free fantasy that started me writing a whole slew of short
stories about wizards. If I now decide to write a series so long,
rambling and interminable that it makes the Wheel of Time look like a
haiku, it’ll be entirely your fault.
Ideas
come in different sizes. The aspect of writing I most enjoy is playing
funny games with structure and form. The fantasy genre lends itself
particularly well to a wide variety of forms, from three-minute songs to
sonatas to symphonies to Ring cycles. It all depends on what you want to say next.
2. When
reading Sharps, I thought the main characters resembled to some extent a
few of your most interesting characters from earlier books - Suidas was
not unlike the heroes of The Company, Addo not unlike Gignomai (The
Hammer), Iseutz not unlike the heroine with the same name in the Fencer
trilogy though with less baggage, while Giraut and Phrantzes were the
seemingly expendable nobodies that appear in various places in your
work, only to take over in crucial moments. Was that intentional or are
you fascinated with several archetype characters so they tend to reoccur
in your novels?
Although
my books are primarily about characters rather than situations, ideas
&c, I audition for characters to play parts that further a theme.
The themes that interest me tend to call for particular types of
character. I like to hire specialists. Incidentally, I’m interested that
Addo reminds you of Gig; I’d have thought he was more like Miel Ducas,
only with a vestigial backbone. He can’t be simply a rehash of earlier
characters, since he’s based on my daughter’s latest boyfriend, who
hadn’t appeared on the scene until long after Gignomai and Miel Ducas
were safely in the can.
3. What
is about fencing that fascinates you, as the subject is central to a
trilogy, a standalone and appears frequently in all your other work?
The
cornerstone of prose fiction is interaction between characters;
interaction leads to conflict, conflict leads to drama (the dark side
are they). Fencing is aggression, the urge to hurt and kill, formalized
into a cross between chess and ballet; one famous definition of fencing
is ‘a conversation in steel’. The late Arthur Wise, a leading authority
on the history of combat, said that violence is above all a means of
communication. Fencing is how my characters communicate with each other.
Order "The Sacrifice Game" HERE
Read FBC Review of “In the Courts of the Sun”
INTRODUCTION: In 2009, Brian D'Amato published the superb In the Courts of the Sun first in an announced trilogy called The Sacrifice Game. The novel was a combination of near-future extrapolations, time travel and a wonderful recreation of the Maya world of the 7th century, all narrated by unlikely hero Jed de Landa, or more precisely by Jed 1 and Jed 2 as the novel uses a form of time travel which leads to an instance of the consciousness of Jed to be time shifted to the brain of Chacal, a star Maya ball player of the Harpy clan of Ix.
Read FBC Review of “In the Courts of the Sun”
INTRODUCTION: In 2009, Brian D'Amato published the superb In the Courts of the Sun first in an announced trilogy called The Sacrifice Game. The novel was a combination of near-future extrapolations, time travel and a wonderful recreation of the Maya world of the 7th century, all narrated by unlikely hero Jed de Landa, or more precisely by Jed 1 and Jed 2 as the novel uses a form of time travel which leads to an instance of the consciousness of Jed to be time shifted to the brain of Chacal, a star Maya ball player of the Harpy clan of Ix.
Here is my description of Jed in the FBC review linked above:
"born in 1974 and displaced from his native Guatemalan village by military action, Jed is taken as a young age to the US and grows up in foster care in Utah, exhibiting physical frailty since he suffers from hemophilia so any wound or cut is potentially fatal, while showing great mental agility especially in fast numerical computations and ability to play games of skill and chance".
I was entranced by the novel and its fascinating narrator and I kept looking for the second book in 2010, 2011 and then sort of forgot about it. Imagine my surprise to recently discover that the 2nd Jed de Landa novel that bears the trilogy title, The Sacrifice Game will be published on July 5.
As the blurb of the novel includes a major spoiler for the ending of In the Courts of the Sun, I will not include it here just in case you have not read that but are intrigued by the above and want to pick it first, but I will note that The Sacrifice Game starts precisely where the earlier volume ends and the rest of the blurb is both true and misleading in the sense that there is no more "Jed", but Jed 1 and Jed 2 who diverged markedly - to say the least - in the first volume and some of the blurb refers to one, some to the other...
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: "Sometimes—at times like this, I’d say, especially—one might as well just go with the cliché: I was crushed. Yes, it’d be nice to come up with a more clever word than crushed, but really, why bother? Crushed pretty well does the job.
What surprised even me, though, was how much I wasn’t crushed just because I was a lazy slob and I’d thought I could relax. It was that I—even I—was rather annoyed, in fact more than annoyed, in fact, let’s say again, crushed—that the world was still doomed. And I even realized that I cared about it in the general sense, not just personally, that even if I died back here from my neuroblastomas or in a ball game or by the flint dagger or the wooden sword or whatever, even if I didn’t get back to the thirteenth b’aktun to see Marena and the gang and catch the next season of Game of Thrones, I still wanted the good old crazy ratty loathsome ridiculous old world to keep rolling on.
Okay. Look. We can do this, I thought...."
The Sacrifice Game is even badder, crazier and more explicit and brutal than In the Courts of the Sun - which was not tame by any stretch - as it is almost all narrated in the same unforgettable voice of Jed de Landa, though Jed 2, the 660's Maya one and to whom the stream of consciousness musings above belong, carries on for most of the book.
Structurally, The Sacrifice Game starts with Jed 1 in the modern world after his momentous decision at the end of the last book and deals with its implementation and a few consequences, but soon it moves to the Maya world where the book just explodes as it gets even better than In the Courts of the Sun with unbounded sense of wonder, meticulous research and all around inventiveness that matches anything I've read in sf set on an alien world; of course here we are still on Earth, but in a civilization where the author hits the sweet spot in the mixture of alien and familiar in describing it:
"A brace of bearers brought in the white-wrapped ball Hun Xoc had brought back from 31 Courts, holding the too-potent bundle with wooden hands, and tied it to the service cord. An umpire inspected the knot, signaled, and the ball was hoisted up, hanging above the central marker stone.
“Now, One, Two, Four, Five, Seven, Nine, Thirteen,” the Magister Ludi chanted, switching from the second-person plural imperative to the apostrophic tense you used only when speaking to gods,
“Now Twenty, Fifty-Two, Two Hundred Sixty,
O Night, O Wind, O Day, O Rain, O Zero,
Now, guests, inspect 2 Creeper’s blood-washed head.”
2 Creeper had been the greatest Ixian ballplayer in living memory, but he’d sacrificed himself thirty-nine solar years ago after an ankle injury. The Ball had been wound of white rubber around 2 Creeper’s skull as a hollow center—to increase the bounce—and then baked black and studded with painted thorns, like little nails. Finally the ball had been purified in two kinds of blood and then washed in original water boiled over the offering fires of both houses’ grandfathers-houses."
Lady Koh, ultimate Sacrifice Game player of the age and big time politician to boot, 2 Jeweled Skull, leader of the Harpy clan in Ix, second most powerful man there, adoptive father to Jed/Chacal, currently in the contest of his life with 9 Fanged Hummingbird, the Ocelot clan supremo of Ix, Hun Xoc, son of 2JS, lead ball player of the Harpies team and Jed's main adviser/friend, 1 Gila, right hand man of Lady Koh and war leader of her followers are back, while of course quite a few new Mayan characters appear. As excerpted above there
is one unforgettable game of hipball for the fate of Ix and by extension, our heroes and life as we know it, not to speak of many other
goodies which I do not want to spoil for you...
There are quite a few twists and turns and the author manages a rare feat as first person narration goes; while it would be a major spoiler to talk about it in detail, I am sure any attentive reader will observe it by the end of the novel.
The
last few chapters that take place back in the modern world have a thriller-ish feel to them - after all the book is set in 2012
close to 12-21-12 and the race to avoid the ultimate "doomster" is the
main storyline in the contemporary part of the novel.
The Sacrifice Game has another
surprising but fitting ending giving the book the feel of a complete experience which also leaves one quite in the dark about where the
series will go next as it's supposed to be a trilogy.
Labels:
Congratulations to Rebecca
Long (Florida) who was randomly selected to win a KINDLE FIRE and to Carl V.
Anderson (Missouri) who was randomly selected to win a KINDLE TOUCH, courtesy of M.R.
Mathias!!! Each winner will also receive the following titles for their new
Kindle:
- The Sword & the Dragon (Wardstone Book I)
- Kings, Queens, Heroes, & Fools (Wardstone Book II)
- The Wizard & The Warlord (Wardstone Book III)
- The First Dragoneer Prequel Novella
- The Royal Dragoneers (Dragoneers Book I)
- Cold Hearted Son of a Witch (Dragoneers Book II)
- The Confliction (Dragoneers Book III)
- Crimzon & Clover 1
- Crimzon & Clover 2
- A Tide of Shadows by Tom Bielawski
- Chronicles of the Nameless Dwarf (The Ant-Man of Malfen, The Axe of the Dwarf Lords, The Scout and the Serpent) by D.P. Prior
- Ghosts of the Asylum by Ty Johnston
- V Trooper: First Mission & V Trooper: The Demon by Thomas Rowe Drinkard
For more information on M.R.
Mathias and the titles above, please visit the Official M.R. Mathais Website and the Indie
Day II Giveaway Follow-Up Article.
Happy 4th
of July!!!
Order “EERIE” HERE
Read An
Excerpt HERE
Read FBC’s Review of “Run” by Blake
Crouch
Read FBC’s Review of “Serial Killers Uncut”
by Jack Kilborn and Blake
Crouch
Read FBC’s Interview with Blake Crouch
ABOUT BLAKE CROUCH: Blake Crouch was born in Statesville, North Carolina
and graduated in 2000 with degrees in English and Creative Writing from the
University of North Carolina. He has written four previous novels and a host of
short stories. Two of his stories have been optioned for film adaptation. Blake
currently lives in Durango, Colorado with his wife. This is his debut
collaboration with his sibling.
ABOUT JORDAN CROUCH: Jordan Crouch is the younger brother of Blake Crouch, Jordan
attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and graduated in 2007
with degrees in Creative Writing and English Literature. He currently lives in Seattle, Washington.
Eerie is his debut novel.
OFFICIAL BLURB: TRAPPED INSIDE A HOUSE
On a crisp autumn evening in 1980, seven-year-old Grant Moreton and his five-year-old sister Paige were nearly killed in a mysterious accident in the Cascade Mountains that left them orphans.
WITH A
FRIGHTENING POWER
It's been thirty years since that night. Grant is now a detective with the Seattle Police
Department and long estranged from his sister. But his investigation into the
bloody past of a high-class prostitute has led right to Paige's door, and what
awaits inside is beyond his wildest imagining.
OVER ANYONE WHO
ENTERS
His only hope of survival and saving his sister will be to confront the terror that inhabits its
walls, but he is completely unprepared to face the truth of what haunts his
sister's brownstone.
FORMAT/INFO: EERIE is 284 pages long divided over forty-four numbered chapters with an epilogue and a prologue set in October 1980. Narration is in the third-person via Grant Moreton and Sophie. EERIE is self-contained and ends
on a clear note. The book also features an interview with the authors and
includes a listing of Blake Crouch’s bibliography. EERIE was first published in
May 2012 via the Pubit program of Barnes & Noble.
June 8, 2012 marked the overall Paperback and e-book publication of EERIE. Cover art and design provided by Jeroen
ten Berge.
ANALYSIS: This is the first collaboration between Blake and Jordan Crouch and based on the blurb, was a book that I was very much looking forward to. This book was part of an experiment as it was released nearly a month earlier exclusively via the Barnes and Noble PUBIT program. This was an interesting move on the author’s part as usually Blake has been known to be more affiliated with Amazon. Blake has also spoken a bit about it on Joe Konrath’s blog about why he chose Barnes & Noble this time
around and what the results were like. The resulting conclusions and author talk are interesting as past blogposts on Joe’s blog have been (go read it all).
The prologue of the story is set in October of 1980 wherein Grant and Paige Moreton are travelling with their father near the Cascade Mountains. Things soon take
a drastically wrong turn and the story then skips thirty one years. Grant Moreton is a police officer who is searching for a missing man who is the third in line of such disappearances. After some diligent searching he turns across a surprising connection and one that goes back a long way. He manages to also locate his long disappeared sister Paige however Paige isn’t in the proper mood to communicate. Once however they do get talking is when he gets to know about the real reason behind the logic why Paige is being the way she is. Grant is soon sucked into the same quandary and he finds himself sharing a similar predicament.
The Crouch brothers show themselves to be extremely proficient in setting up the stage and adding some terrific elements of horror to the story. The story quickly opens up whilst introducing the characters and then settles on to its main hook, which is figuring out what is truly happening. The main story is focused on a single place and both the
protagonists are trying to find out what is happening to them. The constant sense of claustrophobia is very well ensconced within the prose as the reader is thoroughly immersed and confused, at the same time. This atmospheric horror is very reminiscent of Stephen King’s Shining and for many readers will be a solid point in their enjoyment of this tale. The biggest plus point of the tale is the
overall mystery that unfolds like one of the classic Twilight zone episodes or
those of a Stephen King novel wherein the story twists in an uncertain direction
and the reader is thoroughly bemused as to how its all going to end.
Another highlight is the prose, which seamlessly fits and is really hard to distinguish which Crouch brother has written what part and in this regard, it seems reminiscent of the other great writing duos such as Douglas Preston-Lincoln Child and Ilona Andrews. The brothers really don’t give any indication that this is their debut collaboration and thus the story is very polished. The characterization is also done well to highlight the sibling connections as well as their recent problems. The authors have also cleverly planned some misdirection in the story with a few twists so readers should be very focused while reading the book to decipher what all is truly happening. Lastly the mish-mash of several elements of this story have to be lauded, a bit of horror, a generous dash of thrills and some quirky SF touches make this story really hard to describe other than to say it's Twilight Zone-esque or even LOST-esque (to a very minor degree).
The only drawback to this story is its climax or to be more specific the plot resolution. As a reader I don’t expect to have a neat and clean resolution however in many cases even rough edged climaxes can be fulfilling. This sadly is not the case; the plot resolution seems a bit choppy if that adjective can be applied. The final twist of the story while being a thoroughly good one somehow takes a bit out of the story. From a storytelling perspective it’s has to be lauded as the reader will not be expecting it at all. But for me it didn't quite gel with the earlier direction of the story. The ending is the sole drawback in this fine collaborative effort that makes it rank at a solid three and half stars of a possible five.
CONCLUSION: EERIE by the Crouch brothers is a good horror story that will raise goose-bumps for most readers, tightly plotted and streamlined to give the readers a thrill ride as is the case with most Blake Crouch titles. EERIE is an excellent experiment albeit with a slightly confusing ending. Give it a read if you are a fan of horror stories with a touch of the weird. I look forward with great excitement to any future
collaboration these two might write as well as their solo titles.
This
month we are featuring 36 books. There are more than twice as
many new sff and related releases this month in traditional
publishing not to speak of the countless indies from Amazon and
Smashwords but we are limiting ourselves to books that will be
reviewed here or are similar with such. For the full schedule of July 2012 titles known to us, you can consult the Upcoming Releases page.
The
release dates are US unless marked otherwise, though for books
released in the UK and US in the same month but on different dates
we generally use the US date and they are first
edition unless noted differently. The dates are on a best known
basis so they are not guaranteed; same about the edition
information.
Since information sometimes is out of date even in
the Amazon links we use for listings, books get delayed or
sometimes even released earlier, we would truly appreciate if you
would send us an email about any listing with incorrect
information.
*********************************************************************
“The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection” edited by Gardner Dozois, July 3, 2012. Published by St. Martin’s Griffin. (ANTHO)
“Other Worlds Than These” edited by John Joseph Adams, July 3, 2012. Published by Night Shade Books. (ANTHO).
“War Maid's Choice” by David Weber, July 3, 2012. Published by Baen. (FAN).
“Spin The Sky” by Katy Stauber, July 3, 2012. Published by Night Shade Books. (SF).
“Thieftaker” by D.B. Jackson, July 3, 2012. Published by Tor. (AH).
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“Advent” by James Treadwell, July 3, 2012. Published by Atria. (FAN).
“Thieftaker” by D.B. Jackson, July 3, 2012. Published by Tor. (AH).
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“Advent” by James Treadwell, July 3, 2012. Published by Atria. (FAN).
“The Gilded Rune” by Lisa Smedman, July 3, 2012. Published by Wizards of the Coast. (FAN).
“The Hollow City” by Dan Wells, July 3, 2012. Published by Tor. (MISC).
“Wake of the Bloody Angel” by Alex Bledsoe, July 3, 2012. Published by Tor. (FAN).
“Wake of the Bloody Angel” by Alex Bledsoe, July 3, 2012. Published by Tor. (FAN).
“The Broken Isles” by Mark Charan Newton, UK July 5, 2012. Published by Tor UK. (FAN).
“The Sacrifice Game” by Brian D'Amato, July 5, 2012. Published by Dutton. (SF/MISC).
“The Chemickal Marriage” by G.
W. Dahlquist, UK July 5, 2012. Published by Viking. (MISC).
“House of Shadows” by Rachel Neumeier, July 10, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN)
“The Prisoner of Heaven” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, US 1st, July 10, 2012. Published by Harper. (MISC).
“Some Kind of Fairy Tale” by Graham Joyce, US 1st, July 10, 2012. Published by Doubleday. (FAN).
“Sharps” by K.J. Parker, July 17, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN).
“Sharps” by K.J. Parker, July 17, 2012. Published by Orbit. (FAN).
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"The Coldest War” by Ian Tregillis, July 17, 2012. Published by Tor. (FAN).
"Queen's Hunt” by Beth Bernobich, July 17, 2012. Published by Tor. (FAN).
“Shine Shine Shine” by Lydia Netzer, July 17, 2012. Published by St. Martin. (MISC).
“Empty Space: A Haunting” by M. John Harrison, UK July 19, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (SF).
“Cuttlefish” by Dave Freer, July 24, 2012. Published by Pyr. (YA).
"Jack Glass” by Adam Roberts, UK July 26, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (SF).
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"Trinity Rising” by Elspeth Cooper, UK July 26, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (FAN).
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"Trinity Rising” by Elspeth Cooper, UK July 26, 2012. Published by Gollancz. (FAN).
“The War That Came Early: Coup d'Etat” by Harry Turtledove, July 31, 2012. Published by Del Rey. (AH).
“The Crown of the Usurper” by Gav Thorpe, July 31, 2012. Published by Angry Robot. (FAN).
“vN: The First Machine Dynasty” by Madeline Ashby, July 31, 2012. Published by Angry Robot. (SF).
"Exile: The Outcast Chronicles” by Rowena Cory Daniells, July 31, 2012. Published by Solaris. (FAN).
“The Wanderers” by Paula Brandon. July 31, 2012. Published by Spectra. (FAN).
"Exile: The Outcast Chronicles” by Rowena Cory Daniells, July 31, 2012. Published by Solaris. (FAN).
“The Wanderers” by Paula Brandon. July 31, 2012. Published by Spectra. (FAN).
*********************************************************************
“Forge of Darkness” by Steven Erikson, UK July 31, 2012. Published by Bantam UK. (FAN).
“Odd Apocalypse” by Dean Koontz, July 31, 2012. Published by Bantam. (MISC).“Forge of Darkness” by Steven Erikson, UK July 31, 2012. Published by Bantam UK. (FAN).
“Yok” by Tim Davys. Release Date: July 31, 2012. Published by Harper. (MISC).
“Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart” by Caitlin R. Kiernan, July 31, 2012. Published by Subterranean Press. (COLL).
“The Woman Who Married a Cloud” by Jonathan Carroll, July 31, 2012. Published by Subterranean Press. (COLL).
Read An Excerpt
HERE
Read Reviews
HERE
AUTHOR INFORMATION: This novel by debut author David
Tallerman was published by Angry
Robot in early 2012 with book number two following in October 2012. David Tallerman is a productive
reviewer, and has written many short stories, published in markets such as Flash Fiction Online, Bull Spec, Lightspeed, and Digital Science
Fiction.
FORMAT/INFO: Giant Thief is 384 pages long. January 31, 2012 marked the North American Mass Market Paperback
publication of the book via Angry Robot. The UK version was released on February
2, 2012. Cover art was provided by Angelo Rinaldi.
OVERVIEW: “The sun was going down by the
time they decided to hang me.
In fairness, they
hadn’t rushed the decision. They’d been debating it for almost an hour since my
capture and initial beating. One of the three was in favour of handing me over
to an officer from amongst the regulars. The second had been determined to slit
my throat, and was so set in his opinion that I’d hoped he might make a start
with his companions. On that basis, I’d decided to lend him my encouragement.
“He’s right, you know. It’s quick, but painful, and less messy than you might
expect.”
All that had earned
me was a particularly vicious kick to the forehead, so I’d settled for the
occasional nod or mumble of assent instead.”
Giant Thief is the first volume in a trilogy following the adventures of thief Easie Damasco. A petty thief, selfish,
and never at a loss for words, Damasco finds
himself spiraled into a conspiracy that is bigger than him… Will he manage to
overcome his nature to save himself, and his fellow travelers?
Nearly hanged by commoners for stealing their food, Damasco is saved by Lord Warrior Moaradrid and forced to
join his army. During his first battle, Damasco
ends up commanding Saltlick—a very
strong giant, who blindly obeys whoever is his chief. Seizing this opportunity,
Damasco steals as much gold as he
can in Moaradrid’s tent and leaves
on the giant’s back. But why is Moaradrid
so determined to get him back? It can’t be for the few pieces of gold he has
stolen, or for the simple rock that came with them. Or can it be?
As the stone quickly reveals itself to be the emblem
of the giants’ ruler (and all giants will blindly follow the one who holds it),
Damasco is made a prisoner and forced
to join Estrada, the fierce mayor of
Muena
Palaiya, in her mission to save the region of Castoval from Moaradrid’s army. Now, Damasco has to choose where his
allegiance lies…
ANALYSIS: Without a doubt, Giant Thief
is an interesting book to read, thanks to its main character Easie Damasco, who is witty and
charming, which creates many comical situations in the story as he finds
himself dragged into an adventure that is “too big for him.” Aside from these humorous
moments, the plot in Giant Thief is classical
for a fantasy novel—with its share of fights, feasts, desperate situations and
twists—yet genuinely enjoyable.
As for the other characters, I found them a little
pale and too single-minded to my taste. For instance, Moaradrid is just a one-dimensional villain, obsessed by his quest
to become king of Castoval (but why?); Estrada
is heroic and self-sacrificing to the point of stupidity; and the giants are a
mix of strength and blind obedience that I found credible, but lacking in
originality.
Yet the major problem with this novel is the
world-building, which seems to come off as a fairly classical medieval fantasy
world, but really isn’t described enough. As a result, I found myself slightly
bored from time to time.
Still, overall Giant
Thief is an entertaining fantasy novel, with a strong enough main character
to make me look forward to the next volume in the series. I just hope the
sequel will do a better job of fleshing out the supporting characters and the
world they live in, without sacrificing Easie
Damasco’s charm and cunning…
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