Order “Impulse” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
Steven Gould is a science fiction author
of a number of novels and short stories. For those who follow SFWA happenings, he's also running for SFWA president at the moment, and you can check
out his platform here: http://eatourbrains.com/steve/.
Gould is most famous for his YA
series that began with Jumper. Even
if you haven't read the book, you may recognize the
title, since it was adapted into a movie in 2008. I'm told that the movie's
story deviated from the book quite a bit, and that the book is better, but I
can't really weigh in on that: to be honest, I haven't actually read the first
book yet, or even the second.
I
started with Impulse, the third book
in the series, which was released on January
8, 2013 by Tor. So, I
can assure you that coming into the series late won't adversely affect your
enjoyment in the slightest. I'm now curious to read the earlier adventures in
the series, but Impulse gave me all
the background I needed to understand what was going on, and without any
troublesome info-dumps, no less.
“Jumping”
is the in-world term for teleportation, and there are exactly three people
capable of it: protagonist Cent
(short for Millicent) and her parents, the protagonists of the previous books,
who are still POV characters in this one. The story never explains why they can jump, but it does get
pretty deep into the physics of how jumping works, and Cent uses her understanding of science to explore the skill in ways
her parents have never thought of.
While I
understand previous books dealt more with murky political machinations, this
book deviates from that, focusing more on the ethics of parenting: how much
freedom is unsafe, how much control is stifling, and how to balance those.
Given that she was essentially raised in isolation, Cent adapts suspiciously easily to social environments, but that's
a minor complaint at best, and I still loved her and her story.
My favorite thing about
this book is that it made me want to go learn about new things, or relearn
things I've forgotten: everything from Boyle's Law to international relief
efforts to Jane Austen's publishing
history. I love learning things from books, and a book that inspires me to go
learn more about such a variety of subjects is an even rarer find. This book's
characters are competent and intelligent, and it expects its readers to be,
too.
I love that Cent doesn't choose between loving
reading, physics, manga, or snowboarding; I love that she is both devious and
responsible; I love that there are plot-relevant gay characters; I love that
this book makes being smart cool. I could list all the things I loved in this
book for pages, because it was an absolute joy to read. Happily, it looks like
there will be a sequel, Exo, so I can
look forward to more Cent stories in
the future.
12:00 AM | 
Posted by
Robert |
Read An Excerpt HERE
Read FBC’s
Review of “Cinder”
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Marissa
Meyer lives in Tacoma, Washington. Scarlet is her second novel, following on the success of her
debut, Cinder. Author information can also be found at marissameyer.com.
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Cinder, the
cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling
Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to
break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's
most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are
many things Scarlet doesn't know
about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When
Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have
information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to
trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her.
As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they
encounter another when they meet Cinder.
Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her
king, her prisoner…
FORMAT/INFO: Scarlet is 322 pages
in NOOK format (and is listed as 464 pages in hardcover) and has forty-seven
chapters. The narration is third-person and provides the perspective of
several characters, including Cinder, Prince Kai, Scarlet, and Wolf. Scarlet is the second volume in The
Lunar Chronicles quartet, following the book, Cinder.
Scarlet
was published in
hardcover by Feiwel & Friends
on February 3, 2013. The UK version was published on February 7, 2013 via Puffin Books.
ANALYSIS: Scarlet Benoit is a young
woman with a lot going on in her life. Her grandmother, Michelle
Benoit, is missing; the police have dismissed the case, and she is left to
maintain their farm and produce delivery business. From the start of the
book, we are shown that Scarlet has a fiery personality to match her
vivid hair. While making a delivery to the bar of one of her regular
clients, Scarlet overhears patrons
heckling in response to a news bulletin showing what is being called Cinder’s
attempted assassination of either Emporer Kai or the Lunar Queen Levana. The comments are certainly in poor taste
given that Cinder, a mere teenager, is going to be executed without any
type of trial, and Scarlet reacts without thinking, climbing onto the
bar and disconnecting the cable, knocking over glasses as she does so. From
the reaction she gets, we learn that her missing grandmother has long been
rumored to be crazy, and people wonder if Scarlet might not also be
herself.
Wolf, a young street fighter, is also
introduced in the bar scene. He is shy and awkward, but handsome, and Scarlet
is drawn to him even before he intervenes when she gets into a skirmish with
one of the bar patrons. Later, he tries to get work at Scarlet’s
farm. Though that doesn’t work out, she does allow him to accompany her
when she decides to go to rescue her grandmother after finding out that she has
indeed been kidnapped.
Interspersed
through the chapters involving Scarlet and Wolf are those that
further Cinder’s story. She uses the tools given to her at the end
of Cinder by Dr. Erland to
mount an escape that takes her through the jail cell of ex-Air Force cadet Carswell
Thorne. Thorne is a rogue and a thief, but he is quite charming
about it all. Since he has a ship, Cinder partners up with him, and
they escape together.
These
two “couples” are on somewhat of a crash course moving toward one
another. Instead of going directly to Africa, though, to help Dr. Erlander with his plan to defeat
the evil Queen Levana, Cinder and Thorne head to Europe to
find former military pilot Michelle Benoit—a woman with connections to Cinder’s
past. While the four try in various ways to find Scarlet’s grandmother,
we are given glimpses of Kai and his tense struggle to lead the Eastern
Comm0nwealth as well as his recently deceased father did, particularly by
avoiding war with the Lunars.
CONCLUSION: This book has a lot going for it.
I enjoyed Scarlet’s feistiness and the wounded hero potential of Wolf.
Cinder’s flirty and candid android friend, Iko, makes a return
when Cinder finds an unexpected use for Iko’s personality
chip. Despite what it seems like at first, Thorne is not really
introduced to create a romantic diversion for Cinder, who really has
enough on her plate, not to mention unresolved feelings for Kai. Kai,
for his part, seems to be trying to figure out what really happened during the
supposed assassination attempt instead of simply dismissing what he felt for Cinder. Also,
the book introduces interesting elements of the world that Meyer has created, as well as giving nods to the classic tale, “Little
Red Riding Hood.”
Unfortunately,
there are components that did not leave me feeling satisfied with this
installment of the series. As an English teacher, I read with a critical
eye that I sometimes have a very hard time ignoring. The repetitious word
use in the book may not bother others, but I found myself zeroing in on the 38 versions
of the word “gulp” and 23 versions of “gasp.” (Because I was reading
the book on my computer, it was easy to search and find to count the
transgressions.) Also, as the book continued, Scarlet’s behavior
became less believable; she seemed less gutsy in her impetuous behavior and
more ridiculous.
I
will probably wait to read the third book in the quartet, Cress—which is
based on Rapunzel and will be set in
Northern Africa—until after I have read various reviews instead of rushing out
to buy it like I did Scarlet.
Order
“The Indigo Spell” HERE
Read
An Excerpt HERE
Richelle Mead is the author of
several urban fantasy series: the Georgina
Kincaid and Dark Swan series for
adults, and more famously the YA Vampire
Academy series and its spinoff series Bloodlines.
The Indigo Spell, published on February 12th, 2013 by Razorbill, is the third Bloodlines book.
I've
become much pickier about starting vampire-centric series since the shelves
exploded with them, but since I liked a lot of what Richelle Mead did with Dark
Swan, I thought I should give this one a shot. If you're new to the Vampire Academy/Bloodlines world: no worries, so am I! This is the first I've read
in either series, and I had absolutely no trouble jumping in so late. Mead gives you all the background you
need to know for this book to make sense on its own, which is no mean feat
given that I've missed about eight books of backstory. It might seem a little
repetitive to a long-time reader, but the author doesn't dwell on any past
events that aren't relevant to the story at hand.
In
the spirit of honesty, I have to say that while there were a number of things
that annoyed me in The Indigo Spell, I
was also physically unable to put the book down before I finished it at 3AM.
Let's start with the things that irritated me:
First,
I hate love triangles. Yes, I know that's a matter of personal taste, but I
will let you know if I ever read a love triangle that doesn't immediately piss
me off. It doesn't matter how much I like the characters. Love triangles are a
trope that almost always (there may be exceptions to this, but I can't think of
any) read to me as overly blatant plot devices, and I think I should have to
work harder to figure out how the book is playing with me. Happily, in this
instance, the love triangle is relegated to supporting characters, and mostly
serves to make the protagonist's social life more dramatic.
Back
to the point: mostly the protagonist, Sydney,
was sensible about all the high school drama around her, except for her
mind-boggling powers of denial in her own romantic interest. Seriously,
mind-boggling to the point of unbelievable for an otherwise intelligent
character. She does seem to accept life-changing conspiracies with scanty
evidence, but in fairness she does question and take risks to acquire evidence
at all, so I can let that slide. There are also a lot of instances of “you
don't need to know this yet/all in good time” which Sydney accepts mostly without complaint that annoyed me; in terms
of pacing, exposition and plot, I understand what Mead is doing, but I wish she'd used a different method. I also
quibble that there is no humanly way possible that Sydney could get everything she does done in the time allotted to
her.
She does, however, deal with a lot of different problems with
high personal stakes, and the tension and challenges were high and believable.
Also, Sydney approaches them
logically yet with emotional motivation, which is a winning combination: a
character who is passionate and really
smart, with that intelligence being central to her personal identity. I always
love to see that.
Again, I'm new to the series, but overall while the takes on
vampires and magic weren't particularly innovative, everything worked together
really well. There were a couple of twists on familiar tropes, but mostly the
magic systems and world-building are just plain well-executed.
As for the romance, I absolutely love how it was handled. These
are two characters who do not just lust after each other; they care about each
other deeply as friends. They are intelligent enough to recognize the problems
their relationship faces socially, and to prioritize when it's appropriate to
pursue romance and when other things are far more important. (Seriously, it
drives me crazy when the world is ending and characters decide to heck with it,
go off and do their thing, and the plot just waits for them.) The biggest
reason I love the romance is that the characters respect each other, and while
there is some seduction and tempting that goes on, ultimately they respect each
other's boundaries. This is one of those worlds where some vampires have
coercive power, and I appreciate how Mead
kept that from being a factor between them. They each had different strengths
and areas of expertise, and neither overshadowed the other. These interactions
are so well-written that this aspect was probably my favorite in the whole
book.
In short, while I'm not sure I want to go back and read all the
books that came before, I definitely had a great time reading this one.
Hello
to my friends at FBC and beyond. I
hope 2013 is treating everyone as good as it is treating me. I have some new Vanx Malic cover art from the amazing Anton Kokarev to show you, some great news on
the audiobook front, a paperback release date for The Legend of Vanx Malic – Through the Wildwood, and a Three
Chapter Wattpad peek of The Emerald Rider
– Dragoneer Saga Book IV, which will
be sponsoring this summer’s “Indie Kindy” contest.
I just
got back from an awesome research trip to Destin, Fla. Where else but the
Emerald Coast would I seek inspiration for the next great monster the Dragoneers will face? Most of my Facebook
(https://www.facebook.com/Author.M.R.Mathias)
followers know that while I was there I managed to sneak in a few days of
fishing, but few know that I had the privilege of meeting in person, for the
first time, D. P. Prior, author of The Nameless Dwarf: The Complete Chronicles. Derek has edited books by David Dalglish, Sibel Hodge, Moses Siregar III, and
myself, just to name a few. We tried not to talk shop, but we both love fantasy
so much it was impossible. We discussed new authors, both indie and
traditionally published, and where we thought things are going. It
was a great time.
A lot
of people know that I wrote The
Wardstone Trilogy while I was in prison in Texas, but did you know that I
wrote all four of The Legend of Vanx
Malic novels there too? The next two Vanx
Malic novels are sitting in my safe deposit box, in longhand, awaiting my
attention. I will start entering them into word for editing once my secret
project is complete. More on the secret stuff in a later guest post.
Here below
is Anton Kokarev’s cover for The Legend of Vanx Malic Book III – Saint
Elm’s Deep. At this time I am guessing an early November release, but that
isn’t written in stone:
I
excitedly announced at Christmas that both The
Sword and the Dragon and The Royal
Dragoneers would be released in audio format by the first of the year.
While The Sword and the Dragon made
the date, The Royal Dragoneers missed
that target by a few months. The good news is the book is now available Amazon,
iTunes,
and Audible.
Even better news is Christine Padovan’s
audio for Cold Hearted Son of a Witch –
The Dragoneer Saga Book II is now complete and just waiting on the Audible retail process. The Confliction – The Dragoneer Saga Book
III is already in production. With The
Emerald Rider releasing this summer I think I am going to have my hands
full. Speaking of which, the first three chapters of The Emerald Rider are up on Wattpad
HERE.
Anton has already started sketches of his Emerald Rider cover art, and he has also
agreed to do the cover for the untitled fifth book in the Crimzon and Clover short story series. I can honestly say that I am
as eager as I have ever been to see Anton’s
rendition of mighty Clover and her
wyrm. I will make sure to share when it is done.
I have also
revamped my webpage (www.mrmathias.com)
again. By no means am I a webmaster. Ha ha! This last bit of info is for
paperback readers. Through the Wildwood -
TheLlegend of Vanx Malic Book I will be available in paperback April 3rd, 2013.
That is
all I have. Keep reading and I will see you guys this summer…
MR
Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
Enter to win a fantastic art piece by Larry Rostant based on the book (see image below)
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Luke Scull was born in Bristol and has lived most of his life in the British Isles. Luke also designs computer roleplaying games and has worked on several acclaimed titles for Ossian Studios and Bioware. Luke began his career, as a hobbyist game designer, who was selected by Bioware as one of his modifications to Neverwinter Nights, became a hit. Since then he has worked as designer on the Neverwinter expansion, Mysteries of Westgate, and an unreleased expansion for The Witcher role-playing game. He currently lives in Warminster with his wife and this is debut.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: The grey granite walls of Dorminia rise to three times the height of a man, surrounding the city on all sides save for the south, where the Broken Sea begins. The stone is three-foot thick at its weakest point and can withstand all but the heaviest assault. The Crimson Watch patrol the streets even as Salazar's Mindhawks patrol the skies.
The Grey City was not always so. But something has changed. Something has broken at its heart. Perhaps the wild magic of the dead Gods has corrupted Dorminia's Magelord, as it has the earth itself. Or perhaps this iron-fisted tyranny is the consequence of a lifetime of dark deeds...
Still, pockets of resistance remain. When two formidable Highlanders save the life of a young rebel, it proves the foundation for an unlikely fellowship. A fellowship united against tyranny, but composed of self-righteous outlaws, crippled turncoats and amoral mercenaries. A grim company. But with the world entering an Age of Ruin, this is not a time of heroes...
FORMAT/INFO: The Grim Company is 464 pages long, divided over forty-one titled chapters. Narration is in the third-person primarily via Davarus Cole, Brodar Kayne, Yllandris, Sasha and Tarn. This book is the first volume of the The Grim Company Trilogy. UK cover art is provided by Larry Rostant.
March 1, 2013 marked the publication of the UK Hardback edition of The Grim Company by Head Of Zeus and the e-book was previously released on February 1, 2013. The book will be published in the US in September 2013 by Ace-Roc books.
CLASSIFICATION: The Grim Company series is a dark epic fantasy series that can be best summed up as Joe Abercrombie's grim wit & gritty characterization meets James Clemens' Godslayer Chronicles!
Order the book HERE
Enter to win a fantastic art piece by Larry Rostant based on the book (see image below)
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Luke Scull was born in Bristol and has lived most of his life in the British Isles. Luke also designs computer roleplaying games and has worked on several acclaimed titles for Ossian Studios and Bioware. Luke began his career, as a hobbyist game designer, who was selected by Bioware as one of his modifications to Neverwinter Nights, became a hit. Since then he has worked as designer on the Neverwinter expansion, Mysteries of Westgate, and an unreleased expansion for The Witcher role-playing game. He currently lives in Warminster with his wife and this is debut.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: The grey granite walls of Dorminia rise to three times the height of a man, surrounding the city on all sides save for the south, where the Broken Sea begins. The stone is three-foot thick at its weakest point and can withstand all but the heaviest assault. The Crimson Watch patrol the streets even as Salazar's Mindhawks patrol the skies.
The Grey City was not always so. But something has changed. Something has broken at its heart. Perhaps the wild magic of the dead Gods has corrupted Dorminia's Magelord, as it has the earth itself. Or perhaps this iron-fisted tyranny is the consequence of a lifetime of dark deeds...
Still, pockets of resistance remain. When two formidable Highlanders save the life of a young rebel, it proves the foundation for an unlikely fellowship. A fellowship united against tyranny, but composed of self-righteous outlaws, crippled turncoats and amoral mercenaries. A grim company. But with the world entering an Age of Ruin, this is not a time of heroes...
FORMAT/INFO: The Grim Company is 464 pages long, divided over forty-one titled chapters. Narration is in the third-person primarily via Davarus Cole, Brodar Kayne, Yllandris, Sasha and Tarn. This book is the first volume of the The Grim Company Trilogy. UK cover art is provided by Larry Rostant.
March 1, 2013 marked the publication of the UK Hardback edition of The Grim Company by Head Of Zeus and the e-book was previously released on February 1, 2013. The book will be published in the US in September 2013 by Ace-Roc books.
CLASSIFICATION: The Grim Company series is a dark epic fantasy series that can be best summed up as Joe Abercrombie's grim wit & gritty characterization meets James Clemens' Godslayer Chronicles!
ANALYSIS: The Grim Company is Luke Scull’s debut title and Head Of Zeus secured it for a six-figure sum. Stefan alerted me to the book’s existence over at Civilian Reader. With an ever-intriguing blurb and terrific Spartan cover art, I contacted HOZ for a review copy to which they gladly obliged. I read it on a weekend while stuck at Minneapolis airport and those 7-8 hours were spent reading this book cover to cover. I was thoroughly entranced by it and I think Luke is going to be another British phenomenon like a certain editor-turned fantasy writer nearly seven years ago.
The story begins with a prologue event that is mentioned in the story rather scarcely but plays a very important role in the eventual build-up of the story and its main plot points. We are introduced to Davarus Cole, self-thought hero, fledgling revolutionary and a narcissistic fool all rolled into one. Davarus believes himself to be a hero destined for greatness as was his father Ilarius Cole and he has a special dagger to fulfill his destiny as well. Brodar Kayne is a barbarian from the High Fangs in the North fleeing his homeland for reasons revealed later in the story. He’s a formidable swordsman that is accompanied by a surly twin-axed warrior who goes by Jerek the Wolf. Both these Northmen are reputed warriors and will soon be caught up in destiny’s claws. Yllandris is a sorceress and concubine to Magnar, king of the High Fangs whose hunger for power will see her scale all opposition both mental and magical.
Then there’s Eremul the legless wizard who’s cruelly but rather aptly titled Half-mage. He resides in Dorminia trying to live as decent a life possible given his circumstances. Few know of the hatred that powers him and fewer still know his true intentions. Then there’s Barandas, Supreme Augmentor and Salazar’s most trusted warrior who lives as honorable a life possible among scum and is the lone lotus in a pool of mud. Lastly there is Sasha who is from the same group that Davarus belongs to but is more devious than Davarus will ever be. There are a few other characters that are given the spotlight in minor amounts but this is the main character cast. Lastly there’s the world itself, which bears explanation, as its also equally vital as one the POV characters.
Here’s the gist of the magic system and the world history. Precisely five hundred years ago, a score of wizards invaded the realm of the Gods and tried to defeat them. Amid this brazen attempt only thirty-odd returned and were heralded as MageLords who supplanted the godly pantheon they themselves had killed. This Deicide shifted the power onto the humans elevating them to a completely different evolutionary level however the world fell apart in the process and the divine magic is also slowly being depleted. These MageLords fight among themselves to hoard more power and therefore the known world is constantly in a state of flux. Chief to the story are Salazar the ruler of Dorminia, The White Lady of the City Of Spires and Mithradates the Shaman of the High Fangs, there are others who merit a brief mention but do not come into play in this volume. The main reason for the war between these mages is over the hoarding of crystals that serve as repositories of wild magic.
This is the primary setting of the story and was the biggest draw of the storyline for me. This crumbling world wherein Deicide (I don’t know why but I like that word a lot) occurred and now the Age of Ruin is ascendant, is like manna for world-building geeks. It partly reminded me of the world showcased in the Godslayer Chronicles by James Clemens and like Clemens; Luke Scull gives his own slant to a world wherein the Gods are dead at the hands of their creations. Secondly the characterization is pretty top notch, even though the author uses fantasy stereotypical characters such as aging barbarian, disgruntled low-level mage, handsome fool, and devoted warrior fighting for the wrong cause. He makes these characters their own and while we might find their facsimiles in previous books by fantasy legends such as David Gemmell, Glen Cook & Joe Abercrombie, these characters aren’t diminished in any way by such comparisons. With a rather large character cast, the author competently handles all his characters and gives different viewpoints in the various happening of the story.
The characters are what make this story irresistible as we are given access to characters across the moral spectrum, most of them are grey to begin with but it is even more fun to read about character conflict and moral underpinnings with characters such as Barandas, Eremul, Yllandrius and Brodar Kayne. The author gives us tremendous insight into their thoughts and not to mention several large doses of snarky humor and witty dialogue. This will be the point that will remind a lot of readers of Joe Abercrombie and to a lesser extent even Scott Lynch. Not to repeat comparisons from previous reviews but it’s very easy to say if you like J. Abercrombie's or S. Lynch’s work then this title is a shoo-in for you. That’s no knock on Luke’s writing and plotting skills but a genuine compliment that his debut is refreshing enough to offer his own twists on things while adhering to regular fantasy tropes. Lastly the pace of the book and plot twists definitely aid in the read as the reader is constantly switched from POV characters as well location to give us a panoramic feel to the story. The climax while being as complete as the first volume of a trilogy can be offers enough crumbs to entice the reader for the next volumes.
I didn’t think that there were any negatives to this debut however on an objective note, people tired of gritty storylines and morally grey characters will not find anything to alter their opinions here. Secondly while the author goes for a very grim outlook in his dialogue, some of it just comes across as awkward at a few instances. While this point is certainly subjective for readers, I felt that this could be overlooked as a minor debutante foible. Lastly this debut is very characteristic of “grimdark fantasy” so be forewarned before picking up this debut. However for those thinking on giving this one a pass, know that you would be missing out on one of the best debuts of this year for sure.
CONCLUSION: Luke Scull delivers a fantastic story that is ripe with action, strong characterization and a tight plot. This debut novel will have most readers turning pages as quickly as possible and leave them eager for the sequels. The Grim Company is truly an EPIC fantasy debut that shows all the characteristic strengths of the genre whilst managing to avoid almost all its pitfalls. This is one debut not to be missed and marks Luke Scull as one of epic fantasy’s talented debutants.
The story begins with a prologue event that is mentioned in the story rather scarcely but plays a very important role in the eventual build-up of the story and its main plot points. We are introduced to Davarus Cole, self-thought hero, fledgling revolutionary and a narcissistic fool all rolled into one. Davarus believes himself to be a hero destined for greatness as was his father Ilarius Cole and he has a special dagger to fulfill his destiny as well. Brodar Kayne is a barbarian from the High Fangs in the North fleeing his homeland for reasons revealed later in the story. He’s a formidable swordsman that is accompanied by a surly twin-axed warrior who goes by Jerek the Wolf. Both these Northmen are reputed warriors and will soon be caught up in destiny’s claws. Yllandris is a sorceress and concubine to Magnar, king of the High Fangs whose hunger for power will see her scale all opposition both mental and magical.
Then there’s Eremul the legless wizard who’s cruelly but rather aptly titled Half-mage. He resides in Dorminia trying to live as decent a life possible given his circumstances. Few know of the hatred that powers him and fewer still know his true intentions. Then there’s Barandas, Supreme Augmentor and Salazar’s most trusted warrior who lives as honorable a life possible among scum and is the lone lotus in a pool of mud. Lastly there is Sasha who is from the same group that Davarus belongs to but is more devious than Davarus will ever be. There are a few other characters that are given the spotlight in minor amounts but this is the main character cast. Lastly there’s the world itself, which bears explanation, as its also equally vital as one the POV characters.
Here’s the gist of the magic system and the world history. Precisely five hundred years ago, a score of wizards invaded the realm of the Gods and tried to defeat them. Amid this brazen attempt only thirty-odd returned and were heralded as MageLords who supplanted the godly pantheon they themselves had killed. This Deicide shifted the power onto the humans elevating them to a completely different evolutionary level however the world fell apart in the process and the divine magic is also slowly being depleted. These MageLords fight among themselves to hoard more power and therefore the known world is constantly in a state of flux. Chief to the story are Salazar the ruler of Dorminia, The White Lady of the City Of Spires and Mithradates the Shaman of the High Fangs, there are others who merit a brief mention but do not come into play in this volume. The main reason for the war between these mages is over the hoarding of crystals that serve as repositories of wild magic.
This is the primary setting of the story and was the biggest draw of the storyline for me. This crumbling world wherein Deicide (I don’t know why but I like that word a lot) occurred and now the Age of Ruin is ascendant, is like manna for world-building geeks. It partly reminded me of the world showcased in the Godslayer Chronicles by James Clemens and like Clemens; Luke Scull gives his own slant to a world wherein the Gods are dead at the hands of their creations. Secondly the characterization is pretty top notch, even though the author uses fantasy stereotypical characters such as aging barbarian, disgruntled low-level mage, handsome fool, and devoted warrior fighting for the wrong cause. He makes these characters their own and while we might find their facsimiles in previous books by fantasy legends such as David Gemmell, Glen Cook & Joe Abercrombie, these characters aren’t diminished in any way by such comparisons. With a rather large character cast, the author competently handles all his characters and gives different viewpoints in the various happening of the story.
The characters are what make this story irresistible as we are given access to characters across the moral spectrum, most of them are grey to begin with but it is even more fun to read about character conflict and moral underpinnings with characters such as Barandas, Eremul, Yllandrius and Brodar Kayne. The author gives us tremendous insight into their thoughts and not to mention several large doses of snarky humor and witty dialogue. This will be the point that will remind a lot of readers of Joe Abercrombie and to a lesser extent even Scott Lynch. Not to repeat comparisons from previous reviews but it’s very easy to say if you like J. Abercrombie's or S. Lynch’s work then this title is a shoo-in for you. That’s no knock on Luke’s writing and plotting skills but a genuine compliment that his debut is refreshing enough to offer his own twists on things while adhering to regular fantasy tropes. Lastly the pace of the book and plot twists definitely aid in the read as the reader is constantly switched from POV characters as well location to give us a panoramic feel to the story. The climax while being as complete as the first volume of a trilogy can be offers enough crumbs to entice the reader for the next volumes.
I didn’t think that there were any negatives to this debut however on an objective note, people tired of gritty storylines and morally grey characters will not find anything to alter their opinions here. Secondly while the author goes for a very grim outlook in his dialogue, some of it just comes across as awkward at a few instances. While this point is certainly subjective for readers, I felt that this could be overlooked as a minor debutante foible. Lastly this debut is very characteristic of “grimdark fantasy” so be forewarned before picking up this debut. However for those thinking on giving this one a pass, know that you would be missing out on one of the best debuts of this year for sure.
CONCLUSION: Luke Scull delivers a fantastic story that is ripe with action, strong characterization and a tight plot. This debut novel will have most readers turning pages as quickly as possible and leave them eager for the sequels. The Grim Company is truly an EPIC fantasy debut that shows all the characteristic strengths of the genre whilst managing to avoid almost all its pitfalls. This is one debut not to be missed and marks Luke Scull as one of epic fantasy’s talented debutants.
NOTE: The Trine art piece done by Larry Rostant and image courtesy of Parmenion Books.
Monday, March 4, 2013
WORLDWIDE GIVEAWAY: Win a SIGNED HARDCOVER COPY of Zachary Jernigan’s “NO RETURN”!!!
.jpg)
Fantasy Book Critic will soon be reviewing NO RETURN, the debut novel of Zachary Jernigan and in support of its March 5, 2013 North American publication. Fantasy Book Critic and Zachary Jernigan are giving away ONE SIGNED HARDCOVER COPY and TWO E-COPIES (in a format of their choice) of “No Return” to three Lucky people!!!
To enter, please send an email to fbcgiveaway@gmail.com with your Name, Mailing Address, and the subject: NO RETURN. Giveaway has ended and is open to Everyone WORLDWIDE. Thank you for entering and Good Luck!
GIVEAWAY RULES:
1) Open To Anyone WORLDWIDE
2) Only One Entry Per Household (Multiple Entries Will Be Disqualified)
3) Must Enter Valid Email Address, Mailing Address + Name
4) No Purchase Necessary
5) Giveaway has ended
6) Winners Will Be Randomly Selected and Notified By Email
7) Personal Information Will Only Be Used In Mailing Out the Prizes to the Winners
Just before I started writing No Return in September of 2010, I'm sure I thought my intention was to write an immensely thrilling novel, the kind of no-holds-barred science fantasy adventure that would be so fun to write that I would be unable not to write it.
My original concept? Space Opera... Without the Technology!
In those early days before any actual writing was being done, my head was filled with images of spaceships made of wood, astronaut-wizards battling in the interstellar void, awe- and fear-inspiring creatures, and—of course—cool looking, superheroic people doing superheroic deeds. After a month or so of writing—a torturous four weeks during which I tried to justify quitting every day—I realized that I'd deceived myself in ever thinking that a thrilling adventure tale was the goal: no, from the beginning I'd been hell-bent on a serious attempt to write like my New Wave heroes, Roger Zelazny and Samuel Delany.
Fun stuff, sure, but also sober literary junk. On the day in early February of 2011 when I finished the first draft—all 97,000 words of it—I knew that my intentions had actually been just to copy every damn clichéd thing I'd ever read. (No, I wasn't all that happy with the first draft.) By the fall of 2011, the manuscript—despite being a better, more finely tuned beast at 102,000 words—had been rejected roundly by twenty or so agents and a number of publishers, and I was sure that my intention had been to remove all traces of happiness from my mind.
When Night Shade sent me an offer in June of 2012, it seemed—you see, it's hard to remember; bliss hormones were resounding like a feedback-drenched guitar solo throughout my system—that from the outset my intention had been to single-handedly revolutionize sff literature. And now—after going through a fairly straightforward round of edits that nonetheless convinced me I'd written the least graceful, most confusing book in the history of the world; after going through a copyediting round; after seeing the cover, an awesome object that nearly made me cry; after receiving five of the coolest blurbs from five authors I respect immensely; after hours and hours of promoting via social network; after just starting again to think my book might maybe, possibly, not be all that bad—what do I think my intention was?
In those early days before any actual writing was being done, my head was filled with images of spaceships made of wood, astronaut-wizards battling in the interstellar void, awe- and fear-inspiring creatures, and—of course—cool looking, superheroic people doing superheroic deeds. After a month or so of writing—a torturous four weeks during which I tried to justify quitting every day—I realized that I'd deceived myself in ever thinking that a thrilling adventure tale was the goal: no, from the beginning I'd been hell-bent on a serious attempt to write like my New Wave heroes, Roger Zelazny and Samuel Delany.
Fun stuff, sure, but also sober literary junk. On the day in early February of 2011 when I finished the first draft—all 97,000 words of it—I knew that my intentions had actually been just to copy every damn clichéd thing I'd ever read. (No, I wasn't all that happy with the first draft.) By the fall of 2011, the manuscript—despite being a better, more finely tuned beast at 102,000 words—had been rejected roundly by twenty or so agents and a number of publishers, and I was sure that my intention had been to remove all traces of happiness from my mind.
When Night Shade sent me an offer in June of 2012, it seemed—you see, it's hard to remember; bliss hormones were resounding like a feedback-drenched guitar solo throughout my system—that from the outset my intention had been to single-handedly revolutionize sff literature. And now—after going through a fairly straightforward round of edits that nonetheless convinced me I'd written the least graceful, most confusing book in the history of the world; after going through a copyediting round; after seeing the cover, an awesome object that nearly made me cry; after receiving five of the coolest blurbs from five authors I respect immensely; after hours and hours of promoting via social network; after just starting again to think my book might maybe, possibly, not be all that bad—what do I think my intention was?
#
Perhaps I should just go back to my earliest recalled intention; I mean, isn't that the truest one? No matter what was actually accomplished, perspective doesn't change the past... Or does it?
I actually think a little perspective has changed my past—or, rather, perspective has allowed me to see what I couldn't see before. I know I thought I intended to do one thing, but now that I'm done writing and have achieved some objective space, it's clear that my intentions were not so elementary, so one-dimensional. I hid aspects of my goal from myself, probably because I wanted to simplify the writing of my first novel, make it appear more manageable. I was intimidated by what I really wanted to do, basically. Why? Because I didn’t think I could do it.
I actually think a little perspective has changed my past—or, rather, perspective has allowed me to see what I couldn't see before. I know I thought I intended to do one thing, but now that I'm done writing and have achieved some objective space, it's clear that my intentions were not so elementary, so one-dimensional. I hid aspects of my goal from myself, probably because I wanted to simplify the writing of my first novel, make it appear more manageable. I was intimidated by what I really wanted to do, basically. Why? Because I didn’t think I could do it.
#
Two things I hope to make clear before I continue:
1. Even though I’m writing about intentions and results right now, the verdict as to whether or not I accomplished what I intended is not up to me. That decision is the reader’s. An author might intend all sorts of things—and might even think he or she succeeded in conveying them—but the author is among the people least fit to judge what the ultimate effect is.
2. On that note, I realize that I may have communicated disdain for the “simple adventure” story. This was not my intention. I may like a different sort of story—the kind critics, often communicating a great deal of elitism, label “literary sff” (as opposed to “pulp sff”)—but that is most expressly not me saying that I think there is a hierarchy of fiction, with my kind at the top.
1. Even though I’m writing about intentions and results right now, the verdict as to whether or not I accomplished what I intended is not up to me. That decision is the reader’s. An author might intend all sorts of things—and might even think he or she succeeded in conveying them—but the author is among the people least fit to judge what the ultimate effect is.
2. On that note, I realize that I may have communicated disdain for the “simple adventure” story. This was not my intention. I may like a different sort of story—the kind critics, often communicating a great deal of elitism, label “literary sff” (as opposed to “pulp sff”)—but that is most expressly not me saying that I think there is a hierarchy of fiction, with my kind at the top.
#
So, what was I actually trying to accomplish in writing No Return?
Well… Have you ever read a book that hit every single high note you could imagine? One that placed its characters into a situation in a locale in a manner that compelled you in just the right way, both aesthetically and narratively? One that was written in a way that made you proud to be reading it? One that—and this may be the most important factor—ended in such a way that it left you both breathless at its execution and excited by the possibilities it presented?
(I guess the answer’s obvious: surely you’ve read a book like that! Why would anyone keep reading if they didn’t experience that every now and then?)
I wanted to write a book like that—the kind of book I myself would cherish reading. Even if I wouldn’t consciously admit the desire when I began writing, I longed for the opportunity to reach readers that loved the same kind of book I loved.
I wanted it all, dammit!
#
But, of course, all is not incredibly specific. Plus, if I just listed one book that influenced me, it’d be not only boring but inaccurate—neither would it account for the fact that now, looking back, no single book hits every high point for me.
I wanted, first and foremost, to create a vast-seeming mythology. My favorite sff books have always been those that deal with myth in some way, whether creating it from the ground up or speculating on an existing one. The early works of my aforementioned New Wave heroes, Roger Zelazny and Samuel Delany, were particularly inspiring to me in this regard. I don’t think I even approached the genius of either author, but I tried, and I’m happy I did.
I wanted characters who looked and often felt larger than life, fulfilling the aesthetic needs of the ten-year-old Zack who spent so much time thinking about superheroes. But I also wanted characters who acted like actual human—or close to human—beings, fulfilling the narrative needs of the guy who’s largely grown tired of the many one-dimensional portrayals of super-powered individuals. I hoped to create something that read like Steven Brust’s To Reign in Hell, a book that manages to make even Yahweh and Satan incredibly sympathetic.
I wanted—perhaps inevitably, considering how mythology and larger-than-life characters intersect—to build a world where gods (or at least beings powerful enough to be called gods) could exist. On the other hand, I did not want to simply wave my hand and say it was all a matter of magic. Thus, from the time that I first began wondering how gods might exist, I started thinking in terms of advanced (and purely hypothetical) technology. This is not, I should specify, to say I hope my thought process is immediately apparent to readers. I’ve long loved works of true science fantasy, those that seamlessly blend the sf and the f. My first novel, I resolved, would have a science fictional underpinning but a fantastical feel, reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s Books of the New Sun or even Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains.
I wanted, first and foremost, to create a vast-seeming mythology. My favorite sff books have always been those that deal with myth in some way, whether creating it from the ground up or speculating on an existing one. The early works of my aforementioned New Wave heroes, Roger Zelazny and Samuel Delany, were particularly inspiring to me in this regard. I don’t think I even approached the genius of either author, but I tried, and I’m happy I did.
I wanted characters who looked and often felt larger than life, fulfilling the aesthetic needs of the ten-year-old Zack who spent so much time thinking about superheroes. But I also wanted characters who acted like actual human—or close to human—beings, fulfilling the narrative needs of the guy who’s largely grown tired of the many one-dimensional portrayals of super-powered individuals. I hoped to create something that read like Steven Brust’s To Reign in Hell, a book that manages to make even Yahweh and Satan incredibly sympathetic.
I wanted—perhaps inevitably, considering how mythology and larger-than-life characters intersect—to build a world where gods (or at least beings powerful enough to be called gods) could exist. On the other hand, I did not want to simply wave my hand and say it was all a matter of magic. Thus, from the time that I first began wondering how gods might exist, I started thinking in terms of advanced (and purely hypothetical) technology. This is not, I should specify, to say I hope my thought process is immediately apparent to readers. I’ve long loved works of true science fantasy, those that seamlessly blend the sf and the f. My first novel, I resolved, would have a science fictional underpinning but a fantastical feel, reminiscent of Gene Wolfe’s Books of the New Sun or even Richard K. Morgan’s The Steel Remains.
I wanted No Return to read like it was written by someone who appreciates the beauty of words, as well as the need for more than just a tidy plot—but not to the detriment of the adventure. I tried to use language that struck the reader as efficient but also lyrical, as Phyllis Gotlieb managed to do in her fantastic (and criminally underappreciated) novel Flesh and Gold. Her language in that work is superbly lyrical, yet it also propels the narrative forward at a swift pace.
Lastly, I wanted to end my novel on the right note. Resonance is a word that gets thrown around a lot, yet I think many people never give it a deeper thought. I mean, of course an author wants his or her novel to stay with the reader, but exactly how? What does he or she want the reader to feel, specifically? A sense of completeness, primarily, or a sense of further possibilities? Obviously, the type of novel being written informs one's decision: reason dictates that a standalone is generally going to end differently than a single volume in a series.
And yet, though I always intended for No Return to be a self-enclosed narrative, I don't think I would've closed it any differently than if it had been the opening gambit in a ten-volume series. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I strongly prefer an ending that feels open with possibility, fertile with questions to be (or not to be) answered. Certain authors make a habit of such endings. Look at what China Miéville left the reader with at the end of The Scar: a multitude of choices still to be guessed at. At the same time, it felt complete—to me, at least. I loved that I was left to consider the ragged ends of the narrative. I cherished the fact that I continued searching for meanings, for conclusions to multiple stories, long after I finished reading the words the author had set to paper.
Lastly, I wanted to end my novel on the right note. Resonance is a word that gets thrown around a lot, yet I think many people never give it a deeper thought. I mean, of course an author wants his or her novel to stay with the reader, but exactly how? What does he or she want the reader to feel, specifically? A sense of completeness, primarily, or a sense of further possibilities? Obviously, the type of novel being written informs one's decision: reason dictates that a standalone is generally going to end differently than a single volume in a series.
And yet, though I always intended for No Return to be a self-enclosed narrative, I don't think I would've closed it any differently than if it had been the opening gambit in a ten-volume series. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I strongly prefer an ending that feels open with possibility, fertile with questions to be (or not to be) answered. Certain authors make a habit of such endings. Look at what China Miéville left the reader with at the end of The Scar: a multitude of choices still to be guessed at. At the same time, it felt complete—to me, at least. I loved that I was left to consider the ragged ends of the narrative. I cherished the fact that I continued searching for meanings, for conclusions to multiple stories, long after I finished reading the words the author had set to paper.
#
Of course, now that I’ve set these words down, my feelings will change—maybe not immediately, but they surely will. In a year’s time (hopefully in the wake of my debut’s massive success!) I’ll rethink what I intended yet again. The only constant will be the fact that my intentions—all of them, at any point in time—don't matter all that much in the final accounting. They only tell you the kinds of effects that I'm shooting for.
And the rest? Well, that’s up to you.
OFFICIAL AUTHOR WEBSITE
Order NO RETURN HERE
Read Civilian Reader's Interview with the Author
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Zachary Jernigan was born and brought up in the United States and has lived for most of his life in the western half of the country. He has a BA in Religious Studies from Northern Arizona University (2005) and an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast program (2011). His short fiction has appeared in a variety of places, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Crossed Genres, and Escape Pod. He has previously worked in a variety of fields and avoids seeking management positions. He currently lives in Northern Arizona and No Return is his Debut novel.
NOTE: Author picture courtesy of the author. No Return cover art provided by Robbie Trevino. Perspective picture by Aaron Stern. Books Of The New Sun cover pictures by Lynne M. Thomas and CONFESSIONS OF A CURATOR blog.
Order NO RETURN HERE
Read Civilian Reader's Interview with the Author
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Zachary Jernigan was born and brought up in the United States and has lived for most of his life in the western half of the country. He has a BA in Religious Studies from Northern Arizona University (2005) and an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast program (2011). His short fiction has appeared in a variety of places, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Crossed Genres, and Escape Pod. He has previously worked in a variety of fields and avoids seeking management positions. He currently lives in Northern Arizona and No Return is his Debut novel.
NOTE: Author picture courtesy of the author. No Return cover art provided by Robbie Trevino. Perspective picture by Aaron Stern. Books Of The New Sun cover pictures by Lynne M. Thomas and CONFESSIONS OF A CURATOR blog.
"A psychological drama with a masterful, pulse-quickening plot revolving
around two seemingly very different men, who have more in common than
they know.
Thomas Clarin is a divorce lawyer whose profession has fostered a deep and abiding distrust of marriage, preferring instead to "play the field." Thomas Loos is a somber widower intensely mourning his wife's death. With Clarin's flirtatious, roving eye and Loos's complete disenchantment with the world around him, it would seem these men had nothing in common. But after a fateful meeting in a crowded Swiss restaurant, the two strike up a conversation that unearths unnerving coincidences.
With brilliant ease, Werner's meticulously rendered story begins quietly at first, then grabs its reader, refusing to let go. On the Edge, widely acclaimed by reviewers as a treasure of contemporary German literature, has been published in 15 different countries, and has sold over 400,000 copies in Germany alone since its publication in 2004."
Thomas Clarin is a divorce lawyer whose profession has fostered a deep and abiding distrust of marriage, preferring instead to "play the field." Thomas Loos is a somber widower intensely mourning his wife's death. With Clarin's flirtatious, roving eye and Loos's complete disenchantment with the world around him, it would seem these men had nothing in common. But after a fateful meeting in a crowded Swiss restaurant, the two strike up a conversation that unearths unnerving coincidences.
With brilliant ease, Werner's meticulously rendered story begins quietly at first, then grabs its reader, refusing to let go. On the Edge, widely acclaimed by reviewers as a treasure of contemporary German literature, has been published in 15 different countries, and has sold over 400,000 copies in Germany alone since its publication in 2004."
"On the Edge" is one of those books that makes one a fan of the author for life; sadly
there are no more English translations of Markus Werner so far and as I cannot read German, I will try and track French or Italian translations of other books of the author. The first paragraph of the novel is of the kind that made me buy the book on
the spot:
"Everything’s turning. And everything’s turning round him. It’s insane, but I’m even tempted to think that he’s sneaking around the house right now—with or without a dagger. Although he’s supposed to have left, and I’m just hearing crickets and the distant barking of dogs in the night."
After this dramatic introduction by the narrator - womanizer mid-thirties Swiss divorce lawyer Thomas Clarin - he starts recounting how he drove to his mountain villa for a long weekend to write a paper on Swiss divorce law history, only to to go to a nearby famed restaurant terrace and due to its being busy, sit at a table with an older, powerfully built 50's man, who at first ignores him after giving Clarin tacit permission to sit at his table. However after Clarin, outgoing, sociable, charming as his many conquests and "theory of dating" show, introduces himself, the older man starts paying attention and tells him his name is Loos as they start discussing stuff:
"Well, first, as I hinted, the discussion was all ‘God and the world,’ but then we gradually got more personal, more intimate, you could say. For example, he asked me about my life as a bachelor and then along the way about my love life.”
Loos is mourning his wife, dead one year ago after a bout with brain cancer and Clarin slowly falls under his spell:
“I met a man by chance at the Bellevue in Montagnola, a remarkable man, a little over fifty, a classical philologist. We got to be friends of a sort, talked with each other for two evenings long. His name was Loos, Thomas Loos, physically a bear of a man. He had come down here, as he gradually revealed, to commemorate his wife, his dead Bettina, whom he revered like a saint—it came across as crazy to me. He was unquestionably disturbed, from time to time almost unbalanced—then completely normal again and impressively sharp-minded, especially when it came to proving how awful the present age is, how unbearable the world—the only thing he valued was his wife, his happy marriage"
"Everything’s turning. And everything’s turning round him. It’s insane, but I’m even tempted to think that he’s sneaking around the house right now—with or without a dagger. Although he’s supposed to have left, and I’m just hearing crickets and the distant barking of dogs in the night."
After this dramatic introduction by the narrator - womanizer mid-thirties Swiss divorce lawyer Thomas Clarin - he starts recounting how he drove to his mountain villa for a long weekend to write a paper on Swiss divorce law history, only to to go to a nearby famed restaurant terrace and due to its being busy, sit at a table with an older, powerfully built 50's man, who at first ignores him after giving Clarin tacit permission to sit at his table. However after Clarin, outgoing, sociable, charming as his many conquests and "theory of dating" show, introduces himself, the older man starts paying attention and tells him his name is Loos as they start discussing stuff:
"Well, first, as I hinted, the discussion was all ‘God and the world,’ but then we gradually got more personal, more intimate, you could say. For example, he asked me about my life as a bachelor and then along the way about my love life.”
Loos is mourning his wife, dead one year ago after a bout with brain cancer and Clarin slowly falls under his spell:
“I met a man by chance at the Bellevue in Montagnola, a remarkable man, a little over fifty, a classical philologist. We got to be friends of a sort, talked with each other for two evenings long. His name was Loos, Thomas Loos, physically a bear of a man. He had come down here, as he gradually revealed, to commemorate his wife, his dead Bettina, whom he revered like a saint—it came across as crazy to me. He was unquestionably disturbed, from time to time almost unbalanced—then completely normal again and impressively sharp-minded, especially when it came to proving how awful the present age is, how unbearable the world—the only thing he valued was his wife, his happy marriage"
While the first part with its sort of "angels on the pinhead" discussion read like the ruminations of privileged white males from prosperous countries who never felt real deprivation and I started thinking "meh, these guys should have been born in a poor country and see if they would have their smug talk then...", slowly the novel started going into the past of both Clarin and Loos and then it accelerated to an even higher level, by the last third becoming just a masterpiece of misdirection and twists and turns.
At the end, one realizes On the Edge is really astounding with a last third that
completely turns things on their head, makes rereading the novel a must as well as makes one marvel at the little touches you do not see the first
time but which get a lot of significance once you know what's really what, not to speak of the control of the author as the reveals and storyline go.
Overall, On the Edge is a top 25 book of mine for 2013 (as the US edition has just been published in February by the NY Review of Books) and a novel I expect to reread quite a few times as times go by.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
NEWS: Ides Of March Giveaway, Gord Rollo's The Jigsaw Man and New David Dalglish-Robert Duperre series
As a reader I’m always interested in trying out new books and new authors. So when there are exciting giveaways announced, I always take an extra interest to see which books are featured. This exciting giveaway was announced nearly a week ago and is titled “The Ides Of March book giveaway”. Seventeen award-winning and best-selling authors have teamed up to offer this giveaway. One lucky person will win a set of 17 fascinating titles and the titles being offered are:
- THE LANTERN by Deborah Lawrenson
- THE FIREBIRD (ARC) by Susanna Kearsley
- THE TWELFTH ENCHANTMENT by David Liss
- COLD MAGIC by Kate Elliott
- THE MAPMAKER'S WAR by Ronlyn Domingue
- DRACULA IN LOVE by Karen Essex
- RED, WHITE AND BLOOD by Chris Farnsworth
- THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS by Katherine Howe
- THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL (ARC) by Carolyn Turgeon
- THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES by M. J. Rose
- THIEFTAKER by D. B. Jackson
- GLAMOUR IN GLASS by Mary Robinette Kowal
- DEVIL'S GATE by F. J. Lennon
- THE MISSING MANUSCRIPT OF JANE AUSTEN by Syrie James
- THE CROOKED BRANCH by Jeanine Cummins
- A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS by Marie Brennan
- THE RECKONING by Alma Katsu
The contest begins from the 1st of March and runs until the 15th of March. Once the winner(s) are selected, the person(s) will be notified within 48 hours. The authors will be giving one set of books per 500 entries.
For those interested in entering this awesome contest, can do so over here (scroll all the way down). The only disclaimers with this contest are that it is open to all residents of the USA, Canada and the UK ONLY and by entering this contest, each participant agrees to be added to the authors' mailing lists (However you can always unsubscribe from any mailing list at any time). That’s it so I would like to wish all the very best to everyone who enters this contest.
- THE LANTERN by Deborah Lawrenson
- THE FIREBIRD (ARC) by Susanna Kearsley
- THE TWELFTH ENCHANTMENT by David Liss
- COLD MAGIC by Kate Elliott
- THE MAPMAKER'S WAR by Ronlyn Domingue
- DRACULA IN LOVE by Karen Essex
- RED, WHITE AND BLOOD by Chris Farnsworth
- THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS by Katherine Howe
- THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL (ARC) by Carolyn Turgeon
- THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES by M. J. Rose
- THIEFTAKER by D. B. Jackson
- GLAMOUR IN GLASS by Mary Robinette Kowal
- DEVIL'S GATE by F. J. Lennon
- THE MISSING MANUSCRIPT OF JANE AUSTEN by Syrie James
- THE CROOKED BRANCH by Jeanine Cummins
- A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS by Marie Brennan
- THE RECKONING by Alma Katsu
The contest begins from the 1st of March and runs until the 15th of March. Once the winner(s) are selected, the person(s) will be notified within 48 hours. The authors will be giving one set of books per 500 entries.
For those interested in entering this awesome contest, can do so over here (scroll all the way down). The only disclaimers with this contest are that it is open to all residents of the USA, Canada and the UK ONLY and by entering this contest, each participant agrees to be added to the authors' mailing lists (However you can always unsubscribe from any mailing list at any time). That’s it so I would like to wish all the very best to everyone who enters this contest.
I’ve come across Gord Rollo’s work via the Fading Light anthology edited by Tim Marquitz. His story Friends of a Forgotten Man was a delightfully weird and very very creepy read and it stuck around in my head because of the author’s talent in writing such stuff. Lincoln Crisler alerted me to this author post wherein Gord is offering his favorite book THE JIGSAW MAN for free for the next four days (until 5th March) on Amazon.
He’s also offering a 20% discount on all his titles released so far through Createspace and so interested readers can check them out:
- CROWLEY’S WINDOW
- PEELER
- VALLEY OF THE SCARECROW
- THE JIGSAW MAN
- STRANGE MAGIC
- GODS & MONSTERS – STORY COLLECTION VOL. 1
- TIME & SPACE – STORY COLLECTION VOL. 2
So for readers wanting to try out a new author be sure to download a FREE copy of THE JIGSAW MAN and check out the various other tales the author has to offer over on his website.
- CROWLEY’S WINDOW
- PEELER
- VALLEY OF THE SCARECROW
- THE JIGSAW MAN
- STRANGE MAGIC
- GODS & MONSTERS – STORY COLLECTION VOL. 1
- TIME & SPACE – STORY COLLECTION VOL. 2
So for readers wanting to try out a new author be sure to download a FREE copy of THE JIGSAW MAN and check out the various other tales the author has to offer over on his website.
Lastly a few weeks ago, I had announced that David Dalglish had signed on with Orbit books to re-release his Shadowdance trilogy and The Watcher’s Blade trilogy as a six book series that is titled The Shadowdance series. Well there was another bit that I had to keep a lid until it was announced and since it was done so by David in this very fascinating and in-depth interview over at David Gaughran’s blog.
The gist of this announcement is that David will be partnering with Robert Duperre for a new series called “The Breaking World” that is set in the same world as his previous books and is being published by 47 North (Amazon publishing). This will be a trilogy and the titles are:
- DAWN OF SWORDS (tentatively out January, 2014)
- WRATH OF LIONS (TBA)
- BLOOD OF GODS (TBA)
The gist of this announcement is that David will be partnering with Robert Duperre for a new series called “The Breaking World” that is set in the same world as his previous books and is being published by 47 North (Amazon publishing). This will be a trilogy and the titles are:
- DAWN OF SWORDS (tentatively out January, 2014)
- WRATH OF LIONS (TBA)
- BLOOD OF GODS (TBA)
So head over to Robert Duperre’s extensive announcement on his blog that details the inception of this trilogy and how this authorial partnership came to be as well. So this is another excellent bit of information for fans wanting to read dark, gritty character driven fantasy. I’m sure with these two new series coming out, David and Robert are sure to become really popular with fantasy fandom in the near future.
NOTE: David Dalglish, Gord Rollo and Robert Duperre pictures courtesy of the authors themselves.
Order
“Written In Red” HERE
Read
An Excerpt HERE
Written in Red, out on March 5th (Published by Roc),
is the first of a new urban fantasy series by Anne Bishop. Bishop is
the author of the Ephemera and Tir Alainn series, and she is
especially well-known for the Black
Jewels series.
Fans
of the Black Jewels and Ephemera series may notice echoes of
familiar tropes: open-hearted girl with immense power who has a dark past
fleeing to a place unfriendly to outsiders, yet becoming central to the lives
of a bunch of dangerous people there, particularly the life of a powerful male
character. I noticed the parallels, because after reading so many of Anne Bishop’s books, how could I not?
But the characters and situations felt completely different, and they were
still a joy to read, so I wasn't bothered in the slightest. It's an instance of
an author using familiar tropes to weave a stronger story, rather than a
clichéd one.
I'm
used to reading high fantasy from Bishop,
so I was curious as to how this would work out. It actually felt so much like a
secondary fantasy world that it took me a little while to figure out that the
author was writing a shapeshifter/vampire/fae urban fantasy. Since those
creatures have flooded the fantasy market, I've long since grown very picky
about stories that use them, but Bishop brought
new interpretations of them so subtly I never had a chance to be suspicious.
The
book begins with a prologue (well, actually it begins with a map, with a
disclaimer that the author is geographically challenged and only drew what was
relevant to the story at hand), which is a brief history of the world.
Normally, that sort of prologue bores me, but this prologue was incredibly
creepy with a ton of subversion. Namely, while the world is a parallel of our
own, humans are very much not the dominant species. There are certain analogous
locales, like "Sparkletown" for Hollywood, and some of the structure
of human society is the same, but there's a lot that works very differently. I
did love that in the town the story is set in, the main gathering place for the
important characters is a bookstore connected to a café.
I
quibble a little about the consistency of the Others' amorality: in the first
chapter, the Others hunt down a human intruder and eat him while he's still
alive; later, they seem to make all kinds of allowances to strengthen
human-Other relations, until everything goes horribly wrong in an epic way. I
wish I had a harder time believing some of the human stupidity that goes on
(seriously, why would anyone with a brain piss off the fae? Why?), but Bishop makes even those instances believable.
Since
Meg, the protagonist, doesn't know
much about how the world works, we learn as she does. Bishop had me invested in Meg's
story within a few paragraphs of the first chapter. I knew she was trying to
escape oppression, she was a hard worker, she was intelligent, and she was
willing to take a huge risk and probably sentence herself to death for the
chance of freedom. Bishop doesn't
waste any words and has a way of phrasing that makes me sit up and pay
attention. There are the "Walking Names" and "Bigwig," and
as you might expect they lack any particular individuality; my brain twitched
when I read Meg comment that
something was "more reassuring, in a scary way."
I
was suspicious when I learned there was going to be prophecy in this book. I
have enormous problems with the idea of unchangeable destiny, because personal
choice and taking action to shape fate are important ideas for me. However,
it's treated as a far more numinous thing in this book rather than a
cut-and-dried answer, and I think Bishop
took a fascinating approach, in particular to how foretelling works. Magic
always has to have a cost, and for the cassandra
sangues, it's a very serious yet inescapable (we'll see if that remains true
in later books) one.
There's
no romance in this book, though Bishop
is beginning to lay the groundwork for it. I appreciated that it wasn't a
central point, because the protagonist was in no way emotionally prepared to
deal with that. Of course, she wasn't prepared to deal with most of the rest of
what confronts her in this book either, but I would have had trouble suspending
my disbelief if she'd managed to handle that, too.
My
favorite character by far is Tess. I
find it fascinating to read female characters who are so tied to death,
especially since it isn't the norm for fantasy. Sure, there are plenty of
female heroines in urban fantasy who kill people, and there are death
goddesses, but that isn't quite the same as a non-deity character who is defined
by death. Terrifying, yes, but also great fun to read.
Bishop
has a way of making your heart wrench with joy and pain within a breath, and she
does it especially through establishing the relationships and interactions
between her characters. Everyone is complicated and well-developed, but you
know exactly whom to cheer for. I loved this book. I'm so excited for this
series.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
