Monday, August 12, 2013
"Seven Princes: Books of the Shaper #1" by John R. Fultz (Reviewed by Cindy Hannikman)
Visit John R. Fultz's Official Website Here
OVERVIEW: It is an Age of Legends.
Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields.
It is an Age of Heroes.
But the realms of Man face a new threat-- an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D'zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm.
It is an Age of War.
The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father's stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming.
SEVEN PRINCES.
Some will seek glory.
Some will seek vengeance.
All will be legends
Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields.
It is an Age of Heroes.
But the realms of Man face a new threat-- an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D'zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm.
It is an Age of War.
The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father's stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming.
SEVEN PRINCES.
Some will seek glory.
Some will seek vengeance.
All will be legends
FORMAT: Seven Princes is the first book in the Books of the
Shaper series. It has an epic fantasy, sword and sorcery feel to it. It stands
at 526 pages and was published by Orbit on January 3, 2012.
ANALYSIS: I picked up Seven Princes with rather high hopes.
Words such as 'wonderful epic fantasy', 'gripping', and other nouns were used
to describe the book, and when it comes to a new epic fantasy I couldn't pass
it up. Unfortunately, the experience I had with this novel didn't live up to
anything I had heard about the book.
Entering Seven Princes, I thought that the concept for the
book was rather captivating. It wasn't unique by any means, but it had the
potential to create a good epic fantasy. Unfortunately, I think the execution
of the book took what could have been a decent fantasy novel and turned it into
something less than stellar.
Seven Princes is almost told in narrative style writing. It feels
as if the writer is hearing about the story long after it has happened and just
looking in from the outside. This combined with the extremely stilted
conversations between characters makes it hard for readers to really connect
with anything that happens with the novel.
There were major scenes, such as the massive massacre, where
I just felt devoid of any emotion. I am not entirely sure if this is because it
felt like I was reading a news story and being told just the facts, because I
couldn't connect with anyone, or the author just failed in his attempt to make
one strong character that any reader would bond with or care about.
In addition to the rather mundane character development and narrative
style writing, there were pacing issues. The pacing of the novel is slow,
extremely slow. This, unfortunately, made most of what happened in the book
seem predictable. The events and scenes just seemed to drag on and on, so much
so that I could see what was happening pages or even chapters before it
happened.
The novel really starts to slow down in the middle. It was
approximately 200 pages to the end and I struggled. It was at that point that I
felt conversations between characters were just thrown around, the predictable
nature of the book had hit an all-time high, and I struggled. I eventually
finished it, but it took me longer than I had expected.
It should be noted that this is John R. Fultz's debut novel.
I think Fultz has talent and a very creative mind, I just think I few things
need to be ironed out to make future books a success. Items such as pacing,
character development, and leaving a bit to the reader's imagination in terms
of plot are all things that could have helped to make this novel a success.
Overall, I found Seven Princes a huge disappointment. There
was so much promise with this novel, but unfortunately I don't think kept up
that promise and fell flat.
12:00 AM | 
Posted by
Cindy |
Congratulations to Harold
Blackorby who was randomly selected to win an ADVANCE READING COPY of Steelheart
SIGNED by Brandon Sanderson!!! Steelheart will be published in North
America on September 24, 2013 (Delacorte
Press) and the UK on September 26,
2013 (Gollancz). In the meantime,
you can read FBC’s review of Steelheart HERE.
Official Shadows of the Apt Website
Order "War Master's Gate" HERE
Read FBC Review of "Empire in Black and Gold"
Read FBC Review of "Dragonfly Falling"
Read FBC Review of "Blood of the Mantis"
Read FBC Review of "Salute the Dark"
Read FBC Review of "The Scarab Path"
Read FBC Review of "The Sea Watch"
Read FBC Review of "Heirs of the Blade"
Read FBC Review of "The Air War"
Read FBC Interview with Adrian Tchaikovsky
INTRODUCTION: "War Master's Gate" is the ninth book out of ten of the ambitious Shadows of the Apt
series. Despite being the middle book of the final trilogy of the series and ending on a cliffhanger in one of the main threads and at clear TBC points in others, the novel manages to surprise and be fresh as well as offer a superb reading experience making it the present leader in my top sff of the year.
The book contains the main novel War Master's Gate which ends with a few epilogue pages noting where the important characters in the "war" part of the book are at the moment - as mentioned the "magic" part of the book ends on a cliffhanger - and the usual glossary of characters, places etc for its first 660 pages, but as an added bonus it also has a 50 page story, "Heart of the Green", that adds depth to the main new character of the "magic" part, the War Master of the title - and yes despite having Stenwold Maker, the Collegium War Master on the cover and he plays an important role for sure, the title mainly refers to this other new personage.
As noted in the previous reviews of the series linked above the structure of the series is as follows:
- a tetralogy with a clear main focus and where the several story-lines that start in Empire in Black and Gold, develop in Dragonfly Falling and Blood of The Mantis, only to converge at the climax of Salute the Dark. These four books follow a large cast of characters which of course renews itself as the storyline moves on and they are all fast paced yarns in the usual epic vein with battles, intrigue and the fate of the known world at stake. They are best seen as volumes 1-4 of one single huge novel.
- a tetralogy with a clear main focus and where the several story-lines that start in Empire in Black and Gold, develop in Dragonfly Falling and Blood of The Mantis, only to converge at the climax of Salute the Dark. These four books follow a large cast of characters which of course renews itself as the storyline moves on and they are all fast paced yarns in the usual epic vein with battles, intrigue and the fate of the known world at stake. They are best seen as volumes 1-4 of one single huge novel.
- three relatively self contained novels, The Scarab Path, The Sea Watch and Heirs of the Blade, which follow only a few story-lines each from the larger tapestry so only some of the main characters of the series appear, though again new characters and settings are introduced. The Sea Watch was a bit too sfnal for the general tone of the series, while being the one novel so far whose main storyline still remains tangential in the larger scheme of things, though lots of things happen, quite a few main characters die and the main strategic realignment of the series occurs.
On the other hand, The Scarab Path and Heirs of the Blade hit it out the park and provided the two of the best three novels of the series to date and some of the best fantasy around, each in a package that was remarkably self-contained considering their place as "bridge novels" as well as 5th and 7th novels in a 10 book series.
- a trilogy with a dual focus, one that has been clear for a while and formed the larger part of The Air War and one that revealed itself in War Master's Gate and will surely be the focus of the last series volume, The Seal of the Worm as per the ending here.
Note that in what follows there will be the inevitable spoilers for the series to date, though I will try to keep them at a minimum.
ANALYSIS: How can one keep a 9th volume of a series that has been running pretty much chronologically and covering a span of only a few years, fresh, new and quite interesting? After all there is all this past weight of all the 8 earlier volumes, while what came before imposes a lot of the constraints of the upcoming flow of the events considering the structure of a huge tapestry woven by the author.
War Master's Gate manages this remarkable feat by the continual rolling of main characters as now General Tynan of the Wasp 2nd Army advancing inexorably (again) on the Collegium, the mixed "Antspider" Straessa of the Coldstone Company, the Wasp pilot Captain Bergild, Eujen Leadswell, the former student peace agitator, now leader of the Student Company raised to fight the last resort street-to-street battles if the unthinkable happens and the 2nd Army breaks into the City, and Milus, the Sarnesh "tactician" aka commander of the army who finally maybe the one Ant Kinden innovative enough to defeat the Empire, all relatively new or in some cases formerly with little page time, take main stage in addition to the regular surviving main cast. And of course this is only a slice of the vast ensemble who includes many more interesting characters who have their importance and page time.
Then there is again expansion of the universe - Apt/technology and Inapt/magic, as well as traveling to the deep past and the dark times of the ultimate war of the Inapt times against the all devouring "Worm" Kinden and their slaves, war that in the usual fantasy tradition took place 1000 years ago and is quite relevant today...
As mentioned in the introduction War Master's Gate runs on two parallel tracks:
The Apt/Technology/Modern action which is almost all war and follows mainly the 2nd Wasp Army against the Collegium and to a lesser extent the 8th Army against Sarn and its allies. This thread is on a very large canvas, dark and brutal on occasion and ends at very clear to be continued points.
The Inapt/Magic/Past influencing and threatening Life as everyone knows it as the once defeated but not destroyed Evil may rise again etc. This thread is more personal and has some stuff that veers a little closely to the usual cliches, but it benefits hugely from the main characters who are imho the most fascinating of the universe - the triangle Che, Seda, Thalric - though in an ironical take on genre cliche, here the roles invert and the two women (Che and Seda - the "lover" and the "wife" as after all Thalric is still the Imperial Consort as I do not think the Apt universe has Empresses divorcing their consorts alive - have agency as they are quite powerful magicians while the man is the object as he is just an ordinary Apt mortal) , Tynissa, Ostrec/Esmail, the War Master of the title at least in his past glimpses and quite a few others I leave you to discover. This thread ends on quite the cliffhanger after one ending moment that verged on "over the top" but came out quite well and reminded me of the similar in spirit ending of book 7.
While not really needing to be said, the author's prose has become impeccably smooth and polished and the novel is a page turner that I couldn't put down and rushed through to see where all goes, while later rereading it at leisure to appreciate all the finer points I missed.
Overall War Master's Gate is another triumph for Adrian Tchaikovsky which installed itself at the top of my sff reads for the year at least for now, while it also became one of my three major favorites volumes alongside "The Scarab Path" and "Heirs of the Blade" especially that here the Apt/Inapt threads finally start combining in an awesome whole.
Sadly, after a journey started 5 years ago in 2008, The Shadows of the Apt will be ending soon with volume ten, The Seal of the Worm delivered and scheduled for publication in 2014 and I hope it will manage that very hard feat of concluding an awesome series in a powerful way.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
A Paean To Myrillia: The Godslayer Chronicles World And Series Analysis w/ An Announcement By James Clemens (by Mihir Wanchoo)
Official Author Website
Order Shadowfall HERE
Order Hinterland HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Q&A with James Rollins (James Clemens)
A few weeks ago, Sarah of Bookworm Blues put out a call for unique magic systems that have been devised by authors. Thinking back, the first and foremost name that came to mind was the Godslayer Chronicles by James Clemens. A lot of readers have barely heard of it, since the first book Shadowfall was released in 2005. I happened to be on the lookout for it as I was already a fan of James Clemens after reading his debut series; The Banned And The Banished.
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Order Shadowfall HERE
Order Hinterland HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Q&A with James Rollins (James Clemens)
A few weeks ago, Sarah of Bookworm Blues put out a call for unique magic systems that have been devised by authors. Thinking back, the first and foremost name that came to mind was the Godslayer Chronicles by James Clemens. A lot of readers have barely heard of it, since the first book Shadowfall was released in 2005. I happened to be on the lookout for it as I was already a fan of James Clemens after reading his debut series; The Banned And The Banished.
WORLD OVERVIEW & BACKSTORY: What Shadowfall did was, introduce the reader to the wonderfully, dangerous land of Myrillia. The backstory as revealed in the first book goes as such. Nearly four millennia ago, the Gods arrived on Myrillia (from where no one knows exactly). After their appearance for nearly a few hundred years havoc and chaos ruled the land of Myrillia as the Gods (both male and female) went about slaughtering, doing weird shit, reminiscing about their homeland/dimension/planet (?), etc. However one of the Gods named Chrism decided to repent his savagery and fed his own blood into the land. His actions while suicidal had a curious effect as sanity took root and his essence bled into the land making it his domain and ridding all the other Gods from that piece of Myrillia. That lead to the foundation of Chrismferry and thus began the enlightenment that was to follow in several lands of Myrillia. Soon other Gods began to follow Chrism’s example thereby settling in and around various parts of Myrillia giving rise to the nine lands of Myrillia. There are hundred gods that have settled in those nine domains thereby giving rise to various Hinterlands in and around those nine parts as well.
These hinterlands house the raving, rogue Gods who could not find root and thereby remain maddened because of that. These rogues are known to avoid the settled lands as it is anathema to their existence however all the hinterlands are their domains. See the first map (at the very top) to view a solid majority of Myrillia (both settled and hinterlands) topographically. The story then focusses on how the world of man has been shaped by the arrival of the Gods who can be divided in to the four aspects of Air, Fire, Loam and Water. There is a litany that focusses on several body humors of the Gods that help or harm the environment around them. That can be read over here and now that you have been grossed out a little, welcome to the dark and disturbing imagination of James Clemens.
The second intriguing aspect of this world is the way the world has adapted to these Gods. I believe this world and series can be classified as God-Punk for the unique take on how a world would be if an immortal god lived among human beings. The world showcased within is entirely shaped and run by the application of the Godly body fluids. A very perverse but entirely plausible way of creating a world that will disgust and delight the fantasy reader spectrum. Within the first two books the author highlights how such a world might function and also debase itself as seen by the monstrosities and perversions present. As a world-building junkie, I would have loved for the author to explore the minutiae of this world but that would run counter to plot and therefore isn’t entirely the case. The author though has created a language and script for this series called Littick that is the language of the Gods and for those who love puzzles, it will be fun to try to decipher it.
Lastly the author has also littered the story with several observations as well as facts about the world that help in realizing it to be a three dimensional one such as several sayings, games, drugs utilized, etc. So for those readers, who want to read a fascinating story with an ever-intriguing world, be sure to get your hands on the first two volumes of the Godslayer Chronicles and now onto the mini-reviews of both the books:
The second intriguing aspect of this world is the way the world has adapted to these Gods. I believe this world and series can be classified as God-Punk for the unique take on how a world would be if an immortal god lived among human beings. The world showcased within is entirely shaped and run by the application of the Godly body fluids. A very perverse but entirely plausible way of creating a world that will disgust and delight the fantasy reader spectrum. Within the first two books the author highlights how such a world might function and also debase itself as seen by the monstrosities and perversions present. As a world-building junkie, I would have loved for the author to explore the minutiae of this world but that would run counter to plot and therefore isn’t entirely the case. The author though has created a language and script for this series called Littick that is the language of the Gods and for those who love puzzles, it will be fun to try to decipher it.
Lastly the author has also littered the story with several observations as well as facts about the world that help in realizing it to be a three dimensional one such as several sayings, games, drugs utilized, etc. So for those readers, who want to read a fascinating story with an ever-intriguing world, be sure to get your hands on the first two volumes of the Godslayer Chronicles and now onto the mini-reviews of both the books:
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: We begin with Shadowfall, the first chronicle of the Godslayer wherein we are introduced to Tylar De Noche, a fallen shadowknight and also a cripple, broken in mind, body and spirit. After some shady dealings in his past, he has had to pay an exorbitant price that has taken a toll on his life, relationship and mental status. He happens to witness something so bizarre that it basically triggers another painful turn of events that will have ramifications all across Myrillia. From here on we are given a look into another POV character, a young girl named Dart who is an orphan and has been bullied all throughout her life. She’s in an orphanage in Chrismferry where an odious attack turns her life upside down and sets her on the path to find out her true heritage. Lastly there’s Kathryn Ser Vail who shares an agonizing connection to Tylar and soon will be pulled into the intrigue and machinations surrounding Tylar.
Why do I love this book and series so much, in two words; FANTASTICAL WORLDBUILDING! From the first chapter, the author quickly and surely immerses the reader in a world that is beyond a doubt one of the most fascination ones created by using Gods. Sure Steven Erikson’s Malazan series does similar things and more but James Clemens makes his books much more accessible than Erikson (though some might complain that his writing is too straight forward). But for most fantasy readers, this world will be like no other they have experienced before. James Clemens is the nom-de-plume for renowned thriller writer James Rollins and as was the case with his adventure thriller books, James always creates memorable setting for his books. Myrillia encompasses a huge chunk of his imagination and further highlights are revealed when the readers are told more about the world via its policing system the Shadowknights. The Shadowknights are an organization to themselves who help the Gods with their lands and also help protect the innocent populace against the ravages of fiends and rogue Gods from the hinterlands. Then there’s the whole aspect of being “a hand to the Gods”, which will be exciting for the readers to discover.
The story basically is a thriller masquerading itself as a dark, epic fantasy. Beginning from the prologue and first chapter one, things are constantly cascading towards the impressive climax. Things of course are bit more clearcut with Tylar but with the other POV characters, the author takes some myriad turns. Also one more thing about this story is that it is vehemently dark, what I mean about that is that both male and female characters face the threat of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. For those who can’t stand violence or rape scenes please be forewarned this book has one that which while not gratuitous, will cause uncomfortableness that I believe is the intent of the author.
Lastly once you finish Shadowfall, you’ll be hard-pressed to seek out the sequel Hinterland as the amount of secrets and plot twists that are revealed in the first volume make the second volume a must read. Dark, imaginative and disturbing are the three words that come to my mind when I think about Shadowfall and as far as adjectives go, these are great ones to describe a series that seriously defines the “God-Punk” subgenre and is critically unknown among fantasy fandom.
Why do I love this book and series so much, in two words; FANTASTICAL WORLDBUILDING! From the first chapter, the author quickly and surely immerses the reader in a world that is beyond a doubt one of the most fascination ones created by using Gods. Sure Steven Erikson’s Malazan series does similar things and more but James Clemens makes his books much more accessible than Erikson (though some might complain that his writing is too straight forward). But for most fantasy readers, this world will be like no other they have experienced before. James Clemens is the nom-de-plume for renowned thriller writer James Rollins and as was the case with his adventure thriller books, James always creates memorable setting for his books. Myrillia encompasses a huge chunk of his imagination and further highlights are revealed when the readers are told more about the world via its policing system the Shadowknights. The Shadowknights are an organization to themselves who help the Gods with their lands and also help protect the innocent populace against the ravages of fiends and rogue Gods from the hinterlands. Then there’s the whole aspect of being “a hand to the Gods”, which will be exciting for the readers to discover.
The story basically is a thriller masquerading itself as a dark, epic fantasy. Beginning from the prologue and first chapter one, things are constantly cascading towards the impressive climax. Things of course are bit more clearcut with Tylar but with the other POV characters, the author takes some myriad turns. Also one more thing about this story is that it is vehemently dark, what I mean about that is that both male and female characters face the threat of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. For those who can’t stand violence or rape scenes please be forewarned this book has one that which while not gratuitous, will cause uncomfortableness that I believe is the intent of the author.
Lastly once you finish Shadowfall, you’ll be hard-pressed to seek out the sequel Hinterland as the amount of secrets and plot twists that are revealed in the first volume make the second volume a must read. Dark, imaginative and disturbing are the three words that come to my mind when I think about Shadowfall and as far as adjectives go, these are great ones to describe a series that seriously defines the “God-Punk” subgenre and is critically unknown among fantasy fandom.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: With Hinterland, we are once again thrust in to the malevolent and shaky world of Myrillia, wherein Gods, humans and monsters strive to achieve a balance. This book is set nearly a year after the horrific and world-shattering events of Shadowfall. The Gods now know that Tylar Ser Noche is the genuine article and his previous title as Godslayer is far from the lie they believed it to be.
With this book, we gain a new map (see 2nd map above) as well as a new POV character. Brant was last seen in the last book and he made a strong but fleeting impression on Dart. In this volume we get to know all about his past and how it might tie into all the curious happenings so far. He comes from Saysh Mal in the Eighth land and the Huntress is the God who rules it with an even but firm hand. Laurelle is another handmaiden and a friend to Dart who gets a POV turn with this book. Tylar, Dart and Kathryn have all been shaken by past events however stand firm against adversity and are now connected to each other. The events of this book will bring all of these POV characters in a swirling miasma of betrayal, politics and death that shall reveal a lot more behind the secrets of the Gods. With the sequel, the author takes a step further and gives us another sideway glimpse into the world beyond Myrillia, there are a few more revelations about the nature of the world, Rivenscryr and a few Gods.
The second volume takes a similar route as the first one by having several characters in different situations that narrow down to an action-packed climax. But with difference being that there are two major theaters of action, the first story is focussed upon Tashijan, the headquarters of the Shadowknights and the second is within Saysh Mal and the hinterlands beside it. We see more of the Cabal as well as the Wyr and we get a rather strange inkling about the Gods and the relationships they had prior to their arrival on Myrillia. The ending while a twisted one fails to match the colossal impact of its predecessor but the epilogue of this volume is a game-changer and gives us a very strong clue about what will be coming up next in the third volume which is tentatively titled God-Sword.
SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT: However since 2006, the series fell off the publishing wagon for reasons that were never clarified by the author or the publishers. However recently I had been in communication with the author and he has confirmed that the Godslayer Chronicles will be re-released soon with each book coming out at seven-eight month intervals. The third book has been written and is complete while the author is busy on the fourth. This series is set to run for six volumes only and so if you love dark fantasy, epic storylines and fantastical worlds, The Godslayer Chronicles will be a must read!
With this book, we gain a new map (see 2nd map above) as well as a new POV character. Brant was last seen in the last book and he made a strong but fleeting impression on Dart. In this volume we get to know all about his past and how it might tie into all the curious happenings so far. He comes from Saysh Mal in the Eighth land and the Huntress is the God who rules it with an even but firm hand. Laurelle is another handmaiden and a friend to Dart who gets a POV turn with this book. Tylar, Dart and Kathryn have all been shaken by past events however stand firm against adversity and are now connected to each other. The events of this book will bring all of these POV characters in a swirling miasma of betrayal, politics and death that shall reveal a lot more behind the secrets of the Gods. With the sequel, the author takes a step further and gives us another sideway glimpse into the world beyond Myrillia, there are a few more revelations about the nature of the world, Rivenscryr and a few Gods.
The second volume takes a similar route as the first one by having several characters in different situations that narrow down to an action-packed climax. But with difference being that there are two major theaters of action, the first story is focussed upon Tashijan, the headquarters of the Shadowknights and the second is within Saysh Mal and the hinterlands beside it. We see more of the Cabal as well as the Wyr and we get a rather strange inkling about the Gods and the relationships they had prior to their arrival on Myrillia. The ending while a twisted one fails to match the colossal impact of its predecessor but the epilogue of this volume is a game-changer and gives us a very strong clue about what will be coming up next in the third volume which is tentatively titled God-Sword.
SERIES ANNOUNCEMENT: However since 2006, the series fell off the publishing wagon for reasons that were never clarified by the author or the publishers. However recently I had been in communication with the author and he has confirmed that the Godslayer Chronicles will be re-released soon with each book coming out at seven-eight month intervals. The third book has been written and is complete while the author is busy on the fourth. This series is set to run for six volumes only and so if you love dark fantasy, epic storylines and fantastical worlds, The Godslayer Chronicles will be a must read!
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UPDATE (05/12/2014): After recent correspondence with Jim, he has revealed that now the Godslayer Chronicles will be five books in total. The original plan was to finish the first arc with God-Sword (book III) and then continue with another trilogy with most of the characters set in the same world. Now due to the publisher's request, the latter trilogy has been combined into two big books. So now the Godslayer Chronicles will be a Pentalogy similar to his debut series. Jim has completed book III and is currently 50-pages into book IV. The current plan is when Jim is in the finishing stages for book V, the publishers will begin the official relaunch.
At this stage however when that announcement will come is looking a bit dicey. Jim is writing his fantasy series as well as his YA series (Jake Ransom series) along with his contracted Rollins thrillers. This makes his writing speed a bit slower than what it was earlier in the last decade when he was releasing a Clemens and a Rollins book within the same year. So as of now based on what Jim has revealed and what I can extrapolate about his writing style and speed. The earliest this announcement can come looks to be in 2016 barring any unforeseen hindrances and this is entirely my informed guess. I would love to be proved wrong by Jim & have him give us an official announcement next year. But that looks a little sketchy at the moment. Rest assured, if there's any change in plans, I'll be adding another update here.
At this stage however when that announcement will come is looking a bit dicey. Jim is writing his fantasy series as well as his YA series (Jake Ransom series) along with his contracted Rollins thrillers. This makes his writing speed a bit slower than what it was earlier in the last decade when he was releasing a Clemens and a Rollins book within the same year. So as of now based on what Jim has revealed and what I can extrapolate about his writing style and speed. The earliest this announcement can come looks to be in 2016 barring any unforeseen hindrances and this is entirely my informed guess. I would love to be proved wrong by Jim & have him give us an official announcement next year. But that looks a little sketchy at the moment. Rest assured, if there's any change in plans, I'll be adding another update here.
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UPDATE (08/25/2017): Jim confirmed via email that he's still writing and is about 1/4th of the way through with book IV (still untitled). God-Sword (book III) is done in draft form. Jim has consistently been working on these books amidst his SIGMA titles and since the last update has released 4 SIGMA books and 3 related short stories as well. I'll be hoping that he updates us fans soon.
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UPDATE (02/15/2019): Jim has completed more than 3/4ths of book IV (still untitled). He also mentioned that he's considering the actual title from about 7-8 potential choices. The Godslayer Chronicles has the backing of a big-five publisher who have maintained their support for the series throughout and the final publication decision will be taken once Jim finishes book V. If the traditional publication route doesn't materialize, then the books might be self-published by Jim himself. However that's a decision for down the road when he finishes writing the books .
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UPDATE (04/18/2020): In a recent Facebook chat with John McDougall of Murder By The Book, James revealed that he’s still writing the fourth book in the Godslayer Chronicles. He also mentioned that he might be able to finish book IV by the end of next month (May). Of course all of this is very much dependent on a variety of factors (Jim’s various writing contracts, the time constraints placed on him and life in general with COVID). This is of course wonderful news and I’ll certainly try to get an update from Jim in the latter half of this year when Jim will release Unrestricted Access. His first ever short story collection that will collect all of Jim’s short stories in existence as well a brand new Tucker & Kane novella.
So amidst all of the doom & gloom of 2020, there’s a small bit of joy in the re-publication journey of The Godslayer Chronicles. Hopefully Jim will reveal more in the latter half of the year and if all goes well, will have also started work on the final book (book V) of the Godslayer Chronicles.
So amidst all of the doom & gloom of 2020, there’s a small bit of joy in the re-publication journey of The Godslayer Chronicles. Hopefully Jim will reveal more in the latter half of the year and if all goes well, will have also started work on the final book (book V) of the Godslayer Chronicles.
NOTE: Both maps courtesy of James Clemens.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
ANTHOLOGY ANNOUNCEMENT: Legends: Stories In Honour Of David Gemmell edited by Ian Whates (by Mihir Wanchoo)
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The Trojan War - A Reinterpretation: The Troy trilogy by David and Stella Gemmell
Read The Truth Behind A Legend (Guest post by D. E. M. Emrys)
Read A Birth Of A Legend: A David Gemmell short story (exclusive on Fantasy Book Critic)
Most readers know that I’m a big David Gemmell fan, so it was to my great pleasure that I came across some news about a David Gemmell Anthology being in the works. James Barclay was kind enough to point me towards Ian Whates who was shepherding this effort along with a host of folks who were instrumental with the inception and continued success of the David Gemmell Legend Awards.
Read The Truth Behind A Legend (Guest post by D. E. M. Emrys)
Read A Birth Of A Legend: A David Gemmell short story (exclusive on Fantasy Book Critic)
Most readers know that I’m a big David Gemmell fan, so it was to my great pleasure that I came across some news about a David Gemmell Anthology being in the works. James Barclay was kind enough to point me towards Ian Whates who was shepherding this effort along with a host of folks who were instrumental with the inception and continued success of the David Gemmell Legend Awards.
I then contacted Ian Whates who was extremely gracious to reveal a bit more information about it and was also very kind to indulge my curiosity in regards to the anthology for which I’m utmost grateful. Also Ian also revealed a bit more about the anthology and here are some of the names involved:
- Joe Abercrombie,
- James Barclay (a story chronicling the origin of The Raven),
- Tanith Lee,
- Adrian Tchaikovsky (a story in his Shadows of the Apt milieu),
- Juliet E McKenna,
- Stan Nicholls,
- Jonathan Green,
- Storm Constantine,
- Gaie Sebold,
The main idea behind this anthology is that the writers are all creating in their own worlds but have been asked to keep Gemmell's spirit in mind. The anthology is being produced in conjunction with the David Gemmell Awards and, it's hoped, will help raise some funds in support of the awards.
Legends: Stories In Honour Of David Gemmell will be launched at this year's Gemmell Award Ceremony, on the opening night (Thursday October 31st) of World Fantasycon in Brighton. Also more information will be forthcoming including an interview with Ian Whates and much more…
- Joe Abercrombie,
- James Barclay (a story chronicling the origin of The Raven),
- Tanith Lee,
- Adrian Tchaikovsky (a story in his Shadows of the Apt milieu),
- Juliet E McKenna,
- Stan Nicholls,
- Jonathan Green,
- Storm Constantine,
- Gaie Sebold,
The main idea behind this anthology is that the writers are all creating in their own worlds but have been asked to keep Gemmell's spirit in mind. The anthology is being produced in conjunction with the David Gemmell Awards and, it's hoped, will help raise some funds in support of the awards.
Legends: Stories In Honour Of David Gemmell will be launched at this year's Gemmell Award Ceremony, on the opening night (Thursday October 31st) of World Fantasycon in Brighton. Also more information will be forthcoming including an interview with Ian Whates and much more…
NOTE: LEGENDS cover art provided by Dominic Harman and title graphics are by Andy Bigwood. LEGENDS cover picture and author picture provided by Ian Whates.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
"Vengeance: The Tainted Realm Book One" by Ian Irvine (Reviewed by Cindy Hannikman)
Visit Ian Irvine's Official Website Here
OVERVIEW: Ten years ago, two children witnessed a murder
that still haunts them as adults.
Tali watched as two masked figures killed her mother, and now she has sworn revenge. Even though she is a slave. Even though she is powerless. Even though she is nothing in the eyes of those who live above ground, she will find her mother's killers and bring them to justice.
Rix, heir to Hightspall's greatest fortune, is tormented by the fear that he's linked to the murder, and by a sickening nightmare that he's doomed to repeat it.
When a chance meeting brings Tali and Rix together, the secrets of an entire kingdom are uncovered and a villain out of legend returns to throw the land into chaos. Tali and Rix must learn to trust each other and find a way to save the realm -- and themselves
Tali watched as two masked figures killed her mother, and now she has sworn revenge. Even though she is a slave. Even though she is powerless. Even though she is nothing in the eyes of those who live above ground, she will find her mother's killers and bring them to justice.
Rix, heir to Hightspall's greatest fortune, is tormented by the fear that he's linked to the murder, and by a sickening nightmare that he's doomed to repeat it.
When a chance meeting brings Tali and Rix together, the secrets of an entire kingdom are uncovered and a villain out of legend returns to throw the land into chaos. Tali and Rix must learn to trust each other and find a way to save the realm -- and themselves
FORMAT: Vengeance is the first book in the Tainted Realm
trilogy. It is an epic fantasy with mystery, adventure, and magic. It stands at
688 pages and was published in the UK and US by Orbit on April 3, 2012.
ANALYSIS: Vengeance, the first book in the Tainted Realm trilogy,
was my first chance to experience Ian Irvine's writing. I have seen the
author's works on the shelf before, but never had the urge or time to pursue
any of the other fantasy series.
Vengeance had all the elements I was looking for at the time
in a book -- fantasy, mystery, adventure, and a newly created world to jump
right into. Add that to the mysterious, yet not unique plot and I thought I'd
give this novel a try.
I enjoyed my journey into Ian Irvine's writing. I found that
the world was surprisingly unique, yet not so complicated that I felt weighted
down with lengthy descriptions or tons of information. Irvine seemed to know
just how to set up the world so that readers could understand and picture it in
their minds without the need of 20-30 pages of lengthy descriptions.
That is not to say that the world is not complicated or
simple. Irvine adds a lot of history, depth, and magic to the world without
making it feel like you have picked up a history book and started reading.
In addition to the world building, I loved the action and
adventure. Things seemed to move at a fairly consistent pace that never really
allowed the book to slow down, yet wasn't so fast that I felt lost or as if I
was missing something due to the need for action.
While I enjoyed the world building and fast paced nature of
the story, there were several potential problems that I ran into with the
novel. The first problem was a slight confusion that I felt during the first
one-third to half of the book.
There were numerous names, background stories, and other
things that just seemed thrown out there. It almost felt like I was picking up
on a middle book in the series, but I was not. This is the first book of a
series. Things are eventually cleared up and by the end of the book, I was no
longer confused and everything fell into place, but it was a little aggravating.
Another problem I encountered was the lack of an emotional
attachment to any character. Typically, in a novel I feel attached to someone.
Sometimes it is the good guy, sometimes it is the bad guy, sometimes it is the
random side kick. This book I felt nothing for any of the characters. Maybe
this was due to the action and world building, maybe it was just a 'first book
getting to know characters' problem, I am not really sure.
I did find Tobey, a side kick to the main character Rix,
mysterious and fascinating. However, it was not until the end of the book that
I really started to connect with him and by then the book was over.
Overall, I enjoyed Vengeance. There were slight issues that
arose, but I don't think it hurt my reading experience. I do wish that I had
connected more with some of the characters, but maybe that will happen in the
second book. I plan on reading the second book in this series to see how things
turn out and may even explore other works by Irvine.
Monday, August 5, 2013
WORLDWIDE GIVEAWAY: Win Three Hardback Editions of UNFETTERED (edited by Shawn Speakman)
Official Author Website
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Dark Thorn
Order The Dark Thorn HERE
Read Word Of Mouth Or Just Let Me Be Read by Shawn Speakman (guest post)
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Dark Thorn
Order The Dark Thorn HERE
Read Word Of Mouth Or Just Let Me Be Read by Shawn Speakman (guest post)
Fantasy Book Critic will soon be reviewing UNFETTERED, the anthology edited by Shawn Speakman and in support of its June 21, 2013 publication. Shawn and Fantasy Book Critic are giving away THREE HARDBACK COPIES of UNFETTERED to three lucky readers!!!
To enter, please send an email to fbcgiveaway@gmail.com with your Name, Mailing Address, and the subject: UNFETTERED. Giveaway has ended and was 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
NOTE: Dave Wolverton picture courtesy of Joe Vasicek and Mormon Artist.
Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
Read the first nine chapters HERE
Read an interview with Allen Zadoff
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Allen Zadoff was born in Boston, Mass and went on to live in upstate New York, Manhattan, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A former stage director, he is the author of the Boy Nobody series as well as several acclaimed novels including Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have, a winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and a YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults. Sony Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment have optioned his Boy Nobody series. Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. He currently teaches writing in Los Angeles and is at work on his next book.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: They needed the perfect assassin.
Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school in a new town under a new name, makes a few friends, and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die-of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, moving on to the next target.
But when he's assigned to the mayor of New York City, things change. The daughter is unlike anyone he has encountered before; the mayor reminds him of his father. And when memories and questions surface, his handlers at The Program are watching. Because somewhere deep inside, Boy Nobody is somebody: the kid he once was; the teen who wants normal things, like a real home and parents; a young man who wants out. And who just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's mission.
FORMAT/INFO: Boy Nobody is 337 pages long divided over seventy-seven non-numbered & un-titled chapters. The entire story is told from a first-person narrative via the protagonist Boy Nobody. Boy Nobody has a self-contained plot and is the first book in the Boy Nobody series.
June 11, 2013 marked the North America hardback and e-book publication of Boy Nobody via Little Brown Books.
ANALYSIS: Boy Nobody came on to my radar courtesy of Maja over at The Nocturnal Library. It was her scintillating review that got me to buy this book straight away and I dove in to it with very high expectations. The book’s blurb details a story about a boy assassin who transforms himself every time for a mission and is now trying to figure out what happened to him in the past. This was an interesting take on the child soldier/spy phenomenon and I wanted to see how the author handled it within the confines of the YA genre.
First things first, even though this book is a YA one, the violence and action are way outside’s the usual parameters of the genre. However it never seems over the top or even corny in any manner. Secondly I was certainly wowed by the main plot and its main character let me explain why. This book very strongly explores the horrendous phenomenon of child soldiers and in this case extrapolates this scary fact into an assassin story. By the means of this story, the author carefully shines a light on the concept of child (teenage) soldiers. Now this is a horrendous situation that has been the focus of many non-fiction books (A Long Way Gone) and movies (Blood Diamond) What I thought was brilliant was that the way the author showed psychological manipulation that has resulted in creation of Boy Nobody. The fact that the main protagonist and all of his handlers never call him by his original name thereby showing the focus in erasing his past identity. I thought this was a very good way to highlight these manipulative efforts and the effect they had on the subject. There’s some more stuff revealed about the protagonist’s past but that falls into the plot spoiler category so I’ll be refraining from talking about it.
In regards to characterization, the author very crucially shows the story happening through a first-person narrative lens and we get to see all of it via our unnamed boy assassin. The author absolutely nails down the characterization as we get a teenage viewpoint but without the teenage angst or the hormonal imbalance. The unnamed narrator of this story is trained to be an assassin and behaves in line with his training entirely. The book is about a mission that the protagonist gets in which he’s supposed to target a politician while getting close to his progeny. I loved how the author made this premise so believable and of course to back it up provided a reasonable explanation as to how the main character goes about trying to accomplish his mission.
Plus there’s the story background, which is slowly revealed and there’s a lot left in the story to be illuminated. The author has also planned some twists that come out of the left field and make the story that much more interesting. This story operates at a breakneck pace and from the start of the story absolutely refuses to let go of the accelerator pedal. While it opens up with a mission, it quickly morphs into something else entirely and then there are the plot twists that keep the readers from getting bored. I thought some of the twists while seemingly predictable end up being quite interesting. The climax absolutely is a blast in regards to character revelations and sets up the series quite fabulously. I absolutely can’t wait for the author to write and release the next book, as I want to learn more about Boy Nobody’s past and how he deals with it in the present.
So with so many superlatives about this book, are there any drawbacks to this book? In my opinion, there are almost next to none. Some YA readers might not be too enamored by the gray morality espoused by the protagonist but it is very much line with his training and the scope of the book. I was quite enamored by this story and therefore I couldn’t find much to complain about it.
CONCLUSION: Boy Nobody is an absolute thriller gem, it has all the characteristics needed such as quick pace, terrific protagonist, intriguing plot & a twisted climax. As far as thriller’s go, this tale hits the bull’s eye in almost every category. Allen Zadoff has given us a series that promises a lot and I’ll be sure to read all the rest of the books to see how he fulfills the promises laced within this book. Boy Nobody is a gem plain and simple, DO NOT MISS IT!
Order the book HERE
Read the first nine chapters HERE
Read an interview with Allen Zadoff
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Allen Zadoff was born in Boston, Mass and went on to live in upstate New York, Manhattan, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A former stage director, he is the author of the Boy Nobody series as well as several acclaimed novels including Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have, a winner of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award and a YALSA Popular Paperback for Young Adults. Sony Pictures and Overbrook Entertainment have optioned his Boy Nobody series. Allen is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. He currently teaches writing in Los Angeles and is at work on his next book.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: They needed the perfect assassin.
Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school in a new town under a new name, makes a few friends, and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die-of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, moving on to the next target.
But when he's assigned to the mayor of New York City, things change. The daughter is unlike anyone he has encountered before; the mayor reminds him of his father. And when memories and questions surface, his handlers at The Program are watching. Because somewhere deep inside, Boy Nobody is somebody: the kid he once was; the teen who wants normal things, like a real home and parents; a young man who wants out. And who just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's mission.
FORMAT/INFO: Boy Nobody is 337 pages long divided over seventy-seven non-numbered & un-titled chapters. The entire story is told from a first-person narrative via the protagonist Boy Nobody. Boy Nobody has a self-contained plot and is the first book in the Boy Nobody series.
June 11, 2013 marked the North America hardback and e-book publication of Boy Nobody via Little Brown Books.
ANALYSIS: Boy Nobody came on to my radar courtesy of Maja over at The Nocturnal Library. It was her scintillating review that got me to buy this book straight away and I dove in to it with very high expectations. The book’s blurb details a story about a boy assassin who transforms himself every time for a mission and is now trying to figure out what happened to him in the past. This was an interesting take on the child soldier/spy phenomenon and I wanted to see how the author handled it within the confines of the YA genre.
First things first, even though this book is a YA one, the violence and action are way outside’s the usual parameters of the genre. However it never seems over the top or even corny in any manner. Secondly I was certainly wowed by the main plot and its main character let me explain why. This book very strongly explores the horrendous phenomenon of child soldiers and in this case extrapolates this scary fact into an assassin story. By the means of this story, the author carefully shines a light on the concept of child (teenage) soldiers. Now this is a horrendous situation that has been the focus of many non-fiction books (A Long Way Gone) and movies (Blood Diamond) What I thought was brilliant was that the way the author showed psychological manipulation that has resulted in creation of Boy Nobody. The fact that the main protagonist and all of his handlers never call him by his original name thereby showing the focus in erasing his past identity. I thought this was a very good way to highlight these manipulative efforts and the effect they had on the subject. There’s some more stuff revealed about the protagonist’s past but that falls into the plot spoiler category so I’ll be refraining from talking about it.
In regards to characterization, the author very crucially shows the story happening through a first-person narrative lens and we get to see all of it via our unnamed boy assassin. The author absolutely nails down the characterization as we get a teenage viewpoint but without the teenage angst or the hormonal imbalance. The unnamed narrator of this story is trained to be an assassin and behaves in line with his training entirely. The book is about a mission that the protagonist gets in which he’s supposed to target a politician while getting close to his progeny. I loved how the author made this premise so believable and of course to back it up provided a reasonable explanation as to how the main character goes about trying to accomplish his mission.
Plus there’s the story background, which is slowly revealed and there’s a lot left in the story to be illuminated. The author has also planned some twists that come out of the left field and make the story that much more interesting. This story operates at a breakneck pace and from the start of the story absolutely refuses to let go of the accelerator pedal. While it opens up with a mission, it quickly morphs into something else entirely and then there are the plot twists that keep the readers from getting bored. I thought some of the twists while seemingly predictable end up being quite interesting. The climax absolutely is a blast in regards to character revelations and sets up the series quite fabulously. I absolutely can’t wait for the author to write and release the next book, as I want to learn more about Boy Nobody’s past and how he deals with it in the present.
So with so many superlatives about this book, are there any drawbacks to this book? In my opinion, there are almost next to none. Some YA readers might not be too enamored by the gray morality espoused by the protagonist but it is very much line with his training and the scope of the book. I was quite enamored by this story and therefore I couldn’t find much to complain about it.
CONCLUSION: Boy Nobody is an absolute thriller gem, it has all the characteristics needed such as quick pace, terrific protagonist, intriguing plot & a twisted climax. As far as thriller’s go, this tale hits the bull’s eye in almost every category. Allen Zadoff has given us a series that promises a lot and I’ll be sure to read all the rest of the books to see how he fulfills the promises laced within this book. Boy Nobody is a gem plain and simple, DO NOT MISS IT!
Official Paul J. McAuley Website
Official Paul J. McAuley Blog
Order Evening's Empires HERE
Read FBC Review of "Stories from the Quiet War"
Read Review of "Life After Wartime"
Read FBC Review of "The Quiet War"
Read FBC Review of "Gardens of the Sun"
Read FBC Review of "In the Mouth of the Whale"
"In the far future, a
young man stands on a barren asteroid. His ship has been stolen, his
family kidnapped or worse, and all he has on his side is a
semi-intelligent spacesuit. The only member of the crew to escape, Hari
has barely been off his ship before. It was his birthplace, his home and
his future.
He's going to get it back.
McAuley's latest
novel is set in the same far-flung future as his last few novels (The
Quiet War, Gardens of the Sun, In the Mouth of the Whale), but this time
he takes on a much more personal story.
This is a tale of
revenge, of murder and morality, of growing up and discovering the world
around you. Throughout the novel we follow Hari's viewpoint, and as he
unravels the mysteries that led to his stranding, we discover them
alongside him. But throughout his journeys, Hari must always bear one
thing in mind.
Nobody is to be trusted."
To make this closer to a "conventional review" let me start with the two major things Evening's Empires is predicated on - no real spoilers as this is where the book starts:
The big picture: after the Quiet War's finale (see Gardens of the Sun), humanity flourished in many forms as described in the awesome vignettes of Life After Wartime.
However everything ends so the True Empire - brutal, militaristic, hierarchic and racially exclusive as THE "true humans", in other words they considered that only people like us today more or less, were humans, while the post-humans, the radically modified humans etc were to be subjugated - based on Earth rose, conquered all more or less and ruled for a while.
Then, some 70 years before the book starts, the Trues made one crucial mistake by amassing the most powerful armada in history and sending it against the AI's of Saturn - called Seraphs, their story mentioned in passing in Evening's Empires - who until then stood aloof of humanity; the AI's annihilated the True Fleet but rather than destroying Earth as they could (see next), they did something arguably crueler taking away 50% of its sunlight so the ice started advancing.
Within a decade 90% of Earth's population died, the True Empire fell and ice covered almost all the planet; later the AI's restored the sunlight but today Earth is still a shadow of its former self and the Solar System is in a decadent, recessionary and pretty basic, "life is a struggle" state, so the Evening's Empires title
In the meantime, far away in a distant galaxy - ok, joking, just on a planet at another star where In the Mouth of the Whale takes place, things happen (read that book for them) that lead to The Bright Moment - a sort of transcendental moment instantaneous across space and time, at least as far as the humanity modest spread in space of about 25 LY or so goes; this took place a few decades prior to the start of Evening's Empires and among other things led directly to the birth of Gajananvihari Pilot, aka Hari, the main character of the novel.
In the aftermath of The Bright Moment, more upheaval, to add to the Evening theme, and the response of people was generally threefold - mysticism, religions etc; trying for scientific understanding; and the combination of the two, ie understanding in order to transcend; the conflict between followers of these paths powers the action of Evening's Empires.
While not having anything new in structure - boy, ship, hijacked, escape, finding why, pursuit, revenge - Evening's Empires has an extremely imaginative universe of the small worlds in the Solar System a few decades after the events of In the Mouth of the Whale and the stunning conclusion to those, The Bright Moment mentioned above, so some 1500 after the original duology, hence ~3800 AD.
To make this closer to a "conventional review" let me start with the two major things Evening's Empires is predicated on - no real spoilers as this is where the book starts:
The big picture: after the Quiet War's finale (see Gardens of the Sun), humanity flourished in many forms as described in the awesome vignettes of Life After Wartime.
However everything ends so the True Empire - brutal, militaristic, hierarchic and racially exclusive as THE "true humans", in other words they considered that only people like us today more or less, were humans, while the post-humans, the radically modified humans etc were to be subjugated - based on Earth rose, conquered all more or less and ruled for a while.
Then, some 70 years before the book starts, the Trues made one crucial mistake by amassing the most powerful armada in history and sending it against the AI's of Saturn - called Seraphs, their story mentioned in passing in Evening's Empires - who until then stood aloof of humanity; the AI's annihilated the True Fleet but rather than destroying Earth as they could (see next), they did something arguably crueler taking away 50% of its sunlight so the ice started advancing.
Within a decade 90% of Earth's population died, the True Empire fell and ice covered almost all the planet; later the AI's restored the sunlight but today Earth is still a shadow of its former self and the Solar System is in a decadent, recessionary and pretty basic, "life is a struggle" state, so the Evening's Empires title
In the meantime, far away in a distant galaxy - ok, joking, just on a planet at another star where In the Mouth of the Whale takes place, things happen (read that book for them) that lead to The Bright Moment - a sort of transcendental moment instantaneous across space and time, at least as far as the humanity modest spread in space of about 25 LY or so goes; this took place a few decades prior to the start of Evening's Empires and among other things led directly to the birth of Gajananvihari Pilot, aka Hari, the main character of the novel.
In the aftermath of The Bright Moment, more upheaval, to add to the Evening theme, and the response of people was generally threefold - mysticism, religions etc; trying for scientific understanding; and the combination of the two, ie understanding in order to transcend; the conflict between followers of these paths powers the action of Evening's Empires.
While not having anything new in structure - boy, ship, hijacked, escape, finding why, pursuit, revenge - Evening's Empires has an extremely imaginative universe of the small worlds in the Solar System a few decades after the events of In the Mouth of the Whale and the stunning conclusion to those, The Bright Moment mentioned above, so some 1500 after the original duology, hence ~3800 AD.
Everything one wants in sf is here and the book has one of the really original and plausible description of the future I've see recently - eg IM Banks, P. Hamilton or J. Corey are plausible with some assumptions but not as original, C. Priest's Archipelago or something like Mark von Schlegell's Venusia are original but less plausible so to speak.
Also in a nice touch the parts of the novel are named Childhood's End, Marooned off Vesta, The Caves of steel, Pirates of the Asteroids, The Cold equations and Downward to the Earth which are all names that should be quite familiar to any sf lover.
On looking at the book as a whole, I would say that and while it was very impressive and a top 25 of mine, it faltered a little in the last part mostly due to its structure and its main characteristic which is that sense of wonder and mysteries of reality are its driving force, rather than the pretty bland main character or the standard action adventure plot.
So while the first five parts with their combination of immediacy, action, revelations, sense of wonder and impressive world building work very well, the last part which takes place across 30 or so years in vignettes consisting a sort of extended epilogue reads more like "future history non-fiction" fiction without too much of the emotional content that ultimately powers a novel.
A 2 page "this is what happened after" epilogue would have worked much better imho as that would have allowed the author to tell the same stuff and not lose the momentum of the book - here a comparison with the In the Mouth of the Whale is instructive as there the action is completely local and far away from the Solar System - so all the history from the end of Gardens of the Sun till the present appears only in Evening's Empires as mentioned above - and the ending is also local with an "we are watching with interest the big picture thingy", but as a novel In the Mouth of the Whale works better.
Overall, Evening's Empires is true new space opera, full of sense of wonder, original and diverse worlds and people, great links to the past of the universe as described in the previous novels and stories, superb speculation and while as a novel it would have worked better with only the first five parts and a short epilogue rather than a sixth part as a drawn out epilogue, it is still an impressive achievement. And of course one wants more in this wonderful universe as there is a lot of scope for such.
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