Official Author Website
Order The Lives Of Tao HERE
Read an excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Wesley Chu
Read Villains by Wesley Chu
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Wesley Chu was born in Taiwan and soon immigrated to USA. He was then raised in Chicago, Illinois. Wesley graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also an avid gamer and a contributing writer for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He has previously worked as a stunt man as well as a Senior Software Systems Engineer and is a member of the SAG. He has worked in Hanes and Chicago Blackhawks commercials and also films like Fred Claus. He currently works as an Associate Vice President at a bank and spends his time writing.
OFFICIAL BLURB: When out-of-shape IT technician Roen Tan woke up and started hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumed he was losing it. He wasn’t.
He now has a passenger in his brain – an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Now split into two opposing factions – the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix – the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries. Both sides are searching for a way off-planet, and the Genjix will sacrifice the entire human race, if that’s what it takes.
Meanwhile, Roen has to train to be the ultimate secret agent. Like that’s going to end up well…
FORMAT/INFO: The Lives Of Tao is 464 pages long divided into thirty-nine chapters. The narration is in third person and is via Roen Tan, Sonya, Sean Diamont, Edward Blair, Tao and Devin Watson. This is the first book on the Tao trilogy with the second book titled “The Deaths Of Tao” and the third being tentatively titled “The Rebirths Of Tao”.
April 30, 2013 marks the paperback and e-book publication of The Lives Of Tao by Angry Robot books.
ANALYSIS: Wesley Chu’s debut The Lives Of Tao comes with very little fanfare attached to it. This book was selected by an open submission call taken by the Angry Robot folks in March 2011 and frankly I think this was a stroke of luck for Angry Robot that lead to the discovery of Wesley Chu among other authors. When I started reading The Lives Of Tao, I didn’t know what to expect entirely and that just helped in knocking my socks off even more explosively.
The Lives Of Tao begins with an agent named Edward Blair who has a being within him called Tao that is helping him with his mission. The mission fails as Edward is betrayed and Tao’s own existence gets endangered. He however gets another vessel and that turns out to be Roen Tan. An overweight slacker who just barely manages to not get fired at his job as an IT tech but still leaves a lot to be desired for Tao. Tao is an alien being belonging to a race called Quasing who have inhabited Earth since eons ago. These beings have since then shepherded humanity on the path that that has been recorded as our history (including all its ups and downs).
However in the midst of this shepherding, a schism developed within the ranks of the Quasing over the philosophy and the trajectory of their actions. This lead to the formation of the two groups titled the Prophus and the Genjix. Tao is a member of the Prophus who have been on the back foot since the past few decades. His main nemesis is Chivya, a Genjix who is looking for every way to kill Tao, nullify the Prophus’ plans and eradicate them from the face of the Earth. His vessel Sean Diamont (who was the basis of Wesley’s guest post about Villains and what goes into great villains) makes for a fine mirror antagonist for Roen as he’s everything that Tao wants to Roen to be.
The story is basically about what happens next as Roen’s life is not only turned inside out but he literally discovers the existence of a whole new way of life. Knowing his transformation won’t be an easy one, Tao enlists the help of another fellow Prophus called Baji and her host called Sonya. Soon Roen learns what it truly means to be a host to the Quasing but he only has so much time before he’s drawn in to the Genjix-Prophus war and before he knows it, his life will never ever be the same. That I think is a close summation of non-spoilery things in the plot, the rest can be discovered by the readers as I did and hopefully the read will be a fun one as I found out.
I think this is one of the best amalgamations of SF, Thriller, buddy-stories, comedy and other genre assortments, which was even more impressive because it’s a debut and is funny as hell. The story is a nice one with a bit of everything to satisfy most readers, beginning with characterization. We get to meet Roen who is for a lack of a better term, a genuine lost individual however as Tao takes over his life, his transformation begins. It isn’t a pretty one but boy is it a hilarious one to read about. The mental banter between Roen and Tao is written nicely and keeps the reader in splits as Roen is getting his ass handed to him by all the tasks. Also there are the supporting characters that though don’t get as much page time as Roen but stamp their authority for the reader to see. The Rocky soundtrack played throughout Roen’s entire transformation in my mind and it was even more hilarious with all the stumbles and mis-fires in between.
The story is a well plotted one as the reader is given a nice glimpse of the actual war that is taking place covertly and with comes all the various things that come along with such covert warfare. Roen and the readers learn that it’s not all like James Bond except certain action-oriented events. Roen learns all the ricks of the trade while also learning more about Tao and all of his previous human hosts. There’s a lot more to Tao especially with those whom he terms his mistakes for example Genghis Khan but there are only cryptic reminders to those events and hopefully we’ll learn more about that aspect of Tao’s history in the remaining books of the trilogy. Overall I can easily see this book converted into a film and with the right screenplay, it would be a kick-ass one.
This I believe is the book’s biggest strength that the author has combined several elements into a coherent plot and managed to execute one of the oldest tropes of genre fiction spectacularly. His slant of science fiction mixed with a thriller and then laced with several comedic overtones might not please everyone but for the casual reader or the genre fan who’s is looking for a good read, Wesley has aced his debut. The world system and its mythology are very tantalizing and the author drops enough hints of things to come, things that have been and how the Quasing has modeled history. There’s also a nascent love story that has been handled well by the author and I was particularly surprised by the author’s twists in the climax in relation to Roen’s personal life and Quasing alliance.
Things that weren’t so groovy with this book, now this is going to be entirely subjective. I thought this was a very good debut. Perhaps the author could have given more page time to the other POV characters Sonya and Sean and we would have gotten to know them a bit more. Also the author could have revealed a bit more about the world in context of the Quasing, but these things are not a major hindrance as the story is more about Roen, Tao and Roen’s transformation vis-à-vis Tao. In this regard, the author hits all pertinent points and so I have no major complaints with it.
CONCLUSION: Wesley Chu’s The Lives Of Tao is a debut that is a perfect amalgamation of many things, which I love. I hope other readers will also see it for what it is, a rather well written book about genre tropes handled competently by a debut author. The Lives Of Tao is an excellent find by Angry Robot and IMO heralds Wesley as a fantastic debutante to watch out for.
12:01 AM | 
Posted by
The Reader |
Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic Interview with Peter Clines
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Ex-Heroes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Junkie Quatrain
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of 14
INTRODUCTION: I had read Ex-Patriots nearly two years after I was completely wowed by Ex-Heroes. The sequel didn’t disappoint me with the overall story continuation. Since then we have had to wait for the third book to be released. The reasons for this delay are covered over here and here. With Crown Publishing picking up this series, I was ecstatic to see that one of my favorite series would be getting a bigger spotlight.
As with Ex-Heroes, I’ve decided to re-review this title and since there aren’t many changes in the story here besides some editing changes which are to be expected. Overall though these differences are minor ones and so here’s my review from 2011 as I think it states why I like this book and love this series so much. As with my previous re-review I've made some changes in my review to reflect the new edition. So be sure to pick up this excellent sequel and find out why I consider Peter Clines to be a fantastic storyteller!
PRESS RELEASE: Originally published by a small, print-on-demand press without any publicity or marketing support and almost no physical distribution, Peter Clines’ fantastic debut, Ex-Heroes, still managed to draw an incredible cult following and had genre fans all over the blogosphere raving when Broadway released the paperback in February. Now, Broadway is thrilled to introduce the second in Clines’ sci-fi, thriller, and horror fiction mashup series, Ex-Patriots.
Featuring the same cast of brilliant original superheroes, expert thriller plotting, cinematic action scenes, and tons of fun geek and pop-culture references (and set in L.A., where a number of celebrities make rather humorous cameos as zombies), Ex-Patriots is one of those rare sequels that is even more gripping than the first and is sure to establish Clines as one to watch for by fans of such hits as Watchmen, World War Z, and Ready Player One.
***********************************************************************
Original 2011 Review of Ex-Patriots:
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Peter Clines was born and brought up in Maine, he moved to California when he grew up and worked in Hollywood for a number of years. He has also been a prop master for several movies and TV shows. He has published several pieces of short fiction and countless articles on the film and television industry, as well as the recent novel 14, named best sci-fi novel of 2012 by Audible.com and voted one of the best horror novels of 2012 on Goodreads and Bloody Disgusting.
He has previously written reviews for the Cinema Blend website and for the Creative Screenwriting magazine as well interviewed many famous film personas such as Frank Darabont, Paul Haggis, Kevin Smith, George Romero, Akiva Goldsman, David Goyer, Mark Herman, Nora Ephron among many others. He currently lives in Southern California.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles’s survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount. Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount’s citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in . . . and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out.
Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and women of the Army's Project Krypton survived the outbreak because they are super-soldiers, created before mankind's fall to be better, stronger, faster than normal humans--and their secure base in Arizona beckons as a much needed refuge for the beleaguered heroes and their charges.
But a dark secret lies at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it wield an awesome and terrifying power.
With the same wry wit and light touch that bedazzled readers of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots features great new characters, cool new threats, and jaw-dropping plot twists that will amaze even the most well-versed in the adventure genre.
FORMAT/INFO: Ex-Patriots is 424 pages long divided over a prologue, thirty-two numbered/titled chapters, and an epilogue. All chapters are either divided into “Then” or “Now” sections. Narration is in the first-person for all “Then” chapters and in third person for all the “Now” sections. There is also a chapter excerpt of Ex-Communication, the long-awaited 3rd book of this series. The POV's both first person and third person are via Stealth, Dr. Emil Sorenson, Staff sergeant Kennedy, Sergeant Harry Harrison, Cerberus, Zzzap, Captain John Carter Freedom, John Smith, First sergeant Paine, Platoon sergeant Johnson, Private Kurt Taylor, St. George and a few minor characters. Ex-Patriots has a self-contained plot and is the second book in the Ex series. Readers can read this book without having read the first but there are some significant spoilers for the first volume as well some confusion in regards to certain plot & character developments.
Ex-Patriots was previously published on September 4, 2011 in the paperback and e-book format via Permuted press. It will be re-released in paperback and e-book format on April 23, 2013 via Broadway Paperbacks (Crown Publishing) in the US. Del Rey UK will be releasing it paperback form on July 11, 2013 while it has already been released as an e-book on April 11, 2013. US Cover art is provided by Jonathan Bartlett.
CLASSIFICATION: Mixing zombies with superheroes in a desolate world. Peter Clines’ Ex-Patriots is George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead meets Matthew Reilly’s Area 7 meets The Avengers.
Order the book HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic Interview with Peter Clines
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Ex-Heroes
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Junkie Quatrain
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of 14
INTRODUCTION: I had read Ex-Patriots nearly two years after I was completely wowed by Ex-Heroes. The sequel didn’t disappoint me with the overall story continuation. Since then we have had to wait for the third book to be released. The reasons for this delay are covered over here and here. With Crown Publishing picking up this series, I was ecstatic to see that one of my favorite series would be getting a bigger spotlight.
As with Ex-Heroes, I’ve decided to re-review this title and since there aren’t many changes in the story here besides some editing changes which are to be expected. Overall though these differences are minor ones and so here’s my review from 2011 as I think it states why I like this book and love this series so much. As with my previous re-review I've made some changes in my review to reflect the new edition. So be sure to pick up this excellent sequel and find out why I consider Peter Clines to be a fantastic storyteller!
PRESS RELEASE: Originally published by a small, print-on-demand press without any publicity or marketing support and almost no physical distribution, Peter Clines’ fantastic debut, Ex-Heroes, still managed to draw an incredible cult following and had genre fans all over the blogosphere raving when Broadway released the paperback in February. Now, Broadway is thrilled to introduce the second in Clines’ sci-fi, thriller, and horror fiction mashup series, Ex-Patriots.
Featuring the same cast of brilliant original superheroes, expert thriller plotting, cinematic action scenes, and tons of fun geek and pop-culture references (and set in L.A., where a number of celebrities make rather humorous cameos as zombies), Ex-Patriots is one of those rare sequels that is even more gripping than the first and is sure to establish Clines as one to watch for by fans of such hits as Watchmen, World War Z, and Ready Player One.
***********************************************************************
Original 2011 Review of Ex-Patriots:
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Peter Clines was born and brought up in Maine, he moved to California when he grew up and worked in Hollywood for a number of years. He has also been a prop master for several movies and TV shows. He has published several pieces of short fiction and countless articles on the film and television industry, as well as the recent novel 14, named best sci-fi novel of 2012 by Audible.com and voted one of the best horror novels of 2012 on Goodreads and Bloody Disgusting.
He has previously written reviews for the Cinema Blend website and for the Creative Screenwriting magazine as well interviewed many famous film personas such as Frank Darabont, Paul Haggis, Kevin Smith, George Romero, Akiva Goldsman, David Goyer, Mark Herman, Nora Ephron among many others. He currently lives in Southern California.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles’s survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount. Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount’s citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in . . . and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out.
Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and women of the Army's Project Krypton survived the outbreak because they are super-soldiers, created before mankind's fall to be better, stronger, faster than normal humans--and their secure base in Arizona beckons as a much needed refuge for the beleaguered heroes and their charges.
But a dark secret lies at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it wield an awesome and terrifying power.
With the same wry wit and light touch that bedazzled readers of Ex-Heroes, Ex-Patriots features great new characters, cool new threats, and jaw-dropping plot twists that will amaze even the most well-versed in the adventure genre.
FORMAT/INFO: Ex-Patriots is 424 pages long divided over a prologue, thirty-two numbered/titled chapters, and an epilogue. All chapters are either divided into “Then” or “Now” sections. Narration is in the first-person for all “Then” chapters and in third person for all the “Now” sections. There is also a chapter excerpt of Ex-Communication, the long-awaited 3rd book of this series. The POV's both first person and third person are via Stealth, Dr. Emil Sorenson, Staff sergeant Kennedy, Sergeant Harry Harrison, Cerberus, Zzzap, Captain John Carter Freedom, John Smith, First sergeant Paine, Platoon sergeant Johnson, Private Kurt Taylor, St. George and a few minor characters. Ex-Patriots has a self-contained plot and is the second book in the Ex series. Readers can read this book without having read the first but there are some significant spoilers for the first volume as well some confusion in regards to certain plot & character developments.
Ex-Patriots was previously published on September 4, 2011 in the paperback and e-book format via Permuted press. It will be re-released in paperback and e-book format on April 23, 2013 via Broadway Paperbacks (Crown Publishing) in the US. Del Rey UK will be releasing it paperback form on July 11, 2013 while it has already been released as an e-book on April 11, 2013. US Cover art is provided by Jonathan Bartlett.
CLASSIFICATION: Mixing zombies with superheroes in a desolate world. Peter Clines’ Ex-Patriots is George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead meets Matthew Reilly’s Area 7 meets The Avengers.
ANALYSIS: After reading Peter Clines' excellent debut Ex-Heroes, I was very excited to see where he would take the characters and the world he had written about in the next book. As is the case with most successful debuts, the sequels come up high anticipation and therein lay the quandary for the author as to come with a story that will resonate with the readers and give them something from the previous book and also at the same time head the characters in a new direction. It’s a tight rope act and one, which has to done precisely as there are no second chances.
Peter Clines’ sequel to his exhilarating debut is titled Ex-Patriots and focuses on events a year later after what has happened in Ex-Heroes. The Mount community has more than doubled in its size due to the influx of immigrants from the other side. The Heroes have had their share of losses but their workload has even increased and now there’s a bit of resentment being aimed at the heroes by someone who believes they are taking away their civilian rights and choices. Things however look up as they celebrate Independence Day and people have a good time. Their celebration is noticed by a military drone, which brings out two choppers full of US soldiers. These soldiers aren’t just the ordinary kind; they are from the project Krypton headed by Dr. Emil Sorrenson. They prove their capabilities and invite the heroes to their base, as the Cerebrus armor is something, which would be invaluable to them. On arriving at the Krypton base, things start going southwards as the heroes learn of certain things. But the main question is who is the real villain amidst all these events and what does this mean for all the humans still living in the Mount?
Sequels are always hard things to write however the author does the smart thing by sticking to his original successful formula of structuring his story and making sure that the readers instantly feel reconnected with the characters, however the new thing which he does is that he shifts the location of the action from Los Angeles to Project Krypton out in the Arizona desert. This shift causes a change of scenery as well as helps in widening the focus of the story and giving the readers an outward look at the events, which have been happening. This pattern was very reminiscent of Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow series wherein the first two books had a similar plot structure but were in diametrically opposite environments.
The characterization is again top notch as we re-enter the lives of the POV characters picking up from where the readers were left off & the fit is smooth. This time however the flashback then sections focus more on the newer characters thereby giving us a fresher look at the story but this move also detaches a bit of the attachment to the primary characters. As this time around it’s the new characters who are the recipients of the "Then" sections.
This book had a primary drawback, which was that during the middle portion, it tends to have a lull in the action and robs the story of some of its energy as well as the tension. This move while explained in the climax seems premeditated but somehow doesn’t quite come across so clearly. There’s also the addition of the new characters that aims to bring new zeal but some of these characters aren’t as intriguing as the earlier POV ones. Also some of them don’t get enough time to develop as the story restricts their flashbacks. These points might be something which were noticed only by me and many wouldn’t be bothered by them however anticipation often is a double-edged blade. The ending however redeems these points completely as the author reveals his final twists which will definitely surprise many a reader and continues the tie-in with the overall all series arc.
CONCLUSION: Peter Clines’ sequel aims to please all new as well as the previous readers however the overall execution didn’t quite come together as much as the first book. But this sequel is still a great effort and continues the excellent story begun in its predecessor. Ex-Patriots is a crackerjack of a sequel, continuing in the same vein and yet delivering a thoroughly refurbished product which readers can enjoy thoroughly. Peter Clines shows he’s no one-hit wonder & now I can’t wait to see how what he has planned next in Ex-Communication.
Peter Clines’ sequel to his exhilarating debut is titled Ex-Patriots and focuses on events a year later after what has happened in Ex-Heroes. The Mount community has more than doubled in its size due to the influx of immigrants from the other side. The Heroes have had their share of losses but their workload has even increased and now there’s a bit of resentment being aimed at the heroes by someone who believes they are taking away their civilian rights and choices. Things however look up as they celebrate Independence Day and people have a good time. Their celebration is noticed by a military drone, which brings out two choppers full of US soldiers. These soldiers aren’t just the ordinary kind; they are from the project Krypton headed by Dr. Emil Sorrenson. They prove their capabilities and invite the heroes to their base, as the Cerebrus armor is something, which would be invaluable to them. On arriving at the Krypton base, things start going southwards as the heroes learn of certain things. But the main question is who is the real villain amidst all these events and what does this mean for all the humans still living in the Mount?
Sequels are always hard things to write however the author does the smart thing by sticking to his original successful formula of structuring his story and making sure that the readers instantly feel reconnected with the characters, however the new thing which he does is that he shifts the location of the action from Los Angeles to Project Krypton out in the Arizona desert. This shift causes a change of scenery as well as helps in widening the focus of the story and giving the readers an outward look at the events, which have been happening. This pattern was very reminiscent of Matthew Reilly’s Scarecrow series wherein the first two books had a similar plot structure but were in diametrically opposite environments.
The characterization is again top notch as we re-enter the lives of the POV characters picking up from where the readers were left off & the fit is smooth. This time however the flashback then sections focus more on the newer characters thereby giving us a fresher look at the story but this move also detaches a bit of the attachment to the primary characters. As this time around it’s the new characters who are the recipients of the "Then" sections.
This book had a primary drawback, which was that during the middle portion, it tends to have a lull in the action and robs the story of some of its energy as well as the tension. This move while explained in the climax seems premeditated but somehow doesn’t quite come across so clearly. There’s also the addition of the new characters that aims to bring new zeal but some of these characters aren’t as intriguing as the earlier POV ones. Also some of them don’t get enough time to develop as the story restricts their flashbacks. These points might be something which were noticed only by me and many wouldn’t be bothered by them however anticipation often is a double-edged blade. The ending however redeems these points completely as the author reveals his final twists which will definitely surprise many a reader and continues the tie-in with the overall all series arc.
CONCLUSION: Peter Clines’ sequel aims to please all new as well as the previous readers however the overall execution didn’t quite come together as much as the first book. But this sequel is still a great effort and continues the excellent story begun in its predecessor. Ex-Patriots is a crackerjack of a sequel, continuing in the same vein and yet delivering a thoroughly refurbished product which readers can enjoy thoroughly. Peter Clines shows he’s no one-hit wonder & now I can’t wait to see how what he has planned next in Ex-Communication.
Order “Three Parts Dead” HERE
Read An Excerpt HERE
With the recent
announcement of the Hugo nominations, I wanted to talk a little bit about
one of the nominations I found most exciting: Max Gladstone for the John
Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His debut novel Three Parts Dead was one of the best books I read all last year. If
you haven't checked it out, you should definitely give it
a read before the sequel Two Serpents
Rise is released this October.
I'm not
entirely sure what speculative fiction subgenre Three Parts Dead falls into: I usually call it epic fantasy, though
in some ways it feels more like urban fantasy—largely because the book takes
place in and revolves around the affairs of one city. It's even got some
steampunk elements in there, so the author really just ignored genre
distinctions and pulled out all the stops.
Gladstone adopts a
lot of tropes long-time speculative fiction readers will recognize: God Wars,
craftsmen, zombies, vampires, and gargoyles, sun and moon gods, power armor,
etc. But he's doing something new with every single one of them, and combining
them in really unexpected ways. I mean, power armor and gargoyles and god wars
together, not to mention raising gods from the dead? Who does that? Gladstone packed as much awesome as he
could into one world, and it totally paid off.
One reason
I'm calling Three Parts Dead epic is
because the scope of the world is vast. With so many things to explain, this
book was wonderful about exposition. I wanted
to know many things before I learned them, but I learned them exactly when
I needed to know. Because of the
scope, there were times when it felt like too much to process at once, but
that's what comes with having a new, innovative world. Even if I didn't
understand everything right away, by the time I needed to put the pieces
together the information had been well-integrated.
We don't
learn everything about the world, but we learn enough to suggest how big it is.
We learn about the economics of paper, and how communication in the city
setting differs from other places, and what transportation regulations people
keep in mind.
Another
reason I'm calling the novel epic is because of the multiple POVs. I loved that
a majority of the POV characters were female, because I don't see that enough
in epic fantasy. Each POV character behaves intelligently given the information
they have, and even when they disagree with each other, they give sound
arguments. For example, when two academics debate, they reference dense
theoretical arguments, while when an academic and a clergyman debate gods, they
have trouble relating to each other. Each POV character comes from a different
perspective, their scenes are written accordingly, and that further fleshes out
the world.
For the
magic system, the readers get a sense that there are limits to what an
individual craftsman can do with craft, but we don't really know what the
limitations of craft itself are. There is some basic theory on how craft works,
enough that we believe there are rules, yet its workings remain numinous. This
is my favorite way to treat magic in books.
Three Parts Dead gets
theoretically dense, which is fascinating, and packed with all kinds of ethical
issues. I appreciated the underscoring themes about failure, addiction, lines
that cannot be uncrossed and lines that can, the strength of platonic love
rather than romantic, and dozens more besides.
What
really makes this book isn't the world-building, though; it's that all of the
POV characters are set up as competent in some ways, but by the end they all
must do the thing they believe they cannot do. Every single one of them. The moments
of epic just pile up until the very final scene, which is pretty much the best
ever. I think I re-read that scene three times before I finally convinced
myself a scene that awesome really had just happened.
Three Parts Dead works as
a stand-alone, but Max Gladstone also
set up a lot he can play with later. I was thrilled to learn this novel is the
first of a series, and I think if you give this book a shot you will be, too.
Official Author Website
Order the book HERE
Read the first seven chapters HERE
Read Civilian Reader’s review of Executive Privilege
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Supreme Justice
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Capitol Murder
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s interview with Phillip Margolin
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Phillip Margolin is an ex-criminal defense attorney from the New York School of Law. He has had nearly a quarter century of experience working as defense attorney in Portland, Oregon and has all sorts of criminal cases appear before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, The Oregon Supreme Courtand The Oregon Court of Appeals. He was the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women's Syndrome to defend a abused woman. Two of his books and a short story have been made into movies. He lives in Oregon state.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Charles Benedict—criminal defense lawyer, amateur magician, and professional hit man—and Private Investigator Dana Cutler are on a collision course set in motion by Benedict’s greatest sleight of hand trick yet: framing a millionaire for the murder of his much younger wife.
Ten years ago, Horace Blair fell in love with Carrie, the prosecutor in his DUI trial. After a torrid courtship, he persuaded her to marry him and to sign a pre-nuptial agreement guaranteeing her twenty million dollars if she remained faithful during the first ten years of their marriage. The week before their tenth anniversary, Carrie disappears and Horace is charged with her murder. Desperate to clear his name, the millionaire hires one of D.C.’s most brilliant and ruthless defense attorneys, Charles Benedict, who, in a twist of fate, may be the very man who killed Carrie.
Meanwhile, private investigator Dana Cutler is in the Pacific Northwest on the trail of a stolen relic, a medieval scepter dating from the Ottoman Empire. Hitting a dead end sends her back to Virginia perplexed and disappointed—yet, the jewel-encrusted specter may be the key to the twisting case of Horace and Carrie Blair.
It's the perfect crime, unless Dana Cutler can conjure a few tricks of her own to take down a cunning psychopath and expose his diabolical plot—before he can work his deadly magic on her.
FORMAT/INFO: Sleight Of Hand is 312 pages long divided into Sixty chapters over three parts. Narration is in the third person via Dana Cutler, Charles Benedict, Horace Blair, Carrie Blair, Stephanie Robb, Frank Santoro, Gregor Karpinski, and Sarah Gelfand. This book has a self-contained plot line, but also contains characters that have appeared in previous books and has a few minor references to certain past events from those books.
April 9, 2013 marks the North American Hardcover and e-book publication of Sleight Of Hand via Harper Collins.
ANALYSIS: After discovering Phillip Margolin via Wild Justice nearly a decade ago, I have made sure never to miss any of his amazing mystery-thriller books. Phillip Margolin is a master storyteller and often comes up with complicated plots that feature a vast character cast. With this new standalone book, hebrings back a character from his previous published Washington trilogy. Dana Cutler is the main protagonist of this tale, which borrows some plot points from the classic Maltese Falcon storyline and is the author's ode to it as well.
The storyline characteristically begins in Margolin fashion with various disticnt plot threads; the first one focusses on Dana who is still doing what she does best and trying to stay out of mortifying cases as shown in the previous trilogy volumes. Fate and the author it seems have other plans for her as she soon finds out. The storyline also features a very fascinating character in the form of Charles Benedict who is a defense attorney to many shady characters but does it with such suave and charm that it often belies his deadly wiles. The second plotline deals with Carrie Blair who is the wife of Horace Blair and soon to receive twenty million dollars with their impending separation. Things however never go as planned and of course the stage is set for a confrontation of minds between Dana and Charles.
Their entanglement occurs in ways that are very unpredictable and almost entirely unexpected. The plot is twisted and of course laden with several surprises that will keep the reader motivated to flip the pages and figure out the main mystery. This is the main aspect of Phillip’s writing that I so adore, besides Jeffrey Deaver, its only Phillip Margolin who consistently comes up with these fantastic plots that have me guessing while not seeming to be rehashes of his previous books (John Grisham I’m looking at you). When dealing with a large character cast, characterization is very vital to the success of its plot and this book is no deviation from that successful formula. Besides Dana and one minor character, everyone else is a new character and a fully rounded one at that.
In regards to character cast, reader, who have read the previous books wherein Dana was featured will love this new twist in her professional life whereas for new readers the author gives enough background details for them to understand her and her psyche. Also the author takes care not to spoil the previous books beyond what was mentioned in their blurbs and even so only some details of the first book of the trilogy gets mentioned. I quite liked this aspect as this way for older readers, there was no rehash of previous events which they are familiar with and for new readers the previous books remain unspoiled. In regards to Charles Benedict, the character while fascinating does some things which would be hard to believe in a real-life court of law. In this regard I think the author was just trying to create a flamboyant character and so I can overlook some of these discrepancies in regards to his tricks.
Lastly there’s the pace of the plot, which makes the read a lively one and constantly prods the reader forward. I thought that this book was one of his better paced ones as the author had complete control over his story with all the twists and revelations. No page seems to be wasted with any side digressions and everything that is revealed is of importance to the end climax. Readers hopefully should enjoy this twisted ode to Dashiell Hammett’s masterpiece which while not fascinating as the original still delivers as a thrilling story.
In regards to any negatives with this story, it reminded me a bit of Proof Positive in regards to the final climax and plot resolution. Perhaps some readers might feel that it is a generic storyline and so experienced readers might not find it entirely to their liking. Overall though there’s not much for me to complain or point faults at with this book. Readers have to keep in mind that this is no literary novel but a mystery thriller that has aims to keep the readers guessing till the end and entertain them wholly. On this front the book and author have succeeded entirely.
CONCLUSION: I thoroughly enjoyed this story and while Dana Cutler wasn’t one of my favorite characters in the author’s previous work. In this book I thought she was a good protagonist to anchor the storyline. Sleight Of Hand simply confirms Phillip Margolin's place among the top rung of Mystery/Thriller writers with the addendum that he's also one of the most under-appreciated ones.
Order the book HERE
Read the first seven chapters HERE
Read Civilian Reader’s review of Executive Privilege
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Supreme Justice
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Capitol Murder
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s interview with Phillip Margolin
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Phillip Margolin is an ex-criminal defense attorney from the New York School of Law. He has had nearly a quarter century of experience working as defense attorney in Portland, Oregon and has all sorts of criminal cases appear before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, The Oregon Supreme Courtand The Oregon Court of Appeals. He was the first Oregon attorney to use the Battered Women's Syndrome to defend a abused woman. Two of his books and a short story have been made into movies. He lives in Oregon state.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: Charles Benedict—criminal defense lawyer, amateur magician, and professional hit man—and Private Investigator Dana Cutler are on a collision course set in motion by Benedict’s greatest sleight of hand trick yet: framing a millionaire for the murder of his much younger wife.
Ten years ago, Horace Blair fell in love with Carrie, the prosecutor in his DUI trial. After a torrid courtship, he persuaded her to marry him and to sign a pre-nuptial agreement guaranteeing her twenty million dollars if she remained faithful during the first ten years of their marriage. The week before their tenth anniversary, Carrie disappears and Horace is charged with her murder. Desperate to clear his name, the millionaire hires one of D.C.’s most brilliant and ruthless defense attorneys, Charles Benedict, who, in a twist of fate, may be the very man who killed Carrie.
Meanwhile, private investigator Dana Cutler is in the Pacific Northwest on the trail of a stolen relic, a medieval scepter dating from the Ottoman Empire. Hitting a dead end sends her back to Virginia perplexed and disappointed—yet, the jewel-encrusted specter may be the key to the twisting case of Horace and Carrie Blair.
It's the perfect crime, unless Dana Cutler can conjure a few tricks of her own to take down a cunning psychopath and expose his diabolical plot—before he can work his deadly magic on her.
FORMAT/INFO: Sleight Of Hand is 312 pages long divided into Sixty chapters over three parts. Narration is in the third person via Dana Cutler, Charles Benedict, Horace Blair, Carrie Blair, Stephanie Robb, Frank Santoro, Gregor Karpinski, and Sarah Gelfand. This book has a self-contained plot line, but also contains characters that have appeared in previous books and has a few minor references to certain past events from those books.
April 9, 2013 marks the North American Hardcover and e-book publication of Sleight Of Hand via Harper Collins.
ANALYSIS: After discovering Phillip Margolin via Wild Justice nearly a decade ago, I have made sure never to miss any of his amazing mystery-thriller books. Phillip Margolin is a master storyteller and often comes up with complicated plots that feature a vast character cast. With this new standalone book, hebrings back a character from his previous published Washington trilogy. Dana Cutler is the main protagonist of this tale, which borrows some plot points from the classic Maltese Falcon storyline and is the author's ode to it as well.
The storyline characteristically begins in Margolin fashion with various disticnt plot threads; the first one focusses on Dana who is still doing what she does best and trying to stay out of mortifying cases as shown in the previous trilogy volumes. Fate and the author it seems have other plans for her as she soon finds out. The storyline also features a very fascinating character in the form of Charles Benedict who is a defense attorney to many shady characters but does it with such suave and charm that it often belies his deadly wiles. The second plotline deals with Carrie Blair who is the wife of Horace Blair and soon to receive twenty million dollars with their impending separation. Things however never go as planned and of course the stage is set for a confrontation of minds between Dana and Charles.
Their entanglement occurs in ways that are very unpredictable and almost entirely unexpected. The plot is twisted and of course laden with several surprises that will keep the reader motivated to flip the pages and figure out the main mystery. This is the main aspect of Phillip’s writing that I so adore, besides Jeffrey Deaver, its only Phillip Margolin who consistently comes up with these fantastic plots that have me guessing while not seeming to be rehashes of his previous books (John Grisham I’m looking at you). When dealing with a large character cast, characterization is very vital to the success of its plot and this book is no deviation from that successful formula. Besides Dana and one minor character, everyone else is a new character and a fully rounded one at that.
In regards to character cast, reader, who have read the previous books wherein Dana was featured will love this new twist in her professional life whereas for new readers the author gives enough background details for them to understand her and her psyche. Also the author takes care not to spoil the previous books beyond what was mentioned in their blurbs and even so only some details of the first book of the trilogy gets mentioned. I quite liked this aspect as this way for older readers, there was no rehash of previous events which they are familiar with and for new readers the previous books remain unspoiled. In regards to Charles Benedict, the character while fascinating does some things which would be hard to believe in a real-life court of law. In this regard I think the author was just trying to create a flamboyant character and so I can overlook some of these discrepancies in regards to his tricks.
Lastly there’s the pace of the plot, which makes the read a lively one and constantly prods the reader forward. I thought that this book was one of his better paced ones as the author had complete control over his story with all the twists and revelations. No page seems to be wasted with any side digressions and everything that is revealed is of importance to the end climax. Readers hopefully should enjoy this twisted ode to Dashiell Hammett’s masterpiece which while not fascinating as the original still delivers as a thrilling story.
In regards to any negatives with this story, it reminded me a bit of Proof Positive in regards to the final climax and plot resolution. Perhaps some readers might feel that it is a generic storyline and so experienced readers might not find it entirely to their liking. Overall though there’s not much for me to complain or point faults at with this book. Readers have to keep in mind that this is no literary novel but a mystery thriller that has aims to keep the readers guessing till the end and entertain them wholly. On this front the book and author have succeeded entirely.
CONCLUSION: I thoroughly enjoyed this story and while Dana Cutler wasn’t one of my favorite characters in the author’s previous work. In this book I thought she was a good protagonist to anchor the storyline. Sleight Of Hand simply confirms Phillip Margolin's place among the top rung of Mystery/Thriller writers with the addendum that he's also one of the most under-appreciated ones.
"Anna has always been a
risk-taker and a free spirit, but now she is raising a young daughter on
her own and she has to play it safe. Her twenty-something neighbor with
the slow, easy smile is in no way part of Anna's plans. She resists
temptation in every way she can, yet Anna is soon drawn into a reckless
and obsessive affair.
Provocative, headlong, and utterly compelling, THE BOY is the story of a woman on the edge, torn between love and compulsion, desire and duty. Lara Santoro writes in "hypnotic and swiftly paced" prose (Daniel Woodrell) about the hazards of passion and motherhood and about one woman's unthinkable rebellion."
Provocative, headlong, and utterly compelling, THE BOY is the story of a woman on the edge, torn between love and compulsion, desire and duty. Lara Santoro writes in "hypnotic and swiftly paced" prose (Daniel Woodrell) about the hazards of passion and motherhood and about one woman's unthinkable rebellion."
"The Boy" is one of those books that are hard to discuss without sounding
ridiculous as they transcend so much their ostensible subject - Anna
drunken former journalist and risk taker with rich British ex from hell
and young daughter Eva to whom she devotes her life after running away
from the cheating ex and she is now trying to raise in the wilderness of
New Mexico with gambler housekeeper Esperanza of many problems, falls
at 42 for the gorgeous but troubled - Ivy league drop-out - 21 year old
son of her neighbor and well, this ain't going to end well as everyone
knows - to give a novel that is so powerful and so compelling that I
can only say, check out an excerpt and see how it's going to hook you and it becomes a must read...
Funny, sensual, sad, ironical, cynical on occasion and an extraordinary reading experience:
Here is the first paragraph:
"She could not remember meeting him. She tried, sifting through the early hours of that first night of summer, to retrieve the instant when their eyes first met, their hands first touched, but found that she could not. The boy had slipped into her life sideways: one minute he was not there, the next he was seated to her right, asking her things."
Here is one of the unforgettable phone conversations with the rich, "posh" ex when he was having their daughter in the Uk for her annual summer visit:
"Anna gave her a sympathetic nod then, suddenly overcome by the molecular imperative to hear her daughter’s voice, she pulled out her cell phone and ran out of the store.
She had to go through the girl’s father, of course. He answered the phone with typical boorishness.
Funny, sensual, sad, ironical, cynical on occasion and an extraordinary reading experience:
Here is the first paragraph:
"She could not remember meeting him. She tried, sifting through the early hours of that first night of summer, to retrieve the instant when their eyes first met, their hands first touched, but found that she could not. The boy had slipped into her life sideways: one minute he was not there, the next he was seated to her right, asking her things."
Here is one of the unforgettable phone conversations with the rich, "posh" ex when he was having their daughter in the Uk for her annual summer visit:
"Anna gave her a sympathetic nod then, suddenly overcome by the molecular imperative to hear her daughter’s voice, she pulled out her cell phone and ran out of the store.
She had to go through the girl’s father, of course. He answered the phone with typical boorishness.
“Oh hello, Anna. Why, yes, Eva is standing right here.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“I’m very well, thank you for asking. And you? Are you in jail? In an asylum? Or should we be so bold as to set our sights on a halfway house?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me speak to my daughter.”
“Rumor has it you were caught snogging a twenty-year-old. I told Eva she’d be wise to keep an eye on her little playmates when she gets back.”
“God, how funny. How about you? Still with the Nobel laureate?”
“Nothing wrong with a trophy wife, nothing wrong. At least she’s legal.”
“Let me speak to her.”
“I’m very well, thank you for asking. And you? Are you in jail? In an asylum? Or should we be so bold as to set our sights on a halfway house?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me speak to my daughter.”
“Rumor has it you were caught snogging a twenty-year-old. I told Eva she’d be wise to keep an eye on her little playmates when she gets back.”
“God, how funny. How about you? Still with the Nobel laureate?”
“Nothing wrong with a trophy wife, nothing wrong. At least she’s legal.”
The fine folks at Fantasy Book Critic were kind enough to let me man the helm today, so I’m going to talk about villains. Now, I consider myself a connoisseur of villains, but let’s get a few things straight. I’m not talking about just any ole’ villain; I’m talking about the good stuff; top shelf villainy. By the way, if there isn’t a tequila by that name, there should be.
One of the big trends right now in SFF is the brainless bad guys. That would be the zombies, trollocs, goblins, orcs, and almost every single villain in a Joss Whedon movie. Oh yes, I just went there. Before I rile up the geek kingdom’s panties (of which I am a card carrying member) about the creator of Firefly and Avengers, might I remind you that his bad guys were either the Reavers who were insane flesh flaying psychopaths, or galactic lizards that rode on space chariots, who incidentally lost to five (albeit steroided up) earthlings and a petulant god with a hammer. Oh yeah, one of the guys use a bow; a frigging bow. You’re either the worst alien invasion force in the history of Earth invasions or you had very little competition back on your home planet.
But Joss Whedon aside, I’m down with the brainless bad guys, or as my old Kung Fu buddy calls them, arrow fodders. They’re cool and there’s a place for them, but I’d much prefer my flavor of bad guys to drool less than my dog. Why are they all flesh rending human eaters, anyway? I mean, unless you’re Hannibal Lecter, is it really necessary to hunt the hardest thing possible as your source of food? Does it taste that much better than say, steak or a pork chop?
There’s also the matter of purpose. Why is he the bad guy? What’s in it for him? I don’t buy into evil for evil’s sake. That would include Sauron, Bane, Gollum, Cobra Kai’s sensei in The Karate Kid, Freddy, Jason…etc… you get my drift. When the ultimate purpose of your badness is to be two dimensionally bad, then someone just needs a hug or ice cream or something.
One of the big trends right now in SFF is the brainless bad guys. That would be the zombies, trollocs, goblins, orcs, and almost every single villain in a Joss Whedon movie. Oh yes, I just went there. Before I rile up the geek kingdom’s panties (of which I am a card carrying member) about the creator of Firefly and Avengers, might I remind you that his bad guys were either the Reavers who were insane flesh flaying psychopaths, or galactic lizards that rode on space chariots, who incidentally lost to five (albeit steroided up) earthlings and a petulant god with a hammer. Oh yeah, one of the guys use a bow; a frigging bow. You’re either the worst alien invasion force in the history of Earth invasions or you had very little competition back on your home planet.
But Joss Whedon aside, I’m down with the brainless bad guys, or as my old Kung Fu buddy calls them, arrow fodders. They’re cool and there’s a place for them, but I’d much prefer my flavor of bad guys to drool less than my dog. Why are they all flesh rending human eaters, anyway? I mean, unless you’re Hannibal Lecter, is it really necessary to hunt the hardest thing possible as your source of food? Does it taste that much better than say, steak or a pork chop?
There’s also the matter of purpose. Why is he the bad guy? What’s in it for him? I don’t buy into evil for evil’s sake. That would include Sauron, Bane, Gollum, Cobra Kai’s sensei in The Karate Kid, Freddy, Jason…etc… you get my drift. When the ultimate purpose of your badness is to be two dimensionally bad, then someone just needs a hug or ice cream or something.
Personally, I want a certain level of respectability in my evil-doers. They should be dudes that make villainy proud. I’m a big believer that the bad guy in any story should be stronger, smarter, better dressed, and more suave than the hero. Yes, I said better dressed. You can’t just beat someone; you got to do it with style, because looking good counts. Otherwise, you’re just a two-bit variety. That’s why I never bought into Emperor Palpatine. He’s the emperor of the known galaxy and he wears a potato sack on his throne. Child please!
The villains I like have their suits tailored and will only kick your ass if it makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to have a sadistic streak, but kicking ass for the hell of it just means the villain’s eyes aren’t on the prize. There should be rewards consummate with the risk of being the antagonist. After all, bad guys have to deal with so much more crap than the good guys. Chances are, the law’s after them and there’s that whole living life a wanted man deal that kind of sucks. Plus, they probably just got their suit back from the cleaners. And at the end of the day, for me, they need to have gone the dark route for a higher calling, be it money, power, hot women, hot men, a religious fervor, or whatever.
My villainy philosophy will probably follow me for my entire writing career. How long that will be depends entirely on you readers. For me, antagonists are the most fun to write, but it depends on the sort of bad guy. Bad guys, like cats, come in all different shapes and sizes, and they all should be defeated in different ways (I’m a dog person), but I do want my readers to almost root for the baddies.
So, as a final plug before I hand the helm back to FBC, my debut novel The Lives of Tao, is out April 30th 2013 by Angry Robot Books. In it, I present to you, Sean Diamont, the kind of bad guy you hate but want to bring over for dinner, and then a game of chess while discussing the finer points of Chinese swordplay over a glass of scotch. By the end of the night, you’ll wish he’d date your sister, and maybe babysit your dog while you’re on vacation. And he’ll do it all while planning the destruction of the world. For good reason of course. Oh, and did I mention he’s well dressed?
The villains I like have their suits tailored and will only kick your ass if it makes sense. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to have a sadistic streak, but kicking ass for the hell of it just means the villain’s eyes aren’t on the prize. There should be rewards consummate with the risk of being the antagonist. After all, bad guys have to deal with so much more crap than the good guys. Chances are, the law’s after them and there’s that whole living life a wanted man deal that kind of sucks. Plus, they probably just got their suit back from the cleaners. And at the end of the day, for me, they need to have gone the dark route for a higher calling, be it money, power, hot women, hot men, a religious fervor, or whatever.
My villainy philosophy will probably follow me for my entire writing career. How long that will be depends entirely on you readers. For me, antagonists are the most fun to write, but it depends on the sort of bad guy. Bad guys, like cats, come in all different shapes and sizes, and they all should be defeated in different ways (I’m a dog person), but I do want my readers to almost root for the baddies.
So, as a final plug before I hand the helm back to FBC, my debut novel The Lives of Tao, is out April 30th 2013 by Angry Robot Books. In it, I present to you, Sean Diamont, the kind of bad guy you hate but want to bring over for dinner, and then a game of chess while discussing the finer points of Chinese swordplay over a glass of scotch. By the end of the night, you’ll wish he’d date your sister, and maybe babysit your dog while you’re on vacation. And he’ll do it all while planning the destruction of the world. For good reason of course. Oh, and did I mention he’s well dressed?
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Official Author Website
Order The Lives Of Tao HERE
Read an excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Wesley Chu
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Wesley Chu was born in Taiwan and soon immigrated to USA. He was then raised in Chicago, Illinois. Wesley graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also an avid gamer and a contributing writer for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He has previously worked as a stunt man as well as a Senior Software Systems Engineer and is a member of the SAG. He has worked in Hanes and Chicago Blackhawks commercials and also films like Fred Claus. He currently works as an Associate Vice President at a bank and spends his time writing and hanging out with his wife and their Airedale Terrier.
Order The Lives Of Tao HERE
Read an excerpt HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's Interview with Wesley Chu
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Wesley Chu was born in Taiwan and soon immigrated to USA. He was then raised in Chicago, Illinois. Wesley graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also an avid gamer and a contributing writer for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. He has previously worked as a stunt man as well as a Senior Software Systems Engineer and is a member of the SAG. He has worked in Hanes and Chicago Blackhawks commercials and also films like Fred Claus. He currently works as an Associate Vice President at a bank and spends his time writing and hanging out with his wife and their Airedale Terrier.
NOTE: Author picture courtesy of the author himself. Vilains picture courtesy of L. R. Talbot.
Order Black Mercury HERE
Order The Kaiser Affair HERE
Order The Machine God HERE
Read FBC's Review of Lovers And Beloveds
Read Melissa's Review of The Kaiser Affair
Read Qwill's Review of Black Mercury
Read Melissa's Review of The Kaiser Affair
Read Qwill's Review of Black Mercury
Read The Drifting Isle Chronicles - A new way to tell new stories ( A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
Read When Collaborating, Say Yes! (A guest post by Meilin Miranda)
Read On Machines And Talking Birds (A guest post by Charlotte E. English)
Read The Kaiser Affair - A fantasy thriller and travelogue to The Drifting Isle Chronicles (A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
Read On Machines And Talking Birds (A guest post by Charlotte E. English)
Read The Kaiser Affair - A fantasy thriller and travelogue to The Drifting Isle Chronicles (A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
AUTHOR INFORMATION: MeiLin Miranda came back from the dead to write books. In 2006, she suffered a cardiac arrest and realized it was high time to get on with writing fiction after 30-plus years of professional nonfiction writing. Her main series is the fantasy epic saga An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom, and she is a co-creator of the shared steampunk fantasy series The Drifting Isle Chronicles. Her influences include Ursula K. LeGuin, Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen, Patrick O'Brian, Georgette Heyer, MFK Fisher and Neil Gaiman.
She can't seem to get away from writing stories set in the 19th century (or something like it) no matter what she does. MeiLin lives in Portland, OR with a husband, two kids, two cats, a floppy dog and far, far too much yarn.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: One thing makes life in Eisenstadt bearable for exiled Professor Oladel Adewole: the island floating a mile above the city. He's an expert in world mythology about the island, but no one's ever been there or knows how it got there.
When a brilliant engineer makes it to the island in her new invention, the government sends Adewole up with its first survey team. The expedition finds civilization, and Adewole finds a powerful, forbidden fusion of magic and metal: the Machine God.
The government wants it. So does a sociopath bent on ruling Eisenstadt. But when Adewole discovers who the mechanical creature is--and what it can do--he risks his heart and his life to protect the Machine God from the world, and the world from the Machine God.
FORMAT/INFO: The Machine God is seventeen chapters long with a singular third person narrative voice via Professor Oladel Adewole. This is a standalone story and is a part of the Drifting Isle Chronicles of which there will be a total of four books released this year. The e-book edition was self published on April 4, 2013 by the author with the paperback edition to follow. The cover art is by Elsa Kroese.
ANALYSIS: In regards to the Drifting Isle Chronicles, I first heard about it last year and was lucky enough to talk to Joseph R. Lewis who was the main person instigating the project. He spoke about it a bit in his interview and since then I’ve been tracking it. In the last few weeks Joe contacted me and said that they were going to release three novels currently with one more to come later this year. There have been a series of guest post wherein an overview was given about the world as well as each author spoke about their own book and their favorite aspect about the shared world. Here are the guest posts:
A couple of years ago, a few blogger friends and I had done a multi-story review. I decided to ask those fine folks again for their help and Qwill and Melissa graciously volunteered their time. So for the three DIC novels it was decided that Qwill would review Black Mercury, Melissa would take a look at The Kaiser Affair and I would focus on The Machine God. So today here’s my review of The Machine God and Melissa has also posted her thoughts about The Kaiser Affair on her blog followed by Qwill’s Black Mercury review on Thursday (18th April) on the Qwillery (REVIEW POSTED).
With The Machine God, Meilin had mentioned in her guest post as to how she got selected for writing about it. This book deals with a very crucial aspect of the storyline as it focuses upon Inselmond, the Drifting Isle that is located above the city of Eisenstadt. This story occurs a bit after the events of Black Mercury as the Island has already been discovered. Thus certain events lead to the inclusion of Professor Oladel Adewole, who is a Jero native and connoisseur of old, lost languages. He is also a polyglot and lover of coffee and perhaps the odd man out in academia. He looks often to his friend Karl Deviatka for support against the university chancellor who seems to dislike Adewole on sight and tries to prolong his official position. He however gets chosen because of his aptitude and soon finds out that the people of the drifting isle have a secret. A secret, which in the wrong hands might lead to an apocalypse, and that secret is what is the Machine God?
Meilin Miranda lovingly crafts this story about an outsider who is lost on personal and professional levels but strives to do the right thing always. With this story we get a third person perspective on the events of the story however it doesn’t rob us of the intimateness as often experienced via the first person narrative storylines. The main protagonist is an endearing person and the author’s characterization marks him out splendidly. This tale while being a story about discovery of a new island is also about personal discovery in regards to several characters and that includes a wise owl that makes appearances throughout. The story slowly unveils all the issues at hand and though takes its time; the prose and world presented keep the reader fascinated for the entire time. Lastly the story unveils a rather dark turn of the world’s history and I’m hoping the founding chroniclers decide to explore it in the future as well.
Drawbacks to this tale are that it features a slower paced storyline as compared to The Kaiser Affair or Black Mercury however those story lines demand such a fast pace. With this story, it will depend on the readers to decide whether the pace matters in the enjoyment of this tale or not. Lastly some characters are mentioned and make an appearance and leave the stage very quickly, this is due to the fact that they are making cameos. Such appearances might confound certain readers and it will be good if they read this overview post by Joseph Robert Lewis to get a better sense of the story and world presented within.
CONCLUSION: Meilin Miranda writes a fascinating story about a person’s search for the greater good. The Machine God is a story that I enjoyed thoroughly. I would recommend this story heartily for those wanting a well-nuanced storyline. The Machine God is a good way to start the Drifting Isle Chronicles and I’ll be sure to check the other titles ASAP.
Monday, April 15, 2013
GUEST POST: The Kaiser Affair - A fantasy thriller and travelogue to The Drifting Isle Chronicles by Robert Joseph Lewis
If you're a regular reader here at Fantasy Book Critic, then you've probably been getting an eyeful lately about The Drifting Isle Chronicles fantasy series from all the authors who worked on it. And now, if you'll indulge me, you're going to get a little more.
The Kaiser Affair is an old-fashioned crime thriller, a chase story about cops and robbers, but set within a fantastical industrial city called Eisenstadt and a magical flying island called Inselmond. I once wrote another book similar to this called The Burning Sky, but fans kept saying that book needed more romance. So I waited two years to lull them into complacency and then wrote this. Just for them! (Not really, but I it doesn't hurt to let them think so.)
The Kaiser Affair is about a brilliant thief who escapes from prison just three weeks before his scheduled release after a lengthy incarceration Why would he do that? Maybe it has something to do with the rivalry between him and his older sister, the Minister of Justice? Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that a pioneering inventor has just built a machine capable of flying all the way to the legendary drifting isle, an ancient foreign land ripe for plunder?
Whatever the reason, the Minister assigns detectives Bettina Rothschild and her husband Arjuna Rana to re-capture the thief, not just in the name of law and order but also to protect the Minister herself. The chase leads them all over the city, from cemeteries to factories, from farms to opera houses, and of course into the skies as well. It's fast and light, with plenty of action and laughs, and more than a few amorous moments between our happily married heroes. After all, what's the point of having your own personal steam carriage if you don't steam up the back seat from time to time?
(Too cheesy? That last line sounded pretty cheesy to me. Let's ignore it and move on.)
The Kaiser Affair is an old-fashioned crime thriller, a chase story about cops and robbers, but set within a fantastical industrial city called Eisenstadt and a magical flying island called Inselmond. I once wrote another book similar to this called The Burning Sky, but fans kept saying that book needed more romance. So I waited two years to lull them into complacency and then wrote this. Just for them! (Not really, but I it doesn't hurt to let them think so.)
The Kaiser Affair is about a brilliant thief who escapes from prison just three weeks before his scheduled release after a lengthy incarceration Why would he do that? Maybe it has something to do with the rivalry between him and his older sister, the Minister of Justice? Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that a pioneering inventor has just built a machine capable of flying all the way to the legendary drifting isle, an ancient foreign land ripe for plunder?
Whatever the reason, the Minister assigns detectives Bettina Rothschild and her husband Arjuna Rana to re-capture the thief, not just in the name of law and order but also to protect the Minister herself. The chase leads them all over the city, from cemeteries to factories, from farms to opera houses, and of course into the skies as well. It's fast and light, with plenty of action and laughs, and more than a few amorous moments between our happily married heroes. After all, what's the point of having your own personal steam carriage if you don't steam up the back seat from time to time?
(Too cheesy? That last line sounded pretty cheesy to me. Let's ignore it and move on.)
If you're excited about this new series, you should probably start with Black Mercury by Charlotte E. English and read my book second. But if you're on the fence, I highly recommend checking out my book first, and not just because it has a cool cover by Elsa Kroese, the Über-talented artist behind the Spindrift webcomic. No! You see, part of the idea behind my story was to give readers a tour of the city of Eisenstadt and to introduce you to many of the important characters featured in the other titles. So reading my book first will actually give you a little preview of the other books (including the books that won't be released until later this year).
For example, when our detectives need information about a secret society of assassins, they turn to Professor Adewole, the hero of The Machine God. And when our detectives need a flying machine of their own to chase their prey into the sky, they ask Hildegard Goldstein, one of the central characters of Black Mercury.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
So if you've ever thought that fantasy novels needed a little less epic drama and a bit more in the way of steam-car chases, electro-gun fights, and highly unprofessional lovemaking on the job, then I hope you'll check out The Kaiser Affair.
For example, when our detectives need information about a secret society of assassins, they turn to Professor Adewole, the hero of The Machine God. And when our detectives need a flying machine of their own to chase their prey into the sky, they ask Hildegard Goldstein, one of the central characters of Black Mercury.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
So if you've ever thought that fantasy novels needed a little less epic drama and a bit more in the way of steam-car chases, electro-gun fights, and highly unprofessional lovemaking on the job, then I hope you'll check out The Kaiser Affair.
Official Author Website
Official Drifting Isle Chronicles Website
Order Black Mercury HERE
Order The Kaiser Affair HERE
Order The Machine God HERE
Read The Drifting Isle Chronicles - A new way to tell new stories ( A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
Read When Collaborating, Say Yes! (A guest post by Meilin Miranda)
Read On Machines And Talking Birds (A guest post by Charlotte E. English)
Read FBC's Review of Omar The Immortal
Read FBC’s Review of Zelda Pryce: The Razor’s Edge
Read FBC’s Review of Zelda Pryce: The Clockwork Girl
Read FBC’s Interview with Joseph Robert Lewis
Official Drifting Isle Chronicles Website
Order Black Mercury HERE
Order The Kaiser Affair HERE
Order The Machine God HERE
Read The Drifting Isle Chronicles - A new way to tell new stories ( A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
Read When Collaborating, Say Yes! (A guest post by Meilin Miranda)
Read On Machines And Talking Birds (A guest post by Charlotte E. English)
Read FBC's Review of Omar The Immortal
Read FBC’s Review of Zelda Pryce: The Razor’s Edge
Read FBC’s Review of Zelda Pryce: The Clockwork Girl
Read FBC’s Interview with Joseph Robert Lewis
AUTHOR INFORMATION: Joseph Robert Lewis was curious about world mythology since a tender age and so he then decided to write stories in which history, mythology, and fantasy would collide in unpredictable ways. He also likes writing about heroines that his daughters can respect and admire. Joe was born in Annapolis and went to the University of Maryland to study ancient novels, morality plays, and Viking poetry. He graduated with a degree in English Literature and currently lives in Maryland with his family, a needy cat, and a zombie fish.
NOTE: Author picture courtesy of the author himself. Spindrift prologue artwork courtesy of Elsa Kroese.
Official Brian McClellan Website
Order Promise of Blood HERE
"The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it.
It's a bloody business overthrowing a king...
Field
Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the
guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war
with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the
greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the
Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.
It's up to a few...
Stretched
to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder
mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also
happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector
whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.
But when gods are involved...
Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should..."
Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should..."
Promise
of Blood is an excellent debut that mixes and matches stuff - magic and
technology, intrigue and action, individual fights and battles, worker
unions and ancient nobility, gods, sorcerers, magicians, well sketched
world building with promise of expansion, memorable characters - most
notable Tamas who is the main driver of the action - but the rest too,
all in a fast moving, occasionally over the top package that one cannot
put down.
Starting with the actual coup of Tamas against the king and nobility that is described in the blurb, the action continues fast and furious on a few fronts. Tamas has to consolidate his and his six very disparate but powerful allies' rule, while dealing with an unexpected royalist counter-attack, grasping neighbors that covet Adro's wealth and potential as well as powerful magicians with varied interests.
Starting with the actual coup of Tamas against the king and nobility that is described in the blurb, the action continues fast and furious on a few fronts. Tamas has to consolidate his and his six very disparate but powerful allies' rule, while dealing with an unexpected royalist counter-attack, grasping neighbors that covet Adro's wealth and potential as well as powerful magicians with varied interests.
And not to speak
of a famous curse/prophecy that has the god Kresimir who created the
Nine Kingdoms, come and smite anyone who would overthrow one of the kings
- as in a way the people of Adro do that since most choose to follow Tamas as
they show in the famous "elections" day - what the "elections" mean will
let you discover. This means that the angry Kresimir - if he exists of
course - will destroy the whole country. It then definitely helps to
have a god of your own, even though he may be quite mad...
In the other two main strands, Inspector Adamat investigates stuff for Tamas, this thread essentially being a vehicle to show life in Adro and its capital as well as the various factions and power players, from the "street" angle as well as delve into the world building from a historical point of view, while Taniel "Two Shot", Tamas' son and second most powerful "powder mage" after the marshal himself, has to contend with the sorcerous threats to his father's rule, while dealing with personal problems, un-trustful allies and the like...
Promise of Blood has a great ending at a good stopping point though of course the story just gets started and I expect it will be quite a hit for anyone who loves exuberant, fast moving epic fantasies with a rich background that is mostly hinted at in the beginning, but which is later expanded quite a lot. So larger than life characters, breathless action on multiple fronts, but also quieter personal moments and overall excellent fun the way this epic fantasy sub-genre should always be.
Overall Promise of Blood is a winning debut and a top 25 for the year, while The Powder Mage is a series I expect will get only better as it progresses and will take its place in the first rank of ongoing fantasy series alongside say The Lightbringer tetralogy...
In the other two main strands, Inspector Adamat investigates stuff for Tamas, this thread essentially being a vehicle to show life in Adro and its capital as well as the various factions and power players, from the "street" angle as well as delve into the world building from a historical point of view, while Taniel "Two Shot", Tamas' son and second most powerful "powder mage" after the marshal himself, has to contend with the sorcerous threats to his father's rule, while dealing with personal problems, un-trustful allies and the like...
Promise of Blood has a great ending at a good stopping point though of course the story just gets started and I expect it will be quite a hit for anyone who loves exuberant, fast moving epic fantasies with a rich background that is mostly hinted at in the beginning, but which is later expanded quite a lot. So larger than life characters, breathless action on multiple fronts, but also quieter personal moments and overall excellent fun the way this epic fantasy sub-genre should always be.
Overall Promise of Blood is a winning debut and a top 25 for the year, while The Powder Mage is a series I expect will get only better as it progresses and will take its place in the first rank of ongoing fantasy series alongside say The Lightbringer tetralogy...
I’ve been interested in the steampunk movement for some years, and I always wanted to write a steampunk adventure. I got the chance to do that with the Drifting Isle project, and writing my book proved to be some of the best fun I’ve had with a story yet.
Machines and the means to power them play an important role in my book, Black Mercury. It opens with a pile-up during a steam autocarriage race (someone who knows me well said: “You’ve been playing too much Death Rally.” He may have a point). Machines are central to the lives of all my characters: Hildegard Goldstein invents them, Clara Koh builds them and Caspar Goldstein drives them. The newly discovered “black mercury” has the power to transform all of their fortunes: when Hildy uses it to boost the power of her flying autogyro, she accomplishes the first ever flight to the mysterious Drifting Isle. After that, everything changes forever.
To Hildy, the gyro and the black mercury represent the promise of an independent future, inventing and building her fantastic creations away from the controlling influence of her brother. To Clara, there’s the prospect of a career doing the one thing she loves best: engineering.
And to Caspar, the black mercury appears to promise him the only thing in his privileged life that he hasn’t got: the prestigious Eisenstadt Autocarriage Racing Cup. It’s the biggest event in steamcar racing, and Cas has had it in the bag for years: thanks to his family connections he’s got the best vehicle out there, and his father pays all the bills. But he still hasn’t managed to win it. With the big event just around the corner, he grabs some Black Mercury—just before the city government commandeers the supply.
Cas soon finds himself with a great deal of unwanted attention. At least one member of a sinister organisation known as the Shadows is interested in the mercury, too, and Cas isn’t the only driver who’s realised its potential. When even a Starcaster from Inselmond itself arrives in search of the stuff, Cas finds himself up to his neck in trouble. It’ll take the combined efforts of all his closest friends to get him out of it.
It falls to other pens to document the exploration of Inselmond, the Drifting Isle. My story is about the impact of Hildy Goldstein’s discovery on the city of Eisenstadt. Why did I make this choice? Because I love this city we’ve made. It’s a sprawling, multicultural place where people from all over the world live comfortably side-by-side. It’s filled with skyscrapers and factories and beautiful feats of architecture. It has a race track, an overhead train system, and a huge network of public houses (both refined and otherwise). It has creepy and crumbling old cemeteries, a central lake lined with mansion houses and an enormous public ballroom. And of course, it has steam-powered cars and flying machines. It’s the sort of place where anything can happen—and plenty does happen across the three stories we’ve published so far.
I’m also a big fan of animal characters; intelligent, sentient (or semi-sentient) animals play a big role in all my books to date, and Black Mercury is no different. When talking birds made their appearance in our shared world, I ran with this with enthusiasm and Min came into being. She is an exotically-coloured pigeon from the isle of Shuchun; a close friend of Clara Koh’s, she has a loud mouth, bad manners and a loyal heart. Of all my characters, she was the most fun to write.
And that’s it… so far. One of the most exciting—but also daunting—aspects of the Drifting Isle project (for me at least) is the scope of it. Three books to date, and we’re only just getting started. It’s a whole world—imagine how many stories are still waiting to be told! I’m looking forward to my next visit to Eisenstadt or its neighbouring nations: when the adventure begins with fantastic machines, talking birds and an island in the sky, who knows what could happen next?
Order Black Mercury HERE
Order The Kaiser Affair HERE
Order The Machine God HERE
Read The Drifting Isle Chronicles - A new way to tell new stories ( A guest post by Joseph R. Lewis)
Read When Collaborating, Say Yes! (A guest post by Meilin Miranda)AUTHOR INFORMATION: Born in the historic city of Lincoln, UK, Charlotte now lives in the heart of windmill country in the Netherlands. She has a degree in Heritage, and her interests include books, crafts, cooking and social history. She likes to write whimsical, colourful tales full of character and humour.
NOTE: Author picture courtesy of the author herself. Black mercury picture thanks to Bloomberg business week.
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